#but as a fraternal twin I will always be biased

[multicolour-ink]

Hello!

I don't know much about "His Dark Materials", but what you have published has caught my attention (the most familiar I am is with the movie The Golden Compass).

I understand that some cultures and theories say that twins "share a soul" from the moment of conception.

Under that logic, is it possible for the brothers to share a daemon?

Sorry if it's a silly question. By the way, I love what you write.

We in the HDM fandom do not speak about the movie. It is a far cut below the entire series itself 😝

Thank you so much for your question and kind words 💗💗💗

I'll be honest, discussing "His Dark Materials" with anyone who is not that aware of it is difficult, mostly because of the sensitive topics brought up in the series that some people (understandably) can find too uncomfortable to talk about.

Yes, there are biblical name drops and references throughout the series, talks about Sin, and even a religious group that rules a world and are essentially the bad guys.

But I swear, under all that is a truly great story!

(I'll be honest, I believe a lot of the controversial stuff is mostly the result of the author ranting about his own biased opinions)

I would like nothing more than to explain these books in greater detail - for those who may have not got what some things meant the first time round, or just simply misunderstood them. I want to help people understand that there is more to this series than just "religion is evil", and not demonic literature.

But to do so would mean spoiling a lot of the series, which I don't really want to do, and would prefer to encourage others to check out the series first if they can.

But if anyone is interested (and doesn't mind spoilers), my inbox is open! I'm always happy to answer questions and talk.

Even my own opinions about this series have changed over the years. I admit, I was mostly blown away the first time as a young teen, simply because it wasn't like anything else I was reading at the time. Everything else was so grounded in reality - THIS, to me at least, opened up so many ideas and concepts. It was a lot to take in!

Anyway, apologies for getting a little off topic there! As for your question about the Bros: I've never heard about that cultural idea about twins being born with one soul. That is fascinating! Is it talking about just identical twins, or both identical and fraternal? Because it sounds like something more likely to do with identical twins than fraternal (given that the former starts off as one being that splits in the womb - whereas the latter doesn't).

I really don't know if Philip Pullman himself (author of HDM) ever addressed this, and I don't recall any twin characters in the books.

I will have to say that no, I don't think twins (or the Bros) would share a dæmon, as they are essentially separate people. And plus since dæmons can't be far apart from their humans, it would be a fine thing if, say, one twin had to go somewhere further away from the other and their dæmon couldn't stay near both at the same time! But, I would like to believe that twins with dæmons are more intertwined. Like I said with the Bros, as twins, their souls are spiritually linked and they can sense each other. I imagine that twins could (to some extent) feel each other's dæmons, and even communicate with the other's and not just their own.

Could they be able to touch each other's? Well considering the influence of the taboo, I would say no. But let's just say, that maybe some twins worked out a way in secret!

And in the AU, Mario and Luigi are just that unique 😉

#the tv show is also a great way to check out the series #it also answers things you may not have understood from the books - it did for me #multicolour ink answers #super mario #mario #luigi #mario movie 2023 #mario and luigi #mario daemon au #his dark materials #daemons #hdm au #megandog21

[saruin]

💯 for the oc ask! (oc of your choice or be greedy and ALL of them)

💯 HUNDRED POINTS SYMBOL — share three random facts about your oc that others may not know.

I was sooo tempted to do all of them but just thinking about it caused my brain to freeze lol so I'll do a few recent ones

-

Zimiri - Born into a family/cultural system of necromancers. He has a younger sister whom he hasn't spoken to in years, the reason being he was directly responsible for the death of her lover/father of her unborn child. He was also a part of an organization that hunted down heretical people and creatures that were an abomination towards their chosen god of worship.

Aja - Her and Jal are fraternal twins (they refer to each other as the 'ugly twin'). Her best friend is a vampire who think she's keeping the secret well but actually Aja just pretends not to notice. She's seriously questioning her sexuality and it's a little scary for her (she got her first crush recently and it's driving her insane) her family is pretty strict so she doesn't know how they'll react.

Crystal - Her full name is Crystal Diamond Quartz because her mom was trying to be funny but also "Because she will always be precious." She was always the class clown in school; it helped her divert attention from how awkward and ugly she thought herself to be. Because of her biased opinion she started dabbling in magic, looking for a glamour spell to change her looks, but with the number of charms, spells and familiars to learn about she quickly gained a new obsession and forgot about glamour spells entirely (the only time she uses them is for shenanigans with friends)

Xero(Xiro) - me trying to decide on the spelling I like - He's pretty bashful and doesn't like to show his face so he's always in some type of costume (he also has the biggest crush on Rocket and would probably die if they ever noticed). He is my tallest oc and sim if I had to put a height he'd probably be 6'7 or 6'8. He has vitiligo (or the alien equivalent) and heterochromia but because he hides his face a lot you can't tell.

Rocket - She's a shapeshifter, their blue appearance is their disguise cause it makes them appear like the other aliens in the world, she can't make herself fully human tho. Their true form is weird and horrific and something she's sure would cause government panic so they hide it away to be safe (hint: it has lots of eyes and tentacles). They communicate telepathically with others through bioluminescence, she has a voice and can speak but chooses not to most of the time.

#ask game

[minty-marshmallow]

The Miracle

Air Date: Dec 12, 2016 - Dec 23, 2016

Episodes: 12

Synopsis: Kwon Shi Ah is the beautiful sister and a member of the popular girl group known as Miracle Girls. Since she was in preschool, Shia has worked as a model and then a teen actress before becoming an idol. Her fraternal twin sister, Shi Yeon, is almost double the body size of Shi Ah and has always been ridiculed and bullied in school for her large frame. Because of this, Shi Yeon has become a recluse, who prefers staying home and producing an Internet broadcast within the safety of her room. The only time Shi Yeon ventures out is to visit a mysterious tarot card reader who gives Shi Yeon a magical tarot card. The sisters’ lives are turned upside down when they wake up one day and realize that their souls have switched bodies! What will an idol musician and Shi Yeon’s high school crush think of the women they thought they knew?

My Rating: 6

My Review: This is a simple web drama. As such, you shouldn't expect much from it and in that way, you'll actually enjoy it. It's a simple plot with no twists or turns or anything unexpected. It's light-hearted and cute, but it also delivers an important message of loving yourself for who you are.

The acting is okay, I mean again you shouldn't expect too much. I find that the two lead girls actually do a better job of playing each other's characters instead of their own characters lol.

The OST is nice, but I might just be biased because I liked Boyfriend back in the day and have a soft spot for Donghyun's voice. To be honest it's weird seeing him trying to play a 19-year-old but whatever.

There's no real closure to this drama, you don't really get any answers and you don't know what happens between the main couple really, but you can assume. Regardless, it is a cute, sweet, easy-to-watch drama that you should check out if you need a break from long, complicated dramas.

#the miracle #kdrama #asian drama review #asian drama #korean drama #hong yoon hwa #kim nahyun #kim dong hyun #korean drama review #kdrama review

[hyp3rfixation-h3ll]

So, in a post you said we were free to send asks regarding the relationship/interactions MW had with certain characters. I will deliver.

What's her relationship like with each of the Shamans, or just the Shamans in general

JUMPS AROUND AND DANCES AND PRANCES AND FROLICKS SO FANCILY THANK YOU FOR ASKING THIS !!!!! MWA MWA /PLATONIC im so sorry it took me so long to get to answering this I HAD TO FREAK OUT BC I DONT NORMALLY GET ASKS YAAAAY YAYAYAYA!!!

OKAY OKAY UM. im gonna be going in order of each Shaman we meet so Waterbaby first ! Which is good bc i like her :)

without futher ado, lets go!!! ^_^

(note: i drew stuff for all of the shamans but tumblr is really mean so if any of the previews come out wrong, you know who fucked up.)

Waterbaby & MW

Waterbaby and MW get along super well, actually! Despite what little interactions they’ve had in canon, I like to think they go way way back to when MW first got to Centaurworld via The Rift and started learning magic :) I’d liken their dynamic parallel to Horse and Wammawink (in a more familial sense than anything else, though.) Waterbaby offers genuinely good advice at times, and also tells stories a lot. MW isn’t much to talk, and enjoys the stories she tells. (Also Waterbaby likes making her food when she visits the houseboat)

And she’s a good should to cry on too when things prove to be to much for MW to bear.

(TL;DR I FIRMLY BELIEVE IN MW / WATERBABY FOUND FAMILY DYNAMIC I REALLY DO IDC IF THEY INTERACTED ONCE OR TWICE THEY HAVE THE DYNAMIC OF AN EDGY TEEN AND HER MOTHER WHO IS TRYING HER BEST)

Fraternal Twin Tree Shamans & MW

Okay, these two and Judge Jacket are her two…least favourite Shamans. Judge Jacket is for a completely different reason but the twins she isn’t particularly biased towards (she’s generally a bit neutral towards them). If anything, they’re nice to hang around in silence. Nature has always been a calming thing for her, so while she isn’t fond of them, they’re pretty okay to be around in certain circumstances.

Judge Jacket & MW

Sometimes a Moletaur is your friend but being in THE HOLE brings you so much PAIN™️

MW probably appreciates Jacket’s need and appreciation for justice, but being inside of the Moletaur hole makes her want to start yelling because it’s both hot AND humid and it’s a B A D T E X T U R E ™️. if it was just HOT then it’s be fine because I headcanon she’s cold all the time. Heat is nice. Humidity, though!!! Absolutely awful. Horrible texture. She would rather be stuck in the In-Between for at least a month than be in the Moletaur Hole for an hour. Loves Judge Jacket, though! Hates the texture of. Everything. in the Moletaur Hole.

But if it were up to her and not the pressure of how damp everything feels, she would definitely talk to Judge Jacket more!!

Johnny Teatime & MW

THIS ONE IS JUST ME BEING SELF INDULGENT BECAUSE I WANT MW TO ENJOY THE CATTAURS. SHUT SHHHDGSHJMGD /POS

I wanna say that MW absolutely ADORES Johnathon. Treats him like the littlest guy and likes to spar with him because his magic is surprisingly strong for such a little man! She does wish he would come down more from the tower though to visit her in the cave, but she understands that he’s sleepy a lot. (She’s also sleepy all the time, so she completely gets it. They probably take sun naps together!)

She also does this because it’s funny and Johnathon likes to nibble on things :]

AND FINALLY MY FAVOURITE INTERACTION THAT I THOUGHT UP!!!!

Whaletaur & MW

When it comes to the Shamans, I don’t think that any of the Shamans cut as viscerally deep into her emotions as much as The Last Shaman.

…

She doesn’t like to talk about how she feels about the Whaletaur.

But if she could, there would be a lot of words to say.

——————

AAAAAAAAND THATS IT!!!!! THANK YOU FOR ASKING ME THIS QUESTION BARK BARK BARK GGRGRGEEHRGRGEHG I LOVE DOING THIS SO MUCH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! YAYAYAYAHAHAJG /POS

okay gotta add the dni banner now 😔 y’all know the rules <333

#captain’s art log 🎨 #the captain’s rambles 💬 #YOU’VE GOT MAIL! YOU’VE GOT MAIL! 📨 #centaurworld tag! 🐎🌈 #f/o tag: the mysterious woman 💜🔑 #kin tag: Johnathon Teatime 💝☕️ #centaurworld mysterious woman #centaurworld #centaurworld waterbaby #tree shamans #moletaurs #centaurworld johnny teatime #whaletaur shaman #i have so many ideas. my brain is so full #you open up my brain and it’s a miniature version of centaurworld #that and i got big plans for MW. i gotta make a fully done piece of her #cuz the closest thing ive got is. all of my shitpost drawings of her where she’s doing balls 2 the walls bullshit #and i gotta make an actual serious picture of her #but i dont wanna <3

[freddie-weaselbee]

Welcome Back❤️

🍎Okay like I somehow see our dear Frederick smitten and intrigued by Slytherin, maybe it’s just me but something is telling me he would definitely date one and a Slytherin would be his type.

So can you do a hc for Fred and a Slytherin💚Thank you

ok babes as a slytherin who’s in love w Freddie I have SO MANY thoughts

ok first of all we all know that they weasleys have their biases

especially Ron

I feel like the twins would still have a bias against Slytherins but they never had like personal fights w any of them like Ron and Harry did w Malfoy

so they’re a little more open

that being said

Slytherins do happen to make great pranking targets

especially in snape’s class

ok so imagine it’s potions w Gryffindor and Slytherin

and you’re sitting across the room with your friends

cuz no fraternizing w the enemy obviously 🙄

and suddenly all the Gryffindors duck for cover and you and your friends are so confused

and then the dung bombs go off

and snape is LIVID

and your friends are LIVID

and you make eye contact w Fred, who you’ve only ever talked to during projects

and you start to plan revenge

ok whoever came up w the idea that Slytherins are all stuck up snobs is completely wrong

they’re just as big troublemakers as Gryffindors but more sneaky about it

can’t be getting caught and jeopardizing their future

so they’re more subtle

no one saw it coming, especially Fred

ok so you’re at dinner

in the great hall

and I’m pretty sure that Gryffindor and slytherin tables are on opposite ends of the room

so it’s even MORE impressive that you did this

but some time when Fred was distracted w George you swap his wand w a replica

a hexed replica

you don’t know why you only chose to prank Fred and not George too

he’s the more annoying one, that’s it

not because you love the cocky look in his eyes

or his loud laugh

or because you maybe want to impress him w your pranking abilities

nope nope

none of that

so you plan this perfectly

the next time he’d probably use his wand is potions in the morning

you’re all filed in and in your normal seats

the Slytherins are pissed about the prank

but what else is new

and snape decides to single out the twins

cuz he’s also still pretty pissed

and Fred has to demonstrate something

and Fred’s smart right?

like he and George might not try, but they invented so many products using potions knowledge

but when he tries to cast the spell and rubber ducks fly out

curtesy of mr. weasleys love for said objects

he’s going crazy

he tries again and suddenly his robes are replaced w the girls uniform

ok but Fred in a short skirt? say less

at this point everyone is cackling

especially George

especially you

even snape has to turn away to avoid showing a small grin

and Fred is so frustrated cuz hE KNOWS THIS SPELL

HOW IS THIS HAPPENING HE KNOWS THIS SPELL

one last time

and his skin was now dyed green

signature slytherin green

you can’t hold back anymore and you practically fall off your chair laughing

meanwhile fred can’t figure out who in the world pranked him

and this well

how did he not see it coming ??

the two of you make quick eye contact

something that had always been common between you before one would glance away

but this time you stare

and wink

THE SIGNATURE FRED WEASLEY WINK

oh boy

Fred doesnt know what to do

you’re a slytherin

you’re supposed to be all mean and a blood purist and blah blah blah

but now that he thinks about it

you’ve never been that way

in fact you’re one of the only Slytherins Fred’s never targeted directly w a prank

oh but that’s about to change

hence the beginning of the Gryffindor/Slytherin prank war

no one else knows it was you

and no one believes Fred when he tells them

which just makes it easier for you to get away w everything

flash forward a few weeks

you and Fred are both out past curfew

tryna set up more great pranks for the other

and then, of course, enter filch

after some very close calls you both wind up in a broom closet

...😏

and you’re arguing as always

whisper shouting as to not get caught

“you ruined my prank, it was gonna be amazing too!”

“oh please, you did the same one last month, everyone would’ve seen it coming.”

“and I suppose you have better ideas?”

“well now that you mention it...”

...

“show me”

and suddenly you two are partners and bouncing ideas off of each other

George would be jealous if he found out

but you and Fred do make a good team

I also feel like since there’s the tension between the two houses you keep your newfound friendship a secret

like you still hate each other

but only in public

in private, you’re best friends

until one night when you pull of the best prank known to man

and you’re both filled w adrenaline and running through the forbidden forest screaming w joy

and Fred just wraps you in his arms

and pulls you tight

and kisses you w no hesitation

and of course you kiss back

it’s been like a minute and you’ve barely taken a breath

so you both pull back and are like

😳...what was that?

but then you shrug and kiss him again

cuz you’ve been waiting years to do that

not that you’d ever let him know

but it’s fine because it’s the same deal for him

and now the secret friendship is a secret relationship

it’s tough at first

your friends would judge you a lot for dating a weasley

and Ron would probably flip if he knew Fred was dating you

but eventually you had to come clean

and by “had to” I mean Draco caught you making out in the Slytherin common room late at night and told the whole school

and you guys were right to some extent

Ron had a rough time w it at first and so did your friends

but what you didn’t expect was how much ppl already knew

“yeah I know you’ve been sneaking off to snog her every night, who do you think has been covering for you?”

“George... WHAT?”

—-

“you have like 3 of his jumpers under your bed, we’ve known for weeks.”

“well that’s fantastic.”

but anyways

it’s all out in the open now

and for the most part everyone’s happy for you

even the teachers

except snape

but who cares about snape anyway

now you’re the school power couple

and everyone loves you

and is low key afraid of you

cuz they know about your pranking habits

and competitive edges

one fight between you two and all hell breaks loose

but overall

you both have never been happier

and it doesn’t matter what people in your houses think

because it’s just a stupid house color

and it doesn’t mean anything to you guys

except quidditch games, cuz then any love you have for each other disappears and you’re willing to rip the other to shreds

true love <3

#abby’s anons 🦩 #Fred weasley #fred weasley headcanons #Fred weasley x reader #slytherin #Gryffindor #Fred weasley x slytherin!reader #abby’s hc party 🍎

[senjusibs]

I honestly assumed Tobirama would be the one everyone asked. Please, indulge us with your thoughts on Tobirama 😌

from this ask meme

favorite thing about them

genuinely thought creating zombie no jutsu was fine and normal. he was like "yeah i'll create some zombies" and just did it. i love a good insane and unhinged scientist and simply cannot resist! but even more than that i LOVE the implications of it. how does someone justify creating that? what was his thought process? WHY did he create it? and also, if he was able to justify edo tensei, what else can he justify to himself? i just LOVE characters with skewed moral compasses who will find any way to excuse their fucked up actions

least favorite thing about them

please process your trauma and get therapy for your ptsd and examine your prejudices. please. please. pspspspsps you want to think about and analyze your biases so you can come out of it a better person sooooo bad. he's absolutely biased and just refuses to acknowledge it. tobirama convincing himself he is always right both a blessing and a curse. what i love and hate the most about him. he's soooo insufferable (there are hearts in my eyes and floating around my head)

favorite line

“grown ups are stupid” only to grow up to be a stupid grown up <3

brOTP

HASHIRAMA shaking vibrating sobbing. idk if it properly counts as a brotp as they are actual brothers but i also do not care 😌 their relationship is the number one thing i care about i think about them 24/7. if you’ve ever talked to me about anything other than the senju brothers it sounded like the teacher from peanuts i just was not listening. went in one ear and flew out the other as a little butterfly

OTP

[foaming and frothing at the mouth] i feel normal feelings. about madatobi. none of which are exclusively available to shrimp.

also have an insane soft spot for minato and tobirama i think they would be soooo cute 🥺

nOTP

literally any woman. sorry ladies henis gay <3 also any of his students

random headcanon

he and kawarama are fraternal twins, with kawarama being born about twelve minutes before tobirama. they were attached at the hip up until kawarama's death

unpopular opinion

he was not kagami and danzo and torifu's sensei!!! they were on his escort unit when he was hokage, but they were NOT his students. also as mentioned earlier, i definitely think he is biased against the uchiha because he just refuses to acknowledge the fact that the war messed him up in any way, and as a result he both 1) has prejudices and 2) is insanely self defensive about it (realized i didnt finish typing this sentence at first x_x adhd strikes again)

song i associate with them

i have TWO playlists for this guy and this ask meme gives me song in singular form...lucky for all of us i can't read

tidal wave by the mountain goats

even the proud, even the very proud probably die on their knees twin masts out on the open seas mistaken for trees

my boy builds coffins by florence & the machine

my boy builds coffins with hammers and nails he doesn't build ships, he has no use for sails he doesn't make tables, dressers or chairs he can't carve a whistle 'cause he just doesn't care

also vienna by billy joel. take a break king take a NAP

favorite picture of them

"picture" cute! have five

tl;dr

#.txt #ask #honoraryplebian #tobirama #FEELIN LIKE SICKOS RN HAHA YES....YES!!!!!!!!! >:D #i feel like theres more i want to say but my brain is soup because ive gotten like 4 hours of sleep past 3 nights in a row. fucking snzzzzzz

[iclaimedtobethebetterbard]

it was always you (falling for me) - chapter 2

Fandom: Sanders Sides Characters: All the sides Rating: Teen & up (for swearing) Relationships: Prinxiety, Moceit, and QPR Intrulogical (eventually this will develop into Intrulosleep!) Warnings: Language; Remus being Remus; Shakespeare fans will probably hate my interpretation(s) of the plays I reference here, if the English major friend I showed this to is anything to go by, and I’m very sorry about that 😂 Word Count: 9042

Read on AO3!

My writing masterpost

start - previous - here - next - masterpost

Summary: In a world where you and your soulmate swap dreams once a month, seven young adults enter the same college as freshmen. Each of them is wondering when they’ll find their soulmate and what that will mean for them.

Notes: Secret Santa gift for sanders-sides-fics!

Chapter 2

Roman had a problem. A person-shaped problem. Specifically, a problem shaped like his brother’s excessively pretty roommate, who seemed to take pleasure exclusively in needling Roman every chance they got.

Roman groaned, burying his face in one of the pillows on his bed.

“Hm?” his roommate, Patton, said sympathetically.

“I swear Virgil has, like, an agenda against soulmates, or something,” Roman said, rolling over and staring despairingly at the ceiling.

“Now, kiddo, I’m sure that’s not true.”

Roman lifted his head to look at Patton. “Aren’t I older than you?”

“Only by a few months,” Patton said serenely. “Spiritually, you’re my kiddo.”

“Pat, that makes no sense.”

Patton blinked up at him with a too-innocent face. “If it feels dad to you, just don’t think about it any father.”

“Oh my god.”

Patton giggled, a noise of pure delight, then circled back to Roman’s original topic. “What makes you think he’s got something against soulmates?”

“Uh, the way ze rails against them at every opportunity, for a start?” Roman sat up. “We have argued five times in the last two weeks about soulmates, and only three of them were even about Shakespeare like usual!”

“Haven’t you only known Virgil for, like, three weeks?”

“Well, yes, but that’s not the point.” Roman climbed down the ladder to the ground. “Also, I feel like that makes it worse?”

“Hmm, maybe.” Patton seemed amused. “You talk about them a lot, you know?”

“He’s so annoying!” Roman said defensively. “Ze gets this stupid smirk like ze knows something I don’t and he doesn’t even seem to care about constructing sound arguments half the time!” He put his laptop into his backpack.

“Going somewhere?” Patton asked.

“Yeah, Virgil and Remus invited me over to their dorm to study.”

“Oh,” Patton said, a funny sort of look on his face like he was trying not to laugh.

“What?” Roman asked.

“Nothing, nothing.” Patton waved him away, still smiling to himself. “Have fun studying with Virgil.”

“I will,” Roman said brightly, heading out the door.

***

“I want to go get ice cream,” Remus announced suddenly, hopping to his feet. “Who’s coming with?” It was late, almost midnight, and Roman was sitting on the floor in what had been a nice triangle with Remus and Virgil until Remus had stood. The three of them had been alternately working on homework and arguing about Disney characters.

“Sure,” Virgil said with a shrug, tugging their hoodie up onto their shoulders—they’d been wearing it dangling off their body, with only their wrists in the sleeves holding it on. “Let me fix my eyeliner first, though.”

Remus nodded distractedly, looking around the room and turning in a circle.

“Whatcha looking for?” Roman inquired, getting to his feet as well.

“My wallet,” Remus said, gaze still roving around. “I don’t know where I—”

“By your chapstick,” Roman said.

“Ah!” Remus dove under his desk, scrabbled on the floor, and emerged with his wallet clutched triumphantly in one hand and his chapstick in the other. “Thank you.”

“How the fuck did you know that?” Virgil asked, turning away from the mirror hung on the door with their eyeliner in their hand. They’d reapplied it to one eye, in a perfect, pointed wing; the other eye still had the only slightly less perfect, barely faded wing they’d been wearing this whole time. It matched their black lipstick and the carefully blended eyeshadow on their upper eyelids.

“He put it down there when he was telling the story about trying to collect dried gum off the street,” Roman explained. “And the chapstick was already there right next to it. So that’s how I remembered.”

Remus nodded. “I would have gotten there in a minute, probably,” he agreed.

“I still don’t understand how the fuck you knew that, but good for y’all, I guess,” Virgil said, turning back to the mirror.

“ADHD solidarity,” Roman explained.

Remus made finger guns at him, nodding. “ADHD solidarity,” he agreed.

Virgil paused halfway through drawing the other wing on. “Oh, that makes sense.” They picked up the line again, their hand perfectly steady, drawing it out to a fine point. “I thought you said you were autistic?” they added after a moment, their face holding perfectly still as they filled in the eyeliner with a practiced hand; their monolid eyelids allowed them to draw the wings of their eyeliner wide and dramatic.

“Yeah, I’m both. There are high rates of comorbidity, and also they’re both genetic, so neurodivergence runs in families,” Roman explained, the sentence rolling out of his mouth without him stumbling over the words once or having to think about it at all. “Did you know about ten percent of the population is probably ADHD?” he went on eagerly. “It’s super underdiagnosed. Especially because of race and gender biases in doctors who diagnose it, and the misconception that it’s only something children have. I only got diagnosed because Remus did when we were little, and we’re twins, so then they tested me too. Even though we aren’t identical. It’s super frequent for identical twins to both have ADHD if one of them has it, though.” Roman bounced on the balls of his feet, tapping the tip of his finger against his thumb. “I wish we were identical, I think it’d be so funny. Like, impersonating each other, and things. We could make such good video skits.”

“We make fantastic video skits already,” Remus protested.

“Okay, fair. But you know what I mean. And we could switch places for a day and see who noticed. All the stuff twins do in stories. Twins are always identical in stories, it’s so annoying, I wish there were more stories with fraternal twins.” Roman paused for a second, his mind hovering for an instant between a not-fully-realized train of thought about the gender politics of twin representation in stories and the question of what animals were most likely to have twins. He chose, almost before he was aware there was a choice, the animals question, his emotions nudging him away from the energy talking about gender representation would take up. “Do you think kittens dream?” he asked, only a second or two after he’d stopped talking in the first place.

“Yeah, probably,” Remus responded without missing a beat, likely following his train of thought. “Better question, do other animals have soulbonds, and how do they know if so?”

“Maybe it’s a scent thing,” Roman said thoughtfully.

“Ooh, like with glands or some shit?” Remus looked thoughtful. “That could make sense. I wonder—I bet there’s answers on the internet. I’m going to look this up later. Are you coming, too, by the way? To get ice cream?”

Roman thought it over. “Sure,” he agreed.

“I’m ready,” Virgil announced, capping their eyeliner and setting it down on hir desk. “Also, I got whiplash about five times just listening to that conversation.”

“Good, my chaos is overtaking another victim and soon I shall rule the world. Let’s go!” Remus led the other two out the door and started walking towards the end of campus.

“Where are we going, exactly?” Roman inquired, shoving his hands into the pockets of his red letterman jacket to keep them warm.

“There’s an ice cream shop that’s open till one in the morning about ten minutes away walking,” Remus said over his shoulder. “Logan and I found it the first weekend here.”

“You two went in search of sweets without me?” Roman put a hand to his heart. “I’m hurt,” he declared in his most dramatic voice.

“Oh, shut up, we would have gotten around to telling you about it eventually. I mean, I’m telling you right now, so.” Remus shrugged. “Virge, aren’t you cold?”

“Yeah, but I’m pretty, so it’s worth it,” Virgil said, tossing their head so the long hair on the top of their undercut swished. They were wearing a distressed band tee and a black skater skirt over fishnet leggings and a pair of doc martens. It was quite chilly out, and even though they were wearing a hoodie too, Roman understood why Remus had been concerned.

“You are very pretty,” Roman told them seriously. Even aside from their clearly carefully chosen outfit, this was true. Their eyes were round and curious and a captivating shade of dark brown. Even with the boost from the platform of the shoes they were wearing, they were tiny. Roman was sure they couldn’t be more than 5’2” without the boots. The hair on top of their undercut was very long, almost down to their waist, contrasting with the closely-shaved back and sides of their head. About six inches on the ends of their hair were dyed purple. Their makeup, of course, was flawless, as was their golden-brown skin, which was just a little bit darker than Roman’s. He made a mental note to ask them about their skincare routine sometime; no matter how much care he treated his skin with, the acne on his cheeks refused to go away. It was his least favorite side effect of taking testosterone. “But you can be pretty and warm at the same time, if you want. I hate being cold. But I respect your decision to be pretty and cold if you want to,” he added quickly.

Virgil let out a slightly nervous laugh, rubbing the back of their neck. “Thanks, I think.” Their eyes widened as they looked past him. “Oh, my god, Remus, shut up!”

“What?” Roman asked, looking over at Remus, who was giving Virgil an evil grin.

“Nothing,” Virgil snapped.

“I didn’t say anything,” Remus said innocently.

“Shut up!” Virgil repeated, flipping the hood of their hoodie up and dragging it over their face.

“What’s going on?” Roman asked, confused, while Remus burst into cackles of laughter.

“Nothing!” Virgil repeated with great emphasis.

Roman let out a sigh of frustration, but Virgil seemed genuinely upset about whatever Remus had done when Roman wasn’t looking, so he dropped it. Maybe Remus would explain later.

Remus did not explain later; however, he did turn around to walk backwards after the silence had stretched on long enough to become awkward. “Is the ocean a soup? Discuss,” he commanded.

“Oh, not this again!” Roman groaned. “No, absolutely not!”

“Yes,” Virgil said, almost as soon as Roman stopped talking.

“No!” Roman stamped his foot. “That makes no sense!”

“It makes lots of sense. Explain how it’s not soup,” Virgil challenged.

The resulting argument lasted them all the way to the ice cream shop and halfway through their treats.

“Aren’t you going to take a side?” Roman demanded of Remus at last.

Remus looked up from his cone. “Oh, no, this is very entertaining for me, I could watch you two bicker all month. Please keep it up.”

“You’re a terrible person,” Roman told him, trying not to laugh.

“I never claimed to be anything else,” Remus said happily.

***

“—and that’s how you do it. It’s really easy, but it’s so fun, I could balance chemical equations for hours,” Remus said, bopping the tip of his dry-erase marker against the giant whiteboard in the library for emphasis. He and Roman and Virgil had all met up here to study; it was a sunny afternoon, and they’d gotten a nice spot by the window. The marker left a little black mark next to the diagram Remus had spent the last ten minutes drawing; he wiped the dot away with his finger. He was wearing a turtleneck with horizontal black-and-white stripes and a pair of faded jeans with paint splatters all over them and huge rips in the front that ran from his mid-thighs almost down to his ankles; he’d finished the outfit off with socks in sandals and a black felt beret. His outfit—vaguely artistic, but mostly just terrible—contrasted comically with the intensely technical pseudo-lecture on chemistry he’d just given.

Roman nodded without looking up. “I remember balancing those was fun,” he agreed. He hadn’t taken a chemistry class in a couple of years now, but Remus was majoring in it, and the best way for Remus to study was to explain it out loud, so he’d gathered Roman and Virgil in the library. They’d even been able to snag one of the coveted whiteboards. Roman was able to focus on his notes better with Remus’s animated talking in the background, and Virgil preferred quiet but was willing to put on his headphones to block out Remus’s noise, so all in all this arrangement worked out well for all three of them.

“Yes!” Remus agreed with a happy wiggle. He picked up his water bottle off the table and took a long sip. “Okay, next I have a bunch of molecules I have to memorize the structures of. Do you need anything first?” He addressed his question to both of them, but Virgil seemed pretty focused—or perhaps his music was loud enough to drown out other noises.

Roman, however, thought the question over. “Yes, actually, can you help me go over my lines for this one scene? It’s not very long.”

“Mmhm.” Remus held out his hands expectantly, and Roman handed him his script. Remus began fiddling with the dog-eared bottom corner of the page it was open to, folding it back and forth.

Roman dug in the pocket of his cargo shorts—he liked cargo shorts, partly for the shape but mostly for the pockets—and handed Remus a star-shaped fidget toy made of sequins that could be flipped back and forth. He’d rather the corner of the script didn’t get torn off by mistake.

“I think I’m off book, I just want to make sure,” he said as Remus accepted the toy and began fidgeting with it.

Remus nodded, scanning the page. “Sounds good. It’s just this one page?”

“Yeah. Ready?”

Remus nodded, and Roman launched into the scene. His character had most of the lines; it was essentially a glorified monologue. Remus interjected the two lines from other characters, using a hilarious nasally voice that made it hard for Roman to stay in character without breaking to laugh, but he successfully made it through the final line before dissolving into snickers.

“You’re word-perfect, kid,” Remus proclaimed as Roman got ahold of himself, handing him back the script.

Roman grinned. “Thank you!”

Remus nodded and took another sip of water before wiping down the whiteboard and launching into a ramble about the molecular structures he had to memorize.

Roman had just about tuned Remus out again and slipped back into the headspace where he could focus on his work when Remus broke off. “Logan!” he exclaimed, sounding delighted.

Roman looked up, and so did Virgil, pulling off hir headphones. Roman followed Remus’s gaze, and there indeed was Logan, his flat top haircut and dark academia outfit unmistakeable. He was stepping out of the stairwell that led down from the floor above, adjusting the strap of the leather messenger bag they used instead of a backpack. Even at this distance, the pins he kept on the bag were visible, neatly affixed in alternating rows on the bag’s buckle straps—a demiboy flag, an aromantic flag, an enamel pin shaped like an open book, and a handful of other pins Logan had collected from the university’s cultural centers during orientation. Roman had a few of that last category on his backpack himself; he knew he and Logan had matching land acknowledgment pins now, but he wasn’t sure if any of the other pins they’d chosen matched.

Remus darted across the wide open floor, weaving his way around a few students. “Logan! Hi!”

Logan looked up, a small smile finding its way onto his face as he saw Remus. He said something—presumably a greeting—but was too far away for Roman to hear, since he was speaking at a normal tone.

Remus seized Logan by the hand and dragged them towards Roman and Virgil. Logan laughed and said something in protest, pushing his square glasses up his wide nose as he followed Remus.

“Remus, I have to go to class,” Logan was insisting as they got close enough for Roman to hear. “Hello, Roman. Virgil.” They adjusted their already-immaculate clothing, the tendons in their thin hands flexing as they smoothed their mustard-brown cable knit sweater vest and tugged on the rolled-up sleeves of their periwinkle button down shirt.

Virgil gave a two-fingered salute. “Sup.”

“Hi Logan,” Roman said happily. “We’re studying!”

“Very nice,” Logan said, raising Remus’s hand—which was still clasping his own—and gently pressing it with their other hand. “I am always glad to see you, Remus, but I can’t stay long.”

“Okay,” Remus said. “I just wanted to say hi.” He gave Logan a quick, tight hug around the ribs before releasing them just as fast as he’d darted in.

Logan smiled again. “Hello, then. I hope your studying is going well?”

He received nods from the group, and gave them his own nod in return.

“You’ve got to go,” Remus reminded him. “You don’t like to be late.”

“True. I’ll see you later, dear.”

Remus nodded. “Wanna hang out tomorrow night?”

Logan considered this. “Maybe. I’m going to the Black Student Union meeting tomorrow evening. So it would have to be after that.”

“Okay, I can do that! I love you!”

Logan smiled. “I love you too, Rem.” They made as if to leave, then paused. “Roman, while I’m thinking of it—are you and Patton still free for lunch tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Roman confirmed. Logan and Patton had two classes together, and so together with Roman they’d formed a tight-knit little friend group very quickly; the three of them tried to make sure to meet up for lunch at least once a week.

“Wonderful. I’ll text our groupchat about it. See you then.” Logan tugged his hand out of Remus’s grip, waved, and set off at a brisk pace back towards the stairs.

***

“I’m telling you, Virgil, Oberon and Titania are a really good example of how soulmates can make it through rough patches!”

“Bullshit. They’re obviously not a metaphor for soulmates, why would the fae even have soulmates? Their story is a cautionary tale,” Virgil said languidly, lying on their back on the floor of their room.

“No!” Roman pounded his fist on the floor. “Why do you always do this?”

“Because it’s funny,” Virgil replied with a snicker.

“But you always bash on soulmates, specifically!” Roman said.

“Yeah, because I think society’s emphasis on soulbonds is dumb.” Virgil shrugged. “Anyway, if you think Oberon and Titania’s relationship is a good example of anything, I have some concerns.”

“No—no, stop! I didn’t mean it like that! They’re fae, like you said. I obviously don’t condone any of the ways they treated each other! I’m just saying that viewing them as a metaphor for soulmates makes a really interesting lens to view the other couples in the play! Right, Logan?” He turned expectantly to Logan.

“Wh—no,” Logan, who was sitting on Remus’s bed and combing their fingers through Remus’s hair, his head in their lap, responded. “You are both, objectively, wrong. Horribly so. Painfully so.”

“Hey! You’re not allowed to tell me I’m wrong about Shakespeare,” Roman countered quickly.

“Why did you ask me for my opinion, then?” Logan asked, rolling their eyes.

“I don’t know,” Roman grumbled.

“Wait, why can’t they talk to you about Shakespeare?” Virgil asked.

“Because they always win!” Roman crossed his arms.

“Oh, and I don’t?” Virgil demanded. “What am I to you, Roman? I thought we had something special here,” they went on playfully. “You make dumb arguments, I make worse ones, and then I win. I thought that meant something to you.” They pouted at him.

“That’s different!” Roman protested, stifling giggles at the mopey puppy dog eyes Virgil was sending him. “You just don’t care what I say. Logan actually refutes my arguments! It’s very humiliating!”

“I only do it because your logic is physically painful to listen to,” Logan said.

Roman crossed his arms and pointedly turned away from Logan, nose in the air. “Anyway. As I was saying. Puck’s role in all of this is really interesting, if you consider the question: are the fae supposed to be able to truly alter soulbonds, or are they only messing with feelings?”

“Dear,” Logan said plaintively, looking down at Remus, his fingers still carding through Remus’s curls.

“Hmm?” Remus responded, not opening his eyes.

“Make them stop,” Logan said beseechingly.

“Sorry fellas, you heard them. Stop torturing Logan, he’s already an English major, so he’s plenty tortured already. Or else I’ll have to dissect your spleens.” Remus wagged a finger in Roman and Virgil’s direction.

“What a terrible fate that would be,” Roman commented, flopping over to lie on the floor beside Virgil.

Seconds later, his phone buzzed; he pulled it out to see a text notification from Virgil.

Virgil: oberon sucks btw

Roman: Oh, it is ON!

Roman grinned as he sent the response, already anticipating the thrill of the argument that was about to ensue. He felt a warm thrill in his chest at Virgil’s answering chuckle—it was good to know Virgil was having fun with this too.

***

“—so I was hanging out with Virgil the other day at the library cafe, and he said The Tempest was dumb because magic solves everything.” Roman was lying on the floor of his dorm, tossing a bouncy ball up in the air and catching it over and over again. Logan was sitting at Roman’s desk, legs up and crossed on the seat of the chair as he worked on readings for an English class, half-listening to Roman’s rambling. “And that since it solved all the problems, it made no sense for Prospero to give it up. Which was completely ignoring all the bad stuff magic had done and the symbolism of him throwing it away!”

“What did Remus have to say about that?” Logan inquired with a small laugh, not looking up from the copy of Frankenstein in his hands.

“What? Oh, nothing. Remus wasn’t there.”

“Oh?” Logan blinked, glancing up from the book.

“Yeah, we were at the library getting Starbucks, we do that on Wednesdays now. Remus was in his history class, I’m pretty sure.”

“I didn’t know you and Virgil hung out together,” Logan said, raising their eyebrows.

“Oh, we don’t, we just get coffee on Wednesdays, it’s different,” Roman said.

Logan stared at him. “...What?”

“Like, we only hang out on our own time to get Starbucks and then argue about Shakespeare. It’s really fun! It’s a great system, honestly. And this way, you don’t yell at me about Shakespeare or text Remus rant essays about what you think I’m getting wrong!”

Logan looked away, a very called-out expression on his face. “You weren’t supposed to see those…”

“Oh, Remus didn’t show me, I just broke into his phone the other day and it was open to your texts,” Roman said reassuringly.

“Why would you break into—” Logan began, not seeming reassured in the slightest.

“I needed to check his calendar to see if he was available to come with me to the grocery store,” Roman explained. “You know we’re really good at guessing each other’s passcodes. He doesn’t mind, we break into each other’s phones all the time.” He paused, assessing Logan’s face, trying to gauge if their expression was upset or not. “I’m sorry I read the texts, though,” he added, just in case it had hurt their feelings. “I only saw the very end of it, it wasn't on purpose or anything. Promise.”

Logan sighed. “I know. It’s alright.” He reached across the space between them to press the back of Roman’s hand.

Roman grinned. “Only you would come up with a whole essay in a text,” he teased. “Dunno what I expected, really.”

“It wasn’t an essay,” Logan said defensively. “Technically speaking.”

“I dunno, it sure looked like if you formatted it with MLA, you could turn it in for a grade.” Roman giggled. “But hey, what do I know?”

Logan opened his mouth to reply, but stopped as the doorknob rattled with the sound of keys.

Patton stepped in. “Hey! If it isn’t some of my favorite people!” he greeted the two of them with a smile. His dark, wavy hair was a little ruffled. Normally he combed it to the side, but Roman remembered it had been windy today, so Roman guessed that was responsible for the irregularity. “How are you doing?” Patton asked the two of them.

“Better now that you’re here,” Roman told him with an answering grin. “How’s your day been?” He’d noticed that Patton really liked being asked how his day had gone.

Sure enough, Patton’s smile spread a little wider. “Pretty good, thanks! I haven’t had too much to do today, which is nice. How are you doing, Logan?” He sat down on the floor beside Roman, sliding his backpack off his shoulders.

Roman immediately sat up and scooted over to lean against Patton—he was an excellent cuddler; he was tall and chubby and he ran warm, and Roman liked cuddles. He tended towards understimulation rather than overstimulation, and hugs were one of his favorite things. Patton was always happy to supply.

“I’m alright, thank you,” Logan said as Patton wrapped an arm around Roman’s shoulders. “A little underslept, but otherwise good.”

“Good, good. You should sleep more. Are you both busy?” Patton asked.

“No,” Roman said, because Patton always had fun ideas.

Logan pursed his lips, glancing down at the book in his hands in consideration. “I can finish this chapter later. Why?”

“Oh, I was just wondering if either of you wanted to play a board game,” Patton said. He and Roman had each brought a couple from their homes, and together they had quite the little collection.

“Yes!” Roman agreed eagerly, breaking away from Patton and crossing to the shelf where they kept the games. “How about Clue?”

“I will decimate you both,” Logan said, deadly serious, adjusting their glasses and scooting to the floor.

“All part of the fun, Specs.” Roman pulled out the box and set it down between them. “Dibs on the red piece!”

***

“—so I told him that was utter bullshit—not in so many words, of course—and listed off the reasons why, and he simply did not seem to recognize how completely nonexistent his logic was, he just kept repeating his original points louder and louder.” Logan punctuated his rant about a classmate with hand gestures as he walked next to Roman on the sidewalk.

“I hate guys like that,” Roman said, making a face.

Logan nodded. “But I got full credit on my discussion post when I typed up my argument and I cannot imagine he got the same, based on his talking points. So.” He shrugged, clearly trying not to look too smug with himself.

“Good job!” Roman told them.

“Thank you.” Logan’s happiness was palpable. “How have—”

“Logan!” Remus’s voice shouted.

Roman looked in the direction of the noise; they were almost an entire block away still from the quad, where they’d agreed to meet Remus, but he seemed to have spotted them. He was sprinting at full speed directly towards them.

“Oh, dear,” Logan said, the exasperation in his voice belied by the grin on their face. They took a step back and braced themself, just in time.

Remus full-on tackled Logan in a hug, colliding into him at full speed. Logan stumbled back a couple of steps, but successfully avoided falling over. “Hello, Remus,” he said composedly, wrapping their arms around Remus and returning the enthusiastic hug. “How are you?”

“Much better now. I missed you,” Remus said into Logan’s shoulder. “Normal people get all weird about it when I tell them cool murder facts. You're much cooler than normal people.”

“It has been twenty-seven hours and about thirty minutes since you last saw me,” Logan informed him. “And thirteen minutes since we last texted.” They rumpled his curls, which fell messily in loose spirals about his face; they were mostly about chin length, although some of them were choppily trimmed shorter than others. Remus was very insistent about cutting his own hair. It was always mildly disastrous, but he insisted he liked it that way. He’d dyed it himself, too; he’d bleached a streak at the very front of his head and dyed it silver about a month before college started, with a surprising amount of success.

“Yeah, and I missed you.” Remus stepped back from the hug as Logan released him. “Also hi Roman, I guess.” He tossed Roman a grin.

“You are a terrible brother sometimes,” Roman informed him. “Hi.”

“Uh, I think you mean all the time,” Remus corrected him. “I’m joking,” he added. “C’mon, I got Starbucks for us! I have extra meal credits!” He seized Logan’s hand and reached invitingly for Roman’s.

Roman let Remus grab his hand, too, and his brother immediately began dragging both Roman and Logan at a slightly breakneck pace down the sidewalk. Several students dove out of their way until he dragged them to a halt by the food truck, bouncing on the balls of his feet and waiting expectantly.

Not even a moment later, the barista placed three cups on the delivery window tray and called out Remus’s name.

“Yes!” Remus pumped his fist, darted over, and picked up two of the cups—Roman recognized Remus and Logan’s go-to coffee orders, a trenta mango-dragonfruit refresher and a grande vanilla sweet cream cold brew with extra ice. Roman picked up the last cup, a warm drink in a grande cup; he sniffed to check what it was even though he knew what Remus usually got him. Steamed apple juice with a sprinkle of cinnamon on top—his favorite as a kid and still one of his favorites now. He wrapped his hands around the warm cup and followed Remus and Logan over to a sunny patch on the lawn.

Remus sprawled out, taking up more space than seemed humanly possible for one person to fill; Logan tucked their legs beneath them as they sat beside Remus and began pulling out a textbook, a dog-eared novel, and a handful of pens and pencils from their messenger bag.

Roman sat so that he completed the triangle between the three of them, his legs crossed so he could lean his cup against them between sips and not worry about knocking it over.

“Thank you for the coffee, Remus,” Logan said, his cup halfway to his lips as he flipped through the worn novel.

Roman nodded in agreement, breathing in the warm cinnamon scent of the apple juice.

“Of course!” Remus said exuberantly, taking a noisy slurp of his drink.

Roman and Logan both winced slightly.

“Could you be a little quieter, there?” Logan asked mildly.

“How dare you.” Remus clutched his heart, leaning back so far Roman was surprised he didn’t lose his balance and fall over.

Logan sighed, reaching over and placing a hand over Remus’s, gripped around the edge of the cup’s lid. “At least please be careful not to splash,” he said, guiding Remus’s hand downwards until the cup came to rest on the ground. “This textbook cost rather a lot and I’d like to sell it back in a decent condition at the end of the term.”

Remus let go of the cup, leaving it to rest where it was, and leaned forward. He took Logan’s face in both of his hands and looked seriously into their eyes. “Hey. You are my best friend in the whole world and you mean everything to me. I love you and I’m so glad we’re soulmates. But I draw the line at stopping my annoying behavior for anything less than a natural disaster.” He released Logan and picked his drink back up. “I promise I won’t spill on your book, though,” he added lightly. “Roman gets no such promises.”

“You wouldn’t dare, you know I hate being sticky—” Roman began heatedly.

“Okay, okay. Jesus. You two are really conspiring to foil all my chaotic little gremlin dealings today. I’ll order an ice water to spill on you instead, will that make you happy?” Remus snickered.

Roman frowned. “If you must,” he begrudgingly agreed, since this seemed the closest thing to a compromise he was likely to get out of Remus. He suspected it might be a joke anyway, but he wasn’t sure about that and didn’t want to take any chances.

But Remus didn’t return to the food truck, so it seemed likely that it was a joke after all. Instead, he devoted himself to more noisy slurping, crossing his eyes and looking like he didn’t have a care in the world.

“You’re the tallest one of us,” Roman said after a moment.

“Huh?” Remus looked up at him.

“He has a point, dear,” Logan said, turning a page.

“Like yeah I know I am, but what’s the point?” Remus asked.

“You said we were foiling your chaotic little gremlin dealings,” Roman elaborated. “You’re, like, fucking… six two.”

“And a half,” Remus added. “Emotionally, I am a chaotic creature of spite who’s about three five and can sneeze fire, though.”

“That makes no sense,” Roman protested.

“Does too,” Remus responded, crossing his arms.

“It does,” Logan agreed. “For example, emotionally, I punch that one classmate in the face twice a week, but we can’t always embody what we want to be. And you, Roman—emotionally, you’re very invested in Shakespeare, but in actuality, your interpretations are painfully bad.”

“Hey. You talking about me and Shakespeare is off limits. We’ve discussed this.” Roman waved a warning finger at them.

“I still think that’s unfair and have raised a motion to reject and overturn the ban.”

“Unfortunately for you, the judge and jury are my feelings, and you hurt them, Logan. Shakespeare and I have something special. You need to stop trying to come between us like this.”

Logan glanced up from his book to give Roman a singularly unimpressed look. “You are preposterous.”

Roman beamed at him and made a heart shape with his hands, holding it up like a picture frame to look at Logan through. “But you loooooove me,” he singsonged.

Logan nodded. “This is true.”

“You’re both nerds and Shakespeare isn’t even that good,” Remus put in, a shit-eating grin on his face.

“I’m divorcing you,” Logan said immediately.

“Noooo, come back!” Remus dramatically grasped at the air as if reaching out from afar for Logan.

“Fine.” Logan shrugged. “Then Roman’s disowning you.”

“Hey, that’s my line!”  

“He can’t disown me, he’d miss me,” Remus said confidently. “Y’all are stuck with me.” He looked very pleased with himself.

There was silence for a beat, then all three of them burst into laughter.

“I’m really glad we’re all friends,” Remus said happily, leaning back and taking another long sip of his drink.

“Yeah,” Roman agreed.

“I don’t know,” Logan said, holding back a smirk. “Sometimes I think about a world where I don’t have to deal with a pair of himbos every day of my life.” He maintained his faux-serious face for all of the three seconds it took both twins to start pelting him with ripped-up blades of grass, then devolved into helpless laughter again.

***

“Patton, you good? You’ve been kind of spaced out all day.”

“Huh?” Patton looked up, blinking through his round gold-rimmed glasses. “Yeah, I’m okay! Just… boy problems, I guess? Which is… it’s new.” He wrinkled his nose for a second in a face of dissatisfaction before smoothing his face back into a smile.

“Oh? Want to talk about it?” Roman asked eagerly, leaning forward and resting his chin in his hands, interest definitely piqued.

“I don’t know…” Patton glanced away. “It’s complicated. And it’s probably not a big deal.”

“Patton. We are friends. The main purpose of friends is gossiping about crushes.” Roman crossed his arms. “I am offended that you would ever doubt my capacity for talking about boys in a gay way.”

“I don’t think that’s the main purpose of friendship,” Patton said, but his smile looked more genuine.

“Shush, I know that, I’m being dramatic. How about a movie night and you can spill the deets in a cozy setting with popcorn? And Logan?”

“I mean… okay,” Patton relented. “It’s probably not as exciting as you’re hoping for, though, I’m sorry.”

“Nonsense. You are perfect and so is everything you do,” Roman said absently, pulling out his phone and FaceTiming Logan.

“Roman! You’re sweet, but you know you shouldn’t go around passing out compliments that should go to you,” Patton said.

“Oh, stop,” Roman said, grinning wide.

Logan picked up on the second ring. “What do you need, Roman?”

“To see your gorgeous face, nerd. Also we’re having a movie night at me and Pat’s, attendance mandatory. Seven works, right? Pat’s having boy problems.”

Logan stared at Roman with a blank face for several beats. “And… you want me there to help… why?” he deadpanned.

“Shut up, you have a nonromantic boy toy, you’re basically qualified to help.”

“Don’t call Remus that! He’s a person, not a—wait, he’s your brother, Roman, that’s worse, that’s so weird—”

“—Anyway, I can more than handle giving Patton plenty of terrible advice on his love life,” Roman interrupted. “You’re there to tell him everything I say is a terrible idea and let me throw popcorn at you. We can watch Big Hero Six. C’mon, it’ll be fun!”

Logan heaved a sigh. “Fine. But you have to put your dad’s curry powder on the popcorn.”

“What kind of man do you take me for, Logan? Of course we’ll have curry popcorn! See you at seven, love you, bye bye.” Roman blew a kiss and hung up.

After his English class, Roman grabbed a burrito from the dining hall and hurried back to the dorm, making it there at half past six. Patton was already back; he made hot chocolate while Roman microwaved popcorn and tossed it in a bowl with curry powder.

At precisely seven o'clock, there was a knock on the door; Roman let Logan in and the three of them climbed into the nest of pillows and blankets Patton had built on the bottom bunk, pushing aside the bi pride flag and the Puerto Rican flag Patton had hung like curtains around his bunk.

“So,” Roman said eagerly as the movie’s opening bot fight began on the laptop screen, turning to Patton and bouncing (Logan grabbed the popcorn bowl out of Roman’s lap as it jostled), “spill!”

Patton squirmed under the attention, a half-hidden smile ghosting its way onto his face. “I don’t know… what should I talk about?”

“What’s he like?” Roman asked. “How do you know him? Is he cute? Have you got his number?”

“Oh, wow—that’s a lot.” Patton giggled nervously.

“Okay, start with is he cute?”

“He’s really cute,” Patton allowed, biting back another smile. “He’s got all these freckles all over his face and neck and hands, and his eyebrows are really expressive—he gets this really serious face when he’s thinking, and it’s… really pretty.”

“Eyes?” Roman demanded. “How are his eyes?”

“I mean, they’re eyes? They’re this kind of greyish blueish color. I don’t know, I try not to stare, especially when he’s looking, you know?”

“Okay, that’s fair,” Roman relented. “What else? Is he fashionable?”

“I—not really, honestly. He mostly just wears longsleeve tees and jeans. Sometimes beanies. He has these really cute yellow converse that he always wears, though. He, like—oh, gosh, I’m not sure how to describe it. He’s not, like, fashionable like you asked, but he—kind of the way he holds himself makes it seem like he is? He wears his clothes well, I think is maybe the phrase.”

Roman nodded. “Alright. Do you know whether or not he’s queer?”

Patton hesitated. “Um… I’m not sure. I don’t know either way. But he was the only one that laughed at a bi pun I made one time, and he wore a pink shirt and yellow belt with faded jeans one time, which I might be reading way too much into but it sure looked like a sneaky pastel pan flag.”

Roman nodded very seriously, taking mental notes. “All good signs. Anything else? Any stickers on his laptop or water bottle? Pins on his backpack?”

Patton shook his head. “They’re, like, super empty. He doesn’t really do anything that tells people about his personality. His outfits are usually really plain, like I said, and everything. It’s weird, because he’s got such a distinct personality, and he really doesn’t seem like someone who’d leave his stuff unpersonalized. It’s like he’s afraid of something, or something.” Patton was silent for a moment, chewing on the inside of his cheek. “But then, he seems kind of nervous around me in general.” He looked away, a worried expression crossing his face.

“Maybe he likes you back?” Roman suggested. “Plenty of people get nervous around their crushes.”

Patton shook his head quickly. “No, I don’t think that’s it. I think I know what the thing worrying him is. I just… don’t know how to talk about it with him.”

“You do realize you’re being super vague here, right?” Roman queried; he couldn’t parse what on earth Patton meant by that, but his curiosity was piqued.

“I know.” Patton bit his lip. “I, um, don’t want to talk about it yet, I think. It’s complicated. I don’t think it would be fair to him to discuss it with others.”

“Oh.” Roman did his best to hide his disappointment. “Okay, that’s fine. How do you know him?”

His attempt to change the subject didn’t seem to ease Patton’s discomfort, based on the way his shoulders drew up even closer to his ears. “...Kind of from a class we’re in together?” he answered after a long pause. “We’re partners on a group project.”

“Sounds like a meet cute to me,” Roman said, searching again for new lines of questioning that would hopefully not be as upsetting for mysterious and unknown reasons. “What do you like about him?”

Patton lit up. “He’s really sweet, actually. It takes some looking to see it, because he’s got a lot of walls up, but you can tell he’s really thoughtful and observant, and he’s really warming up to me, I think—he’s being much nicer to me than most people, and I’m starting to think he really means it and wants to be nice to me just to be nice, not because he feels like he has to.”

“Well, of course he’d be nice to you, you’re like the sweetest person I’ve met in my life,” Roman said, feeling bewildered by this line of reasoning.

“No, I—oh, nevermind. I was worried he wasn’t genuinely being nice for a while, but I’m really starting to think he means it, is my point. Anyway, he’s really smart—he’s so good at like, you know, synthesizing stuff? He’s really good at finding the information we need and paraphrasing it in a way that works really well for our project. I have such a hard time wording things how I want, you know? So it’s awesome that he can do that so well. And he’s good at puns, too! He tries not to laugh, but he scrunches his nose up and gets really red cheeks so you can always tell, it’s really cute. And one time I was trying to explain to our professor he was wrong about something, but I was kind of having trouble getting my point across, the teacher didn’t seem to get it, and he just spoke up and pointed out exactly where the misunderstanding was. It was really nice and reassuring of him. He just seems really protective of people he cares about, you know?”

“He sounds great, Pat!” Roman agreed.

Patton nodded, giving an excited little wiggle.

The brief silence was broken by a quiet crunching noise. Roman looked to his other side to see Logan, eyes fixed on the movie, who had worked their way through a solid third of the popcorn.

“Oh, you fiend!” Roman cried, seizing the popcorn bowl back since he was sitting in the middle.

“What?” Logan defended himself exasperatedly. “You two seemed to be handling that just fine! I like this movie! Neither of you asked for the popcorn back! What did I do?”

“...Okay, technically nothing,” Roman admitted after considering this defense and finding it to be unfortunately solid and covering all of Logan’s bases. God, they knew him too well. “But we are supposed to be doing this as a group.”

Logan rolled his eyes. “Fine. Patton, he’s probably queer. You should ask him out and see what happens. Happy now?”

“Wh—how are you saying that with such confidence?” Roman demanded.

“Which part?”

“That he’s queer. I agree Patton should definitely ask him out at the first opportunity, we just hadn’t gotten to that yet.”

“I mean, I can’t say for sure, but being the only person in a classroom to react to a queer joke is pretty telling.” Logan shrugged. “Any other relevant details?”

Patton shrugged. “I don’t know. Janus—that’s the guy—he doesn’t talk about himself very much—”

“Hold on, Janus?” Logan interrupted. “Lanky white guy? Constantly acts like he’s just swallowed a lemon? Kind of a twink? Looks incredibly uncomfortable in his own skin? Growing his hair out?”

“Yeah, that sounds about right,” Patton admitted. “You could maybe be nicer about him, though.”

“I’m sure I could,” Logan said, seeming unconcerned. “Yeah, I know him. He’s queer, I’m pretty sure he’s compatible with you. No idea if he’d be interested, or frankly what you see in him, but go for it.”

“Wh—how do you know him?” Roman demanded. “I feel left out now!”

“We met at the Aspec—at a pride center identity group. Also he’s Remus’s roommate’s best friend. They’re practically attached at the hip. I’m surprised you haven’t met him yet, with how much you hang out over there lately.”

Virgil had a best friend? A best friend here, at college? That was news. Surprisingly unpleasant news—Roman wasn’t quite sure why. It wasn’t like he disliked Virgil to the point of not wanting them to have friends! Of course not! Frankly, he was glad to hear the tiny emo had a social life. It just kind of stung that this was the first time he was hearing about someone evidently so important to Virgil. And not even from hir own mouth. He’d kind of thought they were closer than that. That he’d have learned basic facts about what and who was important to Virgil by now. Learning otherwise was a remarkably unpleasant experience.

Logan took another handful of popcorn out of the bowl in Roman’s hands, startling Roman out of his thoughts.

“Stop!” he yelped. “I want some, too!”

“You have more if this bag runs out,” Logan pointed out. “I have some extra popcorn in my dorm too. And you’ve been holding out on me with your curry powder.” He popped another handful into his mouth and crossed his arms.

“If you just asked my parents, you could have some of your own! They’d even give you the recipe! Now share with Patton!” Roman leaned himself and the popcorn bowl away from Logan, trying not to laugh.

“I don’t mind,” Patton put in. “It’s very tasty, but I’m not as attached as Logan is.”

“No, you have to take some, he’s been hogging it,” Roman insisted.

“I don’t mind!” Patton insisted. Roman shoved the bowl in his face, and he relented and took a handful.

“Let Logan have some more now,” Patton said, gently pushing the bowl back into Roman’s lap.

“Thank you,” Logan said primly when Roman relented.

“You’re welcome!” Patton said with an easy smile. The smile fell away after a moment, though, and he looked thoughtful. “I’m not sure about asking Janus out, though,” he said hesitantly.

“Why not?” Roman asked. “You really sound interested in him! What have you got to lose?”

“It’s more complicated than that,” Patton said, worrying the edge of a blanket between his fingers. “I’m not sure if he’d be comfortable with it. I don’t—I don’t know.” He looked away. “I’ll figure it out, I guess.” He looked back at Roman and Logan, forcing a smile onto his face. “Thank you both for the advice, though. And for listening.”

“Patton—” Roman began, concerned.

Patton shook his head. “Let’s just watch the movie now, okay? Really. Thank you. But I’m good for now. Can I have some more popcorn?”

Logan wordlessly held out the bowl and Roman allowed himself to be mostly distracted by Big Hero Six. He felt better when Patton leaned on his shoulder, a genuine smile on his face as he watched Fred goofing around on the screen. Whatever the issue Patton was dealing with was, at least it didn’t seem big enough to keep bothering him after putting it aside.

***

“So,” Remus said with an evil grin.

“Whatever it is, I don’t want to know,” Roman said. They were both sprawled on Remus’s bed, sharing earbuds as Remus swiped through TikTok.

“It’s nothing!” Remus protested.

Roman gave him a suspicious look. Remus’s face was entirely too innocent.

“I was just wondering when you’re going to get your shit together and do something about your crush on Virgil,” Remus said, the evil grin back.

“My what?” Roman did a double take. “I—I don’t have a crush on Virgil, we barely even get along!”

Remus rolled his eyes. “Oh, please. The tension between you two is so high I’m surprised something hasn’t snapped yet. And you definitely have a crush.”

“I do not!” Roman grabbed Remus’s pillow and threw it in his brother’s face. “We’re barely even friends!”

Remus shoved the pillow aside and rested his chin on top of it, making a skeptical face.

“I mean, are they really pretty? Sure. But that’s not a crush,” Roman insisted.

“Mmhm. Okay. So what makes it not a crush?” Remus pressed.

“I—well—” Roman stammered, flustered by the very question.

“Uh-huh.”

“No!” Roman snapped, voice cracking. “I just—that’s a hard question to answer right off the bat! How do you define a crush? It’s just not, okay?”

“I mean, I define crush as, like…” Remus paused. “Huh. Okay. You have a point, or whatever. I guess… a crush is, like—huh. No. Okay. You’re distracting me. I’m teasing you about your crush that you totally do have, we are not veering off topic.”

“I do not have a crush on Virgil! I just want to be his friend! Okay?”

Remus made a skeptical face. “Sure, whatever you say. I’m still going to tease you about it.”

“Oh, whenever you find that third soulmate, I am getting so much revenge.”

“Eh.” Remus shrugged. “Like, go for it, but I dunno if you’ll have that much time to tease me about it before we get together. You know? Like, think about me and Logan.”

“Logan knew you were soulmates for two and a half years before you got togeth—”

“Yeah, because he’s smart, but I didn’t figure it out until thirty minutes before we got together. Or like. Thirty minutes before we started talking about it. You know this.”

Roman crossed his arms. This was unfortunately a very good point; the day Remus had figured out that Logan was one of his soulmates had been a pretty memorable one even for Roman. Logan and the twins had grown up next door to each other, and had been best friends since elementary school. One Saturday morning near the end of their senior year of high school, Remus had bolted upright in bed while Roman was brushing his teeth, blurted out something nigh incomprehensible, and taken off at a sprint; he’d slammed the front door behind himself on his way out and he hadn’t answered any of Roman’s texts for two hours, only to show up by sprinting back into the house and screaming at the top of his lungs “Logan and I are soulmates!”

This had prompted a lot of confused questioning from Roman. He’d learned that yes, Remus and Logan were definitely soulmates; Logan had figured it out in sophomore year but hadn’t said anything; Remus had only just figured it out; yes, Logan was still aromantic; yes, Remus was still allo; no, neither of them felt like either of these facts was an issue; and Remus was very happy.

“We’re going on, like, a date, but platonic,” Remus had announced to him that day, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “I’m really excited, this is so cool! Who’d have thought, right? Logan and me!”

Roman had smiled and tried hard to just be happy for Remus and Logan, and not jealous of them. Particularly about two months later, when they’d made their relationship official and become queerplatonic partners. He was happy for them! He was!

But Remus had never cared that much about finding his soulmates. Roman had. It didn’t feel fair. Remus, who didn’t care, got two soulmates, and one of them was literally his childhood best friend. Roman, who’d been daydreaming about finding his soulmate since he was too little to remember, and had learned just about everything there was to know about how soulbonds worked, seemed to have just the usual one soulmate. His soulbond hadn’t even developed until he was sixteen—admittedly, that was an expected side effect of the puberty blockers he’d been on for a few years before he’d been approved for T, but he was still salty about it. And when his soulbond finally had developed and he’d started tuning into his soulmate’s dreams, they were so creepy! He wasn’t sure he’d had a single souldream so far that wasn’t a nightmare. They ruined his sleep for the night whenever he got one. It was irritating and frustrating and all sorts of bad things; he’d actually cried over it a couple of times, not that anyone but Remus knew.

But as annoying as it was for him, it had to be worse for his poor soulmate—if these nightmares were what was making it through the soulbond, he could only imagine how much worse their nightly sleep must be.

He hoped he’d find them soon. He was ready for a proper romance, thank you very much!

#sanders sides #thomas sanders #thatsthat24 #sanderssidesgiftxchange #prinxiety #moceit #intrulogical #qpr intrulogical #roman sanders #virgil sanders #logan sanders #remus sanders #patton sanders #janus sanders #creativitwins #ts fic #it was always you (falling for me) #intrulosleep #qpr intrulosleep #ts roman #ts virgil #ts remus #ts logan #ts patton #ts janus #my writing #soulmate au #trans roman #trans sides #ace janus

[buysomecheese]

I've had an interest in plants for so long I can't even remember when it started xD

IMMA TELL YOU SOME CUTE MYTHS BECAUSE MY HEART

-theres a myth that says that brown eyes used to shine like the moon, and to hide their charm they were colored by the river of heavens honey

-theres another myth that freckles are dust from heaven strewn across the face (or alternatively, angel kisses)

-A PERSONAL ONE my grandmother told me when i was younger if you ever find a random (single) glitter on you, even though you haven't recently come into contact with it, that it's a fairy kiss

I PUT THIS IN DRAFTS LAST NIGHT AND FORGOT SGHDGS SORRY

Wait I love those all sm sm those are so very cute thank you for sharing!!!

I love love brown eyes sm I feel like they’re quite underrated because they’re always so so pretty

And the freckles one??? Yes absolutely omgs. I’ve always heard of them being like tiny stars and constellations (mainly from my tsukkiyama phase a few years back-)

I hope your grandmother is a great person (as far as old people go, I’m biased against them lmao) because I love that idea about glitter too much

I don’t think I have any cute myths to tell in return rn, I only can think of a few rn and all have to do with romance?

-(mainly fraternal I think?) twins were lovers who died together in a past life, given the opportunity to stay together again? Or like they’ve found each other again? It’s Japanese and we know about it because of Ouran High School Host Club lmao, it goes something along those lines!!

-you own a face resembling whomever you loved most in a past life (“owned” as in like. It’s the face on your body y’know?) so it’s like a whole soulmate business, very much “don’t hate your face because once your soul loved it so intensely”

-ahaha I had another one but I don’t remember sorryyy

Thank you again for the myths we are big fans!!!

#cw caps #‘’I put this in drafts last night and then forgot [keysmash] sorry’’ #actually there’s no ‘’then’’ but uh yea lmao #sunny #myths are super cool #ik a bunch of like versions of Greco-Roman ones #but idk if that’s what we’re going for here lol

[riseandshinelittleblossom]

Hoping for Home Ch. 10.1 - Everything has Changed

Summary: Sixteen years ago Libby Scott was supposed to become Queen of Cordonia, but Fate had other plans. Catch up here.

A/N: As always please let me know if you wish to be added or removed from the tags!

Disclaimer: I don’t own the TRR characters, they own me.

Song Rec  for this Chapter: “Everything has Changed” by Taylor Swift ft. Ed Sheeran

Tags:  @ao719@ritachacha @leelee10898 @fullbeaumonty @emichelle @lodberg @pedudley @blackcoffee85 @drakesensworld @thequeenofcronuts @kingliam2019 @dcbbw  @desireepow-1986 @princessleac1 @dianalend @valtorian-duchess@maxwellisangry @texaskitten30 @bbrandy2002 @burnsoslow

                    Cordonian safe house - 16 years ago

      Libby brought the roll of gauze to her lips, crudely ripping it with her teeth before tucking the end into the makeshift bandage she'd made for Drake.

    "Do you remember the last time I patched you up after a fight?" she asked.

    "How could I forget?" Drake snorted. His eyes grew stormy and his body stiffened as the memory washed over him. 

   "I've got a couple of regrets in life, but punching Tariq after what I saw that night...not one of 'em."

    "We thought out problems were big then."

    "Scott...taking a hit for you was as worth it then as it was tonight."

     Libby's jaw went slack but she corrected it directly. Her fingers were still trembling a bit as she ripped off a piece of medical tape, securing the spot she'd just tucked in. 

     "How's that?" She squeaked through her dry throat.

   "Good as new. You did great."

   "Drake, I owe you my life. If you ever need anything-"

    "Nah, you just owe me a shot. Though, for the record, I prefer whiskey to bullets."

   Libby placed her hand on Drake's knee, brow furrowed.

    "I'm serious, Walker. I've never had a friend that would take a bullet for me. It….it means a lot."

     His eyes snapped to her delicate fingers and she jerked her hand back, embarrassed. 

    "I've always got your back, Scott, no matter the stakes."

    "I know, it's just….I've never...had that...before. I've always just had to, ya know...rely on me." Libby rubbed her knees together awkwardly, eyes fixed on the floor.

    Drake's calloused hand covered hers and she turned her head to look at him. 

    "Not anymore. You can always count on me." 

***************************************

    Valtoria, Cordonia - present day

     "Superfecundation," Hana explained matter-of-factly.

     "It's the fertilization of two ova by the sperm from separate acts of...well you know. It's rare, and usually it just leads to run of the mill fraternal twins since the father is generally the same man.."

      Libby shook her head and stared down at the callused hand she was holding. Sometime during her flood of emotions she'd grabbed hold of Drake's hand and now, she noticed, she was gripping it with white knuckles. 

    "Sorry, Walker." She said softly, loosening her grip but not letting go.

    "S'okay." He replied, patting her forearm.

     "So we're half-siblings?" Emma's eyes were wide, holding her brother's gaze.

   "It would appear so." Liam clarified.

    Olivia shook her head. "Leave it to you, Libby, I swear. Only you could manage such a rare occurrence."

   She chuckled, waving her hand dismissively.

     "Well it's not like she was trying," Maxwell defended.

    "I'm...I'm so sorry. To everyone. Emma, Will...I,"  Libby took a step towards her children, grasping each one by the hand.

     "You don't have to apologize, Mom. Now we know, and that's all I care about." Will answered. He turned to face Maxwell. 

        "So should I call you Dad?" 

     Maxwell's eyes went wide and he exhaled loudly.

     "I'm...okay with that, but I mean it's not a requirement of you aren't...okay with...that."

     Will nodded, "I think I'd like to."

***************************************

Libby rested her elbows on the smooth stone of her balcony rail, staring out into the Valtorian countryside. The wind whipped her long locks across her face obscuring her view, but she didn't seem to notice. Tears played at the edges of her eyes.

     For almost two decades she had  avoided thinking about who had fathered her children. She had done her absolute best to put Cordonia far behind her.

   From the moment she'd stepped off the plane with Drake and Maxwell all those years ago, Cordonia had changed her. Something about this place made her feel reckless. It did then and the longer she was here the more she could feel it now.

     She'd allowed herself to get swept away by it's charm and the trappings of courtly life and something about it all had made her love too freely. 

     She most assuredly was not naive enough to believe that after all this time she was still in love with either Maxwell or Liam - she didn't even know who they were anymore, honestly - and yet she found herself in an all too familiar predicament.

    When Liam was around, her heart would race. Her palms would sweat and she could feel herself getting pulled into him. It was intoxicating, as if she would give her whole self to him if he asked, even knowing she'd regret it the next second.

    Then there was Maxwell. She longed for him. Pined for him like a lost puppy. Just the sight of him across the room made her breathing hitch. It made her head fuzzy and clouded her judgement.

    She would give up her life for him, unequivocally. There was nothing stopping them now from running off into the sunset like they had wanted to years ago, but maybe it was too late for that. 

    Liam was married and she had no idea where Maxwell stood and those were the facts.

    To complicate things further, adult Libby - who should have matured enough to not give in to her every whim - had this thing with Drake. 

    What was that? A thing. She had sought refuge from her life several times with Drake over the last two months, but that's all it was right? A distraction.

    She buried her face in her hands.

   "Fuck your love life, Elizabeth. This isn't about you. It's about your children. Stop acting like a thirteen year old girl at a school dance." She thought.

     "Am I interrupting?" Drake's voice broke Libby from her thoughts and she spun on her heels, her skirt flying around her knees.

     "Jesus, Walker you almost gave me a heart attack."

    Drake snorted, jamming his hands in his pants. "I have been known to have that effect on people." 

    Libby rolled her eyes and turned back to her view.

    "How ya holding up?"

    "I'm okay. It's a lot to digest, but I'm glad that we know, ya know? So many more questions now, though."

He nodded silently, sidling up next to her. 

    "I guess you're gonna stay then? I mean you're out of your mind if you think Liam is gonna let you take Emma out of here now."

     Libby glanced at him. "But you're gonna go back to the states…"

    "That's the plan. I mean I may want to stick around until everyone is settled. Lend a hand where I can."

       "Is it as exhausting as it sounds to feel totally responsible for everyone and everything around you at all times?"

     A brief memory of camping in France washed over her. She had teased Drake, as had the rest of their motley crew, for being so bossy. She had begged him to relax and enjoy the view. 

     She grinned remembering it as he appeared to be relishing the view from her balcony now.

     "You're not funny, Scott." He said it with a straight face, but Libby heard the levity. 

             That evening Emma stood in front of the boutique mirror. As she stared at her reflection with one eyebrow cocked, she smoothed the front of her simple burgundy ball gown. This was her life now, forever. She was a crowned princess. 

     She heard someone from behind her clear their throat and she turned her head. 

    "Hey Abel."

     "Your Majesty," the young man dipped into a bow.

     "Please," the princess rolled her eyes. "Don't you start."

      Abel peered up at her with a wide grin, wiggling his eyebrows. 

      Emma giggled. "Do you think they'll accept me? I mean….I am basically a foreigner...and a bastard. Do you think people will accept me as their future queen?" 

     "Forget that bastard talk. The king won't allow it, I'm sure. You are his daughter, Em. He hasn't stopped smiiling about it since this morning. The people will accept you because their King and Queen accept you."

     Emma sighed. "I thought fitting in at my high school was tough."

      "Knock knock." 

     The pair faced the door to find Bartie and Will sauntering in.

     "Another day another ball, amirite?" Bartie snarked.

     "I suppose we'd better get used to it." Emma concurred. 

    "What's this one for again?" Will asked.

     Abel cleared his throat, "this is the Festival of Lights. Since my parents have been running this duchy in your mother's absence I haven't missed one yet and it's my favorite. Although I'm probably biased."

     "Basically the whole duchy sends off paper lanterns," Bartie explained. "When you let it go you make a wish for your future."

    "But you also must let go of something from your past." Mckenzie finished, rounding the corner. "And speaking of your past….I just heard Dad and Libby talking about a press conference or something tonight. I don't think King Liam wants to wait to tell the world about the results."

    Will looked at his sister who turned away.

    "That doesn't seem very fair. What if we aren't ready for that."

     Emma wiped a nervous tear from her cheek. "Guess we'd better get ready real fast." 

    Will shook his head. "Fuck that."

     He turned, stalking towards the door. 

     "Where are you going?" His sister called.

       "To find my parents. And to have a word with your father."

#hoping for home #hoping for home au #liam x mc #maxwell x mc #drake x mc #princess emma of cordonia #will beaumont of ramsford #riseandshinelittleblossom fic

[awaylaughing]

I was playing around with the girls’ various backgrounds and a few wee HCs for some of them were spawned. There’s smth for each one here, some more or less though. (Pippa has the most tho bc I am. Very biased).

Aurora, Baroness Namaire

- wicked good at poker, she learned from her mother, and went on to teach all her siblings

- has a minor rivalry with one of her baronial neighbour’s wife: in a rare subversion from expectation though it’s centred entirely around creating Revair’s best plum wine, and growing the best northern plums in general. No one has died, been blackmailed, and so far, not one case of arson has occurred. It’s all very atypical.

- was named for her mother’s younger brother, Aurean, who backed the old empire during the coup and was executed for it.

- knows how to patch stucco and fix thatching, skills she’s not had any reason to flex since she was 17.

Michi of Holt

- hates super spicy food, or super spiced food, or even super sweet food – delicate pallet on this one.

- learned to draw because of her third tutor (the first two gave up) who realized that if he let Michi pick the class location and doodle, she learned way better than locking her in a room and yelling at her.

- had a really, really complicated relationship with her maternal grandmother Myrna of Brehna whom she loved, but also resented both for how her grandmother impacted her relationship with her dying mother, and her grandma’s ‘my way or the highway’ approach to teaching Michi etiquette.

- on the note of the Brehnas, Michi is related to Noa via that branch (Myrna’s father is Isador’s paternal grandmother’s brother - making Noa and Michi 4th cousins)

Noa of Hise

- despite the stereotype, much prefers to be decked out in silver (brings out her eyes)

- mildly dyslexic, she spent her childhood doggedly trying to hide her difficulties learned her grandfather, Bantim or “Bonny Tim”, had the thing.

- lived in Wellin for 3 hours after her mother died. Her father insisted they move back, and Noa, worried for his health agreed. Three days in one of Isadore’s brothers made an offhand remark about Blackthorn and Noa alike, and her father walked right out of the parlor and back onto the ship that had brought them to Wellin in the first place, a greatly relieved Noa trailing behind him.

- was terrified of heights when she was a younger, a condition she considered intolerable and thus found her scaling every vertical surface she could find. Cousins or her mother had to got fetch her down a few times, but she largely outgrew it and now she only get queasy very rarely.

Pippa of Corval

- was actually born an fraternal [edit bc I changed my mind] twin, however her sister died after only three days. Corvali traditions wait a week after birth to name children (or, the seventh night, to be more exact), so her sister was never named. Pippa doesn’t have much of an opinion about this, other than joking maybe sharing that space was why she ended up so short (a minor mystery in the family, as her mother’s quite tall and her father wasn’t tall but not really short, either)

- her snake was actually a gag gift to another girl, Mitra who hates snakes. Basically, Pippa cares for Hihissa 9/10 parts of the yeah, and whenever Mitra’s brother visits, Mitra holds her nose and pretends she’s totally been living with this snake for three years.

- looooves rose water sweets. And tea. A scented oils. Basically, smells like a rose garden all the time and aspires to eat one as well.

- had a reputation as a shockingly well behaved child, from the age 2 onward. In truth, she just figured out very, very young that if you agreed with the adults and then did what you wanted in secret, you got praise and could have fun.

- Once wore nothing but saffron dyed clothing for a whole season: it was on a dare by a lady hoping to beggar a rival. Alas for the lady, she did not realize the Pippa’s mother, Roshan, actually owns several acres of saffron fields. Roshan felt supporting her daughter’s flex was worth eating into the profits for a season (but just one).

- named for her aunt, Philippa, her father’s sister who died age 4. In fact, Philippa was meant to be her full first name but her mother never liked it, and so changed it to just be Pippa after Judicael died. A small selection of people do still insist on calling her Philippa however, assuming Pippa to be a familiar nickname.

- (technically her first name is Mehr, but that acts as a sort of generation name for girls in her family, and thus goes unused.)

- No one actually calls her Pip, she just wasn’t going to tell of a Princess so went the most obvious option outside of telling her Pippa is technically a nickname

- semi related to above: astonishes her mother with how much of her personality is a vivid reflection of Judicael’s, despite Pippa being born posthumously to him. The only major difference really is Pippa is more scheming - and from a Corvali perspective, Pippa’s an outright Non-Schemer, so that tells you more about Judicael than it does Pippa.

- lowkey hates wearing shoes, avoids when possible (and thus, pays special attention to her toes haha)

Temperance of Arland

- secretly a fan of adventure novels, especially “gentleman explorer” types. Her supplier is the head chef’s son, who leaves them under a bush in the garden for her to borrow from his rather less restricted collection.

- hates chocolate – cannot stand it in any form

- found out at 12 she was almost named Claudia and sort of wishes that had happened – there’s like 13 “princess Temperance”es in the Arlish royal family history, only two Claudias.

- is a natural blonde, but does secretly lighten her hair. As she grew up, it darkened to near-brown blonde. Temperance lightens it in pseudo-secret, because she’s not supposed to be so vain, despite also having to always be pretty.

- pretty neutral towards Innocent, who is 18 years her junior (she’s 25, having been just this side of 17 for the last Summit)

- in Zinnia’s World State, she’s a Wellish lady, daughter of a Landgravine, and far happier for it (her parents are basically a love match that was also politically astute, so it being recreated in another timeline is not unlikely).

Yaen of Jiyel

- grew up in the far, far south of Jiyel, and has never quite gotten used to the northern seasons in the capital.

- lowkey wanted to run away and be a pirate from ages 5-8, looking back, she’s not sure why she outgrew that particular wish

- would eat lemons like oranges except it makes her teeth feel worryingly weird

- when we say “minor lady” we mean it - the family was only entitled in the last three generations - Loda’s father being the rare true blue meritocracy story, going from poor fisherman’s son to high ranking civil servant in his life. Her mother in comparison didn’t have a title at all - but her family were wealthy merchants, specializing in dyes and fabric. Her stepmother, however, is the daughter of a (3rd rank) Marquis, but with three elder brothers that means very little in the land of titles - even for her step mother’s biological sons.

- the nickname used by her father, mother and older sister, Lian, is bug. For obvious reasons, she did not share this with Ana. Her step-mother could use it - Yaen wouldn’t mind, but doesn’t feel comfortable doing so for the simple reason that she’s a naturally anxious woman.

- it’s an open family secret she’s not actually Loda’s biological daughter, but she doesn’t know who her “real” father is. She’s not exceptionally curious about it however - in part because she doesn’t want to hurt Loda in any way more.

Zinnia of Arland

- is the only MC in my roster outside Pippa to have read the Corval Satires, Constance sent her an annotated collection six months before the Summit. “For research”.

- didn’t see her father once between the age of 1 and 7, spending those 6 years on her mother’s private lands while her mother coalesced and avoided her husband. As such, had very atypically non-stodgy (but by no means improper) childhood than most Arlish princesses (Helah is 100% going to be blamed for Zinnia marrying an Arlish Earl oh the shame)

- frequently broke into Prosper’s nursery growing up, because he was her brother and she wanted him to have as much fun with his big sister as she remembered having with Constance as a child (results: fewer frogs caught, but similar levels of big sister adoration from the younger sibling)

- her rebel streak has always been semi-obvious, usually in her doggedly dressing to her own standards – which usually just meant picking colours not necessarily in season (greatly favours greens and browns, not least because the Princess Dowager, her great aunt Evalina was overheard saying she looked like bog-witch in those colours)

#long post #7kpp #aurora of namaire #michi of holt #noa of hise #pippa of corval #temperance of arland #yaen of jiyel #zinnia of arland #i waffle on if yaen's dad is a total nobody #or a big Somebody #the latter seems dangerous given she's marrying zarad #and the nobody thing checks out if it's like malia's childhood romance or smth #also zinnia totally wants to be a bog witch #rumours say her maternal grandmother was one and zinnia thinks her #grandmother (idk what native term to use for her) #ba maybe since i leaned on the cans being kinda sino-vietnemse? #anyway i need a collective tag for these girls #oh oh #the problem set #yes there we go #anyway this is lowkey a gift to my poor secret santa #hopefully there's smth of interest in here for them

[sarah-wants-to-write]

I Dare You to Love; Part Eight (Star Trek AOS)

Jim and Shari receive a pleasant surprise, and reunite with their mothers on Yorktown. Shari finds closure for the past, and the pair finally starts the rest of their lives together.

~

~

      “Our captain has nerves of steel, doesn’t he?”

      Leonard’s quip earned a giggle from Shari, as two of the nurses picked Jim up off the floor and put him in a chair.

      “In his defense,” she replied “going from expecting one child to expecting two is a bit of a shocker.”

      “Never letting him live down fainting at the news, though,” the good doctor chuckled “ever.”

      “Wouldn’t expect anything less,” Shari nodded, grinning, as Jim came around “though don’t tell me you were all stoic and brave when your ex was pregnant with Joanna.”

      “I can neither confirm nor deny anything.” Leonard declared, face a blank mask, before turning to Jim “Really? Of all the things we’ve faced in this hellhole vacuum, THAT’S what gets you to faint?”

      “Shut up,” Jim grumbled, though he couldn’t help smiling a bit “what did I miss?”

      “Just about to tell you the gender,” Leonard replied, looking back to the ultrasound “well, well, well…looks like fraternal twins for you two. I see a boy and a girl.”

      A boy and girl? Shari looked at the screen with tear-filled eyes, smiling from ear to ear. Turning to her fiancé, she saw Jim was smiling just as wide.

      “Should we tell our moms tonight?” she asked as Leonard finished the exam “or wait until we’re in Yorktown?”

      “Yorktown’s only three weeks away,” Jim replied, looking down at her “we haven’t been able to share anything else with them in person. Let’s let this be the first we do.”

      “Couldn’t agree more.” Shari nodded, letting Jim help her sit up as she took her uniform dress in hand.

      “Been meaning to ask you, kid,” Leonard spoke up, looking at Shari with a curious expression “was your mom Star Fleet?”

      “She is,” Shari replied, looking back at her friend with curiosity “teaches nursing cadets at the Academy.”

      “Hold on,” Leonard paused, and the look on his face was something Shari considered priceless “your mom…is she Brenna Neilson?”

      “I see her reputation still holds up.” Shari laughed, grinning at the shock on his face. Jim couldn’t help his amusement, either. He knew Shari’s mother, and her record. He’d been just as surprised, in the beginning.

      “Commodore Brenna Neilson?!” the emphasis on rank wasn’t lost on either Shari or Jim “damn…your kids are gonna have brass for blood, with their family tree.”

      “Don’t I know it,” Jim chuckled, helping Shari stand once she was dressed again “she’s a hell of an intimidating woman, when she wants to be.”

      “Steadiest nursing hands in the fleet,” Shari agreed, grinning “raised four kids, all officers in their own right.”

      “Break Shari’s heart and the Commodore will kick your ass straight to Kronos, won’t she?” Leonard asked, grinning, as he looked at Jim.

      “Nah,” Jim replied, grinning “she taught Shari how to do that all by herself.”

      “God, I look forward to meeting this woman.”

~

      Three weeks passed quickly, and quietly. The day they’d asked Leonard to be the godfather to their children, Shari and Jim nearly laughed at the dumbstruck look on their friend’s face. He was clearly the only choice, after all.

      “Now there’ll be four Kirks for me to have an aneurysm over,” Leonard had griped, but smiled all the while.

      With Yorktown in sight, Jim and Shari looked forward to the week to come. Correspondence with Commodore Paris had gone well, Jim taking the time to call in his favor and ask her to officiate the wedding. There weren’t many of higher rank at the base, after all, and he’d been on good terms with her since Altamid.

      “It would be my honor, Captain,” Commodore Paris had said in a video call “a welcome change from the routine here, and a reason for all to celebrate. It’s not often two officers find their other halves in one another.”

      “I can’t tell you how much Shari and I appreciate it,” Jim replied, smiling “we wanted to make sure we went through with this before the twins are born.”

      “My congratulations on the good news, Captain,” Paris declared, smiling “you will be a great father, especially with Lieutenant Neilson by your side. Her reputation here was well deserved, when one could sort the truth from the slander.”

      Jim knew exactly what the woman was talking about, and tried not to frown.

      “She’ll be glad to hear you think so highly of her,” he told Paris “should we expect anything else from the troublemakers?”

      “I hope not,” she frowned, before her lips quirked up in a smirk “though her new status and reputation should be more than enough discouragement. If all else fails, I know you to be a good man who will set things right. Just don’t tell me about it. Can’t charge you for what I don’t know about.”

      “Yes, ma’am.”

      Jim knew he liked the Commodore for a reason.

      Docking in Yorktown, making sure everything was all set as it was supposed to be, Jim walked with Shari as everyone disembarked. Asha kept pace right by her side, of course. After she’d become pregnant, Asha never left her human mother’s side. Shari had officially filed the paperwork to adopt the lioness as her own companion, once the mission and her work were done.

      “Lookin’ forward to meeting the in-laws?” Leonard asked, giving Jim a small smirk “how long’s it been since you guys have seen your moms?”

      “Not since the mission started,” Jim replied “I mean, there’s been vid calls and all that.”

      “Been about the same for me,” Shari added “haven’t seen mine since I graduated and was shipped out here.”

      “Gonna get squeezed within an inch of your life, then.” Leonard declared, grinning, as he nodded towards the crowd. Shari and Jim turned to see both of their mothers coming through the crowd.

      “Mom!” Shari called out, smiling, as she ran towards her mother. Jim wasn’t too far behind, grinning when he saw his own mother. Brenna Neilson and Winona Kirk were over the moon at seeing their children again, and Jim nearly choked a little at the hug his mother gave him. Not that he didn’t return it just as fiercely, though, once he had his strength back.

      “How are you two?” Brenna asked, smiling brightly as she put two hands on Shari’s stomach “and how’s little baby Kirk?”

      “Yes, how is our grandchild doing?” Winona added, smiling just as bright. Shari and Jim looked at each other, smiling mischievously, before turning back to their mothers.

      “Your grandson is doing wonderfully.” Shari began, watching the joy on the older women’s faces.

      “As is your granddaughter.” Jim finished, unable to hold back his laughter at their surprise.

      “Twins?” Winona gasped, smiling through happy tears.

      “Jim fainted when we found out.” Shari teased, grinning as their mothers dissolved into giggles. Jim rolled his eyes, smiling still.

      “You’re really never gonna let me live that down, are you?” he asked, crossing his arms as he looked down at Shari with a quirked eyebrow.

      “Never,” she replied, grinning as she stood on her toes to kiss his cheek “my brave captain.”

      “Your father nearly cried when he found out we were pregnant,” Winona reassured him, smiling all the while “getting emotional is a family thing.”

      “Well, now that we’ve got the good news out of the way,” Shari declared “we unfortunately have a meeting to attend, but it’d be great if we could have dinner tonight. Last minute plans for the wedding, and all.”

      “Yes, we still need to figure out what you’ll wear,” Brenna nodded “and no, Jim, you’re not seeing it until the day of.”

      “Wouldn’t dream of it,” Jim replied, smiling “I want to be surprised. Though I know my queen will look stunning in anything.”

      Both women watched as Jim took Shari’s hand in his, lacing their fingers together, and kissed the back of hers.

      “If more men followed your example, Jim Kirk, the galaxy would be a happier place,” Brenna declared, smiling “I’m glad my daughter found you.”

      “As am I,” Jim agreed, smile turning wistful as he looked to Brenna “it’s no exaggeration to say that she saved me.”

      “Well, we should let you get to your meeting with Commodore Paris,” Winona spoke up, giving Shari and Jim each a hug “we’ll see you guys at dinner tonight.”

      “Thanks, mom,” Jim replied, hugging her back tightly “god, I missed you.”

      “As I missed you, sweetheart,” she smiled, looking up at her son after they pulled apart “now go. The Commodore doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

      Both smiling brightly, Shari and Jim bade their mothers farewell, before making their way further into the base. Commodore Paris had asked to meet with them to go over the paperwork right away, so the tedious part of the planning could be over with and let them concentrate on the rest of the planning.

      Making their way to Administration, Jim could feel Shari stiffen up beside him, and looked down in worry.

      “Is everything okay?” he asked, concerned.

      “Yeah,” she replied, distinctly not sounding okay “everything’s fine.”

      Jim followed her line of sight to a small group of officers not too far from them, each of them wearing science division blue. They seemed familiar.

      “That’s them, isn’t it?” he asked, eyes narrowing a bit as he watched them. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shari nod in reply.

      Even after a year, everything that had happened still affected Shari like it had happened just yesterday.

      “Ignore them,” he told her “you are and always have been better.”

      He resolved to talk to his mother, and Brenna, about what was going on. Shari didn’t deserve to feel lesser when their wedding was a week away.

~

      That night, after handling all the paperwork and plans for the ceremony, Jim and Shari met up with their mothers for a nice family dinner. Even though she was at the stage where she had trouble thinking she looked good in anything, Shari had never looked more beautiful, in Jim’s eyes.

      “You’re only saying that because you’re biased.” Shari had teased, smiling up at him as they walked.

      “Well, not only,” He countered, chuckling “But babe, I think we really need to talk about earlier with our moms. Especially yours. She has no idea what happened, does she?”

      “She doesn’t,” Shari replied, shaking her head “I didn’t want her to worry even more.”

      “She needs to know, especially so she can help you on the big day. You don’t deserve to feel anything less than amazing during our wedding.” Jim insisted.

      “And why would she?” the two turned around to see Brenna and Winona, both looking curious and skeptical.

      “Other than hormones?” Shari replied, sighing “we should go inside. I’ll tell you everything then.”

      When they finally had a table at the restaurant, Jim took Shari’s hand in his, offering her a squeeze of encouragement. He knew it was hard for her to talk about.

      As she explained, the story was laid out for Brenna and Winona. When Shari had first been stationed at Yorktown, she’d established herself early on as a potential leader in the fields of zoology and veterinary science. A few that had already been at the station for years had seen the confident woman as a threat, and orchestrated a quiet war of attrition to get Shari out of the station. Rumors, systematically bringing her down so that she was no longer confident in herself, and slander against her working in tandem with the reputation that Admiral Carlson had forced upon her.

     They had aimed for her personally, digging at her insecurities and lack of personal confidence. They knew that undermining her there would leak into her work, without it being traced back to them, and would make her want to request a transfer that much more. She'd been torn down so much that Shari had ended up hating herself and the way she looked for the longest time, but it had all changed after she transferred to the Enterprise.

      Hearing what had happened to her future daughter-in-law, Winona felt herself seething.

      “Why didn’t you ever tell me, sweetheart?” Brenna asked, reaching and putting her hand on Shari’s shoulder.

      “I didn’t want you to worry, what with me being so far from home at that point already,” she replied, smiling for her mother “besides, if you look at it a certain way, it helped me find Jim. If I hadn’t put in to join the Enterprise…”

      “Yes, but still,” Winona declared “those people are still here, and I’ll be damned if they try anything again once they learn you’re on the base.”

      “Hell yes,” Brenna agreed “You’re better than they are, in every way, and I’m not just saying that because you’re my daughter.”

      “Told you I wasn’t the only one who knew that,” Jim whispered to Shari, smiling when she turned and stuck her tongue out at him. His smile dropped when she winced, though, putting a hand on her stomach “what is-“

      He didn’t get a chance to finish before she put his hand on her stomach. Confused, Jim waited, and suddenly, he felt something hit his hand.

      “Oh my god,” he whispered, smiling as he looked to Shari “is this the first…?”

      “If there were some before, they were subtle enough that I wrote them off as something else,” Shari replied, smiling brightly “guess the little ones don’t like it when you tease me!”

      “Hey, your mom teases me just as much,” Jim spoke to her belly, grinning “but I’ll listen to you this time.”

      Their excitement was shared by Brenna and Winona, congratulating their children on feeling the twins’ first kicks. With the positive change in atmosphere, their dinner went by happily, with discussions on the wedding party, and making plans to look for a dress for Shari the next day. Brenna, Winona, and Nyota would go with Shari to help her, and Jim wasn’t allowed to even know where they were going.

      “Taking this a bit far, aren’t you?” Jim teased as they walked out of the restaurant “I already said I would cooperate.”

      “Where’s the fun in life if we can’t tease you a bit?” Shari giggled, and both of their moms agreed wholeheartedly.

      “God help me,” Jim laughed “you three are gonna have way too much fun this week.”

      “You’re damn right!” she declared, grinning from ear to ear.

~

      The next day, Shari left for dress shopping with her mother, future mother in law, and maid of honor. All four women looked forward to the time in the shopping district of the base, and Shari knew exactly what she was looking for. She wanted something simple, with long sleeves, and in silver.

      “Even if I wanted to, I can’t wear my dress greys like this,” she had explained to Uhura “so a silver dress will be the closest I can get. Plus, I just like the color.”

      “Fair enough,” Uhura replied, smiling “I’m sure we’ll find something.”

      Finding something was exactly what they did, hours later after visiting a few shops and taking their time. Shari had insisted that each of the other women look for something to wear to the event, if they wanted to go out of uniform, so they had done that in between looking for her dress. A fun time for all four, and Shari was excited that she’d finally found her dress.

      “By the way,” Uhura spoke up as they left the shop with Shari’s dress in hand “can I join your family? Your mom is an amazing woman!”

      “You’re already like a sister to me,” Shari insisted, looping her arm around Uhura’s as they walked “consider yourself an honorary Neilson.”

      “I humbly accept,” Uhura laughed “now come on, we need to get your dress stowed away.”

~

      It was a few days of arranging and organizing, and Jim and Shari were more than excited that everything was coming together. The rehearsal for the ceremony and dinner were upon them, but Shari had one last thing to give Jim. Sitting on their bed together, getting ready to start the day, she pulled a small box out from their bedside table.

      “Happy birthday, my love,” she declared with a smile, handing him the small box “your mom helped me with this one.”

      “Oh?” Jim smiled, taking the box before leaning down to kiss her cheek “thank you, babe. Want me to open it now?”

      “I wouldn’t hand it to you otherwise!” Shari gently teased “just open it, you silly.”

      He chuckled, taking the lid off the box. Looking inside, Jim’s eyes turned curious as he picked up what was inside.

      “Your mom said you had one like this when you were a kid,” Shari explained “that you wore it all the time.”

      “Yeah,” Jim smiled, holding the leather bracelet up “mom said dad had made it for her, before their wedding.”

      “And she taught me how to do this,” she smiled brightly, watching Jim’s surprise “keep the family tradition alive.”

      “Babe…” he trailed off, smiling softly “how do you do that?”

      “Do what?” Shari replied, giving a somewhat amused look as he pulled her in for a hug.

      “Know exactly what to say and do, to make me smile,” Jim explained, kissing the top of her head “God, I can’t wait to be married to you.”

      “Nor I, you,” she smiled bright, snuggling into his chest “my soul mate, moy korol' volkov.”

      “My soul mate, moya koroleva yaguarov,” Jim replied “man, I’m glad your Russian lessons paid off.”

      “I remember the day Pavel found out you could understand him without a translator,” Shari giggled “his face was priceless.”

      “Especially considering what I caught him saying,” Jim laughed, pulling away to give her a quick kiss “come on, we’ve got paperwork to do, and the ceremony rehearsal to go to. And I may or may not have something planned for the dinner tonight.”

      “You and your surprises,” she gave a fond eye roll “I’ll allow it on the grounds that it’s your birthday.”

      “You better,” he teased “especially since after dinner, I won’t be seeing you until the ceremony. I want to keep the tradition alive, and I’m sure you’ll love my reaction at the altar.”

      “You're such an old fashioned romantic.”

      “One of the many reasons you love me.”

~

      The rehearsal was fun, going through everything they needed to for the ceremony, and the entire time the wedding party joked around. After all, the rehearsal itself was taking a while, so why not have fun with it?

      Shari was having the time of her life with her best friend, mother, and future mother in law, as everyone made their way from the rehearsal to dinner. In a bright blue maxi dress, that had a lace overlay in the same color along with short sleeves and a sweetheart neckline, she felt just as beautiful as Jim said she’d looked that morning.

      She could see Jim ahead, talking animatedly to Leonard and Spock, and smiled happily as she watched him basically orbit the two by walking around them. Her fiancé was an energetic ball of sunshine and it was one of the reasons she loved him.

      She was broken out of her happy reverie by the sound of a strange voice calling her name. Why did it sound so…

      “Neilson!” the voice called again. She turned at the sound, seeing a familiar face approaching.

      “Johnson,” Shari replied, stopping for a moment as the other woman came closer ‘It’s nice to see you. Sorry, but I really don’t have long to talk.”

      “I see you’re as cold as always,” the taller woman declared, smirking a little “somehow managed to find someone who’d knock you up, huh?”

      “Shari?” from the side, she could hear Jim as he approached “is everything okay?”

      “Of course, my love,” she replied, turning to smile at her fiancé as he reached for her hand “just saying hello to an old colleague.”

      “Of course,” Jim nodded, turning to Johnson “sorry, but we’re on a tight schedule. A lot to do before our wedding tomorrow, you know?”

      “Wedding?” Johnson repeated, looking to Shari “you’re getting married to Captain Kirk?”

      “To my soul mate, yes,” Shari replied, smiling “I really should be going. So long.”

      With that, Jim and Shari walked away, arm in arm, joining the rest of the group.

      “Are you alright, sweetheart?” Brenna asked, having seen the whole thing.

      “I’m fine,” Shari declared, smiling for her mother “more than fine. Nothing to worry about.”

      As they continued on their way, Shari looked up at Jim with a sly smile.

      “You didn’t happen to have anything to do with that, did you?” she asked. Jim looked down at her with an amused smile.

      “I wish I had,” he replied “you really held your own back there. Lot more confident than last time.”

      “I guess what you’ve been saying finally sunk in,” Shari smiled, leaning in as he wrapped his arm around her waist “what reason do I have to worry about what these people say about me?”

      “That’s the queen I know and love.”

~

      The next day, Shari was up early and getting ready with her wedding party. They were at the ceremony location, in the bridal suite, as Brenna did her daughter’s hair.

      “I think it’s really sweet, what Jim did last night,” Brenna declared, smiling as she looked over to Winona, who was helping get their dresses ready “your boy is a good man. You raised him well.”

      “He’s been through a lot of pain, but it’s made him kinder,” Winona agreed “he suffered in silence for a long time, but Star Fleet helped him to get through it. Of course, with enlisting, came meeting our beautiful bride here.”

      “And after everything she’s helped him through,” Uhura spoke up, smiling as she looked from where she was doing her own hair “I can honestly say I don’t know what he would have done without her. Especially after the Anchorage.”

      Jim had told his mother in a call, a few days after, about what had happened with Kodos. In an effort to help the healing process and be fully open with his future mother-in-law, he’d told Brenna as well. Brenna had known the basics, as did most who were in Star Fleet at the time, but to know the first hand details from Jim? She knew then and there that she could count on Jim to protect her daughter.

      “Just makes what he did at the rehearsal dinner all the sweeter,” Winona declared, smiling at the blush that rose to Shari’s cheeks at the memory “I didn’t realize my son could be quite so heartfelt and open.”

      Shari smiled at the memory; the moment Jim had stood to toast everyone with small, individual speeches for each group, before turning to Shari. He’d asked her to stand, bringing them both around so everyone could see them, before going down on bended knee to speak to her belly.

      “I wanted to make you two a promise, here and now,” he declared “that you’ll hear again and again; I will never leave you. No matter how far away I go, or how long I’m gone, I will always come home to you. You two, and your mom, are the best that have ever happened in my life, and I will never abandon you.”

      After he finished, Jim had leaned in to press a soft kiss to Shari’s stomach, and she could see the tears in his eyes as he stood up. It was such a soft and tender moment, and she’d heard a few people go ‘awwww’.

      “He’ll be an amazing father,” Shari declared, smiling to Winona after her mother finished with her hair “he learned all he needed to from you, and I know he’s scared that what happened to his dad will happen to him, but I promised him that I would do everything to protect him.”

      “I know you will,” Winona replied, helping Shari to stand as Uhura got the dress ready “now, let’s get you dressed. Your soul mate is waiting for you.”

~

       When asked, later on, what Jim remembered of the wedding ceremony, he would have a few things to tell them. He was nervous for everything to go right, and anxious for things to begin. It was a small ceremony, but a few were streaming it so the rest of the Enterprise crew could watch. It had warmed Jim’s heart to know that everyone was so excited for him and Shari.

       He remembered Shari walking down the aisle, an absolutely radiant picture of beauty in her wedding gown; silver, with an empire waist, long sleeves, and off the shoulder neckline, and her long brown hair pulled back to cascade down her back in loose curls. Everything after that was a blur, including the vows, and Commodore Paris’ words to those gathered.

       When he put the wedding band on her finger, and her onto his, Jim remembered the smile on Shari’s face clearly. She had tears of joy in her eyes, and he could feel his own. To finally be marrying his other half, the mother of his children, had Jim feeling absolutely complete, and full to bursting with sheer joy.

       When Paris pronounced them man and wife, Jim immediately leaned in to kiss Shari, the cheers and applause from the gathered crowd only background noise. A few tears had escaped him, but he didn’t care. Shari was his wife, and he her husband. All was right with the world.

       At the reception, the dinner passed with a lot of laughter and happy conversation, before it was time for their first dance. When they had planned it, the decision for the song was an easy one.

       The acoustic guitar started, Jim holding Shari as close as he could, so there was no space between them. His fingers spread, hand on her upper back, as he held her hand to his heart.

       When I look into your eyes, it's like watching the night sky, or a beautiful sunrise. There's so much they hold.

       Winona and Brenna watched with smiles on their faces as their children danced, swaying slowly. Jim’s eyes were closed, nose in her hair as his lips pressed to her temple. The two seemed in their own little world.

       “Winona,” Brenna whispered “look at Jim.”

       Looking closely, Winona could see the small movement of Jim’s lips, as they danced.

       “Only Jim…” she muttered, smiling. Only her son would sing along to the song for his wife.

~

       That night, as they finally made their way back to their room, Jim was grinning from ear to ear as he carried Shari in his arms. Once they were inside and the door was closed, he put her gently on her feet.

       “Well hello there, Mrs. Kirk.” he quietly declared, smiling softly as he put his hands on her hips.

       “Hello there, Mr. Kirk,” she replied, smiling wider as she looped her arms around his neck “I do believe this is an important night, isn’t it?”

       “I do believe it is,” Jim agreed, leaning in to steal a kiss, before letting his forehead rest against hers “welcome to the first night of the rest of our lives, my Queen.”

       “I can’t wait to get started, my King.”

#star trek fic #star trek aos #kirk fic #james t kirk #star trek kelvin timeline #i dare you to love fic

[bioloby]

Gay Animals Part II: Electric Boogaloo, The Science of Gay, and You

Before I start this article off I’d like to lay a disclaimer: The reason behind why people are queer isn’t very well understood, but all science tries to do is understand the “why” of things and passes no judgment, regardless of the cause. If science said the homosexuality was 100% caused by watching too many cartoons (spoilers: it’s probably not) that information makes you no less you and it shouldn’t affect how you feel about yourself. But, as we will see, homosexuality is not only something incredibly prevalent in the animal kingdom, but is as accepted as any other trait an individual can express.

So, with all that being said, this article will deal with homosexuality, genetics, possible environmental factors, and its possible evolutionary benefits in nonhuman animals. Because the human brain is so much more complex than anything we’ve ever seen, and we still don’t know most of its secrets, it’s important to remember that what might be true for rams, penguins, or even our close relatives like bonobos, is not necessarily the case for humans. Nor should we look at other animals in a human-like manner. For instance, it’s entirely likely that gay animal couples pick up the slack for parents who abandoned their children. We can’t and shouldn’t look at them through a human filter, because it would be impossible to tell if they love each other as human couples (hopefully) do, or if their union is purely survival based. Humans might be the only creatures able to feel love, or it might be more prevalent that we are aware. Whatever the answer, it doesn’t matter here. All I will be doing is going over some of the facts that scientists know, and why this would matter to animals in the wild.

So if any of this makes you uncomfortable, then please skip this post. If you feel I’ve offended you somehow then please DM me and I’ll try to amend this the best I can. Otherwise please click the read more below.

Now homosexuality is kind of ambiguous of a term, and many scientists have conflated it with hermaphroditism, so to avoid confusion I am going to define homosexuality in the animal kingdom in two ways.

Same-sex, long-term courtship.

These are same-sex couples that act towards each other as a heterosexual couple would for at least one mating season.

Homosexual intercourse.

This can last for as long as one night of passion, or be a continuous trait in an individual.

I’m also going to consider bisexual animals on the homosexual spectrum.

PART I: The One With the Genes

Arguably one of the most powerful aspects of biology is evolution, and a key principle in evolution is detrimental traits are less likely to get passed down than traits that make it easier to survive and reproduce. So why is it then that homosexuality, a trait that seemingly provides no advantage to reproduction, is so prevalent not only in individuals but throughout the animal kingdom? If we assume that homosexuality is genetic (and there is good cause to believe that) then shouldn’t that gene cease to be passed down?

Most times the answer is yes, but sometimes if a gene benefits a whole population it will continue, even if some individuals are negatively affected by it. According to one study male homosexuality actually persists because of this very reason, not because it benefits the males, but because it benefits the females. According to the authors, homosexuality is more common in lineages with females who have high androphilic tendencies, that is, a high attraction to males. Now in males, this gene will manifest as a what appears to be homosexuality, but in females this heightened androphilia will manifest as an increased sex drive, making up for the male carriers.

This, of course, does not account for female homosexuality. Nor does it take into account possible environmental factors we’ll get into later. But it is important to highlight how evolution and nature look at traits. Under normal circumstances, unless a trait is highly deleterious (deadly to the individual) there won’t be enough pressure to remove it. But are these genes deleterious anyway? We’ve seen that they may play an important role when not being expressed as homosexuality, but it could play an equally as important role in homosexual animals.

PART II: The One With the Homosexual Helper

Animal preference and motivation are not always the same as it is in people. Swans mate for life. But is that because it makes it easier for them to find a mate in the future, or is it because they can feel a complex emotion like love? It’s impossible to say, so it’s impossible to know why animals do a lot of things. “But goddammit we’re going to try”, science said.

Take the humble penguin. In my last post, I wrote about how gay penguins will frequently “adopt” orphaned eggs and raise them as their own performing all of the same functions as a heterosexual couple would. Why then, waste resources raising something that’s not your own child?

According to Darwin, it’s not just individuals who evolve to protect their lineage, but groups that evolve to protect their species. This is largely the basis for theories on why altruism exists and can be applied here as well. Afterall, a homosexual couple is never going to produce a child, and if an egg or a baby is without a parent the option is left to die the population as a whole will have lost a child. But if a couple unable to conceive their own adopts it, then that is a net gain for the population as a whole. Thus, the population that keeps these genes that reciprocate this kind of altruism is more fit to survive than a population that doesn't. And the adoption phenomenon can often be seen in non-homosexual individuals as well, but it demonstrates a good example of how altruistic genes can help a species grow even at the cost of fitness to the individual.

PART III: The One With the Sexual Leverage

Nature is a fickle mistress, and she does not subscribe to one dogma. Sexuality, while predominantly used for creating the next generation, has been appropriated by many species as a form of leverage, bonding, the assertion of dominance, and even used to take the place of an all-out brawl. So it’s no surprise then that homosexual acts are used in a similar fashion. This is also where the motivating factors of homosexuality moves away from a possible genetic or natural cause and towards as more psychological reason. Take, for instance, the bonobo. This species seems to be functionally bisexual, using sexuality for control rather than attraction. In one instance a bonobo might have sex with their opposite gender for the reason most animals would, to make a baby. In the next instance, that same ape might get into a disagreement with an ape of the same gender. These two apes, instead of fighting, will use sex as a way of diffusing and diverting attention from the disagreement. And yet these two acts of sexual intercourse are entirely unrelated, and likely evolved for those specific scenarios.

And this is true in plenty of other animals as well, dogs will mount other dogs regardless of gender to show dominance. Marmots mount other marmots as a form of bonding. Dolphins will have sex with the same gender for fun, and then sex up the opposite gender for reproduction. The common trend it seems is that animals who are more sexually fluid, or bisexual, leverage their sexuality for personal gain, whether it be bonding, pleasure, or something else. While animals who remain uniquely homosexual have a more positive effect on the population’s fitness as a whole.

PART IV: The Scientific Community and Homosexuality: Do They Know Things? What Do They Know? Let’s Find Out.

Finally, I’d like to conclude with some talk about where scientists think homosexuality falls on the nature/nurture spectrum. Studies have shown identical twins are more likely to both be gay than fraternal twins, meaning that sexuality is almost certainly somewhat controlled by genetics, and this, of course, makes sense based on what we’ve seen and I’ve just talked about. Conversely, there are hormonal, as well as environmental, factors that may also contribute to homosexuality.

While most researchers agree that sexuality is innate, something that develops at an early age, possibly before cognition and doesn’t change throughout one’s lifetime, they are still hard pressed to figure out why. While it is unlikely that parenting has any effect on sexuality, parents can still influence sexuality. Several studies have shown that the each child born in a family line has an increased chance of being homosexual. For instance, the 7th son will be more likely to be gay than the 2nd son, etc. This is suggested to be likely due to prenatal hormones, but the exact reason is yet unknown.

And while homosexuality is innate, homophobia is not. In fact, while it’s likely every species has some homosexual members to it, humans are the only species with homophobic members. Much of what we know about homosexuality is stifled by human biases and irrational fears, something we’ll go over in the last part of this series.

CONCLUSION

So why does knowing the cause of homosexuality matter? Well besides intellectual curiosity, something that science is very fond of, it’s important to have facts. Over the past 50 years, we’ve seen huge leaps in rights for minorities, and that is a change that is still happening. As a society, we’re seeing growing pains. Where many embrace the change towards tolerance with opened arms, either because it affects them directly or because they have empathy for their fellow man, many are resistant to change something that they’ve never seen as broken. So it never hurts to have some objective fact reinforcing a new idea, and where better to get that objectivity than science.

#bioblog #gay animals #gay pride month #homosexuality #animals #before your send me your hate mail #I am asexual and biromantic

[rulystuff]

https://servicemeltdown.com/who-amongst-us-will-stand-on-the-tower/

New Post has been published on https://servicemeltdown.com/who-amongst-us-will-stand-on-the-tower/

WHO AMONGST US WILL STAND ON THE TOWER?

In ancient times, watchmen would stand on a tall stone tower always vigilant to the potential of an approaching danger. The role of the watchman, particularly at harvest time, was important to the survival of a community in agrarian societies. The watchman, in effect an early warning system, was called upon to sound an alarm which could prove crucial in thwarting an attack both from ravenous animals and from malefactors who would rather make off with a neighbor farmer’s fruits and vegetables than to labor and toil in their own fields. In times of war, the role of the watchman was critical in spying potential enemy threats to a town: if a threat appeared, the watchman would blow his horn and the townspeople would rally and prepare for battle. 

In Scripture, the symbolism of the watchman is profound. No less a figure than the 8th century B.C. prophet Isaiah – who prophesied the birth of Christ in Isaiah 7:14 – conveys God’s message to us, “I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest,” Isaiah 62:6. In 21st century America we all have a moral duty to serve as watchmen as the nation is presently besieged by enemy forces both foreign and domestic.

GLOBALIZATION: AN ANTI-DEMOCRATIC NIGHTMARE

The current demagoguery in the hands of globalists takes the ugly form that a citizen who believes in national borders and national priorities cannot be a good citizen – that he is a fascist some claim. We need to be reminded that the American revolution was a nationalist uprising which few would call fascist. The current sophistry in the hands of globalists belies that a citizen who is devoted to his homeland and who places the interests of his nation-state as the top priority can exist, at the same time, with a world view that is tolerant and respectful of those beyond his borders. Furthermore, to be respectful of global interests is not to suggest that those who can afford it should be forced to open their pocketbooks to fix all of the world’s ills. That suggestion is impudent and a sleight-of-hand by globalists whose own personal agendas for control stand to be upended by the rights and privileges of sovereign states. Simply stated, globalism is imperialism in sheep’s clothing. What other conclusion is there to be had when an international organization made up of unelected bureaucrats imposes its will on the citizens of member nations? That supranational organizations such as the United Nations, the European Union, the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Health Organization are anti-democratic is a statement of fact and not of ideology. The globalization conceit held by leaders in and out of government around the world and in the United States should sound an alarm to those who believe in the sanctity of democratic processes. Put simply, globalization and democracy are hardly fraternal twins. Globalists believe that globalization’s ugly side, lower wages, lost jobs, shuttered factories or devastated communities is the result of there not being enough global governance to channel all of the good that derives from globalization. And besides, globalists say, any discomfort is strictly temporary. As Mr. Pascal Lamy, former Director of the World Trade Organization said in a recent address, “The future lies with more globalization, not less…”

AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM IS A TARGET FOR HOSTILE NATIONS

We have witnessed the onslaught visited upon our shores by the Chinese Communist Virus which at last count had extinguished the lives of two-hundred thousand innocent Americans and for which China takes no responsibility despite having its fingerprints all over the heinous act. Meanwhile, China’s propaganda machine is working full-throttle in our schools and universities. Over one hundred Confucius Institutes – incongruously named as Confucius was a man who preached humaneness – are now operating in our country for the ostensible purpose of disseminating Chinese language, history, and cultural instruction. Colleges have taken in huge sums of money over the years from the Communist regime with the proviso that all discussion and instruction toe the Chinese propaganda line. In the end, that means subjects like the human right abuses of over a million Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, or the independence of Taiwan and Tibet are off limits. Only recently did the State Department deem the Institutes propaganda missions which means they will have to adhere to the same restrictions as diplomatic embassies. This action by the United States is welcome news but comes rather belatedly given that Li Changchun, a member of the Politburo, said back in 2009 that the Institutes “are an important part of China’s overseas propaganda set-up.” On the commercial front, China purloins roughly $225 billion, at the low end and as much as $600 billion at the high end, annually in counterfeit goods, pirated software, and theft of trade secrets from the United States. Militarily, America faces a serious threat in the South China Sea where it is being challenged by a territorially aggressive and technologically advanced Chinese Navy. Rogue nations such as North Korea and Iran pose further threats to peace and prosperity led as those regimes are by unbalanced tyrannical dictators.

AMERICA’S DEMOCRATIC VALUES AND BELIEFS ARE UNDER ATTACK FROM WITHIN

The nation has literally been set ablaze by malcontents who would rather settle their philosophical differences not with ballots but with bullets. On the whole, this is the most insidious threat to the democratic ideals of our nation as these forces amount to a fifth-column enemy which has infiltrated our schools, our courts, our churches, all manner of political institutions, and the media. The cultural relativism which now pervades our institutions suggests that no ethical or moral value is superior to any other and so as we see in our contemporary society anything goes:

The teaching of history, language, law, culture and science particularly in the early school grades is now subject to disinformation, myth, and propaganda like never before courtesy of the “knowledge elites” with their own less than charitable axes to grind.

The muzzling both figuratively as well as physically of opposing points of view via the corrosive and regressive practice of “cancel culture” on college campuses renders those institutions little more than very expensive echo chambers.

Looting and rioting is now seen by members of fringe groups such as Black Lives Matter and Antifa as a legitimate compensatory action to right perceived civil wrongs. Sadly, many local political leaders across the nation are either in league with the rioters or choose to look the other way.

Judicial activism which compels judges who feel it their duty to go beyond the law as written and to interpret it as they see fit countermands the judgment of elected legislators and sets up the courts as super-legislatures.

Sermonizing by certain church fathers on the ills of “white privilege,” wealth, and physical fences while abrogating their responsibility to convey the church’s catechism to their flocks does serious disservice to parishioners seeking spiritual and not political guidance.

Proselytizing by political leaders on the Left that Socialism is in the best interest of the nation. These same demagogues, of course, fail to mention that the socialist experiment has only led to environmental despoliation, starvation, the demise of entrepreneurial initiative, and the spread of a welfare mentality. Rest assured, proponents of Socialism are not able to cite one historical antecedent where the egoism and presumed “wisdom” of central know-it-alls were an able substitute for the actions of countless sovereign consumers and producers operating in a free-market society.

The societal maelstrom, if not gradual dissolution, we are experiencing in our nation is fueled first and foremost by media elites who have the power and the means to filter information and package it so that it satisfies their agenda objectives without regards to the truth or fact. The mainstream media monopolies in Los Angeles, New York and Washington set the table for what most unwary Americans consume as unvarnished factual “information.” Not to be outdone, the oligarchs who control social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Google choose what content and what voices they will police so long as they are in keeping with their own preferences and biases.

WE MUST ALL BECOME WATCHMEN ON THE TOWER

The defense of America comes easily to those who are united by the uniquely American principles of liberty, democracy, equality of opportunity, the rule of law, individual choice, and the sanctity of private property. Citizens who fail to grasp these “self-evident” truths owe it to themselves to undertake self-study, if not self-examination, to reaffirm that the American Dream is indeed not a slogan but a unique experiment that can only be realized in our great nation. Now, more than at any other time in our history, Americans need to hone their critical thinking skills so as to question the sources, facts, data, and research thrown at them for the explicit purpose of besmirching the American Dream.

The assaults which threaten the constitutional, cultural, and democratic fabric of America demand that we as citizens stand watch day and night. We must all stand tall on the watch tower and sound the horn so as to rally our fellow citizens as we prepare for battle.

[flameontheotherside]

Do Twin Flames HAVE to look alike?

This is one of those up for debate but also one of those "rules" 🙄 *eye-roll hard* I feel people use just to make themselves feel validated.

Sure, I guess if it helps you sleep at night? 😁

Take regular twins for example. There are identical and fraternal. Then of course hetero and homosexual twin flames....Why can't the same be applied to twin souls or mirrored souls? Because after all...

WE ARE JUST SPIRITUAL BEINGS HAVING A HUMAN EXPERIENCE, DUUUUH!

Twin flames consist of one masculine and one feminine divinity irregardless of gender. Roles can be flipped. Like I'm masculine and Erik is feminine. Shit like that happens. I've seen it in TF circles.

So what you look like shouldn't be the primary focus of twin flames. 🤦🏽‍♀️You have the same fucking spirit or soul. Not the same body! ...Seriously?

There's a lot of "rules" about twin flames I think are just around to make things complicated. I don't think looking alike should be or is a big deal. That's just details along with the other laundry list of bullshit people use.

I may be biased because when I met my TF I no longer believed in twin flames. I didn't obsess over the stupid "signs and symptoms" that basically promote being in abusive relationships. Like stay in a shitty relationship with someone just because they THINK he's their TF. It's kind of sad and I'm glad I dodged that. It's sad also because that person abusing them may just be a soul mate and their real twin flame is waiting around. That blows!

As I'm continuing to learn and grow...

...From, this experience of 3 years so far, I'm ditching also a lot of beliefs about tf that no longer interest me. I know who my tf is. I don't need a list or ask ten fucking "psychics" (also bad, don't ask a million psychics any same question, that's bad juju) who my tf is. I left groups and pages and shit a long time ago. People bog me down and they harbor a lot of drama. My life is complicated enough. I don't need to belong in a group of miserable "twin flames". I've always been kind of a loner

Also it's been proven that over time, when you live with someone, you both tend to sort of look like each other. Assuming you live under the same roof: breathing the same air, eat the same foods and have the same activities. You will eventually start finishing each others sentences and guess whaaaaaat! Because you've been together for soooooo long, you will almost always know how your partner will react to things.

But if it just so happens you and your tf look alike, cool.

If not, that's okay too. At the end of the day, everyone is living their truth. What you and your tf have or don't have is between y'all. It's really nobody's business and...

...What are you trying to prove anyway?

You do realize that everyone IS/HAS a TF, right?... It's just that you might not know who they are yet. There's no special club. We are all special! So why continue to push outlandish bullshit like this?

😘❤ Be safe!

Check out my store where I offer detailed and credible readings. Please note that pricing is subject to change.

Please visit: Twin 🔥 Medium

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧Don’t forget to take a look at Erik’s blog run by his amazing mom Dr Elisa Medhus. Lots of stuff about his afterlife and 💩 at channelingerik.com.

(◕‿◕)♡ Social: Twitter Tumblr Instagram YouTube Facebook

#twin flame separation #twin flame signs #unnecessary #aint nobody got time for that #rant #mini rant #twinflame #twin flame #twinflames #twin flames #channelingerik #channeling erik #erik medhus #medium #mediumship #twin souls #twin spirit #mirrored souls #spirit spouse #ascension #awakening #spiritual journey #spiritual awakening #psychic #psychics #free psychics #tarot readings #tarot readers #free readings #witch

[yeoldontknow]

if your favourite mutuals had children with their biases, how many children do you think they'd have and what gender would they be?? and how many would you have with your bias??

hi cutie anon! ive had this sitting in my box for a bit just because of the amount of time it would take to focus on it. BUT NOW. I HAVE TIME AND AM SO EXCITED. this is really cute. i saw some of my other mutuals doing this too and aw. in every iteration this is adorable.

OK HERE WE GO! putting this under a cut to not clog dashes

@kollectionn and jongdae i think would have two kids, a boy and a girl. if they werent fraternal twins id think theyd have them close to one another, likely 24-36 months apart so they could play together. theyd raise them well and it would be adorable, like cute teasing by the brother to his sister but c would make sure it never goes far. and their daughter is a total, complete daddy’s girl - just. like. her. mother. i imagine he sings them both to sleep and sunshine handles bedtime stories. wow im soft. 

@kpopfanfictrash and jimin would have one child - a daughter. shan i think would probably want another but jimin would be so enamored with his baby girl that hed be like ‘no. you cant duplicate perfection.’ hed probably put her in pigtails and make sure she always has the softest dresses. every trip breeds a whole new stuffed animal and he has to enlist shans expertise in building a castle in the back yard - shan designs and he builds. also horseback lessons come to mind for some reason. just. the cutest little family trio.

@knockknocksoosthere and kyungsoo have two boys. fal really wants a girl at first but the boys are so good and so sweet that she finds she doesnt mind. like their dad, theyre both quiet and bookish, whip smart. one learns to read very quickly and cannot stop speaking. he climbs into the bed to wake fal up and tell her all about how he learned morse code. like fal while the other is worrying if only because he is 4 now, doesnt really speak, but yesterday he programmed the car’s bluetooth so hes probably fine; this boy doesnt have a first word, he has a first sentence. CUTE.

@rudeboywonho and yongguk dont have children but they have three dogs whom they dote on like children. this counts, dont you dare tell me otherwise. lilly is the eldest and she looks after the other puppies. their bed is filled with passionate F*****G and cute doggy cuddles; one of them is named tigger but only because yongguk begged. the other was a christmas gift for nic and was so tiny she fit in the stocking.

@kpopandlock and jongin have a daughter and three dog sons. coulson looks after the baby and the puppies like a proud uncle, and is very worried when the baby cries. nini hums her to sleep while letting coulson stay close to the crib because he is protective and whines if he cant see both of them at the same time. jongin gets very withdrawn on his daughters first day of school but when she comes home, the first thing she says is she missed daddy before launching into stories about her new friends. just like her mother - she is chatty and friendly, and also tells her father about how many dogs she pet on the way to the park. this is nini’s favourite conversation of all time.

@kimnamwho and johnny have three kids, two girls and boy. the house is NOISY but filled with so much laughter. all three of the kids are witty, almost to a fault, but terribly obedient. they have moments of being naughty, but dont receive much discipline because, like their parents, they feel badly if they realize theyve done something wrong or hurt someones feelings. their daughter likes to pick flowers and put them in her fathers hair, while the oldest boy likes to build model cars and hopes to one day be an aeronautical engineer - this will change in one week.

chanyeol and i have one child after a very, very, very long conversation about children as i have spent the better part of my life not wanting any. we have a boy, and my heart literally breaks every time i see him because he has his father’s ears. we may have one child, but we could run a farm with the amount of animals we keep. chanyeol and our son often come home from walks in the woods, or along the creek, with frogs and turtles or rabbits they would like to keep, and i, being precisely the same, never once say no. we are terribly, incandescently happy.

thank you cutie anon! this was fun and ive never been so soft in my entire life.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #110

“there ain’t nothing in my hourglass, just sand from a dead sea, and i made it my weapon.”

How would you spend a day at the beach?  In the water, or taking pictures if I see a good reason to.  I don't like most beach pictures with people everywhere. For you, what is the hardest thing about writing?  Not using the same word fifty times.  My vocabulary is smaller than it once was tbh. If you’ve stayed overnight in a hospital, how did you entertain yourself?  There's no such thing as entertaining yourself in the hospital.  Unless you wanna watch TV, you sleep.  At least in the ER, I don't think I was ever allowed to have even a book.  Maybe different in a non-ER setting, idk. What does it feel like to fall asleep in someone’s arms?  Depends on if you're sitting up or lying down.  Sitting up is just plain uncomfortable if you're trying to sleep.  Lying down, it's comforting if it's not hot. How do you hold/position your pillow while you sleep?  It sits up at a very slight angle.  I'll hug like the corner sometimes. What is a common sleeping position for you?  I essentially always sleep with my lower body almost on my stomach and my upper body mostly on its side. Where was the very first kiss you had with the last person you kissed?  Never initiated a kiss with him nor did I kiss him back (my lips were pursed affff), but w/e.  In my living room and it was fucking awkward. Has anyone seen you kiss the last person you kissed?  Pretty sure no. When is the next time you will kiss someone?  Not at least until March, but I’m not kissing her unless she verbally says she’s fine with it. Has anyone ever been more important to you than a family member?  A family member?  Definitely. Who would you say is your best friend at the moment?  Sara. How long have you two been best friends?  I've referred to her as a best friend since like... the middle of the year? Who are your eight closest friends?  I don't have eight people I'd consider close friends.  I have like four or five. Who is your best friend of the same sex?  Sara. Your best friend of the opposite sex?  Don. Who was your first best friend?  Brianna. Is that person still your best friend?  I haven't talked to her since middle school. Who was the last person you slow danced with at a school dance?  We didn't slow dance because the music was fucking awful lmao. Have you ever been caught texting during class?  I never texted during class. What is the first thing you do when you get on the computer?  I check the RP site I’m the admin of the make sure it hasn’t burned to the ground. What do you mainly watch on YouTube?  Markiplier, Good Mythical Morning, Game Grumps, 8-BitRyan, Timmy Timato (his DIYs are p cool, even for someone who doesn't cook), and while I haven't watched Pewds much lately, still consider myself a fan. Do you sing in the shower?  No. McDonald’s, Burger King, In-n-Out?  I hate Burger King and we don't have In-n-Out here, so McD's. Where’s the best place to eat a romantic dinner? I'm biased towards Olive Garden. Are you a jealous person?  If I am extremely attached to someone, I can be, but I'm definitely not horrible. What’s your state’s weather usually like this time of year?  Incredibly unpredictable. Music artists you listen to: Are they a little or a lot older than you?  Usually, a lot. What’s your mom’s mom’s name?  Cecelia. Have you ever encountered a creepy neighbor?  Oh my god, there was this REALLY creepy old man in my old, tiny neighborhood that legit made me so uncomfortable I wouldn't ride my bike past his house lol. Do you like the foam soap or the liquidy soap?  Liquid. What day did/does your birthday fall on this year?  It was a Sunday. Do you tend to lean towards bright colors or more subtle colors?  Bright. Are you due for a haircut?  No, I got a pretty drastic haircut not even a week ago. Do you know anyone who’s racist?  Finally no longer associate myself with the biggest racist I've ever met.  I know others, though. What about a homophobe?  I know a lot, living where I do. What about a pedophile?  I pray to God Himself I don't know a pedophile because I'd personally wring their neck if I found out. How long ago did you make your current screen name?  WOW.  It's been years.  I'm going to estimate... 2008? What “older” bands do you listen to?  A whoooole lot. Do you like older or newer music better?  I'd say I lean more towards older.  Definitely older bands. Have you ever done “naughty things” in a movie theater?  No, I'm not paying for an expensive ticket to not watch the damn movie. Have you ever had pink eye?  No. How many different bands/artists have you seen live?  One. :< Have you ever had anything pierced that you don’t have now?  Nose, cartilage, tragus, and anti-tragus.  I want them all repierced. Do you have any twins/multiples in your family? Are they identical or fraternal?  I feel like there's one... but idk. Who is the youngest person in your family that you know of?  My one-year-old nephew. Is your mom a good mom?  There is a 0% chance I'd still be alive it it wasn't for her.  And I don't mean that as in the "no shit, she gave birth to me" way. How many houses have you lived in?  Four. Have you ever broken up with someone for someone else? It was one of the many reasons, yes. Have you ever taken a shower with anyone before? Not since I was young with my little sister.  I never plan to as an adult, that'd just be claustrophobic and take longer. Have you ever told someone of the opposite sex “fuck you”? I'm sure I did playfully to Jason at some point once we were at that point in our relationship where I could mean that in a non-serious way, and I've probably done the same to Sam, but otherwise I think I might've seriously to my dad after the divorce. Do you wear your seatbelt in the car? Always. Can you honestly say that you love yourself? Finally. Who was the last person you threw out of your life? My former best friend.  I couldn't tolerate some of her ludicrous beliefs and rude behavior anymore. What kind of things do you post on Tumblr?  My main blog is a Markiplier + R&L t r a s h c a n What is something that a ton of people are obsessed with but you just don’t get the point of?  Game of Thrones.  I watched like two episodes and noped out. How do you typically introduce yourself in online settings? Usually let the person know my name's Brittany but they can call me Ozz. Do you believe in the death penalty? In extreme cases, yes.  Committing certain things, like rape and torture, remove the person's right to live imo. Would you ever get gauged ears? Omg no.  Would look awful on me. Who was or will be the maid of honor/best man in your wedding?  My mom. What dog breed is the cutest ever?  Pugs, probably. Is your current hair color your natural hair color? No. Have you gained more than 5 lbs within the past year?  No, I've actually lost an incredible amount of weight. Have you ever taken a train? Hopefully will in March. Does any accent annoy you?  It's not annoying, but a very heavy southern accent is tough to understand. Do you have a favorite piece of jewelry?  This meerkat necklace my sister got me that I forgot I had!  Plan on wearing it daily now though.

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