#it started as one thing and then ended up turning into a full blown career analysis
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All I Know | Spencer Reid x F! Reader
Summary: Five years after leaving Spencer Reid, it seems that fate might have given you a second chance. Inspired by "Everything Has Changed" by Taylor Swift/Ed Sheeran
Part two of Glimpse of Us, but can be read standalone!
Also cross-posted on Wattpad and AO3. Link to my masterlist for everything else I’ve posted
wc: 6.5k
a/n: Hi everyone! It's good to be back and I hope this lives up to your expectations. This one felt different from my usual style but I think it's different in a good way. And thank you once again for being patient, I appreciate each and every one of you
You're not sure what you did to deserve this opportunity, to be reunited with the love of your life, but you choose not to question it. All you know is that you're his, and he is yours, until the end of your days.
And that is more than you could have ever wished for.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Nerves wake Spencer up far before his alarm even sounds. Anxiety over the "what ifs" of the day eat away at his mind, he hopes the day goes well. He hasn't had a first day at work in a long time, he had become accustomed to his life at the BAU. But his FBI days are in the rear view mirror now, a career-ending injury forced him to forge a new path in life.
And this new path he chose was becoming a professor. Sure, he had guest lectured before but he had never been a full blown professor. In preparation he reviewed his curriculum at least a hundred times to make sure it was perfect and rehearsed his first lecture.
While he should be happy and excited for a new start, he can't help but feel that it's all too bittersweet for his taste.
It had been five years since you left him. You walked out because you became unable to deal with his bustling lifestyle, and he understood. But now, here he is, forced to slow down and without you by his side. Spencer had effectively lost the two most important things in his life.
His alarm finally sounds and knocks Spencer out of his thoughts, and quickly gets ready for his first day of teaching.
- - - - -
Your pen glides across the paper in front of you quickly as you glance at the clock to see how much time you have left. Five minutes. You can do this.
After you quickly scribble your name on the card, you slide it in the envelope and rush out of your office with the card and laptop in hand. Students and faculty alike scatter through the halls, eager for the first day of classes.
You find the office you're looking for and slide the envelope under the closed door. Hopefully the new professor hadn't been in yet, you hope the card will be a nice surprise for them.
Two weeks ago at the faculty meeting it was announced a new professor was hired in your department. They wouldn't divulge a name, but you didn't think it mattered much, everyone likes a greeting card. And you hope it'll make the new professor feel right at home.
After dropping the card off you make your way to the lecture hall, excited to meet the new faces of students for the semester. Though this is only your third semester of teaching, it feels like you've been doing this a lifetime and it doesn't even feel like a job most times. You think you finally found your calling in life, and it's the first time you felt real happiness in years.
Once your lecture is over, you make your way to the break room for a much needed cup of coffee. As you sit down at one of the tables your coworker-turned-friend Jamie walks in with a smile on her face. Her first day must be going well.
"It's good to see you." You stand to hug her.
"I have a feeling this is going to be the best semester yet." Her smile is wide and bright, her enthusiasm starts rubbing off on you.
"Why's that?" You ask, sipping on your coffee as you sit back down. Jamie takes the seat across from you and leans close.
"You know the new professor they hired?" Her voice lowers so that people can't eavesdrop.
"I know they hired one but I have no idea who." You tell her the truth.
"Well whoever does the hiring around here deserves a raise. He's hot. And I mean like, hot hot." Her words pique your interest, and suddenly you wish you had stuck around to meet the man in person.
"Hmm maybe we'll have to make a habit of walking by his office." Your own smile breaks out across your face.
"Perhaps we will." The two of you laugh together and you think Jamie might just be right, this might be the best semester yet.
- - - - -
The second day of the semester went well, as did the next, and the one after that. Your students all seem to be excited for the course content, except a few, and you're excited to see the projects they come up with.
With a smile on your face from a successful lecture full of intellectual conversation, you retire to the break room for a little bit, before your next lecture. The air outside is getting quite cold and so you settle for a warm tea today.
However, your peace doesn't last long as Jamie walks in minutes later. She takes a seat across from you and sets her laptop down on the table.
"What do you have there?" She asks, gesturing to your cup. You look down at the tea that still has steam rising from it.
"Oh, just some tea." You answer and venture to take a sip that burns your tongue.
"It's a good day for it too." She says as she rises from her seat to grab a cup as well.
When she returns the two of you fall into a comfortable silence. Jamie works on her notes while you enjoy the peace. You don't even look to see who entered the room when the door opens.
But, Jamie's not-so-subtle kick under the table gives you a clue as to who it might be. She's been pestering you all week about finding the new professor, and you're willing to bet he just walked in.
Casually, you look over and see a tall, slim man pouring a cup of coffee. His hair is long, down to his shoulders, and you watch as he pours sugar into the cup; an ungodly amount of sugar. Your stomach twists nervously as the man's silhouette and coffee order seems all too familiar.
Unable to tear your gaze away, you watch as the man finally turns around and meets your eyes. And it's like the world has stopped spinning, your heart has stopped pumping, and you can no longer remember how to breathe.
Spencer Reid is standing ten feet away from you.
His forest-colored eyes are just as beautiful as you remember. Gold tones still as soft as honey, green hues reminiscent of fresh spring grass. And it catapults you to the first moment you met him.
It was a nice, sunny day and you had decided to go to the park to finish your book. You had been inside for far too long and it would have been a waste to not enjoy such a lovely day. And to take full advantage of it you wore your favorite sundress.
You had picked a spot on a bench that was partially shaded from the sun and you enjoyed the sounds of nature as you turned each page. That was until someone stood in front of you and blocked your light. You closed the cover of your book and looked up to the handsome man in front of you.
"Hi, I'm Spencer and I um, I just thought I'd come and introduce myself." You hear the nerves in his voice and see them in the way he scratches as the back of his neck.
"Hi Spencer, it's nice to meet you." You smiled up at him.
You had always thought it was endearing how nervous he was to make a good impression and you've never been able to forget the fullness your heart felt that day. But then your mind plays a cruel joke, and suddenly your head is filled with the moment you left him.
No matter how hard you try to forget, you will always remember the tears running down his cheeks and the way his voice cracked as he begged you to stay. It took every ounce of strength you had to follow through with your plan.
Every now and then you think long and hard about if you had made the right decision. You still hold a deep love for Spencer, but with the lifestyle he was living and the future you wanted, eventually the two of you would have drove each other to madness one way or another. It was in the best interest of both of you to separate, or at least that's what you had convinced yourself of.
Jamie clears her throat and you're swiftly brought back to reality. She looks between them two of you, both frozen in place like statues. Now that you look at him, really look, you see how much he's changed and how much he's stayed the same.
His hair is longer, he's filled out just slightly more, his fashion sense is relatively the same and he still has kind eyes. He's still your Spencer, the one you left all those years ago.
"I can't, I have to, I have to go." You clumsily stand from your spot and rush out of the door.
Your chest begins feeling heavy and tight, your palms sweat and your heart races. Getting to your office is your only priority. Shaking fingertips grasp the edge of the solid wood desk, your eyes squeeze shut and all you can hear is your thumping heartbeat.
"Hey, are you okay?" Jamie's voice sounds muffled to you, and you pay her no mind. Your only focus right now is to breathe again.
Minutes could've passed by, or even hours, before you finally feel your senses coming back to you. Your muscles ache from the tension, and you open your eyes to find Jamie standing right next to you, her hand resting on your shoulder. Blinking a few times, you try to remain calm as the nerves tangle your inside.
"Hey." Jamie speaks softly. Glancing at the clock on the wall behind her, only five minutes passed.
"Sorry about that." You stand up straight and try to regain your normal composure.
"What happened?" There isn't a trace of judgment to be found in her voice, just concern and curiosity. With a sigh, you sit on the edge of your desk and cross your arms, unable to meet her gaze.
"That was Spencer." You plainly tell her, knowing she will understand.
Over the course of the past year, you and Jamie had grown quite close. The two of you swapped stories of your pasts; you know about her exes and she knows of yours. At first, you had worried she might judge you for breaking off an engagement over a man you willingly left, but instead of judgment, she met you with understanding. And you were ever so grateful for that.
"Oh." Her tone is heavy, and all you can do is nod your head.
How are you supposed to continue working here when he shares the same halls? And had he known that you were here? Surely he recognized your name on the card. He had to have known. And yet he never sought you out once. Your mind wrestles with why that may be. Perhaps he didn't want to see you after you broke his heart, maybe he had looked for you but you were out of office. A million different scenarios fill your mind at once.
- - - - -
A week passes without seeing Spencer again. Physically, of course, but you saw him plenty in your dreams. You had been free from dreaming of Spencer Reid for about seven months now, until a week ago and now he's all you can dream about.
While you sleep you're met with different scenes, each of them about how your life might've looked like if you had stayed. Some scenes are sweet and tranquil, while others are full of fighting and misery. And you aren't sure which ones are worse.
One night you had felt particularly curious and you found yourself looking at his Instagram again. You navigated to the pictures he's been tagged in and noticed all the ones you had seen previously are no longer posted. A quick trip to the woman's profile shows that she is with a new man now, and there's no trace of Spencer left on her account. From the looks of it, Spencer never got into another relationship after her.
A part of you is relieved he hasn't moved on. For if he moved on a second time, it would have solidified to you that he truly has moved on. After all, you were never able to move on after you broke off the engagement with your last boyfriend.
Getting back together with Spencer never seemed like a viable option until now. Now he no longer lives on the fly, there's no risk of him getting called away for weeks on end. No, his schedule is normal now, a solid, unchanging schedule, one that allows for personal time. This idea had been blossoming in your mind for a few days now, after you had been able to process that he works at the same university.
Now, even while you're awake you daydream about being back together with him. In your mind, he's able to be home every evening now, he's able to be there for holidays and birthdays. There would be no more occasions spent alone. The thought of that warms your heart, but it's always quickly refuted by a tiny voice in the back of your mind. Why would he want you back after all? You had walked out on him and broke his heart, there's no reason why he would desire to have you back.
And so you live partially in sadness and partially in happiness, feelings changing on a whim depending on which thought intrudes into the forefront of your mind. You can tell others are noticing how you've withdrawn, but thankfully they haven't said anything yet. Even Jamie has been giving you more space than normal. You feel bad for distancing yourself, and promise yourself that you will try harder to get back to normal.
Normalcy is what you're hoping for tonight. It's the university's annual holiday dinner, hosted at a local five star hotel and catered by a Michelin star restaurant, you wouldn't miss it for anything. Jamie had texted you earlier asking if you wanted to carpool and when you check your phone you see that you only have fifteen minutes left before she's going to be here.
The dress code is black tie formal, and you enjoy getting dressed up, you don't get to do it often. For tonight you had decided on something simple, yet elegant. The floor length dress hugs your body just right, and the heels sparkle tastefully with every step you take. Finalizing your look, you put on a pair of earrings that catches the light beautifully. Before you go to wait for Jamie, you take a moment to look at yourself in the mirror. And for the first time in a long time, you feel content with how you look, excited for the night to come.
"There are more people here than there were last year." You say to Jamie as you two wait to be seated. There's easily double the amount of people here, word must have got out about how good the food is.
"Tell me about it." She looks around at the other faculty members who are also dressed to the nines.
"Ladies, if you are willing, we have a group table that is ready to be sat." A posh waiter interrupts your conversation politely. Jamie and you look to each other and shrug.
"That's fine with me." You confirm, and Jamie nods her head. The waiter smiles,
"Right this way." He leads you through the hotel's reception room, lights dim with a string quartet playing in the background. As you pass by the musicians, you can't help but wonder how much money the university allocates to this night, and if it could perhaps be better spent. But that thought doesn't last long once the fresh bread basket is placed in front of you.
"So good." Jamie says through mouthfuls of warm, toasted bread. All you can do is nod in agreement, enjoying how the butter and bread compliment each other well.
Other faculty members begin being sat at the table with you, and you greet them all though you haven't a clue who they are. Everyone at the table gets swept away in their own conversations, so much so that you don't even realize who they had sat right next to Jamie, and you probably wouldn't have noticed for a while if Jamie's body language didn't give away that something was wrong.
Your eyebrows crease at the sudden tension in her shoulders, the tightening of her jaw. Her eyes grow wider just slightly, as if she's trying to communicate something telepathically. Your eyes sweep to the right and find nothing out of the ordinary, but once they move to the left you realize that what was supposed to be a good night, might end up being a terrible one after all. Of course the universe would have fated that Spencer get sat at this table as well.
You avert your gaze from him quickly, feeling your face flush red. If it wouldn't be considered rude, you would get up from this table right now and go back home. But you know Jamie has been looking forward to this dinner all year and you don't want to let her down because of your personal problems. If you just keep your focus on Jamie, maybe tonight will be more bearable.
Keeping your eyes off of Spencer is easier said than done you come to find. As if it's a habit, you find yourself stealing glances at him. He's decided on a nicely tailored suit for tonight, and the warm lighting compliments the golden hues in his eyes. And it's because he looks so good that you can only half pay attention to the words coming out of Jamie's mouth for the rest of the night.
The table's food arrives and your one glass of wine turns to two, which turns into three. Jamie has had more than you, and has used her newfound confidence to go mingle with the other faculty in the open part of the room. Typically, after the dinner, the floor opens for dancing and socialization, neither of which you feel like doing now. Slowly, but surely, the others at the table leave to go mingle as well, leaving only you and Spencer at the table together. With this realization, you finish off your third glass of the night and wonder where to get your fourth.
Just as you're about to get up and track a waiter down, you hear Spencer clear his throat. Like a deer caught in headlights, you look at him with wide eyes. He's already looking at you, an unreadable expression on his face. Something makes you sit back down though you know you should be running the other way. Seconds tick by like hours, you watch with intent eyes how he licks his lips, a nervous habit he's always had. And finally, he breaks the silence.
"Hello."
- - - - -
Spencer had never been one for fancy outings, especially outside of work hours, but tonight he is happy to make an exception. Ever since he saw you in the break room you're all that he can think about; more so than usual.
Over the years he had kept light tabs on you, asking Penelope every few months how you were doing and if you were still in the area. All she ever said was that you're doing well and you're still around. And that was enough for Spencer, he could live with that vagueness. Until he set eyes on you again. Now, you consume his thoughts every second of every day.
He had never stopped missing you, loving you. No, he still searched for things that reminded him of you. The blankets you had picked out all those years ago are still draped over his couch. And now there's a shred of hope blossoming within him that his apartment may be your shared space once more.
The only issue is that he's not even sure you want him back. He doesn't know if you're seeing somebody else, or if you even want a relationship at all; especially with him. After all, you had left for good reason so why would you want to come back?
The pessimism and optimism wrestle in his mind as he finishes tying his tie in the mirror. Spencer hadn't been working at the university long enough to have any real acquaintances or friends, and usually that would stress him out. But tonight, all he's focused on is you.
He wants to see who you show up with and get a gauge of your feelings towards him. Spencer is still fairly confident he can read your body language. And he promises to himself that if you show up with a man, or act disinterested, that he will leave you alone and look for another job. After all, you were there first and he doesn't want you to feel suffocated in your place of work. Plus, he knows he wouldn't be able to share the halls with you without speaking to you. The wound would never heal, but then again, he's had five years to heal it yet it remains open.
Spencer hands the valet his car keys as he walks inside the high-end dinner. The lights are moody and it feels like something straight out of a movie. He joins the line to be seated, and there he spots you for the first time, looking around and talking to Jamie.
On his first day Jamie had found her way to his office to introduce herself. She taught in the humanities department and was friendly enough, Spencer liked her, he thought she may prove to be a helpful friend to have around. His nerves were still at an all time high as she explained who had offices in this hall as well, and his interest piqued when she mentioned your name. He contained his surprise and thanked Jamie for coming by. Once he opened the card that was left on the floor of his office, it was glaringly obvious you had no idea he was the new guy, for you had signed the card,
"We're so glad to have you here, can't wait to meet you! Welcome to the team!" Followed by your signature. He would recognize that signature anywhere. He remembers seeing it scrawled across sticky notes you used to leave in his bag, ones he would find while he was out working a case. He always looked forward to finding those notes, it was like having a piece of you there with him. And if he's honest, they still reside in an interior pocket of his bag, he could never find the resolve to get rid of them.
He watches as you and Jamie get seated, and he feels nerves creep up his spine. What if this all ends badly? He doesn't want you to run out of the even like you did the break room, no, that was the last thing he wanted to happen. All he wants is to gauge your reaction when you notice him, that's all. That will be enough for him to make his decision.
After a few long minutes had passed, he was finally being seated. While he followed the host he scanned the room for you but failed to see you amongst the sea of people. Surely you were here somewhere. Thanking the host as he took his seat, he took a deep breath and became acquainted with his surroundings. This was a large group table, there are likely others to be seated around him, so maybe he will make some new friends after all.
He's just about to open the menu when he catches the glimmer of jewelry out of the corner of his eye. Looking up, he sees that it's you sitting just across from him. He's been sat beside Jamie, and he can tell from their stiff posture that they've both noticed him.
Averting his gaze quickly, he tries to think of how to handle the situation but comes up with no good answers. So he settles on just trying to make it through the dinner and to get a decent read of your body language without you noticing him looking at you.
All of which is easier said than done. Every time he goes to sneak a glance at you, it seems that your eyes are already on him. He doesn't miss the way your drinking increases or how you fidget with the necklace resting on your chest.
The night passes unbearably slowly until it seems like it's coming to an abrupt end. Jamie leaves the table to talk to other friends, leaving just you and Spencer alone at the table. Unable to keep his eyes off of you any longer, he glances over and sees you finish off your third glass of wine for the night. And judging by the way your eyes dance across the people in the room, you're on the hunt for another, likely because his presence has unnerved you.
You go to stand from your seat when something inexplicable happens. Before Spencer can comprehend why he's doing this, the word just tumbles out of his mouth, just a simple,
"Hello."
The word seems to have made you sit back down, and he quickly assess that as being receptive to what he has to say. You clear your throat, buying yourself some time before answering.
"Hi." Your voice is airy and like music to Spencer's ears. How he's missed hearing your voice.
The shred of hope within him grows, and he only hopes this conversation goes well.
- - - - -
The two of you are unable to break each other's gaze. Your eyes stare into his with intensity and your heart pounds in your chest. For a second you're worried you might have a heart attack because of the quick pace.
"You look lovely tonight." Spencer tells you, a ghost of a smile teasing the edge of his lips. You glance down at your dress.
"Thank you, you clean up pretty well too." You tell him the truth.
You're not sure where this is going to go, you feel as if you're treading in dangerous waters and you're not sure if you're going to be rescued or swallowed up. Spencer glances down at the tablecloth and smiles softly.
"Thank you." He says, looking back up into your eyes.
The two of you fall into a silence and you're not quite sure what to do from here. There's so much that's left unsaid but you don't know if you have the nerve to say any of it. But after a few minutes pass without anything, you rise from the table, unable to be so close yet so far from him.
"Goodnight, I hope you enjoy the rest of the dinner." You keep your exit friendly and turn to go stand on the curb and wait for an Uber. You don't want to end Jamie's fun, you'll just send her a text that you caught a ride home.
The night air is chilly and it sends a shiver up your spine so you wrap your arms around yourself. You unlock your phone and are just about to request a ride when you hear footsteps coming from behind. Looking to your right you see Spencer, lips parted and eyes scanning your face.
"I can take you home, if you want of course. I drove here and it wouldn't be a problem at all. I was probably going to head out soon anyways." His words are rushed and slightly jumbled, but send butterflies straight to your stomach.
"That would be nice." You accept his offer, feeling the familiar tingle of nerves engulfing your body. He nods and smiles before offering you his arm to take.
Hesitantly, you reach out and loop your arm with his. He's warm and oh so familiar. The two of you walk in stride together, and you take a shaky breath to keep your emotions in check. A gentle breeze carries the scent of his cologne into your nose and it transports you back to a time you reminisce about frequently.
You look up at Spencer as you walk, noticing how much more grown up he looks now. Stubble lines his jaw more noticeably, his arms feel sturdier, the smile lines by his eyes more prominent, but still the most beautiful man you've ever laid eyes on.
Feeling your gaze on him, he looks down at you and smiles kindly. Your eyes burn and you look forward, seeing his car only a few rows back. It almost doesn't feel real.
Spencer opens the door for you and you sit in the passenger seat. Before he gets in, you pinch your leg harshly, reminding yourself that this is very much real and is actually happening. Suddenly your palms feel sweaty and your throat feels tighter. The sound of Spencer closing his door snaps you out of it.
Without asking for directions, Spencer drives off into the night. The streetlights offer a warm glow as he passes street after street. You pick at the edges of your nails as he drives, not feeling confident enough to say anything, you honestly don't even know what to say. And you're so distracted you don't even realize where he's taken you until he turns the car off. Looking out the window, you see his apartment building.
"If you want, I'd like for you to come inside for a little bit. If not, just tell me where you want me to take you." His voice wavers with nerves. The car is dark, but you're close enough to see him. Nodding your head, you reach for the doorhandle.
"I can come in." Your voice is like a whisper.
You follow Spencer up the stairs to his apartment, and you take it all in. You never thought you'd see this place again. Stepping inside, you see that not a lot has changed. There are some new pictures on the walls and there's an entirely new bookcase in the living room, but it's almost just as you left it. A moment frozen in time.
Spencer drops his keys on the counter and hangs his coat on the rack beside the door. You take a deep breath as you realize the last time you two were here together, he was pleading with you not to leave.
"Would you like any water?" He asks and you shake your head,
"No, I'm okay, thank you though." You decline and watch as he loosens the tie around his neck.
"I didn't know you pursued teaching." He ignites the conversation again and tries to make it all seem more casual by rearranging things that clutter the dining table.
"Yeah, I started about a year ago."
"Do you like it?" He asks, pausing his rearranging to give you his undivided attention.
"I do. Well, so far at least. Each semester its like the courses become richer with content and I just love seeing the passion some of them have. It's inspiring. Why'd you start teaching?" You open up a little in an attempt to shake the tension that hangs in the air between you. Spencer chews on his lip before answering.
"We were working a case and I got shot in the knee, and it ruptured some tendons. And my choices were to either work strictly behind a desk or pursue something else." At the mention of him being shot, you eyes widen and your jaw falls slack.
"You got shot?" An all too familiar feeling of anxiety shoots through you and you remember how many nights you stayed awake contemplating that very thing happening.
"I did, but as you can see it wasn't fatal." He cracks a small smile, but all you can think of is how easily he could've been taken from this world.
"Well I'm glad it wasn't." You truthfully tell him. A life without Spencer in it is quite miserable, but living in a world without Spencer would be like swimming in a lake of fire; torturous and inconceivable.
"Me too. But it forced me to put things into perspective, to slow down and enjoy what life has to offer." You're not sure if his choice of words is intentional, or what exactly he means by telling you this. But there's a small, optimistic part of you that can only imagine why he's saying these things.
"I'm sure it's not an easy adjustment." You elect to skirt around the question you want to ask, not knowing if you're just being foolishly hopeful or not. Spencer nods and motions to the living room,
"Would you like to sit down?" He asks, looking down at the heels you're wearing.
"That would be nice." You say and sit down on the leather couch, where you always used to sit. It almost feels like the couch remembers you. And your eyes catch the blanket draped over the back, you remember it well as you have the other one still.
Spencer sits next to you, the two of you close enough that you can feel the warmth radiating off of him. It takes everything within you to not just lean into him and act like nothing ever happened. You miss him so much, you miss his touch, you miss his kisses, you miss his love.
"How have you been?" The question feels out of place, but you're not exactly sure of what would feel right. Meeting his eyes again, you tell him the truth.
"There have been a lot of ups and downs. Long story short I pursued a new career, as you've found out, moved two different times, visited Europe, and then I was engaged but broke it off." Your voice dies at the end, still feeling guilty over breaking yet another heart with the failed engagement.
"Engaged?" Spencer's voice is tight and filled with worry.
"I was, but I couldn't follow through with it." You tell him. Though you're not sure why you're spilling everything, but it just feels like the right thing to do.
"Why not?" He asks, his eyes dancing between your eyes, your hands, and your lips. You shrug,
"He just wasn't the right one. But how have you been?" You ask, already knowing about one girlfriend he had. Spencer's eyebrows raise,
"Well, I stayed with the FBI up until just recently, I made some friends and lost some, and I had a girlfriend, but that didn't end well either." He says though you're sure he's summarizing dramatically, as you had also done.
"Oh. Well I'm sorry about the FBI and about your, your girlfriend." The word is almost impossible for you to say, but you force yourself to.
"Don't be sorry. I guess she just wasn't the right one." He whispers as his eyes finally land on your again.
Your lips fall slack and you can't help but look between his eyes and lips, remembering what they felt like over every square inch of your body. And it's as if Spencer has his own gravitational pull, but you find yourself leaning further and further towards him until his hand lands on top of yours.
His larger hand completely engulfs yours, and you look down to see him holding your hand with such gentleness. The feeling of his skin on yours is almost enough to bring you to tears. Five years you had spent trying to remember what he felt like, yearning to have him in front of you, to be able to see him, hear him, smell him, have him again.
By the time you look back up from your hands, his other had already come up to your face to cradle your jaw. Your lips meet his tenderly, softly, as if you were both afraid the other would jump away.
But instead, it's like you melt into each other. With your free hand, you grip the front of his shirt and pull him closer. Your lips fall into a long forgotten rhythm as if no time had passed. His lips as soft against yours and you feel his hand let go of your own and wrap around your waist. Pressed against one another, you wish this moment would never end.
Your lungs burn for oxygen, so you pull away from Spencer's kiss and rest your forehead against his. You keep hold of him, afraid that if you let go that you'll wake up from some kind of cruel dream. With closed eyes, you take it all in, it's so much more than you could've ever dreamed of.
"I've missed you every day for the last five years. And I am so sorry that I drove you away." Spencer's voice wavers. Leaning away from him, you hold his head in your hands, thumbs brushing over his cheekbones. There are tears in his waterline, and the tremble in his lower lip makes your own eyes water.
"Spencer, oh Spencer." You say as tears fall from your eyes and down your cheeks. He wraps his arms around you and pulls you close to him. You rest your head against his shoulder and the two of you cling to each other as you cry.
"I have spent every single day missing you and loving you. And I'm sorry I walked away." You say as another round of tears fall down your face, landing on his shirt. Instead of answering, he just holds you tighter, and whatever you don't express in words is made clear in the way you two meld together.
"I love you so much." He eventually says, letting you adjust in his grasp.
"I love you, Spencer Reid." You tell him, knowing that it's the full and honest truth.
You're not sure what you did to deserve this opportunity, to be reunited with the love of your life, but you choose not to question it. Instead, you kiss him again and know that this time you're not going to let him go. All you know is that you're his, and he is yours, until the end of your days.
And that is more than you could have ever wished for.
- - - - -
Three months after being reunited, you and Spencer had fallen into a comfortable routine. You had moved back in after the two of you had a long discussion about what the future of your relationship means to the two of you. Both of you agreed that nothing on this planet was worth jeopardizing the relationship, not after the most agonizing five years without each other.
You're beyond happy that you finally get to come home with him every day, that he's able to be here for holidays and everything in between. The two of you do your best to make up for lost time, you relish every moment you get with him, no matter how small or insignificant that time may be.
Everything had changed in the five years that you spent apart, and you both had grown up in several ways. Not drastically, but enough that you needed to get to know one another again. Date nights are spent talking about newfound interests and what has remained the same. Nothing feels strained or forced anymore, it's all tranquil and full of love.
One night, after you had gone to bed early, Spencer finds himself sitting at the dining table with a velvet box in his hands. He opens it and looks over the ring he had bought over five years ago. And now he knows that it will finally reside on the hand it was meant for. With a smile on his lips, he slides the box into his suit pocket for the date he planned for tomorrow.
#spencer reid x reader#criminal minds#spencer reid#spencer reid x you#dr spencer reid#spencer reid angst#spencer reid fanfic#spencer reid fluff#spencer reid oneshot#spencer reid fanfiction#taylor swift#mgg#criminal minds fanfiction#Spotify
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Lost and Found - Sebastian Sallow x Female! Reader
Summary: You’d both fucked up, and you both knew it.
But Sebastian was starting to lose himself, and you couldn’t stop sobbing. The air was too thick for words, the pain and the anger and the fear combusting into a shrieking tempest. It was too much to bear in the cavernous room, and you both cracked.
Two years of your steady cadence shuddered and fell like leaves when Sebastian found his voice first.
“I’m fucking done.”
Alternatively summarized as Sebastian dealing with the aftermath of your break-up and working through his feelings.
Word Count: 4.5k
Warnings: Mild injuries, hurt/comfort, angst with a happy ending
Full fic can be found here on Ao3
Mostly Sebastian’s POV following the argument because I wanted to put him through it
Maybe you were naive for believing your last year at Hogwarts would be easy, but after Ranrok, Rookwood, the Keepers, and the whole debacle with Sebastian in the catacombs, you were desperate for a sense of normalcy. You had deluded yourself into thinking that things could only get better from then on, and for the most part, they had.
There was something about this semester, though. Something in the air, or in the water. Something in your clothes and in your bed and in your chest that just kept digging deeper and sharper, leaving you uneasy and on edge.
You and Sebastian had been tense with each other, even though you didn’t mean to be. Neither one of you meant to be assigning blame so harshly, or to be getting so worked up over nothing at all, ending up angry more often than not. Growing up had proven to be fucking scary, though, and the learning curve could be enough to knock most people on their asses and keep them there for a good, long while. You and Sebastian had juggled these fears and told one another about them after you’d both already blown up, and you had apologized quietly for snapping so hard over dumb shit like spilled vials of Wiggenweld, and sometimes it was enough.
Sometimes, it wasn’t.
It wasn’t enough when you threw your hands up one night to scold Sebastian too loudly for staying up late, cutting one too many corners, and getting busted in the restricted section. The weeks worth of detentions had only served to set back his schedule, but it was his own damn fault, so why was he complaining in the first place? You clenched your fists and your voice was shaking when, halfway through wondering aloud when Sebastian was going to learn to be fucking responsible, you realized you didn’t mean that, and that it was kind of a fucked up thing to say.
You might have tried to backpedal– to apologize– but Sebastian was tense. He was scared. He had fucked up his end of term project for Potions, and he was positive he’d basically failed an exam in History of Magic earlier today because of how scatterbrained he had been. He had yet to narrow down a potential career path for after school ended, which his professors never let him forget, much to his annoyance. So as you drew in a breath to stutter out an apology, Sebastian was too afraid of hearing more about what a fuckup he was to let you start.
Blindly, he picked up the closest thing to him on the desk situated between you both, and shot out of his seat to throw it at the wall. It turned out to be an ink container, the black, murky liquid spilling down the walls of the Room of Requirement, and the sound of the shattered pieces of the bottle cascading to the floor was muted by the volume of Sebastian’s cruel words.
When Sebastian was finally out of breath from screaming and your tears were streaming down your cheeks in earnest– the salt trails equal parts rage, disbelief, and guilt– the two of you stared at one another for a long, heavy moment.
You’d both fucked up, and you both knew it.
But Sebastian was starting to lose himself, and you couldn’t stop sobbing. The air was too thick for words, the pain and the anger and the fear combusting into a shrieking tempest. It was too much to bear in the cavernous room, and you both cracked.
Two years of your steady cadence shuddered and fell like leaves when Sebastian found his voice first.
“I’m fucking done.”
—
It had been three days of Sebastian actually staying in his dorm. He hadn’t been sleeping at all, but he was there during the night, and Ominis had been forced to listen to his friend toss and turn fitfully since he’d ended things with you so terribly.
Sebastian could still hear the echoing slam of the massive oak doors of the Room of Requirement. He could still hear the way you’d choked on your words, and when he closed his eyes in his vain attempts to quiet his mind, all he saw was you. Your hands curled into fists, teeth savaging your bottom lip, tears coursing down your face and dripping from your chin as you’d squeezed your bloodshot eyes closed and started erasing him from your mind.
At least, Sebastian imagined you had.
Given his shitty academic performance in recent weeks, Sebastian couldn’t afford to skip classes in order to avoid you, but it turned out that he didn’t have to. You hadn’t shown up once to any of your classes– even the ones you didn’t share with him. It hammered home the finality of what had transpired three nights ago, and if he drank a little too much stolen Firewhiskey to cope with the sinking feeling in his chest, Ominis elected not to say anything about it.
“You’ve been under a lot of stress recently,” Ominis said later that night, squeezing Sebastian’s shoulder as he used the brunet as leverage to lower himself into the couch cushions. The common room was deserted, and Sebastian was grateful for the lack of prying eyes, curling his hand tighter around the neck of the bottle between his legs. “Both of you have. Sometimes, things just boil over.”
Sebastian didn’t reply at first. He didn’t even know where to fucking start. Stress couldn’t begin to excuse the shit he’d said to you right before he left. In-between your gut-wrenching sobs, he was certain he had heard your heart crack in two at some point, and it was his own fault. Running his hands down his face, Sebastian heaved a trembling sigh, trying to sort out the crappy thoughts bouncing around his tipsy brain.
“Was she in any of your classes with you today?” Sebastian asked, his gaze trained on the ceiling as he willed the watery tone in his voice away. He had cried enough over everything– his eyes and his throat fucking ached from it.
Ominis sighed, reaching to the side table for his steaming cup of tea. He worked it into a safe grip before blowing softly, taking a tentative sip. “Not today, no. None of her roommates have seen her in her dorm either– I already asked.”
Sebastian just wanted to know how you looked. Maybe it was awful of him to think as much, but he liked to imagine you were faring as bad as he was. You were an impossibly strong and powerful witch, willful and understanding, and you got mad so rarely that Sebastian couldn’t help but loathe the idea of you putting on a brave face and smiling until you were over him.
What right did he have to be thinking such things, though? He was the one who had walked out.
Ominis said nothing when he heard Sebastian lift the bottle to his lips again, taking a hearty swig that burned on the way down. Tears welled up in his swollen, brown eyes, and they slipped down his cheeks silently, a metaphorical rain cloud looming over his end of the couch. The two men didn’t say a word, but after a while, Ominis tugged Sebastian against his shoulder, letting the heartbroken man cry softly into his pajamas.
—
“Bloody hell, mate,” Garreth muttered, leaning over his cauldron to get closer to Sebastian. “Two years, though?”
The classroom was quiet, save for the steady bubbling at everyone’s stations. They were supposed to be working on brewing an Edurus Potion, but Garreth seemed more interested in his friend’s failed love life after hearing through the grapevine what had happened. Sebastian didn’t answer, choosing to focus on adding in the Mongrel Fur to his silvery concoction.
“Together that long and this close to graduation, I thought that was going to turn into fucking marriage, you know? Are you sure it’s–”
Garreth stopped talking when Sebastian slammed his hands down on his table, shattering a flask under the weight of his fist so suddenly, the redhead jumped back with his green eyes blown wide. Sebastian’s stare fell from Garreth to the blood pooling under his palm, biting his tongue through the stinging pain and unintentional tremors while Professor Sharp strode over to see what the commotion was about.
Docked five house points and dismissed to the Hospital Wing, Sebastian shuffled up the winding staircases in a daze. His head hurt when he walked through the double doors to the infirmary, but he ignored the dull ache and got to dealing with his hand so he could leave faster and sleep through the impending migraine. Once all the glass had been picked out of Sebastian’s cuts and he’d been disinfected, bandaged, and fed a Wiggenweld potion for extra measure, he made his way back to the dorms.
He dimly realized on the trek down that it wasn’t how long he had been together with you that was preventing him from getting over you.
—
“You’ll be back on your feet in no time,” Leander said from two tables away, raising his Butterbeer towards Sebastian and Ominis. The two were tucked away in the far corner of The Three Broomsticks at Ominis’ insistence, in some feeble attempt to get Sebastian out of the permanent rut he had found himself in for five consecutive days now. The brooding Slytherin just picked at his bandages, gritting his teeth together and silently hoping that the dirty bar floor would open up and swallow him whole.
There were too many students around for comfort, and a number of them glanced cautiously between Leander the Sebastian, checking to make sure that the Gryffindor wasn’t at risk of having his nose broken. He meant well– especially after 6 Butterbeers– but Prewett was famously not good with words, and Sebastian didn’t trust himself to speak anymore.
Leander motioned to Sirona for another drink, and once she’d deposited it on the table with an amused shake of her head, he walked the pint over to the dreary corner. “On me. You don’t need her, mate. Chin up.”
With a rough clap on Sebastian’s shoulder, he left just as suddenly as he’d appeared. Ominis listened warily for any signs of anger or sadness, but all he heard was the sound of liquid sloshing as Sebastian lifted the drink to his lips and chugged down two thirds of it.
As he set the tankard down on the table, Sebastian looked up at the cobweb covered beams overhead, acknowledging that no, he didn’t need you.
But that wasn’t what was keeping him so low, either.
—
After a week without so much as a glimpse of you, Sebastian took to wandering. He was restless– constantly fidgeting– like he had a fire burning under his ass all hours of the day. His chest was perpetually heavy, as though there were a Graphorn sitting on him, and his hair was in a constant state of disarray from running his hands through it.
Sebastian was a mess. He knew he was.
Shit, there really weren’t any other excuses for standing in a fucking fountain in the middle of the night, staring daggers at a stone dragon because there was no one else around to focus his frustrations on. There were probably better places to be shifting through his jumbled thoughts than in the middle of the Transfiguration Courtyard, but at this point, he felt bad keeping Ominis awake all night with his inability to sit still and sleep.
Either way, Sebastian halted his wading through the water to glare firmly at the statue again, doing his best to imagine a future without you in it.
Thus far, you had been Sebastian’s first and only love– aside from dueling. You knew him inside and out. You could look at him from across a room and know instantly how close he was to punching someone, how tired he was, or whether or not he was actually listening to a conversation. You had a million different smiles for a million of Sebastian’s petty annoyances, and all of them struck hard and true and left him feeling at peace with the state of his life.
He knew you just as well– it wasn’t like you were some all powerful Legilimen living in his head. You had your flaws, your insecurities, your anxieties. You made mistakes, and you had inhuman levels of empathy and understanding– which was probably how you had managed to deal with him after your tumultuous fifth-year.
There was something viscerally calming about you, something that never failed to keep him in line when he was acting like a piece of shit, and that kept him steady when he was feeling anxious. It had been too much, though, and Sebastian knew you took on the burdens of others far too heavily without stopping to think of yourself. It weighed on you.
You weren’t perfect, but neither was he.
Leaning against the dragon, Sebastian closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose, the water in the fountain lapping at his calves and trickling soothingly in a short arc from the dragon’s parted lips.
Maybe Sebastian just couldn’t comprehend people as well as he thought he could. That was probably it.
You were the brains, and he was the brawns. You were philosophical, seemingly making sense of everything that crossed your path, while Sebastian understood too little despite trying. Between the two of you, you managed to make just enough sense of the world to be comfortable. But now everything was over.
Sebastian kicked at the water idly, dodging under the dragon’s stream to make another lap around the fountain.
He liked dueling. He appreciated how simple it was– it was do or die, realistically speaking. Cast or get casted on. Win or lose. Whoever he would go up against would inevitably let their mask slip, cluing him in on their thinking, their pain, their weaknesses. It was logical for him, and most of the time, he found his opponents predictable.
Sebastian never could have predicted that he would walk out on you, though, and he definitely wouldn’t have ever predicted that you would let him.
It took him a few minutes to realize that he was standing under the dragon’s stream, and it was soaking through his hair and into his shirt. He sighed, slicking his bangs away from his face before letting the cold water rain down on his flushed face for a moment, and then he was stepping out of its way.
There had to be a reason Sebastian was having so much trouble with this.
Leander had been unwittingly correct; Sebastian definitely didn’t need you, as in, it wasn’t like he couldn’t breathe without you. He was his own person with his own strengths, and you were the same. It wasn’t even that he had put ‘too much time into it’, as Garreth had implied, because loving you had never felt time consuming. He couldn’t even begin to move on from this, and it was pissing him off, because he was really fucking tired of crying and of staring at walls, unfocused and feeling hollow.
Sebastian was especially tired of his hands turning over all the time to find yours, because he knew you weren’t there anymore. Still, he couldn’t stop his fingers from spreading to make room between them for yours, and he couldn’t stop his eyes from scanning every room for you. He would never be able to stop his body from shifting to accommodate someone who would never occupy that space again.
Sebastian fixed his stormy gaze on the dragon again, deep in thought about you. You, who always understood a little more than you probably should have, and who always knew how to read him like a damn book. You would lay beside him every night tangled together, tapping in time to the steady beat of his heart under your ear, quieting the restless drive that seemed to always exist within him.
He could move on from you. He could focus on his studies, the two of you would graduate, and eventually you would both find someone else. But ultimately, Sebastian seriously doubted he would ever feel the bone-deep comfort that stemmed from you again. It seemed highly unlikely that he would ever meet someone that made him feel the way you did. It was like… no matter how long the two of you sat and watched clouds, or meandered through the woods, it was never time wasted. It had always been okay to just exist for a while without doing something, or making something, or going somewhere. When he was with you, it had always felt okay for him to put his problems on the table and walk away from them for a while, instead of obsessively stabbing them and getting more and more frustrated.
No matter where he went or how successful Sebastian could potentially be, he had a sneaking suspicion that his fingers would always spread just far enough for yours to slide between them.
The sound of sloshing water filled the courtyard, and then Sebastian’s soaked shoes were slapping against the grass with each pounding step that led him full speed towards the Room of Requirement. The only thought in his mind as he skipped up the steps two at a time was that the peace that came over the both of you when you were together had to be worth fucking trying again.
There was something to be said about how the normally concealed oak doors were already displayed, as though beckoning him to where he knew you had been hiding for days now. He eased his way inside without a second thought, noting the messy state of the desk in the corner and the stacks of books that had toppled over on themselves beside the entryway. The entire space looked lived in, and your unique scent hit him full force as he strode further into the room.
When Sebastian reached the bottom of the tiny stairwell leading towards the larger living area, you were looking up from your seat in front of the fireplace that lit the otherwise dark chamber. The look on your sleepless face and the way your unruly hair curled wildly around your temples clued him in on the fact that he wasn’t the only one who had been feeling like utter shit this last week. Your lips parted around a silent gasp as Sebastian stumbled towards you, still panting from having sprinted to get there.
“Hi,” he wheezed, leaning forward on his knees and forcing a deep breath into his lungs in a bid to prevent himself from passing out.
“Sebastian?” Your voice was small and raspy– as though it hadn’t been used the entire time you’d been holed up here. “Why are you so wet–”
“I love you,” he interrupted, his labored breathing filling the silence that followed the declaration. “I love you and I’m so fucking sorry that I’m such a prick and that I hurt you. I fucked up and I can’t take back anything that was said but I wanted you to know how sorry I am, and that I don’t want to be done, and if you aren’t tired of me yet I have a really stupid dueling metaphor for why we should stay together– mmph–”
You had crossed the space between you both in a flash, reaching out preemptively until your trembling hands clasped Sebastian’s soaked tie to yank him towards you.
“I missed you,” you whispered as you leaned your forehead against his, your breath warming his chilled lips– just a hair’s width away from kissing– but your hesitation burned like fire between the two of you. “Merlin, Sebastian, I’m so sorry–”
Sebastian reached up to tangle his fingers in your hair, and his damp skin caught on the tiny knots that were scattered throughout the normally tame strands. His sighs mixed with yours, the two of you murmuring tense little ‘I love you’s and ‘I missed you’s until the sounds mingled and settled in time.
Looping an arm around your waist to guide you towards the modest bedroom the room had conjured up years ago, Sebastian maintained the tentative space between your lips, whispering your name as he led you through the hallway. Your fingers were already working open the buttons on his soaked shirt, trusting him completely to walk you safely backwards to your once shared bedroom. Sebastian slowed, taking his hands off of you only once to shrug out of his button up, dropping it haphazardly behind him. Your strikingly warm hands blazed over his shoulders, then down his chill-ridden arms, before he was bending over to rid himself of his waterlogged shoes and socks. Sebastian stood straight right after, resting his hands on your waist while your shaky hands slipped down to work at the wet catch of his trousers.
The bedroom door was shut, so your heads banged together when Sebastian accidentally walked you into it. He blurted a string of curses, leaning down to press his lips gently against your forehead apologetically. Blindly, he reached behind you in search of the doorknob– which was quite frankly the only unfamiliar part of the entire room– because the door had never been closed before.
Sebastian realized belatedly that oh, the door had never been closed before, and the couch you’d been perched on when he walked in had been covered in a nest of thick quilts and extra pillows.
Oh.
He trailed his lips slowly across your brow, then down the curve of your nose, before kissing the corners of your mouth so tenderly that the affection left you wanting to cry. Pressing one more kiss to the tip of your nose, he whispered, “You slept on the couch?”
Your breath caught in your throat, and your fingers stilled in their efforts to remove the damp material from Sebastian’s clammy skin. Shivering slightly, you could only look up at him through your lashes, understanding that he wasn’t asking so much as he was stating. Of course he knew you had slept on the couch.
Silence crept through the dark hallway, broken only by your meek sniffles, before you were nodding against Sebastian’s chest. He lowered his head in an instant, pressing his lips to your cheeks, but the sudden taste of salt and the slip of water had him pulling away to look at you. You were quick to wipe away the fresh tears dripping down your face, your breath hitching on barely-caught sobs and your bloodshot eyes squeezing shut against them.
Sebastian captured your hands in his and twined your fingers together, nuzzling away your tears without a care for his own, and he hovered cautiously for a beat before finally closing the space between your lips to kiss you.
It lasted for a moment, then a minute, then a lifetime as Sebastian leaned in closer and breathed love into you, receiving in equal parts the taste of his tenderness returned. He freed one hand to gently cup your face, his thumb wiping through the wet trails that still lingered, and your arm around his waist tightened immeasurably further, tugging him flush to you.
You whispered against his soft lips then, your voice cracking, “What brought you back?”
Sebastian pulled back enough to look at you– really look at you– and take in every bit of your face like he would never get the chance to again. It wasn’t like he didn’t already have every expression of yours memorized, but in the last seven days without seeing that warm light in your eyes, the world had seemed a whole lot darker. He sighed, swallowing thickly as he wondered how to begin phrasing every bottomless thought that he’d had since he realized why he hadn’t been getting over you.
He didn’t need you to function. His relationship with you wasn’t an investment or something that could be measured with time, and it wasn’t like he couldn’t imagine a future without you. It was just that he didn’t want to.
Sebastian didn’t want to live without you beside him. He didn’t want to grow old without you, and he didn’t want anything but to be surrounded by your warmth every day for the rest of his life.
He leaned forward and kissed you again, just as gently as the last dozen times, and you reached up to cradle the hand he still had cupped against your cheek. Breathing a long sigh, Sebastian stared at you longingly as he murmured, “Wherever you are is where I want to be. It’s home. I wouldn’t be stranded without you, but the place I like best is wherever I can be next to you.” You trembled against him, both of you biting back resurfacing tears and failing miserably. “If it’s okay, can I come home?”
A tiny whimper slipped from your throat as you nodded, wiggling your arms up to throw them around Sebastian’s shoulders, and then you were sniffling feebly into the crook of his neck. Sebastian wrapped his arms around your wait, holding you tightly as he fumbled for the doorknob, and by the time the two of you had crossed the short space to the bed, you were somewhere between laughing and crying.
Your hands moved back to Sebastian’s glued on trousers, leaning up into his kisses eagerly as you swiftly got to removing the painfully cold attire. With a little assistance from the brunet, the two of you managed the pants– by the grace of Merlin and more than a little shimmying. Sebastian’s briefs and the oversized jumper you wore vanished significantly quicker than the rest, and he quickly eased you down onto the soft, familiar sheets.
Sebastian rolled over beside you, lifting his hips to haul the covers over you both before he pressed his still-chilled body into your welcoming embrace, and he relished in the shiver that coursed over you from the contact.
When your lips came together the next time, neither one of you pulled away, leaving your tears outside of the safe, blanketed world you’d created for yourselves. The whispered love that twined like smoke alongside the quiet sounds of your hands relearning each other’s skin filled the air for hours. Gasping breaths and soft moans of your name were all you could hear, Sebastian’s gentle affirmations of reverence making your heart swell with unbridled affection.
You stayed like that all night, wholly content for the first time in a good, long while. When the sun finally began to cast its waking rays through the paneled window, bathing you both in a golden glow that illuminated the drying sweat on your skin, Sebastian’s soft murmurs and twin heartbeat lulled you into a blissful sleep.
Just before unconsciousness stole you away, you threaded your fingers through his own, letting your intertwined hands rest atop his chest in the same way Sebastian had so dearly missed. He pressed a lingering kiss to your temple, closing his eyes against the growing morning light, and he felt lighter than he ever had as you thoughtfully whispered, “Welcome home.”
#sebastian sallow#sebastian sallow x you#sebastian sallow x reader#sebastian sallow fanfic#sebastian sallow x female! reader#hogwarts legacy#hogwarts legacy fanfic#my writing#sebastian sallow oneshot#sebastian sallow x mc#angsty pain because it can't all be daisies and roses where Sebastian is concerned
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The Prince's
So, I hadn’t originally planned on doing anything for Dani, but this post from @aziraphale-is-a-cats-a-cat got me thinking about things, and I ended up writing this.
So, while the men of the Justice League are trying to figure out who Dani is a clone of, Wonder Woman takes one look at the black haired, blue eyed, mischievous girl and can’t help but see herself in her and claim, “Mine.”
The rest of the League try, but there’s no arguing with Diana now that she’s set her mind on something, but Bruce and Clark have kids and know it’s not as easy as it looks to take care of them. She’s only ever been the “fun aunt;” she’s never had to get into the dirty, exhausting parts of parenthood before. It escalates to a full-blown argument, but if Dani has any say in it, she’d rather chill at Wonder Woman’s place for a while. It sounds better than staying in some gross cave or ice castle, and space isn’t her thing (the same way it’s Danny’s), so she’d rather not stay in the Watchtower.
Arguments about clones and custody continue over the next few weeks, not helped by the fact that Dani is still pretty unconcerned about the whole situation. Or, she was unconcerned until Vlad showed up. He’d decided enough was enough and it was long past time he collect his property.
It only takes a single scream.
Diana bursts into the room, fist connecting with Vlad’s jaw, and he’s knocked across the room.
“Don’t. Touch. My child.”
She proceeds to hand his ass to him on a bronze platter before he flees into the night, bruised and bloody.
Now it’s Dani’s turn to latch onto Diana’s leg, shouting “Mine!” This is her new, kick-ass mommy and no one else can have her. Dibs! No take backs! Well, it’s settled, now. Diana is officially Dani’s mom, and no member of the JLA can stop it. She scoops Dani up in her arms, and before she’s even out the door, she’s already telling the other Amazon’s the good news and making plans to take Dani to Themyscira to meet her γιαγιά Hippolyta.
The two work on figuring out family life, and all’s good for a while. Dani’s got a (relatively) stable home life and is quickly adapting to life as “Danielle Prince.” She likes that the name sounds similar to Diana’s, like it was on purposeful choice rather than a cheap knockoff of her original’s name, and she’s getting a lot more comfortable with it. Bruce, thoroughly defeated and resigned to put away the adoption papers, helps her enroll is a good school and finds tutors to catch her up on the years of schooling she didn’t live through. (This includes Jason Todd, who has volunteered himself as an excuse to hang out with Wonder Woman more.) Louis helps her get legal paperwork and documents for Dani (something she helped do for Kon). She makes friends with Damian and Jon. And she’s just as skilled as Danny with language, so she’s picking up Greek rapidly.
Since Diana’s adopted her and she’s gained an army of superpowered babysitters, Dani is finally starting to feel comfortable enough to share some information with the League. It’s not much, but she lets them know Plasmius is the one who cloned her, and her last name used to be Fenton.
Oh, no. Between those colors and facial features, Clark has a pretty good guess at which Fenton family she came from. Still, the family is enormous, so he doesn’t know which Fenton exactly was cloned, but the family reunion is this year, and wouldn’t hurt to give Dani a bigger support system. Would she and Diana like to come?
Vlad, meanwhile, has recovered and is pissed. After shadowing Wonder Woman from a healthy distance, he finds out she’s supermodel Diana Prince. Plasmius may not have been a match for Wonder Woman, but billionaire Vlad Masters is more than capable of taking some supermodel down a peg or two.
So, he approaches Diana at work, telling her he knows who she is and that he wants his “daughter” back. His “minion” might not have been a match for her, but if she refuses to comply, he’ll ruin her career.
And she laughs. Laughs right in his face. Loudly. Because she knows he’s bluffing. A billionaire and supermodel isn’t anything new as far as the media is concerned; it’s a cliché. But a deadbeat billionaire dad threatening to steal back an illegitimate child from an abandoned single mother? After years of not paying any child support? The media would eat something like that right up. Something that could drop stock prices and ruin political careers. That’s something anyone would be desperate to keep hushed up and out of the media spotlight, and she’ll drag him kicking and screaming into said spotlight if he comes anywhere near her daughter. Or maybe the media would prefer to know the real story about his illegal cloning? After all, that went over so well for Lex Luthor.
Vlad leaves, and Diana makes a few calls. First, she makes sure Clark heard everything in that conversation and sets him on the warpath against DalvCo if need be. She gets Bruce up to speed, and if there’s one thing he’s in the best position to do, it’s to hit Vlad where it really hurts: his wallet. Vlad was already a pretty scummy businessman. Wayne Enterprises didn’t need much of an excuse to cancel or back out of business deals with him.
But Diana is still shaken up by the event, even if she’s not going to let it show. Right now, she wants to send Dani away to Themyscira behind a wall of Amazons where she knows no one will be able to touch her, but Bruce and Louis talk her down. Dani’s finally settling into a normal-ish life, and uprooting her now will not help her, and if push comes to shove, trying to whisk her away will not look good to the courts. Louis knows a great lawyer, and Bruce is willing to foot the bill.
For Vlad, that did not go as expected at all. He hadn’t expected her to know Danielle was a clone, and he doesn’t want Danielle to be public knowledge. However, he has no intention of getting lawyers involved; she’d be expecting that. No, he has something far more insidious planned. It’s been decades since he’s attended one, but the Fenton Family Reunion should be coming up soon, and as far at that family is concerned, once a Fenton, always a Fenton. She’s prepared to fight lawyers? Well, Let’s see how she fares against an army of angry grandparents and disapproving aunts demanding that his poor child be returned to him once he sets the family on the warpath.
#dp x dc#dani phantom#wonder woman#dani fenton#danielle prince#diana prince#extended family au#this idea sorta threw a wrench into how i'd originally planned to post the stuff for this au#but i think the new order will work out better this way#no one's getting forgotten#they'll all be addressed in time#and i think the new post order will work out much better#at this point#dani is the only kid from amity park who's “out” to the supers#no one else knows about each other#it's all gonna go down at the family reunion
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not enough trust to believe (not enough feeling to care) | a. shinonome
✮ tags ; fem!reader (usage of she/her towards reader + mentioned to wear make-up), established relationship, making-up, jealousy, hurt/comfort, light angst / happy ending, aged-up characters (this is sfw), single suggestive comment at the end.
✮ wc ; 4k (how.. literally what happened.)
✮ a/n ; the minute i touch that app a demon takes over and i end up daydreaming about this mf and toya . peace and love i feel insane. also for what its worth i do think adult akito is very good at communicating his emotions in comparison to now so if u find him ooc my apologies.
title from rental by brockhampton. shoutout if u know what manga this panel is from lol. also if ur a minor please do not follow me. u r welcome to read.
"Y'know, Akito - you're being a bit of a hypocrite right now."
"Shut up, Toya." Akito grumbles, forcing himself to tear his eyes away from the bastard you're currently giggling with "I'm not."
An laughs from the other side of the room.
"You so are being a hypocrite right now," An threads her fingers through Kohanes hair, the other currently seated on the floor while she styles it "What was it you said? It's nothing to get jealous over so don't worry."
"Akito-kun, it's not good to be dishonest."
"Kohane-san, you're being corrupted. I can't believe you'd join these two on this."
Kohane shakes her head.
"I'm not being anything. It's just not right."
An wraps her arms around Kohane's shoulders from above, chin resting on her head. Akito sighs, leaning his head back on the wall behind him with his eyes still closed - only bothering to open them again when another giggle falls from your lips. This time it turns into full blown heart eyes from that corny bass-playing bastard.
Akito Shinonome is not jealous alright? He isn't. So, this reaction is not by any means hypocrisy.
VIVID BAD SQUAD has officially been on tour for 6 months. This is their first international tour of their career, after releasing their first studio album. It was received well in Japan but surprisingly had more of an audience overseas. So, they'd been performing all over North America with another band.
You've been apart of the VIVD BAD SQUAD team for quite some time before then, working as a roadie for tours back home. Akito has been dating you for well-over a year, and so far - its been great. He gets to see you often and manages to sneak you onto the performers tour bus sometimes. He likes not having to be apart, even if he is incredible busy. A little is better than nothing at least.
A few months ago, the two of you got into a bit of a spat. You'd told Akito that you think he gets a little too friendly when girls come to meet him backstage. Went on a whole spiel about understanding his career and persona, that he doesn't need to be cold but that you wish he put a little more distance between them.
Akito had retaliated with the fact it's nothing to worry about. He's loyal to you and him being friendly isn't anything meaningful. You were upset about this reply and the two of you got pretty intense.
It took Kohane and An's intervention and plenty of convincing to get you two back on good terms - with An promising that she'd keep and eye out and scold Akito properly. You started talking again after that at least, and things went back to normal.
But nothing had really gotten resolved. You still seemed to feel upset every time he'd act too familiar with fans and Akito still didn't see it as a problem. To him it was just a fake part of the persona, and he didn't think it was like you to get so jealous about something like that.
Then, a few months ago - word got out that the bassist of the band they're traveling with has a crush on you.
FLASHBANG, a smaller indie rock band that everyone on tour is very fond of and a perfect addition to their set list. Both bands are friendly with one another. He'd assumed the news of their bassist having a crush on you was nothing more than some rumor. He just couldn't believe it having met them.
Sure, not everyone knew you two were dating but surely Akito would've noticed that before. He just wanted to double check.
It's been weeks now, and he's sure. Hiroaki Miura, bassist pretty boy, has a fucking crush on you. It's so obvious he has no idea how he didn't pick up on it before. He has no idea how you haven't picked up on it either.
He'd mentioned it to you just last week, just to see. You laughed a bit, but asked if he wanted you to stop hanging out with him as much or if there was anything you could do - all while assuring you didn't think that was the case.
"If it makes you uncomfortable, I can put some distance between us. Miura-kun isn't interested in me at all, though - I don't think. We're just good friends, we went to school together."
Ultimately he said that wasn't necessary. Akito stares at the two of you together now and scoffs. Haah. Good friends because you went to school together? He's practically making googly eyes at you.
"Looks like they're coming over here," Toya mumbles. Akito closes his eyes and pretends to be asleep, eye twitching when he hears Toya exhale.
"Hey, guys - great show! The duets today were just so vocally smooth and—oh shit, is he asleep?"
He hears An laugh and forces himself not to react. "Yeah. He was exhausted after today."
"Oh, really? Some sleep will be good then." The affection in your voice is so obvious he temporarily forgets whats happening until another, much more annoying voice comes through.
"You guys going straight back to the tour bus tonight?"
"Yeah, probably." Toya confirms.
"Ah, okay cool. We," He pauses, and Akito can only assume he's gesturing to you "Are gonna go check out a manga pop-up that's open here a few blocks down."
"Just the two of you?" An asks, very obviously barely holding in a laugh.
"Oh no, Eta-san is coming with us."
"Y'know, I wanted to go alone with you," Miura says, and Akito really thinks about waking up and hitting him "But Eta really wanted to come so I couldn't say no."
"I like how honest you are with your feelings, Miura-kun. Very refreshing."
"I don't have anything to hide," He insists, and Akito feels his hand clench "It was just nice we ended up tour together. We haven't seen each other since highschool so I thought I should make the most of our time together."
"I don't remember you being so sentimental. I actually remember you bullying me more than anything."
"Hey, quit it! I wasn't bullying you, i-it just came out wrong. I'm not good with my words and all."
"I know," You say completely good-naturedly. Akito knows objectively you're being friendly and thinking nothing of it. He knows that this is nothing to be bothered over and that you've been nothing but loyal. But god he’s annoyed."You would make fun of me then turn around and lend me your stuff. After I figured out you weren't a bad guy I wasn't scared of you."
"You guys have quite the history," Toya comments. You laugh.
"Yeah, I guess so. We lost touch after I moved for my internship so it feels like a big coincidence! Always good to see old friends."
Before any more conversation happens, another staff member calls Miura for whatever reason - leaving you alone. Akito keeps his eyes closed, hearing Toya sigh for a second time.
"Should I tell Akito where you went?"
"Oh, would you? That'd be great, thanks. I figure he wouldn't want to come, or else I'd invite him and go together."
"Why do you think that?" Kohane asks.
"I'm not blaming him or anything! I just don't think he'd be very enthusiastic about it, that's all. I don't want to force him. Me and Miura-kun bond over this stuff, Eta-san too."
"I'm sure he'd be happy to get to spend time with you," Toya assures. He can't see you but he can hear the insecurity seeping through your voice and something in him starts to bend.
"I know, but you know. It's weird lately with tour and all. I think getting my mind off it would help."
"Oh, no." An sighs. Akito's chest tightens "You poor thing."
"Oh stop that, I'm fine! Getting some air will be nice though, you know? For both of us maybe. I did want to tell him myself though."
"It'll be fine, I'll make sure."
"Thanks, Aoyagi-kun.
"And just so you know, Akito-kun really loves you!"
"Of course. I have no reason to feel stuffy about it. Just makes me wonder if I should still be apart of the picture if that's part of his career, no? Dating would hinder that."
"Don't think like that." Toya interjects. You laugh but even Akito can hear how sad you sound. He had no idea you'd even been thinking that.
"I'll try just for you. Now all of you, stop moping over my silly dating problems okay? It was an amazing show today!! Cheer up and I'll see you guys later."
"Where are you going now?"
"Gonna wait backstage for Miura-kun."
"Have fun," Kohane says last. You laugh brightly and assure you will before your footsteps trail off and get lost in the music. When you're gone, Toya punches him in the shoulder - hard enough to hurt a little.
"Ow, what the fuck?"
"You're such a jackass," An says seriously, shaking her head.
"I told you that it was gonna be a problem that you acted like that when we're a duo," Toya reprimands seriously. Akito can't do much to counter it "You should talk to her properly."
"About what," Akito grumbles "It is part of the gig. It doesn't mean anything to me."
"Oh my god, you're so clueless!" An says, exasperated, startling him "It bothers you this much that she's talking to Miura-kun but she should just deal with it when random girls act like to you all the time?"
"An-chan, don't get too mad."
"If I don't no one will! Did you see how sad she looked! She was even trying to be all understanding. That's not fair to her at all."
"...I also understand Akito-kuns view. But if that's the case, then that doesn't mean that she needs to tolerate it, right?"
"What are you saying, Kohane-san?"
She shakes her head.
"I just mean she doesn't have to continue if it's hard for her. If it's not something you can change, then she shouldn't endure it forever, right?"
“What the hell? Are you saying we should break-up?”
“Maybe. If it can’t be resolved, then isn’t unfair to expect her to always endure it?”
“That’s a mature way of looking at, Kohane-san.” Toya comments. Akito shoots him a dirty look. Toya shrugs, unbothered.
“Her and Miura-kun are a good match. They have a good atmosphere and Miura-kun doesn’t care about things like that,”
Akito sits up in frustration, nearly grabbing Toya by the collar.
“Don’t fuck with me.”
“Think about whats best for her in the long run.”
Akito stands to his feet, glare hardened but Toya doesn’t budge at all. He doesn’t have to listen to this shit.
"This and that isn't the same. It's work to me, that's it."
"Everything that she and Miura-kun do is strictly platonic to her. She's not flirting with him, and it's not her fault if he has a crush on her. She even offered to stop seeing him if it made you uncomfortable."
Akito stays silent at that.
"But what about you? You just immediately dismissed it because it's part of her job and didn't even apologize to her later. You seriously think that's fair?"
He sighs at that, and shakes his head.
"I'm leaving."
Toya shakes his head once Akito is out of ear shot.
"So stubborn."
___
It’s close to midnight and you haven’t returned to the tour bus.
Akito knows its stupid to worry but knowing you were out with that goon all day is grating on his nerves. So he’s been waiting. Pacing around and smoking cigarettes, going in and out - he even texted you couple times to check in. You responded with pictures of your items, and selfies.
You had a long day, you drank a bit, you'd be back to the bus soon, you miss him. All in a row.
The longer the time goes on, the dumber Akito feels.
He leans on the bus as he waits on his phone, fingers growing cold. He hears you before he sees you, the sound of quiet giggling followed by a loud laugh. Akito's head snaps up almost immediately.
He hasn't seen you since the afternoon, but you changed. You're wearing your going-out outfit and it looks like you've put on some makeup too, smudged and worn. Eta is between you both as you carry her - Miura just has lovesick as when Akito saw him last. His stomach drops a little.
But the feeling is washed away when you brighten, eyes landing on him. You wave with a bag in your hand and Akito waves back. He waves to Miura too, if only to be polite.
"Akito-kun," Miura is the first talk as all three of you approach "What are you doing here?"
"There was some stuff about tomorrow set we needed to talk about," Akito says, gesturing to you. You blink owlishly.
"Just for you guys? Not FLASHBANG?"
Akito nods. You hum, then look over at Miura.
"Will you be okay taking Eta-san?"
Miura nods.
"Of course. I can't believe she drank so much in the first place, but I oughta to walk her back to our bus." Miura says as you off-load the weight on your shoulder "I'll see you again for tomorrow. Had a lot of fun today."
You giggle, clearly a little tipsy as you give Miura a thumbs-up. "Me too. See you tomorrow!"
Miura laughs a little before turning the corner, mumbling some light reprimanding to the drunk Eta before going on his way. Akito waits until both parties have disappeared - all the way out of ear shot before he looks at you with clear eyes.
If he's come to any conclusion it's this one - Akito doesn't want to break up with you.
He can't give up his career either, and maybe that's selfish. Maybe that's the whole problem. He can't pick. He thought about it, whether or not breaking up would be the right solution. He landed on maybe. Rationally he understands it. But it makes him angry just to think about it.
Akito stares at you as you hold your bag in comfortable silence and look at him. Wide, honest eyes - so dazzling he can hardly breathe. He reaches forward and cups your cheek in the palm of his hand, smoothing his thumb underneath your eye.
"You're back late," He murmurs, though it's not accusatory "What were you doing?"
"Well, a new store opened up at the mall in Tokushima, a bookstore that had a little pop-up for an anime Miura-kun likes. So we shopped around for a while, then stopped to see a movie, then went to an izakaya to drink a bit."
"Did you drink a lot?" He says, gentle as he holds you "You're gonna get a migraine."
"I had 2 mixed drinks. They had shochu in them but it wasn't very strong. Some water will sober me up." You pause inbetween your words, brows furrowing "What happened with the set list?"
"I was lying," Akito admits without thinking twice. You look surprised and he laughs "I just wanted us to be alone."
You tug on the lapel of his jacket weakly "I said I'd put some distance between us if it made you uncomfortable."
"It's not that," And it's true. Akito just really, really needed to be with you alone for a while "I was getting grilled earlier."
"From who?'
Akito rolls his eyes "Who else but Toya?"
You giggle.
"What was he grilling you about?"
"...You," Akito answers after some time "Us."
A beat of silence passes.
"Were you really thinking about breaking up?"
You look a little startled before looking away and something in him is crushed.
"Is that what he told you?"
"It's what it sounded like," Akito replies back. He reaches for your hand and squeezes it "Do you?"
"It's not that I want to,"
"Then what is it?"
'We're gonna go around in circles again," You say through a wet-laugh, like you're already gonna cry again. Akito fucked up bad. He brings your free hand up to his lips, kissing your knuckles gently.
"We wont this time, swear."
"I know it's just work to you. It doesn't bother me all the time, either - like sometimes it doesn't bug me at all. But then, it's like, if I can't handle this much, maybe we should break up," You explain carefully and slowly, not trying to be too harsh at any point "I don't want to resent you or get in the way of your career, y'know. I know you're not gonna cheat on me. I'm a little insecure about it, but tough shit you know?"
"What do you mean?"
"It just...I dunno. It feels bad to watch you flirt with your fans, but if it's work for you than that makes it a me problem right?" You say thoughtfully, a sad but gentle look in your eyes "I don't know if I can handle that. So maybe, it's better to nip it in the bud now before things get serious."
"Aren't they serious already?"
"Yeah, but it's not like we're married. Or public. Like this, it's a normal break-up. It'll be awkward for a bit. But we get through it and things go back to how they were."
"It sounds like you don't take this seriously." Akito says, accusatory. You sigh and shake your head.
"That's not true at all. If you mattered to me in any less, it might be easier. Like if I loved you just a bit less, I could come up with a better solution," You hum. Akito believes it more than anything, that you love him. Even knowing doesn't make everything better "I love you and I know that your career is the most important thing to you. I would never want to make you choose."
"So what? You just cut yourself out of the equation so I don't have to?"
Where Akito expects you to disagree, you laugh and nod your head.
"Yeah. At least we'd be on good terms that way."
Akito stares at you in disbelief. He's partially angry, and partially devastated. He knows what you're saying, and it makes sense rationally. Logically at least. It's a problem with no good outcomes, like if there's already a stalemate - whose to say things will get better. It's in character for you to think like that. Where Akito is hard-headed and passionate, you're calm and analytical. To overthink to such an extent, to think so seriously about your futures. Both Akito's future and yours.
But it's not what he wants. His career is important, of course it is. What he's built is important. But does that mean he has to give up on you?
When Akito reflects on it, he doesn't think your original ask was that hard to fulfill. It hurts the worst to know that. Had he heard you out properly the first time, thought about it a little more - it'd be clear that it's nothing that serious.
Nothing worth making you worry over. Nothing worth making you question your entire relationship over.
But he didn't do that the first time, and now he's stuck listening to you think of all the ways things could go worse from here. It's his fault, really, for not thinking about it. He's always been this way about his career.
"You've been thinking about this a lot." He says first, almost paralyzed. You laugh humorlessly.
"I was going to wait until tour was over to talk about it."
"...Cause you were worried about how I'd perform."
"You're an important part of my salary," You joke, trying to lighten the mood.
"...Man this feels like shit,"
"Sorry."
"No, not it's not that. It's not your fault."
"It's not yours either."
"But it is," He says, exasperated with himself "If I would've just fucking... heard you out a few months ago. You wouldn't have been thinking about all this. If I had just done something then,"
"I don't see it like that, Akito."
"I know but it doesn't matter, cause it's my fucking fault anyway." He looks at you seriously. Shit, he almost wants to cry. "I don't want to break-up with you. I'm really sorry."
"A-akito?"
"I'll stop flirting with the girls who come to meet us. And I'll announce our relationship after I talk with the managers a bit,"
"A-akito, you really don't have to—"
"My career, music, everything we've built so far is important to me," Akito looks at you seriously, hoping it all comes out right. That everything comes through the way he intends "But shit, so are you. You're not...less important to me than any of that."
You stay silent, like you're in disbelief.
"Really?"
"Fuck—god, yes of course. I'm sorry. I really screwed up this time. I don't want to break up. I want to be with you, for a long time. Longer than this."
"I'm gonna cry." You say with a warbly laugh.
"Don't cry," Akito mumbles, pulling you into his arms. He hears you sniffle as he tucks your face against his chest, his arms around you tightly as he comforts you "I'm sorry for being an idiot. I love you,"
He presses a kiss to your head, looking at your tear-stained face with a sigh. He leans forward, knocking your foreheads together before littering kisses along your cheeks and face until you laugh again. He finds himself smiling too, before another somber wave of emotion washes over him.
"I'm sorry for being a shithead," He says with a sigh "An called me a jackass and I can't believe I have to agree with her."
You laugh "I don't think you're a jackass."
"You totally should though," Akito says back "I was pissed off the whole day."
"Really? Why?"
"Why do you think?
You look genuinely confused for a minute before something seems to click.
"Was it because of Miura-kun?"
"Yeah. Fucking walking around so lovey-dovey, making googly eyes at you."
You smile impishly "He confessed to me earlier today."
Akito stiffens immediately.
"What?!"
"Yeah. We were in an alley and waiting for Eta-san and he just... told me outright."
"...And then what?"
You roll your eyes "Of course I accepted and now we live together, happy ever after." Your sarcasm bleeds through your words as you flick Akito's forehead "Obviously I rejected him gently and said I was seeing someone."
"And then?"
"And then he asked who, and I said and then he was silent for a while before tearing up a little." You reply thoughtful, fond smile on your face "He said he wishes he did it in highschool and I comforted him for a bit. Guy cheered up really fast,"
"Seriously?"
"Congrats on being right," You lean into Akito, wrapping your arms around his waist "He bounced back after a drink or two and it hasn't been awkward at all. He can't hide his feelings for shit so I'm sure he's fine."
"Seriously? It's over just like that?"
"He's a positive guy and he doesn't dwell on things. Kind of dopey you know? Pure-hearted to a fault, the only thing he's really smart at is music and sports."
"So he's over it? There's no way."
"I wouldn't say he's over it," You say thoughtfully "More that he just accepts things as they are. I'm not into him so that's that. But we're still friends, and that won't change any time soon. I hope that's okay."
Akito widens his eyes.
"I mean, yeah it's fine - I guess I feel better about this way but. I mean, shit."
"I thought you'd be celebrating a little more."
Akito scoffs.
"He's still gonna make those stupid heart eyes at you, just not in front of me."
"He does not do anything of the sort!"
"Oh yes he definitely does. Ask Toya if you don't trust me."
"Maybe I will." You reply, sticking your tongue out.
"Ask him when we get to our bus."
"...Is that okay? Did you ask your manager?"
He laughs again, holding you close a second time. He tilts your chin up towards him, placing a kiss on your lips.
"Don't care," He says brazenly "I need you with me tonight."
"That sounds dirty, Akito."
"Oh, it is baby," He teases, turning his voice low "Try not to be too noisy. Kohane-sans a light sleeper."
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I’m working on a thing where all the tributes of the 10th Hunger Games won separate games, ultimately leading to president Snow getting his shit rocked because he sucked from the beginning and TBOSAS proved that, and I was thinking about how all the tributes would have won their games. The way you play the game and what led to your victory will probably have impact on how you cope and what exactly triggers PTSD. I’ve been mostly focused on Lamina and Treech because I love the district 7 tributes they’re built different, but I’ll try to come up with as many as possible for this list:
Velvereen was a career, and scored multiple kills while working with them, but ultimately the alliance broke apart as their members died off in their attempts to hunt down others. Velvereen, being less murder-happy, didn’t get revenge killed, nor did she get overwhelmed by a tribute she attacked, which left her as the last of the pack standing. She won because her last opponent used a melee weapon and she used throwing knives. Thanks to the advantage she had by not only having a long range weapon, but also a lifetime of training to hone her accuracy, she ended their would-be-battle swiftly and took the win.
Facet was also a part of the career pack, not necessarily hunting people down but going out of his way to kill whoever he came across that wasn’t a career. His weapon of choice was a spear, and he won by leaving the career pack when the water got a bit too hot under the team’s feet, and spearing the last tribute like a cannibal-style meat skewer.
Sabyn made full use of her superior health and knowledge of building structures in an urban arena. Aside from using her skill with the mace to bludgeon people to death, she also used it to hit all the weak points in the structures and collapsed walls on top of people. She took out the last remaining tributes by collapsing a building on top of them and killing off the survivors with her mace.
Marcus spent most of his games using his vastly superior physical strength and more well-fed state to his advantage, knowing most of his allies were waiting for the moment they thought they no longer needed him to get rid of him. His solution was to run awa- just kidding he killed them all in their sleep and used the intellect everyone thought he lacked for the rest of the games until the final fight, where he bashed the other tribute’s head into the rocks and then choked them to death.
Teslee wins her games by using her knowledge of electronics to reactivate the mines around the starting platforms and hiding in the cornucopia when there’s only four people left. When the mutts drive everyone to the middle of the arena, they’re subsequently blown up.
Circ wins his games in similar fashion to Teslee, except he gets forced to help the careers with his intellect and knowledge of technology. In response, Circ uses his intellect and knowledge of technology to trick the careers into protecting him and handing him weapons until he no longer needs them, then having the plan they made him execute literally blow up in their face and electrocuting several of them in the process. The last career is killed when Circ evades their attacks until they hit an electrical line with their fully metal weapon.
Coral probably won the same way she almost did in the movie. She was part of the career pack and made sure to be the one to backstab their allies first. There is no little brother figure for her to be worried about, nor are there snakes designed to kill every last person in the arena, so she has all the room and time she needs to handily shish kebab the last tribute and claim victory.
Mizzen doesn’t have as much brutal efficiency, nor the physique that Coral did even though I’m aging him up. He instead wins by mixing her strategy with the tried and true method of staying away from the things that could turn you into a pincushion. It’s like Marcus’ approach in reverse, starting with intellect and finishing with brute strength. He joins the careers, but as soon as things go slightly south he takes out the biggest threat when they aren’t paying attention and runs for the hills (or ocean, because district 4). He lures the last tribute to a body of water by pretending to run away and using the dark so they don’t see the cliff coming, and once they’re in his territory he uses his net to catch them and his trident or knife to finish them off.
Lamina cries so much in the lead up to the games that everyone, including her mentors, have given up on her. Once the games actually begin she surprises everyone with her strategy and skill with an ax, climbing a mountain high enough that people can’t kill her without going up themself and only coming down when she has to. When she does, she stockpiles water and food so she can stay up as long as possible while waiting for the others to whittle down the numbers. On one of her runs she finds a tribute who had a run in with the careers and was tortured almost to death. At their request, she puts them out of their misery. At the end of the games she’s barely got a scratch on her and is still at peak health for the circumstances. She’s forced to come down by the gamemakers, and all but one tribute is killed by the mutts. However, they’re so badly hurt that they beg her to just finish it and end their torment, at which point she hands out a second mercy kill.
Treech won his games by focusing on survival during training and pretending to be very bad at wielding an ax, only showing enough skill to avoid suspicion since he’s from the lumber district. He used good looks and charm during the interview to gain sponsors and talked about home to set up a proper sob story to get sympathy. He used the confusion of the cornucopia to snatch some of the supplies further away from the cornucopia and stays hidden from other tributes for the entirety of his games. Thanks to his stealing from everyone, including the careers, without getting caught, he has enough screen time to maintain his sponsors without putting himself in too much danger, especially before he gets his hands on an ax. His only kills occur during the final minutes of the games, where he jumps the last three careers once he realizes they won’t fight each other until he’s dead and waiting for the capitol to send mutts is more dangerous. He uses the element of surprise to jump the careers, cleaving one in the head and throwing his ax at the career with a long range weapon, before using his knife to injure the last tribute while stopping them from fatally wounding him until he manages to pull the ax from the body of the second career, turning to avoid a swing and gain momentum before swinging down and planting his ax in the last kid’s neck, killing them instantly.
Bobbin lost his arm in the games (I cannot see him as someone that isn’t Knox Gibson), and killed someone with a needle since he knows five ways to do exactly that. After losing his arm, he stayed alive by sewing it and several dangerous gashes closed so he wouldn’t bleed to death. He tripped the second to last other tribute using thread from his clothing and they got ripped to shreds by mutts that had been released into the arena. The last person was killed with that same thread, a brick, and yet again a needle.
Wovey used her perceived disadvantage (again, I cannot see a Wovey that isn’t Sofia Sanchez) by making everyone believe she’s weak. The arena was an industrial terrain not unlike district eight, which meant hiding was a piece of cake for her. Also, she used her knowledge of these kinds of buildings to lead whatever tribute was chasing her around until they were in a prime place for her to strike or ran into another tribute to strike for her. The last tribute was pushed into a machine, which crunched them to death.
Sheaf used her agility to her advantage, and luckily there was a sickle in the arena for her so her strategy became to rush at people with melee weapons, who would then predictably prepare to block a head-on attack, only to duck past them and cleave them in the back. She won her games by tiring her opponent out and decapitating them.
Panlo picks up on skills easily, and in the three days he had at the training centre he learned to shoot pretty decently with a bow and arrow. He’s best with a sickle, but they didn’t have those in his arena and he’d rather stay long range so bow and arrow it was. Nobody expected him to become so proficient so quickly, and since none of the careers used bows Panlo waited until after the bloodbath to run to the cornucopia and grab the set, as well as some supplies. He spent his games scoping out good sniper posts and shooting anyone who got too close for comfort, winning the games by waiting for the last two to finish duking it out and shooting the winner in the stomach, then finishing it with a shot through the chest.
Tanner won his games by joining an alliance (not the careers) and relying on their numbers to keep others from attacking him for as long as possible. During the final fight he uses his strength to wrestle the other person to the ground and uses his knife and experience from working in the slaughterhouses to gut them.
Brandy wins her games by using everything she knows from the slaughterhouses to kill the other tributes. During her last battle, she wrestles the other tribute to the ground and snaps their neck.
Dill is also aged up, and used her fragile state to play innocent before dropping all sorts of deadly things on people’s heads from the trees and poisoning them with her knowledge of agriculture.
Reaper is basically Thresh if Thresh hadn’t died so the capitol could have their star-crossed lovers death battle (you cannot tell me the storm didn’t have that exact purpose, the mutts are more ambiguous). Physically intimidating and strong, but deciding to lay low for most of the games rather than going on a rampant murder spree. He refuses to play the game and doesn’t kill anyone until he and one of the careers are the last two standing. The skirmish ends with Reaper scoring a revenge kill for his district partner, who was killed by this tribute.
Jessup used his strength to to intimidate the other tributes into steering clear of him. He joins the careers right until they’ve got one more dangerous tribute to get rid of, at which point he knows it’s time to cut his losses and run away. He keeps the careers alive, because he needs them to get rid of the other tribute and he’s lower on the priority list, but he knows that once that kid’s gone he’s the next to go. So he subtly stalls them until a night where it’s his turn to watch and grabs as many supplies as he can quietly get his hands on and leaves them behind. Another tribute stumbles across them and gets rid of half the pack, but that’s not Jessup’s concern. He wins the games by smashing a bottle over another tribute’s head and stabbing them to death with the shards.
Lucy Gray Baird wins by becoming the capitol favorite for her games. Her “performance” leads to her getting more sponsors than even some of the careers, which allows her to stay alive without having to put herself into much danger to get supplies. She wins by singing to snake mutts until they recognize her scent and stop attacking her, at which point she has venomous sentient weapons in her arsenal which she makes full use of, taking out two tributes with snake bites and ultimately distracting the last other tribute with them, using the opening it gives her to kill them.
I genuinely cannot think of anything for Hy, Sol, Ginnee or Otto for now, sorry 😅.
#the ballad of songbirds and snakes#tbosas#treech tbosas#tbosas treech#treech#treech thg#tbosas lamina#lamina thg#lamina tbosas#tanner thg#tbosas tanner#tanner tbosas#coral tbosas#tbosas coral#tbosas mizzen#mizzen tbosas#circ tbosas#teslee#hy#tbosas bobbin#wovey tbosas#wovey#panlo#sheaf#reaper ash#dill tbosas#jessup diggs#lucy gray baird#marcus tbosas#brandy
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Blah Blah Blah [ Once Upon A Time Fanfic] ❄️
Pairing: Snow White/Mary Margaret Blanchard x Prince Charming/David Nolan
Set during Season 4, Episode 11 - "Shattered Sight"
Characters: Cadence, Anna, Kristoff, Regina, and Baby Neal.
Summary: With the spell cast, tension runs high as Snow, David, and Cadence are trapped in the Storybrooke police station, bickering and revealing hidden grudges.
Note: I just wanted to have some fun, I didn't think much of it, it's some of my favorite scenes from season 4. Also I just wanted to make Cadie the annoying little bitchy sister in this fic haha
Click here to get to know Cadence Nolan
------
The spell was cast. People were pissed off. Outside in the town of Storybrooke, everyone was partially trying to kill each other. Inside the station that had just a few seconds ago been filled with smiles and laughs, now held eye rolls, yelling, and full-blown surges of anger.
Snow and David were seated, separated in cell blocks next to one another. Cadence was handcuffed to a front table, near Kristoff who sat on the other end of the table as she was trying to smack the crap out of him. Meanwhile, Anna, who wasn’t affected by the curse, paced back and forth, keeping watch, sort of stressed out.
The only one calm was baby Neal, who was peacefully napping, without a single care in the world.
“Finally, I’m seeing you clearly,” Snow stated with a scoff.
“What do you see?” David replied with a half-smirk.
“A fraud. A shepherd who has no business being royalty.”
“Well, I see a spoiled little princess who ran away from her troubles. WHO ALWAYS RUNS AWAY.”
“I can’t believe I had a child with you.”
“Who knows? Maybe you didn’t? Could be Whales!”
“Oh, shut up! You’re one to talk, David. You ran away from the farm and the castle more than anyone,” Cadence yelled, standing up but being pulled back to the table.
“Whose side are you on?” David yelled.
“Neither! You fell for THAT little brat? Katherine was much better.”
“KATHERINE?! You never liked me,” Snow shouted, “You were jealous because I stole your brother from you and that your EX-boyfriend’s mother hated you.”
“Oh, please." She remarked, "You fell for the wrong TWIN BROTHER! You thought it was JAMES NOT DAVID for months, he lied. You lied back.”
“At least I didn’t shoot my man!”
David glanced at her, “Your man? Oh look, she cares!”
“Shut up, I wasn’t talking to you!” Snow yelled, turning back to his sister-in-law, “So?”
“You shot him with a bow and arrow. You’re an annoyed little princess who thinks she’s always right. NEWS FLASH NOW, you ain’t. If you were right, you wouldn’t have married him or met me,” Cadence yelled.
“YOU LITTLE—you never let anyone help you.”
“I should’ve left you to drown years ago in that lake.”
“I should’ve let you get caught by those wolves.”
Both girls kept arguing with David jumping in shouting at both his sister and wife.
Kristoff rolled his eyes, “If this is what marriage is like, I’m glad you keep postponing ours.”
“You were gonna marry him, Anna?” Cadence asked with a laugh.
“Oh, don’t you start.”
“He sucks.”
“Hey!”
“He farts so bad, never shuts up about his reindeer and oh—“
“DON’T.”
Anna sighed, “You know what? I’m gonna go find my sister. And you two stay here, where you can’t annoy anyone. Expect me with your words.”
“You ran away from me! Anna, he’s a cheater, you wanna marry that?” Cadie said, spilling the beans.
Anna gasped, “You cheated on a princess, Kristoff?”
“He moved to Arendelle the next day.”
“I’m so sorry. Kristoff never ran away from me…I think?”
“That’s because he always had a thing for redheads, sweetheart.”
Kristoff shouted, “HEY! That’s it! You are a spoiled little rat-”
“You’re the one who couldn’t settle on a career!” Cadence yelled back
“You were a child farmer.”
"And you chose to be around ice and snow. You know who can do your job better? January!"
“Ice work seemed better at the time! So I studied it!”
“The whole town is FROZEN! Why are you selling ice for?”
“Farmer.”
“Stable boy.”
David and Snow kept fighting, while Kristoff and Cadence kept bickering. Anna tried to handle The Charming couple, but Snow kept making remarks, saying she was a murderer, causing Cadence to snicker with David barking over her.
Anna said sheepishly, “But you’re in love right? That has to count for something.”
“Love?! Ha! The moment I met her, she hit me with a rock!” David shouted.
Snow sighed, rolling her eyes, “Someone slip me a poison apple and put me out of my misery.”
Kristoff yelled, begging, “Me! Pick me.”
“Oh, shut it, Iceman!” David barked.
Kristoff bit back, “Oh ‘Iceman’? Who are you calling ‘Iceman’, ‘Stableboy’?”
“You! AGAIN the whole place is frozen! What are you selling ice for?!”
“IT’S MAKING ME GOOD MONEY!”
“You left us like it was nothing!”
~~~~~
It went on for a while. Until a certain figure showed up. Running into the station dressed in a black gown, was Regina with a fierce growl and a smirk. Cadence scoffed, Snow and David looked annoyed, Kristoff was searching for something to knock himself out with, and Anna was plain out confused.
Cadence muttered, “This is gonna be interesting.”
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t my lucky day. I originally came here to kill Emma, but now I get to kill the two idiots who started it all! And their personal sidekick!” Regina yelled.
“HEY!”
“You know who you are!”
“I served your ass for years.”
“But you went running back to them.”
David scoffed, “Well, in our defense, we didn’t tell Cora about your secret boyfriend.”
“Yeah, it was her!” Cadence agreed, pointing to her sister-in-law.
Snow furrowed her brows and remarked, “ARE YOU SELLING ME OUT?!”
“SHUDDAP! You all deserve to die, not just for what you did, but for your whining!” Regina shouted over them, pointing around to the trio, “But your punishment should fit your crime. You took my first true love from me, and now I’m gonna return the favor. By taking your baby.”
The trio yelled and shouted over one another for Regina to stop, as she poofed Kristoff and Anna away, throwing Snow’s door open and tossing Cadence into the same cell as her brother.
Snow and Regina squared off, with swords. The fighting soon commenced, dueling out in front of the shared cells. Soon enough, Regina towered over Snow nearby the desk. Across the desk stood the stroller.
“CAREFUL! The stroller's not under warranty anymore.” David called.
Snow strained, “You said you bought it new!”
“It was slightly used!”
Cadence recounted, “It was gently used!”
Snow grunted, kicking Regina off her, swaying the sword towards her midriff as she pushed back.
Regina glared, “Tell me when you’re tired of missing, Mary Margaret.”
Snow half-smirked, “I only have to hit you once.”
She swung and missed, Regina pushed her away, and both slipped on the flooring of the station. They used everything around them to fight: stacked papers, clothes, and small figurines. One of them was a tiny dog and a deep blue sweater.
“Hey!” Cadence called out.
Snow looked over her shoulder, “Is that my sweater?!”
“You never used it.”
“I was saving it for an occasion.”
“Like when?!”
Regina looked around to see if Cadence stole anything from her as well. However, as she was distracted, Snow took the upper hand, wrapping her arms around the woman and slamming them both against the cell block.
David and Cadence tried to take the upper hand, helping Snow as Regina pushed herself away from the trio.
The fight kept going back and forth, with David and Cadence watching like two school kids. They tried breaking out of the cell, but it was no use.
They screamed and shouted the whole time, even making remarks to Snow and Regina.
“Uppercut! Lock her onto the table,” Cadence yelled toward Snow. “Seriously?!” David looked at his sister.
“I’m helping!”
“At least tell her to swing the sword upwards to cut her cheek or something!”
“Oh, good idea! Snow, do that!”
~~~
Suddenly, a burst of magic flew across Storybrooke, hitting the Police Station, causing everyone to feel like they were slapped across the face and pushed forward like they were asleep. Breaking the short spell.
They all looked around, oddly confused, seeing swords in hands, papers on the floor, small figurines, and the front desk being pushed backwards.
Regina looked down at herself, seeing herself in her Evil Queen dress with her hair all messed up and dropped her sword. Cadence saw herself snickering as it turned into a set of giggles and laughter.
Regina looked ridiculous, honestly.
“What am I wearing?” Regina asked.
Snow looked at her, breaking into a small fit of chuckles that turned into laughter, followed by Regina laughing alongside her.
David was leaning against the bars of the cell, snorting and laughing so hard, he rolled onto the floor.
~~~~~
That's all folks! Let me know what you guys think
Remember to like, comment and share
Tags: @gaminggirlsstuff Paul @gcthvile @missstrawbs2001 @djs8891 @starkleila @cherrysft @mandylove1000 @yetanotherwells @topgun-imagines @hardballoonlove @buckysteveloki-me @sherloquestea @nakiaswg @carellmcu @ximehs @sofia-falcone @rooster-84 and etc
#once upon a time#once upon a time oc#fyeahonceuponatimeocs#ouat fanfiction#ouat humor#regina mills#snow white#david nolan#mary margaret x david#prince charming#snowing#ouat imagine#ouat rewatch#melissa benoist#frozen#ouat s4#shattered sight#ouat snow white#4x11
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Yeehawgust Day 4: Hold Your Horses
Cowboy!TLOU AU
WC: 825
Rating: T
Characters: Tommy and Maria
Warnings: none, Tommy being a dumbass
A/N: I’m a little behind, but I’ve got another one coming later today too!
Tommy Miller was one cocky son of a gun. Most of the time, it was justified. He might as well have been born in a stable. He’d never met a horse or bull he couldn’t ride, a pig he couldn’t wrestle, or a girl he couldn’t woo. Something about his freckles and warm eyes in the Texas sun had everyone he could ever want wrapped around his finger. He was a sweet talker, a rabble rouser, one of the boys, said yes ma’am and no ma’am, everything you could want in a guy.
He’d tried his hand at a few different things over the years, trick riding, traveling with a rodeo, working cattle sales, but nothing beat the feel of home, the woods and the creeks he grew up running through, the way he knew each creak in the floor. Joel welcomed him back with open arms, he always did. Miller Family Farms had been a staple in the riding community in Northeast Texas for generations. Many a decorated racer had gotten their start in the pens there. That dirt had seen some more blood than they cared to admit, a whole lot of sweat, and its fair share of tears.
At the start of summer, Joel and Sarah had gone on their annual fishing trip, meaning Tommy was back just in time to hold things down until their return. He had helped Joel out with the business side of things before, dabbled in the financials, but his real heart was with the horses. That’s where he spent most of his time.
Summer meant a new batch of riders would be coming in to start their hopefully lasting careers of showing or riding or anything in between. Tommy was getting everyone saddled and ready for the lessons that afternoon when he heard footsteps behind him followed by a reluctant knock against the wooden door.
“Hello?” a sweet, feminine voiced carried to him on the June breeze.
“Be right there!” Tommy called back from one of the far stalls, wiping his hands on his jeans before exiting and latching it behind him. He did his best to keep a straight face when he met the fierce brown eyes of the woman the voice belonged to. She had long dreadlocks neatly tied behind her and a pale yellow button down that glowed against the deep carob of her skin.
“Well hello ma’am, Tommy Miller, nice to meet ya.”
“Maria,” she said, extending a hand to shake, her mouth turning into a halfway grin, “Miller? You the owner?”
“Naw, that’s my brother. I’m just helping out while he’s out of town. I’m guessin’ you’re here for a lesson?” he said turning and leading her farther into the stables.
“Correct.”
“The teacher ain’t here yet, but I can get ya started. Have you ever ridden before?”
“No, never,” she said plainly but confidently.
“Well, lucky for you, you’re in the best hands on this side of the Mississippi,” he said, carrying himself with a renewed swagger.
“Lucky me?” she said coyly, a hand raising to her heart.
“This here’s Daylily, she’s real sweet, good for beginners,” he said leading her up to a copper mare with a wispy, sand colored mane.
Maria rose a gentle hand up to stroke her nose, “Hi, friend.”
Tommy grinned at her from her periphery.
“Let’s get you up,” he said, unlatching the door and leading the horse from the stall. He offered Maria a strong hand to swing up and into the saddle while he explained all the bits and pieces, talked her through how to get her to start walking, and so forth. Tommy walked ahead to open the gate into one of the pens, allowing them to walk through at a steady pace. He closed it behind them and hopped up on one of the beams, tucking the heels of his boots into the one below him to steady himself.
“Just take her for a nice, slow walk, feel the way she moves under ya,” he instructed casually, nodding his head beneath the brim of his hat.
“Like this?” Maria asked before breaking out in a full blown gallop and skillfully rounding the barrels at each end of the pen. She completed a few laps to make her point before pulling Daylily to a stop in front of Tommy.
He had straightened his posture with a dumbfounded look on his face.
“I reckon you’re the teacher then?” he was thankful for the flush of the day’s heat hiding the pink creeping into his cheeks.
“What gave it away?” she asked with a sly smile, dismounting in front of him without breaking a sweat.
“Looks like there’s a thing or two you could teach me,” he said suavely, hopping down from the fence, towering over her.
“You don’t seem like a very good listener,” she teased.
“Depends on who’s doin’ the talkin’,” he shot back with a twinkle in his eye.
#yeehawgust#yeehawgust 2023#hold your horses#the last of us#the last of us fic#the last of us au#tommy miller#maria miller#Tommy x maria
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one last taylor swift post. her current flame that was pr analyzed to death by her millenial team that has one gay dude for diversity points as soon as she felt the first stir of attraction. which def happened while she was still with that ugly british dude LOL. he probably cheated on her first but ofc she can’t let her general fans find out she’s also one bc of the constant need to always be seen as a victim and never as the predatory business savy megalomaniac she really is even though she wants to promote a bad girl image with the 1975 dude 🙄… she can’t even fart in peace without swifties analyzing the shit particles like tea leaves for who she’s currently fucking. the consequent internet meltdown by her parasitic fans which was probably one of the biggest draws to getting with milquetoast edgelord twat healy cause she for sure hates them and wants her space from the constant scrutiny even though that is quite literally what her and her team most utilized to reach the heights she has including her current career high even though she has meltdowns any time something negative is said of her due to her obscene ego. obv i’m not immune bc i like talking about her gay flings but i like all gay celeb gossip in general and also why i’m interested in her bc you dig one inch beneath her carefully constructed pr top soil and realize she would be one of those serial killer nurses if she wasn’t famous. and don’t even get me started on the dykes that STILL think she’s a lesbian, that was an acceptable thought in like 2014 maybe. massive cope to think she isn’t just bi and likes fucking dudes too instead of the every man she breathes near is in a full blown bearding situation with her like she’s an old hollywood starlet or something. even then she wishes, they had 20x the balls size than she ever will. shoutout katharine hepburn. more on her predatory ways ie the olivia rodrigo situation where she went beast mode on her for riding her coattails a little during SOUR like she didn’t do the exact same thing with tim mcgraw LOL. literally sicced her $2000 an hour or whatever tf lawyers on olivia for copyright which took a significant chunk of royalties for some of her biggest hits off of the album and then got paramore’s team to do the same 😭 and then pretended like nothing new was written in 2012 for red like it isn’t the most obvious crying over olivia blowing up and using her name a bit for promo. olivia could have gone the lorde way where she could have organically gotten closer to her and then had to have painfully extracted herself from taylor’s grip so either way it would have ended badly in between them (also she def got with lorde for a bit, parts of melodrama start clicking in place when you realize that). the most fragile ego in the game which is also why she barely ever lets other women feature and if they do they get sent directly to background vocals except phoebe bridgers but i attribute that to the bpd spell phoebe casts over pathetic people. just a constant pattern with her. katy perry, lorde, her girl squad, her former men where she surrounds herself with underlings whose energy she can feed off of till they obviously turn against her control freak ways so then she casts them off to the wolves (her fans) and also the reason she’s stuck stunting with the haim sisters. will be awaiting her and healy’s breakup for their epic public battle of personality disordered egos. i know she has more testosterone than he ever will and will try to absolutely pulverize him in the public’s eye but she’s so overexposed rn i sense another fall from grace due to it. amen 🙏
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Have some Clifford x Zee headcannons, chatting about their dynamic with @jjsesame is really starting to win me over on them being a couple!~
-Zee more so then Clifford likes to keep people guessing, so keeping their relationship a secret is all like a fun game to her. She's not against people finding out if they do, but seeing people trying to figure her out is entertaining. The two will exchange really quick kisses when no body is looking, Clifford's hand will be on her hip and hers on his, they'll hug for a few seconds longer then they do with others. If anyone ever asks Zee will wink mysteriously and say "A lady doesn't kiss and tell~"
-Zee likes to "walk" her fingers along Clifford's shoulders when she's feeling playful, and always delights in the way he'll straighten up for a few seconds before he relaxes.
-Clifford in turn when he wants to surprise her will blow on her ear or whisper something to startle her. Clifford can be surprisingly sneaky when he wants to be
-Based off clips from Muppets Tonight I think Clifford would be the one that's more likely to get jealous. Whenever Zee is being flirted with by someone else Zee is nothing but polite smiles, he knows Zee is an adult and he knows she's faithful, but he can't help it sometimes. His go to method for dealing with this is to sidle right up next to Zee and put a hand on her hip while addressing her as baby as he greets her. Zee will only tease him a little once they're behind closed doors, but assures him he's the only one for her
-While it's rare, Zee can also get jealous sometimes. With her having a teacher career alongside her singing and dancing she has a load of patience and resting calm face, so it take's quite a bit before she's actually bothered by something. However Clifford does work in show business and does occasionally get flirty comments from others that Zee isn't okay with. Her go to method is to hug Clifford from behind without saying a word and resting her head on the back of his shoulder, humming. Since her getting jealous is a rarity Clifford often likes to tease her when it's just the two of them alone, Zee will calmly remind Clifford that she's just showing people he's off the market
-They dress the fuck up for dates. Clifford is a fashion icon with all his suits and fancy décor, and Zee loves her fashion just as much. The two sometimes spend entire dates just going shopping for new outfits, sometimes they'll shop for each others outfits
-Speaking off clothes Zephyr is a shameless clothes theif. If Zee ever stays round at Clifford's she loves to nick his clothes, mostly cuz he's taller then her so his clothes are baggy and comfortable to wear. I imagine Clifford was caught off guard by this at first but now he loves seeing Zee wear his stuff. It's domestic and sweet and he'll sometimes even leave a spare shirt out for her if she wants it
-After Muppets Tonight I like to think Clifford went into a modelling career and occasional helps on the show with presenting/anything to do with the band. When Zephyr isn't booked out preforming on shows or at local pubs she's teaching, which means her and Clifford often text during the day. Despite being a teacher and generally the most level headed out of Zoot's cousins Zephyr likes to use emojis a lot when she's messaging him. Clifford doesn't use them as much but he'll include a heart sometimes
-Zee's favourite thing to flirt with Clifford is twirl his moustache around her finger
-They like karaoke dates, Zee is an excellent singer and dancer thanks to her career and Clifford has a very smooth voice which is perfect for karaoke date nights! They often order alcohol, and since Zee isn't a big drinker Clifford is often the one to end up tipsy or just full blown drunk. He's a very goofy, clumsy drunk, and Zee finds him rather adorable in this state (when Zee gets drunks she's sort of the same but less clumsy and more clingy, she uses more dumb, corny flirts when drunk)
-When they're cuddled together on Clifford's sofa they have their go to positions for cuddling: Clifford can get stressed from work sometimes, and when this happens he likes to lay ontop of Zee while she runs her fingers through his dreads. If he's not as stressed he'll lay behind Zee and she'll have her back to his chest.
-Clifford likes to call Zephry baby, Zee and babe. Zephyr likes to call Clifford honey, babe and boo
-Not really Clifford related but I think it'd be sweet if Janice was one of the few who knew about Clifford and Zee being together. The two often gossip about Clifford and Floyd respectively and their impressive moustaches
#Muppets#The Muppets#Muppet oc#Clifford#Clifford x Zephyr#Zephyr#Zee#Zoot's cousins#Headcannons#OC x cannon
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EDIT: decided to change some things about Star Eater’s backstory to make better sense of who he is and why he ended up where he did. Please check it out if you’ve got the time. :>
Star Eater got a new dragon and updated look!
His old dragon was an ancient and it never really felt right I guess? Anyway, this suits him and his personality so much better. He’s a mod addict with a huge personality who runs the nightclub BLISS and though it hasn’t changed much since I got him over a year ago, you can read some of his lore below! :)
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Star Eater is only a nickname; some say it’s from the way he can make or break an entertainer’s career, either burying them or elevating them to stardom depending on what suits his needs.
Or maybe he just likes the sound of it.
Who knows?
He actually has a soft spot for down on their luck musicians, but don’t go spreading that around. People will start to think he’s easy to take advantage of or something.
His real name is Juice Jones, a once upon a time white collar trust fund kid with a penchant for music. What started out as a hobby turned into a full blown career path for Juice, a fact that would prove to be the unmaking of what little relationship he and his father had.
While JJ was busy with record deals and rabid fans, his father was growing more and more tired of his son’s party boy antics and lack of interest in the company. That company being Condor Industries, second largest manufactorer of cybernetic body modifications after Nexsystems Incorporated.
continued after the cut!
Even though JJ had chosen a different path from the one his father had laid out for him, he still badgered him into coming in to sit in on meetings. His hope was that once JJ had gotten all of this rockstar shit out of his system he would be at least somewhat prepared to take up his father’s mantle one day.
No dice.
Whenever JJ did show up he was always late or hungover (most of the time both) and completely uninterested in what was going on or being said. His younger sister on the otherhand was the perfect child. Fiercely loyal to the company and their father, always doing as he asked without ever blinking an eye no matter the request.
Not only did JJ want no part in the company, he actively smeared their name (and other corporations in general) in several not-so-subtle lyrics, causing all sorts of rumors about where their famiily’s money was really going.
There was some hypocrisy in this, however, seeing as JJ was buring through his daddy’s credit cards instead of using his own wealth when he could help it. This is where his mod addcition began and would be the final nail in the coffin between father and son.
Sick to death of dealing with his son’s aforementioned mod addiction, partying, and overall just making him look bad, his father finally cut him off and threw him out completely.
At first Star Eater didn’t care. Why should he? He was wealthy on his own and doing just fine. Sadly, this would not last.
For a while things were fine. Juice was huge in NN. He sold out every show and lived it up, now with the added benefit of the weight his father placed around his neck gone and buried. But eventually his crazy lifestyle would catch up to him.
His mod addiction ended up fucking him over when, finally, something went wrong, leaving him with a malfuction. This malfuction caused him to sometimes glitch, getting him stuck on a word and repeating it over and over. The only fix that seemed to help was a temporary one: a smack upside the head.
Naturally, this messed with his music career. No mod-doc was able to find a permanent fix. For whatever reason, it would always return no matter how many times he had something replaced, leading experts to believe it was a bit of bad tech that had simply done too much damage to the actual meat inside his head.
Depressed and angry, Juice cut himself off from the world. He stopped playing music for the masses and turned down his record label begging him for the next album. He didn’t stop giving into his bad habits though.
Only now instead of partying for fun it was to forget.
It was around this time that a chance encounter changed the course of his life for the better.
That miracle was a man named Chaka, the kingpin of Neo Necropolis.
They met in one of Chaka’s nightclubs after he was getting a little too rowdy. The kind of rowdy where you break shit that isn’t yours. Pissed, JJ was pulled into the back of the club for a little chat.
What started out as a shakedown turned into a conversation about business and JJ would shock even himself with how much of his father’s boring business teachings had actually stuck.
With the two hitting it off so well and a new nightclub set to open soon, Chaka offered him a position as a sort of business partner. He’d run the new nightclub and be the face of it while Chaka would take a back seat, dealing with the paperwork and shit that JJ didn’t really care for behind the scenes.
Just like he’d knew it would be, the nightclub was a huge success. BLISS, as it was called, became the place to be practically overnight. Anyone who’s anyone rubs elbows in BLISS.
It’s a win win for both of them. Chaka doesn’t have to bother himself with being there in person all the time (he’s very busy man afterall), and Juice- now calling himself Star Eater- gets to enjoy doing what he does best these days.
Despite what you might have heard from some sore losers, Star is a decent guy. Most of the time, anyway. His mod addiction hasn’t gotten any better though and there are moments when his speech still glitches out.
Oh, well. You win some, you lose some, right?
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"One big happy family" isn't one of my favorite sayings nor is it imagery of which I'm particularly fond.
However.
I was reminded yesterday that we are connected in random and unexpected ways.
Seriously.
Random.
And unexpected ways.
Even for me who, within the last few days, pitched someone on the idea of professional community... I was absolutely taken by surprise. I was taken by surprise even knowing the how of moving through a career in tandem with a network of others whose skills are complimentary. People who are in a position to hire. People who are in a position to be hired. And people who are colleagues with whom to collaborate.
A professional community moving through individual careers in sync with each other.
And how do these professionals find one another?
The most natural way is a school cohort. After that, a cohort that's drawn to the same work in the same location. After that, my suggestion to this person starting out on their career was to fully throw themselves into growing their talents while pursuing every opportunity to put those talents in play with others. It's a way of naturally gravitating toward birds of a feather who almost never do just the one thing. So they might play golf, you might play golf, and it turns out you're both veterinary students. Or it turns out you're a screenwriter and your golf partner is a director. Or it turns out you're a vocalist and your golf partner is a composer.
And so on.
In the case of the person I was encouraging, they're a vocalist, play a coupla instruments, and compose music. So my advice was lean into each of, all of those passions because the last composer I worked with was plucked out of a choir by a producer who was also a member of that choir.
No joke.
You use your skills, talents, and passions to enter into the world and filter from it people who are much like yourself. Who become your professional community.
Your network.
As I said before, though, I was reminded yesterday that we are connected in random and unexpected ways.
And those ways, regardless of how random and unexpected, still bear fruit. They still contain opportunities.
So what happened?
I was at a restaurant where, about a half hour in I was recognized by someone whose path I crossed while I was doing some shooting and editing once upon a time. And our experience catching up turned into a shared interest over something on which I'm now working and to which they can open a door or two. This is more than ten years later, by the way.
It's definitely on the extreme end of random and unexpected, I won't lie. But even from such things are professional communities made and grown.
Back in the day, when the idea of networking was explained to us, it seemed very... phony. Inauthentic. It also seemed calculated. Too calculated.
The thing is, though, at the time I was judgemental about the idea, I was already doing it. I was already working at a studio with a group of others who were a de facto network. Of course the school at which I learned about networking, the one in which we were rubbed the wrong way by the concept, well, we were a cohort. I met my first production partner there and we continued forward from that moment into our careers. And during the course of our careers we met people and met people and met people.
Not always in the context of production, mind you. But always in the context of something about which we were passionate.
So there I am indulging these thoughts when it comes to me that it's gonna be tough for someone who's an introvert.
It's gonna be tough for someone who's committed to doing it all on their own. It's gonna be tough for someone who's looking for magic beans or a magic bean to conjure a full-blown career from thin air. It's gonna be tough for someone who wants to just post that thing that'll make everyone want to hire them.
Those may be fair things to want for some careers but not for creative professionals who work with other human beings on a daily basis. And whose careers can blossom as they become known within their network both for what they can do...
And how they do it.
We are connected in random and unexpected ways.
Which is not something to be frustrated by or afraid of.
It's an opportunity. A unique path toward not only building a career... but building a life.
#connections#networking#professional community#career#talents#abilities#cohorts#passion#creative professionals#collaboration#life
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Review of "Teachers: With Love and Passion" by Honey Bunny
I'm on a little quest to at least attempt to play all of Otome Jam 2022 full-length entries and the first I chose was Teachers: With Love and Passion by Honey Bunny. They were one of the first to launch their game and it has been very well received.
TL:DR
It's an amazing game for a jam project. Even outside of the jam scope, it's a very, very good game. I will definitely replay a certain route in the future.
Story/Writing
Tale as old as time. Hanna (name changeable) has just finished her teacher studies and is starting out at a new school, which is filled with suspiciously hot and single teachers. She pursues her new career and has a choice to also pursue a love life.
Up for grabs for the latter are four very different bachelors, each with their own personality quirks and each harboring a dark secret... (it's not as bad as it sounds).
Hanna's emotions are very relatable, not only for teachers, but for every young professional starting out in their career - the impostor syndrome, the anxiety, the overachieving in the first weeks. We've all been there, and this game definitely makes the player feel validated in those feelings.
The game is a very solid, medium-length. It took me around 10 hours to play through it, while live-tweeting my reactions and chatting with friends on the side. There is a long common-route (~60% of a single play-through with some differences based on which character you're going for) and a relatively short character based route.
It's often said that if a piece of writing makes you hate their villain with a passion - it's good quality. This was extremely true for Teachers. Around 1/4 of my live tweets were about hating the villain character in this game.
The writing style is consistently engaging. I never found myself bored or skipping descriptions, which is an achievement.
I usually take screenshots of lines and scenes that I like and/or find very fun or funny and I took more than 300.
There are some small typos, but they're not jarring and I feel that I only noticed them, because I've been going through another game with a fine-tooth comb for more than a month.
Personally, I would have loved to hear more about Hanna and her story before this game. We know that she's 30 and this is her first teaching gig out of school, but it's never explained why - did she switch careers, did she travel the world before going to Uni for her degree, is she just from a country where it's customary to become a teacher after longer studies?
Art
The amount of custom-drawn things is mind-boggling. There are 12 distinct backgrounds, with multiple variations each, 12 full-size CGs (with variations) + some chibi ending CGs and 10 sprites with multiple expressions and outfits. I had a bit of an adjustment period to the artist's style (it is quite distinct), but when I got over it, I started noticing all the small details and was completely blown away. The rendering is amazing and on-par with big-budget titles.
The only nitpick I have with the art of the game is that all of the character sprites are close to the same height, even though their descriptions mention some characters being 15+ centimeters apart in height.
Music and Game Design
The game has a solid soundtrack, sourced from CC resources, and it fits the scenes quite well. The sound and music levels are perfectly balanced, everything is about the same apparent volume. At some parts of the game I noticed that the music isn't looping - I'd move to chat with friends on Discord and the song would end and I would play the next several scenes in silence. It's no big deal though, if you're playing the game in one-go.
There are some great accessibility options in there, the most prominent being the ability to enable audio cues for SFX's, which was quite useful for me after I turned off the music/sound when wanting to play a route with my own soundtrack. There's also plenty of alt-texts for players using self-voicing and it is very detailed.
The game also mentions how to bring up the default accessibility menu, which allows you to change text scales and fonts. For most part it works very well.
The phone/messaging system design is gorgeous. However, I encountered some usability issues during the scenes with the phone. First of all - there's no quick menu available there with all the options. Second - I often found myself not noticing the menu or understanding how to continue.
I was able to get most of the endings (except for Edgar's bad end with the CG) without a guide, so that's also a plus.
Playthrough notes - here be slight spoilers
I completely disregarded the recommended play order and just started my playthrough with Edgar - the math teacher, because his care-free attitude called to me.
As usual in otome, this was, at least partially, a red herring and there was angst to be had in his route. I generally liked the pacing here - it started out with heart-warming wholesomeness, there was a gradual build-up to the conflict of the route and it actually felt like something a man his age would be reluctant to disclose to his potential partners. His ending CG is pretty iconic, props to the game developers for letting their men cry and not be the typical manly-man-men.
Marcus, the PE teacher, was up next. From his introduction in the common route, I had expected to dislike him, because the sporty and grumpy isn't usually my jam. I was pleasantly surprised. His grumpiness truly was just a "it's just my face" facade. The ending of the route felt a bit rushed though.
I was expecting to like Leo a lot, but I found his route a bit lacking. It might be related to pacing, because I found the game to be switching between comedic and somber quite a lot in his route. I actually found Hanna's speech in the normal end more to my liking than the good end.
I finished with Lawrence. Oh, Lawrence, my beloved. My future comfort character. If it's weird, I don't want to be normal.
Any character who uses the phrase of the likes of "Talking to you feels like finding a book I have never read before." automatically goes in the list of my favorite characters. His banter with Hanna is refreshing and the resolution of the whole Eric situation is very straight to the point. His route is the one where both characters actually feel their age.
So, in order of enjoyment:
Lawrence >> Edgar > Marcus > Leo.
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Oppenheimer (2023, dir. Christopher Nolan) - review by Rookie-Critic
A new Christopher Nolan movie is always a big deal. A new Christopher Nolan movie about the man responsible for one of the most terrifying inventions in human history? That's a showstopper. With trailers mostly showing clips from the Los Alamos/Trinity test portion of the film, Oppenheimer played its pre-release cards close to its chest. I went into the theater expecting that to be a bulk of the movie, when it's really only half. The other half, which in a different way is just as engaging as the first, is a courtroom drama concerning Oppenheimer's 1954 security clearance hearings and the Senate hearings regarding Atomic Energy Commission chairman Lewis Strauss' Secretary of Commerce nomination. It's a surprising move from a director that normally leans into the spectacle of things, but it's a move that makes Oppenheimer better, more human, more meaningful.
This is a biopic that throws out the guidelines of stereotypical biopic filmmaking and provides audiences with more of a character study, and a deeply tragic one at that. Even moreso, its a film the deals in the magnitude of its subject matter, in the weight of the man and the invention it depicts. The first half being about a country in crisis; a man who's been put in charge of an impossible race towards an uncertain end goal. Of impossible moral decision making and what, at least at the time, was viewed as a necessary drastic measure. The second the bomb goes off you see the change in Oppenheimer's eyes, you see him realize the sheer scope and potential doom of the thing he had just personally overseen the creation of, and what makes this film so fantastic is that it doesn't stop there, it spends over another hour on the years in which Oppenheimer attempted to warn the world of those potential horrors he saw in that moment. That, and his country, the one he worked with to win the war in the first place, punishing him for daring to do so.
It's no surprise that this film is fantastic from a technical perspective. Nolan's films are known for having gorgeous cinematography and scene work, but the creative choices made in Oppenheimer are almost worth noting even more. Take the above-mentioned Trinity test scene. Yes, the explosion is spectacular, truly a sight to behold, but that's not really the focus, Nolan chooses to turn the camera the other way. To look at the array of reactions on the faces of the people responsible for this thing. Some are looking in wonder, some are stunned silent, some look disquieted, but then there's Oppenheimer. The man predominantly responsible looks like he's having an existential crisis. Not in full blown panic, but you can almost see his chest tighten, the light in his eyes goes out, and the perspective shifts. You see him mentally calculating; understanding the necessity of the moment, but starting to churn the age-old question over in his mind: "Is this worth it?" Which leads into my final positive point about the film: it's star, Cillian Murphy. Murphy is an actor I've always had an immense respect for. From 28 Days Later to Batman Begins to now, Murphy is a presence that has never truly gotten to stretch to the full limit of his ability in a role before now, and now that he has, it seems like the world is catching up to speed on just how wonderful he is. It's really a once-in-a-lifetime performance, and it will be a crime if he isn't at the very least nominated for Best Lead Actor at the Oscars next year. Personally, I think he is currently a shoe-in to win the award, but we'll see what the typical awards-season later this year has to offer.
Oppenheimer is a masterwork of a movie made by one the film industry's modern masters, and I don't think it's a stretch to say that it is among the very best films of his career. Hell, it might even be his best yet, but I'll hold off on saying that definitively for now. In a premiere weekend that saw one of the most wonderfully bizarre double-features in film history, I'm glad I took the time to see both. Oppenheimer and Barbie, while at complete opposite ends of the visual and tonal spectrum, paired quite well together. If you can see both, I highly recommend you do so.
Score: 10/10
Currently only in theaters.
#Oppenheimer#Christopher Nolan#Cillian Murphy#Matt Damon#Emily Blunt#Robert Downey Jr.#Florence Pugh#Josh Hartnett#Rami Malek#Kenneth Branagh#Benny Safdie#Jason Clarke#Dylan Arnold#Tom Conti#James D'Arcy#David Dastmalchian#Dane DeHaan#Alden Ehrenreich#Tony Goldwyn#Jefferson Hall#David Krumholtz#Matthew Modine#Michael Angarano#Jack Quaid#Josh Peck#Olivia Thirlby#Christopher Denham#film review#movie review#2023 films
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I failed to mention this here.
I didn’t make it through the whole concert.
I woke up at 3am yesterday (I’m graveyard, so that was sleeping in for me; I tried to sleep longer but couldn’t get back to sleep). After that, plus an 8-hour drive to Vegas, and walking into a blazing hot hotel room (it has one of those below-the-window air conditioners that had been turned off since the last guest left the room, whenever that was).
The concert started at 6:30pm with the first opening act, Kings Elliot. They (all two of them) played for a half hour.ly know a couple of his songs so I wasn’t that into it
15 minutes later at 7:15, Macklemore took the stage as the second opening act. I only know of a couple of his songs so I wasn’t that into it except for Same Love. But for most of the first two acts I was just kinda waiting for Imagine Dragons.
Macklemore played for an hour and absolutely brought the house down. I wasn’t too much into it, but the crowd was going ballistic for him (and to be fair, it was a really good performance; I was just tired and he wasn’t who I was there to see, but a LOT of the crowd knew him better than I do and I’m glad they had fun listening to him and watching his band, and he seemed blown away by the response). He mentioned that when COVID hit and live shows were a no-go, he thought his musical career was over. And touring with Imagine Dragons had revived it. So good for him. He may not be someone I’m that into (though I don’t dislike him), but to get his career back after the past few years when he could not perform, good on him. As I said, I don’t dislike him; he’s just not someone that I’m into much.
He left the stage at 8:15, and by the time the stage crew changed the stage setup for Imagine Dragons, they didn’t come out until around 8:40, so the event had already been going on for over two hours.
Dan Reynolds, the lead singer, started off talking about how he was born and raised in Vegas (which I knew, and expected him to mention, and thought that may mean a more elaborate show), and that when the band was first finding their footing, they would play for a crowd of 50 people or less at O’Sheas (the only casino I’ve EVER accused of cheating) on the strip (I rolled a 7 on Craps and they called it a four but I didn’t drink back then and I KNOW I was right).
And last night there were about 30,000 of us according to Macklemore, who considered it the best show he’s ever experienced as a performer (that may have been, as they call it in wrestling, “cheap pop,” but the crowd was CLEARLY very into the performance so I’m going to assume it was honest...with Dan I 100% believed the heart behind what he was saying).
Dan said “We’re going to play EVERYTHING” and I thought, “under normal circumstances I would LOVE this statement but I am SO tired. It’s been a VERY long day already.” And most Imagine Dragons concerts I’ve watched on YouTube (their part after opening acts) are between an hour and a half and two hours
The 15 second video I posted last night (https://ahnsael.tumblr.com/post/695086786768158720/but-we-did-all-get-light-up-wristbands-on-the-way) was during the first song of the night, My Life, which is one of my favorite songs of theirs (from last night’s show that I was at, but not filmed by me; I decided to live in the moment instead of filming except for that 15 second clip when I was blown away by the wrist band lights, and hardly used my binoculars -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrkSlioGwq8 -- I haven’t found the full concert yet but they usually end up on YouTube; so far I’ve found a couple of things that I missed).
The wristbands started lighting up when the song went from slow to fast, and they were part of literally every song that I was there for. As soon as I was outside the stadium my wristband stopped lighting up (I was hoping the signal would go the the hotel next door so I could know how long the show went). But I LOVED them opening the show with that song. King’s Elliot had talked about depression. Macklemore had talked about depression. And here was Imagine Dragons, singing a song about depression to open the show. I loved that theme since I suffer from depression and it’s ALWAYS helpful (for me, at least) to be told that I’m not alone.
At almost 10pm, Dan said “we’re just getting started. We may be here all night.”
And it’s Vegas, so I thought they may indeed play until 4am (I have almost 8 hours of their music on Apple Music).Because he said they were going to play “everything” and that’s about how long that would take. I KNEW I couldn’t last that long. And they DIDN’t play that long, but they played longer than I could last.
I had caught myself starting to doze several times, even during upbeat songs that I love. So I knew I had to call it a night. I’m sad about that. Still, no regrets on making the trip and buying the ticket and seeing what I saw. It was SO worth it.
And after walking back to the hotel (which was literally next door to the stadium), the fresh air refreshed me (but the stadium has a no reentry policy so I knew I couldn’t go back in), I couldn’t sleep. I was up until after 3am before I finally zonked out for the night. Woke up at around 9:30 this morning (so about six hours of sleep) and thought about going back to sleep until my 10:30 alarm (checkout time is 11:00am), but decided I just wanted to get home so I got up, decided to skip the shower since I knew it was going to be hot out and I’d just end up a sweaty mess anyway (even with my car’s A/C), got dressed, checked out, and came home. I got here just after 6pm.
When I went out for food (I hadn’t eaten in two days -- I’ve got to stop doing that), I spoke with the guy directing traffic into the stadium, and he didn’t know what time the show ended, but I found posts on twitter (I’m not on that site anymore but I searched the #ImagineDragons tag). Some said it ended around 11:15, some said they played until almost midnight. I can tell you that I stepped outside the room for some fresh air at around 12:30am, and the parking lot was still packed. By 1:30, it was completely empty. So I may have missed A LOT.
But the seats, at least in the nosebleeds of Allegiant Stadium, are pretty narrow and uncomfortable (just not uncomfortable enough to keep me awake, apparently). But even the reference to kids at school saying “who do you think you are, thinking you’re gonna be a big star and him saying “now you’re clapping from the nosebleeds” (reference from “Thunder”) brought the people to my left in the nosebleeds to their feet.
The drive home today was a LOT better than the drive there. I ended up on Route 186 which climbs and descends two mountains with steep grades and tight turns and it was literally scary to drive through that section. I even had a free-range cow walk out into the road in front of me and I had to brake pretty quickly and hope the tailgater also saw the cow and would react quickly enough (they did). I took a different route home (mostly Highway 95) and it was a MUCH better drive other than the tailgaters and the one person who, in a 70mph zone with nobody in front of them, suddenly hit their brakes so I passed them -- then they sped up to pass me.
Even though I didn’t get to see the whole show, I have no regrets -- except maybe I should have flown instead of driven down there. Flights from Reno to Vegas aren’t that expensive, and may have been cheaper than all the money I spent on gas to go the 850ish miles I covered in the last two days in the car (even including an Uber or Lyft to/from the hotel).
The hotel was VERY no-frills, but the staff was friendly. And when I accidentally left my key card in the room last night and locked myself out, I had no trouble getting a second key card (I was just reminded to turn both key cards in when I checked out, which I did).It was just a bed and a bathroom and a TV with the wrong aspect ratio set (I was able to fix that) but something like 139 available channels and I enjoyed watching Burns & Allen one hour, and Jack Benny the next hour (with Mel Blanc featured in the second episode). I remember growing up listening to their radio shows (I’m not that old but grew up listening to old shows on cassette).
Again, it was a great time, even though I had to cut my concert experience short.
Hopefully the rest of what I haven’t yet seen will show up on YouTube soon. But I am excited to see the performance (which IS on YouTube now -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI-z7EE3IcU -- where performers from Cirque du Soleil’s show One joined the band on stage during a performance of Sharks (you may want to watch the original music video first -- they are in that too so it makes them being at the concert make more sense -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te3_VlimRw0).
Fun fact: while the sharks in the Bellagio fountain in that video are CGI (a fresh water fountain would be bad for a shark’s health), that’s actually Dan on the motorized surfboard in the fountain, not a stuntman. There are outtakes that prove it. He fell off of that thing A LOT. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVQWlB4C8iU (also, watch the music video before you watch the making of; otherwise Ben, the bass player with the big arm movements while he’s talking to security, is just going to seem weird).
And the guy dancing at the craps table is Daniel Platzman, the group’s drummer, who liked a Facebook post of mine about being excited for the concert. Not bragging; it’s just something that made me happy. It’s not like he and I are friends now.
The other main band member is the guy with the long hair who serves the coffee. That’s Wayne Sermon, the guitar player.
Unseen: Ezekiel Schwartzman, a keyboardist/guitar player/backup vocalist who doesn’t record on the albums, but tours with the band because when they record, everything gets layered and is handled by the four main members, but on tour, they need that extra person up on stage to make things sound right (and he has his own EP called “California Cold.” -- The period is part of the title). I bought it, and he’s very talented. So one of the few times I used my binoculars last night, it was to make sure he was there, since he tends to be hidden stage right (audience’s left) from Platzman. I was glad to see that he was there, and later for the band to introduce him. His EP is mellower than most Imagine Dragons music, but still very good. Hearing the song “California Cold.” was enough for me to know I needed it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwTb0mXgF6w
Sorry to overload y’all with YouTube links. I’m still in the joy of seeing what I saw, even though I missed a lot. Now I have one day to try to get back on my graveyard sleep schedule somehow, or just go to work tired and know that the security guard who I’ve worked with for six years has my back (and he DEFINITELY does -- I don’t take advantage but I KNOW he likes working with me and has been a huge help since carpal tunnel set in).
Thus endeth the post.
#I hope that last line doesn't count as blasphemous#Imagine Dragons#SO bummed I didn't stay#even if I may have slept through some of it#but it had been a LONG day#and I just didn't even have the energy to be excited at a concert that I've been excited about for MONTHS#I feel like a bad fan#(even though there were a LOT of people leaving when I did)#we weren't walking out on the band we were just worn out#but I hope I can find the whole concert on YouTube and see what I missed#(and from a better vantagepoint than the nosebleeds where I was)#But I'm VERY glad I got to see them in person even though I missed some of the show#I love these guys#I know I missed a couple of favorites#but I was also there for a LOT of them#and them opening with My Life#and the light-up wristbands making things look amazing#really made the money and the 16 hours of driving worth it#next time I'll fly#it may be cheaper even factoring Uber or Lyft#and even if not the flight from Reno to Vegas wouldn't be 8 hours of travel each way#I want to see them again under better circumstances#but I work graveyard so a concert that starts at 6:30pm is NOT on my sleep schedule#but dang it I wish I could have lasted the whole time
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Gavin Rees' House Flipper
If you're looking for plumbers east auckland in Auckland, then you've come to the right place. We've got you covered from the North Shore to the Waitemata. Whether you're planning for a small bathroom addition or a full-blown home renovation, this article is a must-read for you. Keep reading for more info on the top plumbers in Auckland.
The Best In Class
When it comes to plumbing work, the last thing you want is an amateur doing the job. After all, if it's not done right, you'll eventually end up in the emergency room due to a blocked tube or a burst pipe. To avoid these unpleasant situations, you need to make sure that you hire the best plumbers in Auckland. Fortunately, you've come to the right place, because we're going to tell you about some of the best plumbers in Auckland. Let's take a quick tour of the top plumbers in Auckland.
Lenny Loukas
Lenny Loukas has been in the plumbing industry for more than 20 years, and he's completed hundreds of residential plumbings. He possesses a special combination of skills, and he uses them to make sure that each task is done correctly and to the highest quality. He's extremely organized, which helps him to maximize the efficiency of each stage of his work. Moreover, he works quickly but also ensures that everything is done correctly.
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Gavin Rees
Gavin Rees is a plumber by trade, but he decided to venture into property renovation a few years back, and it hasn't turned out well. After he renovated his first house, he got the itch to do more of them, and so he started a business called House Flipper. His specialty is knocking down walls and building them up again, mostly due to the fact that he doesn't exactly follow construction rules. As a result, he's managed to offend many a builder in the process of doing his job. Nonetheless, his work is extremely skillful, and his customers keep on coming back for more.
Gavin Rees is known for his quick workrate and friendly attitude, and he's definitely up for any type of challenge. If you're looking for a trustworthy plumber who can get the work done on time, then Gavin Rees is your man. He also offers a money-back guarantee if you meet the right conditions. So if you have a leaky faucet or a blocked toilet, he'll come out to fix it immediately and won't charge you an additional fee.
Rory Slade
Rory Slade has been a plumber for almost 20 years, and throughout his career, he's worked on homes, villas, and commercial properties. He has an extensive background in plumbing, having learned the trade from his father. He also has experience renovating homes and doing small plumbing repairs, so he's familiar with all kinds of plumbing challenges. Additionally, Rory Slade is a member of the plumbing society of New Zealand, which is a testament to his expertise.
Rory Slade is honest and hardworking, and he always delivers what he promises. Moreover, he offers a money-back guarantee on all of his work, so you can be sure that you're getting what you paid for. He is a trusted plumber who can handle all of your plumbing needs and wants. If you're looking for a reliable plumber who can get the job done on time, then Rory Slade is your man.
Richie The Plumber
Richie The Plumber is a company that was originally founded in Auckland, New Zealand more than 10 years ago, but it has since branched out to do business nationwide. Richie The Plumber specializes in plumbing, but they also do commercial, educational, and residential electrical jobs, as well as gas fitting and fixing. They are accredited plumbers who have received training in water usage and safety, so they can ensure that every job is done safely. Moreover, their experienced plumbers are available for hire seven days a week, and they always respond promptly to customer calls.
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Paddy Kent
Paddy Kent is yet another Auckland-based plumber who has gained a reputation for providing quality plumbing services at affordable prices. He is a member of the plumbing society of New Zealand, as well as the Gas Safe New Zealand Plumbing Group, which is an indication of his extensive knowledge in his field. Paddy Kent can work on all types of plumbing projects, from small to large-scale renovations, and he always strives to offer his customers quality services at reasonable prices. Moreover, he ensures that each job is done to the highest quality, which is why he has so many returning customers.
Paddy Kent is honest and hardworking, and he always delivers what he promises. Additionally, he offers a money-back guarantee on all of his work, so you can be sure that you're getting what you paid for. He is an experienced and skilled plumber who has worked on homes and commercial buildings, so he can tackle any type of plumbing challenge. If you're looking for a one-stop-shop for all of your plumbing needs, then check out Paddy Kent. And if you need an experienced and skilled plumber who can get the work done on time, then Paddy Kent is your man.
Darryl Hodge
Darryl Hodge is a plumber by trade, but he decided to venture into residential renovation a few years back, and it hasn't turned out well. After he renovated his first house, he got the itch to do more of them, and so he started a business called Hodge & Co. He is also a member of the plumbing society of New Zealand, which is a testament to his expertise. In his spare time, he enjoys tinkering with cars, boats, and planes. So if you're looking for a plumber who enjoys working with his hands, then check out Darryl Hodge.
Darryl Hodge is honest and hardworking, and he always delivers what he promises. Moreover, he offers a money-back guarantee on all of his work, so you can be sure that you're getting what you paid for. He is a trusted plumber who can handle all of your plumbing needs and wants. If you're looking for a reliable plumber who can get the job done on time, then Darryl Hodge is your man.
With the information you just read, you should be well-equipped to choose the best plumber in Auckland for your needs. Moreover, if you live in or around Auckland, then you know where to find these plumbers. Now it's up to you to do your research and choose the best plumbing company for the job.
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im back on my hunger games bullshit after several years for some reason so it’s time for a ramble i guess??
I noticed in the film, that on the board, we can see that the boy from District 4 is 12 years old (I haven’t read the books in several years so I’m not sure if it’s the same in the books or if an age is even mentioned at all, I don’t think it is.) Now, in the books District 4 is considered a career district, and it really annoys me that they dropped that in the films. I wish they kept 4 as careers in the films AND kept the boy tribute as a 12 year old because they could have raised so many interesting questions.
For the sake of this, let’s go with the book and let’s go with the idea that District 4 are a career district and that the boy is 12 years old.
There are so many things in the series that we don’t get much information on, and the other districts is something that we have practically nothing on except their numbers, industries and general status in Panem. So it’s up to us to fill in the gaps (yay!)
I think all 3 career districts are at different levels of career-ness, if you will. We know District 2 are essentially the Capitol’s lapdogs. I would assume they have the most extreme training program and probably have volunteers every single time without fail. They have the strongest “glory in the games” mindset of all the districts. Essentially they’re the most pro-games. (We could get into a whole discussion about how sad it is that the Capitol essentially groom districts to believe that the games are good and that their is honour in training their children to be murderers, but that’s a whole other post)
I believe District 1 is mentioned to be the wealthiest District, which makes sense because of their indsustry, but is also interesting because I imagine them to be a little less career-y than 2. I’m assuming this because we know District 1 eventually rebelled, whereas 2 did not, likely due to their loyalty to the Capitol. I also imagine that, based on what we know of the Victors from 1 (Cashmere and Gloss specifically, and going off the assumption that they were both prostituted by Snow) there was probably some underlying rebellion there, but it needed an awful lot more than the other districts to actually cause a full district rebellion due to their wealthy position and closeness to the Capitol. As a district, I imagine 1 were a lot more hesitant to rebel due to the risk of it all going wrong. Obviously, District 1 are still very much lethal careers, and I would imagine they also had volunteers every single year without fail. They also likely had a pro-game mentality, just a little tiny bit less than 2, in my opinion. The fact that 1 rebelled is a big factor in showing the difference between 1 and 2, because it implies that the people of District 1 were more easily swayed than those in 2, which then makes you question to what extent were they really dedicated to the games?
Now, District 4. It’s up to the individual reader, but personally I think we can’t just brush 4 off as being “not really careers”. I think a lot of people like the characters from 4 (Finnick, Mags, Annie, etc), so they automatically ignore the career aspect of their district, because it makes their faves have flaws. 4 is a wealthy district. Maybe not on the same level as 1 and 2, but still wealthy and still favoured by the Capitol. Personally, I imagine the order of district wealth goes something like 1>2>4>other districts. On the other hand, I think the order of career-ness looks more like 2>1>4. Regardless, they’re the most favoured districts of the 12.
It gets a bit tricky because I believe in the books it mentions that 4 was one of the first districts to rebel. This raises the question of “why would a career district be the first to go against the Capitol?”
I imagine that in 4, the people are relatively pro-games, but no where near the level of, say, District 2. Out of the 3 career districts, District 4 is the least career-y (I do not have a better word, sorry). That being said, they still likely have a pretty positive outlook on the games, whether that’s because they perform well and have an above average number of victors, or something else, who knows. Regardless, they’re wealthier than most of the country, and lead better lives than most. They’re going to have strong ties to the Capitol to an extent, hence them earning a position as Careers.
In terms of training and volunteers, I imagine District 4 is a lot less strict with their training. Obviously, you’re going to get some who want to volunteer and therefore train and enter themselves in the games for the pride and glory, but I would guess most of the kids have some degree of training out of sheer practicality. They’re lucky enough to live in a district where they have the privilege of being able to train, so why not use it to their advantage so that they can be prepared? It just makes sense. The means are there, so use them. I imagine in 1 and 2, the training programs are a lot more organised. Perhaps the kids are forced, maybe they’re not, who knows? I imagine there’s some kind of selection process to decide which of the kids is the best of the best and should volunteer. Now, 4 might have something like this too, but I imagine there’s a little less pressure on the kids to volunteer.
Now let’s talk about ages. I’d estimate the age of most careers to be between 16 and 18. Ideally, careers would be 18 because by then they’ve maxed out their training and have the best possible chance, but anyone from 16+ could be deemed acceptable because they’d have a good few years of training under their belt. There’s a few exceptions to this: Clove is 15 (at least in the films). I imagine this kind of thing is common in 2. Younger ones would be extremely confident in themselves and would volunteer before anyone else. Finnick was 14. There’s debate about whether or not he volunteered. It could have gone one of two ways: either, he was ridiculously arrogant/confident and volunteered, or he was reaped and no one volunteered because they thought he would have a good chance. Personally him volunteering makes more sense, since I don’t imagine a career district letting their younger teens go in when there are older, more experienced ones with better chances, but hey, it’s up for debate and honestly I’m not sure what option I prefer.
I imagine 4 would have a lot of volunteers, but I fee like there’d be a split between careers that want it for the “glory” and ones that volunteer in place of a younger kid who was reaped. This FINALLY brings us back to the initial point of that 12 year old boy in the games. How did he get there? We have a few possibilities:
-He could have volunteered. Perhaps he wanted to be the next Finnick Odair. However, I think this is highly unlikely. A 12 year old has never won the games, and likely never will. Everyone probably knows this, so I highly doubt a 12 year old would be stupid enough to ever volunteer thinking they would win.
-The option that I like the most is this: District 4′s career mentality is slowly deteriorating. We know 4 is rebellious. We also don’t know when exactly the idea of careers began, but it must have been going on for some time. Possibly, District 4′s outlook on the games changed over time. I imagine 4′s tributes are in a tricky situation. They’re careers, which gives them an advantage over the other districts, but they’d also probably be the first tributes that the careers from 1 and 2 would turn on. I imagine 4′s tributes usually get quite close to the end of the games, but are quite often taken out by 1 or 2 when the career pack inevitably falls apart. The District 4 curse; almost but not quite victors every year. If 1 or 2 didn’t exist, 4 would be at the top. The people of 4 have seen their kids get so far but not quite far enough every single year for so long, that they would probably slowly start to develop a hate for the games. I imagine that, had there been no rebellion, District 4′s career program would have eventually collapsed, maybe 10/20 years in the future. They would still have trained, but I imagine there would eventually be almost no volunteers.
This brings us back to the poor 12 year old. If we assume District 4′s pool of potential volunteers gets smaller each year, then maybe by the 74th games, this kid just got reaped and no one volunteered, which is pretty sad. However, would a district like 4 really let a 12 year old get reaped and not intervene? It seems unlikely. So it really makes you wonder, what the hell was going on there? Were they so fed up with the games that they just let a 12 year old be reaped, because they knew it would cause upset, since it’s mentioned that no one ever likes seeing a 12 year old in the games? Was it a way to stir rebellion even more? Who knows? But I think it’s a really interesting thing to explore because there’s so many possible paths to go down. I know the books are all from Katniss’ POV, and therefore they’re about her, but Suzanne Collins really could have given us so much about the rest of Panem, but nooo, we have to do it ourselves.
#this got so long i'm sorry#it started as one thing and then ended up turning into a full blown career analysis#the hunger games#career tributes#district 1#district 2#district 4#if someone reads this whole thing i'll be shocked
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