#piper has the look of a pretty popular girl but is actually a fucking weirdo

[godlizzza]

just read the epilogue for the couple down the street- love the fic so much, definitely going down as one of my favorites ever. a prompt for in that universe- if you think Dan and Herbert stick around- a teenage Piper? who barges into their house without knocking and complains to Herbert about her stupid teachers while they experiment on a dead body? really adore your writing

"Dr. Weeeest!"

The yell rang through the house, all the way down to the lab, rattling in Herbert's ears. He cringed against the onslaught but didn't get up to investigate. The years had told him what to expect by now, so he remained seated, threading his needle. A moment later footsteps thundered overhead and down the stairs until that someone jumped down the last few steps to land with a hard slap of sneakers against cement on the basement floor.

"Dr. West!" Piper exclaimed again, throwing her backpack down. "You won't believe the day I've had."

"Is it to do with that Brett boy again?" Herbert grumbled, peering through the microscope at the tissue sample of their newest cadaver. "I thought he got the message when you accidentally spilled a crate of dead frogs on him."

"Ugh, no, nothing about him. That was an accident though!" she insisted, slipping her jacket off and pulling a fresh set of scrubs over her t-shirt. She prattled on as she put on all her PPE- gloves, safety goggles, and tying her hair back. "So, I was in English today when Cindy- You remember Cindy?"

"No," Herbert said, adjusting the microscope.

Piper went on as though he hadn't spoken. "Well, Cindy comes up to me and is like, 'Did you cheat off my test?' And I was like, 'Um, no. I actually want to pass this class.' And then she gets all pissed at me! Like she didn't start it by accusing me of copying her- which I never would, by the way."

She came around to stand on the other side of the worktable, finally pausing in her tirade long enough to take a breath. Herbert looked up from his microscope to watch her go about setting up the tools. At just shy of sixteen she looked the ideal image of a girl; lively, pretty, and blonde. One might think she spent her afternoons going to the mall with friends or being taken out on dates by infatuated boys. Little did they know she preferred to spend her time elbow-deep in the guts of corpses.

She had mettle, that girl.

"Fascinating," Herbert droned. "Meet our new subject, by the way." He gestured down to the body laid out on the table. "Lewis Cranston, age thirty-five. Admitted two days ago complaining of pain in the lower abdomen. He died on the operating table when he had an allergic reaction to the anesthetic."

"Ouch," Piper said, pursing her lips. "That's a bummer."

"Major bummer," Herbert agreed. "For him, that is. Advantageous for us. Now, tell me: what's the first step?"

"Finding the cause of death," Piper replied instantly.

Herbert hummed and tapped the microscope. "Yes, but we already know the cause of death: allergic reaction. So, what's next?"

Piper glanced down at the body then back up at him, her eyes alight. "We find out what was ailing him in the first place."

"Correct," Herbert said approvingly and she beamed. "Which means?"

"Autopsy!" she said gleefully, clapping her hands.

"That's right."

"Where's Dr. Cain?" she asked suddenly, looking around as though expecting to see Dan hiding behind some boxes.

"Out on a sandwich run," Herbert explained. "I'm sure he won't mind if we start without him."

"You always say that, and he always gets mad," Piper replied, eyebrows raised.

"Well, then it's got to be true eventually, doesn't it?" Herbert reasoned.

Piper looked doubtful but didn't argue further as Herbert set up the camera on the tripod. She, like him, could never resist when there was work to be done. He liked that about her, even if she was noisy.

"Let's get to it then," he said, picking up his scalpel.

Piper nodded enthusiastically. "Okay!"

Just as Piper predicted, Dan was not pleased when he came home to find Herbert instructing Piper on how to perform a Y incision. The fact that she'd managed a remarkably clean cut did not seem to calm Dan in the slightest.

"-completely irresponsible!" he ranted at the both of them as they sat, cowed, before him. He turned on Herbert, looking furious. "You haven't created a sterlised environment. Neither of you are wearing your hair nets."

"But it itches," Piper whined, and Herbert internally agreed.

"Shush," Dan commanded, pointing a finger at her. "For all your mom knows, you're over here helping us with chores. She wouldn't be too pleased if I told her you'd been up to no good."

Piper sighed, her shoulders sagging with defeat. "Sorry."

Dan aimed a glare at Herbert, and he rolled his eyes but mumbled, "Sorry," too.

"Hmph." Dan crossed his arms over his chest and observed them both with a keen eye. "Don't expect any more sandwiches from me if you keep trying to do autopsies behind my back."

"I promise not to do any more autopsies behind your back," Piper vowed sullenly.

Herbert was more concerned with the first part of his sentence. "What sandwich did you get me?"

Dan looked annoyed but replied anyway. "Ham, gherkin and mustard."

Herbert sat up with interest while Piper made a face. All in all, it wasn't an unsuccessful afternoon.

#thank u so much for your kind message! im glad you enjoyed the fic #tbh ive thought about teen piper and danbert in their 50s quite a bit #piper has the look of a pretty popular girl but is actually a fucking weirdo #shed be a complete social pariah if she wasnt cute and didnt have an odd charm to her #enjoy! #the couple down the street #my fics #writing prompt #re-animator #herbert west #dan cain #piper skrelpton #danbert #kinda #asks

[the-queen-and-her-soldier]

So I finally caught up on Choices

(at least the books I meant to catch up on)

and I HAVE OPINIONS

First off, current (or soon to be current) god-tier books, in no particular order:

- Desire & Decorum - The Heist: Monaco - The Elementalist - America’s Most Eligible (shh I know, I’m weak for the concept okay)

- First off, Annabelle Parsons is a TOP in all capital letters. You can deny it, you can fight me it, but my girl here has big giant top energy. (I mean, the jealous leg touch during the carriage ride with Hamid? She was born to top us.)

- All the LIs are pretty good, and I’m pleased that Annabelle got a good amount of attention (unlike Mr. Harper, who really got sold short) unlike in CERTAIN OTHER BOOKS THAT SHALL DEFINITELY BE NAMED

- The slow burn in all physical things? GOd, I live for that slow burn. It took us an entire book, sixteen chapters, to be able to kiss our LI on the mouth and I am so here for it. Finally we get the longing-glances-across-the-room, subtle-touches, short-stolen-moments romance we want and deserve (in fact, I’d actually love it if they held off on the sex scene until Book 3)

- i love u Annabelle

- I love that our choices actually have a bit of an effect on how our MC behaves. It does result in my MC being a weird mix of school nerd and occasional dumbass in everything else, but I actually find it terribly charming

- The feel and the atmosphere of the book and the world is smashing! It gives me that same glittery-eyed feeling that Harry Potter used to.

- Bless Shreya, our lady and saviour, our next in the line of bossy female LIs. Not a top top like Annabelle, but definitely a power bottom and I live for it.

- I thought Beckett was okay after his initial jerkitude, but by now I’ve really had enough of him. I get it, I get that he’s most likely the most popular LI and rakes in the most money, but the only way I’ll accept that many diamond scenes for him but no one else is if he turns out to have fucked up (aka is the traitor, though I very much doubt it’s on purpose) and disappears for the rest of Book 1

- Aster is adorable, and I’m glad we finally got some interaction with her, but I don’t feel a real connection between her and MC because how can I after a combined ten minutes of conversation? Step up your game, PB.

- We aren’t very far in yet, but man, this has the potential to become my new favourite book. The heist theme, the MC, our lovely lovely crew? Yes please!

- Our entire crew is just a bunch of lovable weirdos

- Eris is wonderfully ride-or-die, I will protect her with my life (and smooch her on occasion)

- but if Sonia is a proper LI I’m afraid Eris is gonna have to take a backseat because I can’t for the life of me resist the dynamic of MC, our master thief, being hunted relentlessly by Sonia, our former police officer with a personal grudge, while also really wanting to make out with each other. I hope to god PB does a good job on this and doesn’t rush, because I want MC and Sonia to have lots and lots of UST-charged chases and fights before Sonia corners MC in some abandoned warehouse and they end up screwing against a wall

- I chose Tilly as my driver and that means I currently have 3 (!!) female LIs and one male LI. That’s just...there’s so much choice now? I’m not interested in Tilly personally, but still, I have that choice??? That makes me so happy, especially after what’s happening with A Courtesan of Rome

- Did I mention that Sonia is gorgeous and really needs sleep and she looks kinda crazy when shocked or smiling and I love her????

- I know a lot of people were bored with this one and I totally get why, but I’m a sucker for this kind of setting and I’m really looking forward to Book 2

- granted, the biggest reason for that is Jen

- JEN

- JENNIFER ESPINOZA

- the one slow burn PB kinda sorta gave us in this book

- I really liked Mackenzie, she’s a great LI, but I had my heart set on our poor, over-worked producer since I got to kiss her in order to convince Piper to let me into the show

- However, as much as I love her, PB squandered a lot of potential with her. (The explanation of which I’m gonna have to add to a new post because it’s just a bit too long.)

- honourable mention for being the biggest disappointment of the games I’m currently playing

- was really looking forward to the setting and the story of revenge and seducing people before murdering them

- instead the game constantly wants me to shiver and swoon at dudes I have no interest in and pushes Sabina to the side

- and Sabina has yet to really catch my interest (I like her, but what little interaction we get is just...generic, so I hope this will change now that we know she’s the Legate’s wife.)

- I don’t like Xanthe either but at this point I’d take her as a LI, if only to get some action up in this joint

- MC’s family members also honestly leave me completely cold. I have no interest in them, I don’t care what happens to them, I do not want to spend precious game time in their shoes, I’m not interested in what happened back in Gaul, stop making me play as them!

#playchoices #choices stories you play #pixelberry #desire & decorum #the heist: monaco #the elementalists #america's most eligible #a courtesan of rome #annabelle parsons #shreya mistry #eris huang #sonia #sabina