#and then you see another halloween post on your dash and just know summer is coming to an end

[kayliemusing]

42: top 3s

1: Top 3 ice cream flavors - classic vanilla, birthday cake/birthday batter, bubblegum

2: Top 3 Disney Movies - Mulan, Onward, Soul (but this changes frequently lol)

3: Top 3 vacation destinations - I've never been outside of my home country so I'll say my top 3 DREAM destinations: NYC, Hawaii, a random countryside in either France or the UK

4: Top 3 places to shop - Dynamite, Sephora, Winners/Homesense

5: Top 3 subjects of study/classes to take - English/anything creative writing related, Interior Decorating/Design, Communications?

6: Top 3 make up products - YSL Touche Eclat Foundation, literally any Mac Lipstick but it has to be matte, & Fenty Beauty contour stick

7: Top 3 music artists - Taylor Swift - Of Monsters and Men - The Lumineers

8: Top 3 spices/herbs - Cinnamon - Nutmeg (literally tastes like autumn) - Paprika

9: Top 3 drinks - Diet Coke - Hot Chocolate - Vanilla Bean Frappe

10: Top 3 apps to use - Instagram - Pinterest -iBooks

11: Top 3 months of the year - May, October, December

12: Top 3 clothing items - My black/white turtle neck, high waisted jeans, plaid blazer

13: Top 3 binge perfect tv shows - Bones, Supernatural, Brooklyn Nine Nine

14: Top 3 romantic dates - (I've never been on a date but if I had, it would be this) Evening walk, late night drive, late night coffee date (tbh anything at night feels romantic)

15: Top 3 kinds of flower - Water lilies, cherry blossoms, roses

16: Top 3 christmas movies - A Christmas Carol (2009), Home Alone, The Polar Express

17: Top 3 OTPs - Nesta and Cassian from ACOTAR series by SJM, Manon and Dorian from Throne of Glass series by SJM, Casteel and Poppy from From Blood and Ash series by JLM.

18: Top 3 quotes to describe your life - "I write not to find, but to leave" by Scherezade Siobhan - "I want to be myself again. I want to be six. I want to stop knowing everything I know" by Catherynne M. Valente - "The truth is, I pretend to be a cynic, but I am really a dreamer who is terrified of wanting something she may never get" by Joanna Hoffman.

19: Top 3 characteristics you love about yourself - my kindness bc it's not surface level kindness, but actually something deeply rooted within me - my resilience even tho sometimes it doesn't feel like resilience - my loyalty bc it is a hard as steel kind of loyalty

20: Top 3 kinds of candy - Maltesers, Kit kats, smarties

21: Top 3 ways to exercise/ be active - Walking, dancing, mowing the lawn/shoveling the sidewalk

22: Top 3 spirit animals - wolf, hummingbird, tiger (i googled it bc i didn't know and i was scared it was a joke but)

23: Top 3 petnames - I like 'lovebug', 'love', 'sweetheart'

24: Top 3 books read outside of school - The Hating Game by Sally Thorne, A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J Maas but viewers discretion is advised, Crush by Richard Siken

25: Top 3 most used websites - Youtube, Tumblr, Pinterest

26: Top 3 people you last texted - my mom, my bestie megan, and my sister bc they're the only people i text...

27: Top 3 hashtags you use - the only time i use hashtags is if i'm trying to promote some of my writing so I'll usually use writingcommunity, writersonig, poetryonig lol

28: Top 3 instagram accounts you follow - Trista Mateer, Griefmother, obviously taylor swift

29: Top 3 guilty pleasures - buzzfeed quizzes, early 2000s music, romance novels

30: Top 3 summer activities - Going to the zoo, long evening walks, campfires and s'mores

31: Top 3 things to draw/doodle - hearts, flowers, random swirls bc it's the only thing i can doodle...

32: Top 3 aesthetics - cityscape aesthetic, autumn aesthetic, rustic aesthetic

33: Top 3 things you'd buy if you gained three million dollars - a new car, a condo, another cat

34: Top 3 ways to treat yourself - facial, a large bag of maltesers, buying the makeup i really want but have been putting off

35: Top 3 celebrity crushes - Evan Peters, Matthew Daddario, henry cavill

36: Top 3 books from your childhood - Love You Forever by Robert Munsch, The Big Friendly Giant by Roald Dahl, and Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmens

37: Top 3 accents to hear - Australian, super poshy british accent, new zealand accent

38: Top 3 scents - Fresh rain, vanilla, sweet cinnamon pumpkin from bath and body works

39: Top 3 "Friends" quotes - "WE WERE ON A BREAK" -Ross, "Guess things were just going too well for me" -also ross, and "it's so exhausting waiting for death" - phoebe

40: Top 3 cupcake flavors - tbh I haven't tried that many cupcakes so your typical vanilla, chocolate, and Pink Lady Cupcake from Babycakes Cupcakery

41: Top 3 fruits - Pomegranates, Strawberries, Raspberries

42: Top 3 places you've had amazing pizza from - Pizzahut, Dominos, Pizza73

43: Top 3 sports teams to watch - i don't

44: Top 3 crayola colors - uh, i guess red, purple, and pink??

45: Top 3 things you hope to accomplish in college - Certificates/Degrees in Copyediting and Creative Writing, and I think simply just deeper critical thinking skills when it comes to writing and books

46: Top 3 fanfictions you've read - I read more books than fanfics, I've read a couple on tumblr but don't remember the names sorry :/

47: Top 3 people you miss right now - my dad, my best friend bc she's in vancouver, taylor swift bc she's not on tumblr anymore rip

48: Top 3 fears - Failure, Loss, not achieving anything in life/not reaching my full potential

49: Top 3 favorite literary devices - Foreshadowing is always god tier, cliffhangers although evil i love those too, symbolism

50: Top 3 pet peeves - People dragging their shoes on the floor when they walk, when you tell someone your fav hobby/music artist/interest and they immediately go 'oh I hate X!', and people who go 'you're so quiet!!!' but in a way that draws in more attention and/or makes me feel more uncomfortable like i would literally rather die

51: Top 3 physical things you find attractive - Hands, nice hair, defined jawlines

52: Top 3 bad habits - Nailbiting, picking at my blemishes oops, lip biting

53: Top 3 pets you've had/wish to have - Cats bc they complete me, I've always wanted a Samoyed, and I've always wanted a turtle

54: Top 3 types of foreign food - Chicken Chow Mein, deep fried shrimp, japanese chicken wings

55: Top 3 things you want to say to someone in your lifetime - 'I quit', 'I love you', 'you changed my life'

56: Top 3 dog breeds - Samoyed, german shepherds, collies

57: Top 3 cheesy romance movies - You've Got Mail, How To Lose a Guy In 10 Days, 10 Things I Hate About You

58: Top 3 languages you speak/wish to speak - French, Sign, and maybe Japanese?

59: Top 3 series (book, movie, television) - The Cruel Prince series by Holly Black, A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas (but literally only for Cassian and Nesta), From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L Armentrout

60: Top 3 pizza toppings - Mushrooms, alfredo sauce, pineapple

61: Top 3 youtubers you're subscribed to - Game Grumps, Charlotte Dobre, Megan Batoon

62: Top 3 tattoo / piercing ideas - I want to get a tattoo on my wrist of the last thing my dad ever wrote me, a hummingbird tattoo right next to it, and then a cross on my index finger

63: Top 3 awards you want to win - National Book Awards, Nobel Prize, and maybe even Goodreads Choice Awards lol

64: Top 3 emojis - Laugh/Crying emoji, the please sir emoji that kinda gives off those puss n boots eyes, and the stars emoji

65: Top 3 cars you dream of owning - 1970s Chev Impala, tbh a cute little Hyundai Venue, and maaaaybe the 1964 ferarri 250 gt luso (idk if that name was totally right but i had to do tons of googling to find it. i don't know a lot about cars and i don't really have a top 3 lol)

66: Top 3 authors - Right now I'm really into Sarah J Maas, Sally Thorne, and Holly Black maybe?

67: Top 3 historical figures - Jesus, Anne Frank, Vincent Van Gogh

68: Top 3 baby names - Ryder, Leila, Gracie

69: Top 3 DIYs - Candles, refurnishing old furniture (i.e. my mom and i painted our wooden garbage can), and really just any type of autumn diy

70: Top 3 smoothie combos/flavors - Strawberry/Banana, Mango, Strawberry-Mango

71: Top 3 songs of this month - Happier Than Ever by Billie Eilish, Biblical by Calum Scott, and Visiting Hours by Ed Sheeran

72: Top 3 questions of this post you want to be asked - I did them all bc I made it a survey instead of an ask meme ;)

73: Top 3 villains - Regina/The Evil Queen from Once Upon a Time, Cruella De Vil, and Moriarty from Sherlock

74: Top 3 Cities you want to see - Montreal, NYC, Vancouver (honorable mention: LA)

75: Top 3 recipes you want to try - different kind of salad and/or burger bowls, Stuffed bell peppers, and homemade lemon loaf

76: Top 3 dream jobs - Bestselling author, the person who runs a companies social media accounts, youtuber/blogger

77: Top 3 lucky items - tbh don't have one

78: Top 3 traditions you have - Christmas Eve Service and if I don't go to that at least incorporating reading the christmas story on christmas day or eve, idk if this counts as tradition but going to the corn maze every fall, and whenever it's easter/christmas/thanksgiving we always have a big meal w/ family

79: Top 3 things you miss about being a kid - reckless abandon, dreaming about growing up with hopefulness and no dashed hopes, experiencing holidays like halloween and christmas as a kid

80: Top 3 harry potter characters - I've never read or watched Harry Potter rip (ok well i saw the first and second (and maybe third?) movie in the sixth grade I think) but I think I really liked Hermoine, Harry obviously and Dobby

81: Top 3 lies you were told - i don't have 3, but this one has a story but basically when my sister and i were in elementary school my sister got hit by a car and so the insurance thing was that she would recieve 10k when she was 18 and as a child i thought that was unfair so my dad told me that my sister had to split it with me when we were 18 lmao obviously that didn't happen (i think i realized that wasn't true in middle school)

82: Top 3 pictures in your camera roll right now - Pictures of my cat, one of my sister in a hilarious filter, and a picture of my rocking my TS merch

83: Top 3 turn ons - Kindness, defined jawline, easy going

84: Top 3 turn offs - arrogance, unkempt, super loud and obnoxious

85: Top 3 magazines/news papers/ journals to read - I don't read much of those so I'll tell you some sites I love for writing purpose's: there's Wellstoried, justwriterlythings, springhole.net (which is filled with generators if you're stuck and also tons of infomation and advice)

86: Top 3 things you wish you had known earlier - that toad in Mario Party was wearing a mushroom hat and that it is actually not his head, that immaculate means 'clean' before i misused that word like several times over the years, and that the one turn i always take on my way to work where i thought everyone didn't know how to drive was actually bc i didn't have the right of way rip me

87: Top 3 spongebob episodes - the one episode where spongebob and patrick find a ghost ship, that one episode where they form a bikini bottom band and perform it at a football game in a little fish tank, and the one episode where squidward has his first snowball fight

88: Top 3 places to be in the world - I'd love to be in NYC, Montreal, or Hawaii

89: Top 3 things you'd do differently - I would not have applied for RDC, similarly I should have just paid the 500 dollars to the one certificate program I wanted to do instead of overthinking it, and I wish I wouldn't have ended a friendship the way I did

90: Top 3 TV shows from your childhood - Spongebob Squarepants, That's So Raven, and Hannah Montana

91: Top 3 meals you love - Turkey Burgers, Chilli, and Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

92: Top 3 kinds of tea - i don't drink tea

93: Top 3 embarrassing moments - one time in sixth grade I tripped and fell right on my face in front of my crush, this other time like a couple years ago i opened the door to my car and only realized much too late while i was staring at this random family that it was not my car, and when i went to the gas station to get gas and couldn't get my gas lid on my car opened and this guy had to help me which was already embarrassing enough but then the gas pump wouldn't work so i had to go inside to pay just to realize i forgot my wallet and had to shamefully walk back to my car and then run back inside the convenience store and then pay and then walk back to my car and finally fill my tank.

94: Top 3 holidays to celebrate - Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving

95: Top 3 things to do in the rain - have an existential crisis, pretend you're in a music video, walk through puddles like you're six again

96: Top 3 things to do in the snow - Sledding, Build a snowman, shovel it even tho you don't want to

97: Top 3 items you can't leave the house w/o - phone, keys, wallet

98: Top 3 movies you'd like to see - Jurassic World 3, Hotel Transylvania: Transformania bc i'm a child, and the animation of the addams family

99: Top 3 art mediums - Writing fiction/poetry, painting, music

100: Top 3 museums you've been to - Royal Tyrell Museum, Canadian History one in edmonton lol, and heritage park in calgary

101: Top 3 school memories - Middle school dances when the popular kids would grind to the song "Low" which was always an interesting experience, in the twelfth grade at winter formal when we all shouted "SHUT UP AND DANCE!" at the same time when they played Shut Up and Dance, and the day i left

102: Top 3 things you don't/Won't miss - School, my sisters ex, 2016 bc she was a rough year yikes

103: Top 3 pick up lines - "My name is Will. God's Will.", "I'd like to take you to the movies but they don't like you bring your own snacks", "are you from tennessee bc you're the only 10 i see"

104: Top 3 sports to watch - none of them

105: Top 3 taylor swift songs - all too well - exile - coney island

#survey

[theparanormalperiodical]

Halloween (1978) - Based On A True Story

It’s the tagline that haunts the horror film industry: Based on a True Story.

Typically, it roughly translates to “a door moved several feet so shit this is a haunted hizzle ma dudes”. Or, it represents some of the most iconic moments in paranormal phenomena.

It was Halloween (1978) that surprisingly slotted itself into the second category of films.

Halloween is famous for several reasons, indeed, it’s one of the most celebrated horror films to have graced your not-so-legal streaming site. 

It’s a cult movie for slasher fans, and it’s name has centred it as a must-watch during this season. And it’s all because it echoes out those eerie vibes of urban legends, but snaps us back to the chilling reality of pyscho-killers when we need it most.

It even started the slasher film craze that would tumble one corpse-domino into the following decades.

And it’s based on a true story.

Which, ya know, that’s fine, this is so fine, this is great.

So, it got me thinking: what was this true story? And are there any other similar stories that we need to know about come Halloween night?

Unfortunately, there are.

There are so many.

Today’s post is going to take us back to the story that inspired the Halloween series, the similar stories that bulked up the shocking reality of the 11-film saga, and the urban legends that still echo out these themes.

So, whether you’re carving a pumpkin, or piecing together your costume with a hot glue gun, settle in.

Let’s get spooky!

First, let’s recap the Halloween saga.

And lord, she’s a saga.

Across 11 movies we witness one plotline: this bloke, Michael Myres, stalks Laurie Strode.

No, he is not the lovable voice behind shrek.

And no, ‘shaggable’ is not used as a comical easter egg mid-murder in these movies.

But despite this basic plotline, normally a dash of back story is chucked into the occasional prequel-sequel-who’s-a-what’s-now to shake things up and drag it across 11 films.

Take the backstory of Laurie Strode - she’s his estranged sister, a connection which is dragged down to her daughter, Jamie. This is the central line that the series dances around.

It’s a bit like American Horror Story - you know when every season has a different setting?

There’s been a college massacre; there’s been a hospital of horrors. There’s been more reboots then Britney Spear’s career!

But pushing aside the mess of writers chipping in a line for each screenplay, and wiping off the fake blood coating the legacy of films, one thing is for sure:

We centre on a psycho-killer who defies all psychological analysis.

Michael Myers is pure evil.

That’s the point. 

It’s the true fear that I think we all have - it’s this unrelenting force that’s out to get you and will not stop, will not sympathise, will not suffer nor scar.

And so we arrive at the true story behind this phenomenon of a franchise.

Unless you’ve been stuck under a rock for, what, 40 years - no seriously, I did maths and everything - then you will be oblivious to the Halloween saga.

But for everyone else, there is only one image that pops into the head when it comes to these films - and it’s Michael Myers in his white mask, and cloaked in a blue jumpsuit.

#OOTD

And he is based on a true story.

The OG director and co-writer of the OG film - John Carpenter - was approached with the premise of a film many moons ago.

And let’s be honest: it’s more basic than I am.

The whole idea was that this psycho-killer slits bitches up on All Hallows’ Eve. Simple, right?

Well it was Carpenter that added the twist on Myers that sent this flick head-first into film history.

Carpenter was reminded of an encounter he had at University whilst visiting a mental institution. He came across a boy, maybe 12 or 13 years old.

And he had this look.

He had this look that he could only describe as emotionless, as pure evil - and this probably inspired this quote from the film from Myers’ psychoanalyst:

"This blank, pale emotionless face. Blackest eyes. The devil’s eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him and then another seven trying to keep him locked up, because I realized what was living behind that boys’ eyes was purely and simply evil."

Oh, you thought it stopped there?

Oh, my little ghoul.

No, it continues.

Myers is believed to be complete and utter evil. And this is based on the historical root of Halloween.

Samhain is the celtic celebration behind the best day of the whole entire year. And in basic terms, it is the conflict between summer and winter, or, between good and evil.

Sound familiar?

Okay fine, every horror film - no, scratch that - every goddamn film is about the fight between good and evil.

But it’s Halloween that brings this up. Halloween drags it up from the depths of hell and puts a white face mask on it.

However, legend has it that there is another real life story that directly influenced it: and that’s the murders committed by Stanley Steirs.

Take yourself back to 1920. 

On Halloween night, Stiers went on a killing spree, going so far as to murder his own family.

Carpenter - nor, anyone affiliated with this cult series - makes mention of Stiers. But it’s safe to say that the sheer volume of murders that happen to fall (or purposefully striking) on Halloween is nothing short of inspiration.

The film might stick to the big screen, but the reality is never too far from the cinema doors.

It’s here that we turn to these real life events.

I’ve found five major events of murders, assaults and kidnapping that have collided with Halloween, mirroring the images on the big screen.

(Yeah, it wasn’t a positive google search experience.)

And none of them fall short of the actual movie inspiring this post.

We start in 1975, a mere 3 years before the original film hit the cinemas.

It was the morning of Halloween when Martha Moxeley was found beneath a tree in her backyard. She was dead, murdered via a beating with a golf club. 

It was 25 years later that Michael Skakel - then, a 15 year old body - was arrested and convicted for her murder. This story gained attention not for the gruesome circumstances of Martha’s death, but because of the sheltered, and famous life he had lived.

He was the nephew of Robert F Kennedy’s widow, and had spent him life swanning around the elite circles.

His alibi? Well, it’s just as disturbing as her death. 

He claims that the reason his DNA was on her body was because he was masturbating underneath the tree she was found under on the same day.

These themes aren’t so unheard of in Halloween - indeed, the opening scene features the uncomfortable sex scene of Michael’s sister and her boyfriend before he stabs her to death, completing his first kill.

We then jump forward a few decades, and dive headfirst into arguably the decade of the most Halloween related murders. Indeed, given the stretch of slasher films before this decades that were spiked by the movie inspiring this post, the film itself could have figured as an ambition for these murders.

And it starts in 2002.

Chris Jenkins - a student at the University of Minnesota - was last seen alive at a bar on Halloween night. Four months later, his body - still clad in appropriate Halloween get-up - was found in the Mississippi River.

This is not the first halloween-related catastrophe to be witnessed in this river. 

Obviously someone falling into a river on a infamous night of parties and revelry can be seen as either an accident, or a suicide. But it was 4 years later that the death was reclassified as a homicide.

Even though someone did confess to the police that they witnessed a murder, it is still shrouded in a mystery fit for an urban legend.

Particularly as it is rumoured to be a victim of the Smiley Face Murders.

Basically, 40 male college students in the US died of drowning around the same time, and graffiti of smiley faces was found around the sites of the murder.

The murderer was never found.

Next, we turn to a similarly urban-legend like story: the murder of Leslie Mazzara and Adriane Insogna.

It was 31st October 2004, and three roommates - including those that were murdered - were enjoying Halloween night. Having handed out Halloween candy all evening, Lauren Meanza awoke to the sounds of a scuffle at 1am.

She fled the house in fear, and turned around to see someone climb out of one of their windows.

She ran back inside, only to be greeted by the corpses of her roommates.

Nearly 1500 people became persons of interest, but it was when Eric Copple - who was apart of this pool - refused to cooperate by handing over DNA, suspicions were roused.

A year later, he confessed to the murders.

No motive was given, but he was engaged to a friend of one of the victims, creating a peculiar link that must’ve inspired the events of that fateful night.

6 years later, an Ohio teen encountered a similar situation.

He returned from a church service to the bodies of his murdered family, including his new stepfather, William Liske.

The killer behind the murders was found to be Liske’s son from a previous marriage who had a history of violence and schizophrenia.

2009 too witnessed a grotesque event.

3 teenage girls were held at gunpoint and abducted following an evening of trick-o-treating, and were sexually assaulted in a wood. Luckily, one of the girls was able to use her phone to call for help, causing the kidnapper to flee.

When he was eventually arrested in 2012, it followed a string of previous sexual assaults that have occurred since the late 90s.

Our final murder takes us to Halloween night, 2011.

Taylor Van Diest was believed to have just left a Halloween party when she was beaten to death near railway tracks.

The story only gets ever-more terrifying considering she texted her boyfriend shortly before the attack to tell him that that someone was following her.

The police eventually found DNA of the killer underneath her fingernails, leading them to the culprit.

Traumatised? Me too.

But these tales don’t end with finished cases, and they certainly don’t end with the credits of the films they inspire.

They come back to haunt us in the urban legends set on Halloween.

Clearly, halloween-inspired murders make the most iconic urban legend concept. It’s the scariest time of year, and what’s scarier than, well, murder?

One of these legends sticks to this theme, closely mirroring the film in question.

It’s affectionately known as the 1962 Idaho Massacre. The story goes a man in a black mask attended a Halloween party in - you guessed it - Idaho.

He proceeded to lock all the doors, and then murder each and every attendee of the party. Well, he is believed to have killed 7 before escaping.

He was never found. But it is still claimed that his mask was found by the FBI in 1969.

The murder train continues with the most noughties urban legend ever.

In 2008, an email chain warned people that a gang was to hold an initiation on Halloween night.

And the task that needed to be completed?

The murder of 31 women, each death a day of the month.

And in true urban legend fashion, 140 women were to be killed in another version of the email, and so the list of variants continues.

Our next tale of terror sticks to a more classic halloween story - that of the haunted house:

Well, this house either exists in Pennsylvania, Detroit, or Chicago; regardless, this is a typical and twisted tale often encountered with urban legends.

The story goes that a haunted house with 13 floors exists. I mean, fuck that’s a tall house, how did they get that signed off?

But the legal repercussions are not the frightening feature of the story.

The challenge is to make it to the top floor alive. If they do, they win some cash. If they don’t… well they're dead, so there's that.

Legend has it that no one ever made it to the top floor.

It also doesn’t exist, but anyway.

What about the campus massacres of halloween night?

Every year, from 1960 to 1998, psychics would make the same prediction for Halloween night. No points for guessing what the prediction was…

Next is the rumoured threat to animals.

Satanists have always been supposedly murdering black cats on Halloween for decades. Or maybe it’s witches capturing them for ceremonies? Or maybe its National Kill a Pit Bull Day, the all-American hoax that cropped up in 2012?

Either way: no one is safe. Not even ya doggo.

Our final urban legends prey on children, and infer that they will either be drugged, poisoned, or stabbed on some sort of sharp implement.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

These are the most prevalent legends, especially since trick-o-treating and dressing up are children’s activities, even if we all like to partake - child or not.

Some real life cases have even informed the fears that candy has been spiked with poisons, such as the case of the poisoned Pixy Stix.

It was Ronald O’Bryan who spiked his son’s candy with cyanide with the ambition of receiving a hefty insurance cash payment.

There have even been rumours of temporary tattoos being laced with LSD!

The original icon for this was a blue star, but this eventually included other unsuspecting images such as Mickey Mouse.

Cause nothin’ says drugs like Disney.

Now we turn to pointy things.

Commonly needles and razors blades are rumoured to be concealed among halloween treats handed out to kids. This was even proven in 2000, when a man was charged with concealing needles in chocolate bars.

Not convinced by razor blades? What about drugs being smuggled across borders, or handed out to children?

Fact is, these urban legends could go on forever.

They twist, they turn, they come back around full circle, and they pack up shop to move to different parts of the world.

And when we finally think we are safe from the myths and legends that haunt halloween…

Tragedy strikes.

Fact is, Halloween isn’t just based on the demeanor of one psychotic teen. 

It’s based on stories that happen year upon year, reminding us that urban legends are never too far from the truth. 

#halloween #halloween 2019 #halloween 1978 #halloween 2018 #michael myers #friday the thirteenth #laurie strodes #unsolved mysteries #crime #murders #halloween costumes #halloween costume ideas #halloween makeup #pumpkin carving #pumpkin ideas #purge mask #halloween decorations #halloween film #halloween 2 #halloween h20 #halloween michael myers #horror film #horror movies #midsommar #paranormal #supernatural #spirits #demons #haunted #suspiria

[hamlets-ghost-zaddy]

queen of peace

Part 2/10

Shifty Powers x Reader

Summary: He fights with a rifle, you with a needle. When the toll of taking lives grows too high on him, you’re there to stitch his ripped seams and patch him together again (after all, you’re awfully good at taking what’s old and giving it new life)

Margaret insists with a red-cheeked, breathless persistence that you absolutely must double-date with her and Allen Vest for the USO-sponsored Halloween dance. She dangles the prospect of a dance hall brimming with Americans like a carrot on a stick, as if the idea of young men whisking you around and around the dance floor—putting their hands on your shoulders, on your back—doesn’t make your skin hot and itchy. Yet, with the gravity of a priest, she intones her final plea as the benediction of her argument: “Father positively won’t hear of me going unless you go.”

Unfortunately for you, Mother overhears and scuttles in from the kitchen to pluck up the baby pillow you embroider—your lifeline and only valid excuse to avoid the dance—crowing a merry: “Oh, she’s going, Margaret, don’t you worry!”

You glare at your Mother, but it’s weak, crumbling under Mother’s tired face pulling into a smile. Since losing Father in the Blitz, her life-work’s in the Bond Street atelier swallowed in the same German-inferno, forcing the skeletal remainders of your family to the summer cottage in Aldbourne—Mother’s girlhood home—you’ve watched her skin tinge with gray, silver shoot through one strand, then two, of her hair. Fashionable enough on the London scene to tempt society ladies out to your countryside workshop, your Mother cinched her black dresses and tilted her birdcage-hats alluringly those first few months in Aldbourne, wilting underneath the crepe. Now, with no business save the odd order for embroidery or baby clothes, Mother has abandoned her fine London clothes. Most days, she doesn’t bother to change from her dressing gown, graying curls tied up by a silk kerchief. Now, you watch an escaped curl bounce against her papery cheek in excitement.

“It’s been ages since you’ve gone to a dance; it’s just what you need to cheer you up!” she enthuses.

You want to point out that a dance would do Mother more good than you—you remember squishing your face against the staircase rails in the old London townhouse to glimpse Mother and Father glammed up for parties, the breathless magic of your Mother’s new dress intoxicating you with heady fantasies of beautiful parties—but instead settle on: “I can’t believe you’re both so willing to ship me off to a dance where I don’t know anyone! You’re going to be busy with Vest—” you direct to Margaret “—Am I supposed to be wall décor all evening?”

The truth of the matter that you’d never admit is, for all that you happily floated through romanticized daydreams of taffeta evening gowns trimmed with ribbons, the reality renders you paralyzed. Your body rebels, sending your face flushing and fingers quaking, at the thought of the press of humanity cramming the dance hall. Preferable, instead, is getting to know a new acquaintance through a quiet chat over a cup of tea—or at the post office. Your mind flashes to meeting Shifty, three weeks gone but kept fresh in your mind and close in your heart. You duck your head as if to dodge the thought, knowing your skin pinks.

“I promise you’ll like who Vest has as your double-date; I’ve met him a few times, and he’s a real hoot,” Margaret assures, which does little reassuring whatsoever. “So, why don’t you whip up a new dress for yourself before Friday and I’ll swing by with the boys to pick you up at six or so?”

A flutter of disappointment beats its wings against your ribcage; surely if the double-date is with Shifty, Margaret would have said? (briefly, the familiar flash of guilt zig-zags through you: should you have sent more than a thank you note and promise to return the novel? Should you have initiated something more?) Your hesitation allows Mother to pipe in: “She’ll be ready and waiting with bells on.”

And it’s not like you should be surprised by the burst of annoyance that screws up your face; Margaret and Mother organize and arrange your life and, most of the time, you appreciate it. You let them cluck over your hair, your nails, allowing you time to focus on fulfilling orders quickly and balancing the ledger, and your reaction now confuses you. As if proving a point—you’re not sure to who—you go to fetch the accounting book to plan how exactly you’re going to stretch the money from the embroidered pillow as far as it will go.

...

Mother doesn’t broach the dance for the remainder of the day—Tuesday—and by Wednesday noon, you dare to hope she’s given up on the scheme. ‘Whipping up’ a new dress for the dance is impossible, with the meager fabric left in the workshop, and you’ve long-since outgrown all your nice, London things. Then, as you’re warming up last night’s pea soap for lunch, Mother appears with a garment bag draped over her arms.

Your mouth pops open to protest, but she interjects swiftly: “Before you begin to argue about supplies, and money, and waste, I’ve been meaning to remake this dress for you for ages, and we can use the discarded satin from that christening dress from a few weeks ago. Waste not, want not.”

But all arguments have fled from your mind: as she spoke, she laid out the garment bag on the kitchen table, snapping it open to reveal an evening gown, catching the weak light like a reflecting pool in its graying-blue satin current. Ideas swirl through your imagination, flashbulb recollections of magazines and socialites, and you ache for a challenge. To really create something; to have purpose again.

You forget all protests.

...

Your date appears on your doorstep, shoulder-to-shoulder with Allen Vest and Margaret and smiling as if the world smiled back. His name is George Luz and, he confides as your little quartet piles onto the USO bus ferrying couples to the dance hall, he’s half in love with a dame attending on another man’s arm. “Evie Lowell,” he sighs, and you’re not sure if he’s exaggerating his lovelorn gloom, but it makes you giggle.

His lips twitch with a barely-repressed grin.

Resisting the urge to crane around and peek at Evie—one of your schoolmates and prettier than any girl ought to be—you promise to help promote him if you can. With this vow, you fall into a conspiring comradery, relishing in inventing increasingly ludicrous ways of manufacturing a stolen moment between Evie and George until you can almost forget how you flush with self-consciousness, how your muscles hum with nerves. Then, the bus’s engine cuts off, and you’ve arrived.

The dance hall swarms with uniformed Americans and their dates, skirts flaring out as they’re tossed—occasionally into each other—around the floor. Presiding over the festivities is a proper twelve-piece band, trumpets and trombones and the whole works, and you don’t think anyone in England has enough money to scrap together to book a full band. At least, not until the Americans came. Standing on the raised lip of the perimeter of the dance floor, where tables service a heavily-populated bar, you stare with increasingly furrowed brows at the thrashing mass of sweaty bodies. Unconsciously, you work your Mother’s borrowed beaded purse in your hands.

George bumps your shoulder. “You’re acting like you’ve never seen Americans before.”

You manage to twitch your lips up. “No, just never so many all at once.” A tremulous note shakes your words, and you feel infantile—a little girl who stole snatched her mother’s skirts and accompanied them to the party.

George’s eyes are on your face, you feel them and know he’s seeing something, deciding something, because he says with feigned melancholy, “I know, I’m horrified by how crumby we are at dancing too—it’s really exaggerated when there’s a big old group of us.” He gestures to the hall, pointing out his friends and their knobby knees and flailing elbows, commentating when his buddy, Bill Guarnere, nearly clocks his date in the nose as he’s trying to spin her. George howls in laughter and your hand flies to your nose, covering your snort. Cradling your elbow, George urges, “Come on, let’s belly up to the bar, see what Vest and Maggie are drinking.”

Deciding to ask Margaret when she decided to rechristen herself as ‘Maggie,’ you allow George to guide you to the bar. The press of olive uniforms and dresses— one glance tells you the dresses are all out of vogue by at least three years, a casualty of the war—blends faces together until your mind whirs from the crush and the only keeping grounding you from dashing from the hall, or crumpling to the ground, is George carving his way doggedly through, keeping up a running monologue: “I swear, all you boys were raised in a barn, weren’t you? Can’t you see I’m trying to escort a thirsty lady to get a drink? Gee, move your massive behind, Bull! Go on, make room!”

You fixate on the back of George’s head, to the tracks of neatly combed brown hair kept slicked back from pomade smoothed in by a thin-toothed comb. Your breath shortens and heightens in your throat until—

“Oh my gosh!”

George’s hand slips from your elbow, his neat hair swallowed by the crowd. A hand on your other arm jerks you to a halt.

“George?” you squeak at where he’d been a moment before, but then you’re turned away from where you last glimpsed George, a woman’s face—wide, open, and honest, with blinking cornflower blue eyes that dwarf you with how they stare—is inches from your nose.

“Oh my gosh!” her rubied-lips repeat, her voice crackling with American dryness. “Your dress, my dear! Your dress! Where on earth did you get it? It’s—it’s absolutely delicious!” She takes a step back to properly examine your dress, reimagined into a wide skirt with pleats—and pockets, you think smugly—after a feverish three days working side-by-side with Mother.

The dizziness of the crowd eases marginally, the topic of clothes settling you. “Oh, well, thank you,” you manage, returning her smile. “I made it with my Mother. We’re local seamstresses.”

The American woman’s smile somehow grows wider. “No kidding?” she asks, eyes flashing to yours before turning over her shoulder, calling, “Vera, come look at this dress! She made it herself!”

A small gap in the crowd forms around you as another woman—presumably Vera—sidles up. “Made it yourself, huh?” Vera asks, her American accent tempered with soft vowels, not unlike Shifty’s, you can’t help but think. “It’s a mighty fine dress; like something out of Vogue.”

“I’ve been aching for something new,” the first American girl declares with all the authority of actual suffering. “Do you think you could do something with this old thing?” She gestures to her current dress—green taffeta with far too high of a neckline for her age.

Nerves uncoiling in your chest—a thread loosening from a bobbin—you nod, eyes sweeping over her dress, ideas forming: raise the waistline, lower the collar, add a fluttery chiffon sleeve. “Sure; if you want to bring it to our workshop in Aldbourne—ask anyone for y/n, and they’ll point you to us.”

The woman’s face lights up, exclaiming, “Oh, excellent!” She offers her hand. “I’m Barbara, by the by.” Taking her hand, you introduce yourself, before Vera asks if she might bring by a few dresses, too. At this point, other nurses—Barbara will inform you they’re all with the Army Nursing Corps, fresh from the Sicilian and North Africa Campaigns, and here to help with the impending French invasion—accumulated and you found yourself thoroughly entrenched in a gaggle of excitable women. You invite them all to come by the workshop with their old dresses—promising to breathe new life into them—but a deluge of questions on fabrics, opinions on designers, and comments on style preference leave you unsure if you were heard at all.

Unsure how to respond to—or what needed responding to—you turn your head helplessly, mouth opening and closing. You look like a trout.

Fingers brush your back. An accented voice, vowels gentle and consonances relaxed, asks, “Need rescuing, ma’am?”

Knowing who it is before you look, you find Shifty Powers’ small smile when you turn. He’s standing close out of necessity in the melee of the crowd, exaggerating how much taller he is, but he obligingly stoops his shoulders so he can speak softly. “You look like you’re under attack.”

Flushing, you hurry to correct, matching his volume: “They’re well-intentioned allies, I think.”

“Ah,” he drawls, “Then, we’d call this friendly fire.” You bite your lip to stifle a giggle—and since when did you giggle?—but nod nonetheless. Shifty straightens, his fingers remaining immobile on your back. Despite your apprehension earlier that week, you decide the physical contact really isn’t that bad. In fact, it’s quite pleasant. “Begging your pardon, ladies, but can I steal her away from y’all?”

You’re struck with that word—y’all—turning it over in your head as the nurses chorus their goodbyes and you offer a small wave in return. Y’all, you all: an inclusive word warmed with the milk and honey of his Virginian accent, a substantive word to warm your insides and give you nutrients. Lost in wondering how you might get him to say it again, you don’t notice Shifty guiding you to the bar, where an anxious George joins you.

“You found her!” George says, relief easing tension from his expression. Guilt coils in your stomach—you had forgotten about him, not worrying that he might be worrying. Shifty explains where he discovered you, and George crooks a grin at you. “Miss Popular over here, huh? Maybe I’ve got my eyes on the wrong English Rose?”

He winks and you laugh, too busy shaking your head at George’s candor to notice Shifty stiffening ever so slightly. “Have you spent all this time looking for me and not Evie?” you ask, and perhaps the nurses flocking to you had done some good; your nerves are entirely gone and you can forget the press of humans. You can almost forget where you are, too, only you have to shout to be heard over the band’s brass swelling noise.

“I couldn’t go courting another dame while you were MIA,” George replies, nobly.

Mystified, you repeat: “MIA?”

“Missing in action,” Shifty offers. “It’s a military term.”

“Ah, I see.” You glance shyly up at him, before diverting your eyes to George. George, for some reason, is easier to look at. You flap a hand at him. “Well, off you go. I’m back in one piece, so go!” You crane around, searching the dance hall, and find Evie as the sole female at a table clustered with uniformed boys. She looks dead bored. You say as much to George and its all the encouragement he needs to politely excuse himself, leaving a thanks in his wake as you assure him you won’t wander off again.

You’re not sure why you were so insistent on bolstering George, especially as it left you and Shifty to awkwardly shuffle your feet at each other. Shifty, who’s eyes make your skin feel like it fits too tight on your bones. “Um,” you mutter, hip leaning against the bar and elbow braced on the countertop to keep you upright, after you give the bartender your order. You glance at him, though it’s really more at his chest, he’s so tall. Your eyes alight on a new pin—two crossed rifles—and you say without thinking: “Oh, that’s new!”

“What is?”

Feeling silly, you point to the rifles. “That; it wasn’t there when I fixed up your jacket.”

“Oh, um, yeah,” he mutters, prompting you to peek at his face. He’s blushing and pretending great interest in the whiskey the bartender has just delivered to his hands.

“Well,” you prompt. “What is it?”

He flounders. “It’s um, well, it’s what I’ve been working on for…quite a while. Spending lots of time at the rifle range to practice and…and all.” He shifts again and your eyes flicker back to the pin, realizing he’s trying his damnest not to outright brag.

Taking pity, you fill in, “So it’s an award of some kind?”

Obviously relieved, he nods. “Yeah, that’s it.” Later, on the bus ride back home, you’ll ask George and he’ll snort, explaining Shifty earned the status of expert marksman. Apparently, he’s been training for it since their first days in basic training, though, the way George tells it, Shifty could have passed the test to earn expert status before he even stepped off the bus at Camp Toccoa. (‘Damned modest,’ George concludes, ‘Popeye finally convinced him to go for it on the boat ride across the Atlantic, but he insisted on obsessively training.’)

Then, your gin and tonic arrives, and you take a sip—the bartender obligingly followed your request of more tonic than gin—before asking, “How is your jacket holding up? Did, um, Sobel, was that his name? Did Sobel notice?”

Shifty’s grin beams, and you’re happy you convinced yourself to look at it just then. It curls your toes in your Mary-Janes. “Sobel is his name, yes, ma’am,” he replies. He seems pleased you remember something he said. “He’s my company’s captain and he’s, well, I reckon he’s real strict because he wants us to be the best.” You sense there’s adjectives more fitting than ‘strict’ that Shifty is unwilling to use, and a small knot of affection—affection?—weaves in your chest at his discretion. “But no, he didn’t notice a thing thanks to you.” His smile softens now, looking down at you, and you have to look away now for fear of turning luminescent red. “I do have some more wear and tear, though.”

He offers his sleeve for you to inspect the rips along his elbows and cuffs. Frowning, you ask, “What do you do to your poor clothes? Take a cheese grater to them?”

Chuckling, he shrugs helplessly. “I can’t properly say. It just happens; always has, even when I was little. My Ma would lose her mind over the tears and holes I’d come home with after a day outside.” You smile faintly at the conjured image of Shifty as a little boy, scampering in from playing in the woods, hair matted with mud and twigs, face glowing. “I reckon it might be time I learn how to sew. Think you’d be willing to take me on?”

Jerking your hands back from his cuff, you blink up at him, helpless to your mouth gaping open. Alarmed, he scrambles to add: “I know you’re probably busy, but I promise I wouldn’t take up too much of your time—just learning how to properly fix things and maybe change buttons is all I was thinking, and—and I’d pay you, too, of course.”

Surprising yourself with your own boldness, you place a hand on his wrist, shushing him. “I’d be happy to teach you, Shifty. And I don’t want to hear another word about you paying me. I’ll help you chose some supplies, and we can start whenever you want.” For all that you and Mother need the money, you still have your dignity (not to mention, you think, allowing yourself a moment of foolish whimsy as you watch his face brighten with excitement, I don’t want money to dirty whatever precious, fledgling thing this is).

Tags: @gottapenny

#let me know if you want to be tagged for future fics! #band of brothers fic #band of brothers #band of brothers imagine #band of brothers imagines #Shifty Powers #shifty powers image #shifty powers x reader #my writing

[lilyvandersteen]

What shortish (under 10k) one shots would you recommend that are meet-cutes and/or pining? Thanks!

Oooh, this is going to be a long list, Nonnie! Thanks for asking :-) Hugs, Marjan

Accessories by @hazelandglasz

Inspired by @tacogrande’s art on Tumblr : http://tacogrande.tumblr.com/post/156495579892/i-also-did-a-lil-au-where-blaine-is-just-always

All The Toys by Petalene

Fill for the GKM.  The five times Blaine went into a sex toy shop and the one time he came out with something really good. 

Auto Shops, Show Tunes and Happiness by @sunshineoptimismandangels

This is for coffeegleek wo prompted:Kurt has had to take over his dad’s shop & Blaine comes to get his car fixed, hears Kurt singing - AU meet cute, they’re 20-30+. Maybe Kurt does local community theatre. 

Blind Date by @bookqueen101

Tumblr Prompt: We’re both meant to be going on blind dates with other people but we sat down at the wrong table and got our hopes up.

Connections by @alilactree

A prompt from imnotimperfectlyperfect, Klaine alternate meeting: Blaine sees Kurt on the subway and misses his chance to talk to him, so he resorts to using an ad to find him again. This probably turned out to be a lot sillier than you were hoping, sorry about that. Warnings: Blaine goes on faily dates with other canon characters.

Dial 1 for Kurt by @starangel148

One day, as luck would have it, Kurt answered a call to his dorm phone even though he call was most likely for his playboy roommate. The rest is serendipity. AU Kurt/Blaine, set in college. 

Don’t make me over by @klaineanummel

Kurt thinks today will just be an average day; he’ll go to work, he’ll pine for his friend-with-benefits Blaine (who he desperately wants to become more), and he’ll remind his boss for the millionth time that he doesn’t want to be set up with her son. It goes pretty much as he expects… well, sort of.

Flowers Verse by @hazelandglasz​

Blaine just wants to get a bunch of flowers to his grandma.Little did he know that the Subway can lead to some interesting meetings … 

Fools Rush In by @black-john-lennon

Elvis once sang “Wise men say only fools rush in, but I can’t help falling in love with you”

Blaine and Sam might be those guys.

Free Pizza to Make You Smile by @princehummel

A short, cheesy (pun super intended) Valentine’s Day meet-cute. A bit late, but whatever.

It’s Valentine’s Day, but Kurt has too much homework and not enough boyfriend (in other words, no boyfriend) to properly celebrate. But there’s no law that says he can’t celebrate with himself, his laptop, and a special pizza.

Getting Out the Vote, 2016 – Feel the Bern! by @nightingale63

Klaine AU – Kurt and Blaine never met in high school, and are college students in New York who return to Ohio for spring break to volunteer for Bernie Sanders’ campaign. Meet cute entails! 

Gift with Purchase by @lady-divine-writes

To prepare for a big audition, Tina takes Blaine to Sephora for a little freshening up, where Blaine meets the sales associate of his dreams. 

Got A Sweet Tooth For You by @hazelandglasz

anonymous asked:I have one I have one! So, it’s AU. Blaine is scared to go to dentist (feel you, bb) and his tooth hurts more and more everyday. So finally, he mans up and goes. And meets the sexiest dentist ever.

Here Comes The Sun Salutation by @invisibleraven

Blaine has a work mandate to lower his stress levels by attending a yoga class. Which he goes to straight from work in a suit… 

Here to fix all of your problems by @fictionallylost

Rachel calls for a handyman to come and fix her and Kurt’s loft’s heating problems, then leaves Kurt home alone to await the assistance. Who do you think comes to his rescue? ;)

Hold Onto The Handrail by @antarcticbird

hazelandglasz prompted: the subway brakes too strongly and bam, au meeting ? 

If These Pages Could Tell A Story by @controlofwhatido

Isabelle Wright has written another book and is about to go on tour with it. Kurt’s job, as her assistant, is to make sure every location is up to speed with Isabelle’s requests. When Kurt e-mails Anderson’s Bookshop, he certainly doesn’t expect their correspondence to go past the first couple perfunctory responses…

Instant Boyfriend by @scrapmom2112

One minute Kurt is having coffee and minding his own business and the next he has a boyfriend…what? AU. Just another way for Kurt and Blaine to meet, and it’s at the Lima Bean, of course.

Kink(O)s by @hazelandglasz

Prompt : one of them want to print something, maybe a calendar with hot guys and the other one is the hot printer? 

Let It Snow by @antarcticbird

Snowed in at an airport on the 24th of December, with no cell phone reception and Cooper + family for company. 

Love Shack by @hkvoyage

On a sweltering hot summer’s evening, Kurt discovers a new cheesecake bakery in his Bushwick neighborhood. He soon realizes the true meaning of Valentine’s Day. An alternative meeting, written for the 2016 Klaine Valentines Challenge on Tumblr.

Night Work by @honeysucklepink

This was written for the KBL Reversebang Hiatus Challenge. I got a photo of a dog with a pumpkin and three items/things to include in my story: “Pharmacy,” “Sweats (clothing),” and “Stars.” And then on top of that I got awesome art from Jen (homemadedarkmark)! Thanks Jen! Also thanks to kurtswish for the beta. This is a simple “meet-cute,” hope you enjoy (in spite of it being Halloween-themed while way past Halloween)! 

Of BFF’s and Shoes by @a-simple-rainbow

I decided to mesh together a fuckload of tropes/prompts. From the text to the wrong number, to meeting in an elevator. Mostly it’s funny and stupid. Apologies to anyone who likes high heeled converse all stars. 

Of Sad Movies and Kind Strangers by @hadelli

Kurt’s week couldn’t get any worse.Because is there anything more pathetic than crying in a movie theatre, alone?Probably not, right?Right??

On Boundaries and Harvard Law by @klaineanummel

Burt gives Kurt’s number to a total stranger.

Overcoming a Break-Up by @mailroomorder

Kurt knows what it’s like to lose a nicely tailored jacket in the city, and he wouldn’t want that to happen to someone else. So when someone leaves their jacket at the restaurant Kurt works at, he figures the least he can do is return it to its rightful owner. Even if said owner did dine and dash, forcing Kurt to pay his bill.

Overcoming Gravity by @alilactree

From @prompt-a-klainefic:

I just discovered that you can buy vibrators at the airport, but while i was trying to load my bag into the overhead compartment on the plane, it fell out and landed right in your lap.

Poke-Klaine by @nightingale63

AU where Blaine went to NYADA but Kurt went to FIT (and Kurt never went to Dalton). A fun, fluffy meet-cute – enjoy!

Raspberry Rain by @lovetheblazer

kurt-and-blaine-anderhummel prompted: I haven’t slept in like 3 days everything is funny and your hair smells really good (where Kurt is the one that hasn’t slept and Blaine sits next to him in class and he keeps leaning his head on Blaine’s shoulder and keeps telling Blaine that his hair smells good from his scented hair gel). Klaine Alternative Meeting AU

Return to Sender by @skivvysupreme

Kurt’s shifts at the Spotlight Diner keep turning into complete trainwrecks, and it’s all the hot UPS guy’s fault. Sort of. (Though, in all fairness, Kurt has always had a certain weakness for men in uniforms.) 

Tell Me All Your Secrets by @lady-divine-writes

After being cheated on by his boyfriend for the tenth time, Kurt comes home, ready to surrender to a good cry and sleep. But when he can’t sleep, he checks his voice mail and finds a bunch of drunken messages from a wrong number, but his mysterious caller might be the answer to getting over his scumbag ex.

The Bookshelf by @klainjel

In which Blaine stumbles into a bookstore in search of a birthday present and finds so much more 

The Concert Experience by BlurtItAllOut

Wes and David have a spare concert ticket, and asks Blaine to tag along. He may not be so very interested in the headliner, but there are others to feast his eyes on. This will be a concert experience to remember. 

The Effects of Cookies on Shy Teenagers by @musiclovingbitch

ADJACENT STANDS AT THE FARMER’S MARKET AU

The Man With The Hippo-Head Brooch by @borogroves

A passing encounter on the London Underground leaves Blaine trying to track down a beautiful stranger.

Welcome to the New Age by @itspartofmyjealousy

A love story told through NYADA’s Snapchat

What Dreams Are Made Of by @bluecloudsupabove/ca_te

Just when Kurt thought New York couldn’t get more perfect, he stumbled upon Blaine.

#klaine fanfiction #meet cute fic recs #pining fic recs #under 10K #enjoy!

[theotherackerman]

I talked about this on Twitter but I've never posted it here so let's go.....

There is a reason that everything to do with mmtylif hits me really hard and why it's been hard for me to pick it up again.

So mmtylif did start for a Twitter thread idea.

I just started matching couples to songs...blah blah blah. You all know that.

Here's what you don't know:

I had a family member who was very sick. (Not covid.)

I needed a distraction.

Desperately.

So I started listening to music and then I saw the scenes.

The scene at the club I wrote like four different ways until we got the one we got.

The scene with Eren and Mikasa dancing was the one that hit me the hardest especially when he walks away.

I also wrote what came after it several times.

Then my family member died.

I wasn't okay.

I was very close to them.

So I found a discord of one of my favorite fanfic writers and she encouraged me to write. She encouraged me to post.

So I did.

Mmtylif became my coping.

I threw my grief into Eren and Mikasa.

I channeled my bipolar into Eren. That horrible moment where something good or bad happens and your tetering there and everyone is worried you're going to go off the rails again.

My worries about the future went into Armin and Annie.

There's pieces of me in every character, every word.

When the hate started, when my personals started getting found, I took it personally.

Then you all know what happened after that.

That part of the story you all know.

But that is why I cannot pick the story back up.

Maybe it's because I pictured for the most part writing about winter months in well...the winter. The same with the spring and summer.

Not that I can't write them, it's just nice.

But again, so besides the point.

The point is mmtylif is a big deal to me.

I love it.

It was and is my coping.

Now if you're hoping that this post is saying we're off hiatus, I hate to dash your hopes on that one.

Because it's not.

BUT

I'm happy to say that the first Halloween one-shot will be from mmtylif.

It's past Halloween memories.

It's got costumes. It's got haunted houses. It's got the whole group before everything completely falls apart.

It's got feels.

It's got pain.

It's got Carla and Levi ship? Yeah, I don't know where the fuck that came from but it's not what you think. They don't kiss or anything. It's...well...you'll see.

It's got drama.

It's got more information on Sasha's family almost losing the farm.

It's got Levi asking himself how did he get into this situation.

It's got "Oh hey we actually met before but it was just in passing so neither of us really remember one another."

After spending a good day plotting, this is what I set out to write tomorrow.

Because tonight as I was talking to one of my favorite fanfic writers I was telling her how much her fic meant to me and how I'm going to cosplay from it, I realized how much I missed this fic and how much all of you miss it.

So hopefully this gives you more clarity and a little hope that we will day return to the big plot of my fic.

For now, I hope you will enjoy my Halloween one shot from it.

#mmtylif #my writing #txt

[calliopesquill]

A Year in the Life: Chapter 5

Guess what! I decided to post before midnight tonight lol 

You all are seriously amazing, you know that? The responses I have been getting for these last chapters have been incredible and I can't thank you enough.

Special thanks to all of you who left me such wonderful comments. It really makes my day every time I get one and there are a few these last couple weeks that almost made me cry. So really, thank you. 

With that said, on to chapter 5!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 5: La Familia Rivera

         Nell needed to start setting alarms when she worked. She’d gotten so buried in her novel planning and concept sketches that it was three in the afternoon before she finally surfaced, and that only happened because her stomach had let out a growl loud enough to wake the dead. She pushed herself away from the table with a groan, letting out a muttered curse as she stretched, her back protesting at the hunched position she’d been in for the last three hours. It was definitely time for a break.

         She shuffled across the kitchen to her fridge, only to find it almost totally empty. Right… I was supposed to go grocery shopping this morning.

         She sighed, shutting the fridge again. Better to do that now, and maybe grab an early supper on the way. She was too hungry to cook. But first she should probably get dressed. Her style may be casual, but it definitely wasn’t “leave the house in pajamas” casual. Nell traded her pajamas for a pair of comfortable flower-printed shorts and a white tee shirt, twisting her hair up in a messy bun as she stepped into her pink ballet flats. After a quick double-check that both her keys and wallet were still in her purse, she was out the door.

         As she walked, she went over what she’d come up with for her new novel so far. It would be narrated by the guitar itself, a twist that she would not be revealing until near the end. She didn’t have much for her protagonist yet, but was toying with the idea of him stealing the guitar for himself at first, so the story could be something of a redemption arc for him as well. There would be no familial connection between the hero and the guitar’s original owner, however. She wanted to tell her own story, not just re-tell something that had already happened.

         She was contemplating the design of her main character when she was nearly knocked off her feet by a small, bony form. The dog continued on past her to dance around the feet of an old woman in a blue button-down dress.

         “ ¡Oye! ” The woman protested, shifting the grocery bags she carried to one arm so she could shoo the dog away. “ ¡Abajo! Abajo, perro tonto. ¡No saltar! ”

         The dog, completely ignoring her commands to get down, jumped at her again, knocking her bags from her hands in its attempts to smother her with affection. It only backed away when it saw her reaching for the sandal on her foot, electing instead to plop down next to her and begin chewing on its own leg.

         Muttering to herself, the woman began to pick up her spilled groceries, letting out a muttered oath when she saw the strap on one of the bags had snapped. She looked up when she saw a second set of hands gathering up the spilled fruit and reached for her sandal again, prepared to fight off any tonto stupid enough to try to steal from her. But instead of running off they pulled a folded-up cloth bag from inside their purse and began putting the spilled food inside to make it easier to carry.

         Nell stood, brushing off the road dust, and offered the woman a hand to help her up. “ ¿Estás bien? ” She asked, picking up the bag of groceries she’d helped pick up.

         “ Si, gracias ,” the woman answered, then shot a fond but vaguely frustrated look towards the dog that still sat at their feet. “No thanks to you, silly dog.”

         “Is he yours?”

         “He thinks he is,” the woman shrugged. “He comes to the house sometimes, looking for food. He is very fond of my grandson.” Now that she could actually get a good look at the person who had helped her, she recognized the young woman who often sat in the plaza. “You are one of Coro’s tenants, si? The artist.”

         “My name’s Nell,” she said with a smile. “It’s nice to meet you. Did you want some help getting these back home?”

         “Ah, I will be fine,” the woman said, waving her off. “As long as someone --” Here she shot another look at the dog, who gave her a harmless doggy smile. “--does not jump on me again.”

         “Aw, you won’t jump again, will you?” Nell asked the dog, giving him a scratch behind the ears. The dog gave a small huff, leaning into her hand as his skinny tail beat a tattoo against the ground. “Cuz you are a good boy.”

         The dog barked the affirmative.

         “You are a nice girl,” the woman decided. “My grandson, he says very good things about you.”

         “Your grandson?”

         “ Si. My Miguelito. He talks to you sometimes when you draw at the plaza.”

         “Oh, you’re Miguel’s abuelita !” Now it all made sense. “It’s a pleasure to meet you at last. And that must mean that this handsome boy here is Dante.”

         Elena snorted. ‘Handsome’ was not exactly the word that she would have chosen. What he was was dumb as a bag of rocks, but he was sweet-natured and very dedicated to her grandson, and the rest of the family by extension, so she’d developed a soft spot for the silly thing. “You are very good with dogs,”  she noted, seeing Dante roll over so Nell could scratch his belly.

         “I always wanted one growing up,” Nell confessed as she gave in to his desire for pets. “But my dad was allergic to the hair. Couldn’t handle cats either, so I never had a chance to have a pet growing up. And then after I moved out on my own I couldn’t really afford one so… “ She shrugged.

         “This one seems to like you,” Elena said with a small nod. “He is very foolish, but he knows good people. You will come for dinner.”

         “Thank you. I -- wait, what? Oh, no, you don’t have to. That’s very generous but --”

         But Elena overrode her protests. “Nonsense. You will come tonight and meet the family.”

         “I --- okay.” What else could she say? “Is there anything you’d like me to bring? I could make dessert.”

         “No, no. I have all that I need. You will come tonight for six and we will have a nice dinner.”

         “Ah… Okay. Thank you.”

         Despite protests, Nell insisted on escorting her home anyway, telling her to keep the cloth bag that the extra groceries had been carried in as Elena’s other one was broken. The moment the door had closed Nell dashed off down the street to the grocery store.

         She ended up making chocolate chip cookies, though she’d had to borrow a pair of baking trays and a serving platter from Tia Caro. She had been told not to bring anything but she had been strictly mother-trained not to arrive empty-handed when it came to dinner invitations. As the cookies cooled, Nell traded her shorts and tee-shirt for a casual emerald green maxi dress topped with a candy pink knit bolero sweater. Mindful that she was visiting a family of shoemakers, she paired her outfit with a pretty pair of black and gold strappy sandals. Her hair she tied back in a low, looped ponytail that would keep the curls out of her face, but would not give her a headache as the night went on.

         She walked carefully towards the Rivera home, praying that she wouldn’t trip and spill all of the cookies before she got there. It might have been early October but to Nell it still felt like mid-summer. The leaves would have just started to change color back home and the neighborhood kids would all be in a tizzy picking their Halloween costumes. She smiled fondly at the thought. Halloween had always been her favorite holiday, though more for the costumes and the candy than the spook-factor. Funny enough, Nell could not handle horror movies or haunted houses at all. Her friends had tricked her into watching A Haunting in Connecticut one night and she barely slept for a week.

         She’d be missing Halloween this year, but would be trading it out for her first experience with Dia de los Muertos. Already people had begun decorating, draping colorful cut-paper banners between the buildings. There were areas of Santa Cecilia where the little flags were always present, but there were always more come fall. It was a little early for people to be putting out the elaborate calaveras figures that were also used to decorate, but Nell did spot one or two between her place and the Rivera’s.

         Thankfully she made it to the house without incident and knocked on the front door at promptly five minutes to six.

         The woman who answered the door was just shorter than she was, dressed in a cheerful yellow blouse and a bright pink skirt. Her hair was dark and straight, tied back in a low, loose braid. She had a youthful face, with smile lines just appearing around her eyes  -- some of which, Nell guessed, could be attributed to the toddler at her hip.

         She smiled when she saw her. “Ah, you must be Nell. Mama told us you would be joining us for dinner. Please, come in.” She nudged the door open with her foot, stepping back so Nell could follow her into the courtyard.

         “ Gracias, Señora Rivera. ”

         “Please, call me Luisa,” the woman insisted, resettling her daughter on her hip as she closed the gate. “And this one here is my youngest, Soccoro. Miguel has told us so much about you. He says you are an artist.”

         Nell nodded. “Yes ma’am.”

         “Miguel really likes your books. He wanted to bring them home from the library so he could show his prima Rosa but they did not have them, so he has been showing her on the computer during their lunch hour. She really likes your heroine.”

         “I’m glad they’re enjoying it so far,” Nell smiled. “I had a lot of fun writing it.”

         “It shows. Ah, but you must be tired of carrying that tray. Come, I will show you to the kitchen. Mama should be just about done with dinner.”

         “She told me not to bring anything but I wanted to contribute somehow,” Nell admitted, following Luisa through the courtyard. “I’m better with desserts than actual meals, so I figured chocolate chip cookies would be a good option.”

         Luisa chuckled. “We will have to hide those from Miguel until after dinner. And this one too,” she added as little Soccoro reached for the tray.

         No sooner had she said that than Miguel burst from his room, still dressed in the white button-down shirt and navy pants of his school uniform. “Mama I’m done my -- hey! Nell! What are you doing here?”

         “ Ay! Manners mijo.  Your abuelita met your friend this afternoon and invited her over for dinner.”

         Miguel cocked his head curiously. “How did you meet abuelita?

         “A certain affectionate xolo decided that the best time to give her kisses was when she was carrying groceries,” Nell told him. “I just happened to be nearby and helped her pick them up.”

         He laughed. “Dante is still working on his timing. Are those cookies for us?”

         “After dinner, mijo ,” Luisa told him. “Your abuelita should be almost ready, so why don’t you get out of your school clothes and you can help set the table.”

         “Okay Mama.”

         Abuelita Elena was the undisputed head of the Rivera family. She was a life-long shoemaker but it was in the kitchen where she truly reigned supreme. Everything was timed to the minute on an internal clock born of practice and instinct. Nell, who could not put a perfectly-timed meal on the table if her life depended on it, wanted to applaud. Elena seemed to know everything that was going on in her kitchen at all times and even though her back was turned, she was instantly aware of other people entering her domain.

         “Ah, Luisa! You are just in time,” she said, not even turning around as she plated up a tray of ribs in a spicy-smelling sauce. “And you have brought Penelope with you. Good. I like it when people are on time.”

         “I’m obsessively prompt,” Nell smiled. “And please, call me Nell. I brought some dessert for later. Is there somewhere I can put it where little cookie-monsters won’t be able to help themselves before dinner?”

         Elena gave a short snort of laughter. “Anyone in my house knows there will be no desserts until after their dinner. For now you can put them on top of the fridge.”

         Not for the first time Nell was grateful for her height, as she barely had to stand on tiptoe to set the tray atop the fridge. As with many homes it was a local showcase of family achievements; well-graded assignments and art projects from the varying Rivera cousins covered the door, fixed with colorful magnets. As she turned away she could see Elena glancing at her sandals out of the corner of her eye.

         “Your shoes. They are pretty, but they were not made for you. They are too flat. You move like a dancer, but in those things you walk like a duck.”

         Nell let out a snort of laughter. “I was a dancer, from about the age of four. Quit after I finished university because I moved out and couldn’t pay for lessons anymore. Took three years as an adult to train myself out of that turn-out so I could walk with my feet parallel again.” She still caught herself standing in ballet-third when she wasn’t paying attention. “I have a hard time finding sandals a lot of the time because most of them come in four styles: cute but flat as cardboard so zero arch-support at all, cute but with massive heels and can only be worn for like an hour before you want to die, cute but eat your feet and leave raw patches and blisters, and comfortable but really ugly. There is no place for ugly shoes in my wardrobe.”

         Elena nodded in approval of the sentiment. There was no place in the world for ugly shoes at all in her opinion. Cheap shoes were an insult to her craft. No Rivera would be seen wearing cheap, poorly-constructed shoes, and if she had her way then no friend of the Riveras would either. “Come, you take that plate there and help me set the table and we will talk about shoes that you can wear for the rest of your life.”

         “I -- okay.” What else could she do? She didn’t want to come out and say that custom-made shoes were not a luxury that she could afford right now. Most of what she had had gone into this trip, and though her book sales and commissions were keeping her afloat, they didn’t leave much room for luxuries. She took the plate and followed Elena into the chaos that is the dining room.

         Seeing the number of people gathered, Nell stopped short and stared. When Elena invited her to dinner she didn’t think it would be with the whole family. It looked like half of Santa Cecilia had managed to fit itself around the table.

         “Come, come. Put that plate down right here. Si, right next to the tamales. Manny, Benny, stop teasing your prima Rosa and come sit down. Abel, you shuffle down and make room for our guest. Todos, esto es Penelope. Penelope, mi familia.”

         “Ah...hi everyone.” Nell set the plate down and gave a shy wave. “Please, call me Nell.” Should she start wearing a sign? She really felt like she should start wearing a sign. Something simple like ‘ Please do not call me Penelope until I am over the age of 65. Thank you.’

         A seat was left for her between Elena and a woman who introduced herself as Miguel’s Tia Gloria. She then introduced Nell to her twin boys, Benny and Manny, who were a couple of years into elementary school. They weren’t particularly interested in introductions, and were much more focused in which of them could stuff the most food in their mouth at one time.

         Miguel’s father Enrique, a tall man with a dark moustache, passed a platter of food to his wife before turning to Nell. “So, Miguel says you’re an artist.”

         The question was offered casually but Nell had the distinct impression that what she was being asked was actually something very different. “Yes, sir. I write graphic novels -- comic books -- but I take other commissions as well. I’m setting my next series in a place similar to Santa Cecilia so I’m living here for a few months as I work on it because I want to get an authentic feel for the culture and the lifestyle and the architecture. I spend a lot of time doing reference sketches in Mariachi Plaza. It’s got really great atmosphere and that’s something I really wanted to capture. Then that one over there --” She nodded at Miguel. “--got curious one day and decided he wanted to know who the weird turista was who kept writing everything down in a giant notebook.”

         “You should see her sketchbook. It’s really good,” Miguel told them. “She was drawing the bell tower yesterday and it was just with pencils and it was perfect! It looked like one of those old-timey pictures.”

         “We read your comic at lunch sometimes,” added Rosa, who sat a few seats down from her cousin. “We just got to the part where Polaris and Astra start working together.”

         “Have you gotten to the mirror incident yet?” Nell asked.

         Rosa shook her head. “Not yet.”

         “Let me know when you get there. That was one of my favourite chapters in the whole series.”

         The conversation flowed freely throughout dinner, catching up with the goings-on at school. Abel was taking some online CAD courses for the business, and there was some discussion between the other family members on designs and techniques that they were experimenting with. Miguel mentioned briefly how he’d started reading Dante’s Inferno , which had the entire family in stitches when Benny and Manny asked how the little doggy wrote a book. Nell also got a more in-depth history of the business itself.

         “I think it’s really admirable what Imelda did,” Nell said honestly. “Running a business is really difficult, and at the time, being a female entrepreneur would have been that much more challenging. Never mind being a single parent on top of that. So that she created such a successful business that has stayed in the family for so long is really incredible. Add the complication of foreign investment and multinational companies with giant factories, it must be challenging sometimes to stay competitive.”

         “ Si , it is sometimes,” Miguel’s father answered with a shrug. “Much of our business is local. Most people here, they would rather be able to see and feel the thing that they are buying, so that is a benefit to us.”

         “We did get that magazine placement a couple of years ago,” Gloria added. “That telenovela star. What was her name? She mentioned us in an interview and wore a pair of our boots for a photo shoot.”

         “There is always a market for quality custom work,” Elena nodded. “Work that lasts. That is a legacy worth protecting. Would you like some more tamales?”

         Nell leaned back in her chair and shook her head. “No, gracias. They are delicious but I am stuffed.”

         “No, no, there is plenty of room left. You are so skinny! Have another.”

         “You know, I think I’ve heard that from everyone at Tia Caro’s building,” Nell laughed as she accepted one more tamale. “I think she might have decided to adopt me. Ten bucks says she must be half-way through the paperwork by now.”

         Elena gave a nod of approval. “Caro is a good woman. She takes care of her familia. ” It didn’t matter if they were related by blood or simply lived in her building. All were considered family. And that, to Elena was the most important thing.

         How anyone at that table had any room for cookies after that meal, Nell had no idea. But somehow they did, and managed to empty the tray in record time.

         “Have you figured out the plot yet for your new comic?” Miguel asked as he and Rosa started clearing up the dishes.

         “Part of it,” Nell answered. “I was working on some of the background and lore this morning. The story is going to center around a cursed guitar.”

         Miguel paused, setting down the plates that he had been stacking, memories of her inquiries about is own guitar immediately springing to mind. “How did it get cursed?”

         She hesitated for a moment. As much as she really wanted to be able to use this idea for her books, she worried it might hit a little too close for Miguel. She would leave it for him to decide if he was comfortable with her continuing, or if he wanted her to write something different.  So she gave a cursory explanation of the concept of the tsukumogami and how the guitar had developed a spirit of its own. “And what the guitar wants is to finally see justice done for its murdered owner, and to be played again by someone who is worthy.”

         “Cool!” Rosa declared. “Who killed him?”

         “No spoilers,” Nell grinned at her. “But if you guys want I can show you some of the concept art I’ve got later.”

         Miguel hesitated, not entirely sure how he felt about the idea. On the one hand, it was a little weird knowing that part of his family’s history, even a small part, was going to be used in a book. But if there was anyone that he trusted to do it respectfully, it was Nell. He’d caught the look she gave him when she explained her idea and knew that she would not proceed with it without his go-ahead. And aside from that… a graphic novel series about a sentient guitar would be really, really cool.

         He flashed a crooked, one-dimpled smile and nodded. “Can’t wait!”

         When Miguel met with Nell that night, he knew that he was right to trust her. What she had planned did briefly allude to the history of Hector and Ernesto, but not in any way that would be recognizable to anyone but him.

         In her story, the guitar was a family heirloom. The father was a brilliant musician with a poet’s heart. He and his wife had two sons. The eldest son was bold and adventurous and loved music too, though more for the attention that his talent brought him than for the music itself. The younger brother was just like his father, who loved the music for its own sake. And when the father died, it was the younger son that he gave the guitar to. But the older brother was a jealous sort, always seeing himself as second place, even though he was the oldest. He was determined to be liked, and cultivated a fine and charming manner in order to endear himself to those around him, but he could never match the simple sincerity of his younger brother. They were both talented, but when they performed together it was easy to see whose heart was really in the music. They travelled together, performed together, and all that time the older brother’s jealousy festered within him. Until one night, after a particularly bad fight and a few too many drinks, he smothered his brother in his sleep.

         The death was mourned as a tragedy, a sudden failure of the heart in a time where forensic evidence and investigation barely existed. Nobody even considered the possibility of murder.

         The older brother inherited the guitar by default, and did become a fairly well renowned musician on his own. He would never admit that the guitar that had become his trademark never sang as beautifully for him as it did for his father and brother. He performed until his death in 1931, when an earthquake caused the roof of the theater he was rehearsing in to collapse on top of him, burying him alive.

         The guitar was salvaged from the wreckage without a scratch on it and was held in private collections until the mid-1990’s, when it was installed as part of a music history exhibit in a local museum. Stories say that sometimes, late at night, you can still hear the sad melody it plays, mourning its lost musico.

         “You gotta write that,” Miguel insisted after hearing what she’d planned. “What happens next? Is that it?”

         Nell laughed. “Nah, that’s more of the backstory that sets up the main plot. The main character is a paranormal investigator who heard the stories of the ghostly music, so he breaks into the museum at night. Next thing he knows he’s seeing ghosts everywhere, and the guitar quite literally seems to have a mind of its own and won’t leave him be.”

         Miguel snickered. This was going to be fun.

         “For real, though. You’re okay with me writing this? If you’re not comfortable with it, you’ve got to tell me. There’s no time-limit so I have all the time in the world to think up something else.”

         He shook his head. “No, I like it. It’s different. And I like the guitar being the narrator. That’s kinda cool.”

         Nell sighed with relief. “Okay. Okay. Cool. But like, if you ever change your mind, let me know.”

         “I will,” Miguel promised.

         They walked for a while longer, taking in the quiet, their path taking them past the painted gate of the Rivera house. Dante trotted companionably at their side. They’d discovered when they met up that night that the little xolo could indeed see them when they were projecting, and after spending several minutes jumping all over them, he designated himself their official companion for the evening.

         “So what did you and abuelita talk about when you were touring the shop?”

         “Ah, not much. Got a little more on the history of the business. Some of the process. Your abuelita is really determined to get me into a decent pair of shoes.” Nell chuckled.

         Miguel snickered. “Fifty pesos says you’re in a pair if Rivera shoes by Christmas.”

         “You’re on. And I’ll put my winnings towards buying my pretty new Rivera shoes after New Years.”          

         “Hey!” He laughed. “That’s cheating.”

         “You set the rules, not me.” She reminded him. For a moment she was silent, then she spoke again. “Your abuelita is really proud of you, you know. Your whole family is. You can see it in their faces when they hear you play. I’m glad I got to meet them tonight.”

         “They really like you,” Miguel told her. “And Tia Gloria really wants your cookie recipe. Benny and Manny would have eaten all of them if they could have.”

         Nell laughed. “I’m glad I passed inspection. They were definitely a little concerned about me at first, not that I blame them.”

         “What? Why?”

         “Because it’s one thing for their fourteen year old to have adult friends among the local musicians, but it’s a little different when he’s suddenly friends with a random tourist eleven years his senior.”

         She had a point. And it wasn’t like either of them could explain the particular circumstances behind them becoming friends to begin with, not without earning themselves a happy little trip to the hospital in the city for a psych evaluation.

         What Nell didn’t tell him was how worried his family had been for him over the past few months. They’d known he wasn’t sleeping well, but as he refused to tell them what was going on there was nothing they could do. He’d been doing so much better since summer ended. He no longer came to the breakfast table with tired eyes, dragging his feet -- or at least, no more than any other young teenager. A question had been left unspoken of whether he had told Nell about what had been bothering him, to which she’d had to claim complete ignorance.  

         “Side note: I don’t know how the hell you survived that music ban,” Nell confessed, shaking her head. “I’d have completely lost my mind.” Music had always in some way been on the periphery of her life. She couldn’t imagine being cut off from it.

         “I felt like I was some days,” he laughed. “And I was raised into it. Mama had to give it up when she married Papa and I don’t know how she did it.”

         “People will do a lot for love. If it meant being with your Dad, it was probably a sacrifice she was willing to make.”

         Miguel nodded. He’d almost made the same one before Hector and Mama Imelda had sent him back. To be able to return home and have a chance to save Hector, he’d have given up music without a moment’s regret. “Could you do it?”

         “Give up music for someone?” Nell asked. “Don’t know. There’s never been someone that mattered enough that I would consider it. If it was the right person, I think I could. But then if it was the right person, I wouldn’t have to.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And there ends chapter 5! We met the Riveras, Nell finally got her plot sorted out, and we got to see Dante!

Next chapter will be the start of Dia de los Muertos, so buckle up buttercups because it's going to be a wild ride.

#coco #pixar coco #coco fanfiction #coco 2017 #miguel rivera #a year in the life

[cannedapricot]

Baking Christmas Cookies with! Lai Guanlin

christmas collab with @alliwannado-w1 and @jihoonslattee!! make sure to check their special christmas scenarios out when they’re posted!

ah, christmas

the season of giving

children laughing and giggling 

the feeling of rolling around in snow with loved ones

basically what i’m trying to say is,

chirisTMAS IS A HOOT EVERY YEAR

NO SCHOOL

NO ANNOYING CLASSMATES

NO NOTHING

the only awkward thing you’d have to deal with is greeting the relatives who you didn’t know even existed until christmas

“oh my gosh!! y/n you’ve grown so much!!!”

mind: um do i know you 

mouth: “haha yeah”

relatives would start streaming into your house from december the first

those relatives were the ones who /really/ got into the christmas spirit

you know

the type that puts their tree up straight after halloween 

as more relatives come, you’d be forced into sharing a bedroom with your parents because,

“soz your aunt is coming over with her whole family

??????

ok fine :c

you just hope that her five kids won’t ruin your framed jbj poster

on the last day of school, you were ready to leg it

you and your friends had made plans to pig out and eat discounted christmas cakes for the evening 

so there you were in class

staring at the clock every other second

as your teacher drones on and on about staying safe during the holiday season

which is very important please do stay safe guys

and as soon as the bell rang, you and your friends dash towards the door and out into the hallway

everything was going smoothly

you had nearly made it out of the school 

UNTIL

you feel a tug on the back of your shirt

and yoU COULDN’T MOVE ANYMORE

YOU WERE GONNA BURST

LOOK THE CAKE STORE HAD A CRAZY SALE AND THOSE CAKES WERE WAITING FOR NO ONE

AND SO YOU TURN AROUND,

“HEY MATE LOOK I’M A LITTLE BUSY-”

“are you going to be around this evening”

“SO IF YOU COULD KINDLY LET GO- oh hi guanlin”

das right

you turn around to find the basketball team’s star player and ‘ideal guy’ of your school, lai guanlin

“of course i’m gonna be around i live there”

you reply with an eye roll

hm why was guanlin heading over to your house?

get ready for a long ride kid

well, your parents are super close with his parents thanks to some complicated events

and your parents, being the jolly people they are, invite the lais to spend christmas over at your house every year

there was a room in house especially saved for their family???

a majority of guanlin’s winter clothes were in that room because he knOWS THAT HE’LL BE THERE AT THE END OF THE YEAR

if he runs out of hoodies or smt

he’d text you to bring him one tomorrow

and you guys meet in the janitor’s closet

lMAO WHAT KINDA SHADY DEAL Y’ALL DOING BACK THERE 👀👀👀

guanlin’s friend and other hot basketballer, yoo seonho caught you two once

he followed guanlin one time because he was curious 

look this boy waS SURE AS HELL NOT HEADING TOWARDS THE BATHROOM 

and he busted you two in the closet with you holding his hoodie 

and he was like

oooooOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH I SEE ;)))) 

*finger guns while moonwalking away*

it took a lot of persuading to get seonho to not say anything

y’all bought him a month’s worth of lunch rip wallet

what’s worse was the time the whole school thought you two were dating

you had run out of sweaters and complained to your mom about it

she pulled out this jacket outta no where and figured it was yours

it had your school’s logo on it you see

and you didn’t think twice and wore it to school

bUT TURNS OUT

IT WAS THE BASKETBALL TEAM’S VARSITY JACKET

AND GUANLIN HAD MENTIONED SOMETHING ABOUT HIS VARSITY JACKET GONE MISSING A FEW DAYS AGO

YOU TWO WERE THE HOT TOPIC OF THE SCHOOL

RIP YOU

it died down after a few weeks though

you had made some excuse of finding it on your desk and thinking it was yoo seonho’s (who you pretended to be /really/ close with)

guanlin played along with this excuse

seonho was just,,,,,

;))))))))))))))))

“DON’T”

“i’m ;) not ;) saying ;) anything ;)”

THIS BITCJ

the relationship between you and guanlin was like a ‘summer fling’

except

it wasn’t summer and it wasn’t a romantic fling

like

y’all would be super close during the holiday season 

due to the fact that you two were the only high schoolers there lol

but as soon as school starts again

y’all back to strangers

the first time it happened you were shocked :ccc

you thought that perhaps guanlin was too embarrassed to be caught hanging out with you

considering he was at the top of the food chain after all

you’re used to it now lol

sure, guanlin was tall and hot and whatnot 

but uh

seeing him in ugly sweaters and playing board games with him every year kinda ruins the way you see him

especially since he destroys you at monopoly every year bduSDVU HOW DARE-

“aiight i’ll be coming over tonight”

“gotcha”

HONESTLY IF ANYONE HEARD THIS CONVO WITHOUT CONTEXT YOU AND GUANLIN ARE GONNA BE TALK OF THE SCHOOL AGAIN LOL

“HEY Y/N IF YOU DON’T HURRY UP WE’RE GONNA LEAVE WITHOUT YOU”

guanlin lets you go with a snap of his wrist

he let go so suddenly that you fall to the ground lol

guanlin pretends to not notice and heads towards his squad lmAO

“OKOKOK IM COMING OK DONT L E A V E”

you scramble up and towards your friends

that evening, you return home with a full stomach and your arms full with different boxes of cakes

man the cake shop adventure was a blast

you get surrounded by your baby cousins almost immediately lol

after you basically get robbed by them,

guanlin appears with a pouty face

you know, that face he made when the pink sausages were being cute together ikcydkfkd

“you said you’d be here”

“i????am????here?????”

“i meANT EARLIER”

oh

“YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH THE CHILDREN ABUSED ME :CCCC”

wow what a turn from your convo together at school

he’s adorable

WOWZAS HOLD UP Y/N NO ROMANTIC THOUGHTS ABOUT YOUR PARENT’S FRIEND’S SON WHO HAPPENS TO BE THE HOT STAR BASKETBALL PLAYER AT SCHOOL >:(

you push the thoughts away as his parents come to greet you

in no time, you fell into the rhythm of seeing guanlin everyday

you had to tbh, he’d force you awake every morning by playing shitty christmas carol remixes and singing along to them

“aLL i waNt fOr cHRIStmas iS yOUUuuUuUuuuUU”

“SHUT UP YOU DIRTY TOENAIL” 

FLINGS PILLOW

LETS OUT DOLPHIN SCREECH IN RESPONSE

it was cold and you just wanted to sleep in :’’’’c

you can’t believe this dumbass is the same guy from school who everyone except seonho lol thinks is a model

you and guanlin were basically joined by the hip everyday

“oh hey y/n can you swoop by the store and buy some milk?”

“sure buT CAN GUANLIN COME????”

“YEAH CAN I COME???”

but he’d wear a mask in case someone from school shows up at the store

on the way home, he saw you rub your hands together and realized that you weren’t wearing gloves

anD BEING THE SWEET, SWEET BOY HE IS

HE TAKES YOUR HAND IN HIS GLOVED ONE AND SHOVES IT INTO THE POCKET OF HIS JACKET

IM NOT CRYING YOU ARE

you stare at him

he suddenly finds a wall interesting

but he didn’t let go of your hand 

even though it was in his pocket already

you thought he was just being a gentleman you know he is and trying to keep your hand as warm as possible

BUTTTTTTTTT

YOU DON’T SEE HIS FACE SLOWLY GLOWING RED

my scenarios would be so much simpler if y’all juST KNOW ABOUT EACH OTHER’S CRUSH UGH

come christmas eve, the adults were like,

“we’re gonna take the kids out to see the parade and then go carolling, we all know that you two don’t want to join us!! so bake the cookies pls lol ok bye have fun”

it was a thing every year to bake cookies and leave them for santa

usually anything that had to do with food was the adults’ duty

bUT THIS YEAR THEY DEEMED YOU TWO MATURE ENOUGH TO MAKE COOKIES WITHOUT BURNING THE HOUSE DOWN

you two acted like the babies there but ok

“so,,,, wanna get started?”

“hell no lmao lets marathon show me the money”

best believe that’s exactly what you two did

until you realize it’s been hours since they’ve left

anD THEY COULD COME HOME ANY MINUTE

SO IN PANIC YOU CHUCK THE TV REMOTE AWAY FROM GUANLIN WHO WAS READY TO PULL UP ANOTHER EPISODE

“BRO WYD”

“BRO WE NEED TO START ON THE COOKIES UNLESS YOU WANT TO GET BEATEN UP BY THE CHILDREN AGAIN”

“BRO U RIGHT”

guanlin steps over the sofa with his damned long legs

“you’re so extra man”

guanlin squints his eyes at you skeptically

you were literally rolling over the sofa

“who’s the extra one again?”

you huff because shit hes right you’re even more extra than he is

guanlin pulls out the recipe left for you two while you grab what you were 100% sure that you two would need

a bowel? check

flour? check

chocolate chips? oh they’re in the pantry-

NOT ANYMORE

GUANLIN’S GOT THEM

AND HE’S S N A C K I N G ON THEM

you, an intellectual, run up and try to take them away

but guanlin raises them above his head

this boy’s a giant

anD HE KNOWS THAT

he sends you a shit eating grin as you attempt to take the packet by jumping lol

in the end, you punch him in the stomach

and as he doubles over in pain, snatch the chocolate away

how to deal with tall people 101 by yours truly

you run back to the kitchen, choco chips in hand

WHILE LAUGHING LIKE A CHILD SMH Y/N

and guanlin, claiming you cheated, ran after you

“SAFE!!!”

you scream, reaching the kitchen

turning around, you were ready to tease guanlin about his loss

but he was right in front of you

there was only a tiny distance between your bodies

BOY HE WAS CLOSE

“yoU KNOW WHAT,,,,,, HAVE THE CHOCOLATE CHIPS DAMMIT”

YOU TURN YOUR BACK TO HIM, FLUSTERED

guanlin smiled as you chucked him the sweet treat

not at the chocolate but at how adorable you were

“i’ll leave enough for the cookies don’t worry!!”

he did alright

there was an average of two chips per cookie

it’s :) ok :))

it’ll :))) have :)))) to :))))) do :))))))

guanlin was off to the side licking off the left over batter from the bowl

>:( this boy didn’t do shit but eat and stir the batter

you were stuck with measuring and making sure that they don’t fail >:(

siGHS

you shove the cookies into the oven and squat in front of it for a while, making sure that it was baking for sure

until you feel something hit your back

snapping your head back in shock, you see guanlin with the bag of flour in his arms

HIS LAUGHING FACE SAID IT ALL

“okAY JUST BECAUSE WE DIDN’T HAVE A SNOWBALL FIGHT THIS YEAR DOESN’T MEAN YOU CAN-”

whoops theres another handful of flour 

that hit your face

upon seeing this, guanlin doubles over in laughter

“ALRIGHT YOU ASKED FOR THIS”

you picked up the ingredient closest to you and threw it in guanlin’s direction

it just happened to be an egg

IT HIT HIS ARM AND CRACKED

IT WAS NOW YOUR TURN TO LAUGH

“Y/N!!! I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU DID THAT!!! THIS JUMPER IS EXPENSIVE”

but it didn’t really matter how expensive that jumper is

it ended up covered in all sorts of things

and that’s how your kitchen floor ended up too

the playful handful of flour guanlin threw at you started a full on food fight

the kitchen was MESS but neither of you cared, you guys were waaAAAY too happy to care lma o

at one point y’all started to use spoons as catapults 

guanlin’s bag of flour seemed endless but you had run out of eggs

so you duck behind a counter and scan the kitchen for anything else you could use as ammo lol

your eyes landed on the butter but you hesitated for a second

A SECOND TOO LONG

GUANLIN DISCOVERERS YOUR HIDEOUT AND DUMPS THE REST OF THE FLOUR ON YOU

“GAME OVER”,

HE SCREECHES IN VICTORY

WHO KNEW YOUR SECOND OF HESITATION WOULD LEAD TO YOUR DOWNFALL

you scowl

“i let you win”

he scoffs

“you just don’t want to admit that i’m b e t t e r than you”

huFFS

YOU STAND UP, SLAMMING YOUR HANDS ON THE COUNTER

“thATS BECAUSE YOU AREN’T!!!!!!!!!”

he playfully puts his hands on the counter as well on the opposite side

“then tell me why i keep beating you at monopoly as well”

“i’m sENSITIVE DON’T BRING THAT U P”

“oh really?”

“Y E S”

“do you wanna have a go at beating me at connect four then?”

without noticing, the two of you had starting leaning towards each other over the counter

when you realize, your playful banter had ceased and you were staring into his eyes

and

shit

you realize at that moment that you were completely head over heels for him

your feelings for him had been building every winter leading up to his one

you had thought that they were completely platonic

but your burning face told you that they weren’t

you notice guanlin’s eyes looking down at your lips

and his adam’s apple going crazy

you gather up the little courage you had

leaned in 

and pressed a small kiss on his nose

guanlin’s head went blank

diD HIS CRUSH JUST-

you let out a small giggle and say,

“if you wanted to kiss me, you could’ve just done so”

“waIT WHAT DOES THIS MEAN???”

ur man is almost gonna faint gdi

“do yoU NEED ME TO PUT IT INTO WORDS? UGH I CAN’T BELIEVE I FELL FOR AN IDIOT”

guanlin’s lips raise into a smile

“you like me?”

“BOSUGBOURSB I’M TAKING IT BACK”

“doN’T! OK UH I LIKE YOU TOO DUMBASS”

“WAIT FOR REAL??”

you hop over the counter so there wasn’t anything between you and him

and guanlin lets out a smile bright enough to rival the sun

“yeah”

and with that, he brings you into a huge hug

and falls onto the couch with you in his arms

“guaNLIN WE’RE GONNA GET THE COUCH DIRTY”

“WHO CARES LMAO”

you snuggle against him

even though he was covered in egg lol

“hey guanlin, can i ask you something?”

“mhm?”

“why do you act like you don’t know me at school?”

“i-it’S A STUPID REASON”

“WHAT?????????”

“I THINK I’D BURST FROM AFFECTION FOR YOU IF I SAW YOU EVERY DAY FOR A YEAR”

“ARE YOU SERIOUS??”

you two were idiots

but you were idiots for each other

bonus: you two fell asleep in each other’s arms and the rest of the family came home just in time to save the cookies from burning

“i knEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN LOOK AT THAT M E S S”

no body heard that one aunt rant about the state the kitchen was in

everyone crowded around you and guanlin

cooing at your sleeping forms

“mom, are they gonna have kids???”

“uobaoBVODVBSO BILLY NO”

bonus x2: guanlin happily shows you off the next year at school

seonho the snake in this au made a bet with your friends and now your friends owe him a month’s lunch

bonus x3: you two share your official first kiss on new years hoW CUTE SVEFUDOS GOALS AMIRITE

y’all ready for christmas?? haVE A SPECIAL COLLAB SCENARIO THAT’S HAPPENING WITH IRIS AND CHI AKA TALENT IF IT WERE PEOPLE

guanlin may look chic and all at first but we all know he’s a actual child inside :’) i don’t think i did my boy justice with this au but i added my son seonho!! :’)

have a safe holiday and more christmas aus will be out very soon this week oops

#not relevant but i love his gummy smile #ugh i love this boy so much #wanna one #lai guanlin #Produce 101 #baking christmas cookies with! lai guanlin #broduce 101 #wanna one scenarios #kpop #kpop scenarios #cube #cube lai guanlin #lai guanlin scenarios #wanna one imagines #wanna one aus #lai guanlin imagines #lai guanlin au

[the-colony-roleplay]

HOUSE POINTS, NEW MEMBERS AND FALL ANNOUNCEMENTS!

Hey guys!

So, firstly, a VERY WARM WELCOME to our newest members! It’s so exciting to have you!!

Secondly, as you can see, I’ve posted the new chore rotation! As usual, let me know if you have any questions about it, or if I missed anyone. But since that is up again, can everyone please SEND IN THEIR ROLES. If you want information about how to do so, please visit HERE. Keep in mind that info about house points, chore rotation and the chore roller, is all linked to the Houses page from the Nav, if you ever need it!

We will be collecting points roles for the week, and posting again next Sunday or so, so please get them in asap :)

Next on the agenda is a mini-head’s up for the community that a) the Interrogation of the Looter, which is a follow up of the last event and plot drop,  “The Decoy Raid”, will be showing up on the dash as of a few days ago. And b) there will be a ‘Mysterious” Halloween Event coming up that you should keep your eyes peeled for on the main.  (Halloween both in verse as well as in Real Time, give or take a few days, as the timelines are coinciding this fall! Cool!!) This is an unofficial head’s up about it, and you may have heard some minor rumbles about it already, even, but more information about it will be posted soon, so just something to look forward to!

Thank you all members, new and old, for your commitment and passion. It’s been so evident on the dash lately that this place is here to stay and I’m so grateful for everyone putting in so much time and energy into plots and character development! Thank you also for your patience with my scattered activity this summer!

Looking forward to another incredible year!

Love you nerds!!

xxMod!Ro

#col22admin #literate rp #original rp #bio rp #mutant rp

[demomediaempire]

The 10 Most Anticipated Movie Trailers Of 2018

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The 10 Most Anticipated Movie Trailers Of 2018

The 10 Most Anticipated Movie Trailers Of 2018

This was always going to be a crowded year at the box office. Avengers: Infinity War, Ocean’s Eight, and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald are just a few pf the blockbusters on our radar. But there are some who are on our watch list that still haven’t given us a proper trailer, or even a single look into what’s going on with their production. It’s those films we’re here to discuss, and the following 10 pictures are ones we’re really looking forward to scoping out, yet we’d be even more excited about them if we could see some actual footage. (Hint hint, Hollywood.)

The First Purge

While we’ve gotten an announcement trailer for The First Purge, there was no real footage on display in the riff on a standard political ad. With the prequel nature of the project in play, as well as the surprise unveiling of cast member Marisa Tomei in the film’s cast, it’d be nice to see both of those aspects at work in a longer form trailer.

The Equalizer 2

For as steadily as The Equalizer 2 has progressed in its production, we haven’t even been given a look at the film’s poster, much less any footage. Considering Antoine Fuqua and Denzel Washington’s latest reunion was shifted to the rather bullish release date of July 20th, you would have thought a small teaser would have been in the can, at least. Here’s hoping we see something soon, otherwise we might start to worry about this one.

The Meg

A giant prehistoric shark versus Jason Statham and a team of experts. That’s what The Meg is promising movie-goers who may not be familiar with the Steve Alten authored series of sci-fi adventure novels. But to those who have read the books, there’s the typical anxiety of how the world of these stories will be brought to live in cinematic color. Both camps are waiting to see a trailer in action, and both have really good reasons to do so.

The Predator

There’s still plenty of time for The Predator to start its engines and tease its fans into an absolute frenzy, as September 14th will see the film’s debut. But when your fans are a strong and long line of devotees that find themselves excited for the return of Shane Black’s writing to the franchise, you can bet that the sooner you show off some action and dialogue from The Predator to the public, the stronger the buzz will begin to grow.

The Nun

For as young as The Conjuring franchise is, it’s certainly wasted no time putting out two different spin-offs into the world. While Annabelle is two films strong at the moment, The Nun is just starting with this summer’s offering. With an extremely profitable franchise still in action, the excitement for a glimpse at Corin Hardy’s follow-up centered around the titular menace featured in The Conjuring 2 only needs some tangible visuals to deliver this film into a rather lucrative debut.

Goosebumps 2

The jury is kinda still out on Goosebumps 2. We don’t know whether or not Jack Black’s R.L. Stine will be back for the ride. We’re still waiting for confirmation that the film’s new subtitle is Goosebumps: Slappy’s Revenge (or the rumored: Goosebumps: Horrorland). And since news has been a bit scarce as of late, we’re wondering if the film’s still on course for an October 12th release.

Halloween (2018)

If director David Gordon Green’s Halloween sequel were just another entry in the canon’s continuing adventures, we’d still be pretty interested. That said, it’s the fact that Green and co-writer Danny McBride have wiped the slate clean and crafted a direct sequel to the original film that really has folks talking about this new return to Haddonfield. Seeing Jamie Lee Curtis’s Laurie Strode alive and well again in a movie theater, even if it’s just for a sneak peek, is something that is also all the more exciting because of this daring decision. Now, let’s see a teaser!

First Man

About this time last year, Damian Chazelle and Ryan Gosling were among those who saw La La Land’s dreams of taking home the prize for Best Picture both become realized, and ultimately dashed. So naturally, with their Neil Armstrong biopic First Man slated for release this October, they’re going to want to leave as best of an impression on the future awards voters as they can. Putting out a killer teaser in the next couple of weeks could be the thing that does the trick, as they’d be getting ahead of most of the competition by doing so.

Creed 2

While we’re still shaky on whether or not Creed 2 will make its 2018 release date, we’re still amped to see the son of Apollo Creed face off against the son of Ivan Drago in the ring. As Michael B. Jordan is currently blazing a trail on screens as the sympathetic villain Killmonger in Black Panther, you can bet fans thoughts will turn to when the first look at this flick will be hitting our screens.

Holmes & Watson

A decade ago, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly last wowed audiences with their anarchic brand of comedy in Step Brothers – a movie still held in good regard to this day. And yet, it’s taken them so long to make another film together, with the drought ending in the release of Holmes & Watson this Christmas. Obviously, the sooner this trailer debuts, the sooner you can stop people from blasting “Boats N’ Hoes” on repeat ad infinitum.

Source : Cinema Blend