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theresattrpgforthat · 2 months

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Hello, thank you for all your hard work on recommendations! Do you know of any vampire games where being a vampire is NOT presented as a 'You are a horrible parasite clinging to humanity!' thing? And/or perhaps it is more about how humans are awful to vampires. Being non-crunchy is a bonus. It doesn't have to be light-hearted, I'd rather play something with a serious tone.

Theme: Alternative Vampires.

Hello friend, there’s a lot of really interesting vampire games out there! One of the most well-known is, of course, Vampire: The Masquerade, which you've possible heard about before, but I think is important to acknowledge when looking at many vampire games that have been created in the past. It's influenced the way a lot of roleplayers see vampires.

On the other hand, there's also a lot of work to change up how vampires are seen, and the BIPOC Vamp Jam is an excellent example of that. I think you'll recognize some of the games in this list from that jam!

Some of the games here are more serious than others, but I think there’s still some complex themes even within the games that don’t take themselves too seriously. I hope there’s something here that fits what you’re looking for!

Bloodsucker Elegy, by Porcupine Publishing.

Tonight, everything falls apart. The place went up like a bonfire Black-clad mortals They know everything about us They know our names They know how to kill us

Bloodsucker Elegy is a compact (15pp) game for two or more players, about vampires on the night their world comes crashing down around them.

Intended for short-form play, Bloodsucker Elegy uses a diceless system that draws on ideas from the Vampire: the Masquerade spinoff video game Swansong.

A game about enduring the end of life as you know it, Bloodsucker Elegy gives you both human skills and supernatural powers to help you face your oncoming doom. Every time you do something supernatural, you must take 1 Hunger. Every time you use a human skill, you must spend Willpower. With no Willpower left, you’ll slip into a slumber resembling death. At 12 Hunger, you can feel your inner beast surface, your bloodlust take over. You can gain willpower by meditating and reduce hunger by feeding, but both are dangerous when you’re being hunted. If you want a game that pushes your characters and forces them to make heavy choices, this might be the game for you.

Thousand Year old Vampire, by timhutchings.

A creaking hunter among dust and cobwebs, you prowl the night places, seeking the souls on which you feed. You have done this since time immemorial, or so you believe; you have no memories of living as a man-thing like those you catch and eat. But human traces linger; your fingers trace clever arabesques in the dirt of your grave-place and with the flourishes come whispered songs in a language you've forgotten. Far away, in a museum, hangs your portrait in oil by a master five hundred years dead--you might have been lovers but the diary you kept then is long lost.

This is a solo game, meant for intimate and personal experiences. Thousand Year Old Vampire comes with a lot of high praise, meant to be powerful, emotional and thought provoking. You are a vampire, discovering and losing memories as you fill up your diary. This is a personal horror game, a game about losing pieces of yourself to the ravages of time. It’s received 3 awards from the Ennies, and also won the Indicade Tabletop Design Award in 2020. I think it’s probably worth checking out!

The Blood, by Falconian Productions.

Vampires are creatures of magic; how else do you explain the undead? It’s not some outside force’s pet project — vampirism is magic. An arcane force, The Blood, is what makes a vampire.

What is the Blood? It’s the fragment of power shared by every vampire in the world, and the conglomerate force made up of those segments. It's not a voice, or instinct, but… insight. The Blood shows you what you want, what It wants. It shows you the quickest and easiest ways to get to it.Then, it gives you what you need to act on it.

But your choices are always your own. Those that would do no wrong even in the face of temptation likely still won't as a vampire, but those that avoided wrongdoing only because they feared being caught, or lacked the means?

The Blood is a game about vampires as arcane creatures, an otherworldly force empowering their undead forms and providing them with magical potency. The powers attributed to vampires in stories and media are simply the spells that come most easily to them. It's about seeing how they balance their desire for power with the need for secrecy in the world, and about succumbing to or resisting the arcane desires their Blood inflicts on them.

This is a game that feels like it draws quite a bit from the lore and allure of Vampire: the Masquerade. It gives your characters an internal struggle to wrestle with, gives you 10-sided dice to roll in dice pools, and counts a 7 or higher as a success. In this game, your character also has magical strengths and personal advantages or disadvantages - perhaps a certain kind of magic always comes easier to you, or perhaps you have a sworn enemy who is always on your tail. If you want a game about secrecy and struggle, this might be the game for you.

Dead Letter Society, by Rori Montford.

Live your best unlife as the newest member of the Dead Letter Society, an exclusive communication network for vampires. Pursue your ambitions, and question the Society's motives, in this journaling and epistolary game for 1-2 players.

Dead Letter Society is a journaling game where your letters drive the action. Choose your genre, build your world, and discover the joys of corresponding via a secret society with unknown motives.

This is a slower and quieter game, for a much smaller group of people that happens over the course of writing various letters or journal entries. Using tarot cards, you’ll answer the questions that arise out of the course of your play (although it looks like you can use dice or other method of number generation if you like). The game is, at its core, about two vampires sharing a connection through a Society whose motives are… suspect. It looks like there are play-sets for various settings, and while I’m not sure exactly what your vampires’ position is in relation to humans, the fact that it’s meant to take place between 2 players (or by yourself) gives me a suspicion that your characters will be sympathetic, rather than monstrous.

Eat the Reich, by Rowan, Rook & Decard.

The year is 1943. You are a team of crack vampire commandos with one mission: drink all of Hitler's blood.

This over-the-top, ultraviolent game is designed to be played from beginning to end in one to three sessions of carnage, blood magic, meaningful flashbacks and hundreds upon hundreds of extremely dead fascists. It tells one story, it tells it loud, and it tells it brilliantly. Think Wolfenstein crossed with Danger 5 and you're not far off the mark.

This is a game about punching up, and punching back. The designers are aiming for something that is over-the-top, messy, and violent, something that guides your characters through one big mission while providing the ability to flash-back to moments in WW2 that led your characters to this final moment. It’s meant to be big, bombastic and bloody - and it’s currently still in production. You can still pre-order it on the Kickstarter page, but if you want to learn more about it first, I recommend checking out this post by the authors, as well as the game v, which uses the same rule system to deliver a punchy one-shot experience.

Bloodbeam Badlands, by Viditya Voleti.

You have survived the apocalypse, and your worst nightmare has come true. The sun burns redder, brighter, and hotter, never setting - the Forever Dawn. The land has been irradiated and kissed by its strange sanguine rays, warping the world into a carnival for the strange and the supernatural.

Bloodbeam Badlands is a game for at least 2 players, including a Game Master (GM). It’s a game about vampires stuck surviving a post-apocalyptic world where the sun never sets, what it means to keep moving when the deck is stacked against you, the immortal facing mortality with every step. It’s also a game about being really cool vampires with cool vampire powers and cool magic guns going on rad adventures in a rad world filled with rad things.

Characters in Bloodbeam Badlands have 3 Stats: Guts, Guile, and Guise that determine your capabilities and how many dice you roll, and 3 Sources: Blood, Bullets, and Burn which determine your state of being and what value you need to roll under. Managing your Sources as they fluctuate and playing to your strengths allows for a dynamic yet simple system! It’s the end of the world and your greatest enemy is able to kill you at all hours of the day.

A game of survival and plenty of character pieces that exist in threes, Bloodbeam Badlands hands you some cursed guns and powerful vampiric abilities and asks you to try and survive in a world where not just the humans, but the landscape wants to kill you. If you want a game about kicking desperation in the face and rad adventures, this might be the game for you.

The Sun’s Ransom, by pidj.

The Sun's Ransom is a poetic, tragic RPG where you play vampires determined to bring back the sun.

The world has gone dark and the mortals are consumed by the need for warmth, light and power. It is up to you, who do not need life or warmth or light or power, to ransom the sun, despite the cost. You must go against your vampiric nature and remember what brought Light and Joy to your mortal self. That is the blood-price for the sun.

This is a game that takes your resources away from you as you play. Your table will have the freedom to determine what kind of world you start in and what exactly the roles are for both mortals and vampires. This means that it’s up to you what kind of creatures vampires are, and how people see them! What you’ll struggle with is your doom - or to be more clear, the doom of the mortals around you.

When you begin play, you’ll place as many dice as can cover the sun that the game provides for you to print out. As you play, those dice will be removed - and the sun will come back, saving the mortals you fight for, and hurting you in the process. If you want a game of tragedy and sacrifice, I recommend this game.

Other Games I’ve Recommended

Blood and Sacrilege, by Tom Clark.

Vamp Camp!, by Sebastian Yue.

Bubblegum Vampires, by Gormengeist.

#tabletop games #indie ttrpgs #game recommendations #dnd #asks #vampires

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cyanbug · 5 months

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Dream diary dump: I still think about this dream I had about half a year ago

I was at the playground at my elementary school. I had a bucket and there were a bunch of Lego pieces that anyone could collect. it was announced that there would be a trip to a museum and you could leave your Legos behind. we went into a red van. I was in the back seat behind the passenger seat. I was uncomfortable. my mind completely skipped going to the museum and I ended up back at the playground when I became lucid. there was a giant dirt hill in the field where people were playing a king of the hill type game but instead of holding the hill, you held balls.

I went inside the school and there were tanks that had aquatic plants. I went into a room with two other people where we were playing a game on a promethian board. it involved someone searching something up. the game required freezing the screen but I didn't know how to do that. me and another person were sitting on a couch-like beanbag chair waiting for the person at the computer operating the promethian to finish. the person next to me got sleepy and leaned on me. we were hugging and falling asleep when it was time to go. they didn't wake up at first and I got concerned as they were on the floor and still asleep but they eventually woke up.

I explored a bit and got into a secret room where I wasn't supposed to be. some kind of ritual was happening where someone was sacrificed. there were two couples that were part of the ritual, one younger than the other. the older ones were on a couch. the whole room was that of a living room. the sacrifice was took to the end of the room and stabbed by a strange yellow appendage. The entire room had a red/bloody appearance.

I snuck out of the room and went into a hall. all of the doors were on the right side. at the end of the hall, there was a door that led to a red-pink room with a strange brown creature with holes in its skin. I didn't go in, but killer bees came out of the door. I had trouble killing them and got stung a lot. I went into a room where I attempted to block off the bees with the door but they got in anyways. after all the bees were dead, I got out of the hall and went to the left of the ritual room. I took some stairs and came across an angel-like creature with no face. it had no wings, but a white robe that took up most of its appearance. it had a halo.

the stairs led me to a giant room with filled with stairs. the stairs were wooden and went in all kinds of directions and there was a girl that was slightly faster than me climbing the stairs. I got concerned and tried outrunning her, but when she got close to me, it turned out she just was taking the same direction as me. she was singing as she was climbing the stairs. the stairs led to a concrete area. there were stairs leading back to the school through a green chain link gate. one of the rooms led to a huge city. it was nighttime and there were cafeteria tables outside. the buildings were tall and looked like a bunch of cubes stacked on top of each other. they had neon signs on them that displayed messages. The scene was really nice.

#dream diary #dreaming #lucid dreaming #dream #dreams #dreamcore #dream exploration

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coffeeandfaeries · 7 months

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The Vampire Diaries: The Dark Reunion - A book review

L. J. Smith

I have finally finished the first four books in the book series! This one was great. It started off really creepy, but it kinda turned into your average supernatural teen novel, which I don’t necessarily mind. What I do mind is the sheer amount of typos? Was this book not edited? I started writing down typos, but gave up quickly because there were so many of them. Some of the typos that occurred multiple times were ri ght, tobe, chouse, of instead of if as in Of anyone, he should be able to do it and mm instead of him. Mm instead of him happened twice on the same page. But my personal favorite is Damon saying Are you frightened me. Instead of are you frightened/afraid of me.

But the story was fun, a lot less romance, probably because Elena is a little bit dead.

So, the plot. It’s been six months since Elena’s death and it’s Meredith’s 18th birthday. Caroline is planning a party, a surprise party. Because Meredith really looks like the type of person who loves surprises. Bonnie’s not really sure that’s a great idea, but Caroline convinces her. Bonnie says they should invite Vicki.

Bonnie goes home and dreams about Elena. They’re sitting down in a park having a picnic. Elena gives her a crust less cucumber and mayo sandwich and I just need to add that that sounds absolutely disgusting, this should’ve been the first sign that something is off. Elena goes on about how important hair is, and then adds blood is important too. Then everything starts changing. Elena’s sandwich turns into dirt, Bonnie’s into a dead mouse. Elena starts rotting and twisting in abnormal ways. Then Elena starts screaming, saying He’s twisting things, changing them. I’m not as strong as he is… Bonnie, understandably, starts freaking out. Just as she’s about to wake up, Elena tells her she needs to perform a spell with the two ingredients she’s told her. Bonnie then wakes up.

Bonnie somehow tricks Meredith into coming to Caroline’s house and the girls are all like Surprise!! And Meredith just wants to die. Caroline, Bonnie, Meredith, Sue and Vicki end up talking about Elena and death. Vicki then says how they never know how much time they have left and that any of them could die tonight. Totally not foreshadowing. They decide to try and contact Elena. Caroline tells Vicki to get the Ouija board out of the closet.

Vicki leaves and a few moments later they hear screaming from the hallway. They run out to check what’s going on and Vicki says something tried to grab her from inside the closet, they just chalked it up to nerves. Idiots. They then successfully manage to speak to Elena, who tells them they’re all in danger. Everyone in Fell’s Church. She tells them to run away, because He is in the house. Then something sent the Ouija board flying across the room and the lights went out.

I’m still pretty sure the He is Klaus. I mean no other vampire is strong enough to pull the shit this mysterious He has been pulling throughout the book.

Caroline leads them downstairs to the living room. Bonnie finds it unnerving how chill Caroline is, but assumes it’s because Caroline has no imagination. She says we’re scared of the darkness because of all the creepy shit we imagine in it, but Caroline simply doesn’t imagine anything and therefore has nothing to be afraid of. I thought this was suspicious at first, but it turned out to be a red herring.

The atmosphere was actually tense and creepy, but then the author absolutely destroyed it by hitting us with a Tinkle, tinkle. Maybe I’m just immature but it made me giggle, completely ruining the mood. I just imagined Klaus tinkling in the corner of the living room.

Caroline stopped holding Bonnie’s hand to go find the door, but never returned to get them. Sue and Vicki also disappeared a bit before that. Now, it was just Bonnie and Meredith. A big, sweaty, meaty hand grabbed Bonnie’s and she screamed, holding tightly onto Mer.

They somehow managed to find the stairs and went upstairs to find the other two girls. The upstairs looked as if it was struck by a meteor. Vicki was erratic, screaming that He did this and that she’s next. As Meredith and Bonnie got closer to the now destroyed balcony they noticed a body on the lawn below them. Sue’s body.

One thing I really wanna know is why them? Why Sue and Vicki in particular. Poor Vicki just keeps getting attacked by vampires. But, wouldn’t Meredith and Bonnie be more interesting to Klaus? Elena killed Katherine and as far as I understand, Klaus liked Katherine. But Elena’s dead, so there’s not much he can do about that. (He is technically tormenting her in the spirit realm, but he’s not doing much) Stefan and Damon would be the obvious next choice, they helped Elena, then we have Mer and Bonnie. Oh, Matt, too.

Bonnie and Meredith were technically friends with Sue and Vicki, but they weren’t really close. Sue was Caroline’s friend and Vicki was there because they felt bad for her, and Bonnie didn’t want Meredith to think that Caroline is using Sue as Elena’s replacement. I think they were nothing more than collateral damage.

The cops come, and we find out that Caroline was just in the front yard, too scared to come in and get them. Nothing happened to her. They question the girls and I’m pretty sure Vicki gets sent to a psychiatrist. Obviously, Vicki isn’t doing too well. This poor girl just can’t catch a break.

The cops came to the conclusion that there was no foul play. The lights just went out and the girls panicked, leading to one of them accidentally falling to her death. And Vicki is well, Vicki. She has a history of erratic behavior and horrible mental health. To put it simply, cops think she’s just crazy and paranoid.

The next day they just go back to school as if nothing happened. Well, Bonnie and Meredith do, Vicki isn’t doing well and is at this point either at home or talking to a professional. If my kid witnessed a death, accidental or violent, I don’t think I’d send them back to school the morning after? I feel like this warrants at least one day off. But whatever.

Bonnie runs into Tyler who’s definitely not being suspicious or anything. He mocks them for being scared and says Sue wouldn’t have died if they weren’t screaming in the living room the entire time. But they have never told anyone they were in the living room, maybe the cops, but it was never released to the general public. That’s when Bonnie realizes something, Tyler’s hand feels the same as the hand that grabbed her that night.

They decide to perform a spell to get in contact with Stefan and ask for his help. The spell Elena was talking about, and the two ingredients they need is Stefan’s hair and his blood. So obviously, they send Matt to gather the ingredients. Matt is once again, doing their dirty work. When am I getting my own Matt, universe?

I kinda thought the blood was gonna be a bit of an issue. Stefan has light hair, Damon has black hair, so it should be fairly easy to make sure you’re only taking Stefan’s hair. But blood? How are you meant to figure out whose blood is smeared on the walls? However, this isn’t an issue for Matt, apparently he’s a blood connoisseur and easily finds Stefan’s blood.

Bonnie successfully contacts Stefan, who went back to Italy. With Damon. Stefan immediately packs his stuff and heads back to Fell’s Church, surprisingly Damon comes with him. At first he says it was because Matt fucked up and took some of his hair as well. But later we find out that wasn’t the case, Damon wanted to come along and help, but was too embarrassed to admit it. lol.

They arrive quickly and the five of them immediately head to Stefan’s old house. The place Mrs. Flowers owns. She is still a little weird. Somehow she knew they were hiding in the boarding house and she brought them grape juice and cookies. I think she’s at least aware of the supernatural, but she doesn’t seem evil. I think she may be one of my favorite characters, she seems really sweet.

Vicki’s condition has been getting worse and worse with every day. She looks horrible, she’s losing weight and is having nightmares every single night. She doesn’t even leave her room, let alone her house. Can’t blame her, I don’t think I’d be doing too well either if I were her.

Stefan wanted to check Sue’s body to see if his theory that the perpetrator is a vampire checks out. However, when they arrived they realized that the marks on her body don’t match those a vampire would leave. No bite marks, but there’s a cut on her chest. It looks like a cut a vampire would make on themselves to let a human drink their blood. But as far as they know, Sue wasn’t a vampire.

Slightly off topic, but I’m checking my notes to make sure I don’t forget anything because it’s been a month since I’ve finished this book and one of the notes just says: Damon is so insecure. I have absolutely no idea what I was talking about, nor why it follows a note that just says Are Matt and Bonnie gonna kiss? I love when I write down a super short, vague note and completely forget what I was talking about. 😁👍

Again slightly off topic, but why don’t Damon and Stefan speak to one another in Italian? They were born in Italy, spent their whole human lives in Italy, probably most of their vampire lives as well. Bonnie says they both spoke English with an accent when they first arrived, so why on Earth would they speak English when it’s just the two of them. Obviously, a whole dialogue in Italian wouldn’t make sense if the whole book is in English, but you could at least mention the conversation is in Italian, but write it in English. It just doesn’t make sense? I suppose you could argue that we’re just supposed to assume they’re talking in Italian, like that’s a given she doesn’t even need to mention it. Although I highly doubt that’s the case.

Oh right, the plot. My bad. Anyway, Stefan has an idea. He doesn’t want to tell anyone what the idea is because innocent people might get hurt if he’s wrong. I don’t see how that would happen if the only people who know are Bonnie, Meredith and Matt. It’s not like they’re known for their bravery and willingness to physically attack without thinking first, but okay.

Stefan says he needs to learn more about the history of Fell’s Church and needs the records to do so, so he goes to the library to read Honoria Fell’s diary. Now, I suppose that a diary from someone who lived in the historical period you’re researching is wonderful and gives you a perspective on how some people thought and what they believed in back then, but it’s still a diary. It’s historically accurate, obviously, but it’s still likely to be at least a bit subjective. Nevertheless, he finds the information he needs.

We don’t really find out much about the history of the town or Stefan’s theory. However, I think that the founding families of Fell’s Church performed some sort of ritual and sacrificed someone in order to found the town. Founding families were the Fells, the Forbes, the Smallwoods and the Gilberts. I think that they might be trying to do this again. But since the Gilberts and the Fells are all dead now, it’s just the Smallwoods and the Forbes. I think that the ritual has something to do with Klaus. So Tyler and Caroline are acting weird because they’re planning something.

Spoiler alert: I was right, kinda, but also wrong.

Matt has a bit of an existential crisis. He gets super cynical and is all like bleghh who cares nothing matters we could never fix the world bleh bleh bleh. But Stefan gives him a I’m-14-and-this-is-deep speech about how it’s important to try no matter what, and how it’s better to die knowing you did all you could then to live with the regret of never even trying to help. Immediately Matt’s whole worldview shifts and he’s like Yeah! Let’s fight! If teenage boys are this easily influenced no wonder men like Andrew Tate are so successful, Jesus Christ.

While Stefan and Matt were in the library looking for Honoria Fell’s journal, Bonnie and Mer were watching Vicki. Then Mer fell asleep and Bonnie felt like she’s about to fall asleep too so she decided to get out of the house to get some fresh air, walk over and check on Vicki. But she doesn’t have a key to get back in. Uh oh. I thought Klaus was gonna show up and Bonnie wouldn’t be able to get back into the house, but nope. Another red herring.

However, someone does show up. Damon. This is when we get the lovely Are you frightened me? Quote from Damon. Thank you editor, for all the wonderful typos in this book. I wonder if this book wasn’t edited or if there were so many mistakes in the original manuscript that they just couldn’t fix all of them. Anyway, Damon leans in and kisses Bonnie. Stefan and Matt show up and get all paternalistic with Bonnie. It’s unclear if she kissed him or if she was compelled. I believe she kissed him, but she let Stefan and Matt believe Damon compelled her.

The Scooby Gang concocted a plan to capture and kill the killer. After graduation, in September. We still don’t know what the plan is. Also it’s June now. Doesn’t matter though, the next chapter begins with their graduation ceremony.

Bonnie and Meredith start fake arguing. Meredith is “mad” at Bonnie for celebrating when Elena is dead and will never have the chance to graduate. She calls Bonnie a whore for dating Matt, Elena’s ex. Bonnie slaps her in response. Meredith adds, very loudly, that she’ll go to the cemetery at night to put flowers on Elena’s grave. I think she’s trying to see if someone is gonna take the bait and follow her there. But who? I mean, it has to be Tyler, right?

Bonnie walks over to Matt and confirms my theory that this was orchestrated to bait someone. She says, And don’t you think you should put your arm around me? Just to show you’re on my side and there’s no chance you’re going to show up at Elena’s grave tonight with Meredith.

For a moment I actually thought Bonnie and Matt got together, to be fair they did have chemistry. Unfortunately Matt is forever loyal to Elena, I’d be surprised if he manages to get a girlfriend any time soon.

To no one’s surprise, the person who took the bait and followed Meredith to the graveyard was Tyler. Wow, who would’ve guessed. At first Tyler and Meredith only talked. They talked about Elena and how she’s the light in the darkness. Then he said there’s always more in the darkness. To which Mer replied with Sooner or later the sun will come up. But Tyler then said But the moon comes up first. Am I overthinking it or is this another hint at him being a werewolf?

He asked her if she sees a huge white orb that’s in front of his family tomb. Then added once the moon is up you’ll see better. As if the white orb, that’s totally not supposed to represent a moon, wasn’t enough. Tyler then tells her he knows about vampires, but he isn’t one. I think that was their theory? That Tyler was a vampire and that he was the one who killed Sue? He did. He was there that night with Klaus. In order for his werewolf curse to manifest he needed to kill someone and taste his blood. Which explains the cut on her chest.

The moon comes out and Tyler transforms into a werewolf. Okay but I remember pointing out they (Bonnie and Mer) often joke about Tyler’s teeth and animalistic behavior and wondered if it’s a hint. They brought it up again now!! Saying how they used to joke about it. I suppose it’s not really funny now.

Also nevermind, apparently he didn’t kill her. How the fuck is he transforming now then? This makes no sense. I think that the author wanted this to be a mystery, but instead of crafting a well planned mystery she just decided to confuse the readers instead. The vampire apparently wanted to kill Bonnie and Meredith, but he’s instead targeting the other two girls.

Finally, the rest of the group emerges from the shadows and beats the shit out of Tyler. They tie him up and take him to the crypt to question him. He doesn’t want to talk because he’s scared of Klaus. But then Stefan threatens to sever his limbs and he starts talking. We find out that the only thing that can hurt Him is ash wood. From now on I’ll just call him Klaus because this was basically a confirmation that this is indeed him. I may sound like a hypocrite because I don’t like Damon since he’s a killer who has no remorse, but hehe I’m so excited Klaus is my favorite.

Apparently while they were with Tyler, Klaus went after Vicki. Which again, makes no sense, even Tyler said Klaus didn’t care about Sue and Vicki, he just wanted Bonnie and Mer. So why even bother going after the other two girls? Why did he forget Caroline? None of this makes any sense. The only explanation I can think of is him wanting to get rid of eye witnesses, but then again, why would he care about that, he’s like millennia old.

Also, at this point we’re only 58% through the book.

They rush to get to Vicki’s house, leaving Tyler in the crypt. Unfortunately when they get there Vicki’s already dead. Her blood coating the floor and the walls of her bedroom. Vicki was such an unnecessary character, the only purpose she served was to be tortured by vampires, poor girl.

Apparently Damon was supposed to watch over her and Stefan starts yelling at him, calling him selfish. Stefan thought that Damon couldn’t be arsed to save Vicki. Damon for whatever reason refused to explain what happened, and just went Fuck you >:( I’ll just leave since you hate me so much!!! And ran away. God I really hate the miscommunication trope. Literally all Damon had to do was say that Klaus was the killer and that would’ve solved the issue. Stefan would’ve known that there was no way Damon alone could’ve saved Vicki from him. But nooo, he just has to be dramatic. Man you’re a grown ass vampire, not a teenager.

Meredith and Matt went back home, but Bonnie stayed with Stefan to talk to him about something. I thought she was gonna talk to him about channeling Elena and all the visions/dreams she’s had about her. Which technically wasn’t wrong, they talked about that too, but Bonnie wanted to offer Stefan her blood. He, of course, refused. Because why would you want to be strong while facing the most powerful vampire on earth. Yeah, I think a few bunnies and a dove will suffice.

Stefan told Bonnie that she can reach out to him while she’s channeling Bonnie and drag him into the dream, so he can speak to Elena. Elena officially confirms that the vampire is Klaus, which we already knew, and tells them to find Klaus’ victim (one that survived, obviously) and speak to them. To which Stefan said he’s going to “Europe” to look for someone who was attacked by Klaus. Not like one person in particular, but just aimlessly wander Europe until he finds someone. My brother in Christ, you are European, you know how big Europe is. I know you’re a vampire, but I think the person would die of old age before you manage to find them.

Bonnie realized that Klaus doesn’t have an accent and knows about music from the 50s which must mean he’s been in the US for quite some time. Because you couldn’t possibly learn to speak a language without an accent in less than 50 years, or listen to 50s music in 90s. That would be impossible. She then theorizes that Klaus must’ve been the vampire who attacked Meredith’s grandpa.

Also, I could’ve sworn Meredith said her grandpa died and was buried, so how is he now in a mental institution? Anyway, they visit her grandpa and he’s in a catatonic state, but calm, until Stefan tries to speak to him, then he starts screaming Vampire and White ash wood. The nurse asks them to leave.

Stefan receives a package from Klaus. There’s a note attached to it. Klaus has Caroline and wants Stefan to come and talk to him. Alone, if Stefan brings back up Caroline will be killed. Stefan is once again trying to put all the blame on himself. The rest of the group wants to help, if not by coming with him at least by giving him blood. He refuses and says he’ll kill them if they even try to come help him. I don’t know if this was meant to show how brave and honorable Stefan is, but all it does is make him look like an annoying asshole. He speaks so much about a cause being greater than him as a single individual, but when it comes to it he refuses to compromise his “morals” for the greater good. Not even sure it counts because Stefan refuses to drink without consent and I’m pretty sure they consent. But, whatever.

Of course, they won’t actually let him face Klaus by himself, especially since he’s so weak, (weaker than usual btw) so they follow him. Stefan thankfully remembered to bring the white ash wood stake with him, so at least he came prepared. I think this is supposed to be like the big boss battle of the book, but we have about 20% left in the book.

The rest of them are hiding in the bushes, and I would really love to know how Klaus can’t hear them. He’s a vampire, an extremely strong one, and he can’t hear their heartbeats? How is that even possible? Anyway, Matt is strategizing to which Bonnie thinks: No wonder he’s a quarterback. I would’ve just rushed in, yelling. This isn’t important for the plot. I just thought it was really relatable and had to share it.

Tyler attacks Stefan from above, but Bonnie warns him right on time. A fight ensues, Bonnie beats the shit out of Tyler, but not before he could seriously hurt Meredith. Bonnie left Matt to take care of Meredith and went over to help Stefan, but froze in the middle of the field. I have no idea what she was trying to do honestly, she’s not even good at magic like Bonnie in the TV show.

I think that because throughout the book Bonnie kept insisting she isn’t useless, dumb or a coward this was supposed to be her big moment, where she proves them all wrong.

Thankfully, Damon showed up and attacked Klaus. Stefan was on the ground, Damon got quickly beaten up by Klaus, Meredith and Matt are humans and in no condition to help, it’s just Klaus and Bonnie now. I thought she was gonna summon her ancestors to help her beat Klaus, but instead she summoned Elena and the spirits of soldiers. The spirits dragged Klaus away while Elena healed everyone.

Elena then said her goodbyes because she now has to move on. As in permanently. I was at this point wondering how they’re gonna bring her back, because there is no way there are 9 more books without Elena. But instead Elena became a white light, then was resurrected. And the book ends there.

Honestly, it would’ve been better if Bonnie had performed some ritual instead. Necromancy would’ve made more sense. Instead Elena just came back to life. Does this mean her corpse is now missing? Is this another body? How exactly does this work? Feels like L. J. Smith wrote herself into a corner and had no idea how to resolve this so she decided a random miracle was the best solution.

I think this one was my least favorite one so far. It was entertaining, sure, but so much of it just didn’t make sense, there were so many mistakes and it just felt rushed? I still enjoyed it, but I think I’ll need to take a little break from this series before I can continue.

Rating: ⛤⛤⛤

#bookworm #booklr #books and reading #bookblr #books & libraries #books #reading #booklover #book review

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autixel · 1 year

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Baked Archives part 3. The Prince's Wish.

Dear diary, 5/14/3076 02:53

I am the prince of the tart empire. I live a life of luxury. My buttered pastry crisp and golden. I could only live for two days, but if anyone was going to make it look good, it was going to be me. You understand that, right?

That luxury ended when I heard of the super soldiers rumored to be in the bread country. Now it is time for me to go to war. I worry that the next time we meet, diary, that it'll be farther than the home we know. But you'll never see it. I know that.

This is difficult to write for me, what if I die? What if I lose? I'm not used to sugar being spilled. What if they set rot gas out? Even worse, what if they send the soldiers? And what happens when after time goes by you are the only collection of my splendors, my relationships, my thoughts, my very life? I don't want to leave here, at first it's because, well, disease and dirt and death. But second, I'm a child in an adult's body. I've been told that many times, but I'm not ready to lose my family. That's what I fear most, I guess. Do you understand, diary?

I must go now, I have to go to the armory to get my armor and weapons.

Log 1 5/14/3076 05:00

This is definitely different, I won't lie. It's easy to speak, but I can't put in my thoughts like I did before, with my diary. I shouldn't have said that. This is a simple black box thing. It records my voice, and that's my log for that time. We have two logs per day. For the giants, this wouldn’t be so annoying, they’d have to do just one a day. Giants are dead, I don't know why I said that. Pastry mythos says that the giants are our creators, and we magically came to life somehow, and then we made more baked goods, and those made more. I don't know about the magic part, but we know that the giants existed. Their buildings and nonliving creations are all around us. Entire cities can live in something called an "apartment". In some cases, an entire apartment building. Us tarts live in very sleek places that were called "restaurants" when giants roamed about. I gotta go now, I'll make sure to make a log later, if I don't…

Log 2 5/14/3076 06:00

Heya log! I've found a more private place to make my logs, so now we get to talk! We've got good news, and bad news. I'll start with good, I'm alive! We had a really big battle, and the soldiers have been really good at their jobs. They weren't nice, but I understand that. The bad news, my mother died in the war. We've also lost a nice chunk of the soldiers. At least you and I can talk. I have to go to the medic, I've blown off getting help because I figured that the people who were in urgent need of medics, should get the medics first. We'll talk later.

Log 3 5/14/3076 06:11

I've got more bad news for you. I'm in rough shape, but I'm good enough to keep fighting, since we lost so much. It's around 25%. I'm chipped in some places and my crust is getting dark. Fires are finally affecting me, and so it begins. I've lost a lot of hope, some still kicking around, but I know. I'm a royal, not a soldier. I'm not really trained for combat. In two days the super soldiers will come out. I'm scared. Me, the golden prince, and I am crumbling under this asinine and futile attempt. My father is vengeful, it makes him blinds to my pleas. I hope that whatever imaginary person I think of when I speak, you'll see me in my afterlife.

BREAKING NEWS: TART PRINCE KILLED BY SUPER BREAD.

Welcome back to “Fruit Network”, today our beloved prince has died in the war against the Bread Country. HE was attacked by a super soldier people call "Marble".

Someone clicks the TV off, and walks to an office.

#autixel's writings #writeblr #writerblr #baked archives

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appleflavoredkitkats · 3 years

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saw some fundy ghost au in the tags and.oh boy ghost!fundy brainrot headcanons:

let’s establish that fundy’s character suffers identity loss as he does whatever he can to earn validation from any authority despite the fact that he loses his own sense of self. i say his ghost version of himself likes to abuse that fact and make the afterlife an absolute hell for fundy

he cannot for the life of him remember his own name, no matter how many times people remind him. he can’t remember his interests either.

that being said, fundy is AMAZING at remembering what other people like. their interests, favorite things, mannerisms- he can remember that easily and is compelled to give them gifts every now and then.

whenever he’s faced with immense criticism or hateful comments, all the color drains from his body. it’s like everything was sucked away from his already dead body. his eyes turn completely black too, and he will hyperfocus on those comments for hours, repeating it back to himself

if it becomes worse, he turns into this fox-like form where he remains silent until he either 1.) gains energy again 2.) just misses people in general

he’s a fox protector! he feels obligated to protect any fox he comes across, and any other fox feels drawn towards him

adding onto the fox ideas: fundy can also revive dead foxes or pets in general back to life. he revived fungi, mushroom, skechers, squeeks, all his endermen pets, beelloon, benis, and all of the farm animals niki has lost to sapnap

has abandonment issues. does not like saying goodbye to people

can turn invisible at will. reminiscent of all the times they have ignored him

maybe he just... naturally smells like coconut tho so people can easily find out if he’s lurking

he 100% still has schlatt’s sword and he barely lets go of the thing

when he’s angry, he can unintentionally set things on fire. his form becomes all ablaze, reminiscent of when he burned some trees and the flag in the dsmp

he used to like pranking people as a ghost because of the many prank possibilities but like i said earlier, he does not like to hear any negative remarks about him

probably copes with his sadness via redstone

he’s not immune to water exactly! in fact, he does like spending a lot of time with salmon, but he can’t really pinpoint why it’s so significant to him. no one would want to explain it to him either, but he’d forget anyway if someone did

does not like creepers. (thanks phil and ur loving support for fundy’s mob farm /s /j /lh)

loves dirt huts and shovels! he never really plans to make dirt sculptures or anything, he just... mindlessly does it? but once someone points out that he likes these dirt structures or that he’s building something, he immediately stops. you know, can’t remember personal attachments and all

he probably only remembers stuff like his name and past memories in his dormant sad state. but he forgets about them when he’s over it. he tries writing it in books but he didn’t like the feeling after he called it a “diary” so he’s abandoned it

to end on a happy note: his best friend is probably catmaid hbomb since he’s the only one who probably treats fundy decently in this entire server

#fundy #dream smp #mcyt #self-deprecation tw #ghost au #headcanon #headcanons #death tw #angst

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desthesleepdeprivedwriter · 3 years

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Book #4

18 months, 2 weeks, and 4 days.

That was the time Fundy spent away from what used to be his home.

He did his best to not look, to just come back and focus on his past relationships, trying to reconnect with his last family member and former friends. Fundy just wanted to be good, feel welcomed, and part of something again.

It took him 3 hits, the fox once again staring at his destroyed dirt building, to understand the message. He wasn’t wanted there.

Fundy packed what was left, holding his enderchest close, and walked away from the cabin that stood in the middle of the snow. He wished he wasn’t crying, his tears slowly freezing just brought a sharp pain on his cheeks. The Nether, for the first time, felt like a blessing as the hellish heat warmed his shivering body.

There was this weird thing about Fundy, whenever he was lost in thoughts, his body just made the decisions for him. His feet wandered to wherever they wanted as if they were the ones on command when the brain was too busy focusing on problems and pain. The hands were still keeping the enderchest safe during the journey across the red plains and ghast explosions.

Walk, walk, walk. Netherrack, stone brick, obsidian, wood, grass.

Nothing.

Fundy was pulled back from his gloomy thoughts as he fell in the crater, the sudden lack of floor leaving him dazed. He managed to fall in one of the waterfalls, still hitting the bedrock with a painful thump.

He cried to himself, getting on his knees and looking around so he could at least know where the fuck he had fallen into. Fundy felt all his body going numb as he saw the big flag. He was back home. The red vines took over, and the fox did the best to avoid it when he turned his back to it and climbed all the way back. When at the top, his feet didn’t obey him.

He just wanted to leave, but he walked around the crater and climbed what used to be a hill, and crossed the arc that used to have a door. Fundy stood there, in the middle of his destroyed house. First, the bombing sounds. They were loud and made Fundy cover his ears trying to escape it, escape his own memories. Then…. He heard water.

Fundy looked around and almost could remember how his house used to be. The crane right next to it, the wishing well… and the sewers.

He stared at the destroyed hill and the big hole that took the place of his dead father’s house, sitting at its edge. Nothing was saved. The declaration, the diary, the ballot… Gone. All their history just completely…

There was a chest.

Right there, partially burned and destroyed, but still firmly stuck between 3 rocks, almost impossible to see unless for this specific angle. Fundy slowly built his way to reach it, mining the rock that kept the chest closed and cracking it open. Just 4 books were hidden there, and Fundy knew 2 of them really well. Both the diary and Ghostbur’s memories felt heavy in his hands, he knew all the words there almost entirely. The other was a strange one, filled with a tale he never heard about, telling stories of an empire that Fundy quickly dismissed.

The last one was deep in the chest, making Fundy almost enter it so he could get it. I was dusty, and clearly with a lot of use. The fox didn’t remember about this one, maybe it was the last one Ghostbur managed to get before the explosion. Fundy opened it, out of curiosity, and felt a shiver go down his spine.

The writer was clearly desperate when they put their thoughts on the paper. The scribbles were messy, some even escaping lines and being written diagonally. Some were drafting over other phrases and some parts were just unreadable, covered by a big ink stain. Fundy wasn't even sure if it was English, the 'letters' looking more like hieroglyphs than the normal alphabet. How did Ghostbur find this? Fundy flipped more pages, finally getting to a page there was something he could read.

“DO NOT FORGET”

Fundy’s heartbeat gets faster as he reads the last word. He put his enderchest right next to the one chest he was looking in, searching for his photo album. He quickly passed through an old family photo, he and Niki as kids, everyone posing under the L’manberg flag… He and Ranboo in front of the ice cream stall they’d built for the festival. Fundy flipped the photo, seeing the two phrases written behind it.

“Can’t live without you, Ranboo”

“I can’t forget Fundy :)”

The man aligned both ‘forget’s, comparing them.

Same calligraphy.

Ranboo wrote this book.

Fundy just read everything he could, having a hard time trying to understand what was possible to be understood. There was stuff about memory, enderwalkers, and he was almost sure he saw something about Doomsday. Fundy was quick in leaving the crater, holding the book while running his way back to the snow biome. He needed to ask about this, and he wanted answers.

In the end, he didn’t need to cross the entire nether. Ranboo was right next to Tommy’s house, staring at a couple of flowers.

“Ranboo!” Fundy called, rushing towards his (former?) friend. “Ranboo, I have this… Damn, I need you to-”

Ranboo turned, and Fundy was frozen.

He could still breathe, his chest moving as his breath started to become erratic. His ears were pressed on top of his head, his tail all puffy as his animal instincts took over and kept telling him to run, but his legs were stuck, and he could only watch as the tall figure walked in his direction.

That was not his Ranboo.

The static noises got louder as it approached Fundy, still staring in the eyes of the terrified fox. It inclines and sets a shadow over him, one hand moving and picking up the book Fundy was still holding by his side.

“⏁⊑⏃⋏☍ ⊬⍜⎍ ⎎⍜⍀ ⏁⊑⟒ ⏚⍜⍜☍, ⟟ ⍙⏃⌇ ⌰⍜⍜☍⟟⋏☌ ⎎⍜⍀ ⟟⏁.”

It opened a smile, teleporting away right after and leaving a terrified fox behind, shivering and paralyzed as he stood in between the various alliums surrounding him.

Support/commission me here!

#commission #dream smp #writing #enderspeak #:]#fundy #ranboo

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out-there-so-it-isnt-just-me · 3 years

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Hey guys...I have an idea if you aren't sad enough yet. I was struck by a painful comparison sort of crossover idea. It would never be canon, but I'm mourning the end of Campaign Two, and I want to be sad and over-dramatic. Essek, but as Eliza from Hamilton in “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story.” But, it’s for the entire Mighty Nien. Some of the lyrics are so on point for a poor Essek who will probably outlive all of his friends (Elves still generally live longer than Firbolgs by a good 200 years). Anyway, enjoy.

Every other founding father's story gets told

It occurs to Essek, during one of the many periods without one of the Mighty Nein (the time that he dwells on them the most), how unfair their whole situation is. They saved all of Exandria, and no one knows. They are amazing, and odd, and frustrating, and no one knows. They will die loved deeply, but not widely. He knows they prefer it that way, all things considered. But, everyone else who saves all of Exandria becomes legends, while the people he loves best will be forgotten, remembered only by him.

And that. That sounds unbearable.

So, in-between the times he sees the Mighty Nein, he begins to gather accounts. He writes down stories from those they helped, or simply left an impression on. The people who have met the Mighty Nein have an air about them that he gets good at detecting. They attracted the oddballs and the outcasts. And if they're entirely normal (whatever that means), then they usually get a certain twitch if you ask for stories about interesting strangers. About half the time, a certain blue tiefling pops up in them. He almost has a heart attack when he hears “go fuck yourself,” in Jester’s cheerful voice, when he knows Jester isn’t anywhere near there. He ends up getting the kenku’s story, and the voices of his friends are weaved into it. Essek thinks the Mighty Nein are the best people in the world, in their own rambunctious way. Part of him wants the world to love them as he does, or at least have the option to. Everyone should have a chance to get to know them, even if it's just through tales. The world would be a better place for it.

...And when you're gone, who remembers your name?

Who keeps your flame?

Who tells your story?

Once there is only him and Caduceus left, this becomes a more prominent part of how he spends his time. After...after a long, long period of mourning. He has so much life left to live without most of the people who made it worth living.

I put myself back in the narrative

I stop wasting time on tears

I live another 50(0) years

He stops hiding his past and bears his sins and his story to the world. Essek tells his story so their story can be appreciated to the fullest; his part in their story emphasizes the depth of their compassion and chaos. He tells his story, but not as himself. Essek continues to drift from town to town under a vast number of aliases. Everywhere he goes, he spreads his stories of his friends, some serious, most silly. He disguises himself so he can stay alive to do a little more good, tell a few more stories, to truly live the life his friends wanted for him.

...I try to make sense of your thousands of pages of writings

You really do write like you're running out of time.

Eventually, he gets his hands on some of Beau’s journals, Jester’s diaries, and Caleb’s research. Well, he always had the research, but he gets to the point where he can share it with the world. He slowly begins to share and explain their thoughts and personalities with excerpts from those. Maybe he also has letters that he shares parts of (though most of those, those words specifically for him, he keeps to himself, for himself). He wonders if they'd be angry at him for spilling their private thoughts. But neither Beau nor Jester filtered their thoughts very much in the first place, and he keeps anything truly painful out of the public eye. Caleb, well, Caleb was always about sharing his knowledge and research, provided it wasn't dangerous. And they were all dead anyway. One of the last things they told him was to be happy. And talking about his friends, learning more about his friends even after they were long dead, that made him the happiest he'd been in a while. So he hoped they wouldn’t begrudge him this small joy he’d managed to grasp and forgive him, should it be necessary.

I rely on Angelica

While she's alive, we tell your story

She is buried in Trinity Church near you

When I needed her most, she was right on time

Caduceus isn’t particularly interested in being well known or famous, but he never shies away from telling a story about any of his friends. Plus, he thinks it’s a good project for Essek. It's a way to continue to show his love for them and keep them alive in the only way they can be now. When Caduceus eventually passes away, he joins the eight other graves (Veth refused to be buried apart from Yeza) that lay in a tucked-away corner of the Blooming Grove. There is one space left, nestled between where Caleb and Jester lay, but it will be empty for a long time yet.

And I'm still not through

I ask myself, what would you do if you had more time...

...You could have done so much more if you only had time

And when my time is up, have I done enough?

Will they tell your story?

He keeps adding to his tale; he stretches it longer and longer with every shred he can remember. But, even his memory, as long as it is, runs out eventually. And their story finally ends, but he doesn't. He throws himself into activities that remind him of them. He does a lot of gardening ( mostly tea, poisonous plants, and flowers). He teaches children some rudimentary dunamancy in his spare time, for Caleb. He messes around with alchemy a little. Eventually, he publishes the last of the research that he and Caleb worked on together; ones that took him decades to solve by himself. He even finds himself drawing a surprising amount of dicks on random surfaces near the very end.

Oh, can I show you what I'm proudest of?

...I help to raise hundreds of children

I get to see them growing up

The time that doesn’t go towards his now worrying amount of hobbies, he spends doing what he has done since the beginning: caring for the Mighty Nien’s true legacy. He looks after and visits their children. He takes care of descendants of Luc, of Jester and Fjord, of the random teenager that Beau and Yasha seemed to adopt completely on accident, of TJ, of the Clays, and of a lovechild of Kingsley’s that found out who his father was and then somehow found Essek himself to learn about him. In an embarrassing show of sentimentality, Essek always keeps at least one offspring of Caleb's very first cat. There is a very funny story about Caleb thinking the animal was spayed when it was, in fact, not. He visits the different generations every couple of years or so (he has a schedule). The drow makes sure they know the stories of their ancestors, the adventures of the Mighty Nien; he tells them it's all real. He gives them ways to contact him if they’re in danger, or need any kind of help really ( he has funds to spare at this point). Every once in a while, a few of them will get it in their heads to write him yearly updates. It’s nice.

In their eyes, I see you, Alexander

I see you every time

And when my time is up

Have I done enough?

Will they tell your story?

It is strange and painful to see the attitude and mannerisms of the Nein in the descendants who have never met them. It is wonderful too. His stories of the Mighty Nein have become well-known tales that no one can decide how much is truth and how much is fiction (it’s true, it’s all somehow, hilariously true). He preserved them in his own way, in the right way (time travel is something he thinks of with a growing hunger the more years pass between when he last laid eyes on his friends). But in these men, these women, these children, they are truly alive.

One little half-orc girl has Jester’s mischievous eyes and infectious joy. Another halfling man squints just like Veth when she's trying to figure out if someone is bullshitting her. There’s a boy who charmingly bumbles his way through most social encounters, as Fjord did. A firbolg woman who has Caduceus gentle smile. A tiefling girl with all the audacious bravado of Kingsley. A man with eyes just as piercing as Beau’s, and a tongue just as sharp. Even Yasha’s kind and gentle demeanor somehow shines through in one small boy, despite her having no direct descendants. He gets to see these flashes of his friends in those who survive them, and it thrills him as much as it cuts him. (Sometimes, when the current cat has ruined some item of his, the pleased look it wears resembles the quiet glee Caleb exuded after he pulled a successful prank, but he’s pretty sure that’s just fanciful thinking.)

One of the last things Essek does before he dies is fully publish, in print, the entire tale of the Mighty Nein. How they came together, every person they helped along the way. The love, the loss, the kindness, the chaos, every moment he could recall or record was put into this one account (necessarily stretched out into several separate books). There is only one set, and he hands it over to the Library of the Cobalt Soul in Rexxentrum. Then he goes on his lonely way.

Oh, I can't wait to see you again

It's only a matter of time

There are now ten graves, each one as unique as its owner, nestled in a small corner of the Blooming Grove. One grave has the dirt still fresh around it. And somewhere, beyond the Divine Gate, there are cheers and laughs and cries of joy as the Mighty Nien become the Mighty Nine once more.

fin.

It’s my head-canon that by the time Essek dies he’s practically a mythical figure among the select families he looks after. It's to the point that in certain locations ( that have a lot of Nein remnants) he becomes a local legend, the guardian angel of nien (no spelling specified and with no real distinction of what that means), with skin like the night sky who drifts (literally) through towns and helps those who meet a certain requirement, unknown to the general populus. There are rumors that certain people have bestowed upon them a token they could use to call upon the angel’s aid. Of course, the people who have the tokens (sending stones or something similar. IDK how he would get that many wondrous items, but I focus on satisfying narrative not, like, plausibility) know Essek and know that he has died and that the tokens no longer work, but for a while they keep them as heirlooms, to show the love of one drow wizard for the friends he had long, long ago. Eventually, one of Veth’s descendants sells off their set because sending stones are worth A LOT, and the money seemed more practical. They have their stories; those are enough.

And before anyone complains about the Kingsley bit, I felt compelled to add a smidgen of Kingsley content because Essek loves Jester and Jester’s with Fjord and Kingsley is with both of them for years. I’m sure they get to know each other well enough that seeing traits of Kingsley is vaguely nostalgic and warming, even if it lacks the depth and love he feels for everyone else. Also, there’s no convincing me that Molly/Kingsley doesn’t have at least one illegitimate child running around from various trysts, he was basically the Scanlan of this campaign. It goes with the hedonistic vibe he gives off.

Also, is it normal that I completely designed the Nein’s burial site in my head because I did? Like I imagine they’re all spaced out in a circle. It’s almost like a stone gazebo but there’s not really a roof; it’s just a group of nine pillars that support a stone circle. The entrance is the Traveler’s door with dicks around the edge, and each of the nine pillars/supports is designed to look the knowing mistresses staff. The stone circle is covered in carvings of storm clouds and lightning. Wires are strung across the center of the stone circle to form the symbol of the Cobalt Soul. Not that you can see the wires, because vines have been grown all around them. Once you step through the Traveler’s gate, you’ll find yourself on some kind of rough mosaic floor, with depictions of a peacock, a pyramid, a snake, a sun, a moon, and (oddly) a pirate ship. The mosaic is made up of buttons of various materials and shapes. In the center is a saltwater pool/spring (depending on how magical we can get idk) and floating above it is an eternal flame encased in some sort of dunamancy magic that doesn’t actually exist that keeps it floating and eternal. Look I'm running out of ideas.

I can’t imagine what everyone’s grave marker would be, but I’m pretty sure Yasha’s is a simple stone that says "YASHA NYDOORIN: wife of Zuella and Beauregard Lionette," and the place where’s she’s buried is just covered in wildflowers that spread outside of the gazebo to encircle the structure entirely up to the gate. Also, everyone has a stone tarot card by their grave with the picture and designation that Molly gave them. Beyond that grows a weirdly dense thicket of trees and bushes that make finding the Nein's resting place rather hard. It’s said only the descendants of the Nein’s family or those favored by the Wildmother (or Traveler, Or Ioun, or Storm Lord) can find their way to them. And one tree, directly behind Yasha, is dead, struck by lightning who knows how long ago.

And they’re buried in this order: Yeza/Veth, Caleb, Essek, Jester, Ford, Kingsley, Yasha, Beau, Cad. I know there’s a good chance that a) Kingsley would just eff off and die somewhere unknown and b) Cad would probably want to be buried with the rest of his family, but shhh let me dream.

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env0writes · 10 months

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Dead End Dirt Lot Diaries 7.16.2023 "Hanging On Your Lips"

Wrap me in your sweet lullaby-lie First pages ripped from The Bible In the beginning… you burned me Sent me up in smoke for a heavenly high I loved you as the day crumbled to embers Shaken off like exhaled ashes Left in the hotel room end table Killing me faster second-hand Make it tight, twisted, and most of all –right Smoke and mirrors Bundle me up with the rest If I’m lucky I’m still in the pocket close to your breast

@env0writes {C.Buck} [Ko-Fi ] & [Venmo]: @Zenv0 Support Your Local Artist! Photo by @mynamemeanscloud

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aperrywilliams · 4 years

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The Milestone (Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader)

(Not my gif!)

Masterlist - Requests

———————

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader.

Summary: Reader is in her last weeks of pregnancy and accepts to help Rossi and Prentiss in a field consulting. What could go wrong?

Word Count: 4914.

Warnings: Curses. A lot of curses. Anxious Spencer. Fluff.

A/N1: I’m sorry, I have a strong bias for Prentiss and Rossi.

A/N2: I had to upload it again because Tumblr is crazy. I'm going tag my favorite people around here: @emilouu @dreatine @andiebeaword

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There are many awkward things about pregnancy that people tend to omit just to make it seem like everything is wonderful and beautiful. And that's fine, having a life lodged in your womb for almost nine months fills you with emotions. Is incredible. The miracle of life!. But we must be honest, how beautiful is it that you cannot almost move within a radius of 4 square meters without feeling that your back is killing you? How beautiful is it that you cannot sleep because there is no bearable position to be in bed?

Worse still is not being able to sleep and seeing that your husband can do it peacefully next to you. The same human being who put you in this situation. At those times it makes me want to smack him and push him to the floor. But those desires quickly go away when I see that beautiful face, that messy hair full of curlers, those bare arms resting over his head on the pillow, those hands and those long fingers...

There are nights where I have simply watched Spencer sleep until exhaustion overcomes me. Apparently tonight is no exception. Despite my envy, the love I feel for this man makes me "almost" forget the discomfort of a 36-week pregnancy. You're lucky Dr. Reid that I don’t want to kill you right now.

The next morning I woke up to a cramp that made me scream in pain. Instantly I could see pair of curious eyes on me.

"Is something wrong (Y/N)...? Does something hurt?"

"Fuck!..."

"Is the baby...? (Y/N)… talk to me…”

"Fuck Spencer... no... it's a damn cramp!..."

"Show me where..."

As best I could, I aimed at one side of my right leg. Spencer rushed to massage the area so I could relax my muscles. I was still squeezing my eyes shut in pain, but it started to ease. Feeling relief, I let out a heavy sigh.

"Better…?"

"Yes. Thank you…". I sat on the bed with my back resting on the backrest. "I’m sorry Spence, I woke you up and I also yelled at you". I felt bad about both.

"Do not apologize. You don’t have to do it".

"Am I a bad mother if I say I want this baby to come out as soon as possible?". I asked almost crying. Spencer looked at me confused. I went from cursing and yelling at him to being a pudding of emotions and crying.

"Of course not. Your body is already preparing to let the baby out. A few weeks to go, but I can understand the discomfort is increasing. That doesn't make you a bad mother (Y/N)”. To reinforce his point, he sat by my side on the bed and hugged me tight, kissing my forehead. “Take it easy my love. You’ll be a great mom. I’m absolutely sure about that”.

“I don’t know how you do that… but I love you”. Spencer laugh at my words. He knows very well what to say to sooth me.

Spencer got a shower while I made breakfast. I could had stayed in bed but I instead I felt the need to move a little. Doctor had suggested I need some daily activity and a routine, which is a good idea to follow in these last few weeks before birth. So I had things planned for the day while Spencer was at work. I was really missing the BAU, I have to confess it. I delayed my prenatal start as long as I could specifically because I knew I would miss working. But by now I had new priorities.

My schedule considered a walk around the block, shopping for some groceries, reading, cooking, some TV, more reading, and some writing. I discovered the taste for writing in the progress of my pregnancy. I realized that I liked to keep a diary of the things that were happening every day. Those things soon turned into little stories. It was one of the things I kept for myself. Not even Spencer knew much about it.

When I got back from my walk and groceries’ shopping, my cell phone started ringing. It was Prentiss. That set off my internal alarms. Had something happened to Spencer?

"Emily?..."

“Hey! (Y / N), how are you? How is the baby?” she asked cheerfully.

Okay, it seems that it’s not a bad thing... or is it?.

"Fine. I’m fine. Did something happen? Is Spencer okay?"

Emily, just tell me everything is fine...

"Yes. It’s ok. Everything is alright. Spencer is with the rest of the team in the field near DC working on a case. The truth is I was calling to ask you for a favor…”

"Yes, tell me. How can I help you".

"With Rossi we have to interview the girlfriend of an unsub and we are sure she knows his location. She is pregnant and according to our profile, her baby is the only thing that could make her confess where he is hiding right now. And well, you know that neither Rossi nor I are very subtle, so we wanted to know if you can help us interview her. It would also be doubly useful given that your pregnancy is more than evident and that would help her to gain confidence…”. It was a strange requirement. But surely they had discussed it with David and it was reasonable after all.

"Ok... do I have to go to the BAU?". Strange as it was, the idea of leaving the apartment and feeling useful seemed wonderful to me, even if it was for something like that.

"No, we have to go to her house. But if you say yes, with Rossi we will pick you up in 15 minutes”.

I didn’t think twice. Despite my advanced pregnancy, the doctor's recommendation was that I maintain as active a life as possible. He wasn't going to walk much either, I would surely be in the car or in a house most of the time.

It was good to see Emily and David again. The last time I saw them was for the babyshower a few weeks ago. I settled in the back seat and we spent a lot of time talking. The place seemed to be more distant than I originally thought. In the last part of the trip I felt some pain, the baby started to move a little. I had lost the habit of being in a car for so long, despite the comfort of a federal SUV. Prentiss noticed my face contorted a little.

"Are you okay (Y/N)?" she asked with concern.

"Yes, yes... it's just I hadn't been in a car ride in days and with such a bulging belly is difficult to find a comfortable position. That's all".

"Okay. We are not that far. Unfortunately this place is on the borders of the city, but it shouldn't take us long.” Emily assured me.

"Yes, this should be fast," said Rossi.

Indeed, the place was almost a rural campsite. I hadn't realized it. When we got there we went to knock on the door and a young woman of no more than 25 years old greeted us with an uninterested and unhappy face. Only by showing her our badges did she let us in.

I managed to conduct the interview as we had agreed with Emily and David, although I didn’t feel comfortable. The atmosphere was tense and I was still in pain. I changed my position on the couch several times but the discomfort didn’t diminish, on the contrary. I tried to focus on my task and fortunately it worked, the woman ended up confessing the location of her fugitive boyfriend.

We got back in the SUV to resume our trip back home. The truth is I was relieved to be able to return. Although I missed working in the field, the pain had returned and I even began to feel contractions during the interview. At first I thought it might be some tension from the case.

We didn't drive much until we felt the SUV hit something under the dirt road. A thunderous noise was heard as Rossi cursed whatever had crossed the path. Without further warning the vehicle stopped.

"What is it?" Prentiss asked Rossi.

“Something is stuck in the car. I have to check, the pedals are locked and I can't keep driving like this” he replied, getting out of the vehicle and starting to check it everywhere. Prentiss was huffing with disgust and I began to feel a little distressed. The air began to fail me and the pains began to be more intense. A loud grumble escaped my mouth alerting Emily immediately.

"(Y/N)? What's wrong?..." Emily turned to look at me.

"I'm not feeling well... I'm... feeling contractions..." I answered with heavy breathing.

"What?!... now? Really?..." she asked me again with concern.

"I was uncomfortable on the trip to here... but I didn't start to feel pain until we were at the interview..."

"Are you fucking kidding me?!... but you still have weeks to go before you have a full-term pregnancy..."

“Arrrggg… shit!… I know. I know... the baby shouldn't come out yet. I'm only 36 weeks. I hope it’ll pass soon…”. I started to move to find some position that would ease the pain, but it got worse and worse.

"Spencer is going to kill me...". It must have been a thought from Emily that she didn't even realize had come out of her mouth. At that moment Rossi returns to the vehicle.

“Ladies, I have bad news for you. This car will not go to move anymore..."

"Why?". Emily's face was becoming more and more disfigured.

"There is a leak in the brake fluid, we cannot move this thing in these conditions...". Rossi was explaining the situation but was interrupted by a scream from me and Prentiss' look of horror.

"(Y/N)? That… thing… running down your legs is...?" Emily didn’t dare to finish the question.

"My water just broke..." I said crying in pain and despair.

"What is that? ..." asked Rossi.

"That means (Y/N) is going into labor right now..." Prentiss said as she took her cell phone. "We need transportation to take her to the hospital." She was at it when she realized her phone had no signal. "This is a fucking joke!... David, do you have signal?" Rossi took his cell phone.

"No... this is as dead as the car." Emily immediately took my purse and pulled out my cell phone. Same result. We were in the middle of nowhere with no signal reception.

While I felt the spasms of the contractions and they were accelerating more and more. If at first I was hoping it was just a false alarm, after the water broke and feeling the contractions were becoming more and more frequent, I realized that it was very likely that I would give birth in the middle of a dirt road in a federal vehicle.

"Okay. We have to calm down and think about what we can do” said Prentiss trying to put together a plan as she got out of the passenger seat and climbed into the back seat where I was. But seconds passed and nothing came out of her mouth.

“Come on Emily, focus. What we have to do?" Rossi rushed her.

"Fuck David, what makes you suppose I really know what to do?" Emily confessed. Rossi looked at her in disbelief.

"I don’t know. You are the Unit Chief, you must know how to bring a baby into the world… among other things, right?" he blurt out.

“Spencer is the one who had done that before. Not me!...”. Emily defended herself. While I contorted more and more in pain.

"Why isn't Tara here?..." I murmured almost like a prayer. Prentiss turned her attention back to me.

"Calm down (Y/N), everything will be fine, I promise...". It was the only thing she could think to say... and she had no fucking plan! This wasn’t going to work...

"I don't know how Prentiss knows that, but yeah... yes, everything will be fine (Y/N)," Rossi complemented.

My desperation had reached the limit. I was stuck with two useless and about to give birth. My husband had no idea and I was miles from a hospital.

“Stop talking and do something!!!! I'm about to give birth in an SUV!...". I yelled at them.

"Okay... okay... yes, you're right (Y/N)... let's see. We need transportation. David, take care of finding a car or whatever. You have to find signal reception or a phone to call Penelope. I'm going to stay here with (Y/N),” Prentiss ordered.

“Okay boss, but I'm warning you from now on that you're forcing the oldest member of the team to run. I don't know if it's very efficient decision…” Rossi protested.

"Would you rather stay with the pregnant woman and bring a baby into the world?" Emily offered him.

"Got it!. Communication and transportation. Understood!”. In two seconds Rossi had disappeared.

“(Y/N)… let's to focus on your contractions. Do you have an approximate time of frequency?...". Prentiss asked me.

"More and more frequent ... I don't know exactly the time..."

"Okay, let's measure that." Prentiss took her cell phone and opened the stopwatch app. "Let me know when a contraction starts."

“Arggggggggg… fuck fuck fuck…” was the only thing that came out of my mouth when a contraction just started.

“I guess that is a contraction… okay. Come on (Y/N), you're doing fine, try to breathe between contractions, that should help the pain a bit…”. As Prentiss took the time, she started seeing in the SUV, I suppose she was looking for implements or some kind of first aid kit.

“Emily… I'm scared. I need Spencer…”. I started to sob after the contraction passed.

“I know my little one. But you have to be strong. You’ll bring a little girl into this world and I’ll do everything in my power to keep you both safe. But you have to help me (Y/N). Let me look for something in this car that can help us…”. Prentiss said still scanning the vehicle with her eyes without letting go of my hand.

"Don't leave me Emily... please..." I begged her when I saw she was letting go of my hand.

“Don’t worry, I'm not going anywhere. I'll just be checking the trunk. I swear I'll be here in two seconds…”. With that said she got out of the back seat and opened the trunk. She took advantage of folding down the backs of the rear seats and with some blankets Emily made improvised pillows that she placed behind my back. Now I had more room to move my legs. I was trying to adjust when another contraction started.

"Emilyyyyy... another one... fuck... I'm going to die here... arrrgggggg.". You didn’t have to be an expert in pregnancy to realize the distance between each contraction was shortening and that I would give birth at any time. My body was sweating. My arms and legs were shaking. I wasn't even pushing yet and I was exhausted.

Prentiss came back to my side. She had found clean towels in a travel bag and a first aid kit containing alcohol and other things. I looked at her desperately.

“It's not a birth kit, but at least it’ll help us for now. I promise I’ll ask the bureau to implement a birth kit in all SUVs." I couldn't help crying between contractions. Emily took my hand again and didn't let go of it even though I could feel her bones creaking every time I squeezed it from a contraction.

"We will make it (Y/N), I promise we will make it". Emily reassured me.

***

The consulting case in Frederick, Maryland had taken up much of the morning. Although it was only an assistance for the local police, they asked us for more help with the case. JJ, who was leading the team on this mission, agreed we would stay a few more hours to help. Almost mid-afternoon we were able to finish delivering the profile and even tracked down the location of the unsubs with the help of García. Since we were only guests in a local case, it was not our job to make the arrests. The Frederick Police thanked us for our assistance and we were free to return to Virginia.

When we finished packing our belongings in the SUVs, we were waiting for JJ to say goodbye and leave the police station to start our return. During that time, I took my cell phone to call (Y/N) and let her know that I would possibly be home earlier. The strange thing is that her cell phone immediately threw me to voicemail. I suspected perhaps it had been without charge. It was weird anyway, because (Y/N) is a much more dependent on her phone than I’m, so she wouldn't neglect to have it without charge. I tried again and again voicemail. Frederick had a good reception signal, it couldn't be a problem with my phone.

While I was thinking about hypotheses and beginning to worry about why (Y/N) was not answering, JJ ran out of the police station towards us with her own cell phone in hand and on speaker. When she stopped in front of me she looked at me with worried eyes.

"Garcia, I'm here with Spence," JJ said.

"Oh Boy Wonder. Ahm. Okay…”. Garcia stuttered into the phone.

"What's wrong? Garcia? ...". I tried to hurry her to speak.

"It’s (Y/N)...". I felt like I was freezing from one moment to the next. Had something happened to my 36 weeks pregnant wife?

"What's wrong with (Y/N)?... Garcia, tell me once, please!"

"Reid, (Y/N) is giving birth right now!". Garcia blurt out suddenly.

"What?!... Which hospital? The George Washington?". I was about to get in the SUV and speed toward DC.

"That's the problem. She is not in the hospital at the moment. She's on a rural road outside of DC with Prentiss and Rossi. They had a failure in the car and Rossi had to find a ranch with a telephone from where he called me”. Penelope spat.

"But what the hell is (Y/N) doing on a rural road? She is supposed to be in our place, in the city... Garcia, what is going on?..."

“Reid, honey, I don't know the details of that. But I promise you we're doing our best to bring her to DC, to the hospital. I managed to get a chopper out of here and it's on its way to where they are while we’re speaking..."

“Penelope, make sure they take her to George Washington. We are going there” commanded JJ as she gestured for us to get into the SUVs.

"Okay. I'll call you as soon as I have communication with them, ”García concluded before hang up.

"Spence, let’s go" JJ yelled at me trying to get me out of my stupor.

Luke was driving in the car, JJ in the passenger seat and I in the back seat. Luke drove as fast as prudence allowed him, but it wasn't enough for me.

"Luke, speed up!" I yelled.

"Hey Reid, I'm going as fast as I can..." Alvez defended himself.

"Fuck ..." I mumbled.

“Spence, try to calm down. We are on our way. Penelope is helping to get (Y/N) to a hospital,” said JJ trying to use her motherly tone, but I was on the verge of nervous breakdown.

"Don't tell me to calm down JJ!. (Y/N) is giving birth in the middle of nowhere and I’m in a car 2 hours away! She shouldn't even be there in first place!" I complained.

"And with Prentiss and Rossi..." Luke added.

"Shut up Luke, you're not helping..." JJ replied.

Almost 15 minutes passed when JJ's cell phone began to ring. It was Penelope. JJ answered and put it on speaker.

"Go ahead García, you´re on speaker" said JJ.

"Perfect. The chopper arrived and the paramedics are with (Y/N) now. They had a satellite phone, I'm going to connect you with them right now… ”. Garcia transferred the call in that moment.

"Hello?" JJ asked.

"JJ?" Prentiss said on the other end of the line.

"Yes. Spencer and Luke are with me right now, we are driving to the hospital from Frederick…”

“Emily, how is (Y/N) ?, please… tell me, are you in the chopper now?”. I was quick to ask.

"Reid. Paramedics checked (Y/N) and she can't fly until she gives birth, it's not safe. So now we are going to have the baby born first and from there we immediately send her to the hospital" said Prentiss.

"What?!, (Y/N) can't have the baby there… she needs to be in a hospital!" I yelled into the phone.

“It will have to be here, Spencer, labor has already started and your daughter will be born at any moment. I’m sorry…"

"This is a nightmare... can she hear me?" I asked.

“Wait a minute. I'm going to put the phone more close and on speaker. Okay. Done,” said Prentiss.

"(Y/N)?, love?, can you hear me?"

"Spencer…? Is it really you?"

“Yes… it’s me. I'm sorry my love. I can't be there with you right now... "

"I know. I'm sorry too. I shouldn't be here either,” she said while I felt she was finding it difficult to breathe and complained of pain.

"It's okay. Everything will be fine”. At least it was what I expected. If I was horrified I couldn't even imagine how (Y/N) felt in that minute.

"It hurts a lot... I don't know if I can do it ..."

"You can do it love... I know you can ...". In that minute I heard her scream, a contraction for sure.

"I HATE you Spencer!". (Y/N) yelled at me on the phone.

"Love, please, breathe..." I told her to try to get her to focus on breathing.

"Don't tell me what to do! You're not even here! Fuck!". She kept yelling at me on the phone.

"I know my love. I would like to be with you now...". I felt my eyes fill with tears of powerlessness, of not being able to be there with her.

"Spencer... I need you now..." she started to sob.

"Wasn't she hating him just right now?" Rossi interrupted, possibly speaking to Emily.

"David, shut up" Prentiss replied.

"Why doesn't she come out yet?". She grumbled crying

"You have to push (Y/N)...". Emily said to her.

"I can’t do it..."

"Love, I know you can, you’re a strong woman, the strongest woman that I know, I love you, you know that... come on, push, please!..." I tried to encourage her to push.

"Come on (Y/N)! Now it’s the time... one, two, three... push!" Prentiss shouted.

"AHHHHGGGGG I'M GOING TO KILL YOU SPENCER REID…" she yelled.

"Come on (Y/N), you're doing great!. Breathe," said Emily.

"Love, you can do it!" I tried to persuade her to continue.

"I can't... I can't do it..." (Y/N) whined crying. My heart broke listening her words. The pain must been awful.

"Keep going (Y/N), once again. Remember when Spencer forgot your birthday two years ago?". Prentiss asked her.

"Emily... I don't think that's a good idea...". I said over the phone.

"That same anger I need you to get out now for push... come on, one, two, three... push!"

"AHHHHHHGGGGG HOW COULD YOU FORGET IT! FUCKING REID..."

"That's right! Good!... we are close now. Push once more time and the baby will be born... now think about the times Spencer has promised take you to Europe and he canceled it..."

"Emily, please...". I said again over the phone.

"Let's go again... one, two, three... push!"

"AHHHHHGGGGGG HOLY SHIT! I WILL NEVER GO TO EUROPE AND IT'S YOUR FAUUULTTT..."

After that squeal I managed to hear a baby cry. (Y/N)'s screaming stopped. I heard people moved around but nobody said anything.

"Hello?, (Y/N)?, Emily?...". JJ and Luke looked at my confused face and for a second they were as expectant as I was.

"Reid. Congratulations. Your daughter was just born and she's gorgeous,” said Prentiss over the phone. I let out a big sigh of relief. I could hear Emily trying to contain her enthusiasm.

"Thanks God!... how is (Y/N)?" I hastened to ask.

“She is exhausted, but I think she’ll fine. Now both are being taken to the hospital in the chopper. We are now also on our way there".

The remaining hour of travel to the hospital was endless for me. I just wanted to see (Y/N) and my daughter. I only wished they had arrived safely at the hospital and everything was fine. I was silent all the trip. Neither Luke nor JJ wanted to disturb my thoughts, knowing that no matter what they said it wasn't going to relieve my anxiety.

When I got to the hospital, I ran out of the car and went up to the maternity area. In the hall I saw Prentiss and Rossi who when they saw me they smiled at me. That was a good sign, right? I ran to where they were. Emily hastened to speak.

"Everything is fine. They quickly got here and were checked. They did all the necessary tests and the health of both are perfect”. With pure happiness I hugged Prentiss and began to cry. I was releasing all the stress and worry that I held back during the car trip.

“Thank you, thank you for being with her. Thanks for helping her when I couldn't do it,” I murmured with my head buried on Emily's shoulder.

“You don't have to thank us for anything. When we tell you the real reason for this whole thing, you're going to hate us" said Emily laughing. Then it was Rossi' turn.

"Congratulations kid. You have a lovely daughter and a very brave wife. You are a lucky man” he told me while hugging me.

"Where are they? Can I see them?" I asked.

“Yes, they are waiting for you. In that room,” Prentiss said pointing to the last door in the hallway. Without saying anything else I ran there. I poked my head out the door and saw (Y/N) with a bundle wrapped in her arms, my daughter. She immediately noticed my presence.

"Spencer... she just fell asleep." I approached as silently as possible. I was excited, but I was scared too. When I was next to the bed I could see that little lump with her eyes closed and breathing comfortably in her mother's arms. My heart immediately melted. Tears started running down my cheeks. I could tell (Y/N) was crying too. There I remembered again the nightmare that all this must have been for her.

"I'm sorry my love. I'm so sorry that it had to be in this way. I'm sorry I wasn't with you when you needed me most…”. I tried to apologize.

“It’s my fault too. I was reckless. I shouldn't have left the apartment…” she said still sobbing.

“You had no way of knowing. She came earlier…”. I said looking at my daughter. She was beautiful. She looked like an angel. Our little angel.

“She wanted to meet her dad…” (Y/N) said smiling.

"And her mom ..." I replied, putting an arm around (Y/N)'s neck, sitting next to her on the edge of the bed. She rested her head on my arm and looked at me smiling. I leaned in enough to kiss her. “You are tremendously brave (Y/N). You know I admire that about you. And is one of the many reasons why I love you”. I reconnected my lips to hers.

“I love you too Spencer Reid. Despite having yelled at you all those things over the phone…”. We both started laughing.

“I think I deserve it anyway… I promise to take you to Europe on the next vacation. This time I will keep my word”. I sentenced.

"Liar..." she replied smiling.

After a few minutes in silence contemplating and cuddling our little girl, (Y/N) spoke again.

"Spencer?"

"Yes?" I replied still staring my little girl in awe.

"I know... I know we had already discussed our daughter’s name and we had reached an agreement about it..."

"Yes. We did. It’s true. What's up with that?". I asked looking at (Y/N).

“In these hours I've been thinking about it and… everything that happened today, I don't think I could have handled without Prentiss there. She was with me the whole time and… I don't know, if our daughter is here now is largely thanks to her. And well, also thanks to the fact we conceived her a little over 36 weeks ago, of course..."

(Y/N) was right. Although the entire team was involved and contributed to being able to be with our baby now, Prentiss was the one who was with her at all the time.

"If you want, Emily seems like a perfect name for our little girl, and Prentiss seems like a good godmother to me". I replied to (Y/N). She nodded smiling.

"It’s perfect. It certainly is. Do you agree Emily Diana Reid?" (Y/N) asked to our little girl swinging her in her arms. Emily let out a groan, frowning, before resumed her sleep.

“I think she agrees. In fact, she's already mimicked Prentiss," I said jokingly.

"Wait until we tell her..." said (Y/N) laughing and thinking how Prentiss will react with the news.

——————–

#spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x fem!reader #spencer reid x fluff #dad!spencer #criminal minds #dr. spencer reid #spencer reid fanfic

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adie-dee · 3 years

Text

Your OC’s Backstory December Special

Yep, my entry is 5 days late, but I’m just happy I got it done. I’m also posting all four prompts in one post, as I wrote 2000 words total.

This is from before Bethany was cursed. For those who have read my previous backstory pieces, Bethany’s brother Harrison is no longer a baby. Instead, he’s now her adult older brother. She still finds him dead a few months before she’s cursed, though

HOME

My pink crayon was missing.

I searched through the drawing room, trying really hard to find it, as without it I couldn’t finish my picture.

“Are you meant to be in here?” Harrison asked just as I stuck my head under the sofa.

“No,” I replied, sitting back up. “But I needed to do some drawings and this is the drawing room and I’ve lost my pink crayon!”

“It’s a different type of drawing in ‘drawing room’,” he said with a smile.

“Daddy said that too, but I don’t understand!” I whined. If it was really just a living room, why didn’t they call it that?

Harrison kneeled down at the coffee table. “So what are you drawing?”

“It’s our house,” I said, joining him. “And that’s Mummy, and Daddy, and you, and me!” I pointed to each bit as I spoke. “But I need my pink crayon to finish Mummy’s garden and I can’t find it!”

“And what about this?” He pointed at a scratch on the table.

I covered it with my drawing, which he immediately removed.

“It was an accident,” I mumbled. “But I can fix it.”

I didn’t understand why Harrison laughed when I picked up my brown crayon.

“Allow me,” he said, taking it from me. He placed his hand on the scratch and whispered something magical, and when he lifted his hand the scratch was gone.

“Wow!” I wished I could do magic, but Mummy said I didn’t have the spark. “Can you use it to find my crayon?”

“I don’t have that kind of magic,” he told me. “But why do you need the pink? The picture looks finished to me.”

I looked at the drawing again. It was obviously not finished, why did he think it was? “The flowers are missing,” I said slowly.

“Oh. Well, could you do orange flowers? Or red? Purple, maybe?”

“That is a good idea!” I picked up the purple crayon and added in the flowers, then handed the picture to Harrison. “This is for you. For when you leave so you don’t forget me.”

“What makes you think I’m leaving?”

“I heard you,” I mumbled. “When you were on the phone--”

“In my room,” he finished for me. “Which is eavesdropping. Hasn’t Dad told you that’s a bad thing to do?”

I thought for a moment. “Yes. Five times,” I said, holding up five fingers.

“Well you don’t need to worry: I’ll be back a lot. And I’m not going to forget you!” He hugged me. “How could I ever forget my baby sis? Especially with this amazing artwork.” He held it up again.

“It’s upside down,” I giggled, turning it. “See?”

“Ah yes, I see now.” He stared at it a moment longer. “This needs to be our secret though, ok? I won’t be moving until next year, and I haven’t told anyone I’m going yet.”

I did a big nod. “I can keep a secret!”

“We both know that’s not true.”

“I can keep your secrets!” I corrected. “And when I’m grown up I can live with you too! And our home won’t have rules about eating vegetables. Or making my bed every day. And I can have a drawing room of my own!”

“Sounds good, kiddo,” Harrison said, cleaning up my crayons. “Now let's get out of here before Mum finds us and you get in trouble again.”

HOLIDAY

Dear Diary,

Last night was the shortest night of the year!

We had a party to celebrate, and Mummy and Daddy didn’t even make me go to bed at seven. I got to stay up all night!

There was lots of yummy foods that I got to eat that I don’t normally get to eat, like jelly babies and cake and ice cream, and Harrison even gave me something called cordial, which is like a lolly but it’s a drink! I wanted to taste what he was drinking too but he said it was grownup cordial and I wouldn’t like it.

I got to play with other kids too which was really really fun! And I didn’t even get in trouble when I got dirt on my dress from when Brett threw it at me.

After everyone went home, me and Mummy and Daddy and Harrison took the stairs behind the gate up to the roof. Daddy called it a puppet, I think. It was a nice flat bit on the edge of the roof with a wall around it, and we were up there to wait for the sun to rise! I didn’t have to go to bed at all!

I fell asleep anyway, even though I tried real hard. But then Harrison woke me up and I got to see the sunrise, and WOW! The sky was orange and yellow and pink and it was so pretty.

I’m really really tired now. I even fell asleep at the breakfast table and had to clean milk off my face, which made Daddy laugh and Mummy frown. Harrison wasn’t there but he would have laughed too.

Mummy has put me to bed and wants me to have a nap. And I will, diary, I will, but not before I tell you a secret. I found the bag of jelly babies and hid it in my dollhouse. I don’t get many lollies so they’re my secret and I’m going to eat them all.

Once I have my nap. Night, Diary!

GIFT

Bethany…

I pulled the blanket over my head, hoping that was enough to make the monster go away.

Bethany…

The monster started scratching on the floorboards too and I pressed my hands to my ears. “Go away!” I yelled, the way Mummy and Daddy had told me to. “Daddy says you have to!”

BETHANY!

My mattress jumped under me, making me scream. I stood up on my bed and did my biggest jump, but I landed closer to the bed than I wanted to.

I’m going to get you!

I screamed again and ran for my bedroom door, pulling it open and running down the hallway until I reached Mummy and Daddy’s room.

“Daddy daddy daddy!” I yelled, banging on the door. “The monster won’t go away!”

As soon as the door opened I ran into their room and threw myself on their bed.

“Can I sleep here?” I asked Daddy, “Pleasssseeeee? I told the monster to go away and he didn’t listen and I’m scared!!”

“The monster cannot hurt you,” Mummy said, joining Daddy at the door. “He will leave if you ignore him. Now please, Beth, go back to bed.”

I burst into tears. “But he’s scary!”

Daddy sighed and sat on the bad next to me. “What did you say to it?” He asked.

“That… that… that you said he had to go away!”

“Oh Beth,” Daddy said with a small smile. “You have to tell him you don’t want him there. Then he will leave you alone.”

“But what if he doesn’t listen?!”

“He is trying to scare you, nothing more. As your mother says, he will not harm you. I promise. Do you believe me?”

Still crying, I nodded.

Daddy lifted me off the bed and carried me to the door. “Run along to bed, princess,” he said, putting me down. “We will talk more in the morning.”

I dawdled down the hallway, wanting to be anywhere but in my room.

Suddenly, a large monster appeared at the end of the hall and I screamed again.

“Bethany!” The monster yelled, stepping out of the shadows.

I started to giggle. That wasn’t a monster, it was Harrison. The monster never came out from under my bed, anyway.

“What are you doing up?” He asked me.

I told him about the monster.

“Wait here,” he said, then disappeared into his room. When he returned, he was holding a brown teddy bear. “I bought you this,” he said, handing it to me. “I was going to give him to you earlier, but you were already in bed when I came home.”

The teddy bear was soft and fluffy and cuddly, and I hugged him to my face.

“This is a very special bear,” Harrison continued, crouching down next to me. “I gave him magic. So when the monsters make you scared, just hold him tight and he’ll make them go away.”

“Really?”

“Really really.”

I beamed at him. “Thank you!”

“But he needs a name.”

I looked at the bear again. Mummy had told me names were important, and I wanted to make sure I got it right. “Boris!” I announced.

“Boris it is.” Harrison ruffled my hair then stood up. “Come on, kiddo, let’s get you back into bed.”

“Why aren’t you in bed?” I asked. He was still in his daytime clothes too, which was strange.

“Because I’m a grownup.”

“Mummy and Daddy are grownups too.”

He picked me up and smiled. “They’re old grownups,” he said, carrying me back to my room. “And grownups can go to bed whenever they want.”

“I can’t wait to be a grownup!”

“It’s a long way away.” He tucked me into bed. “Goodnight, Bethany.”

“Night, Harrison.”

He pulled the door closed behind him.

Bethany…

I hugged Boris tight, just like Harrison told me to. “Go away!”

The monster didn’t reply.

NEW YEAR

A hand touched my shoulder.

“Boris!” I cried, hugging him tight. The monster was back, he was going to grab me and eat me and—

“Bethany,” a voice hissed, clearly not that of the monster.

“Harrison!”

“Shh!” He switched on my bedside light. “I want to show you something,” he whispered, “but you have to promise not to tell anyone.”

“I can do that,” I said, sitting up. “I haven’t told anyone you’re leaving. I nearly told Daddy but I didn’t.”

He held his pinky out to me. “Pinkie swear?”

“Pinky swear,” I repeated, hooking mine onto his. “Now can I see?”

“Yes. But get your slippers.”

Holding Boris tight I jumped out of bed and ran over to my wardrobe. My slippers were nowhere to be seen so I pulled on my gumboots instead. I liked my gumboots. They weren’t boring colours like all the clothes Mummy bought me; instead they were pink and purple and had flashing lights in the bottoms. Harrison always got me nice things, and wearing them with my nightie made me feel like a princess.

“Can you be quiet in those?” he asked once I came out of my wardrobe. “We don’t want anyone to hear.”

I replied with a big nod.

He led me out of my room and into the drawing room, pausing to pick up one of my crayons off the floor. “Cover your eyes,” he whispered.

I did as he asked, and heard something go click.

When I uncovered them, the back of the fireplace was missing, and there was a rickety staircase instead.

I almost squealed with excitement. A secret passage!

Harrison ducked into the fireplace and I followed him, climbing the stairs, and suddenly we were on the roof.

But not the nice flat part where I got to watch the sunrise. This bit was steep and covered in thick red tiles.

“Why are we--”

Harrison shushed me again. “Mum and Dad are on the parapet,” he whispered, pointing to where the nice bit was. “They wanted you to stay in bed but you’re five now, and a big girl, and I wanted you to see.”

“See what?”

Just as I spoke there was a big explosion overhead, one made of purple and green sparkles. Then red, and blue, and silver. Some were big circles and others shot up like rockets, and even the bridge was covered in sparkles. It was so pretty. Not as pretty as the sunrise, but still really really pretty.

Harrison picked me up and I reached out, trying to catch the falling lights.

“Happy new year,” he whispered.

Suddenly I gasped. “Does this mean you’re leaving me now?” I don’t want you to go!” Tears formed in my eyes and I rubbed my face onto his shoulder to wipe them away.

“Not yet. I have a few more things to organise, so I’ll be here for the rest of summer. And when it’s time, you’ll be the first to know.”

#yourocsbackstory #my oc: bethany #lies in the lilies #december special

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forabeatofadrum · 2 years

Text

l'amor che move (il sole e l'altre stelle) - epilogue

Notes: And here we are, we’ve reached the end. Don’t mind me. There’s something in my eyes. It’s tears!

AO3

–

2017

BAZ

Simon Snow saved the World of Mages and no one will ever know.

When The Mage went missing in September 2016, the World of Mages fell apart. He’d been in total control for so long. The Mage Men scoured every part of the World of Mages, they spit through all his private diaries to check his whereabouts, they raided many homes.

They don’t know that their glorious leader is buried in an unmarked grave on a mountain near Brescia.

Dr. Wellbelove, of all people, is the one who took action. After six months of political disarray and instability, he suggested that the Coven should have a re-election. An honest one, for the first time in almost two decades. Mitali Bunce and the underground resistance had spent those six months trying to find all the dirt on The Mage and his most loyal followers, including the ones in the Coven.

Let’s just say that I’m glad that I didn’t live in England during that time. I heard that the trial against her eldest son was brutal. The Mage was never an outright violent dictator, but that doesn’t mean that he and his Mage Men didn’t commit crimes towards the World of Mages. Some people who opposed him disappeared. (People are finally saying out loud why they disappeared.)

In late March 2017, The Mage was declared dead and Mitali Bunce was appointed the head of the Coven through elections. She immediately dropped all discriminatory laws against the Old Families and my aunt Fiona now works with Coven to prosecute Magelings who are complicit to the disappearances. According to Daphne, the two of them have a friendly work relation. Fiona’s gone from distrusting Mitali Bunce to almost admiring her. It’s quite interesting.

Some of The Mage’s policies on anti-elitism are being continued, and without a dictatorship to uphold them, the World of Mages will hopefully be more fair and equal. Mitali’s daughter, Penelope Bunce, is head of Creature Relations, a new department that tries to equalise and unify mages with other magickal species.

(I don’t really know how that happened, but Agatha told me that Penelope Bunce fucked off to America after Watford and she fell in love with a creature loving Normal.) (Penelope Bunce is a mystery.)

Dr. Wellbelove retired from the Coven, now that his work was done. The only reason he was ever on the Coven was to take down The Mage from the inside, and now The Mage is gone. Turns out that he wasn’t naïve, but an active spy for the anti-Mage resistance. Dr. Wellbelove now expands his medical work. Martin Bunce’s research is still ongoing. A lot of new dead spots appeared one day but then it just stopped and no one knows why, but there’s also hope that the magic will return one day. Miss Possibelf became the new Headmistress of Watford and she’s turning it into a proper school again, instead of a training camp for future soldiers.

The World of Mages is so much more better and safer for me than before, but I opted to stay in Salò with Simon.

No one back there knows what really happened. Simon, Ms. Snow and I have all kept our mouths shut. I didn’t tell my family, even though Fiona keeps saying that she wants to personally congratulate the person who offed The Mage. (She’s one of the few people that believe that someone killed The Mage.) (Which means she’s one of the few people that’s right.). I didn’t tell Agatha, even though her father is now one of the faces of the progressive anti-Mage politics and the new era of peace.

Let The Mage and his legacy die in a mysterious and dishonouring way.

Maybe one day the truth will come out.

After all – and I hate to say this – but The Mage was right about one thing. The Greatest Mage prophecy has always been real. Simon was the Chosen One and he stopped the greatest threat to magic. Only The Mage didn’t know that he was the greatest threat to magic.

Simon Snow.

The love of my life.

He killed his dad and he sacrificed his magic to save his mum. After a year I’ve gotten used to it. I still remember what it felt like to be around Simon and all that power, but Simon’s still Simon. It took him quite some time to work through it, but he’s at peace with himself. Interestingly enough, he doesn’t miss doing magic. I can’t imagine that, but as Simon would say, I always think with my wand. He grew up as a Normal, so he’s never gotten used to doing magic when there’s also a Normal alternative and he hated doing magic.

The thing that hit him wasn’t doing magic, but having magic. He’s slowly gotten used to the empty feeling that he now carries around all the time.

“I suppose it’s similar to losing one of your senses,” Simon once said to me, “You don’t actively think about something like your hearing or your sight, but you have it. It’s there all the time. And then one day it’s gone and you have to readjust your life, but it doesn’t make life any less worthy or great.”

In fact, he insists that he misses feeling my and Ms. Snow’s magic more than that he misses feeling his own magic.

“You two felt like home to me.”

Sometimes he dreams that he still has it, but there’s never magic leaking from him. There’s no supernova in his chest. His bracelet is a Normal bracelet now. (To him, I can still feel the magic from the bracelet. It’s just no longer bound to Simon’s, since there’s nothing left to bind to.). He gave it all away.

He saved his mum and killed his dad.

He killed The Mage.

And now he’s killing our kitchen. What happens after you saved an entire world? You sign up for a cooking class.

SIMON

“Fuck,” I grumble. How am I ever going to get this linguine allo scoglio right? I know that I’ve become better at cooking, but I have challenged myself with this one. I’ve never prepared anything with seafood before.

After everything that happened last summer, I needed to do something to take my mind off of things. The first month was a disaster. I spent most of my time taking out my anger on my mum and Baz. I was a terrible son and boyfriend, but they sticked around.

I just didn’t know what to do with myself.

How do you go on from killing your own dad? Yes, he was a bad man and yes, I never really knew him, but I still killed someone. My dad.

Baz still blamed himself for it, no matter how many times I told him that he shouldn’t. If he hadn’t come to Salò, none of this would have happened. I wouldn’t have learnt about magic and my dad wouldn’t have tracked us down.

Honestly, it was hard for us to be together. We’d gone from a loving and strong relationship to two ghosts that darted around each other. We wanted each other, but we were so messed up after it all. We tried to carry on, but it was difficult in the beginning.

My mum is the one who helped us out.

She’s also changed by what happened. How can she not? But she’s more at peace than ever, now that she doesn’t have to fear my dad anymore.

But yeah, mum is the one who suggested that I needed to do something. I signed up for a cooking class, since I love food and it’s a shame that none of us is decent in the kitchen. My mum still breaks her spaghetti, so she still isn’t allowed in.

Baz also signed up for a class: an Italian class. I mean, I was a fucking terrible Italian teacher, so it’s for the best.

Slowly, we were able to move on and heal from what happened. It still stings. I still have nightmares about my mum’s body in the woods, or about my dad’s skin peeling off and his eye hanging out of its socket, or about Baz spelled to the ground in that shed, or about when my dad hugged me and I wanted to crawl out of my skin, but I am working on giving it a place. I think it’s working.

What’s definitely not working is this stupid linguine allo scoglio.

“Fuck!” I yell out again. It’s my go-to swearword for cooking mishaps.

“I thought this cooking thing was supposed to be therapeutic.”

Baz is standing behind him. I didn’t feel him coming closer. I used to recognise my mum and Baz everywhere, even before I knew I had magic, but that is all gone. I’m fine with not being a mage. I’d lived most of my life as a Normal anyway. I am more than okay with no longer being the powerful mage from the storybooks. I was shit at magic. I only excelled at basic spells anyway. Although sometimes I miss the way his magic used to feel. It felt like home.

Maybe in another lifetime I’d be more devastated by losing my magic, but I don’t live in that lifetime. I lived most of my life without (intentionally) using magic, so I am fine. Yes, I miss some little things, like Death by chocolate, but Baz can still do those spells for me, especially now that I moved in with him. Still, overall I think that giving up my magic was one of the best things that happened in my life, together with meeting Baz. Once I was at peace with it, I realised how much at peace I was in general.

I ask Baz to spell my food.

“Love, food spells are wonky,” he says with a smile. He knows that I know that. “Besides, what’s the point of you doing something with your hands if I spell it all for you?”

“This dish has to be perfect, Baz!” I say. It’s true. I am practising for a special occasion.

“You have two more weeks before they come to Salò, Snow. Two more weeks to perfect this linguine allo scoglio. Also, they really won’t mind if it isn’t perfect. They’re more excited about finally meeting you.”

I groan in frustration. It’s true. I am meeting my grandmother and uncle for the first time in my life and I am nervous. I’m channelling all that nervosity in this damn dish. My mum’s been in London for a month, reconnecting with her friends and family. With my dad declared dead, it’s safe for us to go back. She’ll come back to Salò in two weeks with my family in tow.

I didn’t join her. I wanted to give my mum the time and peace to do this for herself.

I have two more weeks to prepare, and I have two more weeks alone with Baz.

“Snow, please wrap it up,” Baz says, “You have enough time. And we have to leave in an hour.”

Yes, two more weeks alone with Baz and we’re going to use that time wisely.

I give in under the condition that Baz spells the kitchen clean, because I have made a huge mess.

An hour later, I’m driving us to San Felice del Benaco. The windows are rolled down and Baz’s hair is flying in the wind. He’s growing it out and it looks incredible. Baz sings along with the annoying radio jingle, but I don’t mind.

We’re going to explore the town and then we’ll rent another boat. It’s been a year since our first trip on the Lago di Garda and we thought it’d be nice to do it again, but to visit other places in the area. You’d think that after a year we would’ve visited them all, but no, we travelled to other places in Italy. (Baz loved the outlets in Toscana. He bought a lot of Gucci.) (I still think Gucci’s ugly.) (It’s a secret I’ll take with me to my grave.)

I am focusing on the road, but when the light is red, I look to my side when I feel Baz’s hand on mine.

He gives me a big smile.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” I say back.

Who would’ve thought that his arrival in Salò would change my life so much? Yes, we’ve had rough times in the past year, but we’re still here. We’re still together.

Two weeks. He’s going to be all mine for these two weeks. He’s hopefully going to be mine forever.

The light turns green. I accelerate. He’s still holding my hand.

We arrive at San Felice del Benaco. It’s a very small place and the only reason that we’re here is because it’s cheaper to rent a boat here. (Baz told me that he can magickally counterfeit money, but that that’s not recommended.)

The weather is divine. There’s barely any wind (although Baz still has to spell his big sunhat.) (Yes, he still has the sunhat!) and the water of the lake is as beautiful as ever. I’m the one steering now, but Baz’s stood next to me to take over if needed. He is touching my back lightly.

Steering a boat at high speed is fucking amazing.

Baz looks at me with a big smile on his face. I know I should be looking ahead of me, but I steal a small glance.

“I love you,” I say.

“I love you too,” he says back.

We’re cruising on Lago di Garda. I may or may not have made some vroom vroom noises. We pass Salò on our way to Moderno, which is our first stop for this trip. The city looks beautiful from this perspective.

Salò.

The place to be. Our place forever.

End notes: And that’s a wrap on Paradiso 1. I still can’t believe this fic happened. I got a random idea and I wrote a 70K+ words fic in a month, which in turn became a trilogy. It was quite a ride and I want to thank you all for coming with me, especially the subscibers and the frequent commenters. And I want to once again thank Marta for supplying me with the necessary Italian knowledge. Folks, it’s hard to write a story set in a country you don’t know much about.

I created a post with some photo’s of all the places that Simon and Baz visited in this story. I also created a post with all the personal easter eggs that I’ve hidden in the story. Oh, and here’s the placeholder titles for the chapters.

Thank you all for reading, and if you feel like it, you can join me for the upcoming sequel, which takes place in 2019 and without giving too much away, it’s going to be about the Italian magickal community, Shepard Bunce being an amazing friend, and Simon and Baz (especially Baz) trying to find peace with who they are.

#snowbaz #l'amor che move (il sole e l'altre stelle)#carry on #simon snow series #holy fuck I wrote #2021 #multichaptered #story: paradiso

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mcfanely · 4 years

Text

The Ice Emperor and the Earth Dragon

Burdened with the knowledge that a rescue was most likely not on its way, both Zane and Cole change tact. Moving from thinking their stay in the new realm would be temporary, to being fully aware that their stay could last a lot, lot longer.

Chapter 05 - Dear Diary, 2043 words

That realisation had struck hard. Very hard.

Cole hadn't realised how much he'd been relying on their friends coming to rescue them. How the thought of a portal opening up in the sky at any moment, the same one that had spat him and Zane out was actually pushing him on.

That their brothers would come through and they'd have a ticket home.

But they'd realised that wouldn't be happening, that no rescue party was going to be coming for them any time soon, since why would they think that they'd survived a direct hit from Aspheera's staff?

Kai, Jay, Lloyd, Nya, Pixal, Wu.

What reason would they have to think that he and Zane were alive?

Cole couldn't imagine what they were going through at that very moment. They'd won the battle, the war. They'd vanquished evil, but they'd be entirely sure that it was at the cost of two friends, two brothers. A chunk of their makeshift family gone in one fell swoop. Or maybe he could in a way, with losing Zane during the battle with the Overlord. But again, and two of them?

Unfortunately, they couldn't ponder on what they might or might not be going through.

Still, they couldn't just sit around and do nothing.

Their circumstances had changed in an instant and they both knew it. They'd gone from the mindset of they had to wait, endure an unknown period of time between them arriving in the realm and them being saved by their brothers.

To being aware that they might not be coming at all. Endurance became surviving. It became the task of getting the mech working if only for the heat it could provide, the shelter or the aid it could give with going outside the cave and braving the elements. It became knowing that when exhaustion finally overtook them both at night, they'd wake up the next day, in the same cave, and repeat the process.

Routine maintained focus.

Routine was finding a source of food, or any food at all. It became firewood and a way to make a fire. They were ninja, they were trained survivalists. They had to be with the amount of times they'd been stranded. Yet, it didn't make the situation feel any less bleak.

They weren't giving up, though. Neither of them would curl up in a ball and let the world take them.

They had to believe that help would come. Be it their brothers, or from a different source.

Both Zane and Cole worked through impossible odds by keeping busy. Productive distractions, as Cole has once dubbed the process. Which was why, after what had felt like a few days, they had a good routine going.

They may have gone to sleep hungry and exhausted that first night, but by the end of the second day and after being blessed with a clear sky, Cole had found a partially frozen-over lake. Both fresh water, and food in the form of fish.

After the fourth day, they were rising with the sun in the morning, both Zane and Cole sparred together before either of them were really fully awake. They'd found wood for a fire, only it was too damp to work with and take a spark, not that they’d been able to suitably produce one.

The cave and it's shelter was probably the only reason Cole hadn't frozen to death, but they needed to amend the warmth problem quickly.

On the sixth day-- or the eighth-- Zane removed the screen from the control centre of the mech, and one of the many batteries the machine had in order to get at least something working.

He passed it down to a waiting Cole, who then situated it on the flattest surface they had in their shelter. A large and almost level rock they'd been using as a table. It was now home to an assortment of wires, jumper cables, and now a screen currently without power.

"You want to do what with this thing?" Cole questioned.

"Record a message." came the reply as Zane hopped down the mech, "I thought that we should document our findings, should anyone happen--"

"-- To come across this place and we're not here. That's smart." Cole smiled softly.

He'd been trying to keep himself upbeat over the past few days. One thing that helped was that Zane was in the same mindset. Power forwards, just keep on moving and doing and something good should come out of it.

Only, it felt like the good was still yet to come.

Or maybe the good was that Zane had stopped sparking since they'd spent a bit of time fixing his wiring. Cole wasn't the greatest with electronics, nothing compared to Nya, but he made do. Then the lump on his head had come and gone without much fanfare, so he hadn't been concussed.

They still both wore the stresses of the past couple weeks like a second skin. Their gis were ruined, oil stained and dirt tracked, ripped and frayed in parts. A part of Cole's trousers had electrical burns from stripped wiring, even. They were dishevelled, tired, but alive and keeping it that way.

And the discovery of the damaged processing unit in the mech had been a cause for celebration. They had something to look at, an actual possible reason behind the inhibited function and the fact that it just wasn't working no matter how much tinkering they both did.

It was what he and Zane were going to look at today.

That was the plan, but then they'd gotten sidetracked with removing the screen to document their progress.

Though Cole had to admit, it was a good idea.

He hooked the jumper cables up to the battery, then nearly jumped for joy when the screen flickered to life in front of them. Finally, something was going their way.

"Wow, didn't think I'd be missing technology already." Cole said, a slight smile on his face as he looked at the flickering screen. It was just a mirror image of himself, courtesy of the camera at the top of the console.

Then, Cole just stared. Stared into his own eyes on the screen. How tired he actually looked. The fact that he was in dire need of a shower that wasn't cold lake water, or new clothes that weren't representative of being pulled through a hedge backwards several hundred times over. He tugged lightly at the hem of his gi with a small frown, picking off a loose piece of dirt and flicking it away. As if that made all the difference.

"We both aren't exactly the most well kept individuals." Zane said at his left shoulder, which dragged Cole out of his stupor with a quiet chuckle.

"What gave that away? Was it the fact that I'm using my belt to keep my hair out of my face whilst I work, or the oil you didn't tell me was on my forehead?" He questioned.

"I was more focused on the twig you've had stuck in your hair since we were sparring this morning."

The noise Cole made at that reveal was a mix of an indignant huff and a sound of surprise, which really made for an unusual mix. Then he brought a hand back and started feeling through his hair. After a few seconds of fruitless searching, and the fact that Zane didn't change his expression during that time keyed Cole in on the situation.

"There's no stick, is there?" Cole raised both his eyebrows at his friend in question, and Zane's almost perfect facade broke into a smile. "You absolute-- wow, Zane, and I thought I trusted you." He laughed and lightly punched the nindroid in the shoulder, only to get the action returned to him when he turned his attention back to the screen.

Naturally, the only reaction was to grip his shoulder and give the most affronted ow he could muster.

Zane smiled, rolled his eyes, and looked at the screen too.

"I believe this would help keep up a routine." He said, shifting the subject so he wasn't risking Cole turning and returning the jovial punch a second time. Smart. "At the end of the day, we document what we did."

"Like a diary."

"Of sorts." Zane cleared his throat. "It also helps to keep track of the days here. Especially the ones where it feels like the sky does not open."

Cole just nodded slowly. The days that sometimes were hard to distinguish from the nights. When the snowstorms got so bad that they blocked out the sky, all light and severely inhibited vision. When it was hard to figure out if the day had begun, or if it was still the dead of twilight.

Keeping track of days helped to keep thoughts focused, heads on straight. There was nothing worse than losing track of time. Counting days, it was something to measure.

"I know we're both confused as to how long we've been here. And with my internal clock broken, I'm not able to keep track exactly."

Cole just shook his head and draped an arm over Zane's shoulders, giving him a sideways hug. "We can't do anything about it now. But we can document today, make our first message to an empty realm."

Zane sighed, and leant slightly into the hug, "The point of making a message is the knowledge that someone could see it."

They both looked at the screen.

It was unspoken, but if anyone actually ended up seeing these messages, they knew who they'd want it to be.

Cole blew out a heavy breath and tapped the button in the centre before Zane could tell him not to. The screen flickered once, before a small recording symbol appeared in the top left corner.

"Cole, we haven't even spoken about what we will say." Zane observed, and Cole just nodded.

Though he sort of knew, if he hadn't pressed the record button, they would have been dancing around the idea of recording a message for a while before either one of them plucked up the courage to actually go ahead and do it.

It made everything feel final, like they were accepting their situation for the long run.

Maybe that was what they needed to do?

"I know." He smiled, before turning to the screen and glancing into the camera.

"Hey," Cole said, then just closed his eyes for a moment at how stupid that had sounded.

He should have thought of what he was going to say.

"Uh-- we don't really know if there's anyone else out there. You know, anywhere. But this is a message to document the fact that we're here. Or at least, at the time of this recording, we're here." He paused, then reached over and tugged Zane fully into sight of the camera.

"My name is Cole, and this is Zane." Cole continued, then paused. It was hard to think of what should be said. What could he say? Anything that his mind was providing just felt too morbid, too much like giving up.

If you find this message, we're not here anymore.

We don't know if, by the time you're seeing this, this cave has been empty for a while.

We were counting on a rescue, but we figured out pretty early on that it might not be coming.

"We're strangers in this land." Zane took over when he noticed that Cole was floundering. "And we're trying to find our way home."

Cole just watched, still on the screen, as Zane managed to capture the situation in the best way possible. In the lightest way. Like his words were there to provide hope for whoever might end up viewing this recording, as if their personal efforts to get back home meant that in the future they could be successful.

Even when the odds were stacked against them.

"We've found it hard to keep track of days in this place, it feels like it's been a long time." They shared a glance for a second.

Cole, he was convinced they were on day eight. Zane, his guess was a little more, ten to fifteen days. It didn't narrow anything down.

"-- But we're not giving up hope."

From the beginning

Ch 04 > Ch 05 > Ch 06

AO3

#The Ice Emperor and the Earth Dragon AU #The Ice Emperor and The Earth Dragon #cole #zane #cole brookstone #zane julien #cole ninjago #zane ninjago #ninjago #lego ninjago #lego #The Ice Emperor #mcfanely writes #mcfanely aus #mcfanely

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elaz-ivero · 3 years

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Poetry Fieldnotes ||Broken Artists Collective||

[image description: a block print with a bright red border around a greyish blue grainy image. Atop it is a pair of discoloured hands, palms facing forward, red and outstretched. Above the hands in white Garamond font are the words, Broken Artists Collective and in smaller font, and other poems. /end id]

Over the past week, I may or may not have fully embraced the concept of a broken artist finding myself unable to conjure up a single creative thought unless I'm lying on the floor surrounded by scrawlings and broken-spined books. For a long time, I have been trying to cater my work to a series of magazines that clearly yearn for a very specific 'type' of poetry that I am incapable of producing. These poems are ones that applied pressure, the ones that were crammed into inattentive submission boxes and were returned in empty emails.

Here are the poems,

[image description: a photograph of a boy laying down looking upward, a lit cigarette stands upright in his mouth and his features are overlayed with the shadows of ferns and other plants. He wears an orange collared shirt and around him are the words in white Garamond font, Floor Bound Echo Location. /end id]

Floor-bound Echolocation is a disjointed 403-word prose poem that is a coalesce of liminal spaces, chaotic ingenuity and a reversal of grief. Like many of my poems, it describes a series of small events and feels more like a corrupted scene from a novel than a stand-alone poem. It's a short tale of a brother and sister cleaning out the garage-workspace of their genius, estranged and recently deceased cousin. It opens as follows...

All the lines are in lowercase and of sporadic length, every so often a single random word is isolated and highlighted. These are the words that were isolated throughout the poem.

//enigma //a test of patience //satisfied //memorized

I adore this poem and it feels strangely personal (my own experiences often slip into my work unconsciously like fears finding their place in dreams) as a creative I fear the idea that a lot of my work and unwritten ideas will never be read or known. The poem focuses on one of the cousin's creations, a geometric pattern drawn in chalk on the concrete floor. This pattern, its design obsessive and laid out like a triggerless trap takes over the narrative of the poem. The characters wash it away and the pattern, the physical manifestation of this dead cousins genius clings to the idea of being appreciated, recognized.

[image description: a boy sits up against a wall in a barren green and blue-tinted room, to the right of the image, is a window showing trees outside and beneath it a gas heater is attached to the wall. The boy's wearing a similar orange shirt and on the wall beside him are words, 'it blends and swirls with the oiled water and tidals along the length of the driveway to passer-by's what remains of it asks, begs, to be, memorised.' /end id]

I wrote 'floor-bound...' in a day and made subsequent edits over the course of a couple of days, I tend to write out my ideas and make minor changes to word choice and sentence length before I add in the details that make each poem unique. The isolation of individual letters was a way to almost mimic the process of looking in a cluttered space you'll see something recognizable and latch onto it.

Status: Submitted

[image description: A girl with long black hair, olive skin and a tired solemn expression face forward, an unlit cigarette held loosely in her mouth. She stands in a red elevator, the doors are closed and on the left on the image is the metal switchboard showing she has reached level 12. On her right is the word, 'Peephole'. /end id]

Peephole is a mirrored poem and is split into 'Inside', and 'Outside' with Inside, aligned to the left and Outside, aligned to the right, they are reflective of each other, mirrored. Peephole is about a young drunk woman staying inside her boyfriend's cramped apartment inspired by the 43-Square-Foot rooms in South Korea and an image from the article below inspired the entirety of this poem.

She, aware that the apartment seems to reject her, steps out into the hallway, the 'Outside' which feels apocalyptic with a burning wining sun and a ghost standing by the elevator, a personification of her sickness silently assessing how she is still alive and if she could find her way home in this state. The women in turn assess how this hallway faintly reminds her of the one from 'The Shining' leading into a breaking of the fourth wall.

[image description: A photograph that looks similar to a corrupted piece of film, tinted red and showing a woman's profile looking toward the right. Words on the left of the image read, 'I take an imaginary drag as if setting the scene of some ninety's horror, slasher, mounting suspense with the final girl, alone, a lonely lamb how easy would it be to just end a film right here.' /end id]

The tone of the poem is gritty, realistic and almost elusive in its design. I love writing poems without intending to care about its audience, with no closure, no clarity, no kindness. This poem is an amalgamation of all the recent media I've consumed, 'The Shining', Final Girl, Wikipedia dives into the housing crisis and psychological horror. I love writing poems that reflect a blend of culture, using language as a way to implement distinctive voices in my writing.

[image description: Another room tinted green, on the bottom of the image head barely in frame is a women looking off into the distance, above the cigarrete she holds red smoke reflecting in the shine on her face twirls and unfurls. Text reads, 'Tiger balm and salt, "kapuahi ahi" his whisper hurts my ears and sounds like, toungue on velvet, tooth in cheek.' /end id]

Status: Submitted

[image description: a close up of a brides face covered by a sheer veil in front of a black background, her eyes are tinted with red eyeshadow and she looks forward with a bored stare. Large text in the upper left-hand corner reads, 'Chekhov'. /end id]

Chekhov, my most recent poem is- as the title suggests- from the perspective of a gun, a woman on her wedding day is left at the altar by a cheating groom and hunts him down in the orchard venue with an heirloom of a gun. I love the perspective of this poem, the way it slowly reveals the origin of the 'voice' and grows darker and darker as the wedding dress soils and darkens with dirt and blood. Few of my poems spur from ideas rather than images but the idea of a furious bride filled with anguish and horror brought this poem to life.

[image description: a young bride looking behind her as she runs toward a patch of dark trees in the middle of a field. One hand holds up the edge of her white dress, it's evening. Text on the left-hand side of the image reads, 'Darling when my steel feels soft, revoke your vows and kiss something just as cold and cocky. /end id]

This poem is split into three stanzas, before the wedding, during and the evolving aftermath. I feel like I could extend this into a short story saving the strange gunpoint perspective till the final scene.

Status: Completing

[image description: A black and white image of a boy looking up, his expression a mix of horror and fear while blades point down at him and hold steady inches from his neck. The image is a still from "Ivan the Terrible" by Sergei Eisenstein. Text aside it reads, 'The Sound of Hamlet Rehearsed. /end id]

The sound of Hamlet Rehearsed, inspired by my own recent exploration of scriptwriting and theatre. The sound of Hamlet Rehearsed is about a boy being held accountable during a faux court hearing, on stage on opening night. The narrative slowly switches from fiction to reality as it dawns on him that the punishment is about to be dealt and he struggles with understanding how much of his reaction is performance or authentic. It's structured in a sporadic unbroken series of words and moments.

Tone-deaf touchtone tipping point Ziplock bags and scented zip ties off script the boards atop the trap door tremble imagine the conductor beneath torch amongst teeth briefly making out direction from diction.

Status: Editing

Those are the poems I've been working on! I'm not going to write any more poetry until I come to my poetry course next trimester and instead are going to focus on short stories (I'm developing two right now, three-course meal and Wren versus the Russian Government) and continuing by Worldbuilding Diaries series.

-E

#poetry #brokenartistscollective #wip #bac #amwriting #writeblr #poems #poets on tumblr #writing #writeblogging

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tabloidtoc · 3 years

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National Enquirer, October 26

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover Story: Death Mysteries -- Whitney Houston autopsy cover-up; Kenny Rogers’ body is missing

Page 2: Reba McEntire’s new romance with Rex Linn convinced Kelly Clarkson she needed to walk away from her unhappy marriage -- while Reba’s love life was heating up Kelly’s relationship with husband Brandon Blackstock who is Reba’s former stepson was hitting the rocks and Kelly remained very close with Reba and Reba would tell her how happy Rex had made her

Page 3: Control freak Tom Cruise is a basket case after he couldn’t charm Cher into leaving their steamy fling out of her upcoming memoir and the image-conscious actor was so panicky over Cher spilling their sexy secrets that he personally called her -- they had a strong physical attraction when they met at a White House event back in the ‘80s and eventually they hooked up and it was very hot and very intense and over in a matter of weeks but it left a nice impression on Cher so she only has good things to say about their relationship but what happened between them could prove very embarrassing if it got out and Tom doesn’t want that to happen -- unfortunately for Tom Cher wouldn’t say anything about what she intends to write and wouldn’t promise to leave Tom out and that’s made Tom even more paranoid and he’s wondering if he’s going to have to take legal action

Page 4: Kanye West is keeping a secret divorce diary to use against wife Kim Kardashian and its potential dishy dirt has her famous family quaking in their boots -- Kanye’s convinced Kim’s about the kick him to the curb and is putting together collateral to crush her and her family is the couple spirals into a $2.2 billion divorce, Jennifer Garner at 48 is flaunting her best body ever and her motivation is to compete with ex-husband Ben Affleck’s 32-year-old girlfriend Ana de Armas because Jen was tired of hearing how Ben’s fallen head over heels for Ana and wanted to remind him what he’s missing -- Jen’s always been very confident of her looks but she decided to step out of mom mode to remind everyone how hot she still is

Page 5: Devastated Lisa Marie Presley has been relying on an old pal Smashing Pumpkins rocker Billy Corgan to repair her shattered life in the wake of the suicide of her son -- Lisa Marie and Billy were spotted together at Graceland not long ago and he’s been a huge source of support for her -- though they were rumored to have had a romance in 2018 Billy’s fully committed to his baby mama fashion designer Chloe Mendel and Lisa Marie would like nothing better for them to make beautiful music again but she knows he’s taken and she needs his friendship more than ever.

Page 6: Ambitious anchor Gayle King is calling the shots at CBS This Morning after executive producer Diana Miller quit in the latest backstage shake-up; there was tension between Gayle and Diana and now Diana is gone -- it’s like the show gave Gayle the keys to the car and even if she runs it into a ditch the network gives her more power -- Gayle also clashed with former co-host Norah O’Donnell who successfully snagged the anchor chair at CBS Evening News but Norah hasn’t wowed in the ratings and it’s a matter of time before Gayle gets the coveted job

Page 7: The mystery over the fate of country great Kenny Rogers’ body has left his own family members in the dark -- sources close to the singer said he’d been cremated while others charged his body is still on ice and Kenny’s body is missing as far as most people are concerned and there’s no place fans can go and pay their respects -- it’s most likely he’s been cremated and the ashes have yet to be scattered but there have also been whispers in certain circles that he could have been cryogenically frozen to preserve his body for a later date, many of Hollywood’s biggest names are abandoning Tinseltown to escape the COVID-19 pandemic and a collapsing entertainment industry -- Julia Roberts hightailing it to San Francisco and Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson getting citizenship in Greece and Pierce Brosnan put his Malibu mansion on the market and Jim Cameron is peddling his prized L.A. compound

Page 8: Frustrated Jon Stewart’s plans to reinvent himself as the next Steven Spielberg have flopped and he’s pretty unhappy about it and he wants to be viewed as a respected serious filmmaker but he’s hit more roadblocks than he ever saw as a comedian or talk show host -- he was left fuming when Irresistible his latest outing as a director was met by mediocre reviews and limited to pay-per-view and streaming services last summer even with box office draw and best buddy Steve Carell in the cast -- he could snap his fingers and get any TV project but he’s setting his sights much higher and he’s walked away from millions of dollars to go back to TV because he wants to prove he is a creative force in the film industry

Page 9: Frustrated Brad Pitt is threatening to have ex Angelina Jolie dragged to jail if she refuses to end her harassment campaign against him and hash out a divorce and custody agreement and he’s had it with Angie’s intimidation tactics and is fed up with being labeled a bad dad and it’s no exaggeration to say Brad’s scared of Angie and he wants professional witnesses around them at all times when he attempts to see their children but for Brad though it would be the ultimate revenge to see Angie led away in handcuffs, Nashville legend Travis Tritt is trying to keep up with country music’s up-and-comers by getting a lift from plastic surgery and recent photos show the 57-year-old almost unrecognizable with a line-free face and skin as tight as a drum -- Travis is getting ready to put out his first album of new music in more than ten years and it’s hard to blame the guy when he’s completing against singers 30 years younger

Page 10: Hot Shots -- Julia Garner got a touch-up on the Staten Island set of Inventing Anna, Reverend Run visited a mural of slain Run-DMC bandmate Jam Master Jay in NYC’s Hollis Queens, Vanessa Paradis and daughter Lily-Rose Depp in Paris

Page 11: Lovestruck Chrissy Metz is already talking marriage and babies with newly unveiled beau Bradley Collins but she has a history of falling for guys fast which has previously been a recipe for heartbreak and while nobody’s doubting Bradley’s intentions there’s a lot of confusion about why they kept their romance totally hidden until now, the devastating fire that tore through Rachael Ray’s home has made her reassess her life and she and husband John Cusimano are now considering adopting a baby -- losing so many of their possessions in the fire made them realize they weren’t all that important anyway so they bulldozed the house and are rebuilding and the word is they’ll add a nursery

Page 12: Straight Shuter -- Danny Trejo cuddled a rescue pup (picture), Lizzo is the first plus-sized Black woman to ever grace the cover of Vogue but pulling off the shoot was a challenge with most designers unable to find clothes that fit her, Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel are very private and they’re livid with Lance Bass after he confirmed that they had another baby, when he was NBC’s biggest star Matt Lauer conducted almost every high-profile interview and now editors and doing a lot of cropping and zooming to preserve archived footage while removing Matt

Page 14: Crime

Page 15: Rock guitar god Eddie Van Halen who tragically died after a brave battle with cancer wanted to be buried with one of his Frankenstrat guitars that he created to define his signature sound -- Eddie felt like he owed his whole life to that instrument and he loved that thing as much as his family, Perez Hilton dished he kissed notorious skirt-chaser John Mayer in a New York nightclub and the lip-lock happened right in front of John’s then girlfriend Jessica Simpson who didn’t seem to know whether she was incredibly embarrassed or really turned on

Page 16: Cover Story -- explosive new autopsy evidence proves superstar Whitney Houston didn’t have to die -- eight years after she passed mysteries about her final moments and blatant blunders at the death scene point to murder and a shocking coverup and now investigators are demanding a new probe into the 2012 tragedy in a Los Angeles hotel bathroom and for Whitney’s body to be exhumed -- a private eye believes the autopsy proves Whitney was murdered but the case was never pursued because she was dismissed as a druggie and she was marginalized by law enforcement as a dead drug user

Page 18: American Life

Page 19: Horror movie legend John Saxon’s family started battling over his fortune even before he passed on July 25 -- in legal papers filed in May his son Antonio claimed the actor’s third wife Gloria Martel had been pocketing money against John’s wishes, Netflix faces criminal charges in Texas over the controversial film Cuties -- according to court documents a Tyler County grand jury indicted Netflix claiming it knowingly promoted visual material that depicts the lewd exhibition of the private parts of a clothed or partially clothed child younger than 18 -- Netflix said in a statement that Cuties is a social commentary about the sexualization of young children and this charge is without merit

Page 20: Suzanne Somers recently cheated death when she and husband Alan Hamel fell down a flight of stairs at their Palm Springs home and although Alan wasn’t seriously injured the terrifying spill left Suzanne in agony with two displaced vertebrae and forced her to undergo delicate neck surgery but she said the surgery went off without a hitch and promised she is on the mend, Hollywood Hookups -- Sofia Richie has unfollowed Scott Disick on Instagram, Zac Efron hopes to marry Vanessa Valladares, Sharon Stone and Mindy Kaling are both on the market

Page 21: Twelve years after she was placed under conservatorship Britney Spears remains unable to sign her own name on official documents -- Britney recently made moves asking to allow a different financial group to step in and help run her life as well as gain more freedom but lawyer Andrew Wallet said Britney to this day does not have the capacity to sign documents and make decisions for herself and she is susceptible to undue influences, the audience for the Saturday Night Live season premiere came away with more than just a few yuks they also received $150 because to get around New York State pandemic guidelines SNL gave each guest a parting gift of $150 paychecks as if they were employees, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may soon have a new neighbor in heavy metal maniac Tommy Lee -- the drummer was recently spotted checking out a $2.3 million three-acre plot next to the rogue royals’ $14 million home in Montecito and he was obviously pumped about living there but building the tattooed rocker’s home would mean tons of truck traffic and hopefully Harry and Meghan don’t get upset with the building work he’s planning

Page 22: ABC is reeling from a barrage of allegations from employees and on-air talent who’ve blasted it as a toxic and racist working environment -- the network which is owned by the family-friendly Walt Disney Corporation was rocked when Sunny Hostin the popular co-host of The View accused company executives of institutional and personal racism in her memoir and in later interviews about the book

Page 26: Lonely country singer Kenny Chesney is looking to find a new ladylove and is talking about finally settling down for good -- he is unhappily single after his eight-year relationship with model Mary Nolan hit the rocks -- he spends all the time he’s not on the road at his island paradise in Antigua but he misses having a partner and he’s even asked pals Matthew McConaughey and Richard Branson to play matchmaker

Page 28: America is preparing for World War III as China amps up war games in the South Pacific and readies plans to invade U.S. allies -- military insiders warn China and Russia and their tyrannical accomplices in Iran and North Korea and Syria and Turkey are bracing to launch a coordinated attack against America and the west that could end in nuclear disaster

Page 36: Health Watch

Page 38: Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood has traded in his debauched days of sex drugs and rock ‘n’ roll for knitting, Rod Stewart revealed there’s a deep freeze between him and former close pal Elton John and that Elton refused his attempts to that things out -- the two ‘70s icons had been friends for decades before Rod blasted Elton’s biopic and his most recent music tour -- when Rod realized he was in the doghouse he tried to bait Elton with a bone for his kids by inviting Elton’s boys Zachary and Elijah to come play soccer with his sons Alistair and Aiden only to be greeted with the sounds of silence

Page 42: Red Carpet -- The Christian Siriano collection

Page 45: Spot the Differences -- Sophie Okonedo in Ratched

Page 47: Odd List

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