#its been 10 years since I drew him

[convxction]

to not forget. we got chubchub chrom with short hair.

#⚔ooc.⚔ (faty speaks) #[ i love my child but it was like a lazy legendary idea but eh #[i think from what i see kozaki san was not........................ really into it. #[idk its just me but 10 years and give him the guy again to draw he just ??? #[dunno #[tbh i was hoping for ebla to return and draw chrom since they are the one who drew him first two times ;u; #[ebila**** #[it would have been very sweet aaaa #[but then again love kozaki san and respect his work he had done so far for fe #[anyway we got kozaki chrom <3 #[he probably designed hrid (sp) krumb in mind because you cannot change my mind that is ice chrom #[anyho feel free to chat if you wanna

[oepionie]

BELOVED BAT-WIFE. lilia vanrouge

Characters: Lilia Vanrouge x Fem! Reader, Platonic! Sebek x Fem! Reader

Synopsis: Lilia's wife makes an impromptu visit at NRC. Sebek is dragged into this mess and has to help her sneak into the campus.

A/N:: This is the first fic I've written in years!

Tags: Fluff, Established relationship, Maybe a bit OOC?, Reader is not Yuu and is said to be a mage

Word Count: 800+|💌Masterlist | Batwife masterlist

"Lady Vanrouge! When you told me you planned to visit, this wasn't what I had in mind!" Sebek hissed, staring at you through the gate's frame. He responded to your SMS asking him to meet you at the school gates as soon as possible. Despite the fact that it was two in the morning, he ran to your position right away. How he arrived in under 10 minutes is remarkable.

"I did say it was a last-minute decision." Shaking your head, you pulled the hood to your robe up and slipped on a pair of leather gloves. Indeed, you did send Sebek a letter to inform him of your plans beforehand. Leaving out the fact that you planned to sneak in like some petty thief.

"Now hold this gate steady for me, ok?"

Sebek's eyes practically sprang out of his head when you started climbing the tall gate. He yelled at you to be careful as he grasped the gate with both hands, firmly grasping the metal bars. You easily climbed to the top and laughed as you tossed yourself to the opposite side. Shrieking, Sebek ran to catch you, nearly toppling over from the force.

"Nice catch, my boy!" You grinned, patting his shoulder and setting yourself down. Sebek heaved, kneeling over and pressing a palm over his chest to calm his racing heart from the stunt you just pulled.

"You-Lady Vanrouge-!" Sebek started. "You're a mage! Why would you do that!"

"Teleporting or flying would definitely be easier…but that's boring~" You drawled, a cheeky grin on your face.

"Now, which way is that mirror again? It's been ages since I last set foot on this campus-literally!"

You linked both your arms together and began to pull the boy towards the academy, ignoring any and all of his complaints.

"I really think we shouldn't be doing this." Sebek muttered, begrudgingly pushing the doors to the mirror chamber open. You both slid inside, the door behind you closing with a snap.

It was already late at night, and the moon shone through the windows, its light reflecting off the mirrors. You took a step closer to Diasomnia's portal, tracing the engravings on its frame.

Had they changed parts of it? You noticed certain details that were not previously present.

"Well, too late to back off now. You're making me start to think you don't actually want me here." You pouted, shifting your gaze to Sebek's rigid body beside the doorway. He jumped and dashed over, his cheeks flushed pink.

"Of course I do, Lady Vanrouge! Your presence is always appreciated! I only wish you had chosen safer means to visit!" He yelled, his booming voice practically rattling the walls. Chuckling, you ran your fingers through his hair before patting his head.

"I jest. Now, let's not keep them waiting. Shall we?" You clasped Sebek's hand with your own and stepped into the mirror.

A blur of colours hit you for a moment before you found yourself whisked away to the dark brooding castle Diasomnia calls a dorm. Standing atop the cobblestone steps, you took a deep breath. The air was thick with smothering moisture, like a fog.

The dim light of a window in the distance drew your attention. Among the many windows in the castle, it was the only chamber that was lit up.

"O-Oh? Is someone still up at this late hour?" You wondered, still light-headed from the teleportation. Sebek placed a hand on your back to stabilise your wobbly form. "Ah yes. That's probably Master Lillia, he tends to hold gaming sessions at this hour."

"Is that so?" You huffed, brows furrowing as you glared at the window. "...That damn bat."

Of course, this wasn't news to you. Silver frequently wrote to you about his father's long gaming sessions, which sometimes lasted days or even weeks. Just as you were about to march up to the castle, an arm wrapped around your chest, pulling you back.

"No need to look so mad, dear." A deep voice lulled.

Behind you two, Lillia appeared with an impish smile on his face. Sebek flinched before greeting Lilia vigorously while maintaining a stiff posture of attention.

"Good evening, Sebek! Would you go and get Silver and Malleus for me? This is going to be a lovely reunion." Lillia spoke, crossing his arms over his chest. He was perched upon a nearby tree, hanging off one of the branches.

"Yes Sir!" With that, Sebek was off, dashing towards the castle.

With a frown etched onto your face, you turned your gaze back to the fae who was still upside down. Lillia hummed, leaning forward to press his lips against yours. "Hello there, beastie."

"Still pulling the same old trick, I see." You grumbled, grabbing his arm to pull him down. Lillia smushed his cheek against your shoulder, peering up at you through his lashes.

"It's a classic of mine, isn't it?"

Likes and Reblogs are greatly appreciated and really motivating on my end!

#twst x reader #twisted wonderland x reader #lilia vanrouge x reader #lilia vanrouge #twst lilia #sebek zigvolt x reader #sebek zigvolt #twst sebek #twisted wonderland #twst #disney twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland fluff #diasomnia #silver vanrouge

[lizaluvsthis]

SMG4: The PuzzleVision Movie

[SPOILER ALERT and more into the ship]

VERY.

MAJOR.

SPOILER.

PLEASE.

Its funny enough how i predicted spongebob squarepants in my theory

(It even also has the ship I had a true pairing with. Squidbob.)

When old fandom meets the new fandom I'm currently in be like-

I see how they got each other's backs...

Suprised that SMG4 has done this- because last time we remembered, Smg3 is the one who comes risking his own life to save his buddy.

Now it's giving the DEJA VU moment but this time SMG3 is the one who gets saved by smg4.

"You saved me!"

Notice how different they act around their partner when they get saved?

Smg3 during wotfi 2023 AND in his recolor design during the 10 year anniversary.

He himself has pushed those things away or pushing out the soft stuff saying— "yeah yeah" or "I'd like to see you die otherwise"

BUT HIM? He still couldn't accept himself with the softness he's gained alot. He still calls his FRIEND. Baka.

(Hah idiot.)

One thing to say that it WAS AWKWARD SMG4 just looks at our guy. My man... my homie... buddy chum pal old fella amigo-

You. Are not. Okay. My man. (GAY PANIC SAYS OTHERWISE)

I know its not relevant but I drew this back in march 25 believe it or not I may have predicted this as well

Me and my brain goofing around telling me what if the gays did do that.

Anyways- back when Three lets Four carry him, as much as they both hate each other they atleast had to do it somehow inorder to escape.

Yet four could ever care less and he was still grabbing his waist at that time, and Three not giving a sh-t just looking up at the sky noticing how pretty it is.

Three... DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHOSE GRABBING YOUR WAIST RIGHT NOW??????????

Two siblings getting both of their fingers broken.

And its even in the right hand! Since Mario is immune to broken bones, Meggy however gets to be on the same place Mario has been in IGBP. NOW she gets to feel the pain what Mario may had felt.

-

And thus at the near end where SMG4 hits PV with a meat hammer or aka luigi- HE LITERALLY KICKED THE HEAD OUT- AND THE ANIMATION THAT MADE IT SO SERIOUS.

I think I understand his anger so much from this clip that everyone would agree.

Ever since PuzzleVision gave back everyones conciousness- he showed the Western Spaghetti and IGBP act of the crew on how emotional things became.

"And SMG4... who knew you could play an antagonist so well! High ranks for me!"

He felt so guilty. He looked down. He knew what PV was talking about.

By an antagonist' actions.

Just like how he was possessed by the goop itself, he started going crazy during that time and he let his anger get on to him.

SMG4 DID NOT WANT TO BE THE BAD GUY.

He was so scared and felt pity to himself because of that. And it was all ruined because of PV himself.

Smg4 didn't want to remember what happened during that encounter and never will.

Besides on the deal with PuzzleVision. SMG4 and Meggy's traumatic experiences weren't talked enough from their problems during the movie.

So much things are happening from the show that no one is talking much about it while watching.

"Is... is it over?"

Smg4 proceedingly cried emotionally because of the torture. He was apparently too blind enough to notice now that he realized it was him to blame. He was so dumb enough and so angry that he could cry.

Three didn't even slapped him or shut him off, he lets him cry over there due to the fact that he may need to release his emotions.

Because he knows how sentimental Smg4 became when it involves with dealing his own emotions that HE couldn't even give an advice for. But could only stay quiet.

Because at what hell of a state would he even say to SMG4 when they're trying to escape from this hell of a nightmare?

Four still doesn't accept himself, and neither does Smg3 too. From everything that happened.

Our boys are suffering enough and its hurting us like hell.

#smg4 #smg34 #smg3 #smg4 smg3 #tv adware #lizafixates #smg4 x smg3 #smg3 x smg4 #mr puzzles #smg4 puzzlevision #puzzle vision

[enchxanting]

our love is god [ethan landry]

read part 2 here || all parts

pairing: ethan landry x fem!reader

warnings: nothing yet but this fic is heathers-inspired, so be warned for the future.

author's note: hi guys, long time lurker first time poster. this is my first time WRITING fic so feel free to leave any critique. also i don't know if i did the cut right lol i have a lot planned and hope you like!

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

Dear Diary,

I should’ve never let Mindy convince me to start this operation. 

Sure, it’s nice to have a steady cash flow, but nothing is more aggravating than everyone and their mother asking for doctor’s notes, report cards, prescriptions, and absence notes when I’m just trying to make it to fourth-period math. When I was ten, I expected to use my Nancy-Drew-inspired skills to unearth hidden staircases or find whistling statues, not help someone’s checked-out mom get a Xanax. 

Yet I forged three (3) permission slips today. Why? Because, next to mysteries, I love the sweet smell of cash in the morning. Yesterday, I added $150 to the rainy day fund. Hopefully, when the weather’s right, I'll be inspired to buy a car and ditch Woodsboro. This town is fucked, alright. Just ask Chad, Mindy, Sam, or–

“Tara! Jesus Christ!” I rub my leg where her sneaker connected. “What’s your damage?”

“Are you done, Shakespeare? You said you’d get lunch with me like, fifteen minutes ago.”

Tara isn’t so great with patience. But, again, I am not so great at keeping track of time. “Yeah, whatever,” I say. “Let’s go see what they’ve cooked up for us today.”

I follow her through the winding path of tables, chairs, and teenage bodies. As we go, I collect bills from outstretched hands and replace them with papers of varying sizes. Tara turns to smirk at me. “What was the event this time?”

“Oh, you know. It’s report card season, and this school is not known for its stellar GPAs.”

“We just have you to thank for keeping it floating below a 3.0,” she teases. “Tell me, Y/N. Does all that extra brainpower of yours get used up matching the way people dot their i’s and cross their t’s?”

I roll my eyes at her. “Sure, Tara. Let’s just get some lunch. I’m seriously starving.”

We grab trays and join the line, aimlessly chattering about the day. Tara’s been my friend since the beginning of the year when I was the only new kid in a town struck by tragedy. We were the only new buyers in Woodsboro over the summer. The rest are still empty, the memory of last year’s Ghostface attacks having driven out long-time residents.

What’s surprising, though, is that the so-called “Woodsboro Four” are still here. Sure, Sam, Tara, Mindy, and Chad mostly stick together, but despite the terrible tragedy that they witnessed, they let me and Annika, Mindy’s current girlfriend, into their lives. I could never measure up to that. I’m just glad they want to be my friend.

I’m taken out of my musings on friendship when I feel someone’s eyes on my back. Without turning around, I recite my usual speech. “$5 for report cards, $10 for prescriptions and absence notes, and an extra $5 for rush fees.”

“Woah, um, tempting, but I’m not looking for any forgery.”

Confused, I turn around to put a face to an unfamiliar voice. The guy’s tall, almost as tall as Chad, with curly brown hair and brown eyes that widen when I meet them. “Sorry, I was just going to get my lunch, but you dropped some cash back here.”

For some reason, my voice is not working. All I can do is look up at him, suddenly captivated by how shy he seems to be. When I pause for a few moments too long, Tara reaches around and takes the money from his hand. “Uh, thanks. I’m sure my friend here appreciates it. Usually she’s more talkative.”

“Oh, god, yeah, sorry,” I finally get out, stumbling over my words. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” Suddenly, I think he remembers to be bashful and walks away without another word.

When he’s gone, Tara laughs. “God, Y/N, drool much? I’ve never seen you like that before.”

I flush red. “Whatever, Tara, you’re the worst.” I give her a playful shove and walk off to buy my lunch. I hand the money to the cashier, but all I can think about are those big, brown eyes, and I know I’m fucked.

#ethan landry #ethan landry x y/n #ethan landry x reader #scream 6 #scream 2023 #jack champion #heathers #heathers au #high school au #ethan landry fanfiction

[yourfavoritewitchbitch]

Evermore - Part 6

Summary: It’s been 7 years since the love of your life left you behind for his career. When he decides to come back, is it too late to start anew? Will you decide to start over or realize what's been right in front of you this whole time?

18+ Only! MDNI!

Warnings: AFAB reader! Minimal use of Y/N. Reader is given the nickname Peach. Angst/Pining. Drunken behavior.

Word Count: 3K

Masterlist

You had been trying to read a new book all evening, but your mind kept drifting. Worried about Eddie, even when you knew better.

It was around 10 when your phone started to ring, knocking you from your thoughts. You got up from the couch and shuffled to the kitchen where it hung.

Your fingers hesitantly drew it from its cradle on the wall, “Hello?”

“Hey. It’s Jim. Hope I didn’t wake you.” The gruff voice of the older man, sounding a little tired, maybe annoyed.

“Oh, hey Hop. What are you doing up this late? Everything okay?”

He sighed before beginning, as you instinctively held your breath.

“Listen, it’s… uh… Well, it’s Eddie.”

“What’s wrong? Is he ok?” feeling a sense of dread wash over you.

“He’s fine, he’s just drunk.”

You groaned, pinching the bridge of your nose between your finger and thumb, closing your eyes. You should have known. Seeing him earlier in the parking lot was sounding the alarm bells that you had ignored.

“Hop, you couldn’t have called literally anyone else?”

“Kid, he’s a mess. And he keeps asking for you. Won’t take no for an answer. Won’t shut up about it.” Now regretful that he bothered you, but he continued, “I didn’t want to call Wayne; I think he’d be too much for him to handle tonight. I’d hate for him to see him like this.”  

“Randy kicked him out of the Hideout? Never mind, don’t answer that. You guys still there?” already spying the keys on the counter, ready for a hasty exit.

“Yeah, I’ve got him in the back of the cruiser.”

“I’ll be there in 20,” you hung up. Throwing on some sweats and a hoodie, slipping on some old sneakers as you headed out the door.

Wondering the entire ride over what the hell you were even doing. You should let him spend the night at the station, sleeping his hangover off there and call Wayne in the morning.

But you thought of Wayne. Agreeing with Hop on one thing, you would hate for him to see Eddie in such a state. He’d never been immune to his antics but that was years ago. Being thirty now, you’d think he would know how to conduct himself better, given his profession and scrutiny in the public eye.

You pulled up to the Hideout in record time. Your headlights hit the old Blazer, illuminating Hopper who was standing outside leaning against the old, battered ride, raising a brow as you pulled in beside him.

“Speeding, were we?” Hopper admonished with a sarcastic lilt to his voice, as you got out of the car.

“Not sure what you mean Hop.” Meeting the older man halfway, embracing him in a warm hug.

“Good to see you Kid. Wish it were better circumstances.” You parted as he started toward the back door of the cruiser.

“Think you can handle him like this?” opening the door and pulling Eddie up by the arm.

He grunted and opened his half-lidded eyes as far as they would go. Hair disheveled, bangs sticking up from where he had laid down in the seat while waiting for you to arrive.

“Alright Ed, your ride is here.” He helped him from the car, threatening to teeter forward, you wasted no time reaching out to help steady him, placing a hand to his chest.  

He wavered toward your space, and you put yourself under his other arm not being held by Hopper, encircling his waist ensuring you had him held tight. He looked over toward you then, and smiled that big, dimpled grin you used to love.

“Hey Pe…*hiccup* Peach,” he uttered, whiskey and cigarette laced breath wafting toward you.

“Well, at least you’re coherent enough to know who I am.” You huffed and led him toward the waiting vehicle. Hop let go so he could open your door for him to get into the back.

Once he was settled, laid out in the seat, you said your goodbyes to the older man.

“And you sure you’re ok to handle him?” asking one last time, giving you a chance for an out as if you would change your mind at this point.

I’ve dealt with worse.” Nodding toward the Hideout. He knew exactly what you meant.

“Alright kid, if you need anything just let me know.” He patted the roof of the car and took his leave.

Eddie started groaning as soon as you pulled out onto the road, you assumed from the immediate jostling. You knew all too well what that sickly sound usually meant.

“Edward James Munson, I swear to God, I will kill you if you throw up in this car!” you yelled, checking him in the rearview, half obscured from his leaned over position.

His eyes snapped open at that and sat up wavering with the car movement. “Hey Peaaachhh,” he slurred. “I won’t throw up, ok? Scouts honor.” Raising his fingers.

You can’t help but roll your eyes at that. “Yeah, ok Eddie. You we’re never in the Scouts.”

He became quiet again as you made your way back home, not a long drive but seemed longer than usual with his presence. Once you pull into your drive; you turn around expecting him to be passed out but he’s already staring straight at you with an incredulous look.

“What?” you whispered, low enough you thought he didn’t hear in his inebriated state.

“Nothin’ Peach, I just missed ya’,” he smiled again, goofy and warm. Eyes trying to stay focused on yours.

“And you’re drunk” you quipped. “Let’s get you in the house to get a little rest. You’re going to feel like shit in the morning.” Turning then to remove yourself from his space, suddenly feeling too warm, to close to him.  

You took a deep breath. Telling yourself you could do this. Just let him sleep it off. It’s no big deal.

You opened the back door thankful he wasn’t close enough to tumble out. He let you help him up and out. He leaned into you and rested his arm atop your shoulders, you wrap your arm around his waist once more as you made your way slowly up to the house, weaving side to side, holding him up the best you could. That scent of cigarettes and leather invading your senses. Trying to push the feelings deep down that the familiar once comforting scent brought you.

He leaned over closer to you, while you tried desperately to get the door unlocked.

“Where’s Stevie boy?” he spoke so close lips ghosting over the shell of your ear, breath fanning your cheek sending a shiver through you.

“He doesn’t live here Eddie.” Answering as you finally pushed opened the door contemplating whether he could make it up the stairs.

Eddie thought about your answer for a moment, quizzical look on his face, tilting his head, smile faltering for a moment. You didn’t have time to decipher it, the matter at hand was trying to get him to the couch in one piece.

He was only getting heavier by the second, feet almost dragging instead of taking full steps. You were weaving your way slowly down the hall, when he suddenly lost his balance, your hold on him wavered but he gripped your arm pulling you along with him toward the wall. His back hit with a thud, earning yet another groan.

Your free hand landed on his chest, effectively catching yourself before your body could completely land on his but leaving little space between the two of you, now facing chest to chest.

“Eddie, come on, it’s only a few more feet.” Patting his chest as he looked toward you, your voice drawing him in.

His doe eyes big and shining. You could almost see the Eddie from years ago looking back at you.

He was warm under your palm. Heart steadily beating there. His eyes flitted to your lips before looking back up, his eyes searching yours for an answer or confirmation. You gave no inclination of resistance.  

He tentatively rested his other hand on your hip, fingers gripping slightly as he drew your body closer to his. You didn’t stop him, letting him pull you further into his warmth. Your hand that still rested on his chest began to smooth down the length of his torso letting it come to rest on his side.

He started to bring his face closer to yours, noses almost brushing, eyes falling shut as he was aiming to close the distance.  

Your own heart beating rapidly, breath caught in your throat. Standing there for a few more seconds, cheeks heating from the sudden closeness. Closing your own eyes as they began to brim with unshed tears, as if finally came to your senses.

You turned your face from him. His lips brushed your cheek, and he pulled back quickly knowing he missed his mark. Quickly withdrawing his hand and letting his head fall back, as it too made a small thud against the wall.

You tried to ignore the buzz that his lips left in their wake and the lingering warmth where his hand had rested on your hip.

“Come on Eddie,” you broke the uncomfortable silence and helped him straighten back up as he righted himself using the wall as leverage.

Making it over to the couch he practically fell onto the cushions. You could tell his body had started to give up the fight of trying to stay awake with all the alcohol lingering in his system. His body started to tilt sideways, his eyelids starting to droop once more.

“Eddie,” you tried gaining his attention, lightly smacking his cheek, “at least take your shoes off. I don’t want your dirty ass boots making a mess of my couch.” He grunted, but relented and did as he was told, untying them one at a time, letting them hit the floor.

You helped him remove his jacket, struggling to fling it from his shoulders on his own, thrashing. Your face closer to his, but his head was still facing down. The leather finally slid from his arms as he let you take it without protest.

“M’sorry Peach.” He whispered so low you barely heard it. Deciding to ignore him, taking the jacket, and turning instead to go find him a blanket, he halts your movements by lightly grabbing your wrist. Searing warmth in contrast to the cool rings on his fingers.

“M’sorry for everything. I… I didn’t mean for it to happen like that. I never meant to hurt you. I… I know I fucked it all up.” He released you from his gentle grip. His gaze lingered on yours for a moment longer before he finally laid down.

He probably wouldn’t remember a thing in the morning. It would be better that way. You made your way upstairs to the linen closet, grabbing a spare pillow and blanket.

As expected, he had completely passed out by the time you made it back. You laid the pillow beside his head and covered him.

He was lying on his side, face pressed into the couch. His curls were a mess, fanned out against the cushion.

“Oh Eddie,” you whispered, turning to take leave, glancing one last time before heading to your own bed.

So many emotions swam within you. He had tried to kiss you, and you barely turned away. All coherent thoughts in that moment had eluded you. All you were thinking was how much you had missed his touch, his kiss. His everything.

You tossed and turned most of the night.

Waking the next morning, already dreading the journey down the stairs, half expecting him to be gone. He was exactly where you had left him.

Blanket a mess, his waist still covered, but his arms were raised above his head. Feet were kicked out, one sock now missing. Which came as no surprise, he had always been a fussy sleeper.

At some point in the night, he had made use of the pillow. You stared for a few more minutes listening to his deep breaths. Eyes lingering over his sleep mused hair, tangled no doubt. But he looked peaceful, face half hidden behind the locks. You started to brush the hair from his face, but quickly put your hand back down. Another slip up, muscle memory without a thought.

You started the coffee pot, knowing Steve and Maddie would be there soon. You weren’t sure how you were going to explain why Eddie was on your couch, knowing how it looked. You sure as hell weren’t going to mention the almost kiss.

You wouldn’t have long to think about it as you heard the car door. Looking up through the window as he was retrieving Maddie from the back.

“Crap,” you hissed, abruptly putting your mug down, barely missing the warm liquid that sloshed from the side.  

You made your way to the front door, meeting them before he pushed it open. He never had to knock, always an open invitation. 

“Hey!” you spoke, cutting him off. Blocking the entrance slightly.

“Hi. What’re you…” furrowing his brows as his eyes drifted behind you, spotting the metalhead still passed out on the couch. Something flashed in his eyes you couldn’t quite discern.

“Steve, before you say anything, it’s definitely not what you’re thinking, ok.” You opened the door, bidding them both in. Closing it and following behind as they made their way into the kitchen.

Maddie was still half asleep in his arms. Head on his shoulder. She yawned and opened her eyes slowly taking in her surroundings. Mumbling something then, rubbing her eyes with the back of her small hands. When she spotted you, she reached for you without a second thought, taking her from Steve, as you searched his eyes. He remained uncharacteristically quiet.  

She laid her head on your shoulder, pressing further into your neck until she seemingly found a comfortable spot.

“Steve, it’s…” you started.

“It looks like Eddie slept over last night. Yeah?” He said brusquely, a tone he never used with you.

“Yeah,” your voice sounded meek, looking to the floor. “He got drunk at the Hideout. Hop called me. He didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

“Right,” he scoffed, turning to put Maddie’s things on the table. Choosing to ignore the sour mood he was in; you aimed your attention toward her instead.

“Hey Baby,” you cooed, rubbing soothing circles to her back. “You want me to make you breakfast?”

“Nuh. Uh,” shaking her head, nuzzling ever closer to you, curls tickling your cheek with each sway of her head.

“Someone sounds grumpy this morning,” Looking back up at Steve, whispering mostly to yourself, “you don’t seem to be the only one.”

His eyes were already on you, seemingly scrutinizing you. Swinging Maddie, a little back and forth, before she lifted her head squirming a bit to be let down. As soon as her feet hit the floor, she scurried off toward the cabinet where you kept the cereal and breakfast bars just for her.

Once she was no longer in direct ear shot, you turned back toward Steve as he spoke up first, pushing himself off the counter he was leaning against to get closer to you.  

“Listen, Peach, I’m not sure what this was but, really? You let him stay here after everything you went through?” raising his voice an octave, sounding exasperated. Shaking his head in disbelief, hands on his hips, turning his face toward the ceiling and exhaling a deep breath.

“Steve, I..”

“No, it’s fine.” Cutting you off. “It’s your life and none of my business, right? You can do whatever you want to. Just, uh, don’t let him corrupt my daughter while I’m gone. Okay? You could’ve called me, I would’ve taken her to Rob’s.”

“Don’t do that to me. Don’t act like that.” You stated more forcefully.  

Steve rarely showed any anger toward you. He was trying to hold himself back, whether for your sake or Maddie’s, you couldn’t tell.

He looked down at his watch instead of directly addressing you.

“I’ve got to go. I’m running late.” Sighing, letting his arm rest by his side once more as he turned to leave. You knew it was a lie. It was an excuse to get out of your house, away from you.

“Steve, wait.” You caught his arm, tugging him slightly backward. Getting the point, he stopped and turned back around.

“Cut the bullshit and talk to me, I know you aren’t running late. You are the most insufferably punctual human being I have ever known.” Crossing your own arms over your chest now.

He huffed, rolling his eyes at you.

“I’m just disappointed you’d so willingly let him sleep a hangover off here. You owe him nothing. Nothing Y/N!” Shaking his hands toward the living room for emphasis.

“You don’t think I know that, Steven?” Only calling him by his full name when you were annoyed or trying to get under his skin, as he had just spoken yours.

He took a step back, hands back on his hips once more. Nodding his head, as his tongue darted out to lick his lips, biting his lower lip a moment getting ready to lay into you.  

You looked around the kitchen then, realizing Maddie wasn’t where you had left her. Cabinet open but abandoned. At some point during the bickering, she snuck away.

You heard muffled voices coming from the living room then. Without another word, you brushed past Steve, bumping his shoulder slightly.

“Real mature” you heard him mutter. You wanted to turn around and argue some more but instead shook your head, ignoring his quip.

Passing the threshold that separated the kitchen from the living room, you spotted Maddie next to Eddie, furrowing her small brows seemingly examining him. Her eyes alight once she spotted you.

“Maddie, baby, there you are.” Eddie’s eyes darted to you, then to Steve hot on your heels.

“Peach! Daddy!” she excitedly squealed, hopping from her perch to join you, taking her hand in yours.

You ignored the confused look Eddie gave the both of you, eyes darting between you and Maddie before you exited the room leaving him to wonder why the hell your daughter had just called you Peach.

Taglist: @josephquinncore @theawkwardbutterfly @munsonmecrazy @jadedhillon @pettydonuts @angelina16torres-blog @justheretoreadleavemealone @heyyimmisunderstood @micheledawn1975 @devilslittlebabyxx @luciferiorbxtch @bebe07011 @yunnie-f1 @akiratoro420 @evansslutt @sheerfreesia007 @tlclick73 @bakugouswh0r3 @vintagehellfire @feelinglikeineedlotsofnaps @ali-r3n @foreveranexpatsposts @sashaphantomhive

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #eddie munson fic #steve harrington fic #eddie munson x female reader #steve harrington x female reader #eddie stranger things #evermore #older!eddie #older!steve #dad! steve harrington #evermore wip #evermore part 6

[dystopicjumpsuit]

Stars Beyond Number - Chapter 10

Shape Without Form

Rating: T (rating varies by chapter; mature content will be tagged; regardless of rating, minors DNI)

Pairings: Echo x Riyo Chuchi; Gregor x OFC Cerra Kilian

Wordcount: 2.8k

Warnings and tags: fluff; implications of stimulant use as a coping mechanism; Echo ships it; Riyo would jump that cyborg's bones right TF now if he would stop moving long enough

Suggested Listening:

Summary: Echo makes several discoveries.

A/N: This story shares continuity with Martyrs and Kings and "Do It Again," but all three fics can be read as stand-alones.

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Shape without form, shade without colour,

Paralysed force, gesture without motion

—T. S. Eliot, “The Hollow Men”

ur-fav-cyborg: The king is in the castle.

Riyo stared at the message, trying to decrypt what in the gods’ green galaxy Echo was trying to say. Then it hit her. King—Rex—of course. Smiling, she typed a response.

cerulean-senator: You know, this is an encrypted channel. You don’t need to speak in code.

The response came immediately.

ur-fav-cyborg: Can’t be too careful. Encryptions can be sliced. I would know.

cerulean-senator: Fair enough. How did the royal excursion go?

ur-fav-cyborg: He’s holding court now. Care to join? I can start a holocall.

Riyo frowned. Somehow, calling in seemed intrusive in a way that simply being physically  present did not.

cerulean-senator: I’ll sit this one out, but I’m looking forward to a full report afterwards. Will you have time to comm me tonight?

ur-fav-cyborg: For you, always.

She smiled, feeling a warm glow rise to her cheeks. Maybe she was being foolish. She’d only met Echo a few times, but there was something about his gentle eyes and quiet demeanor that drew her to him. Beyond that, she admired his bravery and selflessness; after all, he had had the opportunity to walk away from the fight and start a new life with Omega and the rest of the Batch. Instead, he’d chosen to stay with Rex and save as many brothers as he could.

His dedication to his brothers reminded her of Fox, and once again, she found herself grappling with the thorny question that had plagued her since her first immediate attraction to Echo. How could she move on so quickly? It had only been a little over a year since she had lost Fox—a year of silent grief and misery which she was forced to hide from the galaxy. Meeting Echo had felt like glimpsing the sunlight after months of darkness. Would Fox have wanted her to continue on in that shadow realm? 

No. 

The knowledge was so certain, it was as though he was in the room with her, speaking the word aloud. Fox had cared deeply about her. He would never have expected her to spend her entire life mourning him. He would want her to find happiness. 

She could envision finding that happiness with Echo. The temptation to spend more time with him, to be alone with him, was overwhelming. She wanted to know everything about him: what was his favorite food? His favorite color? Did he prefer showers or baths? Tookas or massifs? Had he ever been to Pantora? What was his favorite holonovel? Did he even like holonovels? What was it like to raise a young child? Would he ever want children of his own? Just how far up did those prosthetic legs go? Was he even interested in a physical relationship, for that matter?

She had so many questions, and she couldn’t wait to find out the answers.

Cerra refueled the freighter and restocked its supplies of rations and gear while Gregor and Fireball loaded it with their preferred weapons and ammunition. The ship’s medkit had fortunately not been used much, but she refilled its dwindling supply of stims. By the time they were finished, Rex had long since disappeared into the barracks, and Echo offered to take first watch, thank the kriffing Maker. Cerra had been running on nothing but caf, stims, and stubbornness for the past three days, and her eyes burned with exhaustion. She hadn’t wanted to go back to sleep after her unsettling dream, so she had simply worked through the nights, but now she couldn’t put it off any longer.

“Wake me up for second watch,” she told Echo as she headed to the barracks. Fireball and Gregor needed to rest up for their mission, and there was no way any of the team would consider waking Rex.

She changed quickly into one of Fives’s old black tops and a pair of baggy sweatpants that may or may not have belonged to her, then she moved quietly to Gregor’s bunk.

“Can I sleep with you tonight?” she whispered.

He didn’t reply, but he scooted back against the wall to make room for her and stretched his arm out for her to use as a pillow. She crawled under the blankets and snuggled close to him, burying her face against his chest as he wrapped her securely in his arms.

“You’re the best,” she sighed.

He kissed her forehead, and she passed out instantaneously. She felt like she’d barely closed her eyes when Echo nudged her awake. If she had dreamt at all, she didn’t remember it. Gregor was sprawled halfway over her, snoring softly. She extricated herself from his embrace carefully, wiggling free of his arms before slipping her leg out from beneath his thigh. He slept through it all, dead to the galaxy.

In the dim light of the barracks, Echo watched her maneuvers with an amused smile. She shrugged, and he shook his head, crossing to his own bunk. She crept out of the barracks and closed the door silently behind her.

The watch was uneventful. She passed the time by taking inventory of their supplies again, starting a list of items to barter, scavenge, or steal. They were going to need a better ship for Balmorra; that much was certain. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to start putting out feelers among her contacts, though it would be helpful to know exactly what the plan was before she committed to a deal. 

They were also running low on caf beans, which frankly constituted an emergency. She would need to schedule time to make a grocery run with Gregor soon. He had insisted on accompanying her every time she bought food ever since the incident months previously that she had begun to think of as The Great Ration Bar Debacle. According to Gregor, she had the palate of a philistine and a child, and she was not to be trusted to make intelligent choices regarding foodstuffs. Takeout: yes. Groceries: no. Besides, since Gregor did all the cooking, he was the only one who knew what ingredients to buy.

Gregor and Fireball were up before dawn, not that it mattered on Level 1313. The sunlight never reached this deep in Coruscant’s underbelly. Cerra had their caf ready to go in travel mugs, as usual, and she walked with them out to the freighter.

“Be safe,” she said. “And keep an eye on the kid.”

“You do know I’m a battle-hardened veteran,” Fireball pointed out.

“I know,” Cerra said. “That’s why I want you to keep an eye on him.”

Gregor giggled and pulled her into a headlock, rubbing his knuckles vigorously into the top of her head.

“Unhand me, miscreant,” she grunted, flailing her arms to try to break away.

He let her go, then pulled her into a hug. His bulky armor was uncomfortably hard, but she leaned into it anyway.

“Keep the lights on for us,” he said.

“Always,” she replied.

And then they were gone, and Cerra trudged back into the garage to finish out her watch. For once, she was caught up on her recurring tasks and didn’t have any special assignments, so she pulled out the armor chestplate she’d been modifying and began fiddling with it again. She pulled the faulty connectors to see if she could recondition them, but they seemed to have been damaged beyond repair. They were a specialized part, but perhaps she could retrofit the armor to work with something standard. She wished she’d had a chance to salvage a few connectors while she was on Karthon, but it had been a little challenging to go digging for parts with some scughole scrapper taking potshots at her.

She rummaged through Trace’s stockpile of connectors and pulled out a few options that might work. She lost track of time as she tested the parts. She was so absorbed in her work that she didn’t hear the barracks door open.

“Any luck?” Echo asked from close beside her.

Cerra flinched and dropped the connector, which bounced off the workbench and skittered across the garage floor.

“Not so far,” she said with a sigh.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you,” he said.

“That’s all right. None of them were working anyway.”

Echo examined the array of connectors on the table, then reached into the pouch on his belt. He withdrew a handful of parts and dropped them onto the tabletop.

“What about these?” he offered.

Cerra stared. “Where did you get those?”

“From the armory in the Venator on Karthon,” he said. “I got distracted by the ambush and forgot about them until now.”

Cerra picked one up and inspected it closely. “These are perfect! Thanks, Echo.”

He ducked his head and mumbled something about caf. Cerra began reconnecting the control module as Echo wandered to the kitchenette. It didn’t take long, and soon she let out a victorious whoop as the HUD unit in the helmet synced up.

“Yes!” she exclaimed. “Echo, I could kiss you right now. I’ve been tinkering with this for weeks with no luck. I can’t believe it’s finally working.”

“Glad I could help,” he said. “Sometimes all you need is the right piece for a major breakthrough.”

“That’s way too philosophical for this early in the morning,” she grinned.

“And I thought I was being subtle,” he said with an answering smile. “Caf?”

“Yes, please,” she said.

“How do you take it?”

“Doesn’t matter to me,” she said. “I don’t drink it for the flavor.”

“I know that’s not true,” Echo replied. “Gregor knows exactly how you like it.”

Does he? Cerra frowned, pondering. It was true that Gregor’s caf always tasted better, but she’d assumed that was just because everything he cooked was delicious, so it made sense that he would make the best caf out of the group. 

“How can you tell?” she asked.

“Whenever you take your first drink of a cup he makes for you, you get this blissed out expression. I’ve never seen you do it when you taste anyone else’s caf, even your own.”

“Huh,” she said, stumped. “I guess you’d have to ask Gregor, then.”

Echo regarded her with speculation. Cerra shrugged and turned back to continue working on the cuirass. Soon, he rejoined her and set a steaming cup on the table. He waited expectantly, so she picked it up and took a cautious sip. It was… fine. It tasted like caf.

“It’s good,” she said. “Thanks.”

His expression turned smug, as if he knew something she didn’t, but he turned to inspect the cuirass. “Have you already tried on the full kit?”

“Mm-hmm,” she said affirmatively. “I ran into some issues with the pauldron fit.”

He nodded. “I had to modify the arm holes of my cuirass to accommodate the lost muscle mass. The pauldrons kept hitting it whenever I moved my arms.”

“That’s what I found, too. I made the whole cuirass narrower and reshaped it to fit around the chest, but the pauldrons are still catching.”

“If you want to try it on again, I can help you map out the cuts,” he offered.

“I would appreciate the help,” she said gratefully. “You mentioned something about other mods, too?”

“Let’s get the fit right before we start adding things on,” he said. “Whipcord launchers and flamethrowers are nice to have, but if the armor doesn’t fulfill its base function, there’s not much point to it. All it does is add a lot of unnecessary weight.”

They worked together in companionable silence, punctuated by occasional discussions about the technical side of clone trooper armor. Echo’s commlink chimed a few times, and he always typed out a quick response to whomever was sending him messages before returning to the work at hand. By the time Rex joined them, Echo had thoroughly marked up the plastoid in preparation for the next step, and Cerra began removing it and stacking it neatly on the workbench. 

“Hey, Cap,” Cerra greeted Rex. “Fresh caf in the pot. Sleep okay?”

He nodded and ground the heel of his hand into his eyes as he stumbled toward the caf maker. In a rasping voice, he said, “Looks like you two have been productive this morning.”

“We’re making progress,” Echo said. 

“Good,” Rex replied. “Always makes me nervous when she goes out there without armor.”

“You know I survived a whole-ass war without armor, right?” Cerra asked.

“And how did that work out for you?” Rex asked drily.

“No need to be a smartass,” she retorted.

“What happened?” Echo asked.

“Nothing,” she said sharply.

“Durasteel shrapnel,” Rex replied, prompting an irritated glare from Cerra. “Right in the thigh. Nearly bled the kark out.”

“And thousands of other people died in that battle,” she said. “Their armor wasn’t much help when they got vaporized or sucked out into space. It was sheer, stupid luck that I made it out.”

“I’m confused,” Echo said. “I thought you wanted this armor?”

“Oh, she does,” Rex said. “She just doesn’t know how to back down from a fight.”

“And Rex can’t go five minutes without starting one,” Cerra said, disgruntled.

“How long have you two known each other?” Echo asked.

“Forever,” Cerra and Rex said in unison.

Jinx, you owe me a Coke, she thought reflexively, and from the way Echo’s eyes snapped to hers, she knew he’d thought it, too.

“Cerra and I were assigned to General Skywalker’s command at the same time,” Rex said. “She was just as much of a pain in my ass back then.”

“Echo,” Cerra said with a vindictive gleam in her eye, “did Rex give you the ‘experience outranks everything’ speech when you met him?”

“He called me a shiny and told me to call him ‘Captain’ or ‘sir,’” Echo said.

“Sounds about right,” she said. “Of course, by the time he was lecturing me about experience, I’d been serving as long as he’d been alive.”

“As a desk jockey,” Rex snorted.

“Still counts, youngling,” she teased.

“He was probably just nervous because you were the first girl he’d ever met,” Echo said.

Cerra laughed as Rex gave them both a disgusted look. “Remind me why I asked you two to join me, again?”

“Because we both listed sedition on our resumés,” Cerra replied.

“No, it’s because I hoped you could annoy the Empire as much as you annoy me,” Rex retorted.

“You love it,” she said.

“Hmph.” Rex disappeared into his cup of caf for a long moment as Cerra finished removing her armor.

Echo had an odd expression on his face, and he looked back and forth between Rex and Cerra a few times before he seemed to make a decision. “Can I ask something?”

“Shoot,” Cerra said.

“How was Fives after Lola Sayu?”

Cerra felt like he’d punched all the air out of her lungs. She had no idea how to respond, or what could have prompted him to ask the question. She looked to Rex, who lowered his cup slowly.

“He… was angry,” Rex said slowly. “He said the Jedi had a double standard in how the clones were treated.”

“What kind of double standard?” Echo asked.

Rex hesitated, so Cerra answered. “They ordered him to leave you behind, to keep moving. But when the Jedi died, they somehow found time to give him a kriffing funeral. Just for the Jedi, of course. Not for the clones who died to protect all of them.”

Her voice grated with suppressed rage. Rex cleared his throat, patently uncomfortable with Cerra’s open criticism of the Jedi. She took a deep breath and forced herself to stop talking before she went too far.

“After that,” Rex said, “Fives was even more dedicated to protecting his brothers. He felt he couldn’t count on anyone else to do it.”

The group lapsed into silence, and Cerra found that the conversation wasn’t as painful or awkward as she had expected it to be. 

“I asked him, once, if the burden he took on was too heavy,” Cerra said. “Do you know what he told me?”

“Given that it was Fives, I imagine he made a joke,” Echo said.

“He said he was used to it from wearing those massive pauldrons,” she said. “Then he asked if I wanted to sit on them while he ate me out.”

Echo choked. “That sounds like Fives.”

“Gross,” Rex complained. “Nobody wants to hear about what kind of depravity you two reprobates got up to during your leave time.”

“Who says we were on leave?” Cerra smirked. “Besides, you’re no-one to talk. I know what you were doing with—”

“No need to get into that now,” Rex interrupted hastily.

“Wait, who was it?” Echo asked.

“Nobody,” Rex said firmly as Cerra cackled with evil delight. “Now, about Balmorra.”

---

Next chapter

#echo tbb #captain gregor #captain rex #riyo chuchi #oc: cerra kilian #echo x riyo chuchi #gregor x oc #star wars #the bad batch #clone wars #star wars fanfic #tbb fanfic #stars beyond number #dystopicjumpsuit writes #Spotify

[opportunistic-chicanery]

Hellaverse AU

Been wanting to write this since the show was released, but I've been swamped with other projects.

Hacker as a sinner would probably wreck the power dynamics in the show unfortunately. He has so much overlap with both Alastor and the Vs, but for the purpose of this post I don't care. I'll make my own rules :3

He'd probably be a businessman selling just about everything except technology. He's very protective of his tech and therefore won't share it with anyone even though it's top notch. He makes custom tech for himself so he can't be spied on by Vox. As a sinner he died within the last 10 years so is much more in touch with new tech than Vox.

In life he was whatever was under the CEO in a big tech company. His mom was the CEO and ended up screwing him over so he killed her and ended up in hell.

Twist is that he actually joins the Hazbin hotel because he wants to fake reform and go to heaven where he'll kill his mother again. He is very persistent about this and probably not very good at hiding it.

Picture of him below the cut. I drew it for something else so I'll probably redesign at some point, but its more or less what he'd look like:

#hazbin hotel #cyberchase #peering into the black hole ✰ au headcanons ✰

[brawlmetaknight]

Why do you like META KNIGHT so much? What is your history with the character?

it's honestly kinda hard to put into words, but i think when someone has a Big Fave it's usually a mixture of feeling like you can relate to them but also finding them inspiring in some ways. my actual first kirby game was crystal shards on the N64, but i was first introduced to meta knight in 2004 with nightmare in dreamland on the GBA. i must've been like 10, and i just thought he was really cool and strong because of how easy and fun the meta knightmare mode was. nintendo games have been a big part of my life ever since i could barely talk lol, but meta knight was just a character i particularly enjoyed whenever he showed up, like in air ride. INSTA-PICK lol. i had also watched some of the kirby anime around that time, but i think it was when smash bros brawl came out that i really acknowledged the concept of having a Favourite Character and this dude was definitely him.

i was actually part of the kirby fandom way back when deviantart was in its prime (my account is long gone now). i'm pretty sure i drew the first ever daroach fanart on the english speaking internet but that's a story for another day lol. the kirby series was not my only interest though, and i moved on to other nintendo fandoms (mostly zelda) for the majority of my late teens/early twenties. i still played every new kirby release, but i wasn't actively involved in the fandom. it's really only been in the past…6 years? that i found myself drawn back to kirby/smash. part of it might be nostalgia. but thinking about my other favourite characters from different franchises, there's definitely some characteristics i always seem to gravitate to. i don't think you're asking for a character analysis so i won't go there lol, but yeah. i guess he's just a character that has resonated with me for a long time!

#asks #hope this helps™

[historia-vitae-magistras]

I know Matthew plays hockey, but does he ever want to just give up whatever his government job is and take playing hockey to the olympics or at least pro level? I mean it's got to be more fun than whatever secretarial, front man type corporate job he normally has to deal with when working with the gov right? Or maybe getting into farming or something. I dont know, he just seems like someone who'd eventually just lose his shit if he had to be stuck in an office for too long.

I honestly think most of his time in any government post is like the twice-a-decade he gives enough fucks to be involved. Like, what is he going to do in an office? Stamp government documents? Approve things? He's fucken useless in that environment. I think a couple of times he's said fuck it, started over and played pro hockey or Olympic hokey. He's not the only one and probably smashed some faces in. Alfred or Arthur had to help wipe and reset his identity because inventing a whole new set of documents is much more complicated nowadays than 100 years ago, but he's played and then faded into the background. He probably gets away with that more than a lot of nations can. Nice combo privilege of big bro's military-industrial complex and his own insignificance.

I've had him in the parks service as a bootlegger, a sailor, a ships carpenter, a diplomat, a firefighter, a medic, a search and rescue medic, especially a hockey coach, and a hockey player. I'm not about to write shit about people working in an office if I'm candid. I also think he drew a veterans pension for 110 years before the government. "hey wait, the last Canadian World War One vet died 10 years ago."

And as far as money goes. I think he and Alfred got their savings wiped in the 1930s, and Matt kept himself afloat via good ol' imperial nepotism via the old fart while Alfred was on his own since WW2; Matt's financial well-being has been so tied into Alfred's. I had an economics manager who joked that when the US economy stumbles, Canada breaks its neck so there's some fuckery there, but let's be honest; Matt just occasionally gives Alfred the 'you have hurt my feelings' eyes and gets what he wants and like 500 apologies.

When I look at Alfred, I see someone who likes to work when it's something he's interested in. But Matt... always struck me as a bit French. Not that we don't work hard, but Matt hit the "they pretend to pay me, so I pretend to work' attitude sometime in the '70s. And he's half insane? Like man's wandering around the woods half feral for months on end in at least one of my timelines. He comes back needing anti-parasite meds, three kinds of antibiotics and Alfred going over his checkbook like 'what the fuck did you do with your dividend this time?" Like Afred's his own kind of batshit, but he's got a good head for numbers on his shoulders.

But yeah, the best way to keep him human is to let him do shit that actually appeals and keeps the depresso level below catastrophic so hockey, forestry, etc. Working in an office in Ottawa happens but it's rare, and when it goes on too long in tandem with being as lonely as he can be with only one major border, he ends up missing half his humanity and eating raw raccoon liver in the woods. Letting him slapshot Ivan in the face at the Olympics every now and again is good for the budget lmao.

#the ask box || probis pateo #alfred and matt || lonely boys with the longest borders

[isthisfree]

WIP Wednesday - Then there were Tentacles

Anakin and Obi-Wan have been sleeping together for several months now, and it is totally casual (they’re in their delusional era). A supposedly easy mission takes an interesting turn when a ‘of course I thought it was a myth, Padawan, otherwise I would have never camped near their rumored, I mean mythical nesting grounds. No, do not bring up the brain worms again. You want to study one mind controlling worm, once, and you never hear the end of it’ tentacle beast, decides Obi-Wan would make a great host for it’s eggs.

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

Anakin is going to kill his Master. He knew that Obi-Wan had been acting strangely ever since they landed on this Force-forsaken planet. He knew it, but knowing didn't change the fact that he was currently restrained by some sort of tentacle beast, and being forced to watch Obi-Wan get fucked full of another tentacle beast's…eggs? He’s not really sure exactly what’s going on in there. Obi-Wan had been reduced to whimpers and grunts for sometime now.  

Anakin tried to readjust himself to relief some of the pressure in his too tight pants without angering tentacle beast number 1, or Ralph as he had taken to calling him in his head. Ralph wound one of his smaller tentacles through his hair, petting him. Anakin relaxed back against him and sighed. 

When he had asked Obi-Wan why he was so fussy about the location of their campsite, he had been quickly brushed off. ‘I did not realize it was a crime to want to find a peaceful place to rest, Anakin. And it did not take hours. Please do try to tone down your dramatics.’ Oh he’ll show Obi-Wan dramatics. As soon as they get out of this monster fuckfest he’ll…he’ll, we’ll he’s not exactly sure what he’ll do, but it will definitely be dramatic. He’ll use his teenage years as inspiration and kick it up a notch, or 10. 

Ralph gave a series of quick low grunts which Anakin hope was a sign that Esther, the tentacle beast that was currently stuffing Obi-Wan, was almost done. He eyed Obi-Wan, taking in his glassy eyes and ragdoll body and shot a quick plea to the Force. He wasn’t sure how much longer Obi-Wan could take, but he really had no one to blame but himself.

When Anakin had moved to silence the strange “music” Obi-Wan had insisted on playing once they set up camp, which to him had sounded more like grunts of pain than any song he had ever hear, Obi-Wan slapped his hand away. Well he hit his mechano arm so it hurt Obi-Wan more than it did him, but still, he slapped him! It must have been a some sort of call, and oh Force did Ralph and Esther answer. 

Obi-Wan let out a sharp cry and Anakin jerked his head up, eyes flying to his Master’s naked form. Esther had begun to unwrap their tentacles from Obi-Wan’s body. Anakin could see a particularly thick tentacle pull out from his hole, leaving a trail of slime and fluids in its wake. 

Once Esther had completely removed itself from Obi-Wan, Anakin strained against the tentacles holding him, no longer afraid of angering Ralph with Obi-Wan free. He was finally released and collapsed onto the ground; his legs had gone numb. He picked himself off and stumbled over to Obi-Wan, scooping him off of the ground.

He cradled Obi-Wan to his chest and watched Esther and Ralph amble off, giving off a satisfied feeling in the Force. Anakin shuddered and drew Obi-Wan closer to him. He turned his body toward their camp and had only taken one step toward relative safety and some basic medical supplies when he felt a weak slap against his chest. He looked down at his Master. Obi-wan had opened his eyes a crack. He croaked out, slurring his words, “No, Anakin. You need to place me in the water…the eggs…need…it”, then passed out in his arms.

Anakin reluctantly eyed the lake, sighed, and set off toward it. He was so going to kill his Master. 

#wip wednesday #obikin #new fic #so this happened #tentacles

[misshoneyimhome]

Chapter 14 - Part I

Prologue I 01 I 02 I 03 I 04 I 05 I 06 I 07 I 08 I 09 I 10 I 11 I 12 I 13 I 14.I I 14.II

Summary: Upon the girls' arrival in Denver, the New Year is just around the corner; and amidst the cheers of hockey fans and the lively festivities, Julia and William finally find the moment to come face to face.

Tags; William NylanderxOfc; “We never go out of style”

Warnings;  alcohol consumption; 

Author's Note: So, this chapter was meant to be much longer, hence why I've split it into two parts; There were numerous details swirling in my mind for this, but as usual, things never quite unfold as initially planned; Nonetheless, please enjoy! :)

Word count: 3.9K

**

"Who was I to say, that this was meant to be?"

The excitement filled the air as the plane made its way to Denver - a four-and-a-half-hour journey during which Charlie eagerly extracted every possible detail from Julia.

"This is so amazing!" she exclaimed, lightly clapping her hands, and Julia couldn't help but be infected her friend's enthusiasm, expressing a smile and a light head shake.

"Charlie, you‘ve got to chill... nothing's even happened yet."

"I know! But it's just so exciting – you've poured your heart out to Willy... in a voicemail, but still... and now you're flying out to see him! It's just so perfect."

Julia offered a light chuckle, attempting to calm her overly excited friend and downplay the situation a bit. "Easy there, tiger. Technically, I'm just flying out with you ladies to celebrate New Year's..."

"Where Willy will be, too," Charlie swiftly added.

"Yes... I suppose," Julia responded hesitantly, releasing a gentle sigh and attempting to offer a faint smile, as she delicately toyed with the amulet on her new bracelet, the gift from William for Christmas. Gazing down at it, she recalled the true reason behind her visit to see him. And for a little while, neither of the girls said a word until Charlie chose to break the silence.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Julia merely nodded. "Yeah, just a bit nervous, I suppose... I haven't seen Willy since Christmas, and..." She drew in a deep breath before proceeding. "I haven't heard from him all day yesterday... or today." Speaking in a soft tone, she glanced down into the cup of tea she held, eliciting a concerned expression from Charlie.

"And now you’re worried that he’s avoiding you?"

Once more, Julia nodded.

"I left that message last night... and I haven’t gotten anything form him since - no text or snap... nothing."

About thirty seconds passed as Julia attempted to steady her breath, while Charlie pondered how best to comfort her friend. She understood that Julia was grappling with the friends-to-lovers situation, and there really wasn't much she could say to ease it.

"You're having tea instead of coffee? Wow, you must be really nervous, huh?"

The playful comment appeared to brighten the solemn moment.

"Yeah... it’s that bad," Julia chuckled.

The two friends shared another moment of light laughter before Charlie returned to addressing the issue.

"It's going to be alright, JJ - I know that! Maybe he just needs time to process things, just like you did, remember?" she smiled, sensing Julia starting to relax a bit.

"I do remember, babe," she responded with a sweet smile before Charlie continued.

"Oh, I can just picture it - you'll see him, and then there'll be this dramatic moment where you both run towards each other. He'll sweep you into his arms and share a deep, passionate kiss..."

She gestured with her arms and hands, emphasising the romantic intensity of the imagined reunion between Julia and William following Julia's heartfelt message. And Julia could only release another chuckle.

"Have you been watching rom-coms again, Char?"

"I might have binged on all the Bridget Jones movies over Christmas... but only because you brought them up!" 

"Those are good classics," Julia simply replied, her eyes reflecting a blend of nerves and excitement. “But this isn’t some romantic movie, darling – we won’t just see each and suddenly tumble into mad love, as if nobody else is around.”

But her pragmatic outlook didn’t sway Charlie. The Canadian friend simply continued to smile, and eventually, Julia had to concede, rolling her eyes and releasing a resigned sigh.

“I'm just saying... it’ll be wonderful,” and with that, the girls chuckled and dropped the topic, enjoying the remainder of the flight.

**

Meanwhile, the lads were awaiting the transfer en route to Denver, and during the wait, William couldn’t resist playing Julia’s message on repeat. He must've listened to it about 15 times already, a subtle smirk constantly appearing on his face as he absorbed every detail. Her voice resonated with tenderness, and her words had found a direct route to his heart. 

Though, William had struggled with deep feelings in the past and had never quite experienced what others often described as being in love, he was now certain he was close to that feeling.

Late last night, after hearing the voicemail a couple of times, he had spent the following thirty minutes reminiscing about every shared moment they had experienced. Flipping through photos and videos, he couldn't deny that Julia had evoked new and unfamiliar emotions within him. And it wasn’t until her heartfelt confession that he had finally come to realise that these emotions might actually be love.

It hadn’t happened during the playful teasing, earning eye rolls and chuckles, nor during the support he had provided on the ice during their intimate ice-skating outing. Not even during the twinge of jealousy he had felt seeing her with Freddie, or their intimate moment on her bed after the emotionally charged evening with Börje. It didn't occur during their time in the changing room, their close dance in his living room, or when he had confided in his brother Alex that she had come to occupy a special place in his heart.

No, he just hadn’t realised it before now. They had shared countless moments together - conversations on his sofa, the snowball fight, stolen glances at her unclothed form...

And the kiss. Her soft, full lips. Those were genuinely unforgettable.

But despite his newfound realisation, he found himself unsure of how to react. His first thought was to just call her and tell her that he felt the same way. But he hesitated as he wasn’t sure of how to do it. 

Besides, he couldn’t bring himself to do it over the phone. No, he wanted to wait until he saw her again, even though the waiting was tormenting him. But at least he had the message to listen to in the meantime.

***

As the team continued waiting for their transfer, the girls made their way from the Denver Airport to the hotel near the Ball Arena. And upon arrival, Aryne announced their presence at the reception, following Tessa efficiently distributing the room keys. 

"Why did I get a junior suite all to myself when the rest of you are sharing double rooms?" Julia queried, with a playful grin.

And Charlie, wearing a sweet smile, explained, "Oh, they were almost all sold out when we booked the rooms. So, it was either that or you had to share a family room with Aryne and the boys..."

"Junior suite it is, and you won’t hear another word from me," Julia chuckled. 

Although she adored Aryne and the boys, sharing a room with them was not her ideal plan. Aryne was the only one with children on this trip, and initially, they were supposed to have a babysitter. But unfortunately, the sitter had cancelled at the very last minute. Besides, John was actually rather pleased when he heard he’d see his children on New Year’s.

"So, how's it managing room arrangements when this hotel will turn into a brothel?"

The girls burst into laughter at Julia’s cheeky remark, and Stephanie, excitedly, chimed in, "Well, we've sorted it out. I'll room with Charlie; Mitch and Auston will share, then we’ll switch it up, so each couple has their own double room. The same arrangement goes for the rest."

"That's a whole lot of logistics to sort out," Julia chuckled. "Why doesn't everyone just get their own room? I mean, these boys can afford it, right?"

"Sure, but the management finds it easier to have the boys sharing rooms - it's more convenient and takes up less space for the hotel," Audrey explained.

"That makes sense."

However, as the girls began arranging their rooms, Aryne unfortunately had some bad news to share.

"Alright ladies, listen up. I've just spoken to Brad, and unfortunately, the guys won’t be arriving until tomorrow due to some transportation problems."

"What?" All the girls exclaimed simultaneously.

“What happened?” Audrey inquired. “Did the boys mix up their suitcases again, causing them to go back and miss the flight?”

“Or did Mitch forget his equipment again?” Tessa swiftly followed with a remark.

"Hey!" Stephanie exclaimed.

“Oh, come on, you know it could happen,” Charlie chuckled. 

“I know… but still,” Stephanie smiled, and laughter filled the room, as the conversation and concern about the boys' transportation issues continued.

"Actually, it sounds like all the guys were on time and ready to leave, but something went awry in the communication... Please don’t ask me about the specifics; I stopped listening after 15 minutes of Brad explaining," Aryne attempted to clarify.

“So, what do we do now?” Stephanie then inquired, and Aryne simply offered the girls a friendly smile. 

“I suppose the plan for tonight will simply be a girls' dinner-”

“And us!” Jace chimed in.

“… with Jace and Axton,” Aryne added with a laugh. “And then, we’ll catch up with the guys at the game tomorrow. So, let’s all meet back down here in about an hour, and then we’ll head out?”

And after an hour had passed, the girls reconvened in the hotel lobby. Laughter and excited chatter filled the air as they gathered, anticipating the evening ahead, and with each of them donning their best outfits, they embarked on their night out, heading to a local restaurant for dinner.

Throughout the meal, the atmosphere was charged with lively discussions about the thrilling events scheduled for the following night. The team's staff, in collaboration with the wives and girlfriends, had gone to great lengths to arrange an exclusive New Year's event at the hotel following the game. And so, the girls discussed their excitement, sharing expectations and eagerly looking forward to dress to impress.

As they returned to the hotel, a desire for privacy emerged among the group. Most of the girls expressed the wish to retreat to their rooms separately, naturally as they all longed for calling their significant others.

However, Charlie couldn’t help but observe Julia's distant gaze and resist showing concern once more.

"Hey, you alright?"

“Sure, why wouldn’t I be… Oh, you mean this slow burn, painfully torturing me as I keep thinking about Willy and how he may or may not like me in the same way that I like him?” Julia casually joked, her voice carrying a tone of sarcasm, and Charlie couldn’t help but chuckle at her friend's exaggeration.

However, Julia softened her tone with a reassuring smile and a twinkle in her eye. “Actually, I feel fine.”

“So, what’s your plan now?” Charlie inquired.

“Oh, you know me; I’m gonna order myself a large glass of Pinot Noir and then head to my room. I'll put on some tunes and enjoy a long, nice bath,” she explained with a satisfied smirk.

“Sounds like a good plan.”

****

As the evening progressed into night, the boys were finally on their way to Denver. However, it appeared that troubles rarely came alone.

No matter where they turned, issues arose. Whether it was the plane unable to take off, a delayed bus, or a missing driver, the team faced a string of challenges that night.

What was initially planned as a journey of just under 2 hours turned into a gruelling 12-hour drive, forcing them to make a quick stop for some sleep along the way.

And as morning arrived, Julia promptly changed into her workout attire and encountered a few girls in the hallway with her enthusiasm.

“Hey, anyone up for a quick workout? We can go for a-“

But her excitement was met with gentle head shakes and light chuckles.

“No takers, huh? Well, see you at breakfast,” she flashed the girls a smile before continuing her way.

After a good workout session, she joined the girls in the restaurant, enjoying the lively conversations that followed.

“JJ, it’s New Year’s Day - why work out today?” Mathilda questioned, a hint of surprise in her smile.

“Yeah, nobody does that,” Audrey chimed in with an amused smile. “I don’t know why you do it.”

“Well, I’m 5’2, and I cook and eat like I’m twice my size so…” Julia chuckled, indicating her plate filled with a hearty portion of food, hinting that her workout was probably more of a necessity.

“I swear, you and Willy are so meant for each other,” Stephanie added, grinning mischievously.

The girls shared laughter around the table, as they ensured they’d have enough energy for the day ahead.

And after breakfast, the they all planned their activities for the day. Some intended to explore the city, while others, like Charlie, opted for a relaxed DIY spa day indoors.

With undeniable thrill and excitement, she had made an effort to make this day and evening special, as it not only marked her first New Year's celebration with Auston, but also her first New Year’s in a serious, committed relationship. 

"Alright, which one?" Charlie asked excitedly, displaying two potential sets of lingerie to Julia and Stephanie, who were lounging on the bed. 

“Are you seriously asking us to choose your sex clothes for seeing Auston tonight?” Stephanie chuckled.

“Come on, I want to look good and sexy for him! So please help.”

“Babe, you do realise that as soon as Auston sees you, his two brain cells will shut down, and then he’ll eagerly rip off those pieces of fabric as they’ll just be in the way,” Julia chuckled with a raised eyebrow. 

"I know… but I don’t care! Come on, you guys – which one?" Charlie inquired with a friendly grin, earning Stephanie and Julia to glance at each other for a moment before speaking simultaneously.

“The black one.”

****

TOR 6 @ COL 2

The Ball Arena buzzed with excitement as hockey fans filled the arena for the game on this New Year's evening. Leafs supporters mingled with Avalanche fans, creating an atmosphere of enthusiastic shouts and cheers.

And as the girls made their way to their exceptional front-row seats by the glass, Julia felt her palms becoming sweaty. In just a few minutes, the players would hit the ice for warm-ups, and she would no longer be able to escape the waiting of seeing William’s face.

She still hadn’t heard from him, which naturally only intensified the anxiety for this very moment.

And as her breaths became uneven, Charlie offered a comforting gesture, intertwining her hand with Julia's before all the girls began clapping for the players stepping onto the ice.

One by one, each player skated around, practicing shots at goal with pucks flying across the rink. And amidst the activity, they quickly noticed the many of the team's significant others in the crowd, shouting and cheering, earning smiles across all player’s faces.

Then, in a matter of seconds, William suddenly stopped, and his eyes widened upon seeing Julia among the women. Time seemed to slow down as his gaze fixated on her beautiful smiling face, her shining blonde hair flowing down her back, dressed in her white Maple Leafs jersey bearing his number and name. 

He could feel his heart suddenly quickened its pace as he processed the sight of her in the crowd, blinking a few times to confirm it was truly her before their eyes locked.

Julia's gaze met his, their blue eyes connecting and silently conversing across the arena. And as they stood separated by distance, she could feel her heart racing while searching for any clues in his expression.

Then, a wide smile graced his lips, a radiant grin spreading across his face, as his eyes sparkled with joy.

And without communicating a single word, Julia found solace and warmth in William’s smile, as if he silently assured her that her feelings were mutual and there was no need to be concerned any more.

So slowly, Julia felt her shoulders relax and her heart return to a steady rhythm, yet her being overflowed with joy and happiness.

In that profound moment, both of them realised the depth of their connection. And though it felt like several minutes passed, in reality, it might have been only a fleeting moment or two.

However, their intimate connection was interrupted by Tavares, skating over to William and nudging him to join the team for warm-ups, signalling the need to focus on the impending game.

Which turned out to be an excellent match. 

The Leafs swiftly took the lead in the first period, with Marner and Engvall each securing a goal. And though the Avalanches managed to score before the period ended, the Leafs responded quickly with another goal just 34 seconds into the second period by Bunting. Despite the Avalanches scoring another goal, Matthews and Brodie swiftly secured two more goals within a mere 30 seconds, sealing their dominance. And as a cherry on top, Bunting scored the sixth and final goal for the Leafs, assisted by none other than Nylander.

Throughout the entire game Julia found herself smiling uncontrollably, feeling a sense of relief as her anxiety about her feelings for William vanished, allowing her to truly immerse herself in the match.

And as the final buzzer sounded, sealing the incredible New Year’s win, the atmosphere exploded with cheers and excitement. The group of significant others couldn't contain their joy, joining the chorus of shouts and applause directed at their men on the ice. Alongside the rest of the Leafs fans, they sang and celebrated as the players left the rink, before the swiftly gathered their belongings and headed towards the locker room, eager to greet their partners with an overflow of love and congratulations for the amazing victory.

Amidst the kisses and hugs exchanged in the bustling arena halls, William, still in skates and gear, walked purposefully, scanning the crowd for one person in particular.

And as the last one to enter the hallway, Julia appeared. 

So, with determined steps, the Swede made his way towards her, as their eyes met once again, smiles brightening their faces as if drawn together by an unseen force. He practically threw his gloves and helmet on the floor. And just as Charlie had envisioned, William enveloped Julia in his arms, lifting her up and pulling her into a tight embrace, where she instinctively wrapped her legs around his hips and their lips met in a passionate, deep kiss.

In that particular moment, it felt as though the entire world around them disappeared.

The kiss was filled with all sorts of emotions, as their lips massaged each other, showing just how much they’d both longed for this to happen. 

And as they pulled back slightly to catch their breath, William breathed out.

"I got your message." 

Still keeping Julia close, their eyes locked, and light chuckles escaped them both.

"Took you long enough," she almost whispered, a smile gracing her lips, before he gently set her down, his hands still lingering on her.

"Yeah, I'm kind of an idiot like that," William grinned, eliciting a bright smile from Julia as she looked up at him.

"Perhaps, but a lovable idiot."

And once again, the two of them shared a heartfelt moment, finally giving into the connection that had been silently brewing between them for months. In another kiss, they released all the suppressed thoughts and instincts, surrendering to something that had never felt so right before.

"And all because of our meddling!" Mitch's voice rang out from the background, causing both William and Julia to turn and face their group of friends, sharing broad smiles as they observed the scene. "So, who had 4 weeks?"

"Oh, that was me!" Auston announced proudly, evidently the winner of the bet they had made on the night of the Christmas gala.

And amidst the laughter that filled the air, William couldn't help but steal another glance at the girl in his arms. It was somewhat surreal for him to believe that this was truly happening. Julia had been the first person to ever evoke such deep feelings in him, someone who began as a stranger and evolved into a close friend. And after months of their relationship remaining purely platonic, he never thought that she would actually develop genuine feelings for him.

"Alright, guys!" Tavares' voice echoed, capturing the attention of all his teammates. "Let’s wrap it up in here. The girls have something planned at the hotel, so let’s get out asses moving and get ready to celebrate New Year's!"

Following the captain's orders, the group of men shouted in unison before heading to the showers.

And as they waited for the players to finish up, Charlie couldn't contain a massive grin as Julia came towards her.

"Okay, you can say..." Julia chuckled.

And for a second or two, Charlie held a dramatic pause before she exclaimed, "I told you so!" overflowing with excitement, pulling her friend into a tight hug.

*****

Back at the hotel, everyone was dressed in their finest attire, and the hotel's banqueting venue had undergone a stunning transformation into a beautifully decorated room for New Year’s celebrations.

The banquet tables were adorned with delectable dishes for the players, and glasses were filled to the brim with champagne. Despite the late and exhilarating game, everyone appeared to have an abundance of energy in anticipation of the stroke of midnight.

And as the room buzzed with excitement, William’s gaze remained on his new date, Julia.

The girls had made a swift change into beautiful dresses, and he simply couldn’t help but admire the long, tight fitted dress, that formed her curves so wonderfully, and the low v-cut in the front, exposing her chest. And with slow and steady steps, Julia made her way towards William, who’d changed into his pre-game suit, just like the rest of the players.

“You know, it’s not really polite to stare,” she chuckled as she came to stand in front of him. 

“Well then you have to go and change, because you look amazing in that dress,” William simply chuckled as he kept staring at her figure. 

Julia couldn’t help but bite down onto her lower lip, as she considered speaking what was truly on her mind. With a seductive smirk on her lips, she gently leaned in closely. 

“Or… I could… just take it off,” she spoke, sparking a cheeky grin on William’s face, before he leaned down to whisper in her ear. 

“Oh, that’s definitely going to happen.” 

"Oh, come on, lovebirds!" Mitch shouted from the other side of the room. "You'll get a chance for all that later. Come join us here for the countdown."

In the expansive venue, a substantial gathering of players and their partners assembled as the countdown to New Year's began.

"10... 9... 8..." they all chorused together.

Standing amidst her dear friends, embraced by the man she had grown to care for deeply, Julia couldn't help but reflect on all that had happened over the past four to five months. 

“7… 6…”

Never in her wildest dream, had she imagined she’d be standing here among these people, happily jumping into the new year. And not to mention, in the arms of a man, she had met by a coincidence, before the universe had set them up to develop a more profound relationship. 

Just a year ago, she found herself in an entirely different situation, alongside a different man, having different dreams of a future. Yet, in an uncanny twist of fate, here she stood.

"5... 4..."

And as the countdown reached its climax, Julia knew there was no one else she'd rather start the new year with than William.

"3... 2... 1... HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

With beaming smiles, William and Julia shared a tender New Year's kiss, Welcoming the 2023, and embracing their newfound love between them.

#we never go out of style #william nylander imagine #william nylander fic #willy styles #toronto maple leafs fic #nhl fanfiction #nhl hockey fic

[pechadream]

🦋The Butterfly Effect🦋

WOAH it's been almost a full year since my last Luna post, I didn't forget about her I swear-

Here is a (Almost completely) refreshed version of my SDV OC! I'm probably going to make a whole explanation for her timelines and universe in a separate post.

⚠  Do not repost my art or I will come after your kneecaps  ⚠

(Details about each lil segment of the wings under the cut!)

*it is VERY long because I go into detail about each bachelor/ette and how the moment I drew is important to their story with Luna

I made it so each moment with the bachelor/ette in the butterfly wing is when they either realize they're catching feelings or it's a moment during their confessions, I will say I haven't completely finished all 12 rewrites for how the confessions/realizations happens, so some might seem unpolished or unfinished. (Primarily the bachelorettes, since I focused on the bachelors first.)

*Note that this isn't all happening in one universe! I have alternate timelines with different outcomes for Luna, hence me taking inspiration from the butterfly effect, no cheating is going on here-

People who I drew with the idea that there's an active confession happening:

Elliott

This moment is technically the start of his confession, they've been friends for a while by that point and they've been writing each other letters and Luna's helped him grow some plants in her spare time since he expressed interest in learning how to grow things. So when he decided to confess to her he sent her a letter inviting her to dinner with one of the roses he grew attached. (*I'm realizing it might be kinda hard to see the rose in the picture, I'm sorry-)

Sam

With Sam, instead of him confessing, it's actually how Luna confessed. Luna knew he has bad allergies, and she didn't want to risk her bouquet for him triggering them so instead she made a bouquet of origami flowers, which he definitely gushed about to anyone who would listen (Sebastian) And he keeps them in a lil vase on his desk.

Shane

Like Elliott, his is also technically the start of the confession. I haven't really worked on his timeline with luna much yet but I'm pretty sure I'm going to keep his normal 10 heart event with him getting two tickets to watch the gridball match in Zuzu city with Luna.

Leah

Another one where Luna was the one to confess, they've been friends for a while by this point, so Luna invited Leah over for a walk around the farm and to just talk about everything going on (Since her farm was keeping her busy and Leah was busy with her art) Then near the end Luna confessed her feelings and gave her the bouquet. Later on when the flowers were no longer fresh Leah pressed them to keep them preserved.

Haley

I haven't really worked on her timeline with Luna that much, so what I went with for her was just the normal bouquet confession- Although, I will say- I like the idea of Luna actually making bouquets for her spouse to fit their interests rather than her buying a bouquet off of Pierre, so that's what she did for Haley with sunflowers.

(yes, this confession is the most likely to change out of them all when I work on her timeline more)

Emily

With Emily, I was trying to think of her craftier side, so I came up with the idea of her creating a bouquet of Luna's favorite flowers out of felt (or some fabric that holds its shape well) to use for her confession. This one is also kinda pre-confession, although she confesses pretty much as soon as the bouquet is ready.

People who I drew based on them realizing their feelings:

(These are longer since I have to write how they caught feelings and realized them and that is more tricky for me-)

Harvey

With him, the two of them started to fall for each other fast. They'd frequently see each other as Harvey took his walks around town and Luna ran around doing all sorts of errands and deliveries. And when they had free time, they'd have a conversation every now and again. Slowly talking more and more about their personal lives and why they moved to pelican town. Harvey started to open up more to her and break out of his shell as they got closer, he'd find himself more lonely at times and, if there's no work, he'd jot down things that happened that day (even if it were mundane normal things like going to Pierre's) since he knew she'd love to hear about it and he'd just wait for her by the tree outside his clinic.

(I'm so sorry to the Harvey lovers but I had absolutely no idea what to draw for him- I guess it could be seen as him admiring Luna from afar while she runs around town doing deliveries? I'm genuinely not sure, but I'll work on his timeline more and just know this is most likely subject to change!)

Alex

I guess his realization kinda leads into his confession? But I like to think that shortly after his 8 heart event him and Luna went back to her farmhouse to have lunch and continue to talk. And when it was time to leave Luna and him took a small detour so she could show off her new flower patch, she then took a flower and put it in his hair with an added comment of "Hey, it suits you pretty well!" and then that's when the two parted ways since she had to continue her farmwork. All that to say that the drawing of Alex is his expression watching her leave since I love the trope of a character giving the most loving gaze while the other is unaware-

Sebastian

For Sebastian, I was thinking of when he usually stands by the lake at night. I like to think that's when he thinks about his plans for life since he's spent a lot of time before thinking about moving out of town and I doubt he'd think about that when cramped up in his room. And when he started thinking more and more about Luna and staying in the valley that's when he realized he had caught feelings for her.

Maru

Luna previously helped Maru with various tasks and projects, which just by that alone meant that they were going to spend a lot of time together. But when Maru and Luna would just hang out for the fun of it, Maru realized how much she loved spending time with her and how lonely it'd feel without Luna around. *It took a whole reality check from Penny for Maru to realize her feelings though since Maru was in denial

(Maru's drawing is just her admiring Luna while Luna's helping test a gadget since I also didn't know what to draw for Maru-)

Penny

Penny caught on to her feelings fast, she pretty much realized as soon as it happened. She already admired Luna when they met since Luna was so determined to fix up her grandparents' old farm, but when she saw how gentle and nice she was with the kids and how much she took an interest in Penny's interests those feelings came rushing in. The two have frequent meetups at the museum's library on the weekend where they just read together and chat about what's going on in life, which usually ends with Penny getting flustered at Luna's compliments as Luna admires Penny for taking on the task of tutoring the kids in town, which Penny ends up hiding her face with her book to at least cover some of her blush.

Abigail

With Abigail, she also caught feelings very fast. Luna's always been very supportive of Abigail's dreams of adventuring and would frequently offer to come with if she ever noticed Abigail going off to the mines so they could have each other's backs. Abigail also loved how the two of them could pretty much joke about anything, the two of them spent many nights just playing games and joking around and they wouldn't even notice how much time passed until they started feeling like they were gonna pass out right then and there. 

#Stardew valley #SDV #Stardew Valley Oc #SDV Oc #SDV Farmer #Stardew Valley Farmer #SDV Elliott #SDV Harvey #SDV Alex #SDV Sam #SDV Sebastian #SDV Shane #SDV Leah #SDV Maru #SDV Haley #SDV Penny #SDV Abigail #SDV Emily #SDV Timeline #OC: Luna #Luna Lore #(I guess?) #Digital Art #My Art #I regret drawing so many characters- I forgot I'd have to tag them all 💀 #the price of wanting my blog easily navigable #I have some drawings planned for this month but I wanted to get this one out first and this was a PAIN to write- #also I'm sorry to Shane and Harvey lovers #I haven't drawn them before so they look a bit strange‚ I need to figure out how to draw them-

[maliciousdragonets]

I drew a design for Inca! I love how she looks and I loved drawing all her beautiful jewelry. Here’s her lore!

Inca was a large SandWing female who was known for her violent behavior and nature towards any dragon. Scars littered along her body from those she fought and killed, and various sharp spines covered her. She had no second thoughts on killing others and would do whatever she pleased, and did whatever it took to get what she wanted. Even if that meant shedding some blood from others.

She was stolen as an egg from Pyrrhia and brought to Drogonia by a SandWing named Manticore. Her egg was brought into a hidden cave north of Drogonia in a tunnel, where she was placed alongside 4 other eggs. She was then enchanted to be an Animus by a NightWing named Blackout, who helped raise her once she hatched. And made her quite powerful with the enchantments he placed on her. She learned to use her Animus Magic from him, and was skilled enough for her age as she grew and learned more.

Inca was taught about the other continents and royalty through another NightWing, Malice, she was elderly and quite rude. She had always been obsessed with being in charge of those around her, and with the idea of becoming Queen, Inca was determined to get to Pyrrhia and do whatever it took to become Queen. She quickly made up a plan to escape, and went through with it at the age of 10, she had stolen items from the tunnel she was hidden away in and made it to Pyrrhia, where she slowly yet violently begun her plan. She gathered followers who helped her in her plans on becoming Queen, 5 years later, she did it. She used her Animus Magic to take the throne from Queen Rhinoceros, killing her husband and placing both her and her daughter Princess Mesa in an enchanted cell. They wouldn’t be set free until her reign was over.

Inca forcibly ruled the SandWing Kingdom for roughly 7 years and had no dragonets during that time. She brutally murdered any dragon who dared to disobey her or refused to think of her as Queen. Her reign ended when she was killed by another Animus, and her soul was placed inside of a bottle never to be released until someone had summoned her themselves. Once released however, she was bound to the dragon who released her, and could no longer use her magic for evil and is unable to harm anyone unless instructed too. Her enchanted necklace held all her anger and rage inside of it, creating “Inca’s Wrath”. Which was placed overtop the bottle once it was hidden away with all her treasures. Since she was killed and hidden away, no one has seen her in years, and Queen Rhinoceros and her daughter were set free, and reclaimed the throne once again.

It was rumored there was a second enchanted piece of jewelry from Inca herself, called “Sting of the Dragonbite Viper”. A metal SandWing barb that was insanely sharp and longer than a normal SandWing barb. It allowed the SandWing who wore it to have venom as powerful as a Dragonbite Viper’s, and the extended sharp tip made a great stabbing tool, and made injecting poison easier. The piece of jewelry could only be worn by SandWings, (or SandWing hybrids with a tail barb), and gently wrapped around the end of the tail like armor. It was said to be fireproof aswell, even to the hottest of flames, and unable to be broken. It is unclear if this is true or not, since no one knows about treasures and where they are currently kept.

Those who choose to summon Inca are able to “free” her soul. She will loose her Animus Magic all together if freed, she will be reborn again into a normal SandWing, but will still have her memories intact. Her enchanted necklace will stay how it was before, unless it is worn by someone else. (AHEM, Urchin)

(She got fucking genie’d lol, but I did enjoy writing her lore c:)

Inca Fun Facts that make her a little less violent, yes she’s evil but idc rn i’ll let her be happy.

-Inca really enjoyed pottery and its design, and had many beautiful pieces of pottery around the palace which she painted herself. And they all had some sort of desert flower inside of it. She took care of the flowers herself.

-She loved wearing jewelry, her favorite being golden types of jewelry. And even owned a long wine-red cape, which she absolutely adored and always had it kept nice and beautiful just like her jewelry.

-She is a lesbian, and had a secret relationship with a female RainWing named Elegance. Inca always gave her the most beautiful flower she could find within her palace as gifts, and Elegance returned the favors by bringing her various fruits from the RainWing Kingdom. (SEE SHE CAN BE LOVING)

-She wrote many scrolls during her time as Queen, it is unknown where they are now. But she used them as little journals or sketched out animals see sees within the territory.

-Due to her love for pottery, she often made small sculptures or either herself or Elegance, which she gifted to her aswell, and occasionally painted them to look like Elegance.

-Inca had a love for music, but she rarely played anything, she did often hum to herself while walking around the palace.

-While being trapped inside the bottle, she always thought about Elegance and how upset she must be with her or how worried she is.

-Her favorite animal is a snake, specifically Anaconda’s, since they reminded her of Elegance and how her scale pattern looked. And how powerful they looked in her eyes. She’s always wanted one as a pet.

-She absolutely hates NightWings because of Blackout, but liked Malice, since she taught her, and favored DreamWalker, since she was raised with him.

-Because of the alliance of Queen Rhinoceros and Queen Supernova, she got the chance to meet her and was very confused. She also met a tribrid for the first time and nearly shit herself since she didn’t expect how large they’d be. (It was Black Widow and her canon height is 57ft) But she also wanted nothing to do with her, since she was Queen, and not Rhinoceros.

-Inca has snuck Elegance into the palace several times. She’d probably kill you if you even ask about it but it’s more than she’d ever admit, not that she would.

(Look Ik she’s a villain and all but I needed to give her SOME happy things about her, and so that I can ignore her lore. Even tho I wrote it, which is. Violent.)

#wings of fire #wof design #wof #silly sketches #wof sandwing #hehehe funny #wof villians #holy fuq I love villainous characters #lesbians

[crazy-lazy-elder-sims]

Hi so i talked alittle before about my 5+ year artblock and how im Slowly forcing my way out of it by drawing ocs..

if you have been following me for a while you would know i have a fake band in the sims called WeiRdoW and i decided to start drawing them in what i always wanted my style to look like growing up but never got around to it because people around me would complain to my mom about how creepy and scary it was ( the main theme of my art growing up was eyes and spirals and an underlying feeling of horror or danger but that freaked out people i guess) and she would snatch my art and tear up my silly doodles in to pieces so i was forced to draw "perfect" art for a while which led me to my art block but i managed to save some small peices here and there of my old stuff and im Gonna post them also since im Being brave right now ...

First here is Batsy and Androida

Batsy was the first thing i drew after 5 years of doing nothing and thats why he is alittle wonky and fish like as i was not sure what the fuck was i doing i might redraw him again lol

Androida is awsome and im So proud of how it turned out i did get carried away with her hair alittle but eh it was therapeutic lol also im still trying to remeber prespective and shit so thats slightly wonky too but im So proud of my self for making these and im excited for the rest of the band ❤️

Here is some of my old art that managed to survive ( some of these i only have pictures of cause its original was torn up but i had taken pictures before that happened)

Unfortunately all the art i made in my early- mid teens is gone all i have is stuff from 19 to early 20's

These here are the only surviving stuff from then im Really proud of those especially the first one ❤️

Here is some other stuff that i drew right before my art block i tried to make pretty art so i would get to keep my sketches but still tried to inject my style into it there are other ones than these that i dont like cause they are your typical instagram art lol

Tumblr only allows 10 images so i might reblog with more if im Still feeing brave about it i have some stuff where i attempted to use color and some stuff where i tried to draw in the art nouveau style and some more "Instagram/Pinterest art" ones that i hate alot but those are what convinced my mom to leave me the hell alone so yeah if anyone is interested in seeing those let me know

Also i might share my warm up sketches which are basically pages full of eyes lol

Anyway if you made it to here thank you so much for reading ❤️

#non sims #personal #my art #art block #clz reblogs #queue for you

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

Camp Wanamaker (Ch. 9/10)

September 21, 2023

Notes - This didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would, but it still feels like it took me ages to finish, if that makes any sense haha. This was a lot of fun to put together and I hope you like it as much as I did writing it!

Chapter 9: Merely Players

Heavy thumps echoed throughout the grounds of Camp Wanamaker as hail poured from the clouds above. It had rained since the night before, but had turned to hail overnight. Thankfully, all those who had gone to the carnival on Saturday had gotten home before the hail had begun, but it wasn’t long after dinner that everyone began running for cover. It had started off simple - tiny chunks of hail coming in mixture with the rain. However, as the night progressed, the size of the hail grew to more than the size of a dime and inched closer to that of a quarter. 

The cracked remnants of pavement in the parking lot took a battering as hail bounced off of the fifty-year-old tar and, as hail bounced off of the roof of the main office, a sigh drew from the lips of a particular brunette. Dark gray clouds overhead loomed with the threat of violence and, as green eyes scanned the parking lot, she wondered how well the cars would hold out from the beating. The poor Tesla sitting just outside of the border of an old maple tree would be lucky if it still had its windshield intact by the end of the storm while she was sure the trucks and old jalopies would make it out just fine regardless of where they sat in the lot. Maybe she would be able to get some dents out with hot water and a plunger if need be - she never got the chance to test it before. 

Standing from her seat on the wrap-around porch, Hayley stood and made her way inside to grab another bottle of water from the cooler behind the desk. So long as none of the hail bounced its way through the screen door, she was fine to come and go from the building as she pleased. Holding the door open for her loyal companion, Hayley watched as Ding trotted his way into the office, a slobbered trail of drool marking his pathway as he spotted the glass jar of treats on the desk.

With a fond shake of her head, Hayley dropped into the swivel chair behind the desk as she inched the cooler out from its hiding spot. Tugging a bottle of Poland Spring from its spot nestled between chunks of ice and cans of slightly-above-room-temperature Baja Blasts, Hayley pushed the lid of the cooler shut and shuffled it closer before resting her feet on it for good measure. Reaching for the jar on the desk as she placed her dripping bottle on a folded napkin, she sent Ding a look and waited for him to sit before tossing him a taco-flavored treat.

As the slobbering dog inhaled the treat, Hayley chuckled and shook her head. For a Sunday morning, the camp was quiet. Normally, the local members of staff would make their way back to the grounds for work after spending the weekend home with family and would be running around the campus with their friends and the long-distance campers they had bonded with over the summer. That day, however, things seemed far quieter than normal. With the final day of the local carnival being the day before, she wouldn’t have been totally surprised to see carpooling parents dragging their hungover children to the grounds, but a majority of those that had left on Friday night had returned on their own volition. Sure, some wore sunglasses and clutched bottles of either water or aspirin, but most seemed chipper and eager to work through the final week of camp. There were some who hadn’t yet appeared that Hayley hoped were simply stuck in traffic or stumbling their way to the front door with the stereotypical grumblings of lights and sounds being far too much for them to handle, but if they weren’t there by lunch, she would call. 

Twisting the cap of her bottle open, Hayley nudged the clipboard of campers and their emergency contacts closer. Some had called to opt out of the final week with claims of sickness - a common occurrence so close to the back-to-school season - while most called to confirm a bunk was still available. Setting her bottle aside and running an absentminded hand through Ding’s fur, Hayley reached for the paper Charlie had left on the counter and checked through it to make sure none of the call-outs were on the list of actors her wife had provided. The list had been thorough - not unusual for Charlie in the slightest - and had gone so far as to list the ensemble characters that didn’t even have names. What was odd, however, was that Charlie hadn’t listed any names for the understudies.

Hayley shrugged, maybe Charlie had simply forgotten to list them. Her wife often got so absorbed in her current project that she couldn’t think of much else unless it was placed in front of her on a silver platter. Taking another sip of her drink as she slid the paper and clipboard to their original places, Hayley gave Ding a good scratch behind his pointed ears and wiggled the computer mouse to wake it from its slumber. She had to update the camp’s website and send out a notification to all parents that the camp’s final hurrah for the summer would be that weekend. With the campfire awards on Friday night and the big show on Saturday, most of the nearby hotels would find themselves relatively full of eager families hoping to get a good spot at every available event.

Hayley snorted as the computer pinged with email notifications - she didn’t envy any of those parents in the slightest. A familiar tune filled the air and Hayley glanced away from the screen long enough to spot her sister’s name at the top of her phone screen. Picking up her device and accepting the call, she put it on speaker before saying, “Hey, Chels.”

“Hayley, have you seen Vivien today?” her twin asked. “I tried asking her about the show on Saturday and she hasn’t gotten back to me.”

“They’re doing Hairspray,” Hayley commented as she began typing out the email that would be sent to every parent and guardian on the roster for the summer.

“I know that,” Chelsea sighed and Hayley could imagine her rolling her eyes. “She was supposed to tell me when we should get to the camp for it.”

Hayley paused in her typing, glancing at her phone with a disapproving frown. Her sister and brother-in-law came to camp for the performances every year, regardless of whether or not one of their kids was in the show - how did they not know when to show up? It was the same every year. “Let me check real quick,” Hayley said, forcing herself to bite her tongue as she hastily typed something into the email and pretended to click around a few times. “It starts at six, so I would get here for four if you plan on having dinner here.”

“We won’t be,” Chelsea replied. “Damien and I are having dinner with the kids at that new Korean place in Laconia before we go.”

“Ah,” Hayley breathed, nodding to herself as she sent out the email. It wasn’t odd for her sister or her husband to pick the kids up for dinner on the last day at camp and Vivien had brought up wanting to try the new restaurant’s hot pot more than once. It would be fun for all of them. “Do you think Viv will be back in time for the show?”

Hayley heard a pause on the other end before her sister admitted, “We weren’t planning on taking her this time, what with her working and all. Figured she would be too busy to get time away.”

If the glare Hayley sent her phone would have shot through the screen and hit her sister, she would have been an only child. Taking in a slow breath to steady herself, Hayley said, “I thought Vivien wanted to try that place.”

“I didn’t know,” Chelsea said, to which her sister mouthed “Bullshit.” There was no way her sister hadn’t heard her own daughter’s excited ramblings in the car or the lengthy phone calls to her friends talking about how exciting it would be to try. To anyone else, it could have been just a simple show of ignorance, but to Hayley, it meant more than that, and her sister’s next statement only cemented that. “Abby and Oliver found some pictures and a few TikToks, so we decided we would try it. She can go with us next time.”

As much as Hayley wanted nothing more than to tell her sister off for disregarding the child she had literally begged for nearly seventeen years prior, Hayley resigned to a simple hum. She would be sure to tell their parents about the turn of events - their mom would handle her with a level of graceful rage that Hayley had never quite possessed. The verbal lashing would be worth her silence in the meantime. “In that case, maybe show up at five-thirty so you can get good seats.”

Chelsea hummed and Hayley overhead a faint scratch of pen on paper before her sister said, “Okay, see you then.”

“See you,” Hayley replied, but the call had ended before he had finished her sentence. Staring at her phone, she muttered, “Bitch.”

“Nice to see you too,” a voice chuckled, forcing Hayley’s gaze to fall upon her beloved niece. With a smile, Hayley relaxed in her seat as Vivien asked, “So, who pissed in your Cheerios this morning?”

With a roll of her emerald eyes, Hayley met her niece’s gaze and huffed, “Your mother.”

“Enough said,” Vivien snorted.

“Did you know she’s a raging cunt?”

“I live with her, so yeah.”

“More power to ya, baby girl.”

“So,” Vivien drawled as she leaned against the desk, “would you care to tell me why she’s being a bitch today?”

“Vivien,” Hayley attempted to correct, “please don’t call your mother a bitch.”

“Why not?” Vivien asked. “We both know she is and you’re the one who just called her a-”

“I know what I said,” Hayley quickly interrupted, “but if your Nonna comes in while you’re calling your mother a bitch, I’ll have to answer for it.”

With a snicker, Vivien pushed away the mischievous glimmer in her eyes and resigned, “Fine, but will you at least tell me what she did?”

Despite feeling more than tempted to do just that, Hayley shook her head, “Just know that you’ll be getting a front-row seat to a verbal lashing on Saturday.”

Intrigue flooded Vivien at once as she asked, “Nonna?”

“Nonna,” Hayley agreed with a nod. “Now, what are you doing here? I thought you, your boy toy, and my painting buddy were all spending the day cuddled up in bed, surrounded by books.”

“My boy toy’s brother is currently snuggling with the toilet,” Vivien sighed. “Royce thinks it was the lobster mac-and-cheese, but I thought it was the turducken.”

“Turducken?” Hayley echoed with a raised eyebrow. “Is that a-”

“Turkey stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a chicken,” Vivien nodded. “We all had at least a bite of Miles’ lobster mac, but Ben was the only one to try one of the samples of turducken. He said it was good, but he didn’t look so hot last night.”

Hayley nodded as she soaked in the information, “With any luck, he’ll get it out of him quick and be back to normal.”

“That’s why I was hoping to find Nonna and her magical bag of pills,” Vivien commented. “She always has something in there to make people feel better quicker.”

“That she does,” Hayley mused. Pulling one of the desk drawers open, she peered into the disaster area her father had created over the last few weeks and pulled out a box of tiny green pills before holding it out to Vivien. “I’m no Nonna, but here. Make sure to have Miles read the instructions before he gives Bentley any, but that should get his stomach settled. Have him drink some ginger ale while you’re at it - it helps all the same. If worst comes to worst, we’ll take a trip to the pharmacy for something stronger.”

“And you’re sure this’ll work?” Vivien asked.

“Like I said,” Hayley began, “I’m no Nonna; I don’t have a magic bag of pills. I do, however, know all too well how well those work. If he can keep it down, great. If not, don’t push it and stick to fluids. Gatorade and ginger ale are best for a sick stomach.”

Rounding the desk, Vivien brought her arms around Hayley’s neck, allowing the woman to reciprocate the hug before muttering over her shoulder, “Thanks, Auntie.”

“Anytime, munchkin,” Hayley breathed. Patting her niece’s back, she waited for Vivien to pull back before taking her hand and squeezing it. “Now, go get that to your friend, and let me know how it goes.”

Vivien nodded dutifully, giving her aunt a mock salute and thanking her once more before giving Ding a quick pat and making her way back outside. Hayley watched as Vivien ran under the cover of the large trees that lined the camp. She hoped the girl’s trip to the office would be effective in helping Bentley. As she watched her niece depart, Hayley sighed. She was sure she would hear all about it sooner or later. Turning her chair around once Vivien disappeared from her line of sight, Hayley looked at the lazy dog who had chosen to curl up on the wooden floorboards. All he had to do was eat treats and fall asleep in a drooling puddle. He didn’t have to answer emails or phone calls or worry about sick children all day. Lucky mutt.

As though someone was listening to her thoughts, the landline phone on the desk began to ring. Taking in a deep breath, Hayley righted her posture and picked up the phone, hoping her customer service voice had taken effect as she answered, “Camp Wanamaker front desk, this is Hayley. How can I help you?”

“Hi, Hayley, my name is Justin Collins,” the person on the other end of the line said. “I’m calling in regards to my niece Victoria.”

Picking up the clipboard from the desk and flipping a few pages in, Hayley nodded despite knowing the man on the other side of the call couldn’t see her, “I see her in our records.”

“Well, she just told me that she’s supposed to be in this year’s play,” he continued.

Leaning to the side enough to glance at the list of actors Charlie had supplied her with, Hayley hummed, “She is, yeah. Miss Tracy Turnblad herself. You must be proud.”

“Well, I hate to say this, but we won’t be able to make it to the show,” Justin said.

“Ah, well, we do record the show and send a copy to all parents once the audio has been edited,” Hayley said. “I can make a note to give her extra flowers during the final bows if you’d like.”

“Well, you see, I’m afraid she won’t be able to be in the show at all,” Justin said. “We got a call this morning that her grandfather fell down the front steps of his house and broke his leg. We’re heading down to Maryland in about an hour to stay with him and help him recover.”

Glancing wide-eyed at the paper Charlie had left for her, Hayley swallowed thickly and said, “I’m so sorry.”

“We are too,” Justin said. A voice in the background of the call said something Hayley couldn’t quite make out and Justin relayed, “Victoria wanted to apologize in person, but we can’t make it out before we leave.”

Despite her inner panic settling in, Hayley kept her voice even and calm as she said, “We totally understand. We’ll have Victoria’s understudy take over the show. Just tell her to help take good care of her grandpa and we’ll make sure to save her a spot in the next play we put on if she decides she wants to try out next year.”

“I don’t doubt she will,” Justin chuckled. “Thank you for understanding; especially on such short notice. We’ll see you guys for the arctic blast if you decide to host this year.”

“I think the camp in Northfield is putting it on this year, but yes, we will see you there,” Hayley said, offering some final pleasantries before setting the phone back on the hook. Tugging a pen from a cup on the corner of the desk, Hayley scribbled a quick note next to Victoria’s name on the clipboard before reaching for the note Charlie left her. Knowing Charlie wouldn’t have gone through with the performance without a lengthy list of potential understudies, Hayley scratched a single line through Victoria’s name and set the pen on the table as the phone began to ring once more.

Answering as she had earlier, Hayley smiled as a familiar voice came over the line, “Hey, Hails, it’s Annie.”

Annie Foster had been Hayley’s roommate in college and the pair had gotten immensely close during their time living together. More often than not, the pair had spent almost every evening on the couch, shoving ice cream or microwave noodles in their faces as they watched movies they borrowed from the next dorm over. After finding out her friend was back in the area for the summer, Hayley managed to convince Annie to let her kids attend her family’s camp to give Annie and her husband some time off before the next school year. “Annie, hey! How are you?”

“Could be better,” Annie sighed. “Rowan, his cousin, and some of their idiot friends got into an accident last night after they left the carnival. We’ve been at the hospital all night.”

“Oh no, is he okay?”

“Broken femur, but he’s fine otherwise.”

Hayley chuckled, “I’m surprised you sound so calm.”

“Yeah, well, I had the last ten or so hours to tear into him, so most of the initial rage is long gone,” Annie laughed. “Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that the hospital is putting him on bed rest for a while, so he won’t be able to go to camp this week.”

Flipping a few pages down on the list of campers, Hayley found Rowan’s name and clicked her pen before scribbling a note beside his information. “That’s alright, Ann; I get it. We’ll mark it down.”

“Thank you so much, Hails,” Annie breathed. “I’m so sorry about this. I hope you guys can find a replacement for him in the show.”

“The show?”

“Yeah, he said something about being in a musical this year,” Annie said. “I guess some girl he liked was trying out for the lead so he tried out and ended up in the show. We were supposed to see it, but with him laid up like this, I’m afraid he won’t be able to make it.”

Glancing at the paper Charlie gave her that morning, Hayley took in a breath and asked, “Was the girl’s name Victoria, by any chance?”

“That sounds familiar,” Annie offered. “It could be.”

“Well, tell him that, if it is her, she’s been called out as well,” Hayley stated, bringing Charlie’s list of actors over so she could take Rowan’s name off the list. “They had a family emergency in another state.”

“Wow,” Annie breathed. “Well, I’ll let him know. Thanks again for being so understanding. I’ll try to make it to drop-off for Micah, but if I’m not there today…”

“You can always bring her tomorrow if that makes it easier,” Hayley suggested. “A lot of the out-of-state people with too much money on their hands do.”

Annie graciously accepted the offer and gave a few brief words before ending the call, allowing Hayley to place the phone down before running her hands into her hair with a groan of frustration. With their production of Hairspray now up to the understudies, Hayley hoped Charlie had something good cooking in that brain of hers. With any luck, she picked someone who could handle the spotlight with grace and ease; someone who was up to the task of holding the whole show on their shoulders for the night.

“What do you mean you don’t have any understudies?” Hayley wondered with wide eyes as she watched her wife pace in front of their bed. Returning to their little treehouse apartment after dinner, the first thing she chose to tell her wife was that they would need to gather the understudies for Link Larkin and Tracy Turnblad. What she hadn’t expected in the slightest was for Charlie to start panicking, pacing the floor of their room and rattling off a bunch of nonsensical sentences before hesitantly admitting there were no understudies on the roster.

“I didn’t think I would need any!” Charlie exclaimed in astonishment. “They all said they would be here for the week and that they could handle it. I wasn’t accounting for any of this!”

“You couldn’t have known this would happen, Char.”

“What are we going to do?”

Hayley shrugged, “I don’t know if I’m the person you should be asking. I wasn’t with you at the auditions.”

Charlie was quick to shake her head as she said, “Most of the others who auditioned said they weren’t sure they would be able to make it. I might have to pull people from the staff to fix this.”

Hayley thought for a moment. It would be hard to find people on such short notice. Most of the actors had a month or so of rehearsals and prep; it would take a lot of hard work and dedication for someone to jump right in during the last week of practice. Off the top of her head, she could think of only a handful of young staff members who would be willing and able to make it through the week. “What about Carrie? She could fill in as Tracy.”

“She’s my assistant this week,” Charlie said with a shake of her head. “Riven’s working as stage manager and she’s helping me with everything. I can’t go through this week without her to balance things.”

“Okay, what about Vivien and Noah?” Hayley offered. “They’re both capable.”

“Noah sings like a wounded cat and we both know how Vivien likes the stage,” Charlie huffed.

Hayley shook her head. There had to be another way to get Vivien on stage. As a self-proclaimed theatre nerd, Vivien loved musicals and all sorts of plays, but couldn’t bear being on center stage herself. If only there was a way to convince her to get up there. “What if we bribe her?”

“Bribe her?” Charlie echoed. “Bribe her how?”

Hayley smirked, “I can think of a few ways.”

“Do you think they’ll work?”

“Only one way to find out.”

“Hell no!” Vivien shot down as she stood from her seat next to Charlie on the edge of the pier. 

It hadn’t taken Charlie long to concoct a plan to get Vivien on board for the show, however, she hadn’t accounted for so much pushback from the girl. After talking it through with her wife a few times that morning, she made her way down to the Lakeside Lodge to talk with her niece one-on-one. As they walked to the pier, Charlie explained the situation before asking the girl to join the cast in the lead role. Her response, however, was not what Charlie had expected. 

“Why not?” she asked as she pushed herself to her feet.

“I could think of a whole list of reasons,” Vivien began, “starting with the fact that there are enough to constitute a list.”

“But you would be incredible up there!” Charlie tried. Bringing an arm around Vviien’s shoulders, Charlie began gesturing with her hands as she said, “I mean, just imagine it; you standing on center stage with a big bouquet of flowers as the crowd applauds you on the best performance of your life.”

Copying Charlie’s motions, Vivien said in a similar tone, “The first few rows covered in my vomit during the first song as obnoxiously loud sixties music pumps through the playhouse.” Charlie grimaced and Vivien chuckled, “Exactly. Look, I love musicals - Hairspray is actually one of my favorites - but I’m not made to be on stage. I’m meant to sit in the audience and try not to sing along.”

“That’s exactly why I want you up there,” Charlie said, stepping away from Vivien and taking the teen by the hands. “I’ve heard you sing and I’ve seen you dance with Hayley when we’re watching the movie. You practically know the whole show by heart and you’d be perfect up there.”

“I just don’t see it,” Vivien said with an apologetic smile and a shrug. “I’m sorry, Char.”

As Vivien turned to walk back to the lodge, Charlie tried to think of a way to reel her in before blurting, “What if I can get Royce on board?”

Vivien stalled mid-step, slowly turning back toward her aunt with a raised brow. “What?”

“What if I can get Royce to play Link?” Charlie restated. “I mean, think about it. You two would be working together on everything and you’d have someone up there to keep you relatively calm.”

“I don’t think Royce would do it,” Vivien said with a shake of her head. “He doesn’t like being on stage either.”

Charlie paused before asking, “What if I told him about the kiss at the end of the show? Do you think that would change his mind?”

“I doubt it,” Vivien shrugged. “We’ve never kissed and I doubt he’d want to do it in front of everyone like that.”

“It would give you both the chance to practice on your own,” Charlie said with a wiggle of her eyebrows. “Besides, I’m sure I can come up with something that would get him on board.”

“I’m not so sure.”

Charlie was quick to brush her off with a wave of her hand, “That doesn’t matter. All I need to ask is that, if I can manage to rope him in, would you be willing to play Tracy for me?”

Vivien thought for a while; what did she have to lose? Royce would never agree to be in a show like that. He told her himself that he doesn’t even like being on stage back at Big Momma’s; why on earth would he be willing to play the lead role in a musical where he would have to be in front of a couple hundred people? Inwardly smirking, Vivien nodded, “Alright. If you can manage to convince him to play Link, I’ll have no problem helping out as Tracy.”

“Do you mean that?” Charlie asked, a glimmer of hope shining in her rich chocolate eyes.

Vivien hated knowing she was getting Charlie’s hopes up for nothing, but as she offered her aunt a smile, she hoped the woman wouldn’t be too upset with her. “Yeah, of course.” Vivien tried to hide her surprise as Charlie let out a squeal of excitement and brought her into a tight hug, thanking her repeatedly as she bounced them around the end of the pier. Chuckling over her aunt’s shoulder, Vivien hoped Royce would find it in him to let the woman down easy.

After spending the majority of his free time over the last week bingeing both available seasons of a show Vivien recommended to him, Royce had spent his time in the library pulling books about ghosts from the shelves to try to figure out if there was any truth to the CBS show. Ghosts had been a great show and, while he hoped it would be renewed for a third season, he just couldn’t understand how easily the main character adjusted to seeing dead people walking around her house. If that had happened to him, he probably would have admitted himself to the nearest mental institution and declared he had actually gone insane. 

For the most part, it appeared as though everyone’s opinion on ghosts differed. Some found it spooky while others found it endearing, some found it dangerous while others reveled in haunted locations around the world. Fleetingly, Royce wondered if ghosts wandered the land the camp had been built on. In the show, a Native American ghost named Sasappis and a Viking named Thorfinn roamed the property long before the house had been built. It wouldn’t have been totally outlandish if old spirits still lingered.

Royce paused in his reading. Maybe that would explain why he always smelled sawdust and fish in the mornings. With a shrug, he returned to his borrowed book. Maybe sooner or later he would see if Vivien felt up to ghost hunting with him. They could set up camp in one of her favorite abandoned buildings and try some methods from one of the books. The spooky season would soon be upon them, after all, and according to a majority of the books he had read, something called a veil would be thinning as they got closer to Halloween, making it easier for ghosts to communicate.

As Royce turned to a page about the differences between types of hauntings, the door in front of his desk swung open, banging against the wall as a brightly-colored figure entered. Looking up from his book with wide eyes, Royce relaxed as he took in the image of his girlfriend’s aunt. “Sorry about that, Royce,” Charlie said, pushing the door closed behind her as she entered the relatively quiet library. “The wind snatched the door from me, I guess.”

Tucking a bookmark between pages, Royce smiled, “That’s alright. Vivien’s not here, though.”

Charlie shrugged, “Thanks, but I wasn’t looking for her.”

“You weren’t?” 

Charlie shook her head, “Nope. I was looking for you.”

“Me?” This time, Charlie nodded. Royce glanced toward the window that gave him a clear view of the playhouse and sighed, “I don’t know what you’ve heard, but whatever it is, Carrie started it.”

Charlie paused as she pulled a chair over to Royce’s desk, looking over at the boy with a smile as she asked, “Was that a Hamilton reference?”

Letting out a nervous chuckle, Royce shrugged, “Maybe.”

With a snicker, Charlie sat down, “I take it you like musicals, then?”

“A few,” Royce agreed. “Viv’s made me sit through so many bootlegs that I’ve lost track of how many.”

“You know,” she began, “that’s actually something she and I bonded over way back when.”

“Really?”

“Mhm,” Charlie hummed. “I majored in musical theatre, so when I found out that Vivien had a literal wall of Playbills from over the years that she kept at Hayley’s old apartment, I went a bit overboard and started trying to bond over that more than anything else.”

Royce chuckled, “Did it work?”

“Not at first,” Charlie admitted, “but it was progress all the same. Nowadays, she’s just as crazy as I am about musicals and everything theatre.”

“So I see.”

Giving the boy before her a smile, Charlie said, “Actually, that’s sort of what I came to talk with you about.”

“You and Vivien’s shared love of Broadway?”

“In a roundabout way, yes.” Chuckling, Charlie shook her head and said, “You know how Carrie and I are in charge of the big performance this year, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, our leading actors just left us hanging,” Charlie stated with a sigh. “I am currently scrambling to find actors to fill the role, but with such short notice, I’m running out of options.”

Without much hesitation, Royce suggested, “Vivien would be a good fit. She’s told me before that she’s practifcally memorized Hairspray.”

“She would be great as Tracy, but she doesn’t want to.”

“What? Why?”

“Stage fright, mostly. I mean, I can’t blame her. I was terrified my first time on a stage. It’s just-” Charli cut herself off with a sigh as she rested her elbow on the desk and leaned her chin on her palm, “I know this role would be easy for her.”

“I’ve heard her sing ‘Good Morning Baltimore’,” Royce admitted. “She would be great as Tracy.”

“She would,” Charlie nodded, “but she doesn’t want to do it alone.”

Royce sighed, “I wish I could help you convince her, but since I’m in the same boat, I doubt she’d let me push her much.”

Lighting up as though Royce had come up with the most incredible plan known to mankind, Charlie leaned forward, grabbing Royce’s hands with a squeal, “That’s it!”

“What’s it?”

“You could play Link!” Charlie exclaimed.

“Huh?”

Ignoring Royce’s confusion, the woman with the pepto-bismol-colored braids continued, “If you join the cast as Link, that would help convince Vivien to be our Tracy. That way, you both have someone to help you on stage and, at the end of the day, you get to share one of the most memorable kisses in theatre history!”

While her statement might have been a bit of a stretch, the speed at which it stopped any further arguments from tumbling out of Royce’s mouth made Charlie’s smile spread only further. It took the boy a while to process the information, his mind stumbling to catch up with the words Charlie had verbally tossed his way. Eventually, he met her eyes and softly asked, “We would kiss?”

Charlie nodded, “Toward the end of the final song ‘You Can’t Stop the Beat’, there’s a kiss between Tracy and Link. Of course, it could always be just a stage kiss, but if we wanted realism…”

“She would have to kiss whoever is playing Link,” Royce finished.

Charlie hummed in agreement, watching the wheels in Royce’s head slowly turn as he took in this new information. For a while, Royce appeared to go back and forth, weighing the pros and cons of being in the camp’s production. Then, just as he seemed ready to regretfully shoot her down, Charlie squeezed his hands with hopeful eyes and a beaming smile, hoping it would break his already fragile resolve as she asked, “So, what do you say?” 

“Well…”

“And you said yes?” Vivien asked in bewilderment as she followed Royce to the array of cooked eggs and pancakes.

“You didn’t see the look she gave me,” Royce tried, deliberately keeping his gaze on the spoonful of scrambled eggs he had just added to his plate. “She looked like one of those sad puppies in those charity commercials. I couldn’t say no to that.”

Shooting her boyfriend a blank stare, Vivien huffed, “Two letters; you couldn’t manage two letters, Royce?”

“It’s not my proudest moment, okay?” Royce sighed. “I just thought that it would be nice.”

“You hate being on stage.”

“Yeah, but when you and I were forced into karaoke back at Big Momma’s, it wasn’t so bad,” Royce offered. “I figured this couldn’t be too different.”

Mentally beating the butterflies in her stomach with a baseball bat, Vivien took in a breath and said, “As endearing as that is, I was hoping you’d tell her anything but yes.”

“I know I have no say in this,” Bentley began as he reached between the pair for a pancake, “but I think you both will be amazing in the show.”

“Thanks,” Royce said.

“Thank you, Beemer,” Vivien sighed. “I just wish it could have been a smaller crowd.”

Bentley glanced Vivien’s way as he backed up a step and swiveled around his brother, “Says the one who literally performs for arenas full of people almost every weekend in the winter.”

“That’s different,” Vivien claimed as she stepped around Bentley to grab some sausage patties. “On the ice, I can hardly see anything other than colorful blobs flying by. On a stage, I have no choice but to stare into the soul of some rando while acting as though I can’t see them.” She groaned, “Just thinking about it is making me feel sick.”

Royce placed a gentle hand on Vivien’s back as he walked behind her, offering her an apologetic smile as he said, “We can always say that we need to back out.”

“And leave them scrambling to find two other victims?” Vivien asked rhetorically. “It just wouldn’t feel right.”

Royce opened his mouth to agree, but was cut off as Bentley passed behind them and muttered, “Incoming.”

Before either Vivien or Royce could ask what was going on, a pair of arms landed on their shoulders, dragging them closer to the head of curly blonde hair that had settled between them. Carrie’s signature, mega-watt smile turned toward both of them as she cheerfully said, “Well, if it isn’t Miss Tracy Turnblad and Mister Link Larkin.”

“Hi, Carrie,” Vivien breathed, a ghost of a smile appearing as the blonde released her and her boyfriend. “I take it Charlie told you already.”

“She did and you have no idea how excited I am to work with you both,” the blonde practically squealed. “Not like you’ll need a lot of help. You both have incredible chemistry already; we’ll just have to move it into the limelight.”

As his girlfriend attempted to cover a grimace with a nervous grin, Royce said, “We were actually just talking about that.”

“Oh, good!” Carrie said with a cheery smile. “Rehearsal starts around ten and goes to eleven-fifty, but because you’re both joining late, Charlie said we might also be doing an afternoon session with some special emphasis on the two of you so you can get used to everything.”

Before Royce could argue that they were thinking of leaving the production, Vivien took his hand and sent him a subtle grin before saying, “That would be great. We’d hate to drag all of the other actors down because we missed so much.”

Carrie hummed approvingly before saying, “In that case, I’ll let you get back to making breakfast and we can talk more on the walk to the playhouse.”

As Carrie sauntered her way back to the table, Bentley snorted, “So much for dropping out.”

Royce elbowed his brother as Vivien reached for a cup to fill with juice and remarked, “It’s only one night.”

“Yeah,” Royce agreed. “It’s not like we’re signing our lives away.”

“Tell that to Carrie,” Bentley chuckled as he moved around Vivien to make himself a drink.

“We’re on stage for maybe a total of two-and-a-half hours and then we’re done,” Vivien sighed, more to herself than anything. Glancing between the brothers on either side of her, she offered them a grin as she said, “I mean, come on, what’s the worst that could happen?”

Vivien used a huff of air to blow her bangs from her eyes as Charlie helped her zip up the dress she had taken off the rack. It seemed as though the universe had taken her simple, rhetorical question as a challenge - something that had definitely not been her intention. While she knew that costumes played a big part in any musical, she had somehow forgotten that signing up to play one of the leading characters meant you were stuck trying on every single costume possible for your character and the era they lived in.

This dress, however, felt nothing like the soft fabrics she knew were popular in the early sixties. Though she couldn’t tell her aunt this, she had actually been to the sixties and knew for a fact that not everything was made of itchy, rough fabric that felt as though it would leave little red bumps everywhere if you let it brush your skin. Mick, Carrie, and some of their friends made sure Vivien felt comfortable in every outfit she bought in the first week of her stay with them. The dress Charlie was having her try on was nothing like the flowy, gentle fabrics she knew and loved from the long-gone era.

Staring at herself in the mirror, Vivien wondered if she could convince Charlie to change the costume to one of the ones she kept tucked away in her closet since her stay in the other world. Glancing at her aunt’s reflection, Vivien took in a breath and said, “It’s itchy.”

Charlie looked up and met the eyes of Vivien’s reflection before smiling, “I know, but this is just a mock-up. We’ll be going to a vintage store in a few days to find something that works.”

Deciding to bite the bullet, Vivien offered, “You know, I actually have a few legit vintage dresses at my house. Can we just use those?”

“We might be able to,” Charlie said as she nudged Vivien to turn toward her. “Do you have any pictures?”

Vivien nodded and stepped down from the platform, making her way to where she had left her belongings and grabbing her phone. It didn’t take long for her to find the folder dedicated to all the photos she had taken in her favorite sixties clothes. Tapping on the first image, she held the phone out to her aunt and said, “Just scroll through and you’ll see them all.”

Charlie hummed as she scrolled through the pictures on her niece’s phone, “We could definitely use some of these.” Vivien smiled, hopeful that she would be dressed in something far more comfortable than the dress she was in. As Charlie reached the end of the folder, her eyebrows raised and she chuckled, “Where did you take this?”

Glancing over her aunt’s shoulder, Vivien chuckled nervously as she took in the image of herself and the Murphy brothers brandishing water guns on the beach. Gingerly taking the phone from her aunt, Vivien said, “Remember when I went to California for February vacation?” At her aunt’s nod, Vivien continued, “Well, Miles and the boys surprised me with a water gun fight while Mick and Butchy were having a date night.”

“Ah, well, it looks like you had fun.”

“We did until Bentley filled his with salt water and nailed Miles in the face.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah.”

“Anyway,” Charlie began, “those outfits could work. If you want, we can go pick them up after rehearsal this afternoon.”

Vivien nodded as she looked through her phone, “I think my dad’s going to be the only one there. Abby said she was going to the mall with Courtney and Becca later, and I think Mom said she was taking Olly to physical therapy and then school shopping.”

“We should be able to get in and out pretty quickly then,” Charlie mused. After a moment, she shrugged and made a gesture with her hand before sighing, “We can talk about it later. For now, let’s go see how Royce and Carrie are getting along.”

Following her aunt toward the stage, Vivien took in a deep breath and sighed, grateful to at least have been able to keep her sneakers on. Her lack of coordination in anything with a heel would have resulted in yet another actress leaving the production. Closing the door to the backstage area, Vivien winced as she heard Carrie let out a noise of frustration. Charlie stilled, glancing over her shoulder at her niece who merely shrugged as though the woman should have anticipated things going as well as they were. The closer they got to the stage, the more they could hear Carrie and Royce arguing, and with every step, Vivien watched the hope in Charlie’s eyes die just a little more.

Yeah, they were in for a fun week.

“I just don’t know what to do!” Carrie complained as she paced the playhouse’s front porch. 

After lunch, the entirety of the cast had assembled in the playhouse, hoping to give the show the only fighting chance it had left. Their morning practice hadn’t gone so well as they watched Royce and Carrie argue about, well, anything they could think of while everyone else tried to keep at least some semblance of hope alive. Now that they had reconvened in the playhouse, Vivien and Royce were backstage with a majority of the cast, getting ready for their first full rehearsal with everyone, giving Charlie, Carrie, and Riven the chance to talk about how to handle everything being thrown at them.

Crossing one of her legs over the other, Charlie sighed from her seat on a tree stump, “It’s certainly going to be difficult with Royce at your throat the entire time.”

“I thought having Vivien around would calm him down, but no,” Carrie paused to place her hands on her hips. “It seems as though he just hates working with me no matter what.”

“It doesn’t help that Vivien is too focused on her fear to tell him to stop,” Riven mused, the old railing of the porch tilting to the side as he leaned against it. “Normally, she’s pretty quick with it, but today she’s so out of it that she never even tried.”

“I hate to say this,” Charlie began, taking in a deep breath as she glanced from Riven to Carrie, “but between your fights with Royce and Vivien nearly fainting under the lights alone, we just might have to call the show off entirely.”

Carrie’s frustration began to ebb as she met Charlie’s eyes and asked, “But what about ‘the show must go on’?”

Charlie shook her head, glancing at the leaves on the ground as she sighed, “If we don’t figure something out before the end of the day, there might not be a show at all.”

Riven glanced over his shoulder as voices carried from the inside of the playhouse. Turning back toward the women, he said, “I’ll try to talk with them. Vivien’s good about taking advice and minor criticism, so I doubt it’ll take much for her to want to work harder. Royce, on the other hand… I’m not really sure what to do there.”

The fire in Carrie’s eyes appeared to reignite as she rolled her eyes, but Charlie was quick to cut the blonde off as she spoke up, “Carrie and I will figure something out. We’ll give you some time to talk with them, and we’ll be inside in a few.”

Glancing between Carrie and Charlie, Riven nodded wordlessly and shifted away from the railing. Carrie watched as he made his way back inside the building and, once he was gone, she turned her attention back to Charlie as she moved to sit on the front steps. “So, do you have any advice for me here? Any words of wisdom from someone who has been there and done that?”

“Not really,” Charlie said with a chuckle as she moved to sit beside the blonde. “Vivien was nine and was sort of like an angry Chihuahua - all bark and hardly any bite. If I truly wanted to - and, believe me, there were many times when I did - I could have easily dropkicked her and called it a day.”

A snort left Carrie before she could stop it and the pair shared a smile as Carrie said, “But you didn’t.”

“There were days when it was very tempting, but no, I didn’t.” Taking in a deep breath, Charlie said, “With Royce, you’re dealing with an entirely different can of worms. He’s more like a wounded Rottweiler - ready to snap back if you approach him the wrong way.”

“And I don’t get why,” Carrie sighed.

“If you had asked me before, I would have said it was a power struggle. He didn’t want you to have a say in anything he did, and you both are very strong-willed; it only made sense at the time. Now, on the other hand…” Charlie allowed her comments to drift off as she thought for a moment. “Now, if I had to guess, I would say most of it is due to him wanting to protect himself and those he loves.”

Carrie took in the older woman’s words before sighing, “But I’m not a danger to any of them.”

Charlie shook her head, laying her hand over Carrie’s before speaking, “Listen, Vivien told me that you and the boys didn’t exactly get off on the right foot, and it isn’t hard to see that most of it stems from your relationship with Miles. Royce loves Miles with everything he has, and while a part of him knows that you make Miles happy, he doesn’t want to see him get hurt if the relationship goes down in flames. He pushes you to see how far you’re willing to go to keep your relationship with Miles.”

“That sounds about right,” Carrie mused, “but what do I do to keep him from trying to pick a fight in there?”

Allowing herself to come up with a few options for the evening, Charlie said, “We can work on it together for now and hopefully get him to focus on the big picture. With any luck, he’ll focus more on Vivien and keeping her at ease than he will on verbally tearing you limb from limb.”

“Using his love for her as a distraction,” Carrie spoke thoughtfully. “It could work.”

“Let’s hope,” Charlie agreed. “Then, in the morning, we’ll switch.”

“Switch?”

Charlie’s hair bobbed as she nodded, “I’ll work with Royce on his stage presence and maybe enlist Miles’ help getting him to sing without his voice shaking. In the meantime, you’ll work with Vivien to hopefully make her more comfortable on the stage and get her to really showcase her talents.”

“Do you think it’ll work?” Carrie asked.

“One can only hope.”

The next morning, Vivien found her usual morning with Royce and Bentley interrupted as Carrie asked her to help her set up some things in the playhouse. Though both Royce and Bentley offered to help, Vivien had told them to just relax and that she would see them in the mess hall before allowing Carrie to walk her to the playhouse. As they propped the doors open to allow some fresh air to circulate through the log building, she got a good look at the stage and attempted to keep the intimidation coursing through her veins to a minimum. 

Sure, growing up, she had been in many little plays on that very stage, but she was never the main focus; that was something reserved for the older kids. Now that the time had come for her to be one of those “older kids,” Vivien didn’t know what to do. Though the stage had seemed huge as a kid, it felt no less intimidating, and standing center stage was no easy feat. The idea of a few hundred pairs of eyes staring up at her, watching her every move and every mistake in real time was daunting. This wasn’t like some video online that she could clip together in order to make herself look like a good actress - this was a legit performance in front of all of the friends she had made over the summer as well as their extended groups of friends and family.

As she begrudgingly followed Carrie into the building, Vivien tried not to shudder as panic swelled in her stomach. She would be lucky if she made it through another rehearsal without becoming a human pancake on the floor. Taking a deep breath as she followed Carrie onto the stage, Vivien shook her head and said, “I don’t know how you’re so comfortable performing in front of people.”

Carrie laughed, “Well, I've always wanted to be a star, so I guess it just always felt natural to me.”

Vivien made a noise of understanding as looked out at the rows of chairs they had set up the night before, but quickly turned her gaze back toward Carrie as she asked, “So, what did you need my help with?”

“Your confidence.”

The sixteen-year-old’s confusion was obvious as her eyebrow lifted past the edge of her bangs and her head tipped to the side. “I’m sorry; what?”

“I brought you here so that we can spend some time working on getting you more confident on stage,” Carrie explained. “Your Aunt Charlie and I both think that all you need is a bit of confidence to get you to show off your full potential.”

Vivien huffed, “You do realize that I never even wanted to be in this show in the first place, right? Like, the only reason I even said I would was because I thought she would never be able to convince Royce to join the cast.”

“I sort of figured,” Carrie shrugged. Smirking at the girl, she said, “You don’t seem like the type to want to be in front of thousands of people.”

“I’m not.”

“Says the competitive figure skater.”

“Well,” Vivien began, picking at her cuticles as she tried to avoid meeting the blonde’s gaze, “it’s not the same as competitions. On the ice, I hardly notice anyone and I don’t have to worry about the audience knowing me.”

“And you do here?” Carrie wondered. Before Vivien could answer, the blonde continued, “Most of the people that will be here are only here for their kids and won’t be bothered much by the performances.”

“Yeah, but-”

“Maybe Riven was wrong about you,” Carrie interrupted, hoping the advice the aforementioned male had given her would work as well as he claimed it would. Vivien tentatively looked up and Carrie continued, “He talks about you being this tough, take-no-shit, little badass, but I think she went into hiding because I haven’t seen her in days.”

“I’m just nervous,” Vivien muttered.

“And I totally get that, but,” Carrie sighed, a tone of disappointment obvious in her voice, “I was really hoping to see this firecracker lighting up the stage as the iconic Tracy Turnblad. Your aunts say that you’ve memorized the show since you were little.”

“I did, but that’s different,” Vivien claimed. “I wasn’t performing for anyone other than my family back then. Here, I’m in front of people I don’t even know.” 

“And since when have other people’s opinions ever bothered you?”

“Since it would mean embarrassing myself in front of everyone I love,” Vivien admitted. “Here, it’s not just random people or just my family. I also have to worry about making a complete fool of myself in front of Royce and his brothers, Mick and Butchy, you, my parents, my siblings, my aunts, Riven and the girls, and practically everyone I grew up with here that’s now on the staff. It’s just,” Vivien paused to take in a deep breath, “the idea of letting them all down is making me physically ill.”

“If they truly care about you, they’ll love your performance regardless of how it turns out,” Carrie spoke softly. “Besides, you’re insanely talented. I’ve heard you sing in the car and at karaoke night; you dance freely to music even if you’re the only one who hears it; and you captivated everyone when the power went out and you and your friends were acting out scenes from that video game. I hadn’t even heard of it before and I loved it!”

Vivien slowly looked up as she muttered, “I don’t see how.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Carrie said, taking Vivien’s shoulders and encouraging the girl to meet her gaze. “What I’m trying to say is that, whether you see it or not, you belong up here.” 

“You really think I do?”

“Yeah,” Carrie nodded, “and I totally get being too worried about screwing up - we’ve all been there before at some point - but just know that, even if you decide to quit, I would have loved to see you setting the stage on fire Saturday night.”

Vivien drank in Carrie’s smile before the hands on her shoulders disappeared and Carrie moved around her, heading for the stairs. The tapping of the blonde’s shoes on the wood was the only sound in the building, but Vivien could hear the gears spinning on overdrive in her brain as she turned against her better judgment and asked, “What number do you want to work on first?”

Stalling halfway down the center aisle, Carrie slowly turned, fighting to keep her smile hidden as she asked, “What?”

“What number do you want to see?” Vivien restated. “I know all of them.”

“You know all the songs?”

Vivien nodded, “And almost all of the dances, if we’re going by the movie’s choreography.”

“We can work with that.”

“Right here, right now?” Vivien asked.

Carrie nodded, “All you have to do is make me believe that you belong on that stage.”

“But you said-“

“And I meant it,” Carrie claimed as she began walking back toward the stage, “but you have to be able to make everyone else believe it too. Make everyone see that you own that stage and that nobody can take it from you.”

Vivien allowed the older girl’s words to sink in as the blonde approached the edge of the stage. Then, despite everything in her screaming to make her way off the stage and out of the building, she said “Pick a song. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

After looking Vivien over for a moment, Carrie smiled and called out, “You heard her, Riven. Give me ‘You Can’t Stop The Beat’ on Tracy’s rehearsal disc.”

Wide green eyes flickered toward the far side of the stage where the sound equipment was kept, yet found it nearly impossible as the lights above the stage came to life. Squinting at the sudden brightness invading her eyes, Vivien turned her shocked gaze toward Carrie who simply gestured for her to continue as she sat in one of the available chairs. Taking in a sharp breath, Vivien tried not to let her panic get the better of her as the music started and forced herself to sing.

“You need to project your voice, Royce,” Charlie reprimanded. “We’ve been over this.”

Royce sighed, placing the songbook back on the stand before him as he looked over at the woman, “Don’t you guys have microphones or something?”

“We’re building sets out of plywood and cardboard, the lights were a donation from the high school when they got an upgrade in the nineties, and the sound system is hanging on by a thread,” Charlie commented as she paused the CD player and flipped back to the beginning of Royce’s solo song. “What on earth gave you the idea that we have microphones for everyone?”

Visibly deflating, Royce muttered, “I just can’t find it in me to be that loud.”

Miles snorted from his seat, looking up at his younger brother with a smirk, “From what I’ve heard, you were plenty loud enough yesterday when you and Carrie were getting into it.”

Rolling his eyes, Royce scoffed, “That’s different.”

“How?” Charlie pressed. “Yesterday, you were fighting to be louder than her any time she spoke. Now, you have to fight to be louder than the music. There’s not much of a difference if you ask me.”

“Now, come on,” Miles said, gesturing to Royce with a hand. “Really push your voice.”

“I don’t want to yell.”

“You won’t be,” Charlie reassured. When Royce still appeared to be unconvinced, she moved the music stand away from him and took its place with a smile, “Try this; I want you to close your eyes.”

Royce looked between the woman and his brother, who merely shrugged, before closing his eyes, “Alright.”

“Visualize yourself in a room full of people,” Charlie began, “lots of silverware clanking, people dropping stuff, talking loud, and being generally obnoxious.”

Royce chuckled, “Like dinners in the mess hall?”

As Miles laughed around a sip of water, Charlie nodded, smiling as she said, “Exactly. Now, your voice has to be able to carry over the din. You have to get up over all of that to be heard in the back of the room where I’m sitting, listening, straining to hear you.”

With a small smile, Royce opened his eyes and breathed, “Okay.”

“Okay?” Charlie restated. As Royce nodded, she said, “Good. Keep all of that in your mind when we do this.”

“I’ll try.”

“That’s all I ask, sweetheart,” Charlie replied with a smile. Turning toward Miles, she said, “First note again, please. This time, Royce, just try to copy the note and hold it for as long as you can.”

Nodding, Royce listened to the note Miles pressed on the piano and attempted to replicate it. Shaking his head, he tried again, and as soon as he found the right note, he held it, watching to see whether Miles or Charlie would stop him. Then, as he tried to push his voice just a fraction louder, Charlie reached forward and pressed into his stomach, the action forcing his voice louder than he had ever heard it without a microphone. With wide eyes, he held the note until a laugh of disbelief passed his lips instead.

“What was that?!” he asked as he looked between Miles and Charlie as the latter took a step back.

“Your diaphragm,” Charlie said simply. “Normally, you’d only recognize it as the muscle that causes hiccups, but singers use it to make their voices stronger.”

Royce chuckled breathlessly, “How does that even work?”

“I don’t know all of the science-y details,” Charlie said with a wave of her hand, “but it strengthens your breathing and makes your singing voice that much better.”

Still reeling from the sound of his own voice, Royce looked to Miles and asked, “What do you think?”

“You sounded great, RJ,” Miles commended, a proud smile present as he stood from the piano seat. “Think you can do it again?”

“I can try.”

“You’ll be great,” Miles said as he dragged a folding chair closer to his brother and sat. “Just imagine how shocked Vivien will be when she hears you.”

Royce looked away, a timid smile and a dusting of red flooding his features at the thought. Before he could get too wrapped up in the ideas flowing through his brain, however, Charlie tapped him on the arm and asked, “You ready to try the song again?”

For the first time in their session, Royce didn’t feel as though he was lying as he nodded and said, “Yeah.”

Carrie kept her eyes on the ground as she followed Charlie to the main office. She hadn’t been there often since the summer started, but after Vivien’s grandparents pulled them aside after lunch to see how the play was going and asked them to attend a meeting that afternoon, she had no choice but to follow the older woman to the old log building. Carrie wasn’t necessarily worried about the meeting as the old couple had been nothing but nice to her since her first visit to the camp, but there was something in their tones - a sense of urgency, maybe - that gave her pause.

“So,” she began as she stepped over a partially exposed tree root, “what do you think this is about?”

Charlie shrugged, glancing back at the blonde, “They do this every year just to see how things are going and to see if we need anything. Normally, it would be done within fifteen minutes or so, but they like to talk with the new staff, so be prepared to be there for at least an hour.”

Carrie let out a breathy laugh, “Are you speaking from experience?”

“Oh yeah,” Charlie chuckled. “You should have seen how they were when Riven decided to help last year; I think that meeting lasted maybe two and a half hours.”

“I guess we’re in for it, then,” Carrie sighed as Charlie led her to the front steps of the main office.

“You could say that, yeah,” Charlie nodded, pulling the screen door open and stepping inside. Once Carrie was inside, Charlie led the way through the building to a room where George and Dawn were sitting on one side of a table, talking. “Mom, Dad,” she began, grabbing the couple’s attention, “Carrie and I are here for the meeting.”

“Good timing,” George said with a smile as he glanced between the two in the doorway.

Gesturing towards the chairs on the opposite side of the table, Dawn said, “Take a seat, girls.”

Taking a seat across from Dawn, Carrie smiled at the older pair and watched as Dawn nudged her husband, encouraging him to speak. George glanced at his wife before turning his gaze to Carrie and asking, “Did Charlie tell you what this is for?”

Nodding, Carrie said, “She did.”

“Good,” George began with a nod, “so I guess that means that, unlike the meeting I had when Riven joined the crew, I don’t have to tell you that you’re not in trouble for anything.”

“Not unless you want me to get in trouble,” Carrie offered.

“Not particularly,” Dawn chuckled. “We just want to see how things are going with the show. We heard you lost your leads at the beginning of the week.”

“We did,” Charlie confirmed, “but we got Vivien and Royce to cover.”

Dawn turned to her husband with a curious look before turning back to the pair before her as she asked, “And how is that going?”

“Fairly well,” Carrie said. “Vivien’s coming out of her shell a little more with each practice.”

“That’s impressive,” George mused. “She’s usually a shy little thing on that stage.”

“We noticed,” Charlie snickered.

Dawn smiled, “What about Royce? How is he holding up?”

“He’s getting better,” Carrie claimed with a shrug. “He’s never been a big fan of the spotlight.”

“But after some work on projecting his voice and a few basic dance lessons with Vivien and the rest of the cast, he’s improved a lot up there,” Charlie tacked on.

George’s eyebrow lifted as his curious eyes found Charlie’s, “How did you get him to agree to be up there if he doesn’t like the stage?”

“I told him that Vivien would join if he did, which was true,” Charlie stated. “She said that, if I managed to get Royce to play Link, she would join as Tracy.”

“So you tricked them?” Dawn said slowly, her tone a gentle reprimand as she stared down her daughter-in-law.

“I’m not exactly proud of it,” Charlie admitted with a nod, “but they’re doing amazingly together and I think that, for only having a few days of practice, they’re going to be wonderful Saturday night.”

With an amused shake of his head, George said, “Well, as long as they’re alright with it, I suppose it’s alright.”

Dawn nodded, glancing down at the paper before her as she asked, “Alright, well, next on my little list here - do you girls need anything before the closing night? Costumes, makeup, hairspray - anything like that?”

“We have plenty of makeup,” Carrie spoke up, “and we got a crate of hairspray from that dance supply company down in Manchester.”

“And most of the costumes are taken care of,” Charlie stated, “but most of the clothes for Vivien and Royce were ones we had gotten in Victoria and Rowan’s sizes, so I might need to sneak up to your house and grab some extra things from the attic.”

Glancing across the table at the older couple who nodded in understanding, Carrie asked, “You keep costumes in your attic?”

With a nod, Dawn explained, “It’s mostly just some of our old clothes from the sixties and seventies that I couldn’t be bothered to part with, but there are some more vintage items up there that I either made or collected from over the years.”

“You make your own clothes?” Carrie asked, a sparkle in her eyes as she met Dawn’s eyes.

“I used to do it all the time, but not so much anymore,” the woman shrugged. “Feel free to look around and try things on. Hell, bring the kids with you and let them see what they feel looks best for their characters.”

“Are you sure?” Charlie asked.

“She wouldn’t have offered if she felt otherwise,” George chuckled. 

Dawn hummed her agreement before saying, “How about you go over in the morning and start searching through everything early so that you can get a final run-through in the afternoon?”

After glancing at Carrie who nodded, Charlie smiled and said, “That could work.”

“Good,” George stated with a grin. “We’ll make sure someone can cover for all of you while you’re gone.”

“Now,” Dawn began, folding her hands and resting them on the table with a beaming smile, “enough with all of this work business. Tell me, Carrie, how has this summer been treating you?”

“Are you sure we should be doing this?” Royce asked as Vivien tugged him toward the bubblegum pink Volkswagen Beetle her aunts had left in the shade of an oak tree. “I mean, we’re practically breaking into your grandparents’ house.”

“Relax, would you,” Vivien scoffed. “We’re not breaking in.”

“It sort of feels like we are.”

“It’s not breaking and entering if we have a key,” Vivien offered, tugging a set of keys from her pocket and holding them for Royce to see. “And, for your information, they told Aunt Charlie and Carrie to take us. Therefore, we can’t get into any trouble.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Charlie chuckled as she watched her car’s roof lower into the trunk. “With you around, there is always room for trouble.”

Pressing her hand to her heart with a fond smile, Vivien nodded, “I wouldn’t be myself if I didn’t cause at least a little mayhem from time to time.”

“Let’s try to keep the mayhem to a minimum this time,” Carrie said as she lowered an oversized pair of sunglasses onto the bridge of her nose and opened the car door for the kids to climb in.

“I make no promises,” Vivien offered with a shrug as she jumped inside the car.

Offering Carrie a somewhat apologetic grin as he settled into the seat behind the blonde, Royce said, “I’ll try to contain her.”

Despite her confusion at Royce’s almost friendly demeanor, Carrie offered the young couple a smile and slid into her seat as Charlie started the car. During the last week, she had noticed Royce acting far nicer toward her than he ever had before. There had been moments where they had been civil for the sake of those around them - Miles and Vivien particularly - but since they had begun working on the musical, Carrie had noticed a shift in Royce’s behavior. On Tuesday, working with him was like pulling teeth, but just a few days later, he was being exceedingly nice. At first, she had worried about him potentially pulling a prank on her, but after much reassurance from Miles, Bentley, and Vivien, she chose to accept it for what it was. She was still curious, of course. Something significant must have happened in order to make such a big change in Royce’s personality. It could have been his confidence or the surreal feeling of being one of the main focal points on stage, but whatever it was, she had no intention of pushing him to tell her what had changed. So long as he was being somewhat cordial with her, Carrie wasn’t going to question it.

Before long, Carrie found herself watching as Charlie flicked on her indicator and turned into the driveway of a house with large, white pillars in front. Glancing in her rear-view mirror, Carrie watched Royce’s eyes widen as he drank in the view of his girlfriend’s family home on the hill. The mansion stood in all of its glory, the morning sun illuminating the grassy hill just beyond the pristinely shaped bushes on the edge of the building. To someone that had never been there before, but knew the family, Carrie could imagine the old mansion would be a surprise. It had been to her. She could only imagine the thoughts racing through Royce’s head as he slowly turned toward his girlfriend with a smile and began talking in a hushed voice. Though she couldn’t hear much over the wind and the sound of gravel crunching under the car’s tires, Carrie knew he had to have said something funny as Vivien let out a bark of laughter. 

The car rolled to a stop by the front steps and Charlie pulled her keys out of the ignition with a smile. “Home sweet home,” she declared as she stepped out of the car.

Carrie smirked, getting out of the car and pushing the seat forward to allow Royce and Vivien out. As he slipped out from the backseat, Royce found Carrie’s eyes and said, “You don’t seem surprised by this.”

Sensing his silent question, Carrie explained, “When Viv and I had our girl’s day, she took me here.”

“I did,” Vivien agreed with a grin. Looping her arm around Royce’s, she said, “Just wait until you see the inside.”

Royce chuckled, allowing Vivien to tug him toward the house as Carrie trailed behind. Pushing her sunglasses on top of her head, Carrie followed the others inside and closed the door behind her. With a smirk, she watched Royce’s wide, tawny eyes scan the expansive entryway, the shock obvious in his eyes as he examined the robin’s egg paint on the walls, the warm glow of sunlight passing through vaulted windows, and the ornate details of the chandelier that hung above the doorway. Though she hadn’t taken much of a look around in her previous visit, Carrie found it endearing how lived-in the otherwise extravagant house felt. Shoes discarded in and around a rack by the door, unopened letters scattered across the top of an antique cabinet, a fishing hat perched haphazardly on the knobbed end of the stair railing, and a wicker basket full of dog toys that all showed they had been loved by Dopey Ding at some point in the dog’s life.

Charlie glanced over her shoulder at the others as she made her way to the stairs, “We can give Royce the full tour later, but for now, we need to get into the attic and find some of Nonna’s crates of clothes.”

“Aye, aye, captain,” Vivien said with a mock salute, taking Royce by the hand and ducking around Charlie as she ascended the stairs.

Following close behind Charlie, Carrie lowered her voice and asked, “How long do you think this will take?”

“Vivien’s not the pickiest kid, so not long once we find where everything is hidden,” Charlie claimed. “I think trying things on will take the most time.”

“What happens if we can’t find everything we need?”

Charlie took in a slow breath as they reached the landing, turning to Carrie with a small grin, “We raid the nearest Goodwills and maybe the Salvation Army.”

As Carrie let out a breath of a laugh, Charlie brought her arm around the blonde and guided her down the hallway toward where Royce was standing, watching his girlfriend twist an old, metal door knob. “I hate this fucking door,” Vivien grumbled, giving the bottom of the door a soft kick.

“I think the feeling is mutual,” Charlie chuckled, stepping up to the door and nudging her niece aside. Pushing the knob inward and giving it a twist, Charlie pushed her shoulder into the heat-swollen door, shoving it open to reveal a steep staircase riddled with traces of cobwebs.

Glancing up at the ominously dark attic, Royce muttered, “Is it just me, or does this feel like one of those horror movies where there’s demons in the basement or something and the first one up the stairs ends up dead by the end?”

“It’s just an old house,” Carrie claimed, stepping around Royce and flipping on the light switch just inside the doorway before beginning to climb the steep steps.

Royce turned to Vivien with a grin, “Can I say it?”

Charlie’s eyebrow lifted curiously as Vivien chuckled and shook her head, “Nope, you promised.”

“But she makes it so easy,” Royce sighed with a roll of his eyes, only mildly upset at his missed opportunity.

Glancing between the pair, Charlie asked, “Am I missing something here?”

Vivien smirked, “I bet Royce that he couldn’t be nice to Carrie for the rest of our time at camp.”

“Really?” Charlie wondered.

Royce nodded, “So far it’s not as hard as I thought it would be.”

“Maybe that’s because you’re not seeing her as the enemy for once,” Vivien suggested.

“Doubtful,” Royce said before making his way up the stairs.

Turning to her aunt, Vivien said, “We started a couple of days ago when I realized how awful he was being to her. Yesterday, he was fine, but he’s actually making an effort to be nice to her today and I think she’s catching on.”

“Even if she does,” Charlie began, “I doubt she’ll have an issue with it. After all, I remember a certain someone doing something similar a few years ago.”

Vivien grinned, her cheeks warming as she began making her way to the attic in order to ignore her aunt’s fond smile, “Where do you think I got the idea?”

With a shake of her head, Charlie asked, “Is that what happened back then - Hayley bribed you into being nice?”

With a nod and a chuckle, Vivien confirmed, “Yeah, but I think the terms back then were a bit more lax.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Mhm,” Vivien hummed. “Back then, I would have lost my Gameboy and movie choice privileges if I acted out, but Royce is putting our alone time on the line.”

“That’s it?”

“Alone time for us includes reading together, cuddling, car rides, and just spending time together,” Vivien explained. “He’s putting all of that on the line until they head back home.”

“Ooh,” Charlie winced, “that’s a lot for you two. Are you sure that you could handle that if he loses?”

Vivien chuckled, “I deal with that every time he leaves; I can handle it.”

Glancing around the cluttered attic, Charlie’s gaze landed on the curly-haired boy before she turned back to her niece and shook her head, “Well, I wish you the best of luck, sweetheart.”

“Thanks,” Vivien said with a smile, “but I think Royce will need it more than me once the show is over and everyone else leaves.”

“Probably,” Charlie agreed.

As the pair split off to look around, Charlie joined Carrie near the back wall, opening old trunks full of men’s clothing and scanning through hanging bags of dresses. As Carrie began searching through clothing racks full of dresses, she smiled. Some reminded her of costumes she had worn in shows over time while others could have been pulled out of her closet and she wouldn’t have known the difference. Her mind raced with ideas of how to pull the outfits together with things she owned and loved - the checkerboard mini dress would go great with her knee-high boots and a pair of sparkly sunglasses she remembered leaving on her vanity back home while the pleated, floral-patterned Staccato dress would have been a perfect date-night dress and the pale blue sundress would have fallen perfectly into her rotation of clothes.

“Looks like someone’s in heaven,” Charlie teased as she set aside a stack of men’s clothing and joined Carrie at the clothing racks.

Glancing at the dark-haired woman, Carrie smiled, “It’s like stepping back in time.”

Charlie beamed, “I know, right! Back when Hayley and I were just good friends, she brought me here for the summer break and we raided everything. We spent a few days up here, going through endless clothes and shoes, trying things on, and only leaving the attic for food.”

“That sounds like fun,” Carrie mused.

“It was.” Charlie pushed another dress further down the rack before sighing thoughtfully, “I think that was when I realized what a real family was like.”

“What do you mean?” Carrie asked as she met Charlie in the middle of the double-sided rack.

“George and Dawn never pushed me to be anything other than myself while I was here,” Charlie explained. “They treated me like just another daughter and I quickly realized I never wanted to leave.”

Carrie’s head tilted as she asked, “What about your family?”

Charlie shrugged, “I don’t talk to them much anymore. They moved to the Bahamas, living in some gated community I’ve never even seen. After spending so much time here and seeing what I had been missing, I asked Dawn and George if I could stick around and, as I’m sure you can tell, I never left.”

Carrie didn’t bother fighting the smile that tugged at her lips, “Was that before or after you and Hayley got together?”

“Way before,” Charlie chuckled. “I met her at Harvard - I was studying to be a lawyer and she was studying engineering. We were roommates in Straus Hall in our freshman year, but moved into an apartment somewhere in the middle so that we had equal distance between our buildings.”

“That’s sweet.”

Charlie nodded, “Looking back on it now, I can see that Hayley was interested in me long before I thought of her in that way. Back then, I had only gone out with men. Then, after years of inadvertently dodging the idea, watching her go through the ups and downs of pregnancy, and being there for her and Vivien through everything, I realized there was something there that I couldn’t ignore.”

“Love?” Carrie wondered.

Charlie hummed as she nodded thoughtfully, “It hit me like a bolt of lightning and I went through all of the doubt and confusion in private before finally going up to her and telling her all that was going on in my head. We started dating, but kept it from Vivien for about four years before telling her, and the rest is history.”

Carrie stared thoughtfully at the woman opposite her before slowly admitting, “Vivien told me that you guys had only just started dating before she was told.” 

Charlie shook her head, “That’s what Hayley told her, but no. She wanted to make sure things between us were going to be serious and that Vivien would be old enough to understand everything before I met her as anything more than her mom’s school friend.”

“So you two kept it a secret for four years?” Carrie asked, bewildered by the very concept of keeping something like that a secret for so long. She couldn’t imagine having kept things between herself and Miles a secret from everyone for so long.

“Not from everyone,” Charlie claimed. “Our parents knew - hers supportive and mine not so much - and our friends knew, but Vivien was the only one we wanted to wait for. She was only five when we started dating and I wanted her to know from the get-go, but I understood and respected Hayley’s wishes. After everything we went through with Viv, even she said it might have been easier to just jump right in, but we made mistakes and learned from them.”

Carrie let out a breath and shook her head, “That couldn’t have been easy.”

“Far from it,” Charlie chuckled, “but everyone involved has since moved on for the better and I don’t regret a thing.”

Carrie allowed herself to smile once again as Charlie began flipping dresses to the side once more. While she was glad things had worked out for Charlie and her relationships with everyone she loved, she wondered if things would have been different for herself if she and Miles had chosen to do something similar. Glancing over at Royce and Vivien who were busy laughing at an old tux from the eighties that Royce had found, she asked Charlie, “Do you think things with Royce and Bentley would have been better if Miles and I did the same thing you and Hayley did?”

Taking a look at the blonde and sparing a quick glance at the teenagers on the other side of the attic, Charlie shook her head, “Everything happens for a reason, Carrie. Your relationship with the boys may be strained now, but who knows? Maybe in a few months, this will all be behind you and you can grow closer.”

“I can’t imagine that happening,” Carrie said with a breath of a laugh. “Bentley may have moved on a bit, but Royce still can’t stand me, no matter what I do.”

“They won’t have it out for you forever, believe me,” Charlie said, reaching under the clothes rack to place her hand on Carrie’s. “As someone who has been there and done that, let me tell you that this rebellious, hate-your-guts phase will make way for a closer relationship than you’ll ever think was possible.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.” Charlie smiled, giving Carrie’s hand a pat before moving away. “And, trust me, when it happens, you won’t know what to do at first. You’ll still be walking on eggshells for a while before things feel more normal. Then, you’ll be one big, happy family.”

“I can’t even imagine that being a possibility,” Carrie laughed.

Charlie smiled as she pushed another dress down the rack, “Just wait; your time will come.”

Before Carrie could say anything, a voice called her name from the other side of the attic. Vivien waved her over from her side of the attic as Royce looked over a crate of vintage men’s clothing on the opposite side. Making her way to the opposite side of the attic, she asked, “What’s up?”

“I need help trying this dress on,” Vivien said, holding up a black bag that looked ready to burst at the seams. Lowering her voice as Carrie neared her, she added, “I think it would be perfect during ‘I Can Hear The Bells’ and I don’t want Royce and Aunt Charlie to know about it until I know I can fit in it.”

Sending the brunette her signature, beaming smile, Carrie nodded and gestured to a room divider that someone had left leaning against the wall, “Let’s set that up and see if we can get it on you.”

Once they were sure the divider was steady enough on the uneven floorboards, Carrie stood guard as Vivien stepped behind the old screen and opened the dress bag. The blonde watched to make sure Royce stayed on his half of the attic and that Charlie was distracted enough with the clothing on the far side of the room while Vivien got into the dress. Before long, Vivien reached around the divider and tugged on Carrie’s sleeve to get her attention. Stepping behind the screen, Carrie’s eyes widened and she brought her hands to her mouth as she took in the sight before her.

She had seen Vivien in dresses before - a rare occasion in itself - but this was different. A tea-length, ivory gown graced the girl’s tan skin, the bateau neckline showcasing a layer of lace that capped her sleeves and ended with a silk bow under her bust. After some gentle ruching around her waist, the rest of the dress flowed in gentle pleats to her mid-calf - the fabric elegant and poufy with the help of a crinoline petticoat that was, no doubt, sewn into the dress. Atop Vivien’s head was a clipped-in veil that ended at her elbows, and a pair of lace gloves had been tugged onto the girl’s hands - something Carrie knew she must have been itching to pry away from her skin. The only semblance of Vivien’s typically casual attire was the pair of white Converse the girl hardly ever took off, but for some reason, it didn’t stand out as much as Carrie thought it would.

“Vivien,” Carrie breathed, hoping she would be able to stall the welling tears that burned her eyes as she smiled at the girl before her. “You would be such a beautiful bride.”

Despite her rosy cheeks and embarrassed smile, Vivien shook her head, “Thank you, but let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves, Carrie. Royce and I haven’t even kissed; I think that means a ring is still far in the future.”

“It better be,” Carrie said, her smile still present as she stepped closer to the brunette and took the girl’s hands in her own. “You two are still just kids - leave the weddings and proposals to the adults.”

“Tell that to Bella from Twilight,” Vivien scoffed, recalling the film series they had watched over the last few nights.

“Bella was a teenage girl who was obsessed with a boy in all the wrong ways and actively put herself in danger to get his attention and affection,” Carrie said, squeezing the girl’s hands before releasing them and encouraging her to turn so that Carrie could zip her in. “I doubt any of us have to worry about that when it comes to you and Royce.”

“She still got married just after high school,” Vivien mused.

“And I hope you at least wait long enough to find yourself before a ring comes into the picture,” Carrie said, adjusting the back of the dress a little before allowing Vivien to turn back toward her. “Regardless of that, I’m sure that, when the time comes, you will look absolutely stunning.”

“Thank you, Carrie,” Vivien said, wiping imaginary sweat from her lace-gloved hands onto the skirt of the dress. A hint of nervousness seeped into the girl’s voice as she asked, “D’You think they’ll like it?”

“They’ll love it,” Carrie reassured with a nod and a smile. “Do you want to show them?”

Although Vivien nodded, her apprehension was palpable. After a moment, she asked, “Can you go first and bring them over? Maybe tell them that I found a dress for the show?”

Nodding so quickly she worried her hair tie would burst under the strain of her bouncing curls, Carrie spoke, “You got it.”

Vivien listened from behind the screen as Carrie called the others over and explained that Vivien had found the perfect dress for the show, her thoughts racing as she wondered what they would think. Charlie had fought for years to get Vivien to let her use her as a makeshift mannequin, to no avail, so she could only imagine that Charlie would be excited before going into a rant about how she wished Vivien would let her pick out some clothes at the mall for her. Royce’s reaction, on the other hand, she couldn’t quite figure out. If life was a game of Uno, Royce would be the one hoarding all of the wild cards; there was no way she could gauge his stack of cards or guess how he would play things. This was no different.

A golden halo of stray curls poked around the edge of the screen and Vivien found it hard to fight Carrie’s infectious smile as the blonde held a hand out to her and wiggled her fingers invitingly. Hesitantly reaching out, Vivien placed her hand in Carrie’s and sucked in a breath as the blonde pulled her from the safety of the old room divider and into the dully-lit, dust-speckled attic space. Despite meeting Royce’s gaze first, Vivien found her aunt’s widened, sparkling eyes and asked, “What do you think?”

Looking a moment away from turning into a puddle of joyful tears, Charlie softly spoke, “Oh, Vivien, sweetheart, you look amazing.”

“You think?” Vivien asked, a hint of a grin tugging at her lips as she swayed from one side to the other. “I thought it would be perfect during ‘I Can Hear The Bells’ when Tracy starts going over the wedding toward the end of the song. Maybe when the girls walk in front of Tracy, they can cover long enough for me to pull away the skirt over it and we can have this under it.”

As Charlie approached her niece and began fawning over her, Carrie’s azure eyes flitted over to Royce, finding the boy in a state of shock as he stared at his girlfriend. Crossing over to where Royce stood with his jaw practically on the floor and his eyes about the same size as dinner plates, Carrie placed a hand on his shoulder and asked, “She looks lovely, doesn’t she?”

Taking in a slow, almost shuddered breath and swallowing thickly, Royce nodded and meekly agreed, “Yeah.”

“You should tell her,” Carrie said, giving the boy a slight nudge. “She was nervous to show you two.”

“But she looks-” Royce cut himself off as he looked at Carrie, almost as though he had only just realized who he was talking to. Resigning to his fate, Royce looked back over at Vivien and finished his train of thought, “She looks incredible.”

“Makes you want to walk her down the aisle right here and now, doesn’t it?” Carrie asked, only a smidge of a teasing tone evident in her voice.

Wide caramel eyes looked at Carrie as Royce adamantly shook his head, “No. I mean, one day, sure, but not now. We’re far too young for that.”

“Good,” Carrie smiled and, for a split second, Royce saw her take on the image of a proud older sister. Then, she continued, “It’s good to know you both are on the same page.”

“We are?” Royce asked, more to himself than anything.

“You are,” Carrie confirmed. “Now, go compliment your girlfriend before Charlie makes her take off the gown to play dress-up.”

Although he nodded, Royce didn’t move until Carrie gave him a gentle push, urging him to take the first step toward Vivien. Blinking himself out of his stupor, Royce glanced back at Carrie with an almost accusatory glimmer in his eyes before shaking his head as Vivien’s laughter reached his ears. Drinking in the sight of his girlfriend twirling with her hand latched onto Charlie’s, Royce smiled and imagined himself dancing with her for a fleeting moment. Feeling drawn toward his girlfriend’s contagious laughter like a magnet, Royce took a few steps away from Carrie before slowly turning back to the blonde, meeting her eyes, and giving her a small, grateful nod. Whether she knew it or not, Carrie had been nothing but kind and encouraging since his bet with Vivien began and, regardless of how he felt about the blonde, he was grateful all the same. It was the least he could do to show his appreciation.

Clack. Click-clack. Clack. A slow, shaky breath sucked in through panicked lungs and let out in a huff. Click-clack. Clack. Shaky hands with neatly manicured nails run over hair that had already been sprayed rigid. Clack. Clack. Click-clack. Another minute of this torture and she would be found with her head in the nearest garbage bin, expelling all of the food she’d nervously eaten her way through at both breakfast and lunch. She always had been a nervous eater. Clack. Click-clack. Clack. Eyelashes too long and too sticky to be comfortable flutter as a voice that sounds as though it’s a mile away calls out, “Places in ten!” Click-clack. Click-clack. Click-clack. Breath stalls in her chest and she swallows thickly to keep herself from gagging as her hands clench into fists. This must be what it felt like for Anne Boleyn or Katherine Howard as they prepared to walk to their untimely demise. If it’s not, it must be something close. 

“If you keep pacing like that, you’ll wear out your shoes before you even get on stage,” an amused voice claims, startling Vivien from her thoughts at how close they sound. Whirling around, she finds Riven leaning against the doorway of the dressing room with a lopsided smirk on his face and his hands tucked into his pockets. If he was there to offer comfort, it wasn’t working. “Little nervous there, are we, Pipsqueak?”

“I think I’m dying,” she mutters before continuing her pacing between mirrored vanities. “I can’t breathe, I can’t think, I don’t know why the hell I agreed to this.”

“To help Charlie,” Riven claimed, pushing off the wall and taking a few steps closer to the girl before him.

“Some help I’ll be,” Vivien scoffed. “If I choke and die on my own vomit, I’ll be of no use to her.”

“You won’t choke and die,” Riven tried to argue.

“I will,” Vivien breathed. “Asphyxiation due to anxiety-induced vomit - that’s what my death certificate will say. Might wanna take your phone out and write down my final words, Riv.”

With a roll of his eyes, Riven stepped into Vivien’s path and caught her by the shoulders, stopping her in her tracks. “You do this everytime you have to be the center of attention,” he stated. “Solo skates, concerts, birthday parties.”

“And I don’t like any of them,” Vivien sighed.

“But you always come out on top,” Riven said confidently. “The more nervous you are before a solo, the better you place. The more scared you get before a concert, the better you perform. You just need to realize that, once you’re done that first song and get everyone in the crowd to love you, you’ll do amazing for the rest of the night.”

Finding nothing but sincerity in Riven’s hazel eyes, Vivien softly asked, “How do you know?”

“Because you’re you,” Riven said, tugging Vivien into a hug. “Once the first song is done, you’ll be fine. Besides, you’ll have Royce up there with you, and Carrie and I will be off to the side with Charlie. If you need us, we’ll be there.”

Hoping the makeup Carrie had helped her put on wasn’t smeared against Riven’s shirt, Vivien allowed herself to take in a deep breath and relax against her longest friend before pulling away and looking up at him. “Do you really think this will end well?”

“I do,” Riven nodded, “and I’m not the only one who does, but there’s someone else who might be able to convince you better than I would.”

Vivien’s raised eyebrow was met with Riven’s gaze flicking over her shoulder and, as she turned, she found Royce’s apprehensive smile encouraging her to give him one in return. Riven smiled and patted Vivien on the back before maneuvering around her and making his way to the door, determined to give the couple some time together before the show began. 

Stepping up to his girlfriend, Royce reached up with a breath of a laugh and poked at Vivien’s beehive of hair, “Any higher and you’d put CheeChee to shame.”

Letting out a laugh, Vivien shook her head and asked, “How on earth are you so calm about all of this?”

“I have no idea,” Royce chuckled, “but your grandfather gave me a brownie earlier and I almost want to say it was one of his ‘special brownies’.”

With wide eyes, Vivien grabbed Royce’s arms and pressed, “Grandpa gave you weed?! Are you okay?”

Royce quickly shook his head with a laugh, “He didn’t, I promise. He and your Nonna brought me to the office after lunch and we talked. They helped me sort through things and realize that this is just for one night.”

“What do you mean?”

“After this is over, we’ll have an ice cream party in the mess hall and start cleaning everything up tomorrow like nothing happened,” Royce said. “After the show is over, we can relax and go back to normal. We don’t have to put on multiple shows like at school or on Broadway; it’s just a one-and-done thing.”

“I guess you’re right,” Vivien said, taking a moment to suck in a breath. “I’ve just been so worked up about it and I-”

“Don’t need to be,” Royce cut in. “You were amazing in the run-through yesterday and you’ll be incredible out there today.”

“We will,” Vivien corrected. “We’re in this shit show together.”

Before Royce could affectionately argue that the show wouldn’t be a shit show as long as they did their best, a voice called out, “Places in five!”

“That’s our cue to get on stage soon, right?” Royce asked. When Vivien nodded, he let out a chuckle, “Good to know.”

Vivien swallowed, offering another nod as she breathed, “Yeah.”

Taking Vivien’s hands in his, Royce rubbed circles into her skin as he said, “Relax, we’ve got this.”

“I know, it’s just…” she sighed, “I’m getting more nervous each time they say how close we are to showtime.”

“Just breathe,” Royce ordered gently. “It’ll all work out.”

Without giving Vivien the time to say anything, a voice from the doorway said, “Listen to him, Vivi. He knows what he’s talking about.”

The couple turned toward the doorway, finding Carrie smiling at them as she poked her head into the entryway. Offering the blonde a nervous smile, Vivien said, “I know he does; it’s just my nerves.”

“Well, what are you nervous about?” Carrie asked, shifting further into the doorway.

Vivien shrugged, “Everything, really. The singing, the dancing, the crowds, having to have my first kiss in front of a bunch of people I don’t even know...”

“You’re worried about that too?” Royce wondered.

As Vivien turned to Royce with a tentative nod, she said, “It’s not like I don’t want to kiss you - I do. It’s just… I want it to be something special.”

“Not something we have to share with a few hundred people watching us?” Royce finished.

“Exactly.”

Placing a hand on her hip, Carrie asked, “Why didn’t you guys say something? We could have fixed that for you ages ago.”

“Really?” Vivien asked.

“Yeah, absolutely!” Carrie said, a glimmer of amusement in her eyes. “You could have told us and we would have fixed it.”

Glancing between Vivien and Carrie, Royce asked hopefully, “So we don’t have to kiss on stage?”

“Of course not,” Carrie said with a determined shake of her head. “You could do a kiss on the cheek or a hug or something. I mean, hell, you could just hold hands and stand awkwardly to the side and it would still be fine.”

“Are you sure?” Vivien asked.

Carrie rolled her eyes, but smiled all the same as she said, “I wouldn’t have suggested it otherwise. But, before you two start worryting about what you want to do, you need to get out there before the show starts.”

“What do we do about the kiss?” Royce questioned as Vivien tugged him toward the door.

“Let whatever happens, happen,” Carrie said with a shrug as she followed the kids to the stage. “As long as you two do what you feel is right, the audience will appreciate it.”

Giving her boyfriend a final hug before the show, Vivien smiled in Royce’s direction before allowing Carrie to bring her to the center of the stage where she would open the show with “Good Morning Baltimore” and get the ball rolling. Carrie gave the younger girl a quick, sympathetic hug before making her way off of the stage to where Charlie and Riven were waiting in the wings. Meeting the blonde’s gaze, Riven asked, “So, how are they doing?”

“Nervous, but I think they’ll do fine,” Carrie said with a smile.

“They will,” Charlie said with a grin. “Once they get into it and forget everyone in the audience is watching them, they’ll have too much fun to be worried.”

“Just watch,” Riven began, “they’ll be so into the show that they won’t realize it’s over until curtain call.”

The trio laughed, but quickly stopped as the clock on the wall rang to alert them that it was time for the show to start. Riven quickly got into position and started the music, nodding to one of his friends to turn on the stage lights as the music began playing throughout the playhouse. Charlie took Carrie by the hand and tugged her to the edge of the stage to get a better view of the show as a pair of teenage staff members prepared to reel the curtains back. Vivien spared one last glance off stage, smiling as Carrie and Charlie sent her matching thumbs-up and encouraging smiles. Taking in a slow breath, Vivien readied herself as she watched Charlie nod to the workers to draw the curtains away from her spot on center stage. As the music for the opening number began, Charlie turned to Carrie with a hopeful smile and sucked in a deep breath, hopeful that they both would be able to make it through the musical without turning into teary puddles in the wings. 

#Camp Wanamaker

[thepastisalreadywritten]

Hachiko: The world's most loyal dog turns 100

2 July 2023

The Chinese tagline on the movie poster says it all: "I will wait for you, no matter how long it takes."

It tells the true story of Hachiko, the faithful dog that continued to wait for its master at a train station in Japan long after his death.

The cream white Akita Inu, born 100 years ago, has been memorialised in everything from books to movies to the cult science fiction sitcom Futurama.

And the Chinese iteration - the third after a Japanese version in 1987, and the Richard Gere-starrer in 2009 - is a hit at the box office.

There have been tales of other devoted hounds such as Greyfriars Bobby, but none with the global impact of Hachiko.

A bronze statue of him has stood outside Shibuya Station in Tokyo, where he waited in vain for a decade, since 1948.

The statue was first erected in 1934 before being recycled for the war effort during World War Two.

Japanese schoolchildren are taught the story of Chuken Hachiko - or loyal dog Hachiko - as an example of devotion and fidelity.

''Hachiko represents the ideal Japanese citizen with his unquestioning devotion," says Professor Christine Yano of the University of Hawaii - "loyal, reliable, obedient to a master, understanding, without relying upon rationality, their place in the larger scheme of things."

The story of Hachiko

Hachiko was born on 10 November 1923 in the city of Odate in Akita prefecture, the original home of Akitas.

A large-sized Japanese dog, the Akita is one of the country's oldest and most popular breeds.

Designated by the Japanese government as a national icon in 1931, they were once trained to hunt animals like wild boar and elk.

"Akita dogs are calm, sincere, intelligent, and brave [and] obedient to their masters," said Eietsu Sakuraba, author of an English language children's book about Hachiko.

"On the other hand, it also has a stubborn personality and is wary of anyone other than its master."

The year Hachiko was born, Hidesaburo Ueno, a renowned agricultural professor and a dog lover, asked a student to find him an Akita puppy.

After a gruelling train journey, the puppy arrived at the Ueno residence in Shibuya district on 15 January 1924, where it was initially thought dead.

According to Hachiko's biographer, Prof Mayumi Itoh, Ueno and his wife Yae nursed him back to health over the next six months.

Ueno named him Hachi, or eight in Japanese. Ko is an honorific bestowed by Ueno's students.

The long wait

Ueno took a train to work several times a week. He was accompanied to Shibuya station by his three dogs, including Hachiko. The trio would then wait there for his return in the evening.

On 21 May 1925, Ueno, then 53, died of a cerebral hemorrhage. Hachiko had been with him for just 16 months.

"While people were attending the wake, Hachi smelled Dr Ueno from the house and went inside the living room. He crawled under the coffin and refused to move," writes Prof Itoh.

Hachiko spent the next few months with different families outside Shibuya but eventually, in the summer of 1925, he ended up with Ueno's gardener Kikusaburo Kobayashi.

Having returned to the area where his late master lived, Hachiko soon resumed his daily commute to the station, rain or shine.

"In the evening, Hachi stood on four legs at the ticket gate and looked at each passenger as if he were looking for someone," writes Prof Itoh.

Station employees initially saw him as a nuisance. Yakitori vendors would pour water on him and little boys bullied and hit him.

However, he gained nationwide fame after Japanese daily Tokyo Asahi Shimbun wrote about him in October 1932.

The station received donations of food for Hachiko each day, while visitors came from far and wide to see him.

Poems and haikus were written about him. A fundraising event in 1934 to make a statue of him reportedly drew a crowd of 3,000.

Hachiko's eventual death on 8 March 1935 at the age of 11 made the front page of many newspapers. He was found on a street in Shibuya.

In March 2011, scientists finally settled the cause of death of Hachikō: the dog had both terminal cancer and a filaria infection.

There were also four yakitori skewers in Hachikō's stomach, but the skewers did not damage his stomach nor cause his death.

At his funeral, Buddhist monks offered prayers for him and dignitaries read eulogies. Thousands visited his statue in the following days.

In impoverished post-war Japan, a fundraising drive for a new statue of Hachiko even managed to raise 800,000 yen, an enormous sum at the time, worth about 4bn yen (£22m; $28m) today.

"In retrospect, I feel that he knew that Dr Ueno would not come back, but he kept waiting - Hachiko taught us the value of keeping faith in someone," wrote Takeshi Okamoto in a newspaper article in 1982.

As a high school student, he had seen Hachiko at the station daily.

Remembering Hachiko

Every year on 8 April, a memorial service for Hachiko is held outside Shibuya Station.

His statue is often decorated with scarves, Santa hats and, most recently, a surgical mask.

His mount is on display at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo.

Some of his remains are interred at the Aoyama Cemetery, alongside Ueno and Yae.

Statues of him have also been cast in Odate, Ueno's hometown Hisai, the University of Tokyo and Rhode Island, the American setting for the 2009 movie.

Odate also has a series of events lined up this year for his 100th birthday.

Will the world's most loyal dog still be celebrated a century from now? Prof Yano says yes because she believes the "heroism of Hachiko" is not defined by any particular period - rather it is timeless.

Mr Sakuraba is equally optimistic.

"Even 100 years from now, this unconditional, devoted love will remain unchanged, and the story of Hachiko will live on forever."

🤍🐕🤍

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