#the real holiday miracle is me finishing this on time
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Merry Christmas from the Lowell Legacy 😌☃️❄️
The current year is 1898 and I referenced Vogue magazine's covers from 1898 for this!
#the real holiday miracle is me finishing this on time#merry chrysler#my art#my oc art#digital art#the sims 4 decades challenge#ts4 decades challenge#sims 4 legacy#1890#sims 4 screenshots#decades challenge#ts4 1890s#lowell legacy#sims 4 game play#ts4#sims 4#ts4 simblr
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I See Hell in Your Eyes
Chapter Seven
“Our hearts are wrong.”
Josh Kiszka x Vampire!Reader
Authors Note: A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!!! So sorry for the delays y’all working retail around the holidays is absolute Hell. Enjoy this little chapter before we begin the new year with the *real* plot of this little universe. Buckle up.
Word Count: 4778
Warnings: Violence, death, mentions of past abuse (but it is very brief and not dwelled on), SMUT at the end but nothing too graphic or crazy.
The emotions you felt as Josh drove the both of you to the location Jake texted him were conflicting. Part of you was annoyed that you didn’t get to curl up in your bed with your hunter after that shower, another part of you loved how cozy you felt in his car; hand secured on your thigh. But another part of you, the loudest part, was reminding you of your reality. If Jake was telling the truth, and he indeed caught whomever in the act, that would mean Josh would be one step closer in closing his case. The hypotheticals of what would happen after that case was closed taunted you. The only reason he showed up in your city was to find the Vampire in question and get rid of them. Once that happened, there would be nothing tying him to the city anymore. He could pack all of his things in the very Jeep you were sitting in, and drive back west with his family. He could go back to his everyday life, get assigned another “job” and take off for the next adventure.
But what about you?
Josh could feel the muscles in your thigh tensing as you battled your own thoughts, and his thumb rubbed circles into your skin. He glanced over at you curiously, wishing he could know what you were thinking. You were absently staring out the window, brows furrowing every other minute as if you were arguing with yourself. He too, was a little miffed your little rendezvous at your apartment was cut short due to his twin.
“Hey,” he broke the silence, his voice soft, “where do you keep going, over there?”
You shook your head slightly, braving a smile at him, “nowhere…just tired.”
He wasn’t fully convinced, but didn’t want to argue, “well, after we finish seeing Jake’s little show-and-tell we can go back to your place and you can show me how cozy that bed nook of yours is before sunrise…”
Your mouth tilted up into a smirk, “are you becoming nocturnal for me, Boy Scout?”
This caught him off guard, was he? He let out a breath through his nose and disguised it with a chuckle. He squeezed your thigh again, smiling as he felt the muscles in your leg relax.
It didn’t take long to reach the street corner Jake had texted Josh; a narrow side street with one way traffic. You looked around to see how many people were on the street, and were relieved when it was practically deserted at this time of night. As Josh parked next to the curb, a very impatient looking Jake stepped out from an alley between the two main buildings on the block.
“Took you long enough,” he said, rolling his eyes as you exited the vehicle.
“We’re here, aren’t we?”
Jake opened his mouth to argue more, but stopped and huffed out, “just…come on.” He turned on his heel to lead the two of you back into the alley he had just come from. It was fairly empty as far as alley’s go, but what hit you as you followed Jake was the smell of human blood. The scent was so strong you quickly pinpointed it to be O Positive, and that there was a lot of it. Your gums itched at the smell, and you were thankful you had topped yourself off with a blood bag before you left your apartment. Josh had volunteered to help you, but you refused as you still felt it was too soon since the incident at the Den.
The scene that unfolded before you, as Jake led you further down the alley, shouldn’t have shocked you as much as it did, but it stopped you in your tracks. Leaning up against the brick wall was a man appearing to be in his forties, maybe late thirties, with a substantial wound on the side of his neck. Blood was pouring out of him quickly, staining his clothes and starting to puddle next to him. CiCi was crouched down next to him, mumbling what you thought were spells under her breath, trying to heal him. The man didn’t have much time at all, but the only thing to give him a chance was if he drank some of your blood.
Shaking off your nerves, and trying to control how you felt around that much blood, you quickly moved around Jake and crouched down on the other side of him. With a brief look at your hunter, you bit down onto the flesh of your wrist, breaking the skin over the veins and tendons. CiCi backed out of the way, realizing what you were doing. Quickly but gently you took the man's jaw into your hand and pried his mouth open. He was barely conscious, but he was able to barely open his eyes in confusion.
“Trust me you’ll thank me later,” you explained as you curled your hand into a fist, allowing the blood to drip from your wrist into his mouth. The man tried to fight it at first but as soon as the coppery liquid hit his tongue, he lifted his mouth higher to get closer to you. It was a little known secret that Vampire blood was a delicacy among humans. Not only for its healing properties, but because it was the downer of all downers. Supposedly it put humans into such a relaxed state, time would almost slow down for them. Because of this, it was highly addictive, but you didn’t have much of a choice.
“What happened?” Josh questioned.
“We were walking back to the car from-” Jake started, but Josh cut him off.
“Please tell me he took you to dinner,” he gave a pointed look at CiCi.
The witch gave the older twin an exasperated look, “yes he did. It was lovely.”
You were still giving the man blood but you were curious, “where did you go?”
“That little Italian restaurant around the corner? ‘Casa Oliva’?”
Your eyebrows shot up, “oh I’ve heard good things about that place!”
“Can we focus here?” Jake interjected.
You turned back to the man, seeing that your blood was slowly working to heal his gaping wound. The man started to stir as he healed and you kept your other hand on his shoulder to keep him still. The last thing you needed was for him to bolt without getting Persuaded to forget any of this happened. As soon as his neck fully closed, you took your wrist away from his mouth and let it heal itself at your side.
Looking him in the eyes, your Persuasion dripped from your voice, “tell me what happened.”
He focused entirely on you as he spoke, “I was walking home…and I kept feeling like I was being followed, but every time I turned around no one was there. The next thing I knew, I was dragged back here and he was…biting me…she tried to get him off of me but…,” the man's voice gave out slightly.
“What did they look like?”
“Young…I think…it was pretty dark? She kept telling him he was taking too much, too fast, but he wasn’t listening.”
You nodded and looked back at Jake and Josh over your shoulder. Before you could voice your assumptions, an old friend's familiar pleading echoed in the alley.
“Ethan no, we have to go home, I have bags for you there,” the sound of heels scraping on pavement was harsh, and clear she was trying to hold him back. It was just what you feared, and suspected. But you needed to get this human out of harm's way.
You locked eyes with him again, “go home and forget any of this happened. Don’t question the blood on your clothes, just throw them out. Nothing out of the ordinary happened tonight.” The man looked a little dazed but nodded, and you helped him up quickly. He stumbled slightly as he exited the alley, but you were sure he’d be ok the closer he got to his home.
Jake looked at you skeptically, “that's it?”
“Trust me he’ll be-”
Before you could finish, the lumbering steps of Ethan got even closer to the group, and you squared your shoulders in preparation. He emerged from the other end of the alley, with a frantic Monica trying her best to pull him in the other direction. His mouth and neck were covered in blood, and showed just how ravenous he had been while feeding. Behind you, Jake pulled out two stakes out of his inner jacket pocket, quickly handing one to his twin. CiCi stood up from her crouched position and took her place next to Jake.
Monica recognized you instantly and the relief on her face was evident even from a distance, “it's ok! I’m just taking him home!”
Ethan looked down at the ground where the human once was and his features twisted angrily at you, “what did you do?”
You scoffed, “I would ask you the same question but its all over your fucking neck and clothes.”
“I wasn’t done with him.”
Monica tugged even harder on his arm, her own Vampiric strength failing her against him, “yes you were and we were going home…”
“Enough,” he shouted and pushed her off of him, sending her backwards a few feet. He turned back and saw Josh behind you, his eyes shining with curiosity, “I guess it's ok…he’ll do...”
“The fuck you will,” knowing exactly what he was wanting to do, you met him halfway and tried to shove him against the brick wall closest to you. Your age worked in your favor, as being over three centuries older than Ethan meant you were far stronger than him. But true bloodlust is a powerful thing, and it was obvious that was Ethan’s problem. He shoved you off of him, sending you to the ground, before running right for Josh. He tackled him to the ground quickly, happening way too fast for anyone else to properly react.
Josh was using all the strength he had to keep Ethan from nipping at his neck, and he tried to roll him over to gain control but was unsuccessful. He managed to wedge the hand that was holding the stake flat against his own chest, using Ethan’s distracted state to his advantage. With one last forceful push, the hunter was able to flip the stake up and directly into the center of Ethans chest. A shocked look overcame the Vampire’s features, and the familiar yellow tinge invaded the white of his eyes, and his skin turned an ashy gray. Ethan’s death rattle wasn’t any different from the other Vampire’s Josh had slain, but part of him couldn’t help but feel sorry for the bastard. Once he was fully limp Josh shoved him off of him, dusting himself off.
You breezed past the dead Vampire and instantly had your hunter’s face in your hands, checking all over for any scratches or injuries. His neck was unharmed, which flooded your body with relief that Ethan never actually sank his teeth in him. Josh’s expression was calm in a way you had never seen before, as if what just happened didn’t phase him.
“I’m fine, sweetheart, I’ve been through worse,” he whispered to you as his hands slid around and under your shirt, feeling the skin of your lower back. The implication of his words didn’t exactly comfort you, but you were glad that he seemed alright as your thumbs gently rubbed circles on the hinges of his jaw.
Jake looked at the two of you, not knowing how to feel watching a Vampire comforting his twin after another one had just tried to kill him. Josh was right, they had faced far more in their lives, but he still didn’t like how close that was.
A distraught Monica scrambled over to her lover’s corpse. Clutching his shirt and sobbing into his impaled chest. She looked up and over at you and Josh, eyes red with tears, “you…your Human Companion was a fucking hunter?”
You whipped your head around at her, “Monica I-”
“They’d have you Meet the Sun for that, you know that right?” She sniffed, tone flat and emotionless. “Leading one of them into a Den, and letting him kill one of us?”
You shook your head, “Ethan was dangerous, Monica and you kn-”
“HE DIDN’T HAVE TO KILL HIM!” she shrieked, letting go of his shirt.
“He didn’t have a choice, he was out of control,” you reasoned.
Monica wasn’t having it, and before any of you could react she lunged at Josh herself, but this time it was Jake that got between them first. It was almost graceful in the way he stepped between them, stake in hand and pointed at Monica. She was so overcome with rage she wasn’t paying attention, and quite literally ran into the stake herself, the wood plunging into her chest easily. Her shocked gasp was the last noise she made before crumbling to the ground.
Your eyes burned, hating that it ended this way. Monica’s biggest crime was being so lonely she turned the first person who gave her an ounce of attention. But Vampires like Ethan aren’t meant to exist. They’re not built for this life. This was why Dimitri was so selective in who got turned.
“We umm…we need to get rid of their bodies…,” you wobbled out.
“The sun will be up soon, I can take them out of town to burn,” Jake suggested.
Josh nodded in agreement, “need some help?”
Jake looked down at his watch and shook his head, “no we can handle it. The sun will be up in a couple hours, wouldn’t want you out too late…”
Josh opened his mouth to make a smart ass reply, but CiCi reached out and touched his arm, “it's fine, I promise.”
You gave one last look at Monica’s corpse before following Josh out of the alley, wanting to get back to your place as soon as possible.
~!~
You didn’t fully relax until the door to your apartment was firmly locked shut. Josh followed you into your living room as you collapsed onto your couch, worried about how quiet you had been since the alley. He sat down next to you and gathered you in his arms, feeling a little out of his depth with what had just happened. He always prided himself in his emotional intelligence, but there were layers to this situation that he, as a human, didn’t fully understand.
As soon as you felt his strong arms wrap around your shoulders, you buried your face into his neck, inhaling his scent. His entire presence was a comfort to you now, a plot twist you never saw coming.
“I’m sorry about Monica…I know she was your friend…,” he said carefully.
You sniffed sadly, “she should’ve known better…she was over one hundred years old. But it's always a gamble when you turn someone. Not every human can handle a second life. There’s a reason we’re so selective in who we turn. Vampire’s like Ethan aren’t an isolated incident, as you, a hunter, would know. Anyone who comes out of the first decade of being a Vampire, even partially well adjusted, is lucky, honestly.” He nodded, gently resting his cheek on the top of your head. “Looking back, it’s amazing I even survived those first few years…”
“Was it that bad,” he asked softly.
“My Maker wasn’t…he was hands-on in all the wrong ways,” your voice sounded far off, as if you were drifting back into memories you weren’t fond of. Josh’s entire body stiffened at the implication, and heat started radiating from his hands, causing you to sit up quickly, “no…not like that…it’s just, he didn’t actually teach me how to be a Vampire. He’d parade me around, showing me how to find humans, how to manipulate them into feeding on them, but that was it. He didn’t teach me control, in fact he wasn’t interested in that at all. He liked things…messy, and when you’re that young and new, you don’t know any better. It’s so easy to get swept up into the “cool” parts of Vampirism that you fail to think about the less than glamorous parts. The shitty thing is, Ethan had a Maker who wanted to show him all the right things, how to live properly, how to blend in with society…but he just wasn’t cut out for any of it.”
He hated the way your eyes looked so sad and distant, with tears threatening to bubble up at any moment. His mind revisited his plans to find your Maker and force him to Meet the Sun himself, but he shook the thoughts away and focused entirely on you. In the time he had known you, you had never looked small in your body language. You always had a presence about you that filled an entire room, with a smile to match. But now? Now you looked tiny on your couch, head hung low as you rubbed your nose, feet tucked underneath you. It struck him that you hadn’t even called him Boy Scout in hours. He glanced up at the clock you had hanging on the wall, noting the time.
Softly, he reached over to tuck a strand of hair behind your ear before offering, “hey, how much blood did you give that man?”
You leaned into his touch and shrugged, “I’m not sure I was just focusing on closing that wound in his neck. Why?”
His expression softened, “Just…do you need a pick-me-up after that? How does blood loss affect Vampires?”
Your eyes met his, suddenly feeling rather vulnerable under his gaze, “I heal pretty fast.”
“That wasn’t what I asked.”
Your lower lip disappeared between your teeth, and you remembered that the one bag you had downed before going back out had been the last bag in your fridge. Your hunter's heartbeat was growing louder in your head, and your gums started to itch. But no, it still felt too soon since the Den. Human fragility was the least of your concern, but when it came to the brown eyed man sitting on your couch, you couldn’t help but keep it in the back of your mind at all times.
Shaking your head, “it's still too soon, I’ll be alright until tomorrow-”
“I’m a lot tougher than you think, Sweetheart.”
You stared at him, eyes looking him up and down, mulling it over. He was right, he was tougher than he let on, but you were just scared of hurting him.
“Fine. But not a lot,” you relented shifting on the couch.
He smiled at you, already anticipating the feeling of your fangs buried in his skin. Your own expression brightened as he pulled you into his lap. You adjusted your position until you were firmly straddling him, and he reached up and grazed his thumb against the side of your mouth.
“Take what you need,” he all but whispered. The way he spoke to you sent chills down your spine, and caused your eyes to darken. Instinctively you leaned forward and nuzzled his neck, the scent of his gorgeous blood overwhelming your senses. You planted an open mouthed kiss on his neck, feeling his pulse underneath your lips. He shivered slightly underneath you, his hands flexing against your hips. You stilled, your breath fanning against his skin. He gave you one more squeeze before his thumbs started rubbing circles into your skin, letting you know he was ready. Your eyes fluttered shut as your fangs extended from your gums and locked into place. Unable to hold back any longer you surged forward, piercing his skin in expertise. A moan rattled out of his mouth, and he threw his head back as best he could. You smiled against his skin as you took your first pull. This time both of you moaned as his blood flooded your mouth. That citrusy tang hit your tongue first, then the vanilla snuck in, nearly taking over. There was something so bright about his blood, a flavor profile that was so uniquely him. It took all of your self control to not gulp him down.
He was practically writhing underneath you, loving every second of it. Any pain from the bite was eclipsed by the sheer pleasure that coursed through his system. He pulled you down harder onto his lap, desperate for some kind of friction. He didn’t care how needy he acted or sounded, if you were the cause he couldn’t help it. The feeling was heightened when he felt some stray blood trail down his neck. He could never get enough of his Vampire.
~!~
Twenty miles north, give or take, a hunter and his Witch were placing the bodies of two dead Vampires in a shallow pit he had dug minutes prior. The sky was getting lighter and lighter as the sun raced to the horizon, and their task of disposing of the bodies would be complete. Jake had been silent for most of the trip, trying to digest the absolute shit show the last two days had been for him.
CiCi knew what was bothering him, and carefully said, “stop over thinking, he was fine.”
He turned to her, “this time. He doesn’t realize just how vulnerable he is walking around like her glorified juice box.”
“It’s a lot more between them and you know it.” Jake scoffed and tried to turn back to the horizon, but CiCi’s hand caught his chin and turned him back to her, “you can’t deny how he was looking at her the entire time.”
“That’s what scares me. I know him, he never does anything halfway, I can tell he’s all in on…whatever they have…and I also know that it’ll be me to pick up the pieces should it blow up in his face,” his eyes burned into hers.
“He could probably say the same thing about you, my love.”
“You’re not-”
“...exactly human either, am I? I still haven’t met your parents because of it.”
“I just don’t see how it's going to work for them. She seems…alright but I don’t trust her.”
“Maybe this means you’re going to have to trust Josh. He didn’t even hesitate to put down that one,” she gestured to the corpse in the pit before her.
Before Jake could counter, the sun breached the horizon, its golden rays spreading across the field. Within minutes, the two corpses were engulfed in flames, the putrid smell filling the air. He reached into his inner jacket pocket, and pulled out a small cigar. It was a habit he started years ago, when he and Josh started going out on their own to hunt. He crouched down in front of the flames, leaning forward to light it before standing back up wrapping his arm around his Witch’s waist.
“It's so morbid that you do that.”
“You like it though,” he said, smirking at her.
She tried glaring at him, but her own muscles failed her as a smile slowly spread across her face. It didn’t take long for the bodies to be turned into ashes, and the two of them filled the pit back in to leave no trace. In Jake’s mind, the one good thing about Vampires was how easy it was to dispose of them. As long as you had the sun, the rest was easy. The sun was a hunter’s best friend, and one of the few constants Jake could rely on.
~!~
But as the trail of clothes leading to your bedroom suggested, your own hunter’s feelings towards the sun weren’t the same anymore. The two of you were safely tucked into your bed nook, curtains tightly shut and the wall sconces inside were turned on, giving a warm glow to the little nest. He had you underneath him, slowly and deeply pistoning his hips into yours. He was leaning on one elbow next to your head, while the other hand was tucked under your ass, gripping your cheek to get you as close to him as possible. His lips never left your skin, peppering kisses all over your face and neck, occasionally nipping at your flesh with his teeth. Your own arms were wrapped around his back, digging your nails into his muscles whenever he’d hit a particular spot deep inside you. This time with him was different. It was slower, more relaxed, as if he wanted to make a point to take his time with you.
A lot was weighing on his mind but he didn’t want you to pick up on it. The case he had been working on the last few months was officially closed, and therefore his initial reason for even being in your city was over with. Now that he had you, he didn’t want to leave, and he didn’t know how to break it to Jake. He wasn’t going to ask you to uproot your life and go back with him, especially now that he knew just how much you loved it here. But right now, he was shoving all those thoughts into a corner of his mind so he could properly focus on you. He was committing every sigh, moan, and cry of his name to memory. The way the slick heat of your walls gripped him, how your ankles locked together perfectly on his back, the way your hands gripped his hair as your lips devoured him. All of it was finding a permanent place in his brain.
You were doing much of the same, mesmerized by your lover above you. The birds and ambient street noise was filtering into your room as the world woke up. But the light from your wall sconces were casting a warm glow around Josh, nearly giving him a halo of light. It was rare that you genuinely missed the sun itself, as you had a difficult relationship with the wretched thing. But being wrapped up with Josh was probably the closest you had ever been to gentle daylight in the three centuries you had been alive.
His brows furrowed together in concern when he saw your eyes well up with stubborn tears, “you ok?”
You sniffed, willing your tears to stay in your eyes, “never better, Boy Scout.”
He smiled and captured your lips with his, speeding up his movements. It wasn’t long before you were both crying out, reaching your highs together.
Before you could even think about getting up, Josh was slowly detangling his limbs from yours to carefully pull back the curtain to gauge where the sun was in your room. Thankfully your nook was positioned in a way that kept it out of direct light, but he still barely gave himself enough room to slide out of bed and quickly shut the curtain behind him. You giggled at his attentiveness and listened to his footsteps sprint around the room as he shut your other curtains, blocking out the sun. The curtain to your bed slowly opened, revealing your smirking hunter.
After round two in the shower, you were back in your bed cuddled up with Josh. Sleep overtook you both, and the rest of the day was spent wrapped up in each other’s arms.
However, the peaceful slumber was interrupted by someone pounding on your door. Groggily you sat up at the sound, and looked at the time on your phone and the weather widget on the home screen. A low temperature and a crescent moon greeted you, letting you know the sun was fully down and it was safe.
Josh stirred behind you, “what’s going on…?”
“I don’t know…wait here.” You threw open the curtain as the pounding happened again, this time a little louder. Quickly you grabbed some clothes from your drawer across the room and dressed as you made your way down the hall.
Not being satisfied with how you answered that, Josh dressed himself as well and followed you to the door. You peered through the peephole before letting out a shaky breath and opening the door.
Two men in black suits were standing on the other side, sternly staring at you both.
In a cool voice, one of them said, “Mr. Nikolou requests your presence at his manor this evening, and he apologizes for the sudden call. He also wanted to inform you that this matter was very urgent, and that he would have a driver ready for you.”
“Sweetheart…what is it?”
The fear and anxiety bubbled up in your throat as you turned around to Josh, “Dimitri wants to see us…”
To be continued…
Tag List: @dannyandthekiszkas , @gretasmokerising , @sinners-go-to-drink-the-wine , @wideminded-dreamer , @runwayblues , @wildbluesorbit , @llightmyllovee , @rhythm-of-space , @sacredthefran , @writingcold , @alwaysonthemend , @wetkleenex-gvf , @josh-iamyour-mama , @lightsofthe-living-gvf , @gvfcinema , @sacredthethreadgvf , @losfacedevil , @jakekiszkasbuttsweat , @shutupdevvie , @hearts-hunger , @gretavanfleetposts , @ascendingtostardust , @mackalah , @andromeda-raine-gvf , @jake-kiszkas-smirk , @gracev0609 , @sacredjake , @earthlysorrows , @gvfpal , @myownparadise96 , @itsafullmoon , @gvfmelbourne , @twistedmelodies , @that-witchy-pan , @gold-mines-melting
#josh kiszka#josh kiszka x reader#josh gvf#greta van fleet#I see hell in your eyes#enemies to lovers#slow burn#my fics#🩸🖤
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i don’t know if you celebrate christmas but i am OBSESSED with the holiday season!! could you do something with the whole friend group (marie jordan cate andre emma sam luke) and gn reader where they’re decorating for the holidays? just a happy group that isn’t traumatized or suffering and it’s just fluffy and everyone’s alive and well and they’re decorating the house and the tree and cookies, gingerbread houses, just all the happy fluff! thank you and sending all the winter love!! - 🧚🏻
A Gen V Christmas | headcanons
pairings: limoreau, cate x luke, sam x emma
tw: mentions of christmas (it's not religious it's more the significance of the holiday and stuff), slight mentions of trauma?? (very minor), nothing much, christmas fic in january ?!?!, swearing
description: it's christmas eve and a bunch of superpowered college students have the house to themselves.
a/n: so... sry i didn't get to this sooner lol, i love this fic idea and this was sort of rushed but i hope you still enjoy it anon! i have kind of a horrible habit of not checking my requests or just forgetting about them until weeks later so once again sorry.
Christmas was going to be a whole affair that year. Luke and Sam’s parents were going to some fancy retreat in Switzerland so they had let the kids host a little get together. Luke could clearly remember his parents warning him it was for close friends ONLY, they didn’t want to find their house trashed by a bunch of supe college students.
And so Luke and Sam decided to only invite the gang and their respective partners. In total there were seven people bustling around the house on Christmas Eve.
Emma was trying and failing to assemble a gingerbread house while she ordered Sam around to: “GET ME MORE ICING. NO NOT THAT COLOR. SHIT SHIT SHIT.”
Cate was lounging on the couch with her feet on Luke’s lap as she curated the perfect holiday playlist, a mix of classics and some newer stuff that wasn’t absolute shit.
Luke was busy watching a football game but he gave suggestions to Cate every once and a while when he remembered a particularly good Christmas song.
Andre had been left in charge of the cooking, a trait that he had inherited from his mom. As Emma panicked with the gingerbread house Andre tried to hide a smile as he scrolled through TikTok, waiting for the chicken to roast.
Jordan and Marie were busy trying to figure out the best way to stack the Christmas presents, their cups of steaming hot chocolate had cooled significantly by the time they had finished making the perfect pyramid of presents.
Some of them had grown up with better holidays than others but they were all trying to do their part to make this one the best for people like Cate and Marie who barely got to experience any of it after they got their powers.
The rest of Christmas Eve afternoon was spent with a lot more yelling (Emma), wrenching the remote away from Luke (Jordan, they didn’t particularly love watching American football on Christmas Eve) and the smell of a perfect roast wafting through the house (Andre had a gift).
When midnight started to approach, Cate got everyone to hang up their stockings on the strangely large mantelpiece that the Riordan house contained.
Sam got everyone to open up the Santa Tracker with him (it was a tradition).
Since Sam got to do his tradition, Jordan rounded everyone up around the tv to watch ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’.
Emma somehow managed to get the gingerbread house basically structurally sound by the time everyone headed to their respective bedrooms. It was even standing the next morning as everyone gathered around the tree with cups of coffee. That was the real Christmas miracle.
im backkkkk
#gen v#limoreau#limoreau fanfic#jordan li#marie moreau#sam riordan#emma meyer#cate dunlap#andre anderson#cate dunlap fanfic#gen v fanfic#gen v fanfics#sam x emma#maria's random stuff#luke riordan#luke x cate#christmas
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Building Block Figs - Armory
Following up on the recent sets of building block figs I've been posting, comes one of my absolute favorites!
As I mentioned with the earlier fig sets (Building Block Figs - Beautiful Fight Scene in the Middle of the Lake (Part One, Two, and Coda); Basking in the Sun, Catching Light, and Two Devils), I missed these sets when they first came out, so I've had to pick them all up on Xianyu. With the exception of this set! This one I couldn't get on Xianyu, despite my best efforts. I have only seen it for sale exactly once, and when I tried to buy it, it turned out the listing was only up to draw traffic, and the seller just had one other (vaguely related) set. I was resigned to just keep watching and searching for it and hoping for the best, which was a real pity, because just from the small sales picture I really, really had to have it.
Thankfully! Qilin, the merch wrangler extraordinaire (@88Qilin on Twitter), had bought this set way back in the day, and when she heard I was on the search for more of these sets, was kind enough to check in with me to see if I needed it. AND BOY DID I. She immediately sent it off, and it arrived in record time! She even included some wonderful little extras, that I took a picture of immediately, but for some reason can no longer find. I'll take another pic and add it! In the meantime, I'll add a placeholder:
[Qilin's extra goodies pic goes here]
I was so excited to get this set, I can't even tell you. I feel super, super lucky.
(Fun fact, Qilin is the reason I originally found out about fan made figs in the first place! I saw her post on Twitter (also way back in the day) about the New Year's series of 6 figs, and I absolutely had to have them. I had just reactivated my long-dormant Twitter account to keep up with the fandom, and I was super nervous to message her, thinking she would be like, "who is this total rando messaging me out of nowhere?!" But no, she was super nice, and very helpful, and it was entirely thanks to her I was able to buy the whole set. A minor miracle at the time, trust me, considering how green I was at navigating Weidian back then. If you ever want to buy figs directly, definitely check out her pinned post walkthrough on her Twitter page, it's invaluable information.)
The set came sealed and as usual, in a plain box. Inside there was the same set up as the other sets in this series - a double bagged bag of bricks, the card with the QR code for the online 3-D instructions, and a handy little tool to separate bricks.
The full name of this set is Lao Wen Sacrificed his Life to Save Ah Xu. It measures 8.0 x 5.6 x 12.1 cm, and is rated 10 hours to complete. The "hours to complete" ratings have been extremely accurate to date. But, I was determined to get this set done over this holiday weekend, so hoped that my prior experience on these would serve me well to get it done in record time. So I timed myself!
Here I am getting ready to start. Not a lot of colors, which is typical for these sets. Not too bad looking, huh? You'll notice that unlike the other sets, I didn't carefully pre-sort out all the pieces by size and shape. I simply sorted by color and left them in big piles like this, in a bid to shave off even more time. I was a bit curious if it would be faster to hunt-and-peck through each pile for the right bricks, or if sorting them was about the same. Given that it took about an hour to sort through the larger sets, I decided to roll the dice here.
The directions informed me there were 184 steps in this set. Not too bad! I sat down, put on my headphones, cranked up some music, and got started.
I finished the first little block just as fast as could be. I was flying! I was so proud of myself. It was a holiday weekend, the morning was bright and sunny, and I was having a grand old time.
The next step was to add a second base square in, and then a third and fourth. I added in the second base and kept on flying through it. And then...I ran out of a white brick in the largest size.
Which is kind of impossible. Each of these sets has extras of all the bricks - quite a few, actually. So I searched through the white pile a couple extra times, and sat there and wondered what was going on. As you know, I have lots of spare bricks from the previous sets, so it would be easy enough to pull the right one out, but this shouldn't be happening.
So I was like, wait a minute. I looked back at the phone directions for the step I was on, and said, hold on, I don’t see the character 白 for white anywhere. Uh oh. I Google Translated the characters that were there and sure enough, 透明 meant transparent.
I had just been going off the colors on the phone screen, and I mean, come on! The bricks looked white! If you scroll up and look at it, don't you think so too?
Anyway.
So, I pulled off all the white bricks, and replaced them with transparent bricks, and hey, what do you know, I had plenty of them.
Alright, alright, so this happens when you don't speak the language. Never fear, I'm back on track!
Dear friends, I was not back on track.
Sometime in all this confusion, I had spun around my little base square around, so when I attached it to the other base squares, I started filling in the top bricks the wrong way around. Luckily, I realized what I was doing after a few steps in, and I didn't have to totally reassemble it like I did with the Not White But Transparent Brick Debacle of early 2024. I just gently disconnected the base squares from each other, turned them around, and kept going.
So! I finished the first layer 1 hour, 46 minutes in. This, of course, includes the one major mistake and the one minor mistake. It's pretty big, isn't it? The other fig sets only had max 2 base squares, so I was pretty excited to see how nice and big this was. The transparent bricks look nice, huh?
I took a bit of a break. Made a little bit of lunch, tidied up a bit, and then came back excited to tackle the next round.
I was paying attention to the names of the brick colors at this point, believe me.
I finished the next layer 2 hours and 54 minutes in. Pretty cool looking, isn't it? It looks like some kind of disk in an alien language. I must admit when I got here, I was both quite happy and also a little concerned. Only layer 2? Still 138 layers to go, and it's been about 3 hours?
Well, no big deal if it took me longer, really. I was having a good time, and there was no actual rush. I will say that at this point, my finger tips were certainly feeling the constant pressing and snapping of the bricks. They had actually toughened up back when I was doing set after set after set, but it had been some time, and my fingertips were back to their usual soft selves.
Luckily for my fingers, I had errands to run and other things to do, so my sore little fingertips got a needed break.
The next morning, I was up and back at it!
The third layer was starting to look like the actual base of the platform from the show. I was pretty excited to finish this layer, I have to say. I took little breaks here and there, but I was pretty determined to make some real progress.
By that evening, I had gotten pretty far. I stopped here at 6 hours and 3 minutes.
I was inordinately pleased by getting to this step. I could see the robes carefully spread out here, just like the show, and their hands out there. There was also a little bit of white where I was starting Lao Wen's new hair color.
You can tell the passage of time by how the light keeps changing in each of these pictures! I always end with the bricks for the step I'm on laid out in front of me, so I always know where I am when I pick the set back up. My memory is just too bad otherwise, I'll forget what I'm doing.
Well, 3-day holiday weekends don't last forever, so I woke up this morning determined to finish this. There was a little bit of race against the clock today, since I had appointments I had to take care of, and I needed to have enough light left to take final pictures. So, I sat down, and started going as fast as I could.
At 7 hours and 6 minutes, I had built up the bodies, and was on to the heads. I hurried through my afternoon errands and got back around 3:10 pm. The sun sets here around 4:20, so I didn't have much time. Tomorrow I get on a plane, so it really was up against the clock! I didn't even put my headphones on this time, I just sat down and focused.
But, it turns out that I didn't need that much time. 45 minutes later, I was done!
Total hours clocked in at 7 hours and 51 minutes. I will tell you, I was indeed flying through this set - all those other fig sets that I made mistakes on definitely helped me. I knew what I was doing, and I went fast. If this had been my first set, or even my second (ok, let's be real, even my third), it would 100% have taken me at least the full 10 hours. It also helped that other than Big Error 1 and Small Error 1, I didn't make any other mistakes.
You can see how many bricks are left (which is why I knew something was up when I ran out of that white brick earlier). I will say that not pre-sorting the bricks is definitely the way to go - it's pretty easy to pick out the right ones, and certainly saves a lot of time just organizing them into piles.
Alright! Let's do some beauty shots, shall we? As you know, the light wasn't super great, but it was good enough!
Oops, I see I need to press down a little on Lao Wen's head to get the bricks firmly squeezed together. I'll admit my aching fingertips were not pressing down super hard at this point!
I really love the 3-D effect of the icicles ringing the platform. This set is just fantastic!
It's a little hard to see A-Xu's luxurious mane of hair here with the black on black, but it's quite nice.
Lao Wen's closed eyes! Please also note the little white underlayer on his robes here at his neck. So cute.
This is a nice angle to see A-Xu's married hair bun (minus one hairpin, of course) and Lao Wen's loop of hair.
This angle is the coup de grâce of this whole set for me. For the longest time, I thought the single bricks was his eyes and the marks down his cheeks were tears, but in reality I think the larger bricks are his eyes, and the smaller bricks are his eyebrows going up in shock and horror. But all I can see are (non canonically accurate) tears free flowing down his cheeks!
I did waste several minutes at the point I was building this just contemplating his face, and I was THIS close to subbing in the light blue for to make tears after all, because (sorry A-Xu) I find it delightfully hilarious. Little Lego tears! I can't even. But, I decided to go with the actual design for this so you could see it (and go back and replace them afterwards).
Ahem. Anyway. This is also a beautiful shot to see Lao Wen's long white hair draping over his shoulders.
More of the snow and icicles all the way around. It looks great.
Seriously, don't you think they look like tears? Right, anyway. This actually isn't a bad angle to admire the modeling on the clothing.
And we're back around. The modeling really is beautiful on this, with their robes carefully spread out behind them and to the sides of them.
Time for some closeups:
Aww, Lao Wen.
Aww, A-Xu, honey.
The bottoms-up angle was really hard to get on this set, since the base was so large.
The top down angle looks great I think. This is actually the first time that I'm noticing they have the scroll underneath them.
Honestly, I'm so impressed with this set. With only 9 colors, and some very basic building block shapes, they did a gorgeous job rendering this scene.
With my last picture, in the last of my fading light, here's my two sets of armory figs re-enacting this scene. The closest set is actually from the New Year's set of of 6 that Qilin helped me buy back in the day, so this really is full circle!
I couldn't quite get my camera to focus on both sets, but you can see the relative size difference at least. It's a big set!
Alright, these are the last of these sets for a while - there's two more sets of two single figures each, but I have not been able to locate them on Xianyu either. I'm ok with it though - this is the last of the big scene sets, and one I really, really wanted. The others are nice but not quite as special as the sets.
Thanks for the figthusiasts friends that have accompanied me on these building block fig posts! They're all quite long, so I appreciate you reading all my thoughts and experiences with these. I absolutely love them - they were a ton of fun, and I only wish I had more! I'd love to enact out the entire series with building block scenes - can you imagine?
Material: Plastic building blocks
Fig Count: 520
Scene Count: 37
Rating: Pure love
[link to the Master Post Index]
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dec' x 24 - secrets
Prompt: secrets
Pairing: jack x reader
Word Count: 712
Warnings: angsty feels, but it'll be resolved soon enough - I promise! Also a very loose use of today's prompt, which is my MO.
Summary: the sale of the ranch is fast approaching and you're leaving to go spend the holidays with your family. Reality of the situation comes to a head between you and Jack.
AO3: Linked
You might be interested in reading these first, if you're not familiar with the story that's been playing out this month... scarf, candles, ornaments & miracle
x. masterlist
It was the waning days of December, Christmas Eve, the snow crunched under your boots as you walked around the ranch to the porch. Stamping your feet to rid them of excess snow you felt a heaviness in your heart. This was your last loop of the ranch before you were leaving for Texas. It was where your parents lived and where you, your brother and his family were flying in to celebrate the holidays.
The vast expanse of the fields belonging to the ranch stretched out in every direction you looked. Dusted with snow and in the late afternoon setting sun, it looked like something that belonged on a christmas card. You thought of Opal, your grandmother, and wondered how many evenings she’d spent on this porch taking in the vastness of it all, how this place would have looked in its heyday.
But at the same time, it was a reminder of the inheritance that was both a blessing and a burden. The ranch your grandmother's legacy, was about to be sold. It wasn’t just a thought anymore, but a looming reality. You couldn’t run it, it was too much work and you were far from qualified. You had a real job to get back to, you reminded yourself, no more playing with whatever this was, a life that didn’t involve hay bales or horse stables. These were the facts you clung to, a mantra to keep the swell of emotions at bay.
As you stood there, lost in thought, Jack approached, his footsteps muffled by the snow. His face was a mix of emotions—hope, desperation, and something else that you couldn’t quite make out. But you could also tell that the conversation that had started in the stables was long done from being finished.
“Jack,” you breathed, meeting his gaze. “You knew this was coming. It wasn't a secret.” his silhouette was a stark contrast against the fading light. “This shouldn’t be a surprise.”
He rubbed the back of his neck, a nervous habit you’d come to find endearing. “I know, but hear me out. What if you stayed and we figured something out?”
You couldn’t help but laugh, though it was more out of sadness than humour. “Jack, I’m not made to run a ranch. I have no clue about any of this.”
The two of you stood on the porch, while only a few steps apart it felt like a gulf between you. If you could stay in this bubble with him, wrapped up in the simplicity and beauty of the Kentucky countryside, you would. But the reality was more complex than that, you cursed Hallmark for making it seem too easy to drop the job in the city for the handsome cowboy.
He was silent at first, his eyes searching yours for an answer, a solution, anything that would have you stay. Then, shaking his head with a bitter chuckle, he murmured, “Goddamit, this wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“What?” you had asked, your heart pounding, although you felt like you already knew the answer.
“Us,” he had replied softly. “Me falling for you.” His words had hung in the air, a confession laid bare.
The revelation struck you hard, catching your breath. You weren’t blind and even though you’d been trying to ignore it there was a connection, but to hear him voice it out loud made it all too real.
You were going to your parents in Austin for Christmas, leaving behind the ranch, leaving him. There wasn’t time to unpack this, especially since you had a flight to catch in less than three hours and you still had to get the place locked up for Magdelana and pack up the last of your stuff.
“Jack–” your words fell short, how were you supposed to answer him? “I’ll be back in the new year to finalize the sale,” you said, trying to keep your voice steady. “I can come by?”
Jack’s jaw clenched, his eyes holding yours for a moment that felt like an eternity. “Don’t bother coming to see me,” he finally said, his voice devoid of its usual warmth.
All you could do was watch him climb into his truck and peel out of the driveway without a glance back in your direction.
#december x 500#jack x mabel#agent whiskey#jack whiskey daniels#jack daniels x you#jack daniels x reader#jack daniels x f!reader#jack daniels x female reader#jack daniels fanfiction#jack daniels fanfic#pedro pascal character fanfiction
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The one who is wise in mind sits apart in meditation
To/giftee: @aowyn
From/URL: @whims-of-insane-fandoms
Happy Holidays!
Dear aowyn,
I hope that I met some of the prompt for your Secret Santa assignment! Unfortunately, I got sick after finishing this fic so I couldn’t edit it so excuse any bad grammatical errors. Barring that, I loved doing this and this also challenged me to do a pov that is not Nezumi or Shion’s. I have never written a Safu pov so thank you for allowing me to do so and especially in a Safu lives AU (mostly based on the manga). I didn’t get to do everything from the prompt, but I hope that the narrative was enjoyable for you.
I think Safu and Nezumi can become best friends in due time and I’d like to believe Nezumi doesn’t really leave in this au. Safu and Shion are platonic soulmates and Nezumi and Shion are romantic soulmates. The three of them bond with their love that was strained thanks to No. 6’s actions but they’re the winners. Safu, Shion and Nezumi win in this au.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
-whims
Safu had become used to staring aimlessly up at the ceiling, arms and legs outstretched in the bed. It had become a strange habit of her to lay in bed like this, but the habit had been unbroken for two weeks. She had become used to the freedom of being able to move her limbs, to not have her limbs strapped down in the operating table or to have her conscience exist outside of her own body. The softness and warmth of her bed was always a grounding reminder that she wasn’t in that dreadful and cold correctional facility and her nightmares of that place could only harm her mind rather than her body.
Surprisingly, she had woken up today without a scream being ripped from her throat due to the memory of those dark days. The less she thought about those painful memories, the foggier they became. It was helpful that she had become preoccupied with other thoughts and memories.
Safu slowly eased her way to the edge of the bed where her wheelchair was waiting for her. The reminder of her current condition made her want to curl up in bed and stay there. However, she refused to do that. She was lucky and grateful to be alive.
She was lucky to have a working body at all, was lucky that Elyurias had taken pity for her plight and had preserved her body and conscious after the destruction of the correctional facility. Science deemed her resurrection impossible and Safu still thought it was impossible. She was dead, her brain ripped out of her body with no way of being a human again.
Shion and Karan called her resurrection a miracle.
She could still remember the moment she had awoken in a hospital bed, wondering if the afterlife really was real, and felt a warm hand on hers. She remembered turning her head to see Shion asleep holding her hand, a blanket covering his shoulders. There had been fresh tears on his eyes, and, for a moment, she thought she was dreaming.
This is no dream, a voice inside her head had told her, think of this as my gift to you to truly make you happy.
When Shion had woken up, it had been to the embarrassing sight of her crying, thanking Elyurias for letting her have this chance to live, to see Shion again, to let her live alongside Shion and for truly making her feel satisfied.
Safu got on the wheelchair with no trouble this time. She’d become particularly good at maneuvering her way through it after so long being wheelchair bound. Despite Elyurias saving her life and reuniting her with her body, the goddess could not completely negate the effects of her brain being outside her body for a long period of time. Her body needed time to relearn things she had taken for granted before, like walking or running or easily curling her toes. Until she fully recovered, she would have to use a wheelchair indefinitely.
It didn’t matter to Safu how long she had to use the wheelchair for.
All that mattered is that she was still alive.
Safu wheeled her way to the door, opening it and wheeling out to the hallway. It was still early in the morning, so she wondered if Shion was awake yet. Recently, he woke up much later than normal, staying in bed until he couldn’t anymore. A traitorous and green-faced side of her reminded her that he had a very human-shaped reason to stay curled up in bed, but she ignored that thought and headed to the kitchen.
“Safu, you’re up early!”
Safu was startled to see Karan, Shion’s mother, already awake and finishing a batch of bread for her bakery. Her hair was up in a high ponytail and Safu noticed it had gotten slightly longer. She had some flour in her apron and she was smiling brightly.
Safu was grateful to see Karan. Ever since she had been found in the ruins of the correctional facility, there had been talk about where she would go after being discharged. Her old home had been already sold and she had no other living family. However, it was Karan that had shut down all conversations and demanded that Safu come live with her and Shion. Karan had been the one that had advocated for her by talking with the doctors on her behalf. Karan had done so much for her when Shion had to deal with issues regarding the dissolution of No. 6 and West Block and other outdated things No. 6 had.
It was Karan that was by Safu’s side almost every day since she awoke when Shion had to deal with other matters. Karan was the one that always attended her visits with the doctor as they checked on her progress. Karan was the one that helped her bathe in the first days, before Safu could properly move her arms.
In these two weeks, Karan had become Safu’s closest friend.
Safu smiled, “Good morning, ma’am, I thought you’d still be in bed.”
“I couldn’t stay asleep any time longer and decided to get a head start. Do you want some bread? Fresh off the oven.”
“Yes, please.”
Karan set down a plate of food and Safu noticed there was another plate and a mug with steam rising from it. With a start, Safu realized someone else was awake and, based on the smell of coffee, it was the one person she still had a hard time understanding.
“Morning.”
Nezumi strolled in from another part of the house, nibbling one of Karan’s breads. His hair was down, an unusual thing to see from him since Safu had mostly seen him with his hair up, and he was wearing some of Shion’s clothes. She remembered that Shion had told her that his clothes were dirty and had to be washed.
There it was again, that pit on the bottom of her stomach that made her feel green. Safu recognized it easily, she wasn’t oblivious to her feelings. She was jealous of Nezumi. She buried those feelings away, but they always found a way to creep back without her wanting them to come back.
She’d wondered a lot who Shion loved. What was that person like? That curiosity had stemmed many years ago since Shion had adopted that faraway gaze, his eyes always seemingly looking at something none of them could see. His eyes were always gazing into a distance, the look that were described in books when wives waited for their husbands to come back after a long separation.
It had resurfaced again that day when they’d encountered the mouse, before she left to study abroad and when she had made her intentions and feelings clear. While she had confessed, Shion had still remained with that calm and cool expression. It hurt to remember it and it also hurt when she remembered him finally show emotion and chase after the phantom he longed for.
Even when she desperately wanted to see Shion during her captivity in the correctional facility, her thoughts had still wondered to who that special person in Shion’s life was. Who was the person that made Shion act so differently? Who was the person by Shion’s side?
When she first met Nezumi, she understood.
“Is Shion still in bed?” Karan said in a tone only a mother could pull off.
Nezumi shook his head, “Yes and no to that. He’s awake, it’s just the prince is planning for today’s trip.”
Karan smiled, “Oh, right. Shion was talking to me yesterday about all the different places he was going to show you and Safu. Safu, are you excited to explore the area that used to be West Block?”
Safu smiled and nodded, “Of course. I’m especially excited to properly meet Inukashi. Shion talks very fondly of their hotel and their dogs.”
On the third day of being back in her body, Shion had talked to her about West Block. About Rikigia, Inukashi and even the children that Shion had come to talk to. He talked about the dog hotel and his days spent helping clean the dogs and about the theater and the many different shops. He especially talked about the place that Shion called ‘home’, the place where he and Nezumi lived during his time away from No. 6.
“There’s so many books, Safu!” He’d excitedly chattered that night, curled up in the bed next to her, “So many books that I know you’ll want to read. It’s really cozy there too so you can stay there for hours reading. Nezumi and I can read with you there!”
Yes, she was very excited to see these places she’d only heard of. Places that made Shion’s eyes glint with joy and mirth in a way that No. 6 could never truly invoke from him. It was also the difference in how he saw her and how he saw Nezumi. The comparison made Safu sick because she was comparing herself to the same No. 6 that tormented her, Shion, Nezumi and countless others.
Karan sat down, eating some bread, and offering Safu her own plate as promised. Safu thanked her and the three of them began to eat their breakfast quietly. Safu found the silence enjoyable. It felt so easy to eat breakfast when she had such good company.
“Don’t get too excited with the dogs, Safu,” Nezumi warned, “Shion and Inukashi really like them, but those mutts are a handful.”
“Nezumi,” Karan chided him, “they’re very lovely animals. Oh, Safu, you’ll simply adore them. Their fur is very soft, and the dogs are so mild mannered. Inukashi is also very respectful and kind.”
“They only appear that way with you, ma’am. Inukashi is very rude so prepare yourself for that.”
Safu chuckled as Karan playfully scolded Nezumi while Nezumi cheekily spoke with her. Nezumi was so witty, a testament to his brilliance that Safu was aware he had. It made sense that he was brilliant, she’d noticed how intelligent and intense his gray eyes were the moment they met. Even if the two of them had not been in the best shape when they first met, she knew Nezumi was brilliant.
After all, he was the one Shion had fallen for.
“Good morning!”
Safu turned her head and saw Shion grinning at them from the hallway. She offered her own smile as Shion grabbed one of the breads that Karan offered him. He ate it and hugged his mother. Karan laughed, chiding him softly, as Shion turned to look at her. Shion enveloped her in a warm hug and Safu felt herself feel lighter.
Shion hadn’t changed completely like she’d feared. Yes, Shion had lost that faraway gaze of his and he was more open in his affection. He had more confidence now, too. However, there were parts of him that had been irreparably changed due to what No. 6 had done to him.
Shion’s pale white hair and his striking red eyes and the red snake-like scar that was all around his body replaced the image of the boy she had grown up knowing. His eyes, his hair and his skin were so different. There were also nights where she was made aware of his mental and psychological changes when she heard him screaming in the dead of night. Shion never talked to her about it, only asking about how she was doing, and it worried Safu. Like he felt that he couldn’t truly tell her the extent of his pain, of his trauma.
Do you talk to Nezumi about it?
Safu wanted to ask Shion that question so desperately. What was the extent of Nezumi’s position as the one Shion allowed to stay by his side, the one Shion loved? Was Nezumi the one comforting Shion after his nightmares? Was he sweet and gentle with Shion or was he callous and cold? Did the two of them exchange horror stories about what No. 6 had done to them? Did they find comfort tangled in their shared bed, gripping their hands, and knowing that this was all real? Safu could not relate, could not understand, when she woke up to nightmares with no one by her side.
What a depressing thought.
“Safu, whenever you’re ready, we’ll get going!” Shion said, pulling back with his eyes glinting in excitement, “We have so much to see today!”
For some reason, Safu felt a sharp pain in her chest looking at Shion. Something about his smile looked so. . . un-Shion-like. It was more strained and almost rehearsed. She wanted to ask what was wrong, but Nezumi spoke first, asking him to at least let them enjoy their nice breakfast. Shion took time convincing to do that but, luckily, the four of them were able to enjoy a nice breakfast before she was going to have her grand tour.
After breakfast, Safu, Shion and Nezumi made their way to what was formerly West Block. Thanks to Shion’s efforts, the wall had come down and there was easy access to and from the two areas. Shion had also advocated for aid to be given to the poor individuals that had been forsaken by the unfeeling officials of No. 6 so there were still many tents at the old border. There were medical tents where doctors gave the residents free checkups and food tents that gave the needy free food so they would not go to bed hungry. Overall, Shion expected there to be a lot of people they had to carefully navigate through as they were the “talk of the city” as Nezumi so eloquently put it.
Sadly, Karan could not go with them in their venture to the slowly recovering slums since she had to tend to her bakery. There was an explosion in clients due to her amazing baking skills, all of them clamoring for a taste of her delicious pastries. Safu was sad that she wouldn’t go with them, but she didn’t mind so much when Nezumi and Shion were such good guides.
Shion helped push her wheelchair, pointing at markets where Nezumi would haggle for their food while Nezumi added a comment or two to make fun of him. Sometimes, Nezumi would be open with them and admit to something that had happened to him in the years he first spent living in West Block. Those stories painted a very tragic picture of Nezumi’s already horrific past, but Nezumi waved away her sympathy.
“He does that often,” Shion whispered to her as Nezumi went to get them some snacks from a place Shion loved to eat from, “He doesn’t like to be pitied, despite how sad it was for him.”
“He’s very proud, isn’t he?”
“Proud and too stubborn to let anyone see him as weak,” Shion agreed.
“You two better not be gossiping about me.” Nezumi shot back.
“Never,” Shion said, looking at Safu and shooting her a wink.
When she laughed, Nezumi looked a bit annoyed but, surprisingly, was also smiling when he saw Shion smiling. Now that she thought about it, Nezumi looked more relaxed than she ever remembered seeing him. He was still on edge, but it was clear that was a result of habit rather than feeling unsafe. He glanced over his shoulders and his hand inside his jacket pocket clutched something he no longer had there.
He also kept looking back to look at Shion, another habit that apparently formed because he didn’t want to lose Shion in the crowd. Every time Shion led them somewhere with excitement, Safu could see the fondness and adoration in Nezumi’s eyes.
Nezumi loved Shion, just as much as Shion loved him. They didn’t express this love openly, but they didn’t need to. Sometimes, Nezumi would linger close to Shion, eyes fixated on the boy who was engrossed in something else. Other times, Shion would touch Nezumi and continue touching him even if he didn’t have to. It made Safu jealous to see this because she still loved Shion despite everything.
However, it was clear that Shion loved her too.
While Shion stared at Nezumi with love, he didn’t hesitate to look at her with a similar gaze. She knew it was love, just not romantic. Shion didn’t have that faraway look when he looked at her. He was actually looking at her, smiling at her, basking in her presence.
It occurred to Safu that her near death experience and their separation had truly rattled Shion. While he had loved her before, his expressions told her that he loved her more deeply now. When he stared at her now, it was as if he were looking at something extremely precious. . . or could it be possible that Shion always looked at her with this level of affection, but she had been too busy focusing on his faraway gaze to notice the extent of his love for her?
Shion was a mystery, she concluded, and he kept mysterious company.
“The hotel is right around here,” Nezumi said, looking bored and disgruntled.
“Nezumi, be nice,” Shion laughed, “Inukashi misses you. You’ve been avoiding going to meet them here.”
Nezumi huffed, “It’s because of Shion.”
Safu frowned, “Shion. . .?”
“Not me,” Shion clarified, “Shion is a baby that Inukashi is taking care of. I found him after. . . I found him when he had no one to take care of him. That’s around the time Nezumi and I were picked up by the correctional facility, so I sent him to Inukashi.”
“And Inukashi has been attached to the little kid since,” Nezumi snickered, “Who knew they had any parental instincts? Maybe their mother did actually gave them positive qualities.”
Shion rolled his eyes and, with that, rolled Safu in the direction of the hotel. True to his word, the place was filled with many dogs and, just like Karan said, they were kind and soft. Inukashi was exactly as Nezumi and Shion described them. Karan could see the positives that Shion saw while also seeing those other traits Nezumi talked about.
“So you’re Safu, huh?” Inukashi asked, eying her with sharp eyes.
They were clever and inquisitive, reminding her a lot of Nezumi. They also had a foul mouth but, like Shion had told her, they were honest and charming. Unlike Nezumi, however, Inukashi was less guarded with her. Safu thought it was not their norm based on what Nezumi had talked about and she was proven right when they redirected their attention to the small baby they were taking care of.
“So, as someone who lived in that horrible place, what do you think of our charming, shitty neighborhood?” Inukashi asked, bouncing the baby on their leg.
“It’s very. . . real.” Safu admitted, “Nothing about this place is artificial. Everything here that is beautiful is because it’s natural. It’s nothing like the beautiful places in No. 6. It’s so. . . lively.”
“Great, you are as smart as Shion said you were.”
Safu smiled, “And you are just as described. Less rude than Shion and Nezumi made you out to be, though.”
“Give them a minute or two.” Nezumi retorted.
Shion laughed, patting Inukashi’s head, “Trust me, Safu will never see that side of Inukashi. Not while baby Shion is here.”
“Hey, don’t make me out to be too nice,” Inukashi said, almost pouting, “I have a reputation to hold, Shion!”
“Ah, of course, the world will end if people know you’re soft on your friends,” Shion said, winking at Safu.
“Hey!”
Shion and Inukashi led her through the hotel, Nezumi pushing her wheelchair when she got tired of wheeling it. Shion pointed out many dogs and said their names while Inukashi told her that there was another pregnant stray they had found. Based on the dog’s physique, Inukashi figured they would give birth soon and asked if Shion could come to see the birth. Shion promised he and Safu would be there, and she found it odd that Nezumi would not join them for the puppy birth.
They ate food in Inukashi’s hotel, enjoying the light breeze and the sunlight in their outdoor picnic. Inukashi and Nezumi bickered playfully while Shion pointed out to her more dogs. Inukashi kept praising Karan’s bread and Safu asked if Inukashi would let her spend a night here with one of their dogs. Nezumi tried to discourage that, but Shion said it would be a great idea for a sleepover with her, Karan, and himself. Again, strangely enough, Nezumi was absent from this plan.
By the time they left the hotel, Inukashi informed them that Rikigia had gone to visit Karan in her bakery so they wouldn’t be able to visit him. Instead, Shion decided that this was the perfect time to go to the place where he and Nezumi lived while Shion was in exile. Nezumi agreed and, with that, they set off to that old, quaint room filled with books that Shion always talked about.
“Welcome, Safu, to our home!”
It was a small room, as expected, with things like a bed, a cute table in the middle, a couch, and other knick-knacks. It was nothing compared to the luxury of some of the homes in No. 6, but Safu immediately loved this place. Not only that but, true to all the stories of this place, this room was filled with books. Safu had never seen real books like this, used to the e-papers that No. 6 relied on. However, upon touching the spine of a book called Don Quixote, she realized she was equally enamored by these books.
“Do you have every book in existence?”
“No, I’m not the Library of Alexandria.”
Safu snickered, picking up a book with no title, “Can I read these?”
“That’s what books are for,” Nezumi replied, picking up a book and giving it to her, “Try this one.”
“Hamlet?”
“I think you’ll like it.”
Safu nodded, opening it to the first page. She began to read, finding herself engrossed by the story as she learned about the ghost of a dead king appearing before people. As she began to read about the succeeding king and the heir, the titular Hamlet, she could see that Shion and Nezumi were moving around the room. She was going to ignore them until she saw Shion give Nezumi a bag filled with things like matches, water bottles and other supplies.
“What are you two doing?”
Shion jumped and Nezumi closed the bag. Shion looked at her and gave her a strained smile, as if he was going to lie to her. Nezumi did nothing but stare at her, as if already expecting a scolding for something.
“We’re just-.”
“Packing.”
“Packing? To move this stuff to your mom’s house, Shion?”
Shion hesitated before shaking his head. Nezumi opened his mouth, as if to explain when Shion grabbed his arm. Something was wrong. Something had changed. No, that wasn’t correct. Nothing changed, it was just that she was going to finally get clarity on . . . on what? What was it that she had not realized.
“Shion? What’s going on?”
“Safu. . .” Shion sighed, sounding defeated in a way that made Safu’s chest ache, “Nezumi is. . . Nezumi is leaving.”
Safu’s eyes widened as Shion avoided her gaze. Nezumi was quiet, still holding onto the bag. She looked at the two of them again and could see how defeated Shion looked. His shoulders were slumped, and she finally understood why Shion had looked so sad before.
“Where is he going?”
Nezumi shrugged, “I’m leaving this place and going out to the world.”
An exploration? It fit Nezumi’s wandering, inquisitive nature.
“When will you come back?”
Nezumi shook his head, “Safu, I don’t have a place to come back to.”
Shion put back a book on the shelf, avoiding her gaze. She knew that he did that when he didn’t want her to guess how he was feeling. Safu knew exactly how he felt. Shion must have been destroyed.
She knew what Nezumi was to Shion. Nezumi was a thief that had stolen a part of Shion’s self for himself, and Shion had stolen a piece of Nezumi for himself. They were intertwined, star-crossed lovers that were hopefully meant to live together for a long time. One without the other was lost and they would rather die together than have one live and the other die. They would do anything for each other, would be willing to live on for the sake of the other despite their traumas and scars.
To hear Nezumi wanted to leave and leave Shion behind as if those bonds were not there, as if Shion’s pain couldn’t destroy him. . . it was too cruel. Safu didn’t want Nezumi to leave. He couldn’t leave. Not when she was beginning to understand this person.
Safu liked Nezumi. Her affection towards him could never be the same as how she felt about Shion, but she had come to hold Nezumi in high regard. Nezumi was the one that had broken through Shion’s seemingly apathetic existence and breathed life into him. Nezumi had been the one to protect Shion, had nearly died for Shion and had lived for Shion.
Nezumi was kind to her, even if it was in his own way. He had understood her intentions in the correctional facility, had honored her wishes and had even mourned her. While Karan and Shion were the ones most involved in her care, Nezumi was the one that had made her laugh for the first time after returning her body. Nezumi had been the one that had not treated her like she was fragile. He respected her and it made her respect him, in turn.
Nezumi was kind, intelligent, witty, scholarly, strong, rude, and cynical. He was able to be vulnerable and open despite being so jaded and cruel. How could he leave when she was barely learning all of these things about him?
How could he leave them?
“. . .No. You can’t leave.”
“. . . What did you say?”
Shion still wasn’t looking at either of them, making an expression Safu couldn’t see. Nezumi gazed at her and Safu felt naked under that intense gaze again. Nezumi’s beautiful eyes were just like the boy himself – beautiful, intelligent, and dangerous. Safu had a hard time composing herself.
“You can’t leave.”
Nezumi raised an eyebrow, amusement washing over his features, “Are you playing the role of my mother, Safu? I don’t need your permission to leave this place. I was just telling you.”
Safu felt herself frown, “If you leave, then you can never show yourself in front of Shion again.”
“Safu!”
This made Nezumi frown, a dark expression crossing his face. That was an expression Safu didn’t think he could make. He wasn’t just angry, he looked hurt and upset. He looked on edge, as if the threat had hit a nerve. Good, she was glad that he was angry too. She was livid.
“Who are you to make that decision?”
Safu lowered her friend, clutching the arm of her wheelchair, “I’m the person that loves Shion the most in this world and he is the person I love the most. It doesn’t matter anymore if that love is romantic or platonic but it’s true. We love each other. Because of this, I know that you leaving will leave Shion torn. It doesn’t matter if he has his mom, Inukashi, Rikigia or me in his life. You. . . you are his precious Nezumi, the one who did what no one else could and breathed new life into him. Leaving him when you don’t have to. . . how selfish is that?! You are so selfish!”
Safu was so angry at Nezumi. How dare he throw Shion aside, leave his side on purpose, when that had been the position Safu had been dying to occupy? She wished she had been in Nezumi’s spot even when she thought she’d die. Her desire had been to remain at Shion’s side, to stay with him, to live with him. Nezumi had everything she had wished for when she had been dying and he was throwing it away.
It wasn’t fair.
Nezumi scowled at her, “I’m selfish for wanting to leave this place for my own sake?”
“Yes.”
“Then are you not also just as selfish, Safu? You don’t care about my feelings on this matter, you only seem to care about your own and, by extension, Shion’s.”
“I am selfish,” Safu replied, “I won’t deny that, I won’t be a hypocrite. I, unlike you, try to avoid hurting others with my selfishness.”
“I’m not trying to hurt others but I’m not going to sacrifice my wants for others. I’m not that self-serving. I refuse to be that selfless.”
Safu was angry and Nezumi was angry too. Just when she thought that she understood Nezumi, he did something like this. Why? Didn’t he care about Shion? About Karan, Inukashi or her? Was he not thinking about how lucky he was that he had all of this?
They could have died two weeks ago. For a moment, she and Nezumi had truly died and left this world. They could’ve left behind this world that, while cruel and broken, was filled with beauty and the people they loved. They were lucky to be alive, lucky to continue living and enjoying the small gifts of being alive. How was Nezumi willing to throw it all away for a selfish whim? Why couldn’t he just appreciate what he had right now?
“You’re so-!”
“Stop it, please.”
Safu and Nezumi turned to look at Shion who had a single tear roll down his cheek. He was clutching his coat tightly and his lower lip was wobbling. He sniffed, blinking away his tears. She could see Nezumi turning to look away, as if guilty.
“This day wasn’t supposed to end in a fight,” Shion muttered, wiping his tears, “I just wanted to enjoy this day with two people I love so much. You’re both so important to my life and I almost lost you both. I thought this day was a dream come true. . . please. . . please don’t fight.”
Safu pointed at Nezumi, “He’s the one that wants to leave. It’s not my fault that he doesn’t understand that no one wants him to leave, not even me.”
“She’s the one who won’t consider my point of view.”
Shion shook his head, “Unbelievable. Two of the smartest people I know . . . and you’re both idiots.”
“Hey!” Safu and Nezumi shouted.
Shion smiled weakly, “Safu, I don’t want Nezumi to leave either but that’s his decision. No. 6 has hurt him badly. . . it has hurt us too. Our scars that remain from that pain remind us that it happened, and we can’t erase that. No. 6 imprisoned Nezumi and took away his freedom, even when Nezumi was no longer in their hands. No. 6 is gone and Nezumi is truly free. Safu, I-I don’t want to be another jailer for him.”
“But you love him,” Safu whispered, putting her head down, “Why would you let him leave if it’ll hurt you?”
“Because it’s what he needs.” Shion smiled, crouching down to hold her hands, “Safu, it would not be an eternal farewell. Nezumi would come back, I know that. I don’t want him to leave but I can’t chain him down to stay by my side. You understand that, right?”
She did. She understood it because, when she thought she was going to die in that dreadful correctional facility, Elyurias had asked her if she had wished for Shion to die with her. The answer had been that Safu loved Shion enough to not be that selfish. She wanted her beloved Shion to live, to live on and change the world, even if it meant she wouldn’t be by his side. She squeezed Shion’s hands tightly, conveying her understanding.
“Oh, Safu,” Shion said with adoration and love, “I’m happy that you’re my friend, my irreplaceable and precious Safu. . .”
“Shion, I just don’t want you to be sad.”
“I don’t want that for him, either,” Nezumi admitted, “I just don’t truly have a place for me here, not in this place that holds too many memories. Good or bad, these memories are something I need to spend time figuring out. I need to. . . I need to understand certain mysteries.”
Safu felt horrible for yelling at Nezumi, but she didn’t regret it. Nezumi looked upset but not devastated. Clearly, he wasn’t just being mindlessly selfish about leaving. He had clearly thought about this decision a lot. She couldn’t begrudge him that. She had just been shortminded in thinking that he was mindlessly leaving out of selfishness and that he hadn’t loved them all enough to stay. She hated this feeling more than the jealousy that sometimes turned its ugly head.
“Nezumi, how about a deal?”
Nezumi looked at her, raising an eyebrow, “A deal?”
“My deal is this: you can leave No. 6 only after I’m fully healed, and I can walk again.”
“That could take months, years or maybe it’ll never happen.”
Safu nodded, “You’re right, but I think I will recover eventually. It’ll leave you enough time to think about leaving right away. You don’t know if you’ll regret leaving months after you’re gone.”
“You think I’ll change my mind, Safu?”
“I hope you do, Nezumi. I really don’t want you to leave and I’m sure Shion, his mother, Inukashi and even Rikigia won’t want you to leave either. But, like Shion said. . . you’re free. We’re not your new jailers and forcing you to stay. Once I’m recovered and you still want to leave. . . we won’t stop you. Just don’t leave right now. We still need you here.”
Nezumi’s eyes were soft as he looked at her. What did his eyes see? Her fear, her jealousy, her anger, her pain, her guilt, her lack of guilt? Her genuine wish for him to not leave? She wasn’t sure what Nezumi saw as he stared back at her. She wasn’t even sure what she saw when she looked at him with the same calculating eyes. He reached out his hand and Safu took it. She could see Shion looking up at Nezumi, also anticipating Nezumi’s answer.
“. . . Alright.”
Safu and Shion smiled, looking at each other and reflecting their relief at each other. Shion hugged Nezumi, burrowing his face against Nezumi’s chest. Nezumi looked caught off-guard, but he melted into Shion’s hug, releasing a sigh that sounded so tired. Shion turned to look back at her and hugged her too.
“Thank you, Safu!”
Safu patted Shion’s back, “I just bought us more time.”
“That’s all I need! All I need is more time with people I love- you, Nezumi, my mom, Inukashi and Rikigia. I’m just so happy to get it.”
Shion was so easy to make happy, Safu thought with a start. She was surprised how easily he had gotten happy with a deal that could still lead to his first love to leave him and, possibly, never return. Some things truly never changed, she supposed. Shion had been easy to make happy too, before that day that Shion was stripped of his elite status, and she was glad that it was a trait that had never been robbed from Shion despite how much the world had changed him.
Shion slowly left her embrace and walked away from Nezumi and Safu. The two of them exchanged puzzled looks as Shion stopped in front of the bed, staring at it for a good minute in silence, until he laid down.
“Come on, let’s take a nap right now.”
Safu wondered if her confused expression was mirrored by Nezumi’s. Shion patted the bed, staring at them both, and repeated himself. Despite repeating himself, Safu was still unsure what Shion wanted so she continued to stare.
Nezumi shook his head, “We won’t fit. Your Highness needs plenty of space to sleep.”
Shion glanced at him, “We will fit if we squeeze together.”
Nezumi groaned and made his way to the bed. Safu smiled and was about to head to the couch to continue reading Hamlet when Shion turned to look at her. He smiled, eyes still red-rimmed with tears, and patted the bed. She felt herself realize that the “we” Shion was referring to wasn’t just limited to Nezumi. The invitation was for her too.
Safu got out of her wheelchair, leaving the book on the chair to read later, and squeezed into the bed alongside Nezumi and Shion. Shion grabbed Safu’s hand and Nezumi’s, closing his eyes. Nezumi sighed, leaning closer to Shion’s side.
Safu stared at them and thought the three of them made quite the sight. Three heavily scarred people that No. 6 tormented who, despite the actions of vile and careless individuals, survived. They had gotten the last laugh, able to live on in a world that they would change for the better. This is how it should be.
They had their roles to play that could, eventually, lead them down separate paths. Nezumi’s nature was to be a wanderer, free as the wind and trying to see it all in search of himself. Shion’s nature was to be someone who remained, ensuring that the wanderer had a place to return to. Her nature was to be an observer, watching everything and keeping memory of the world around her.
It was possible that Nezumi would leave even after the deadline of her walking expired. However. . . However, that didn’t matter right now. What mattered right now was the warmth that Nezumi and Shion had, how tightly Shion held her hand and showed her that he loved her deeply. Nezumi’s head was leaning against Shion’s, eyes staring at Shion with a saddened look in his eyes.
“Go to sleep, Nezumi,” Shion whispered, opening one eye, “Don’t stare at me like that. Besides, I’m taking you both to the theater tonight.”
“Ugh, I don’t want to see any bad performances tonight.” Nezumi groaned.
Shion snickered, turning to look at Safu, “Nezumi used to be an actor called Eve.”
“Don’t tell her that.”
“He looks so beautiful onstage, and he has the most beautiful singing voice. When you see him perform as Eve, it’s like a whole different person. I hope you see that one day.”
“Before you leave, then,” Safu said, clutching Shion’s hand, “Nezumi, you have to perform for us. One last performance.”
“I have to be paid to perform.”
Shion moved and she heard Nezumi give out a soft groan. Based on their position, Safu knew that Shion had elbowed Nezumi slightly. The guarded young man, tough and strong as he was, shared her weakness – a soft spot for Shion. No doubt that, if it had been someone else, Nezumi would have retaliated. But he didn’t with Shion. . . not with Shion.
“Fine, it’ll be a free performance. However, I won’t do it in front of others. Just you two.”
“And Shion’s mom.”
“. . . Fine, in front of her too.”
“What about Inukashi?”
“They’d have to pay but I can give them a discount for the baby.”
“What about Rikigia?”
“He pays full price.”
The three of them laughed. Shion asked Nezumi which of his plays he’d perform. Nezumi replied he was open to any suggestion. Safu asked them if she could browse the books later and get to choose the play which Shion agreed with. Eventually, Nezumi caved in and said that Safu would get to have the choice of which play he’d perform.
The three of them stayed like that, muttering ideas and plans for the future. Shion tried to get up to write some of them down, but Safu and Nezumi pulled him back into the bed. It was too comfortable right now for any of them to move. Shion, a pushover for their demands today, obliged and said that Nezumi would have to remember all of their plans. Nezumi reluctantly agreed, teasing Shion that “his majesty’s wish is my command.”
Safu found that she didn’t ever want to leave this room. She wanted to stay in this room with Nezumi and Shion and forget about the world outside. She wanted to stay here a bit longer and forget about what the future would hold. For a moment, she wanted to stretch this moment into a lifetime. She wanted to remain this happy, at least for a little bit longer.
Safu turned to look at Nezumi, feeling herself growing drowsy, “Can you sing for us?”
“What, like a lullaby?”
“Mmhmm.”
Nezumi smiled and Safu thought he looked younger when he did that with no malice, “Alright, then.”
Safu closed her eyes and a beautiful yet sorrowful song echoed in this cozy and warm room. Safu let herself drift between waking and sleep, feeling herself as light as the song. The hand holding hers was still warm and the voice was so soothing. She felt like she was floating just like when she no longer had a body. However, unlike before, she knew that she had two people right next to her, floating with her.
“You have a beautiful voice, Nezumi. . .”
Whatever happens later didn’t matter anymore.
All that mattered was the present as the wanderer, the one who remains, and the observer drifted into a restful sleep in a room where they could be safe and sound.
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Part 3 of the series in which we get to find out what the phrase "It's all part of the job" means to Jack. 😉 - in collaboration with @anni-yanni
3/? The Witness Protection Program
Have you ever heard of the Witness Protection Program? Oh, you haven't? Then Jack is just the man to explain it to us. It basically means that the police officer has to kiss the witness senseless when the aforementioned witness does not respond to normal voice commands. Oh, and the next step in the standard Witness Protection Program procedure is to apologize for the kiss if necessary.
Music and clip bits in this video:
1. Aloe Blacc - My Way (original mix)
2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
3. Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007)
4. Legally Blonde (2001)
5. SpongeBob SquarePants time cards number 176, 103
6. Down To Earth (1947)
7. The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991) (sound clip)
8. The Office - Money (S4E04)
9. The Rescuers (1977)
10. Pre-Code Hollywood: Classic Clips Vol. 42 (YouTube)
11. Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes - (I've Had) The Time of My Life
12. Echosmith - Shut Up And Kiss Me (original mix)
P.S. Sorry for the delay. I was supposed to finish this video sooner but real life kicked so hard, it's a miracle that I've finished it at all. 💖
#the jack robinson style#the witness protection program#kiss and apologize#standard procedure#mfmm#miss fisher's murder mysteries#phryne fisher#jack robinson#phrack#nathan page#essie davis#phryne x jack#phryne & jack#jack and phryne#phryne and jack#miss fisher and the crypt of tears
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well I've had an interesting first week of the year back at work. I managed to get through to my usual doctor this week, which is a bit of a miracle, considering she's always back late jan/early feb each year. she's recommended 3 places for me to ring to follow up on a probable ADHD diagnosis. the best one is one in Sydney, in Bondi.
but to do all of their tests would mean I'd try to jam them into a week, if I could (probs not let's be real), or each time I do one I spend on a hotel room to stay up there, since I just wouldn't feel bothered to the 2 hour drive home after 8 hours of tests. but the Sydney one gives you a brain scan which would be super cool. but also if you managed to get bulk billed, it's $1,200. also they don't focus on meds, they focus on "brain based" and behaviour change stuff.
the other 2 places are local to my area, but you have to ring to find out their prices. but on the other hand, my doc said to leave all this stiff until after I have my colonoscopy that's booked for a couple weeks from now, on the 16th.
work is better since I'm not at a tired low point like I was at the end of last year. my boss is a bit happier that I'm turning up at the office at around 8:50 roughly and set up by 9. but yeah I hate having to cut my pre work bed relax after my bath each morning to 7:15 to get out the door by 8;20. but rn 8:20 is only working bc it's the school holidays so I'm not locked into the mronjng school run traffic and school zones right next to my house (basically). so it means I will have to bother to leave at 8:15 or whatever when school starts back up again on jan 31st.
but yeah. I still haven't handed in any of my unfinished (or unstarted) cadestship assessments; bc I forgot right before we left of chrissy/NY break to ask our outsourced IT guys to set up our VPN access app (it just gives you a code to type in) on my phone to access the work hard drive at home lmao. so I've meant to start this week, but I just haven't.
aside from work, the other interesting thing is that someone from the catholic school I went to for years 7-10 from 2008 til 2011, decided to invite me to a 10 year reunion that someone else from our year group from that school set up on Tuesday on fb for October this year. and I was just so surprised that someone bothered to remember me and invite me.... and I feel kinda touched tbh lol. bc i didn't even graduate with them properly, in a way, in 2013, bc I obvs graduated at the public school that I transferred to. it's so random that someone thought to invite me all these years later.
and I'm also stressing over the event a little. mostly on the level of what to wear to it, obvs lmao. but also, most of these people are successful working in good jobs. or they run their own successful local businesses/take over their parentd businesses.
while, on the other hand. I finish my cadetship in march, and I have no idea whether i'll be kept on where I am or whether I'll be somewhere else or jobless lmao. but anyway. it's going to be so weird seeing anyone from that school again, when half of them have kids and are married now or some have even divorced or split from their partners that they married in our early 20s (or at least that's what I've deduced from their name changes on fb back to their original last name I knew them by in school).
also im bitterly jealous of a few of them because they've bought their first house or have a second house and are using their first as an investment property. like bruh. am I the only one who still hasn't moved out of home yet??? and obvs there are obvs other people renting but still. am i the only one still at home??? I don't want questions about that tbh.
like is it even worth catching up with these people, when I still remember the derision I got from one of the girls from my group from that school, when I ran into her at uni back in 2016??? how she told me that everyone was actually SO GLAD that I'd left bc apparently they were all secretly harbouring embarrassment for my behaviour and my "attention seeking" or whatever the fuck she said to me???? but also part of me hopes that rich boy goes and is happy to see me and I'll get to congratulate him in person on his engagement or perhaps being married by the time this event happens (if it even does lmao). and that's my other thing. could just be an elaborate joke where they do this, and I turn up, but NO ONE is there???? like hello trust issues, aren't you looking very sexy this week.
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MINI-TAILS
Memories make you smile, few others make you sad. But the most indelible ones are those that make us smile, and sad.
Those days we were put up in Vizag . My father had been posted there as Field Officer.I was in my second year of graduation.
It was the month of March. My semester-end exams were approaching. We had preparation holidays, so mostly I was at home. Organic Chemistry was the real hurdle. Other subjects could be tackled, but this one was keeping us burning the proverbial midnight oil, literally. No amount of preparation seemed enough. The carbon structures, balancing of equations and memorizing all the products and byproducts was both confusing and challenging. So understandably, I was on my tenterhooks and was trying to study hard and also retain whatever possible.
One night, while I was up studying, I heard faint cat cries. A kitten must have got lost and must be searching for its mother, I thought. It went on for a while. I didn’t pay much attention and continued with my studies. Later I went to sleep. The next day again we could hear the cries. The cries were louder now. We looked around to see what the issue was.
There used to be a water well in our neighborhood back then. The water was not very deep. Inside the well we found the tiniest of kittens, clinging on to the rough surface of the wall of the well and wailing. Clinging on to life, and, hope.
The well being not very deep, we could easily bring her out. Poor thing was trembling. And all the starving and wailing had made her very thin and weak. She didn’t seem more than a week old. It was a miracle she survived the ordeal. A frail yet gritty kitten, we thought.
Immediately we took her home and fed her milk. Gratefully she lapped it up. And, decided to stay on.
Since she was too tiny we let her stay. Her mother didn’t seem to be anywhere around. And there was always the danger of a Tomcat or a dog being around.
In a day or two she regained strength and in the days to come by she turned into a pretty, cute kitten. I would call her the cutest of all. She had bright dark eyes. Her body was white with a few black patches and a tiny black tail, the tip of which was, white. She had a sweet pink mouth.
We named her Mini.
She would be running from one room to another, never staying in one place. One moment she would be teasing my dad, and the next moment it was my brother. And when any of them tried to reprimand her , she would come running to me. Jump on my lap and curl up. She would hide behind the curtains and wait for us. And would jump out and startle us. Everyone at home had become kids in her presence. The house was lively and cheerful every moment that she was with us. Mini was not just playful and naughty , she was intelligent too. She knew whom to stay clear of. Never meddled with my mom. Instinctively perhaps she was aware that her stay in the house was dependent on her.
Mini had, in her own way, adopted me as her mother ,her guardian angel. At times she would just doze off in my lap, while I would be busy studying the indecipherable Organic Chemistry. I was much calmer with her around. Even with all the distractions of having her hovering around me, I was studying better. My father, who otherwise was a strict disciplinarian, was smiling more often. My mom had become more accommodative. And both my teenaged brothers were found at home most of the times. She had changed our world into a ‘Mini’ world.
It was more than three weeks afterwards, that tragedy struck. It was morning time. And all at home were busy going about their daily chores. I was studying, my mom cooking and dad busy with his Puja. Mini, as usual was in my lap cuddling close. My dad finished his puja and was getting ready for office. It was time for Mini to get playful. She jumped and went running to my dad. Teased him and ran out. Just then A huge black dog appeared from nowhere pounced on her tiny body clenched with its big sharp teeth. Instinctively she wriggled out of its grip and ran back into the house trembling with fear. All this happened in matter of seconds. I held her close and tried to comfort her. There was no open wound, but Mini had gone silent. The dog’s teeth had hurt her frail insides .She refused to eat or drink. She didn’t want to be inside the house anymore. It was as if she knew, she wouldn’t survive .She found a box outside the house and stayed there. I let her rest and went back to my study. Later in the afternoon I wanted to check on her.
My Mini had turned still. And, cold.
The black dog was not seen either before or after this incident. It was as if it had come only seeking Mini.
A few days afterwards, I wrote my exam. And I wrote well. I topped my class in Organic chemistry. And Strangely, I was not happy. I cried. It would not have been possible but for Mini. It was as if she had come in our lives with a purpose. The purpose was served, and she had left as silently as she had come.
Its been more than three decades since this incident. Her memories still linger on. Every time I see a cute kitten I remember her. Her Lovely huge black eyes looking at me with all the love in the world has remained with me. I can never thank her enough for the unconditional love she had for us. For giving us such beautiful memories. Amazing, how a mute tiny animal could make such a difference in our lives.
Good things come in small packages . And also all good things come with an expiry date.. So true
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This is a Holiday? (Drabble Pt.4, Finale)
“ Oh dear… Jim! “ Classic and the other Santas rushed to the timid Santa’s side. The poor fella was shaking as he stared in horror at the mess he accidentally made.
Multiple Santa stopped in place, raised his brow, then turned around to witness the aftermath of the mess.
“ Jim! “ North exclaimed, arms outwards. “ What happened…? Are you alright?! “
“ I-I was only t-t-trying to paint the dolls… B-B-But I forgot what color Blue was… a-a-and I… Oh no, oh no, oh no… “ The old man placed his hands on his head as he stammered over his words.
“ Easy. “ Klaus said. “ Let’s get you seated. Accidents happen. “ He gently placed a hand on Jim’s shoulders and led him to a nearby chair.
“ Klaus is absolutely right, Jim! “ Classic said with a close-mouthed smile, doing his best to reassure the amnesiac Santa. “ Accidents happen all the time, hohoho! It’s no problem at all! “
“ Not t’ add insult t’ injury, but we’ve got a quite a big problem, actually. “ Father Christmas rolled up his sleeve and pointed to his watch. “ We were already runnin’ behind schedule, but wit’ this… I’m not sure we ‘ave enough time t’ get the rest of the bloomin’ toys finished! “
Immediately, clamor broke out in the small group of Santas.
“ So, what? “ Grumpy Santa shouted. “ We just give up on Christmas for these people? You sayin’ I could’ve just stayed in BED this year? “
“ We can’t just give up, “ Secret Santa said, raising a hand amongst the murmurs. “ Children are depending on us! “
“ YEAH HOLD ON, “ Naughty Santa exclaimed. “ Disappointing these snot-nosed mischief makers is gonna make my popularity PLUMMET! How am I gonna take over the other holidays if I’m a... FLAKY SANTA?! “
“ Well… “ Classic rubbed his chin. “ I agree that we shouldn’t give up, but with this setback, we will either have to be late… or some kids will simply have to miss out on a Christmas this July. Either way... I don’t see any way we can salvage this operation in time.“
Classic’s conclusion caused the Santas to cause an even bigger commotion as they tried to come up with a solution. Near the entrance of the workshop, Multiple Santa shook his head. He resumed his walk towards his portal home… but as he did, the villainous Santa Claus took one last look at the others. These guys were in over their heads, he could see it. But, they were so close to finishing their faux holiday…
“ …NGH. IM GONNA REGRET THIS. “
Back with the Santas, the debates on whether or not to continue with Christmas and July were still being discussed.
“ I’m just saying, who wouldn’t want a PET ROCK for their Christma- “
Before Silly Santa could complete his ridiculous statement, there was a sudden CRASH and
“ ZZZZGAAAAAAHHH!! “ from the other side of the room. Everyone whipped their heads towards the source of the noise.
“ Oh WHAT NOW? “ Grumpy Santa groaned before turning around.
As he and the others faced the noise, they were ultimately surprised by what they saw! A vast army of Santa Clones had suddenly appeared!
“ HO! HO! HO! HO! HO! “ They ran past the group and began working on the remaining toys and even fixing the ones Jim accidentally knocked over!
“ Talk about a Christmas Miracle…“ Jolnir said, crossing his arms as he gave an impressed smirk. North stood out from the crowd with those wide eyes of his beaming.
“ Tchaikovsky…! “ The Guardian searched for the real villainous Santa with his hand cusped on his head. When he found the crook, North burst into laughter. “ HAHAHA! Multiple! Did you- “
Multiple Santa was standing next to a broken lamp with his arms crossed. He leaned against the wall and avoided eye contact with the others. His suit audibly sizzled as he stood there.
“ YOU GONNA STAND HERE TALKIN’ TO ME, OR ARE YOU IDIOTS GONNA FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED? “
Multiple Santa shot a quick glance at Classic Santa, then went back to avoiding all of them. The elder knew exactly what that glance meant. He grinned at the villain, then turned towards the other Santas.
“ Well everyone? Multiple Santa is absolutely right! Let’s get back to work! There WILL be a Christmas in July, after all! “
“ HO, HO, HOOOOO!! “ Everyone exclaimed.
As everyone returned to their work, Multiple Santa kept to himself and let his clones work. “ I DON’T GET WHY THESE OLD FREAKS WANT TO HELP CREEPS LIKE ME… “ Multiple Santa muttered to himself. “ BUT IT KINDA FEELS… NICE TO DO SOMETHIN’ FOR OTHERS.
“ …BESIDES, THE IDIOTS BRINGING JOY MEANS I GET TO HAVE EVEN MORE FUN SHATTERIN’ IT!! HEHEHE… HAHAHAHA!! MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ME. “
Happy Christmas in July from Santaverse!!
#INTO THE SANTAVERSE || ( drabble post! )#GUARDIAN OF WONDER || ( north! )#SANTA... WHO? || ( jim! )#JUST LIKE THE WINTER SNOW || ( classic santa! )#A SANTA OF MYSTERIES || ( secret santa! )#THE SANTA WHO LOST HIS HEART || ( grumpy santa! )#ANOTHER BLOOMIN CHRISTMAS || ( father christmas! )#WITH GREAT POWER COMES A GREAT CHRISTMAS || ( silly santa! )#THE SANTA OF CHAMPIONS || ( jolnir! )#THE MAN THE MYTH THE MADE-UP LEGEND || ( klaus! )#[ APOLOGIES FOR SPREADING THIS OUT 4 PAGES BC TUMBLR IS WACK ]#[ but also merry july crisis y'all!! ]
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Sunday Excerpts, Home in Narnia, Ch. 1, Verity POV, pt. IV
@olive-riggzey @vsnotresponding
With her back bent to the cold wind, she went back to shoveling. Vents went through her mind, and if Ray dared to defend their parents, there would be a price to pay. Her contempt and silence.
It wasn’t long before she felt a familiar bony hand on her shoulder.
“Ver, how long have you been out here?”
“Not long enough. I have to finish.” Verity said with a huff. “Dad wants it done by tomorrow morning, but I’m sure it’ll snow again, and I’ll have to wake up early—“
Lao turned her around, and she dropped the shovel. Her lip trembled, and she said “It was his idea. Aren’t Ray and Lee supposed to be here? I can’t do this all by myself. You’ll all be gone, and I’ll….”
She buried her face in her gloved hands. She’d be more alone than she was before.
Lao was quiet for a moment, and he put his hands in hers, pulling them down and revealing her face. “I’ll finish the driveway.”
“But you’ve already been working so hard–”
He booped her nose with his finger. “And you’ll work that much harder when holiday comes. It’s already decided, I’m doing it.”
Before she could get another protest out of her, he had his arm wrapped around her, and he was leading her back to the house. “You better eat a meal.”
“You should too–”
“Already ate before coming here.” Lao said. “And you need to warm your toes. Kick up your feet.”
“But–”
“And the more you protest, the more stubborn I’ll be.” His hand hesitated, before opening the door. “If Ray and Lee don’t show up soon, I’ll ask your parents with you what’s going on. They…it was dark. Perhaps it was foolish for me to send them here, but Lee said that he could persuade another adult to come.”
An awkwardness lingered between the two of them. She hadn’t checked a clock, but she was nearly positive that they were supposed to be here by now or perhaps they were already late.
“It won’t be like last time.” Verity said with a forced smile.
“I wasn’t thinking that.” Lao said, but she knew that he had been. “And…lastly.”
“What?” She asked.
“Perhaps we should be calling you Veros. I’ve been thinking of a plan, while doing those mountains of dishes.”
“Were they dreadful?”
“It’s a miracle your mother hasn’t starved herself, or perhaps the miracle would be if she starved herself.” Lao said with bitterness laced in his voice. “Every single dish was in that sink and some of them were black! Black! It was like she would pick up a dish from the sink, and then use it before cleaning it. I’m surprised she hasn’t gotten herself killed with infection!”
Verity made a face. “That’s disgusting.”
“Morbid.” Lao said. “You can’t stay here past the holiday, or even for the holiday. You…” He got a shy look on his face, and he quickly said “You don’t really have breasts yet.”
“No but my voice is high-pitched.” Verity said.
“So is Lee’s. Every day I wake up wondering if my voice was that high when I was his age.”
“Lee is seven, Lao.” Verity said with a hand on her hip.
“The point is I think he’ll have a high-pitched voice when he’s thirteen too. I can tell. Older brother’s instinct.”
“Is that so?” Verity asked.
“Positive.” Lao said. “We can find something to cover your breasts, or maybe we can fatten you up! I’ll make sure you get all the good food.”
A smile warmed on her face. “Fatten me up?”
“Yeah, men have boobs too. The chubby ones. Who is the school to judge for that?”
“What about when I get my monthly?” Verity said.
She noticed the blush fleet across his cheeks, but he ignored his own embarrassment. “Your penis is bleeding. Someone kicks you in the balls real hard once a month for seven days straight.”
“That’s brutal Lao. Each month, and he doesn’t get caught?”
“Not one bit. Bullying happens at this school.”
“Please tell me that someone doesn’t kick you in the balls for seven days straight.”
“No.” Lao said a little too quickly. “But I see fights. I stay low though. I think you could be a very convincing Veros.”
“My last name?” Verity said.
“Change it to mine. You’re my long lost brother.”
“Do you really want me to be your sibling?” Verity asked, a smile creeping on her face.
“If it means that you don’t live here. Mom and dad died in a fire. Our records got all burnt up to a crisp. You can be the long-lost brother who escaped, but showed up recently.”
“Veros.” Verity said. “I suppose it can’t hurt to try?”
“I don’t think it can!” Lao said. “If you get some food, I think we can find a phonebox down the road and get a cab.”
“You can pretend to work, and I’ll find a way to get the money. What will I do for clothes though? I’m in a skirt and stockings.”
“I’ll let you borrow my stuff, and I’m sure we can convince the orphanage to get you some clothes. We can say you were homeless in London.”
“Homeless orphans do like to roam London.” Verity said.
“Exactly.”
“One thing. Maybe we should pick a name that isn’t Veros. My parents are dumb, but maybe they’re not quite that dumb.”
“I wouldn’t put it past them.”
“Yes, but if I end up here, then I’ll literally die by mother’s hand.”
Lao put a hand to his chin. “We’ll think of a name, while in the cab. We’ll say that we’re picking a name for my baby cousin.”
“The perfect ruse.” Verity said.
The small smile he usually gave her was wider this time, and he said “I missed being at school with you. Ray is a little goblin, and Lee transforms into a goblin around him.”
“Magically?”
“Dark magic.” Lao said. “But…even if they were little goblins, I…I just missed you.”
“Me?” Verity asked, and her heart beat faster.
“Yeah.”
She bit the bottom of her lip. This was one of the moments that she wished Lao would spit it out already that he liked her. When the snow fell in his hair and the air puffed out from his lips, it looked like a movie moment for a kiss.
But Lao was a shy boy, and such things never happened. After not receiving her movie kiss, she cleared her throat. “I should go resort to stealing.”
“Yes, and if you get caught.”
“Stab someone.”
“Yes, but I don’t want you in jail.”
“I’ll stab lightly.” Verity said.
“I don’t know if the police will care.” Lao said with a smile.
“If they knew my mum, they would.”
“But they don’t. So steal carefully, and no stabbing at all.”
“Party pooper.” Verity said with folded arms.
“When I plan the perfect murder, I’ll let you know.” Lao said with the corners of his lip tugged upward.
“You better.” Verity said. “Alright, let me see what I can knick.” An idea popped in her mind. “Lao…you should break that shovel.”
A wry smile appeared on his face. “I’d love to break your father’s shovel. Get going.”
Leaving Lao in the snow to his mischief, she opened the door. It was time that she ran away from home. Verity was a lot of things, but an unappreciated slave in her own home was not one of them. She didn’t care where she went whether it was Lao’s school, an orphanage, or on the streets. Verity would not reside here, and no amount of guilt trips from her parents could stop her. Not with Lao by her side.
#my wip: home in narnia#Sunday excerpts#tw: bully mention#anyway hope you enjoyed :)#Lao marry me <33333#my expectations in men: lao
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hi suz! gosh, i've gone and done it again, it's been a while since i last messaged i'm sorry! the last week or so has just gone by in a blur.
what have you been up to since i last checked in? are you feeling any better? tell me all the things!
thank you SO MUCH for sharing your linstead fic, i can't wait to read it soon!
honestly dreaming about surprise songs is one of the most fun things about going to the eras tour lol my show isn't until the end of 2024 and i'm ready thinking up surprise songs that i'd want to hear. since she'll be resetting surprise songs and i'm assuming we'll have rep tv by the time your shows are, i am keeping my fingers crossed that she sings a rep track for you! the folklore and evermore sets are probably my favorite during the tour because they're so incredibly stunning, especially visually. the projections during august, the moss piano for champagne problems, the choreo of willow...everything about those sets are perfect and were probably my favorites of the eras tour. the rep set also really goes off so i know you'll have a great time then. the whole concert is amazing! that would be a super cute look for tour, the lover heart around the eye is *chef's kiss*
please let me know if you pick up any of the books i mentioned! i'd love to hear your thoughts! are you reading anything currently?
i'm definitely into the holiday spirit! it's been busy around here lately, but i've been watching 1-2, sometimes 3, christmas movies a night this week which has been really fun. i rewatched scott wolf and kristin chenoweth's hallmark movie the other day and it really is one of my favorites. it always makes me cry! i'll probably watch it again before the end of the year lol
sending love, good vibes and lots of holiday cheer! - secret sleuth 🧡 🔎
Omg don't even worry! I totally get it. I was so insanely busy with work and everything, it's a miracle I even get to open tumblr anymore these days.
What have I been up to? Hm, I'm still coughing really bad like 3 weeks later, so I think I might have possibly had the C-word. Work has also been busy, since I work at a bookstore and holiday season... retail hell and so on. Working at a store doesn't really make me appreciate the holidays any more. People can be so horrible and I've barely been keeping it together.
I'm crossing my fingers for King of my Heart for Vienna concert because the friend that I'm going with (and that got me a ticket as a gift), that's her favorite song, so I really want that. I've given it a lot of thought obviously, but The Lakes would be amazing, since it's one of my faves, but also DBATC because it took me forever to not mess up the lyrics and I would proudly scream it, and I just love it so much. Ahh I am so happy you liked the folklore and evermore sets, that makes me even more excited. In a way, I'm super happy we got the movie, because that means I won't be worried about every detail, and I'll be able to be more present. I'm just so incredibly excited!! 137 DAYS!!!!
Of course I will! I'll try to get some for the holidays, maybe I'll have some time to read then. I need a break for real. So this is gonna sound funny, but there's this YA really old book series called Sadler's Wells/Ballet Slippers. And I kinda wanna do a Nace AU loosely based on the main love story in it, so I'm re-reading that hahaha. Also sometimes it just feels good to read something like that for the nostalgia, you know?
Omg, lucky you! I haven't watched any in the past week. It's been busy, and I'm just tired. I really do like that one so much! I did watch Holidate last week, I really think Emma Roberts should only do rom-coms, she is so good at them!
Tomorrow is the last hectic day at work, so I'll hopefully be a bit less busy from then on and finish setting up my tree (it's been lightless since I got sick, I know, a travesty).
Sending lots of love and christmas magic! ✨🎄☃️
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A Christmas Miracle pt.1
This year, Christmas needed a real miracle to happen. My older brother, Mikey was out of state sorting out issues with his ex girlfriend, mum and dad are on the verge of a divorce, and grandpa wasn’t taking grandmas’ recent passing too lightly. Kiera was in the hospital after her first round of chemo, and aunt Sue was in jail for tax fraud. Our family was falling apart right before Christmas, and it felt like it was only me and my baby sister, Tina, were the only two sane enough to spend a day or two with the entire family, not that it was possible.
Finally, Christmas Eve rolled around, and I was going to take Tina for a stroll to get out of the house because mum and dad were screaming at each other again. It’s sad, really. They had Tina to hopefully fix their marriage, but clearly their stupid plan didn’t work anyway. I wasn’t mad, I love Tina and her company. I just wish I didn’t have to play the roll of both parents for her. After an hour of pushing Tina in her pram, we reached the park, and I let her go play in the sandbox nearby. Sitting on a park bench, I changed my gaze in between the webcomic I was reading and Tina every few seconds.
I finished my webcomic and decided to play with Tina in the sandbox before we left, but as I was getting up, I heard my name called. “Mary, is that you?” I turned around to see Marco, my best friend. “Oh hey, Marco! Fancy seeing you here,” I stated, “I thought your family left for the holidays?” He looked down before whispering, “Yeah, we were gonna, but then papa had an accident and needed to go hospital.” There was a pause. “He’s okay now though, just no travelling, doctors orders. We had to cancel our flights and reservations, but that’s okay, because I can spend my time with you!” I smiled, “Yeah. Oh have you met my baby sister, Tina, yet.” I pointed to the sandbox where Tina was. Marco was silent, but his face lit up. He loved being around kids, in fact he wanted to be a teacher when he grew up. A few minutes shot by before I checked the time, “Gosh we’ve been here for a while, I aught to go home. Merry Christmas, Marco!” He smiled and waved as I took Tina and put her in her pram, “Merry Christmas to you too, Mary.” I waved goodbye before rushing home. Hopefully things had cooled down between mum and dad.
As I turned the corner to see my house, my face lit up with surprise. Mikeys’ car was in the driveway. “Tina, Mickey’s home! It’s not just us now.” Tina giggled. I could tell she loved Mikey. I picked up the pace, but slowed down when I heard Mikeys’ voice screaming at Dad, when suddenly a cop car and ambo van rushed past me and pulled into the driveway. Now I was scared. I brought Tina to the door, the authorities were already inside, so I slipped past them into my room, where I put Tina down for a nap before going out to check what was happening, but Mikey was standing at the end of the hallway. The last cop tipped his hat and Mikey and I nodded back.
After the door shut, and the vehicles had left, Mikey pulled me in for a hug. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here to stop this, I- I’m sorry.” He hugged me tighter and I pat his back to comfort him. “Tell me what happened, I’m 14, I can handle the truth.” He pushed me away gently to end the hug, and he seemed really hesitant for the tough 21 year old guy I knew him as. “I um, dad uh- dad knocked mum out when I got here. Miya was okay with what we planned, so I came back and as I walked through the door, dad had just knocked mum clean out. So I called the cops, confronted him, and then yeah, you saw the rest.” He looked so upset. “What are we going to do, Mary?” I thought. Finally, I said something. “You did the right thing, Mikey, but I’m not sure what’s going to happen. All we gotta do, is trust that something good will happen, and trust each other to look after ourselves.” Mikey nodded, and we prepared something for us to eat, and made something Tina would enjoy, then went to bed.
I lay awake staring at the roof. It’s been hours since I went to bed. I look over at my phone, 11:46 pm. I just want to sleep but I’m in a messed up family that can’t keep their morals the same. Maybe if I just pray, close my eyes and pray for a miracle. A miracle that it will all work out for our family in the end. Just gotta pray and believe and- I fell asleep, dreaming of Christmas 6 years ago, when I was 8, and the world wasn’t so screwed up. I dreamed of the family going to church as a whole, the big Christmas dinner at the end of the day. The happy cheers and laughter from my brother, cousin and myself as we played with our new toys together, with not a care in the world…
(part 2 coming really soon!)
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Happy Thursday my secret santee! I hope to have your present ready for next Monday, the day after christmas, if that's okay?
Speaking of, are you ready? I'm not. I'm behind on the fics I promised my other mbb friends (for I am a poor HS teacher who cannot spoil them the way they deserve to be T-T), and I haven't wrapped any of my gifts yet XD I prefer wrapping my presents personally lol! But I also appreciate a nice gift bag.
We have a huge winter storm on the way here, I hope you're not around where I am! Please stay warm and safe these holidays, with lots of love and smiles and laughter.
I am so glad I got to know you a bit during this! I can't wait to reveal myself ;) There's actually something kinda funny about this lol
I wanted to insert a gif here of some kind of Wonho something for you but I can't figure out how to do it in an ask sooooooooooo here is the link for it instead! :D
https://64.media.tumblr.com/f4990eb32c176e822746a6afa767b5f3/tumblr_p1jaadX7E01wgy6bfo2_250.gifv
Only a few more days! <3 mbb secret santa
Happy Thursday!!!
Of course that's okay! Whenever you can have it done, I'm in no rush :)
I just finished my Christmas shopping today! Luckily I have extra money this month & my boss is super cool and let me take some time off to finish during the day before the crowds really hit - so I was able to get more gifts for some people I didn't really get a lot! Kinda a Christmas miracle lol
The goal is to wrap gifts tomorrow after work! We also have a huge winter storm where I am - I figured wrapping presents could be a fun thing to do if (let's be real when) I lose power! I don't mind gift bags either, but I just find wrapping to be super relaxing & fun, especially if there's a lot to wrap! Usually I put on some music or a show and just go at it.
You're literally so sweet, I really appreciate it & hope you can stay safe and warm this holiday season, too! It's been awesome talking to you this past month! Secret Santa is one of my fave events, I'm super excited to find out who you are!!
And omg that gif, I love it!!
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In Affluenza’s Gate
-------------------------------
The pasts are gone for movers and shakers
Still living in pain whilst mannequins manqué
As the young make their games in repeated mantras
To cheer and jeer as we sit through each strain and hear
Remembering the malnutrition painfully suffered
Permitted with the Lords permission
What do they remember of future’s chequered promises
We walleyballs who’ve seen all this before
Sit silently through out high holidays and low
Knowing the fontanameter is a lab which still peels
Yet connectionists hesitate hermetically sealed
Say nothing....remembering her fight saving
The food stores for the slav slave girls from the Black Market
Touching and tasting we banquet on our ambrosia
Our glutton knows no bounds as you are finished
Given with bounty along with minimal animosity
We were so vulnerable and easy to destroy
Forgotten the forlorn and hungry, even the Trinity
And all tomorrow’s duties are capitalizing on us
The empty earth to feed and all the generations to be
Just filling up with garbology from the media and labs
Lombard never uses his brain on this land by its drabs
Food means caring and food should be sharing
This generous gift for nature part of the pattern
This solar pond miracle from God
Which we are now destroying...
Beau Monde
-----------------
Approve its whole totality
Beaumond and co. takes all
Tell me the truth of theft and blame
And shout no more of toll or Imhotep
Voices become Stoadic
But not much seeps sporadic
Waiting for designated decisions
In coloured strings of Thebes premonitions
Intellectual property
We have no achievements here, all tampered
In critical terms of the elements we are pampered
Human populations stampeding over us
Expenditure socialised incrementing Ptolemy
Lawless land
They begged us here to give protection
Without thought we were just taken
Times needs needs be forsaken
And what of the slave labour bit?
Now it is much worse remote prison.
And now they don’t want or heed us
Their Empire brought low later they brought here to feed
And spent their seething spite on us
Forgetting it was not our but their deed
Saying do not consider them humans
Grounds to be burnt bare by death and maiming
Incubus indigestible
All minimal socialism
As Richelieu swears and Debra tears
Operatives give themselves code names!
THE GOLD CARD
Silent eyes full of knowing
Inhabiting their glass towers daily growing
Of a million, billion selected words taken as their own!
Divulged to the rejected few still gnawing on air-waves
The privileged on their pew use a new version-voices
With syringed tongues spewing their floating souns
Filled the flavoured grounds of the few
Loki’s capacity reaches the echoes of their victim
For whose purpose and their insensitivity anew
Revisited thoughts surface staged cases
Building future reverberations plaintive
Of a new world taught all crime is ok getting caught is not-
In avalanches of thought
As the real knowledge hidden
For others with more courage, they use for big pay
Not quiet real humanity
With its invisible barrier
Uncrossable distaining carriers destroy all establishments
Distances twixt borders of sanity
Roaring answers in perfect grammatical order
In all of the globe’s geographical corners destroying
Have it all is the future
Shrieking silently secretly, tell the people
NOTHING....it is all on a card!
CANCER SUPPORT!
Latest technology used on the People!
It seemed then with the thieving Fence
Time came in hassock lengths
Laughter heard it all with friends=
Smiling suns and giggling breezes
Chortling grasses and slurping teasels
And no one spoke of anything but small talk
Then the world became unfrocked
Wretched winters all year long which rocked
Nightmares piercing everywhere all Human Rights
Nothing allowed on this isle of paralyze
But no one noticed anything in their fright to survive
Joy ended as tempests ride vis-a-vis
A northern frosty, fairy tale, on another repeat and circle
Of green naked hands across another trail blazing flames
Despairing mutants of the mumbling clouds
Waiting the next disaster in a senseless life in shrouds
And then suddenly a new morn sound started
Recovering, reconstituted imitations doubts copyists
It was all false beginning a new mockery
Nor did we understand our hosts real meanings
But still occasionally a memory had lingered
Digging out proportional emotions which mingled with theirs
Nothing returns living to this effectivelessness
Sterile they call it clouts of homelessness
Cancer now spreads fear across this loto-loto land
Te deum streaks hopelessly.
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Text
How would you respond? What would you do? A Miracle? As a Martial Artist most of us train our whole life with only having to face an emergency situation less than a dozen or so times in our life, if not ever depending on your line of work. It can truthfully be said that Martial Arts training will help prevent and prepare us for life’s unfortunate events. Here is one such emergency situation which ended in a kind of miracle. My definition of Miracle means: A highly improbable or extraordinary event, development, or accomplishment that brings very welcome consequences.———I was walking the street finishing my last two days doing Security Work. All of a sudden I hear a high speed muscle car racing past the intersection. As the muscle car races through a red light I hear a loud explosion, I look and see a pick up truck flying into the air surrounded by dust & debris (even a shoe) and then finally landing upside down in a crash. I thought at first it was a bomb.I race over the car and see another man run towards the passenger side as his hood was crushed in. I call in emergency support over the radio and all traffic stops. I hear a driver inside yelling “Help”, “Im Stuck, please get me out of here”. Liquid was leaking from the car and I was worried it could catch on fire (Perhaps I watch too many movies). My next and only other thought after that was my body is going to summon the strength I need to rip this car door open to get this man out of there. A group gathered around and started yelling “their was a live Pistol in the street”. Half expecting to see a mangled body with broken legs and the other half expecting a body stuck between the wheel and the seat. We managed to get the door open and miraculously the man hanging upside down just walks outs. No wounds, no sign of damage, not even a single small scratch. I gathered all the clips in the street and we waited for the ambulance and police to arrive. The cops, paramedics, and all witnesses were completely stunned that the man inside the vehicle was left with no outward signs of any damage, not even a scrape. Thankfully and miraculously no one was hurt and the only damage that was done was to the vehicles. ———Perhaps I responded appropriately, perhaps excessively, every one else said I was coming in HOT over the radio. All I remember was hearing selective words pertaining to location and arrival time, everything else was muffled. Maybe it was miracle, maybe it happened at that location and that exact time for a reason. In the end it all ended well and I am glad everyone is safe. How that man walked out with absolutely no damage remains a mystery. I present this information as when you are a Martial Artist you can prepare for simulations all you like. But when the time comes for the real thing, your body will absolutely react accordingly to mirror the energy of the event you’re in, and you will completely be guided by your training & intentions.Anyhow, if you made it this far thanks for reading and I hope you and your family have a safe holidays.
Sincerely,
Jacob Brinnand
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