#and I do not own chickens (though several family members do)

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

Hi! My friend recommended your blog as a nice place for some research about Autism.

I've started to notice a few things and question if I could be autistic, but I wasn't able to find enough information about it while researching.

Do you have any info about how to identify autism in adults? It would help a lot 😊

Hi there,

I’ve found some resources. I’ll leave excerpts below. They are a bit long.

Common signs of autism in adults include:

* finding it hard to understand what others are thinking or feeling

* getting very anxious about social situations

* finding it hard to make friends or preferring to be on your own

* seeming blunt, rude or not interested in others without meaning to

* finding it hard to say how you feel

* taking things very literally – for example, you may not understand sarcasm or phrases like "break a leg"

* having the same routine every day and getting very anxious if it changes

Other signs of autism

You may also have other signs, like:

* not understanding social "rules", such as not talking over people

* avoiding eye contact

* getting too close to other people, or getting very upset if someone touches or gets too close to you

* noticing small details, patterns, smells or sounds that others do not

* having a very keen interest in certain subjects or activities

* liking to plan things carefully before doing them

Autism in women and men

Autism can sometimes be different in women and men.

Autistic women may:

* have learned to hide signs of autism to ‘fit in’ - by copying people who don’t have autism

* be quieter and hide their feelings

* appear to cope better with social situations

* show fewer signs of repetitive behaviours

This means it can be harder to tell you're autistic if you're a woman.

Common symptoms of autism in adults include:

* Difficulty interpreting what others are thinking or feeling

* Trouble interpreting facial expressions, body language, or social cues

* Difficulty regulating emotion

* Trouble keeping up a conversation

* Inflection that does not reflect feelings

* Difficulty maintaining the natural give-and-take of a conversation; prone to monologues on a favorite subject

* Tendency to engage in repetitive or routine behaviors

* Only participates in a restricted range of activities

* Strict consistency to daily routines; outbursts when changes occur

* Exhibiting strong, special interests

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is typically a life-long condition, though early diagnosis and treatment can make a tremendous difference.

Autism Symptoms in Adults at Home

Other peoples’ feelings baffle you. You have a collection of figurines on your desk that must be in the same order at all times. These, and other common manifestations of ASD, may be apparent in adults at home:

* Your family members lovingly refer to you as the “eccentric professor” of the family, even though you don’t work in academia.

* You’ve always wanted a best friend, but never found one.

* You often invent your own words and expressions to describe things.

* Even when you’re in a quiet place, like the library, you find yourself making involuntary noises like clearing your throat over and over.

* You follow the same schedule every day of the week, and don’t like unexpected events.

* Expressions like, “Curiosity killed the cat” or “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch” are confusing to you.

* You are always bumping into things and tripping over your own feet.

* In your leisure time, you prefer to play individual games and sports, like golf, where everyone works for themselves instead of working toward a common goal on a team.

Symptoms of ASD vary greatly from person to person based on the severity of the condition. These or similar manifestations of ASD may be apparent at work:

* When you’re having a conversation with your boss, you prefer to look at the wall, her shoes, or anywhere but directly into her eyes.

* Your co-workers say that you speak like a robot.

* Each item on your desk has a special place, and you don’t like when the cleaning company rearranges it to dust.

* You are really good at math, or software coding, but struggle to succeed in other areas.

* You talk to your co-workers the same way you talk with your family and friends.

* During meetings, you find yourself making involuntary noises, like clearing your throat over and over.

* When talking with your boss, you have difficulty telling if he is happy with your performance or mad at you.

In addition, autistic individuals may exhibit extraordinary talents in visual skills, music, math, and art. And roughly 40 percent of autistic individuals have average or above-average intelligence.

Some of the characteristics that adults with an autism diagnosis commonly report, include:

Communication

You may:

* Find joining in conversation difficult.

* Speak in a flat, monotone voice, or not speak.

* Have trouble relating to other people’s thoughts or emotions.

* Use repetitive language.

* Find it hard to read someone’s body language and emotions.

* Find that others don’t understand how you are feeling and say that “it is hard to know what you are thinking”.

* Dominate conversations and provide excessive information on the specific topics you are interested in.

* Find it easier to talk ‘at’ people, rather than engaging in a two-way conversation.

* Have trouble reading social cues.

* Find ‘small talk’ such as talking about the weather and what others are doing difficult.

* Take things literally. For example, if someone says ‘oh that’s a piece of cake’ or ‘you’re barking up the wrong tree’ you find it difficult to know what they mean.

* Be blunt in your assessment of people and things.

* Find it difficult to maintain eye contact when you are talking to someone.

* Have your own unique phrases and descriptive words.

* Find building and maintaining close friendships and relationships difficult.

* You may make faces that others find unusual.

* You may make gestures when speaking with people.

Behaviour

* You enjoy consistent routine and schedules and get upset or anxious should that routine or schedule be changed.

* You find it upsetting when something happens that you did not expect to happen.

* Have trouble regulating your emotional responses.

* Are bothered if your things are moved or rearranged by someone.

* Have a series of repetitive rituals or behaviours that you follow on a daily basis.

* You make noises in places where you are expected to be quiet.

* Preference for highly specific interests or hobbies that you spend a lot of time on.

* Have difficulty multi-tasking.

* Have a very strong reaction or no reaction at all to sensory stimuli, such as textures, sounds, smells and taste.

* Like operating solo – both at work and play.

I hope these sources help you. Thank you for the inbox. I hope you have a wonderful day/night. ♥️

#inbox #inbox reply #inbox is open

[danzinora-switch]

So in the span of just under two weeks I reread the entire Fablehaven series.

This was my all-time favorite series growing up, and I reread it multiple times. But, this was my first time as an adult reading it through, so here are my fresh takes. Hidden below for spoilers and length of post.

- Grandpa Sorenson is so stressed. Especially in the first book. His wife is a chicken, he’s got a preserve to run, and he’s just had two naive kids dumped on him during one of the most dangerous nights of the year. He’s struggling just to keep them ALIVE but one especially just keeps poking the hornet’s nest and gets himself transformed into a walrus. And then opens a window. And keeps sneaking into the woods. Honestly, I don’t blame him for having a small breakdown in book 3. He’s been under tremendous pressure and responsibility.

- Grandma Sorenson is a BADASS. Right out the gate when we meet her, fresh out of chicken form, she is immediately telling Muriel to gtfo her property and sets about planning a rescue for the others. She goes into the Forbidden Chapel with the crossbow because she intends to KILL if it comes down to using it. She’s decisive, one heck of a negotiator, and firm. Legend.

- Seth really matures over the series. Like, book 1 he’s a kid getting into trouble (painful, terrible, trouble). He’s young, reckless and stupid. But the seeds are planted. He opens the window because he thinks he’s saving a baby. In book 2, he’s tricked by several adults multiple times, but we really get to see him be truly courageous. Book 3 he’s starting to learn from his mistakes, and consider the future consequences of his actions (though not entirely in full, he insults centaurs into helping them but basically goes “yeah, we’ll cross that whole duel-to-the-death bridge when we get there”). Book 4 he’s ready for action, he’s ready to go on the offensive, and he takes /calculated/ risks that pay off. Book 5, yes. He was tricked into healing Graulus. But he takes responsibility and fixes his mess. He’s far more seasoned, and grown.

- Kendra grows in her own way. If Seth is the definition of “learning things the hard way” Kendra is bound by “doing the right thing, even if she hates hit.” Multiple times throughout the series she steps up for dangerous, deadly tasks, not because she wants to, but because there’s no other choice and she knows it. She also doesn’t take an easy out when presented. She fights to stay. Petitioning the Fairy Queen is dangerous, but it’s the only way she can save her family. Leading the climb up Lost Mesa is deadly, but she’s the only one who can see the trail. And so she insists they include her, even though she’s scared and would prefer to stay home. As the tasks get deadlier and deadlier, she’s still right there in thick of it, doing what she can. 

- Also on Kendra, one thing I really appreciated was that she really demonstrates that kind =/= nice. She can give as good as she gets. She and Seth banter and tease each other constantly, and she has some real sarcastic sass saved for members of the Society. But she remains so kind that the Fairy Queen picked her as her handmaiden. It’s brilliantly portrayed.

- Hugo.

- “Smart people learn from their mistakes. But the real sharp ones learn from the mistakes of others.” - Dale. This quote stuck with me the moment 11-year-old me first read it, and has had quite the influence on my life.

- Vanessa deserves more credit, even though she is the main driver behind the entire theme of trust issues the books explore.

- Tanu is the best. They would all be so dead many times over without him.

- Dale takes a look at people getting transformed into other beings or substances, magically imprisoned, or outright killed and goes ‘nope, not messing with any of that. I’m just gonna do my job and play it safe’. Warren looks at all those things and goes ‘let me fill my bingo card.’

- Most of my favorite guy names come from this series. Warren. Seth. Patton. Gavin. The exception is Tobias, which comes from the Animorphs. No offense to Bracken for not being included on the list, I just always think of the Warrior Cats, sorry.

- I didn’t like Coulter as a kid, but his rough edges make him feel more real. Vanessa is cool. Warren is awesome. Tanu is friendly. Coulter is like a cactus. But damn if I wasn’t tearing up at his death at the end. Sexism and caustic personality aside, he knew his trade and did his best to help. And, I’m not sure how much of it was just talk. In book 2 he straight up told Seth and Kendra that if it came down to it, he would save himself. But it did come down to it in the grove, and he saved Seth with the pod. He knew what to do whenever the chips were down.

- The staaaaakes. They just get realer and realer with each book.

- I wish we could have seen more of Laura, the caretaker of Obsidian Waste. This woman’s entire family is captured, held hostage by zombies, and she’s supposed to lead this team of Knights, none of whom she knows, to their doom. Instead, she stabs her protege and warns them of the trap, signing her family’s death warrants in the process. She commits sabotage all the way up until the final moment. RESPECT.

- I constantly wish I could eat the food in Fablehaven. Whether made by Lena, or the brownies, or magic, it just sounds sooo tasty.

- Death gets more real with each book. I mean, it practically opens recounting the death of Grandma and Grandpa Larsen on page 2. Errol Fisk is the first to truly die, and yeah he was a bad guy but it was surprisingly brutal. Then we start losing some ‘redshirts’ - Tammy, Neil, Javier, at Lost Mesa. But again, the method is still shocking. Tammy is straight up flung off a cliff. You don’t see it coming. Then Rosa off-screen. And then in book 4 we have to go through “Kendra’s” death, which feels real to Seth and the others. And Dougan, who is no longer a redshirt, we know him. And Gavin/Navarog. And then book 5. 

- As a kid I pretend to be a voice actor for a character from each book if they ever became movies. Book 1: Muriel, Book 2: The fairy guarding the Forgotten Chapel, Book 3: Chalize, Book 4: Nafia/Nyssa, Book 5: Civia. Plus the naiads in general.

- The Totem Wall is still so freaking cool. So are astrids.

- Raxtus being the best friend ever.

- “Some imagine the difference between heaven and hell to be a matter of geography. Not so. The difference is much more evident in the individuals who dwell there.” - Agad. MAN.

- I think, with more time and opportunity, Warren could be the next Patton. And I think Seth is in a league all on his own.

- The brownies booby-trapping the house forcing them all to flee is still one of my favorites sequences.

- Mull’s Eternals were eternalling before Marvel’s Eternals eternalled. I accept no criticism. 

- I still love this series so much. 10/10 will read again.

#fablehaven #i read the first two books of dragonwatch #i hate amnesia arcs though #they're really tough for me #so i was waiting for the rest of the series to come out #so i could just get through it as quickly as possible #but now im hearing things #maybe i'll just leave it alone #i love canon way too much to suffer #the fablehaven quintilogy is perfection #i will leave it with its happy ending

[mooifyourecows]

What food do y’all have in good ol’ ‘Mercia?

all of it

honestly though it depends on where you are. America is a big immigrant country, with people from all over the world bringing their authentic food with them. if you're in a big city with a big variety of people (Chicago, NYC, LA, etc), you can pretty much find ANY kind of cuisine possible. If youre touring around Chicago and suddenly think "MAN i could really go for some moi moi rn..." you're in luck! you can easily find a nigerian restaurant to meet your needs no problemo!

now if you're in a small, podunk one stoplight town, variety is a lot harder to find. You WILL almost always have Mexican food as an option though. Good mexican food too. made by actual mexicans. i've been to a lot of mexican restaurants here in America on account of it is my favorite and I've never encountered one owned or operated by non mexicans. other than like... fast food like taco bell and such. white people mexican restaurants don't last long because they have to compete with authentic deliciousness and that's just not possible (obviously this is just my personal experience and i have not been to EVERY town in america so i'm sure there are some exceptions)

Different parts of the country have different popular foods. In coastal states you'll find a lot of seafood, naturally. Maine is rollin in lobster (joke about lobster rolls), and you'll find several different types of BBQ, from Texas to Kansas City to Memphis to a backyard near you 🫵. Southern Soul Food is one of my faves, what with the jambalaya and the gumbo and the corn bread and mac and cheese and so on and so forth, deliciously 🤤 (i swear if i ever make it to New Orleans one of these days, i'm not going home without gaining at least 50lbs)

We have a big pizza culture here and you can find different pizza types all over the country. There's some debate about which pizza is the BEST pizza, mainly with Chicago deep dish and NYC style in a neverending battle of butting heads. (personally i'm just happy to get any pizza so i can't say who is better)

Then there's the stuff like Philly Cheese steak, the Reuben, pies (so many pies, but namely apple and pumpkin are the big ones), New England Clam Chowder, buckeyes, cheese curds, tex-mex, etc.

Diners are kinda the backbone of American eating, if you ask me, because you're destined to find diners everywhere. they're comforting, they're familiar, they have big menus, and they're within budget. Diners usually serve breakfast all day too, so you can swing in late in the evening (or even in the middle of the night) and order a big plate of chicken and waffles and a warm slice of apple pie à la mode any damn time you want!

I hear non americans are always baffled by biscuits and gravy, because it definitely doesn't LOOK appetizing but it's SO good. country gravy with a spicy sausage on fresh, flaky biscuits? Yall i'm gettin hungry just thinking about it. that was the meal i ate, hungover, after my 21st birthday, and i didn't regret a single bite mmMMm

i also hear that non americans don't eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches but those are a big part of American culture, especially when you're a kid. aint nothin hit harder at lunchtime than takin a big ol bite of a gooey pb&j and chasin it with ice cold milk

Thanksgiving dinners are also iconically American food culture. gettin 20 of your family members together in one house, cookin a big ass turkey and serving it with a plethora of homestyle sides like stuffing, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, yams, mac and cheese, buttERNUT SQUASH, ACORN SQUASH, PUMPKIN PIE OH MAN OH MY i think i need to eat something before i gnaw through my arm

there's great native food too! frybread and succotash and what not. corn is a big thing for the indigenous people here and they popularized a lot of uses for it. I unfortunately haven't had a lot of it so i can't really speak on what's great and all, but if you just look up Native American food, you will see corn's influence lol

and OF COURSE we got the hamburgers and hot dogs. i know that fast food joints like mcdonalds have spread everywhere these days like a blight on the earth, but they're like... gas station burgers in comparison to the good stuff you can get. same with hotdogs. like i know that you can buy hotdogs from the store in a lot of places (for some reason in jars of liquid in the UK, i learned recently, which is..... fun) but they're not the same as getting a delicious hotdog with the works at a baseball game, you know? it's not the SAME. there's so much variety with what you can do with burgers and hotdogs! and Americans love to grill. it's pretty normal for households to have a grill they bust out every summer for backyard BBQs and cookouts.

anyway, i can't really tell you more about specific foods only in america because i genuinely don't know which foods here haven't either been brought over from somewhere else or have breached containment and gone off to other countries. i sometimes see restaurants in other countries have a "USA style" food and it seems to almost always be the most comically disgusting thing i've ever seen. (like pizza with fries and hot dogs as toppings lmaoooo)(ngl tho, i'd try it)

if anybody has some iconic American food to mention, feel free to do so! 👀

[perfectpaperbluebirds]

Full of so much Tenbusch brainrot this past week thanks to that awesome ask about their comfort items and writing their next story, so I finally finished full bio pages for them all. That means y’all get another Tenbusch info post that no one asked for:

Did you know that all the family members have assigned roles in the household? Here’s the breakdown: 

JB (the numbers guy): Bills, finances. He’s also the resident foodie, helps with menu rotation and menu planning for big events, always willing to help cook. 

Thad (the visionary): Repairs, upkeep, business and estate future planning and preparation. 

Theo (the engineer): Snowmobiles/quads and trails, hunting and fishing gear, calendar coordination (for events that everyone needs to be involved in. Obviously they all have their own individual calendars).

Audra (the lifeblood): Chickens, livestock, yard work, laundry (mostly laundry coordination and helping if people are getting behind. Most do their own laundry.)

Thalia (the task master): Vegetable garden/greenhouse, menu planning, chore assignments

Padma (the designer): Shopping/keeping the pantry stocked, decorating for holidays and events, interior design and decorating. 

CottageVersity birthdays and Zodiac signs: 

JB: November 15~Scorpio

Thad: January 7~Capricorn

Theo: February 28~Pices

Audra: September 9~Virgo

Thalia: July 29~Leo

Padma: October 20~Libra

Have a bonus fun fact about each of them that may not have come out in their stories yet:

JB: Since I accidentally missed this in the “comfort items” post, JB’s comfort media is black and white movies and smooth jazz-- things that are relaxing and easy on the senses. His favorite cuisine is Indian food. 

Thad: The most athletic of the three original siblings. Played football, wrestled, and ran track in high school and during his first few years in college. Lots of chronic physical issues due to sports injuries. 

Theo: Very mechanically inclined even though he looks like a nerd. Rebuilt his first several vehicles and does most of his own car maintenance. He finds taking apart engines relaxing. 

Audra: Struggles to relate to many people, especially emotionally, though she hides it well. Gets stuck in her own head easily and loses touch with the outside world, though she desperately craves connection. Stammers when she’s excited, a holdover from childhood. Often talks too fast and has to rein this in when she’s lecturing. She has a hunch she’s at least slightly on the autism spectrum, though she was never tested. 

Thalia: Only had two girlfriends before settling down with Padma. Her (closeted) high school girlfriend Alexis helped her learn that she was gay and what passion feels like. Her college girlfriend Bella taught her what a committed relationship looks like, and how to exist being “out”. Padma taught her what it means to be in love and build a life with someone. 

Padma: She’s a Hindu and a vegetarian. Every meal cooked in their home has a separate vegan or vegetarian option prepared for her. The other siblings also enjoy vegetarian meals from time to time, so they like having options.  

#CottageVersity AU #OC asks

[desmondkane-of-ao3-fame]

What is willow and skara’s wedding like?

Ah, a lovely little question, one I’m more then happy to answer.

To start, Skara spent months figuring out the perfect way to propose. She wanted it to be something her girlfriend would look back on and think of as the second most romantic night of her life, next to their actual wedding. After acquiring the biggest, brightest ring she could, Skara spent several sleepless nights trying to calculate the perfect spot, the perfect time of day, the perfect position of the sun. It took her so long to figure it out that by the time she’d decided that a sunset would make the most sense, Willow had already proposed to her on a random dinner date. Skara had to choke out ‘YES!’ through a chicken bone.

From there, the two girls spent a good few months planning out what exactly they wanted, with a bit of help from Luz and Amity. Their own wedding planning experience gave them the right tools to help with some of the more practical issues, such as convincing Skara that a 50ft wedding cake would be a bit much for most bakeries to handle (Luz, sadly, had to learn that the hard way. The way that led to screaming.)

If there’s one thing the happy couple unfortunately always would disagree on, it was scale. To Skara, nothing short of a massive wedding was worthy of her beloved; it should fill the largest cathedral’s on the Titan, with the biggest after party that the whole of Bonesburough would remember for decades, and it would all be for Willow. But Willow wanted something smaller, more intimate: a tiny wedding in her garden, surrounded by their closest family and friends, while saying “I do” to her precious Skary, was all she needed. Eventually, they compromised; the wedding would be in Willow’s garden, but Skara would plan the after party herself. Willow agreed, though also set a hard budget so Skara didn’t make them take out a second and third mortgage for it.

Luz was Skara’s Best Woman. She practically squealed like a schoolgirl when asked, excited honored. They had a bachelor party with Gus, Edric, Hunter, Amelia, Cat and Viney at a human amusement park, basically riding rides and eating junk and drinking Eda’s specially made Apple Blood (a mistake the entire party agreed never to make again under any circumstances). Skara did make it a point of winning her fiancé a gigantic, Willow-sized stuffed teddy bear from a ring toss game, and proudly gave it to Willow with a smile. Even if it’s in their closet due to being too big for their bed, to this day, Willow gives it a hug whenever she misses Skara, helping her feel just a bit closer to the woman she loves.

Amity was Willow’s Maid of Honor, which was no surprise, given Willow had been Amity’s. Still, Amity was happy to oblige, and set up a small, silly sleepover for her Bachelorette Party, with Gus, Viney, and Emira. They are popcorn, watched, and made fun of, cheesy movies, and generally just acted like they were kids back in Hexside. It was one of the most fun times Willow had had without Luz or Skara, just being with friends and hanging out. Still, she couldn’t deny that she was happy to see her fiancé and bestie the next day.

Now, the ACTUAL wedding!

As promised, the wedding was a more intimate affair; in the garden behind Willow and Skara’s home, the carnivorous plants on their best behavior and with little bow ties on as a small, plant-adorned chapel was erected. The guests included the remaining members of both the Hexside Squad and the Emerald Entrails, the Owl House crew, both sets of Skara and Willow’s parents, and Skara’s friends, Amelia, Cat, and Bo.

Skara wore a tailor made silver suit, similar to the ones she’d wear for each of her Grom dances. Luz herself wore a dark suit with a tutu (it had been a compromise, as the one thing Skara had told her “Nope” to was allowing Luz to come in in her otter onesie. ‘It’s a cute idea,’ Skara said, ‘But I want everyone to focus on Petals and how lovely she’ll inevitably be.’)

As Skara suspected, Willow was stunning. She wore a beautiful green flowing dress embroiled with the most lovely flowers on the Isles, as well as some in her hair. She made Skara think of a goddess of flowers and beauty, both of whom fit her perfectly. She was walked down the aisle by both her dads.

Raine officiates the wedding, happy to help their former student Skara with her special day.

Given that these two have experience with both Luz and Amity and Eda and Raines weddings, there’s only one duo for the job of ring bearers; Hooty and King! And this time, Hooty doesn’t even attempt to swallow the rings.

When the time to give speeches came, Skara mentioned how she’d written a 500 page speech, but decided to shrink it down to keep people awake during it (people laughed, despite Skara being serious). She talked about how grateful she was for Willow, how she treasures each moment with her and could never imagine life without her. Though she never spoke directly about her former bullying, she acknowledged how she wasn’t always good to Willow, and how she is doing everything in her power to be worthy of the kindness she receives now.

Willow, meanwhile, speaks about how happy she is to see Skara grow and mature. She talks about how fun she is to be with, how wonderful and bright she is and how she makes Willow feel alive and happy to be so. It’s enough to bring Skara to tears.

Skara just had to hear Raine breathe right after Willow’s speech to kiss her new wife, something Willow was more then happy to do as well.

Later, the after-party; Skara rented out a tent for the whole of Willow’s backyard, filled it with all the couple favorite foods, and paid Gus to MC and DJ the entire thing. The party was filled with couples and friends dancing and laughing and enjoying themselves, particularly the couple of the evening themselves, who would always be the cutest couple dancing the night away.

Willow would toss the bouquet, and it would be a tie catch between Ed and Em, neither of whom knows if this means they’ll be getting married first or not (later, they have a double wedding, Ed marrying Hunter and Em marrying Viney).

And finally, the honeymoon; Skara decided to go for something small for once; a few weeks trip to a small cabin on a less dangerous section of The Knee. There, the girls were able to be in wedded bliss, simply spending their time in the cabin to be together and in love.

And that’s about all I can think of for a Skarlow wedding! I hope you enjoyed that answer!

#the owl house #skarlow #willow park #toh skara #willow park toh #toh #skara #headcannon #cute

[actualhttpaladin]

I grew up in an extremely religious household. Father was a Sunday school teacher and Mother was a choir director, and both of my younger brothers were choir members. There were attempts to twist my arm or shoehorn me into duties and responsibilities, but I avoided and evaded them at every turn. It was never important to me, but it was important to them. As a child I believed, but had growing doubts, and these turned and worsened as I grew older. But it still remained important to my family.

My extended families differ on this, though. One side lives in the Philippines where that religion is rampant, but the other side lives in the midwest countryside of the US. Dirt roads, farmlands. Chickens, horses, rust. I was born an awkward thing, and my understanding of the world and desire to make art far outpaced my manners and my wit, and so I learned to be quiet. This wasn’t helped by the fact that I had a severe allergy to cats, too, an animal owned by nearly all of my extended family. This wasn’t really an issue, as we rarely saw one another, except for two holidays: New Year’s Day and 4th of July.

On New Year’s Day we’d drive the hour and a half distance to arrive at my Grandmother’s home, where everyone else would arrive at as well. Three cousins, three aunts, a great aunt (while she was here), a great grandmother (while she was here), a great uncle and great aunt (when they could make the drive), and six cousins (all girls, only one was older than me). All the kids would receive presents from the adults, and the adults would later do a gift exchange.

If this sounds remarkably like Christmas, you’d be right, it does. Part of my parent’s faith is that they cannot celebrate Christmas, a thing they made well known in the extended family. That they loved the family, respected them, but any Christmas celebration would be done that they could not attend because of their faith. No demands were made, no guilt trips were taken, but the idea was sprung to celebrate New Year’s Day instead.

Growing up an awkward child, who is quiet by nature, and forced to be quieter because of my own allergies, I didn’t get to talk much with my family. I was a presence around them, expressing myself through drawings on a sketchbook or through small moments of humor. Sometimes the gift giving, while well meant, didn’t go as planned. If anyone recalls the early 2000s and kid’s toys, and their notoriously short shelf lives, a slurry of cheap, broken gadgets and electronics littered the years. One year, even, every relative got me an RC car. When they later asked my father why I didn’t seem so enthused over them, he had to awkwardly explain: “Paladin doesn’t like cars.” The years afterwards would see a litany of gift cards for art supplies and GameStop. I was easy to shop for, in the end.

Turning 18, turning into an adult, saw the end of receiving gifts altogether. While I would have joined the other adults in buying a gift for the exchange, I learned that all this time, celebrating New Year’s was a strain on them. Each year, the questioning would go out, asking why they couldn’t just celebrate Christmas, and that [My Father] could just stop being stubborn and join them. And each year, my grandmother would push back and defend it, wanting her only grandsons to be there. (My mother wanted three girls. She got three boys.)

This back and forth continued until a woman named B, a daughter from the previous marriage of an Uncle to married into the family, asserted herself into ours. And the one thing you can rely on with B, is that she is a heinous woman, jealous of any joy another has, envious of whatever another person gains, seeing it all as things that she should gain instead. And with her remarkable talents, she finally took the fight out of my grandmother, and the family would celebrate Christmas. We’d stopped going to 4th of July gatherings after a year or two thereafter. We never went up for the holidays again. We’d go to a gathering here and there, but my slow ascent into being an adult saw the loss of a connection with those people. Its been over a decade since they made their choice, and I know I’ll never see them again. But I don’t think either I or they care. One of the biggest differences between an adult and a child is having a genuine say in who you want in your life. I’m an adult now, with friends who have become more like family than they ever were. I love them dearly. Love can be nourishing, it can be rewarding, it can be revitalizing.

But sometimes love is a cheap RC car: it only works for a while.

#family #adulthood #growing up #memory #melancholy #grandma is still cool though

[mrfandomgage]

With a smile, the wedding officiant says, "Gage and Alex, having proclaimed your love and commitment to one another in the eyes of these loved ones, and with the power vested in me by the Church of Latter Day Saints, I am happy to pronounce you and wife! You may kiss".

Gage and Alex move their right hands in coveted in silver bands to each others left cheek. They draw themselves closer, to a small crowd of happy family members and friends, and kiss one another. Their families cheer for them, with a small but joyas applause. Gage and Alex with eachother in hand step down from the podium.

"It's dinner time now, right?" Gage asks Alex.

"Hell yeah, food!" Alex cheers quietly to Gage.

The wedded couple properly meets each other's families, even though the couple expect to find similarities in their families, they're still happy to properly meet them. The furry people having a little difficulty being treated as the odd ones out in their own universe. Lynn being pet on the head by practically everyone who walks by him. Goat and FemGoat's ears being slightly tugged on. Anyone with a tail longer than a foot was stepped on several times as people were new to properly compensating them as they walked. With all these inconveniences, they still had a rather good time.

Alex and Gage get eachother food. Alex passes Gage a chicken salad with some Italian dressing, and Gage passes Alex a steak with double baked stuffed potatoes. They enjoy their time together along with their dinner. Goat and Rags sit along with them, chatting. Goat joking about Rags wearing real pants, Rags mocking how loose Goat's clothes are. They have a good time.

After time passes, Gage sits passenger watching his wife drive. Alex looks over and sees his smile from time to time.

Gage asks, "So, where are we going?"

Alex answers with a giggle, "home of course!"

Gage laughs, "are we going a long way, or?"

"Oh alright, I wanted to go to somewhere a bit special before getting home".

"Oh a surprise?"

"Yes! Uh... would you also be alright with some sword fighting?"

"Which kind?"

Alex takes a moment, "ooohh. Gage, C'mon you weirdo".

"I mean, I'm fine with either one so long as it's with you".

"Mmm maybe we can do that other one behind locked doors, I want you to get use of that old sword you haven't used in years".

"Years? I thought that was last week".

Alex chuckles, "please stop, you know what I mean".

Gage sighs, "yeah, I know, I'm just a bit nervous".

"It's going to be alright".

"Thanks dear".

After a few hours drive, and some improve road karaoke, Alex parks her car next to a lake in the mountains. A clear night's sky reflecting the stars. Alex opens her car's trunk, taking out her katana and Gage's falchion. Gage steps out of the car. Taking in the view. Alex passes him his sword.

"Oh damn, this old thing?" Gage questions, looking over the sword.

Alex giggles, walking towards the water, "yeah, I didn't run you into the ground with it, but I did take it".

Gage walks towards the water following Alex, "So how strong are we playing? Human?"

Alex walks on top of the water, thinking, "Maybe. Maybe just follow my lead".

Gage follows to the water, "your dress looks beautiful, my dear. How long will we be out here?"

"Maybe just an hour of practice, and after, show me how to use hammers the way you do?"

"Of course, and I love the dramatic setting, a starry field under my feet and above, I get to even see you twice in this lake".

"Aww, thank you, I love the sight as well, makes me think of you".

The two draw their swords in guard. Dashing across the lake, the swords clash, and the water splashes around. The two smile at each other, and truly begin their practice.

#gage fandom #alex fandom

[graphicnoveldreams-blog]

A real doozy of a dream

Got overheated while a slept, which always means crazy dreams. Buckle your seatbelts on that submarine or airship, this one gets weird.

Where to start...there were many parts, I will post as they come to me.

-Helping a distant family member build a house...in the tundra of all places. Middle of nowhere, though looking around, I saw a single ramshackle house in the distance. A snowy giant hill/cliff overlooked the area. I pondered that it would be good for skiing. Looking around, there were now several houses in a semicircle around the one we were building, as if this house was on the (admittedly large) island in a (equally large) cul-de-sac. The relative hoped it would be a party house. I hoped the neighbors would not be pissed.

-Everyone was hungry, so I had to find food. I knew people liked chicken but....oh, the quest tells me exactly what to make. Some sort of chicken and gravy for some and a high end chicken dish for others. I had to visit a snowy village (I blame Guild Wars 2 for all the snow) to get ingredients from the people who lived there for the gravy.

-A noble owl lady was upset her egg didn’t hatch and she’d be forced to marry this asshole of an owl noble in order to maintain her status (guess what kind of region she lived in. Guess.). A visiting noble suggested she travel to America, as then she could marry this older noble owl who had no children and a fortune. She lamented over her unhatched egg one last time, as it should have hatched days ago, but had rotted instead. As she is knelt over it, a single bullet pierces the egg, as if drilled, revealing to all that it was, indeed, rotten. No one seemed to notice/care where the bullet came from. The noble owl then grabbed her things and...flew north. A servant flies after her to course correct.

-Flying over the ocean in an airship, trying to get to...somewhere, more of getting away. But alas, two alien enemy fighters come after us! They look something like a combination of an open hair clip and a clam (looked Sentient-y, for those who play Warframe). Me and the captain were in a small airship, two of these would take down a larger one. The captain (who looked like Uraraka from MHA/BNHA) said they were likely expecting a larger ship. Perhaps we could outmaneuver them. Alas, a hit! One of them grabs on. The floor of the lower area gets covered in what looks like a mossy mold (btw the ship was kind of three-toed paw pad shape, with the “toes” being up stairs and where the hardware and controlling and all that jazz occurred. The lower part was just a gathering area.). However, the captain was undaunted! She peeled up the sheet, opened the garage style door, and threw it outside. Well, it worked. Now all we had to do was slide off the clips that connected the flooring and stairs and spray them with some bleach to clean it off. Easy.

-A teenage son sits at his computer in his messy, messy room. His father comes to check on him, offering chicken and green beans. God, dad, I can make my own chicken and green beans! But the dad *insists* he uses a special ingredient, even after the son throws the dish at the door as the dad closes it. The dad silently laughs under his breath. The green beans, on the floor and forgotten, move, coming to life! They turn into flat green worms and squirm into the mess. The son is suddenly hit by an urge to clean, despite not seeing what just happened. And most of the mess goes into the garbage, though he does remove one of the brooms when he finds a dustpan (yes, multiple brooms, though this one had a foldy head.) The worms were not found.

-Treasure hunting with a team of heros! A special jungle ruins set up was filled with hidden treasure, and whoever finds, recovers, and delivers the most wins. My team of four were looking all over, but a lot was picked over already, and there was a lot of dangerous and pokey stuff lying around from traps others set off, like extending, biting plants and 5 inch long darts. But my team thinks they found a path to some treasure, as it looks like it’s been unpillaged! I approach the pathway, and four slabs, to exactly my height, slam across. I back off and they slide back into the recesses. I crouch and approach and only a few come out, but more come out when I stand. And then the floor I was in sunk about an inch and filled with lava. Via video game mechanics, I hopped back to the higher rock ledge my team was standing on. It all returns to normal. Eureka! One of my teammates has a ghost form! We send him over. Though the traps react, he walks right through. Excellent. Now, there must be a switch to hit to turn the traps off. I suggest the torch that is on the ground for some reason. He tries it, and all the rocks start slipping into lava. Nope. Nope. Wrong switch. He flips it back, and then tries the more obvious switch on the wall. The sunken lava pools reappear, but the slabs do not come out now! Just one, large slab, but it moves slow enough to get through. I am somehow suddenly through, and one teammate “vines” her way across (it was *not* the girl from MHA/BNHA) and the other one climbs and jumps across like a monkey. At the other end is...a boat. It looks like a small version of one of the ones from a river cruise. We hop on and take it out on the water. It is a massive pool and and also quite deep. And also filled with biting plants and thorns. Some people had already thwarted some of the extending biting plants in there, and they were making out. (The pool was technically in the room before the trap path, but somehow this was an improvement, idk) A teammate notices a hidden door knob on a wall. We head over and open it, revealing drawers filled with minor treasures! We claim all of them. The door is flipped and fenagled a few times, revealing even more drawers! One has an ancient relic which looked remarkably like a broken glazed flower pot. Score! We claimed it and turned it all in. Yay!

-An event almost like a recording of the treasure hunt, and revealing treasure locations, shows that when the pool was empty, there were many miniature types of boats tied to the edge of the pool for use. The miniature submarine was taken by....Team Rocket? They used it to get at the two giant rubies at the bottom of the pool, but had to pull up for air after getting them. Revealing the highest level treasure location showed it (oh man we missed another hidden treasure spot, you can see the handle there!) was accessed from the hidden treasure we found! Once the set of square drawers is pulled out, one would knock on the side and they would turn into a staircase. One could climb up to yet another hidden doorknob, and after some twists and turns of doors, shelves, and cupboards, revealed a gold dress hiding among other treasures (all of them were outfits, though, including one that was from Final Fantasy 14, it was one of the free-reward-after-so-many-days-subscribed, but roegadyn sized). The gold dress was worth 205 million points per thread! Wow! One of the women puts it on (whether this was a preview or not has been lost). I warn her that any damage to it will wreck the price, but she ensures she won’t get it damaged.

Whoa that was a hell of a dream.

#chicken was quite a theme there #don't know what happened about the green worms #still will eat green beans #i think there were other traps in the treasure part but i only remember bits and pieces #speaking of #bits and pieces

[lotionhood73]

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#svezzamento

[bigskydreaming]

Okay, so you know “Justice League meets Batman’s kids, who they’d previously been unaware existed” AUs?

So picture that.....but this time, instead of them just having no knowledge of any of these other Gotham vigilantes at all....the Batkids all migrate to various cities as they get older and become known as their protectors - Dick in Bludhaven, Tim in San Francisco, Cass in Hong Kong, etc....

Meaning they’re all established figures, the Justice League are aware of them as solo local heroes who stick to their cities and so they just don’t interact with them much if at all, or else some are members of team lineups but are particularly vague about their histories or life outside of the team’s adventures....

So the big reveal isn’t that they become aware of all these other Gotham vigilantes all at once....its that some big conflict or whatever requires a huge team up of all available heroes, and in the aftermath, they figure out that like.....despite being known as solo heroes who work alone or loners outside of their team settings, 80% of these heroes all not only seem to already know each other, they seem to be related.

And so naturally they all turn to Batman, who has profiles on every known hero and they thus figure had researched these individuals too and just never mentioned this little detail, and they’re like, “Did you know about this?”

And then Nightwing turns to him too, arms crossed and is like, “Yeah Dad, did you know about this?”

And the infamous Red Hood is all: “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have never met any of these people before in my life. Lives? Whatever.”

And then Red Robin moodily grates out “I have no siblings.” Since he’s nursing a grudge since Dick and Jason broke into his apartment the night before and replaced all his custom Red Robin gear with Darkwing Duck merchandise and his vengeance will be swift and also totally disproportionate because things escalate quickly in this family, that’s true in every universe.

Cass meanwhile has deftly skewered Jason’s lie by walking over to him and brazenly patting down the man with many many guns with no fear whatsoever. He squawks and futilely attempts to bat her hands away as she riffles through his many pockets, but he doesn’t seem shocked, just annoyed. Eventually, she pulls away and triumphantly reveals a box of Hello Kitty themed band-aids.

“So these are yours then? Just for you?” Black Bat asks smugly. Red Hood squints at the box.

“What the fuck? How long have those been in my jacket? Why are those in my jacket? Did you freaking plant them in my jacket just on the offchance you could at some point in the distant future use them at my expense?”

Black Bat frowns, puzzled. “Yes?”

“Oh come on, Dead Hood,” Spoiler says with an exaggerated toss of her head meant to convey she’s rolling her eyes beneath her own mask. She skips her way across the room to Black Bat and then drapes herself languidly all over the smaller woman. Who in turn doesn’t so much as twitch beneath the sudden added mass as Spoiler holds out her hand towards the box of band-aids. 

“One please. I have a boo-boo,” she says with easy familiarity straight into the intimidating cowl of Black Bat. Only then does she deign to finish her train of thought with Red Hood.

“I mean seriously, are you saying you don’t have potential blackmail set-ups, pre-rigged releases of incriminating material, and a random assortment of traps, pratfalls and mortifying scenarios in place for the express purpose of being able to humiliate any and all of your siblings at any given moment, without any need for additional prep time?”

“Is this true, Little Wing?” Nightwing whirls on the larger Red Hood with a faux-scandalized gasp. The founder and leader of the Titans, formerly the Teen Titans, renowned for his stratagems and calm competence when directing squads of supers in the heat of battle while he keeps pace with nothing more than naturally acquired acrobatics and a utility belt that apparently uses the same technology as Wonder Woman’s invisible jet....now appears to be....staggering with the back of his hand pressed to his forehead, moaning about how he felt....faint? 

What is happening right now, several dozen superheroes want to know. Is this a drill? Are they supposed to be checking for signs of a mental ambush from undetected psychic saboteurs? Did they all hit their heads at the exact same time and are now experiencing some kind of shared mass concussion?

Look, that wouldn’t be the weirdest thing to ever happen on the Watchtower. 

“Have I failed you so utterly?” The veteran child hero bemoans with a dramatic twirl - that when contrasted with his stern demeanor of a mere ten minutes ago - makes the fears of telepathic infiltration seem less paranoia and more....concerningly probable. “Did you learn nothing from me? Did you learn nothing from B?”

He stops and jabs a finger up at the sky. “Quick, everyone! What is the very first rule of Living While Batty?”

As if by rote, over a half a dozen voices chime in from all over the room, causing various heroes to jump. Spooked by yet more and more vigilantes joining in some kind of mass recitation like they and they alone have some kind of clue what the hell is going on and everyone else just hadn’t been invited to the party. Which is just rude, honestly. Nobody likes feeling like they weren’t invited to the party. Not even superheroes. 

“If you’re not going to bother preparing for every possible contingency and at least six impossible ones, you might as well just stay in bed.”

Even the Red Hood joins in the Illuminati chant or Cub Scout pledge or demonic ritual or whatever the fuck that just was, though his slumped and exasperated posture gives away every hint of sulkiness his headgear otherwise would have kept safely hidden. He’s surprisingly more...expressive, than most who’d only known of him by reputation had expected him to be. The day continues to yield surprises.

“Of fucking course I do,” he growls out, snatching the box from Black Bat. She doesn’t even fight to hold onto it, just lets it go with a knowing smirk. “I wasn’t surprised by the idea of it, I was just surprised she bothered with such a weak effort. Like yeah whatever, actually those could be mine. I use those all the time at home. So what?”

He aggressively yanks one of the band-aids out of the box, fumbles with the peel-off strips with one hand and he roughly rolls up the sleeve of his jacket with the other. Then just slaps it on his forearm and raises said appendage high, showing it off this way and that. “See?”

“Oh yeah, for sure,” Signal drawls from the other side of the room, nodding his head approvingly. “Totally convincing. Nice job walking that one back, you really showed them.”

Red Hood’s head snaps in his direction with ominous intent. “Watch it, Day-Glo.”

Signal just snorts.

“Yeah, like I’m gonna take constructive criticism on my name and costume from a dude who’s spent the last several years calling himself Red HOOD while running around in a freaking HELMET.”

“Its not meant to be literal, you fucking pedant.”

“So wait, its not literally a helmet? Huh, does it at least protect your head literally, or just like...symbolically? Like if Bane were to clock you across the head, would your concussion just be a metaphor? What’s the treatment protocol for a metaphorical concussion? Fluids, bedrest and a philosophical prescription of two chapters of Chicken Soup for the Soul as needed?”

“Laugh it up, KC and the Sunshine Band,” Red Hood bats back. “You just got yourself disinvited from Thursday night’s poker game.”

Signal just grins and folds his arms over his chest cockily. “Please. You’ve been looking for an excuse to ban me for weeks, cuz you know until you can prove I’m using my ghost vision to cheat, you can’t actually bring suit against me for it in Family Court.”

“That, and also Family Court isn’t a real thing, you toddler. Stop validating Wing-a-ding-ding’s obsession with Shitty TV Nostalgia and just call it that thing where Oracle traps us all in a room until we settle our latest fight without anyone getting stabbed.”

“Yeah, but like, say that five times fast,” Spoiler pipes up. “Its just not practical. Family Court’s way easier.”

“Says the one who’s not even in our fucking family.”

“And yet I grace you all with my sublime presence anyway,” she blows a kiss at him, beatifically unbothered. “You’re welcome.”

The Red Hood scoffs and rounds on his heel, zeroing in on Batwoman in the far corner.

“Hey Auntie B, my siblings are all dead to me and I just helped stop an alien invasion so I deserve nice things like a fun Saturday night. Can you get me into Dad’s fundraiser so I can crash it? He won’t put me back on the list until I promise not to bring any C-4 with me and I won’t promise not to bring any C-4 because he should just trust me that I won’t when I say I’m not gonna and he won’t trust me that I won’t until I admit I shouldn’t have brought any to that sting last month where three tiny little yachts blew up through barely any fault of my own, and I’m just not gonna do that ever because I have convictions and I feel I shouldn’t have to be punished for that. Y’know?”

Batwoman blinks at him. “Kid, I’m not gonna lie to you. You’re my nephew and I love you, but I stopped listening three seconds into all that.”

“Ugh, fine. Can you help me crash Dad’s event tonight so I can teach him a lesson about why he should just trust me not to make a scene so I don’t have to always make a scene to make a point.”

“Tempting as you make that sound,” she says wryly, “I have a strict policy for dealing with you lot and your......everything. I only worry about tolerating one of you at a time, and there’s seven of you, and seven days in the week. You each get your own. You know perfectly well its Robin’s day today. You get me on Tuesday, just like always.”

“Auntie B, we’re not like other families, are we?” Red Robin’s delivery is sarcastically childish and his question clearly rhetorical. Most of his attention is fixated on whatever it is he’s doing with his wrist-mounted computer. 

“No sweetie, we’re all severely fucked in the head and a little bit too comfortable with that.”

“Just checking. Oh hey, Hood, I just emailed you a patch for the hole in your firewall I exploited when replacing all my shit using your accounts just now.”

“You did what?”

“Used your accounts to pay to replace all my stuff that you fucked with last night?” Red Robin says slowly. “Did you not realize that I’ve been sticking within ten feet of you for the past five minutes just so I could clone your devices and do all that while BB and Spoiler kept you distracted? I gotta say, bro, I feel like that’s on you then.”

Red Hood swivels his helmeted head in the direction of the aforementioned two. Black Bat waves. Spoiler shoots him an utterly unrepentant thumbs up.

“You’d side with your ex over me? That’s what its come to?”

“My only allegiance is to chaos,” Spoiler says brightly. Black Bat shrugs.

“Plus he bribes better.”

“Hateful,” Red Hood points at Black Bat, moving on to level the same finger at Spoiler, who curtsies in acknowledgment: “Hateful-er.”

Then the finger rounds the bases to aim judgmentally at Red Robin. “Hateful-est. And that was all Nightwing’s idea anyway, not mine.”

“Oh, I assumed as much,” he says casually. “Your idea of a prank tends to have more of a Carrie vibe. Or be a literal literary reenactment.”

“Its called an homage, 4chan.”

“Whatever, plagiarist. And anyway, I couldn’t go after ‘Wing for payback on this one. He used an Immunity card. If you didn’t want me getting back at you, you should have used one too."

Red Hood looms aggressively. Red Robin ignores willfully. Round and round they go. Superheroes who can survive excessive G-Forces are getting dizzy just watching them have a largely motionless stand-off. That shouldn’t be how that works, but whatever. All the most infamously reclusive and isolated heroes in all hero-dom are apparently part of the same one big reclusive and isolated family of fucked up weirdos and they’re all officially bonkers. Nothing makes sense anymore. Reality broke. Try another stall.

“Okay, but see, in order to have an Immunity card, I would have to participate in one of you losers’ stupid Immunity challenges,” the Red Hood drags out with exaggerated patience. “And I’m just not going to do that, on account of those all being fucking stupid. You see the problem there?”

Red Robin just shrugs. “I don’t know what to tell you, bro. You can have principles or you can have an Immunity card. You can’t have both.”

Meanwhile, on another side of....the same room.....look, its like, an octagonal room, probably. It has a lot of sides. Robin fends off questions from an aggrieved looking Superboy.

“You never told me you had a bajillion brothers and sisters!”

“Yes but I never said I didn’t either.”

Superboy rolls his eyes. “Oh yeah, so I should just assume everyone I meet has a bajillion secret brothers and sisters?”

“Well clearly it would have worked out in your favor in this instance if you had, now wouldn’t it?”

“Assuming of course that you can trust what has been said or implied here today and I am actually related to any of those numbskulls. Which I am not actually admitting to,” Robin tacks on hastily.

Superboy eyes him dubiously. “You joined in the same creepy chant all the others did and then got super self-conscious and looked around to see if anyone had noticed. Which uh. I did.”

“First off, your interpretation of body language is abyssmal. I do not get self-conscious,” Robin says with a delivery that probably could have benefited from being a little less self-conscious. “And second....that proves nothing. I guessed what they were going to say.”

“Word for word,” Superboy says super-skeptically.

“I’m very good at guessing things. You know this.”

“Okay. Guess how much I believe you right now then.”

Robin glares and folds his arms grumpily across his chest. 

“And what was that anyway? Was that like....you guys’ family motto or something like that?”

“Oh no,” Spoiler pipes up. “That’s much shorter.”

Superboy balks at that. “Wait, you guys actually have one of those for real?”

“Yup,” Steph says, counting out the words with her fingers. “He who laughs last....probably works for the Joker. So tranq him just to be safe. See? Only sixteen words. The first rule of Living While Batty is way longer, and what we said was just the abridged version. You should hear the original, before Black Bat put her foot down and refused to memorize it unless sizable edits were made.”

Superboy hovers between her and Robin now, both in mid-air and on the verge of taking Spoiler’s words as an invitation to hear just that. A low growl arises from Robin’s direction.

“Must you?” He asks the older vigilante, with a most put upon expression.

She looks at him pityingly. “Do you actually need me to answer that? Like, we’ve met, right? Hi, I’m Spoiler.”

“Wait, so Robin said that I just never specifically asked him if he had a bajillion brothers and sisters, and that’s why he didn’t tell me, so that means he wouldn’t have just lied and there’s not some code of secrecy that flat out forbids telling other people stuff, right?” Superboy realizes excitedly.

“Yes, excellent direction. Go on,” Spoiler says, steepling her fingers. Robin buries his face in the palm of one hand.

“Soooo, what other stuff could you tell me about Robin’s super top secret family that I wouldn’t think to ask about but that he would tell me about if I knew what questions to ask?”

She claps once, lightly but with emphasis. “Well done. You’ve passed the first barrier. Untold secrets await you behind just a few more.”

“I’ll get you for this,” Robin vows calmly. She waves a hand at him.

“Yeah, yeah. Just make sure you do it before January 1st, remember? You’ve promised retribution like ten times already this year and those don’t roll over, y’know. Rules are rules.”

“Enough!” Thunders a voice then, from the front of the room. Well one of the fronts anyway. Like sides, it has a lot of them, but this is the one where Batman’s standing. All eyes snap to him. Which is kinda just what eyes do when Batman says stuff like that. Its like his superpower, except he doesn’t actually have superpowers, which is what makes it scary. But where the snapping of the eyes (directional) is usually followed by Batman saying something else besides just “hey look at me,” here he pauses in the wake of his own call to attention’s waning reverberations. Uncharacteristically silent.

Not that, y’know, he’s normally Mr. Talkity Talk, but usually his silences feel like he has the words to fill them, he’s just withholding them. This though, this feels more like he doesn’t have any words at all. And he’s as confused by it as any of them, and most everyone else is confused by Batman being confused, and its this whole trickle down economy of confusion and its wrecking havoc on the value of the golden silence standard.

Of course, not everyone present is rendered spellbound with confusion.

“C’mon B,” Nightwing cajoles, leaning forward and practically radiating delight. “I think you know what you have to do now. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Its not likely to come around again.”

Red Hood snickers beneath his helmet and chimes in. “Yeah Pops, go ahead. You do this and you’ll actually have my respect for a whole twenty four hours. No, wait. Sixteen. No! Eight. Yeah, eight. Still a good deal.”

“Carpe diem, B,” Red Robin grins, leaning back as if to enjoy the show.

“Hey! Infringe on my trademark one more time, dude,” Signal throws a faux-glare at the former. Red Robin just quirks an eyebrow.

“And what, you’ll start saying Yum every time you eat a burger? Oh no. I’m hoist by my own petard.”

Signal flips him off with a grin and then redirects his attention back to Batman. “Yeah seriously though B, you kinda gotta do it now. Because if you don’t do it, then you’ll forever be the guy who didn’t do it, and you don’t want to be that guy, do you?”

“Yeah you really don’t want to be that guy,” Spoiler shouts out. “Nobody likes that guy. He’s the worst.”

“Do it, do it,” Black Bat starts chanting beside her, steadily picking up speed and volume. Several others start joining in. Even Robin appears to be slightly anticipatory, albeit trying very hard to hide it.

Batman sighs, and somehow everyone manages to hear it. Stills. Waits for....something? Nobody but them seems to have any clue what, but the air is thick and heavy with portentiousness. Something is about to happen, and all most of the heroes present could say for sure is it was something they never would have in a million years seen coming.

Finally, Batman straightens with the resigned air of a man about to have oh so many regrets. He crosses his arms, shakes his head, and in an absolute deadpan monotone, says:

“You are awful children. You know you’re killing me. You’re killing your father.”

[joansiefics]

CRASH, BOOM, BAM!!

MOSTLY BUCKY BARNES X READER

SUMMARY: You and your parents got in a car accident, while on your way to a holiday resort. You had several injuries, but your parents weren't so lucky. Luckily Tony, Natasha and Bucky saw the accident happen and helped you.

WARNING: Death (of family members), Car Accident, Blood, Injuries (cuts, concussion...), Crying over death, Held back against will (actually helps the reader), Nightmares, Blaming self.

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“

”

You let out a satisfied sigh as you snuggle deeper into your makeshift car bed. The air in the car was stilled and you focused on the acceleration of the car as your dad made a turn onto the quiet highway, the broadcaster keeping himself awake with his own silly jokes and the light stertor breathing of your mother sleeping in the pushed back passenger seat, all cozy and cuddled up in her heated blanket. You squinted your eyes open as the winter sun was shining morning rays through snow clouded skies onto your face and you welcomed the slightly warmer feeling on your skin.

You let out a groan as you reposition yourself to let your numb side sensitize. "How'd you sleep?" you hear your dad's gruff, hoarse voice move through the stilled air.

"It was good, but my left side is entirely numb" you answer with a chuckle.

You mother utters a few tired and dreamful mumbles as the tyres slide on the road soothing her back into a light slumber. "I was thinking we could stop at a chick-fil-a for some breakfast before we drive the last few hours, what do you say?" your face lit up at his suggestion

"That sounds amazing, I could do with some food" your stomach growls in agreement with your statement.

It didn't take long before you saw a part of the red logo in contrast against the white, sheet of clouds, excitement bubbling in the pit of your empty, growling stomach. A few more miles covered and your dad was pulling into the drive -thru. The lady at the last window stretched her arm out, handing your dad the paper bag filled with deliciousness. The heavenly smell of waffle fries, chicken nuggets and sandwiches reaching your nostrils and making your mouth water. The smell made your mother stir, before she tiredly opened her eyes, searching for the source of the appetizing smell. Your dad handed the paper bag over to you, for you to pick out your food and you gave the paper bag to your mother, after taking your chicken nuggets, waffle fries and bacon, egg and cheese sandwich.

Your dad ate his food while keeping his tired eyes trained on the road as he drove. Your mother sat up and nibbled on some of her waffle fries, while you quickly devoured your portions of food, but still savoring every taste on your taste buds. You finished the last bite of your sandwich, wiped your hands and corners of your mouth with a napkin and put the rubbish in the now foodless, full of trash, paper bag.

"Thank you dad" you thank before plopping back down on your back.

"You're welcome".

The car became silent once more and your eyelids grew heavier, the exhaustion of a term's hard work and determination finally taking over. You can hear the whispers of your parents trying to have a conversation without disturbing you, the sleet pattering on the window, the soft tunes form the radio and the gusts of wind as other cars dangerously speed past yours, lulling you to sleep. You could vaguely here the conversation between your parents.

"Do -- want me -- take over ---- bit, honey?" some of your mother's caring words reached your ears as she asked your father.

"No, -- fine"

"Honey, -- been driving -- eight hours and ---- awake even longer ----, maybe -- should let me take -- wheel ---- bit, while you ---- rest?" your mother's voice was filled with concern.

"I'll stop at -- next gas station, -- we -- switch, okay?" your dad gave into the offer, the thought of sleep to good to turn down.

"I love you guys" you mutter from the backseat, a smile tugging at your lips, satisfied with the perfect life and loving and caring parents.

"Love you too" your parents said in unison, enlisting a small giggle to tumble over your lips - maybe a giggle of happiness, maybe a giggle of satisfaction, or maybe a last giggle before a storm, before a teared world, before the ruining of a perfect life.

The next line of events was all a big blur to you. You remember you were happy, smiling and giggling before you fell asleep, but you woke up with your head spinning 'It feels more like my whole body is spinning' and sharp pains running through your legs 'Did I sleep my legs into feeling numb again?' and then came the realization - you were thrown from one side of the car to another and crashed through the window as the car tumbled down a hill. You were scared, confused and anguished. But then it hit you...your parents - where are they? are they okay?

"Mom?! Dad?!" you called, your voice faltering, shaking and small.

You tried again "Mom!! Dad!!" - nothing.

By now the adrenaline was surging and pumping through your blood, filling your veins, the pain slightly dissipating as the only thought was your parents. As you took in your surroundings you noticed the thick, cold snow you were laying in with your left cheek sunken deeply into it, the snowflakes falling on you and the location of the car crash, which was at the bottom of a steep hill, a few meters away from you.

With every last bit of energy you push yourself onto your feet and trudge towards the wreck, trying to lift your feet as high as possible to escape the deep snow. You want to run to see if your parents are okay, but even though the adrenaline is anaesthetizing any feeling of discomfort or pain, you feel out of control of your own body. 'I'm useless, my parents might need my help and here I am, taking my sweet time getting to them.'  

Arriving at the wreck, you fall to your knees, next to the crumbled car. The stinging of the wet and cold, icy snow going unnoticed as you try to spot your parents in the battered car. "Mom!!!!" You call out with a tremble in your voice and a lump forming in your throat. "Dad!!!!!" The stinging tears in the back of your eyes escaping a bit through your lacrimal duct, almost freezing to your numb, rosy cheeks.

Through your blurry vision you can make out your mother's figure hurled against the dashboard. The mere thought of your mother being injured, pumps regenerated adrenaline through your tired body and out of utter impulsiveness you push half of your body through the hole where a window used to be. The few remaining shards of glass stuck to the side, slices the material of your shirt. "Mom!!! You gotta wake up...please!!!" You try grasping her shoulders with your numbed hands, shaking her vividly.

The overcharge of blood rushing to your possibly concussed head and overflow adrenaline causes a buzzing in your ears, blocking out the slushing of the oncoming car's tyres in the snow. "Mom, please... open y-your eyes" You beg with quivers. The panic only seeps deeper into your already thumping heart when you don't feel a pulse on your mother's wrist. "No, no, no, no, this can't be happening" You mutter to yourself, moving your tremulous hand to the main artery in her neck, desperately searching for even the slightest pulse.

Temporarily giving up on your mother, you try wiggling yourself further through the hole to your father, but with no use when a strong pair of arms snake around your waist, pulling you out of the car. "No!!! I have to get to him!!! Please!!!" You cry out to the stranger, but you only get pulled further from your parents with you struggling against the stranger's grip. You kick and twist trying to free yourself while the sobs break through your chest. The adrenaline is now ineffective, making you feel exhausted - drained - and the pain stimulus finally reaches your brain, making you whimper a bit.

Over your heaving and the still, slight, present buzzing in your ears you can hear sirens nearing your location. You are now almost fully depending on the stranger to hold you on your shaking, glass shard invested, legs. You can hear someone talking to the stranger holding you "I ask-- Jarvis -- scan their vital- ---- --- dead." You try to piece the snippets of vaguely heard conversation together, which makes bile rise to your throat and you concentrate hard to swallow it back down. 'I could be wrong, I mean I only heard some of the conversation...yep, I'm DEFINITELY wrong' you try to convince yourself.

The tightening of the arms around your waist pull you out of your internal reassurance. All senses heightened you perceive the snow, in which your knees somehow came to sink in, feeling like a fire blistering any skin it comes in contact with, the talking of the few men, clad in blue uniforms, deafening you, as the wheels of the gurney whooshes through the snow as they take your parents to the ambulance - "my parents" - you say hushed, more to yourself than anyone else. The pair of sturdy arms turn you around and one hand comes up to the back of your head, gently nudging it forward into the stranger's chest, blocking all the view from your parents' figures covered by white sheets.

The steady heart beat, of the stranger, eliminates the chaos around you and in that moment it's just you and the kind stranger, in whose arms you feel safe. The calmness settles in you - the silence before the storm - the calmness before the reality. A few more minutes pass with the stranger holding you in their arms stroking your tangled, snowflake invaded hair when the shock enters, destroying all calmness. If you were standing your knees would have buckled, but you were already sitting with your knees in the snow leaning back on your ankles.

The sadness is to overwhelming, holding back all the tears and only making dry sobs leave your body. "They are gone" You say disbelievingly, shaking your head in slow horizontal directions. "I'm really sorry for your loss" this is the first time you hear the stranger's voice, but you like it - it produces a certain serenity, perfect for the situation. You pull away from the stranger and he removes his arms from your waist, and you almost instantly miss the feeling of comfort. "Thank you for uhhh..." you pause a bit, trying to collect yourself "thanks" you get the only word out that you can think of suitable, while pushing yourself to your feet. The man also pushes himself to his feet, brushing of the snow from his pants.

"Bucky" he introduces himself, sticking his hand out for you to shake. There is a small silence before you reach out, shaking his hand "Y/N" "We should probably get your wounds checked out, it looks kinda bad" Bucky says sincerely. You haven't even given thought to your injuries, you were solemnly focused on your parents - 'they're REALLY gone' - your mind begins spiraling again. Bucky rests his flesh hand on your shoulder, preventing you to give into your spiraling thoughts, and usher you towards a car. "My friends and I are going to take you to our infirmary where we live. You'll get better treatment there." Bucky keeps talking to you, trying to keep you from dazing.

In any other situation you would have had questions: 'where do you live? how can I trust you? who are your friends?'  But in this case it's different: I just lost my parents and nothing can be worse than that, what do I have to live for now?' The opening of a car door, breaks through your thoughts and you hesitate a moment before you silently climb into the backseat, Bucky following right behind you. The contrast of the freezing weather outside and the heated air in the car, sends a shiver of pleasure through your spine. "These are my friends, Natasha and Tony" Bucky introduces the two people sat in the front of the car, pointing to each of them when saying their names "this is Y/N" he tells them, pointing to you. You didn't even notice there were people in the car, until Bucky introduced you to each other.

'Say something' you mentally scold yourself for your awkwardness "hey, nice to meet you...thanks for, uhh, you know what" you say. "No problem sweetie, anytime" Natasha says with a soft smile, before turning around and focusing in front of her. The shock, adrenaline rush and fuzzy brain definitely took a toll on you causing your eyelids to feel heavy, fluttering closed, before you force them open again "Get some sleep doll" Bucky says, hugging you closer to his warm body. Without having to tell you twice, you let your eyelids close, only this time you keep them closed.

After a long drive, of which you have no recollection, the car pulls up to the tower. Bucky picks you up in his arms, careful not to push any glass shards deeper than they already are, and carries you to the infirmary, swiftly but steady. The entire time that the doctors treat your wounds, Bucky stays by your side and after an hour the doctors and nurses leave the room, satisfied with their work.

The annoying beeping of a heart monitor, the bright fluorescent light hurting your eyes even through closed eyelids, the tight skin around the penetrating IV and the bandages almost, not quite, but almost stopping all blood flow through your veins, wake you up from your sleep. The light hurts your eyes but you force them to stay open and scan your surroundings. "B-Bucky" you ask unsure with a hoarse throat "Your awake" he says cheerfully, grabbing a drink of water. He gently puts one hand at the back of your head, slowly pushing it up and putting the brim of the glass to your lips. You take a few small sips, letting it soothe your dry throat before you thank him for the water.

Bucky rests your head onto the pillows again and makes his way back to the chair he's been sitting on for about an hour. After a long silence in the room, but constant debating with yourself, in your head, you ask the question that has been floating in your mind. "What's going to happen now? I mean like...with me? Where do I go?" you rush through your questions almost forgetting to fill your lungs with oxygen. The heart monitor beeping rapidly and the lines spiking as your heart's rhythm increases "Hey, hey, hey, calm down...okay? Just breathe for me." Bucky waits for you to calm your breathing before he continues "For now, you're just going to heal. Once you're all healed, we can contact some of your relatives, maybe you can stay with them" Just the mentioning of staying with one of your immoral relatives cause goosebumps to form on your skin. "Our umm...my relatives? they don't really like us...me, they don't really like me" you say, confusion clear on your face as you try to correct your sentence. "Well then, you can stay here at the tower, with me..." Bucky suggests, quickly adding "that's only if you want to" not wanting to push you into anything. "Yeah, I...I'd like that" you say with a smile tugging at your lips.

"Why don't you get some more rest and we can talk again in the morning, finalize all the plans and so forth?" Bucky says when he sees your eyes drooping and your best efforts to hide your yawns. "Okay, thank you again Bucky, it really means a lot to me" You say already closing your eyes "Goodnight doll" He leans forward pressing a kiss to your forehead "Goodnight Bucky" He walks back to his seat and plops himself down, getting comfy for the night.

' "I love you guys" "We love you too, Y/N" and then *CRASH*...glass shatters everywhere, penetrating any flesh in its way. I feel the tingling as the blood drips from the lacerations on my arms and legs. But then I remember, my parents, "Mom, Dad!!!!" I see their lifeless, covered in blood, bodies against the dashboard. Then I hear my mother mumble the last few words, coughing on her own blood, spewing it onto her clothes "You... could have...saved us...Y/N" and then she exhales her last breath. '

You scream yourself awake and jolt up on the gurney. Sweat is dripping down the side of your forehead, your breathing is hitched and the heart monitor is screaming at you, trying to pull you back to reality. The last string of your daze snaps as a strong pair of arms wrap around you for the second time that day. "It was just a nightmare" Bucky cooes softly into your ear, swaying you back and forth on the gurney. "It wasn't just a nightmare, it was real" you pant, the words of your imagination mother replaying in your head 'You could have saved us Y/N'

"I could have saved them Bucky" you whisper into his chest "You couldn't do anything Y/N" "I could have..." you pause trying to think what you could have done. You know it's your mind playing tricks on you, you know your mother would never say such a thing, but you still can't ignore it. "You could have what?" Bucky asks, trying to lure you into accepting that you couldn't do anything. "I could have...I don't know" you sigh giving in with no answers "You couldn't do anything, okay?" Bucky waits for you to voice your acceptance "O-okay" you answer. "Just try and sleep some more, I'll be right here when you wake up doll" Bucky settles in next to you on the narrow gurney hugging you tighter to his chest, breathing exaggerated breaths for you to follow.

Falling asleep again you didn't have any nightmares - maybe the last time that you wouldn't get nightmares, well at least for now. But Bucky would always be there, by your side, swaying you to calmness and holding you to his chest - the chest of the once stranger that held you tight on the day of THE awful incident.

#Bucky Barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky imagine #bucky barnes imagine #bucky x reader #bucky barnes x injured reader #car accident #tony stark #natasha romanoff #avengers x reader #mcu #bucky barnes x female reader #bucky barnes fanfiction

[ladylilithprime]

1. You get a craving for whatever your soulmate is eating at the time. - The Winter Soldier freaks the heck out when he starts craving human milk. (Because his soulmate is a newborn baby.)

HIS ENTIRE LIFE that he could remember, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes had never had a craving that wasn't originally his. His mother had always looked wistful at the scent of coffee, explaining the only time he'd ever asked that she had craved it relentlessly whenever his father drank it while she was pregnant with Bucky and his sisters. Rebecca complained about wanting to eat ham and spicy peppers even though she hated spicy foods, and Rosalie would drag him off to the butcher to pick up sausages whenever they could afford the expense. Even Steve confessed to having a weird urge to eat steak and kidney pie for breakfast, and years later when a much bigger and stronger Steve shyly introduced his best friend to Peggy Carter he could only laugh that it finally made perfect sense.

But Bucky never got a single craving that wasn't his, and so his likes and dislikes were formed all on his own without any input from a phantom soul connection. Becca, staring down a bowl of chicken soup that "didn't taste quite right, even without the peppers", told him he was lucky. Falling from a train over Germany, Bucky couldn't help thinking that his soulmate - if he even had one - was the lucky one.

And then he was dragged from the ravine, alive and missing an arm, and thrown into hell, and he eventually forgot why it mattered that he never craved anything new.

Eventually, he forgot everything else.

THE ASSET FROWNED in confusion, distracted from the instructions being relayed by the Handler. The sensation was strange, similar to hunger, but seemed to come from outside the designated physical parameters. If the Asset had to guess, it was as if there was a second mouth and stomach sending feedback, an impression of liquid that had a taste and texture that was wholly unfamiliar, but might be classed as... sweet... and smooth... and thicker than the familiar water.

"Asset!"

The Asset snapped back to attention. "Sir."

"Your attention drifted from the briefing," the Handler said, tone displeased. "Explain."

The Asset hesitated in confusion, struggling to parse how to obey when the explanation was so nonsensical. "There was a... sensation. Hunger."

"Your nutritional requirements have already been met," the Handler snapped, frowning more severely.

"Yes, sir." The Asset knew that, and the knowledge only enhanced the confusion. There should be no sense of hunger to distract from the mission briefing, and yet there had been the sense of hunger, the... desire... for-- "Milk."

"Milk?" the Handler repeated, bafflement suffusing the displeased frown. "The approved nutrient sources don't include--" The Handler broke off, bafflement shifting into horror. "Asset. The fox dances in grandmother's new shoes."

The Asset froze, every muscle rigid and locked, all focus directed to the Handler.

"Ignore any and all sensory input related to unapproved nutrient sources. Acknowledge."

"Acknowledged. The Asset will comply."

THE ASSET TRIED to comply, but sometimes the foreign desires were so strong that the distraction presented by those sudden bursts if extraneous sensory input had the Handlers sending the Asset to the Chair for recalibration. The pain of the Chair and the blankness that followed blocked out the sensations for a time, but always by the end of the mission the distraction would have renewed. Once, only once, the Asset gave in and stole a small dark blue fruit that smelled like the extraneous sensory input being received and ate it, only to spit it back out at the immediacy of the flavor, sharp and sweet and tart and heavy and not at all pleasant. It became easier to ignore that particular extraneous desire despite how often the input presented itself.

It was more difficult to ignore other extraneous sensations, such as the taste of grain and burning and smoke and wood that felt both strange and familiar, similar to the vodka that the Handlers sometimes drank in the burn, but more smooth and earthy. The musty, tart and sour taste that accompanied a thick texture and the impression of skin was even more confusingly familiar, but as the Asset had been Commanded to ignore the extraneous sensory input and none of the Handlers ever requested a report on whether or not the sensations persisted beyond the Command, the Asset was given no information as to what these tastes and textures might actually be. Coffee, at least, was an extraneous sensory input that was on the approved nutrient sources list, although the Asset had no recollection of when it had been added or why it had been allowed when it seemed to be of little actual nutritional value and seemed to be more about allowing the Asset to blend into the general population on missions than maintaining physical status at mission-ready levels.

The problem, at least according to the Handler who reported on the Asset to the Director, was that the extraneous sensory input was interrupting the priority compliance command, requiring more frequent recalibrations the longer the Asset was active. The time between revival periods began to lengthen, as marked by the signs of age in the Director and the rotation of Handlers.

And then the Asset was given an assassination mission that was interrupted during the retreat by a blonde man with angry blue eyes who looked so strangely familiar and said the word "Bucky" when the muzzle fell away.

Who the hell is Bucky?

"Wipe him. Start over."

...Him?

The pain and the blankness was a relief, a blanket to smother the confusion of sensory input and sharpen the Asset's focus, but it could not make the Asset forget... the Director had said "him". Like the Asset was a person.

The Asset had been a person.

The Mission Target had known the Asset... had known the person who had been before he became the Asset.

There was a Before.

"'Til the end of the line."

The Target-- the Captain was pulled from the water by the Asset who might once have been called "Bucky", left on the bank to be discovered, and the Asset disappeared.

He had a strong desire for a drink of earthy vodka-- whiskey, and for once he saw no reason to ignore it.

JAMES BUCHANAN BARNES no longer felt like "Bucky", but since he had decided to reject identifying as the Asset ever again - violently, if what he had ended up doing to Vasily Karpov when the man had tried to activate the failsafe compliance trigger was any indication - he was willing to allow the address (nickname) from the Captain whom he had once called "Stevie". He told the man with the wings - Wilson - to call him "James", and even though it made the Captain frown both he and Wilson accepted that the name James was less conspicuous to be called in public than a nickname listed in museums and history books.

"Besides," he told the Cap-- Steve when it looked like the blonde would start again with some bit of past knowledge that James was more and more convinced was subjective recollection rather than actual knowledge, "ain't hardly anyone left alive 'cept you who knew me as 'Bucky' anymore. So you get to keep callin' me that, but hell if anyone else is gonna get the privilege!"

Unsurprisingly, that made Steve stop trying to get other people to call him Bucky, which was really all James had wanted in the first place. Also unsurprisingly, it didn't stop Steve and Wilson from dragging him up to New York and Stark Tower in Manhattan when he admitted that the metal arm was operating below acceptable levels of function.

"You could just say it isn't working," Wilson grumbled.

"It's working fine," James disagreed, and proved it by extending a metal middle finger in Wilson's direction. "It's just slower than it should be, and I think I damaged something when I was digging out the trackers."

"You had trackers in your arm?!"

"Had. Don't have 'em now."

So to Stark Tower they went, because "if anyone can fix your arm, it's Tony", and to James's surprise they were let in through security almost before they'd finished saying who they were and sent to an elevator at the far end of the lobby.

"Welcome back, Captain Rogers," a voice intoned from the speaker near the ceiling as the elevator began moving without any of them pushing a button. "And welcome to Stark Tower, Mr Wilson, Sergeant Barnes."

"That's JARVIS," Steve explained as Wilson looked up, clearly impressed. "He's an AI - a really smart computer program - that runs the tower."

"...Just James, please, JARVIS," James said after a moment, deciding not to touch on the fact that he knew what an AI was and that JARVIS was one; his memories were coming back all the time, and mission details as the Winter Soldier were coming back most easily. Pushing aside those thoughts, he added, "Dunno what my status with the Army is these days, but I can't imagine I still have my old rank from the War."

"As you prefer, James," JARVIS said, and James marvelled at the warmth he could hear in the voice, much more human than even Zola's personality algorithm had been. "Sir is expecting you all in the main living room of the common floor."

James tuned out Wilson starting to ask questions and Steve or JARVIS answering them. The sensation of craving that awful little blue fruit was back again, and he had to fight the urge to scowl so as not to alarm the two men or the AI watching them. Seriously, if he ever managed to find his soulmate now that he knew he had one, they were going to have words about it at some point. He thought he could remember something about someone he had known - a family member? - who had craved spicy food while hating spices, and he hoped they had gotten that resolved because craving something he hated tasting was really annoying.

The elevator doors slid open, allowing James and Wilson to follow Steve into a huge, open plan living room with four black leather couches spaced around a square coffee table. The man waiting for them, dressed in a charcoal gray bespoke suit with a royal purple button down shirt and lavender silk tie and pocket square, was sitting perched on the coffee table rather than on any of the couches and appeared to have his attention focused on the tablet in his hand until he spoke, addressing James directly despite not looking up.

"That arm's a complete mess, Barnes," he said, not bothering with pleasantries or even really acknowledging Steve or Wilson. "JARVIS took scans in the elevator since you were coming to see me about it, and I gotta tell you I am thoroughly offended by it on so many levels."

"Not like HYDRA could recruit you at all, so they had to make do with third-best," James said easily as he shrugged his flesh shoulder, metal elbow jabbing into Steve's ribs when the frowning blonde opened his mouth. "A'course, since they upped your threat level to 'do not engage', I think they stopped trying."

"Nobody ever calls me, even when they really, really should," Stark agreed, and oh, that was a sharp little smile directed at Steve. James mentally ran through the file HYDRA had on Tony Stark coupled with his own private observations that had somehow not always made it into his reports, and gave Steve's weirdly guilty yet mulish expression a sideways look. Suddenly, the fight over the Potomac that had led to James breaking conditioning completely was being thrown in a new light, and he wasn't sure he liked the implications.

"There wasn't time to call you," Steve was saying, and it was clear that Wilson was hearing the words as an apology but Stark's eyes were sharp and narrow and James would bet the contents of his pockets and all seven of his secret weapons caches that the man knew as well as James that Steve was lying.

"Sure, whatever," Stark said dismissively, letting it go at least for the moment and turning his attention back primarily to James. "Point is, I've got a meeting I need to be at in twenty minutes and even a basic maintenance session's gonna take at least an hour, maybe two, so you can either hang out here in a guest room or something until... J?"

"You will be finished with the shareholders in time for dinner and have no pressing appointments afterwards until tomorrow morning, Sir," JARVIS answered.

"So, yeah, hang out here and I can squeeze you in after we eat," Stark said, making James blink at the implication that an invitation to have dinner with Stark was being extended, "or you can ask J to block out a few hours in my schedule that'll be all yours and come back then. Or both, if you wanna go ahead and get me out of a few more meetings this week."

"What's for dinner?" Wilson asked. James shot him an incredulous look, which Wilson returned with an even stare. "You're still working your way back towards eating real food, man, don't think we didn't notice. Last thing you need right now is to make yourself sick eating something your body's not ready to handle even if it'll probably taste a hell of a lot better than those ration packs of yours."

"Bruce is cooking tonight," Stark said after a moment, an odd expression on his face as he looked at the group. "He usually makes curry, but I think he said he was making some kind of beef and vegetable stew that Natasha likes."

"Stew is fine," James said, keeping his tone even despite the sudden twist of nerves at the mention of the Black Widow. She had been with Steve and Wilson in DC, but had been absent when they crossed paths in Indiana. "If you're sure Dr Banner won't mind making extra."

"Yeah, it's fine, stew's easy to expand the number of servings," Stark assured him with a wave of his hand that might have seemed flippant and dismissive if James hadn't been so aware of the heavy focus that was still being aimed his direction. "Might end up a little broth-heavy, but there should be enough that even a super soldier won't go hungry."

"Well, thank you for inviting us," Steve said, proving to James once again that the man really didn't know how to read Stark at all. Wilson at least was looking at Steve askance, having picked up that the invitation wasn't directed at all of them even if he didn't seem to realize how pissed off Stark was at Steve, but Steve was looking at Stark, all but daring the man to say they weren't welcome.

"Saves the trouble of tracking you down later, I'm sure," Stark said, neatly bypassing the entire question. He stood up and tucked the tablet away inside his suit jacket, pulling a white plastic bag out in its place and reaching inside of it. "So, I'll be off to deal with the shareholders while you hang out here. JARVIS can handle any requests you might have for entertainment or whatever else you need."

JARVIS will be watching you, James heard loud and clear, and nodded his acceptance of the AI's monitoring. They were reluctant guests at best, after all, and Stark was clearly not interested in rocking the boat or starting a fight if he didn't have to--

The sudden burst of that blue fruit craving drove all thought of Steve and Stark's battle of wills out of his head and James found himself staring at Stark in shock as he watched the man lower his fingers from his mouth and chew. Stark noticed - of course he did, the man had to be at least as observant as James was - and raised an eyebrow, the hand holding the white plastic bag tilting to angle the bag's opening in James's direction.

"Blueberry?" his soulmate asked.

#soulmate au #winteriron #not age of ultron compliant #not civil war compliant #mcu fic #steve rogers critical

[aitaikimochi]

The BNHA Season 4 BluRay/DVD Vol. 1-6 Box Set comes with a special bonus light novel called the "Cultural Festival Wrap-Up Party" about Class A's after-party they had the day after the Cultural Festival, written by Anri-sensei. Here's the summary! Enjoy~

Boku No Hero Academia Cultural Festival Wrap Up Party

The story starts off with All Might greeting Aizawa as he enters the faculty office, a day after the Cultural Festival. He says good work to Aizawa and asks how the clean-up went for the Cultural Festival. Aizawa says that everything has been put away properly and recalls how it was a bit of a risky Cultural Festival this year with the whole fiasco that almost caused them to stop the festival, referring to the incident with Gentle and La Brava.

Aizawa mentions that the students are now preparing for an after-party. He says, “too bad they can’t put this amount of effort that they did in the Cultural Festival towards their studies instead,” and All Might laughs and says, “Well, they’re still just kids after all.” He also tells All Might that a little while ago, Sero stopped by the office to ask him something. Aizawa says, “What?” and All Might explains, “Well…you see…”

Next scene is at a nearby discount variety store (**note: basically a Don Quihote department store in Japan that sells a variety of things including food at really cheap prices). The Class A band team, consisting of Jirou, Kaminari, Bakugou, Yaoyorozu, and Tokoyami, are buying snacks and drinks for the after-party. However, Jirou seems to be the only one who’s actually taking this seriously as she can’t find where everyone else ran off to. She bumps into Yaoyorozu, who excitedly says, “Jirou-san, look at these super cheap drinks! They’re only 10yen each! If we buy 20 of them that’s only 200yen!”

Jirou looks at the bottles and notices that they’re only on sale because the drinks had already expired. She tells Yaoyorozu to put away the items. She then continues to search for the other band members and finds Kaminari. He tells her that he wants to add these cool snacks into their pile of food, which come with bonus cards or toys. He says, “Look at these! Doesn’t it take you back? Man, when I was a kid I used to collect these all the time!”

Jirou looks at the items and says “put it back,” and Kaminari whines but does so anyway. Yaoyorozu keeps getting distracted by all the things in the store since she’s very rich, she seldom has the opportunity to visit these discount stores that people go to. Jirou finds Tokoyami, and Dark Shadow dumps a whole bunch of sweets into their shopping cart. Jirou says that they don’t need that many sweets and to put things back. Tokoyami then gives Jirou a snack with packaging that says “The Witch of Darkness’ Apple Pie.” Dark Shadow says, “Fumikage used to love these sweets when he was younger!” and Tokoyami gets flustered. Jirou then pats Dark Shadow on his head, and Bakugou comes up behind her.

He says, “What the hell are you guys even buying!?”

Kaminari cries out, “Whattya mean!?”

Bakugou says, “If we’re gonna eat this at the after-party, then we need several big bags of food! And why the hell am I even here shopping with you guys right now!? This is so annoying!”

As he says that, he fills the shopping cart with bags of potato chips, sweets, paper plates, and trash bags. Jirou sighs in relief and says, “Yeah! I was thinking of getting paper plates too so clean-up would be easier!” They then agree to buy some more bottles of juice and soda, and Bakugou says they only need a maximum 5 bottles to which Jirou agrees.

Bakugou then says, “Well then let’s just get the hell out of here!” and Kaminari regrettably puts all of the sweets that he added to the shopping cart back on the shelves. Jirou looks at Bakugou and says, “Bakugou, you’re…kinda like a very capable Mom.”

Bakugou gets mad and says, “WHAT!? Stop saying such stupid crap!”

While the Band members are buying stuff at the discount store, the Dance Team members and Stage members are back in the Class A dormitory preparing food and decorating the common room. The Dance Team is in charge of the food and the Stage team is in charge of decorations.

Satou is the one who is cooking most of the food, but the other Dance Team members are helping him with the food preparation. Iida is in charge of chopping the vegetables, and although he is known for his speed, he’s not used to handling knives, so he chops them at a slower pace. Hagakure is in charge of prepping the oil and oil absorbent sheets to fry the chicken and place it on the sheets. Ochako and Ashido are in charge of stirring the pot, which contains beschamel and bolognese sauces.

Ojiro checks up on the oven to make sure that it’s the right temperature. Satou tells Ochako and Ashido to add the sauce for the lasagna and to not forget to put olive oil on top. Shouji says that he’s done making the dressing for the salad, and Satou samples it. The kitchen is full of lively sounds, and everyone is excited for Ojiro’s delicious cooking.

Ochako, Ashido, and Hagakure then discuss how Christmas is around the corner too, so they should do this again and throw a Christmas party next time. While they think about having a potential Christmas party, Iida says, “Hey now! Christmas is a day that celebrates the Birth of Jesus Christ! You should be spending it with your families, so this Christmas we…”

Satou then says, “Iida, the knife, watch out the knife!” since Iida was talking while swinging the knife around in his hand. Iida apologizes. Ashido then says, “But wouldn’t a party be fun?” and Mineta appears in the kitchen holding some peaches while muttering, “Christmas…Christmas costumes…Santa Girl skirts…That’s awesome…”

However, they eventually convince Iida that Christmas is indeed a time to celebrate things together, and Iida gives in and says he will ask Aizawa for permission to throw a Christmas party much to everyone’s delight.

Mineta had been slacking off on his duties by looking at the peaches and stroking them gently, imagining something lewd, and Hagakure calls him out on his perverted thoughts and tells him to help out along with the others.

He is in charge of cutting the carrots, and while everyone is helping prepare the food, Ochako stares at the fried chicken that just came out of the fryer. She can’t help herself and pops one into her mouth only to find that it’s burning hot. Tsuyu says to be careful since they’re still hot, and Ochako apologizes as the fried chicken looked and smelled so delicious she moved without thinking.

Satou asks her how’s the flavor, and she says the fried chicken is really good while giving him a thumbs up.

Ojiro and Hagakure are washing the dishes, and Hagakure holds the plates, making them look like they’re floating in mid air. Ojiro then tells Hagakure that she should probably put some clothes on if she’s going to be in the kitchen where people use fire and knives, but she said she just wanted to see what people’s reactions were to her small pranks. Shouji then passes her an apron, and Mineta muses that it’s one of those tropes where girls wear aprons while naked, but Iida warns him to not go further.

Meanwhile, in the common room area, the Stage Team is preparing the decorations to be strung about the living room. Deku, Todoroki, and Koda are folding origami together to put on the walls as banners. Deku folds a cool All Might shaped origami, and Todoroki praises him, saying “Wow, All Might! That’s awesome!” Deku actually used to practice folding the All Might origami countless of times to perfect its shape, and he blushes a bit when he hears praise from someone.

He then sees that Todoroki folded a crane, and Todoroki says that his sister taught him how to fold the crane origami when he was a child.

Koda then says, “Oh um…I…made a camera origami!” and shows them a whimsical camera shaped origami that makes a shutter noise when pressed. Deku then notices that Koda actually had folded a ton of different origami flowers and animals, and Koda gets a bit embarrassed at the attention.

Koda says, “But the All Might origami is amazing…” and Todoroki agrees.

Todoroki then asks Deku to teach him how to fold the All Might origami. Deku is happy to oblige, and he says, “Okay first you fold a triangle and then…”

As he starts teaching Todoroki, Kirishima comes into the room and puts up his own dorm room’s fisherman banner on the wall of the common room. He says that this will make the place a bit flashier, and the others agree. Aoyama then comes in and also says that they need something sparkly and bright. Aoyama tells them that he’ll come back with something sparkly.

Kirishima then says, “Oh wait I’ll come help too!”

Todoroki then turns to Deku and says, “Midoriya, so how exactly do you fold the All Might origami?”

Deku realized that he was in the middle of teaching Todoroki before they got interrupted by the others, so he resumes his lesson by saying to first fold a triangle. Afterwards, he goes off on a tangent about how to perfect the folding process as well as making sure to accentuate the silhouette of All Might through the folds, and as he mumbles a bit, he accidentally folds the origami too quickly.

Todoroki is patient with him though and says again, “Um…can you please start from the beginning and teach me the steps a bit slower this time?”

Deku apologizes for folding the paper too fast and teaches Todoroki again, this time at a slower pace.

Kirishima then walks by and says, “Woah Todoroki, you also want to learn how to fold the All Might origami?” He leaves them to their folding and joins Aoyama and Koda in putting the finished origami and other decorations up on the walls.

After Todoroki successfully folds the All Might origami, Deku says, “You made your first All Might origami!” and Todoroki responds quietly, “I think this should be able to fit in the letter…”

Deku says, “Hmm?” and Todoroki says, “Ah, it’s nothing.”

Aoyama them brings a disco ball into the common room, and he, Kirishima, and Sero put up the other decorations.

Finally, the preparations are complete, and the Class A students gather in the common room surrounding a bunch of food that’s placed on the tables. Iida then makes a toast to a successful Cultural Festival, and everyone raises their glasses and says, “Cheers!”

Satou mentions that he also has prepared dessert, and they have two choices of either a chestnut and fig montblanc cake or an apple and peach jelly. Tsuyu chooses the jelly as jelly is apparently her favorite food. Tokoyami also chooses the jelly dessert while Ashido takes the montblanc.

Iida mentions that he and Mineta were in charge of chopping the cabbages and carrots for the cole slaw. Todoroki and Deku praise him and say that the coleslaw is delicious.

Bakugou watches irritably and decides to leave the party, but Kaminari says, “Hey hey hey, where do you think you’re going, Kacchan-kun!?” Bakugou says that seeing everyone making small talk is pissing him off, but Kaminari rebutts by saying, “But you looked excited when you were buying food!”

Kirishima then comes over and says, “Bakugou! I brought you some fried chicken! Let’s eat a ton!” and puts a bunch of fried chicken in front of Bakugou, to which he says he doesn’t want it. Kirishima doesn’t back down though and says, “Oh I got it! So you want lasagna instead!” and brings a slice of lasagna for him.

Satou noticed Kirishima carrying the food over and says, “Hey, you should put a bunch of tabasco on it before eating too!” and pours a bunch of tabasco onto the lasagna and force feeds Bakugou with it. Bakugou yells, “What the hell are you doing!?” but eventually pipes down after taking the lasagna from Kirishima as it seems like he does enjoy the food after all. Kirishima watches him and says, “See, I told you it’s good! I’ll bring you seconds!” and goes to bring Bakugou more food.

Sero then turns everyone’s attention towards the TV in the common room. He says, “Well then now that Bakugou’s calmed down, let’s watch the recap of our Cultural Festival performance!” He turns on the TV and everyone gathers around to watch the recorded performance.

Some of the members mention that Deku was late to the performance, and they thought that he might not even be able to perform. Deku apologizes for being late, but as the performance starts, they can hear the audience’s chatter as someone yells “YAOYOROZU!!!” Ashido and Kaminari tease her about having fans, and she gets flustered. Satou then whispers, “It’s starting…it’s starting…!” and the screen fills with the sound of Bakugou’s drums as well as a huge explosion.

The girls all fawn over how cool Jirou looks while singing, and this causes her to blush and say, “Please stop…” Koda also adds, “You were really cool, Jirou-san,” which makes her blush deepen.

Ashido exclaims, “Look look, the dance is all in line too!” and the class watches as Ojiro uses his tail to swing around. Everyone on the dance team mentions how it was thanks to Ashido being their teacher that they were able to have fun while dancing and making this possible. Next is Deku and Aoyama’s synchronized dance, and Shouji murmurs to Tsuyu, “Wow, they are so in sync!” to which she replies, “Midoriya-chan and Aoyama-chan practiced real hard, right?”

The students continue to watch as Aoyama becomes a disco ball and the stage team starts their part of the performance with Kirishima shaving the ice that Todoroki created while Sero uses his tape, and Kirishima says, “You guys’ timing was perfect, Seroroki!”

Sero mentions that they should try this move out while doing actual hero work next time, and Todoroki agrees. As Kaminari watches himself play the guitar, he says, “Woah there…I feel like I’m gonna be super popular after this with those slick guitar moves…!” and Mineta says, “But wait did you guys see my harem dance? That was the best…!”

Jirou says, “Tokoyami, you’ve gotten super good at guitar!” and Tokoyami mentions that it’s all thanks to her.

Kirishima and Bakugou are watching the performance from a spot a little away from the rest of the class, and Kirishima smiles at Bakugou, saying, “Man, you’re great at drumming after all!” and Bakugou replies casually, “it’s just average.”

Jirou overhears their conversation and says, “No way! Your drumming was phenomenal! Your rhythm is what allowed us all to stay in sync! Thank you for taking on this role!” and Bakugou scoffs and says, “Well, you’re the one who carried the whole performance though!”

Everyone is really impressed by Jirou’s bass skills as well as her singing, and they vote for her as the Class A Cultural Festival MVP. Everyone, aside from Bakugou, smiles at her, and she blushes, saying, “What…why…”

Yaoyorozu remarks, “Jirou-san, you were shining the brightest!” and Aoyama says, “Even more than me!?☆” But he agrees that Jirou indeed deserves the MVP title.

The class asks Jirou to make a small speech. She thanks everyone for making this performance a reality, and she’s really happy that they were able to perform together.

After everyone is done eating, Sero and Kaminari tells the class that they have some cool party games planned for everyone. Most of the class are excited for what they have in store, but Bakugou feels like it’s a waste of time and gets up to leave. Kirishima tries to stop him, but Sero taunts, “Oh, you’re leaving because you don’t think you can win, right? Well that’s fine, you can go back. Even though we have a quiz specifically tailored for you, but I guess you’d fail anyway.”

This gets Bakugou angry, and he agrees to participate in Sero’s dumb quiz challenge.

The games that Sero and Kaminari have planned are for one member of each Cultural Festival team to undergo a “Can you guess the __” type of challenge. Bakugou is first up, representing the Band Team. His challenge is to differentiate between three different types of pepper spice seasoning purely by taste (called 一味 ichimi).

Bakugou sits down in front of the table that has the seasonings, and Sero blindfolds him by putting on an eye mask that has a funny grinning face on it. Deku and the others snicker at how ridiculous Bakugou looks with that eye mask on, and Bakugou gets mad, yelling, “Damnit Deku, what the hell is so funny!?” Deku replies, “Well, anyone would laugh when they see…hahah!”

Bakugou roars, “You piece of shit!” but Todoroki says calmly, “Hey Bakugou, maybe you should consider wearing a hero suit that matches that mask.” Bakugou is furious and yells, “Shut the hell up, you half and half bastard!”

The challenge then begins, and Kaminari spoon feeds Bakugou the three different spices. He surprises everyone by correctly guessing each type of spice and goes even as far to explain which company manufactures them. Kaminari and Sero are speechless, but Deku says, “I thought that Kacchan would know the difference. He’s always had a very particular sense of taste. He could even tell when sweets expired and would never eat the expired food.”

Bakugou gets mad and says, “Don’t put on that stupid face as if you know it all!” and throws the eye mask at Deku.

The next challenge is Todoroki’s turn, representing the Stage Team. His task is to figure out among three cups of brown liquid which one is soba noodle soup. The cups contain either coffee, soba noodle soup, or throat medicine, and Todoroki cannot smell or taste them before picking his answer.

Iida mentions that Todoroki often eats soba during lunch, so there’s no way he would guess incorrectly for a food that he loves. Deku says, “Good luck, Todoroki!” as everyone watches him study the cups closely. The catch is that he also has to drink from whichever cup he chooses. Todoroki decides on a cup and drinks from it, only to spit it out and say, “That…wasn’t soba noodle soup…”

Kaminari chimes in by explaining that the cup he chose was actually throat medicine. Todoroki apologizes for spitting out the throat medicine, which splurted all over Iida and Deku. They tell him not to worry as more importantly, they need to get tissues to clean up the mess. Todoroki mutters, “I don’t think I want to eat soba anymore after this…”

The next challenge is for Tsuyu, where she has to differentiate from three different types of fluffy things: Koda’s bunny, Ojiro’s tail, and Deku’s hair by touch only. As she puts on the eye mask, Koda, Ojirou, and Deku stand in front of her. When Koda offers the bunny, Tsuyu says, “it’s fluffy.” When Ojiro offers his tail, she also says, “it’s fluffy.” When Deku offers his hair, Tsuyu says, “it’s…fuzzy?” She then correctly guesses which fluffiness was which.

Kaminari and Sero then round up the results of the various challenges, and the winner ends up being Bakugou!

Bakugou says, “Obviously I would win!” but the party’s not over yet! Next up is the Personality Quiz! Sero explains that since the class is with each other practically 24/7, they should all have picked up on small details of each other. This quiz will test how well they actually know each other after all.

The first question they ask is, “What did Iida answer on his Hero Test the other day to name the three most beautiful Heroes of the past?”

The class guesses incorrectly, and the answer was that he wrote on his test “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and everyone has their own different types of beauty.”

Baffled, Iida asks Sero and Kaminari how they even knew what he wrote on a test paper, and they explained that their accomplice, Hagakure, has been doing a bit of spying on everyone in order for them to make this quiz a reality. Hagakure apologizes for doing so, but she says that she saw it as an opportunity to also test out her hero skills too.

The next question is “What has Yaoyorozu been obsessed about lately?” Jirou answers first, saying “Oh, is it furikake (rice seasoning)?” The answer turns out to be correct, and recently, Yaoyorozu has taken a strong liking to furikake to season her rice, which makes her blush a bit.

Sero then says, “All right Kaminari, what’s the next question?”

Kaminari answers, “Okay! For the next question, what made Ojirou disappointed recently!?”

Satou guesses, “Cementoss said his effort was average?”

Shouji says, “Tetsutetsu told him his strength was average?”

Aoyama ponders, “Recovery Girl said his health was average?☆”

The correct answer is actually Ojiro changed the conditioner for his tail recently, but no one noticed. However, Hagakure sidles up to him and says, “I actually saw you looking around near the bathroom area to see if anyone noticed, haha!” and Ojiro gets red, saying, “Well if you were watching me, why didn’t you say anything…!?”

The next question was, “What was hidden in Kirishima’s elementary school yearbook!?” Kirishima panics and says, “Huh!? How did you…!” but Sero grins and says, “That’s only for me to know. But I totally could not believe what was hidden there!”

Ashido guesses, “Maybe a love letter!?”

Mineta exclaims, “A porn magazine!!”

Todoroki says, “Failed test scores?”

All three of them were incorrect. The correct answer is “a photo of him dressed up as a girl!”

Bakugou says to him, “You’re actually into that kinda stuff?”

Kirishima gets flustered and says, “Wait, you’ve got it all wrong! It was during my elementary school’s festival stage play of Cinderella where I played the Stepmother! When I left the picture at home, my mommy kept showing it to other people, so I tried to hide it!!”

Kaminari then continues with the next question, saying “Okay, so next question. Before the Cultural Festival performance, what did Uraraka mess up on!?”

Deku says, “She accidentally made herself float!?”

Iida offers, “She was too nervous she threw up!?”

Tokoyami asks, “She ate too much mochi and threw up!?”

Kaminari says they all guessed wrong and the correct answer is “she was looking for Midoriya but tripped and accidentally went into a room where Class B’s Monoma was in the middle of changing clothes!”

Ochako gets red in the face and says, “I didn’t do it on purpose!!”

Mineta comments something lewd, but Tsuyu shuts him down.

The next question is “What was the reason why Jirou and Hagakure were arguing!?”

Koda says, “Because Hagakure-san was messing with Jirou-san’s earphone jack…?”

Yaoyorozu offers, “Jirou-san accidentally stepped on Hagakure-san’s naked body?”

Mineta exclaims, “Fighting over a guy!”

The correct answer is because Hagakure tried scaring Jirou after they watched a horror film together. Ashido asked whether they actually argued, and Jirou said she got mad because when she takes a shower alone, she’s usually scared of the bathroom area anyway. So when Hagakure messed with her by causing the lights to flicker on and off and the faucet to suddenly turn on by itself, she absoutely freaked out and felt like she almost had a heart attack. Naturally, she was livid, and Hagakure says, “Sorry Jirou, your reactions were just too good!”

The next question is about Deku, and Kaminari asks, “Recently, Deku has been leaving the dorm early to meet with someone. Who is that secret someone!?” (**Note: The word they use is ‘aibiki,” which means secret date/meeting).

Deku is surprised and says, “Wait, how do you know that…?”

Mineta and Satou ask if he was secretly meeting up with a girl, and Iida says, “Midoriya-kun! Are you actually in a relationship with a girl!? You should prioritize studies first!”

Ochako is confused as she says to herself, “Aibiki? Like the type of meat?” (**Note: Ochako isn’t familiar with the word, so she thinks it’s referring to ‘aibikiniku,’ which is a combination of different types of ground meat)

Deku gets nervous and says, “No, it’s not like that…” He thinks of ways to deflect the situation without making it known that he’s actually meeting up with All Might in the morning to train his quirk, but the other classmates continue to guess.

Kirishima says, “He’s meeting with someone from the General Class!?”

Ashido says, “No way…maybe he’s meeting with someone older, like Midnight…!?”

Mineta suggests, “Maybe he’s meeting with a living thing other than a girl…!!”

All three of their guesses were incorrect, and the correct answer was that he was meeting with the Support Department’s Hatsume Mei!

Deku is relieved to know that the others have not found out about his secret rendezvous with All Might early in the morning to do training.

Bakugou snorts and says, “There’s no way that dumb nerd would ever be popular!” but Sero says, “No, Midoriya is quite popular among the ladies. Like during the Provisional License Exam when that naked upper classman got all over him.”

Deku rebutts by saying, “But that was because she was attacking me!?”

Iida then recalls how Hatsume helped Deku out when they went to the department together earlier, and after an explosion, she was also all over him. Mineta then gets lewd thoughts again, but the conversation switches to Mineta using his mogimogi hair balls and puts it on Deku’s head. Iida notes that it looks like Deku’s wearing those infamous mouse ears from “Zoo Dreamland” (aka Disneyland). Ashido mentions that she used to go to Disneyla—…Zoo Dreamland all the time when she was younger. The class chatter switches to discussing their favorite rides, attractions, and food.

The class then asks Mineta to put mogimogi balls on their heads too so they can look like they’re wearing those infamous mouse ears as well. Mineta enjoys the attention and says, “All right I guess…”

Before the party wraps up, Sero mentions that there’s one more video that they want to show to everyone. As they gather around the TV to watch, they see Aizawa on screen with a cat. As the video starts, Aizawa suddenly appears in the common room and reprimands them, asking what are they doing up so late? The video pauses on the screen.

Aizawa stops the party and tells everyone to clean up and go to their rooms. Since the party’s over, he tells Sero, Kaminari, and Hagakure to stay behind. The three students prepare themselves for a scolding, but instead, Aizawa asks them where they got this footage.

It turns out that Present Mic gave it to them after he recorded it while hiding in sight. The footage was of Aizawa trying to befriend a cat, but the cat ignores him and goes to All Might instead. Sero actually came to the faculty department before the after-party to ask for permission to show the footage, and since Aizawa wasn’t there at the time, All Might said it was okay.

However, Aizawa says he will be collecting the footage and tells the three to never discuss the contents of the video to anyone. They agree, and he sends them off on their way.

It’s been a long day, and Aizawa sighs and wonders just when he got caught up in all of this student stuff. However, although adolescence is short, that never stops them from chasing their dreams forever. Happily, while young, without sadness, sweetly, harshly…youth is a precious thing.

The light novel ends with Aizawa saying, “Good luck, everyone” with the words “the festival had ended, but even so, their bright days continue onward.”

THE END

#boku no hero academia #bnha #deku #midoriya izuku #bakugou #bakugou katsuki #ochako #todoroki #todoroki shouto #iida #kirishima #kirishima eijirou #ochako uraraka #tsuyu asui #yaoyorozu #jirou kyoka #kaminari denki #sero #all might #aizawa #my translations #this story was cute

[graniairish]

Walking on Eggshells – Part 2

Hello my dears. I just couldn't resist and had to write a second part. (maybe there will also be a part 3)

Pairing: Daryl x female! Reader

Words: 5159

Warnings: language, sexual content, NSFW, 18+ (my first attempt to write smut in English - hope it didn't get too bad)

Part one

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

"Um ... what ..."

You stood in the door of your room, confused. Hershel had finally released you into "home care" after almost a week of continuous surveillance in the infirmary. In your opinion, the older man was exaggerating a little. You were fine, you had no dizziness, and the headache was gone. But that did not stop Hershel from telling you to take it easy anyway.

Your beloved work in the vegetable fields had to wait for the time being.

Somewhat reluctantly, you had agreed to everything, only to finally be able to go back to your own four walls. You wanted to sleep in your own bed again, even if it was just a simple Prison bed in the former director's office. But still, it was your home.

But you did not expect what you found there now.

As if rooted to the ground, you stood in the middle of the room and looked around with big eyes in disbelief.

Your room, your little private realm, should actually be here. But the room in front of you was no longer your room. Your things were still there, but they were not the only ones that filled the shelves on the walls.

The most noticeable change, however, was your bed. It was still in the far corner of the room, but it looked absolutely strange. Because right next to it there was now a second, and the way the sheet was stretched over it made it look like a double bed.

"I thought Hershel wouldn't release ya until tonight," you heard Daryl's deep voice behind you.

Still slightly confused, you turned to the archer. He stood uncertain in the doorway, Crossbow slung over his shoulder, hands clasped on the strap. His blue eyes were fixed on you as he chewed the inside of his cheek - his nervous tic.

And how this man was nervous right now, and it was not just his ears that betrayed him - which had just turned deep red.

Daryl did not expect to find you here now. He actually wanted to talk to you about it first and not just put you in front of a fait accompli. Though, somehow, he would have done it one way or another.

He was afraid he had done something wrong, crossed a line, or something like that.

"I couldn't take it there any longer."

Only now did you notice that his hair was wet and still dripping. Could it be that he had showered?

Daryl nudged his nose up in a nod.

“I know we didn't talk about it,” he began uncertainly, “but Hershel said it would be better if someone took care of ya. And since there is no chance that ya will move back into the cell block, I thought that would be a good solution."

“That's right,” you had to smile, “I'm not going back there so quickly anymore. I like my privacy."

"Well, if it bothers you ... that I ... then ..."

"No no, I don't mind" you might answer a little too quickly, "I ... I was just ... surprised."

The man across from you felt instantly relieved. You, the woman he loved, wanted to live with him. He could hardly believe his luck.

Daryl took off his Crossbow and leaned it against the wall by the door before walking slowly towards you, his eyes full of love.

“Y/N/N we wasted so much time. I don't want to waste another minute. We don't know how much time we have left."

Daryl lovingly cupped your chin with two fingers while he gently touched your lips with his.

You could not help but melt into his touch. That you could do this now was still a miracle to you, and you would enjoy every single second of it to the full.

"But I sleep on the right side," you finally said with mischief in your eyes when your lips had separated.

"Forget it", Daryl snorted and went to the bed, "I'm sleepin’ between the door and ya."

You rolled your eyes with a smile. Always the protector.

"Don't think I didn't see that."

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

A few weeks had passed since the incident during your run. You are now working side by side with Rick in the vegetable fields again. The plants were blooming and developing fantastically - and they would be very good yielding.

After a long shower to wash dirt and sweat from your body, you made your way to the inner courtyard of the prison, which was used as a canteen during the warmer months of the year. Dinner had just started, and so all residents, regardless of whether they were old or new, huddled together to have their meal together.

When Daryl returned from his shift at the Guard Tower, he spotted you chatting with Carol who was just distributing the food. He liked how carefree you looked at that moment.

Without thinking about it, he walked over to you and greeted you with a kiss on the cheek before you had the chance to notice him.

"Yuck, don't do that," you giggled, "you're all sweaty."

"And hungry," he said with a grin.

Carol shook her head with a smile before filling two bowls and holding them out to you.

"Here take these, you lovebirds."

Taking the bowls Daryl nudged his nose up in a nod and went with you to the table where Glenn and Maggie were already sitting.

You had not noticed how your loving and familiar way of dealing with each other had been uncomfortable for some - or at least for one.

Michelle was sitting at a table with several other Woodbury residents and had been watching you with narrowed eyes. Green with envy, she got up at some point and went back to the cell block where she lived.

But Carol had noticed, and she would move heaven and earth to keep this woman from disrupting your relationship.

Little by little, Rick and the other members of your sworn family joined you to enjoy the meal together and to end the day.

"We should slowly start bringing our supplies up to date," Rick skillfully changed the subject.

That was his less than subtle way of reducing the conversation to necessities.

"Or in other words, time for a run," Daryl said in a nutshell.

“Tightly sealable preserving jars would be important. It will soon be harvest time and we have to preserve the fruit and vegetables. Thank God we have a lot more than we need right now."

That was the first thing that came to your mind. After all, it was important to have vitamins in winter too. Even if cooked fruit and vegetables were nowhere near as tasty as fresh ones. But in those times, you were grateful for everything. And in winter, fruit and vegetables were actually a luxury.

“We should also think about how to heat the buildings. The winter could last longer than we'd like”, Daryl expressed his concerns.

"If we had animals, pigs or goats, maybe even sheep, we would be better supplied with meat."

Hershel had always been a farmer, and you could only agree with the man with a smile.

"Or chickens," said Maggie with a dreamy look, "once again a real roast chicken, that would be something nice."

"Or turkey," you added.

"I just think you can't find something like that on the next street corner," said Glenn, who now leaned over the map that Rick had spread out in the middle of the table.

"Well, the weekly cattle market will probably be canceled."

Daryl's cynical response made you roll your eyes.

"If ya keep doin’ this, these things will eventually get stuck," he said in your direction with a raised index finger.

"That's what my grandmother always meant," you said with a shrug, "and nothing has happened so far."

“You both sound like an old married couple. Really disgusting”, Carl shook himself.

You and Daryl looked at each other questioningly for a moment before you slapped the boy lightly on the back of the head at the same time - he on the right and you on the left.

For about five seconds there was absolute silence at the table, until everyone started laughing uproariously as if on command - except for Carl, who was rubbing his head tightly.

“What that would prove,” Rick grinned as he wiped a tear from the corner of his eye, “but seriously now. Does anyone have any ideas?"

“I know there was a farm supply center in the south. From seeds to packaging material to combine harvesters, everything was there. The only question is whether that still stands."

Hershel leaned over the map and pointed to an area southeast of the Prison.

“That's a good hundred miles, and only if you drive on the main roads. It will be a run for several days on back roads."

Your stomach cramped painfully at Glenn's words. You knew that Daryl would go on the run. Unfortunately, since the incident, it had become very clear to you that there was no assurance that someone would come back from a run. And the thought that something might happen to Daryl made you uneasy.

“While we're there, we might as well stop by this huge warehouse complex 30 miles to the east. I think there are still some useful things there. "

Glenn glanced at the place on the map Maggie was pointing with her finger.

"Wasn't that an Amazon warehouse?"

"Yea, why are you asking?"

"Well, I think that this time it won’t work with overnight express."

At Glenn's stupid saying you had to smile, like everyone else. Though yours was more of a bitter smile. This run would certainly not be overnight.

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

"Everythin’ okay? Ya are never that quiet."

It was getting late. The moon was shining through the windows of your shared room and you could hear the crickets outside. You were snuggled close to Daryl, your head on his shoulder, your legs intertwined. You stared in silence into the darkness of your room, which was only faintly illuminated by the moonlight.

Daryl gently stroked your back. Usually there was something incredibly calming about it, and it never took you long to fall asleep relaxed - but not today. The worries about what could go wrong with the run did not let you calm down that night.

In a few hours he would be gone with Maggie and Glenn, as well as a few others. The fear of losing him paralyzes your thoughts.

"Ya don’t sleep. I know that. I can hear ya thinkin’."

You did not answer, just took a deep breath - in and out again. What should you say?

> I'm afraid something will happen to you <

> I'm scared of losing you <

> Please don't go <

There was nothing to be said, just that nagging feeling was there. This fear that the man by your side could suddenly be snatched away from you.

Daryl put his arm around you and hugged you tight as he kissed the top of your head and let his lips linger there for a moment.

"We're a well-coordinated team," he finally began as he leaned his head against yours, "and it's not the first time we've done such a big tour."

It almost seemed as if Daryl had read your mind, yet all his confidence could not take away your worries.

"I promise I'll come back to ya."

"You can't promise that Daryl."

The archer released his hug and shifted his weight so that you were eventually half under him. Leaning on his left arm, he looked down at you, the contours of your face only faintly visible in the light of the darkness.

"I promise I will come back to ya Y/N. We both have our whole lives ahead of us, and I don't intend to miss a second of it."

"Nobody knows ..."

But you did not get any further, Daryl's lips were instantly on yours. At first the kiss was deep and full of longing, but after a while it became more and more hungry. Your fingers ran through his hair and played with them on the back of his neck while your tongues fought for dominance.

As Daryl's hands slowly moved down your ribs, your lips parted for a much-needed breath.

Right at the beginning of your relationship, you discussed that sex would not be an issue for you for the time being. After what had happened to Lori, Daryl simply could not and did not want to take the risk of pregnancy. Condoms were not to be found for a long time. And neither of you wanted to play Russian roulette - like Maggie and Glenn.

But there were other ways of showing how much you loved each other, how much you wanted each other - other ways of having fun together.

Daryl's right hand went down to your ass, which he gripped tightly as he pulled you close.

You moaned softly as you could feel him rubbing his growing erection on your most sensitive spot. Your arms wrapped around his neck as you pulled him closer to you. An approving growl left his mouth as he left hot kisses on your neck, making sure to suck the spot that caused your thighs to tighten around him.

You ran your trembling fingers through his hair, trying to hold onto the feeling of his lips against your skin.

The hand on your ass eventually moved down the back of your thigh - as he pulled it closer - which changed the angle of your pelvis significantly. The lustful moan that came out of your lips as you rubbed against him only made him harder against the layers of clothing.

God how good it felt for him when you took your pleasure into your own hands. But you did not get far, because Daryl's kisses slowly wandered further down. A pleasant shiver ran through you.

You knew exactly what he was up to and the anticipation made you almost impatient.

But he took his time, first freed you from your shirt and then devoted himself to your nipples with relish - first the right, then the left - until they were both hard and upright.

The longing feeling in your most private place became more and more unbearable and in an attempt to get some friction, you tried to rub yourself against his thigh.

Daryl only chuckled.

"Impatient, are we?"

Daryl's kissed down your stomach before leaning back. He was now kneeling between your legs. For a moment he soaked up the picture in front of him, burned it into his memory. How you laid in front of him, lower lip between your teeth, breathing heavily, your legs spread, the unmistakable traces of your arousal on your underwear.

A moan came from your lips as he finally ran his hands up the inside of your thighs. Without touching the place where you needed him most, he hooked his fingers into the waistband of your panties and freed you from this annoying piece of fabric with one flowing movement.

The sight the archer now saw made his cock twitch painfully.

It was almost like torture how slowly he ran his thumb through your folds and collected what already glistened there.

With faltering breath, you watched him as he slowly brought his hand to his mouth and licked his thumb clean with an animalistic growl.

You came almost instantly at the sight.

When he finally sank his middle finger into you, you threw your head back and closed your eyes in delight. He pumped his finger into you a few times before adding a second. He twisted and curled them in just the right way so that with each thrust he perfectly hit the spot inside you that made you squirm under him.

Your moaning grew louder as he closed his lips around your sensitive bundle of nerves and began to suck rhythmically. Your orgasm rolled closer and closer, and the knot in your stomach tightened until it was about to snap.

"Daryl - fuck - I ..."

"then let go - for me."

And that was exactly what you did. You came with his name on your lips, repeated like a prayer, and with each new wave Daryl took whatever you were willing to give him. You tasted like nothing else to him, and he could never get enough of you.

He slowly kissed his way back up to your neck while his fingers were still moving slowly inside you.

Your hands went into his hair and hungrily drawn his lips to yours. Just a moment later your tongues fought for dominance; you could taste yourself on his. Now your hands slowly made their way down to his crotch. He wanted to hold back. But he could not help himself, and grinded into your palm to find the relief he needed so damn bad.

Daryl's hips spasmed, thrusting forward a few times before he was groaning and shaking his head.

"No. Tonight is just about ya."

"But ..."

Before you could go on, his lips were back on yours in a demanding kiss.

" I wanna make ya feel so good today, that ya'll be happy to have a few days off."

And with that statement, his fingers left your hot core, only to re-enter with one more.

Your eyes rolled back when you felt him stretch you.

"Fuck," you hissed as you tried desperately to find hold while Daryl's fingers kept trusting into you.

As he felt the sweet pain of your nails scratching his back, his cock twitched painfully in his shorts.

The thought that you marked him, that you would let him run around with declarations of your love on his body for the next few days, almost drove him mad. He started rubbing his crotch against your thigh for some relief as he fluidly moved in and out of you, getting you closer and closer to your next release.

The knot inside you got tighter and tighter, and you tried desperately to keep it from snaping again. Your legs started to shake involuntarily, and you knew you would not be able to resist much longer. Your breath came in shorter intervals and your moans got higher and higher. It would not last long till you would be swept away by pure bliss.

When the wave finally hit you, it was an overwhelming feeling. Your inner walls clenching and unclenching around his fingers again and again as your orgasm swept you away like a tsunami.

It took you a few moments to come back from your high while Daryl's gentle movements of his fingers let your orgasm slowly fade out.

"Okay", you began with a trembling voice as he slowly left your inner core, "that was something else."

Daryl’s head rested on the crook of your neck as you slowly recovered your breath, but you could still feel him chuckled lightly.

Slowly you stroked his hair and patted his neck. When he shifted his position slightly so that he did not crush you any further, you noticed that his shorts were suspiciously stuck to you.

Apparently, he had enjoyed this whole interaction too.

"I love you," you whispered before leaving a kiss on his sweaty forehead.

"Love ya more."

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

You patiently worked your way through the corn plants with the rake. The work was strenuous because the plants were close together - after all, you needed the greatest possible yield in a small area - and the relentless Georgian sun burned down on you.

Your hair stuck to you and the sweat kept dripping from the brim of your straw hat. Your arms ached, and despite the leather gloves you wore, you had blisters on your hands where they were tightly gripping the wooden handle of your gardening tool.

But despite everything, you kept working. You had to work through the soil so that the weeds had less chance to dispute the valuable nutrients from the crops.

This large field that you had laid out in the style of the "three sisters" was your whole pride. Corn, beans and pumpkins, the holy trinity of this bed, were perfectly coordinated. The Native Americans had already cultivated these three plants in this way.

And what worked for them could work for you too.

You have been toiling for hours. Your clothes were soaked in sweat and your back ached. Nevertheless, you continue to work, moving slowly but steadily through the beds.

"Here," you heard Rick say behind you at some point.

With great effort you straightened up and massaged your back. You felt every single vertebra as it slowly popped back into its original position. An exhausted moan could be heard as you finally turned to the man behind you.

Rick just stood there, bottle of water in hand, his eyes fixed on the fields.

You gratefully took the bottle from him and took a few sips of the refreshing liquid. Especially with such sweaty work in the blazing sun, it was incredibly important to drink enough if you did not want to suffer sunstroke.

And unfortunately, you were predestined to forget it sometimes. But Rick paid attention. You were family, and family looked after each other.

“Looks really good. If the plants continue to grow like this, we will be able to bring in quite a good yield. You are really a talented little farmer."

You looked at him in surprise with raised eyebrows.

"I'm not sure right now whether I should thank you or whether you insulted me."

“Believe me Y/N”, Rick laughed and put his hand on your shoulder, “that was meant as a compliment. An honest compliment. If we didn't have you, we almost certainly wouldn't even be able to harvest half as much. You really have a knack for it."

“Well, everyone does what they can. And I can do that."

You lowered your gaze. You felt uncomfortable when someone complimented you, so you tried to belittle it.

"No", Rick smiled at you friendly, "some do more than others."

After a long day of work and a long - but cold - shower, you sat down with Carol for dinner. You missed your family members. You missed Daryl.

The presence of the older woman had been a comfort to you in the last few days. This run had been going on for five days now, and it was impossible to tell when they would be back.

The feeling you felt in the pit of your stomach was almost the same as when Daryl had disappeared into the forest with Merle. Back then you thought you would never see him again.

But it was different now. Now you had hope that you would see him again.

Maybe.

“It's only been five days Y/N/N. It's too early to worry,” Carol tried to cheer you up.

"I'm not worried," you said stubbornly while you continued to stare at your now cold food.

"Yes of course. That's exactly why you've been poking around in your meal for ten minutes. You haven't even taken a bite."

You looked tiredly at the woman across from you.

“Eat, you worked hard. And tomorrow you will work as hard again as I know you. You need the calories. And believe me, you'd rather eat it voluntarily than have me cram it into you."

Carol had used her best mother voice. Even if Carol was not many years older than you, this woman had somehow become a mother's substitute for you.

After a few moments you finally began to empty your bowl slowly.

Getting around the days was easy. There was always enough work in the gardens and in the fields, you were busy and did not have much time to think.

In the nights it was different. They were bad.

The bed was way too big for you alone, and you lacked the warmth of Daryl's body.

Even on the hot nights of Georgia, you always fell asleep snuggled together. Ever since you had spent your first night like this, you knew that you could never do it again without it.

Now you were alone. Yet again. Daryl was still on this fucking run, and the solitude in those four walls that you had always enjoyed before, now seemed overwhelming to you.

What is he doing right now? Was he okay? Was he thinking of you, too?

With these wistful thoughts, you finally drifted into a dreamless sleep.

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

"If they are not back by tomorrow, we will send a search party out," announced Rick over breakfast.

You made no reply as you continued to choke down your small portion of porridge, bite by bite. You were not really hungry, but Carol's stern look had kept you from skipping breakfast.

“I'm sure they are fine. They will definitely be back here soon, "said Hershel soothingly," they are all experienced with such actions. They are sure to be fine."

Yes, they were all experienced, knew how to behave and how to protect themselves, but that nagging feeling persisted in you.

You had spent the whole morning working in the fields again, laboriously dragging buckets of water to provide the crops with enough moisture. If it did not rain soon, this would probably be your main occupation for the next few days and weeks.

You had two canisters tied to the outer end of a thick wooden stick. So, you could carry the heavy burden on your shoulders and not in your aching hands.

As you were trudging up the hill again with a full load of water, Rick was leaning against the base of the central guard tower, smiling, and staring into the distance.

"Looks as if we could save ourselves the search."

These words made your body tingly and you immediately turned to face the gates. You could not prevent an unspeakably bright smile from spreading on your face.

"Oh my god," you whispered when you saw the column of cars approaching the prison.

An unmistakable chopper at the head of the convoy.

An army of butterflies exploded in your stomach when you saw Daryl. He was back. He really came back to you.

When he finally brought his bike to a stop and casually dismounted it, you couldn't hold back any longer. Without further hesitation, you dropped the water canisters, which hit the floor with a thud, and immediately spread their moist contents over the floor.

You ran quickly towards Daryl. But even before you had covered half the distance, he was already coming towards you - a radiant smile on his lips.

When you finally met, you immediately put your arms around each other in a tight hug. Your head rested on his chest while he laid his head lovingly on top of yours.

Cuddled so tightly you could hear how fast his heart was beating, and an indescribable feeling of happiness flooded your body. Daryl was back - back by your side.

"Did you miss me," he finally began, and you could hear him grinning right away.

“No,” you answered, “not at all. Not one bit."

“Felt the same way."

With these words, his strong arms tightened around you even more, as if he were trying to melt into you.

So absorbed in your reunion, it took some time until you noticed that Rick and Carol were already discussing the successful run with the rest of the group.

"We got almost everything," you heard Glenn say when you had finally separated from each other and now went to the cars where everyone else was standing - your little fingers still hooked together.

"We found hundreds of canning jars and even seeds," added Sasha.

"Wheat, oat and a lot more." Maggie pointed to the back of the overcrowded pickup truck.

"And we also solved the problem with the heating," said Daryl mysteriously.

This run was really a complete success. But the biggest surprise was yet to come.

> C O C K A D O O D L E D O O <

Suddenly the gushing and loud greeting was silent. Inquiring eyes met knowing faces.

You and Rick looked at each other as to ask if you really had heard this now.

> C O C K A D O O D L E D O O <

"What the hell is that", Rick wanted to know.

"What did it sound like?"

Daryl grinned mischievously and leaned casually against his bike; arms crossed over his chest. His chin raised challengingly.

"No," was all you could say at that moment.

"Yea," Daryl nodded, still grinning.

"No way!"

"Yea, a rooster and six chickens."

"How? Where? How?"

You were completely surprised and had to grin broadly. That was one of the best that could have happened to your community.

"Believe it or not, they were just walking around on a street corner," Glenn explained, looking incredulous about his statement himself.

"So the cattle market wasn't closed after all," you replied sarcastically.

Immediately Daryl had to roll his eyes.

"Just don't start with that," you chuckled and gave him a playful clap on the upper arm.

“You really missed something Y/N,” said Maggie with a grin, “believe me it was really impressive to see how Daryl caught the poultry. Didn't know that he was doing so well as a farmer."

"Yea, ha-ha, very funny!"

Daryl's ears had turned deep red, but then he had to laugh himself at the thought of this chicken-catching operation.

"I really would have liked to see that," you said with a laugh.

"Well, maybe there will be a repetition," said Glenn, "we have to get the critters out of the car somehow without them getting lost again."

"Ya can forget that right away," Daryl announced in a stern voice.

"Don't worry, I'll help you", you smiled at your boyfriend.

After a few minutes of reunion, you started to get the supplies out of the cars and to distribute them in the storage rooms.

Building a chicken coop was definitely on your to-do list for tomorrow. And it has been a long time since you had been looking forward to a job as much as this.

"And I found something for you too," Maggie whispered to you when she put her arm around your shoulders in a friendly manner.

You two had just cleared away a load of canning jars and were about to trot back to the cars.

"And that would be?"

Surprised you stopped and looked at her questioningly. You did not ask her to get you anything.

“I won't tell you yet,” she smiled, “but you will definitely enjoy it - as well as Daryl."

With these words, your best friend left you in the yard as she made her way back to the cars with a mischievous grin.

Part one Part tree

#daryl dixon x reader #daryl dixon #daryl dixon fanfiction #daryl imagines #daryl dixon drabbles #daryl dixon fluff #daryl x reader #daryl dixon imagine #daryl dixon x you #daryl dixon twd #daryl x y/n

[pinoy-culture]

before I ask my question, I just wanted to say thank you so so so much for keeping up your blog and consistently giving out information where its readily accessible!!!

maybe this will make me sound like an idiot but to preface, I’m a mixed filipino american. My mom is filipino and some chinese and my dad is some sort of european and puerto rican. i was wondering, in your opinion, do you think it’d be okay for me (eventually) work with diwata and anitos? And how can I start? Ive been trying to communicate with my ancestors and I’ve been looking for books to one day buy (im extremely broke so your blog and any filipino witches i come across is all the info i can get) but i honestly have no clue where to start other than with my ancestors (weird dreams lately but nothing ancestor related i think). i took a DNA test as a gift and it pointed, predominantly, to the Western Visayas so im assuming i should study more on pre-colonial Bisayan culture (my lolas from iloilo so it makes sense i guess) but i also know that “blood quantum” is a colonizer concept so i dont wanna rely on it too much :/ sorry to ramble but pls help lol

First, I'd like to say thank you for following the blog! It really does mean a lot to me to hear from others over the years on how much my blogs have helped them learn about our history and culture.

Now as for working with our diwata and the anito, that is completely ok. The whole blood quantum thing among some Filipinos I honestly don't agree with. As long as you have a family member who is Filipino, you are Filipino regardless of your "percentage" and of how you look. If you have Filipino blood in you, the ancestors are there with you. Even if you weren't raised within Filipino culture or a Filipino household because your parents never brought you up in it, or you are an adoptee like some I've met over the years. Your ancestors are your ancestors regardless. They see you and know you and that is all that matters.

Now there really isn't any book focused specifically on reviving our precolonial beliefs and practices. Yes, some did survive and some even blended in with a form of Folk Christianity in the Philippines. You can see many of the older practices and beliefs still alive, but they have been replaced with Catholic imagery and Saints.

But, in regards actually believing in and worshiping our old deities, doing rituals dedicated to the deity, or even some rites of passage like the Tagalog first menstruation rite of passage, or making carved figures dedicated to the diwata and anito, or performing maganito/paganito or atang to the diwata and anito, majority of Filipinos don't do this, or even know it.

So for being an Anito Reconstructionist, which is a label I personally use for my spiritual beliefs and others have adopted, there really isn't a book for it. A Reconstructionist in other ethnic spiritual paths, such as the Celtic, Roman, Aztec, Kemetic, Greek, Norse, etc., are those who look at historical records to try and piece together what was once practiced and believed in prior to Christianity. Over many years, these different spiritual paths have eventually come together, formed a community, and have resources like books and teachers. They have had the time to do all the research and put together a more formal spirituality based on those Pre-Christian beliefs and bringing it to the modern day where they have hundreds to thousands of people who have gone back to those beliefs. With some, they have even created temples, shrines to their deities, and even have celebrations.

Unfortunately that is not the case for us. However, due to the growing interest in our precolonial beliefs and practices over the years, I can see Anito Reconstructionism growing within the next several years. It already has, with many people actually trying to learn more about these beliefs and our old deities. The amount of people of people I've seen and talked to who have expressed their interest to reclaim these precolonial beliefs and practices is nothing compared to 10 years ago when it was hard to even find one or two people who did.

It is why I've been writing this book for a few years now dedicated to helping others in wanting to reclaim our precolonial beliefs and practices as a starting point in their research. For now though, I always recommend those who are starting to simply just read the historical texts. Grab a notebook and write down notes. Organize your notes into deities, rituals, how to make an offering, any prayers to a specific deity, how to set up an altar, etc.

Seeing as your family is from the island of Panay in the Western Bisayas, like my moms side are from, I would start with looking at the Bisayan precolonial beliefs and practices. A really good reference is reading Francisco Alcina's History of the Bisayans (1668). Volume 3 is available online in English which you can find here. Volume 3 goes into a lot of detail in the beliefs and practices. The Boxer Codex, if you are able to get a copy of the English translation, is also really good reading material.

Getting Started:

In terms of getting started, keep in mind that there is no one monolithic belief system or practice in the Philippines. Before there ever was a Philippines, we were different nations with different beliefs and practices. It is important to know your ethnic groups beliefs and practices and know their history. For example, I am Bisaya (Akeanon specifically) and Tagalog and that is what I work with. Others who I know follow the Bikolano, Kapampangan, or Ilokano beliefs. Though there are some similarities, each ethnic group had their own set beliefs and practices.

I often tell people that you can't just mix and match between them. For example, though I work with both the Tagalog and Bisayan pantheons, I wouldn't dare do a ritual offering to both a Tagalog or Bisayan deity at the same time. It's always separate. You also can't combine 2 similar deities together from different ethnic groups just because they share similar attributes. It's just rude and disrespectful.

Start out small. Set up an altar dedicated to your ancestors. If you have any family members who have passed, put a photo of them on the altar. Leave offerings of rice cakes such as suman, food like chicken adobo, or even a cup of drink such as tuba, lambanog, or even Red Horse beer. But if you can't get access to an alcoholic drink either because one you are a minor or 2 it's not available where you live, you can simply replace it with a non-alcoholic drinks like coconut juice. Get a coconut shell or a seashell to either place these offerings as bowls/plates or even use them to put your kamangyan or incense.

Then start researching how our Bisayan ancestors worshiped and practiced. Study the history and read historical accounts, books, and articles about them. Write down what you have learned on these precolonial beliefs and practices and reconstruct or revive them. This is what Polytheistic Recinstructionists do. I have listed links to these texts here.

Ask questions to your family, particularly your elders. See if they know of anything or if they can share some traditional practices and beliefs they know of have heard of. You would be surprised how, despite some families being really religious, many still believe in the spirits, do some form of ancestor veneration, believe in omens that are being told to you by the ancestors or spirits, etc.

If you can, try to go back to the Philippines and see your family's ancestral home, see where they grew up, etc. Ask about family stories and folk stories. For example, my mom grew up in Aklan and has always told me stories of the aswang and certain omens. She also constantly talks about the mischievous "little people" who play tricks on you (for example putting something down like your keys and then it goes missing, until you find it again somewhere else). In the Western Bisayas, they are known as kama-kama. There is also a story of how her grandmother's cat visited her during her wake. The cat was missing for years, but it came back and stayed sleeping on top of the casket for days before it left. My mom told me that it was the cat paying their respects to her grandmother.

Keep in mind also and acknowledge our indigenous communities who have kept their beliefs and practices. Don't try to take them into your own. I have seen people cherry pick things from the Manobo of Mindanao or the Kalinga in the Cordillera, which is just disrespectful. Many of the IP, though some still have kept their beliefs, it isn't the most important aspect to them. What they are most concerned about are other issues such as losing their homes due to occupation by oil or logging companies, other settlers such as the Tagalog and Bisayans (especially in Mindanao), getting targeted as "rebels" by the Philippine military and often getting killed. But, by cherry picking beliefs especially of the IP groups, it's just disrespectful.

I will be teaching classes on Anito Reconstructionism soon and will have my first class possibly at the end of the month or next month. I decided to do these classes seeing as there is a growing community who are interested, but don't know where to start. I'll be doing a proper announcement on these classes real soon so look out for the announcement and hopefully you will be able to join!

#filipino #diwata #anito #anito reconstructionist #polytheist #polytheism #precolonial philippines #faq #question #long post

[kanmom51]

JM JK timeline - my observations how they grew over the years

JM JK timeline.- my observations how they grew over the years

 Disclaimer: these are my own opinions and conclusions.  Feel free to disagree, but hate or aggression will be unacceptable.

This is coming out so much longer than I anticipated, so please accept my apology in advance, I will have to post this in several parts (not sure yet how many).

Part 1

I have been wanting to tackle this for a while now.  

I have read many post on this matter.  Many believe their relationship started during the 2017 trip to Tokyo - that they ‘decided to become boyfriends’ during that trip.  I may be the unpopular vote here, but I tend to disagree on the matter.

While the 2017 trip did cement the relationship and strengthen it (I mean they finally got to have a few days of total privacy, being themselves alone with each other, with no outside interference), in my opinion, it most definitely was not the start of the romantic relationship between them. It was not a catalyst that brought them to the decision to have a full blown relationship.  

I find it  hard to make analogies to dating stages when it comes to JK and JM, because I believe we actually can’t in this case.  It’s so different.  These are two young men that spent their formative years together.  For JK Jimin was there throughout his defining teenage years, both of them becoming young adults living under the same roof, being together almost 24/7, going through all the hardships in the early years together.  Sharing all the highs and lows together.  You can’t compare that to someone that meets and starts dating, gets to know each other and so forth.  There is no comparison what so ever.  

Another misconception, in my opinion, is that JK didn’t like JM at the start, some even going so far as to say he hated him.  I don’t want to come out rude, but bollox.  JK was very young when he joined BTS, just at the start of his defining puberty years.  He was the youngest in the group and he struggled with finding his place, struggled with defining who he was, what he actually wanted to do, what he wanted for himself.  He found an older brother in Jin.  He found someone to look up to in RM.  He found someone to fool around with in Tae.  He looked up to Hobi and Suga, and they also tried to help him and guide him through his struggles. Fans saw these connections.  The fans also saw Jimin being super friendly, maybe over friendly, with JK, constantly saying how cute he is and how much he likes JK.  They saw what they perceived as a tug of war with Jimin, when Jimin is pushing onto JK and JK looks like he is pushing him back, like he wasn’t interested what so ever.  But this was mainly due to tendentiously edited clips.

Before writing these lines I made sure to go over chronological footage.  Starting with pre debut.  Seeing all this raw, unedited footage, and reading members interviews they gave just reinforced my disagreement with the ‘JK hated Jimin’ concept. It can’t be further than the truth. 

Jimin to JK was sort of a fresh breath of air from home.  Both of them from the same hometown.  JK having an older brother and JM missing his younger brother.  They both loved dancing.  They both worked their butts off.  It was an instant connection.  From the get go Jimin was a rock for JK, someone JK could talk to, rely on, practice with, someone that had a great influence on JK.  

JK was a shy introvert teenager, he didn’t know how to show vulnerability, he didn’t know how to show affection, and also I think Jimin’s level of openness and true affection towards him may have overwhelmed him.  In a later interview JK tells how he used to feel he had to wear a mask, not being able to be himself.  Not knowing how to behave in social environments, what was expected of him as ‘a man’ (when writing this the ‘men shouldn’t check their selfies’ conversation with Jimin comes to mind) .  So, he may have pushed back on occasions. Jimin’s affection and openness overwhelmed him.  But Jimin was the one to comfort him when he missed his parents, and cried at night.  Jimin was the one he spoke to when he was questioning his career decisions .  

It was hard for him to say or show Jimin that he liked him, that he needed his attention and friendship, but he did.  The most telling was when JM on Rookie King Ep. 4 (starting 23.07min) got up and sounded his frustration with the way JK was treating him.  I think he was actually caught off guard when JK, being honest, replied to Jimin tirade that he behaves the way he does because he likes him too much. That was certainly an eye opener. 

The episode was aired in May 2014!!! I keep saying over and over again: Listen to what they are saying!!!

Establishing the fact that JK and JM were close from the get go, I will move on to another conclusion I made that is a base for my timeline, another reason why I feel some of the timelines out there are incorrect.   

JK and JM’s love story is not one of “love at first sight” or physical attraction that leads to dating, getting to know one another and finally love.  It is my belief that JM and JK loved each other before they started exploring their physical attraction.  The closest analogy I can make is a romantic relationship that buds out of a great friendship.  When someone is your best friend, when you love them for who they are, when you know them in and out for all they are, including their faults, before you realise that you are physically attracted to them, that’s when love is so strong that there is almost nothing that can break it.  I believe that is the nature of JK and JM’s love, and that is why my timeline doesn’t fit other timelines out there.  There wasn’t a flirting period, a dating period, a relationship period etc.  Their relationship doesn’t fit those moulds. Yes there was flirting.  Yes there was hesitance moving forward once they realised they actually liked each other on a different level.  But it wasn’t within those ‘relationship moulds’ that are referred to in different posts.

Also, we need to remember that they weren’t going through all of this in a vacuum.  Both boys were in a boy band of 7 members.  All seven members very close to each other and love each other in their own ways.  Anything JM and JK did, any step they made towards each other could have a rippling effect on their friends, on their band, on their careers.  Add to that the fact that it was a ‘forbidden’ relationship, that not only is it a gay relationship frowned upon in SK society (frowned upon is putting it very lightly.  Being in a gay relationship could be so risky for them both.  Risky not only to their careers but also for their physical safety), but also, as idols, romantic relationships were a big no no. And what about their families? How would they take it? Will they accept them? They were young men that had to deal with all these issues, all while finding their way to each other.

 So, where do I stand when it comes to defining this love story’s timeline?

It’s hard to tell.  

That was a truly shitty answer, I know. LOL

We will never really know the accurate timeline, not unless JM and JK decide to share it with us one day.

But I’m not going to chicken out, not now.

I am going to tell you what I believe is more or less the timeline of progression in the relationship.

Saying that, I’m not going to get into too many details because that’s just wrong.  It feels too voyeur to me.

And here we go:

From re-watching old content,  I see a shift in JK towards the end of 2014 (maybe even mid 2014 during American Hustle Life).  He becomes ‘nicer’, in a way, towards Jimin, doesn’t stop teasing him though (sometimes as a guise to seek Jimin’s attention though, rather than laugh at him). He also becomes clingier.  Almost every shot taken he is by JM’s side, behind him or in his close vicinity.  He is seeking out JM’s attention.

20 Nov 2014 there is another ‘Looks ranking’ (during the Pops in Seoul War of hormone interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4JO1GxTKXI starting from 2.39min).  I find this one interesting.  Once again, JK ranks Jimin last, while ranking himself 6th. Jimin is evidently hurt by the ranking. You can see it on his face.  It felt like he was truly disappointed and hurt by what JK did.  I tried to find remorse on JK’s part, but couldn’t.  He finds it funny, or so it seems.  Did he rank JM last because he was the easiest to appease later? Did he do it to hide his growing attraction? We will never know.  I don’t think that he wants to hurt Jimin, I don’t even think he is aware just how badly he did hurt him. What is evident to me, in any case, is that at this point he still lacks the empathy and sensitivity towards Jimin and his feelings.  This is something that will develop later on in JK’s behaviour towards him.

This leads into the beginning of 2015.  Remember JM’s Bangtan bomb from January 2015, seeking out JK for an interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2JphzsaTIE )? How Jimin is adamant he is seeking out JK, who is avoiding him, and Tae’s teasing repetitively: “avoids?”.  Tae repeats this laughingly 4 times.  After a couple of times Jimin says it’s a joke, but after the fourth he actually turns sharply towards Tae, as if to wack him, saying again it’s a joke, making Tae giggle and say “sorry, sorry”.  From their interaction it’s totally clear that JK far from avoids Jimin.  The teasing way Tae repeats it 4 times shows us quite the contrary.  Not only doesn’t JK avoid JM, he seeks him out.  And what we can see from the clips around that time just strengthen that conclusion.  JK is constantly around Jimin.  He is the one that is seeking out JM’s closeness.  

Something else I noticed from this clip is how JK doesn’t flinch at the end when Jimin asks for a kiss and goes in for the kill.  I think Jimin was expecting JK to push back immediately, but that doesn’t happen.  After a couple of seconds JK does flinch, but not at the beginning.  It could be because he was surprised by JM’s move, but JM did say he wanted a kiss, and it wasn’t the first time he pulled a stunt like that.  JK also laughs at the end, after pushing back, unlike previous reactions, when he just seemed annoyed.  JK’s reaction just seemed different to me. This is only a nuance, and I might be wrong.

Next jump is towards mid 2015.  During this period between the start and mid of 2015 JK’s attraction to JM really shows. He just can’t keep his eyes or hands off him. He is most obviously attracted to him. Has he come to terms with it? I think he is still in turmoil at this point.  Not clear with himself what this is he is feeling, is it ok to feel this, and are his feelings going to be reciprocated.  Thinking about the situation he is in, how isolated he probably thought he was, is heartbreaking. It’s not that he had any one he could confide in within the group (not about that). He had to work it all out by himself. The person that he usually confided in, the one that he allowed to see him in his weaknesses was the person he had these feelings for.

  Some examples:  BTS Bomb after KBS music bank 1st place 9 May 2015 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV3vIYdTNIU from 4.36min) – moody JK when he’s eyeing Jimin interacting with Hobi and Jin, also the way JK averts his eyes when Jimin looks his way. He’s not happy. Mood changes when Jimin pays him attention pulling him by his shirt.  

BTS Yeoeuido Fansign 4th July -  2015.  https://twitter.com/i/status/775127718409150464   Very well known clip.  JK outright getting pissed off when RM puts his arm around Jimin and pulls him closer. Jimin calls out to JK several times, and JK ignores him, until Jimin asks the fans if they want to see JK send them a heart.  JK, with straight face, not a hint of a smile on his face, does the heart.  RM’s reaction also quite peculiar, removing his hand from Jimin after seeing JK’s reaction.  I recommend to watch the whole clip.  JK’s facial expression changes immediately after turning and watching Hobi, but then becomes solemn again when turning back looking at RM and JM, staring at JM as he gets up.

I bring up this example again, because I feel like this is a transition stage, when JK is finding it hard to come to terms with what he is feeling, but it is effecting his surroundings, that are becoming aware there might be something going on with him.  I don’t think that at this point JM is fully understands what is going on with JK, why he is acting all hot and cold.  I mean, like the other members, he might suspect that something is  going on, but feelings have not been made clear yet.

Somewhere between then and 29 Aug 2015 I think something changes.  I know the theory is that JK was shocked by Jimin fainting during their Osaka fan meeting on the 20th August 2015 and decided to make his move, referencing to the 20th Aug fanmeeting, JK stopping by Jimin’s side singing the lyrics of the song to him.  Jimin does seem pleased by it, but still I can’t say if that is actually the case.

Saying that, I do see a shift during the HK concert on 29th Aug 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPta9bGWmG8 .  During the performance of ‘Pretty woman’ (from 0.34min) there is a pretty intense, even sultry, staring moment that just feels is different.  The way they are looking at each other is just telling.  Following we can see Jimin checking out JK a couple of times, so much so that Tae notices it at some point.  That is the moment that I saw that something has changed.

To be continued...

#jikook timeline #jikook are real #jikook love #jk #jungkook #jimin #jm #jikook #jikook are together #JK and JM choose to share a car #jk and jm young love #why i believe in jk and jm's love