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party-size-evolved-mod---p6 · 2 years

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Party Size Evolved - Skymods

💾 ►►► DOWNLOAD FILE 🔥🔥🔥 Forums New posts. What's new New posts New profile posts Latest activity. Members Current visitors New profile posts. Log in Register. What's new. New posts. Log in. Install the app. Welcome to rpgcodex. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself and moderators until they are approved. Once you have passed the moderation period think of it as a test , you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards. JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly. You should upgrade or use an alternative browser. You may prefer it's changes, specially in relation to the armor system and the workings of status effects. From what little I played up until Alexander's battle to get out of Fort Joy , the main issue with the game were some ridicoulous decisions in the mechanics. But unlike Skyrim or Oblivion, these flaws aren't so fundamental as to the only way to "fixing" them would be to completely remake the whole game. Let There Be Tooltips! Click to expand The remaning mods in whatever order you want to Last edited: Sep 28, The mod author of the Divine War Overhaul has apparentely released a new improved overhaul in the end of last year: Divinity Unleashed Like the previous mod it touches all mechanics and values of the game, but this time not only are the changes more extensive but due to the help of the Norbyte Extender some systems function in ways that weren't possible before. I think the reworks of the mod will be to the liking of most codexers: Mod Features said:. Armour Overhaul: No longer acting as two separate HP bars, the armour you build now behaves as static damage reduction. Hybrid parties are better than ever before. Status Simplicity: No status, even from mods, is resisted by armour or any other kind of mechanic. Instead, statuses from both the base game and other mods have been rebalanced for immediate application. New mechanics: Cooldown reduction, status extension and more add a fresh coat of paint to the gameplay you love. Lightweight and Immersive: Divinity Unleashed's features are unintrusive and let you pile on as many mods as you want, letting you play the game your way. And yes, that means no more random bosses Turns Galore: Turn-skipping status effects have been made scarce, allowing for faster-paced combat. Even modded statuses have been predictively altered to fit this style. Build Freedom: Offering more build freedom than ever before, Divinity Unleashed puts hybrid parties, healers and tanks on even footing with a comprehensive overhaul of character progression. Not in the mood for cheese? Telekinetic instant kills, infinite resurrection chains and sniping enemies miles away outside of combat have been scripted into oblivion. Get ready for a challenge! Superior Balance: Thanks to an in-depth reworking of core game skills and mechanics, the Damage Meta is a thing of the past. With an even playing field, any sufficiently planned build is viable. Might and Magic: Enemy resistances are squashed down to size and bosses no longer generate immunities on higher difficulties, gaining other buffs instead. Witches and wizards alike are more viable than ever. Permanent Summons: Summons now have infinite duration, but while active, the skill used to summon them remains permanently on cooldown during combat. Summons are encouraged to cast before combat and keep alive. Go ahead and slap it on an existing save file. This mod won't bite! These mods are all in the Steam Workshop, so for those of you that don't possess the Steam version, here's a site that let's you download those mods. Found this custom Adventure today. It's a recreation of the a 4th edition DnD campaign called Pyramid of Shadows. Also here's a fun gauntlet of challenges - Arena Challenges. Pretty much multiple high level fights against various custom Bosses. Since these are "Adventure" mods user made campgains for DOS2 , all the mods in first 2 posts work with no problems. Last edited: Oct 28, Joined Aug 23, Messages 3, Modders, saving game since s. Joined Aug 28, Messages 8, Location Nirvana for mice. You forgot to add the reduced bloat mod. The game is unplayable without it. With the DND-like scaling the max HP at level 20 will be around instead of I already have the link to "No Bloat Tactian" on the original post. Besides Divinty Unleashed much like Divine War has a different Vitallity progression from the main game. I tested on some high level encounters level 30 and enemies with a well developed Constitution had around of HP - plus take into consideration even the weakest attacks do around dmg. Finally since the armor system in Divinity Unleashed acts as it always should damage reduction Vitallity isn't that important in the long term anymore. Overall I think this new mod realizes the potential of Divinity's combat. Joined Jan 14, Messages 43, I'd have to do a mod-free run to test it out and I'm too lazy to do it. Onionguy Educated. Joined Dec 23, Messages But what's the point of all this What's the fucking reason behind putting so much effort into making this distasteful shit somewhat palatable. Desiderius Found your egg, Robinett, you sneaky bastard. Joined Jul 22, Messages 10, Played to level five with this setup, initially with just four, then went six-man since Tactician Unleashed surfaces are so punishing. Six-man is such a relief as you're not constantly switching between companions. Unleashed is solid, the initiative mod is a clusterfuck unfortunately as initiative is the main flaw in the base game. Cool list. Would like to try out the "Summon Rework" and "Additional Summons" mods, but I afraid I would have to restart the game. Although there are some odd choices like a enemy scalling mod and another that makes companions AI controlled. Desiderius said:. It's a bit wonky but it does work and that's enough for me, simply because I couldn't stand how it functions in the base game. Last edited: Apr 1, Several battles where one toon got multiple turns before others got any. Haplo Prophet. Joined Sep 14, Messages 5, Wonder if this game can be salvaged. The retarded initiative was for me the nail to the coffin alongside the armor system If the other things are improved, I guess it will still have the sad, number bloated itemization with equipment changes every 2nd level. Anyway, I look forward to your findings Desiderius! Haplo said:. That is neat. An important start. But does it make the itemization interesting? Joined Mar 28, Messages I'd like to respec but I'm still at Fort Joy island. I read that there is no way to do it until you get out of the island. I found a mod on steam that adds a respec item inside Fort Joy but it says: " This mod is deprecated and unsupported with the addition of Larian's new Respec Mirror ". If it does indeed exists, can it be added on an ongoing campaign? The "official" respect mirror on Fort Joy is a Gift Bag mods that Larian has made a an official free add-on. You have to open the Gift Bag menu on-game to activate them. SoupNazi rial billionaire. The "no bloat" mod just makes the game extremely easy. Like, ridiculously so. And the game is already too easy on tactician if you've played through it once. I like Divine War, the Initiative fix, and all of Odinblade's class mods. Some of the QoL mods like leveling up equipment etc. I would steer away from the "enemies are not psychic" mod, again, makes it laughably easy especially if you're playing an undead. The major problem of this game is that it forces you down a narrow path through the gargantuan level differences, in most acts you have to take a certain route in order to survive. But that's not solved by the bloat reduction, that just makes the doable fights ridiculously easy and the hard to impossible fights just easy to normal. It has a good story that should be experienced, and after that, the replayability is in the fights which should be kept difficult and to the level you should be at. SoupNazi said:. I like the Epic encounters or whatever it is called mod better than those in your list combined. AI should never use a knockdown arrow if they see I'm at full physical armor, they should be using netherswap and teleport correctly to abuse mass corpse explosion, all the necro combos, apothesis, skin graft etc. It's not fun to get obliterated by an AI character so powerful that a comparable spell of yours just does less damage, but on those very rare occasions where the AI does something genuinely clever, it almost feels like a real chess match. If you compare the way fights happen in the arena mode so between equally leveled characters controlled by players and in the game, there's always gonna be a stark difference. And while I don't expect AI to be as creative as a human, the truth is that over the years the game meta has been combed through times over and we now know what is the most effective, but the AI doesn't make use of it at all. That to me is the only serious stain on the game, but I am a fan. It's by no means perfect, but the fact that the AI hasn't been updated to the knowledge unearthed by players is what I find disappointing. Then again, that disappointment stems from the fact that the devs update the game even now, years after release - they just don't update it to my liking. If they haven't touched it since, my disappointment would probably be lesser. You must log in or register to reply here. As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex. Top Bottom.

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puppypeter · 3 years

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✨ All fics are complete! ✨

He Loves Me Cause I’m Cute, He Thinks I’m Pretty Funny | 2588 words 📱

He watches it back one more time after it posts, checking for typos in his subtitles and captions, and has to laugh again.

Steve fucking Rogers? His brain thought he could pull Captain America, literal superhero and America’s favorite sweetheart?

“Hello I’m a 35 year old amputee living in New York and I think that I could get Steve Rogers.”

the one where bucky posts a tiktok and steve is utterly smitten.

Summer Slipped Us Underneath Her Tongue | 10712 words 🧳

Bucky is a tour guide who enjoys sharing the rich history and culture of each city they pass through with a bunch of early-20's college students who just want to know the cheapest place to get drunk.

Except for Steve, who asks Bucky for a personal tour around his hometown.

The rest is, as they say, history.

You Make My Heart Skip A Beet | 3853 words 🧑🏼‍🍳

“I made soda bread.” Steve lets out the 6’2” supersoldier equivalent of a squeak. “Oh, I love soda bread,” he says eagerly, rolling forward on the balls of his feet like he does when he gets excited. “My mom used to make it all the time when I was growing up.” The tips of Barnes’s ears turn red, and he mutters something that sounds suspiciously like, “I know.”

Ollie Meets Bagel | 5517 words 🥯

He was a skater boy, Steve said let's get bagels, boy.

Steve wants to start doing this twenty-first century thing properly. He gets help in the form of skateboarding, skateboarders, bagels, and Sam Wilson.

Taxi | 5113 words 🚕

Bucky Barnes was, he hoped, a good taxi driver.

He's so good, he actually tries to return lost property that ends up left in his car and... well. It has some unexpected consequences involving a National Icon.

Enough said.

Leg Day | 12157 words 🏋️‍♂️

“So talk to him,” Sam says.

“I can’t,” Bucky groans. “I can’t, Sam, I. He just.” He fluffs his hair up and stares at Sam, distraught. “I want him to bench press me.”

“Okay, so it’s serious,” Sam interprets. “Got it."

(Or: The one where Sam is Bucky's long-suffering roommate, Bucky is a hot mess of a millennial, and Hot Steve spends far too much time on the Lat Pull-Down machine.)

Love In Aisle Four | 2127 words 🛍️

When Bucky needs to swing by the supermarket after a long, hard day of work, the last thing he expects is to meet a cute grocery clerk named Steve…

Coming Up Easy | 45515 words ✍🏻

“Listen, I was just thinking,” Steve says, his face open, eyebrows raised in a tentatively hopeful expression. “Why don’t you come stay at my place for a while? I’ve got an office that I barely use, and a change of scenery might do you good, right? Help you beat that writer’s block?” With a crooked smile, he adds, “I promise I’m not a serial killer.”

While Bucky would normally crack a joke about how that’s exactly what a serial killer would say, right now, all he can do is blink at Steve in surprise, heart tripping over itself in his chest. Steve wants him to come and stay at his place. In Massachusetts. Just the two of them.

"Oh," Bucky croaks. "I- Wow."

“I mean, no pressure,” Steve says hastily. “Totally fine if you don’t wanna. I just thought I’d offer, in case it might help, y’know?”

“Yeah.” Bucky ignores the little voice in his head that sounds an awful lot Nat and Becca, telling him he’s setting himself up for heartbreak. “I mean, if you’re sure, that would be amazing.”

Anywhere The Wind Blows | 8845 words 👨‍🚒🎖️

After a catastrophic fire that shakes him to his core, Steve Rogers quits his job as a Brooklyn firefighter and relocates to a cabin in the remote Canadian wilderness, wanting quiet and solitude and to maybe never have to speak to another human being ever again. He gets his wish, more or less, until a recently injured Bucky Barnes is discharged from the Army and rents the cabin next door.

The Safer Course | 7918 words | Part 1 of Won’t You Be My Neighbor 🏡

When Steve moves to the suburbs in 2033, he intends to retire from superhero life.

He does not intend to fall in love with his pain-in-the-ass neighbor.

Every Year I Have You | 7064 words | Part 2 of Won’t You Be My Neighbor 🏡

Steve set the bar pretty high, as birthday presents go.

Bucky is determined to outdo him when July 4th comes around.

Beneath The Mistletoe | 21203 words 🎄

Bucky had a bet with his sister that if he didn’t have a boyfriend to bring home for Christmas by the time he was 25, he had to give her $200 and go blonde for a year. But now he's 25, it’s nearing December, and not only is Bucky as single as ever, but he’s also running low on cash. He doesn’t exactly want to bleach his hair, either.

At least Steve is willing to upgrade their relationship from best friends to fake boyfriends.

The Settler | 52203 words 🍞

“What do you want to do?”

Steve pauses and looks at them.

What he wants is to stay with them. He doesn't have any family left, they all died before he even joined the war and became... this. Captain America turned whatever he is now. But Natasha and Sam have become his family over the years. Not just because they're on the run together, fugitives and vigilantes, but way before that too.

He doesn't want to leave that.

But he knows that, realistically, he can't stay with them and they can't stay with him.

So he looks at them with a smile and lies. “I don't know.”

OR; In which Steve retires and finally finds a place to call home.

You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory | 1148 words 🐈

"Alright, Bucky," Steve slows his steps, watches his neighbour stop at the bottom of the next flight of stairs. There's a canvas bag in his hand that Steve didn't notice earlier, cream coloured with the figure of a sleeping, black cat painted on it. "Have a good day."

He thinks Bucky's cheeks pink up a bit right then and there, but Steve can't tell. He's too distracted by his pounding, foolish heart, by the way Bucky smiles bashfully, and ducks his head. The way he seems like he wants to stay.

To Believe In Tomorrow | 3959 words 👨🏻‍🌾

Bucky's mornings at the community garden get a little more interesting when the new guy shows up.

Maybe This Christmas | 24873 words | Part 1 of Maybe ❄️

Bucky’s not going home for Christmas. But it’s fine. He’s spending Christmas alone in his apartment, but it’s cool. He’s not feeling up to seeing his family after his accident anyway, plus he has to work. He’s totally fine with it. But then he runs into Steve, literally, and suddenly his Christmas isn’t looking so empty after all.

-----

Hurrying was a bad idea. Bucky’s foot hits a patch of ice and slides out from under him in what would have been a comical cartoon banana-peel-like trip, if it wasn’t happening to him, and he braces himself to hit the ground. This is going to hurt.

“Fuck,” Bucky screeches, but as he lands on his back, it’s not the cold hard concrete he expected, but a solid mass beneath him. Oh god, Bucky thinks as he realises he smacked into the person behind him and took them down with him.

Maybe This Year (Will Be Better Than Last) | 133868 words | Part 2 of Maybe ❄️

Last year, Bucky Barnes met Steve Rogers. Well actually, he slipped and fell on him. What followed was the best Christmas either of them had ever had. But what happens when Christmas is over and life returns to normal? What happens after the Christmas miracle?

-----

Bucky should have known. He did know. When things seem too good to be true, they usually are. And Steve is the best thing that has happened to him in a long time, possibly ever, so of course it couldn’t last.

Maybe This Time (I Hope I Get The Chance To Say Goodbye) | 34561 words | Part 3 of Maybe ❄️

Steve and Bucky Barnes are happily married. They've made it through some hard times and come out stronger and happier, together. Then Steve gets called on to come out of retirement for the most important mission of his life and everything changes. Everything.

-----

“Have yourself a merry little Christmas…” Steve starts singing along softly, and Bucky chuckles, before leaning his head onto Steve’s shoulder, always happy when he’s in Steve’s arms.

“From now on, our troubles will be miles away…” Bucky joins in.

Dancing round their living room, just as in love as ever, their troubles seem light-years away, if not non-existent.

Sadly, they’re closer than they think.

The Unexpected Gift | 9504 words | Part 1 of When Winter Comes 🐕

Steve Rogers is fine.

After ending a long-term relationship with Sam Wilson, Steve moves back to New York. He's tired and lonely but depressed? No. At least, that's what he thinks.

From the window of his apartment, he watches a dark-haired man and his service dog sitting in the park, wondering what his story is.

The Winter Storm | 2218 words | Part 2 of When Winter Comes 🐕

"If I could give you one thing in life, I would give you the ability you see yourself through my eyes, only then would you realize how special you are to me."

After Bucky and Steve confessed their feelings for each other, life has its own twisted way to challenge the most profound love.

One January Night | 4213 words | Part 3 of When Winter Comes 🐕

Before going back to work, Steve Rogers still has things to learn: 1- Depression is a bitch and the battle against it isn't an easy one. 2- Dating a person with disabilities comes with its share of challenges.

Bucky Barnes Has His Shit Together (And Other Lies He Tells Himself) | 14159 words 🔒

You’d think a guy who owns one of the most successful bakeries in Brooklyn, has a million-dollar smile and that antiquated good ol’ boy charm, blond hair and blue eyes and biceps for days, would know what’s what.

But don’t let that fool you: Steve Rogers is a mess.

Obvious | 917 words ☕

"Oh, I have a prompt! So, it makes me laugh how painfully obvious Steve and Bucky's feelings are to everyone when they're in that pining, slowburn, does-he-doesn't-he phase. But imagine Steve and Bucky working in a coffee shop together and constantly bickering, nudging and playfully flirting with each other. And all the employees and patrons are so invested in their relationship and just want them to kiss already but no one realizes that Steve and Bucky have been married since they got out of HS."

#stucky #steve rogers/bucky barnes #bucky barnes/steve rogers #stucky fics #stucky fic #stucky fic rec #stucky fic recs #stucky fics rec #stucky fics recs #stucky fan fiction #stucky fiction #stucky ao3 #stucky complete #stucky au #adorable stucky fics

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gigilberry-wips · 2 years

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Hiccunzel Event 2022

Welcome to the official Hiccunzel Event 2022 Announcement!

This year’s Hiccunzel Event is hosted by me, and back before I’d pitched the idea I’d originally thought to just use it as a way to motivate myself to create more content for my favorite ship, until my discord wife yelled at me into making an event of it 😂 So shout out to @gryffindorkxdraws for helping bring this into existence, you’re the best 😘💖

This event will begin in May not so coincidentally my birthday month, and thanks to the input I received on this post I’ve decided to divide the event into two parts! The details are as follows:

Part 1: The Week Event

This part will last for the 1st week of May and will have 1 prompt per day. All of the prompts are inspired by untranslatable words from different languages:

Sunday, May 1st: Mamihlapinatapai (Yaghan) - comes from the language of Tierra del Fuego, it refers to the wordless, meaningful look shared by two people who both want to initiate something, but are both reluctant to. It can also refer to another unspoken look between two people. It captures the feeling that from just this look, each person knows the other understands, and is in agreement.

Monday, May 2nd: Kilig (Tagalog) - the feeling of butterflies you get in your stomach when something romantic happens. It's also used as an adjective to describe the exhilaration of an exciting romantic experience, e.i.: holding your crush's hand for the first time, seeing a marriage proposal

Tuesday, May 3rd: Merak (Serbian) - the feeling of bliss and sense of oneness with the universe that comes from simple pleasures. It refers to the pursuit of small daily pleasures that all add up to a great sense of happiness and fulfillment.

Wednesday, May 4th: Firgun (Hebrew) - the feeling of joy that something good has happened, or might happen, to someone else. It also describes genuine, unselfish delight or pride in someone else's accomplishment. It represents a true generosity of spirit.

Thursday, May 5th: Hiraeth (Welsh) - refers to homesickness mixed with sadness for the lost or departed. It implies a longing for the homeland or the romanticized past. It represents a mixture of longing, nostalgia, wistfulness and yearning.

Friday, May 6th: Goya (Urdu) - the moment when fantasy is so realistic that it temporarily becomes reality. It refers to the total suspension of disbelief you get with good, powerful storytelling.

Saturday, May 7th: Jijivisha (Hindi) - the strong, eternal desire to live and to continue living.

Part 2: The Month Event

This part will also begin on May 1st and will last for the rest of the month, except instead of a daily prompt it will be a weekly prompt. The prompts are songs taken directly from my Hiccunzel Playlist (here and here)

Week 1: Celeste by Ezra Vine

Week 2: Growlove by Derek Gust

Week 3: Lighthouse by Lucy Spraggen

Week 4: The Gambler by Fun.

(And if you want to go the extra mile like I did, I also vaguely connected each song to one of the daily prompts from Part 1: Week 1 for Kilig, Week 2 for Merak, Week 3 for Hiraeth, and Week 4 for Jijivisha)

Anyone who participates in this event can choose to do either the daily prompts or weekly prompts, or any combination of both, or whichever bits of one or the other you like. There’s no pressure for this. I want this event to be as carefree as possible. 🤗 All types of fanworks are accepted, be they romantic or platonic, as long as they have Hiccunzel as the main focus and aren’t anything graphic, nsfw, etc.

Other than that, good luck and have fun! I look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with!

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streetlight11 · 3 years

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Birthday Gift

Summary: If you told your younger self 4 years ago that you would be in a happy, long distance relationship with someone who lives miles away from you up till today, your younger self would have laughed at you. But here you are, 4 years later, happy and totally in love with the boy you met online after he randomly followed you on social media. But you've never once met him in person. On your 24th birthday, you were getting a birthday gift that you never thought you would receive so soon.

Theme: long distance relationship au, strangers to lovers

Genre: super fluffy

WC: 2k

Pairing: Bae Jacob x Fem!Reader

a/n: Hello! This has been in my drafts for quite a bit so here it is. This fic is too too fluffy, even for me who wrote this. Cobie is such a sweetheart, I can't-... Anyways, I hope you like this as much as I enjoy writing it! :)

Being in a long distance relationship is difficult as it needs to have a huge amount of trust, understanding, discipline and a lot of reassurance. However, despite all the fights you may have due to miscommunications and most of the time just lack of physical affection, you still cherish and love your boyfriend very much. You met your boyfriend online as he added you on social media a few years back. You clicked on his profile only to see that he lived in South Korea.

He looks to be a professional dancer and also a full time student in one of the colleges there. Not to mention, super good looking too. However, you weren’t really expecting anything at that point of time only because you don’t really believe in long distance relationships. You’ve always thought it might be hard and that it will never last.

So you just accepted his request and followed him back. The next day, you were in class when you got a DM from someone. And since you rarely got a DM from any guys, you were surprised to see his username pop up.

You clicked the message after about 10 minutes or so to see what he texted you, thinking he was just another weirdo who wants to scam you.

His message said;

“Hello! I saw your account and I really love your content. I’m sorry if this is too weird. I understand if you don’t wish to reply.”

With that, you couldn’t help but stifle a laugh as you didn’t know why but you began to type your reply, “Haha thank you! That’s so nice of you to say that.” You hit the send button and a few minutes later, he replied. That’s when you began to chat with him for quite a while before he asked.

“I’m so sorry, where have my manners gone? I’m Bae Joon Young but you can just call me Jacob. And you are?”

You replied to him with a smile as your fingers tapped against your smartphone, “I’m Y/F/N but you can call me Y/N.”

Ever since then, you have been chatting with him over DMs for quite a while, just to see if you can sort of trust and be comfortable with him or not. It took you almost 5 months to finally add him in your kakao talk.

Both of you have already done both voice and video call which means you already knew how each other looked and you seemed to have grown your trust in him. Jacob seemed like a genuine guy as you found out that he was your age internationally. Months became years and both of you have already introduced your partners to your parents.

However, at first, your parents weren’t too sure about this whole long distance relationship thing. But they didn’t want to disappoint you so instead of asking you to break up and find a local guy, they let you carry on with this relationship if you believe that it would work. Surprisingly, it took your parents less than a month to get warm with Jacob as they finally got comfortable every time he video calls you.

It has been 4 years since you two agreed to pursue this long distance relationship as it marks your 4th anniversary today. You were just lounging in your room when Jacob decided to skype call you through his desktop.

You accepted the call as he smiled adorably into the camera and waved to you, making you giggle as you waved back. “Happy anniversary baby.” Jacob said.

“Happy anniversary my love. Where are you?” You asked.

“I’m in my dorm. Younghoon’s out with our friends.”

“Why aren’t you with them?” You pout.

“I wanted to celebrate our anniversary.”

“Baby, you didn’t have to, you could have called me after.”

“Don’t you want to see me?” He asked sadly.

“Of course I do. It’s just… I feel like I might be the reason why you may not hang out with your friends as often as you do.”

“Baby, listen to me. I’m so lucky to have you as my girlfriend, dang am I lucky to have you reply to my message 4 years ago. I never thought that we could actually last this long but hey, look at us now.” You smiled as you looked down at your hands, only to look back up and see him pout.

“I love you so much, you know that right? And I can never ask for someone to replace you.” He said, making you sigh.

“What did I ever do to deserve you?” You asked softly, making him chuckle.

“How I wish I could enter my computer screen and just hug you and kiss you.” He whispered, making you smile sadly, knowing that could never happen, or at least it wouldn’t happen any time soon. You continue talking to him until you fall asleep, making him chuckle softly at your figure. Looking at you through his monitor screen endearingly.

“Goodnight my sweetheart.” He said those last words softly before he ended the call.

Days slowly became weeks and it was the same routine again and again but neither of you were getting bored or tired from it. He would always reassure you that he still loves you and that he would never hurt your feelings in any possible way. It was your birthday that day and your parents had booked a restaurant for you to celebrate and have your birthday dinner with your family, like how it has always been for the past few years.

It would be you, both your parents, your elder sister and her husband along with your 5 years old niece.

You chose to wear a white floral blouse with a pair of denim jeans as you paired it with your heeled sandals. You were in the car with your parents, on your way to the restaurant when Jacob voice called you.

“Hello?” He said.

“Hi Love.”

“What are you doing?”

“I’m heading to a restaurant with my family for my birthday dinner. What about you?”

“Oh wow. Where to, this time? I’m just out with the boys.”

“I honestly don’t know. They didn’t tell me.” You laughed as your mother then smiled and spoke up from the front passenger seat.

“Hello dear. How are you sweetie?”

With that, you scooted to the centre of the back seat and put your call on speaker mode. Just then, you heard Jacob respond. “Hello Ma’am, I’m doing well. I wish I could be there to celebrate with all of you.” Jacob said, making you smile sadly as your parents let out a soft chuckle.

“It’s okay son, one of these days, you’ll get to meet our daughter and us.” Your dad said as you could already hear a smile etching on Jacob’s lips.

“Yes sir. I hope so.” Your boyfriend said before you giggled as you turned the speaker mode back off before bringing your phone to your ears. “Hmm, babe I think we’re here. I’ll call you again after dinner okay?” You said into the line.

“It’s okay baby. Don’t worry. Have fun tonight. I love you.”

“I love you too…” You paused for a moment as he waited for you to continue.

“I miss you Jacob.” You couldn’t help but whisper as a tear rolled down your cheek, making him frown.

“Baby please don’t cry. Promise me you won’t cry.” He said, making you nod as you sniffled your cries.

“I’ll try.” You said as you then bid him goodbye before ending the call.

Your sister had already arrived as you and your parents went to the front entrance where a waiter was waiting. Your dad told him that they’ve already made a reservation under your dad’s name as the waiter checked his list and soon smiled at the three of you. “Right this way.” The waiter said as he soon guided you towards the back of the restaurant where there were private rooms with opaque curtains to block the view of those sitting inside.

You were walking last as you texted your boyfriend in the process.

Once you were at the booth, your dad asked you to enter first, in which you got confused but nonetheless did as you were told. However, the minute you pushed the curtains open, your eyes immediately landed on the one person sitting at the very end of the table nearest to the entrance.

You felt your whole body freeze as you couldn’t find the right words. He was there, right in front of you, in one piece. It was him. It was your boyfriend. He was really there physically. You couldn’t believe this.

“Wha- I- When… Omg… Omg…” You whispered as everyone laughed, only for Jacob to chuckle as he got up, making you feel so flustered.

“Happy Birthday my love.” He said, as he walked up to you but you were still frozen in shock.

“Surprise!” Your family said in unison happily.

You locked eyes with Jacob as he engulfed you in a hug. That’s when you began to bawl your eyes out against his shoulder as you could finally feel his arms around your body, holding you tight as though he was afraid of losing you. Jacob laughed softly as he let you cry into his shoulder, while he gently rubs soothing circles in your back to calm you down.

You had your arms wrapped around his waist securely, afraid that if you let go, he would disappear. “Shh, don’t cry baby. Don’t cry.” He whispered in your ear, only for you to cry harder. He laughed even more as your mother and sister were already tearing up at the side.

You pull away from him as he gently wipes your tears with his thumbs. “You’re here… You’re actually here…” You whispered, your breath shaky as he nodded, cupping your face softly in his hands. “Yes love. I’m here. I’m really here.” Jacob said, making you pout. Still unable to believe this was real.

Jacob smiled widely as he pulled you into a hug again, only for you to bury your face in his chest, feeling him draw lazy patterns into your waist. After nearly 30 minutes of you holding onto him and being in your own little bubble, the 7 of you finally settled down to celebrate your birthday dinner. After dinner was over, your parents offered Jacob to stay over at your family home for the next two weeks that he is staying here in your country before he flies back to Korea.

Jacob thanked your parents for letting him stay over as you couldn’t stop holding his hand. The way his hands fit in yours so perfectly as he showered you with so much love and warmth, just like how he did through all the video calls and texts.

That night when everyone had gone home, your parents knew that you probably wanted to spend time with him so they let him sleep in your room.

After both of you had already changed and were getting ready for bed, he pulled you onto his side as you rested your head on his chest. Jacob hugs you close as you tighten your grasp on his shirt. “What’s wrong?” He asked as he glanced down a little.

“I’m just so happy you’re here. I still need time to process this information.” You confessed.

Jacob chuckled softly as he whispered, “I’m really happy to be able to finally see you in person. This means so much to me.”

“Me too.”

Just then, the room fell quiet as you just looked into each other’s eyes, seeing the sparkles coating both your pupils as he gently caressed your cheek. Right at that moment, Jacob seemed to read your mind as he gently pulled you up a little. Without much words, Jacob decides to ask the one question that both of you had in mind.

“Can I kiss you?”

With that, you smiled shyly as you nodded. Jacob smiles in victory as he leans down softly to finally feel your soft lips on his and it has never felt so magical. Both of you took in this new feeling as he kissed you sweetly.

You spent the next two weeks with him, just making the most of your time. A month after he went back to Korea, it was your turn to give him a surprise visit as you managed to book a flight to Korea, asking for Jacob’s help to fetch you at the airport and bring you over to his apartment.

You stayed with Jacob for two days before surprising Jacob for his birthday party. Jacob did such a good job at taking care of you and making sure that you weren’t lost in Korea.

Despite the long distance, it definitely made you two grow stronger and gain even more trust in one another. It was a blessing in disguise that you accepted his request 4 years ago.

And you regretted none of it.

~~~

#the boyz scenarios #the boyz jacob #the boyz joonyoung #the boyz jacob scenarios #the boyz jacob imagines #tbz jacob #tbz joonyoung #tbz joonyoung scenarios #tbz joonyoung imagines #tbz fluff #tbz jacob fluff #jacob bae

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sarahjtv · 3 years

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Some BNHA Chapter 303 Spoiler Thoughts: From The Todorokis to Bakugo to Deku

I’m not going to go into great detail with this like I did the last few chapters because this one isn’t as meaty, but I thought I’d might as well write down what stood out to me:

I’m glad to see that Hawks and Best Jeanist understand the whole Todoroki situation after eavesdropping on it last week. They’re not mad at Endeavor (though I would like to know their real thoughts on the matter, especially pre-Sports Fest. Endeavor). Instead, they want to help him and the Todorokis take down Dabi. They also plan to interrogate Dabi about his past once they capture him. So Endeavor is far from alone on this, which is good because he and Shoto will need all the help they can get.

Each Todoroki except for Fuyumi (I don’t have enough info from the leaks to get much out of her) have their own feelings on things now. Rei still feels regret for giving Shoto his scar and Dabi in general (she bows on the floor to Hawks and Jeanist), Shoto is surprised that Hawks called him “cool” for not turning his back on his parents, Natsuo will help Enji only until Dabi is stopped (still understandable), and Enji is touched by the support while also aware of the fact that he will have to face the public eventually. It’s cool to see where everyone is mentally right now. Things seem to be moving forward, but the war is far from over. I do still wonder how the rest of the Todorokis are going to get involved in this. I doubt they’ll really fight, but maybe they might use their Quirks since I think most of them are ice-users (we still don’t have an official name for Fuyumi’s or Natsuo’s yet, but it was said that Fuyumi’s Quirk is ice-related).

And now word about One-For-All has finally gotten out. Remember WAY back when Endeavor first confronted Shigaraki and Shigaraki mentioned One-For-All? Endeavor repeated the Quirk’s name and it got caught on the hero’s communication devices for a second? I’m pretty sure that’s how rumor spread. And now it’s reached the public. Even Endeavor connects the dots to Deku. We all knew that One-For-All was going to be revealed to the public at some point, but I did not think it would be like this. I honestly thought that characters like Shoto, Aizawa, and Inko Midoriya would find out first. But, no. Everyone knows about it. I have a few theories as to what the repercussions will be and which characters will find out the real truth sooner, but I don’t want to jump the gun too quick here.

AND WE FINALLY SEE BAKUGO AGAIN AND THE CLASS 1-A STUDENTS TIE HIM BACK UP TO TAKE HIM BACK TO HIS ROOM BEFORE HE CAN TALK TO DEKU!! HE’S YELLING AND SPITTING OUT BLOOD WHILE ASKING “WHY AM I AWAKE WHILE HE’S STILL ASLEEP?!?!?” I-😭 All those weeks of waiting to see the Bakugo and Deku conversation and this is what we get! Horikoshi WHY???

But, it makes sense that the 1-A kids would be smart enough to send Bakugo back to his room so he won’t die on the spot. BNHA follows some typical Shonen tropes (like the protagonist (Deku) surviving a seemingly impossible situation (breaking every damn bone in his body!)), but it also follows things realistically like Shoto not recovering from his decade-long trauma in a day and Deku having lasting physical scars on his arm from using his Quirk too much. Also, I like how it’s Tsuyu, Sato, and Mineta of all people to scold him and bring him back.

It seems like Iida and Uraraka have been watching over Deku for the most part since they were his first friends at UA. Very sweet of them to do so💖💙. Of course, both are still worried about Deku and they want him to be ok. In the meantime, Jiro comes along with one earphone jack wrapped in bandages (most likely the one Dabi burned) and says that both Tokoyama and Kamanari are ok and back at home. So, that answer that. Kamanari is alive! But, we still don’t know about Tamaki or Fat Gum or a lot of other heroes for that matter 🙁

The final panels show All Might and Deku alone in Deku’s hospital room and All Might says that Deku is talking with the previous holders of OFA! So, that confirms what a lot of us were probably thinking. We are most likely getting a OFA Vestage chapter next week which I think we need. Deku awakened both Nana Shimura’s (7th holder) Quirk: Float and the 4th User’s Quirk: Danger Sense back in the war. My guess is that he’s going to talk to both users and find out what’s their deal, especially the 4th User. I’d like to know what he was about and what was so bad about him that All Might refused to talk about him. I want to say its because of how he lived and died because of his Quirk.

Think about it: Danger Sense is basically Spidey-Sense in which the user senses danger before it actually occurs. Now, we know that OFA can enhance Quirks as well as make the Users physically buff as hell. So, using All Might’s example of Shoto back in the Sports Festival, OFA + Half-Cold, Half-Hot = Shoto using ice and fire on a MASSIVE scale even more-so than Shoto can already do (so like skyscraper-sized pillars of ice and white flames maybe).

Now, add the power of OFA to Danger Sense and I bet you that Danger Sense would then be able to sense danger on a scale going miles long and would be able to sense impending doom more easily. Imagine having sharp pains in your brain every time you sensed danger and not being able to save everyone who you knew was in danger. That would drive anyone insane. I remember a twitter post looking into All Might’s entry on the 4th User and it said something about the 4th being alone in a forest. If that is the case, then maybe the 4th hid in the forest away from society so he wouldn’t deal with the pain of his Quirk and he suffered damning isolation as a result until AFO found him and he gave OFA to the 5th User, Lariat. That’s just my theory on things, but I’m excited to see what the 4th User’s all about.

Also, me @ Horikoshi for taking away our Bakugo and Deku post-war interaction:

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acommonloon · 3 years

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TL;DR

about last night's mperfect ending. After stops at three Louisville venues, each more fun than the last, we decided to get a nightcap in New Albany. We didn't manage to get a drink at any of four stops in that sleepy town but we did witness a police officer chasing a black man down the side of State Street. Still watching for a news report.

Alternately a night for Morgans

_____________________________________________________________

D's niece's husband, J, is a sweet guy. He has almost no family of his own living in the area and his own family unit consists of an unruly teen (not his) a precocious 6 year old and 3 year old twins. It's a lot.

With that in mind, I always wait for him to contact me and he always earns his kitchen passes so when he texted me he had a free night out I was glad to hang with him. I only asked if he had a curfew. No sir. He's nearing 40 and regularly admits he wishes he could more often frequent the places D and I do, meaning bars and restaurants. I remember those days when self came last.

Our 1st stop was World of Beer. With 50+ taps and hundreds of bottles and cans sitting in glass front coolers directly across from the bar, it's one of my go to spots. J immediately set about building a flight of five small pours while I took my time picking one or two low gravity beers to sip since I was driving. They had two bartenders on this Wednesday night, Morgan was ours and our service was prompt and friendly. By the time we finished a plate of tots, loaded with melted cheese and fresh jalapeno slices I had our plan.

I hadn't been to Commonwealth Tap since before 2020. This small wine bar is in a movie set sort of town called Norton Commons. Think "The Truman Show." The houses were all built over a small number of years and though they are comprised of many different styles, with no two near each other being the same, they are on the same size lots and there is no variety in terms of weathering or decoration. Everything to plan. Unreal. Creepy.

I glanced at the wine list on a chalkboard noticing a Turley Zin at $18 and a Cotes de Rhone at $8. When the bartender asked what I wanted, I said, "Talk me out of the Turley and into the Cotes. He hesitated for a second and I said, "I want something minerally, earthy, not fruity." Like a Beaujolais Morgon or an Italian grown on the side of a volcano. Before he could reply, a guy sitting at the bar said we don't have that on tap. The Cotes is your best option and the bartender handed me a generous taste saying, try that.

I took the glass all the while evaluating the man who'd spoken up. He'd said "we" don't have that. He was alone at the bar except for us. I doubted he was just a bold regular, maybe drunk, who felt everyone benefited from his opinion, he wasn't drunk. Then he stood up and walked over the the wine racks. His search was one of familiarity and he pulled a bottle and sat it down on the bar next to me. Was he an employee or maybe a distributor on good terms with the staff? Then he began talking about the wine, about his many trips to France, and I suddenly I knew. "You're an owner here aren't you?"

He laughed and admitted he was. He introduced himself, Neal Morgan and for the next 40 mins or so he told us about himself and the bar. He told us about his wife, a pediatrician who worked for 20 years in Indiana and he went so far as to describe his Scottish heritage along with his general thinking about wines. When he said he was going a friend's house for a pizza party, I thought he was about to leave. Then he said he was going to take a kick ass wine but first he wanted me to taste it. It was a California pinot noir priced at $30 more than the first bottle he'd put down on the bar. It was fantastic! He gave us tasting notes and I admitted I couldn't perceive half of what he reeled off. I said he spoke like a sommelier and he laughed again and said he claimed he had a better palate than Kenny, the sommelier who worked for him. He thanked us for coming in and seemed sincere. When he left, J looked at me and said, "That was amazing." I laughed and said it was a Wednesday at a bar.

Before we left, I asked Rainha to make me a Penicillin and we talked about Scotch. She related how she introduced her brother to Scotch and now that's all he drank. We talked about how things were during the shutdown and I told her about a new place I'd been the previous Saturday. Outside, J exclaimed this was just the best time! He said he'd never be able to talk staff like that, let alone the owner. I said talking to industry people was one of my favorite things. They are so interesting and I think they find it refreshing when someone at the bar wants to hear about them instead of wanting to talk about themselves. Then I said, I know where we'll go next. Maybe Stephen is working.

Our next stop was at Cuvee Wine Table and Stephen greeted me at the door with a huge "Shane!" and a hug. If J was impressed with Commonwealth, I thought he should fasten his seatbelt. Stephen is a trip. Except, Stephen exclaimed I'm on this side of the bar now! To my quizzical look, he said he was the manager now. Amidst introductions, our bartender, Andie came over and introduced herself. She was tall, regally thin, and wore a colorful scarf on her head. She offered an engaging personality I perceived as professional banter but sensed alos she seemed to enjoy her job.

When I described what kind of wine I preferred, she said, "OOh how about a white?" Ooookay??? I thought to myself, this is going to be fun. Stephen came back as Andy set my glass down in front of me and asked, "What are we having?" Andie said, it's the Santorini. Stephen, a newly minted sommelier, immediately launched into an enthusiastic description about this remarkable wine from a Greek Island. He said it was so constantly windy, they braided the vine boughs into bowls to protect the fruit on the inside. I smelled it and it reminded me of a Sav Blanc but when I tasted it, I knew I'd found a new favorite. It had a salty savory aspect with more minerality than any white I'd had previously.

Andie was from Lexington and our other bartender, Heather, was newly arrived from the Nashville area. Heather was training behind the bar but seemed tres calm. At one point she asked us to wish her luck and I realized she was going to take an order. When she came back, I was a little surprised but delighted when J asked her where she was from specifically. It turned out they were from the same area and knew the same high schools and such. Great fun. When Stephen came and asked if we were eating, I said, "What am I having?" The cassoulet he responded immediately and then he tried to add in sweet breads but I insisted I was out on that. J selected a flatbread and when my giant bowl of white beans with pork and a small chicken leg came, I felt I'd got the better order. He admitted sheepishly he just didn't like beans and that was that.

I suggested we finish with a French brandy served in proper snifters and asked for a bottle of the Santorini to go home. It was full dark but comfortably warm walking to the car and J asked if I were up for one more on him. I suggested we go see Emily at Brooklyn and the Butcher. She made me a perfect drink in January and I'd been craving another ever since.

All the way to New Albany, J kept bringing up how much he enjoyed the two wine bars and how he hoped he and his wife could indulge in similar experiences when their children were older. He worried his wife didn't really like anything but sweet wine and was picky about that. I laughed and said D was exactly the same but she was game to hang out and recently started to appreciate ciders and frutied beers, and even some semi-sweet wines.

There were still plenty of cars parked on the street when we arrived at Brooklyn and the Butcher. I noticed there was no one at the hostess stand when we walked in but I breezed past into the bar. There were two women sitting at the bar and I was a bit disappointed when I realized the bartender wasn't Emily. I was even more so when she came over and apologized but said they'd closed already. I laughed and made a joke about the owner being an old man for closing so early then I realized who it was sitting at the bar. I asked, "Is that Emily sitting at the bar?" she said it was and I got up and walked over. We talked for ten minutes about my last visit and I asked her about her trip to Savannah. She kept apologizing for the bar being closed but I assured her I would be back. It was fine, we'd walk down to The Earl.

I got a bad vibe the minute we walked in. The bar was mostly full and there was only one bartender. He was wearing short shorts and took forever to get us a drink menu then never looked our way for the next five minutes. I suggested we go to Recbar nearby. There it was the same. The lone bartender, woman this time, was overwhelmed and though the bar was half empty she never looked our way before I lost patience.

Okay then. We were driving to my final option (so I thought) when I stopped at a light. J said, "Look at that! A cop is chasing that guy!" Sure enough through the sparse traffic I could see a black guy sprinting along the side of the normally busy road. His arms were pistoning up and down, his hands flattened into chopping motions like a track sprinter. Coming behind but steadily losing ground was a hefty police officer. He looked ridiculous and I can only imagine he might be thinking everyone watching thought he looked ridiculous. I wondered if he might pull his gun.

The light turned green then and I moved forward. That's when we spotted a car with the front passenger side crushed in where it had impacted the guardrail, on the opposite side of the road. There was a cop car with its lights flashing parked behind it. I couldn't see any activity around the cars as we drove past. About a half mile up the road we pulled into the parking lot of our 4th attempt to get a last drink. It was closed.

We laughed and decided we'd had enough fun. As we headed back towards the scene of the incident, sirens and flashing lights were suddenly all around us. I guess there was a manhunt. I weaved through parked cruisers while J counted eight more with lights flashing on side streets . Fifteen minutes later I dropped him off. He thanked me profusely but it nothing but what I like to do anyway.

20 mins later I pulled into the garage and for a second my heart did the little flutter it always does when I see D's car parked in its spot. Then I sighed remembering she wasn't home and wouldn't be for another week.

Just a Wednesday.

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sickgrave · 3 years

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I’m going to share a bit of my breast reduction surgery experience since I couldn’t find a lot of info about people that went through it while being chronically ill! Feel free to reach out and ask questions if there’s anything I didn’t cover below ❤️

Here’s a bit about prep and the first few weeks of post-op recovery (tw for mentions of throwing up, needles, blood, and general surgery talk):

Prep:

I was scheduled for surgery on a Monday and got a call from one of my surgeon’s nurses on Friday (since they close over the weekend) to go over prep. I was allowed to eat until 4:30 AM the morning of my surgery since I wasn’t scheduled until 12:30PM, but ended up letting dinner be my last meal. I asked the nurse if I should take my usual meds before surgery (Xeljanz, tirosint (levothyroxine) and she said no. HOWEVER, when I mentioned that I take corlanor and explained what it does (keeps my heart rate normal instead of spiking to 200) she decided I should absolutely take it with a sip of water the morning of. Make sure to go down the list, ask EXPLICITLY about your medications and explain why you may have hesitancies about not taking them. Sometimes nurses just... don’t know what drugs do what- especially if you go through a surgeon’s practice and not a hospital- and that’s okay! The more thorough you can be the better you can make sure your experience is.

Day of (before the surgery):

I ended up getting called in early since my surgeon’s schedule seemed to be opening up (good thing I didn’t eat wicked late like they said I could!). I was taken back almost immediately. I was asked to pee in a cup for last minute testing (pregnancy tests smh 🙄) and given what was basically tylenol to take while I waited for the anesthesiologist.

The team was very quick to hook up my i.v. (one poke in my hand! that’s a new record honestly) and shortly after the surgeon came in with a student to make guide marks with a pen- we also discussed my goals one last time to make sure we were on the same page about size. I was walked over to the surgical table, situated myself, and got about 5 words in before I knocked out for good!

While I was briefed about the possibility of having drains inserted there was a good chance I would be sent home without them. I personally didn’t need them but you might- and your nurses and surgeon will go into great detail to tell you how to care for them and when you should be able to remove them!

Day of (after the surgery):

This is where it gets the most hazy for me. I know I was kept in the facility for an hour after the surgery but don’t remember any of it. I don’t remember the nurse helping me get dressed, or wheeling me outside. I do remember throwing up quite violently and not being able to figure out where the vomit bag was or how to keep it in front of my face. I do remember the heat really getting to me and thinking I wouldn’t feel so sick if I were inside and cooled. If you have a home with stairs or live in an apartment I highly recommend you DON’T CLIMB STAIRS. Maybe arrange to stay with a friend or at a hotel if you can, or stay on the first floor of your home. Even with 2 people helping me I stumbled almost drunkenly, while vomiting, just praying I could get to my recliner before I passed back out again. It was terrifying and I definitely didn’t have the strength to deal with it- I’m lucky I didn’t crack my head on the concrete stairs outside or fall flat on my chest.

I vaguely remember being fed ice chips (highly suggest having ice ready, as well as popsicles and ice cream) and sleeping a lot. Once I was awake, we discovered I couldn’t take the pain meds I was given due to allergies. I ended up taking extra strength tylenol at normal doses and though I was uncomfortable, I made it by just fine. The pain levels are pretty exhausting but I think the worst part is that it’s consistently achey and feels tight- like your breasts are way too high on your chest. I was allowed to use ice packs for 20 minutes at a time but my cousin who recently had the same procedure was told to completely avoid it. As with most things listen to your surgeon and their specific instructions for YOU and your body- there’s usually a reason.

Post-op (1 day after):

This seemed quick to me, but the day after my surgery I went back to see my surgeon. He removed the surgical bra I was sent home with and I IMMEDIATELY got nauseous and gagged a lot- but once I had ice packs and a cool drink I felt alright. There’s a lot of bruising and swelling the first week so your tits look pretty gnarly. If you have any signs of infection you’ll be put on antibiotics, but luckily for me I seemed to be healing just fine. The back relief and lack of weight is amazingly immediate though! I could already feel miles and miles better.

I was told that I could shower the next day (wed) and to be careful about it. I fully recommend taking it SUPER slow. The release of pressure when removing the surgical bra really takes it out of you. I was able to shower for maybe 5 minutes before I had to tap out and vomit some more. It felt amazing to get clean though.

Recovery:

I tried to get back to work (I’m still remote so this would’ve just been sitting up and being on my computer) 2 days after but couldn’t handle sitting up like that. By Friday (the 4th day) I was much better. I wasn’t nauseous anymore and could sit up and work, pay attention better to the tv/games, and just all around felt more aware and in less pain.

At my 1 week post op I didn’t feel sick when removing the bra and was told I could start wearing zip front sports bras. I could start to lift my arms pretty well and now (at 3 weeks post op) I’m able to lift my arms above my head without any pain or weakness. The 2 week mark is when I’d say I noticed the most leakage from my wounds. While I didn’t tear anything (which is totally normal, just make sure to reach out if it seems excessive!) my bandages did have a bit of blood and fluid, mostly around the under-boob.

My wounds are already fading so well and since most of the wounds are closed up I’m not really leaking anymore. The only pains I have are the occasional ache and a shooting pain you’ll feel in your nipples every now and again, which is good because nerves are reconnecting but really sucks for about half a second.

Having multiple chronic illnesses I think it took me a little longer to get to a place where I felt comfortable resuming tasks. I’m definitely still a little more weak than usual and can’t push myself as far as I usually do. I’ll try to add more info as I remember it and share any questions that come my way!

Overall I’m super happy with the results and the few days of throwing up (which is my personal hell tbh I can stand a lot but vomit is the last of it) were worth it looking back.

#went from a 32GG to what seems like a 32D but I'm still healing!#breast reduction #reduction surgery #personal #chronic illness #spoonie

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tigerkirby215 · 3 years

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5e Ahri, the Nine-Tailed Fox build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Katie “TeaTime” De Sousa and Pan Chengwei. Made for Riot Games.)

Happy new year! For the start of 2021 we’ll be making a build that I spent all of the later half of 2020 thinking up. Yeah of all the characters I couldn’t figure out Ahri was the one who truly stumped me. Regardless we’re finally going to be rounding out the K/DA crew with yet another character that pushes that T for Teen rating.

GOALS

Find me; find yourself - Along with traditional damaging abilities we need to be able to put on a pretty face and lead out prey in. And Evelynn calls you a skank?

They've exhausted their use - Ahri’s lore has changed like 16 times but her abilities have remained constant: drain the life from your foes for some lane sustain.

Spirits follow wherever I go - Of course the most important part of playing Ahri is her Spirit Rush. Three dashes to use in a teamfight... or are they blinks? Gah translating LoL abilities to D&D is hard; can you believe there was a point that I was originally going to make this a Rogue build?

RACE

This is the part where I call a Vastayan a furry! You’re a Shifter because that’s the “half beast” race in 5e. All Shifters get Darkvision and their Shifting ability that lasts a minute and grants some Temporary Hitpoints along with an additional feature based on their subrace. Speaking of subrace we’ll be going for Swiftstride for some foxy agility!

NOTE: Wildhunt works too if you want more utility, and are willing to swap starting ASIs around with Tasha’s rules.

You get a +2 to Dexterity and a +1 to Charisma, and are Graceful to get proficiency in the Acrobatics skill. Finally your Shifting Feature gives you an additional 10 feet of movement when you activate it and the ability to move 10 feet away from an enemy that ends their turn near you as a reaction, just to make sure you don’t get caught by any melee-range stuns.

ABILITY SCORES

15; CHARISMA - Ahri’s main ability is to charm people so much that they fall right into her murderous arms. She was essentially the founder of K/DA as well.

14; DEXTERITY - Ahri’s other main trait is her swiftness which means I can properly justify some DEX for her, especially with the +2 from our race.

13; CONSTITUTION - Sapping the life out of people means that you are pretty sturdy yourself.

12; WISDOM - Call it Vastayan magic or common sense but you need to know your way around both animals and people.

10; INTELLIGENCE - Riot finally decided to just give you amnesia, meaning that you don’t remember your math class.

8; STRENGTH - It’s on your bodyguard to do the heavy lifting, as well as any other buff allies you may meet.

BACKGROUND

Ahri’s lore has been through the wringer so many times I don’t even know what it is anymore, especially since they copped out and wrote “amnesia lol” as her lore. But she’s certainly the odd one out so Far Traveler works well enough. You get proficiency in Insight and Perception along with a Musical Instrument or Gaming Set (Music Instrument makes more sense but you can pick whatever you like.) You also get proficiency in a language of your choice: Sylvan seems natural for a lost girl on the Ionian countryside.

Your background feature All Eyes on You will make sure that everyone watches the fox. Basically: people are interested in the Vastaya, and if you chat with them you might be able to get somewhere special, seeing how special you are~

(Artwork by Alvin Lee, Pan Chengwei, and Bo “chenbowow” Chen. Made for Riot Games.)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - SORCERER 1

Starting off as a Sorcerer because your magic is innate, after all. Also because Constitution saving throws are nice! Regardless you get proficiency in two skills from the Sorcerer list: how about the Charisma classics? Persuasion and Deception to be a master of honied words.

Sorcerers get to choose their subclass at level 1 and hey: wouldn’t it be funny if they made a Sorcerer that’s heavily based on Enchantment magic? Well the Aberrant Mind is exactly that, having Psionic Spells that can be from the Divination or Enchantment schools. Spells like Mind Sliver to get around heavily armored foes, and Dissonant Whispers which is good to freak out your foes. But we’ll be replacing Arms of Hadar with Charm Person because... hey! It’s a Charm!

You’re also capable of Telepathic Speech to coordinate ganks in team chat, or to tell Seraphine that her dress zipper is undone. You can make a telepathic bond as a Bonus Action with a creature within 30 feet of you. You can speak telepathically with the creature up to a number of miles equal to your Charisma modifier, though you must both share a language for this to work. The telepathic connection lasts for a number of minutes equal to your sorcerer level but it ends early if you are incapacitated or die, or if you use this ability on a different creature.

Oh but of course if you’re a Sorcerer that means you have Spellcasting! You can learn 4 cantrips as a first level Sorcerer:

For some harmless Fox-Fire take Dancing Lights to light up the night. For some more potent Fox-Fire Control Flames will let you make the fire grow!

If you need a quick charm and don’t care about the aftermath Friends will get you what you need.

To keep both traveling clothes and dancing clothes looking prim and proper take Mending. Those outfits are expensive you know!

You can also learn two spells of first level: full disclosure pretty much 95% of the reason this build has Sorcerer levels is so we can take Magic Missile to recreate Fox-Fire and Chromatic Orb for Orb of Deception. That’s pretty much three out of four (*five if we include her passive) of Ahri’s abilities at level 1!

LEVEL 2 - SORCERER 2

Second level Sorcerers have a Font of Magic, giving them Sorcery Points that for now don’t serve much purpose other than being able to convert 2 of them into a 1st level spell slot. Basically you have an extra spell slot for now. But you can also convert spell slots into Sorcery points at a 1:1 ration (3rd level slot = 3 Sorcery points, as an example), which will be important later.

You do get another spell though: basically I just wanted Mage Armor because a +3 to AC would be nice.

LEVEL 3 - WARLOCK 1

Hey what if we multiclassed after 2 levels because we got 95% of what we wanted from those 2 levels? Hey guys it’s time for good ol’ Warlock! Warlocks get to choose their subclass at level 1 and Pact of the Fiend Warlocks get Dark One’s Blessing for Temporary Hitpoints equal to your Charisma plus your Warlock level when you knock an enemy to zero.

You also get Pact Magic which is like regular spellcasting except instead of actual spell slots you just get Pact Slots that come back on a Short Rest. You do get two cantrips though so I’m going to recommend Eldritch Blast because it’s Eldritch Blast as well as Prestidigitation for all the special effects you want and MORE.

You can also pick up some first level spells like Command from the Fiend list for some more enchantment, but there isn’t really much else I want from the first level of Warlock. I dunno grab Hex maybe? But we’re going to swap it out come level 3.

(Artwork by Kienan “Knockwurst” Lafferty. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 4 - WARLOCK 2

But firstly it’s time for Eldritch Invocations to keep 닿을 수 없는 level. Agonizing Blast lets you agonize your Eldritch Blast, and Eldritch Mind from good ol’ TCoE is great to keep the magic flowing thanks to advantage on Concentration checks.

Oh and something something can learn another spell but like I said I want to wait for MORE spells from second level.

LEVEL 5 - WARLOCK 3

Third level Warlocks get to choose their Pact Boon and you know: I don’t think we have enough cantrips! Pact of the Tome gives you three sparkly new cantrips to play with, and they can be from any class’ spell list! So you can take cantrips like Guidance for some help with your dances, Sacred Flame for some more Fox-Fire, and Thaumaturgy to be a spooky magic soul-sucking fox.

Honestly there isn’t much I want from Pact of the Tome but it’s the most in-flavor for Ahri. If you want to be a Star Guardian take Pact of the Chain and grab Keiko!

But you can also learn second level spells at this level like Enthrall and Suggestion for more charms, and Misty Step! For good ol’ Flash.

LEVEL 6 - WARLOCK 4

4th level Warlocks get another Ability Score Improvement and what if we got roleplay abilities before combat abilities? Well the Skilled Expert Feat will give you +1 to any stat (hey look at that our Constitution is uneven!), proficiency in a skill of your choice (which will obviously be Performance), and Expertise in a skill that you already have proficiency in. (Choose between Persuasion or Deception depending on if you want to be the good fox or the bad fox.)

You can also learn another spell along with another cantrip! For your cantrip Mage Hand will let you dash something small from the high shelf into your hand, and for your leveled spell Mirror Image will make it all the harder to hit you instead of missing a skill shot where you just were.

LEVEL 7 - WARLOCK 5

5th level means more Eldritch Invocations! In case of emergency be sure to bring Zhonya's, or rather Tomb of Levistus to negate burst.

And it’s third level spells time! You’re a Fiend Warlock so you know what that means? Cast Fireball and nothing but Fireball! Throw a Spirit Bomb like it’s Teamfight Tactics to level the playing field!

(Artwork by Kienan “Knockwurst” Lafferty. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 8 - WARLOCK 6

6th level Fiend Warlocks get 9 tails for 9 lives. Dark One’s Own Luck lets you add a d10 to an ability check or saving throw once per Short or Long Rest, so you can push your spirit for a bit more confidence in your plays.

You can also learn another spell but truthfully there isn’t much else I want from third level. There’s some that I like at second level but I’d recommend waiting for...

LEVEL 9 - WARLOCK 7

More Eldritch Invocations? Don’t mind if I do! Ahri has a lot of skins so Mask of Many Faces is great to play dress up. Are there better invocations? Yeah probably.

But you can also pick up 4th level spells like Charm Monster for a Charm+, or Dimension Door to pop your Teleport summoner spell.

LEVEL 10 - WARLOCK 8

Level 8 means more Ability Score Increases: we haven’t increased Charisma yet so we should probably do that.

You can also learn another spell, and while there are plenty of nice ones at this level if we wait just a little bit we can get...

LEVEL 11 - WARLOCK 9

9th level Warlocks get our last Eldritch Invocation: Ahri is shown floating in a lot of her promotional artwork and stuff so Ascendant Step is good to let you fly up with some fox magic! I mean, you could take Otherworldly Leap instead, I guess?

But you can finally learn 5th level spells, which means we can grab your ultimate! Far Step lets you teleport 60 feet, and spend your Bonus Action on subsequent turns to do it again! Definitely a step up from a regular old dash! But if you want a bit more damage along with some more essence theft then Enervation will let you do necrotic damage and also heal yourself by hurting others.

LEVEL 12 - WARLOCK 10

10th level Fiend Warlocks can get some Magic Resistance thanks to Fiendish Resilience. You can pick a damage type to resist, though this won’t work against magic or silvered weapons which most people probably have by level 12. So you won’t be able to resist swords and clubs but if a fire mage is trying to burn your tails just resist that! You can swap your resistance during a short (or long) rest if you need to deal with a different enemy.

Oh and did you expect to get another spell known? Nah screw you. You do get another cantrip though: I mean I dunno Toll the Dead can be good to kill secure?

(Artwork by Ryan Ribot. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 13 - SORCERER 3

Finally done with Warlock. That’s good: I could use some coffee. Third level Sorcerers get Metamagic to alter their spells with Sorcery points. Quickened Spell lets you turn a spell with an action casting time to a bonus action, so you can have a cup of coffee and still cast Eldritch Blast. Or, you know: cast two Eldritch Blasts in a turn? If you’re sick of enemies dodging your skill shots Heightened Spell will give them disadvantage on their first saving throw, which is good to combo with spells like Enervation.

Oh and speaking of spells you can learn second level Sorcerer spells! Psionic Spells gives you Detect Thoughts which is pretty good but I’d suggest taking Tasha’s Mind Whip as your other Psionic Spell for some Hextech in your step.

Additionally Flaming Sphere was added to the Sorcerer list thanks to Tasha, and it’s a good spell to take for a little more control over your Orb of Deception.

LEVEL 14 - SORCERER 4

Level 4 means another Ability Score! Time to finally cap off that Charisma for the best casting we can get.

You can also learn another spell along with another cantrip, because we definitely don’t have enough cantrips. Sword Burst will give you some much-needed melee defense to cut through minions if you’re surrounded. As for leveled spells there honestly isn’t much I want from second level. We got most of what we needed from Warlock.

LEVEL 15 - SORCERER 5

Tasha decided that Sorcerers were weak so she gave them a 5th level feature called Magical Guidance. If you fail a skill check you can spend a sorcery point to reroll the d20. You must use the new roll, but along with Dark One’s Own Luck this gives you quite a bit of reliability when it comes to ability checks.

You can also now learn third level spells. Psionic Spells grants you Sending which is nice to communicate in team chat, but I’d replace Hunger of Hadar with Incite Greed from good ol’ Acquisitions Incorporated to charm a whole group and make them slowly approach you with lovey-eyes like they do in LoL.

You can also learn spells like Melf's Minute Meteors for some less accurate but more deadly Fox-Fire, and Haste for some nine-tailed agility.

LEVEL 16 - SORCERER 6

6th level Psionic Soul Sorcerers get Psychic Defenses for resistance to Psychic damage and advantage against being Charmed or Frightened. You’ve seen it all and they’re not going to stop us! (They’ll try but they won’t.) But more importantly you get Psionic Sorcery: when you cast a spell (that isn’t a cantrip) from your Psionic Spells list, you can cast it with a number of sorcery points equal to the spell’s level. If you cast the spell using sorcery points, it requires no verbal or somatic components, and it requires no material components unless they are consumed by the spell.

How does this interact with Incite Greed which requires a 50 gp gem? My bet is that they just focus on you instead. But yeah this is obviously incredibly useful as you can cast spells like Detect Thoughts, Tasha’s Mind Whip, Dissonant Whispers, and Charm Person without any signal that you’re doing it. And there’s only more to come! To top it off: RAW if you don’t show any signs of casting you can’t be counterspelled!

Speaking of more spells as well as Counterspell I took Counterspell as a Sorcerer spell, because Banshee’s Veil is never not useful.

(Artwork by Jeremy Anninos. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 17 - SORCERER 7

Eyyy 4th level spells! Both the spells you would’ve gotten from Psionic Spells kinda... don’t make sense? So grab Confusion to make a mess in a teamfight and I’m actually going to suggest Arcane Eye as your other Psionic Spell for some wards.

You can also learn 4th level spells like Polymorph to turn into a fox in the spirit realm. Just in time for the Spirit Blossom festival!

LEVEL 18 - SORCERER 8

8th level Sorcerers get another Ability Score Improvement and honestly there are a lot of options now that your Charisma is maxed out: plenty of good feats like Tough, Lucky, Inspiring Leader, Mobile, Metamagic Adept, Warcaster, Spell Sniper, Elemental Adept, or an increase to Dexterity. (Those were listed in no particular order.) Honestly if you’ve reached level 18 you should be more than capable of making your own choices by now. Make your own character and be your own person.

Though I suppose I can still recommend spells: for a more potent and deadly Orb of Deception Storm Sphere will hit your foes with harsh winds and lightning!

LEVEL 19 - SORCERER 9

9th level? That means you can get your 5th level Psionic Spells! Honestly there’s a lot I like from both the Enchantment and Divination schools but both Rary’s Telepathic Bond and Telekinesis are great in their own right, and I’m fine with keeping them.

That doesn’t mean I’m not going to take Synaptic Static because... well it’s Synaptic Static! I love this spell and you can’t stop me from taking it. It’s got all the power of a Fireball along with a great negative effective that makes it harder for the enemy to kill you.

LEVEL 20 - SORCERER 10

At long last our capstone is... another metamagic option. By this point your spells pack plenty a punch so if you want to make sure not to hit your allies Careful Spell will disable friendly fire... Though alternatively if they’re keeping their distance Empowered Spell will let you make sure you get the maximum kick out of your spirit.

You can also learn one more spell, and one more cantrip to round out the absolute slew of cantrips you have. After a long match you can make a Teleportation Circle to go back to base, and for your cantrip? Wouldn’t it be funny if I suggested True Strike? Okay but memes aside take something else other than True Strike the world is your oyster and True Strike is bad just attack twice.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Indulge me - Ahri is arguably the most flexible caster I’ve made so far. A pure 50 / 50 split between Sorcerer and Warlock means that you’ve got a huge variety of spells, and two big spell slots that come back on a Short Rest which you can melt down into Sorcery points. Not to mention that Psionic Spells gives you an absolutely insane amount of spells known and the ability to cast several of them using Sorcery points instead of Spell Slots. And to top it off you have an absolutely ridiculous amount of cantrips, capping off at a whopping fourteen cantrips!

They're mine now - It also turns out that the coffeelock is really potent in its own right. Sorcery gives you a lot of options to make your spells even stronger, notably Quickened Spell letting you shoot out some Agonizing Eldritch Blasts after casting a regular spell.

Run faster! Ehehe! - You’re also no pushover for survival either. You have good health for a spellcaster, damn good mobility, and plenty of abilities to bolster yourself against danger... as long as you don’t mind a bit of Essence Theft.

CONS

Lingering spirits lose themselves - Even if your health is strong your defensive stats aren’t great. Poor saving throws (minus Charisma and Constitution) and bad AC (Shield is a good spell you should probably get it) means that while you can take a hit and lifesteal it back you’re still pretty easy to hit.

Don't you trust me? - You may be the queen of charms but you’re not that great outside of Charisma. Almost all your proficiencies are in Charisma skills which means you won’t be able to do anything like find hidden treasure or spot incoming danger.

Mortals have two choices; follow me, or don't - Ever heard of the concept of choice paralysis? Well with your absolutely bloated spell list it can be hard to choose what to do with your spell slots, and even harder to choose what spell to Concentrate on. Both your best moves and simplest tricks take your Concentration.

But with all your strengths what girl could want MORE? You’re a swift and dangerous mid lane mage with enough Vastayan magic to do whatever you desire. Dash in and show them what you’re made of! And be sure to be back at the studio in time to show the newbie the ropes. Don’t want that drum going dumb.

(Artwork by Horace Hsu and Esben Lash Rasmussen. Made for Riot Games.)

#dnd #dnd 5e #dnd build #dnd guide #League of Legends #Ahri #League of Legends Ahri #ahri league of legends #dnd warlock #dnd sorcerer #kpop #K/DA #K/DA Ahri

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aspiestvmusings · 3 years

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ZEP PARALLELS: S2 vs S1

POSSIBLE SPOILERS?

WARNING: Super long post.

Parallels & Similarities (and differences) between S1 & S2

Includes episodes 2x01, 2x02, 2x03:

2x01 Zoeys Extraordinary Return

Wake-up songs/Zoey & Mo: Opening the season with Zoey being woken up by Mo singing "in real life" & waking her up. "Rise up" in 2x01 AND "Angel of the Morning/Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" in 1x01. We first see Zoey in her bedroom. And the first two characters we meet are Zoey & Mo.

Zoey + baby: In both premieres Zoey has an encounter with a baby. In 2x01 we see her interact with her brother's son (the new baby, Miles) VS in 1x01 she encounters new mom with a baby on the cable car during the first ever big musical number she experiences (Help!) #whenwillshestarttohearthebabysheartsongs

Clarkeman & Coffee: The first Zoey/Max scene/interactions happens over "coffee break before work". In 2x01 we see them meting up for a coffee on a park bench before she heads over to work VS in 1x01 we see them getting coffee at the cofee bar on their way to work. In both scenes Max, her best friend, encourages/supports her (you will get the promotion VS it's a shield...to shield you from the world when you need it").

Jumping to conclusions: In 2x01 Zoey assumes that Max giving her the small jewelry box means he's proposing ("Relax, I'm not proposing") VS In 1x02 Zoey assumes that Max is asking her on a romantic dinner date, when he tells her he won the lottery to the restaurant they both love. ("Thursday night. Is it a date?" / "Is it a date?" "No! I just mean like can you go?")

Legs up!: Peoples legs getting close to Zoey's face during big musicals numbers: Leif's & Simon's during "Hello Dolly" in 2x01 at the 4th floor bullpen VS Joan's during "Satisfaction" in the elevator in 1x03.

Promotion: In 1x01 Zoey wants the promotion & has an "interview" with Joan to get it VS in 2x01 she does not want the new job (added responsibility, when she jsut wants to "lay low") but Joan just asks her to take it. And by the end of the episode she gets the promotion/accepts the promotion, and we see her "first day at work on the new job". And in both episodes she has a competitor - Leif, who is also interested in a promotion.

Interesting: In 2x01 Mo tells Zoey "So the powers are back - you're interesting again!" VS 1x01 when she tells him about her new superpower Mo tells Zoey: "This is the 1st thing I find remotely interesting about you".

Mo is the honest friend: In 2x01 Mo speaks the honest truth... which is what Zoey actually needs to hear JUST LIKE he has been doing throughout S1. He might not always say the nicest things, but he's alwyas honest. And its what Zoey's character needs. (eg. Mo knows that she just lost her dad & it's a hard time for her, but her problems are still not bigger than everyone elses. Or like he calls her out on her chase/hesitation over the two teams in S1)

Tech-savvy Zoey to the rescue: In 2x01 Zoey uses her tech skills to "hack into Mitch's e-mail account" when her mom can't find the password & access it for info she needs (that dad left them) VS in1x03 Zoey comes up with a way to communicate with Mitch... (after David comes up with the Yes/No buzzer) & creates a computer program which allows him to type his answers using a mouse.

Etsy: In 2x01 Joan tells Zoey "I like your sweater, its cute that you shop at Etsy" VS in 1x01 Tobin tells Zoey: "I thought you would be doing each others nails & buying matching tote-bags off Etsy in there."

Blessing or curse? In 1x12 Zoey told her dad that she has chosen to look at her musical power more like a "gift/blessing" (it allowed her to communicate with dad, helped her form bonds with others, help people...) and she said she's not minding the big musical numbers the way she used to. She even considers they're helpin g her instead. VS in 2x01 she tells Mo that she hopes the power won't return & when it does, she finds it "overwhelming" & cannot deal with any of it.

Bottling it up: In 2x01 George sings "Don't cry out loud. Just keep it inside. And learn how to hide your feelings." That song is as much about George's feelings about being the new guy, as it is another reference to Zoey's state of mind VS in 1x01 we learn that both Zoey & Simon keep their grief emotions bottled up (and they should not). As the dilogue from the Pilot already told us: Zoey: "Are you talking to anyone about this?" Simon: "Other than you? No. I've become a real expert of bottling my shame & pain, and hiding it from the world." Zoey: "I'm not an expert on this or anything, but you cant just keep it in."

Family & Grief: The Clarke family all singing "Carry on" & sitting down the table to eat dinner together at the end of 2x01... with a happy note about the future in their minds VS The Clarke family all singing "American Pie" on the funeral day at the end of 1x12, and all sitting at the living room (on the coach, chairs)...with a sad note about the present in their minds.

The premiere episodes end with a "surprise" Max (and Zoey) "twist": ep 1x01 ends with a surprise heart song from Max which makes Zoey & the viewers aware of his feelings for her VS 2x01 ends with a surprise decision from Zoey where she "chooses Max". Also parallels to 1x12: in both 2x01 & 1x12 Zoey comes onto/kisses Max as he's telling her about his new outlook on life & business ideas. In both cases she's (partly) trying to forget grieving her dad, and needs him for the distraction. Both endings were "sudden" & "unexpected"

Family picture wall: In 2x01 Maggie is holding baby Miles (her grandson) & "showing him" the family photos on the wall VS in 1x01 Zoey sees her & dad's reflection on the picture on the wall...as Mitch first communictes with her... by singing his first heart song to her.

Move forward: Zoey's words to Max about the business plans & their relationship actually apply as much to herself and her grief as they do for this situation: "You should absolutely move forward with it" & "You always have to move forward"

2x02 Zoeys Extraordinary Distraction [+ (base)balls]

Hooking up: In 2x02 Zoey says to Max "we have been hooking up for the last 5 minutes" VS in 1x12 she tells her dad "I just hooked up with my best friend". In both cases Zoey makes the first move & kisses Max. In both hooking up scenes the popcorn is forgotten...

She/They both want to believe she's feeling the moment & is ready, but it is mostly just one coping mechanism... her way of distracting herself from the grief. Cause in no way has she shown signs of actually choosing him. [what dawned on the characters only 2 weeks later was obvious to viewers before they "got together" aka the moment she "chose him"]

We saw her pick a team, but there have been no actual reasons or feelings expressed by her why she chose him (the reasons she gave in "act five" were about her needing him at the moment, not about why or how she really feels about him). The writing has still not included her POV & her sharing her feelings (cause she’s not ready for that...yet) They gave small glimpses during few scenes, but no real look into it.

Get out!: Tobin being kicked out of the meeting by DMD/Zoey - "Get out, Tobin"/"Would you like to get out, Tobin?" AND Zoey getting kicked out from the makeover night by Mo - "Get out!" / "Girl, I don't care that you look like Rafiki. Get out!"

That came out wrong: Zoey told Simon in 2x02 about making his job not so easy "I am gonna ride you so...hard... Nope, that came out wrong"...She adds the last part as she hears herself say the words. VS Tobin was talking about being commited to work in 1x08 by saying "Hardworking, committed, serious. Watch how fast I nail this. Speaking of nailing... Nope, not gonna make the joke.." He adds the last part as he hears himself say the words

Food stealer: Zoey "I steal food from my best friends plate/bowl" Clarke. She ate from his plate during their dinner date at her place. And then she ate from his cereal bowl during the Clarke family breakfast "the morning after".

Older siblings: Jenna's is the less successful older sibling/sister (2x02) just like Leif is the less successful older sibling/brother (1x05). They both feel like "not enough" compared to their younger sibling(s), who they feel are more "perfect".

Cardigan buddies: Leif & Zoey: cardigan buddies! Interestingly these two are the two 4th Floor Team members, who are most similar: both have a bike/like cycling (Leif often hs his bicyle helmet on his desk, so he rides a bike to work & Zoey has a bike in her apartment). Both love to wear cardigans, and the wardrobe department often has them in matching outfits/colours...Same this week. Both were/are the team members, who are in many ways "biggest messes" (most awkward), but both had/have the most ambition...they wanted and got the promotions. Both struggled in their new manager position..at first (and got help and good advice from their boss).

Team Leaders: Leif doing all the work alone (and exhausting himself...because he wants to be liked & hasn't yet settled into his new role as team leader... He has to learn to be their boss, ot just their buddy...to get the team listen & for there to be teamwork) VS Zoey doing all the work alone (pre-S1 when she wanted the promotion +) during S1 when she had just become the boss: sending everyone home, cause they "didn't try hard enough", and fixing all the issues alone... VS Mo wanting to do it all alone in his early 20s (when he took over the project he had been working on with his best friend, cause "he's too good at goobyes") Both struggled with the new job, both got help/advice from their boss (Zoey from Joan & Leif from Zoey)

Sleeping at work: Lief being woken up by Zoey in 2x03 after he falls asleep when pulling an all-night at work (working all night) VS Simon waking up Zoey in 1x02 after she falls asleep at work (behind her desk) after pulling an all-nighter alone.

Leif's pants: In 2x02 Zoey tells Leif "Dust off your slim-fitting chinos" VS in S1 Joan makes a comment on Leif's pants. [I cannot remember the ep number right now]

Go big or go home!: We found out Mitch's/Zoey’s dads motto in S1. It's "bigger moments, bigger memories" AND In 2x02 Zoey goes for the "bigger moment" - she tailors their first time together to suit Max's wishes (it should be special: the swan & rose petals are more for him than her) VS In 1x07 Max organizes a flash mob to confess his love for Zoey (something she as her dad's daughter secretly appreciates). She calls it unexpected & amazing & while she runs, its not cause she does not appreciate the "big gesture". The only reason she is overwhelmed & runs is because she is doing everything in her power to bottle up her feelings towards Max (1x06 ending proved she has feelings for him) & she did not want to deal with them at the moment. (the flashmob is more his style, but she is not opposed to it)

Come here: Max saying "Come here" to Zoey in the 2x02 dinner date scene at her place & during act five bedroom scene AND Max saying the same line "Come here" to Zoey in 1x12 during the "All of me/Pitbull" scene.

Mix of songs: In 2x02 during the Z/M bedroom scene the scene switched between different songs & tones (romantic/ballad vs comic/neutral baseball song VS romantic mutual duet) VS in 1x12 during the Z/M movie night turned more scene the scene switched between different songs & tones (romantic/ballad vs comic/fast song)

Dueting: In 2x02 Zoey joins Max for "A Moment Like This" during Act 5. She chooses to duet with him, becuase she feels the same way as he does. VS in 1x08 Max joins Zoey for "Pressure" at the CHIRP meeting... salvaging the presentation, when she involuntarely sings the songs (cause of the "glitch").

Opera songs + Sex: In 2x02 Zoey & Max are distracted by Mo singing opera & it's ruining the specialness of them trying to "do the nasty" VS in 1x04 Max sings opera the morning after he & Autumn "make their first love"

It’s a very not next-level move: In 2x02 during the morning after Max & Zoey are "caught" by her mom/family, and though it is awkward for a moment (because they seem to be surprised by the sudden change), meeting the family/parents does not seem such a next-level move, because Max has been kind-of part of the family for a while already. VS 1x05 where Max tells Zoey that meeting Autum's parents (he was dating her at the time) seems like such a next-level move, and she was not ready for any of it. VS all the times we saw Max interact with Zoeys family... in 1x02 with Mitch, in 1x06 helping the family with Mitch, in 1x12 with Maggie...

2x03 Zoeys Extraordinary Dreams [+ eggs]

NASA/Space theme: Zoey's NASA/space themed PJs and Tees + all the space references in both her childhood bedroom and her current apartment (telescope, posters, etc)

Musical nightmares/Dreams: In 2x03 Zoey is having a recurring nightmare where in the end she faces herself while the song "Nowhere to Run" plays #allbymyself VS in 1x02 Zoey was having a much happier weird dream...with a twist ending while the song "I've Got the Music in Me" plays

A sad Emma Stone Halloween costume: Black PJs Zoey wears in the nightmare in 2x03 are the same ones she wears in 2x01 on the last day of her time off. The look Mo calls "a sad Emma Stone Halloween costume" (as he suggests she put on some colours instead)

Coach & Photo on the wall: Basically the only items in the empty Clarke house during Zoeys nightmare are the coach (where Mitch used to sit all the time & where Zoey/the family sat in S1 finale...the day the music died) & the picture on the wall (where she saw Mitch reflection the first time he sang to her/communicated with her). Her nightmare/dance are directed at those objects.

Breaking glass: In 2x03 George breaks the glass wall/window of Zoey's/The bosses office when the team plays baseball at the office VS in 1x02 Zoey breaks the glass award/throphy in Simons office when she throws the american football ball. George & Zoey aka "I'm terrible around glass" people

On repeat: Zoey being hunted by the same nightmare/dream throughout the episode in 2x03... until she stopped trying to avoid them and talked about them/did something about it VS Zoey being haunted by the same song "(I Can't get no) Satisfaction" thoughtout episode 1x03... until she stopped avoiding it and helped Joan.

I can't get no sleep: Zoey not sleeping because of the nigtmares she's having VS David/Emily not getting any sleep because of the baby (most new parents are sleep-deprived, because babies don't always have the same sleep-schedule as adults do)

Mitch's/Zoey's spot on the coach: Zoey sitting on the coach with a blank look on her face at the end of "Nowhere to Run" nightmare VS Zoey sitting on the coach with a sad look on her face at the end of "American Pie" in 1x12 [in the nightmare shes sitting at MItch's spot, in s1 finale she's looking at the empty spot next to her]

Red dress: The red dress the OTHER Zoey is wearing in her nightmare as she opens her door VS The (same) red dress Zoey is wearing as she & her dad dance as instrumental version of "True Colours" is playing in 1x12 (as he's dying). Same dress.

Too much on her plate: Zoey taking on too many responsibilities and not being able to handle it. In S2 she is living the post-loss stage of grief + she's taken the new promotion and added jobs and responsibilities + she is avoiding dealing with her issues + she has started a new relationship (she is not ready for, actually) + she keeps hearing heart songs which kinda help her with knowing what others feel, but it's also distracting and overwhelming to her "reducing stress is a little tricky since I've taken over the 4th floor & have 10-times the respnsibility now"] VS in S1 she is dealing with losing her father soon + she's taken the new promotion and added job responsibilities + she is avoiding dealing with her own issues ("face her father") + she is helping people whose heart songs she hears. In S2 it kinda culminates in ep 3, in S1 it kinda culminated in ep 8. when she says "How do I do that? Because helping myself would mean taking a vacation from Sprk Point, or curing my father's disease."

Manager advice: In 2x03 Zoey asks Simon advice about how to manage all the extra work & he tells her about delegating work (sharing responsibiities) VS in 1x02 Zoey asks/gets help from Simon on how to manage the team (and still get to go home on time/get all the work done on time)

Not the right person to help: In 2x03 Zoey wants to hep her mom, but she feels like she's not the right person to do that, because she has no insight into the topic (does not know anything about landscaping & art) + she would probbly not have the time or energy right now, cause she has so much other things going on... VS in 1x11 she wants to help her mom, but feels since she has no personal experience (has not lost a husband of 4-years), she is not the right person to help her. Both times a heart-song heps her find the right person (in her opinion) for the job. In 2x03 it's Jenna, in 1x11 it was Deb.

No communication: In S2 & 2x03 Zoey is not really opening up to Max, but she is communicating her feelings to him...somewhat. Telling him about her nightmares/dreams, and that they're affecting her. Though not really going too much into the experience (because she hopes they will magically disappear if she wishes they will...) VS In S1 Zoey avoided opening up to Max & sharing her feelings with him more. Though she still uses the same tactics - trying to keep it all inside, and avoid dealing with her feelings and grief and everything related to it (hoping that if she avoids it then it doesn't exist...even if she probably knows that this is not how any of it works). She's trying to share a bit more with him, her best friend, but at the same time she is still bottling it all up inside...

My heart song does not mean what you think it means: In 2x03 Max says to Zoey after she hears a heart song from him (which he assumes might be that he is "jealous" that she talks to Simon, her grief-buddy at work about her personal life & nightmares) that "People can have a lot of thoughts in their heads without meaning them. / You can't read into it." VS Zoey's quote: "I don't know what that song is saying exactly what we think its saying" & "You can't be mad at me for singing a song I didn't mean to sing" in 1x08.

Dinner Date gone wrong: In 2x03 Max tries to cook a home-made dinner for Zoey (at her mom's place), but when she hears him singing a heart song it leads to an "argument" between the two and he leaves VS in 1x10 Simon tries to cook a home-made dinner for Zoey (at his new place), but when she hears him singing a heart song it leads to an "argument" and her leaving.

PS. Based on Zoey's reaction the song is either "Say Something" (because a person sings theei song until Zoey responds/helps..and she only did at the end of the episode) OR it's a reprise of a certain song fro S1 (but if I'm right not a song you'd expect) OR ... it's a completely different song... that we would not expect. And based on Zoeys reaction & the shows choice not to show/tell us the song... it has to be a "surprise", and if it would be simply "he's feeling jealous over Z/S grief connection" or if it was "Say Something"...that would not be a twist, but since I expect this to be setting up a future story, it'd be not very creative writing if it was one of these options. Which is why I have a theory... (I'm not sure about the song... I'm not even sure the showrunner/writer has decided yet... but I have a guess on the "theme/feelings")

Timing is off: In 2x03 Zoey & Max decide to put their new relationship on hold until she is ready...to give her time to grieve and work through the emotions VS in 1x10 Zoey & Simon decide to put breaks on their relationshop-to-be until he is ready... to give him time to work through his emotions.

Say Something/Happier: In S2/2x03 Zoey & Max are in a relationhip, but they do not communicate well. Because she does not open up to him about her grief & "he does not know how to help cause he has not had the same experience" VS in S1/1x05-1x09 Simon & Jessica are in a relationship, but they do not communicate well. Because he does not open up to her about his grief & she does not know how to help cause she has not had the same experience.

While there are similarieties in the storylines, there are also differences. S/J let the third party in the relationship, grief, get between them and it drove them apart, cause they stayed together until it broke them apart. Z/M came to a mature decision to not let the third party in the relationship defy them, they took a break so the grief would not end up breaking them apart.

PS. While we've ony seen the start of this storyline, I do believe that this is where it's going. They're not gonna repeat S/Js mistake, but instead they will "learn from it", and by deciding to take some time now they will be ready to continue where they left off once she's ready. Cause they both made the false assumption in 2x01 that she was ready. They were heading toward S/J, but theyre kinda trying to avoid that by the decisoon in 2x03.

Grief therapist: In S2 Simon is Zoey's grief councelor/therapist... he gives solid advice to her about her grief and how to deal with her feelings/emotions VS In S1 Zoey was Simon's grief councelor/therapist...she gave him often pretty solid advice about grief and how to deal with the situations. The roles have reversed.

Mind-reader: In 2x03 Max brings up the topic that he is unconfortable how Zoey can just "read his mind" and know everything he thinks & feels (have insight into how he feels...also about her), while he has no idea what she thinks/how she feels...because she won't really share. VS 2x02 When in Act 5 he says he'd like to know what she's thinking/feeling & she tells him what she's feeling VS 1x07 when Max bring up the fact that he is uncomfortable with her knowing how he thinks while he has no insight into her mind (after which she promises 100% honesty to him.... that she'll be open with him... which to this day she has not been able to really do) VS 1x04 when Mo expresses concern that she can read other people thoughts & he's not okay with her having insight into his private thoughts & feelings.

Time apart: In 2x03 Zoey puts some space between herself & Max, when they agree to take a break, cause she's not done grieving/not ready for a relationship VS In 1x02 Zoey puts space between her & Max when she sets him up with their barista in the previous episode (because she is not ready to let herself even consider romantic path between them, so she "fixes it")

THE END...for now

#ZEP #ZOEY'S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST #SPOILER #ZOEYS PLAYLIST #LIST POST #LONG POST #TEXT POST #CLARKEMAN #ZOMAX #ZAX #detained #PARALLELS #ZEP S1 #S1 vs S2 #ZEP S2

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laurelgavaris · 4 years

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set: july 4th-5th (buck moon) location: sol dance studio and green ridge park what: it was suppose to be a night indoors at the dance studio for the gavaris coven and leon; however one of the coven members never showed up, which caused the head priestess to worry and ask for help from those she trusted and had by her side to find rosa, and they did, unfortunately, they did. | @choileon & @miles-easton

tw: death, injuries

Laurel Gavaris

Another full moon, one that she did feel like herself instead of having her magic against her.Laurel had invited her coven members and Leon to gather at the dance studio, so they'd be around for spells and to protect each other in case anything wrong happened with the wolves during the full moon. She was setting the table with candles and food, leaving the room's center empty so they'd be able to form a circle and engage in their errands when people slowly started to appear. She smiled and greeted all of them, moving closer to a particular one. Looking at Miles, she smiled. "Well, and here we are again. It's really nice to have you all here, there's just Leon and Rosa missing and we can start."

Miles Easton

He paced. He looked out the window occasionally as the clouds parted and moon became visible. Miles didn’t have any concerns. Not many, although something he couldn’t identify kept nagging at him. The witch shrugged it off to being told they would stay inside on this evening. Back home the coven met in outdoors, elements be damned. Then again, at home there were stricter territories for werewolves, leaving a town for witches and humans to wrestle over.

Laurel approached and the severe look on his face softened. “Leon?” He repeated. Leon had some fair points and opinions to make at Litha about covens. Miles couldn’t blame Leon. Nor did he care what others wanted, needed, or felt obliged to pursue. “You sure? Oh-- I brought an old grimoire along. There is a protection spell I wanted to show you in it.” A bookmarked thought. An offer he wouldn’t be able to make anywhere else.

Leon Choi

Leon sighed. Despite his problems involving covens in the past, they still held a heavy influence on him, that resonated to these days. On the other hand, Leon knew that his priorities had changed this time around and he was making an effort to trust Laurel with this. If she ended up disppointing him in the end, oh well, it would just be another one to add to the list. Nothing he couldn't handle. But full moons meant headaches and blacking out and, taking last month's moon in consideration, great discharges of energy that could potentially hurt someone, so, might as well side with someone that could fully hold him back. So when Laurel invited him, he said yes. Reluctantly, but still.

He tried to be on time, but the rain made traffic worse, not to mention, some roads were closed, so his Uber had to make a few detours here and there. Finally, he arrived, dark hues searching her among the people from her coven and when Leon spotted her, he made his way to Laurel. "Hi..." He waved one hand, before shoving it back into his jacket's pockets, his gaze moving to acknowledge Miles too. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be late. Apparently some streets are blocked. I think maybe because of the rain? Hey Miles, how is it going?" He didn't know the man was part of Laurel's coven, but at least it was someone else there that he knew. "Hope I'm not too late?"

Laurel Gavaris

At the mere question of why she'd invite Leon for their coven meeting and, what seemed to be a concerned tone at his question, Laurel raised an eyebrow. Why wouldn't she be sure about it? "Why— Yes, I'm sure. Is there something I should know?" Because so far, through conversations with Leon and the time they spent together, he seemed honest, and bluntly transparent with her. But could she be wrong? "Anyway, that's great. Thank you for bring the grimoire and sharing it with us, I knew there was a reason why I thought you were a great addition to the coven," she replied, a genuine smile resting on her lips as she touched his shoulder gently.

And then, she turned, her hand sliding down close to her torso while her attention was now Leon's. "Not at all! That's not a problem." She tried to reassure him so he wouldn't feel bad about being late. "We still need to wait for Rosa before we begin, but we can start prepping everything. I'll try to contact her again. If you have her phone, could you try texting her too?" She questioned Miles. Laurel didn't want to sound worried, but no sign of a member of her coven during a moment is Astoria where everyone was missing was... worrying. "And, hey, all of this is alright to you, right?" She questioned Leon, knowing how he felt about covens.

Miles Easton

“I meant… are you sure we can’t wait for them.” Because one of them was running up to the door. Maybe Laurel was more on edge than usual too. “I’m also very good to have around, yes.” His smile grew wide and broad. Assuring.

Everything would be fine.

He passed a ‘hello’ and a wave on to Leon. “It’s going well, I’m glad you made it.” The weather did seem tricky out there. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to set up a few things, it won’t take but a moment.” He held his phone up for Laurel to see, to know he would text Rosa. Which he did, as soon as he turned and walked to the circle outlined in place for the coven members.

Everything would be fine.

If Miles knew anything about Laurel it was that she would relax and be in her element walking Leon through the paces, or showing him the hospitality of the coven was in full force. Or… whatever she was doing. Miles liked to have things to do. Needed to stay busy. And there was a slow cyclone of activity beginning to spin inside the dance studio.

Leon Choi

"Is everything alright?" Leon's gaze went from Laurel, to Miles leaving them, then back to the woman. His paranoia kept telling him to run and not look back... not that Laurel had ever given him a reason to doubt her, but he was starting to feel anxious with eyes on him (which, would have been perfectly reasonable to have, since he was a newcomer, but still) and having Miles leave like that to set up a few things didn't help either. It was nothing personal. Not against the other man or Laurel, it was mostly Leon fighting his inner demons.

He didn't realize he had followed Miles with his gaze and ended up looking around the room, to people chatting (some in spanish, others in English), until Laurel asked him that and he had his attention drawn back to her. "Ah... yeah. Yeah, it's fine." The second part of his phrase sounding more reassuring than the first. "I'll probably just look, if that's okay. I'm not sure if my energy will help this time... No discharges of energy as of yet, so that's a good thing, right? Is Miles the Head Priest with you?"

Laurel Gavaris

At the sight of Miles walking away, Laurel kept a soothing smile on her lips; something that was more directed at her own self. Trying to keep herself centered and knowing that someone being late, didn't mean that they had disappeared and she should be worried. But what if? Oh my god, what if? And before she'd go through a whirlwind of thoughts, Leon brought her back to reality. "Yes, it is. It's just Astoria... last full moon wasn't the safest one so I worry. It's usual."

And it was, inside that room there were people she cared enough to help run away from a country and those who wanted to belong in a coven, to be part of a family. They were her family. Grabbing her phone while she was focused on everything on her surroundings she tried Rosa once, twice, three times and nothing. A sigh. Again, Leon made her got away from her own mind, walking around the room hoping he was following her. "We'll probably just go through a protection spell, practice a little bit and be in connect to Mother Nature as much as we can while inside this studio. And, no, no," she chuckled. "He's one of newest members in the coven. It's just me as a head priestess for this coven, and so far, I hope it's been enough."

And she just wanted to go through that, to show her members that they were safe, but there was this gut feeling that something was off and she couldn't just ignore it. "Am I being paranoid? She's probably okay, right?"

Miles Easton

As the final preparations were attended to, Miles kept his phone out on a table in sight. The longer he waited to hear the familiar buzz and ping of a text, the deeper the furrow on his brow became.

Rosa’s singular defining feature was early arrivals. So early in fact that it annoyed Miles and he had tried to beat her a few times to a meeting. But no, there she would be sitting, waiting, and well ahead of the game. He wanted to give Laurel and Leon space to talk, but as he soon found himself running out of the ‘what ifs’ of why the excessively (and annoyingly) punctual coven member hadn’t shown up.

“I’m sorry, but ah.” He approached Leon and Laurel again, shooting a quick glance out the studio windows before looking at the two. “Rosa has not responded to my texts. Seems it a bit weird, yeah? Should I make a run by her house and check in?”

Leon Choi

There wasn't much to be said, and Lean noticed always being quieter when around Laurel. Part of him didn't have much to add, and the other part worried about saying the wrong thing around her and have yet another person ganging up on him and calling him childish. He got it. He understood his actions weren't the best and he was trying to change his ways. The mention of last month's full moon caused Leon to scoff, knowing fully well how dangerous it had been. "At least the rain doesn't seem as bad as last month's." Which meant that hopefully, his body's reactions to it would be different too.

He bobbed his head as she explained Miles' situation and it made sense that a new member would try and be helpful. Leon would've done the same if he knew beforehand how things worked at Laurel's coven. He watched the interaction between the two, only voicing his thoughts when he felt worry in their voices. A coven member running late was that much worrisome? "It's probably the traffic. If she's not wearing a cloaking spell, which, I don't see why she should be, why don't you guys try a tracking spell? Like I said, people are taking detours because the streets are blocked and maybe that's her case."

Laurel Gavaris

Laurel had to be the most centered person in the situation, she couldn't allow hypothetical scenarios to cause her distress and eventually propagate her worries on everyone surrounding her. Taking a deep breath, her eyes searched for Miles firstly: "The protection spell. How does it work? Would it keep everyone already here in the room protected? Because in case we're right, and Rosa is in trouble... I can't worry about anyone else but her. I need some certainty that they'll be alright, you... all will be alright."

A sigh, her fingers brushing against her hair. In her voice she could show certainty but her worriness was clear through her body language. "And we can do the tracking spell, yes. We can find where she is and in case it's nowhere near the studio. I'll find her. I'll go after her." It didn't matter if it was raining, if the world was ending out there. Rosa was one of the few that trusted Laurel ever since the beginning and she'd do anything to keep her promise to protect Rosa. Anything. Even if so far the disappearances only happened to werewolves and shapeshifters, she didn't want someone from her coven to be the first one to be part of the list. "There's a crystal on top of the table at the back of this room, or I have a mirror at my office. Either way, we can go for a scrying spell."

Miles Easton

All at once there was a lot to do. “The tracking spell is an excellent idea, Leon.” His attention turned to Laurel. “And the protection spell is easy enough. Everyone else is here, all they have to do is gather in a circle. I can show you how to lead it. The spell takes only a few minutes and will provide protection for everyone who participates, at least for tonight. It’s a short lived spell, but very powerful.” Rosa’s absence opened a space for Leon to join as well, if he chose. “We should take care of that first, yeah? Making sure everyone will be safe for the night. Then consult your mirror.” The urgency to find Rosa was understandable, however there wouldn’t be much meaning in it if the rest of the coven was left vulnerable.

A question for Leon. “Would you be able to perform the tracking spell?” The coven was stocked with more than Miles knew about, so certainly anything Leon needed would be at his disposable.

Leon Choi

There was a reason why Leon thought Miles was a Head Priest alongside Laurel. The way the other man moved around, giving his input and sometimes taking the lead wasn’t something Leon recalled happening at his former coven. Things were much more hierarchical there, leaving almost no room for others to offer anything. Much less to take the lead at times, hence why he was always turning to Laurel out of pure instinct.

Chances were, Leon was going to say he’d be going home for the night. With the rain being regular showers rather than a nasty storm, his headache was bearable. It sort of felt like he was invading their privacy somehow and he was ready to tell them he was going home, but then Miles asked about the tracking spell and he fell quiet for a second or two. “Ah—“ Leon rubbed the back of his neck, feelings his ears warming up with the pressure of having those set of eyes on him. “I haven’t done one in a long time, but... I can try.” His words didn’t feel like a question, which surprised Leon in a way. He realized that he wasn’t afraid of using whatever it was growing inside him if it meant helping someone. “I’ll have to read the spell though. Rusty is an understatement...” He shot an apologetic glance at Laurel, not wishing to put more weight in her shoulders in case the tracking spell didn’t work.

Laurel Gavaris

It took her just a couple of seconds once she left the room to grab her mirror and head back to the room. And that was when Miles' voice reached her attention, nodding in agreement. It seemed a lot like the spell her father once taugh his coven when she was still in Guadalajara, so she'd know that this would be safe, it gave her security enough that she wouldn't worry about anyone else. "Okay, we can do this. I can do it." She'd prioritize everything in the right order, first she'd take care of the members who were there and after that, she'd look for Rosa.

Now, her light hues searching for Leon's, she reached for his hand just to grab his attention before grabbing her phone, searching for a picture, any picture and showing her phone's screen to Leon. "This is Rosa, so you can know who you're looking for. Her name's Rosa Diaz, and I can do this with you, okay? If you want to, we can do it together, to search for her while going through the tracking spell. I just need to do the protection spell first." Moving closer to the center of the room, she didn't need to share words for the attention of everyone else to get to her. "Due to what happened in the previous full moon and for everyone's safety, which is something I've been aiming for since Litha... besides our amulets, we'll go through a protection spell. We don't know what's happening out there and all of us deserve to be safe." And that was when she finally searched for Miles, so they could start the spell, all together.

Miles Easton

Leon sounded on board with the tracking spell. Laurel had a fire lit under her. Reassurance wasn’t a skill Miles possessed. Sentiments felt cheap and empty. “We can do this,” he reiterated, more to solidify the several steps of the plan they had all created to locate Rosa.

After a few moments gathering everyone in a perfect circle, Miles slipped the grimoire into the head priestess’ hands. A hum and buzz steadily began to color the circle. The energy of the coven and magic of old words from a spell book ignited a ring of fire around the group that quickly disappeared without a trace once protection had been cast over everyone within.

The tension in the room did not dissipate as fast. Miles could really use a drink. Obviously it wasn’t the time.

And he tended to barrel through such situations with action with a personality too dominant to take a back seat. The situation with Rosa kickstarted a buried desire to be helpful rather than the usual self-serving Miles.

So he would assist, or not, in whatever way was needed. “Nice work.” He commended Laurel with a smile and an inconspicuous brush of his fingers over hers as he took the book of spells back. A light acknowledgement, a little admiration considering the spontaneous decisions being made. Leon was nearby and Miles called out. “Ready?”

Leon Choi

Truth be told, Leon was feeling a little overwhelmed right now. All of these people, all of the unwanted responsibility placed on his shoulders, someone missing (which made him pick up his phone and check in on MJ), and then Laurel grabbed his hand, which was enough to focus his attention on one spot. Rosa. The brunette with thick, wavy hair that was smiling right next to Laurel in the picture she was showing him. Silently, Leon took the phone from the brunette’s hand and pinched the screen to zoom into the woman’s face, committing those features to memory before handing the phone back to Laurel, but gently grabbing her wrist before she walked away. “Hey. We’re here for you, okay? We’ll find her. I promise.”

He knew better than to make promises like that, but Laurel had been kind enough to take him in and help him while expecting nothing in return, not even that he would join her coven, so, in so many ways, Leon wanted to pay her back... even if it involved making promises he didn’t know if he could keep. He followed Miles and Laurel, stepping in to help form a perfect circle and channel his energy into this spell, to help power it up, knowing it was the only thing he could do.

When Miles turned his attention towards Leon, he nodded, moving to another part of the room so he could focus on the tracking spell. This should have been easy... tracking spells were taught to beginners, he knew that much. He opted for the crystal, since he knew his abstract magic side hadn’t been all that much trained, even back in his old coven. He would leave the scrying mirror to Laurel if she chose to.

Leon sat down on his heels, a map of Astoria placed in front of him and a crystal hanging by a delicate chain on his hands. He closed his eyes, trying to get a clear picture of Rosa in his head while chanting some things in old celtic. He focused his energy on the crystal, guiding his hand over the map. Leon didn’t know how much time it had passed or for how long he had been sitting there with the crystal circling a certain spot of the map, but he couldn’t get more specific than that. “I—sorry...” He looked up, finding Laurel and Miles’s gaze. “This—“ his finger circled an area of the map. “Was the closest I could get to where she is. Does she live around here?”

Laurel Gavaris

The energy emerging from the room made her almost get chills while their powers became one during the protection spell; there wasn't much she could do at this point for each person in that room, but she would do what she could. When Laurel finally opened her eyes, she kept her gaze for brief seconds at everyone in that room, they had been people she fought for back when it all started and nothing had changed now. Closing the grimoire, she handed it back to Miles; a minor grin appeared on her lips as a mere touch of his hand brushing against hers was felt, she murmured a thank you and then, reached closer to one of her best friends to ask her to be in charge while they would be away. Because Laurel knew that there was a high chance this wasn't heading to the best case scenario.

And then, her concerns were confirmed. "She doesn't live close to Green Ridge Park, at all." A sigh. "I'm gonna go after her. I just need to know she's safe or else I won't feel tranquil. I'll take the mirror with me and I can try to do a spell on the way there. And I need your help, it would be completely naive of myself to go out there alone." And then she stopped for a second, it was one thing to ask that for Miles. He was part of the coven, but with Leon, there was a difference at making him take the risk of being out there, during a rainy full moon night. "I don't know what's happening with the wolves and I'll understand if you don't want to go, but if you'd like to help, I'll be grateful. But this is not your cause, so know that I won't be mad or disappointed if you decide to stay."

Leaving the scenario for a moment, a few words were shattered with her coven members but nothing about a missing member, at least not until she had more information. Laurel grabbed her purse and her car keys, the latter being handed at Miles. "Can you drive?" She questioned him. "We're good minutes away from the Park, so if there's no one in front of us at the streets, make sure to go as fast you can."

Miles Easton

Leon began to concentrate on tracking the missing coven member. A hush fell over the room, the type of silence fraught with apprehension. Fear and worry. A huge amount of pressure hanging over Leon, swaying back and forth like the crystal held over the map.

There was a break through but not an optimistic one. In a park, in the storm, under a full moon. In a town filled with unpredictable werewolves. The danger was clear. So was Laurel’s determination to find Rosa. A decision he would’ve argued against if he were in his old coven.

‘Can you drive?’ The answer varied by context. Miles didn’t have time to explain why he did not have a license to drive. They would all find out soon enough. He took the keys, nodded, and had a quick look at the map Leon held on to.

The jeep whipped around another corner, tires squealing, a plume of smoke left behind them. Miles narrowly missed sideswiping a parked car. His instruction was to drive fast, and so he did. He glanced at Leon. “The park is coming up on the right.” A few more blocks, but wait. “Leon, could you try the tracking spell again?” There were a few ways around and into the park, and Miles wanted to get them as close as possible. "Where should we stop?" And then to Laurel: “Do you see anything at all, if she’s still there?”

Miles had some skill with scrying mirrors too. In seeing the dead. Probably not the best time to bring it up.

He punched the pedal rather than brake at a stoplight. The park loomed in sight. The branches of trees hung low weighted by all the rain. So dark. No sign of life.

Leon Choi

If Leon were smart enough, he would've taken the opportunity and gone home as soon as those words left Laurel's mouth, but he had made himself a promise to stop running away from everything, so of course he had to say yes. Well, at least, if he died, he'd die with a clear conscience.

He sat on the backseat, letting Miles and Laurel take the lead and wow, if he wasn't already traumatized of being inside cars, this would probably make him fear for his life. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out of it for a bit... "I---no?" He sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "So--sorry, but that was the best I got." Which, he knew it wasn't much, but it had got them there. And it made Leon sink further down on his seat.

Once the car came to a stop, Leon stepped out, hands in his pockets which found his phone and he switched on his flashlight. "Laurel... if you want, I think now it would be a better time for you to use the mirror. Or maybe you'll do a better job with the crystal now that we know she's around here. It's better than going around yelling her name."

Laurel Gavaris

At that point she didn't care about her car, the speed, red lights or anything but Rosa. Laurel felt numb towards her surroundings, all she had her light hues focused at was the mirror she was still holding onto, as she enchanted in a lower tone: ostende mihi illum quem quaero. And it didn't take longer for her to see Rosa, crystal clear in front of her. Not alone, definitely not alone. And the fear in her eyes perhaps was the reason why, not only Laurel's heart skipped a bit, but she also almost lost control of the spell. "We're definitely close." She shared, knowing that despite how dark it was outside and the rain didn't help at all, they were close. At least, they were already near the park.

In the mirror in front of her there was some light which helped her recognised the woman's face, and that flick of lights were soon noticed by the witch flashlights. "Rosa... she's— not alone." That was all she said before moving her attention up for a second, the brief second she needed to notice a lighy between a few branches. She could've reacted better, of course she could. However, those were desperate times, and with that Laurel raised her tone, demanding the action. "Stop." She waited for the moment she could finally get out of the car, "it's Rosa, I know it's her. I can feel it... her fear." and run. "Rosa!"

That section of the park was pitch black, the trees created shadows that caused her to always assume she was close when she still wasn't; Laurel forgot about werewolves, any danger, anything. Her aim was Rosa, and Rosa only.

Miles Easton

The best Leon had was no. OK, fair enough, Miles told himself and took a breath. Driving was every bit as stressful as he thought. Laurel began an incantation in Latin and he was tempted to glance over until he heard they were close.

Miles knew only fast and stop in terms of a car, but somehow managed to slow to a roll. The outline of images in the park were there, but shrouded in shadows. The trees, swings, a slide. A path disappearing over a bridge. Laurel told him to stop and he did.

Laurel was out of the car before the others. Miles reached into the back and grabbed the only things he could think to before leaving the studio. A flashlight, and luckily Leon had brought one as well. A ceremonial silver dagger. Just in case.

He stepped out and turned on the light and swept it back and forth before catching the coven priestess’ image ahead. Oh. Fuck.

Miles saw a light too other than his own. Out in the distance, in the direction they all headed. Laurel was long gone, far out ahead. Miles turned to Leon. “We stay together.” He said, firm and slightly annoyed, walking faster until he broke into a sprint. The other witch has run off. They all split up and they are done for.

Leon Choi

“Shit—“ Leon tried reaching for Laurel but she had already started running, and Miles was right, they should stick together. “Yeah, no... I know.” He kept (or tried keeping) his phone up so they could see better the path where Laurel had gone to.

He came to a halt when he found Laurel kneeling over a body, and he would swear that he wouldn’t be able to take that scene out of his head. “L-laurel...” he breathed in, slowly taking steps closer to her. “Laurel... let’s... let’s call the police.” He crouched down, resting his hands on her shoulders, then looked over his shoulder. “Miles... Miles, call the cops, man. We uh... we need to report this.”

Laurel Gavaris

"No, no, no. Rosa," Gravity wasn't her friend at that moment, and Laurel instantly felt her knees colliding against the ground. When she got to the young woman, there was no one around her, but she still could swear that she was being watched; her body was shivering and she wasn't certain if it was due to the cold, the emotions coming to surface as tears would stream down her face or the fact the person who did this to hear could still be around. "Lo siento mucho Rosa. Te fallé, te dije que te protegería y te fallé. Desearía haber llegado aquí más rápido, Rosa, te juro. Lo siento mucho." And that was all that was pounding over her head the moment she finally found her. That she was sorry, that she should've done something and that she had failed someone who counted on her. Laurel wanted to hug the woman, to do something, if possible even bring her back to life, but there was nothing she could do but closer her eyes.

And that was when she noticed she was no longer alone. Laurel heard Leon's voice and instead of facing towards both men, she just continued on the same position, silent, still looking at Rosa in front of them. Dying by herself, alone in the woods, what a horrible fate for someone who had always seem so pure, so loving. Had it been a wolf? Someone else? Even if utterly impossible, had it been Anselmo? "Call them." She cleaned her tears, still unable to stare at them, but still wearing a firm tone to hide how broken she felt.

Miles Easton

Miles and Leon stayed only a few footfalls away from each other. Even from a distance they both could tell Rosa had been found, but not in the way anyone had hoped for.

The brain wanted to conjure magical thinking, to ask if the witch was okay, when clearly she wasn’t. Miles could see the grief-stricken heave of Laurel’s shoulders as she knelt beside Rosa with Leon there to comfort. Rosa’s body showed signs of a struggle, a fight too much for a lone witch. She hadn’t survived.

But there were no signs of what a full moon could compel to stalk the woods at night either. Blood, but no claws, no bite wounds...

Leon and Laurel were telling Miles to call the police. He pulled out his phone and dialed while looking around. Were they even alone? Was whoever did this to Rosa watching, waiting to pick off more witches?

“We need to get back to the car,” he said, the rest of a thought interrupted by a 911 operator answering. Miles wasn’t often at a loss for words, but in the plummeting degrees of a sudden summer storm he stumbled, trying to remember where they were directionally, becoming impatient with requests from the person on the other line. “Yes, I’m certain… please, just please hurry,” he urged.

The rain began to let up. It was so quiet he couldn’t hear the wind at all. Only an unsettling stillness and murmurs from Laurel. “The police are on their way, and an ambulance.” Miles paused, and then walked over to kneel beside the other two. He rested a hand on Laurel’s forearm. “Go back to the car, both of you.” A glance between the two."I’ll wait here.”(edited)

Leon Choi

“Laurel...” Leon, gently rubbed her arms, trying to pull her up from the ground, but not wanting to force her, especially when she seemed to be going through a lot with her friend. “We should get up.” The problem was that he didn’t really know how to be that person for others... he didn’t know how to comfort others, but since Laurel had been nothing but good to him, he was putting an effort for her sake. “Laurel... come on. Let’s go”. He gently tried to pick her up from the ground, glancing over at Miles.

At least the police was coming, but it would be an annoyance to get their statements, but hopefully they would figure out what happened to Rosa. He didn’t know Rosa, but nobody deserved to die like that... alone in the dark and left in the middle of the woods. “I don’t think we should split. You said that yourself.”

Laurel Gavaris

It was almost as if her eyes couldn't see past Rosa, and the conversations around her echoed in her surroundings but the words uttered by both men didn't keep her attention for far too long. However, she felt their touch, the pressure of both Leon and Miles' hands over her arm and forearm; she didn't feel so lonely because of it. "Okay, thank you," she pressed her hand on top of Leon's arm. Her thoughts were still haunting her and there was a turmoil of feelings that didn't cause Laurel to feel as present in that moment as she could but still, Leon's words caused her body to automatically respond to it, moving up, feeling the breeze against her skin, this time not as smoothly as she usually was grateful for. It made her feel alive, and she didn't like it.

Laurel had never been one to deal so well with death, her first encounter with it was when she was too young to compreehend but still old enough to feel the pain, with her siblings wasn't so difference, but this one had a change of perspective. And that was the reason why, when she finally took in everything that both men had shared with her and when Leon's words: I don’t think we should split, got to her mind, she turned to face them. "I just lost someone because they were alone. I'm not leaving any of you, I'm not losing anyone else. We'll leave here if we all leave together and if any one of you try to tell me otherwise, I'll use my power to make you agree with me." She sighed, feeling weak but standing still and with her head held high. And then she faced only Miles for a second. "I'm your leader, I've been through worst in life. I can deal with this, I can wait here."

Miles Easton

‘I don’t think we should split. You said that yourself.’ That was before they ran ten seconds into the future and found a dead witch. “I know what I said. Things have changed.” They were all in danger now, and Miles had a host of comments to make. It wasn’t the time to fight over it, so he wrung as much emotion out of his words he could and delivered them as calmly as possible.

Because they were all thrown by what they saw and the implications would be seared into their minds. His own mind was reeling with so many questions, so many responses, so many ways to ensure no one else ended up like Rosa.

Laurel got to her feet. He’d never heard her say a n y t h i n g at all like she did then. Would she dare use her power to keep them there? She was his leader, what?

Miles had a convenient way of going completely numb in a crisis. Clinically minded, focused on the facts, and the true jolt to the system would be processed later. A blip of anger crossed his features. Staying there, standing in the middle of the park to be another target for whoever did this to Rosa, was absolutely stupid……

Laurel was feeling everything. Leon was trying his best to help. Rosa was dead, and the rumbling of a fight he was suddenly desperate to have with the two witches standing there would best be saved for Rosa’s attacker.

The three were also protected by the earlier spell.

Miles wanted to exhale a breath that felt stuck in his chest held since he stepped out of the car. But he stayed silent. He broke the tight gaze held on the others to set the flashlight on a nearby bench, kept on so the police could locate them.

There was a dark secret he’d never shared with his coven or anyone in Astoria, had never planned on doing so. Could he still do it? Could he hear Rosa, could she whisper to him the name of who or what did this to her?

Oh fuck this is not how he ever wanted this to go, but. He turned back to Leon and Laurel. “I… might be able to still talk to Rosa.”

Leon Choi

Leon didn’t like the predicament he had got himself into. He had promised to be less of a coward, but at what cost? Getting involved with other people’s businesses, possibly being forced to go under investigation from the police, and all because he wanted to show Laurel that he cared. He almost snorted at the thought... this wasn’t some sort of test to take the pretty girl to prom. It was a stupid crush anyway, he shouldn’t have to prove anything to anyone and yet, his feet weren’t moving. Instead, he was staying put, because it mattered to Laurel, so, he found out, it mattered to him to.

“No offense, man... but Rosa died because she was alone.” His hand slid down and he took Laurel’s hand on his own, drawing circles upon her skin, probably to make himself calmer rather than her, but if it worked on her, then it was both their luck. “We’re stronger if we’re together. We can channel our powers to make ourselves stronger and even do another protective circle, just the three of us. Whatever got to your friend might still be out there...” And of course, he wouldn’t say it out loud, especially since he had just began his studies once again, but he wanted to stay behind and protect Laurel and Miles too.

His brow arched up at Miles’ words. Wouldn’t he need the things Laurel had ready when they contacted the ghost that was bothering Leon? “Like—a seance? Wouldn’t we be able to see her if she was still around?” His gaze went from Miles to Laurel.

Laurel Gavaris

Her hand moved through her hair showing her frustration for a second. That was the exact moment that she could mourn, that she could pour out emotions that they moment they left the scenario, she would no longer focus on them. That was the only moment she'd show her vulnerability and how much a loss would keep her over the edge; and in case someone doubted that, her previous words had been a good example of it.

But then, almost as if there was a switch within herself, she bottled up the sadness and how worry she was because what Miles had shared changed her focus and at least, Leon's touch over her hand kept her centered. "Okay..." That was when she decided to at least walk closer to where Miles was standing, her light eyes staring at him and trying to have the best glimpse possible of his demeanors due to the gloomy setting they were at. "Rosa's just died, she'd need to have more strength and practice to show herself to us," Laurel replied to Leon once he questioned the young brunette. "And we'd be able to see her if she wanted us to see her, even with the spell they have to, somewhat, want to be seen. Or the witch should have practiced enough to be able to make them appear to the living." That was her explanation, or one she had been taught throughout those years.

"Which means... you can force her to be here?" And that question was directed at Miles. "Wouldn't it be too soon? What if we confuse her and she thinks she's still alive?"

Miles Easton

“You’re right, Leon.” Soooo painful for Miles to say to anyone. Standing in the circle with the coven casting a spell had occurred less than a half hour ago and yet it seemed so far away. An invisible cloak of protection clung to their shoulders just as the rain did. Leon was also right in that Rosa had been alone, for some unknown reason, on a night when no one should be. If she had only been at the studio...

“It’s not a seance exactly.” His eyes lingered for a moment on Leon, catching himself before finishing the thought. Miles began to realize that the longer he spoke, the more frustrated he would become. It was not the time to suggest dark forbidden spells to reach a deceased witch. Law enforcement would soon arrive. His best bet was to be agreeable. Slide through the arrival of the police on charm and with concern for the events of the evening. Make sure the two witches with him stayed alive.

And then he would go home to reach out to Rosa himself. Alone. To see what she could tell Miles about what happened in the woods.

Laurel spoke, still shaken but with a steely core holding her upright. Being the leader she said she was. “Of course. Let’s forget I brought it up. And be here for Rosa now.” He stepped to Laurel’s other side to look down again at the witch they had so desperately searched for. Miles rested a hand at the dip of the priestess’ spine for a few seconds of further assurance. He wasn’t sure if it was a comfort or not. “You didn’t fail anyone tonight.” Words meant even less, but they were all Miles had in such a fucked up situation. Laurel said she was strong, she had been through worse. She wanted to be there, and that was what they would do.

The idea continued to play over in his mind. Damn. What in the hell was Rosa doing out here?

Leon Choi

When Laurel moved, Leon decided it was about time he let go of her hand and instead of standing there, looking as lost as he did, he shoved his hands in his jacket's pockets and followed her, standing closer to Miles as she did too. He was more than used to seeing dead bodies, so Rosa in itself, didn't bother him. What bothered him was knowing how upset or uneasy those around her had been due to her death. Again, it was just like he'd read it somewhere: death didn't happen to you, but to everyone else around you who were left to pick up the pieces you've left behind.

Even though he heard what Laurel had explained to him, Leon still kept his eyes on the corpse on the ground, mostly because he was trying to think of all the possible scenarios that would paint them as the criminals. They had a solid alibi... they had been at Laurel's studio and had plenty of witness to that, and Leon had taken an Uber from his place to the studio, so he also had that to prove his innocence. Unlike Miles or Laurel, Leon didn't have a reason to be there. He wasn't a part of Laurel's coven and he didn't know Rosa, so he needed to look after himself. Crouching down, Leon used his phone's flashlight to point at Rosa's hands... he wished he had something to lift up her hands and check if she had skin under her fingernails other than dirt. Hopefully some blood, too. Any trace of DNA that would lead to her killer.

"She didn't die easy..." He mused, mostly to himself, seeing the dirt under Rosa's nails. Her jeans had a rip on one of the knees, which could mean a sign of struggle too. Standing up, he saw the flashlights at a distance and waved his own, waiting for the cops to arrive. As some marked the scene as a crime scene, others took Miles', Laurel's and Leon's statements. They were advised not to leave town and make themselves available for further investigations, before letting them go.

#astoriaevent3 #( full moon: buck moon. )#( c; miles. )#( c; leon. )#death tw #( chat. )#( transcript01. )

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allsystemsarenotgo · 4 years

Text

A friend and I were talking one day, and she shared this with me.

She was much like me, raised with a quarter between the knees, terrified of the things we were taught to avoid and trying to live reasonably noble lives. She wasn't allowed Birth Control for religious reasons (pro-life) as well as to prevent enablism. Her family was much more religious than mile, though I still went to church during my Sophomore, Junior, and Senior years of high school.

She married a guy 10 years older than herself, who was a long-time routine customer of her family's business. They married right after she graduated high school, long before she applied to higher education.

She is a nurse now. She has 3 kids, works long hours at a hospital, and her husband is a successful farmer as he always has been. She struggled at times, but she made it through.

She knows life would have been easier without the first child, but she was innocent and naiive and I think she realizes that she jumped in the deep end of the pool before learning how to swim.

I did the same thing.

All through high school I pledged to abstinence until marriage. I hated everything to do with sex. The topic, the drama, the action, the result. I wanted nothing to do with it.

But I also never dated through grade school at all. I never had a girlfriend. Plenty of crushes (M.S. above being one of them), but just as many denials. Because I didn't drink, smoke, do drugs, have FFA animals, or play athletics, I also wasn't a member of any social group. I was always the kid in the corner of the cafeteria scarfing food down in 5 minutes and sleeping the other 20, or asking to go to a teacher's classroom, where it was serene and quiet.

My freshman year of college, I even wrote an essay on abstinents for English class. That really didn't go over well in regards to having to read it out loud. There might as well have been fruit flying at me.

My dorm was set up such that we had 3 private bedrooms that shared a living space and bathroom. One of the roommates always had girls over, and he never tried to be quiet (or if he did, he failed...badly).

So those two things were my indoctrination to college life. Getting judged and leered at for writing an abstinence essay, and having to listen to a roommate multiple times a week.

Towards the very end of my freshman year, a girl from high school messaged me. We started talking, and she admitted that she had always had a crush on me and was too shy to ever say anything.

Error #1: For no good reason whatsoever, I agreed to formulate a relationship with this female

So when I moved home from the dorms, I hung out with the lass a few times, but my parents were moving out of the country and closer to my school, so I could live at home. That meant that this would now be a 1.5-hour-each-way medium-distance relationship.

So every 4th or 6th weekend during the remainder of that summer and into the fall semester, I would drive up and spend a day with her. Sometimes, I would drive her out of the country and into the city to give her a glimpse of escape (it was very impoverished where we grew up).

Error #2: Doing whatever made her happy

I really enjoyed the time that we spent together. She got me a purity necklace for Christmas that year. She said she understood that my preference meant something to me.

But then, something changed. She would start dropping enuindos and jokes and send me photos that I didn't ask for.

Error #3: Not standing up for myself

She said that I meant something to her, and asked me if she meant something to me. At the time, I did not comprehend that as a trap...but I wanted to make her happy, so I said "yes".

The next thing I know, she is booking a hotel for us for Valentine's day. Wherein, I learned a thing or two or five or ten that I really wasn't interested in learning in the first place.

-Provides Clorox to help scrub the thoughts from your mind-

After that, she wanted me to come see her more and more often. But I was tied up with school and life.

Mind you, we usually had a phone call every night, or at least every other night. Same time, right before bed. Sometimes we would fall asleep on the phone with eachother.

Error #4: Accepting anything as fact

Well one night, I called her, and she answered...but it was noisy in the background, like she was driving. But she never talked while driving, and wouldn't answer the phone with family in the car.

She said she was in a friend's car and they were going to the beach for the night, which was completely reasonable for the time of year and her group of friends. She cut the conversation short saying they had arrive, so we bid our greeting. But she didn't hang up, and something told me that I shouldn't either. So I didn't.

"Who was that?"

"Don't mind him. He was just calling to check on me. He's controlling like that."

"He sounds like a jerk"

"Enough about him. He won't do this."

-Provides more clorox-

And that's how I found out that her primal needs were more important than our "relationship".

Unfortunately, shortly after I broke up with her, I was sent a photo of her quite visibly pregnant. Fortunately, the timetable did not add up to Valentine's day (aside of the fact that it was physically/biologically 95% impossible).

That summer, I started a job at the student newspaper. Right off the bat, one of the graphic artists and I got along very well. We spent way too much time at work talking to eachother and goofing off, instead of working. Enough so that our boss took notice and things got tense for a bit with him. We still cranked out work no problem, but we were both too young to understand workplace policy and procedure when it comes to "dating but not dating", which is basically exactly what we were doing. We spent alot of time together. I would go to her dorm after class and we would watch movies and just goof off or do whatever. We enjoyed time together.

Error #1: So cliché. So, so cliché.

So Valentine's day rolls around, and she asks 'the question'.

So something in biology: There is a term called "Once an animal has the taste of blood, they will always hunt for it." Unfortunately, humans can sometimes be considered a sub-species of the animal kingdom.

Like the dumbass that I am, I accept to the terms and conditions.

And at the end of the night, she asks: "So are we officially dating now?"

"I...I guess?", I answered nervously.

Errors #2 to #457: Not escaping

And just like that, I was suckered into nearly 2.5 years of having a FWB while having to, very creatively at times, mask it as a legitimate relationship.

We enjoyed the time we spent together.

We enjoyed going places together.

My mum liked her, her parents liked me. (Dad was skeptical at best and thought I could do better)

The small issue: I struggled to communicate at times. I didn't know how to find my voice, so there were times that I would have to text her how I felt. Sometimes I would hide in a corner just so I could cry. (I later learned of my autism, and it all made sense and I learned how to resolve this)

The big issue: I was completely burned out on intimacy. After almost 2.5 years of emulating laboratory rabbits, I was done. My usefulness had expired.

The biggest issue: We were both suffering academically. We had no common interests at all anymore, and we had put eachother ahead of our own academics so much that we were both risking academic expulsion.

So we mutually agreed to break up.

She dropped out of university (and never went back or finished her schooling), and I changed majors twice before getting my Bachelor of Science.

My first relationship lasted from June 2009 to April 2010.

My second "relationship" lasted from February 2011 until May 2012 (Although we started spending time together in significant amounts starting August 2010)

I have not had a girlfriend since May 2012.

I had one friend in my senior year of college, who gave me some non-physical affection while also keeping me firmly locked in the friendzone. But quality time, by itself, only goes so far.

I have not had any physical affection since May 2012.

I have not spent quality time with a female since May 2013.

For most of that time, from May 2013 to August 2019, I really didn't mind it at all. I have been so tied up in working, hobbies, and life in general, that I completely ignored women.

But as my birthday loomed near in October 2019, it donned on me....I was on a crash course to being eternally lonely.

So I have tried online dating. I have gone on a few first dates, but no second dates.

Sometimes, I want to give up. The fight just doesn't seem worth the reward.

And honestly?

Sometimes I feel exactly like my friend's remarks at the top of this post. Sometimes I wish I would have been a little more rebellious, a little more care-free, a little more out-there.

But at the same time, ...

Sometimes I wish that neither relationship would have ever happened.

That I would have never learned the true definition of intimacy.

That I would have never done whatever it took to make the other person happy.

That I wouldn't have been such an easy push-over.

That I would have stuck to my initial pledge in life

That I would have spoke up more and defended myself.

All I am now, is damaged product.

I don't truly know how to love.

I don't truly know how to feel.

I don't truly know how to be myself.

I don't truly know how to be intimate.

I am human, I am male, so of course I have my moments. But I don't want that to be the reason for a relationship. I want it to be the least-important factor, or not a factor at all.

I want a relationship founded on trust, honesty, fortitude, common interests, personality, maybe even a little faith.

Not intimacy.

I just want to not be invisible, or to only have one attribute visible.

I want to be seen for all the other attributes.

I am not A-sexual. I still feel emotions and feelings. I just don't want to let them out of the locked box which contains them. Not without lots of context and preparedness.

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houseofbrat · 4 years

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Is the assault info against Biden going to be his predicted Black Swan from the astrological charts?

I’m inclined to say no at this point, mainly because I’m thinking something else is going to happen. We had the Mars/Pluto conjunction last week, and that would be indicative of the sexual assault allegation coming to light. Pluto having some association with sexual assault due to the story of Pluto kidnapping and raping Persephone. Also, he’s running his Jupiter/Mars dasa. His natal Mars is placed in the 12th house/secrets, so that would also be indicative of past secrets coming to light. He’s in that time period until the end of April. Perhaps there are other allegations of this sort that could come out? We’ll have to see.

To be clear, I’m not the only one who thinks there might be something that could happen to Joe Biden. Joni Patry posted this video today:

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There is a lot of posturing during this video that I don’t agree with.

1. She mentions that they’re all going around shaking hands, and, sorry Joni, they all stopped major, in-person, campaign events a couple weeks ago. If you want to say Joe Biden might die of coronavirus, just come out and say it. Like I just did in that sentence I typed right before this one. I mean, dude has been on camera coughing more than once recently. And if coronavirus doesn’t kill him--and hey, maybe it won’t--perhaps he’s just going to die of old age since Joe Biden looks the most frail of these three men by several country miles.

2. I think Trump is going to be perfectly fine. I don’t think he’s going to die from coronavirus. I think it’s been almost two weeks since he was possibly exposed at Mar-a-Lago, and he seems to be fine. Any difficultly currently exhibited in his chart is probably more indicative of the problems the US is going through. Although, I will say that there is more than one Vedic astrologer who believes Trump does have some significant health problems. If true, they may not come to pass/fruition until 2021.

3. The birth time Joni is passing off for Bernie Sanders...does not have a source. She is acting as if this is the 100% accurate birth time, and it’s not. Astrotheme notes his birth time as 12:27 pm, yet notes in the post that there is no source. (She uses 12:28 in the video.) Astro.com notes that there is no reliable source for his birth time, and that everything is speculation and hearsay.

This is why when I posted what I had to say regarding the election, I did not write about Bernie Sanders’ chart because of the disagreement regarding his birth time. I generally believe Edith Hathaway’s rectification to be correct. You can read what Edith has to say about it at the bottom of the page.

I look at the 12:27 pm chart for Bernie, and it literally makes no sense to me, particularly when you add in his heart attack from last October (2019). If you use the Gemini ascendant Edith uses, then his heart attack on 01 October 2019 happened when Mars & Sun were near his 4th natal house lord while in the 4th house. Given the 4th house relates to the chest & heart, this makes sense. I don’t think the Scorpio ascendant Joni Patry works in terms of explaining Bernie’s heart attack last fall, but then I’m not super fluent in medical astrology. Perhaps there is some odd rule I don’t know about, but I think the Gemini ascendant works very well.

I would note that Venus--yogakaraka (one of the best planets) for Gemini ascendant--stations within about 1 degree of Bernie’s natal Jupiter on May 12. Jupiter rules his 7th & 10th houses (for Gemini ascendant). I’m assuming by that point in time Bernie will have won enough delegates for the Democratic nomination. This is would not necessarily work for the Scorpio ascendant because Jupiter would then rule the 2nd & 5th houses and Venus is in a different planetary camp (not as favorable for Scorpio ascendant).

#ask #vedic astrology #election 2020 #Joe Biden #Donald Trump #bernie sanders

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lets-talk-appella · 5 years

Text

i’m nobody’s but yours

Chapter 21/25 - Chloe

Summary: Beca is straight as an arrow. 100%, totally, completely straight. Except for one problem that 100%, totally, completely changes everything: Chloe Beale.

Title borrowed from Calum Scott’s “If Our Love Is Wrong.”

Word Count: 3.5k

Rating: M (for dark themes, homophobia, masturbation, and eventual smut in later chapters)

AO3, FFN, and below.

Chloe stares at her laptop screen in shock.

Everything around her fades away; the music from the playlist Beca made for her, the occasional evening traffic sounds from outside, and even the muted voices of the Bellas downstairs. At this moment, the only thing that matters in the entire world is the email she received ten minutes ago.

Dear Ms. Beale:

Congratulations! Please consider this your formal acceptance to the Brooklyn Animal Care Veterinary Internship program!

We were impressed by your attention to detail in your application, as well as your optimistic attitude and record of community service. What most made you stand apart from other applicants was your impressive amount of leadership experience; we believe this experience makes you uniquely qualified for a potential Intern Manager position with our staff during the duration of your time here.

Though your training will not begin until September 1st, we had several other highly-qualified candidates and would appreciate notice of your acceptance or denial of our offer no later than August 8th.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out should you have any questions about the position or the hiring process.

Sincerely,

Brooklyn Animal Care Staff

She’s read it end-to-end seven times, the meaning sinking in slowly. She glances at the date in the corner of her laptop screen: August 4th. That gives her four days to decide.

It’s not like she really has to consider other offers. Though she’d applied all over the country, the Brooklyn program had been her top choice; their program is the best of those she applied to, and the idea of living in New York sends a thrill of excitement shooting through her. It’s novel and ensnaring and something she’s wanted for herself for a while.

The only thing that’s keeping her from immediately accepting is Beca. Or, more exactly, the relationship she has with Beca and how much it means to her.

Beca has heard back from exactly one of her many job applications so far. Two days ago, a music producer based in Houston, Texas, offered her a position with an acceptance deadline of August 10th.

How far away is Houston from New York? A thousand miles? More?

Chloe pulls up Maps online; the distance from Brooklyn to the center of Houston is 1,419 miles.

It’s too far.

Chloe pulls her lower lip between her teeth and opens a new internet tab: veterinary internships Houston TX. There are more than 60 results. She could do it. She could fill out an application right now.

Her hands twitch on the laptop keyboard, and for an instant, she seriously considers it. It wouldn't take long. She just has to copy and paste a lot of the information from her other applications.

Chloe leans forward with a groan to rest her head in her hands.

It would never work. Even with her application materials prepared, there’s no way she could complete multiple applications, the subsequent phone interviews, and hear back from them in the span of the four days she has to either accept or decline the position in Brooklyn.

Chloe groans again, frustrated. She’s fully aware that the rational thing to do in this situation is for her and Beca both to accept their offers, as long as no one else contacts either of them in the next few days. They need jobs, and their lease is about to end. The “adult” thing to do would be to say yes to the offers.

And yet.

They do still have some time before they have to decide, and it’s possible that they might actually manage to get offers from within the same city. Maybe. If the aca-gods are in their favor.

Chloe’s eyes prickle and sting. It’s not fair. They should have all the time in the world to be together, rather than potentially having to live across the country from one another. Chloe knows that in reality, Beca’s job prospects are much more limited than hers; every city needs veterinarians, and those veterinarians need internships. Big-name music production jobs are much less common. If she really doesn’t want to live apart from Beca, then it makes the most sense to follow Beca to wherever she goes.

It’s just. Brooklyn’s program is really the best, and Chloe knows Beca would want her to follow her dreams and go there.

They haven’t been dating long, but already, Chloe can’t imagine a future without Beca. She thinks it might have to do with how long they’ve known each other, or maybe even that she’d stayed at Barden all this time to be with Beca. Either way, she’d never liked the thought of leaving Beca, and now that Beca has made her into the happiest person in the world, the thought of separating from her is borderline unendurable.

The words “Beca” and “forever” are linked in her mind, no matter how impractical that may be this early in their dating relationship. Chloe knows it should probably scare her – being this dedicated to someone so soon – but it doesn’t.

It has all become alarmingly simple.

Chloe and Beca, Beca and Chloe, Chloe and Beca, Beca and Chloe.

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

Telling Aubrey is probably the worst part about not graduating the second time.

“What do you mean you ‘failed again?’” Aubrey practically screams over Skype.

“It’s fine,” Chloe says, trying not to wince at Aubrey’s volume; if Aubrey senses weakness, she’ll pounce. “I’ll just try again next year.”

Aubrey groans, the computer mic distorting her voice and making it crackle. “Chloe. You can’t keep doing this to yourself.”

“I don’t –”

“Oh, don’t give me that,” Aubrey insists, looking at Chloe seriously through the camera. “You know exactly what you’re doing. You’re too smart to have actually failed anything, much less – what was it?”

“Russian Lit,” Chloe mumbles guiltily.

“Russian Lit?!” Aubrey repeats loudly. “Chloe, seriously? I know for a fact you have Anna Karenina almost memorized. Don’t pretend you don’t know what you’re doing.”

“I mean, Dr. Zhivago is really a hard novel to analyze –”

“You’ve read it three times,” Aubrey says, sounding exasperated. “Be honest. It’s the same reason as last year, isn’t it? The Bellas?”

“They’re my family, Bree,” admits Chloe, dropping all pretense. “I don’t want to leave her – them. Them,” she says firmly, kicking herself a little and hoping Aubrey won’t notice the slip-up.

Unfortunately, Aubrey always has been too astute; even through Skype, Chloe can see her eyebrows lift and expression turn satisfied.

“Mhmm. So how is the little goblin?”

“I’ve asked you not to call her that,” Chloe snaps, more defensively than she’d meant to.

It makes Aubrey’s sly grin widen, and Chloe knows she’s given herself away.

“But you still know who I mean, even when I call her things like that,” Aubrey replies with a dismissive shrug. “Does she know you’re purposely failing to stay with her?”

Chloe feels herself flush, and stutters out, “That’s not �� I don’t – you’re –”

“Why don’t you move on, Chloe?” Aubrey interrupts, shifting at her desk to lean closer to her laptop. “She’s still with Jesse and – unless you haven’t told me something – she’s still straight.”

Chloe looks away from the screen, stung. She doesn’t need Aubrey to tell her these things. She already knows them, painfully well.

“I – you never know, okay?” she manages after a moment, still unable to look back at Aubrey.

“Chloe,” Aubrey sighs after a moment, her tone softening so that Chloe’s able to look at her again. “I – I’m sorry, but... you have to know how unhealthy this is. You do see that, right?” she speaks delicately, as if worried Chloe’s going to start yelling at her.

Chloe’s stomach plummets and she looks away again.

“I mean… you just… Chloe, if she’s straight, there’s no point in continuing to feel like this. It’s a little – well, it’s unfair to both of you, really.”

Chloe swallows hard, Aubrey’s unspoken words screaming in her ears. She can read between the lines. She knows Aubrey is calling her creepy and obsessive.

On Skype, Aubrey starts to backtrack. “Okay, maybe unhealthy was a little –”

“Let’s talk about something else,” interrupts Chloe, not really listening. “Have you heard anything from your dad?”

Aubrey stares at her disapprovingly at the blatant subject change but doesn’t comment on it. Chloe breathes a little sigh of relief when Aubrey goes along with it, albeit reluctantly, and starts detailing some of the last postcard she’d gotten from her father concerning probably confidential military operations.

As she half-listens, nodding and smiling in all the right places, Chloe tries very hard to ignore the faint stirring of guilt in her stomach.

Aubrey doesn’t need to know she’s already planning on graduating with Beca. She’d probably think that was totally crazy.

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

Beca and Chloe forever. At least, that’s how Chloe sees it.

In a few days, though, separation might be their new reality.

A light knock on her door breaks her concentration. It’s okay, though; she can tell by the knock it’s Beca. Smile already spreading over her face, Chloe calls, “Come in!” As she does, though, she minimizes her email, not wanting to ruin Beca’s mood by bringing that whole mess up. She’ll tell Beca, just, not yet, at least if she can avoid it.

The door opens and Beca slips in, leaving it cracked open behind her. Chloe relaxes at the familiar sight of Beca’s crooked grin and giggles at the dramatic way she throws herself on Chloe’s bed, bouncing against the mattress before sitting upright.

“Hey,” Beca says, “you busy?”

“Not really,” Chloe shrugs, careful to keep her tone light and casual. “What’s up?”

“Not a lot. Just got off the phone with my dad,” Beca answers, rolling her eyes, but without menace. “He’s been taking every chance he gets to ask about you and – and us,” she adds, suddenly looking nervous.

“How’s that going?” Chloe asks tentatively.

Beca shrugs, looking up at the ceiling. “It’s… not bad,” she says slowly. “I mean, we’ve been talking for a little bit, since your parents came over, and he’s kinda getting it?” Beca says, her voice rising like it’s a question.

“That’s good, though, right?”

“Yeah. It’s – he’s been slowly getting better about it. He didn’t say anything totally offensive this time, anyway,” Beca huffs.

“That’s good. Uh, and…?” Chloe trails off, uncertain.

“Sheila?” Beca asks, and Chloe nods. A corner of Beca’s mouth lifts contemplatively. “I mean, she’s – radio silence,” she says grimly. “It’s like my dad said – she’s just kinda like that, and I’m not sure she’ll change. He’s trying to talk to her, though, a little at a time. We’ll see,” Beca finishes in a tone that tells Chloe she’s done talking about it.

“Okay,” Chloe says. “So, we’ll, uh, we’ll work with that.”

“Yep,” Beca says, tracing her fingers over Chloe’s bedspread. Chloe has to suppress a smile and ignore the natural swoop in her stomach at seeing Beca on her bed; Beca’s been spending most nights in her bed lately.

“But, anyway,” Beca clears her throat, and Chloe hauls her mind out of the gutter so she can listen. “Was also wondering if you wanted to come shopping with me,” Beca asks. “Just to the mall or something, maybe.”

“Did you have something in mind?” Chloe asks, pushing away from her desk and moving to sit next to Beca at the end of her bed. It’s not often that Beca willingly goes to a place involving large amounts of other people.

“Well,” Beca tilts her head and reclines back to an elbow, her torso twisted toward Chloe. “Mostly I want to check out what they have for, like, uh, parting gifts? I guess? For the Bellas.”

“... Oh my god.”

“Don’t make it weird.”

Chloe can’t stop the huge smile she feels spreading over her face. Chloe wants more than anything to tease Beca (and mercilessly) for being such a softie but decides to take pity on her pinkened cheeks and stubbornly set jaw.

“We can do that,” she says. “It’s a great idea. Did you have anything in mind?”

“Nah, I just want to see what they had, you know?”

“Oh, uh, okay, yeah, we can probably –”

“Are you okay?” Beca interrupts, leaning forward, her eyebrows drawing together in concern.

“Hmm?” Chloe feigns innocence while panicking internally.

Beca’s frown deepens and her eyes flick between both of Chloe’s intently. “You seem a little… I don’t know. Not quite here, I guess. Just kinda off.”

“I mean, it’s nothing.”

Beca shrugs. “If you don’t want to talk, it’s okay, I just want to make sure everything is, you know, chill, or whatever.”

“Oh, it’s okay, I just, um…” Chloe hesitates. She hadn’t planned on telling Beca quite like this, but she doesn’t like the idea of keeping anything a secret from her. “I’m… I was accepted to the Brooklyn internship,” she finally expels in a rush.

Beca’s eyes fly wide and her mouth pops open in what Chloe knows is excitement. “Dude, you got in!” she exclaims, bolting upright.

“Yeah,” Chloe says and grins despite herself.

“Dude! That’s awesome, congrats!”

Beca lunges forward, reaching for Chloe’s face, and pulls her into an excited and somewhat sloppy kiss. Through it, Chloe can tell Beca is genuinely happy for her, and that both invigorates and saddens her. It makes her decision that much harder.

Beca pulls back first, her hands still cupping Chloe’s cheeks.

“I’m so proud of you, Chlo,” she says sincerely.

“Thanks, it’s really… I’m excited,” Chloe says, then winces internally at the obvious strain in her tone.

Beca’s smile falls slowly and she pulls away, dropping her hands from Chloe’s face to she can study her more closely.

“Are you?” Beca asks, softly this time. “Excited, I mean?”

“Yeah, it’s just…” Chloe half-shrugs, and looks away from Beca and toward her desk, where her open laptop almost seems to mock her. “It’s kinda far from Houston.”

Beca stills next to her, and Chloe glances over to see her looking down at the bedspread between them.

“Why does that matter?” she asks carefully.

“Beca, you know why it matters,” Chloe says.

Beca’s hands twitch in her lap.

“I mean… it – yeah. Brooklyn kinda is far away from Houston, yeah,” Beca agrees after a second.

“I could turn it down, maybe try for something closer,” Chloe’s quick to say, but Beca’s already shaking her head seriously.

“No way, Chloe,” she says firmly. “No way. I thought you’d always wanted to go to that program, right? You said it has a super high vet school acceptance rate.”

“Yeah, it – it does…” Chloe admits slowly, grateful Beca had remembered that detail about her program search.

“Okay, so you should go there, right? So you can get into vet school later?”

“Beca –”

“Look,” Beca cuts her off gently, “Chlo, I don’t want to be that couple that holds each other back from doing what they really want to do.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Baby, I’m worried I would,” Beca says, staring down at her lap. “You’ve been talking about their program for a while. Isn’t it what you want?”

“Yeah, but I want you, too.”

“You can have both, Chlo.”

“Beca –”

“What if we were switched?” Beca asks suddenly, looking back up. “What if I had wanted to go to LA and gotten an offer there?”

Chloe refuses to look at her. “That’s not the same,” she says.

“Yes, it is.”

“I…” Chloe sighs and rubs a hand over her face. She knows exactly what Beca’s doing, and she knows she’s right. “I’d tell you to go,” she finally concedes.

“Yeah,” Beca nods, reaching for Chloe’s hand to pull into her lap. “So this is me, telling you that you should follow what you’ve been working for.”

Chloe pulls her lower lip into her mouth, worrying at it with her teeth. When she doesn’t say anything, Beca runs her thumb over the back of her hand.

“What is it?” she asks softly.

“I just...” Chloe starts, then has to pause to swallow the lump in her throat before she can continue. “It’s not fair.”

She knows it’s childish – life isn’t fair to anyone – but she wants to complain, at least a little bit.

“What isn’t fair?”

“This!” Chloe exclaims, finally looking up at Beca. “This whole stupid thing! We just got together and now we might be pulled apart! It’s not fair!” she finishes, her voice cracking.

Beca stares at her for a long moment, eyes wide. “I – yeah, I know,” she finally starts, and Chloe watches as determination take over her features. “It’s not fair. But, listen – having a long-distance relationship is not the end of the world.”

“I didn’t –”

“I know it’s not ideal, but it’s not the end of the world,” Beca repeats, speaking louder. “We don’t have to end just because we’re not living together, okay? There’s – there’s text, and calls, and Skype, and – we have options,” Beca says. “And, you know, lots of people make it work. We can too, okay, if we have to. And it won’t be forever.”

Chloe shrugs, then nods slowly. A trickle of hope moves into her chest.

“And,” Beca continues, “I still haven’t heard back from, like, a ton of jobs. I’m not gonna go to Houston if I can help it, okay?”

“Okay,” Chloe whispers, squeezing Beca’s hand.

She’s right. If anyone can do it, it’s them. It’s not ideal, but it wouldn’t be forever.

“Besides,” Beca adds a second later, her tone lighter as she nudges their shoulders together playfully, “Houston gets, like, super hot in the summer, and you know I don’t do well in the heat.”

Chloe snorts at that, and a small smile grows on Beca’s face. Chloe doesn’t say anything, but Beca’s still watching her, her expression tender.

Reaching forward to push a strand of Chloe’s hair behind her ear, Beca says, “And, um, if you’re really not sure… think on it for a bit, maybe, and we’ll go from there? I might even hear back from some places by… when do you have to tell them?”

“The 8th.”

Beca’s eyebrows lift, but then her expression arranges itself into something more neutral.

“Okay, so, the 8th,” she says, and Chloe can tell she’s forcing her casual tone. “That’s… yeah. I still think you should do it, though, because it’s what you’ve been wanting for a while.”

It sounds so simple coming from her mouth. Chloe knows Beca is just as terrified by the looming moves as she is, but she sounds so confident and assured in that moment that Chloe instantly relaxes.

“Sounds good,” she breathes, some of the tension lifting from her chest.

“Good,” Beca says, then stands from the bed, still tugging on Chloe’s hand. “And, in the meantime, would you like to dance with me?”

“What?” Chloe blinks up at her, surprised.

Beca’s grin only widens. “We need to celebrate this, and I don’t have any cake with me, so… dance?”

“You’re so weird,” Chloe says, but then she allows Beca to pull her to her feet and into a quick kiss. Beca’s lips move languidly against her own, their familiar taste reminding Chloe of crackling campfires and warm movie nights and exhilarating performances and home.

After a moment, Chloe has to pull back, slightly breathless. “Do you have music?” she asks.

Beca tilts her head, mock offended. “Duh, who do you think I am?” she asks incredulously.

Chloe smiles as Beca waggles her eyebrows overdramatically and pulls her phone from her pocket. She scrolls for a second, then taps on the screen, turns up the volume, and La Roux’s “Bulletproof” fills the room.

Chloe’s lips lift at song choice – even though at one time, it had nearly torn the Bellas apart – and Beca sets down her phone face-down on Chloe’s desk so that the music can full the room. Beca takes both of Chloe’s hands in her own, and with one more crooked grin, Beca starts dancing.

She leads them in a kind of jerky swing dance that doesn’t really match the song, but Chloe doesn’t mind; all she can think about is Beca’s hands in hers, guiding her back and forth and side to side in the middle of the bedroom.

They take turns spinning each other, Chloe’s eyes following the trails Beca’s whirling hair makes in the air. Beca backs her into her bed once, and Chloe wobbles dangerously, but Beca tugs her back with a glint in her eye that tells Chloe it might not have been an accident, but an excuse to pull their bodies closer together. As the music ends, Chloe spins Beca one final time and tugs her close to rest their foreheads together, breath mingling and hearts beating in tandem. Beca’s hands slide up her arms to loop around her shoulders, and Chloe rests her hands around Beca’s waist.

Even though the music is over, they revolve slowly on the spot, Chloe’s mind calming and heart racing. Beca nudges forward to brush her lips against Chloe’s, even that barest touch between them sending sparks cascading through Chloe’s entire body. She hums into the kiss, pressing forward just enough to add pressure before easing away again.

“Say yes to New York, Chloe.”

It’s quiet, whispered against her lips, but it still shakes Chloe’s world.

“I’ll need a roommate,” she breathes back.

“Ask the group chat.”

It’s a smart idea. Most of their futures are so up in the air that one of the Bellas is bound to be willing to move to New York with her.

(She wishes it could be Beca. More than anything, she wants it to be Beca.)

But she has to think practically.

“Okay,” Chloe agrees. “I’ll ask them.”

“Okay,” Beca smiles, then pecks Chloe’s lips again. “So… about that shopping trip?”

“You got it,” Chloe whispers, and she lifts a hand to trace her thumb along Beca’s cheekbone before she (reluctantly) pulls from Beca’s arms to text the group chat and find her purse.

#bechloe #bechloe fic #my writing #beca mitchell #chloe beale #pitch perfect fanftic #i'm nobody's but yours #chapter twenty-one #we're so close to the end!!!#also this is being posted later today than usual sorry!

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