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sapphire374 · 3 years

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Soy Sol: Chapter 11 (The Cut that Burrows Deep)

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Ch.1 / Ch.2 / Ch.3 / Ch.4 / Ch.5 / Ch.6 / Ch.7 / Ch.8 / Ch.9 / Ch. 10 / Ch.12 / Ch.13 / Ch.14 / Ch.15 / Ch.16 / Ch.17

Ámbar feels like every step she takes, the more she can feel her heartbeat. It’s like she’s carrying it in her arms with nothing to guard it, out in the open alone. She opens the cold rusted handle of the entrance to the restaurant. There she is, her biological mom trembling while drinking a glass of water. Ámbar sums up all the courage inside her and takes the chance to approach her. When she grabs the seat in front of her, Sylvania can’t help but stare in shock. “Wow Ámbar, you truly have grown.” Ámbar may have brought all her walls down for the people she loves, but she puts them back up with this stranger.

“You can’t say that since you were never there for me. That’s no fair,” Ámbar chided. Sylvania chokes up and avoids eye contact. “Look Ámbar, I now know after everything that has happened the big mistake I made, but at the time it felt like the best option for you. I was young and didn’t have the means nor felt ready to take care of a child. I thought Sharon would’ve been a better parental figure instead of a young girl like myself. I later on regretted it and that’s something I shall have to carry with me for the rest of my life.”

Ámbar grips onto her purse trying very hard to hold back all her tears. She wonders why did this lady chose Sharon specifically and why did Sharon try to keep it a secret for so long? “I understand you were young, but I know that’s not the whole story because I have memories being in a different house that was NOT Benson Mansion. You saw me, you knew me, and didn’t like me enough to keep me,” Ámbar rebuked. Sylvania is showing tears now, she’s choking up with every word as her hand trembles just to take a sip of water. “It wasn’t like that at all Ámbar. I tried, I really did try to see if I was capable of taking care of a child. I noticed my arms weren’t so comforting for you. Sometimes when you love someone, so much, you have to let them go because you care,” Sylvania responded. Ámbar doesn’t know whether to believe what she’s saying or not. She wishes she can get out of these tornadoes of lies that always come chasing her. She’s sick of it all. She wants the truth. Is that too much to ask for?

Silence crowds the room, they’re breathing the same air but can’t even look at each other. Sylvania speaks up again. “I know this feels hard to believe but why do you think I came back? It was for that reason, I thought Sharon would be a better parent than me and would take great care of you. I realized I was sadly wrong.”

“Sharon? Of all people? What made you think that a woman who put a place on fire because she was jealous of her own sister would be a perfect parent for a child? Do you know she never showed me affection or love? I had to learn it all on my own. She only showed any signs of care when she needed me part of her plan that only benefitted her. You left me to a person who only cares about themselves,” Ámbar fumed.

“It wasn’t like that at all. I had no idea about her being the cause of the Benson fire and she had already adopted you before that even happened. When I met her, she was a kind woman, I was friends with Lili from work, so I had already knew the family. I assumed that Sharon had a good heart just like Lili, even though she was seemingly different. The whole time I would interact with her, she was always nice and seemed to really want a child because she always felt alone. It all just felt fitting.” Ámbar is trying to put together all the puzzle pieces in her head with Sylvania’s story. Part of her doesn’t believe it but…. It does kind of make sense. For her it justifies nothing even though she has hope.

Before she gets up from her seat, she leaves a wad of cash. “Ámbar where are you going? We haven’t even ordered yet?” Sylvania asks. “I’m not feeling hungry anymore, here’s some money for dinner.” Ámbar heads out the door with no remnants behind other than the tears that fall to the floor.

Jam and Roller

“Eyyy amigo I’m so happy for the release of your new music video!” Gastón exclaims to Matteo. They’re both drinking smoothies while watching the Youtube countdown from Matteo’s phone. These are the special moments Matteo loves to share with Gastón since he’s always been his pal for the longest. He also loves sharing it with Luna too, but they sadly haven’t hit it off as well for a while. Matteo is hoping Gastón’s plan will work for the upcoming days.

Simón heads to their tables with a fresh batch of popcorn. “Wow, how exciting! It’s even more special since you get to enjoy it here at the Jam and Roller with us!” Simón states. Matteo grins but it slowly fades when he sees Luna walk into the cafeteria and completely ignoring him. “What happened?” Simón asks when he sees Matteo’s vivid expression abruptly change. “No nothing, I just wish I got to share this moment with another person too.” When Simón turns his head and sees who Matteo is staring at, he realizes what Matteo meant.

Nina pulls out her purse and hands her phone to Luna. “I know you’re trying to pretend you don’t care but you do. Watch the video, it’ll get rid of all your curiosities.” Luna shakes her head in disapproval. “Nina, the least I want to do is watch a music video of the one I love flirting with a girl who has a huge crush on him as well. They’re practically soulmates, meant for each other,” Luna exaggerates. “Oh c’mon, I know it’s complicated, but you know that’s not true. If you’re not going to do it for him, then do it for yourself. You deserve to see why he arrived late to your date.” Luna glares at Nina and decides to take the phone.

Once the music video is out, everyone begins to cheer for Matteo. Luna sits even more depressed seeing at the ‘amazing’ chemistry Matteo and Viviana had in the music video. She can’t help but doubt herself even more when all the comments from his fans say they ship him with Viviana. “Nina, I’m not feeling so good. I think I’ll just head home.” Nina nods and Luna begins to get up from her chair and head out. Matteo notices and follows her out.

“Luna! Luna, wait up! I need to tell you something,” Matteo yells out. “Matteo not now, I’m not in the mood. Congratulations of your video, it was very nice. I just don’t feel so good okay.” Matteo catches up to her and stands in front. “Look Luna, I don’t know if you’ll listen to me now but please go to tomorrow’s concert I’m having. My manager is having me make a concert to promote the single, but it wouldn’t be the same without you. Please Luna. You never miss any of my concerts,” Matteo begs. Luna gradually smiles. “Really? You still want me there?”

“Of course, I do Luna.” Luna now can’t help but blush. “Matteo, of course I’ll go. Even though I’m still a little upset at you calling me jealous, standing me up on our date, and not believing or listening to me, I still care. Since you want me there, I’ll be there.” Matteo is surprised by Luna’s comment and begins to graciously smile too. It was a moment for them, they hadn’t had one like this in a long time. It felt needed.

Nico is in the rink sitting on one of the chairs, he seems to be working on something since he has his notebook open with his pen. Jim enters and sees him alone. “Hey there, what are you working on?” Jim asks. “Oh just a few verses, I’m trying to get ahead on the Roller Band song for the competition, but nothing seems to come into mind,” Nico says. Jim heads to the seat beside him. She sits down and carefully glances over his blank page. “Oh yeah you do seem to be having some trouble,” Jim chuckles. “If you’d like I can help, I’m use to writing songs with Yam.” Nico turns and faces Jim, “Yes of course. I need all the help I can get; it’s been a while for me since I got to write a song with the Roller Band.” They both laugh together and get working on the song.

Jazmín dashes to Delfi holding a small slip of paper. “You won’t believe what just happened?” Delfi carefully places her books into her locker after seeing Jazmín rush to her. “Is it something new for the Fundom or for your blog, Ja Jazmin?” Delfi predicts. “Nope, you’re very far off. Look at this,” Jazmín hands Delfi the note. The more she reads it, the more her eyes grow like a flower blooming in the season, keeps opening. She’s in plain shock as Jazmín nods from her amusement. “Right! I have a secret admirer!! I have to post about this on my blog!” Jazmín frantically grabs her phone from her pocket but right when she’s about to film, Delfi stops her. “No Jazmín, this is something special. Honestly, I think this is something you should keep for yourself, every celebrity likes to keep their personal life separate from their work life,” Delfi advises. Jazmín thinks for a second and says, “Nahhh I’ll still post it, plus this can even help us discover who the anonymous writer is!”

The Restaurant

Yam is wearing her golden shimmery dress that Jim helped her pick out. She’s very anxious about her date with Ramiro, she wants it to go out perfect since this was something she had been dreaming of for a while. He puts down the menu and slips his hand under hers to her surprise. He gives her a shy smile. “I had been dreaming of this for a while. Before, I would always try to move on, but I just couldn’t. My mind just couldn’t forget about you,” Ramiro admits. Yam begins to tear up. “I felt the same way for so long but never said anything worried you didn’t feel the same way. I’m so happy about this moment. I don’t care how long I had to wait, it was totally worth it.”

Throughout the whole night, Yam and Ramiro shared college stories and even old memories of each other. How Yam never stopped writing songs about him and how Ramiro would skate imagining about her. Everything went smooth till dessert came. A random man with a suit and tie approached their table and faces Yam. “You look familiar, are you Yamila Sanchez from that Ja Jazmin blog?” Yam stays startled and stutters, “uhhh yes why?” The man quickly pulls a card out of his pocket. “Hillside Records, I’m the owner. I would like to set up a meeting with you for a chance at a record deal.” Yam immediately glares at Ramiro for a response. He shows his approval and gestures for Yam to respond. “Yes I would love to!” Yam exclaims. “Great! I’m available tomorrow at 5 pm. There is one important detail I have to tell you,” the man says. “Yes, what is it,” Yam asks. “The record company is not in Buenos Aires. It’s in California.” He proceeds to hand her the card. “Think about it, I’ll see you tomorrow.” He leaves and Yam shows her disappointment to Ramiro, she couldn’t believe how such an exciting offer can turn to something so depressing. If she took this offer, that means she would have to leave her family, her friends, and her chance at being with Ramiro.

“Look I know this is hard to think about but just follow your heart. If this is something you truly want go for it, I can wait longer,” Ramiro grabs her hand and holds it. “I don’t know what to say. I never knew me pursuing a music career would mean I have to leave everything and everyone I love,” Yam gradually lets her tears fall onto her glittery dress.

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quirrrky · 3 years

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For the SIXTH DATE OF CHRISTMAS a daydream came to me...

SECRET SANTA w/ NEJI wrapped with love for my kind and funny pol-sci anon. Wholesome and warmth under the snow. Enjoy your dream holidate!

FEATURED DATE SONG: ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU (COVER) by LEROY SANCHEZ

“I actually got Neji,” Lee announced much to the pale-eyed boys dismay. Well, you were sort of disappointed too because you wanted to be the one to get Neji his secret present and be his secret santa. Right there, you thought that whoever Neji drew out must be very lucky. You really wished to have a gift for him too.

You’ve been harboring feelings for him ever since you both started training with each other more often. Your session won’t just usually end after a match. The conversations you shared was just so special for you. You never really thought that you’d be able to meet someone with the same wavelength as yours like Neji. It’s just hard to find someone like him that’s why it’s no wonder you’ll catch deeper feelings.

“Y/N” Neji announced and your eyes widened in disbelief. He’s your secret Santa! A wide grin, which you tried your best to control, appeared on your face as you excitedly took from him a brown box. “I hope you’ll like it. I made it myself.”

Whatever it was, you’d surely do.

You called on Hinata, because you’re her secret santa. When you took your seat again, you just can’t help yourself from not opening the gift Neji had for you. Your fingers were tapping on it restlessly and you also can’t steer your sight away from it.

For your peace of mind, you went to washroom to open the gift. Of course, you didn’t want to look too excited to open it in front of everyone. Also, for safety reasons that just in case you really liked what he gave you and you might blush profusely at whatever it was. A little bit nervous and a lot excited, you opened his gift for you only to discover a red colored scarf.

Your eyes lit at how soft its texture seemed. It was definitely made carefully and meticulously with high-quality materials. You also took note that sweet scent cinnamon attached to it making you cradle the scarf to your face. It was just so warm it felt like he’s hugging you. Or something like that, ‘cuz you hadn’t actually hugged him for real.

Laying out the scarf, you saw an embroidery at the very corner. It was a flower that was so delicately sewn, you’d guess someone made this by hand. And there, secretly scribbled were the words that made your heart leap.

I love you.

Your face heat up and panicked dawned to you. You weren’t prepared for this kind of scenario and you’re sure as hell that you were reading it right. You’re not dense not to play blindly by how these characters were written in a form of flower vines. Add to that, you remembered Neji saying that he made this himself! This couldn’t be a coincidence. He’s a smart guy! For sure, he knew what’s he’s doing.

Closing your eyes, you contemplated for your next course of action. Surely, this gotta be it.

You slide the scarf back to box and exited the washroom. You continued merrying with others while being extra aware of Neji’s actions. This night, there were times when he’d look at you and at the box you’re holding.

The part had ended and all of you started to part ways. Before Neji could even go far away, you called out to him, “Neji!”

The Hyuga turned to look at you as you approached him. You looked around to make sure that everybody had gotten away.

Back there, you were thinking if you should give him something special as a form of response, but you realized that you’ve been pining for him for too long to even wait. You couldn’t just waste this moment. “I like you too.”

The wind blew between the two of you while the dead silence reigned the conversation. Neji was just staring flatly and plainly.

“Too?” He responded and your heart dropped several floors down.

You just stared at him looking like a prey ready to be eaten. In your defense, “Y-You… Didn’t you write that in the scarf?”

Tears were triggering to fall from your eyes. Was this the night you get rejected? But you were sure that you read it right and you weren’t just giving meaning to things.

“Scarf?” Neji questioned a bit shocked. “I didn’t give you a scarf.”

“But this is…” Not knowing what to say, you just gave him the box and right there he lift up the red scarf.

He closed his eyes firmly looking as if he’s composing himself. “Actually, this is…Hinata-sama’s gift for Naruto.”

Oh. They might’ve swapped their gifts. And all you could do was form a rigid smile on your face, embarrassment harassing you further.

“I-Is that so? I…I guess I should just better leave then.”

You just confessed to him all the while hoping that he finally admitted his feelings for you. And you were even so confident about it. You sharply turned away to run, when you felt his strong hand on your elbow stopping you from leaving.

“Y/N.” Neji said firmly and you just stopped there frozen. You just couldn’t look at him after what happened.

Placing his hands on your shoulders, he spun you so you could face him. Your head was still lowered but you could sense the little distance he left between the two of you.

“I don’t actually think that this is the right time, since I prefer to prepare for it. But since this is already out in the open…” Neji said and you gazed upon him. “Y/N, I know that the scarf may not be for you neither did it come from me, but it did get at least one thing right and that is…I like you.”

There was a brief pause before you process what’s happening. And at the very moment you digested the words he said, a grin spread cross your face. Neji gave you that gentle and charming smile that he didn’t wear regularly, and seeing that smile, you hugged him tight. He returned the embrace and, underneath the falling snow, you were enveloped in each others’ warmth.

You sighed. Yeah, he’s so much better than the scarf.

A/N: Nice to see you again, Pol-Sci anon! I actually got really excited when I saw you in my inbox and I know that I gotta to do it with Neji and with this kind of prompt.

EVENT NAVIGATION: #12 DATES ✼ 6th DATE [12 DATES OF CHRISTMAS EVENT]

REBLOGS ARE DEEPLY APPRECIATED ♡ Please help me reach other viewers as tumblr tags are unfortunately not working on me. Thank you so so much!

☾ COLLECTIONS: Neji ✧ Naruto (Series) ☾ ✧ DAYDREAM MUSEUM ✧

#12 DATES ✼#neji x reader #hyuga neji x reader #quirrrky nrt #quirrrky neji

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pcttrailsidereader · 4 years

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The Scariest Encounters Women Have on the Trail are with Men

One of the more chilling episodes in Wild was when Cheryl Strayed encountered two hunters in Central Oregon, one of whom made her rightfully uncomfortable . . . “She’s got a really nice figure, don’t she?” the sandy-haired man said. “Healthy, with some soft curves. Just the kind I like.” And it got worse. In the end, she was able to extricate herself but not without considerable anxiety.

Natasha Carver in “Walking Down a Dream” from The Pacific Crest Trailside Reader: California shares a story of camping near a road. A car stops late at night. Natasha and her hiking partner feel very exposed and very vulnerable. Indeed, the scariest encounters women have on the trail are with men.

This article, taken from the Daily Beast, focuses on the AT . . . but, in general, the issues are . . . sadly . . . the same.

By Melanie Hamlett, the Daily Beast

As a 30-year-old nurse who works with terminally ill patients, Julia (who prefers to remain anonymous) asked herself one day what she would be proud of doing if she too were given a diagnosis of only six months to live. Shortly after, she left Pittsburgh to start hiking the 2,190-mile Appalachian Trail—a highly coveted peacock feather in the cap of outdoor adventurers. But this epic odyssey from Georgia to Maine proved to be far more challenging for Julia and over a dozen women interviewed for this piece because of one factor.

Their being female.

It’s no surprise women experience annoyances like casual or even outright sexism in the outdoor adventure world, but on the Appalachian Trail some are facing more traumatizing problems like stalking, sexual harassment, and even assault. Last May, the unthinkable happened—a brutal murder.

People had been warning local officials for six weeks about James Jordan, a violent “fight angel” who is currently being tried for murder in Virginia. In April numerous hikers reported disturbing behavior, including being verbally assaulted by Jordan and even threatened with a machete. He was later arrested on multiple charges, including possession of weed, and was ordered to stay off the trail. In May he returned anyway and allegedly threatened to pour gasoline on four campers and burn them alive in their tents.

He later chased two of them down the trail before finally giving up. When he returned, he allegedly stabbed Richard S. Sanchez Jr. to death, then chased Sanchez’s female hiking partner down the trail and stabbed her. She only survived because she played dead, then ran down the trail for help once he left. Jordan was found and taken into custody early the next morning. This tragedy became a traumatizing reminder that even in a majestic wilderness sanctuary like the Appalachian Trail, America is a violent, scary country, especially for women.

As a frequent solo traveler and former professional wilderness guide, I’m a huge advocate of women exploring the world, especially alone. It’s empowering as hell. I’ve never let fear (or too many episodes of Law and Order SVU) deter me from solo adventures. The point of telling the following stories isn’t to scare anyone off the trail but rather to educate women on how to protect themselves and to ask should-be male allies to stop turning a blind eye. Until the outdoor industry, which prides itself on being quite woke-ish, is ready for its own #MeToo reckoning, women won’t feel safe.

“Women have no way of knowing who will be the next James Jordan versus who’s just an awkward dude or entitled asshole.”

The Appalachian Trail is a microcosm of American culture but with far higher stakes. Statistically, women are way safer on the trail than on college campuses or in even their own homes. There’s only one rape reported (....reported) every few years on the trail and the chance of getting murdered there is 1,000 times less than in America as a whole. And yet, the absence of deadbolts to lock oneself behind or of multiple witnesses around to deter violent men from attacking us means the occasional trail creeper can be a million times scarier and more dangerous. The only thing protecting a woman alone in a tent from that sketchy stranger she previously encountered on the trail or the seemingly cool one she’s been hiking with for weeks is a thin piece of nylon. “I physically ran into a bear,” says Julia, “and I’d take that over running into a crazy drunk dude any day.”

Despite having overwhelmingly great experiences with trail men, all of the women I spoke with encountered men, especially older white ones, who either made sexist, condescending comments or made them feel unsafe. “I even got ‘smile more,’” Julia says. “It’s exhausting.”

Surprisingly, even woke-ish/feminist-type men creeped many of these women out. Julia said one of her first hiking partners, who seemed progressive, asked to rub her legs. Later, another one repeatedly hit on her and made her feel unsafe. The other guys in her group eventually sided with her and ditched him, but only after she showed enough evidence, like his unnerving texts. The men just didn’t see it, she says. “I’m thinking, how the fuck do you not see this guy is a creep?” Later, while hiking alone, a random guy aggressively probed her about where she was going and who she was with, then found her 200 miles down the trail and threatened to come into the women’s tents while they slept.

Hilary York, a 30-year-old piano technician from Denver, felt a bit gaslit by should-be allies. There were only three men who made her really uncomfortable during her 2,190 mile trek, two of them sketchy enough to scare even the men away. But the third was “your standard hippie type” who undressed her with his eyes and was clearly looking to hook up. When she told her guy friends he made her uncomfortable, they thought she was being dramatic and overly sensitive. Her female friends, on the contrary, unanimously agreed he was creepy. “I think the most frustrating thing is having your intuition downplayed,” says York. Which is why she turned to Facebook.

Most people go into the woods hoping to escape the traps of modern life, especially social media, yet women on the trail don’t always have that luxury. York says an Appalachian Trail group for women on Facebook has become a priceless space that helps women feel as comfortable, safe, and empowered as possible. The moderators are careful not to allow any man-bashing or vague accusations.

As a woman who’s worked almost exclusively in male-dominated industries, namely the outdoors, comedy, and film, I too have relied on whisper networks to feel safe, which is what this women’s FB group does. York says this group was quite critical in getting important information out about James Jordan when rangers couldn't. Oddly enough, the FBI is in charge of crimes committed on the AT because it’s administered by the National Park Service. Some hikershave criticized the FBI for failing to warn or protect everyone from a man they knew was dangerous.

There are a lot of men out there scaring the shit out of women in other ways, which is why we need men to be more thoughtful, pay attention, and be better allies. The stakes are too high in the woods. Women have no way of knowing who will be the next James Jordan versus who’s just an awkward dude or entitled asshole and relatively harmless. Women have to assume the worst.

Since York hiked with a man and has a solid poker face, she felt lucky compared to the “kinder-faced, solo female hikes.” Kristin Forster, a 28-year-old pastry chef living in Hamburg, Germany, had previous experiences with a stalker on the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail), so she knew how to handle sketchy dudes—be nice and calm but don’t answer their questions. But stranger danger wasn’t her problem in the end.

“Other hikers along the way also promised to back Cowan up and help her. But when it came to actually doing anything, none stepped up.”

For eight weeks Forster hiked with a trail partner who seemed chill and supportive. Being on the trail, she says, means you get closer to people faster, especially during extreme weather situations. Like me and my coworkers when I guided on the trail, Forster and her hiking partner would have to snuggle to warm up on brutally cold, rainy days. During one of these times, she felt his dick in her back. “That’s when it got weird.” She doesn’t blame him for getting a boner at all. But when she casually reminded him that she had a boyfriend back home, he flipped a switch and started mocking her and being super mean. She eventually left him because he made the trail so intolerable for her.

Beth, a 39-year-old consultant who’d rather remain anonymous to protect her safety, hiked with a seemingly cool guy for 10 days before he started to attach himself to her “like glue,” hovering over her constantly, even when she needed alone time. She tried to hike ahead several times, but he’d always catch up. After Beth reminded him she was in a committed relationship with a guy back home, he started making comments on her appearance and how attractive she was.

One day he walked up on her changing clothes in one of the shelters, despite her warning him, saw her full frontal naked, then got defensive that she was upset. “I was completely humiliated yet I convinced myself it wasn’t a big deal,” she says. She eventually decided to ditch him for good. Afraid of his reaction to feeling rejected, Beth waited until they were at a hostel in town with the safety of people around to break the news. “His face literally blackened.”

She felt safe once the trail logs were showing him 2-3 days ahead of her. Then she ran into him. He admitted he’d seen her name registered at a hostel and had taken a “zero” day (zero miles) to wait for her. Panicked, she ran after another guy hiking by, told him she was being stalked, and asked if he’d let her hike with him for a bit. Her stalker passed them shortly thereafter and was never seen again. Beth and her new hiking partner, who became a dear friend, hiked all the way to Maine together.

“As women we are programmed to be nice and polite,” she says, “and I actually found it harder to advocate for myself because I had gotten to know this guy.” Other men have since tried to attach themselves to her on long-distance hikes, but she’s learned how to protect herself sooner. “A lot of men on the trail are desperately lonely and will prey on women who come across as sweet and compliant,” she says. Especially if you don’t set firm boundaries out of the gate.

Jessica Cowan, a 38-year-old freelancer from Ohio, set out on the AT alone, assuming she’d find a “tramily” (trail family) like everyone talks about. But she never quite fell in with a group hiking her pace. When she met her stalker, who we’ll call Doc, he seemed charming, generous, and cool. Although she made it clear she had a boyfriend and wasn’t looking for a trail fling or a relationship change, he eventually started to express interest and asked about her relationship. “I found his behaviors really, really creepy, but when I talk about it, nothing I say sounds incredibly creepy,” she says. “I don’t know if it's an overreaction on my part… or if I’m gaslighting myself.” She was even hesitant to use the word stalking when telling this horrific story.

When crashing in shelters, he’d try to scoot his mat next to hers to sleep, wouldn’t avert his eyes when she announced she was changing, and even got caught staring at her when she was using a privy one day. After seeing Doc go on some hostile rants over the smallest things, she knew he was truly unstable. It was another woman briefly hiking with them, a psychologist, who helped her realize he was obsessed with her and that she needed to get a lot of miles ahead of him.

After that, Cowan tried everything to keep distance from Doc. She “slack-packed” (paying someone to drive her gear up the road), pushed her body to the limit, day after day, and even bought a new tent with wildly different colors to camouflage herself. Whenever she thought she was far enough ahead of him, another hiker would say he was nearby. Doc eventually caught up to her at a hostel after paying someone to drive him up the road.

Cowan finally filed a police report so they’d at least have him on their radar. Hostel workers promised her not to welcome him, but in the end, only one kept his word. The rest gave him the benefit of the doubt. Cowan thinks it was just easier to take his money. Other hikers along the way also promised to back Cowan up and help her. But when it came to actually doing anything, none stepped up. Despite her having mostly pleasant encounters with men on the trail, their blind-eye approach was disappointing. “I think a lot of men are guilty of taking that path of least resistance.”

Cowan did keep her boyfriend, Cowboy Knueve, apprised of the situation the whole time. “You have no idea how much sleep I lost,” he says. “I was sitting home worrying about her and this asshat.” Right after Cowboy dropped her off at the beginning of her hike, James Jordan murdered one hiker and wounded another on the trail in Virginia. “I knew how important this whole thing was for her,” he says. “It just pissed me off that he ruined her trip.” Even though Cowan told him she had it handled, Knueve finally drove 700 miles to make sure.

Knueve stayed with Cowan at night and ran shuttles for fellow hikers during the day while she hiked. He says he met at least a half a dozen women who’d done a lot of night hiking and “busted their ass” to get away from this same guy. Cowan and Kneuve tried to warn everyone about Doc.

One day they actually saw him at a campsite, so Knueve decided to confront him. Having googled the guy, he knew he was a multiple felon and had been charged for unlawful imprisonment of a woman. “I wanted to spray the man and kick him until he’s tired…. but I didn’t want to go to jail.” Instead he told Doc he knew he was stalking women and harshly warned him to stay away.

“If anyone fucks with me on the trail this year, I’m gonna punch you in the fucking face and carry the fuck on.”

Before leaving to go home, Kneuve drove Cowan 200 miles up the road to give her a safe distance from Doc. Shortly after, though, they picked up another hitchhiker and she was running away from Doc. That’s when Cowan realized this just wasn’t fun anymore. “I should only have to worry about where I’m getting water and where I’m gonna sleep,” she says. “Not if he’s gonna turn up.” She made it a few hundred miles farther, but finally gave up. Instead of enjoying any hard-earned sense of accomplishment or pride for hiking one thousand miles, Cowan couldn't feel excited about her milestones. It all seemed pointless. “I felt like I was running for my life every day.”

“I encountered a lot of promises of support that didn’t really hold up. Except for my boyfriend, I didn’t see anyone else confronting him or calling him on his bullshit. I think they all just wanted to stay away,” she says. “Especially after the murder.” She’s still amazed that one man could affect hundreds of miles of hiking for so many people. More than anything, Cowan hopes this story will lead to men stepping up. Or at the very least, believing women.

Having solo hiked the Appalachian Trail before, Missy Barger went into her 2019 hike already prepared to play by different rules than men have to. “We have to be hyper aware, but also not jump to any conclusions,” says the 49-year-old photographer from Boston. She watches men closely but plays it cool, never giving them hugs or smiling too much. “And men?” she laughs “Well, they... just get to hike!” Being older, more experienced on the AT and more confident than a lot of her twentysomething female peers, she knows she’s regarded as “one tough motherfucker.” That usually “keeps guys off” her. And yet, despite all this, even Barger ended up with a stalker.

She’d been camping right down the road when the murder happened, so she was even more careful this year. “An odd person doesn’t strike me as different. We’re all odd… cuz we’re out here,” Barger says. But when a guy, who we’ll call Bear, started going on aggressive political rants and undressing in front of her, she knew it was time to bounce. The next day he popped up on her path and wouldn’t let her through. When he appeared a third time and started to verbally assault her, she and her “tramily” hiked four hours in the middle of the night in the pouring rain to get away. They later reported him to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC).

In the end, Barger had to skip the whole state of New Jersey and half of New York to get away from Bear, but she went back and completed that section later. This detour and return trip cost her nearly $600. Whether it’s the actual price of shuttles, extra nights in hostels, a new tent to camouflage yourself or the emotional burden of fearing for your life, the “female tax” is a hefty one, even in the woods.

Luckily, Barger found great male allies, like Eric Bellavance. This 51-year-old heavy equipment mechanic from Boston and trail vet waited to pursue a romantic relationship with Barger until after they completed the trail. One way he believes men can be supportive of women is to use more self-restraint than they might back home. “You want to be extra aware of being creepy. It’s that simple,” he says. “If they’re whipping off their clothes, just turn away and start doing stuff,” he says. Give them their privacy and space when they need it, keep your distance, and don’t touch them, he says. While Bellavance thinks most thru-hikers, by a certain point, become acclimated on how to interact with women and not freak them out, there are still those who do whatever they want because “it’s kinda lawless” on the trail. “They’re out here because society won’t tolerate their behavior back home,” he says. “We’re all out here because we don’t fit in society.” But this lack of social codes and rules is exactly why women need men to be more careful and step up.

Bellavance says some day-hikers and locals will hang out on the trail and wait for solo women to pass by, just to prey on them. Warning others or reporting them to authorities is one thing men can do. Sometimes he says hikers have to take trail justice into their own hands, though. Last year a section-hiker touched a woman in her sleep at one of the backpacker hostels, so Bellavance and his friend tracked him down and threatened to kick his ass if he did it again. When another male hiker exposed himself to a woman on the trail, Bellavance welcomed her to hike with them.

“We are asking men in the outdoor industry to listen, believe us, step up, and use your privilege to call out other men.”

“I look at it this way—it’s already hard enough, women don’t need any shit from men.” Bellavance lets spooked women latch onto him when they need to since women are way less likely to be approached by a guy when they’re already with one. He never asks women for their phone numbers, real names (most go by a trail name), or social media handles because he knows men are harassing and stalking women online too. When Barger hikes solo, a lot of men ask to be snapchat friends. “Fuck, I just want to hike,” she says. “I have to have extra guardrails up when I post on social media.”

In general, Barger has run out of patience for men’s bullshit. “If anyone fucks with me on the trail this year, I’m gonna punch you in the fucking face and carry the fuck on.” She refuses to be scared off by men and encourages other women not to be either. To help protect current and future female hikers, Barger is very active on FB groups.

Unfortunately, those groups aren’t always safe either.

Shilletha Curtis, a writer from Newark, New Jersey, plans to hike the entire Appalachian in 2021. As a Black woman and a lesbian, though, she’s not sure who will have her back out there, as she’s already faced harassment on her trail day hikes. In a co-ed AT Facebook group, white men have already been harassing her about her recent publication, some posting “Hikers Lives Matter.” The male FB administrators have accused her of race baiting when she talks about racism on the trail. “We need to make these groups a safe space for everyone, not just white members, as Black people do hike.” Latrina Graham’s powerful essay about being a Black woman just trying to hike goes even deeper into this huge problem.

Until white hikers, particularly white men, do more to make the trail safer for everyone, what do the rest of us do? Not hiking isn’t an option, nor should it be. Most women I spoke with agreed that the best way to stay safe is to trust your intuition and to avoid gaslighting yourself or being too “nice.” Always sign guest books as two people or use a male/ambiguous name, invent a “dude backstory” about a “friend” that’s nearby, and never post photos at recognizable spots on social media. Obviously it’s #notallATmen making women’s lives hard... but it only takes one.

We are asking men in the outdoor industry to listen, believe us, step up, and use your privilege to call out other men. That’s what will help us feel safe. We are tired. We need your help.

Because we belong here, too.

#male predators #females on the trail #safety

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arcanesupern0va · 5 years

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Rick In The Water; Ch6: Do You Feel It

Summary: Oh shit, we gon' meet Unity. (I had to, come on now.) Also, there's some other stuff, the whole chapter isn't Unity shenanigans, I'm basically using her. OHWELL.

A/N: T H I N G S A R E S T A R T I N G T O G E T S M U T T Y We don't get far, yet, but I couldn't let Faux Rick be the only one to get a piece of Nova. ;D Oh, I think it goes without saying this fic regards canon more along the lines of: "Oh, that's a nice storyline you got there, mind if I just.... take it and rework it for my own silly needs?" I mean, I referenced the pilot and then Morty going to the citadel and COMPLETELY skipped over Rick Potion Number 9. But That's not to say it'll never come back. 😎 CW: Drug use, for sure. Pairing: Rick Sanchez/Reader Word Count: 5564

My ao3

Masterlist

|Ch5: I Wanna Be Yours|

Waking up in the Smith house was bizarre. It had been years since I’d had the pleasure, but these days things were a lot different. I woke up most mornings to Summer flipping through channels while simultaneously nose deep in her phone, most likely already texting Madison. She would always apologize when the volume woke me up, but still every morning the volume would inch up until sleep was impossible. The days would be spent hanging out with Beth if she was free or Rick if he wasn’t being completely moody, which was happening more often than not lately. He assured me he wasn’t upset with me for doing what I had to do to get away from the Rick that kidnapped me, but now and then I would catch him giving me that same unreadable look he gave me the first night I got here.

Another morning, another loud MTV reality show, and I was at my wit's end. I rolled over to give Summer a piece of my mind only to find Rick intently focused on whatever dating show rerun was on.

“The fuck are you watching?” I grumbled, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

“Oh good, you’re awake,” he said, flicking the screen off and standing up. “We’ve got shit to do today in the Blickblarten System.” He disappeared to his garage, Summer replacing him.

“Oh thank god,” she mumbled, plopping back down in her usual place now that Rick had vacated it. She flipped the TV back on, the brazen tones coming from it propelling me from the couch to continue waking up in peace. As I did my business in the bathroom, I flipped through messages from Madi. She was surprisingly silent on the separation front but I suspected that had to do with the fact she was a smart girl. She knew that things at home weren’t… right. Not that she had the best marriage role models between Beth and I. Beth and Jerry weren’t quite as dysfunctional as Ryan and I, but she was still struggling in her own ways. I wished there was something I could do to help her, but short of leaving her husband as well, I was fresh out of good ideas.

An urgent knock on the bathroom door broke me out of my reverie as Rick started shouting on the other side. “Nova, what the fuck, we have shit to do!” He already sounded frustrated so I finished up, flushing the toilet as I flung the door open, hoping to match his frustration. He glared down at me, but his defense quickly crumbled as that unreadable look reemerged. “C-Come on, let's just go already,” he growled, turning away.

“I’m not dressed,” I shouted after him, heading to Jerry’s office to grab my clothes. Beth may have conceded to let me sleep on her couch, but she insisted I let her keep my things somewhere more private. He huffed, leaning against the wall to wait for me. His attitude was starting to get to me this morning, so I took extra care to take just a little bit longer picking out something to wear.

“We-We’re not going to a fucking ball- just pick something and let's go-” he yelled as he barged in impatiently. Still in my underwear and bra, instead of getting embarrassed, I wanted to test the waters after everything that had happened. I stared at him intently as I bent over, picking up my shirt slowly. He watched carefully as I pulled it over my head, pulling it down very slowly to cover the top half of my body. The look he gave me was a little more readable, shifting from the frustration from earlier to one of astonishment. He turned away, his cheeks redder than I’d ever seen them. My attempt to elicit a reaction from him successful, I finished getting ready, pulling on my yoga pants and running shoes and meeting him at the door. He didn’t say a word as he led me to the garage and it seemed, to my dismay, that his frustration had returned, as he climbed into his ship and slammed the door behind him.

“You know, you can’t expect me to just wake up and be ready to go just because you are,” I scolded him as I opened the passenger side door. Before climbing in, I surveyed the garage, looking for our usual companion on these adventures. “Where’s Morty?” I asked, finally climbing into the passenger seat and looking in the back seat.

“He didn’t want to go,” he told me gruffly with a shrug, starting the engine and flying out of the garage.

“Since when do you accept that kind of response from him?” I questioned cautiously. Morty had little to no choice when it came to going anywhere with his grandfather. Panic started to wash over me as memories of the last time a Rick ushered me out of my home without a Morty anywhere to be seen resurfaced. I quickly pressed the spot on the back of my hand, immediately thinking the worst of the Rick next to me. The alarm started blaring on Rick’s arm, and I let out a sigh of relief.

“Don’t worry, it’s really me,” he sighed, disengaging the alarm and glancing over at me. Space was flying by us, offering no real scenery to lose myself in as we sped through.

“Well, you had me fooled,” I shot back at him, “You’ve been acting really weird Rick. What the hell is up with you?”

“N-Nothing,” he denied unconvincingly. “This is just how I am, get used to it.” My eyes narrowed at him in an instant.

“The fuck do you mean this is just how you are? You weren’t like this before the citadel. I thought we went over this, I was trying to get away from that asshole, I wasn’t into him or whatever,” I snarled at him.

“And I thought I told you I didn’t care about that shit Nova,” Rick countered dismissively. “It fucking sucks, but you had to do what you had to do. I can’t blame you for that.”

“Still sure feels like you are though,” I bit back at him coldly. He didn’t respond, outside of pulling out his flask and taking a long drink. “I wish you would just tell me what the fuck is wrong.”

He turned to consider me a moment, trying to stay angry, but it seemed he couldn’t. That same unreadable goddamn stupid ass fucking look covered his face again and I sighed in frustration, conceding I would get nowhere with him today. I was coming to terms with a silent Rick adventure when he abruptly slammed the gear shift into hover mode and pulled me over to him, pushing his lips onto mine desperately. Stunned at first, I quickly recovered and returned his kiss eagerly.

Oh, that makes more sense.

Wasting no time, I mounted his lap as his hands ran up under the back of my shirt. He was kissing me like it was the only way he was going to keep breathing, and I returned his passion twofold. He moved away from my mouth, kissing down my neck only to be stopped the hem of the t-shirt I was wearing. I groaned in frustration, preparing to lock my fingers around the hem to pull it off when I blinding light filled the cab of the spaceship, accompanied by a shrill alarm.

“Rick, what the fuck is happening?” I screamed as the ship started being pulled upward. He let out a frustrated groan, nudging me to move off of him. He took the craft out of hover and tried to fight the pull of the beam to no avail. I covered my ears against the blaring alarm as we were enveloped by a much larger ship. Rick immediately pulled out his portal gun, ready to cut our losses as a loud, almost sultry voice rang out of a speaker to our left, freezing him in his tracks.

“Hey, Rick.”

*+*

“Goddammit Unity, couldn’t you have just sent out a signal or something? You scared the shit out of us,” Rick yelled at the man that had been sent down to greet us. He was tall, with purple and green reptilian skin, but as he helped me out of the ship I was surprised to find him soft to the touch.

“Who’s this?” the man regarded me coldly, and I swore I heard the jealousy in his tone.

“Unity, this Nova,” Rick introduced us hesitantly. “Nova, this is… Unity. They’re a-a hivemind.”

“A hivemind?” I asked, completely confused. “Like The Faculty?”

“Th-The Faculty?” Rick sputtered. “That’s a really old reference, but I mean, sure, kind of?”

“Nova?” Unity asked hesitantly, “The Nova?”

Rick sighed, looking between the two of us. “Yeah, Une, the Nova.” The man’s eyes lit up, grabbing my hand gleefully.

“Oh, I have heard so much about you,” he squealed, dragging me higher up into the ship, leaving a stunned Rick in our wake. “So he finally went back, did he? How long did it take him to finally talk to you when he got back?” Unity asked eagerly, leading me through a small crowd of his people who all turned to smile knowingly at me.

“I-I don’t know what you mean? I saw him on the first day he was back,” I told him. He brought me to what looked like a captain’s cabin of the enormous ship, leaving me with an admittedly attractive female of his species who sat me down on her large bed.

“That’s great! He used to talk about you constantly-” The Unity female continued the conversation seamlessly before Rick barged through the door.

“N-No, Une, stop. D-Don’t- j-just stop talking- to her,” he begged the woman, glaring up at him.

“I will do no such thing, Rick Sanchez,” she chastised him, “I had to listen to you babble about her every night when you got drunk off your ass, so I deserve the chance to actually get to know her. I will give you one thing, she is absolutely gorgeous.” I blushed at the woman’s kind words, smiling meekly up at Rick.

“W-We were in the middle of s-something you know, wh-when you interrupted.” His eyes flitted to me desperately, but I had no help I could offer him. I was too curious about Unity. “You could’ve sent out a friendly message or something.” He was getting more and more flustered by the minute, trying his hardest to stop any conversation between Unity and me.

“I did Rick, you didn’t answer,” she said, furrowing her brow, “I wasn’t even sure it was you so I figured it was either you or a new member of my family. Win-Win. But I definitely wasn’t expecting her.” Unity eyed me again, seeming to want to commit me to memory.

“Y-Yeah, well you’ve met her,” Rick smiled hesitantly. “N-Now come on Nova, we have to be getting to Blickbarten System. It was nice seeing you Une.”

“You’ll do nothing of the sort,” Unity said calmly, standing up to confront him. “Stay for a while, there’s no need to rush.”

“Y-Yeah there is,” he insisted, grabbing my arm to pull me out of there.

“We have fractal dust,” she told him, a smirk playing on her face when he stopped, dropping my wrist and turning back to her. “Stay, hang out for a while.”

“N-Nova, you’ll be alright with Unity, a-alright? It-It’s been years since I’ve been able to get my hands on some fractal dust.” His eyes lit up with excitement as Unity gently pulled me back onto the bed with her and another of her species entered and led Rick down a small spiral staircase.

“Relax Nova, Rick’s just downstairs,” Unity smiled calmly.

“O-Okay.” I tried willing myself to relax at Unity’s request.

It wasn’t working.

“So. Nova. Tell me about yourself,” Unity asked curiously like this was a slumber party and I was the new kid in town.

“I-I’ve known Rick since I was a kid,” I stammered, “I’m not that interesting.”

“I’m sure he’d beg to disagree,” she smirked wickedly.

“I’m a lot more interested in you though, how do you know Rick?” I asked her, desperate to change the topic to anything but me.

“We dated- briefly,” she explained simply, “He was incredible, but I had aspirations, I wanted to take over a nice planet and really settle down.”

“Th-That’s nice,” I offered nervously. For how curious I was about her, any questions I wanted to ask her had turned into mush in my brain. “I-Is that why you broke up?”

“Not necessarily. He also wouldn’t shut the hell up about you!” Her tone briefly became manic before she cleared her throat delicately and continued. “I-I mean, how’s a hivemind supposed to feel wanted when the object of their affection is clearly hung up on someone else!?” she lamented bitterly, “Nothing against you sweetheart, it hurt back then, but I’m okay now,” she assured me with a pat on my back.

“O-Okay,” I sputtered.

“So are you guys a thing? Or are you still in that awkward phase of will they won’t they or something?” she asked as she stood up, fluffing her hair in the mirror.

“I- uh- we’re not really anything as far as I know.” It was my turn to be flustered.

“You mean to tell me that ‘something’ you were in the middle of wasn’t a hot bout of grandpa fuckin’?” She turned and giggled at me, causing my face to go completely red.

“N-N-No!” I denied loudly, “I-I mean, we kissed, b-b-but we did-didn’t f-fu-”

“Fuck sweetie, you can say it,” she said condescendingly as she returned to her mirror to apply her lipstick. “So if you guys aren’t a thing, you mind if I hit it on a rebound? He is looking a lot better than I remembered.”

“I-I, I mean, that’s really up to him.” I was floored at her request, and a part of my mind was screaming at me to shut the fuck up, to tell her no, but she grinned at my ‘permission’, turning to face me again.

“Oh goodie, I know he can’t resist me,” she smiled smugly, spritzing herself with a bottle of perfume from her vanity. “You want me to send one of me of your preferred gender up for you to have fun with? No judgment sweetheart.”

“I-Uh, no, that’s okay. Th-Thanks,” I assured her. She shrugged, turning away and leaving me alone in her room.

+Rick+

Jesus fucking christ, fucking Unity.

Of all the times for my past to come back to haunt me, why did it have to be now? I finally decide to make my move and she just has to come through with the cockblock. I could still feel Nova’s skin, her weight, hell, her scent as she mounted me. Fuck, I could’ve blown my load right there. Now Nova was up there gossiping with my ex about god knows what embarrassing shit. She just had to have fractal dust on hand, didn’t she? I hadn’t had that since the last time I was with her. It was probably the only thing that would’ve gotten me to leave Nova there with her.

A male Unity led me to a small lounge where another of her subjects had lines set up for me, ready to go. My mouth was watering as I sat down on the uncomfortably plush couch, leaning forward and doing a line. The world swirled around me as the husks Unity was possessing surrounded me, a hot Redhead, a guy with blue hair and the guy that initially greeted us took their own hits. I sunk back into the couch, letting the effects of the drug overtake my body, grateful for the feeling of release I was finally getting. It felt like my body was truly starting to relax

“Hey, Rick,” a sultry voice came from beside me. I struggled to turn my head, but when it finally moved, I was surprised to see the Captain Unity husk eyeing me like she was ready to eat me alive.

“H-Hey Une, where’s Nova?” I asked lazily, turning my head back to the ceiling to watch as the dots on the ceiling danced around above me.

“She’s fine, Rick. She wanted me to come and check on you.” She dragged her fingers up and down my chest as she spoke, sending shivers down my spine.

“Did she now?” I asked with a smile. That’s my Nova, always trying to take care of me. I smiled to myself as thoughts of Nova seemed to come to life in front of me. Images of her bringing me coffee first thing in the morning, even memories I’d concocted of my own, like her draping a blanket over me when I’d passed out at my workbench. She was too good to me. Unity watched me as I reminisced, continuing to walk her fingers over me. My mind warped Captain Unity into Nova, and I allowed her to bring her hand up under my shirt. Her touch was sending more chills through my entire body.

“Oh, Nova,” I murmured, looking over at her. She smiled uncomfortably at me but didn’t stop touching me. I guided her over to me, bringing her to rest on my lap as she closed the gap between us, kissing me with the same rough passion from earlier. I brought my hands up, pushing her shirt up to feel the delicate muscles in her back as she moved on top of me.

“You wanna do another line?” Nova whispered against my ear, before leaning over to grab the tray from the table in front of us. I nodded quickly, grabbing the bill I had used earlier. This hit instilled euphoria in me and as soon as she sat the tray safely back on the table, I picked her up and rested her back on the couch. I tugged her shirt up over her head, tossing it away from us as I eagerly returned to her chest. Her bra still stood between us, and as buried my face in her hair and reached around her back for the clasp, I finally started noticing something was wrong. I pulled away, realizing Nova smelled an awful lot like the cheap perfume Unity used to always wear when we were together. I blinked repeatedly until the Nova in front of me turned back into the Captain Unity she truly was.

“Unity? What the fuck are you doing?” I recoiled back from her, grabbing her shirt and throwing it back at her.

“You can call me by her name if you want. I don’t mind,” she pleaded, crawling over the couch to me and grabbing the lapels of my lab coat. “I’ve never minded, I swear,” she murmured in my ear

“Ugh, no. Stop. Get away from me.” I pushed her back onto the couch. My adrenaline was lessening the effects of the fractal dust as the different husks around me glared at me sadly. “Where’s Nova?” I asked sharply, wiping the leftover saliva away from my mouth.

“Sh-She’s upstairs,” Captain Unity relented, pointing to the stairs to her room pitifully. I stormed up to find Nova, pulling my flask out in an attempt to get the taste of Unity out of my mouth. I burst through the door to find Nova sitting sadly on the bed, looking very unsure of how she even got there in the first place.

“C-Come on Nova, we’ve gotta go,” I growled, grabbing her hand and leaving the room.

“R-Rick? What happened?” she asked fearfully as I pulled her behind me, ignoring all of the Unity husks approaching me.

“We’ve gotta get the fuck outta here,” I seethed, “I knew staying here was a bad fucking idea.”

“Wh-what happened?”

“L-Look, I’ll explain once we’re far away from here, okay?” My head was still spinning when we finally made it to the ship and I hesitated by the driver’s side door. “You can drive a stick, right? It’s not that hard, I’m just- I’m rollin’ pretty fucking hard and I’m gonna need you to fly us out of here.”

“I-I can try,” she swallowed her fear as I boosted her into my seat before making my way around to the passenger seat. The engine started, but the bay door beneath us didn’t open.

“Unity, open this fucking door!” I roared, rolling down the window.

“Come on Rick! Just stay for a little while!” the blue-haired Unity asked desperately, “It could be like old times!”

“N-Now!” I shouted viciously. The blue-haired Unity hung his head, opening the bay door, allowing us to fall through. “A-Alright, Nova, listen to me.” I directed her through the basics of flying as we lazily fell through space. She caught on quickly, rocketing us out into the expanse of space. Once Unity’s ship had disappeared behind us, she slowed, shifting into hover mode.

“You wanna explain to me what the fuck that was all about?” she asked eyes narrowed as she turned to me.

“Wh-What the fuck did you say to Unity?” I shot back at her.

“Nothing!” she exclaimed, “She was asking if w-we were a th-thing and I told her no!”

“Anything else?” I pressed, “Anything that would explain why she came down and hopped on my lap?” I lied. She didn’t need to know all the details and I likely wouldn’t remember them for much longer anyway.

“She asked if I minded if she tried to hit that on the rebound. I-I told her that it would be up to you,” she revealed shamefully, “What. Happened?”

“Well, she did try. She went with the tried and true method of getting me really fucking high and trying to jump my bones,” I told her, disgusted with Unity for being so goddamn brazen.

“D-did you guys-”

“No!” I stopped her. “I realized- I stopped her.”

Shit.

“What did you realize Rick?” She pressed.

The fractal dust still in my system was back in full effect now that I wasn’t pumping through adrenaline and I couldn’t stop myself from continuing. “I realized she wasn’t you, okay?”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.”

“Look Rick, that kiss-”

“Nova, if you’re about to tell me it doesn’t have to mean anything then you haven’t been paying attention to anything that’s been happening,” I told her flatly, not letting her finish.

“B-But, Unity-”

I stopped her this time with a kiss, unwilling to hear another word about what she thought I wanted. I couldn’t believe I didn’t realize it wasn’t her sooner, just by the taste of her mouth. Nova was warm and comforting where Unity had been cold. I’d chalk it up now to be the reptilian life form she had been inhabiting, but I still couldn’t believe it hadn’t been a dead giveaway. Nova crossed the cab again, resting in my lap. I made quick work of her top, tossing it back into the seat next to me. Her skin was soft against my lips as I traced around the curves of her breasts. She tilted her head back, moaning from my touch.

“Rick,” she hissed as I bit her gently. Her hips gyrated slowly against me, and I couldn’t stop myself as I brought my hands up to her breasts. I had to take a deep breath to stop myself from ravaging her right here in this ship. As I paused, she took control, tilting forward again to find my neck. She nibbled gently, and a shudder shook my entire body as my hand tightened around her breast.

“Ship, recline the passenger seat and remove armrests,” I ordered, my voice shaky. It repeated my order back to me and I flipped Nova over, resting her beneath me. Looking down at her like this, it was intoxicating in a way I never thought possible. She was looking up at me full of desire and lust, making my head spin. She looked hesitant, however, and withdrew slightly, giving her some space.

“Rick, please don’t be mad, I want this, I want you, but not here. N-Not like this,” she pleaded softly.

“Of course Nova,” I panted, returning to the driver seat and tossing her shirt back to her. My head was still spinning, in part from the drugs, but also her words. Words I’d been longing to hear for months.

“I want you.”

+Nova+

“We should still probably head to the Blickblarten System,” Rick told me, his voice still husky. I nodded in agreeance as he shifted out of hover and headed there. He still seemed lost in his own thoughts, but he was different from before, no longer as cold and distant, instead, he was far more inclined to even look at me again. The silence allowed me to slip into my own head.

Unity going after him, not a huge surprise but him resisting her while completely out of his mind? That was a different story. I’d seen how Ricks could get about their Novas, but I guess a part of me never expected it to be reflected in my Rick. I should’ve expected it though, considering what Rick W-236 had said about him.

“Your Rick is considered the Rogue Rick, rash and emotional.”

We landed on yet another vibrant planet, but where the last one had been mostly plant life, this one was filled with a bustling city. Tall skyscrapers lived up to their names, bearing logos in foreign languages. We parked the ship next to one of the large skyscrapers, Rick assuring me the walk would be worth it if it meant we had a ship to return to. Rick took my hand, leading me quickly through the city until we reached a seedier part of town.

“Stay close to me,” he murmured, tightening his grip on my hand.

“Rick, where are we?” I whispered nervously, as a creature with a bulbous head eyed me lecherously.

“This is Shingrap,” he explained, “I know a guy here, it should only take a minute.” He also seemed to have spotted the lecherous creature because he pulled out his pistol with his free hand and pulled me closer. We approached a burnt-out building and I stopped in front, eyeing it hesitantly. “Nova, it’s going to be okay, come on. Let’s get this over with,” Rick urged, watching behind us. The bulbous headed creature had been joined by his friend, edging ever closer toward us. Once we were safely in the building, Rick released my hand and sealed the door behind us. I tried to follow him as he climbed the stairs two to three at a time but my legs were nowhere near as long. He stopped a couple of flights ahead of me, leaning over the railing with a huff.

“I’m sorry my legs aren’t the length of my body?” I shot up at him as he glared down at me, smirking.

“Just hurry up Nova,” he sighed, leaning against the railing to wait. I caught up to him and he slowed his pace to allow me to keep up. We finally reached the top floor, both of us panting from the extreme amount of exercise. He knocked on the door in a specific pattern, very reminiscent of the knock Beth and I used for each other. A rusted peeker opened to reveal a very angry pair of eyes. They calmed at the sight of Rick and me and the door was pulled open to reveal…

Another fucking Rick. Jesus fucking christ.

“Another one? Aren’t you friends with anyone but yourself?” I asked darkly as this new Rick welcomed us across his threshold, eyeing me with that same wistful gaze Riq IV had for me. He was dressed in military garb, a deep gash marring his right eye.

“Ah, you have yourself a Nova,” he remarked, “You’re a lucky son of a bitch.”

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s just do our business so I can get out of here.” Rick directed me behind him, away from Scar Rick.

“N-No, it’s been years since I’ve seen a Nova. Come out here where I can see you, sweetheart. I’m not going to hurt you,” he insisted. Rick sighed, guiding me out from behind him for Scar to see. I blushed as Scar’s eyes coated me with bitter longing before Rick tucked me back behind him while he conducted his business. Scar gave Rick what looked like a wad of Monopoly money before Rick pulled a large crystal from god knows where in his lab coat before nodding and turning to leave. Scar was still watching me as Rick grabbed my hand. “W-Wait,” he stopped us.

“What do you want now?” Rick sighed impatiently.

“C-Can I talk to Nova for a moment? J-Just a moment, that’s all I ask,” Scar urged carefully, watching my Rick’s response. Rick didn’t respond, instead, he turned to me to indicate the decision was up to me.

“Wh-What’s up?” I inquired nervously as I approached him.

“I-I lost my Nova when we formed the Citadel,” he explained, “The federation kidnapped her to try to get information out of her and-” his voice hitched for a moment, and I knew what he needed. I wrapped my arms around the broken man in front of me. He gripped me tightly, burying his face in my hair as he sobbed gently. When we broke apart, he thanked me and I nodded. I returned to my Rick’s side, clasping his hand in mine as he opened a portal in front of us. Scar watched us through watery eyes as we disappeared on the other side.

“So why exactly couldn’t we have just portaled there from the get-go?” I asked irritably.

The portal dropped us next to the car. Rick climbed in, counting his monopoly money looking satisfied. “That was a Rick? You can’t just portal into a Rick in hiding’s safe house,” he explained, pocketing the money with one of his damn, know-it-all smirks. “You wanna go somewhere fun now?” he asked his smirk widening into a grin. I nodded hesitantly as he lifted off, rocketing away from the planet.

“That poor Rick,” I commented mournfully as he navigated. He glanced over at me, raising an eyebrow before shaking his head and smiling.

“You know why Ricks and Novas get along so well?” I shook my head, eager for him to continue. “Where a Morty is an IQ Cloak, Novas- well Novas offer a balance to a Ricks mental state. Y-Y-Y-You see, a Rick's mental state fluctuates between ‘I am a fucking GOD’ to ‘Everything is pointless’. A Nova offers a balance to that. It doesn’t always w-work, but with how even-tempered and rational Novas can be… i-i-it just works out. D-Does that make any fucking sense?” he finished nervously.

“I think so, Rick,” I smiled, resting my hand on his.

“Th-That’s why Ricks are so attached. It’s a chemical thing. I-I know I can be… difficult-”

“To say the least.”

“BUT, it’s why I have such a hard time leaving you alone.”

“R-Rick, I don’t know what to do about Ryan,” I admitted softly, “I don’t love him, I haven’t loved him in a very long time but... what if that’s what causes his rage to break? I don’t want to push the limits.”

“Nova, just let me kill him. I want to do it. It would be a fucking honor,” Rick assured me darkly.

“No Rick…”

“What I’m hearing here is, yes, Rick, do it, Rick, I won’t be mad if you do, Rick,” he grinned slyly.

“Seriously, there’s got to be another way,” I shoved him gently.

“There really isn’t one,” he told me regretfully, “Either you leave him and it doesn’t make him snap or it does. If he doesn’t, he gets to live his life as a docile little bird, or he dies. It’s that simple. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like there have been any problems yet.”

“Yeeaahh, about that,” I drew out nervously. He took a deep breath, before raising his eyebrows at me, waiting for me to continue. “Th-The night that he kicked me out, he was asking me to stop hanging out around you because I told him we’d had a bad adventure-”

“That’s putting it lightly.”

“I told him we’d had a bad adventure,” I pressed on through his interruption, “and I told him, no, I liked hanging out with you and I think, even if only for a minute, his rage broke. He looked furious. Like he was going to kill me.”

Rick was quiet for a moment, considering my words. “Nova, don’t go home,” he told me, deathly serious.

“I’m going to have to see him again eventually,” I insisted, “There’s Madi to consider to ya know.”

“We’ll get Madi when she comes home, Summer will like having her BFF living with her,” he rationalized. “I’m serious Nova. When that dampener snaps- think of it like a bridge. A-all of that rage is going to flood out like fucking ocean.” He frantically ran his hand through his hair as he tried to contain his panic. His eyes lit up though, as a billboard appeared on a small dwarf planet. “Oh shit, we’re here!” he exclaimed, all previous panic seemingly erased.

“We’re… where?”

“BLIPS AND CHITZ!”

+Ch7: Shameful Metaphors+

#rick and morty #rick and morty fanfiction #rick sanchez x reader #rick sanchez/reader

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cocomaxley · 5 years

Text

What's Left of Us - Part 2

This is a part of a TRR A/U called Cordonians Gone Wild, a collaborative effort by @ao719 @speedyoperarascalparty @leelee10898 and yours truly. Catch up HERE.

Summary: Genevieve has to decide if Rashad deserves another chance.

Rating: Angst, I'm sad

Tag List: @fullbeaumonty @brightpinkpeppercorn @alj4890 @zaffrenotes @annekebbphotography @carabeth @moneyfordiamonds @give-me-ernest-sinclaire @3pawandme @indiacater @ooo-barff-ooo @ownworldresident @tornbetween2loves @perfectprofessorherokid @stopforamoment @editboutique @wannabemc2 @enmchoices @lauradowning29 @lodberg @smalltalk88 @gibbles82 @heatherfilliez @drakesensworld @nikkis1983 @sweetest-marbear @classylady1234 @daniv2278 @jlouise88 @jared2612 @liamxs-world @notoriouscs @blubutterflyy @captain-kingliamsqueen @lynne1993

Rashad left the office and joined Anitah, Pam, Liam and Drake in the living room. He spotted Genevieve across the room as guests offered their condolences. He noticed three men approach her that he recognized. He watched Thomas and Julian hug her and kiss her cheek before stepping aside. Rashad’s eyes narrowed when Christian stepped forward and hugged her longer than he liked. His hands clenched into fists when he saw Christian wipe a tear from her face.

Anitah noticed Rashad’s tense posture and looked to where he was staring. She smirked, “There’s someone who would treat her right if he had the opportunity...” Pam added, "Old habits die hard, eh Rashad?"

Liam frowned, “Anitah, Pam...please don't start. He already feels like shit.” Drake grumbled, “That’s his own damn fault, Liam.”

“Excuse me…” Rashad stood up and walked out the front door. He sat down on the porch swing, relieved to have a moment alone. He knew he needed to talk to her so he could beg her not to take the job and to come home instead.

The front door opened, and Thomas, Julian and Christian walked out of the house. Thomas and Julian shook his hand and headed to their car. Christian turned to him and said, “Take care of her...she's really hurting.” He extended his hand and Rashad shook it. Christian got in the car and the three men left.

The door opened again. Genevieve stepped out and stood in front of him. He got up and smiled weakly at her. She shook her head as tears streamed down her face. “You hurt me...a lot. But I think you know that, otherwise you wouldn't be here.”

He pleaded with her, “Gen, I’m so sorry. My job, my company, nothing will ever be more important than you. I was angry, and I took it out on the one person that didn't deserve it. I will never forgive myself for that. Please, don't take that job. Please come back with me. I will never hurt you again.”

She whispered through a sob, “I don't think I can give you another opportunity to hurt me again. Please go home, Rashad.” With that, she walked back inside the house leaving him alone on the porch. He slumped down on the porch swing feeling like he was just punched in the stomach. Tears welled up in his eyes, and he didn't even bother to wipe them when they finally fell down his face.

The two couples said goodbye to Genevieve and met Rashad on the porch. Anitah and Pam didn't even acknowledge him before getting into the waiting limo. Once the car was on the road, Rashad cleared his throat and looked at the two women, "Did she tell you she's not coming back to Cordonia, and that she accepted a job offer here?"

Drake and Liam shared a shocked look but didn't say a word. “Yes,” Anitah stated still staring out the window.

"I love her....and I want her to come home." He was trying to fight back the tears that were threatening to spill over.

“Rashad...do you really love her? Or did you just not want to be alone...or maybe she was good for your ego? Looked good having her on your arm at events?” Anitah sat forward looking at him. “Because I’m seriously questioning whether or not you ever loved her. You don’t destroy someone you love, Rashad. Breaking a woman’s heart goes way deeper than you guys may realize, and this goes for all of you,” she eyed each man in that limo. “We may be able to walk around with a smile, we may be able to act as though it doesn’t bother us, or in Gen’s case, we maybe able to act as though we can just up and move forward...but the truth is, you just destroyed her outlook on love. You ripped her self esteem to shreds, for you to make her think that she wasn’t enough for you, that she was a ‘mistake’ as you put it. And you very well may have just lost the best thing that ever happened to you, Rashad. And if that’s the case, I’m sorry, but you have no one to blame but yourself.” Anitah sat back and crossed her arms.

Rashad stared at her with his mouth open. “I do love her...with everything in me. I'm not going to act like I know how she's feeling. I'm sure it's far worse than what I'm feeling and I feel really fucking horrible. I just want the chance to fix it and make it right.” He choked up before continuing, “But she told me that she didn't want to give me that chance. And you're right, it's all my fault.” He could no longer hold back his tears. He pulled his gaze from Anitah and looked out the window.

Liam gave his friend a sympathetic pat on the shoulder, “Rashad...just give her some time...she has a lot going on right now with everything.”

Anitah gave Liam the side eye, glaring at him as she looked over to him. He silently motioned to a now crying Rashad giving his wife a look in return. She widened her eyes shaking her head as she shrugged her shoulders. Liam shook his head knowing he lost this silent argument.

Pam glared at Rashad and was about to say something when Drake put his hand on her knee, “Baby, I know you wanna yell at him. I’d very much like to see it, but maybe just wait. I really don't think he can handle much more. He knows how you ladies feel.” Pam crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes. But she remained silent.

When they arrived at the hotel, Rashad let the four of them walk ahead of him. He watched as Liam wrapped his arm around Anitah’s waist, pulling her tight against his side. Drake draped his arm around Pam’s shoulders and pulled her close. Before going into his room, he looked down the hall at the two couples as they reached their hotel room doors. Liam was standing behind a giggling Anitah. He leaned down and kissed her neck. Drake had Pam pinned up against their door, lips locked in a passionate kiss.

He went into his room and removed his suit jacket and tie. He threw both items onto the bed before raiding the mini bar. His phone rang and he rifled through his suit jacket to find it, hoping it was Genevieve. When he saw it was his business partner calling, he threw it across the room and watched it shatter against the wall.

Genevieve sat on her bed in her childhood bedroom, hugging her Sunshine bear. All the guests were gone, and she was finally alone. She opened her phone and went through the texts and voicemails from Rashad. The messages from the day before were more desperate than the day of the fight, his voicemails more frantic. She wiped the tears from her face. She was sick of crying. She felt like that's all she's been doing for the past few days. There was a knock on her bedroom door. She looked up as her mom, Carla, walked into the room.

Her mom sat on her bed and cupped her cheek, “Baby girl, I know you're hurting, and not just because of grandpa. That poor man looked so lost when he was here. But when the two of you saw each other, it was like the world stopped. I've never seen anything like it. You know I'd rather have you close to home than some foreign country but...your heart knows where it calls home and I don't think that's here anymore.”

Genevieve looked down as more tears streamed down her face, “He hurt me, mama. He made me feel so unimportant and disposable. Like I was...nothing.”

She pulled her daughter into her arms, “Gen, sometimes it's easier to hurt the people we love than the people that actually deserve it. It's a sad truth. I don't think he meant what he said. I think he regrets all of it, and I think you know that.” Carla tilted Genevieve's face to look up at her. “You are my daughter. I love you with all my heart. You are beautiful, intelligent, and resilient. But you are equally sarcastic, facetious, and infuriatingly stubborn. Baby, if you decide to stay, I'll be so happy to have you here. But will I have all of you or will your heart be elsewhere?” She kissed Genevieve’s forehead and left her with her thoughts.

The following morning, the five friends met in the lobby. “You guys ready to leave? We can decide who rides in which jet when we get to the airfield,” Liam said to the group.

Pam shook her head, “Actually, why don't the three of you go ahead in Rashad’s jet. Anitah and I are going to stay for a couple more days. Today is the first day Gen hasn't been surrounded by people, so I think her grandfather’s death will hit her hard...she needs us since her boyfriend is probably eager to get back to work.”

Rashad hung his head, “I deserve all of this, and I've taken everything you've given, the yelling, the anger, the hurtful words...but I can't listen to it anymore. It kills me that I've lost her. I was devastated when my ex left me. Losing Gen is a million times worse than that. Don't you see? She is my world, my everything. You both are with the love of your life. How would you feel knowing you fucked up so bad that you lost them? So please stop...I can't take anymore right now.” He walked out of the hotel without another word.

Everyone got into the limo. The men were dropping off Pam and Anitah at the Sanchez home. When they pulled up, Carla was outside throwing salt down on the slick sidewalk. She walked up to the car and greeted them. “Good morning! Is anyone hungry? I just got done cooking breakfast. My crabby little princess is inside eating right now,” she said with a laugh.

Liam shook his head, “Oh we couldn't impose, Mrs. Sanchez.”

“Nonsense! I insist, everyone inside right now.” She pointed to the house, and everyone did as they were told by Mama Carla.

They walked into the kitchen, and Genevieve smiled until her eyes fell on Rashad. Her face turned into a scowl as she grabbed her plate and walked towards the stairs.

“No food upstairs, young lady!” Carla shouted after her daughter.

“I am almost 30 years old! I will eat upstairs if I want to, especially when you invite unwanted visitors into our house,” Genevieve yelled back, stomping up every single step.

Anitah giggled as she yelled, “You’re grounded!” Just as the door slammed shut.

Carla let out a hearty laugh, “My daughter is amazing in the morning. She made me understand why wild animals eat their young. Now, there's only one rule in this house, if it's there, it needs to be eaten. So help yourselves.”

Carla arched her brow as Liam loaded his plate with bacon, sausage, eggs, pancakes and French toast. “Does no one feed you?” She pushed the plate of pancakes closer to him. Liam just smiled as he ate.

Genevieve's dad, Roberto, stood up from the table and looked directly at the men, “You better be careful...she makes you fat so you can't run away.” They all laughed as he walked into the living room.

The older woman noticed that Rashad remained quiet during the meal, barely eating. His eyes kept darting towards the stairs. She walked up behind him and put her hand on his shoulder, “Just give her some time. She's stubborn, you know that. But she will come around.” She gave his shoulder a squeeze. He smiled at her, “Thank you, Mrs-...” she gave him a warning look, and he cleared his throat, “mom.”

“Now, Drake, all this closeness is probably killing you. Roberto is probably sleeping by now. Go ahead and take the remote from him.” She winked at Drake who stood up and kissed her cheek, “Thanks, ma.”

“I've heard a lot about you, Anitah. Tell me more about yourself,” Carla inquired. Anitah cleared her throat, “Uh, I grew up in New York, literally met Prince Charming and fell in love…” Anitah giggled and Carla smiled. “Where in New York?” She asked with a thoughtful expression on her face. “I grew up in Long Beach, and I went to Fordham in the Bronx. I worked at a bar while in college. Then met this group of goons there one night.” Liam feigned offense, “Hey!”

Pam finished her plate of food and joined Drake in the living room. Roberto was asleep in his recliner when Drake took the remote from his hand. Genevieve’s dad woke up with a loud snore once Drake changed the channel. “What are you doing, boy?” Drake’s mouth fell open, “You...you were sleeping...mom said I could…”

Pam giggled and took the remote from her husband. “Drake, never touch another man’s remote.” Pam handed the controller back to Roberto as she said, “Sorry, dad. Don't mind him.”

Once Liam had his fill of food, the men said their goodbyes and left for the airport. Pam decided to check on Genevieve leaving Anitah in the kitchen with Carla. Once Pam convinced Genevieve that the boys were gone, the two women went downstairs. Anitah wiped her face when she saw her friends walk into the kitchen. Genevieve was about to say something when she saw her mom shake her head, so she kept her mouth shut.

The next day, Genevieve asked Pam and Anitah to go apartment hunting in areas near the city. She knew they were leaving the following morning. She wanted some company looking for a place close to the hospital since she no longer had a car. The girls met her realtor who took them to an Evanston apartment. Genevieve walked around the tiny living space and stopped as soon as she saw the kitchen. “Nope, not gonna work for me. I can't open the oven door all the way because it'll hit the cabinet handle.”

The realtor took them to another Evanston apartment that was only a ten minute walk from the hospital. Genevieve immediately said no because of the outdated bathroom. After several apartments, the realtor finally found one that Genevieve couldn't pick apart. Pam and Anitah stayed in the living room while she looked through the master bedroom when she heard a crash. Genevieve and the realtor came running out and saw a light fixture broken on the floor. Anitah pointed to the broken glass, “Gen, this place clearly isn't constructed very well. Do not sign the lease on this one.” The realtor stared at her with her mouth open.

The next apartment was newly renovated with a view of Lake Michigan. “I love it! This is it girls!” Genevieve squealed. “Gen, there's a giant crack in the wall. This may have some structural problems.” Pam said pointing to a large crack in the wall. The realtor was about to say something when Anitah pulled her into the hallway. “Ugh, I guess I'll have to keep looking,” Genevieve groaned.

On the ride back to Genevieve's house, Anitah asked, “Gen...are you...are you sure staying in Chicago is what you really want to do?”

Genevieve arched her brow, "What do you mean? A job like this doesn't just get handed to you every day. Some people would kill for this opportunity.” She sighed before continuing, “Besides...what's in Cordonia for me? You guys are married and you'll be starting families soon...maybe this is where I need to be."

Anitah gave her a questioning look, “Are you going to try and talk to him?”

She shrugged, "There's nothing to talk about. I told him to go home and he did...so that's that. He knows I'm taking the job...I just need to send in the offer letter."

Anitah continued to question her friend, “Well is there a reason you haven’t submitted it yet, Gen? You’ve had plenty of time to do so...yet it’s still sitting at your house...”

"It's been a busy two days with the wake and the funeral...this is the first day I've had to even think about it." Genevieve replied.

Pam couldn't hold her tongue anymore, "You're full of shit, Gen. You haven't sent that letter in because we both know that stupid asshole, who is actually a really sweet guy, who fucked up and knows it, still owns your heart. I know you're mad, but it's time to be honest. You love him..."

Genevieve fought back her tears, “Well, sometimes love isn’t enough, Pamela.”

The next day, Drake and Rashad walked into Liam's office. He finished his phone call and hung up. “The girls will be landing shortly. I sent a car to wait for them,” Liam gave Rashad a compassionate smile. “She could have changed her mind. She might be on the plane, Rashad…”

Rashad gave him an unconvincing nod. Even Drake had simmered down and started to feel bad for him. A little while later, they saw the black SUV pull up in front of the palace. The three men went outside and watched the driver open the rear passenger door. Pam, Anitah and Brad exited the vehicle. Liam and Drake greeted their wives as Rashad stared at the open door. Rashad’s heart broke when he watched the driver push it shut. She didn't come back with them.

His voice cracked as he spoke, “Welcome home, Pam, Anitah. I’m going to head out…” He wiped the tear that rolled down his cheek. Pam and Anitah gave him a sympathetic smile.

After he got into his car, another black SUV pulled up blocking him in his parking spot. He groaned, knowing he was stuck until the vehicle moved. Looking through his rearview mirror, he watched the driver get out and open the rear door. When the door shut, he saw her. He turned around in his seat and looked out of the rear windshield to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. He fumbled with the door handle and got out of his car. There she was, standing in front of him.

“You...came back…” He took a few tentative steps towards her. She smiled as tears rolled down her cheeks, “No, I came home.”

He closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her. Unable to hold back his emotions, he broke down crying. She held him tightly as she sobbed in his arms.

“God, I missed you. I love you, Gen. I will spend every single day showing you how sorry I am and how much I love you. Your happiness will always come before anyone or anything. I can't live without you.”

“I missed you too, and I love you so much, Rashad. But we need to talk. We have a lot to work on...together...” she managed to say through sobs.

“Whatever it takes, sweetheart. I just never want to be without you...ever again,” He replied wiping the tears from her face.

“Oh my god! Kiss her already!” Anitah shouted.

The pair turned to their friends. Liam and Drake were grinning from ear to ear while Pam and Anitah were crying. She smiled up at him, and he leaned down capturing her mouth in a passionate kiss. She closed her eyes relishing the feeling of his lips on hers.

After they broke apart, Rashad walked up to Anitah and Pam, “You guys put me through the ringer...but thank you for being such good friends to her, and having her back when I didn’t.” The two women threw their arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug. “We forgive you, cinnamon roll!”

“Let's go home,” Rashad grabbed Genevieve’s hand and led her towards his car.

A Few Weeks Later…

Rashad and Genevieve were hosting dinner in Domvallier. The friends were laughing and talking during their meal. Demetrius walked in with an envelope in his hand, “Rashad, son, what is this bill from Chicago?”

Thinking it was a bill from the hotel from when threw his phone, he took the paper from his father. “This is a bill for damage to two apartments in Evanston. This must be a mistake.”

Anitah was drinking her water when she choked on it causing her to spit it out. Pam tucked her lips between her teeth to keep from laughing. Genevieve noticed the two women turning red, “Oh my god! You two broke that stuff in those apartments so I wouldn't sign the lease?”

Rashad questioned her, “What are you talking about, sweetie?”

“Before I decided to come home, I was looking at apartments. In one of them the light fixture ‘fell’ from the ceiling, and in another there was a huge crack in the wall.” Genevieve snorted, “And then you told them to bill Rashad? That's brilliant!”

The three women burst out laughing while Liam glared at Anitah. “You're welcome, Rashad! You're welcome.” Anitah said through her laughter.

Rashad chuckled, “It's a small price to pay, I suppose. I'll take care of it, Father.”

#this is ao719's fault #cordonians gone wild #cordoniansgonewild #cgw #rashad x genevieve #the royal romance #trr au

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snowthunder · 5 years

Text

Salty Kisses - A Klance Beach AU - CHAPTER 6 SNIPPET

Hello hello dearest readers! Liv (@thetolkiengeek) and I are alive, and we come bearing gifts! So here, take a 3.5k sneak-peak of Chapter 6 since it will be a little longer until the entire chapter is ready u_u

Enjoy and hopefully we’ll have the rest of the chapter to you soon!

~~~~~~

Lance was pacing.

He traced zig-zag patterns across his room, feet shuffling across carpet and hardwood as he bounced from his bed to his dresser to his turtle poster from Mote and back to the bed to start the pattern over again. At some point, fatigue began to settle into his shoulders, dragging them forward and curved, but the restless motion of his feet continued. And if only he could sleep then maybe he would feel better. Maybe his own words would stop playing on repeat in his head, clanging against his skull like the drip-drip-drip of a broken faucet.

But instead, he paced, tracing well-worn paths into his carpet.

Because I think I could fall in love with you.

Lance stopped mid-step and flopped backwards onto his bed with a groan, hands covering his face.

“Shit,” he mumbled into his palms for probably the hundredth time that night. Morning? Lance wasn’t sure. Some indeterminate time between when he had come home from the garage and when the birds would begin their morning choruses.

What he did know was that he couldn’t sleep, his throat was dry, and thoughts of a surly photographer with a smoking hot motorcycle wouldn’t leave him in peace.

Something about Keith had set the urge to move deeply within Lance, made him restless and unsatisfied in a way he hadn’t realized he was before. The desire for something more burned hot and bright in his chest, burned like fire in his veins, burned at his lips where he could still feel the softness of Keith’s cheek, the barest hint of his gentle, pouting mouth.

And so Lance found himself pacing once more.

At some point, in a distant part of his mind, Lance could discern that things were changing outside his window. Black became grey and the heavy silence of the night broke into something stirringly pre-dawn. It was not long after this that Lance’s door flew open, catching him halfway between his bed and his bookshelf.

Veronica stood in the doorframe, her figure backlit ominously by the hallway nightlight. One look at her face after she flicked on the light, however, and Lance’s younger sibling instincts kicked into overdrive, feeding his fight or flight with an influx of adrenaline.

“Vero?”

“My car. Twenty minutes.”

Lance was taken aback by the short, clipped order, surprised it hadn’t been the tongue lashing that he was half expecting.

“Twenty minutes? Wait...what time is it anyways?"

Veronica stared him dead in the eyes. “Five. Thirty.”

“No…” Lance lunged across the room for his phone, tapping the lock screen awake. “Shit. When did that happen?”

“Some time between three when you woke me up with your forlorn stomping and now.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh. Car. Twenty minutes.”

To say that Lance was more than a little concerned was a gross understatement. Veronica’s was a silent but vicious kind of anger, slow to build but deadly to those caught on the wrong end of it. He hardly ever saw her with such a thunderous look on her face. Being woken up by Lance’s pacing couldn’t be the only source of her ire. Clearly he was in deep shit, but for what he couldn’t say.

Twenty minutes later, Lance was in the driveway standing beside Vero’s dark green Ford Focus, a soft pair of joggers on and sneakers tied tight. You know, just in case.

He had skipped his usual skincare routine in the interest of time (and his life), and he could already feel the brutal humidity attacking his pores.

Veronica stepped out of the house, keys jingling in her hand as she pressed the unlock button.

“You know,” Lance said, “if you’re gonna kill me you should at least let Mamá know. She’d probably like the heads up.”

Veronica rolled her eyes. “I’m not gonna kill you. Gentle maiming though, that’s not off the table.”

Lance popped open the passenger door and slid into the seat. “Well, that’s comforting.”

Veronica backed out of the driveway and headed into town, turning the radio halfway up to play quietly in the background. Lance was content to sit in silence and watch the morning grow outside the car windows. He wasn’t quite ready to approach whatever catastrophe he had apparently caused to work his eldest sister up this much, and if she wasn’t bringing it up then neither was he.

They cruised around Arus, the sky slowly transforming from grey to pink to blue. The roads were relatively empty, typical of an early Sunday morning, yet the drive-thru at Starbucks somehow still managed to boast a healthy line.

Once they made it to the window, Veronica handed Lance an overly tall, clear plastic cup, a spiral of whipped cream sticking out of the top.

Lance raised an eyebrow as she pulled out of the parking lot. “A venti, huh? I thought you were mad at me.”

“It’s a venti kind of conversation.”

Lance frowned at his drink. “I’m not sure I want this now.”

“Oh no,” Veronica said, speeding down the empty street. “You’re not getting out of this. You woke me up, you can pay the consequences. This is happening.”

Lance groaned and threw his head back against the seat.

Veronica flicked him in the knee. “Oh relax, it’s not all bad. Besides,” her voice grew softer as they drove off the mainland, the water glistening a bright jewel green beneath the bridge, “I have something I want to tell you, too.”

“And it required a kidnapping?”

“Well, clearly you also have something on your mind. I just thought you’d want to talk about it.”

“Me? Nope. Nothing to say here. All hunky dory peachy keen.”

“Fine, I’ll go first,” Veronica said. “I have a girlfriend.”

“What?!”

Veronica pulled into an empty gravel lot and cut the engine. “Come on,” she sighed, opening the door. “Walk with me a little.”

Lance scrambled out of the car after her, barely remembering to grab his sweating plastic cup. “Woah woah woah, wait a second! You can’t just drop something like that and walk away!”

“Then catch up!”

Lance ran after his sister, following her down a sun-bleached sidewalk towards where it led to a boardwalk entrance. He ducked underneath the overhanging mangrove branches, his drink feeling colder in his hand beneath the shade. Veronica led them through a winding path, until they reached a dead-end where a strip of sun-bleached, salt-encrusted walkway stuck out into the water.

Veronica leaned her arms across the railing, swirling the remnants of the frozen drink with her straw. Lance mirrored her stance, but regarded her cautiously out of the corner of his eye. Despite her casual tone, Lance could sense an underlying nervousness, some kind of tension she was keeping close to her chest.

Lance looked out around them, taking in the still water barely lapping at the boardwalk’s piers, the boat-free bay stretching before them, the tangle of mangroves spread out behind them. It wasn’t exactly the kind of place he would have expected his sister to bring him.

“So, why here?”

Veronica shrugged. “I found this spot a while back--when everything between mamá and Dad was going down--and I’ve just kept coming back.” She smiled. “It actually reminds me of you a bit.”

“Oh? Because I’m so calm and beautiful?”

“Mmmmm no, more because you’re a gnarled tangle of tree roots and brackish water.”

“You’re brackish water,” Lance muttered, pouting into the distance.

Veronica snickered and Lance couldn’t help but smile a little. He had never been the type of person to pick a favorite sibling, but neither could he deny that he and Veronica had always had a special relationship. Out of his four brothers and sisters, Veronica had always been the one who understood Lance best, and vice versa. Maybe, Lance mused, that was more true than he had previously thought.

“So…” Lance said, tapping at the cheap plastic in his hands. “A girlfriend, huh?”

Veronica nodded, catching Lance’s eyes, and he recognized a familiar sparkle, that trademark Sanchez grin.

“Yeah,” she sighed. “We met at a talk series for women in STEM early last semester, and we got to talking, and I asked her out. I didn’t want to say anything until I knew it was serious, but…”

“But it’s serious now?”

“Like, tell Dad serious,” she said.

Lance fell silent, listening to the gentle lapping of waves against the boardwalk.

“You wanna tell Dad?” Lance asked quietly.

“I need him to know,” Veronica said. “I don’t want to hide this part of my life. I...I’m in love with her.”

For a moment, Lance could only stare at his sister, completely and utterly floored by the unwavering determination he saw shining in her eyes. Though they were the most similar out of all their siblings, there was a steely core to Veronica that Lance had always envied. She knew what she wanted and how to get it--and apparently that applied to people too.

He only wished he had that kind of conviction.

“I’m happy for you, Vero,” Lance said finally.

“I’m sensing a ‘but’?”

Lance set his drink aside, folding his fingers together. “No, no 'but', I really am happy for you. I just--” Lance took a breath. “I know you and Dad have always been close. I don’t want what happened to me to happen to you.”

“That’s exactly why I want to tell him.”

Lance’s head snapped up to his sister's, but she was looking out towards the bay, cloud of chin-length hair framing her face like a curtain.

“Lance...what Dad did to you...it was wrong.” Veronica looked down at her hands, fiddling with a plain silver band that rested on her index finger. “I remember the whole thing, you know. I remember watching your hands shake when you told him, the look on your face. You looked so scared, but...I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone as brave as you were at that moment. I may not have said it at the time, but I was--I am really proud of you.”

Lance blinked hard against the swell of emotion coursing through him, but even so he could still feel as a single tear escaped, tracing a burning track down his cheek.

“It wasn’t until I found myself suddenly in your shoes that I realized just how brave it was,” Veronica continued. “Because, honestly, I am terrified of telling him.”

Lance cleared his throat against the lump he could feel forming in it. “So, why are you?”

“Truthfully?” Veronica said, gently bumping his shoulder. “I’m doing it for you. And me, of course, but I can’t wait to see the look on his face when he realizes how badly he’s fucked up.”

Lance’s eyes slid over to see his sister giving him a wry smile. Despite that, a familiar sense of guilt welled up in him, and he reached out and placed a hand on Veronica’s shoulder. “Vero, you don’t have to do this.”

Her grin widened, but somehow it became something softer, gentler. “But I want to. I think you’ve suffered alone in this long enough. Don’t you?”

Lance could feel his sister searching for something in his eyes, but he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted her to find it. “It’s been okay,” he said, dropping his hand and shifting his gaze. “I’m mostly over it by now. I mean, it has been six years.”

“No offense, but I call bullshit. I know Dad’s been calling. Mamá told me.”

“Mierda.”

For a moment, Lance thought that Veronica was going to dig deeper, but the smirk she gave him instead sent his stomach swooping. “She also told me about some hot piece of action that came in on a Ducati?”

Heat flooded his cheeks, and Lance prayed that he didn’t look as red as he felt. “Ducati hottie? Can’t say that I remember.”

“Oh, so you’re telling me that there isn’t some dark-haired, goth-lite beauty named Keith that you severely undercharged specialized parts for?”

“No?”

“And also kissed goodnight?”

“Oh my god, it was just on the cheek, that doesn’t even cou--shit.”

Veronica’s grin was practically predatory.

“I knew she was spying,” Lance muttered. He shook his head as he turned back out towards the bay. “It’s...not that big of a deal.”

Veronica ducked into his line of sight, raising an eyebrow. “But do you like him?”

“I--”

“And no nonsense, Lance,” Veronica raised an imperious finger. “I was honest with you, so you can be honest with me. Do you like this guy?”

“I knew I shouldn’t have taken your evil venti bribe,” Lance pouted. But she had a point--he couldn’t break the sibling code like that.

Lance drew in a breath of the salt-tinged air, letting it out in one long sigh. “Yeah,” he said finally, voice barely more than a whisper. “I like him.”

Veronica nudged his shoulder. “So then what’s the problem? Does he not like you back? Do I need to kick his ass?”

Lance rolled his eyes. “No, Ronnie, you do not have to kick his ass.”

“Damn,” Veronica said. “My girlfriend’s been teaching me Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and I wanted to try it out.”

“Of course you do. But the answer’s still no. I don’t think liking me back is the problem.”

“Oh?”

“I mean, judging by the fact that I told him I wanted to kiss him and he didn’t immediately throw sand in my face…”

“Sand? Last I checked, Mamá’s garage isn’t on the beach.”

“Well,” Lance said, scratching the back of his neck. “I might’ve said it twice? On two separate occasions?”

Veronica dropped her head into her hands. “Oh, hell, you’re even more of a mess than I thought.” She turned to lean against the railing, gesturing for Lance to do the same. “We’re gonna be here for a while, so spill.”

Lance sighed but followed suit, settling in against the weather-worn wood next to his sister before he started speaking. He told her about Keith arriving, their first few days of tense interacting and, before he knew it, the entirety of the last three weeks just flew out of him, a torrent of words he didn’t even know he had. He talked about Keith and Shiro’s visit to Mote, Keith hanging out with him at the daycare, the bonfire, the calls from their dad, even the bags he had seen strapped to the back of Keith’s motorcycle. He didn’t leave a single detail out--not Keith’s photography, not the four shots of tequila, not even those damn piercings that glinted so nicely in the sun everytime Keith put his hair up.

By the time Lance had finished, he and Veronica had given up on standing entirely, opting instead to simply sit on the boardwalk, backs to the railing, legs sprawled out before them. Veronica had one knee propped up, an elbow resting atop it as she drummed her fingers against her cheek.

“So, what I’m hearing is, this boy is head over heels for you and decided to stay?”

“What? No no no,” Lance said. “Weren’t you listening? Even Shiro says he doesn’t stay in one place for long, and he had his bags packed.” Lance frowned, tracing a knot in the wood beneath his fingers. “If anything, this is already borrowed time.”

Veronica threw her head back against the railing. “Leandro Riel Sanchez, so help me, I am going to throw you off this pier.”

“What?! What for?”

“Because, dummy,” she pivoted her head, pinning him down with a stare, “you finally find someone you seem to like--and I mean really like, not just like in passing because it’s what you think everyone expects of you--and you’re running away.”

Lance drew his knees up to his chest. “I’m not running away. If anything, Keith’s the one running.”

“You sure about that?”

Lance tucked his chin into his arms, grumbling unintelligibly. “It’s not like I’m going anywhere.”

Veronica sighed. “I know you said you’re pretty much over the Dad thing, but did you ever stop to really think about it? To understand how it might still be affecting you?”

“I thought you were getting a degree in software engineering, not psychology.”

“I don’t have to be a psychologist to see that you’re still torn up about this. When’s the last time you went out with a boy? Hell, when’s the last time you went out with someone who wasn’t some ditzy resort gringa?”

Lance opened his mouth, but Veronica held up a hand.

“And I don’t mean random party hookups. When’s the last time that you let yourself know someone? Like really know them?”

Lance’s jaw clicked shut, and he dropped his gaze.

“I’m not trying to make you feel bad, I swear. I’m just trying to understand.”

“I guess…” Lance paused, took a deep breath before trying again. “I guess since before the fight with Dad--with James.”

Veronica’s voice was gentle when she asked, “And why do you think that is?”

“I--I don’t know. Lots of reasons? I just...Look, I know what you’re trying to do but Keith’s leaving at some point, and I’m probably going to stay here, like always, and--and I can’t stop thinking about what happens when he gets bored of me, or when he leaves, or--” Lance took a shaky breath. “I’m so scared of knowing him, because that means...that means he knows me, and I don’t want to be found wanting. Not again.”

Tears were falling in earnest now, and he pressed his hands to his eyes, trying to stem the tide.

“Lance,” Veronica said, grabbing his wrists and pulling on them gently. “Lance, look at me.”

Lance gazed up at his sister, the details of her face clouded by the tears still spilling over.

“This isn’t like with Dad,” she said fiercely. “You can’t live your whole life expecting everything and everyone to leave. And most of all, you’re not lacking in anything, do you hear me? You can have these things, Lance. You could have him. You just have to let yourself.”

Veronica released one of his wrists to wipe at his cheek. “Dad doesn’t own you. In fact, he doesn’t even deserve you. You are so much more than whatever that cabrón thinks of you. You deserve to be happy.”

Lance shook his head and pulled away.

“Fine,” Veronica said, her voice hardening. “Don’t believe me? Let me put it another way. Just because you don’t let yourself love anyone doesn’t mean Dad’s suddenly going to be back in your life.”

Lance felt like she just stuck a red-hot poker through his ribs, but Veronica kept going.

“You’ve got so much heart, Lance, so much to give. Why are you trying to hide the best part of yourself?” Veronica sighed, pulling her glasses off of her nose, wiping at the glass with the corner of her shirt. “Look, I’m not trying to tell you what to do, or even to start something with this Keith guy--not unless you really want to. But you can’t keep tiptoeing around this town for the rest of your life. When are you finally going to let yourself go after what you want?”

Lance let out the breath he hadn’t known he was holding in, body shaking with the sudden release of tension. He let his head loll back against the wooden rail behind him, eyes cast upwards to expansive blue sky.

“I guess--I guess I don’t know what I want.”

Veronica huffed out a laugh. “Judging by the look on your face earlier, I find that hard to believe.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, please. You looked like you were about to melt the entire time you were talking about the guy. It was disgusting. It’s the same look you get when you talk about that weird turtle of yours.”

Lance shot his sister an unimpressed look. “First of all, Edgar is a delight and you know it. Second of all, are you trying to comfort me or insult me?”

“Both, obviously.”

“Obviously.”

Veronica pushed off from the now warm boardwalk and brushed off her hands. “I’m serious, though. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you talk about a person that way.”

She offered her hand to Lance, who took it, pulling himself up.

“Is that a good thing?” Lance asked.

“I think it could be. You deserve something real, Lance.”

Lance sighed and picked up his long empty cup. “So what do you think I should do?”

“I don’t know, I’m not you. But I think doing whatever makes you happy is a good start.”

Lance gave Veronica a small smile. “Thanks, Vero.”

“I’d say anytime, but honestly? That was exhausting. Don’t make me do that again for like...three years. At least.”

Lance’s smile grew. “You got it, ‘manita. Now, can we go home? I really need a nap. And maybe some aloe, because someone dragged me out of the house before I could put on sunscreen.”

Veronica flicked him in the forehead before heading back down the walkway and towards the parking lot. “May I remind you? Five. Fucking. Thirty.”

“That’s not even that bad,” Lance grumbled, rubbing at his skin.

“No, you’re right. Three would’ve been much worse. Oh wait!”

Lance rolled his eyes, but the smile on his face felt more effortless this time. “Here, we go…”

#vld: salty kisses #klance #klance fic #my fic #vld fanfic #klance fanfic #vld #lance mcclain #keith kogane #vld lance #vld keith #vld fic

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ricksanchezfics · 6 years

Text

For the Sake of the Band-1/?

my first Rick Sanchez fan fic! ahhhh!

I had this idea in the car on the way to work this morning and had to get the first part down. Out of all the things going on today, this was something I couldn’t possibly neglect ;)

Rating: Teen, mostly smut for now, though I do plan on slapping on the Mature rating later.

Prompt: Singer-songwriter OC and/or Reader x Flesh Curtains!Rick. Reader is touring with Flesh Curtains and must try to maintain platonic relationship with Sanchez... haha yeah right.

Words: 1,026 words

“Whatcha doing?” Krysti shouted plopping down on the couch, skidding my pen across my page. Well, I was writing a song.

Calmly, I looked up and grinned, though I know it didn’t reach my eyes. "Editing one of my songs. How’s yours?” I knew she hadn’t started, but I loved watching those big, stupid eyes dampen with the reminder that she sucks at her freaking job.

“Shit. I haven’t started. We’re practicing all new stuff tomorrow or Wednesday?” She asked, but she was already getting up to go back to her room.

“Wednesday.” I went back to editing Song Number Three and sighed. “Have fun.”

Kysti’s heel clicked on the cheap wooden stage floor, reverberating over the semi-sound proof walls as she ran back to the hotel. I laughed. We practice tomorrow. Though with Krysti only now writing her damn songs, she’ll probably push it back to Wednesday. God, how hard was it to write a song? I only wrote three because I’m a sick, emotional freak. The chick should be able to handle at least one song.

Back stage was loud, but it drowned out the clammer in my head. Sometimes, if I could focus on a certain song or tone, my thoughts straightened out and I was able to think. I certainly couldn’t do that back at the hotel with nothing but the bumps and bangs of the rest of my bandmates partying in their rooms. I really hoped I wasn’t the only one writing these damn songs.

“You guys fucking rock! Have a damn good night! See you at the after party, bitchez!” Rick, the lead singer of Flesh Curtains called out his goodbyes. I listened to the crowd scream out until the walls shook. Damn, they really knew how to win a crowd.

The door to the lounge room that I was working in swung open with a crash. Squanchy, the lead guitarist, barreled over Rick with Bird Person not so far behind. All three men wore wild grins that complimented their torn or lack-there-of clothing.

“Cass!” Squanchy launched himself at me.

I yelped, catching and tossing the hairy fucker off of me. “Squanch—no! You’re fucking sweaty!”

“The females like it, apparently,” Bird Person joked, slapping Rick on the shoulder.

“Well, I, for one, don’t.” I wiped a streak of sweat from my arm. “Now, I need a damn towel.” I peeked up at Rick, leaning over to swap my fallen pen from the floor, and saw him drop his eyes to the V of my shirt. Gulping, I just ignored it. “You guys sounded great out there. Was the second to last a new song?”

“Yep,” Rick replied, licking his lips and effectively drying my throat. Shit, why can’t I just leave well enough alone?

Rick and I were pretty good friends during this tour. I mean, yeah, we flirted a little, but I never gave him the presumption that I found him attractive. Considering I didn’t really get along with any of my bandmates anyway, I’d hate to mess up the only friendly relationship I had. Even if Rick was a sexy fucking rock-god with gorgeous silver-blue hair and an even more gorgeous voice. His raspy bellows gave me goosebumps every night.

Plus, he’d already fucked two out of my four bandmates, so it was bound to cause a fight if we all hooked up with Rick Sanchez.

So, I wouldn’t do it. For the sake of the band, I won’t fuck around with Rick.

“It was great. I liked the breakdown in the middle, the switch in tempo. That shit was wicked.”

“Yeah? You thought that shit was wicked,” he pulled me out of my seat with a whoosh, the pen and paper clattering to the floor, “come with us to the party tonight. We’ll show you wicked.” He winked and trailed his fingers up to my elbow.

I just gave him a shitty grin and swatted at his shoulder, moving to pick up my songs. “No can do, muchachos. I got songs to write. We’re practicing tomorrow.”

“Let me take a—let me see.” Rick went for my sheets of paper, but I jumped out the way and landed on the couch. Immediately, I sat on them, smiling up at Rick as he leaned over me, one of his hands grasping my forearm. “Come on, baby. I could look at—g-give you some pointers.”

I rolled my eyes. “Really? You think I need pointers?”

He shrugged so I stuck out my tongue at him. Big mistake. He carefully watched as I slid it back into my mouth. I bit my lip, hoping he didn’t see my eyes dilate at his gaze.

With a smirk, Rick straightened out. “A-Alrighty, then. I guess, we’ll see you later then. Ready to go, guys?”

Squanchy and Bird Person said their goodbyes and told me they hoped I showed up tonight. I told them to not count on it. Then it was only me and Rick.

“You sure you wouldn’t—d-don’t want to come with us?”

“Nah,” I told him, tucking my hands into my back pockets. “Unlike you, I’ve gotta work to make great songs.”

Rick chuckled and shook his head. “You love this shit, don’t you?”

I thought about his eyes, the way they danced on different points of my face to catch any muscle movement, like he was studying and filing all my reactions in his brain. “Love what?”

“This band life. Not the life—crazy lifestyle, b-but being apart of something that’s creating.” He raked a hand through his hair, and looked down. “Anyway, I-I-I hope you take a break and come out later. I brought a surprise for you.”

“You did?” I asked, thinking about what he could have possible brought for me?

“Yep, a-and you can’t have it unless you come to this party.” Rick started to back away, cocking his brow at me.

I crossed my arms and shook my head. “You son-of-a-bitch...”

He shrugged, impressed with himself, then turned to exit. “See you later, Cass.”

With a groan, I swirled around to pick my pages up again. Rick Sanchez wasn’t going to make this easy. That was a given.

thanks for reading! i’m new to the rick sanchez fic writing scene, so i hope you liked it!

Part 2

#rick and morty #reader x rick sanchez #oc x rick sanchez #female oc x rick sanchez #fanfic #text #short story #flesh curtains rick #rick and morty fanfiction

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one-of-us-blog · 6 years

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Licence to Kill (1989)

Today Drew is forced to watch and recap 1989’s Licence to Kill, the sixteenth James Bond adventure. Bond’s goin’ rogue, baby! When a drug lord almost kills his good friend Felix Leiter, Bond takes it personally and sets out to get revenge. Will Bond need to dig two graves before setting off on this quest for vengeance?

Keep reading to find out…

Eli, it was so great to hear how much you enjoyed both parts of “Seems Like Old Times”! I agree that it was wonderful to see Dorothy again, and I’m really glad this was a positive experience for you. I’m also glad that we had some real talk about James Bond Jr., because you really saved me from falling into a rabbit hole. I had some big ambitions about tackling the whole series, but after watching those first ten episode I had the wind taken out of my sails in a major way. I love some cheesy cartoons as much as the next guy, but the idea of covering all 60 or so episodes of that show made me dread making a new post every time I thought about it. I feel like a bit of a failure for not being able to power through the whole series, but you giving me permission to abandon that little side project took a lot of weight off my shoulders. Now I’m ready to finish off the rest of the Bond movies, so let’s get to it!

Buttocks tight!

Screenplay by Michael G. Wilson & Richard Maibaum, film directed by John Glen

Bond and his good friend Felix Leiter (David Hedison) (I can’t believe we’re getting two movies in a row with Leiter in it, and this Leiter even looks a bit familiar!) are on their way to Leiter’s wedding (I wonder how Gordo will feel about his new stepmom?) when they’re snatched up by some dorks from the DEA. Turns out Leiter has moved on from the CIA and taken up a post at the DEA, and now his new friends want his help in rounding up a drug lord and all around loony Frank Sanchez (Robert Davi). Leiter only lets Bond come along as an observer, but this is Bond so naturally he’s got to get involved and also make the moves on Sanchez’s shaken and abused girlfriend Lupe (Talisa Soto). We get a brief aerial chase and we see Bond grapple down to hook Sanchez’s plane to the DEA helicopter, and with the drug lord successfully snagged Leiter and Bond are both able to parachute down to the wedding. We get a genuinely funny sight gag of some kids lifting up Leiter and Bond’s parachutes like they’re trains on wedding dresses and then we jump right into this movie’s title sequence.

Miss Gladys Knight herself belts out “Licence to Kill”, which is a solid bop, as we get some shots letting us know that a casino is going to be involved in this plot somehow. Were you worried that we wouldn’t get some silhouettes of naked ladies dancing around? Well rest easy, because the ladies are back and the same as ever.

To just about everyone’s shock, the bit we saw before the title sequence wasn’t inconsequential to the actual plot of the movie and we rejoin Sanchez as he’s being interrogated by DEA officers. Sanchez tries to bribe his way to freedom, but it seems Officer Killifer (Everett McGill), who shares a name with my sexy teen serial killer OC, can’t be bought. We jump back to that whole wedding thing, and Bond and Della (Priscilla Barnes), Leiter’s new bride, share several kisses because that’s the kind of friend to Leiter that Bond is. Bond goes to Leiter’s office and finds him talking shop with Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell). Bond chides Leiter for working while there’s a part going outside, but Leiter’s a real dweeb and would rather talk about Sanchez than get wasted at his own reception. Killifer shows up because I guess this is more important than cracking Sanchez, and that reminds me that I really need to get to work on finishing the ending for Killifer Krisch and the Case of Maul Madness (in which Killifer visits her local mall and gets into a competition with her rival Tuffany to see who can kill the most people before closing time). Killifer leaves immediately because everything he came to tell Leiter could have been said via a telephone call and Leiter goes out to finally cut the cake.

Killifer teleports back to the DEA so he can help transport Sanchez to jail or wherever, only it seems our beloved Killifer was not as innocent as he seemed (a similarly shocking revelation took place in Killifer Krisch and the Christmas Eve-il, in which Killifer reveals to her friends Tanja and Briff that it was, in fact, she who mutilated that Salvation Army Santa) as he immediately crashes Sanchez’s transport into the ocean and has a team of scuba diving friends of his scoop the drug lord up and doggy paddle him to safety. Bond is finally leaving Leiter and Della so they can get on with their honeymoon, and Della inadvertently stirs up some bad memories by tossing Bond her garter and pointing out the gross belief that a man who catches a bride’s garter will be the next one to be married. After Bond leaves Leiter lets Della in on the whole Tracy situation which I’d honestly kind of forgotten about at this point.

Leiter and Della prepare to leave, but they’re ambushed by Sanchez’s men. Sanchez’s henchman Milton Krest (Anthony Zerbe) wants to kill Killifer and make a break for it (a similar almost-double cross took place in Killifer Krisch and the Game of Truth or Die, in which Killifer’s friend Clairna attempts to sell Killifer out in order to survive the deadly sleepover they find themselves trapped at), but Sanchez is a man of his word and won’t leave without paying Killifer the money he’s owed. Sanchez’s personal henchman Dario (Benicio del Toro in the roll no one saw coming) lets him know Leiter has arrived and Sanchez goes to greet his friend from the DEA. Della is nowhere to be seen, and Dario implies that she’s been raped and killed. Sanchez arranges for Leiter to be eaten by a shark, and we see his leg ripped off. These movies sure are fun!

Bond’s at the airport and about to leave when he finds out about Sanchez’s escape. He arrives at Leiter’s bungalow and finds Della’s dead body waiting for him. He finds Leiter horribly mangled and barely alive. Leiter’s friend Sharkey calls and Bond tells him to get help for Leiter. Leiter’s in the hospital and Sharkey’s spirit bond with his namesake lets him know that it was a shark that got Leiter. A DEA agent arrives and says their case on Sanchez is somehow caput since Sanchez had all of Leiter’s notes destroyed, but Bond says he and Sharkey will take care of this themselves. Sharkey takes Bond to Krest’s aquarium and Bond knows Killifer is lurking around. That night Bond and Sharkey (by which I mean just Bond) break into the aquarium after almost getting attacked by an inflatable shark pool toy.

Bond finds drugs hidden in some maggots that were being fed to fish, then locks a guard in the maggot pit so he can be eaten alive (a similarly gruesome death took place in Killifer Krisch and the MRSA-cre of St. Joseph Hospital, which won both a Bram Stoker Award and a Hugo). Another guard starts shooting at Bond, which results in some tanks getting smashed and some fish who ain’t never done nothin’ to nobody dying. Bond kills the guard by yanking him into a tank with an electric eel and electrocuting him, because why not get goofy from time to time? Killifer arrives and holds Bond at gunpoint and prepares to feed him to the shark that bit off most of Leiter. Sharkey manages to pop up like a whack-a-mole and knock Killifer off balance, and Bond seals the deal by tossing Bond into the tank where he’s chowed down on by the shark. I haven’t been this shocked by a character’s early death since Tuffany got killed off in Killifer Krisch and the Battle for the Gore-eria! The DEA is unhappy about Bond taking matters into his own hands, and Bond is taken to see M and his army of cats.

M tells Bond to drop the Leiter vendetta, so Bond quits. As we all know, Bond absolutely loves revenge and doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with it at all. M revokes Bond’s license to kill and demands him to turn over his weapon, but instead he beats up M’s goons and flees. Aw, shit, y’all, Bond’s gone rogue! We get a disgusting scene with Krest gearing up to rape Lupe on a boat when he’s interrupted by some goon telling him their sonar is picking up something moving toward them. Krest says it’s just a manta ray, but it’s actually Bond in a manta ray fursuit. Bond manages to infiltrate Krest’s ship and finds more drogas stashed onboard. He holds a knife to Lupe’s throat and makes her lie to Krest when he comes to ask her if she saw anyone sneak aboard. Bond sees that Sharkey’s been killed by Krest’s men, and now he’s feeling like going roguer than rogue. He kills the guy that killed Sharkey with a harpoon and steals the man’s scuba gear as Krest tries to get a drug deal over with. Bond foils the deal by tearing open the bags of drugs underwater before they can get back to Krest (and presumably gets a bunch of fish high af in the process) and then after some waterskiing antics manages to get onto the plane that delivered the drugs, kill the two men onboard and fly away with about five mil.

Bond heads back to Leiter’s house and finds a disk that Sanchez’s men missed. It holds a list of informants, and the only one on the list who isn’t dead is Pam Bouvier. Bouvier had a meeting scheduled with Leiter, and Bond goes in his place. Bond barely has time to sit down before Dario arrives and joins them at their table. Bouvier plans ahead and has had a shotgun in her lap this whole time, which makes Bond’s pistol look a little inadequate. How’d she get into the bar carrying a shotgun, one might ask? Who cares! A barfight breaks out and Bouvier shoots a hole in the wall so Bond can shimmy out into a speedboat. Dario shoots Bouvier in the back as she joins Bond, but she’s wearing a bullet proof vest under her tank top. Bond condescends to Bouvier about almost getting herself killed, and she correctly points out that she saved his life back there. If there’s one thing Bong hates it’s a capable woman who doesn’t need him to save her, so he’s pretty miffed. The boat runs out of gas and Bond tells Bouvier that he’s going after Sanchez. Bouvier was an Army pilot, so he hires her to fly him into Sanchez’s compound. The two haggle over money and then have sex for no damn reason (a similarly unnecessary sex scene took place in Killifer Krisch’s Fifty Shades of Gray Matter, but in my defense the whole Fifty Shades thing was in full swing at the time and my publisher was really breathing down my dick to get something hot on the market).

Back in MI6, M chides Moneypenny for making typos or something and Moneypenny puts in a call to Q Branch. Bond and Bouvier arrive in Isthmus. Bond wants Bouvier to split now that she’s flown him in, but she insists on staying and getting revenge on Sanchez. Bond deposits the stolen drug money in a bank owned by Sanchez, and later he and Bouvier visit a casino also owned by Sanchez. I knew a casino was going to turn up sooner or later, but then again casinos have been on my mind ever since I finished Killifer Krisch and the Game of Texas Stab’em, in which Killifer, Briff and Tanja visit Las Vegas only to find themselves playing for their lives as the stakes get higher and higher. Anyway, Sanchez is busy being creepy with Lupe and smooching his pet iguana when he’s informed that Bond is betting a ton of money in the casino.

Sanchez sends Lupe in to take over as Bond’s dealer. Lupe recognizes Bond, and she tells him it would be best for him if he left. Bond demands that Lupe take him to Sanchez, and he ignores her protests and drags her into an elevator while Bouvier gets drunk at the bar. Bond is allowed to meet with Sanchez and tries to get himself hired as an assassin. Bond is sent away and he and Bouvier return to the hotel, where Bond is informed that his uncle is waiting for him. Turns out his uncle is none other than Q, who tells him he’s here at Moneypenny’s request. Q has all sorts of gadgets, including a Polaroid which fires a laser and takes X-ray images of both people and pictures of people.

Q poses as Bond’s chauffer and Bond leaves Bouvier at the bar once again as he poses as a waiter to get close to Sanchez. Sanchez is meeting with an international conglomerate of drug dealers, and one of them, Kwang (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), insists on being shown to Sanchez’s drug production facility. Bond plans to use some Q Branch explosive toothpaste to break Sanchez’s bulletproof office windows. Bond tells Q to get lost prepares to snipe Sanchez after blowing the windows. He spots Bouvier seemingly making a deal with one of Sanchez’s men and panics. He blows the windows, but before he can take the shot he’s ambushed by two masked martial artists who knock him out and drag him to a cabin in the woods. Turns out they work for Kwang, who’s a member of the Hong Kong Police here to infiltrate Sanchez’s business. They’re joined by Fallon, an MI6 agent sent to arrest Bond.

Fallon and Kwang prepare to knock out Bond so he can be taken back to London, but Sanchez’s men have followed them and fire on the shack with a gotdamn tank. Kwang, his sidekicks and Fallon are all killed while just trying to do their jobs, but Bond survives. Bond wakes up in the heart of Sanchez’s base, and Bond says Kwang and Fallon were trying to arrest him for being an assassin or whatever. Sanchez assumes they were responsible for his windows being exploded last night, and he sends Bond and Lupe off for a tour. Lupe tells Bond he should stay put, but then she helps him escape by distracting some guards long enough for him to sneak onto a speedboat. Q and Bouvier are just chilling at the hotel when Bond bursts in, tosses Bouvier onto the bed, climbs on top of her and shoves a gun in her face while asking if she’s working for Sanchez. Bouvier explains she was trying to set up a sting in Sanchez’s office, and Bond blew all that to hell by being the big dummy he is.

Bond makes a plan involving Bouvier, Lupe and Q. He withdraws all of his money from bank and then his crack team infiltrates Krest’s ship and frames Krest for the theft of the drug money by planting the money on the ship. The money is found and Sanchez kills Krest by locking him in a decompression chamber and ramping up the pressure. Bond tells Bouvier and Q to get lost for the hundredth time and goes off on his own to get back to Sanchez’s compound before Sanchez notices he’s missing. Now that Krest is gone there’s an opening in Sanchez’s inner circle, so he invites Bond in. After Sanchez leaves Lupe lets herself in and she and Bond have sex. The next day Lupe goes to Bouvier and Q and tells them Bond needs to get the heck out of there, which is surprising to Bouvier as she assumed Bond had left the country. Lupe lets slip that she and Bond banged one out last night, and I haven’t seen a character feel so betrayed since Killifer discovered the truth behind Briff’s parentage in Killifer Krisch and the Die-NA Test of Doom.

Bouvier is pissed that Bond slept with another woman, because she’s a normal human being and that’s how you feel about that sort of thing. Q tells her that’s just how it is on this bitch of an Earth, and they plan to help Bond. Bond is taken to Sanchez drug lab, and Bond barely escapes being recognized by Dario. Bouvier plane is being worked on, so she has to hitchhike to the religious compound façade located over Sanchez’s lab. Bouvier tricks the fake cult leader working as Sanchez’s middleman into letting her tour the facility, while in the lab the process of smuggling cocaine out by dissolving it in gasoline is explained. I have seen science this faulty since Killifer went on vacation to Transylvania and wound up in a game of cat-and-mouse with a mad scientist in Killifer Krisch and the Clones of Dr. Funkenstein!

Bouvier pulls a gun on the fake cult leader and locks him up. Dario recognizes Bond, so Bond causes a distraction by lighting the lab on fire and making a break for it. He gets caught by Dario and Dario tells Sanchez Bond is an informant and Bond gets strapped to a conveyer belt headed for an in industrial shredder. Bouvier manages to sneak into the facility as it’s headed toward meltdown and shoots Dario before he can knock Bond down into the shredder. Bond tugs Dario down into the shredder instead, and we get a shot of Dario’s legs being torn apart that would make the biggest Killifer Krisch fan blush. Bouvier saves Bond for the hundredth time and the two barely escape the facility before it bows. Bouvier steals a golf cart so she and Bond can pursue Sanchez at break-neck speed. They make it to a plane Bouvier stole earlier and Bond hijacks Sanchez’s tanker full of cocaína-flavored gasoline.

Bond uses his tanker to crash a different tanker, which then gets accidentally blown up by one of Sanchez’s men with a rocket launcher. I haven’t come across vehicular mayhem like this since Killifer snuck into a monster truck derby in Killifer Krisch: Fury Road! Bond’s tanker gets its tires blown out, but luckily Bouvier arrives to spray Sanchez’s men with a cloud of Roundup. Bond’s tanker falls off a cliff, crashing into a bunch of other tankers and causing them all to blow up. Sanchez drives off in the last remaining tanker with Bond in hot pursuit. Bond puts his truck on cruise control and manages to climb onto Sanchez’s tanker. Bond turns on the tanker’s spout, causing all of the cocaine gas to spill out. Sanchez blows a hole in Bouvier’s plane’s tail with a rocket launcher, and she has to make an emergency landing. I haven’t experienced aerial drama like this since Killifer had to fight for her life against a talking bear while visiting the seaside town of Cape Suzette in Killifer Krisch: TaleSpin!

Bond and Sanchez fight while the tanker drives off a cliff. Both men are badly injured, but Sanchez gets to his feet and prepares to kill Bond with a machete. Bond stalls long enough to get a lighter that Leiter and Della gave him after their wedding (that’s right, the married couple gave this dude a gift at their wedding!) and uses it set the gasoline-soaked Sanchez ablaze. We watch a man roast alive for a minute or so while Bond scurries away and the burning Sanchez causes the last tanker to explode. Bouvier arrives in yet another truck and she drives Bond to safety.

Bond calls the one-legged Leiter, who’s conscious now I guess, and Leiter seems to be completely done grieving for his one-day bride. Bond and Leiter both presumably bond over both having wives who didn’t survive long enough for them to reach their honeymoons, then Leiter lets Bond know M has a job for him. Bond’s not interested and hangs up on his mutilated friend. There’s a big party at Sanchez’s house and Lupe puts the moves on Bond. Bond tells her to go jump off a cliff and jumps into a pool near Bouvier. He pulls Bouvier into the pool, ruining her gown, while Lupe, Lupe’s new man who’s the president or something and Q look on. Bond and Bouvier screw in the pool while an apparently sentient fish statue watches them.

The End

~~~~~

Phew, that was exhausting! Jumping from people getting limbs ripped off by sharks, torn to pieces by a shredder or roasting alive to goofy truck stunts practically gave me whiplash! I really liked Bouvier, but I wish Bond hadn’t been such a dick to her. It was fun to see so much of Q in this movie, but I wish he’d actually had a reason for being there. I know Bond going rogue is a pretty common thing nowadays, but I think this was the first time that happened so that was fun. I think this movie took itself way too seriously most of the time, and it made up for its own lack of dramatic tension with an excess of explosions and goofy stunts. Giving Bond a personal motive for going after a villain is an interesting idea, but making Sanchez a glorified drug dealer makes him seem kind of lame compared to villains who wanted to start a nuclear war or flood the planet. The treatment of Della was completely disgusting and unnecessary, and it set a pretty gross tone that never quite went away.

Overall, I give Licence to Kill QQ½ on the Five Q Scale.

Up next Eli will be covering the next two episodes of The Golden Palace, “Just a Gigolo” and “Marriage on the Rocks, with a Twist”, and after that I’ll check back in with my recap of the next James Bond romp, GoldenEye.

Until then, as always, thank you for reading, thank you for exploding and thank you for being One of Us!

#james bond #One of us #007

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evenstevensranked · 7 years

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#21: Season 2, Episode 15 - “Sibling Rivalry”

In an attempt to settle their never-ending rivalry, Ren and Louis compete on a ridiculous game show called “Sib Wars.” There’s also Ren/Bobby/Mandy drama on the side which is beyond juicy. Meanwhile, Donnie has a date with a French girl and has Nelson translate for him.

This one opens with Louis "Flossercising” -- A combination of flossing your teeth and exercising. Right off the bat, you know this episode is gonna be an outlandish one. He’s just chillin’, incorrectly lifting weights in a bathroom full of dental floss lol

How do you even buy that much dental floss? Also, I can’t deal with Shia’s face in this screenshot. ALSO, I’d like to talk to Sarah and Suzie and ask them what drugs they were on when they came up with “flossercising.”

Ren starts freaking out at Louis because she needs to get ready for a date with Bobby and he’s cramping her style. They chase each other into Donnie’s room where we see Donnie super focused on learning French. I love how he’s dressed in the stereotypical black and white striped mime shirt -- sitting in front of a pile of French books, Eiffel Tower statues and a bowl of french fries while doing so. As if it’s a freaking séance to reach the ghosts of French experts.

Cutting off his head was the only way I could get everything in the screenshot lol.

This scene is pretty funny. After Louis and Ren come running into his room, Donnie tells them to knock it off because he only has one day to learn French. “That’s realistic” Ren says so sarcastically, I crack up every time. This is also where Ren calls Louis “infuriating” and he tries to call her it as well, but butchers the word and says “In-flirt-in-ate-ter-ing.” I remember this being used on a few ads for the show back in the day. Just then, Donnie grabs a VHS tape, shows it to them very dramatically and says “You guys need to see this.” And Louis is all “What? You lifting weights in your bathing suit? We already saw that.” HAHA!!! I love how Donnie is so obliviously vain, it’s great. Imagine subjecting your brother and sister to that. He quickly picks up the VHS he meant to show them, which is an accidental taping of a show called “Sibling Sessions.”

This show within a show is so freaking hilarious. It’s like Dr. Phil if it were a show within a soap opera and filmed in a therapists office. The brother and sister (Kevin and Wendy) who appear on it are so lame and fake, it’s so good. The host makes Kevin apologize to Wendy and I died laughing.

“It’s nothing against you, Wendy! You’re the BEST! I guess the reason I act the way I do, is because of my own insecurities. Deep down... I’m just a loser.” HAHAHAHAHAHA. The acting is purposely incredibly bad here, almost like an infomercial -- which makes it even better. The kid looks like he’s about to burst out laughing when he says “I’m just a loser” lol.

Even Stevens seriously wins the award for Most Original Humor on Disney Channel. Ever. No other show has a strut quite like this one. I also thank god every day that ES didn’t have a laugh track. It simply doesn’t need one.

Ren thinks the show seems professional and is down for appearing on it. Louis, on the other hand, is vehemently against it -- Until the host announces that Kevin and Wendy will receive two tickets to Happy Mountain Amusement Park for being on the show, lol.

You just know this was an ad-lib, tbh. How does Shia even think of this stuff? What even is that facial expression? He’s too much...

I also just realized that Ren is definitely wearing the necklace Louis bought her in Swap.com. Ya know, the one she gave back to Ernie? Oops.

Suddenly, the doorbell rings and Ren is expecting it to be Bobby, but *dun dun dunnn* It’s Nelson. This marks the start of the DRAMA!!! Bobby sent Nelson as the bearer of bad news. He’s there to let Ren know Bobby had to cancel their date because he has work to do with his lab partner. Hummmmm... Ren is immediately suspicious. Clearly, she does not trust Bobby and this relationship ain’t healthy.

Somewhere around here, Donnie finds out that Nelson can speak French. So he asks him to translate on his upcoming date with some ~beautiful foreign exchange student.~ We also get the “HAAAAPPY MOUNTAIN! THE BIG OLD ROCK OF FUUUUUUN!” from Louis which is iconic. I’m just gonna go ahead and assume that most of the things Shia does in this episode are ad-libs.

The next day at school, Ren happens to catch Bobby working with his lab partner... who he conveniently forgot to mention is Mandy “Always-Gets-Her-Man” Sanchez. RED FLAG!!! MAJOR RED FLAG.

When class lets out, there’s this awkward/passive-aggressive/mean girl moment between Ren and Mandy -- and it’s gold. Mandy says “Ren, love the lipstick! That color works so well on your THIN lips. :)” To which Ren responds, “You know? I wonder what it’d look like on a FAT LIP :)” hahahaha. Salty overload. Ren decides to privately confront Bobby about the situation after. Asking why he neglected to say that Mandy was his lab partner because Mandy is definitely into him, and he essentially tells her it’s all in her head. “Come on, it’s just Mandy. She flirts with everyone!” So, Ren convinces herself that she’s just overreacting. THIS IS SUCH A TEXTBOOK CASE OF A BAD RELATIONSHIP. You can clearly see that Ren is still suspicious though.. and it only gets worse when Bobby kisses her goodbye on the cheek instead of the lips. Oh, boy. Bobby sucks.

Ren and Louis go to an audition for “Sibling Sessions” but when they get there they see that the show has been rebranded as “Sib Wars” -- a competition show. Apparently the ratings were in the toilet. Can’t imagine why!!! Who wouldn’t want to watch a low-level, PBS knock-off of Dr. Phil?! The show is on the verge of being cancelled all together, unless they can find two bickering siblings to compete ASAP -- and Louis and Ren answer their prayers. They come barging in like two arguing tornados. I love their little fight here though, lol. Ren claims that Louis got ice cream in her hair and Louis says “Did it ever occur to you that YOUR hair got in MY ice cream? Did that enter your skull?!” He has a point. Ren obviously considers herself to be the superior sibling, so she has no doubt that she’ll win the cheesy competition. “I could even grow a mustache before you!” she threatens. And Louis comes back with one of my favorite burns everrrr: “You could. In fact, it’s coming in quite nicely!” HAHA. Shia and Christy go on to totally ad-lib a heated argument and I love it.

The host, David Blackburn, is so over the top with everything he does. On “Sibling Sessions” he was over the top melodramatic and on “Sib Wars” he’s over the top excited. It’s like he’s incapable of acting like a normal human. Normally, I cannot stand when shows go overboard with obnoxiousness.. but I can’t help but laugh at this guy. He starts wearing a cheap, short, dreads wig to try to seem more ~hip~ and young, (”Is my hair on straight?”) which is hilarious to me. And this dude delivers every single one of his lines with such a perfect balance of fake enthusiasm and the insecurity that comes along with trying way too hard to be cool. It just gets me for some reason, lol. I’m also almost positive that HE’S doing the voiceover announcing HIMSELF as “the handsome, the talented -- DAVID BLACKBURRRRRNNNN!” haha. I have to gif the footage of his introduction because it’s honestly so meme-worthy and hysterical imo:

If I had the power, I’d make nearly every other moment of every Even Stevens episode a popular meme. It’s beyond deserving... Yet, the only meme that’s come out of Even Stevens is Beans. Great. This show is truly one of the greatest, overlooked TV gems ever.

Anyway, I’m pretty sure the “TV G” was edited in for “Sib Wars” specifically. I don’t remember Even Stevens ever having a rating pop up like that before, so that’s pretty awesome lol. I’m not sure what part of this gif gets me the worst, though. When he flips his “hair” back, the zoom-out shot of him like “ :D ” or the “THAT’S ME!” It’s all brilliant. I’ve been laughing at this for 5 minutes straight.

The game show ends up being incredibly stupid with the dumbest questions and categories ever... So it’s basically tailor-made for Louis Stevens. Therefore, he literally leaves Ren in the dust -- 500 points to 0. There’s also a “Pudding Pit of Doom” round where yet another bad Louis stunt double flips into the vat:

I never noticed how many stunts happen on this show until now. This guy is obviously older and has a completely different build than Shia. They really don’t even try lol.

David Blackburn announces that Louis and Ren will return the next day for the “Ultimate Humiliation” round -- where they have 1 minute to totally mortify the other on public access television. Fun! Louis is scrambling to find some dirt on Ren, and he fails. The closest thing he gets is her “brushing her teeth inefficiently” on tape. This bit always stuck with me though!! He explains the footage to Twitty and says “Look at the technique. She’s doing that upward thing, you’re not supposed to be doing that! You’re supposed to do the little circles!” I think about this every single time I brush my teeth and have since always brushed in a circular motion lol.

The drama reaches the climax right about now when Louis and Twitty catch Bobby and Mandy walking down the hall together very flirtatiously. Their first thought is to start recording -- and boy did they end up capturing the most DRAMATIC TEEN DRAMA MOMENT THE SHOW HAS EVER SEEN:

Is this Even Stevens or Degrassi???

When I rewatched this episode for the first time in a few years, I was genuinely shocked. I knew Bobby was “cheating,” but I always remembered it as only flirting or a lingering hug. (Ya know... because Disney.) But, NOPE. It was an actual kiss on the lips. Bobby is a RAT and I never liked him. It’s really too bad they didn’t end the series with some comedic plot where Ren and Larry realize their feelings for each other because trust me..... the feelings are there. That’s way better content than Bobby freakin’ Deaver. HE WAS NEVER FOR YOU, REN!

Louis’ plan is to be a slimeball and use this footage in the Ultimate Humiliation round. That’s honestly so messed up, I can’t even fathom that idea. Imagine video of your significant other kissing some other person airing for everyone to see. Dang. I told you this was dramatic.

This subplot is really, really short. So I’ll wrap it up now as usual. It’s just Donnie on his date with Sandrine (played by Danica McKellar from The Wonder Years) with Nelson translating. Basically, Nelson’s allergies to everything flare up. He takes over the date and steals Sandrine’s attention away from Donnie. That’s it. There’s this one screenshot that’s pretty great without context tho:

Back to the main plot. Ren decided to use Louis’ nasty bed sheet as her way to humiliate him. I love how she titled the exhibit "Louis: An American Tragedy" lol:

When it’s Ren’s turn to sit in the hot seat, she takes a moment to give a shout out to Bobby. Saying how happy she is that they’re together and she hopes they can stay together. Of course. Meanwhile, Louis is standing there holding the VHS tape of Bobby cheating. It’s intense. Ultimately, Louis makes the right decision and doesn’t show the tape. He just gives up and says he didn’t come prepared with anything. I LOVE SEEING GOOD LITTLE BROTHER LOUIS, MAN!!! Ren is declared the winner.

Louis knows that Ren doesn’t deserve to continue to be lead on by Bobby. So at home that night, Louis simply gives Ren the tape. The footage is pretty self explanatory. It fades to a very dramatic shot of Ren breaking up with Bobby by giving him his letterman jacket back. I hate Bobby. He’s standing there all sad. Like... Come on, man. Don’t act like you're upset about what you did. You knew full well what you were doing.

Ren’s head to toe light blue ensemble is... something.

Ren thanks Louis for not showing the tape on TV and he says “Ren, you’re my sister. I wouldn’t do you like that.” MY HEART. That vibe changes quickly though when Louis asks if he can be her plus 1 to Happy Mountain lol.

And that’s it. The episode ends with Donnie watching the video of him lifting weights in his bathing suit. haha.

I really like this episode. It’s not one of my personal favorites, but this episode is most true to the series' premise. If you look at it literally, it’s the most "Even Stevens" episode ever tbh -- which is why it's higher on the list. I also just cannot get over the level of legit drama here with the Bobby/Mandy stuff! Crazy. Louis is a great brother here, too.. which is so amazing to see. There aren’t any giant laugh-out-loud moments, but the dialogue here is so snappy and smart. I found myself laughing quite a bit due to how great the writing is and the delivery from the cast all around. Everyone is on point here.

Thanks for reading!!

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#rank #even stevens #season 2 #louis stevens #shia labeouf #christy carlson romano #ren stevens #mandy sanchez #bobby deaver #nelson minkler #walter franks #old disney #nostalgia #zoog disney #tv review #tv shows #memes #ren and bobby #donnie stevens

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getanepipenidiot-blog · 7 years

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You’re dangerous and intoxicating but I can’t stay away

Growing up, I didn’t think I could be a relationship kind of girl. I always told people: I don’t do relationships... I don’t want a boyfriend. And it was partly true. It was easier to be alone because I had too much on my plate. School, work and dreams that needed accomplishing took precedent. But I didn’t realize that the game changes when you finally fall for someone on accident. It was an accident because I put myself in the friend-zone with you on purpose so that this wouldn’t happen and I fell anyways. Shit. So let’s walk a mile in my shoes regarding the most aggravating and annoying thing that I like to call “Catching the Feels”. I knew the first moment that I met you that I liked you. I liked you as a person because you made me laugh so hard that it made me have to pee. You were popular and charming and didn’t really notice me, but when you asked me to homecoming I was extremely excited. So let’s start there.

Senior Homecoming: You asked me. You were my first official date in my opinion because you asked me in such a thoughtful way and I was so impressed by you. So when I was getting ready for the dance at Zoey's house, I told Jessica and Haley that I was going to ask you out and they encouraged it because they told me you liked me back. I didn’t think so because we’d never really hung out or talked but I took their word for it. I kept going back and forth because I thought that you didn’t really have girls on your radar. You seemed to always be around the boys and no one had ever talked about you and girls, so I just thought you weren’t mature yet. By the end of the dance I had made up my mind and I was ready to ask you out ( I had a what the hell attitude back then and obviously I need to get it back)- I had everything planned. I was going to be straight forward and say "I kind of like you” and maybe mention something about you being so white to make you laugh. I just remembered always trying to do something to make you laugh, to make you notice me. I don’t think I did a good job with it though. I couldn't find you though. You were talking to Katie. Someone (who was it? Shit I can't remember but they had a purple tie) had said, 'he's so into her'. I wasn't crushed at that news, I just felt relieved that I wasn't about to embarrass myself like Junior year homecoming- but that’s another story. How embarrassing would that have been? God, I know you would say no in a heartbeat and I thank my lucky stars everyday that I didn’t.

Katie's House: I'm making beef tacos with seasoning powder from a packet. I'm making white-ass tacos for three drunk girls who decided to raid mommy and daddy's liquor cabinet and get drunk. My cousin has dragged me over here because he's a damn puppy dog and does whatever hot girls tell him to do and I unfortunately went along. I didn't mind until I got there. You were there and I remember that it was brought up that you had come over previously, and you and Katie baked cookies and hung out. I was annoyed. Yup (*Yes your honor) that was the feeling. I told myself I wasn't annoyed because it was you, I was just jealous because she had your attention and that I had wanted anyone’s attention. It also wasn't fun finding out that you let Katie drive your car. I think that hurt my feelings more than anything because I had been dropping hints that I wanted a ride in it forever- She got to bloody drive it while I couldn’t even get a damn ride in the passenger seat. I tried to convince myself that you only let her do that because of the power of a pretty girl. Pretty, nice girls got the attention and sarcastic pricks like myself had to just sit and watch. Looking back I should have never done that too myself. I should have appreciated myself more. Moral of this one: Was this the first time I felt jealous? I didn't think so, but the more I look back on this scene the more I think I was and I don’t rally know how I feel about that to be honest. She was technically my friend and I wasn’t supposed to have been feeling jealous. Senior Ball: I was sitting in first period. I had just gotten the news that all the boys had planned a way so that they could each take a girl to ball so she wouldn't go stag. I was literally excited because everyone was in a couple so I practically knew who was going to ask me. Apparently I. Did. Not. Eventually my threats to kick Clayton in the balls was enough for him to give me a hint during class. He made me wait until the bell rang to finally give me a hint: His first name started with an N. Hell. Yes. I remember thinking those words because I thought it was going to be so much fun having you as my date and maybe I would get another chance for you to notice me at the hangout after Ball. So I waited. And I waited, still no asking. The entire time I'm being led around places in a car and I thought you had made a scavenger hunt and I was so excited. Then I find out it was Sanchez. I didn’t understand what was happening. Deena had to kick me in the fucking shin so that I'd react after he asked me. Didn't really understand why I was so bummed until I'd found out you'd asked Katie. It was a kick to my self esteem because I literally thought I wasn't pretty enough like she was. I hated her for that. She could have had any guy's attention, and yet she had to take what I had really wanted. But I had fucked myself over on that one. No one knew. I was too embarrassed to tell anyone that I had a crush on you when it was obvious you were following Katie around and that she was just using you. I would look like an idiot because I couldn't compete with her. Not in a million years. Let's face it. So I gave up and tried not to be mad at Katie but I was. I just told people I was mad that she was stringing you along and being a bitch about it. People told me to stop being overprotective and defending you. They told me that you were a big boy and could handle yourself. So that’s what I thought I was feeling. Pretty lame and stupid now that I look back on it. It’s kind of ironic really.

Ben's Burnoff: I was fine actually. I was too busy dealing with the fact that Joe was treating me like shit to really pay attention to anyone's else's drama. I'm in the living room wanting to change the music. You stole the laptop and wouldn't let me change it. You're furious. I don't know why, and I didn't care. I found out it had to do with Katie and you had called her a tease. That was the first time I'd felt overprotective as fuck, like ‘What the fuck did she do now?’ I had thought that you finally saw what she was doing and cut that shit out and now I was ready to just let her have it. I think it had building for a while, especially with her behavior at Airianna’s house and I was just looking for a perfect excuse to tell her off about it. Funny how I had never felt that way with any of the other guys now that I think about it. I didn’t protect Logan against Alejandra, I didn’t protect Cory from Deena. I knew they were bad but I didn’t feel obligated to warn them. Why did I feel obligated to you? I didn’t owe you anything and we weren’t friends so why did I have the overwhelming feeling to punch Katie in the face? My expression must give myself away, because before I make it half way through the doors to the backyard, Corbin catches me and says, "don't do it". I’m so fucking confused. He tells me he knows that look on my face and that whatever I was about to do to not. He looked like he was going to stop me anyways so I unclenched and let him playfully pick me up and threaten to throw me in the pool. I am thankful to him every day for not letting me cause a scene. I probably would have embarrassed myself and you and you probably would have hated me.

Your Apartment: Katie texts me and tells me she wants to go to your apartment in San Jose. I text her back with a flat out ‘No’. I didn't really want be in the same car with her, but I tell her I'll go if Jess comes too, but she's already gone and so I’m screwed. She starts talking about spending the night and drinking and that wakes me the fuck up. Her, you, and drinking was not a good idea. She was gonna slay you one last time before she left and I couldn't handle it. Of course I went because I was stupid and a glutton for punishment obviously. I can't remember why I had said yes. To protect you? Another chance to see you? Not really sure. You guys are flirting in the living room and Ben pulls me into the kitchen to ask me whether the things you were saying about Katie were true, that you guys were a thing and that she was sending you lingerie pictures. I didn't want to believe it. I said no way would Katie do that. Ben said that he knew it but just wanted to check. That broke my heart. I thought that you were telling people that you guys were together because it was true. I thought that was why Katie dragged me, as an excuse to see you but in a way to hide it. Lies, lies, lies. I didn't even know the truth anymore but I didn't care. I just wanted to go home and I was so tired of being fake happy when I just wasn't. That was the first time in my life that I felt like I’d lost. I thought you guys were together secretly and you still didn’t see me so I gave up.

Fast Forward a year. Ben's Mission Home: Holy fuck did you look hot that day. I couldn’t believe my eyes or my heart. It did a jumpy thing like almost like a backflip but not really. I don’t really know how to describe it. Maybe that’s the feeling that people talk about when they say their heart skipped a beat? Whatever it was, it was a wake up call. I had to be seen, I had to force you to be my friend because I wanted to talk to you and that’s what I usually did with the people I was interested in.

I sat across from you at Noah’s bagels on purpose so that I could just stare at you. Creepy I know, but your eyes are the prettiest blue I have ever seen. I know it sounds really cheesy, but I feel calm and tame when I look at them. Sometimes when I’m rambling or hot angry you stare at me with those eyes and I forget what I was even thinking or talking about. Especially in the car. I love it when you turn to look my in the eyes. -I got sidetracked sorry, anyways-

I think I did my best to convince you that we should be friends but I wasn't sure. So I decided to hit you up over twitter because I'm lame and stupid and didn't have your phone number. The entire time during Noah’s bagels I'm trying to think of a classy and subtle way to ask you for a picture but I think I was bratty and annoyed you into one. When I had posted the picture on Instagram I got so many texts asking me if we were together. I told everyone that we were just friends and then I realized that I wanted to be just your friend for right now. I didn’t want to be in a relationship because I was too busy and I didn’t think you were the relationship type either.

In between this time and Summer of 2016 I honestly loved texting you. I would see a text come up on the screen and I would instantly get cheered up. I will probably deny it even to this day, but when you said shit like, "when we're married" and that we should live together, it made me ridiculously happy. I liked you're attention. I'll admit it. You made me feel special. It was great, I felt like I was in a relationship without actually being in a relationship and it was the perfect set up. I didn’t have to try and impress you or constantly be worried about what you thought of me. I felt as though it was the perfect setup and maybe I took our easy friendship for granted because when we started fooling around it seemed to really fuck up that dynamic. Side note- Now that I look back on it, you were such an anomaly in my life. I hate cute messages, but I love calling you babe and sending you hearts. I hate texting someone constantly, but I wanted to text you 24-7. I get bored easily, but I love hearing about your day and work stories I hate sending pictures and videos, but on top of doing those things they were embarrassing videos and pictures. I always had an urge to drop a quick text to you to let you know that I was thinking of you- I do that for all my girls and only you. Maybe this is just a way of seeing that you were like one of my girl friends? What the fuck was happening here? Why were you the goddamn exception. It’s driving me mad trying to figure it out and it’s funny because you probably couldn’t care less.

Ice Skating:

We went ice skating on yet another adventure that I dragged you too because I'm annoying and you let me ( plus I love paying for you because I like taking care of you). We were ice skating and I hadn't remembered having that much fun. I was bored living at home and you always could put a smile on my face. Actually you didn't even need to talk, which you never did now that I think about it. You let me ramble on and on and on. The the moment where I knew that you literally made my heart so happy it felt like exploding was when I got to hold your hands while we were skating. I liked holding your hands, damn did I like it a lot. I don’t let people touch me or hug me but with you it’s like I loved your touch and got excited every chance I got to hug you. I didn’t know that someone could make me that happy.

The Text Message: It's not your fault. I know you sent that text as a generic text since we were always saying cute shit to each other, so I know that you didn't mean anything from it and that's okay. This was just the first time I thought that I wanted to be your girlfriend. My whole demeanor changed, and I felt like I was playing a whole new ballgame. I had like a bam whoosh of feelings: I wanted to hold your hand, I wanted to cook you dinner, I wanted to send you goodnight and good morning text messages, I wanted to piss you off more, I wanted to cuss at you and hear more work stories. I wanted to be the one you called because you just wanted to hear my voice. The one that you surprise at my doorstep just to see me. I wanted to make you laugh and cry and dance with you and tackle you to the couch on lazy days. I wanted to actually wanted to be able to call you Babe and actually have you feel that I meant it. But I couldn’t tell you all these things. I wasn’t allowed to have these feelings because I was scared that you’d reject them. I didn’t trust you and I convinced myself to push down those feelings because they were 1. Irrelevant 2. Inconvenient 3. Not true. I convinced myself I was just lonely in Santa Barbara and that I didn’t really want to be your girlfriend. The whole day was a rush and a blur but it went a little like this:

I was exhausted, I had just crashed onto my bed, it’s midnight, and I’m just about to fall asleep from a long ass clinical day. 12 hours and I had only eaten a banana and drank 2 cups of coffee- but that's another story. Anyways, I see a text from you and I’m instantly wired. I’m always wired when I see a text message from you, that’s why you get the spade next to your name: it's an adrenaline rush into my veins when you text me. You tell me that you've had a long and hard day and that you were going to go have a drink. You told me that you were about to receive a whole new list of witnesses to go over and that you were working on a new case-- I love your work stories by the way. You probably know this already, but it's because I'm proud of you. I’ll say I love hearing your work stories because I find that line of work interesting, but really, I can hear the pride in your voice when you talk about it and the fact that you're happy makes me happy. I wish you'd talk more about how you feel doing what you do rather than the cases itself but that's another tangent. Anyways, I’m up now but I know that you're exhausted and that you want to get that drink, so I lie and say that I’m tired and I tell you this: Step 1: Stop texting me Step 2: Put the phone down Step 3: Have a drink Step 4: Tell me the story next weekend Step 5: Go to bed happy And you tell me that Steps 4 & 5 go hand in hand. I know you didn't mean anything by this. I’m not stupid, I know that you're not really a romantic person so you're just saying what comes naturally. But my heart did the hardest backflip of it's life. The thought that you go to bed happy thinking of me made me realize that sometimes I do the same. Then the rush of feelings came and I pushed them down so hard until you couldn’t see them anymore. It’s what I’m good at. I’m an emotional liar. It’s safer that way. So here’s what I know: We’re no good together. We have nothing in common and we’re two separate and different people. You’re a closed book and I’m an open one. You’re cool and calm and I’m a hot ball of fire. I talk a million miles per hour and your quiet with me. I like to laugh and you don’t laugh at my jokes. You’re never really interested in me or about getting to know me, but I constantly always try to get to know you. I’m tired. I’m exhausted all the time and I like being on my own, and you like to always be with friends and are always doing something.

So this is what I’ve decided to do. I’m going to slowly inch out of your life. Make it so that you forget that I ever existed that way it’s easier on me to get over my feelings. I’m selfish like that. I saw you way before you saw me and it’s easier to say that we don’t belong together and try to turn off the switch to these feelings because I couldn’t do that to you. You like your independence and you’re not looking for a relationship. So I’ll slowly surrender because it’s what’s best. I have to say that I’m pretty proud of myself. This is the first time I’ve dealt with feelings and I’ve established a goal: locate them and then annihilate them. Keeping it logical and reasonable all the time. I should be staying by myself until I find someone equally obsessed with me as I am them. That’s the way it should be. Peace.

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