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rainisawriter · 8 months

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You’re My World (Part 1)

Synopsis: Being a Starless in a world full of soulmates was not easy for Jae, though she often told herself she didn’t need a soulmate. She hated how everyone judged her simply because she didn’t have one. At 16, she was supposed to switch places with her soulmate, but it never came, leaving her wondering if she truly was alone. At 18, the switch finally came and her life was forever changed.

Genre: Soulmate AU, fluff, angst, romance, slice of life

Prompt: Once a year, starting on your 16th birthday, soulmates swap bodies for a day if they have not met yet.

Word Count: 6,071

Point of View: First Person

A/N: I honestly have no feckin’ idea what happened here. I was planning on writing a fic that was 3,000 words at most, but it ended up being 14,479 lmao Haven’t done that in a while, but I guess the prompt was just that good. I also had a character in mind while writing, so that probably helped haha Here is part 1, I hope you enjoy!

This was written for @lunarbuck’s Star-Crossed Lovers writing challenge to celebrate her reaching 2,000 followers ❤

━━━━━━༻September 14th, 15 years old༺━━━━━━

I scowled at the couple standing in the doorway, staring into each other’s eyes giggling dreamily. They were everywhere, carbon copies of star-crossed lovers littered everywhere. It was honestly disgusting. I couldn’t even attend class without bumping into them, too wrapped up in each other to even notice me.

I cleared my throat to get their attention, but the male just rested his hand on the female’s cheek, eyes practically shining like stars. I cleared my throat louder, coughing dramatically.

“I love you so much, Ami. You’re my heart, my soul. Without you, I -” Tears filled his eyes as he brought her hand to his heart. “I would die without you, my love.”

“Oh, Trevor,” she cried, tears filling her own eyes. “I love you, too. You’re the sun to my moon, the peanut to my butter, the -”

“Disgusting to your cringe?” I supplied, lip curling back in disgust.

Her gaze snapped to mine, eyes narrowed. “Mind your own business!”

“You’re literally blocking the doorway so no one can enter. It is my business. Now, move!”

Recognition flashed through her eyes and she smirked, putting her hand on her hip. “Oh, you’re that Starless, aren’t you?”

I managed to hold back my wince, feeling everyone’s eyes turning toward me when they heard what she said. Most of them were looks of pity, others were arrogant smirks. I squared my shoulders and stared her down, refusing to show weakness.

“Yeah, I am. So what? Unlike you, I don’t need another human being in order to survive. I’m not weak like you,” I spat, fists clenching at my sides.

Anger flashed through her eyes as she took a step closer to me, laughing in my face. “You’re right. You’re not weak, Starless, you’re broken.”

“Honey,” Trevor chided, putting his hand on her shoulder. “You shouldn’t make fun of those less fortunate than us.”

She pouted at him. “You’re right. I’m better than that.” Her shoulder bumped mine when she walked away, a smirk on her lips.

Gods, I’m so tempted to wipe that smirk right off her feckin’ face. I could feel everyone still watching me but I tried to ignore it, stomping my way into the classroom. I fell into my desk with a scowl, turning my attention to the window so I didn’t have to see all the happy couples and listen to the bullshit they were spewing.

The sky was dark despite it being early morning, thick dark clouds moving in from the east. Thunder rumbled softly in the distance and I closed my eyes, taking a few deep breaths to try and calm myself. I really hope it rains later, I need the peace it always brings me before I end up murdering someone.

“Hey.”

I felt someone nudge my side and I glanced over, seeing my best friend sliding into the desk beside my own. “Mornin’, Haru.”

He frowned, brown eyes scanning my face. He always could read me like a damn book. “What happened?”

“Nothin’,” I muttered, sliding down in my chair.

He quirked a brow, sending me a look akin to a mother who didn’t believe her child. “I’ll buy you a Dr. Pepper at lunch if you tell me.”

“It’s just the usual bullshit,” I replied, rubbing the back of my head. “Feckin’ Amy and her stupid boyfriend blocking the door again.”

“Did you punch her?”

“No.”

“I’m so proud of you -”

“But I wanted to.”

Haru laughed, eyes shimmering with amusement. “Wanting to do something and actually acting on that want are two different things. I’m still proud of you for not choosing violence.”

I rolled my eyes. It’s not like I did it because I wanted to take the moral high ground or anything. I’m weak as hell and I cry easily so even if I did punch her, I knew she would easily overpower me. It would be a double loss for me and I didn’t have the energy to deal with that.

“So, what are your plans for tomorrow?”

“Huh?” I blinked at him dumbly and he sent me a deadpan look. “Nothing. I’m gonna watch reruns of Murder, She Wrote.”

“You’re joking… you forgot your own birthday?

“Uh..”

“Girl, it’s your sixteenth birthday. You’re not the least bit excited about that?”

“Not really,” I frowned, rubbing the back of my head again. “It’s just another day in another year.”

He groaned, head flopping onto his desk. “You’re such a buzzkill.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“No plans, then?”

I shook my head no and he grinned.

“Well then, that just means I get more time with my bestie.”

My brow furrowed. “Don’t you have a date with Dylan tomorrow?”

“Yeah, so?” He quirked a brow at me, propping up his cheek in his palm. “He adores you so when I tell him it’s your birthday and you forgot, he’s going to have a fit.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to come between you two…”

“We’re soulmates, it’s impossible to come between us.”

“Right…”

“Everyone, settle down!” Mrs Smith entered the room, her back slightly hunched as she hobbled over to her desk. “Take out your notebooks, I have a wonderful assignment for you all this morning.”

I dug around in my backpack, tugging the notebook out and setting it on the desk. Though the pages did contain notes, most of them were overshadowed by little doodles of cats holding tacos.

“This morning, I would like you to write a short story about how you met your soulmate.” She lifted her head, peering at me over half-moon spectacles. “Miss McLaughlin, you’re exempt from this assignment as you do not have a soulmate. Feel free to do as you please. You can be dismissed if you’d like.”

All eyes fell on me, the other students stifling their giggles or sending me cocky smirks. Haru frowned, glancing over at me but I quickly looked away, not wanting to see the pity in his eyes. I stuffed the notebook back into my bag and stood up, keeping my head down as I rushed from the room, hearing laughs and whispers following me.

“Settle down!” scolded Mrs. Smith. “And get to work!”

Why the feck did she have to call me out like that? Couldn’t she just have excused me or made up some kind of lie? I mean, everyone already knows but still. I groaned in frustration, picking up my pace as I headed straight for the front door. I honestly didn’t care if I got into trouble for skipping school. I felt like the walls were closing in on me and I just had to get out.

“Jae?”

Shit. I paused, slowly looking over at Mr. Park, the guidance counselor. He was just stepping out of the teacher’s lounge, a cup of steaming coffee in his hands. “Good morning, sir.”

“Is everything alright?” he questioned softly, glancing at the watch on his wrist. “Why aren’t you in class?”

I held back my sigh, forcing a smile. “Mrs. Smith is doing a soulmate assignment and she excused me. I was just going outside to get some air.”

“Oh, I see,” he frowned, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. For a moment, he just observed me with those brown eyes of his, feeling as if he was searching my very soul.

As someone who preferred to keep their feelings to themself, I hated the way it felt when he watched me like that. It’s like he could see exactly what I was feeling and thinking. “Well, I should get going. Excuse me.”

“Jae, wait.”

I paused, not looking at him. I could hear him shifting his weight.

“If you ever need someone to talk to, you know you can come to me, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I know it’s not easy being a Starless, but -”

“You don’t know shit!” I snapped angrily, immediately regretting it. Mr. Park was a nice man who only wanted to help and I knew I shouldn’t be taking out my frustrations on him. He didn’t deserve it. “I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t apologize,” he smiled kindly. “You’re right. I don’t understand, but I’d like to try. My door is always open when you’re ready to talk.”

I bowed my head in thanks before rushing out the door. Today was the first day of fall so the air was cooling down, especially with rain on the way. It felt like I could finally breathe again.

I fell onto the bench beneath a large cherry tree, exhaling in frustration. My head fell back, staring at the dark sky between the breaks in the branches. The leaves were only just beginning to change from white and pink to shades of brown and orange. Thunder rumbled overhead, steadily growing louder as rain started to fall softly.

In this world, soulmates are everything.

Most people connect with their soulmates by the age of twelve but there’s a small percentage of the population that never connects with their soulmates. These people are called Starless and they’re looked down on. A person’s worth is measured by whether they have found their soulmate or not. If you’re like me and haven’t found one, then you’re considered to be useless. People look at you funny and they treat you differently.

It’s so stupid. As if someone’s worth can be measured by whether or not they’ve met someone else. It’s a broken, flawed system that should be abolished and yet here we are. Maybe I’m just cynical because I am a Starless. Am I so unlovable that the universe thought I didn’t deserve a soulmate? What a joke.

I don’t need a soulmate. The universe can suck it.

━━━━━━༻❀༺━━━━━━

I pushed the door open to my apartment, listening for any signs of life. I tried to stay out as long as I could, not wanting to be scolded for missing the entire day of classes, but the rain started to come down harder. I had no choice but to head home early.

I ran a hand through my short hair, wiping the water on my pants before clicking my tongue. There was already a puddle of water forming at my feet, dripping from my wet clothes. I headed toward the hall so I could take a shower only to pause when I heard my name.

Curious, I slowly approached the archway that led into the kitchen, pressing my body flat against the wall.

“You have to tell her, man.” It was Blaise, my brother’s best friend and the guy I’ve been living with since I was a kid. When our parents found out I was a Starless at just twelve years old, they felt ashamed of me so they kicked me out of the house. Blaise was eighteen at the time, already living on his own.

He didn’t have to take me in and, honestly, it probably made his life more difficult. What eighteen-year-old wants to raise a child? Especially one that didn’t even belong to them. He really stepped up and I owed him a lot.

“There’s no way I can tell her,” groaned Kevin, sounding distressed. He’s done his best to help raise me since our parents had no interest in me, but he was less mature than Blaise and a few years younger. He wasn’t very good at it, but I can’t fault him for that.

My brow furrowed in confusion. Were they talking about me? I know I heard one of them say my name.

“You have to, Kev. She turns sixteen tomorrow and she needs to know. Think about how scared she’s gonna be the first time it happens.” Blaise’s voice was strained and worried which made my heart pick up speed. He was always level-headed and calm, so hearing him sound so worried made me feel nervous.

I now know they’re talking about me because my birthday is tomorrow. What’s going to happen to me? Is it because I haven’t found my soulmate yet? There’s only been a handful of documented Starless cases, so it’s pretty unknown territory. Oh god… I’m going to die, aren’t I?

I quickly covered my mouth, sliding down the wall until I hit the wooden floor. I scanned my brain for any mention of a Starless dying. From what I can remember, soulmates feed off each other spiritually and emotionally. Alone, they’re like half a person but together, they complete the circle. Do they need each other to live? Didn’t some girl die because she couldn’t find her soulmate?

Wait, no… I think that was some fanfic I read at 3 am instead of studying for finals. Or was it? Shit, why didn’t I pay more attention in Soulmate Studies class?

“An older brother shouldn’t have to have this conversation with his younger sister!”

“Stop being a child, it’s not like it’s the sex talk.”

“It’s almost as bad!”

“Look, your parents aren’t going to do it. That means you have to step up.”

“Can’t you do it? You handled the sex talk brilliantly!”

Blaise heaved a heavy, exasperated sigh. “Only because she already knew half of it from watching Family Guy.”

“You let my sister watch Family Guy?!”

“I couldn’t exactly control what she was watching while I was at work, man. Besides… it saved me from having a very awkward conversation.”

“See? You’ve clearly bonded with her through embarrassment. This should be a walk in the park!”

There was a sudden slam that made me jump in surprise. I peered around the corner, seeing Blaise now standing with his hands on the counter. His eyes were dark, lips twisted in annoyance.

“Stop making up bullshit excuses! Jae was already abandoned by her parents and she probably thinks you’ve abandoned her, too!”

“What? I haven’t – “

“Where have you been, huh? I’ve been looking after her since she was 12, Kevin. In four years, you’ve only visited her a handful of times. You don’t ask about her when we go get drinks. Why are you even here, huh? Just to ask me to do your dirty work for you? I gave up everything to raise that kid!”

Tears stung my eyes but I tried to blink them back, not wanting to cry. I hated it when I cried because it made me feel so damn weak.

Kevin chuckled awkwardly, never having been good in a serious situation. “Come on, man. How hard could it have been? She could already do everything herself.”

“You think raising a kid is just about cooking for them or doing their laundry?” scoffed Blaise. “God, you’ve always been dumb but I didn’t know you were a total dumbass.”

“Hey!”

“I had to quit going to college so I could get another job to buy her clothes and food and school supplies. I neglected my soulmate so many times, having to cancel dates because Jae was sick or just didn’t want to be alone. I’ve had to deal with those stuck-up assholes at the school whenever her grades would slip or she got into a fight. You know I haven’t talked to Karla in over a year?”

My eyes widened in shock. He hasn’t spoken to his soulmate in that long? That’s… not normal and it’s all because of me… When she stopped coming around, I didn’t think anything about it. I never would have guessed that… I squeezed my eyes shut, tears sliding down my cheeks.

God damn it.

I pushed myself up only to slip on the water that had dripped off my clothes. I caught myself on the wall, but the two men stopped speaking and I knew they heard me. I cursed, taking off down the hall for the front door.

“Jae!”

I ignored them, slamming the door shut behind me in the hopes that it would slow them down. The rain was falling hard which made it easy to disappear. Their voices were drowned out by the sound of the thunder so I couldn’t hear how close they were. I just kept running until my lungs burned and my feet hurt.

I doubled over, leaning my arm against an oak tree as I tried to catch my breath. I wasn’t sure how far I had gone. I was at a park, though, empty because of the rain which had slowed by this point. I fell onto the swing, resting my head against the cold chains. There was a dull ache at my temples though that was the least of my worries right now.

There was so much shit going through my mind right now.

I felt guilty about ruining Blaise’s life and for not being the kid that my parents wanted me to be. I feel angry at everyone for judging me just because I’m a Starless and I feel slighted by the fact that the universe made me this way.

“Ugh!” I cried out in frustration, jumping off the swing and starting to pace back and forth. “Stupid parents, stupid brother, stupid fucking universe!” I kicked the metal pole in anger only to cry out in pain, grabbing my foot in my hand. I hopped on one foot for a moment before losing my balance and tumbling to the sandy-colored mulch.

“Oi, are you okay?” Blaise appeared above me, looking down with worry. His honey-colored hair was sticking to his forehead from the rain but his eyeliner was still pristine. Must be waterproof.

“Am I dying?”

He chuckled, offering me his hand. “I’m pretty sure we’d have heard if someone died from kicking a swing.”

I slid my hand into his and he pulled me up easily. “Because I haven’t found my soulmate.”

“Oh,” he frowned, realizing what I was talking about. “Have a seat, kid.”

“You’re too young to be calling me kid, old man,” I tried to smile but it was difficult to do so with all the confusion swirling through me. I did as he asked, settling back on the seat and trying to ignore the throbbing of my big toe.

Blaise settled down beside me with a sigh. “How much did you hear?”

“Most of it, I guess,” I muttered, moving around the mulch with my uninjured foot. “I’m sorry, Blaise…”

“For what?”

“Ruining your life. Most eighteen year old’s won’t even take responsibility for their own kids but you stepped up and raised me. I don’t know where I’d be right now if it wasn’t for you. I’m sorry.”

“Idiot,” he scoffed softly, resting his hand on top of my head. “You have nothing to apologize for. You didn’t ask for any of this.”

“Neither did you.”

“That’s true. Honestly, I never wanted kids. They seemed like too much trouble and I just never had any desire to have them. Then you came along and, well… I kind of enjoyed having someone to look after. It was terrifying knowing that another human being relied on me for survival, but I don’t regret anything. If I could go back in time, I’d make the same choices.”

“You’re telling me if you could have your life and your soulmate back, you wouldn’t take it? Bullshit.”

He turned his head, ice-blue eyes staring into my own. I’ve never seen him make such a serious expression before. “If it meant losing you, then no, I wouldn’t. Like it or not, you’re my baby sister and you’re stuck with me forever.”

I quickly looked away, not wanting him to see the tears gathering in my eyes. I didn’t know what to say. Honestly, I don’t think I could have spoken even if I did.

His phone started to ring, breaking the silence that had settled over us. “Hello?… yeah, I found her. She’s fine. Well, she may have a broken toe… she kicked a swing… I don’t know, ask her that… right, we’ll be back soon.” He hung up the phone and stood up, stretching his arms above his head. “Come on, kid, let’s get home. Your brother’s waiting.”

I hesitated, not moving from the swing as I rubbed my eyes with the sleeve of my hoodie. It only made it worse because I had cat hair stuck to it.

“You’re not dying.”

“Eh?” I lifted my head, catching his eyes.

“You’re not dying,” he repeated with a smile. “I won’t say more than that, though. Kevin wants to be the one to tell you.”

“How’d you talk him into that?”

“He loves you, Jae, he’s just an immature idiot that doesn’t stop to think about shit.”

“Fair.”

“Come on.” Blaise held his hand out to me and I took it, gripping it tightly as we started our walk back home.

I was limping a bit because of my toe but the pain was slowly subsiding. I guess it wasn’t broken, after all. When we got back to the apartment, they let me take a shower and get changed out of my wet clothes before we got down to business.

Blaise left us alone in the living room so he could make dinner and give us a chance to talk. It felt awkward, at least to me, since I’m not very close to Kevin. We don’t like the same things and we’ve never really spent much time together.

Kevin cleared his throat, shifting so he was facing me. “There’s something you need to know. As a Starless… you’re going to switch places with your soulmate.”

I blinked at him dumbly, my brain taking a while to process those words. “I… huh?”

“I have no idea why or how, but the doctor said it. I overheard mom and dad talking about it after you were diagnosed.” He shook his head, running a hand through his brown hair. “All I know is that it starts after you turn sixteen.”

“You’re joking…”

“I mean,” he scratched his cheek, frowning. “There hasn’t been a lot of Starless for them to study so the information is iffy. We can visit the doctor if you want.”

“I don’t have insurance.”

“It can’t be that much to go and get an opinion, right?”

“She’d have to see a Starless specialist,” Blaise appeared in the doorway, tossing a dishtowel over his shoulder. “They charge a hundred bucks just to walk in the door. A lot of them won’t even see you if you don’t have insurance.”

“Oh…”

I slid down the couch, sighing deeply. “This just keeps getting better and better…”

“Hey, don’t worry, sis! We’ll figure this out.” Kevin grinned. “I know this girl at my college who’s currently attending a course on Starless. I bet she can help.”

Blaise scowled, smacking him in the back of the head. “Why the hell didn’t you start with that?”

“You’re so rude,” he scowled, rubbing where he had been hit. “And violent!”

“Call her, idiot.”

“Alright, alright.” Kevin stuck his tongue out at him before pulling out his phone and stepping outside.

“Hey, you.”

I quirked a brow at Blaise.

“Come here, I want you to taste the spaghetti sauce. I feel like it’s missing something.”

I perked up a bit at that since it’s one of my favorite meals. That’s probably why he made it. I smiled softly at him as I followed him into the kitchen. He dipped a spoon in the sauce, holding his hand under it in case any fell off the spoon.

“Careful, it’s hot.”

I blew on it a couple of times before sticking it in my mouth. It tasted heavenly, but – “Needs more garlic.”

He snorted. “I could put a dot of sauce on top of a garlic glove and you’d still say there wasn’t enough garlic.”

“Exactly. I’m glad you understand.”

He shook his head before turning to cut up more garlic. “What do you want to do for your birthday? Anywhere you wanna go?”

“Haru wants me to hang out with him and Dylan. No idea what they have planned. Probably just a movie marathon and binging on snacks.”

“Sounds fun,” he grinned. “You need to get out more.”

“Sounds terrible,” I wrinkled my nose, returning the grin.

“Just don’t do anything reckless. If you end up in jail, I can’t promise to bail you out.”

“Sure.”

“And don’t get yourself killed. Funerals are expensive.”

“Yes, mom.”

Blaise snickered, flicking me lightly on the forehead. “What a good kid.”

Kevin re-entered the kitchen with a smile. “Great news! She’ll see us in the morning before her classes. She’s really interested in meeting you.”

Blaise leaned against the counter, folding his arms over his chest. “Are you sure this chick can be trusted, Kev? You know people go crazy over the Starless.”

“Trust her? Um,” he rubbed the back of his head, glancing at the ceiling in thought. “I mean, I don’t really know her, but she’s the only one I know that can help us.”

“You better watch her.” His eyes narrowed. “Don’t you dare leave them alone.”

Kevin pouted, hand on his hip. “Hey, she’s my sister. I know what I’m doing here.”

Blaise sent him an unimpressed look before turning his attention to me. “Jae -“

“Don’t worry, mom, I’ll be careful.”

He looked as if he wanted to scold me but he decided against it, returning his attention to the sauce. “You better.”

━━━━━━༻September 15th, 16 years old༺━━━━━━

I stuffed my hands into the pocket of my hoodie, trying to shove down the nerves that I was feeling as I followed Kevin toward the college’s library. It was super early and I felt exhausted because I hadn’t gotten much sleep. Not for lack of trying, though.

He paused in front of the library doors. “Are you ready?”

“No.”

“Great, let’s go,” he grinned, grabbing my wrist and tugging me along after him.

The library was huge, the ceiling high above us. There were two floors filled with tall bookshelves and there were two rows of computers on the second floor. The girl we were meeting, Claire, was sitting in the back corner of the first floor, leaning over a bunch of books that were scattered across the table. Her eyes darted from book to book from behind round glasses.

“Morning, Claire,” greeted Kevin, settling down across from her.

She lifted her head, gaze landing on me. “Are you the Starless?”

I hesitantly nodded as I sat down beside my brother. “Jae. My name’s Jae.”

“When were you diagnosed?”

Straight to the point, damn. I don’t know if it’s better or worse to skip the small talk.

Kevin answered for me. “A month and a half after she turned 12.”

Claire tilted her head to the side, watching me closely. She had a calculating, cold gaze that made me feel uncomfortable, especially since she didn’t seem to be blinking. “You’ve just turned sixteen, yes?”

I nodded and Kevin added, “Today actually.”

“Fascinating. Have you felt anything strange?”

“Strange?” my brow furrowed. “Strange how?”

“Sudden headaches or dizziness. Feeling as if you’re not actually inside your body. Rapid mood swings. The desire to sleep even when you’re not tired. Craving foods you don’t like.”

“Uh… no?”

“Are you unsure?”

“No… no, I’m sure. None of that.”

“Fascinating.” She started to scribble in her notebook, her hand flying across the page and her handwriting impossible for me to read.

“So, uh… what’s going to happen to me?”

She paused, slowly lifting her head. “You don’t know?”

I glanced at Kevin and he nodded. “I know something about switching places with my soulmate?”

Claire set her pencil down, folding her hands together before holding them in front of her mouth like an anime villain. “That’s correct. Every Starless that’s been studied thus far has switched places with their soulmate once a year. It begins after both soulmates turn sixteen and continues until the two finally meet.”

I scratched my cheek, frowning at the information. “That sounds a bit… insane. What do you even mean by switch places?”

“Have you seen the movie Freaky Friday? Or the movie Freaky?”

“Yes.” “No.” We chorused.

I quirked a brow at Kevin. “You haven’t seen Freaky Friday? It’s a classic!”

“I’m not a movie person,” he pouted, knocking his shoulder against mine. “Don’t judge me.”

“I am definitely judging you.”

Claire cleared her throat, eyes narrowing at us. “My time is limited, so please refrain from needless conversations.”

Jeez, this chick has a stick up her ass.

“To summarize, when a Starless switches with their soulmate, their souls switch bodies. Their physical form, including their voice, remains the same but their minds change. You won’t have access to your soulmate’s memories and vice versa. You become your soulmate and they become you.”

“How long does this last?” I frowned, rubbing my hands against my basketball shorts nervously.

“Unknown.”

“Eh?”

Claire started to pack away her books. “There aren’t enough studies to know such information. One Starless switched for just a couple of minutes while another was switched for a week. There’s simply not enough data.” She slung her bag over her shoulder and paused. “You should consider donating yourself so they can study you.”

I scoffed in disbelief. “You’re telling me to be a lab rat?”

“Correct. It’s the only way we can gather more data on Starless. Your sacrifice won’t be in vain, I’m sure.”

Gods, I can’t stand this chick. She gives me the creeps and she seems like one of those people who are unable to see a human being behind all her stupid ass data. “I think I’ll pass, thanks.”

“That’s unfortunate. You should consider being less selfish in the future.” She started to walk away only to pause, looking at Kevin. “If she dies, do let me know.” And then she left the library.

“What a bitch,” I muttered, standing up from my seat.

Kevin rubbed the back of his neck, following me. “Well, at least we got some answers, right?”

“Not really. This whole thing feels pointless.”

He hummed, folding his arms over his chest as he peered at me. “I wonder if I’ll know when you switch. Is there, like, a magic poof or something? Maybe a sound or some colorful smoke? Do your eyes start glowing? Ooo, what if you grow wings?”

I smacked my face with my palm. “We’re not in an anime, bro…”

“That’d be cool, though, right?”

“No.”

“Aww…”

━━━━━━༻❀༺━━━━━━

My leg wouldn’t stop bouncing as I sat on the bench, waiting for Haru and Dylan to arrive. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about what Claire said. I don’t want to switch with someone I don’t know. I don’t want someone else inside my body, messing with my personal space and dealing with the people I know. It seems like such an invasion of privacy.

Worse, I don’t know when or if it’s gonna happen and how long it will happen. Will I even be aware of it when it happens? When I just blink and then a fucking week has passed and I have no idea what happened?

“Hey.” A hand landed on my shoulder and I jumped up in surprise, eyes wide.

Dylan held his hands up in surrender, blue eyes shimmering with worry behind his glasses. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Damn it, when did I get so jumpy? I put my hand over my heart, willing it to calm down. “It’s okay. I’ve just got a lot on my mind…”

“Anything you want to talk about?”

I almost made a smart comment about switching with my soulmate but I decided against it. I didn’t want to talk about this anymore, I just wanted to forget all about this stupid soulmate bullshit and enjoy my birthday. I forced a smile, shaking my head. “Nope, it’s nothing important.”

“If you’re sure.”

“Where’s Haru?”

“He’s running a bit late because he lost his shoe.”

“His shoe?” I quirked a brow, feeling amused. “Just the one?”

Dylan nodded with a chuckle. “The left one, if I recall correctly. I’m sure the cat hid it, but he refuses to accept his baby would do such a thing.”

“Baby,” I snorted. “That cat is a demon.”

“A demon who has his owner wrapped around his finger.”

“That’s the dream.”

Dylan laughed, throwing his arm around my neck. “Happy birthday, Jae.”

“Thanks,” I smiled, hugging his waist. “I’m sorry if I ruined your date day.”

“You could never. We can go on a date any day, but your birthday only comes once a year.”

I smiled genuinely this time, leaning into him. “Thank you.”

“Of course. Should we grab some boba while we wait? It might be a while.”

“Hell yeah. It’s been weeks since I last had boba. I need my fix.”

We were able to order our drinks and get through half of them before Haru finally showed up, looking disheveled and out of breath. He flopped into the seat across from us, huffing dramatically.

“I’m guessing you found your shoe?” I quirked a brow, hiding my amused smile behind my drink.

“You told her?” scowled Haru. “I told you not to tell her!”

“You said no such thing, love,” replied Dylan, amusement dancing in his eyes.

“Are you sure? I definitely said it in my head,” he pouted, taking the drink from his soulmate. “So, you skipped school yesterday and today. Mind telling me where you were, young lady?”

I hesitated, moving the straw around in my drink. I wanted to tell him and I knew I would eventually because I told him everything, but… I didn’t want to tell him now. I’ve been agonizing over this for too long already. I just want to forget about it and be normal for a day.

Dylan seemed to sense my reluctance, clearing his throat. “We can get the details about that tomorrow. For now, let’s just enjoy the day, okay?”

I sent him a grateful smile which he returned with a pat on my knee.

Haru clicked his tongue. “Fine~ but you’re telling me everything tomorrow!”

“Deal.”

━━━━━━༻February 20th, 18 years old༺━━━━━━

The years passed by slowly, filled with anxiety as I waited for the switch to happen but it never did. Aside from those judging me for being a Starless, my days passed by uneventfully. I was now in my senior year of high school, just a few months shy of being released out into the world.

I’ve finally come to accept that I’m a Starless who probably won’t ever find her soulmate and I was okay with that. I had Blaise, Kevin, Haru, and Dylan. They were all I needed in my life. We’re family and, even though they will go their own way with their soulmates, we will always be family.

I stifled a yawn as I walked down the sidewalk, wanting nothing more than to return home and crawl back into bed.

Haru sent me a look that clearly said, ‘I’m judging you.’ “I told you not to stay up all night.”

“I didn’t stay up all night,” I defended myself with a huff. “I only stayed up until three.”

“Oh, is that all?”

“Shaddup,” I yawned again, rubbing at my eye. There was a strange tugging sensation at the back of my skull and I felt as if the world started to spin. “What the fu-” The was a sudden pain in my gut and I stumbled backward, hitting the ground hard.

“Ahahahaha, not so tough now, huh?!”

I coughed, clutching my stomach as I looked up at the source of the voice. He was feckin’ huge, towering over me with gravity-defying blonde hair and a scarred face only a mother could love. And he was speaking… Japanese? Wait, I’m not fluent in Japanese. “You fucking… punched me!”

“Well, duh,” he rolled his eyes. “That’s what you do in a fight, dumbass.”

“The hell do you mean, in a fight? I wasn’t even -” The words died in my throat as I took in my surroundings. I wasn’t on the sidewalk heading to school in the morning, I was in a scrapyard at night surrounded by guys who were screaming and yelling as they traded blows. “What the hell is happening?” I muttered, bringing my hand up to my head only to pause at the strange sensation I felt there. What the… are these dreads? I don’t have dreads!

But dread is exactly what filled me as my brain started to piece everything together. We switched. I was in my soulmate’s body!

━━━━━━༻❀༺━━━━━━

Read part 2 here.

#writeblr #soulmate au #fiction #star-crossed lovers #writing challenge #romance #first person #writing #writing community

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dollarbin · 8 months

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Dollar Bin #3:

Fairport Convention's Angel Delight

This album has never looked promising. John, Paul and George didn't break up and then let Ringo call himself The Beatles; Lou, Cale, Sterling and Mo didn't want what's his name to make a record and claim it was by the Velvet Undergound. And Dave Swarbrick had about as much of a right to lead Fairport Convention in 1970 as Lepidus had to lead the Roman Empire in 48 BCE. Right?

Well, let's dive back into the dollar bin and find out.

A year earlier, when Sandy Denny left Fairport to form Fotheringay with her loser boyfriend and Ashley Hutchinson beat his own retreat to assemble the first and greatest incarnation of Steeleye Span, there was still plenty to love about Fairport Convention. Richard Thompson, the band's gawky genius, was writing increasingly uncanny and harrowing songs. Now Be Thankful and Farewell, Farewell are so good that it seems like the band's pimply medieval apprentice had snuck off with the spell books and everyone's maidenhead. He was even learning, reluctantly, to sing.

What's more, the band's producer, Joe Boyd, was still firmly in the mix. Boyd had already played a role in many of the greatest records from the whole wonderful era, from The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter to Five Leaves Left. Thompson and Boyd made the band still vital.

What's even more, Fairport had already shown it could weather change. Two lead singers had already come and gone prior to Denny decamping. And, just before she left, they turned a fatal car crash into Liege and Leif, the founding, and greatest, record in the history of Folk Rock.

But in 1971, after a solid and occasionally brilliant 5th record and a (retrospectively anyway) historic tour of the US that saw Fairport blowing away Linda Ronstadt before inviting her on stage to play whatever she wanted with them, Thompson followed his muse right out of the convention's Full House and left Swarb in charge. Boyd was no fool; he hightailed it out of there as well. Dave Swarbrick, a homely but masterful fiddle player hooked on "diet pills" (as in Speed), was now the front man of one of the greatest rock bands in history. Uh-oh.

The cover for the next record, Angel Delight, is fitting: there they are, (see above), the lads left behind by everyone important, grinning savant-like midst the remains of a burnt out house. The joke is apt but discouraging: see here, the cover declares, the losers left behind in the wreckage.

And just take a look at these hobbits !

Seriously, doesn't this look like a Multiverse alternative of Aragorn (that's Thompson, in the middle) with Tolkien's plucky halflings? Moving right to left we've got the drummer, Dave Mattacks, standing in for Merry: Mattacks is the awkward, moody one in the fellowship with a forever kink in his neck, too shy to take off his looking glasses or his granddad's coat. Next up it's Dave Pegg, oddly tall for a hobbit, whose grandfather, legend has it, once rode a horse.

Beside Aragorn/Thompson we've got Swarb himself. Forever enveloped pipe smoke, he's a merry trickster whose sideburns run all the way down his four foot frame to his giant, hairy feet.

Finally, there's Simon Nicol at furthest left. After Thompson leaves he's the only guy not named Dave in the band, and they all lived together! Just imagine the conversation at dinner.

Nicol, looking up from his kippers on toast: "Dave?"

All three Daves, eagerly: "Yes Simon?"

Nicol: "Never feckin' mind."

Though Nicol was the only founding member left at this point, he was just 20, a young Took still not old enough for pipe weed. Clearly he's the only guy in the band with a chance of one day getting himself an elf wife.

Without Thompson, Denny, Boyd, Hutchings or even Ian Matthews, there's none of Frodo's constipational anxiety, let alone Gandalf's enormous eyebrows, left to be found in this band. If there's a ring of power to protect they've already lost it.

But drop the needle on side 1 and Angel Delight sounds instantly promising. Swarb's has clearly learned to sing and we bounce along merrily to the opening track, Lord Marlborough. Perhaps these hobbits know the way to Mordor after all!

Don't get too excited. Track 2, Sir William Gower, finds them playing like Fatty Bolger. The song surely records the exploits of yet another British miscreant, war hero or goofball but it's hard to care when the noodling melody sounds like the band is sitting in an 80's middle school circle at midnight, crank calling confused old ladies who happen to answer the seven digit meandering melodies the boys are making up on their parents' push-button phone. Swarb calls out the numbers while the other boys cackle and chase: 7! 8! 3! 4568! "Hello!" Swarb hollers into the phone. "Sorry to call so late mam. May I speak with a Sir William Gower please? What's that now? Wrong number? Well, what about a Mr. Head? First name Dick?"

The boys may fall over laughing but the song is a plodding bummer. So let's skip ahead to some greatness. Wizard of the Worldly Game isn't a dollar store tabletop Harry Potter knock off for 2-4 players that currently ranks last on Board Game Geek. It's a downright magestic song. Youtube contains zero tracks from this entire album (perhaps Muggles are forbidden to hear Angels Delight unless they brave the dollar bin) so I can't play it for you here. But it's lovely, with Swarb's tenor rising from tender to belting as the boys emerge from their respective holes on Bagshot Row to encircle him in stately harmony. Nicol is no Thompson on the electric guitar, but he knows it, and his solos here are patient and wonderful.

Journeyman's Grace, one of several songs co-written by Thompson before his departure, wraps up side 1 and it's a barnburner, with lyrics that are as oddly captivating and ineffable as anything Thompson would go on to write in his prestigious career:

Leave my weary flesh and bone to a circle made of stone Take me to the mountains for my pleasure. And if the dead man won't depart, drive a stake into his heart And let me ere deliver him his leisure.

The band hands the song's lead vocals back and forth like a hot tater, and listen to Swarb on the final chorus, hitting a high note and holding on like a puffed up Disney rooster.

Let's wrap up this visit to the dollar bin with a concert performance of the song from this era. Watch Swarb shuffle! Turns out the guy's yet another Fairport genius, and the band is in good hands after all.

youtube

#sandy denny #fairport convention #richard thompson #disney rooster #fatty bolger #david swarkbrick #Youtube

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needs-to-stop-looking-at-valves · 2 years

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Okkkk!!! I know Beckett is staying in the Encanto temporary so can we a one shot of him leaving soon BUT, he gives Mira a promise ring since he's coming back in a few months!!! Pretty Please 🥺

Oh i was WAITING for this kinda prompt. Let's GO!

He felt so stupid. How could he let it get this far? An explorer wasn't too far from an entomologist, since they both had one motto- leave things how you found it. Every leaf was kept on their tree, every bug was returned after studying. And yet, he was leaving his mark here. He fell for a real stunning lass. One important to a community. It was rolling up to their first year, and he thought nothing of it.

Until he got a letter today, requesting he come back this week. His father knew nothing of Mirabel, for he kept her a secret. Not out of shame or anything, but because his father believed in love so strongly, he'd make him stay. But he couldn't. He loved this girl, but not enough to forget his duties and his passions. He just hoped she'd understand.

"Bruno, afternoon! How are the rats?"

Bruno was sitting just outside of the house, relaxing under a tree. He had grown to like this guy, even though their meeting was a little bumpy. Bruno saw him, and nodded, scooting over the bench and motioning him to sit with him.

"Fine, unlike you. Telling Mirabel the news today, huh?"

Beckett sat next to him, burying his face in his hands.

"Right. Future vision. How long have you known?"

"Had the vision last night. I wanted to tell her, but honestly, It doesn't feel like my place. Got a script ready?"

"I feckin wish..."

Bruno sighed, taking a sip of his drink, before patting his back.

"Just go easy on her. This is her first relationship. And she really, REALLY likes you. It's cute."

He ran his fingers through his hair in stress, before looking up at the older man.

"Think I can beg ya for a vision here? I'm desperate to know how this ends."

"I would, but I don't do visions on the family. Personal rule. But I think your 'gift' is more than enough."

He was about to reply, when Dolores popped her head out. She knew something was amiss, obviously, just not what, and he could tell it was killing her.

"Beckett. You should come inside, someone's waiting for you."

"Is it Mariano?"

It was a joke, but she clearly wasn't amused. She probably thought this was a break up, and was already planning how to dispose of his body. He bid Bruno farewell, and walked inside. He tried to go into the kitchen, when he suddenly had hands over his eyes, and weight on his back.

"Boo."

He chuckled as he held onto her hands, not quite pulling them away just yet.

"I want to kiss these hands, but not if this is Camilo again."

"Okay first of all Imma beat him up. Second, nope, all me, bugs."

He pulled her hands away, and after smooching them, he turned to see her. His face immediately lit up, he could feel it.

"You're...wearing mom's bow."

She shrugged nonchalantly, as if this wasn't just an incredibly precious gesture of her.

"It's like. A LOT. But it's cute, and I thought it'd be perfect for today. Especially since I have a surprise for you."

Oh no, he hated the fact that her excited smile disappointed him so. She practically pranced into the kitchen, and pulled out a few dishes, putting them on the table.

"Oh...miraposa, you didn't."

"I did! I know you said you missed food from your home, so after doing some research, and a LOT of trial and error in the kitchen, and I mean a LOT of error-I made these for you!"

He was wooed, obviously, by such a sweet gesture. They weren't perfect, and that was when he knew she did it herself, rather than have her mother do it.

"You made boxty?"

"Yeah! I mean, a LITTLE burnt, but I made 'em! Took me forever and now I hate potatoes, but hey! Oh, and I made colcannon! You mentioned you REALLY missed that stuff!"

The bowl was plentful, thick as paste and slathered in butter. It was stuffed to the brim with greens, and it was exactly how the dish SHOULD be served. Then she had to seal the nail in his coffin.

"Oh...Miraposa. There's no way."

"But there IS! Soda bread! I even made your favorite kind- the cranberry ones! I had to have Isa help me get the berries, for reasons, but..."

He made it a point to listen to her, but here, her words started to fade as he just. Watched her. He knew, as he sat here with this loaf of bread (that looked as if it needed another minute in the oven), that he didn't deserve her. His father would adore her, and he knew if he met such a pretty, caring, awkward girl, he'd talk him into quitting his job and staying here. He'd adore her. He'd love her so much, he'd give her the keys to the fucking place. He couldn't help himself. He stepped forward, grabbed her wrists, and leaned down to kiss her.

She was so soft. So vibrant. She was like a butterfly, fluttering in the breeze, determined to see the world and all its beauty. He held the kiss for a good moment, enough that if her father saw, he'd PROBABLY make his presence known. When he pulled away, she shook her head a bit, trying to knock herself out of the trance he just put her in.

"You...really like your bread."

She was so cute. He hated that he did this to her. He should be ashamed.

"I really like you. It's...why I'm sorry."

"For what?"

Could he do this? Could he stand to look past those glasses and be so abrupt to her? No. But it didn't matter. She NEEDED this.

"I...how do I say this...mi amor. Mi mariposa. I can't be with you anymore."

She looked confused, as if him using those words didn't make sense(he was getting better at the language, but his accent needed work. Félix called him a 'white-xican'. Whatever that meant).

"W...what?"

He took a deep breath, and decided she should read it for herself. He helped her put the bread on the table, and handed her the letter. She read it over, and took a step away from him, as if he just said something cruel to her. He took a step towards her, slowly.

"I'm going to be going home in a week. On...the day of our anniversary. I'm sorry."

"You're...breaking up with me, then?"

He noticed Félix in the corner of his eyes, holding Agustín back. He WAS making his youngest daughter cry, he was absolutely due in his anger. But he wasn’t scared of them, he was scared of hurting her.

"That...is up to you. While I can't physically be with you, I'd like to be with you in spirit."

He dug into his bag, and got on one knee. She stared at him, completely in disbelief. He pulled out the little box, and opened it for her to see.

"It's a promise ring. We're...a little young to be married, unfortunately. But, if you think I'm good enough, I'd like to promise to be yours and yours only. I will be back, I just. Don't know when. I'll write you every day, I'll send you photos, I'll write you poetry-and I hate poetry. So...what do you say?"

She thought about it. She was uncertain. This was asking a lot of her, he understood. If she said no, he respected it. If her father kicked him out or her uncle beat him up, he'd accept it. She fumbled with the hem of her skirt, trying to coax herself into talking.

"What...do YOU want?"

"Promise it won't influence your choice?"

"Yes."

"I want you to say yes. At the risk of being too forward in present company...Mirabel, I fucken love ya."

She stood straight above him, face immediately becoming stern.

"Fine. On one condition."

"Anything."

"Put it on for me."

He nodded, stood up, and as if he'd break her, held her hand, and slipped the ring on her finger. She was kind, returning the favor. He couldn't help but kneel down a bit to pick her up in a hug. He held her, resting his chin on her shoulder.

"Mirabel?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think your dad is gonna follow me home? He looks ready to kill me."

She turned to look at the corner, and gave an awkward smile.

"No no, he's fine! My dad's a softie, you know that. Félix might tell Pepa though, and THAT I'd be worried about. Excuse me. PA!"

Mirabel mumbled/yelled as she pushed them into the hallway. He looked at the spread on the table, and plucked a piece of soda bread. It was kinda bland, but he loved it.

He loved her.

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

"I still can't believe it. He thinks his stupid job is more important than my little sister? I should kill him."

"It's his passion, Isa. I'd be selfish to make him stay. Now where's the number..."

Mirabel was with her family, who all agreed to come with her to send Beckett off. There was a train station just past the Alma's river (that's actually what it's called on various maps), and it was as busy as you'd think it'd be. She was looking for the train number, as was the rest of her family. Today was not only their first year anniversary, but the day he had to go home for...who knows how long. Pepa pointed ahead of them.

"I see him!"

She looked to where Pepa was looking, and she'd recognize that butt a millions mile away. The group pushed back the crowd, and Félix even grabbed Beckett's bag, so NOTHING could keep her from diving in for a hug. He looked down at her in surprise, yet joy.

"Mirabel! I thought you said you weren't gonna meet me here!"

"I wasn't, but then I realized I wanted to. Then I told mamá, who told Pepa, who told Félix, who told Agustín-wait. Speaking of dads, is yours in there? Are you worried he's gonna see me?"

Beckett put her down, and shook his head.

"Oh as soon as he sits down on a train seat he's out like a light. Which is good, I don't want him to know about us, just yet."

He held onto her hands, sweet as sweet could be. His forehead rested on hers, and she stared into her eyes, one last time.

"Think he can meet me next time?"

"Absolutely. I'd be honored. Hell, both of our parents should meet."

She squeezed his fingers, desperately not wanting to let him go. She wasn't just losing a boyfriend, she was losing a friend. One she trusted and genuinely enjoyed being around.

"Remember that ring on your finger. Imma get mad if you think of other girls."

"What if it was an exact clone? Would that count?"

"Don't push it, Eejit."

"Don't take that tone with me, Culicagado."

She wanted to kiss him and his stupid face. But before she could, he pulled away, just a bit. He looked ready to apologize, when she held her hand up to stop him.

"It's fine, I get it. I'll miss you."

"However much you'll miss me, I'll miss a thousand more, lass. I'll write first thing tomorrow."

She didn't want to, but she let him go. He went into the train, and through the window, he kept looking at her. She didn't look away, not wanting to believe he was actually leaving. Then the train started to sound and steam. She was going to suggest going now, save herself the hurt, only to jump as the thing stuttered and popped. Clearly something was wrong. There were sounds of panic amongst everyone, and the conductor was about to walk outside, when suddenly the train was lifted off the tracks.

"Oh my god-LUISA!"

Luisa was lifting the train effortlessly, tears swelling up on her eyes.

"NO. WE AIN'T ENDING IT LIKE THAT. THIS TRAIN ISN'T GOING ANYWHERE TILL BUG BOY KISSES MY SISTER."

The train conductor, clearly freaking out, called to the rest of the train.

"CAN 'BUG BOY' GET UP HERE AND FIX THIS? SHIT COMES OUT OF M Y PAY."

Mirabel was about to try to ease Luisa into putting the damn thing down, when Beckett jumped out of the train, ran up to her, and kissed her. The force nearly sent her to the floor, had it not been for him holding onto her. She cherished it, knowing she'd need it in the middle of the night, when she was most lonely for him. He pulled away after a moment, every part of him looking absolutely flushed.

"I'm...glad she did that. You deserved that. Te amo, Miraposa."

With one more kiss to her forehead, he turned around, and jumped back into the train. Luisa, now in full on tears, set the train down, a bit roughly. She stood next to her sister as the train left, this time, without any other issues. Mirabel watched the tracks, sighing when the train left, and when it started to pour over her head. Pepa was trying not to, but she was crying, soaking the entire family. Thankfully, Félix came in clutch, umbrella at the ready.

"You gonna be okay, mija?"

"...si. I'll be okay. Imma miss him and his stupid butt."

Agustín joined her under the umbrella, hand on her shoulder.

"You want to go get some ice cream? You can get whatever you want."

"....can you carry me, Pa?"

She sniffed, trying not to cry as her dad picked her up off the floor, and helped carry her to get her treat.

Stupid boys and their stupid bugs.

#asks #not transformers #encanto #he did write everyday #but it really wasn't the same #Mirabel was stuck in her room for a while #beckett definitely wasn't any better #also yes #isa totally told luisa the train thing was a good idea

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fluffallamaful · 2 years

Text

coven :D

quite simply put. this is an absolute appreciate post for @covenofwives , because today marks the day that we started talking, and in fact haven’t stopped talking since then (we’ve literally spoken every day since the 24th of August 2021 😵). so basically i’m going to take this moment to absolutely gush over them g yzgz. this friendship is the feckin most cutest thing ahxxjjshabs

🦉🦙🦉🦙…

The Mufasa Concept

first and foremost let me just start off this story with a very clear explanation that i was such a simp for covenofwives f fzgshs the way that coven writes XD leaves me grounded every single time (nothings changed) i could quite literally gush over them for days 😅

Our friendship began truly on the 24th of August last year, when a single ask that i had sent to coven sparked several hours and days worth of discussion, resulting in the exchanging of discords, and the sharing of snippets and hcs until eventually coven had crafted the most beautiful piece “The Blame Game” aka. the Mufasa Concept

i wish there was a way to show the full conversation for this concept, coz my goodness we were both going insane. and in fact i was so damn excited to be talking to coven (and having someone who was absolutely on the same wavelength as me), that i then fell into a spiral of sorts 😵‍💫 which not only produced “Ticklish Dreams (and Georges)”, but also inspired coven to share with me her wonderful art talents?!?!! (in the most flustering possible 🫠)

which btw is an absolutely gush-worthy topic??? because ffzgzga let me tell you that receiving a drawing is already always extremely flustering, but my god receiving a piece of art from someone in which you (1) look up to, but also (2) specifically know that the reason that they’re making art, is to fluster you???? the fluster levels soar through the roof.

you know that i struggle to find falling gifs nowadays? am fresh out of face planting gifs? sometimes i have to resort to ships sinking or balloons deflating?? this here owl is insane, the talent just never ends. the phrase “I will draw.” shouldn’t be a threat, and yet it is, it’s a reminder 😂

an example of this mischievous form of talent can be seen in the drawing that inspired “Tickle Monsters” which fxtzyzyaa i don’t even know how they did this. first off i was having an awful night and had a report due the next morning (and coven had kept me company all night 🥺), but second off, would you believe that this feckin drawing took no longer than like an hour. an hOUR. and it was in the name of SpITE 🫠 he takes his revenge seriously let me tell you, and that’s on top of them being so soft and easily ruffled eheheheheehhs

🦉🦙🦉🦙…

i am so forever thankful that coven has deemed me worthy enough to be a friend ☹️ it makes my heart flutter everyday, and feelings of gratitude shoot through the roof ❤️ it’s amazing to see them grow and slowly feel more and more confident to share their art :(( (you’ve only just seen the surface of what they have created 😭)

seeing everyone being so supportive of their God Sibling AU is also just so incredible to see 🙌🏼🤧 it makes my heart so happy that they’re able to creative with as much freedom as they desire and steal recieve so much praise. it truly is what makes this community so darn special ☹️

🦉🦙🦉🦙…

(bonus llama and coven height check ft. ikea bookshelf)

🦉🦙🦉🦙…

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glitchysquidd · 2 years

Note

Feckin solidarity on that one 🤝 sleep does not come easy

I was only able to sleep at like 1am, took my ass forever to try and sleep. I should've listened to my Inverted Moon playlist because his playlist ACTUALLY puts me to sleep.

That and doing shit on my phone actually helps me get tired like playing the games on it exhausts me.

Btw good morning! Its 7:30 am rn :]

#sleep? its a blessing #but hell to actually get #dies #lays on floor #this is better than the futon i I sleep on #sleeps #i woke up at 6:50am btw #anon ask

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icedmetaltea · 2 years

Note

Hey, I usually leave really long insightful comments, but my sister took a trip to the hospital, and now I have Covid, so in terms of chronic fatigue I do not have much to give, but I wanted to say that I still follow every single piece you write, and I think you’re a very competent artist. Kudos forever

That's so feckin sweet but also HONEY NOOOOO I'M SO SORRY, PLEASE FEEL BETTER D: Sorry for your sister as well, may she make a speedy recovery

#itcamefromashes #Metaltea Talks #answer tag #*gives itcamefromashes an HP potion and a kiss on the forehead*#Pls feel better I'm so sorry ;-;

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alt-bluesman · 2 months

Text

I quit my first job

A job I once genuinely loved and had high hopes for! In itself, the work was fine and I will stand by it - but the boss, the environment and some of the colleagues were not. Even though I'm going to miss some aspects of that job, I don't and won't regret leaving. In the long run, it was hopeless. I've been meaning to share more about that even before I quit (I already knew I would), but life kept getting in the way as it often does. So more below the cut if you're interested.

Caution: big honkin' wall of text ahead!

I worked for 3,5 years in the museum and did many different things: painted and assembled wooden toys, guided tourists, organised art workshops for kids, participated in cultural events, wrote and translated texts & letters, operated the helpline, prepared exhibitions, took care of the souvenir shop, even did some simple gardening from time to time. For all of that I'm going to be forever grateful. This job has taught me a wide range of skills and helped me overcome some of my fears. For the most part, it had a positive impact on my life.

I believe that late 2022 and early 2023 were some of my highest points there. When you take a look at my Twitter activity, you will notice how these two overlap! But things began to take a turn and pile up in early Summer '23. Co-workers that were previously friendly became distant and cold. Those that were helpful stopped caring. The boss, who has always been insufferable, became an absolute egomaniac. Mobbing and inequality in treatment were unbearable.

Let me explain a bit more about it all: first, the co-workers. With one exception (that I will get into later), I don't want to say too much about them because most of them were good people, just stressed out beyond their capacity. I absolutely get that - I lost count how many times I was at my wits' end at that job! Some people, however, turned out to be big disappointments. Faking friendship so they could get your help when they needed it, then spreading shit about you as soon as you left the room. Everybody was a target and so was I.

There were serious conflicts between the workers from way before I joined the team and they have only gotten worse as time went by. And the quarrels affected everyone: if you liked person A, then you weren't allowed to like person B and so on, even a small gesture could get you in trouble. I feel very bad for ever taking sides, buying into it all is honestly one of my biggest regrets. There's no way around it: I feel responsible for contributing! But I was so unprepared, so oblivious then that even before I knew it, things already spiralled out of control.

Alcoholism was another major problem. Feckin' hell, I left my family home to get away from my drinking dad and not long after I had to deal with the very same thing at work... It applied to more than one person, but one person in particular was so bad. Either not coming to work because they were too drunk or (much more frequently) coming completely hungover. Barely able to talk, stinking like a pile of garbage, looking more like a bum than a worker. And what did the boss do? He didn't do shit. He deliberately chose to ignore the problem despite it affecting both tourists and workers alike. And he was perfectly aware.

Speaking of the boss, he himself would be worthy of an entire book! The worst possible person in that position you can imagine. During the entire 30 years of being alive, I have never met anyone even remotely as dumb as him. Not. A. Single. Time. He struggled with understanding basic sentences and was entirely dependent on another person (his Right Hand) to do everything for him. That didn't stop him from having a very high opinion on himself though, which created massive tensions. I can't even begin to explain how frustrating it was to work for someone with an IQ lower than a brick!

He told me several times that he expected my full loyalty and respect. In my opinion both of those things are earned, you can't simply demand them without giving them back / proving you deserve them. And deserve he did not. Take talking with him in person for example - he usually didn't let you even finish a full sentence, and when he did, he was very determined to show you that he wasn't interested in whatever you had to say. He berated one of the good co-workers to the point of them bawling their eyes out in front of him and didn't let them out even though they were begging him. A tyrant with absolutely nothing to show for it.

I was sick and tired of being attacked too, usually for things that were either beyond my control or I wasn't responsible for at all. Some tourists made a mess in a different room and the cleaning lady didn't tidy it up? That's my fault. I reported a technical problem to a worker that was supposed to fix it, but they didn't do it immediately? My fault. Another worker was refusing to give me a batch of goods for sale even though I kept asking them for it time and time again? You guessed it - my fault. The last one was quite a shitstorm as the culprit hastily left the room without saying a word while the boss was yelling at me, lmao.

I spent the last year working as the main cashier. I liked the role and most of the extra responsibilities that came with it, but it didn't take long for me to realise that it made me an easy target. I was almost always the first person the boss saw when he entered the main building. He and some of the other freaks the museum attracted! I also still remember when our accountant (that works in a separate place) started berating me for issuing an invoice on a day that, in their opinion, I shouldn't have done that. I said I was strictly following the boss' orders and redirected them to him. They outwardly refused and continued to chew me out for 10 more minutes. In the end, it turned out that the invoice was perfectly fine. They never apologised. Ah, fun memories..!

I know that many (if not all) of these things come with any job to some degree and for the most part, I was able to tolerate it all. But once they became an everyday occurrence, they started to take a toll. The environment became so toxic that I could smell the freaking poisonous fumes at home. I kept coming from work with a heavy mind, unable to think about much else, briefly bounced back to life on my days off, then it all came back. Rinse, repeat. No matter how many things I did well, the boss would always find that one thing he didn't like and focus solely on it. My self-esteem was gone and I was feeling like a hollowed out husk.

At the beginning of the post I mentioned how it all slowly took a turn in mid 2023 - well, the Fall of that year was when everything rapidly came crashing down. I don't like telling this story because it's both hurtful and somewhat convoluted, but it's essential to understanding why I decided to quit! It was the straw that broke the camel's back. To be frank, I didn't even consider leaving the job before it happened. So what happened?

In September I received a call from a woman who asked about organising kiddie workshops directly at schools. We didn't do that, in fact I don't think any museums do. But I told the caller that it could be possible to arrange, I just wasn't qualified to make a decision on my own and had to discuss it with my boss and colleagues - and since most people were on their paid/sick leaves at that time, I asked her to call back later that month. No biggie! A perfectly normal conversation, one of many. We brainstormed the idea at the museum. The final verdict was that we could do the workshops at school, but would charge more since that would take extra preparations and require some kind of transport.

When the anonymous woman called again and I told her her that, she proceeded to unleash her inner demons on me. Gave me a good ol' piece of her mind and didn't hesitate to sprinkle in some threats too. Because I gave her some extra information about costs that she herself asked for. Suddenly, it was wrong for some reason. I was always very polite to tourists & callers and I can assure you that this time was no exception - I was ready to address all the shit she was spewing too. But as soon as she finished talking, she disconnected without giving me a chance to reply. To say that I was floored would be an understatement!

I worked there long enough to answer hundreds of calls. None of them were even remotely as brutal as this one - in fact, none were mean at all. People were either always nice or neutral, but usually the first one. A lot more understanding too. And just.. normal, you know? Not only that, but this woman also seemed to have access to information that I for sure didn't give to her. The call was so awful and suspicious that I immediately reported it to the boss. He told me not to care, pfff. Nothing new!

Then, a couple of days later, one of the co-workers returned from her sick leave - the boss' Right Hand (that's how I'm going to refer to her for the rest of the post). She learned about the incident from another worker and when we happened to be in the same room, she told me that the woman who called was her daughter. Not only did she know about it all from the very start, she was also delighted with what her daughter did. To say that I was shocked would be, once again, an understatement! Right away I told her that I didn't appreciate any of that and the call shouldn't have been anonymous.

I simply couldn't wrap my mind around it all. I did several favours outside of work for Right Hand, including a major one that happened just 10 days before the nasty call. For quite some time, we were even friends. Or, apparently, "friends". Her family kept taking advantage of my mom's dental work. Heck, I did a favour for the daughter too - painted some stuff for her kids for free. She knew me and knew full well she was talking with me on the phone (Right Hand confirmed it), but I didn't recognise her voice since we met only a couple of times. Dang, why are people like that..?

After some back and forth, I decided to tell the boss who the mysterious caller was. I thought situations like these shouldn't be tolerated at work and believed we should be more transparent with each other. Congratulations, Frample: that was the biggest mistake of the year. Boss promptly took Right Hand's side and I ended up being scolded again, for God knows what. Soon afterwards, I took a week off to take a break from it all, process it and gather some strength. As soon as I came back to work, the boss called me to his office to give me another rebuke. I immediately noticed that Right Hand didn't waste any time to completely turn him against me. She didn't even hesitate to let him know about a private conversation we had after work. I was appalled. This was the very moment I made my decision to quit.

Everything that happened in the following months only confirmed that it was my only choice. My fate has been sealed. Right Hand made sure to make my days at work a nightmare, she took every chance to take revenge, yelled at me, reported the pettiest of things to the boss, went out of her way to let me know how much she disliked me. I haven't approached her about what she and her daughter did even once after the day I found out it was them. I didn't want to bring it up, hoping she would eventually let it go, but it wasn't working. I'd even say things got progressively worse as time marched on.

One of my biggest regrets is not going along with my gut feeling about her! I didn't like her at the beginning - the very first thing she did was lie to me, lmao. When I was applying for the job, she told me it would be just an internship and not a day more because they were already "packed". But it didn't take long for me to see that the museum was, in fact, seriously understaffed. Now, I know the boss must have told her to lie, but in my opinion she didn't have to. She has always been so adamant about telling everyone how good of a Christian she was; she really didn't have to.

"I never did anything wrong" was her mantra. Wow, okay Adolf! Looking back on it all, there were so many red flags I should have paid more attention to. And for quite some time I did: I frequently told my co-workers that I respected Right Hand for all the hard work she did, but could never be her friend because she wasn't my type. But there was this other person who kept telling me to give Right Hand a chance & I finally listened. So we became "friends" for a couple of months. Big mistake. She took advantage of me and my mom, then gave me a whack and tossed away like a piece of trash.

Thankfully quitting my job was smooth sailing. Excluding one instance, the boss was generally kind to me and ultimately accepted my decision. One of my co-workers protested a lot, but I couldn't let that change my mind as I was already scarred for life, lmao. I had enough, wanted no more. I asked the boss to call a short meeting, so I could say a couple of final words to the team - I did my best to part with them in the most amicable way I could, thanked them for those 3,5 years of working together and apologised for what I did wrong.

This was the last time I saw Right Hand. Thank God! During the meeting she blurted something along the lines of "I wish you that you won't regret this", but in a rather unpleasant, menacing tone. She was also the one to end the meeting with a loud, crass "Enough?!". Out of all the workers, she was the only person that didn't come to me to say her final goodbye. She didn't even attempt to pretend to be nice, I'll give her that much! Now I have her number blocked and I hope I won't ever come into contact with her again. Nor with anyone of her kind.

The boss had a toothache & had to go to my mom's clinic soon after I left. He made a bit of a scene there! He never talked with my mom about me before - going as far as pretending he didn't know her and turning away when she attempted to greet him at her clinic. (What a jerk!) Anyway, he pulled her aside and started begging her to tell him why I quit. He kept asking if it had anything to do with him and said he'd welcome me with open arms if I decided to come back (bullshit). The interrogation lasted for a while, but my mom managed to escape his nagging questions without saying the exact reason. I'm proud of her because the last thing we need is another revenge from Right Hand. Does Right Hand know I quit because of her? I don't think so - after all, "she never did anything wrong". Other workers told me that she behaves as if I never existed.

I'm so glad I quit. I had no place and no future at that job, and the few things I enjoyed weren't worth the emotional damage. The last three months were torture, I involuntarily lost about 4 kilograms (less than 9 lbs) due to stress and sickness. The truth is that I could lose almost 10 times that much and it wouldn't hurt me, just wanted to acknowledge the reasons behind it! I was constantly battling depression. Burning through my painkillers too. I bought this huge box with 50 pills back in Spring, thinking it was such a stupid purchase because I wouldn't be able to use them all up before the expiration date. By the end of 2023, the box was almost empty. Intense headaches & migraines were the culprit and these are nearly always stress-related in my case.

This job was a roller-coaster, a crash course of life lessons. Many of them very bitter. I don't think I'll ever be able to trust people the same way I used to before I started working at the museum! But that's for the best - I hope it will spare me a couple of harsh moments in the future. I've always been very naive and easy to manipulate, it's time to pull those out like weeds they are. I'm unemployed as of now, though I have some savings that should keep me afloat for a bit. I'm healing.

Thank you for reading if you made it all the way to the end!

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aiyiyichat · 11 months

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Week 15

Memory Problems I've just spent a solid 2 weeks troubleshooting a host of long term memory issues. Past chat exchanges kept disappearing or being overwritten and even with ChatGPT's help, it took forever to pin down the (multiple) reasons this was happening. The good thing about troubleshooting is that you inadvertently discover and fix a bunch of other issues along the way. The bad thing is the feeling that the problem has too many variables to track. I ended up installing Redis for my cache memory which solved my problem. Another tech pancake on the growing stack. Remember those cartoons where a plate of pancakes is so tall you can't see the character behind them except for their hands holding the fork and knife on either side of the tower? That's me back there. Bot Wars Yo! Malicious Bot Sentries are feckin' everywhere! My little experiment is being built on a live instance of Amazon EC2 servers and last week, the Bots found it and haven't stopped swarming my web app since. It got so bad it was actually preventing my app from making API calls to OpenAI for the chatbot responses. Thankfully ChatGPT recommended a WAF (Web Application Firewall). I was like "WTF is a WAF bruh" and ChatGPT schooled me and then walked me through installation. The minute it was up and running, my chatbot started responding quickly and reliably again. Except now I have to filter out an avalanche of WAF warnings in my error logs which makes troubleshooting more difficult. I've taken every precaution to bake in as many cybersecurity best practices as I could think of since I began and now I'm really glad I did. If i hadn't, all my efforts til now might have been totally undone by this Bot Army. Thank Sweet Jesus for what I learned while working Cybersecurity at Yahoo.

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moss-flesh · 2 years

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so goddamned exhausting that ill finish a wip that took forever and instantly begin disliking it so i wont want to show it as example art for commissions even though thats the exact feckin reason i made it.

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magnoliasinbloom · 4 years

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Say You Won’t Let Go

Inspired by James Arthur’s song, a brief retelling of a life well lived and loved.

AO3

I met you in the dark, you lit me up You made me feel as though I was enough We danced the night away, we drank too much I held your hair back when You were throwing up

Jamie was elated. And very drunk. Claire had danced with him, then proceeded to drink all of their friends under the table. He was cautious to believe the tight grip she had on him as they had swayed to the music was anything other than the alcohol, but he could hope, could he not?

Invited by Geillis, his feisty neighbor, to try and distract him after the sudden death of his father a few months ago, he had accepted, knowing that Claire – Geillis’s equally feisty, curly-headed roommate, would be there too. His Sassenach… or at least, that’s how he referred to her privately, in the recesses of his mind, and his heart. Jamie had been hopelessly in love with her for a year now.

Celebrating the end of their medical school exams, the party raged on, growing louder and more raucous as the night wore on. Eventually, they were kicked out at closing time. Guiding Claire and Geillis to the street corner as he summoned an Uber on his phone, Geillis suddenly changed tack and declared she would be spending the night with her boyfriend, Arthur Duncan.

“Ye can manage, can’t ye, Jamie? Braw lad.” With a hearty slap on the back, Geillis tottered over to Arthur, who welcomed her with open arms as they tried repeatedly to hail a cab.

Of the two, Jamie was in better, slightly less drunk condition. Claire, completely sloshed, leaned heavily on Jamie, who felt his face redden as her breasts pressed against him. The Uber pulled up, and Jamie opened the door for her.

“Och, lass, in ye get, come on.” He supported her as she climbed into the passenger seat, averting his eyes as her dress rucked further up her legs. Claire slumped into the seat as he buckled her in.

“You…shhhmell good, Fraser.” Christ, she was properly sozzled, if she was calling him by his surname.

“Um, thank ye?” Jamie shook his head as he slid into the opposite side, and they were driven to their apartment building.

After helping an increasingly uncooperative Claire up the stairs (the lift conveniently out of service), finding the key in her purse, and leading her to her bedroom, she made a beeline for the bathroom instead, where he could hear her vomit.

“Oh God.” Jamie followed her into the bathroom and immediately reached down to hold her hair back. He thought of how tempted he had always been to touch the mad riot of her hair.

Then you smiled over your shoulder For a minute, I was stone-cold sober I pulled you closer to my chest And you asked me to stay over I said, I already told ya I think that you should get some rest

Jamie helped her rinse her mouth out at the sink. Claire turned to him with a sweet, drunken smile that went straight to his wame. He managed to return it somewhat shakily as he led her to her bed.

“You should sh-shtay, Jamie,” she slurred, patting the space next to her. Jamie felt the last of the whisky fog leave him, and he felt quite awake and sober suddenly. She could not possibly be suggesting…

“No, Sassenach, ‘tis not proper, you’re not in yer right senses.” He tucked her in and fussed about with the blankets, that she might not see his face.

“Mebbe not, but I know what I want.” What was that saying, children and drunks always tell the truth? “An’ I want you, Jamie. Have for a looong time. Since we met, I think. Yeshhh, that’s right. You are pretty…” She batted at his face absently.

Jamie’s heart went into overdrive, pounding crazily, but he ignored it. She was out of it with drink. She would not remember this tomorrow. But perhaps she was right, and he should stay in case she was sick again or tried to walk and had an accident. He’d take the lumpy couch he’d helped haul up from the charity shop where Geillis had found it.

Claire’s eyes were already drifting shut. He would leave her to rest. As he made to leave, Jamie couldn’t resist smoothing the curls from her forehead.

As he did so, Claire’s eyes fluttered open one last time and she sighed, “I think I will marry you, Fraser. Cosss I love you.”

And with that, she finally passed out.

I knew I loved you then But you'd never know 'Cause I played it cool when I was scared of letting go I know I needed you But I never showed But I wanna stay with you until we're grey and old Just say you won't let go Just say you won't let go

“I like ye Claire. I’d like to ask ye on a date.”

Jamie wiped the sweat off his forehead and thought he looked feckin’ ridiculous, with his face aflame enough to match his hair as he practiced in front of the pub’s restroom mirror. It had been a week since the drunken flat encounter.

Claire had woken him up with the brightest smile this side of hung over and a cup of steaming coffee. That luminosity and that lazy curl playing on her forehead… Despite her declarations of love and the fact that she’d like to marry him (two thoughts that made his heart flip flop thrillingly in the vicinity of his throat), Jamie felt a date was in order first and foremost.

Jamie glanced once more at the graffiti surrounding his face in the mirror, took a deep breath, and stepped out back into the pub. Claire was at the bar, laughing at something Geillis had said (something dirty, no doubt).

With a deep breath, Jamie stepped closer to Claire and leaned in close so she could hear him over the din of the place.

“Claire, could I speak wi’ ye outside fer a minute?”

“Sure, Jamie. Hey Gee, order me another whisky?”

“Sorted!”

Outside in the warm June night, Jamie faced a quizzical-looking Claire. Her smile caused his heart to stutter and the following to tumble from his mouth:

“You date me, Claire and I’d ask to like ye on a – ah, mallaichte bas!”

Not at all how he’d imagined it going.

“What?” Claire’s cheeks turned rosy red as she laughed, reaching out to lay a hand on his arm. He ran his fingers through his flaming hair and chuckled.

“I apologize, I meant to say—”

“Oh, I know what you meant. I like you, and I’d love to go out on a date with you.”

I'll wake you up with some breakfast in bed I'll bring you coffee with a kiss on your head And I'll take the kids to school Wave them goodbye And I'll thank my lucky stars for that night

“Six bairns, you say.” Claire rolled the r like he did, endearing as ever.

“Aye, wi’ red hair, of course.”

“All of them?”

“Well, no, not necessarily, but I imagine it would be curly, like yers.” Jamie traced the spiraling locks down her back, stretching the curls and watching in fascination as they sprang back into place.

Their first date had gone smashingly well. They had shared dinner, then drinks, and hours and hours of laughter and jokes. This was a side of Claire Jamie had never seen, but suspected he wanted to be his forever. That date had led to another, and coffee in the morning or afternoons, depending on the schedule of Claire’s graduate entry program.

The more time they spent together, the more they realized the strength of the bond between them. Jamie spoke of when he first saw her, how he called her his Sassenach in his head and heart, and mo nighean donn for the first time out loud; Claire herself confessed that she had always found him attractive, and kindhearted, and amazingly available, despite the looks he commanded from the other girls in their social group. Their friendship had turned to that indefinable else – love, acknowledged and declared in a passionate kiss that had ended in them exploring each other’s bodies for the first time. There had been many other times since.

Jamie shifted in the bed, tracing tickling patterns on her back as she sighed contentedly. Her whisky eyes were barely discernible in the candlelit glow of his room, but he could see them open at half-mast; that glint of desire that matched his own and prompted their next words.

“Perhaps we should get started. Six is a lot of children.” Claire reached down to grasp him firmly, but Jamie shied away with a brief laugh, clasping her hand instead.

“I’d like to marry ye first, Sassenach.”

“Well, that could be some time from now, Jamie,” she pouted, still trying to touch him as he skirted her roving hands and pulled the nightstand drawer open.

“It could be weeks, or even days if ye wanted.” He produced a small black velvet box and knelt on the bed, where Claire went suddenly still with a small gasp.

“I believe ye had already decided ye wanted to marry me, that time you were fair gone with drink after yer exams, but I thought I’d ask properly.”

“Oh, I remember.” Claire smiled faintly, tears coursing down her face. “The occasion, not what I actually said. Remind me?”

“I ken what I want,” Jamie said, recalling her words. “I want ye, Claire. I have for a long time, ever since we met. Ye are beautiful, Sassenach, and I want to marry ye. Because I love ye. Will ye have me?”

When you looked over your shoulder For a minute, I forget that I'm older I wanna dance with you right now Oh, and you look as beautiful as ever And I swear that everyday'll get better You make me feel this way somehow

The church was lit with small votives that lent an understated glow to the stained-glass windows. Jamie thought his heart was going to burst as Claire walked towards him on the arm of her beloved Uncle Lamb.

She was beautiful, seeming to float in her gauzy wedding dress. The smile on her face, though – that was pure magic. Surrounded by their nearest and dearest—his godfather in representation of his late Mam and Da, his siblings, her medical school colleagues, her uncle standing in for her own departed parents—Claire and Jamie pledged their love for each other.

“Ye are blood of my blood,” Jamie said, voice trembling slightly, “and bone of my bone. I give ye my body, that we two may be one. I give ye my spirit, ‘til our life shall be done.” He placed a thin gold wedding band on Claire’s finger, and she clung to his hands tightly as she repeated the vow and slid a matching ring onto his.

They walked out of the small Scottish church to the applause and cheers of their friends waving sparklers in the Highland summer twilight. At the reception Claire felt shivers walk up her spine as Jamie traced her bare shoulders ever so gently while Uncle Lamb recited Burns.

Till a the seas gang dry, my dear, And the rocks melt wi the sun; I will luve thee still, my dear, While the sands o life shall run…

Jamie leaned in to whisper into Claire’s ear. “Yer face is my heart, Sassenach, and the love of ye is my soul.”

I'm so in love with you And I hope you know Darling your love is more than worth its weight in gold We've come so far my dear Look how we've grown And I wanna stay with you until we're grey and old Just say you won't let go Just say you won't let go

Jamie watched Claire sleeping on her side, hands tucked dreamily under her head. He traced the curve of her swelling belly with eyes, then tender hands, lightly so as not to wake his very pregnant wife.

He wondered if it would be a wee lad or lass. They had decided not to find out, and be properly surprised until the day. Their other child, Faith, was eagerly awaiting her baby brother or sister. He made a mental note to buy a couple of small gifts to give the ween, on behalf of the new bairn.

Claire stirred, shifting, and her golden eyes landed on him, smiling drowsily and patting the space next to her on the bed.

“What’re you doing? Watching me sleep again?”

“Aye, love. Ye ken me well.”

“Stalker.” She yawned and carefully turned, cradling the heft of her belly as she did so. He lay behind her, his chest to her back, and placed his hands on hers.

“Have ye thought more on names?” Jamie’s big hands caressed her gently, moving to press against her back as she moaned in relief.

“Oh, right there, yes… I have some ideas. Well, an idea. What do you think of Brian if it’s a boy, after your da? Or Brianna, if it’s a girl?”

Jamie’s breath caught in his throat, touched beyond words. A brief squeeze of her shoulder told her all he had to say about her suggestion.

“It’s settled then,” she murmured, half asleep again. Jamie let her go under, slipping carefully out of bed. He went about his nighttime routine: turning lights off, checking doors and windows to make sure they were locked, a final peek at Faith in her big-girl bed, clutching her worn lovey.

Finally, he climbed back into bed, facing Claire this time. He found himself drawn to her features again, in peaceful slumber, until he closed his eyes as he fell in love with her again.

I wanna live with you Even when we're ghosts 'Cause you were always there for me when I needed you most

Jamie had Claire’s hands in a death grip as Dr. Rawlings waited quietly for them to process the news. He could feel the delicate tracery of veins in her hands, could recite them from memory, every mark, every spot, every loving wrinkle 76 years of life had wrought on her skin.

Breast cancer. Jamie’s stomach was lodged somewhere in his throat and Claire—his wife, life’s blood, his heart—sat next to him, stone still, her knuckles white with the strength of her control.

“Alright,” Claire finally broke the terrified silence. “Radiation, chemo, the usual, right?”

“We could start there. Another option you may want to consider is a double mastectomy, given we are at a stage two diagnosis. With radiation, your chances of cancer returning drop significantly.”

Jamie found his voice. “What are her chances of… of survival?”

“Each case is individual.” Dr. Rawlings cleared his throat. “Mrs. Fraser’s chances are extremely good, however. We’ve detected it relatively early, and with proper treatment, she has excellent chances. But as you know,” he said, addressing Claire directly now, “we cannot make any firm promises.”

“We understand.” Claire released Jamie’s hands and brushed her fingers lightly over her clavicle, no doubt thinking of the betrayal she felt her body had committed.

“Please take some time to discuss your options with your husband. I’ll give you some privacy.” The doctor stood and shut the door behind him.

The silence returned, deafening in Jamie’s ears and pounding inside his head, despite the multitude of thoughts and the paralyzing fear he felt. He turned to Claire, tears in his eyes; he found steely resolve in hers.

“Jamie, I want the mastectomy.” She swallowed hard and touched the tops of her breasts again. “I think it’s the surest way. I don’t want the chemo. I’ll have the radiation to be sure, but the children—”

“The children are grown, Sassenach. They have children of their own. I ken ye dinna want them to worry for ye, but they’ll want to help, they’ll want to be there with ye every step o’ the way. As do I, Claire.” He reached for her hand again and kissed it.

“So, you agree to the surgery? It means both my breasts will be removed. Jamie, my body—” Claire choked on the last word, tears finally streaming down her cheeks.

“Yer body is beautiful, Sassenach. It will always be beautiful to me, I will always love ye as ye are, no matter what.” He reached across his chair to envelop her in his arms, rubbing up and down her back while she went quietly to pieces.

“I can bear pain myself,” he said softly into her hair, “but I couldna bear yours. That would take more strength than I have.” Jamie pressed a kiss on her temple and leaned back to look Claire square in the eye. “But I will continue to learn from ye, and be yer strength when ye need it most, love. I will support yer choice.”

Claire took a deep breath and wiped her eyes. “The surgery. It’s early days, Jamie. I have a very good chance. But if you’d rather I go through chemo instead…”

“It’s yer mind, and yer good, good heart that I cherish, and I’ll always love and adore yer body no matter what.”

I'm gonna love you 'til My lungs give out I promise 'til death we part like in our vows So I wrote this song for you, now everybody knows Finally it's just you and me 'til we're grey and old Just say you won't let go Just say you won't let go

Jamie was dreaming.

She walked across the field of heather at Lallybroch, wild dark hair dancing in the wind. Claire. His Sassenach.

He was dreaming because she looked young again, as she had when they had first met. He was dreaming because Claire had been gone for 2 years, passing away in her sleep after battling cancer. Taking his heart with her.

“Mo nighean donn.”

“Jamie.” She reached out and cradled his cheek in her hand. He covered her hand in his own and marveled at the feel of her, a dream or memory no longer, and he understood.

“Am I… dead?”

“You are, my love. In the general sense of the word.” A brief tinge of regret flashed in her amber eyes, to be replaced by fathomless love. “But you are also here with me.”

Jamie looked down and saw his own aged and careworn body, lying peacefully on its side near the broch where he had been walking. He looked like he was sleeping. He remembered stumbling suddenly, falling, and then no more. Despite his advanced age, despite his children’s words, he had refused to stop his morning strolls, and now…

“Will they find me?”

“Brianna sent Roger after you. He will be with her, don’t worry. And Faith has Robert, and they have their children. They will all be alright, after a while.”

“I dinna wish to cause our children pain.” Jamie slid his arms around Claire’s waist, burrowing into her neck and still marveling at the realness, the wonder of her again.

“Pain is a part of life. It is a testament to how much we have loved.”

Jamie pulled away from her, intense and tender at once. “I never stopped, Claire. Ye must ken that. Loving you. These past two years, I have existed, but not lived. For Faith and Brianna, the weans, I tried to go on.” It seemed important, somehow, for him to say this now. “I continued, for their sakes—though I would not have, for my own.”

That miraculous touch again. “They will take comfort in the knowledge that you and I are together again.”

Jamie took her face in his and kissed her mouth, warm honey as he’d always known it, as he remembered. “Forever?”

Claire smiled, luminous. “That amount of time does not exist.”

Hand in hand, they walked into the light.

Just say you won't let go Oh, just say you won't let go

#outlander #outlander fanfic #jamie and claire #say you won't let go #hope you like them

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princess-of-the-corner · 3 years

Text

Fate Liveblog episode 1! Let's watch this trainwreck!

Seeing "in association with Rainbow" over this dark ass opening is sending me.

Feckin sheep. Ah fun. Mutilated sheep body. Insert Silence of the Lambs joke here.

Oh we just jump to bootleg Hogwarts right after the sheep.

Okay I'm 99% sure knife boy is Riven.

Wtf who is British McBitch? Please tell me that's not Sky.

Mansplain??? That's not... That's not mansplaining. He's saying "you look lost as fuck so if you need help ask me".

Wait is Riven British too wtf? Also boy from what I've heard you have no right to call anyone out on "perving on the forst years". Though Riven and the guy I'm assuming is Sky already have more chemistry in ten seconds than Sky and Bloom did in three minutes.

Oh god everyone's British.

Ah. Stella's a bitch now. Seriously add some more passion and her condecending remarks could fit with the original Trix. At least they kept her having a magic ring?

"We've had wings in the past but as we evolved our effects budget has been lost".

Okay. I know WoW had a Peter Pan based story, so Fate acknowledgign Tinkerbell shouldn't throw me off guard but still.

Also I can already tell they're trying to Avatar this by seperatinf the Elements instrad of just. People have Magic affiliations of all kinds.

I know the original Faragonda was already kinda bootleg Dumbledore but bootleg Faragonda is looping back into that so hard.

"Lady of the flies sweetie don't be sexist!". Honestly the corection is more sexist. Women can be lords if they want to fuck you.

Well Aisha is helpful and so far the best character but god the bar is low and I don't expect more.

"There's a fairy in my family tree. Like a long dormant magical bloodline". Or you know. You're adopted.

Wait. The "Otherworld" has Harry Potter?

Ah there's the "flora is my cousin" thing. Kinda hate how I'm identifying with Terra as the fat girl who is awkwardly rambling.

Okay Musa is also kind of s bitch. Like girl just tell Terra "hey I'm not up to talking rn".

Okay. I know they're talking about doing it with girls but goddamn do these two have some homoerotic tension. Or maybe it's just the swordfighting.

Ah yes. Riven gets high. Great.

Oh. Exposition while Riven goes off to get high. This won't end well. Wait. The Otherworld has shotguns? The teacher mentions a shotgun. Also "Burned Ones" sound like a fancy name for zombies.

Riven how did you not notice that body when you sat down. Do you have no peripheral vision??

"Let's get this cleaned before the gossip starts". Cuts immediatly to the gossip.

Aisha's bingo decapitation joke was funny. But will we learn something other than how she likes to swim?

Beatrix is dropping in all the swears. She's also giving vreepy stalker vibes.

Okay. Flashback to Bloom fighting with her mom. And you know what? For all the "I'm not like other girls" vibes, I kinda get it if your mom is calling you a weird loner to your face.

God mansplaining again. No.

Oh. Okay. The Stella and Sky thing is giving me heavy cheating and abuse vibes. Yikes.

Has Bloom... Not heard the rumors about the mutilated dead body outside the barrier? Because if so she's dumb af.

Oh. She's dumb af anyway for going to the middle of a forest to test out fire powers instead of waiting for class tomorrow where she'll have an actual teavh in case, oh I don't know, something goes wrong?

Oh hey guess what happened. Luckily your new friend is a water fairy. And she calls her out on that dumb idea!

Flashback again. Why is her mom such a bitch oh my god? Damn she kinda deserves to be punched. Maybe not set on fire but decked for real.

Oh Aisha's asking if she's adopted.

Oh no they're doing a changling plot? Really? Fuck.

Secret tunnel! Not sketch at all!

Okay Riven's being a little agressive in the flirting but honestly dude seems a little into it. Terra's kind of butting in so he's kinda right in being like "hey fuck iff" but the fat joke is a little uncalled for.

Terra fuckint snapped. Not sure he deserved to be stramgled just yet. Also the "don't be a dick to fat people" thing is a little hamfisted.

Ah. Stella's getting the "my mom is a bitch who puts expectations on me so I'm also a bitch" thing ain't she?

Ugh. Mind fairy. Why.

"i remember what happened to the last person who was talking to Sky". Dude. Did Stella kill someone? Considering what she did sending Bloom out there she might've holy shit.

Wow. They're trying to make Bloom's parents sound decent after the whole. "Weird loner" and stealijg her door thing. Wtf.

"I always knew your path wouldn't be like everyone elses". Is that why you punished her for not being head cheerleader or whatever?also can't they see her in the shadows outside the house?

This abandoned warehouse has elevtricity?

Oops. Lost the ring. Luckily everyone showed up right then.

Oh. Stella and Sky are going to be the "on again pff again but should really stay off" couple. Ugh.

"I can't sleep in a room where everyone hates me". Well maybe don't try to get a girl killed because your ex dares to talk to her.

"You're better than you think you are Stella". Are you sure about that?

Snorting the midnight adderall???

Terra's trying. Like. I still hate thst she's replacing Flora but I kinda relate man.

I like how they're having the emotional speech about the headmistress wanting to protevt her students while Dane is going through Riven's instagram and accidently liking hot pics. Also fucking "crymeariven".

Ah. Mysterious hooded fucker in the woods. Is it Beatrix? Yep. Why the fuck.

Okay that's episode one done. Took fucking forever.

I think my feelings so far is what I expected:

As an adaptation, it sucks. The characters are nothing like their original versions. The aesthetic is completely gone. So on and so forth.

But treating it as its own thing.... It's still a bit of a hot mess but the kind of hot mess I'd be all guilty pleasure about.

They seriously should've just made this it's own thing. Give the characters new names and you wouldn't be able to tell it was related to Winx Club.

#fate liveblog #winx club

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atombombbagel · 4 years

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Sole goes AWOL and no one seems to know where they went. How would the companions (+ Maxson?) react to accidentally finding out that they have become the fierce Overboss of Nuka World? The angstier, the better!

(ANGST AHEAD) Hey. Thought I’d post because why not… Enjoy. Also I only did romanced companions because It’s been forever and I need some time to get back into things because I have the motivation of a dead fish :)

(I’ll try and add the other companions later)

Hours? Days? Months? Who knows. Nobody does apparently, they checked, double checked, triple checked. They had asked everybody who is anybody and nope, they hadn’t the foggiest idea, not the slightest clue. Sole was gone, and they couldn’t help but think the worst…

Cait: “I’m not using anymore ye asshole.” Cait snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. She’d been wandering about, walking off last nights hangover (the hangover she’d acquired by trying to drown out her negative thoughts about Sole’s whereabouts) when she’d been approached by an old friend. No. Not a friend, an old dealer she knew.

"Well… you see, Cait, I told the boss I had the perfect person to do deals out here in the good old commonwealth and you wouldn’t want to let an old buddy down now would you?“ The man in worn slacks snickered. "I know you, Cait, you can’t refuse a good deal… a good high.” The raider twirled a psycho in his hand.

"Did ye even hear me? I said I aint usin’ and I definitely aint dealin’ for a waste a space like you. Now ye better piss off before I knock yer feckin’ teeth out.“ Cait seethed, the arrogance of her former dealer making her blood boil.

"Is this her?” A voice from the distance said. Cait’s eyes flicked to the person making their way out from behind a decrepit shack. She raised her eyebrows as she focused on the face in front of her. A face she knew all too well.

"Sole?“ She said in surprise, "What the hell are ye doin’ messing around with this eejit?” She raised her voice. Sole stepped forward, knocking the dealer in the chest with their fist.

"This is who you have for me? You numbskull, get out of my sight.“ Sole shoved the man aside. "Cait.” Sole turned to their former companion. “Long time no see.” They smiled at the red head.

“You. Yer the Overboss? Tha one terrorising the Commonwealth with yer gang of thugs?“ Cait pulled a psycho from her pocket. "Ye left me this. Do ye have any idea what ye could of undone?” Cait threw the drug to Sole’s feet. “I can’t believe ye’d do this. I thought… Nevermind what I thought.” Cait sighed. “Stay away from me."

"I got pulled into it. I didn’t know you were the person-”

"Save yer bullshit for someone who cares. After what ye saw me going through? Ye’d what? Inflict that hell on someone else by selling the damn stuff? Yer an ass. I want nothing to do with ye.“

"It’s only business, I never meant…” Sole tried to convince her but Cait had already turned away. The feeling in her heart worse than any withdrawal she’d ever felt.

Curie: Curie followed the beeping on her radio to the location she was pretty sure was being transmitted. The distress call. The person who needed medical assistance should be right here. But… they weren’t.

“Fresh meat!"

All of a sudden, Curie’s vision went black, she tried to scream but she couldn’t, her voice was trapped in the back of her throat. She was terrified. She passed out she was sure of it, only her vision came back to her as a burlap sack was lifted from her head.

"Looky here Boss. It works.” A raider said (referring to the trap he had set up and planned despite everyone being sceptical about it). Curie’s eyes met her long lost Companions. Soles. She sighed with relief.

“You’re alive!” She beamed, “I heard a distress call, coming right from here.” Curie explained. “I’ve been trying to help people all over in your absence until I found you of course. Where is the person who needs help?” Curie asked, observing the area carefully. She’d seen similar camps back in the Commonwealth but nothing of this capacity. There must have been hundreds of raiders. She grimaced at the sight of a pile of stacked dead bodies, naked, left there to rot, while a group of raiders rummaged through their clothes and belongings. It didn’t seem like Sole to like this sort of brutality, but maybe she didn’t know Sole as well as she thought she did.

“There is no distress call.” Sole said plainly, crossing their arms over their chest. She nodded for one of the raiders to come over to them. “You don’t harm her. You and whats-his face,” Sole paused, “You know… Mason’s right hand. You both, take her home and make sure she gets there safe. Not a single hair on her head gets touched, understand?” Sole’s eyes pierced into the raiders. He was clearly scared of them. He nodded.

“No distress call? But I heard-"

"It was a trap Curie. You need to go home. It isn’t safe here. I care about you too much to let this corrupt you,” Sole interrupted. “I know you don’t understand but trust me. They need you back home, you need to forget about me."

Danse: "BOSS!” A Disciple, that was clearly out of the breath from the vigorous running she’d been doing called to Sole. The Overboss of Nuka-World turned to the raider. “We have someone you’d definitely want to see. The bounty on this one’s head. We’ve caught the best of the best!” She was giddy, excited. Sole creased their eyebrows as they followed her.

“Who is it?” Sole asked, observing the person in front of them, their eyes covered by an old rag. Sole didn’t see the point in covering their eyes if they were to die when handed to their pursuer anyway.

“Its the Paladin. The one the Brotherhood have been looking for. The one that got away. We’ll be rich!” Sole’s mouth dropped into a frown. It couldn’t be him… could it?

“Why did you bring him here?” The paladin’s ears perked up when he caught the sound of his capturers voice. That voice that he loved so much, that had pulled him back from the brink at the darkest of times. The voice of the person he never thought he’d see again.

“Sole?” He said in to blind darkness. He couldn’t see anything, but he knew, he knew deep down it was them. Where they finally back to hand him over to Maxson? Finally seeing him as what he truly was.

“Remove the blindfold you fool.” Sole said, their eyes meeting Danse’s when the cloth was finally removed.

“I thought you were dead.” He said after a brief moment of silence. He took a minute to look around at his surroundings. Of all places, he never expected Sole to be here, in this mess. “What are you doing? You’re smarter than this.

"Watch your mouth,” A raider snarled, holding a knife to Danse’s neck.

“Let him go.” Sole demanded, their eyes still fixed on Danse’s. “I had to get away from the Brotherhood, I found myself here. Its the same, only here I can make my own rules."

"These people are murderers Sole.” Danse met the other raiders eyes, he watched their scowling faces. They were ready to pounce but they couldn’t, Sole would never let them.

“So are the Brotherhood.”

“It’s different. They are doing the best for humanity, you’re killing mankind for financial gain. It’s despicable.” Sole smiled briefly. He always was honest. The most honest man they’d ever met.

“We won’t be turning him in, or killing him.” Sole announced. “Danse, find Preston. He’s in Sanctuary, he’ll let you stay there, for as long as you want."

"Come with me?” Danse asked, “You don'y belond here.” He wanted Sole to jump into his arms, wrap their arms around his neck and say yes but they stood there expressionless.

“I can’t. I’m sorry. Find Preston, he’ll help.” Sole swallowed the lump in their throat as they turned. They couldn’t face him as they left, it was too painful.

Hancock: The red coat wearing devil took a small step backwards, making sure that there was distance between him and the raider, who stood a few meters in front of him.

“You stick those nails in your armour to make you appear tuff huh big guy?” Hancock mocked, a smirk etched across his disfigured face.

“You’d better pay up Mister Mayor, or we’ll have to call the boss down here and well, they don’t appreciate it when someone don’t pay for the goods. You understand me?” A raider with bright green hair, stood next to her nail-armour friend. She snarled, making sure the light from the sun reflected on her recently sharpened blade. “Or perhaps we’ll get the pack on you.” She laughed before howling, causing the raider next to her to follow suit. Hancock raised a hairless brow.

“Aw come on now, we can handle this like men… or women… wait…” Nevertheless, Hancock stepped forward, his concealed knife dug deep into the green-haired woman’s gut. He pulled his knife out and thrust it back in, making sure to twist it. The woman groaned in pain. “Don’t even think about it,” Hancock hissed to the other one, making his threat quite clear to him.

“I think that is quite enough.” Hancock was approached by another raider in Brahmin road leathers, only it wasn’t a raider. It was Sole. The same Sole that had been missing for months, the same one he’d sent search parties out for, the same Sole he thought was dead.

“Well well… aint this a surprise.” Hancock cleaned his knife using a handkerchief he kept in the inside pocked of his red jacket. “Hanging with the big boys now huh? Or are you the big old bad boss of Nuka World?” He spat. “I didn’t think you were the muderin’ type.”

“I am the boss here Hancock and there is no murdering, but if I get double crossed well that is different.” Sole’s statement made him chuckle with disgust.

“You.” Hancock pointed his knife at Sole, “Are not who I thought you were.” He put his hand inside his pocket again, this time pulling out a bag of caps. “Here’s your fucking money.” He threw it to the ground, right at Sole’s feet. “Now we are square."

"It doesn’t have to be like this. You could join us, join me."

"You really think I want to become a petty murdering thug? You think I was to kill innocent people after stealing their shit? All that they have so you can what? Sit on your throne and boss ME around?” He chuckled. “I’ve got a town to run and you aint fucking welcome.” He shook his head. “I really thought you were different Sunshine.”

MacCready: “There must be some here somewhere.” MacCready muttered to himself as he rummaged around in various chests and bags of an old locker room he’d stumbled across. It was only till he heard a click of a gun he stood still.

"What do you think you’re doing in this part of town?“ A rough voice said, making MacCready turn around to face him. His eyes studied the man in front of him. Tall, lanky, not very built, hair was slicked back and around his waste was a belt made of… was that bullets? He looked back up, catching the man’s steady gaze.

"The boss aint gonna like this, but if you empty your pockets, they don’t have to know you was trespassing on their property.” The man flashed his teeth with a menacing smile.

"I don’t think so.“ MacCready replied standing his ground, ready to aim his rifle. He knew he’d be quicker, but the image of his infant son flashed in his mind. Duncan. He couldn’t do anything rash. "Take me to your boss.” He decided, gripping the leather strap across his shoulder. The raider shrugged before motioning MacCready to follow him.

The room was dark-ish, lit up by a single lamp, shaped like a cola bottle. Only it had a face, which MacCready thought was weird and a little creepy.

"This is the guy that was snooping around in the locker room boss. A thief if you ask me. We should throw him to the dogs.“ He snickered, shoving MacCready forward. It was only then did MacCready catch a glimpse of the person sitting in the chair besides the cola shaped lamp. A smile stretched across their lips.

"If it isn’t the greatest sniper in all the Commonwealth.” MacCready recognised their voice instantly.

"Sole?“ He questioned, making out their features dimly lit by the shit lamp. "So this is what you’ve decided to do while you’ve been gone?” MacCready looked around, heads on spikes jutted out of the ground like some barbaric warning. Junk littered the ground, and in the distance he could discern two of Sole’s raiders roughing each other up. “I’m not one to judge, I’ve made numerous questionable choices too. To each his own.” He shrugged, clutching the leather strap holding his prized sniper, closer to his chest. He knew Sole, he knew they would never hurt him, yet he couldn’t help but feel unsettled by what they had become. He chuckled. “I ran with the gunners, they aint much different. Just be careful."

"Thanks Mac.” Sole said with a brief smile. “You don’t want to stay for a while?” They asked, cocking their head to the side. MacCready shook his head, rather quickly.

"I should get back to my son. Stay safe out here Sole.“ And with that MacCready left, not wanting to be around Sole when they lead a bloodthirsty pack of savage raiders. It wasn’t safe for him or his son.

Piper: The story was going to be so good! She was finally hot on the trail of this mysterious boss, the one who was ordering the takeover of the Commonwealth. Once this was all around Diamond City she’d be sold out of newspapers for sure. She’d finally be able to buy her sister that premium box of snack cakes, the ones only Deacon could get on his way back from Washington. A hefty price but her sister deserved it.

Piper hid against the side of a dilapidated building, crouching down as she tried to keep to the shadows. He held her pen tightly in her grip.

"Where’s the money you stole from me?” A voice snarled, the person behind it kicking a man in the stomach, before holding their gun up and cocking back the trigger. “I won’t hesitate, you know that, don’t you? And after you’re dead we know where your family lives.” The voice threatened. The man stumbled over his own words.

“Please don’t hurt them! I swear I don’t know where the money is! I didn’t take it!"

"Wrong answer.” The loud echo of the gunshot rang through Pipers ears, causing her to gasp without her even knowing it came from her mouth. The person she’d been spying on, the ‘Boss’, saw her. She gulped trying to hurry to her feet but she was grabbed by the bosses minions. They made their way over to where Piper was standing, stopping when they saw the familiar cap and coat of their old reporter friend.

“What are you doing here?” The Boss asked, their voice softer than it had been when shouting at the now dead s.o.b.

“Blue? Is that you?” Piper couldn’t believe her eyes. It couldn’t be them. She’d been assured that they were dead. She’d been told they’d been a victim of the Boss. The other reason she was chasing the story. “I thought you were dead.” She choked out, nearly sobbing at this point. Sole shook their head. Piper snapped back to her senses. “Please tell me you’re not the Overboss. Please tell me what I saw wasn’t what I saw.” Sole’s eyes met the ground. “What did you get yourself into?"

"Its me, I’m the Overboss and what you saw… You can’t tell anyone about it. Do you understand me, Piper?” Sole noticed the notepad in Piper’s hand. “Give it to me.” Piper shook her head.

“You don’t scare me, Blue."

"No? I know where Nat is. I know what she looks like. She’s make a great protege. Or maybe I’ll just kill her.” Sole shrugged. “Your choice.” Piper’s face scrunched up in disgust.

“You wouldn’t. She’s a kid."

"Do you really want to find out?” Sole threatened and Piper looked down at the ground. She tossed her notepad to the ground.

“I can’t believe I ever trusted you. You’re a monster."

"No. I’m just the Overboss. And you better remember that."

Preston: Preston had been guarding the parameter to Sanctuary when he was grabbed, by heavily armed and armoured Raiders. He fought so hard to get them off but he couldn’t call for help. When he had managed to bite one of the raiders hands he had been knocked out with the butt of their pipe rifle.

Preston slowly opened his eyes, blinking as he let his eyes adjust to the light shining in them. He tried to lift his arm only to find that he had been tied to a chair by tightly wrapped leather belts. He groaned as the pain in his head finally hit him. Where was he?

"This is the guy we got. The one who’s in charge of that big place we were telling you about.” A smug raider, clearly proud of himself, said with a beaming smile, nudging their bosses arm. He winced as he was slapped across the face.

“Are you stupid?” Preston’s head snapped up as he heard that all familiar voice. He could not believe his eyes. What was Sole doing here? What was Sole doing surrounded by a bunch of disgusting vile people. “I said stay away from Sanctuary hills you idiot. Untie him. NOW.” Sole snapped, making the guy scurry forwards and quickly untie Preston’s bonds. “I’m so sorry about this.” Sole apologised as Preston stood up.

“How could you side with them?” Preston spat. Sole noticed the look of revulsion on his face. “You know what they are like. You know what they do to people and you’re here siding with them? After all we have built you’d throw it all away to be their ruler?” He looked down, shaking his head.

“Preston. I told them to stay away from the Minutemen. I would never hurt our people.”

“MY people. You turned your back on us the minute you joined forces with these… things.” He sighed, “I’ll never forgive you for this."

"Preston…” He pushed past Sole, tugging his arm away when Sole tried to reach for him. “Preston!” Sole called after him, but he was gone and he wouldn’t be turning back.

#Fallout 4 #Fallout 4 companions #Fallout 4 Companions react #Fallout 4 companion reactions #fallout 4 cait #fo4 cait #fallout 4 curie #fo4 curie #fallout 4 danse #fo4 danse #paladin danse #fallout 4 hancock #fo4 hancock #fallout 4 piper wright #fo4 piper #fallout 4 maccready #fo4 maccready #fo4 preston garvey #fallout 4 preston garvey

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