#this is so random outta left field for me but I’ve been seeing a lot of Mlp stuff recently Apologies

[quins-makeshift-menagerie]

I know there’s a lot of hate for MLP G5’s art style going around and I just wanna say I’m not here to diss on the art style BUT WHAT I WILL DISS ON IS THE PINK IN MISTY’S COAT GET THAT SHIT OUTTA THERE

#this is so random outta left field for me but I’ve been seeing a lot of Mlp stuff recently Apologies #like the blue and pink together KILLS ME #her mane is fine I enjoy the colors #BUT THE FUCKING PINK #even pre-dying her mane it just stands out so much I’m just #MMMMMM #someone once said there’s an abundance of forced pink in the mane girls’ designs and #yeah #let her be blue #art #2024 #mlp g5 #misty brightdawn

[sshbpodcast]

Tales from the Holodeck: VOY Fanfic: Chris’s Story

Happy Star Trek Day! Star Trek's 56th anniversary also happens to be A Star to Steer Her By's 6th anniversary! Coincidence? No, we specifically planned it that way. Duh.

And in celebration, your hosts whipped out our PADDs and wrote up some Voyager stories and teleplays for our "Tales from the Holodeck" fanfic series. Follow along below and/or listen to the cold reads on this week’s podcast episode (this one starts at 38:08) as Chris explores just what makes Harry Kim so prone to suffering, in this dimension and the next!

[images © Paramount/CBS]

“Harry Kim and the Multiverse of Sadness”

By Chris

Random pick: Harry Kim

“Commander Kim!” A stern voice snapped.

“Hmm?” Harry glanced away from the news program that had been going on about Admiral Picard christening a new Stargazer to see Danny Byrd standing nearby.

“Captain Byrd!” Harry stood up from his barstool and snapped off a very formal salute. Byrd returned the gesture. The two men started stiff-jawed at one another for a long, tense moment.

Byrd cracked first, and within moments the two were chuckling and taking seats together at the bar.

“Harry fuckin’ Kim, it’s been too long you sonuvabitch.”

“Well, if you weren’t out gallivanting across the Gamma Quadrant…”

“Someone’s gotta pick up where we left off! Exploring, making first contact. After so long of keeping to ourselves, rebuilding the fleet…good to be Starfleet again. The Starfleet I signed up for.”

“Yeah.” Kim glanced at his glass. “It was strange when we got back. So much damage from a war we’d missed completely…”

“Who knew being stranded 70 years from home would be the good option, huh?”

“I suppose so.” Harry took a drink. “So how is it out there?”

“A real mixed bag. So many worlds still trying to really understand not being under Dominion control. When you’ve been under a bootheel as long as some of them have been a couple decades is nothing. But there’s so much new, so much exciting!” He paused. “You know…my first officer just got promoted. Getting their own ship, own assignment…”

“Yeah?”

“What do you mean, “yeah”? Do I have to spell it out?”

“No, I suppose not.” He sighed. “It’s been a long time since I’ve served on a ship, Danny. I’m outta practice.”

“Come on, Harry. You really want to spend the rest of your career squeezing some extra percentage of efficiency out of engines? Tweaking nacelles and warp fields? Is that really what you signed up for?”

“No. But…I don’t know. I saw a lot more than a lot of folks would’ve on this job back on Voyager. I’m a little…explored out?”

“I guess that’s fair.” Byrd stood and patted his shoulder. “Look, I won’t spend all night trying to sell you on it. I have until Tuesday to tell them who I’m picking. Let’s get some Dom-jot in and talk about anything else.”

“Sounds good.” Harry grabbed his drink and got to his feet. “So, how are Libby and the kids…?”

*

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d woken up with a hangover. Maybe that time he and Paris hit Risa after the divorce? This was far, far worse than that, though. It felt more like coming out of anesthesia, in fact…

“Ah, you’re finally up.”

“What?” Harry forced his eyes open and sat up. Wherever he was, it wasn't his apartment. It looked not entirely unlike a pretty standard Starfleet brig. He looked at the doorway and its glowing forcefield generator to see a woman standing there wearing an odd, all-black outfit.

“Hu’re eww?” he slurred, discovering his jaw was a bit numb.

“My name isn’t important, so you may call me Sloan. I represent Section 31.”

Harry snickered, and Sloan raised her eyebrows.

“What is so amusing, Commander?”

“I’ve h’rd a’you.” He flexed his jaw a bit. “Sure. S’m damn joke they make up to screw with Academy recruits. Ultra-black ops. Doing horrid things in the name of protecting the Federation. Higher ups know all about you, pretend you don’t exist so they don’t need to condemn you, blah blah. Started as a joke, now you’r a fringe conspiracy theory. In other words, “Sloan”, who put you up to this? This isn’t Danny’s style. A bit much even for Tom, and I don’t think he’s even on Earth right now.”

“Hm.” She flashed a tight smile. “The most tedious part of dealing with Starfleet officers is convincing them we’re real. So I think I’m going to just jump right to the demonstration.”

She lifted a hand, and Harry saw a small controller there. Her thumb flexed and he heard a small beep from his right arm. He glanced down to see a dark band wrapped around his bicep that had a pattern flashing across its small display. There was a flash, a noise like inverted lightning, and suddenly the air reeked of smoke and cold wind was whipping him. He was outdoors, perched on a hill that seemed to be made mostly of crumbled rock. He looked up again and saw something that couldn’t be real.

It was a ruined city. But just enough was intact for him to know straightaway that it was San Francisco. He leapt to his feet and the loose rocks gave way, nearly causing him to collapse again. He spun in place, taking in a brown ocean pounding against slag that had once been the Golden Gate bridge. Then the device on his arm beeped again, there was another flash and noise, and he was staring at a wall. He was back in the cell. He turned, seeing Sloan standing by the door still.

“What the hell was that?!” He demanded.

“The dimension most closely connected to our own. Over a century ago Captain Kirk dubbed it “The Mirror Universe”. Silly name, but it stuck. In his time Earth was the seat of a huge, human-supremacist Empire. In ours it’s a desolate hellscape created when the races humanity had been oppressing realized there were more of them and did what they had to.”

“You know that I’m aware what a holodeck is, right?”

“Come now, Commander. You’re a smart man. Even the most realistic holodeck simulations are a bit…off in ways people can’t quite explain. Can’t quite put their fingers on. Did you feel that way at all?”

“I feel that way right now,” he lied. “But mostly because I’m still hungover.”

“Mm.” She glanced away and nodded at someone Harry couldn’t see. The hum of the forcefield, previously just a part of the background noise, became obvious in its absence. Sloan stepped forward and pulled a small holoprojector from her belt. Harry took it and pressed the activation key on it. A small screen appeared. He saw himself, viewed through a chest-mounted camera. He was in the hallway of his apartment building, and very close to his door. There was no sound, but he watched himself reacting to a noise. The projected him turned just in time to try and fail to block a hand from pressing a hypospray to his neck. He watched his image crumple to the floor and two people dressed quite a bit like Sloan begin to collect him before the image went dark.

“A bit much for a gag, wouldn’t you say, Commander?”

“Let’s pretend this is true. What do you want? And what was the point of that little trip?”

“Starfleet has begun exploring again. Its war weariness and the fear caused by the Martian Android uprising is passing. Which means we’re going to start making serious enemies again. Even without a homeworld the Romulans built up a very impressive fleet in a very short amount of time. You never know when the Klingons will fly off the handle again. And someone is going to come out on top in the chaos in the Gamma Quadrant sooner than later. We need to be ready for that.”

“And interdimensional travel ties into that…how?”

“There are countless realities. It’s been a theory for some time, and we’ve been sure of it for quite a while now. Surely some of them have technology the likes of which we can’t imagine. We want you to go looking for us.”

“Why me?”

“Jumping between realities is more than a little difficult. It’s based on technology so secret that Starfleet forgot it even had it. Even we only stumbled on the files a few years ago. It was a failed attempt to replace warp drive with something that could get you instantaneously to any point in the galaxy. Only two scientists truly understood the theory. One died during testing. The other, who actually got it to work, vanished into the future. The notes were extensive, but our best minds are still struggling with it. But in the process we managed to stumble on a way to make interdimensional travel quite a bit simpler.

“And someone like you makes it even easier.” She smiled in a way Harry didn’t like at all. “Your quantum signature is like very few others. Because you’re not you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you are. But you’re not. Voyager was once split into two ships. Identical in every way. One was destroyed. The one you were on. The Voyager that survived had lost its Harry Kim, and you were sent there to replace him.” She tilted her head. “In short, you’re special. Isn’t that nice? It also means it’s easier to send you across dimensional divides than it is other people.”

“And I’m supposed to bring back superweapons from another reality.”

“If you want to be dull about it.”

Suddenly, there was the noise of the device going off again, but this time it wasn’t his own going off. Harry was suddenly aware of someone next to him, and he turned to see an unfamiliar, curly-haired man in civilian clothes standing there, pointing a phaser at Sloan.

“Sorry, he’s not interested,” the man snapped, before grabbing Harry’s arm. Harry heard the familiar device activation noise again, there was another flash and crack, and…

“We’re still in a cell.”

“Yeah, different one, tho.” The man replied. He reached up and tapped an unseen comm badge. “I’ve got him, let’s go!”

Suddenly there was the hum and tingle of a transporter, and in a few moments the view fuzzed into the interior of one of the new-model runabouts. Harry had been part of the team that had worked on its warp core, so he knew it instantly. The other man was already moving towards the controls, where a young woman in a Starfleet uniform was sitting.

“Right, let’s go. Not long until this universe’s Section 31 tries to figure out what their sensors just saw.”

“Cloaking now,” the woman replied. “Setting course and laying in.”

“Okay, now who are you?” Harry asked, making his way towards one of the empty side seats.

“Name’s Miles O’Brien,” the man replied. “This here’s Molly.”

“Commander,” the young woman said, glancing over at him.

“And…what’s going on?”

“Well, unfortunately, everything Section 31 said is true. I first ran into the bastards during the Dominion War. Thought I was done with them until they jumped me a few weeks ago. Gave me the same job offer they gave you.”

“How did you get away?”

“Had a little help,” came Miles’ voice, but from behind Harry. He spun around and saw O’Brien there again, in different clothes and maybe looking a bit more haggard. “My side of the mirror had gotten pretty good at popping back and forth between our dimension and yours. We became aware of the signals coming from Earth. We had some folks keeping an eye on it when they dropped my counterpart in the remains of our San Francisco and got him out before they pulled him back.”

“Call him Smiley, it avoids confusion,” Miles added.

“We were in a pretty similar room down there,” Harry said, deciding just running with all this would be easiest for now. “So this isn’t our universe, or the Mirror Universe?”

“This is what we’ve taken to calling the Narada Universe,” Molly said, not looking up from her control panel. “It’s almost as closely linked to ours as the Mirror Universe because it was caused by a cross-dimensional trip taken by a Romulan mining vessel shortly after the destruction of their homeworld.”

“Not too different than ours,” Miles said, pointing out the window.

Harry looked and saw the familiar sight of Spacedock. Only it was maybe a bit more of a solid white than its usual bluish-white. And there was something else, but he couldn’t puzzle it out.

“We’re about twice as far away as you think we are,” Miles said. “You thought our Spacedock was big? This thing’s a monster.”

“Have to be, to fit the ridiculous starships they build,” Smiley this time.

“Their Galaxy class is two thirds bigger than ours,” Miles added.

“That’s…why?” Harry asked, looking over to Miles.

“Damned if I know.” He shrugged. “Blue bussard collectors, too. Just looks…wrong.”

“Coming up on the Enterprise.” Molly said.

Harry looked back out the window and saw a positive behemoth of a ship swing out from behind spacedock. He could see the registry on the underside: NCC-1701-G. Seems their universe was a little ahead of his own in that regard. A quiet beeping came from the runabout’s console and Molly poked a control.

“Coded signal confirmed,” she said.

“Enterprise, this is Chief O’Brien,” Miles said. “Signal confirmed.”

“Welcome, Chief,” came the reply, as a screen lit up with a face Harry was surprised to know. Data, the Soong-type android that had been the basis for synthetic lifeforms in his universe, long since lost on a mission to Romulus. “Did you achieve your goal?”

“We got Kim.”

“Excellent. Remain cloaked, we will open shuttlebay three.”

*

The ship had been a maze of plasticky, white corridors and the bridge was little different. Just an endless expanse of white and chrome, round walls curving into a smooth ceiling. Harry couldn’t tell if it was actually more advanced or just over-designed, but if the former it was definitely the kind of thing Section 31 would be after.

“The Admiral is waiting in my ready room,” Data said, turning in his chair to face them as the turbolift doors snapped shut behind them.

“Thanks,” Miles replied.

They made their way to the door, and Harry could hear muffled sounds coming from behind it. Molly pressed the door chime and they waited. The muffled noises continued from behind the door, but nothing else happened.

“The Admiral is quite fond of classical music, but has a bad habit of playing it a little too loud,” Data said. “I shall let you in.”

The doors slid open, and a torrent of guitar and drum music blared out at them, along with someone screeching “Highway to Hell.” Sitting at the desk, eyes closed in contemplation, was Admiral Jean-Luc Picard. The door closed, and he finally opened his eyes.

“Computer, pause,” he said, and the music stopped. “Sorry about that, didn’t hear you come in. Please, have a seat. Would anyone like some iced tea? Based off a wonderful old Earth product called “Brisk”, very refreshing.”

There were some mumbled “no thank you”s as everyone dropped into a chair. Picard let his gaze fall onto Kim.

“Amazing.”

“Sir?” Kim asked.

“I knew you in this Universe.” Picard’s smile grew sad. “Excellent officer. Served under me for a time. Sadly you…he…didn’t survive the Dominion War.”

“Oh.”

“Now, Commander, you’re already aware of what’s going on.” Picard stood. “Your Section 31 is planning on making incursions into other universes. They’d prefer it be with your help, but they’ll manage it no matter what.”

“We can’t let them do that,” came another voice. Harry spun, and found that he was facing himself.

“Is that really what I sound like?” he said.

“Apparently,” the other him replied.

“Captain Kim here is from a universe a bit more disconnected from our own. They have quite the jump on both of us.”

“The technology that powers your Dimensional transporter worked in mine. Quickly. And became widespread. We’re already exploring the Andromeda Galaxy.”

“Jaysus…” one of the O’Brien’s whispered. Harry hadn’t been looking, so he wasn’t sure which.

“The balance of power in your Universe would be ruined if it fell into Section 31’s hands.”

“And would almost assuredly go to their heads,” Picard added.

“We can’t be sure they’d end up content to simply “protect the Federation”,” Miles said. “They might decide they want it to spread. Possible beyond the boundaries of our universe.”

“What can we do?” Harry asked.

“We’ve been studying interdimensional travel for decades now,” the Captain him replied. “It’s something we’re still trying to grasp, but we’ve got a big jump on your Section 31. We’ve found a nexus point. A place where they all seem to come together and branch off of. From there, we can detect when an incursion happens anywhere else. We can investigate and keep them from interfering with other universes, or your own.”

“We?” Harry asked.

“If you’d like. I’ve people from countless universes on board.”

“With Section 31 after you in our universe it’d be the safest place to be,” Miles said.

“How about it, Commander?” Captain Kim asked. “You’ve not really seen “strange new worlds” until you’ve started hopping dimensions.”

“I…” He paused. “I got another job offer today, too. Let me tell them I’ve decided not to take it.”

End

—

For more Voyager fanfic, check out Caitlin, Ames, and Jake's stories from this year's Tales from the Holodeck! Be sure to keep listening to new episodes every Thursday on SoundCloud, follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and never trust a thing Section 31 says, in any universe.

#star trek #star trek voyager #voyager #fanfic #star trek fanfiction #voyager fanfiction #harry kim #miles o'brien #section 31 #alternate dimenions #mirror universe

[pilot-critical]

can i have some tips on NOT being like rebornica art and writing-wise? the idea of ending up like them terrifies me

Not to worry, anon, your old mod spamt0n’s got a couple!

First I’ll start by saying: If you’re already making sure to not shove random fucked up shock value shit into your work to intentionally trigger your audience out of left field for your own enjoyment like some kinda sadist, then you’re already making a step in the right direction! 100% guaranteed!

Now to jump straight into this ask here

Art:

References, references, references! Don’t be afraid to look up references if you ever need them, they’ll help tons in the long run. Whether you’re drawing something for the first time or need a lil’ refresher on how to draw something, they’re SUPER helpful and help with learning how to incorporate something into your style as you further develop your art! I’ve done a lot of drawing from life myself or photo references when I’m learning to draw something for the first time or looking to improve my style further and in my experience it’s really paid off. Studying from life helps when it comes to figuring shit out, especially when it comes to stuff like lighting or proportions.

Looking up tutorials and art tips on any area you’re lookin’ to improve in your work will also help you lots as well. They can really come in handy in building up on your own artstyle.

Looking to learn how to draw different perspectives? Perspective lines, particularly for backgrounds, will help out tons as well in my experience! Now I’m still learning backgrounds myself but I’ve also heard drawing out your backgrounds first to figure out where each character’ll go helps out too?

Also, don’t be afraid to experiment! Whether you’re experimenting with color, shading style, stylization, testing new brushes, backgrounds, goin’ outta your comfort zone and trying something new’s super helpful in my experience. It helps expand your horizons and figure out anything in your art you may enjoy doing, figure out any new techniques you enjoy, or it can help you figure out what you may want to improve. Now, when goin’ outta your comfort zone, it may not be perfect the first try, but fear not, just keep at it and you’ll see the improvements!

Studying different artists’ work can also help you in figuring out your own style too! Oftentimes there’s a few things here and there that you’ll like about one artist’s style, another thing about another, so on, and figuring out what it is you like & experimenting here and there with it’s another way to help in building up your own unique style too as you figure out how to put your own spin on something in your style.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help too from other art friends if you feel you need it! I do that every now and then when I feel uncertain of something and sometimes having a second pair of eyes can help me with pointing out if I feel there’s something I can improve on.

Above all, practice helps lots! But do make sure you’re not pushing yourself too much either, taking breaks every now and then when needed can help just as much too. You don’t have to burn yourself out just to improve, a lil’ something I’ve been learning myself.

Writing:

Like references for art, research’ll be your best friend here! Doing research on the kinds of things you wish to write about helps out a lot in my experience especially if its something you know little about. If you’re approaching more serious or heavy topics, there is a certain level of care when it comes to handling that sort of thing and that’s important to keep in mind, but ultimately researching what it is you’re looking to write about and looking up different tips and tricks that address that subject in particular can be real helpful.

Whether it be looking up characterization to know how to flesh out a character more properly, looking up how to set the scene for x kind of setting, doing research on the history or background of a certain region, so on, doing as much research as you can proves to be real helpful.

I’d also definitely suggest getting opinions and perspectives from people who may have experience(s) with a topic you may be writing about, especially if its a more sensitive subject being addressed in writing. Receiving input can help loads in what you create especially from people who have experience with it.

Another thing which ties into that, asking for help from other writers can also help lots in your work, just as with asking for help from other artists. Especially if you’re writing about something new! Nothing wrong with getting some constructive critique here and there if you ask me.

Reading other literary works (fiction or not), consuming different media, all things of that nature can help you improve your own writing and creativity too, whether it help in your writing structure (plot, timing/pacing of a story, etc) or in the kinds of themes you’d like to approach. There’s nothing wrong with drawing inspiration from different things here and there since it can really help with your own work, and, let’s be real: no concept out there is 100% original, like with art. However, what IS original is your own unique spin on what you create.

Looking up different writing prompts to work with can help lots with practice as well. Writing excerpts or drabbles based around a prompt has helped me before since its a form of practice and it can push me to explore how to write different settings, scenarios, etc.

Planning out a story also helps too! Keeping notes and tabs organized on what you’ve planned out, jotting down ideas and re-evaluating them, plotting things out in depth all helps, plus it an help with axing out anything you feel is unnecessary or revising certain plot ideas/etc. The first draft is not, and almost never will be, your final, so don’t be afraid to get it out and then revise and edit as you put together what you want to write... and make sure you got it organized somewhere for your own frame of reference too.

Drawing upon your own experience(s) can also be helpful when it comes to writing! Knowing how certain events/life experiences can feel, tapping into the emotions surrounding it are all helpful too and can make for knowing how to write more realistic reactions into characters in your story.

Writing takes practice too just like with visual art since its also an artform in and of itself the way I see it. No one starts out perfect like with art but over time you do improve and develop your skills with practice. Don’t be afraid to develop at your pace as these things do require patience (terrible I know /j) but you can and will see improvement over time the more you keep at it (but make sure you take breaks as needed too).

If any other mod wants to chime in, go right on ahead!

#mod spamt0n #Whoosh this’s longer than anticipated but hey! Hope it helps!.

[rena-te]

I’m gonna throw some random thoughts/predictions about NEO at the wall. Mostly bc I’ve been thinking about this stuff for a while and need to shout into the void about it. (It will get into the Game’s Opening Sequence as well as any information that’s come out so far, just to mention it in case you were avoiding that content.) Join me for a lot of this down below the cut!

First of all, Tsugumi. In A.N.D we see her in a destroyed Shinjuku. Along with the visions of the future she gives Neku there are these messages.

“Everyone’s gone away..... All that’s left in the world is me.” (City being destroyed.)

“I can’t hear a thing...” (Tsugumi is walking the streets alone.)

“Hello? Is anybody there?” (Joshua shooting.)

“Somebody... Anybody... Can anybody hear me?” (Rhyme dying to (purple) shark noise.)

This last one isn’t a vision. It happens after Coco shoots Neku and he vanishes. Which leads me to think, since it is mostly a repeat of the first two future visions, it’s actually happening in this moment. It could be Tsugumi calling out one last time...... Before she’s overtaken by something?

“Too late... It’s all over...” (Same as first two. Tsugumi’s eyes notably turn red more than before.)

How is she giving Neku these visions? (It seems that she’s just calling out to anybody, and for some reason Neku heard her.) To send visions like that I’d think that Tsugumi is either Shinjuku’s Composer or maybe an angel? Or something else we’ve not seen? And they’re all visions of the future. Is Tsugumi speaking into the past as well as projecting those images? (We’re assuming that the reason for Shinjuku Reapers being in Shibuya is bc the UG in Shinjuku has been destroyed. So are the visions congruent with Shinjuku being destroyed or is the city being destroyed in the future, likely sometime between TWEWY and NEO?) The possibility of time travel makes things a million times more complicated.

Or maybe Tsugumi wasn’t quite sending him visions at all, and it was a kind of side effect of being linked to a Composer (since they are somewhat omniscient, and bc some of those visions were not really related to Tsugumi.) She was just trying to communicate with him, but some of that power leaked through their psychic bond and gave Neku a bit of clairvoyance?

If Shinjuku’s UG got destroyed, does that leave the Composer alive? We know that the Composer killing themselves would effectively shut down the UG, but if it happens the other way around? The Composer still exists, but would there be no consequence for losing an integral part of themselves? If the Composer’s connection to the UG is so pivotal, maybe the UG being gone is the reason why Tsugumi seems so...empty? (Is she so vacant that someone else is pulling the strings at this point?) It’s odd for Tsugumi to call out to Neku for help, but target him in NEO. (Given orders to target him.)

Also maybe the UG being destroyed but the Composer still existing explains Joshua’s....odd reaction to her? “How fortunate she managed to escape erasure.” Said when he was just in a position of wanting to kill himself in order to destroy his UG. He doesn’t use that sprite often ya know. It could explain the expression he has and the mumbled speech bubble used. Joshua said that he needed to get rid of His UG bc it could negatively tamper with the other grounds. To discover that could be done without killing himself... (And without him knowing of the apparent side effect of a “vacant Composer” Assuming that theory is true in the first place.)

But why does she have a Mr.Mew doll? Uhhhhh.... There’s also some time shenanigans happening too. And that throws many “what-ifs” into the mix, so I’ll avoid going down that rabbit hole. Basically I have no idea, the possibilities are kinda endless with time travel.

Another thing. This guy is also important. Very important apparently. I had a vague idea about him at first, a guess kinda outta left field, but I mean....I’m liking what bits I’ve scraped together for my guess theory by now. Onto speculating about Mr.Kubo here......

In the game’s opening sequence he walks right past Tsugumi (so connected to her in some way), leans in towards the camera, looks at you and does his little eccentric pose.

The only other characters who sorta look into the camera for the opening sequence are Shiba and Shoka, BUT in Shiba’s case it’s more like the camera is centered on him looking forward, and Shoka is more so interacting with Rindo with the way her scene was done. Here Kubo is just walking alone, stops and his eyes lock with the camera...... so wtf does this mean, you’re probably asking. It’s just a funky game introduction, it’s just this dude being weird. Yes, that is all true.

I know that he’s introduced in the line up as a Shinjuku Reaper, along with everyone else. But... I think this guy is Shinjuku’s Producer. If Tsugumi is Shinjuku’s Composer it makes sense for him to follow Her into Shibuya, he’s basically tasked to watch over Her.

Compared to the other Shinjuku Reapers, his color scheme is more...grey scaled. The girl has a grey suit, but Kubo doesn’t have any colors to his outfit at all. His clothes are plain compared to everyone else in this lineup. His facial expressions are the only...unique thing to his appearance. In the little bit of English dialogue we have of him so far, it seems that he’s giving us some kind of advice? And Fret looks to be put off with his eccentric (I can’t think of a more accurate word for it) demeanor.

So the middle aged man with an eccentric personality, with a tendency to give advice (?), pretending to be involved in the game in ways they are not, clothes styled in only neutral colors, and the funky little watch they’re wearing....along with the light poking at the fourth wall (Mr.H- “You mean those teasers?”) both Kubo and Hanekoma fit that bill.

Tbh Hanekoma is a bit eccentric, we’re just so used to how he is by now. The watch is just a minor thing that’s a fun little similarity in their designs don’t worry about it. Don’t tell me the watch isn’t important it ties everything together. Also after a quick goggle search, one website is telling me that Kubo’s name means “sunken ground” in Japanese and this other website is telling me what the individual kanji means, (I do not know Japanese in any way and am assuming that the internet is right about all this. I feel like it tracks with him being a Producer though.)

And just to cap it off, maybe Shiba was Shinjuku’s Conductor. If he rose through Shibuya’s ranks so quickly he’s gotta know what he’s doing. Did he throw Shinjuku out of balance and get rid of the UG so the Composer would be an empty puppet (like Tsugumi kinda seems to be.) Is that why he’s doing all this? Does he plan to become the Conductor (right hand man of the Composer) and then erase the UG, rendering it’s Composer vacant and take control? Shiba wouldn’t know about the Producer, naturally. Is that what it’s all culminating too? Will Joshua be in danger at some point from this guy? I’m wondering when the Higher Plane would step in, but this might just be Kubo’s job since Shiba was Shinjuku’s Conductor (and Hanekoma’s job, since it’s happening in Shibuya now) unless it gets completely out of control. They don’t seem to interfere much, just letting the assigned angels do the groundwork.

So that’s all my thoughts about stuff. I wouldn’t go into the game heavily expecting much of this though. As fun as theories are I’ll be fine enjoying the game for whatever happens. The world-building in twewy is just extremely fascinating to me and I love it so much. This is just my take on a “‘what if” situation anyways so nothing close to this may happen, hahaha. But speculation is very fun and I love to flex my twewy knowledge (it’s been next to useless for like 10 years. Finally twewy is relevant.

#neotwewy #neo the world ends with you #ntwewy #Neo twewy #twewy #the world ends with you #analysis #Neo predictions #I said there’d be PepeSilvia vibes to this #it feels like it makes sense- but it could also be a complete jumble of nothing #idk very fun to make the post though- relieved to get it outta my head a bit #Kubo #A New Day #tsugumi matsunae #Kubo twewy #Kubo neotwewy #mine #I’m glad I figured out how to do ‘readmore’s on mobile and with how long these posts have gotten I’m sure other ppl are glad too

[bookworm-2692]

For the ZE Ask Game: 1b, 1e, 2a, 3d, 5e, 5f and 5n!

Thank you for sending the asks! I love talking about Zero Escape so thank you for enabling me :D

Questions from here

1b: Favourite character design?

Okay, you know how hard it is for me to pick favourite characters because they’re all wonderful and that’s why you went with this question haha. Hmm. There are so many good designs (especially with the colour coding!!!). I prefer the designs in the first two games, since they’re really bright and colourful, and the third game is darker and dingier. I like that each character has a main colour that stands out and doesn’t really belong to anyone else (except for Dio and K who both have the red and gold aesthetics, but that’s valid because red and gold is a brilliant aesthetic). I think in 999, my favourite is actually Junpei’s - I love the blue colour of his vest, and the blue vest and red shirt just. Work super well together. It’s a fashion disaster but it’s also an aesthetic I vibe with so. (also love the red blue colour coding with Junpei specifically so). In VLR, much as I loathe him, I really like Dio’s design. The top hat and the braids and the red and gold work really well together and it’s fun. Dio is super frustrating though, but his design slaps!

1e: Favourite scene?

Oooo tricky. There’s so many good moments. I think I have to go with the classic though - the moment in 999 True End where Junpei gets the safe end code, and the narration goes “How did Junpei know? He knew because I knew”. It’s so chilling and also so satisfying to see everything suddenly click. I love it, and I love watching people experiencing that for the first time. It’s like. The best part of the game, I reckon.

2a: Least favourite character?

Okay I’m trying to not immediately say Delta but like.... Delta. I think he had a super interesting concept, but the way it was executed made it so much worse. I hated that they just.... hid him from view so then the twist was that this character you didn’t even know existed was Zero? It just felt cheap. Also ~complex motives~ got really annoying - I would have much preferred it if he had said “yeah I’m only doing this to ensure my birth (and the birth of my sister). soz lmao”. Because that motive feels more real? Rather than just adding a whole random “religious fanatic” in a vague sort of way. I do like the concept of him and Phi being twins and being separated in such a way that they’re very different ages now, but again the execution of Sigma and Diana’s romance was like. Not done well.

So yeah, Delta is my least favourite because he doesn’t significantly effect the plot, barely exists, and when he is present his motives don’t make sense and his abilities are not foreshadowed at all (morphogenetic fields in 999 were good, the entire game was spent explaining the concept. Mind Hack? Right outta left field and also if we’re trying to make it work based on how morphogenetic field theory was explained in 999, the “reading minds” part of it is “extremely strong receiver”, and the “forcing people to do actions” part of it is “extremely strong transmitter”, so he should have one of the abilities but not both. And if he is a really strong transmitter.... he’s gotta mime out the action in order to write it into the fields to encourage others to follow! And I reckon natural transmitters, who are worse at receiving, are naturally slightly resistant to this, natural receivers are more vulnerable to this, and normal people somewhere in between. But yes, if Delta is gonna Mind Hacc Eric, then we should see him in the corner miming holding a gun, pointing, and firing!! Bleugh!

Wow that turned into a bit of a rant. Whoops?

3d: Rank the endings

I have been given the choice to either rank the true ends across the three games, or all the endings within a particular game. I am so bad at choices ugh.

Anyway, the true ends:

999 - it really tied everything together and explained everything. The sequence in the incinerator, seeing 12 year old Akane and 21 year old Junpei talking to each other, Junpei saving young Akane, Clover’s absolute joy at finding out Light is alive, the “he knew because I knew” thing that I mentioned above, just everything. It was a self contained story, so everything was addressed and it was good.

VLR - this is more second by default, since I love 999′s true end and hate ZTD’s true end. But overall, this is fairly solid, and I like the concept of them doing this in 2074 to change an outcome in 2028, but it loses points because it relies on ZTD to “complete” it

ZTD - I hate this true end. The game has very enjoyable moments, but unfortunately the true end amounts to “oh let’s just... SHIFT to a timeline where we all survive” and that’s it? Which just feels sort of pointless tbh. And is so unsatisfactory

Within 999, I feel all six five endings are extremely solid, and all have a part to play an a story to tell. Knife End may be the most unsatisfactory, but it’s still okay. True, Safe, and Sub Ends are the ends with credits, and they’re all full of great dialogue and story. Axe End is also great, and I love the way you get to see the other side of Clover (and I really like the art of Clover holding an axe, I actually drew it on Saturday (when I started writing these answers, but it’s Wednesday now because I’ve been busy) for a friend’s birthday, which is technically my first ZE fanart and I’ll post it here at. Some point. Knife end is a bit quick, but honestly that’s okay? Especially when considering how many bad ends the other two games have that aren’t even named. Coffin End was my first end, and I wasn’t expecting the “to be continued” so I basically just collapsed and lay face down on the ground for a fair bit, but again given how many plot locks the other games have, coffin end is chill. So 999 has the most solid endings overall.

Within VLR, there are nine named endings, one for each character, and 13 ish unnamed bad ends. The unnamed bad ends are all like.... basically as soon as you make the decision you die or whatever, they don’t continue onwards like they do for Axe End etc in 999. I like that the named endings are designed for you to learn about each character, even though some of them are kinda weak. Like Quark’s ending, we didn’t really learn about him, and most of what we learnt about him was from Tenmyouji’s ending. I agree with what you said, Finch, about how it would have been nice to get some more Quark content/bonding/something, after he wakes up. Clover’s ending was also pretty disappointing, since she vaguely alluded to 999 and then everyone killed themselves. But there were some really good ones, like Luna’s and K’s and Dio’s (very fun that Phi was about to smash his head with a rock even if betraying Luna to get to that point is painful). Actually I really like the whole murder mystery aspect of everything behind the Magenta door. 

Within ZTD, I do appreciate that the endings all served their purposes, but I disliked the way there were sometimes multiple endings in the same timeline, while other timelines... had none. It just was a bit all over the shop. Most of the endings were informative for the characters, but the true end sucks.

5e: Rant about something you liked from the games

I adore all the red/blue symbolism in the games, especially in 999. The way every time the morphogenetic field is described, the transmitters are red people and the receivers are blue people. And then when you learn who the espers are, you can see how the colours align. Clover is a transmitter, and her colour scheme is a lot of dark pink, close to red, while Light, a receiver, has lots of blue in his design. Junpei and Akane can both transmit and receive (with each other), and this is shown by Junpei wearing both red and blue, and Akane wearing purple, a mix of red and blue. It’s really neat. Also, Junpei is new to the morphogenetic fields, so his blue and red is still separate, but Akane is so entwined within them, and uses them so easily, that her blue and red have mixed to become purple.

In VLR, Clover is still pink, and Junpei still has blue (even though he’s lost the red, but that could show he’s lost connection to Akane and now has no one to transmit to, although I think it’s hilarious if he was still unintentionally transmitting to Akane over the years, and that’s how she kept tabs on him and found him again for VLR.

In ZTD, Diana is red and Sigma is blue. I actually headcanon Diana as a receiver and Sigma as a transmitter (as in, he transmitted his memories to himself across timelines rather than a natural receiver ability), so I like that in ZTD they have opposite colours/each other’s colours. Phi is blue in both games and still a receiver imo.

So the colour symbolism is obviously strongest in 999, but I really like it.

5f: Rant about something you disliked from the games

In VLR, Clover says that stronger espers absorb the powers of weaker espers, and that’s why she can’t contact her brother. I hate this “fact” actually, because it directly contradicts the way the morphogenetic fields work in 999 and ZTD, and also in VLR itself. In 999, we have nine sets of esper siblings during the First Nonary Game, and since they all survived, we know that their esper powers must have worked correctly.... which means we can’t have had one Super Esper absorbing all the powers. The true end of ZTD has the powers of all the espers working together to create a resonant effect so that even Eric and Mira, non espers, can SHIFT. I also dislike SHIFTing (a rant for another day), but the idea of multiple espers in a vicinity resonating/boosting everyone’s powers makes way more sense than.... one person absorbing everyone else’s powers.

And even within VLR.... Tenmyouji does the ally/betray swapsies thing with Sigma and Phi, which means he is also remembering another timeline.... which means his powers are still working and not being absorbed by Phi and Sigma. Also.... both Phi and Sigma are using their powers and SHIFTing everywhere. Why doesn’t one of them absorb the other’s powers? Also also, we learn in the True End that Akane was in K’s armour the entire time during the timeline where Sigma and Phi most use their powers for all the bomb passwords and locations etc. You cannot try to tell me that Akane isn’t the strongest esper, ever. She simply is. If absorbing was true, then we would literally never see anyone else use their powers, because Akane is always there (FNG, 999, VLR, ZTD) and would have to be doing all the absorbing. Gah.

So I reckon, even though Clover said that, that she was simply wrong. That was the current theory SOIS had, but.... they don’t have to be right.

In any case, there are other reasons why Clover might not have been able to contact Light in VLR. The first is simply that he is dead. Another is the idea that minds linked by the morphogenetic fields have a sort of... shape. That fits perfectly with those they are esper partners with. And as the espers grow, so do their mind shapes. Clover was frozen on the 22nd of December 2028, and awoke on the 25th of January 2074. Her mind shape was not able to evolve and grow, so it is preserved. Light however has been living those 45 years, which means that’s been a lot of time for his mind shape to grow and change. Clover can’t find Light’s mind in the morphogenetic field, since it no longer looks the same, and their shapes no longer fit together. This is my personal headcanon, and it means that when Clover finds him, their minds can get used to each other again and their shapes can align, and they can be linked again.

5n: Do you have any fanart/fanfic/fangame recommendations?

Boy, do I ever? The First Nonary Game by @airdeari . What it says on the tin, folks! Airdeari has named all nine pairs of siblings, and created unique sibling relationships and unique experiences with the morphogenetic field for all of them, and woven a beautiful story together, and it’s just wonderful. It’s my favourite fic ever, to the point where I literally bound it and it now exists as a physical book in my life. Like, I cannot recommend this fic enough, it is the best.

AO3 Summary: A tale of nine children aboard a sinking ship, and the unbelievable story of how they survived.

#zero escape #999 spoilers #vlr spoilers #ztd spoilers

[madtype]

Cabaret Club Czar Training - YUKI (Part 3)

in this installment of yuki’s hostess training, she and majima have a conversation about sushi, self-help books, and stew...

highlights: - majima getting a little too sincere and kind for yuki’s comfort - yuki feeling concerned over majima’s unbalanced diet - both of them getting a little more comfortable with each other! very sweet

full transcript under the cut!

---

MAJIMA: Okay, ready for some training?

YUKI: Yes, please!

M: Hey, Yuki-chan. Those battle butterflies finally gone?

Y: Well, it is just you after all, Majima-san.

M: Oh, is that some sass I detect?

M: Alright, let's do this. I'm the customer, you're the hostess. Ready?

Y: Yeah! Of course!

Y: Hello, I'm Yuki! Are you welcome here today?

M: ...We still got a long way to go.

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M: Let's see.

Y: Yes.

M: Kinda cold today, huh?

Y: Y-Yes. That's right. It is cold.

M: ......

Y: ...... (heh...heh)

M: Yuki-chan, I can tell you've been gettin' better with the customers lately, but you're still havin' trouble keepin' conversations rollin'.

Y: I-I'm sorry.

Y: I know I have to say something, but I have no idea what I should talk about.

M: You can talk about anything, even somethin' small. The weather, current events... Keep it casual.

M: Hell, you could even throw out something you've been tryin' to get off your chest.

Y: I-I see. Would that really be casual, though?

M: Anyway. So today, let's try puttin' the burden of conversation on you, Yuki-chan.

M: The best trick to startin' a conversation is to just ask a question. Think of me as a guest, and fire away. Anything.

Y; O-Okay. I understand.

Y: Uh, umm... Majima-san, wh-what kind of sushi do you like?

> I like tamago.

M: I'm all about the tamago.

Y: Haha, Majima-san, your taste in sushi is so childish. You should at least try to pick a fish!

M: Quiet, you. Sushi joints are made and broken by the eggs they serve. Tamago is the key!

Y: Oh, I hear that a lot. Is that true, though?

M: Based on my experience, pretty much, yeah.

Y: Really? I'll check next time I'm out for sushi.

M: Yeah, you do that. But check this out, Yuki-chan. Ya brought a question outta left field, but the conversation went fine, didn't it?

Y: Huh?

M: You ask a question, the other person answers. Easy, yeah?

M: If you're havin' trouble carryin' the conversation, just ask the customer a question and let 'em ramble. It'll turn into a conversation lickety split.

Y: I see... That's a pretty good conversation technique. Memo noted.

> That's too random...

M: Well, that's a little outta left field, ain't it? Customer's gonna wonder if he's in a club or a diner.

Y: Y-You're right.

M: If you feel like talkin' sushi, ya could lead with a question more like, “Have ya eaten already?” It kinda sounds unnatural otherwise, y'know?

Y: Y-Yes... You're right. Oh, I'm terrible at this.

M: (Damn, she took that one hard. Maybe I shoulda just answered the question...)

M: Anyway, all ya gotta do is pay attention to the flow of the conversation and ask questions. That way, it'll flower naturally.

Y: Okay... I'll try harder.

> I like engawa.

M: I'm an engawa guy.

Y: Wow, Majima-san! You like engawa too? What a coincidence! That's my number one favorite!

M: No kidding? You got quite the discriminatin' palate for a young lady, Yuki.

Y: When I was little, I used to eat sushi with my grandpa all the time.

M: You and yer gramps were makin' sushi runs? Is your family loaded or somethin'?

Y: Actually, I heard that a mountain behind my grandparents' house was part of their property.

M: What!? You some kinda lost mountain princess, Yuki-chan!?

Y: Not at all! Nowadays I'm living completely on my own. I can barely afford a cucumber roll.

M: Ah. See how that works? Your question was outta left field, but it kicked off a whole conversation. And I got to know ya a little better in the process.

Y: Huh?

M: You ask a question, the other person answers. Easy, right?

M: If you're havin' problems carrying on a conversation, ask your customer a question and let 'em talk. That'll turn into a conversation pronto.

Y: Oh, I see. There's a technique to conversations. That's really good to know.

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

Y: Let's see... Majima-san, does your wife ever get mad at you because you're in this line of work?

M: Nah, no wife to get mad at me in the first place. I live alone, as a free man.

Y: Really...? I can't imagine how a single guy lives by himself. Majima-san, do you cook at all?

M: Do I look like a chef? I just do whatever.

Y: But, if you're always eating out or eating junk food, you won't have a balanced diet. Would you like me to make you some meat and potatoes stew or something?

> I can make that.

M: You sayin' you cook, Yuki-chan? I don't know, I bet I could do a better job myself...

Y: H-How dare you! I've been practicing really hard to make meat and potatoes stew! That's the only thing I cook!

M: Wait, why do ya only have one dish in yer arsenal?

Y: Because it was in a how-too book for relationships! It said, “The way to a man's heart is through his stomach with meat and potatoes stew!”

M: You actually read books like that, Yuki-chan?

Y: Oooh! Please don't say a word to anyone that I'm reading a self-help book!

M: My lips are sealed.

> That'd be great.

M: Yeah, that sounds tasty. Lookin' forward to it.

Y: O-Okay! Wow, I guess it was true. Men really do have a weakness for meat and potatoes!

M: Say what? You read that in a book or somethin'?

Y: Yes! A relationships how-too book. It said, “Win your man's heart via his stomach with meat and potatoes!”

M: Wait, you actually read books like that, Yuki-chan?

Y: Ahhh! Please don't say a word to anyone that I'm reading a self-help book!

M: My lips are sealed.

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M: I can tell you're gettin' better at this talking thing. You're makin' good progress, Yuki-chan.

Y: Y-You really think so? But, I think it's only because you're you, Majima-san...

M: Whaddaya mean?

Y: Well, it's different when I talk to someone I'm familiar with versus meeting a customer I don't really know.

M: I guess that's true.

> I'll request you then.

M: Then I'll request you as a customer, Yuki-chan.

Y: Huh? What do you mean?

M: Ya carry a conversation just fine when it's me, right? Alls I gotta do then is come in here and request you over and over.

Y: No, I understand that part... But it still doesn't make any sense.

Y: Let me get this straight. Majima-san, you spend your money at this club and then the profits go back to you. Erm... That would be pointless... right?*

M: Hey, I was bein' sarcastic! Ya gotta learn to tell when someone's jokin'.

Y: Oh, you were joking. O-Of course! I'm sorry.

Y: But if you really were my customer all the time, Majima-san, I think I'd enjoy that. Make sure to order a lot of expensive drinks, okay?

M: Heh. Now we're talking. That sounded like a hostess who knows her jam.

> Give it some time.

M: You'll get it down sooner or later. Ya just need a little more experience.

Y: You think so? Experience... I've been longer than any of the other hostesses, though...

M: Oh... Well, everyone gains experience at different speeds! You're just more turtle than hare, is all.

Y: Majima-san... You're not helping me feel better here.

> Imagine they're me.

M: Just think of all the customers as me.

Y: All my customers as you, Majima-san? Hehehe... Hahaha!

M: What's so funny?

Y: I-I'm sorry, I imagined that all of our seats were filled with you, Majima-san. I couldn't help it. Hahaha.

M: You know what I meant! It wasn't a literal suggestion.

Y: Oh, I know. But, thank you. If I try that, I think I will have an easier time handling the customers.

M: That right? Good, good.

Y: A room full of Majima-san customers... Hehehe, I bet that would be a pain!

M: Eh? You say somethin'?

Y: O-Oh, no. Nothing!

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

M: Hey, look at the time.

M: Any last questions ya wanna ask me? Forget about the training for a sec. Anything goes.

Y: Hm, let's see. Um, well... Majima-san, what do you think about me?

M: Huh? Whaddya mean?

Y: As an employee of the club... Well, what do you think of me?

> You're cute.

M: Well, I think you're cute.

Y: What? Oh, no, no, that's what I mean. What I meant to ask is, do you think I'm a good employee?

M: Oooh, right, right! Yeah, sure, I can tell that you're really workin' hard.

Y: What kind of response was that? Are you being serious?

M: Uh, 'course I am. I just had to gather my thoughts there.

Y: Huh? You're weird, Majima-san.

> You're workin' hard.

M: You're workin' hard.

Y: You think so? We've gotten some new girls here lately, and I feel like they're working a lot harder than me.

M: Comparin' yourself to others is a losin' proposition. What's important is how hard yer tryin' to be better.

M: Besides, ya ain't great at talking to guys, yet here you are, toughin' it out to overcome your weakness. That's somethin' to be proud of, if ya ask me.

Y: Majima-san... Th-Thank you.

Y: But, Majima-san, it feels really weird when you get all serious and sincere like that. Like, almost creepy.

M: Whaddya mean, creepy!?

Y: Ahaha. But, I'm happy. Really. I'll work much, much harder!

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M: Okay, I think that'll do it.

Y: Th-Thank you for the lesson.

M: Sure thing. Good job.

*Note: Despite localization as “erm,” Yuki actually says “hmm?” and at the end of her sentence says, “hmmm?” Thought it was a cute detail that was worth noting.

#cabaret club czar #yakuza 0 #yuki #goro majima #club sunshine

[tale-xistime]

I'm not sure my previous Ask got sent. For the Crayola Crayon Color asks, please: Mac and Cheese; Tiny Toad Brown; Mystic Maroon; Cosmic Cobalt. Thank you!

@resslerette1

Something that never fails to make me think of my childhood is driving an old beater truck down a country lane with fields as far as you can see in the spring. I’m from a college town in the Midwest with the Rocky Mountains pretty much only a 15 drive away from you in any direction. The entire county we lived in was a big basin. When we where younger me and my cousin used to go to my grandmas ranch and explore. There was a cemetery to the right, woods and a few ponds to the left, a creek up above and hay fields down below. So we used to jump fences and explore the entire area. We had a wagon that we would ride down the road, the entire town was basically one steep bowl, and we crashed pretty often. We also used to climb trees and play extreme hide and seek, where you could hide anywhere in the entire small town. Another thing we did to pass the time was take old tire inter-tubes we found, tie bailing twine onto them and float them down the canal until we got to just above them cemetery. Then we would jump out and hike back through the hay field to the house. One time my cousin was almost mauled by a cougar that was living in our grandmas coal shed. That was scary.

I have always been one for what some people might consider scary things. So like old abandoned and decrepit houses, which riddled my home town, and things of that nature have always intrigued me. I even have explored some old abandoned houses in my teen years. I have always found it to be strikingly beautiful and strange, to see the past laying out in front of you and wasting away. The memories of the people that used to live there or the things that used to happen there just under the surface of all the soot, dust and cobwebs. It’s very interesting to stare the past right in the face while rummaging through some old rotting shack. It’s oddly beautiful, and interesting to ponder. Especially when you consider that years from now some snot nosed kid might be doing the exact same thing in your old house, going through your old and dead memories. But that’s just my poetic take on things.

Idk about you guys, but math sucks. It has always confused me. I am clearly more of an English person, having been in advanced English my entire schooling career. That and I’m going to be a law student, so math is against my religion. The numbers have just never added up (pun intended) in my head. I mean I never failed math or anything, but I have always found it to be starkly harder to accomplish than any other subject. Even chemistry which completely kicked my ass. (I mean there is a lot of math in there too but that just proves my point.) Math just sucks. 😹

So I am apparently a Leo. And yes, I have seen the entire shallow, girly girl, and superficial stereotype that there in lies. And I suppose that could be true of some people. But it hasn’t ever really applied to me? I mean, I am a complete Tom-boy, always have been and always will be. I have never cared all that much about appearances. I wear sporty, grunge, comfortable clothing that is less than appetizing to the opposite sex or really anyone. (including myself but I already have a hard enough time getting outta bed in the morning let ALONE throwing on a cohesive outfit) I really just stick to sweatpants and hoodies. I mean honestly I don’t even put on mascara 50% of my week. So that whole popular girl, fashion icon, judgy, extroverted girl just has never been my scene. (Btw random factoid I’m an ambivert, so half the time I’m real needy for people and the other half of the time I just want to stay home with my cat and watch Grey’s Anatomy.) Though some things that do fit are probably the fiercely loyal and egotistical thing, I do not take crap from anyone and sort of enjoy intimidating the living begeezus out of people. I do sort of enjoy the spotlight, being the film nerd that I am and the theater kid that I am. That and I have done so many concerts and recitals for the various instruments I’ve picked up I just don’t even get very nervous being put on the spot anymore. I don’t even know all that much more about Leo’s tbh. I feel like so much of it is clouded in stereotypes that no one really knows what their personality is supposed to be? But that’s just my take ig.

I am sorry I did not get your original ask friend! Thank you for this though resslerette1! This was a blast, and fun to ponder! Send me more guys! Hope you have a supercalifragilisticexpealliedotious day/night! (I have no clue if that was spelled right but we are going with it friends.)

#about me #crayon color ask meme #me in real life #about Tale #this was so fun! #I think this was a wonderful idea and I’m so glad people asked me stuff! #thanks for asking ☺️

[foxtophat]

(still trying to figure out how i link these but whatever)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!! i decided to just sit down and hammer out the last edits for this lil one-shot so i could get it out today!

i’m gonna be real with you: the only reason i wrote this fic is because i couldn’t get the idea out of my head.  you weren’t supposed to see mercyverse for another month, honestly!!! but it’s been cold as fuck here and it’s made me fantasize about classic bed-sharing tropes, and so here we are!

this is a bit of a slice of life, to sort of give an idea of how day-to-day these guys all interact, especially now that carmina doesn’t have to pretend john doesn’t exist.  plus, i’m starting to see how the caches might be involved in the overarching plot???? awesome!!!

as usual, the full text is below the cut for my friends who don’t wanna leave tumblr.  i hope you enjoy -- feel free to leave a comment, i loooove hearing from readers. likes and reblogs are also great! kudos are fantastic! adding to the hit counter is just fine by me!!! anything you do to show support for fanfic is a good thing imo.  i hope y’all have a happy wintereenmas or whatever and i will see you guys in 2021 with more mercyverse :)

The best thing Nick can say about the blizzard currently sweeping the county is that he could see that it was coming. They'd gotten almost a foot of snow the night before, which gets him worried about getting snowed in, and as the day progresses, the sky grows an ominous gray that Nick recognizes from a lifetime of living in the area. He knows that they probably only have a few hours left before they're going to want to get inside and avoid the worst a winter storm has to offer.

Nick and John spend the entire morning hauling wood into the house, while Kim does her best to clean out the broken chimney and ensure they won't die of smoke inhalation. They also pull in some pre-made stock that Kim had left in the freezer after it had gotten cold enough to use, as well as a few smaller pieces for miscellaneous projects. But with the storm rolling in overhead, they don't have long; they end up leaving a lot of things for later as the wind whips up around them and turns the snow sideways.

By two in the afternoon, they've closed the doors to officially bunker down for the rest of the blizzard. They have enough wood to last them three days, plus their military rations and plenty of coffee, so Nick isn't particularly concerned about their safety. The only thing he's really got to contend with is boredom, which is easier to stave off in the first few hours of captivity than it is later in the evening.

For the most part, Nick passes the time by sharpening their knives, cleaning their guns, and checking the radio every hour for any emergencies. The blizzard ensures that not many people are on, but at least he gets to check in with Jerome and make sure that Grace is safely in her bunker. It's unlikely they'll get in contact with the trailer park until after the worst passes, but that just means Nick's gonna worry about those jackasses all night.

Kim is probably the only one comfortable with the downtime, making the most of things as she chews on the radio's instructions. When the technical jargon gets to be too much, she switches to entertaining Carmina, who gets bored quick when her only job is to keep the fire going. The easiest distraction comes from card games; the deck they'd had in the bunker had shrunk to only 32 cards, but now that they've got a full deck to work with, Carmina is eager to relearn and master games like Go Fish and Old Maid. Nick doubts Jacob planned to be entertaining kids with his survival gear, but it's not like the guy's gonna complain.

Carmina isn't the only one that Jacob is keeping busy beyond the grave. Ever since they found that cache of his, John has been borderline obsessed with figuring out what the point of it could be. He'll go all day without mentioning the puzzle plaguing him, but any available downtime has him staring at the map and its coordinates. Nick and Kim have both been keeping an eye on it, just in case it turns into something worse than his usual tunnel-vision, but so far it hasn't gotten out of hand. If anything, John seems more aware and alert now that he has something to focus on, and now Nick can even pretend he's a normal guy for conversations at a time before being reminded otherwise.

Of course, the blizzard's making it impossible to find alternate distractions. John does spend part of the afternoon in his room, but eventually, he can't help but come downstairs to mull over the map. There's only one problem with that — they've hung the map up in the radio room, so there's about ten minutes every hour where Nick has no choice but to sit in John's presence. It probably wouldn't bother him so much if there was somewhere else either of them could be, but they're stuck for the foreseeable future. John's looming is just going to be part of Nick's life until the storm passes.

In the interest of keeping the peace, Nick reluctantly tries to have the same level of interest in the random dots that John shows. His attention, however, is distracted by the penciled-in changes that he, Kim and John have all been making to the landscape. The river's wider in some places now, and there are doodles of trees in spaces that were once open fields. A few X's mark places where bridges have collapsed, and Kim's circled anywhere they've made radio contact with. Their notations have scattered across the valley, and have even spread over to the river region thanks to Hurk and his raider gang, but they still don't know anything about the mountains, or even the spaces that are supposedly occupied by bow-wielding religious nutjobs. It's going to be a while before any of them get the nerve to go poking that particular hornet's nest.

John has his little notebook open, but he's not writing anything down. Nick's not sure what he would even put down, since they haven't gotten any more leads since early autumn, but he's always got the thing tucked in a pocket nowadays. Maybe Nick should be mad he outright stole that resource from the rest of them, but — well, come on. He can't yell at the man for taking up journaling, not without flying in the face of every therapist Nick had pretended not to listen to. It's just... well, what the hell is there for him to write down?

"Are you staring for any particular reason?" John asks, because of course he does.

"That's rich, coming from the guy lurking over my shoulder all day." Nick flips off the static-ridden radio frequency, leaning back in his chair so that he can get a better look at the map push-pinned to the wall. "I hear if you look at it just right, you can see a sailboat."

John's clearly not much of a Kevin Smith fan, because he only sighs heavily at Nick's flat joke. "If you have something better for me to be doing, I'm all ears," he says, revealing to Nick at last just how bored he really is. Weirdly enough, being in the same boat as John is somehow reassuring.

"Okay, fine. At least tell me what you're staring at, so I know what to fake interest in."

Even though it's mostly a joke, it lands softly enough that John doesn't take offense. Stuffing the notebook in his back pocket, he shakes his head, gesturing at the map. Getting John to explain himself is usually like pulling teeth, but right now he seems relieved to have someone to bounce his thoughts off of. It's a long way away from the guy Nick remembers saving, enough so that it almost catches his full interest.

"It's nothing in particular, really. I've already spent hours staring at this thing, but I'm... still looking for a pattern, I guess. Jacob was paranoid and secretive, but if there's a hidden code buried in these coordinates, it's beyond me to see it. And the snow was already keeping us from traveling too far — now with this blizzard, we're likely stuck with no new information until spring ..."

John sighs, rubbing his forehead as the pretense finally abandons him. "I just don't know what I'm supposed to do until then."

That's certainly a feeling that Nick can relate to. Nick is less of a workaholic than John might be, but that doesn't mean he won't go stir-crazy without his own set of chores. Hell, that's why he's been hanging around the radio in between games of cards with the girls and cleaning whatever he can get his hands on. It must suck extra for John; the guy's been spinning his tires in the dirt for years, probably, and being this close to having a purpose beyond doing whatever chores Nick sets him to must be irritating.

Nick props one leg up against the wall, tapping his boot against the wood as he ponders the dots scattered around the map. There are a few still in the valley, but there's no driving until they thaw out. The points in the mountains are probably inaccessible to anybody, and who knows when they'll get to investigate the old vet center or find the Wolf's Den. There are a couple points nearer the trailer park, though, and not for the first time Nick tries to measure the distance from Hurk to the various red dots. There's one near the lumber mill, and one near where that godawful statue was, and of course one right smack dab in the middle of the original Peggy compound.

Nick can't imagine his truck making it all the way there and back, not without more information about the roads. Hurk might not have the same trouble. "I could send the trailer park a couple coordinates," he points out. "They might get to search before us, and it could cut the work in half."

Despite John's scowl, he only sounds tired as he replies, "I've considered it, but I don't trust them. Then again, I hardly trust myself, so who knows."

"I guess you're shit outta luck, then," Nick says. John takes obvious offense at Nick brushing him off, but hey, what else is Nick supposed to do? "God's giving you a freebie with this blizzard. Maybe you should try catching up on your sleep, or something."

"And ruin the precarious schedule I'm keeping?"

"Jesus, then go read a book! Just — you know, quit hovering over me all day. Don't you know how to entertain yourself?"

John seems unphased by Nick's half-hearted outburst. "This is how I entertain myself. Maps, resources, legal documents — that's probably the only decent outlet I've ever had." He stares at Nick's boot, unwilling to meet his eyes. "At least, it's the only one healthy enough to keep."

That is probably a safe bet, Nick realizes, quickly trying to backpedal away from the open scab that is John's history. "Uh, well, what about before the cult?"

John surprises them both with a brief laugh. "If I could source some coke, then yes, I would be entertained."

"Jesus, John."

"I'm not known for my healthy self-care habits," John points out, a little too smug to be truly self-deprecating. At least he seems to understand what Nick had been getting at originally, deferring with a vague hand-wave. "Is my loitering in the kitchen going to be too smothering for you, too, or is that okay?"

Nick rolls his eyes, flipping the radio back on to scan the channels once again. "It's fine, whatever. Just as long as you've got something better to entertain yourself than snaking the whiskey Jacob left."

"I'm more of a gin guy," John admits.

"Of course you are."

It's still a relief, though, knowing they aren't keeping an alcoholic too near his fix. On top of that, John's relaxed disregard for his past vices settles nerves Nick hadn't even realized were rattled. Sure, there's probably a whole other box of American Psycho- esque worms waiting to be opened up from John's time before Eden's Gate, but at least he seems to have comfortably packed that part of his life away for now. Unlike talking about the cult, John has no trouble dropping the conversation, just as casually as he'd brought it up. He retreats into the kitchen to mull over whatever he's written down already, leaving behind no traumatic story or sad-eyed stare — just the casual admission that he would really like to do some drugs.

Weirdly enough, that is probably the most respectable thing about John to date.

Nick spends another fifteen minutes checking the radio, scanning the channels he knows people use most. He winds up with nothing to show for it — either the storm is making radio communication impossible, or everybody else has given up on their radios. It's only after he's cleared the range twice that he flips the radio off and escapes back to Kim and Carmina, leaving John in the kitchen with a broad, somehow-sarcastic gesture towards the now unoccupied radio nook.

Carmina ropes Nick into a game of Go Fish, which Kim seems keen on losing. Nick isn't surprised — Carmina is a wily player, which is to say that she tries to bluff her way through hands with all the grace of a sledgehammer. Kim's not as willing to put up with cheating as Nick is, but neither of them are capable of even pretending to believe Carmina's poker face. It's going to be a problem one day, but Nick isn't exactly ready to teach his daughter how to lie to his face.

Well, that is until she and Nick are on their third round of Go Fish, and Nick has had to pretend not to see through all of Carmina's gambits.

He asks her if she has any threes, and she scrunches her nose up as she glances meaningfully at her cards. "Go fish," she says, making Nick regret not having Kim sit right behind their daughter as a referee.

"Fine," he grumbles, "If you say so."

Kim blinks skeptically at the pants she's fixing, but she doesn't offer Nick any out. If it weren't for his clumsy hands, maybe he could use darning socks and patching shirts as an excuse to quit playing, but as it stands, the only thing he has other than getting trounced is staring at the map with John. And since he already tried that and found it to be mildly aggravating at best...

"You know, this would be more fun with more people," Nick says, desperately glancing at Kim.

Kim, of course, gives him no quarter. "Why don't you ask John," she suggests rhetorically.

"John," Carmina calls out, "Do you wanna play Go Fish?"

Nick opens his mouth to chastise Carmina, but he realizes there's nothing to discipline her for. Especially not when John flippantly replies, "I think your father's looking to play with fewer cheaters, not more."

"I'm not cheating!" Carmina exclaims, not-so-surreptitiously pressing her cards into her lap to ensure nobody's looking at them. Between that and her guiltily furrowed brow, there's no hiding it. Her poker face needs a lot of work.

"Go Fish isn't even worth cheating at," Nick sighs, gesturing for her cards. "If that's the way you wanna play, at least do it the right way. Here, gimme your cards — John, come over here so I can teach my daughter how to lie to your face."

As if playing a game of cards with John wasn't enough to excite Carmina, she's doubly over the moon when he tells her the rules. After all, a ten-year-old girl is the prime demographic for the game Bullshit, especially when she's given carte blanche to shout cuss words at her dad. On top of that, it seems like bluffing really is half of the fun for his daughter — which is a little intimidating, sure, but at least he knows she's smart enough to understand the utility of lying.

John is... unenthusiastic, to say the least, but that only makes the prospect of humiliating him that much better. A few weeks ago, Nick would've thought John was too fragile to be messed with, but now there's a bounce in his step that will make taking him down easier. He's got to do something to remind himself that this nearly-tolerable man is usually a miserable sonofabitch.

Unfortunately, John has a fantastic poker face. Nick figured that from the get-go, but it's still daunting to play against a bored, uninterested party. That's probably why Carmina avoids John in favor of hounding Nick, calling out "bullshit!" with delightful glee whenever she thinks Nick has dropped the wrong face card or played a nine instead of a King. On the one hand, Nick appreciates that he can read her as well as she can, but on the other hand, he'd really like a chance to beat John. So far, he's the only one who's called John out, and all he has to show for it is the extra six cards in his hand.

Although Kim is on standby for this round, she keeps flashing Nick amused grins whenever Carmina calls bullshit. Nick almost hopes John can hold it together to be mundane for two entire rounds of cards because he wouldn't stand a chance against Kim.

Case in point, John lays down two cards that are meant to be threes, and Kim clicks her tongue disapprovingly. Carmina frowns up at her mom, who only shrugs and suggests, "I would call him out, if I were you."

John's neutral frown doesn't change. "Last I checked, you weren't playing," he says.

Kim only shrugs in response. Nick furrows his brow at Kim while Carmina squints suspiciously from the discard pile to John and then back again. Of course, encouraging a ten-year-old to swear is always going to win out, and so Carmina wrinkles her nose and calls John out with a slightly uncertain, "Okay, bullshit."

Without so much as a grimace of defeat, John lets Carmina flip his played cards — one three, and one dirty, rotten, lying, bullshit seven .

"That's what I thought," Kim says, flippantly triumphant. "Guess you're not as hard to read as you thought."

Nick sure can't tell what John's thinking as he lifts one shoulder noncommittally. "I stand corrected."

"Wait," Nick asks, "What gave it away?"

"I'm not helping you too , Nick," Kim laughs. "That wouldn't be fair."

"It's not exactly fair to help Carmina," John points out. Nick bets he's just as interested in what tell Kim noticed, although he manages to be less obvious about it. At least he can't crack Kim's smug smile any better than Nick, which is some small compensation.

Nick manages to win this hand, if only because his play strategy involves lying as little as possible. That seems to work against Carmina no problem, but Nick suspects John threw the game out of personal disinterest. If it weren't for the howling winds whistling through the roof and second story, John would probably excuse himself from another hand by retreating upstairs, but as it is he manages to sit through one more round of cards, this time with Kim joining in.

Carmina's poker-face doesn't improve by leaps and bounds, exactly, but she manages to fool Nick into picking up a fat stack of cards, so that's something. Too bad he'd been trying to teach her to lie to John , not her parents. Well — at least she's a nice enough kid to only do it for fun. He hopes, anyway.

Kim makes John's loss look more organic, at least, and she doesn't rub it in too badly when she wins. It's extra kind of her considering Nick is the one who called her last play bullshit, leaving him to rot in miserable third place after both his girls. Well, fine . At least Carmina seemed to have fun, even if Nick is now sitting with nearly half a deck in his hands. If the blizzard keeps up for too long, they might have to graduate to poker.

Before they can play any more card games, though, they take time out for dinner. It's almost normal, sitting around the fireplace with their military rations and some hot broth — if they were eating Marie Calendar pot-pies and watching Christmas movies, Nick would even be able to ignore John's presence sticking out like a sore thumb.

The next best thing to watching movies is talking about them, which has become something of a tradition between the Ryes. It all started in the bunker, where Kim and Nick ran out of normal Christmas stories and began taking turns narrating whatever holiday movies they could remember. They've run through all the memorable Rankin & Bass flicks, as well as a couple more contemporary ones, so they're starting to reach for their personal favorites or the very bottom of the barrel plots.

Nick intends to be paying Jingle All the Way a tribute tonight, but as soon as he mentions that the Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle is one of his favorites, he's interrupted by John snorting derisively.

"Let me guess," Nick snaps, "You're one of those jackasses who pretends Die Hard is a legitimate Christmas movie just so he doesn't have to watch good, family-friendly content."

"It is a legitimate Christmas movie," John responds, just petulantly enough to tell Nick he hit the nail on the head.

"Look, Kim and I have already had this discussion — just because it takes place during Christmas doesn't make it a Christmas movie . Set dressing alone isn't enough!"

John raises his eyes towards the ceiling, which is as subtle as his eyerolls can get. "Whatever you say, Nick."

"What's Die Hard about?" Carmina asks, excitedly guessing, "Does Santa get to shoot people in it?"

"That would be a good Christmas movie," Nick replies. "No, it's just about some guy who has to fight bad guys in a building."

"During Christmas," Kim points out.

"Okay, fine during Christmas. But nobody's dressed up like Santa, nobody sings any carols, and there sure as hell isn't any Christmas magic that saves the day, so it doesn't count!"

"So what does happen?" Carmina asks.

Damn it — Nick should have known that talking about an action flick would immediately disinterest her towards any sloppy story about consumerism. She doesn't even know what a mall is — but she knows how to shoot a handgun, and now that Nick's thinking about it, she might need to use the duct-tape shoulder holster trick one day. It would be pretty bad-ass if she knew how, anyway.

"Okay, fine, I'll do it real quick. I don't remember all the parts, so Kim, you gotta help."

Real quick turns out to take almost as much time as the movie itself had. Kim interjects whenever Nick forgets a plot point, but at least he remembers the core conflict. Sort of, anyway — by the time he's done recounting John McClane's tale, John looks visibly dissatisfied, and Kim has a "well, sort of" expression on her face that implies he didn't quite nail the execution. Well, who cares what they think? All that matters is that Carmina is entertained, and of course she is. After all, narrated or not, it's still Die Hard . Just so long as she doesn't ask about the sequels, they should be okay.

The wind is still whipping overhead, and Nick can see nothing beyond the windows. There's no telling how late it's gotten. Although his internal clock insists it can't have been that long since sundown, Carmina has been yawning for a while now, and the fire's gone down again. It looks like sleeping through the storm is the only pastime left for Nick to try.

Carmina takes over stoking the fire for the final time before bed, while Kim makes her way upstairs to gather as much of their bedding as she can carry. John follows reluctantly behind, clearly unhappy with the prospect of facing his own cold room, but Nick figures he can deal for five damn minutes. For his part, Nick busies himself checking the radio one last time, just in case there's an emergency. He doesn't know what they'd be able to do if there was one, but that doesn't stop him from checking anyway.

With the radio situated just under the stairs, it's easy to listen in to Kim stomping around in the room above, desperate to keep her temperature up. Nick had put off too many attic repairs before this winter — he's going to have to make up for that in spring, when he and John can worm their way into the rafters and ensure that their next winter won't turn the bedrooms into a cold wasteland. Of course, even if they did patch up the gaps in the floorboards and do their best to insulate the attic, not much can beat a genuine fire in the middle of a snowstorm.

Nick isn't even paying attention to the radio, so he flips it off and trusts that everyone can keep themselves safe for another night. He hears the whump of fabric as Kim tosses their two biggest, least moldy blankets down for Carmina to start with, and the creak of footsteps on the landing overhead. Kim's voice isn't raised, but it carries down to Nick clear as a bell.

"John, you'll freeze if you stay up here," she says. "Get your stuff and come downstairs."

"It's not that cold," John says, attempting to deflect from one weak excuse with another. "I doubt Nick approved that suggestion."

Well, not technically, no, but Nick had sort of assumed they were already all on the same page. What does John think Nick's gonna do, force him to freeze upstairs so he can hog the fireplace all to himself?

Kim doesn't give the excuses a chance to breathe, replying with parental exasperation. "He and I both agree it's too cold to sleep upstairs." Nick can hear the teasing plain as day when she adds, "Just don't be weird about it."

Sure enough, suggesting John might be making things awkward is enough to get him to shut up and follow orders. Nick briefly longs for the days when John would mutely nod and do as told without any additional goading, but only for a second. Even that is long enough retrospection to remind Nick of how creepy and genuinely alarming it had been. Sure, John might get argumentative or exasperated now, but at least there's an actual person to communicate with. Nick might want to kick his ass more now than before, but he absolutely hated dealing with the hollow-eyed monster John had been.

Besides, it's way more satisfying being a dick to him now that he actually gets offended.

Despite John's furrowed-brow glares, Nick doesn't comment whatsoever on him trailing downstairs after Kim, clutching two actual blankets and a tarp that's weather-worn enough to pass muster. He stands and waits for someone to point him in the right direction as Kim and Carmina do their best to bundle together a soft place on the floor, but Nick studiously ignores him until he makes a decision himself. John takes a spot close to the fireplace, off to the right of where the girls are setting up. It's still plenty removed enough, so that nobody will get the wrong idea and think John is supposed to be welcome down here. Nick wonders who he's trying to convince, but there are so many damn demons in the man's head, it's anybody's guess.

With the fire roaring for the last time that night, all the blankets arranged and everybody looking exhausted despite not doing anything all day, Nick finally gets to crawl into bed and put this whole goddamn blizzard behind him. Hopefully, the weather has the common sense to clear up tomorrow — for now, it's time to shut out the cold entirely.

He must be tired. Nick barely stays conscious as Kim and Carmina climb under the blankets, the cool air rapidly warming as they begin to shift around and get comfortable. He rouses a few times at first as Carmina kicks his leg and Kim bumps into him, but eventually, he finds himself dozing in the silence of a quiet house. Far above them, the wind is whipping through the attic, but from down here, it sounds like a generic white-noise machine; coupled with the crackling fire, Nick is lulled to sleep by the sounds of peaceful normalcy.

Who knows how long it is before Nick finds himself conscious again. Even then, he only wakes enough to hear the dying fire popping by his feet. Maybe he should stoke it. But that would mean moving, and Nick is weighted down on either side beneath warm blankets, so that's a hard no. He tries first to roll towards Kim and Carmina, ready to curl into a ball and conserve even more heat, but his right arm is stuck. It takes a few bleary-eyed blinks to realize what's pinned him down, but he's barely coherent enough to make sense of it.

Sometime in the night, John must've migrated from the no-man's-land he'd made for himself towards the Rye's pile of blankets. Unsurprising, really — but more than a little awkward, given how he's pressed into Nick's side, pinning Nick's arm in place. Worse yet, half of his blankets have been absorbed into the mess that Nick's been using to keep warm, which is going to make extracting himself tricky if not impossible.

While he tries to figure out how to avoid making this mortifying situation worse, Nick watches John for any signs of consciousness. The guy usually sleeps light, but Nick watches his breathing for a solid minute and doesn't catch anything. Either his poker-face is just that good, or John is actually asleep. Deeply, peacefully asleep. Nick had assumed that was impossible.

If Nick were a better person, he'd probably be thankful to see it. Glad to know that John's insomnia might finally be coming to an end. But Nick is mostly just an exhausted, anxious mess, and now he's just wondering how to get out of the situation he's found himself in.

John shifts, and like a guilty ten-year-old, Nick immediately closes his eyes and pretends to be asleep. If he's lucky, John will roll away of his own volition, or at least move enough to let Nick roll over himself. If only he'd decided to sleep on Kim's side — she wouldn't have the same trouble Nick has. She'd just kick him away and be done with it.

Slowly, John moves away from Nick. The relief is short-lived as John pulls back the covers enough to send a cold chill down Nick's side; it's a split-second decision that John immediately regrets, hissing under his breath and letting the blankets fall back into place as he recoils from the freezing temperatures.

Nick can't help his quiet huff of amusement — which is enough to break the illusion that he'd been asleep in the first place. He could probably still fake it, but if he does, John will definitely try to move his blankets, and that is going to be a much bigger problem than tolerating John in his personal space.

"Quit squirming so much," Nick mutters. "Gonna let in the cold."

John is silent and tense beside him, but he does stop squirming. It's like lying near a tense bar of iron. After a brief struggle to figure out what to say, John's embarrassment catches in his voice as he apologizes. "I'm sorry," he rasps. "I — must have been tired."

Nick sighs. "Just don't crush my arm again."

Even though John moves as though Nick threatened him, he stops short of retreating from the blankets entirely. Nick can only imagine how cold it must be — every breath of his that makes it above the blanket-line comes with a faint puff of visible air. No matter how humiliating it might be to cuddle up to Nick, it doesn't seem like John had much of a choice in the matter.

Before John can decide to try escaping again, Nick repeats, "Whatever you do, don't let in the cold."

In for a penny, Nick decides, worming deeper into the makeshift bed so that John can have more room. Rolling over is the easiest way to avoid the mortifying process of finding a comfortable sleeping arrangement. Eventually, they wind up back-to-back; Nick normally wouldn't be able to stand John touching him, but the additional body-heat does a lot to soothe Nick's reservations. Who knew all he needed to tolerate John's physical presence would be cold weather and exhaustion?

The Deputy, probably, which only makes Nick grin in tired relief. At least they would be glad to know that Nick's grown as a person. They'd probably be glad to learn he's finally gotten on-board with not murdering the Seeds in cold blood — even if it took an apocalypse to get there. If they could see the shit he's gotten himself into now, they'd probably...

He sighs. It must be a heavier sound than he imagined, because John whispers, "What?"

"Nothing," Nick says immediately, as default an answer as John's yeses are. But that's not fair, he doesn't think, because they never let John get away with his obvious deflections. As late as it is, it's easy to blame his guilt on his exhaustion. "Just thinking about Rook," he admits.

"Oh."

John is clearly uncomfortable with the topic, but he doesn't react when Nick continues sleepily, "They'd get a kick outta this, is all."

John hums. It's a quiet noise, but Nick can feel it vibrate through John's shirt. If there are two people Nick hates bringing Rook up around, it's Sharky and John. Sure, Sharky's crush was the one that was reciprocated, but Dep had always treated John's flat-footed overtures like creepy compliments instead of outright threats. They'd probably figured John's crush was superficial, whereas Sharky's had been more real than probably anything else Nick had seen the poor sap go through. John's infatuation had been about power, control, and Joseph goddamn Seed. Still, Nick can't help but wonder just how much of it might've been real to John at the time.

"They had a bad sense of humor," John finally responds, quietly enough that Nick almost misses the hurt.

"Terrible," Nick agrees.

When John sighs, Nick recognizes it as a sign of defeat. Whatever he's debating with himself, he's clearly lost. Although he doesn't speak up again, Nick isn't sure he's gone back to sleep. He sure hopes he didn't just instill another restless night in the guy, but that's John's burden to bear. Maybe he can use it to finally find some common ground with Sharky.

Nick isn't even sure that he can fall back asleep, but that doesn't seem to matter. Before he knows it, he's being woken up once more — this time by a glance of sunlight coming in through the upper part of the windows. It's just enough light to wake him, but he spends an exhausted minute staring at the wall over Kim's shoulder as he debates whether or not he's really committing this time. He's going to need to use the bathroom sooner or later — and just thinking that is enough to tell Nick that he's not getting back to sleep again.

John's back is still facing Nick, and Kim rolls away as soon as Nick starts to squirm, which leaves his path to escape much more open than it was a few hours ago. He manages to pull himself free without waking anyone else, but as soon as he does, John worms into the warm spot left behind. Nick should probably be upset, but mostly he just needs to pee. He can kick John out of his spot after he takes care of himself.

Nick leaves the rest of them to sleep as he tiptoes across the living room to the front door. Unfortunately, the door only wedges open an inch before it hits a wall of snow. Unwilling to wake anyone else up with catastrophic noise, Nick heads upstairs, going for the broken window in John's room. It's freezing up here, cold enough to keep meat until spring, and Nick pulls his flannel closer as he crosses the room, trying not to take too much stock of his surroundings. He doesn't care about the tallies John used to carve in the wall by his bed, and he definitely doesn't care to snoop through the pile of clothes that John's been growing in the corner. What he does care about is how easy it is to crawl out onto the roof from the window — after all, this isn't the first time Nick's been snowed in, and he's made escaping his childhood home an art-form.

There's a good three and a half feet of snow on the ground below, blocking any exit from the first floor. At least the gray sky above is calm, and the weather seems to have calmed down some. They'll have to prepare for another couple of inches before the week's out, but Nick bets the worst of it is over. Now he can think about breakfast — more specifically, coffee — and debate the best way to clear the doorways. They need a path out to the hangar, although they can wait another day or two before they'll need to press the matter. Nick's still convinced there's a set of tire chains hiding away in there, but it's not like the roads will be in any condition to drive on for a while yet...

Nick spends so much time thinking about what he's got to do, he forgets to consider how willing the rest of the house will be to pitch in. The top-of-the-snow sunlight isn't enough heat to make up for the lack of a fire, and getting Kim out from under the blankets is gonna be like pulling teeth until he does something about it. Worse yet, John's rolled into the spot Nick had occupied — not exactly sprawled out, or anything, but the guy is irritatingly close to Kim's sleeping back. If he decided to roll one more time, he'd probably end up smacking his face into her shoulder.

Nick considers throwing a fit on principle, but honestly, that's too much work. It's much easier to sulk, glowering at the bed he's definitely not getting back into before getting some logs to stack in the fire. He drops them noisily by John's feet, although he makes every effort not to accidentally pull a Misery on the guy.

The sound of hollow wood clattering on the ground is enough to stir John, who wakes with a sharp inhale, and cause Carmina to groan and turn away from the noise. Kim has probably been awake for a while now, but it won't make a lick of difference until the fire's on.

He turns away to toss the logs semi-haphazardly into the fireplace, then remembers the kindling and turns to get it. John has propped himself on his elbows, but his half-waking confusion causes him to overlook Nick entirely as he stares around the room. Seeing Kim and Carmina asleep next to him is initially met with confusion. He barely seems to recognize the shapes bundled in the blankets, but when he does he recoils in shock. All the nasty comments Nick had thought up take an abrupt backseat as he stops to marvel at the physical repulsion John shows. He's not sure if he should be offended or not. Probably not, but this apocalypse has got Nick wired all wrong.

"She's not gonna bite," Nick says. John whips his attention back to Nick the moment he raises his voice, only for Nick to realize that looming over the guy with a thick block of wood in hand might send the wrong message.

Sure enough, John catches sight of him, jerking back with a startled hiss. " Jesus !"

"Shit, sorry." Nick turns and drops the log, wincing at the noise that he'd moments ago been deliberately making. "Well, judging from that reaction, looks like this isn't the first time a man's caught you in bed with his wife."

John's withering glare is enough to lift Nick's mood right up. He turns his attention back to starting the fire, listening as John slowly shifts his way free of the blankets. Part of him wants to make a few more jokes at John's expense, but that can wait until John's coherent enough to be snide in return.

Nick gets the fire going and turns to follow John, who's made his way into the kitchen to peer out the window. "Completely snowed in," Nick tells him as he gets the instant coffee and the beat-up kettle. "But it looks like the worst of it's over."

"Seems to be," John agrees, adding, "We forgot the shovels in the truck. It's going to be difficult digging them out now."

"Not a lot of other options, unless you wanna stay inside until the big thaw. Don't worry, I'm sure Carmina will be excited to help us dig."

John hums in assent, although his mind seems to be somewhere else. Nick can't help but notice that John's pensive states seem damned near reasonable nowadays. He has plenty to think about, and he seems to be keeping one foot in the here-and-now. He's aware enough of his surroundings that he stops Nick before he can leave John to it.

He tries to stare Nick down, but he can't quite manage it. "Thank you for not..."

John gestures vaguely as the rest of the sentence fails to generate. Nick could probably wait it out, but he's just as embarrassed as John apparently is, and he would rather move past the whole thing.

"Don't worry about it," Nick says. "Just don't get too comfortable cuddling up to me."

Rolling his eyes doesn't hide John's faint smile, but he turns away before Nick can see if it lasts. "That won't be a problem, trust me."

Nick is surprised that he does, even for something as small and inconsequential as a joke. "Grab the mugs when you're done looking for Santa," he says, turning back for the warmth of the fire. A few months ago, Nick might've resented how eroded the line has become between John and his own family, but it's honestly too much work to keep up. At a certain point, they're just going to have to include John in their daily routines — Nick just hadn't expected that point to be made by sharing blankets during a blizzard.

Well, there's one good thing about that, Nick supposes — it means that somewhere up there, the Deputy is watching over them. After all, there's no way in hell random chance has the same shitty sense of humor as Rook had.

#fcnd #john seed #nick rye #kim rye #christmas fic #mercyverse #my fic #i don't even use that tag any more wtf??? whatever #love you guys have a safe holiday <3

[galaxythixf]

@reflectionbound​ said: Nova! Can I just say that you are an awesome person?? You are such an engaging writer. Every time you reply, I know it’s going to be a great read because you capture voices so well and have such a fun style! Not only that, but your artwork and edits are so good!! Thank you for writing with me this year. It’s been a blast with all the best memories and fun times. Wishing you well this holiday season! I’m excited to see what the New Year holds 8)

This was outta left field — but appreciated nonetheless! Sage you’re really just a ray of sunshine, I barely know what to say other than thank you for the kind words. I’m glad my writing pleases you and my art, while still improving, is something I’ve only recently been comfortable sharing publicly so your compliments really mean a lot to me. This certainly made my night, thank you so much for this random spout of kindness.

#✰ — OOC ✶ Look Among The Galaxy #Asks #reflectionbound #Sage is a sweetheart ))

[ramblingshit]

The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

• a growing list of my thoughts on episode 9 -- spoilers bruh spoilers--

▪︎ His death was really best case scenario for him - imagine returning to the light side to be faced with what you've done: killed his father yes, but also literally millions and millions of other people including entire worlds. Everyone knows who he is and what he's done. There's nowhere in the galaxy he could hide. But imagine knowing that you've done all that he had - how could he possibly live with himself, there's literally nothing he could possibly do to make things right, and the memories in his head of what he's done with his own hands. So, to die having saved Rey from the Emperor and from herself, and inadvertently helping to end the Sith and the war that he helped begin, held in her arms, knowing that he is loved and that he's finally done the right thing - it's really the best end a redeemed villain could ask for.

• Rey killed Kylo Ren with his own saber, and literally healed Ben Solo. Poetic cinema.

▪︎'Dad--' // 'I know.' (!!!!!!!!! kill me)

• They should have had the three together bouncing off one another from the start - that's always been the greatest part of Star Wars, people being friends and bickering and having each other's backs. Actually had an interest in their relationships and in their characters this time. Their hug at the end was emotional and satisfying.

• Rose was always a nothing character to me, she should have died during that crash to make a point to Finn about doing the right thing or fighting the war or whatever. Also love that their kiss was never mentioned again (thank fuck).

▪︎On that note tho - plot holes. Plot holes everywhere. Not even just one or two. A million plot holes. Things mentioned briefly but never explained. Things glossed over and ignored. It's like they made this enormous tale that needed to be smoothed and simplified so you're not distracted every two seconds tryna figure out what matters and what's never gonna be mentioned again

• Chewie falling to his knees and roaring in agony when he finds out that Leia is dead is finally respect to his character and his relationships with his friends who are all fkn dead

▪︎legit nearly walked out when they suggested that Chewie was dead - that would have been 100% unforgiveable

• Ben Solo's death was 100% glossed over and Rey's reaction could have been a lot more poignant and long lasting. Anakin got his funeral, why can't Ben?

• Every minute of every force bond chat and fight was 10/10.

▪︎Fkn hobbit had more screen time than half the characters combined like who tf

▪︎that lil droid was legit funny and adorable but so so clearly another cash grab damn

▪︎Been a long time since I've seen anything sexier than everything that is light-side Ben Solo.

▪︎the ow, the shrug, the smile - little glimpses of the man he was supposed to be, instead of the diabolical, tyrannical, genocidal torturing, manipulative monster he became (rip Ben Solo, your family let you tf down)

▪︎Air punched and almost yelled YES in the cinema when they fucking kisssssssseeedddd!!!!

▪︎Actually really happy with her being a Palpatine, it's the only thing that could make sense and I legit didn't see it coming - being a Kenobi would be too predictable and though Obi Wan defeated Vader at Mustafar, it was because he was so blinded by rage, not because Kenobi was stronger than him

Upon further consideration Rey should have just been Rey. People were so obsessed with who her family were because of course a person is defined by their parents and no way could a random person step up and defeat the bad guys (/s). She didn't have to be related to any legacy character. Heroes are made, not born. She followed the light because she's a good person, and she struggled against the dark because she's human. Gah.

▪︎Actually cried out in shock when she used force lightning to destroy the transport - that is a dark side move my dude, (and Palpatines fav party trick)

▪︎ loved the rehash of Ben and Han's final moments - he said himself he was just Bens memory, and Ben then did what he deep down wanted to do the day he killed him

▪︎Luke snatching the lightsaber out of the air like what the fuck do you think you are doing young lady

▪︎legit woulda been down for Rey to become Empress of the Sith what an ending that would be ey

▪︎Anakin should have showed up

▪︎Once Ben turned light-side he should have been talked to by his dead family members, not Rey.

▪︎Ben, the last Skywalker, should have been the one to defeat Palpatine, who was the one to begin the saga of the Skywalkers. Instead he got yeeted into a hole and spent the final battle time tryna climb out of it.

▪︎Ben should have been a force ghost standing there with his parents, reunited at last

▪︎And when they were both still alive Ben and Leia should have 110% reunited like what the fuckkk

▪︎ Rey should have proudly said that she is 'Just Rey.'

▪︎Finnpoe should have 100% been canon - Oscar Isaac literally admitted scorning the Disney 'overlords' for being cowards, and he played his role as Poe as being romantically involved with Finn. 10/10 best LGBT+ ally.

▪︎why tf would she go to Tatooine? She hates sand. Anakin hated sand. Luke wanted to leave and his last memory of that place is leaving the smoldering bodies of his aunt and uncle behind. Why put his saber there. Leia's never even been there. Why not go to Naboo or some green beautiful place where Rey has always wanted to be? Only fanservice moment really that irked me

▪︎all along all she's wanted was a family - she's made one and found one and yet the movie ends with her standing alone in the sand on a planet shes never been to, with two droids, looking at a horizon that means nothing to her.

▪︎that lightsaber tho (wish we had seen her make it, or decide to make it and explain at all why it's yellow)

▪︎Finn is fkn force sensitive and that's hella cool but like... address it more, make something of this discovery - this is the last movie and this is only just coming up? To be forgotten like all the other plot holes

▪︎liked Palpatine as the all over enemy - should have been more hints throughout the films fo sure to make it feel less outta left field as it did but still could've been a lot worse - but what the fuck is he doing on that Glados arm thing he shouldve been a Sith ghost ala Marka Ragnos not weird zombie sith man

▪︎lightning powers fucking up an entire fleet is fkn siiiiiiickkkk

▪︎would his dumbass really fall for the same ol bounce his own lightning back at him trick? Mmmmmnghhh??

▪︎if someone could explain why/how Leia died and became one with the Force only when Ben died that would be g??

▪︎thought they did Rey's struggle between the dark and the light pretty damn well like shout out to Daisy Ridley

▪︎ wish we had a shot of that vision she had with she and Kylo on the Sith throne together like damn son whhhyyy deprive us of that?? that shit would make my lifeeee

▪︎just everything Adam Driver tho what an actor like damn

▪︎in a story about love and family and winning by saving what you love, there's a whole lot of lovers dying and family members being torn apart and never reconciling. The entire Skywalker line did nothing but fuck up and make mistakes (excluding our Princess) - Anakin was so scared of losing Padme that the power he gained by turning darkside to save her overwhelmed him and resulted in her death, Padme thought it was a good idea to help Anakin defy the Jedi and marry him thus leading to his fear of losing her, Luke went full dark side when he sensed a growing darkness in his nephew and instead of trying to have a chat about his feelings he decided the obvious answer was to just murder him (like what???) thus fully pushing Ben over the edge to become Kylo Ren.

And then every single one of them die. How the fuck is that a satisfying conclusion to their story? I'm sorry but a happy ending to the Skywalker saga is Not the entire family being fucking DEAD. There is no happy ending to their story. Because they're all dead. This is some bullshit.

▪︎give us the almighty rumoured alternate ending you cowards

▪︎Honestly, the Skywalkers deserved better.

#spoilers #star wars spoilers #ep 9 spoilers #thoughts #list #rambling #rambling shit #also some spoilers #dont be spoiled #by the spoilers #rise of skywalker #actually thought it was called the last skywalker for a minute there #star wars the rise of skywalker #sw: tros #tros #happy and angry

[moononmyfloor]

Review: The Tyrant's Tomb by Rick Riordan

Thoughts on The Cover

Well, if you've seen my previous posts by now you'd know that I'm not a big fan of loud and action-packed covers. I prefer classy, if not always subtle. But you might like it! See, Reyna is owning the bigger portion of it, which is a nice change. :-)

Ok to Low Points

Halfway through the book, I was STILL unable to "get" into the story

Literally, not much was going on for 2/3 of the whole book, which is very surprising considering:

The time between the release dates of The Tyrant's Tomb and The Burning Maze is the longest as of yet. Whereas other books within a series have come out within twelve months of each other, these two books will be released within eighteen months of each other.

.....and that even the most boring books by Uncle Rick had some silver linings here and there to keep you engaged. Even The Dark Prophecy had the gang arrive and settle in Indianapolis, visit the zoo and free Griffins and REVISIT the emperor. Here? Apollo and Co. escorted Jason's hearse into Camp Jupiter in a frankly insulting manner(more about that later), Apollo got sick, we see that the noble prophecies are being tattooed on Tyson's back, Apollo and Co. went on a lil' trial quest and returned, Apollo got more sick.🤷‍♀️ I was so confused I opened the previous books to see how far those stories had progressed by midpoint.

It got slightly better later on, but it doesn't change the fact throughout the 1st half of the book I just kept on turning pages SIMPLY because I wanted it to get it on with and finish the story. Sad.

2. The so-called Tyrant

I didn't see much tyranny, like...only 3 pages were spent in the Tyrant's Tomb and his company, bad old Commodus and Caligula had more appearances than Tarquin who re-appeared in the very last chapters only to get immediately vanquished courtesy of Diana.....yeah. That's that.

3. How Jason's final voyage was depicted

Uncle Rick doesn't write emotional crying scenes well.

People talk about peeing and pop chewing gum bubbles while delivering the hearses of valued, honored characters.

And I seriously wonder in what position and condition poor Jason's body was after all the drama his coffin underwent.

And based on the spoilery lines(which sadly turned out to be not spoilers at all) we saw in the Magnus Chase series I thought we'd at least get a Percy-Annabeth cameo in this, that Jason will have more of his closest comrades mourning and sending him off. Nah. Nada. Not even a mention of Annabeth. Then why did Uncle Rick mention things like Annabeth and Percy being at California and even Magnus joining them at their time of crisis? Utter puzzlement. And we were also robbed of Nico's reaction to Jason's demise, considering how much Nico valued Jason as a brother-in-arms and a friend. Let's not even talk about Thalia. Why, Uncle Rick? :-(

Which brings us to...

4. Plot Inconsistencies

Why do I have to talk about this in each and every book? :-( Seriously, why would you write about Percy and Annabeth going to New Rome to attend college and being broken hearted over Jason DURING the period of Demigod communication malfunction, only to have us know they have YET to travel across the country and when we meet them again it would still be at New York? And now the communication is working, proving that Uncle Rick conveniently forgot about the clues he conveniently dropped.

AT LEAST I'm glad one thing is consistent in the Trials of Apollo series, that when Zeus decided they'll stop meddling too much in demigod affairs at the end of Heroes of Olympus, he meant it and now it's super duper hard to seek a god even for dire needs, no matter how wonderfully (ill)timed that decision was, costing lives of valued heroes.

5. The Haiku-titles weren't amusing at all this time.

I found one fun haiku .

O, blood moon rising

Take a rain check on doomsday

I’m stuck in traffic

6. The whole Apollo-Reyna debacle.

I would say Uncle Rick pulled a clever twist by turning fan theories on their heads here, but it too way more plot space than needed and when he got to the "Gotcha!" part, I was not feeling it. For YEARS now, we heard abut this no-mortal-no-demigod thing over and over, and fans predicted it might mean Apollo's the one for Reyna. And when it initially seemed like it was the route that Uncle Rick was indeed taking, the only thought that circulated inside my head was; "Reyna doesn't need this completely random and unwanted baggage! Give the girl a dam break!!" But then he was like; "Lol nooo. You kids are wrong", but STILL I was not happy...well, for obvious reasons.

What's the point of this whole plotline? So unnecessary. I mean, the fans always wondered WHY exactly would Reyna think she needs a partner in her life, but now I see Reyna might not have had time to contemplate her personal life logically like WE had what's with her dramatic life. Of course the shallow gods would think her heart was something to be "cured" and Reyna never stopped to think that it's quite the opposite till Apollo provided her with a breather and reason. And to answer why din't she choose to join Amazons instead of Hunters is probably that she wanted to be her own person and not be under her sis the Queen once again. She'd indeed have the freedom, calm and few friends so she wouldn't feel lonely and bored with the Hunt. She might even choose to leave Hunters after she found herself in her own time. I get it. But the way it was dragged and executed was meh.

If Uncle Rick intended this plotline of Reyna to be empowering for female readers, in my opinion it was not. Yes, even a badass girl could have weaknesses, not enough self-confidence and wobbly life choices, but Reyna took too much time with her "Eureka!" moment.

It was funny while it lasted, at least.

“Lester.” Reyna sighed. “What in Tartarus are you saying? I’m not in the mood for riddles.”

“That maybe I’m the answer,” I blurted. “To healing your heart. I could…you know, be your boyfriend. As Lester. If you wanted. You and me. You know, like…yeah.”

HAHAHAHA. That Totally came from the left field Lester, even for you.

“Your girlfriend was pregnant when you had her killed?” Reyna launched another kick at my face. I managed to dodge it, since I’d had a lot of practice cowering, but it hurt to know that this time she hadn’t been aiming at an incoming raven. Oh, no. She wanted to knock my teeth in.

“You suck,” Meg agreed.

I mean, if THIS is not the ultimate deal breaker then what is? Apollo might have changed for better by now, but it doesn't mean we can overlook what he did. I for one certainly don't need a loveline for him in this series. I'm glad Uncle Rick drew(or at least seemed to have) a clear line here.

High Points

It took half the page count even for Uncle Rick's special brand of snark to return. Nonetheless I managed to find some good ones. Which is what matters, right?

1.

“So,” I said, making a second attempt at nonchalance, “are you and Thalia, er…?”

Reyna raised an eyebrow. “Involved romantically?”

“Well, I just…I mean…Um…”

Oh, very smooth, Apollo. Have I mentioned I was once the god of poetry?

Reyna rolled her eyes. “If I had a denarius for every time I got that question…Aside from the fact that Thalia is in the Hunters, and thus sworn to celibacy…Why does a strong friendship always have to progress to romance?"

Preach, sister. But then again I would have to ask did YOU have to swear to celibacy to prove your independence....which is sort of the point🙄..

2.

Even when I was a god and could speak any language I wanted, I’d never sung well in Italian. I kept mixing it up with Latin, so I came off sounding like Julius Caesar with a head cold.

LOL

3.

It was time to be helpful. I needed to be repulsive for my friends!

Which you're most of the time...the latter sentence I mean.

4. Don't we all relate? 😂

“O protector of Rome!” I read aloud. “O insert name here!”

5. And one more.

I bet Gregorix was wishing he’d pursued that business degree his mom always wanted him to get. Being a barbarian bodyguard was mentally exhausting.

.

Heartrending quotes.

1.

This was the source of all our communications troubles—one sad, angry, forgotten little god.

2. This was the wisest quote I saw in the book. The simple indescribable deepness of letting go.

“Good-bye, Apollo,” said the Sibyl’s voice, clearer now. “I forgive you. Not because you deserve it. Not for your sake at all. But because I will not go into oblivion carrying hate when I can carry love.”

Even if I could’ve spoken, I wouldn’t have known what to say. I was in shock. Her tone asked for no reply, no apology. She didn’t need or want anything from me. It was almost as if I were the one being erased.

3. I was saddened to learn about Julia's untimely loss, but I'm sure everybody had a meltdown moment at the following scene.

The old god’s face hardened a bit more, which shouldn’t have been possible for stone. “I see. Well. I’ve concentrated the last bits of my power here, around Julia. They may destroy New Rome, but they will not harm this girl!”

“Or this statue!” said Julia.

4. Honestly? I too forgot until Apollo pointed it out and then I had *shivers*! They're one immediate family, grieving over one loss that affects all of them in various ways, and having mixed reactions about each others the members who survived!

I shivered. How easy it was to forget that this young woman was also my sister. And Jason was my brother. At one time, I would have discounted that connection. They’re just demigods, I would have said. Not really family.

Overall Conclusion

This is the most bored-outta-my-mind I felt after reading a PJO universe book. Am I finally growing out of the Percy Jackson and the Heroes of Olympus fandom? Oh dear, I hope not. I can't imagine living without it and I'm SO not happy with this new development. Just as I feared, Uncle Rick couldn't keep it up after the excellent Burning Maze and now.....please, for your fans' sake who had been loyal for years, I hope at least the final book delivers. Just so we could at least part ways/go dormant with pleasant sentiments and a content heart.🙆‍♀️

#rick riordan #trials of apollo #Percy Jackson and the Olympians #the tyrants tomb #book reviews. #reviews #pjo

[knbfanfic]

KasaTaka where Takao accidently confesses like it's nothing and Kasamatsu gets pissed?

//Takao really comes at you from outta left field huh? Hope this satisfies your imagination nonny~ I couldn’t see this going anywhere else but Fluff-ville~//

December 22nd, the last day most clubs get to practice at school clubs, before the week vacation. Shuutoku usually practices early in the day and gets out before dinner, Kaijou practices until late. So Takao decided to hop on a train to Kanagawa after practice, he had to drop by a relative’s place anyway to pick up something for his sister. 

Stretching as he climbed off his train he headed over to Kaijo, waiting at the entrance originally was his plan. But Kise caught sight of him as he was leaving and brought him back to the gym, Kasamatsu was still practicing. It was still strange that he’d been able to get along with Kise, so it felt weird being caught by the model and dragged back to the gym “Senpai!” 

Takao felt himself flinch as Kise’s loud voice cut across the otherwise silent gym, and he saw Kasamatsu’s form slip and the ball ricocheted off the rim. The brunette shook his head glancing at the sparkling blonde beside him, mentally counting down until the kick. 30 seconds maybe? 1s Kasamatsu was tense... 5s he turned his head towards the entry of the gym... 10s he realized that Kise was there, probably didn’t register the brunette with him at all... 15s Kise called out again waving dramatically... 20s Kaijo’s captain ran over towards them... 35s A jump kick to the side brought Kise to his knees and he ended up pulling Takao down with him.

Takao who had been more or less expecting it, tried to free his arm, but the rainbow crew were all a lot more muscular than they looked. So realizing there was little chance of escape he braced himself so he wouldn’t fall. So he was awkwardly standing leaning to the left with Kise clinging to his arm. Despite that he offered a sheepish smile and greeted “Yo Kasamatsu-senpai~ Sorry~ I came to visit” He offered his own smile and sparkle to keep the captain from abusing the ace anymore.

Kasamatsu felt his anger wane a bit as he finally took notice of the hawk, who was linked to the kitten whimpering on the ground. Takao petted Kise’s hair comforting the teary model with a soft “There, there. Thank you Kicchan, sorry you got kicked because of me” He helped the model up and was hugged tightly which earned a wince and Kasamatsu asked exasperatedly “...Right... So why are you here Takao...?”

The point guard who was trying to placate the model and have a conversation with his crush simultaneously was not doing a good job focusing on Kise, Kasamatsu and not being suffocated at once so he answered in his usual playful tone something he hadn’t said yet despite their random dates “Hm... Is it wrong of me to visit someone I like before they go away for Christmas?” Takao managed to escape Kise’s embrace and tried to catch his breath. Kise smiled and whispered to Takao “Have a good date Takacchi, tell me all about it later. You owe me dinner for letting me get kicked~” He headed out leaving a very confused hawk.

Takao’s eyes went wide as he turned from watching Kise disappear down the steps and found Kasamatsu was red from his ears to his neck. “Idiot... That’s how you chose to confess?!” Blinking a few times he tilted his head and grinned “Hmmmm? But Yuki-chan~ I’ve told you before that I like you. Remember back when we first met? You didn’t believe me at all~” The hawk hummed and walked over to his senpai putting his hand on Kasa’s cheek. The captain was trying to cover his face, his eyes narrowed in a glare at Takao “Tsk...Don’t get so cocky.. That was you trying to set Kise and Midorima up, that wasn’t a confession.”

“Mah, mah~ Sure I wanted to make things fun, but I really was confessing to you~ I did want to spend more time with you, but Shin-chan is super needy~ Be-sides~ You were going to turn down the food I made you anyway because you said you were full.” Takao pouted a bit and turned his eyes away “So... How could I tell you again? You avoid it every time Yuki-chan...” Takao might always be smiling and radiating happiness like Kise, but he was also actually fragile in a way that the model was not.

Still the captain sighed angrily “Tsk... Don’t get so upset over that. You made waaaay too much food. Besides you always confess like it’s a joke. Do you not trust me? How long have we been dating? Next time you better say it properly. And not in front of Kise or I won’t forgive you” His face was red and he was glaring straight into the hawk’s eyes but Kasamatsu was both happy and pissed that he got to hear those words as an early Christmas gift.

He was going to be too happy to focus on the movie or the cake they lined up for tonight.

#anon request #Takao Kazunari #Kasamatsu Yukio #yukio kasamatsu #kazunari takao #takakasa #kasataka #christmas #knb fanfic #knb writing

[broadstreetmisfits]

Running Wild (Dylan Strome) - Chapter 1

“Okay so why do you want me here?” I asked my dad as we pulled into a hotel parking spot.

“Because I want you to relax a bit and enjoy your summer Lauren!” My father, Rick Tocchet said

“But that requires me to come with you to the NHL draft? You know I don’t care about hockey.” I explained.

I rolled my eyes and we got out of the car. I was dragged along to Sunrise, Florida for the 2015 NHL Draft. We checked in and headed up to our floor.

“Okay well the team is in town and we’re meeting at Marlins Park. I’ll catch up with you later.” I told my dad and walked into my room.

I had just finished my freshman year at Arizona State University, where I play softball. Along with being a catcher at ASU, I am also honored to be a part of Team USA.

Anyway, I changed into some workout gear and drove to the nearby Miami Marlins Park. I parked the car and entered through the player’s entrance. I walked up the stairs and into the dugout where most of the team already was.

“What? We can’t find a softball diamond anywhere?” I asked as I put my gear down

The girls greeted me and then continued their warmup. I joined them and did some stretches on my own. Kelly Barnhill and I went to one of the bullpens to work on pitching and catching. After that, we joined the rest of the group and took batting practice.

I stepped up to the plate, my bat in hand. I took a few swings then got in my stance, ready for the pitch. One of our coaches tossed it, I swung and it went deep into left.

“That woulda been outta here if we were in a softball diamond.” I heard someone yell.

I took another practice swing before stepping back into the box. Another ball was tossed, it was clearly out of the strike zone so I didn’t even bother swinging.

“Good eye Laur!” One girl yelled

The next throw was right down the middle. It was too perfect to not hit. I swung, felt the ball hit my bat and watched it go through center. When I thought it was losing speed, it would only go farther. Before I knew it, the ball was in the stands. The team erupted in cheers. I tossed my bat, walked over to them and they congratulated me.

I went back down to the dugout to get some water and put my gear back on. We were planning on having a little scrimmage before the end of practice. I climbed back up the stairs and onto the field. The batting cage was taken down and everyone was ready to play. I took my spot behind the plate and the scrimmage began. When I returned to the dugout after the top of the first, I was told I was third in the lineup and so I stripped my gear off yet again. I guzzled down some water and popped a piece of gum in my mouth. Valerie was in the batter’s box and Kasey was on deck. Valerie pop flied out to right field. One out. As Kasey walked to the box, I took her spot on the on deck circle. Delanie was pitching and I knew her tendencies pretty well. She was one of the pitchers for ASU. I got my swing in sync with her pitching and watched Kasey. She hit a little dribbler in the hole between second and third. She reached first base and it was my turn to bat. I took a swing before stepping into the batter’s box. I got in my stance and prepared for the pitch. I fell behind 0-2 due to foul balls. I continued to fight back until I was ahead 3-2. The next pitch was right down the middle. I swung and hit the ball in the dead center. It launched over the outfielders and into the stands. My team erupted into cheers and I jogged around the bases. Our first and third base coaches congratulated me as I passed them. Kasey was waiting for me at home plate.

The scrimmage ended and our team ended up winning 3-2.

After my team’s little celebration, I packed up my bags and then drove back to the hotel. When I arrived, I found a coach bus in the front of the building. I parked the car and made my way towards the entrance where the bus was.

As I passed by the bus, the doors opened and well-dressed young men started to walk off. I ignored them as I made my way inside the hotel and to the elevator. When the elevator doors opened, I entered and hoped that none of them would follow me in.

Unfortunately, that was not the case. I pressed the button for the level my dad and I were staying on – three – and that’s when the boys flooded in.

“Three please” One of the guys said as he walked in. His short brown hair was well kept and his eyes were dark like a freshly brewed coffee.

“It’s already at three you dumbass” The guy following him whispered to him but it was loud enough for everyone, including myself to hear. The other guy had dirty blonde hair that was a little less well kept than the other guy’s and had bright blue eyes.

Instead of acknowledging their presence, I simply pulled out my phone and began to scroll through Twitter. Without even looking up from my phone, I could tell that all of the guys’ eyes were on me as I stood in uncomfortable silence.

Thankfully, the elevator reached the third floor before any of the guys could say anything. However, half of the guys followed me down the hall while the others went to go the other way. The hall was dead silent with the exception of the footsteps.

After what felt like forever, I finally reached my door. But of course, once I thought I was fine, I found the brunette from earlier going to the door next to mine.

“Hey” He smiled at me

“Hi” I awkwardly smiled back hoping I wouldn’t have to engage in a long conversation.

“I’m Dylan” the boy introduced himself

“Lauren” I replied

“How was your workout?” He asked

My eyebrows furrowed. How could he possibly have known where I was? That was when I looked down and realized I was still in my practice clothes and was all sweaty. “It was good.” I answered

He nodded in response. “Well I gotta get going. My friend and I are gonna go practice before they cover the ice. I hope to see you around.”

“Have fun, I guess. I’ll probably see you around.”

When I entered my room, I somehow found myself genuinely smiling. Fortunately, it quickly went away. I went to grab some clean clothes and hopped in the shower.

When I finished, I dried myself off, got dressed, and then walked back into my room where I found my phone ringing. It was my dad. Great. He’s probably gonna have me do some stupid errand because he forgot something.

“Hello?” I asked when I picked up

“Hey Laur, I need you to do me a favor.” Yup. Nailed it. “I need you to come over here and bring me my suit jacket.”

Even though he couldn’t see me through the phone, I rolled my eyes. “Really dad? You forgot your suit jacket again?”

“Yeah, I did. Please just bring it. I’m in the BB&T Center, office 179” He said and then hung up.

I groaned, but put on my shoes and got ready to go. I quickly made my way down the hall to my dad’s room where I grabbed his suit jacket. After exiting his room, I headed towards the elevator.

I saw it closing, so I yelled for whoever was in there to hold it. Fortunately, they were nice enough to do so. When I finally reached the doors, I found Dylan and his friend standing there.

“Thank you” I said quietly as I walked into the elevator with the boys.

“No problem” Dylan smiled

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds before the other guy broke it. “You do know how to get to the BB&T Center, right?” He asked

“Yeah, it’s roughly a five minute walk” Dylan answered and then turned to me. “Do you wanna come?”

Before I could answer, the other guy butted in “Not to be rude, but do you know her?”

Dylan turned to his friend. “Connor, why would I invite random people to a very private facility?”

“Because you can be an idiot at times…” The guy who was obviously Connor said

“I’d love to come, but I actually have to go run some things to my dad.” I interjected before the two of them started arguing. “But thank you for the invitation”

The elevator reached the lobby level and the three of us got out. When we exited the building, we went our separate ways; I went to my car while the boys got on the sidewalk to go to BB&T.

After a few minutes of driving, I arrived at the BB&T Center. I saw no signs of the boys when I pulled into the back parking lot. I climbed out of the car with my dad’s suit jacket and made my way to the entrance. As I approached the doors, the security guards smiled and held the door open for me.

“Good afternoon Miss Tocchet” They said and I walked in

“Good afternoon” I smiled back

Once the doors closed, I groaned. I’m not gonna lie, I hated being associated with my father almost everywhere I go. The only place I can really be recognized as myself is the softball diamond. There, it’s just me, my teammates, my coaches, and all the fans cheering us on.

Anyway, I made my way to where are the meeting rooms were and began looking for room 179. After a few minutes of searching, I finally found it. I knocked three times and then the door opened to reveal my father.

“Thank you so much sweetie. I was looking like a complete idiot without it.” He said as he took the suit jacket from my hands

“Yeah, of course” I replied halfheartedly as he turned away and shut the door in my face, but it opened not even a second later

“Oh! I completely forgot” My dad said “There is a banquet tonight. You need to be there and make friends.”

I was about to protest, but he closed the door in my face yet again. Why should I have to go to some hockey banquet? I don’t even like the sport.

I turned away from the door and found my way out to the concourse to look around. Even though my dad was a professional hockey player, and now a coach, I’ve never payed attention to any of the arenas I’ve gone to – with the exception of Gila River Arena of course.

Eventually, after who knows how many minutes of searching, I found the concourse. I walked around for a little bit, when I heard the all too familiar sound of pucks and skates hitting the ice. I went to the first tunnel that lead out to the seats.

Most of the ice was fresh, with the small exception of all the marks the two guys who had to be Connor and Dylan were making. The boys began to shoot pucks at the net, most of them going in, but there were a few exceptions. I watched as Connor took a puck and shot it, but missed. That was when a female’s voice filled the arena.

“You missed” The girl said as she walked out onto the ice. The boys turned around to see who spoke.

“I’d like to see you do better, sweetheart” Connor smirked

I couldn’t tell you what the rest of the conversation was because I was too mesmerized by this girl talking to these big names like they’re nothing. She grabbed Connor’s stick and walked over to where the closest blue line was. I watched as she wound up and shot the puck right into the net. I had to restrain myself from applauding, this was easy for the guys – they play the sport.

I was about to turn around and go back to the concourse, when I heard footsteps nearby. I had no idea if I was in forbidden territory or anything so I dove to the nearest row of seats to hide. Even though the person, who was probably a security guard from what I could tell was standing right next to me, I could barely make out what he was saying. It was something about a Gretzky… the name sounded familiar but I couldn’t tell you who that was.

A few minutes after the security guard walked down the tunnel, I got up from the ground and went down the tunnel to the concourse as well. I somehow managed to find my way out of the massive arena and drove back to the hotel.

A/N: I really hope you like the first chapter! Pleeaaaseee give me some feedback of either this or one of my other writings. It can be positive or constructive, I just love hearing your guys’ opinions. 

#dylan strome #arizona coyotes #tuscon roadrunners #my little raccoon #connor mcdavid #mcjesus #i love both of these losers #and honestly dylan doesnt get the love and appreciation he deserves

[thenorthwestwildflower-blog]

My most recent epiphany.

To begin I’ve got to give you the back story, the real juicy self labeled details of who I am.

Random thought-

A healthy soul gives a healthy self diagnosis.

Me

Outsiders see

Married 30 something year old

Mother of 4-5 kids. Depends when or who’s watching

Nail technician/cosmetologist

Crazy hotty who’s thicker than a, you guessed it, Snicker.

And to be honest those few things are how I keep busy.. for now.

I went to a party a few months back and met a guy there..enthralled in my presence. He asked me all those “interview question” that are asked when someone’s trying to get to know what you have in common or.. whatever. He said “so where are you from? What do you do?!” He was extremely interested in where I dropped outta the heavens, how my trip was and why I chose this party to grace everyone with my presence. Which honestly I had just happened to get a last minute babysitter and scrambled to find some spicy boots to throw on. Re did my napped on makeup and tucked the kids in before I left for 3 short, healthy, deserved, responsible hours. I answered him. “I have 4 kids, I live in a small town 15 minutes from here. I work in a little salon, part time. My handsome husband is sitting right over there.” Simple. He was absolutely shocked! About all of it. How could I not be a friggin super star or have an amazing career or be living this edgy un heard of life?! He immediately lost interest in the interrogation, I mean.. conversation, then wandered off. Honestly I wouldn’t choose that explanation. I would’ve loved to say “oh well I’ve been on tv before, I’m CEO of 4 crazy successful companies, my bank account doesn’t end, I have a black card, My husband and I are madly in love (we are) and we just finished building a custom home that faces East, nestled in the woods, over looking a lake and a pasture where wild Stallions come visit on occasion.” Get real.

Well anyways, that got me thinking.

What did he think I should be doing? Does it matter? No it doesn’t but still.. I’m curious.

Some people choose school, husband, house, kids happy ever after. In that order.

Some people choose big family lots of kids. Some people choose no kids.

Then there’s me or those like Us. The Wildflowers that tend to plant seeds where the soil is good. Sure I choose, but I also flow with the wind.

So to catch you up I’ve been married about 10 years (dating included.) We both had daughters when we met 1 year apart and then had 2 boys together. About 3 years ago we welcome our anchor, our surprise.. our Miss Audra. During my pregnancy I started to get anxious. Don’t ask me what wild hair wedged itself you know where and also dont ask me positively why.. but it was serious stuff all the sudden I was needing to be extremely successful and like... yesterday! Don’t get me wrong I’m always looking to the future, but this was different I was burnin’ to go! But that was impossible..I needed to focus on baby girl coming and the next 5 or so years it would take for her to be ready for school. My always ambitious self was officially benched.. I didn’t like the feeling. I extremely disliked that feeling!

I’ve spent the last 3 years waiting for The opportunity. I have journals full of thoughts, plans, business ideas, motivational quotes. I’ve talked to multiple building landlords and almost leased about 3 different spaces to do various businesses. All of which fell through for random reasons out of my control. The sweet thought of all these ideas coming to life was fading and I... I contemplated taking the safe route and going back to school for a general degree in a secure field, paying a decent income. I mean Come On! Is this normal?! So I started to become almost annoyed! Why have I been given this deep ambition and a bunch of road blocks or detours to go with it?! I prayed on it.. I’ve prayed on it multiple times. I’ve prayed out loud, I’ve prayed in my head.. I even closed my eyes and flipped the Bible open hoping the Lord would direct my finger to the verse with the answer! Nothin..

A couple weeks ago I’d had enough. The constant heaviness had gotten to me. I was physically drained and mentally spent...

Church that Sunday had a message and I’d heard it before. Pastor Jason said as a father, he gives his children tasks to do. When they’ve finished he’ll give another. He says sometimes they come back before it’s finished and ask for the next job.. but he turns them around and says “please finish the first one.” In the same way, we live for the will of Christ, and in our lives we are given our tasks.. our souls all on our own path and learning what we should along the way. So I’m thinking okay.... how does this apply to me? I’ve heard Jason say this analogy before. But today..it hit me. Omg!!! Finally the answer that I’ve actually heard but did not apply!!!!!! I heard it this time. Immediately a weight lifted from me.. of course it had to sink in first. I heard the Holy Spirit roaring to me. If it had hands I would’ve been shaken by both arms and slapped around, all in good intention.

I’m still on a mission 1. Hello?? Task is still incomplete. I’m raising these people and darn well better do a good job. These people are the impression of me. These people are your future husbands, Mothers, CEOs, friends, citizens of the world. They’re the longest baked cookie ever... I’m waiting to see how they turn out. But if I don’t give them all I can, they won’t.

There’s no race to the finish line. I’ll do my successful thing one day, or maybe I won’t. Just depends on where the soil is good.

-Confessions of a Wildflower

[thebmatt]

Character Layers: Oldman Franks

LAYER ONE: THE OUTSIDE

Name: “Old Man Franks. Or just Franks if you want. The actual first name’s Aleister, but….ain’t no one but the departed wife called me that in a long time. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t. Still hurts a little to think about her”

Eye Color: “They’re a kinda blue. Always heard the shade was called ‘Steel blue; though I can’t claim to understand why”

Hair Style/Color: “Yeah, my hair’s been white for quite some time...as for the style, well...never put much stock in what it looked like. Sometimes I’d take a brush to it if the...well sometimes I’d brush it if the occasion called for it. Jandelaine showed me this style, though. I try to maintain it, cause the guy did a lot of work for it..”

Height: “6 and a half fulms tall. I’m told that’s on the upper end for Highlander men by people who care about that sorta thing”

Clothing Style: “I had a bad few years where...well, let’s just say I wasn’t able to to put much effort into looking all that great. But I got a second chance, so I put a good amount of work into looking the best I can. Bein able to make my own clothes, puttin stuff that’s both functional and stylish, certainly helps with that”

Best Physical Feature: “I...look remember when I said I had a bad few years? Let’s just say my body kinda went to hell at that point. I don’t wanna say much more’n that. LIke I said...second chance. I’m real happy with what I’ve got now. So...all of it, I guess. Have to ask someone else if you wanna get more specific”

LAYER TWO: THE INSIDE

Your Fears: “....losin’ everything. Goin back to the way things were for me. Or...waking up and realizing that everything since settin foot in Eorzea that first time was all a dream.”

Your Guilty Pleasure: “I ain’t feelin a bit guilty about it, but everyone thinks the Warriors of Light are just constantly fightin���. More of our days are calm than not. So I reckon people’d be shocked at just how much time I spend readin’ or tinkerin’ or buildin’ stuff.”

Your Biggest Pet Peeve: “Selfishness.”

Your Ambition for the Future: “All those things I do in my downtime? I’m fightin for the time when I just do those. When all I do is build or create”

LAYER THREE: THOUGHTS

Your First Thoughts Waking Up: “Either goin over the list of stuff I’m doin today, or whatever I didn’t finish the previous day”

What You Think About the Most: “Just how....good my life is, really. I know that might seem weird, always havin something I gotta fight to save the star and all, but honestly, all those bad years I talked about...lets just say this is better. I have friends, real friends, a home, and the opportunity to do more than destroy and ruin everything around me.”

What You Think About Before Bed: “How much I miss those I had to leave behind.”

You Think Your Best Quality Is: “I spent a lot of my life as a farmer. It’s hard work, but it’s mostly physical. Never really studied much in the way o’ higher learning, shall we say. Then durin’ my…bad years, I learned some magic but…lookin back on it there was more study and application of theory than I realized, but at the time it just felt like a matter o’ will. Focusing all your anger until sheer stubbornness manifested your will. Now that I’ve left all of that behind, I’ve realized just how much more of a gift I have for these intellectual pursuits. It’s been hard to accept but it’s somethin I’ll never take for granted.”

LAYER FOUR: WHAT’S BETTER?

Single or Group Dates: “Call me old fashioned, but I prefer t’spend time with someone I care about one-on-one”

To be Loved or Respected: “I’ll take ‘loved’ any day of the week over just respected.”

Beauty or Brains: “If there’s one thing I learned in my long life, it’s that beauty is not universal. Someone out there is gonna find ya attractive regardless of how ‘conventionally beautiful’ or not ya might be. Me, well, I find intelligence pretty attractive. Someone who’s self possessed and at the top of their field.”

Dogs or Cats: “We had some barn cats at the farm. They were pretty great. Always preferred cats. They took care of themselves for the most part.”

LAYER FIVE: DO YOU?

Lie: “....Yeah. Don’t like to do it just casually, you understand. But sometimes you need to motivate someone...or help em avoid fallin apart at that particular moment. They can be mad later when they’re safe. ”

Believe in Yourself: “Not easily. But I’m learnin’, since coming here. Since meetin’ the other Warriors and the Scions. My friends. They’re....they’re helping.”

Believe in Love: “Yeah. Can’t miss it this much if you don’t believe in it, I guess.”

Want Someone: “I’ve found a number of folks attractive here. But actual deep want? Only once. Give anything to have her back. Haven’t felt anything like that since”

LAYER SIX: EVER?

Been on Stage: “Nah. Don’t like the spotlight.”

Done Drugs: “Nah, never had the occasion. I know you’re probably thinkin that’s what I got into during the bad years I mentioned but that wasn’t it. Since comin here the last thing I want to do is hurt my body worse than just moderate drinkin”

Changed Who You Were to Fit In: “This is definitely somethin I did during those bad years. Don’t know how much of it was my choice, lookin back, but at least part of it was”

LAYER SEVEN: FAVORITES

Favorite Color: “Always been kinda partial to natural shades o’ green. Still prefer wearin’ black tho.”

Favorite Animal: “Weird story, durin’ my not-so-great years, I had a few friends. One of em was a master of beasts. Guy could tame almost any wild critter into worki’n together to hunt and fight. He had this really big cat. Beautiful creature, but it was mean. Territorial. Hated all of us except for him...and weirdly, me. Don’t know why, but that thing would be downright affectionate with me sometimes. Dunno why, but I’ve had soft spot for big cats since then..”

Favorite Food: “Don’t ask me how this happened, but during my bad years I lost my sense of taste. I just ate whatever for nourishment. Now that I’ve...gotten past that, every new thing I try just tastes amazing. So yeah, don’t really have favorites nailed down yet. Everything tastes too good to choose. Even spicy stuff. It’ll probably be seafood in the end. Damn good to be in Limsa a lot of the time”

Favorite Game: “I like card games. Or really intense board games where there’s a lotta strategy involved.”

LAYER EIGHT: AGE

Day Your Next Birthday Will Be: “Tell you a little secret? I don’t remember. I think it’s on record at the Adventurer’s Guild as bein’ the 5th Sun of the 6th Astral Moon, but I honestly just kinda pulled that outta my head at random. They marked the days different where I’m from and I ain’t ever bothered to figure out the conversions. Even then I don’t know that I could remember it.”

How Old Will You Be: “That’s a damn complicated thing to answer. So much so that I ain’t gonna say”

Age You Lost Your Virginity: “My late wife and I got married early in our 20s...but we fooled around a lot for the couple years we dated. Heh. Take of that what ya want”

Does Age Matter: “Maybe I would’ve said so a long time ago. Now, it’s complicated, thanks to the strange as hell life I’ve led.”

LAYER NINE: IN A BOY OR GIRL

Best Personality: “Someone whose wit, joviality, and kindness can make me smile and I can forget my struggles even for a moment.”

Best Eye Color: “Definitely silver.”

Best Hair Color: “White with silver highlights that shine in the sunlight…”

Best thing to do with a Partner: “Staying up late into the night just talking about anything and everything, sharing every secret so your hearts are laid bare.”

LAYER TEN: FINISH THE SENTENCE

I love: “My friends.”

I feel: “Determined. This is my second shot at life and I’m going to do better this time”

I hide: “A lot about where I come from and what really happened to me. Just...the world ain’t ready to know a lot of it. I prefer to let what I’ve done recently and what I’m doin’ now speak to who I am, not what came before.”

I miss: “Like I said earlier, all those I left behind”

I wish: “I could bring back those I’ve lost and bring here the ones I left behind.”

(Thank you to @earthlystar​ for this! If you’d like to fill it out, consider yourself tagged to do so! I’m gonna see about filling this out for the rest of my crew in the future!)

#Final Fantasy XIV #oldmanfranks #character layers

[dannissa13]

Shut up and drive

Here is the version for reading on Tumblr. Enjoy.

Things change and life goes by but sometimes meeting the right person can turn everything upside down. Rich boy and his driver find each other and shenanigans ensue. Love, sex, drugs, drag queens and one crazy aunt are on our heroes path. Will they? Yes! Won’t they? Maybe. 

He was never a person to hate his job, nothing was able to break his spirit, not even years of police academy training and that subsequent gross termination from the force, huge drug scandal he had gotten himself into like a complete moron. But shit just kept getting weirder and weirder as years went by. And as far as he knew this one promised to be the most difficult and shitty of all. Driving some wealthy prick around who’s barely legal to drive himself, and probably getting him outta trouble over and over again. Promised payment was good though, the first time in forever he’d have extra money after paying for everything and living on a budget won’t be a problem anymore. Is it worth all the trouble in the end - he’ll see.

He cursed his mother’s “exquisite” taste not once or twice in his life, both adult and not because when it came to picking a name for him she really pulled a good one on everybody. Choosing the fancy “Percival” over hundreds of others, she might have been blinded by vanity or trying too much to look like a rich lady but ended up screwing said Percival’s childhood in a big way. He didn’t blame her, not in the slightest. People have whims, and Mum was always drawn to extravagance. He sighed. All this recalling of the past didn’t help his cause, especially not today, on his first day of a new job. He had a few before, random and scattered in amounts of income and trouble he had to go through to complete given tasks but this type of thing was entirely new. After getting kicked out of the police, when he was still young and ambitious, trying to do the right thing, speak up in the situation he then deemed wrong, life gave him not even lemons, it gave him nothing. So, after piecing together what’s had left of his dignity he went on to do anything to keep himself afloat.

And now he’s supposed to just sit here, smoking, even though the new contract specifically forbids him from doing so in client’s car, waiting for said silver spoon fed, spoiled, rich kid, he read so much about in spare time before work started. Heir to the richest family in this goddamn city, lucky little bastard, had his fair share of fun in early days, before the “tragic and sudden death” of his parents, “poor thing, orphaned at such a young age”. Newspapers were full of ripe headlines when that happened, pouring more and more pointless condolences towards the kid and his new caregiver, boy’s aunt, a conservative politician with two daughters of her own. Now a senator, the woman held everyone in an iron fist, especially her children, but the rotten brat was still kicking, fits of his “heroic” benders almost a stuff of legends. That’s why Percy was here - not really a bodyguard, but close. Legally bound from actually disclosing true nature of his work to the client but obligated to take care of him and make sure “no one gets into trouble”. They’ve hired a wrong guy for this. Percy grinned. This is going to be interesting.

The mansion he had parked next to was glorious, all marble, columns, and statues, ivory colored facade with huge windows, in some overly fancy style the name of which he could never remember, with gargantuan wooden front doors adorned in ornate metalwork, polished so well you could see yourself in it. The definition of luxury, over-the-top wealth, and a bit tacky for his own taste. Something more modern would look so much better. There was more to estate than just the main building - opulent looking glass arboretum full of exotic flowers, a pool, the size of a small lake, servant’s shed, guest house, a parking garage, tennis court, and a huge field of perfectly manicured grass lawn, surrounded by high hedge fence, enclosed in a real, stone fence, with gates, guards, dogs and cameras. What did he get himself into this time around?

Last drag of the cigarette burned tips of his fingers and next one was in his mouth even before he could consciously think about pulling it out of the pack. Waiting sucked, chainsmoking was bad for him, but so was the unbearable boredom of simply sitting on his ass and Percy knew so much more of this would come later. The first thing he’ll buy gonna be a smartphone, maybe even the fancy one. Finally, something good will come from working for rich assholes.

Huge doors of the mansion flew open with a bang that startled birds on all of the surrounding trees and made Percy jump a little. With that noise came others, even less pleasant sounds - people were loudly and angrily fighting on a subject matter that wasn’t new at all for both of them. Yelling insults at each other, two voices Graves couldn’t identify were getting louder and a fight was coming to an end. With triumphant “Leave me the fuck alone and get the fuck out of my business!” tall and slim figure, dressed in all black slammed the doors shut and marched towards the car with a focused determination of a very pissed off person.

After taking a closer look of the cloud of black angry angst heading his direction, Percy realized that he got royally screwed over - this was his client and now he was supposed to deal with an attitude like that. This better pay off, because Lord above know Graves needs a stable job now more than ever, but if this little shit would try something like that with him, Percival definitely can’t guarantee politeness and flexibility around problems. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

When only a few steps separated them boy stopped, still not looking at Graves, sighed deeply and then, like a magic trick, untensed and unfurled, like dropping an act or changing a mask. This sudden metamorphosis was a bit creepy, to say the least, but seemed genuine, like something he was doing not for the first time. A new smile lights up the young fresh face and shining eyes were on Percy, studying him up and down. After waiving his hand lightly kid greeted him

- “Hi. You must be my new driver, right?”

- “Hello. Yes, I think I am exactly that.”

- “I’m so terribly sorry for what you just had to witness. My aunt and I have way too different points of view and our outlooks on life certainly collide from time to time. I promise you I’m way more well mannered with people who I don’t personally disdain.”

- “Okay, I’ll remember to not get on your bad side then.”

- “And we’ll have a grand ole time. Speaking of manners, I’ve completely forgotten mine. I’m Credence, Credence Barebone, nice to meet you. Yes, yes, I know what you’re thinking - what in the hell kind of name is that. Truth is, my parents were not only rich but also weird. I know, right, eccentric wealthy people calling their spawn an unusual name. Who calls their child something so bizarre in the twenty-first century, ha?”

- “You are not the only one wondering about that. Percival Graves at your service.”

He did a joke curtsy, flourish and a bow. The young man chuckled.

- “Nice to meet you, Mister Graves. We’ll definitely find a common ground, with names like that.”

- “Just Percival, please. I don’t really like being a “Mister”, makes me think about my age quite a lot.”

- “Then you should call me by my name too. Just Credence, no misters here either.”

- “It’s a deal!”

Kid grinned and shook Percy’s hand vigorously, maybe too excited for his own good. Thankfully this all went smoothly and this Credence wasn’t such a stuck up dick Graves imagined him to be after all. That’s a win in his book one hundred percent.

The boy climbed into the backseat of the car and Percy sat behind the wheel. It was action time, finally. After fastening his seatbelt and fixing rear view mirror Graves started the engine and slowly drove to the mansion’s main gate. Before leaving the grounds completely he turned to a kid and firmly insisted

- “Belt. I won’t go around with my passenger not following the safety rules.”

- “Alright, alright, I’ll buckle up. But only for you.”

Wait, was that a wink? Is this little bastard is flirting or something?

And they went to the city. The ride wasn’t really that long and Percy always found the radio to be boring and somewhat annoying so they drove in near silence and there was a comforting quality to that. Credence looked at the window, forehead pressed against the glass, seemingly so deep inside his thoughts he won’t be able to support any meaningful conversation even if he’d tried to. Graves didn’t mind though. They both were just enjoying the view.

When the destination was close his passenger left trancelike state of overthinking something and spoke

- “It has GPS, you know?”

- “What does?”

- “The car. Tablet and a mount for it are probably both in a glove compartment somewhere. At least they were the last time, but I don’t think that previous guy could have stolen it. Our security is really vigilante.”

Percival laughed softly

- “Well, thanks for the heads up, now I’ve changed my mind about stealing all of your earthly possessions and getting easy money. I’ll have to earn them the old fashioned way - by honesty working my ass off.”

- “You better do that. Where else I’ll find such a charmer with a sense of humor matching mine.”

- “You won’t be able to, I’m unique in that, even my brother doesn’t get my jokes half of the time.”

- “What to say about mine, then? Aunt Mary thinks I’m an asshole for trying to prank her so many times. But let’s be honest, she’s kind walked into some of those herself, I just tweaked the stuff a little bit.”

This version of Credence he definitely liked more, not the yelling angsty one from the morning encounter. Hopefully, he’ll continue to be more like this and this endeavor will be fruitful.

*A few weeks later*

He’s nice, this kid. Polite, sweet, caring, great sense of humor, huge personality, charisma, and charm just roll off him in waves but there is something about him that’s wrong. Percy is not able to pinpoint what’s exactly going on with the boy, but he knew trouble when he saw it. Credence was hiding from something and said something haunted him day and night. Yes, on a surface level everything seemed okay, all smiles and laughter, but at times, you could see the real boy, that emptiness behind his eyes, that dark despair in his actions, that unbearable desire to just run away from all of it. Kid acted out on those urges constantly - Percival knew all too well the tendencies of self-destructive behavior.

They met a few times a week and Graves drove him around to a plethora of different places - business meetings, lunches, social events, huge shopping malls and clubs, restaurants - you name it. Kid seemed to be fine, not really getting in trouble, except a few small ones, like drinking himself silly on some occasions or going out somewhere high as fuck, but mostly things went smoothly.

This day promised to be no different - drive him to a club, pick him up later, go through the closest drive-thru and get greasiest, grossest fast food, chow down on it and bring the kid back home. Easy-peasy, right? He’ll have some free time with Credence is partying and a meal afterward, pretty sweet deal.

Pulling up to some hot spot, all flashy lights and blaring music, security guards with stone faces, huge bulky dudes that can knock anyone out with just one punch, guest list, overpriced drinks and a crowd both out and in the facility - yeah, not surprising at all, boy loves places like this, Percy climbs out of the car and opens a door for his passenger, who is already a bit high on weed after pregaming with his pals.

Kid stretches his long limbs before getting out and shoots Graves an interesting look, half sided smirk indicating that he’s up to no good. Oh, that is a familiar expression, mischief written over his features in big bold letters. This deserves a sigh. What is he planning and what kind of problems they will get into? The boy starts talking which makes everything clear - two places in a list for only one person because his friend flaked out and it would be such a pity to let so much money go to waste.

- “Cmon, let’s go in! Better than just sit there and wait for me like a dog. It’ll be fun! You should have more fun, with me!”

Kid is basically whining all while pulling at his sleeve. Graves sighs again and reluctantly agrees.

- “Okay, okay, please leave my arm alone. I’ll go with you, but promise you’ll behave. It’s important.”

- “Whatever you say, daddy!”

- “Don’t call me that, goddamnit. I’m old, yeah, but not that old.”

Percival locks the car and puts on the alarm, only then following Credence, who’s long gone, chatting up the guy with a tablet in hand, talking about the guest list. The ease of getting into a party when you are loaded is fascinating. Securities part and tablet guy leads the way, into the small dark hallway leading up to even darker but bigger room. Some EDM is playing, crowd jumps up and down under the strobing lights and lasers, the smoke machine works it’s hardest and there even bubbles in the air. Well, that’s definitely overdoing it.

There is a bar with some stools but otherwise seating space is scarce, leathery couches beside the walls are jam-packed some people even sitting on a floor next to them. Credence says, more like yells to overpower the music, that he’s going to go say hello to a party’s host, whose birthday it is and he’ll be back soon. Percival signals to the bar and to his best abilities pantomimes that he’ll wait there, sitting his behind onto the first free space available. Bartender gestures to a gloving menu with rather inventive cocktail names, all of which are overpriced for the amount of booze they’re containing. Graves points to a water and gets a shrug and a glass of it with ice a little lemon and a straw, how fancy.

The place is loud, as he’d expected, flaring lights and all that smoke obscure the vision, his water is more expensive than a good meal and people surrounding him are superficial, stupid and shallow. Maybe coming inside wasn’t such a good idea. Getting a headache isn’t a priority right now. Time is put on hold, so he drifts away to his thoughts and goes through a few of the waters while waiting.

Boy jumps on him unexpectedly, long arms snaking around Percy’s chest, warm breathing on the back of his neck.

- “I’m back, darling! Are you having a good time without me?”

He’s happy, aloof and cheery. That means uppers, but not a lot of ‘em. Credence is rubbing his cheek into Graves’s, skin a little damp, eyes shining in the dark, irises are blown out and blush strong. Not the worst feeling, to be honest.

- “Not really. Are you ready to go? It’s kinda late.”

Kid starts to whine, pouting and dragging his voice

- “No, I wanna stay! We haven’t danced yet! I want a drink! My friends are still here!”

- “A drink you can have, but we’re going afterward, you’ve had enough for one night.”

Most of the people are actually left, maybe some of the aforementioned friends too, but boy was high and overly excited.

- “Give me Red Bull Vodka! And my friend’s gonna have it too!”

- “No, I’m not going to. Driving, remember?”

Another pout. This is kinda endearing but mostly annoying.

- “Then I’ll drink both! Maybe some E-s to go faster? We’ll come home in no time!”

So amphetamines it is. Goddamnit, this is going to be a disaster.

- “No. Sorry, kiddo, I always ride sober.”

- “Is that a challenge?”

- “No, that’s the way of living a long life with as little bones broken in the car crashes as possible.”

Credence looks like he’s going to cry. Lucky the liquor comes and boy downs it like water, one after the other, grabs Percy’s wrist and marches towards the exit in almost a straight line. When the doors of the establishment are in the view and fresh air is only a step away, kid stops fully, turns around and slams Graves into the wall full force, lips suddenly on his, soft mouth half open, running long fingers through man’s hair. He is taller, not by much, yet it’s noticeable. Percival has no idea how to react to that but it ends as quickly as it’s started. Whispering so close to his face that every breath tickles the skin, Credence explains

- “My petty ex, sorry for that. If he would have seen me here he would’ve told my aunt. I’m not supposed to be in this place. You were my only chance for cover.”

- “Understandable. Let’s go home before some other tattletale asshole recognizes you.”

A brisk walk in chilly night air almost erases the feeling of damp warmth from Graves’s lips although memory will be there forever. He has to hold the stumbling boy upright, latter crushing hard after adrenaline wave faded off. Laying him down is a hard piece of work, lanky limbs tangling and body not cooperating whatsoever. He’s conscious thought, able to speak, think and assert his will. Also for somebody who’s both high and drunk Credence is very talkative

- “You know what we should do? Shrooms! Like, right now. I know a guy, he’ll hook us up. It’s less than a twenty-minute drive from here, let’s go!”

- “This is a bad idea. I’m not taking you there.”

- “But I wanna be fucked up! Really fucked up, tripping balls. Aunt Mary will be so pissed anyways so I might just get the best of it and spend her rant watching rainbows riding each other.”

- “You are already fucked up enough and gonna feel like shit tomorrow’s morning, trust me.”

- “Who gives a damn about tomorrow? It’s not gonna be my problem, I’ll be out cold.”

- “And afterward, you’ll vomit all over the place, cry and wish to be dead.”

- “Yeah, that’s exactly how you know you had a good time last night.”

- “Sounds good when you are in the moment, but I know from experience how actually disgusting you’ll feel. Been there, done that, doesn’t recommend this to anyone.”

Kid laughs that stares in disbelief

- “You did some? Really? Don’t seem like a person who would, exactly, all adult and boring, no offense.”

- “I did. Stopped after that garbage wrecked my life. You should too before it’s too late.”

- “It’s already too late. She won’t let me live in peace or live at all, that’s probably my last years so I wanna go out with a bang!”

What is he talking about?

- “Care to elaborate, maybe?”

- “My parents. I think you know what I’m talking about.”

Yeah, that. Fuck, this is not a territory Graves wanted to thread even if he could manage to be careful and respectful.

- “Yes, I’m sorry. I’ve read about the tragedy.”

- “Oh, you most definitely had, it was all over the news: “Courageous senator takes the orphaned nephew, the only heir to the combined wealth of his parents, under her wing, giving him a new home and two sisters to play with.” I’m sure, Ma’s and Pa’s money wasn’t the main reason. She’s my actual aunt, of course, on the father’s side, his younger sister, mother had no real family that I know of, but as much as Pa was rich she was smart. They made an excellent business duo, the Investor, and the Inventor. Father’s money quadrupled in the first two years of their marriage. Match made in Heaven, people said. Aunt Mary wasn’t convinced though. She always thought my mom wasn’t trustworthy. When I was little, I’ve heard them fight, my parents and her, and, for a few months though my mother was a witch, because of my aunt’s words. Only after I’ve become a little older I understood that she used the different word, the one that starts with the “b”. She probably hated them both, her brother for being older and inheriting all of the money and my mom, for taking the control of my dad over, being an intruder, an outsider. She took his last name, she named me according to a family tradition but that wasn’t enough. For those five years, I’ve spent in her house, living alongside their family the only thing I’ve dreamed of is to get out as soon as I can. No, she never did anything bad to me per say, but she’d never hesitated with the reminders of her kindness.”

That was a truth bomb of a century. Damn, this kid is screwed. Percival has no idea what to say or how to handle this and the rest of the ride is grim and silent. They arrived at the mansion somewhere between late night and early morning, when everything is dead asleep and sun isn’t even thinking about rising, only living souls not in their beds are last security shift, who lets them through the gates. Credence is still silent, seemingly upset with Graves’s lack of tact and discretion around the painful subject but Percy still has no idea what to say

- “Listen, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked. It’s not like I don’t give a shit, I just don’t know how to say this. So yeah, sorry.”

- “I’m okay. Good night. I’ll call you when I need your services.”

Oh, that was cold. Boy disappears inside the house and from his life for a little. There is no calls or texts on his new phone, only some bits and pieces from servants group chat about Lady being angry and grounding the kid. Chief of guard spills a little more, telling that Credence got a big whooping and recovering from that, which doesn’t sound right. The situation is shitty from every perspective.

Percival comes by the servants quarters once in awhile trying to get any news, making friends with everyone who can tell him anything useful but people are definitely scared of the Lady Mary whom Graves haven’t seen yet. Who even has servants and calls herself Lady these days, good God.

Everything goes back to normal suddenly, much like it went south before. He wakes up one morning to a phone call and comes to pick up Credence like nothing’s happened. Boy definitely hides something but after the last time, Percy’s not touching this with a ten foot pole. This is not his problem.

*Two months later*

Their next outing is to another club in Brooklyn, how predictable now. When they went to gay clubs it was in the low and never to the same ones. Well, this tactic was working in their favor for now.

Boy always asked not to wait for him in front of a building, for hours on end, and to pick him up after he’d texted. That worked out for them both. Killing time isn’t that hard and there are some coffee shops to hang out in and maybe hit on cute baristas, or just read something like an actual person. Nightlife isn’t for him no more.  

Text he receives is pretty concise

“Wait for me outside in ten minutes. Don’t come out.”

Okay, it’s working time. Parking near the club’s well-lit entrance Percival checks his watch - one minute left, good job, and prepares to wait some more.The person approaching the car is definitely not who Percy was expecting. Long lean legs in some kind of designer shoes, heels high and soles blood red, shiny skimpy skirt, he wasn’t sure of the material but it looked like a translucent leathery condom, so probably latex, and a top, made of the same thing over a small, almost nonexistent bosom, covered with a contraption made entirely out of thin straps and metal rings, like a cage snugly fitted over the stranger’s upper body, fingerless gloves and a small hat on top of huge mane of raven hair - the whole getup is black, see through and scandalous. Nice.

This wasn’t a first time he drove some of the Credence’s friends around, part of them young, pretty and kinda stupid socialites, fun, drunk and a bit petty, part - weirdos, bohemian fancy fucks who were high on some shit, yelled nonsense and asked dumb questions. This one was probably both, beautiful and weird so ride promised to be a handful. Maybe boy’s aunt will finally leave him alone about getting a girlfriend when he shows up with this one here, but probably bringing home the lady, who’s dressed like an expensive fetish prostitute will result in even more scrutiny.

The girl opens a car door and not really that gracefully plops herself in the backseat. For such a young woman she’s wearing quite a lot of makeup, features dark but skin so pale it was almost white. He hadn’t expected her to start undressing either. Was this some sort of prank, or did Credence actually ordered him a hooker?

Her long red nails went first, one by one as she presses fingertips to them and watches colored plastic fly away. Next to go were gloves, then the hat, shoes and the leather body holster. She wasn’t looking at him at all, minding her own business and Percival was a little confused, to say the least. When the skirt and the top started to come off he decided to take the situation into his own hands.

- “Hi, there! I have a quick question if you don’t mind: what in the actual fuck are you doing and who are you for God’s sake? Why are you almost naked in a stranger’s car?!”

- “What are you talking about, Percy? You definitely know me, c’mon.”

With those words, the last pieces of clothing were gone revealing smooth pale skin, complete absence of breasts and shiny tape covering the genitals. Wig went off, cap too, and there was Credence in just ridiculous amount of makeup staring back at him.

- “Wait, are you secretly a drag queen?”

- “No, actually, but some of my friends are. It was a themed night and I’ve decided to try it. On a more important note, though l didn’t pin you as a type who’s aware of gay culture, you know.”

- “We all got our secrets.”

- “Now I’m interested. Spill it!”

- “Ugh, okay. I had a different life before rehab and met people from different places. Is that enough information?”

- “Of course not! But I’ll wait until you’ll be ready to talk more.”

This kid. Rummaging through a purse he whips out a package of wet wipes and starts rubbing his face, peeling lashes off and smearing black and red all over. That’s a mess. The whole packet is barely enough to remove everything and boy’s skin looks inflamed, some lipstick residue left behind. When it’s time to peel the tape of his junk Credence shoots Percy a sharp look which makes the man averted his gaze to the road ahead, glancing in interest while kiddo shimmies tight jeans on up to the knees and rips sticky bonds with a hiss. Going commando is brave idea after all of that. After putting the t-shirt on boy leaves the car to return borrowed garments to a tall tanned queen waiting him out. They chat for a little, painted blonde bursts into laughter a few times while looking at Percy and then back to the kid. That little shit. They hug before parting and then she waves you both goodbye as the car drives away.

Credence is surprisingly timid now, trying not to look in Percival’s general direction and twirling his fingers, fidgeting in his seat, checking the belt and doing all the stuff people usually do when they’re worried.

- “What’s wrong? You’re kinda jittery, kiddo.”

He freezes completely with a look on his face of a bunny who just saw a snake unhinge its jaws to devour him. Truth comes out of him in a few minutes, almost a whisper

- “Can you keep a secret? This secret. Please. She’ll freak the fuck out if I show up looking like I was before. And I couldn’t do it inside. Please don’t rat me out.”

- “I won’t. Also, why should I? Nothing good will come of it if I do that.”

- “It’s just I can’t trust anyone my aunt hires. She makes them spy on me and tell her everything. There’s no one inside that house to support me.”

- “Your aunt didn’t hire me, main security guy did. And I’m not from your house, right. This is safe with me.”

Credence’s voice is soft and it sounds like he’s sobbing

- “Thank you. I’m sorry I’ve acted like ass before. I’m such a dick to you.”

- “Stop it. It’s okay. Let’s get food and go home. What would you fancy this time of evening.”

He is laughing now and it’s so much better seeing him smile than cry.

- “Taco Bell! Let diarrhea come, I’m ready.”

Now both chucking, they go into the drive-thru and eat tacos in the night. It’s the most peaceful after party in Percival’s memory. When he drops the boy off latter still smiles and that’s warming man’s heart to the very bottom.

*Next week*

Past several days are packed to the brim with activities, meetings, and plans. Kid’s birthday is coming and he is busy as ever. One night that he gets off, after supervising all the preparations, is the night of fun for him and a horror show for Graves. They go to some friend’s house, then to a liquor store, then to another friend to pick up five people - it’s insane. When the gaggle of tipsy youngsters finally get off at the destination he asks the boy to stay for a little

- “Hey. Be safe there, okay. Don’t do anything stupid.”

- “Yes, daddy. Can I go now?”

- “Oh God, don’t call me that. But in all seriousness, keep yourself in check. And one more thing. Credence, please, stay out of trouble this time around.”

- “Aww, you really care about me”

- “Somebody has to, you know.”

- “Alright, okay, I promise I’ll try my best. Bye-bye, I’ll text you.”

He blows a kiss a runs off into the crowd. That deserves a deep sigh. After the few hours of mindless driving and visiting numerous cafes for a cup of coffee Percival finally hears the phone chime. Text appears on the screen

“Pick me up.”

He pays quickly and rushes out of the building, while chiming resumes, one text after another

“I’m outside”

“Take me home”

“Now”

“Percy, I don’t feel so good”

“Please come and get me”

Fuck, what did the kid do? Graves speeds up, ignoring few road signs to be there for the boy as soon as he can. It’s a record time, but he could have been arrested for reckless driving. When Percival pulls up to a club Credence is nowhere to be seen. Shit. He’s trying to find the kiddo behind the building, in the alley where people smoke, take drugs and fuck, sometimes simultaneously. Thankfully, Credence is there, back against the wall, eyes glassy. That’s bad, really really bad. Percy jumps out and hurries up to his precious passenger.

- “What did I said about staying out of trouble?”

His response is slow, voice weak and raspy

- “Leave me alone. I know I fucked it up, let me wallow in my misery.”

- “Fuck no! You’re coming with me. Right! NOW! Move it, young man.”

Graves has to drag the kid into the back seat and put seat belt over almost non-responsive body. Goddamnit, both of them are so fucked. Boy is blabbering nonsense at this point

- “Just drop me off at some hotel, I’ll be alright, she won’t even notice I’m missing. I’ve done it before, quite successfully, actually. Just lie to the old bitch in the morning and everything will be fine.”

- “Listen, I don’t really want to be a part of this.”

- “Oh, me neither, buddy. She’ll go ballistic. Totally not looking forward to that”

- “This can cost me a good paying job, you know. The job that I really need. I’ve helped you as much as I could, but this you’ll have to face alone.”

- “I always face her alone.”

- “I don’t think you have a choice here. We can do this the easy way or the hard way and you are the one who has to choose which way it’ll be. I’m not really a fan of the second option and it might cost me this job and some other things, but you know that I’m bound by contract and can’t really do anything about that. And I’m also the man of my word. Plenty of things I’ve fucked up in this life, but promises - never. If you can’t keep your word you can’t be a decent man.”

Percy waits for response but gets no answer. Fucking brat has decided to give him a silent treatment. When the sound of an opening car window distracts Graves from driving it’s already too late - Credence is already vomiting copiously out of the full speed driving car. Goddamn little pig. The rattling of the door handle is the last thing Percival wants to hear at the moment. Is that idiot for real? Does he really want to just walk out of the moving vehicle?

Pulling over near some dingy alleyway, as far from the street lights as possible, Percy jumps out of the car first, to help out. The younger man is heaving, face red, puffy and sweaty, capillaries in his eyes busted from forcefully hurling over and over again. This is incredibly shitty. He helps the boy stumble into the privacy of the alley and rubs circles on his back, whilst the latter pukes his little heart out, last few spasms just empty dry heaving, the kind that will only make you feel worse. Shit. Coming back now, looking like this isn’t a good idea.

Something from not so recent memory surfaces and Percy is ready to act on it. Grabbing Credence tightly he marches back, shoves him in and floors the gas pedal. Closest 24-hour pharmacy is five minutes away but they got there in two. After gathering the supplies and paying Graves storms out just in time to catch that goddamn idiot boy falling out of the car. After even more dry heaving and tears they finally go to a place Percival wasn’t ready to show to anyone yet - his home.

Juggling keys and a plastic bag with all the medical things in one hand and trying to pull essentially passed out Credence up the stairs man basically fell inside his shitty apartment. Oh, this is gonna be one long long night. Dragging lanky body, even though kid was freakishly thin, was difficult especially when trying not to bang him up too much. Percy’s bed, this time thankfully made, was the only choice of surface to lay an unconscious body on. Digging into the bag, Graves produced out an I.V. unit, tubing, and a needle. Being out of practice could’ve hurt this idea but man focused all the mental capabilities he owned and pierced boy’s vein giving him much needed fluids and medication to make Credence better. Turning him on a side and leaving a bucket for any mishaps Percy left to make himself coffee. So that’s how his friends felt when he was like that. Shitty kind of feeling, he’s not gonna lie.

In a few hours and two more packets of I.V. fluid kid was better, not so ghoulishly green in the face and less choking on his own breath. It was time to talk some sense into him. Walking into a room with a sick person in it is always hard so some psyching up was needed. Graves slapped himself in a face a few times and entered. Boy was laying there, on his bed, in his home, suddenly so miserable and distressed and small looking, curled like a fetus on his side, face wet with tears. Like a punch in a gut, that is heart-wrenching. Percy tries to be understanding and gentle

- “Hi, sweetie. Are you feeling any better?”

Soft murmur is almost inaudible

- “A bit. Thank you.”

That’s probably bullshit but at least he’s trying to be polite, so some progress was made.

- “Do you want anything? A glass of water maybe?”

Boy whispers something Graves can’t hear. Dammit. Now for even more pointless asking.

- “I can do anything you want, really. I know full well how bad you feel right now, kiddo. Let me help you.”

Credence coughs a few times and rasps out an answer Percival was dreading

- “I would like to stay here, with you for a while. Maybe even longer. It’s nice, your place, it’s real and lived in and so homey, you know. Feels like someone actually lives here, not like a fucking dollhouse I exist in.”

Oh, here we go. That’s why Graves doesn’t help people. Fuck, how to lay him off now, when he found himself a “knight in shining armor”, a savior from his horrible life. Damnit!

- “Listen, kid, you might think that your life is the shittiest, worst life in the whole wide world, that you were robbed of your happy childhood with your loving parents in your pretty mansion with awesome toys but you’re wrong. You are privileged and pampered and don’t have any clue what outside life is like. You’ve never worked for anything, never really struggled and you never will because you’re rich. That woman won’t have any power over you when you’ll turn of age and on your merry way you go, all parties and no worries, until the end of your days. This is not your life and this life is not for you. There is not a single goddamn chance you could survive on your own.”

- “So I’m just some kind of spoiled rotten brat for you, ha? I’ve expected that, kinda predictable, really.”

- “Can’t fucking deny what’s there. Money corrupts people. I get it, okay. You’re bored. Having everything doesn’t satisfy you no more, so it’s time to mess with other people’s lives. Now, lemme tell you something - I don’t wanna be messed with. At all. I have my shit to deal with, so please, can you not add to that pile. It’s kinda huge as is.”

Credence starts crying for real now. Huge tears, sobs, and snot coming out of his nose. Fuck, it’s only got worse. Percy needs to do something quickly, so, in a state of complete and unfiltered panic he leans over a boy and gives him a full body hug, pressing wet face into a fabric of his shirt. Kid is wailing, grabbing him like he’s drowning. Graves clumsily pets his head and back and tries to murmur something soothing. Crying stops in a few minutes and Credence just lays there, pressed into him and breathing heavily.

- “Listen, I didn’t mean to hurt you like that. You’re not a complete stranger to me and I care about you but that’s not something I have a lot of experience with. Suff like that is hard for me, I don’t know what to say or how to feel. I want to help but I don’t think I’ll be helpful.”

- “This is all her fault! That disgusting, vile, worthless bitch ruined my life. She’s always onto me and it’s hard for to be genuinely disinterested and unenthusiastic about things I like and she knows that and uses that knowledge to get to me every single time. Concealing my true feelings, my real identity, being fully aware of how I act, how I talk, how I move is a fucking torture. That repulsive scum of the Earth is always ready to strike and always happy to do so. I hate her, I’m tired of this and I just want to be myself, to be accepted. It’s so draining not only emotionally but physically too.”

- “Well, I’m sorry for you, kid, but there’s nothing I personally can do about it. It’s your life and the power is yours. Tell her to piss off, take the situation into your own hands and do whatever you like. And whatever she does to you isn’t your fault. You are stronger than this and you can fight her back. Take what’s yours   and leave.”

- “As soon as I turn twenty-one. Next week. I’ll do it! Thank you, Percy.”

- “That’s the spirit! I’ll support you as much as I can, but, ultimately, you are the one to do it. And I believe you can.”

- “Thank you.”

His eyes are glimmering and he’s smiling beautifully. Fuck, Percy is so screwed. Boy leans in and parts his lips a little. Oh no, Graves feeling the huge mistake coming yet still goes with it. The kiss is soft and chaste, Credence’s hands all around him and gentleness of this encounter melt the rest of coldness inside Percy’s soul. They sit calmly, still hugging and kid finally drifts off. The man decides not to leave his side and falls asleep next to the boy. It’s the best night of sleep he had in years.

Morning is hazy, they hurry back to the mansion but before leaving the apartment Credence kisses him again, morning breath and all, still that doesn’t bother Percival even a bit. They drive in nice silence, holding hands, boy now sitting in a front seat and it’s magnificent. He’s probably falling in love, fuck. Before leaving the car kid turns around and with a serious look tells Percy something that both comes as a shock but also as an old news

- “I’ve liked you from the first day we met.”

- “You know, I kinda got that from all of your flirting.”

Boy blushes heavily.

- “No, you weren’t sneaky at all. But that was sweet. I like you too. Now go before we get in trouble.”

Credence squeezes man’s palm before climbing out and going inside. Oh good God, what did Percival got himself into?

*Credence’s Birthday*

So, the day has come. Twenty-first birthday of Credence Barebone, the single richest miserable boy in the world. Percival was ready, he bought the present and cleaned his apartment, leaving beautifully packaged box in the middle of the bed. Champagne, strawberries and chocolate cake in the fridge, pressed suit on, few spritzes of cologne - he was prepared as fuck.

Driving up to a highly decorated front gate Percy spotted the man of the hour himself, dressed more casually than Graves expected. Tight leather pants, plaid shirt, and a mesh tank top. Yes, sure, he looked incredible in the getup but how about the fancy party they were supposed to head to? Something definitely went wrong, kid never came this far to meet him.

Credence almost ran to a car wasting no time on climbing in, close to Percival. They both smile

- “Hello to you, birthday boy! So what’s all of this is about?”

- “Hi, handsome! Well, we discussed my party with aunt Mary and I’ve decided to spend my day the way I actually wanted to. So we’re going to a club my friends booked up and we gonna party ‘till we drop! Cool, ha?”

- “You had a fight, right?”

- “Yes, we had one. But I’m a legal adult now and I can do what I want to. So let’s go!”

- “Are you sure that it’s a good idea?”

- “Oh come on, old man, don’t be such a grouch, just join me for a bit of harmless fun. We’ll have everything - drinks, drugs, food. Let’s go, you really need something like this just about now. I personally know how big of a cunt my dearest aunt can be, so, for putting up with Auntie Cuntie’s bullshit you need a good reward. Forget about her and let’s roll!”

- “Okay, but I’ve warned you, just by the way. If we’re gonna get into something you’ll bail us out, it’s kinda your turn.”

- “Fine! And don’t be so grumpy, you’ll like it, it’ll be fine, you just need some molly and life will get peachy!”

- “That’s not the best idea you’ve had. Let’s not get high at all, okay. It’s bad for you!”

- “So why’d you smoke then? It’s bad for the health too, you know, it’ll destroy your body eventually.”

- “Oh yes, I’m well aware of that. But tell me, sweetness, what’s not gonna kill you these days? The air we breathe is polluted, the things we eat are highly processed, everything around us slowly goes extinct, diseases becoming more and more potent and garbage litters our habitats, even going into space. We’re fucked as a civilization and as a species, we’re doomed as a society. Why should I care about lung cancer or heart attacks when I have a bigger chance of dying even before that can happen to me. And, then, why do people who live “healthy” lifestyles are still dying of the same things. Yeah, I don’t really give a fuck anymore, if it’s doing nothing to help or harm me really, why stop.”

- “Well, fuck. That kind of life philosophy is deeply flawed and quite depressing.”

- “I don’t really care much about that.”

- “Maybe you should, and things in your life won’t suck as much!”

Percival chuckles

- “ And maybe I want something to finally suck me off.”

Boy’s face flushes in pink so fast upon hearing those words. It’s delightful seeing him flustered and hiding his eyes. So cute.

- “The rant about smoking was sarcastic actually. I wanted to quit for a long time now. Who knows, maybe you’ll help me.”

Credence is even cuter now, hopeful and happy and so adorably helplessly sheepish with affection. You can feel the waves of adoration rolling off him. Such a sweetie.

They parked next to the club and Percy recognized the place.

- “Is that the same place you did a drag night in?”

- “You’ve remembered it? Yes, my best friend works here and he’s, sorry, she’s booked for today.”

- “Tall, tanned blonde? She made a great girl out of you. But don’t worry, I prefer you as a boy hundred times more.”

He’s blushing again. This is so fun. They get in and place is decorated with every possible thing in the party store, bright colors and crinkling plastic everywhere. A huge group of people waits for them and cheers when Credence walks in. All those people are his friends. And he deserves each and every one of them.

People surround kid’s and congratulate him, wishing a ton of things and filling his hands with presents. Percival hopes boy is having a good and excuses himself to a bar. Well, he just can’t skip a celebration like this, so they are Ubering home tonight because he’s drinking.

Six Long Island iced teas and five White Russians later Percy is pretty shitfaced, relaxed and happy. The show in the background isn’t as obnoxious as he’d expected but maybe alcohol gave him more tolerance to that kind of bullshit. Music starts playing and everyone storms to a dance floor leaving him alone with bartender. Gesturing for a refill he hears footsteps approaching

- “Make that two, Candy. And put it on gentlemen’s tab. No lady should pay for her drink.”

Percival turns to find that drag queen from before sitting next to him, dressed in sparkly rhinestoned black leotard, insanely high heels and bunny ears, tail is probably somewhere there too

- “Hi! Did you want to speak to Credence? Unfortunately, I can’t find him in the crowd, but you might be able to do that from the stage.”

She’s laughing

- “No, deary, I wanted to speak to you. But first, the treat.”

And downs her drink in one gulp. Impressive.

- “You seem like a nice guy, I’ll give you that. And the benefit of a doubt. But our dear, sweet Credence has been through hell and back and I don’t want nobody hurting him, you get me? So, in case you don’t actually have feelings for him, stay the fuck away. Is that clear?”

- “More than clear, Ma'am. I do actually have feelings for him, and think that’s none of your business but, considering that Credence likes your company so much I won’t tell you to piss off right away. We can try to be friendly to each other at least.”

- “Well, I like your style. He chose right this time. Don’t break his heart or I’ll break your face. Bye.”

And she downs his drink too before leaving. What a bitch. Strong, confident, cool bitch. The bartender puts three shots before him, on the house. Graves waists no time and takes them one after the other. Oh Jesus, was that a moonshine? While he’s trying to remember how to breathe, kid jumps onto his back and squeals from glee

- “Best. Party. Ever. This is so awesome!”

He seems off, though, movements twitchy and weird, excitement clearly chemically amplified. This is worrying.

- “We gotta go, Credence, it’s time for you to get home. I don’t want it to be like the last time.”

- “I don’t wanna do that. Not now, not ever. That place is not my home, it never was. It’s just the house I live in. I don’t have a home since Ma and Pa died.”

This again. Dammit, Percy hoped not to provoke that type of conversation on the boy’s special night.

- “I’m talking about my home, kiddo. I have something there for you. That was supposed to be a surprise but I just couldn’t help myself. So, whatcha think? Let’s ditch them and go?”

Boy smiles so widely his cheeks probably hurt.

- “Okay, but gimme a kiss first!”

And they do kiss, boy’s tongue inside his mouth and weird taste with it. Graves notices the effects only when it hits him. That’s uppers. Credence shoved a bunch of molly in his mouth. Goddamnit. Alcohol and drugs hit him hard, all inhibitions lost and mind open to anything. Everything’s a blur, faces, shapes, lights. It’s all so bright and bizarre and loud. He remembers only fragments: dancing, kissing, drinking some more, singing, contests and doing coke of off Credence’s stomach. How they end up in the bathroom is a mystery yet the door’s closed and no one is there to interrupt them passionately making out.

When thin long legs cross behind Percy’s hips and pull him flush against kid’s crotch a brief moment of lucidity brakes through all of the substances bringing one sober thought - this isn’t right.

“Graves, what the fuck are you getting yourself into? He’s barely an adult, he’s technically your employer and his mental aunt will eat you with shit for breakfast. You are so fucked. Why are you doing this? Just say no. Politely decline his advances, go home, masturbate for a few hours and the next day it will be like nothing ever happened. He’ll forget everything, he’s so high. And you are high too. This is such a bad idea.”

The voice in his head, that annoying subconscious worm who ate his hopes and dreams, that piece of shit, was drilling his brains again with the usual. Although Credence’s advances were a good distraction, especially when he starts palming Percival’s cock through the fabric of his pants and moans softly.

Ah, fuck it. What did the kid yell the other day? YOLO? So be it, you really only live once, it’s time for him to live again. Maybe that’s drugs talking or maybe it’s just the years and years of suppressed desires coming back to him, but Percy was ready to party like he did long long long time ago and there was nothing to stop him. Finally.

And his lean beautiful body promised infinite pleasure, the most sensual good time on this earth. Goddamnit stop thinking about him this way. Fucking poet all of the sudden, this always happens when he’s high.

But all of the words in the world can’t describe the way Credence rubs himself against Percival’s body and how hard, hot and bothered he is. Oh, how strong is the desire to just devour him whole. They kiss aggressively, biting and wrestling their tongues, hands palming one another greedily. Boy is panting already, eyes dark with want and lips bright from kissing and moist with saliva. Percy’s dress shirt goes first, suit jacket and tie he cautiously left in the car before entering the club. Kid’s top follows, leaving him in mesh only which spikes man’s interest even more. Biting a pink nipple through the fabric, squeezing his ass and rutting into boy’s hardness with his own is intoxicating.

Credence is moaning louder and louder as less and less clothing separates them. Percival pulls his own trousers and boy’s leather pants to expose them both and rub themselves together. Kid’s jaw goes slack as he bucks into the hand pleasuring him and digs fingers into Graves’s back. The sting of pain only makes him hotter and now aforementioned leather garment is pulled down to Credence’s ankles and Percival is firmly between them, petting the soft skin on the back of boy’s thighs. Only thing latter can choke up is a desperate plea  

- “Back pocket, there’s lube. You’ll tear me with that thing of yours without it.”

Another wild kiss. Another breathless moan

- “Stretch me first, please. You’re fingers, I want them inside me. Hurry! I can’t handle myself no more!”

So Graves is lifting Credence’s whole body up into the air and propping him on a sink counter, boy’s knees squeezing Percival’s ribs while latter’s hands ran across untouched buttocks and loin. Prying said lube is a task in on itself and Percy has to open the package with his teeth, spitting chunk of wrapper on a floor. Lathering his fingers quickly he gently traces middle one between boy’s cheeks before teasing the tight ring of muscle with barely a tip. Kid shivers and pushes himself forwards seeking penetration.

- “Hold your horses sweetie. You wanted to be ready, right? So let me help you.”

- “Don’t tease me, please. I want you so badly. Percy, fuck me!”

- “Your word is my command, baby.”

And with that one finger is inside boy’s body. His hole flutters when Graves curves a fingertip upwards upon thrusting in, picking up pace. Credence moans every time Percival moves and soon he’s ready for more. The second finger goes in smoothly, joining the first, stretching hot, velvety tightness. A perfect litany of sighs moans and gasps leaves boy’s lips when his mouth isn’t occupied by Graves’s.

Leaving a trail of bite marks and hickeys, bright purplish-red against almost white skin Percy showers boy’s neck and collarbones in attention while adding the third finger in. Kid writhes and gasps trying to find purchase and to sink more on digits pumping in and out of his body. Wet sounds fill the room, boy is begging for more with his movements and noises and Graves complies.

Pulling out completely Percy gives Credence a soft kiss and before kid is able to say anything else opens up a condom he found in the same pocket lube was in. Just touching himself right now is too much, the head of his cock swollen and slick with pre-come. Unrolling the rubber slowly Graves hisses at the feeling. He hopes Credence is ready because he can’t wait anymore.

Pushing in slowly he looks into boy’s eyes intently, watching his expression, gentle not to hurt the kid. Surprisingly it easy, sliding inside to the hilt while Credence is tensing completely before going slack and moaning. He is tight, hot and trembling, delirious with raw want. As Percy’s trying to steady himself before going any farther boy starts rocking forwards, impaling his body on a hard cock, letting out soft sobs. When they change the angle kid goes ballistic, clenching around Percival, clutching his neck, clawing the back of man’s head. Graves repeatedly thrust into that sweet spot, grinding it some more.

All those drugs are messing with his ability to last and he is already getting closer than he would have liked to. Every friction sends a red-hot wave up the pit of Percival’s stomach and when they pick up the pace it becomes almost unbearable. Sharp jolts of pleasure make his head swim and hands shake. Boy’s breath, hot and damp against his skin makes him prickle with goosebumps, makes his nipples hard as he rubs their bodies together, chasing kid’s warmth, pressing Credence’s rock hard cock better them.

Throaty whimpers boy makes go higher in pitch, he quivers and trembles and rubs himself back against Percy’s skin. Rhythm is punishing, bodies move in perfect sync, everything else completely fades. Only them and sweet pleasure ahead. Kid’s shaking rasp voice in his ear begs for more

- “Don’t stop, please! I’m so close! Cum inside me! Please! Feels so good!”

Broken moans and gasps leave boy’s mouth while Percy earnestly thrusts into him, hard and fast, rocking the thin form underneath him, making Credence arch like a bow opening pale throat for further assault. They both are so unbelievably close, kid’s body clenching hard, core tight with anticipation and Percy can’t take it anymore, hoarsely moaning

- “Now be a good boy and come for me!”

And Credence unravels completely, almost shouting, convulsing, squirting cum all over their bodies, his body spasming chaotically, muscles fluttering, milking Percival’s cock. Graves climaxes hard, rocking himself into his sweet boy, grunting, and moaning. Aftershocks are exquisite, warmth and relaxed calm happiness fill them both. Embracing each other they pant for air and kid giggles. After a slow and gentle kiss, Percy pulls out and takes the condom off, tying it and tossing into a trash can. Credence pulls his pants up, face scrunching as the material touches his ass. Then chuckles softly when Graves gives him a concerned look

- “I’ve never been fucked like this before. Good God, I can barely stand. You’ll probably have to carry me to our car like a bride now.”

- “And I will. Do you need time to recover?”

- “Not really. I’m still very much high. Let’s go, we should come out if we wanna go anywhere.”

- “Did you plan this, by the way?”

- “Birthday sex? Yes. The best gift in the world! What else did you get me?”

- “Round two, if you’re a good boy.”

Credence most definitely is expected by that proposition and after hasty fixing their clothing both men walk out only to be ambushed by a cheering crowd. Fuck, they heard everything. Percival has no idea where to hide his face and how to avoid stares so the first drink in his proximity ends up in his mouth before he can even collect himself. And another one, and another one. It’s a bliss, being so hammered that nothing bothers you anymore.

He doesn’t remember how exactly did they get home, but they are in his bed, nude and cuddling, boy’s head on his shoulder, legs tangled together, hands wrapped around each other and for the first time in forever Percival feels complete. He’s loved and he’s loving back, all thanks to this disaster of a man lying beside him. Credence is amazing and deserves happiness and Percy will do anything to make his dear beloved boy happy.

The end.

P.S. Oh, hi there. Thanks for reading, please leave me a comment or like and reblog if you’d enjoyed it. Ask me stuff here on Tumblr and my other fics are here and here. Go bother me, I’ll be happy to talk to you. Bye.

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