#but only because Cleo is very smart and I think they should be close in this au :] | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

votederpycausemufins · 3 years

Text

I said I had another chapter ready. so It's time to post that.

tagging @helleborusangel because they like my writing and @hermitcraftheadcanons since they and their community made the au.

now... with that out of the way, let's recap evo... wait shoot i mean hermitcraft.

“Pixlriffs! Turn on the tv!” Came a voice that followed a door being slammed open.

Pixlriffs turned around in confusion to see Zloy having barged in, panting with his goggles askew. “Zloy? What’s going on?”

“Just turn on the recap channel! Hurry!”

Even more confused, Pixl slowly turned to his tv and turned it on, switching to the channel that showed their recap show. “I thought you didn’t like watching our own shows. It’s not even a regular recap, it’s just going to be a clip show from the livestream. Why are you so-” But he cut himself off. Showing on screen was a countdown to the season eight day one recap. “What? But it hasn’t started. We haven’t recorded anything.”

“I know! I was with a friend and they turned it on and said they didn’t think it had started yet. When I saw the countdown, I ran all the way over here.”

“Do you think they just had a scheduling mistake? We might need to call the broadcasters and have them fix things up.” Pixl suggested, and Zloy shrugged.

“Let’s just make sure that’s the case and see which episode they’re actually showing. For all we know they mixed things up and this is just the season seven, day one.”

“I hope that’s the case.”

The two recapers watched the timer go down. Elsewhere, people were also turned into the episode. Some were pleasantly surprised by the supposed new episode. Others were confused thinking the schedule was wrong. Those who knew the hermits were confused, not having heard the new season was starting yet.

Then finally, the timer reached zero, and a familiar jingle started. And then a voice that was definitely not Pixlriffs spoke the phrase “This week, on Hermitcraft.”

“Wait, what am I doing in the nether? I just joined the world.”

Zloy and Pixl looked at each other at something they had never heard Keralis say. This was a new episode, but one they hadn’t made.

“A new adventure starts in season eight, new places and mobs to explore and see. And also Grumbot and Jrumbot are Hermits now. Welcome to the Hermitcraft recap! The show where no one is where they should be. My name is Toon Noah.”

“I’m Mysterious Goofball, and our writer is Pin Valentine. Today, we’re looking at everyone’s first day on the new season of Hermitcraft.”

The first person, Noah, spoke up again. “In this season, the hermits managed to update all the way to the second half of the caves and cliffs update even though that isn’t possible.” He explained what was going on in this season. “Everyone is scattered across the map and even in other dimensions. Monsters are tough, regen is off, and using chat is out of the question, so surviving is going to be tough.”

“At the very least, they can still respawn, so certain people have chances to escape. Escape what that is? Well, let’s look at what the Hermits have been up to.” Goofball said, sounding so nonchalant about what they were about to talk about.

“Starting with Xisuma, who’s started out in the deep dark. The admin’s helmet has been disabled other than necessary functions. His visor also gives him a little bit of light, so he’s not completely blind. Plus the fact that sculks are bioluminescent. But the warden is too, which has been able to find him a number of times.”

“Also in the caves in Jevin,-” Goofball spoke up again. “-who’s found himself in some lush caves. He’s got glowberries for light and food and the axolotls are pretty friendly. Plus, with enough searching, he was able to find a bit of wood for simple tools.”

“Speaking of wood. Some of the hermits have found themselves in the jungle.” Noah quickly commented before some audio from one of the hermits played along with its clip.

“Helloooo? Anyone around? Impulse? Tango? Hey is that Grian? Nope, just a parrot. Ugh, and here I am without any seeds.”

Goofball spoke up again when the audio finished. “Both Zedaph and Tango are in the same jungle, but the size of the biome as well as the amount of foliage means they haven’t found each other yet. Tango at the very least has started mining, and Zedaph managed to find a jungle temple and has already started on using the redstone from there for a melon farm.”

“How do you even make a farm out of that?”

“It’s Zedaph, what do you expect?”

“Well, as for the last of team ZIT, Impulse had found himself in the middle of a sea temple.” Noah spoke, as the video showed Impulse dealing with being underwater in such a place. “Between drowning and guardians, he hasn’t gotten that far away from his spawn.”

“In other aquatic news-” Goofball said, another clip from the hermits playing.

“If I never see coral again, it’ll be too- wait, is that False? False!”

“-Stress and False are also nearby to each other, both spawning in coral reefs. False was the first to escape, needing to just swim out of her spawn.”

“On the other hand, Stress was completely encased in coral and had to slowly chip herself out of the colorful prison. But by the evening, Stress was able to get to the surface and join False and an island, chopping down trees. They even started a wheat farm. But here’s hoping they don’t have to deal with drowned.”

“While she isn’t a drowned,” Goofball continued from Noah’s comment. “Zombie Cleo started out in a village. Normally, that would be pretty good, but being a zombie…”

“Leave me alone! I’m not going ta kill any villagers! I’m a zombie but I’m not that kind of zombie!”

“She’s been having an issue with the resident iron golem. With a bit of luck, she managed to hole herself up in a house which the golem isn’t going to destroy, but the villagers aren’t the happiest about it.”

Then Noah took over speaking. “From villagers to illagers, Mumbo Jumbo found himself alone in a woodland mansion, making himself the furthest hermit in the overworld.”

“Come on. Almost. Almost!” The video showed Mumbo running before he was killed by a vindicator. “Oh come on!”

After that, Noah continued. “He’s tried and failed many times to try and get out of the mansion, but eventually just started breaking the walls for tools.”

“The illagers aren’t really happy about it, but not like he’ll be going far, so I don’t think he’ll easily lose those tools.”

“Well at least he’s got supplies.” The video transitioned to a mountain top with three figures standing at the peak. “Grian, as well as new hermits Grum and Jrum are currently stuck on the top of a mountain, surrounded by powder snow. It’s pretty lucky that the three of them stuck together.”

“I’m not so sure of that.” Goofball spoke up, sounding a bit frustrated or annoyed. “While Grian tried to fly down for supplies to little success, other than fall damage, he hasn’t managed to die, using some sort of magic.”

“But it looks like the fall damage came in handy for Doc, who’s further down the mountain. He’s having a bit of trouble surrounded by goats, plenty of them being the screaming variety.”

Goofball spoke again, no longer sounding as annoyed. “Yeah, but while hanging out with them, he heard a different kind of scream and did something pretty smart.”

“Wait, what was- is someone close by? It sounded like someone just- wait! The death messages!” He pulled out his communicator and read the messages. “Grian died to fall damage! Grian’s up there!”

“I guess he is the scientist of the group.” Noah spoke, the grin he had on his face audible in his voice. “It makes sense he would be the one to figure things out. But even then, he still can’t easily get down the mountain himself with all the goats messing him up. My guess is he’s really regretting being the goat father last season.”

“Doc isn’t the only one getting familiar with the new wildlife though. Hypno has found himself in a large flower forest that has plenty of mooblooms. He hasn’t been able to kill any of them yet, and there’s only flowers and no grass for him to get seeds from, so while the place seems like it should be easy to survive in, it’s really the opposite.”

“The best idea he’s had so far is following some bees to find their nest and hopefully a tree attached to it. If only he knew he was actually really close to spawn, being the closest to it.”

Goofball took control of the conversation again “Well, that’s not entirely true as three hermits managed to appear at spawn, those three being Joe Hills, VintageBeef, and Etho.” And the three hermits were shown in what looked much more normal than everything else that had been shown so far. “The three of them pretty quickly figured out something was wrong and started to make spawn a safe place, also gathering supplies so they can eventually find the other hermits.”

“Except Etho got a bit ahead of himself.” Noah cut in. “He had a bad run in with some mobs and ended up dying, finding out his respawn is a bit different than others. But at the very least, he managed to find Ren.”

“Ren spawned on a cliff of a ravine. There’s no water at the bottom, and all the blocks in reach are stone, so it’s not the easiest to escape from. Still, with little else to do, Ren started slowly chipping away at the stone to escape the ravine, only to fall when Etho surprised him by suddenly respawning there.”

“Okay, I got through two more pieces of stone. At this rate, I can probably get to dirt before the sun is setting so- Etho- ooooooh!”

“At the very least Ren is respawning just fine,” Noah explained “So the two of them were able to help Ren escape the ravine, so he’s the third person to escape his spawn area.”

“Well, that’s not entirely true.” Goofball started to correct. “Before Etho helped Ren and even before Stress escaped her coral prison, Cub actually escaped the mesa mineshaft he spawned in. It was a little tricky with the cave spiders spawning, but he lucked out with the loot of a chest and was able to get a crafting table and pickaxe out of it.” Cub had found some iron, torches, a few seeds, some bread, and then used the wood of the mineshaft to get him on his feet in terms of survival. “With a few respawns, he took out the spiders and their spawner. He’s able to move around freely, but not wanting to respawn again, his hearts are a bit low, so he’s staying near the mineshaft for shelter.”

“Then, sort of nearby the mesa of course, is the desert, where the last two overworld hermits are.” Noah said, and there was the slightest ruffle of papers, like he was checking a script. “Both XB and Iskall are stuck in the same large desert, trying to find some source of food, water and wood. So far, the best they’ve found are the sticks from dead bushes. Out of the two, XB is doing a bit better since he’s found a cave for some sort of shelter, but Iskall’s much worse off,the sand messing with his one eye.”

“Between the heat, the sand, and my eye, I can’t even tell what’s real anymore. That cactus could be a tree or a town or- nope! It’s actually a creeper!”

And then Noah continued with a transition. “Getting even hotter now, let’s look at the nether. There’s only two hermits there right now, with different struggles to deal with.”

“Keralis is the first and lucked out a bit, landing himself in a warped forest right near a basalt delta, meaning he’s got up to stone tools. Plus, since nether gold ore can be mined with wood tools or better, he’s also got some gold boots to help with any piglins.”

“On the other hand, Welsknight is in a much worse situation. He spawned in a crimson forest and is having plenty of trouble with the hoglins.” And that was emphasized by a clip of Wels being killed by one of the mobs. “He hasn’t gotten too much wood before dying, but at the very least, he secured his spawn just enough he has some room to breathe. And hey, if he makes it out of there, he’s got a fortress nearby. But now to end this off, let’s head to the end.”

“TinfoilChef, or TFC is on the main end island, spawning on an obsidian platform just a few blocks from the edge of the island.” Goofball spoke. “It’s close enough for him to jump, but he still takes fall damage and has to deal with the ender dragon after that.”

“Not to mention the endermen too, which Scar is also having trouble with. He’s stuck on a smallish end island out in the further reaches of the end. There’s an end city nearby, but he doesn’t really have the means to get there. At the very least he’s got food from the chorus plants, but that won’t help too terribly much.”

“And lastly, there’s BdoubleO, who we’ve- who’s been lucky to not die so far being in a special situation.” Though they hadn’t been saying much, both Pixlriffs and Zloy noticed the slight slip up Goofball gave. “He’s currently looping in the end void, teleporting up to the top when he finally gets too low. There’s nothing in sight for him to know that though, so he thinks he’s just falling deeper and deeper. But hopefully he’ll figure it out eventually.”

“Well, that’s everyone, so that pretty much does it for this episode of Ev- Hermitcraft Recap. I was Toon Noah-”

“And I was Mysterious Goofball and our writer was Pin Valentine. If you’d like to see original content made by us, you can find us if you already know where to look.”

“Don’t forget to give this show a good rating and tune in next week for the next episode of Hermitcraft Recap. Thank you all so much for watching and good-Bye~!”

Finally, the screen turned black, signalling the end of the episode. The whole time, Pixl and Zloy had just sat there in shock, watching the episode and not saying anything. The thought of their show being taken over by some new people was scary enough, but the situations the Hermits were now in was so much worse.

Zloy was the first to move, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He had felt it going off during the episode, but had been too stunned to do anything. Apparently, he had missed multiple calls and texts about what had happened with the episode, who had been put in charge, what was with the hermits, and more related to the whole situation.

“We need to see someone about this.” Pixlriffs said, in a similar situation with looking at his phone. “Make sure people know we have no connection to this and hopefully also see if the studio knows who recorded this. I would also like to say that this is all fake, but…”

“Yeah, that footage looked way too real. I think the Hermits are actually in a lot of trouble right now.”

“Then let’s do something about it.”

97 notes · View notes

yuvon-writes-letters · 3 years

Text

To whoever reads this...

Hi! My name’s (crossed out and scribbled over) whoops, call me Yuvon. Our mutual hacker friend would be upset if I gave out my real name, even in a format like this, ahaha.

Well, no. Not upset. Just disappointed. Which is worse, really, what with the whole

Ugh. I’m sorry. Apparently, my ability to ramble about everything but what’s important when I’m nervous carries over to physical mail.

Anyhow… like I said. Call me Yuvon. Or some nickname, if you like, I don’t mind. I’m writing this because I have a small issue. First, some background: yeah, I’m that chick who supposedly kidnapped a girl I’d never met before from across an ocean, somehow. No, it really doesn’t make sense to me either. Water under the bridge, though, it’s whatever. If you’re the person who should be reading this, I think you have an idea of who the real kidnapper is, or at least as much of an idea as I do.

Now. Onto the fun bit. I sorta freaked out a bit after that video of Jessy and Thomas getting away from the MWAF, like most sane people. So, once they got to one of their homes (I didn’t think it’d be smart to ask which they went to) I talked to the both of them. Everyone was shaken, but ultimately alright. I was so proud of Jessy, actually, given everything she’s had to go through rece

Anyhow. So. Everything settled down, and I finally let out one of the biggest sighs of relief of my life. We weren’t out of the metaphorical woods yet, sure, but Jessy and Thomas were fine, Jake was fine, Cleo and Lilly were fine, Phil was in jail but not actively dying, Dan was acting a little weird but fine, (this section is crossed out so violently that there’s a tear in the paper)

And now I’m in this… I don’t really know? There are dark woods all around, but there’s one of those invisible barrier thingies (good job Englishing Yuvon -_- ) like in RPGs and other free-roam-ish games which keeps me from actually wandering very far into them. Then again, I haven’t tried feeling around the edges yet… hmm. I tried climbing, and I did actually get close to the top of a tree, but it was just trees everywhere as far as the eyes could see when I got up there. Then I came down the hard way.

Side note, injuries don’t actually happen here, apparently. I should’ve at least broken my wrist in that fall, but instead it just feels like a bruise with the ambition to be a broken bone, but can only manage it on the pain level rather than the permanence or functionality level. Only issue is, it’s my left wrist, and I’m left-handed. So, sorry if my handwriting’s illegible, I guess.

I also don’t really seem to need to eat or drink, since I think I’ve been here over a day without food or water and been fine. Or maybe it just feels like one, I don’t know. There’s no day or night here, my internal clock is screaming at my poor brain right now.

“So, if you’re trapped there, how are you sending me this letter?”

Good not-at-all-invented question, definitely-not-me. Let me tell you the few things I have with me. One, the clothes I was wearing since I was plopped in here, obviously. Two, my phone. Three, a pen and an (unsharpened!) pencil. The pencil is completely useless, by the way. When I say unsharpened, I mean came out of the factory unsharpened. End is completely flat.

Four, what so far seems to be an endless supply of paper and envelopes.

Five, a little note. Summarized, it said, “Write a letter, put it in an envelope, and someone going through the same Duskwood case as you (but maybe a little different) will see it. Maybe someone might even send you a response, maybe.”

Paraphrasing, but you get my point.

So that’s what I’m doing. Writing a small letter and sending it off into the aether in hopes that literally anything will happen. My hopes aren’t high. I’m pretty sure the note was a lie, anyhow.

Anyhow, if you read this… send me something. Anything. Or don’t, it’s fine, I didn’t mean to pressure you or anything. If you’re really like me, that means you get enough of that already, right?

—Yuvon

(When you finish reading, a paper clip materializes on the page.)

#duskwood letter game #duskwood #duskwood game #duskwood everbyte #duskwood ep8 spoilers #duskwood episode 8 #yuvon writes letters

22 notes · View notes

jungledubs-archive · 3 years

Text

Sy’s Helsmits Masterpost

Figured it would be handy to have a list of all of my Helsmits, not just for y’all, but for me as well! Feel free to send asks about these guys, and check out this series on Ao3 for fics involving them. Not every Hermit is present yet--this list will be updated when/if new Helsmits are added. Some entries are much less detailed than others and that’s because I got lazy, sorry.

Evil Xisuma // Caesar Tag: #Caesarvoid

Nicknamed as such because he’s the ‘leader’ of Helscraft and everybody hates him (and later because he was banned on the Ides of March). This nickname is barely used--he prefers to be known as Evil Xisuma, though after being stuck in Hermitcraft for a while and going through a bit of a redemption arc (the devil went down to georgia on Ao3, may or may not be continued but the events are canon to the timeline), he does adopt it as his proper name to avoid confusion. Caesar is obsessed with taking over Hermitcraft and getting rid of their Xisuma so that he can be the only one. His base, when he finally arrives in Helscraft Season 7, is in a ravine.

Evil Scar // Harvey, BadTimes Tag: #Harvey BadTimes

Originally nicknamed BadTimesWithScar, ‘Harvey’ was a nickname that sprung out of too many stupid pronunciations of ‘Scar’ (Rye said ‘Scarvey’, Trip suggested ‘Harvey’, and it stuck). He’s an ender dragon hybrid and second of the three Hermitcraft-obsessed Helsmits. He was originally more mild-mannered, but after his first encounter with his Hermitcraft counterpart went sour, he’s sworn to tear up everything Scar holds dear. Harvey has a furious rivalry with Buck, which escalated after Harvey was accidentally responsible for Trip losing an eye (upside-down and backwards on Ao3). His base is a volcano with a fortress on the inside, inspired by the home of Smaug in The Hobbit.

Evil Welsknight // Bruce, Helsknight Tag: #Bruce Helsknight

Technically named after Robert the Bruce, his nickname was chosen for him by the other Helsmits because they thought Helsknight was silly (and also got confusing with them all being from Helscraft). He’s third on the hierarchy of ‘obsessed with Hermitcraft’ after Caesar and Harvey, though is less focused on taking over Hermitcraft and getting rid of his counterpart and more on being as much of an inconvenience to Wels as possible. He mostly keeps to himself in Helscraft, too focused on his work with portals, and he’s a bit of a dork and the epitome of ‘you did the work wrong but somehow got the right answer’. He’s semi-allied with some of the other Helsmits, though mostly just for redstone components. His base is a Nether-themed castle, complete with lava moat and confusing maze-like layout. He is very jealous of anybody who has magic or hybrid powers, as he does not.

Evil Mumbo // Balderdash Tag: #Balderdash

He chose his own nickname and is rather proud of it. Balderdash is very closely allied with Charleston, with whom he owns BD&C LTD. and all the associated businesses, including their anything-for-hire service Boon Boom. He’s proud, smart, and snarky, and often refuses to admit his own faults. He couldn’t care less about going to Hermitcraft, and even when he and Charlie accidentally end up there (an unexpected encounter on Ao3), they have no desire to take over the server or get rid of their counterparts. His base is an underground ‘city of gold’, themed around ancient architecture, with futuristic laboratories hidden inside.

Evil Tango // Charleston Tek, Charlie Tag: #Charleston Tek

His name was given to him by Spector and initially rejected, but after he realized it could be shortened, he adopted it proudly. Charlie is the other half of BD&C LTD. and partner to Balderdash, with whom he causes an immense amount of problems. He’s argumentative, spiteful, and equally as smart as Balderdash, though they both claim to be the more intelligent one. His weapon of choice is a crossbow loaded with fireworks. His right shoulder and part of his neck and cheek is covered with a burn scar, which he acquired after an accident with one of Balderdash’s machines and a fire charge. Charlie’s base is an early 1900s-themed city, with his main home being inside an animation studio inspired by Bendy and the Ink Machine.

Evil Grian // Rye, Ryan Tag: #Rye

His nickname was forced upon him by Reckless, who thought it was hilarious, and it quickly caught on, despite his protests. A couple of the other Helsmits call him Ryan, but it’s always with a nod and a wink. Rye is a phantom hybrid and a prankster, though most of his jokes involve destroying something or being otherwise mean. He enjoys spreading rumours about the other Helsmits and starting conflicts. Rye’s base is a skyscraper made to look deliberately dark and gloomy, and he often jokes that it’s a cliche supervillain office and plays into that by sometimes forcing the other Helsmits to meet him on the top floor where he does his best Godfather impression.

Evil Cub // Buck Tag: #Buckfan135

Named Buck after a term used for deer, he’s an ender dragon hybrid and close ally to Trip. His base is a viking village with dragon motifs in a tundra biome. He absolutely hates Harvey and will do anything to try to prove that Harvey is up to no good. Buck’s fairly reclusive and cold, but he can be helpful when he wants to be.

Evil Bdubs // Trip Tag: #Btripleo100

He’s missing an eye after spending multiple days trapped in a death loop created by Harvey (upside-down and backwards on Ao3), but that hasn’t put a damper on his upbeat, belligerent personality. He hardly ever sleeps, though, as he’s always faced with nightmares of his repeated death. His base is a medieval-style dungeon which is sometimes used as such by allied Helsmits.

Evil Doc // Spector, The Inspector Tag: #Spectorm77

Spector, short for Inspector, is half-enderman half-machine and has a flair for the dramatic. Everything is a game with Spector, as he’s always agreeable but forces the other Helsmits to complete annoying tasks, riddles, and treasure hunts to gain his full cooperation. Nobody’s quite sure what his base actually is, because it’s hidden behind a maze of glass that has yet to be penetrated by wit or TNT.

Evil Iskall // Fiver Tag: #58Iskall

Once a human on the quest for efficiency, Fiver is now more redstone and metal than flesh and blood. He’s always upgrading himself and never has time for any of the other Helsmits, though he’s tentatively allied with Doug and Spector. His base is a giant laboratory filled with deadly traps and surrounded by a minefield, which is slowly being taken over by plants as the building falls into neglect despite Fiver’s near-constant use of it.

Evil Ren // Doug Tag: #Ramdoug

Part-wolf, part-ram, part-human, Doug’s a living contradiction and revels in it. He’s truly a wolf in sheep’s clothing and swings wildly from being friendly and agreeable to infuriating all the other Helsmits with his destructive and murderous antics. He lives in a snowy mountain biome with a base themed around the fictional planet of Hoth, plus a half-destroyed Death Star built into the base of the mountain for good measure.

Evil Impulse // Reckless Tag: #RecklessSV

Sly, cheeky, resourceful, and self-centred, Reckless can never hold an ally for long, because he’s always stabbing them in the back. His base stretches deep below the ocean in an inverted pyramid, accessible through a controlled whirlpool. Reckless is aptly-named, for despite his claims that all of his plans are premeditated and thought-over, he spends less time thinking and more time double- and triple-crossing the other Helsmits.

Evil Zedaph // Damon Tag: #DamonPlays

Damon lives in a cliffside lair filled to the brim with strange machines and contraptions, accessible only through a series of nonsensical puzzles--though these puzzles are often simply destroyed by the other Helsmits should they need to get in. He’s friends with Doug and Trip and certainly one of the more popular Helsmits, despite his affinity for flinging them into walls with slime block launchers.

Evil Cleo // Effie, Nefertiti Tag: #ZombieEffie

ZombieEffie is a bit of a misnomer--she’s not a zombie, she controls the zombies. Effie is a necromancer, complete with sinister skull mask, and lives in a dark and spooky village filled with hybrid cryptid monstrosities that she’s created. She has a strange friendship with Reckless, though the two are not allies--they betray each other too much to actually do business together, but they respect each other enough to be considered friends.

Evil Stress // Penny, Pensive Tag: #Pensivecreature101

Penny is another reclusive Helsmit, spending most of her time in her sprawling End-themed base. Her name is also incorrect, because though she doesn’t interact with the other Helsmits much, when she does, it always deteriorates into an argument very quickly.

Evil False // Claire, True Tag: #ClaireSymmetry

Claire, or True, is an outstanding entrepreneur and successful business owner, spending most of her time negotiating deals with or between the other Helsmits. Her home is an industrial sky base above the ocean, from which she plots her next ventures. She’s had an alliance with almost every Helsmit at some point, most of them presently as well.

Evil Keralis // Idris Tag: #Idris

Idris is a sour-tempered man, always difficult and annoyed by something-or-other. His base is farm-themed and rightfully so, because he has enough farms there to sustain himself and possibly the entire rest of the server if they had to. He gets along with Buck and Fiver.

37 notes · View notes

hermits-that-craft · 4 years

Text

Forgetting and Leaving - Part Three

This is the final part to the short story! It’s been a wild ride :D - this part is 4747 words long (perfect planning lol). Once again : Stuck au is owned by the wonderful @target-block! Go check them out!

before i forget again: this is not cannon to ray’s au!

Wels’ dreams weren’t all that different. Sleeping for months will do that to a person, and though Wels’ doesn’t entirely mind the repetitive dreams, the knight has to admit that they’re getting old. Not that he’d ever complain - he came to an agreement with Cub after the first month that they could swap at any time. No, Wels waves goodbye to Cub, letting the man think that his dreams aren’t predictable, letting him leave Wels alone in season six again. He isn’t mad, he offered this to Xisuma, to the hermits. He knows that this power of his is the only thing that he can trust in this empty world, so as he walks back to his base he lets his mind wander to what Cub told him about season seven. How is Iskall going to collect the amount of leaves he’s going to need for the tree? How will Cub make the inside of the pyramid? Are Etho, Beef, xB and Hypno adapting well to the change? Did the other hermits tell them why they moved to season seven?

Cub wouldn’t answer his questions about it, so Wels assumes that he doesn’t know.

He worries for Doc and Scar. Cub didn’t have to say it, but Wels knows that they blame themselves. Of course they do - even though no one blames them. It’s in the twos nature. Wels is glad that Scar chose a place with a lot of hermits, and he’s even more glad that Doc has Bdubs, even if Cub says that they have been fighting. Doc needs someone with him, to remind him that it isn't his fault.

Wels finds his bed, sinking down into the soft bed sheets. He knows that he could spend the month elsewhere, in someone else's base, all he would have to do is leave a sign. He doesn't. Wels lets himself fall into the bed, the same dreams repeating in his head.

---

Evil Xisuma yelps as the gravel blocks update halfway through his walk. They should have updates minutes ago, sending him down into the cave when he first arrived at the edge of the gravel. His body screams and he pulls out a healing potion, taking a swig.

"You alright Ex?" Impulse - Orchid, now - calls down to him.

"Peachy." Ex lies, struggling to stand up. Orchid glides down to him, hitting the floor hard. "You alright?"

"This world has started to glitch too." Orchid, Impulse, whatever, mumbles to himself. "Why can't we ever find a world that isn't glitched?"

"I'm sure you will, eventually." Evil Xisuma says, "It'll be lonely here without you."

"What? We're going to go to the next update, not a different smp. Sorry Ex, you've been with us for years now. You're stuck with us." Grian, Rose, Poultry Man smirks. "We're not leaving you behind."

"I'm not allowed to go to the next update." Ex says plainly. Ren/Daisy offers him a hand, helping him up. Glowing white eyes stare at them from the edge of the cave. "I've told you a million times - I can't go through the update."

"I could help you go through. I won't be able to meet you all in that world, though." Herobrine says. "I can meet you all in the next one though."

"Why? Why can't you meet us in the next world?" Daisy frowns.

"Don't worry about it." Herobrine gives Evil Xisuma a knowing smile, as though he knows exactly why Evil Xisuma can't go to season six. "I'm sure you'll find more people in the update."

Evil Xisuma pales, panic seizing his throat. Xisuma doesn't want him back, that much is clear. Why would Herobrine send him back if he knew that?

---

Scar sits on the top of Larry, acutely aware of Xisuma watching him in the distance. He's tired of being watched, but there isn't much he can do to stop Xisuma from doing that. It'll only make Xisuma think that he's planning something.

So Scar watches the sunset, letting his body relax, letting him look tired from behind but not so tired that it's clear he's faking it. Scar's gotten better at lying, or maybe Xisuma has gotten worse at telling the difference, because as Scar stands and yawns Xisuma doesn't do anything. Scar turns, seeing Xisuma on the top of one of his trees.

Caught red handed.

Scar grins, waving at Xisuma, who flies down to Scar. Xisuma lands, nearly falling off of Larry. Scar helps him up, and he notices how tired Xisuma looks. Scar knows that he can't look better, but it's still worrying.

"Did you come for a reason or are you just admiring my build?" Scar asks playfully, ignoring the invasion of privacy, the bags under Xisuma's eyes.

"Oh, uh." Xisuma struggles to come up with a decent answer, and Scar sighs.

"Long day? I know my side of the jungle is relaxing, you should take some of the magical crystals I made - free of charge. Get some rest, X." Scar feels performative, like he's lying to the admin.

"You look like you need sleep as well." Xisuma dodges the request.

"You have a spare inventory in your eye bags. Go sleep," Scar takes a breath in, the humid night air doing nothing to calm his nerves. "You can't be a good admin if you're going to fall over constantly."

Xisuma blinks, his shoulders slumping. "I didn't think you could notice."

"X, if you say that Doc and I shouldn't blame ourselves for the hippies disappearing, then you shouldn't blame yourself." Scar takes Xisuma's hands in his own. "Let yourself rest, or you'll end up under constant watch as well. Trust me, it isn't fun."

Xisuma frowns, his mouth opening and closing under the mask before he nods, taking off into the skies.

Scar will have to work fast to get out, before Cub arrives to make sure he's asleep.

---

Orchid watches as Daisy and Rose make last minute preparations before they leave. Daisy looks upset at the idea of leaving the netherboard base, though he still doesn't understand how Daisy knew what the netherboard is. Orchid watches as Ex lands with Herobrine, a look of fear on his face as the cryptid tells him about what will happen as they cross the barrier. Orchid doubts that Ex has never gone through an update, but he doesn't blame Herobrine for going over the exact method that Ex would be traveling, given just how panicked the poor man looks.

Daisy and Rose leave the building, smiling at Orchid, who just sighs.

"Maybe the next world will be nearly abandoned as well so you don't have to go mining, Orchid." Rose suggests, making Orchid smile.

"Maybe you'll know how to work the farms too!" He suggests to Daisy, who gives Orchid a sad smile.

"I don't want to leave here. I'm not sure why. It feels," Daisy struggles for a word, "like home. Like I've been here before."

"I know." Orchid nods as Ex leads them towards the end portal, still talking to Herobrine about something. The two men seem almost nervous about letting the Hippies know what is being said.

The hippies?

Where did Orchid hear that before? Who told him that? Why does he remember someone calling them that? Why can't he remember what they sounded like? Why can he only think 'green' when he tries to remember them?

"Orchid?" Daisy asks, his hand on Orchid's back. Orchid clutches his head in his hands, pain blooming behind his eyes, a wither rose against his forehead. "Orchid!"

"Ren?" Orchid - Impulse? - Orchid mumbles. "It hurts."

"Orchid, take some deep breaths in, does anyone have a regen potion?" Grian - Rose - G̷ria̷n̕R̢os̵e calls out. Orchid tries to take some breaths in, tries to breath. It hurts, it hurts so much. Someone strong picks him up and begins to walk, something is pressed against his lips.

Something makes him black out.

---

Stress paces around her base, Bdubs and Cub standing nervously in her door frame. She had truly believed that Scar and Doc were making progress, that they hadn't been bottling up their emotions like - like before. She will have to sit down and talk to the two men once they get them back, but it's clear that isn't the main problem there.

"Hey guys." False says plainly, landing in the skull. Cleo exits Stress' portal, waving at the group. "I guess we're finding the area 77 boys again?"

"We can't lose more people to time travel."

"Where's Xisuma?" Cleo asks, looking around the room. "Please tell me someone got Xisuma."

"He's coming." Cub says. "I told Keralis, we've been trying to get a hold of X for too long."

"Too long?"

"A minute." Bdubs says plainly. "A minute too long - We need to go looking for them now, before they do something stupid."

"Are we late? Shishwammy was asleep." Keralis' voice echoes around the room as he and Xisuma walk towards the group.

"Sorry guys, Scar said that I looked tired." Xisuma rubs the back of his neck, his helmet under his arm. The bags under his eyes go on for seemingly miles. Xisuma looks dead, like a breeze would send him flying.

"He isn't wrong. You need to shleep." Bdubs smiles, though there's clear sadness and guilt in his eyes.

Stress takes a deep breath in, turning to face the wall. She has to come up with a plan, and soon. A hand touches her shoulder gently and she nearly jumps out of her skin, looking up at Cleo. The zombie smiles at Stress, who blinks back tears. A plan. Planning. Stress is smart - surely she can think of something.

"Xisuma, can you find their coordinates?" Stress asks, not looking away from Cleo, who smiles at Stress.

"I can do you one better - I can teleport us there."

---

"Is he going to be alright?" Rose asks Herobrine as they run to the portal, glitching blocks serve as the only things left that proves that they were even there to begin with.

"Of course, Orchid is very resilient." Herobrine says, standing on the edge of the end portal. Rose freezes, trying to calm his breathing. "Are you alright Rose?"

"Fine. We need to go now." Rose swallows, but he makes no effort to cross into the end. Daisy sighs, pushing Rose and Ex into the portal. Herobrine sends him a slight glare and Daisy smiles brightly.

"It made them go, didn't it?"

Herobrine laughs, pushing Daisy into the portal before jumping in with Orchid.

---

Scar and Doc sit, talking around a campfire. Doc throws some quartz into the fire occasionally, listening to Scar as the short man explains his plans for a mega base.

"I'm worried about it being too much, you know?" Scar says, finally relaxed. No one is watching him from a distance, just Doc. "I mean, it is a giant drill."

"That could work in your favour though," Doc points out helpfully, drawing the drill into the dirt. "You could fit a lot of farms into there, it'd keep you busy, and it would show up well on a map. Very clear and obvious."

"Still, I do like working on a block by block radius. I mean, detailing is easy in the micro, macro detailing can get repetitive." Scar frowns. "I don't want anything to look like I've just copied one side to the other."

"But, on the other hand, you are going for an industrial feel. A side could go undetailed."

"I want a divorce. I can't believe you would say something like that!" Scar throws a marshmallow at Doc, hitting him in the face. Doc gasps, catching the marshmallow before popping it in his mouth.

"Do you think that you could get the marshmallow into my mouth?" Doc asks, smiling at Scar.

"I bet I can!" Scar boasts, throwing a new marshmallow at Doc. Doc opens his mouth, diving to catch the marshmallow. He catches it, landing on his side. The two men burst out laughing, Scar clutching his sides as he looks at Doc. Doc lies on the ground, trying to save face with a victorious look, which only spurs on Scar's laughter.

The laughter doesn't last long, a branch snapping in the distance. Despite the calmness of the Taiga forest so far, Doc steps in front of Scar, his sword out and ready to fight any mobs that come their way. Doc doesn't even notice the protective stance, though Scar does, and Scar rolls his eyes, standing up himself. He turns towards the noise, his sword out.

Two people stand, hidden poorly in the bushes. Blonde and orange hair making them stand out against the dark forest. Scar frowns, poking Doc's side and pointing towards the two women. False and Cleo stand out in the forest like concrete in a rustic build.

"False, Cleo, you two can come out." Scar yells, rolling his eyes. "You aren't slick, it's obvious that you're here."

The two women jump up, surprise written across their faces. False has her sword out, an angry look in her eyes. Cleo's eyes only tell surprise, though Scar can't tell if she's genuinely surprised or just hiding it well.

"Did you think that we wouldn't notice? Can't have five minutes privacy on the hermitcraft server to talk to a friend." Scar doesn't understand why he's so mad, why he's decided now is the time to say something about it. Cleo and False aren't even the people who normally stalk him and Doc, but Scar can't stop the train of anger that he set off. "We aren't fools, we know that if we go to find them we'll be stuck there. Stop treating us like we're stupid."

"Scar," Doc warns him, sending Scar a confused look. "False and Cleo aren't-"

"They were hiding in the bushes, Doc. They were sent here. It's obvious. The hermits don't trust us." Scar sends False and Cleo a look that pins the two girls down. Ignored Vex magic screams. "Why else would they be here."

"Scar, calm down." Doc commands, his hand on Scar's arm. "It's not their fault."

Scar rips his arm out of Doc's hand and takes some rockets out of his inventory, taking off into the night air without another word. Doc is right, of course, but Xisuma, Bdubs, Stress and Keralis suddenly being in the small clearing that he and Doc had cleared only serves to make Scar more angry.

He spent so much time spawn proofing the area. Xisuma is sure to rip it out now.

---

The sleeping man doesn't stir. Not as four new people arrive on his server. Not as the people cry as they struggle to remember where they are, what the place that seems so familiar is called. Why it is familiar. No, the sleeping knight doesn't stir, not even as the evil version of one of his closest friends leads the three men towards the shopping district. He doesn't stir as the winged man struggles to explain the playful, joking hatred he has towards concorp. He doesn't stir as the man with short brown hair checks a bookstore called I-trade for money. No, the knight doesn't even stir as the werewolf breaks down in front of the stock exchange, unable to know the sense of mourning that he has for the building. It's been four years.

The sleeping man doesn't rouse, not as the lost hippies and the evil clone make their way towards hermitville, their sense screaming that it is necessary, though they don't know why. The knight turns onto his back, but he doesn't move as the lost ones exit the portal. His breathing deepens as they walk towards his castle. He doesn't wake as they find him, sleeping like the dead. He doesn't rouse as they scream. He doesn't feel the werewolf's hands on his shoulders, trying to shake him awake. He doesn't stir as the ex watcher tries to use magic to find his name.

His eyes blink awake as Evil Xisuma asks him to wake up, using his name.

---

Rose jumps back as the sleeping knight throws his arms around Daisy, sobbing into the man's shoulder. Daisy wraps himself into the hug, sobbing onto the knight's shoulder.

"You're back. You're all back, you came back." The knight says, and something clicks in Rose's - No. Something clicks in Grian's mind. Memories come back in waves, washing over Grian. Tears slip down his face as Wels pulls him into a hug, holding him and Impulse and Ren. Wels wipes the tears from Grian's eyes before pulling him into a tight hug, chanting 'you came back' over and over.

It's too good to be true.

Grian is home.

"Where is Tango?" Impulse suddenly gasps. "Zedaph? Where are they? They must be so worried I can't believe I forgot them!"

"You forgot?"

"I, uh," Impulse frowns, racking his brain to find the memory. It's one that he remembered before Wels woke up, but it's buried itself under the newly unlocked memories. "I might have killed a watcher who cursed us on their dying breath."

"IMPULSE!" Wels snaps, looking at said man with a wide grin. "That's the best thing I've ever heard."

"How did the curse break then?" Ren mumbles, wiping his face with the palm of his hand. "They said that we'd never remember."

"Herobrine said that you all would remember once Wels woke up." Evil Xisuma, Ex, says gently. "I guess it's my time to go now."

"No." Ren says, taking Evil Xisuma's hand. "You're stuck with us. You don't get to leave now, you're stuck with us and Xisuma can deal with it. You're a hippie bro now."

"Bring it in Evil X." Wels says, offering a hug to the clone. "I'll message Cub in the morning, then we can all go to the next season. But you have to explain Herobrine to me."

"Oh he's my Dad."

"Impulse you can't just say things like that."

---

Cub lands behind Scar, who sits on the edge of a cliff overlooking the hermiatic sea. Scar clearly notices the man, his body tensing and his shoulders shaking, but he doesn't move to say anything.

"Scar," Cub takes a deep breath in, not knowing where to start. "You should have told us, we could have-"

"Save your breath." Scar mumbles, standing. "You wouldn't have changed anything. You aren't going to change anything. Just, just take me to your base or wherever Xisuma wants me. I want this day to be over."

“Scar,” Cub takes Scar’s hand, stopping the shorter hermit from walking any further. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for not trusting you, I’m sorry for treating you and Doc like glass. We shouldn’t have, I shouldn’t have. You’re my best friend, I should have trusted you more.”

Scar turns to Cub, and Cub finally sees Scar’s face. Tear’s stain his cheeks and his eyes hold no anger, just tired acceptance. Scar pulls Cub into a hug, and the two vex men hold onto each other until the sun rises, apologising and talking, telling each other how they feel. Cub falls asleep at some point, still holding onto Scar.

“Now, as much as this is a sight for sore eyes.” Joe says, a dog licking Cub’s face until he wakes up. “I’d rather you two didn’t fall asleep where I want to put my lighthouse.”

Scar rubs his eyes, sitting up. Cub checks his communicator, not expecting anything other than a few angry messages from some very worried hermits.

Welsknight: Cub, I need you back ASAP Welsknight: They’re back.

“The hippies have woken up Wels.” Cub mumbles, a wide grin on his face. “Wels has the hippies!”

Scar’s face goes slack before he also grins, taking the communicator from Cub’s hands. Joe and Scar read the messages before Scar jumps up, whooping in joy, falling off the cliff and into the ocean.

“Go get them, Cub.” Joe says, pushing Cub’s back. “Go get the hippies back.”

---

Grian doesn’t know why he’s so nervous. It’s just Cub, and Wels did explain everything to them last night. Ex seems about as nervous as Grian is, not expecting to be accepted as quickly as the Hippies will be. It’s been four years. It’s painful to stay here.

But he wants to. There are so many things that have been left unfinished.

They won’t come back to season 6. Grian never wants to looks at a quartz block again.

"We have to go to the netherhub." Wels says, gently touching Grian's back. "You alright?"

"There's so much we didn't finish." Grian mumbles, pulling his brown sweater closer to him. "This wasn't supposed to happen, we were supposed to come back."

"It's not your fault." Ren says, smiling sadly. "We're going back home now."

"But here is home."

"No, home is where we are." Impulse pushes Grian's side, ruffling the hippie's hair. "Home is where the hermits are."

"Yeah." Grian smiles wistfully. "I'm going to prank Mumbo and Iskall. I'll fill their bases with flowers and chickens."

"I'll set up a base close to Doc. Keep an eye on him." Ren smiles. "I can't wait to see him again."

"Speak for yourselves, Tango and Zed aren't going to let me set up a base unless they can see it." Despite Impulse's words, he sounds happy, as though he can't wait for that to happen.

"How about you, Ex?" Grian asks, turning to the clone. "What are you going to do?"

"Apologise to Xisuma and then find somewhere to live, I guess." Ex smiles. "Away from flowers, I hate flowers."

"Why do you hate flowers?" Wels asks, smiling quietly.

"He's scared of them."

"Impulse please stop." Ex groans. "You can't keep saying things, I can never leave this place. You've killed me, I'm dead."

"Good."

"Impulse!" Wels protests, pushing the man. "Stop it, he's going to end up looking like a tomato."

"Ha, sucked in Exy!" Grian laughs as they follow Wels through the portal. The heat of the nether doesn't stop the group from joking, Grian and Ren pushing Impulse around while Wels and Evil Xisuma lead the group forward. They all glide down to the giant map, Impulse pushing Grian off the ledge as Cub exits the main portal.

He doesn't look real, not to Grian. Three of the four years that the hippies were missing he didn't remember Cub, and of the first year he was more focused on survival than he was on the hermits that they accidentally left behind. But Cub is here, his beard sporting a few white strands of hair, and his face has worry lines where there was uncreased skin before. He's lost his usual scientist get up, a gaudy pharaoh's outfit adorning his skin, and his more tan than he was before they were lost. But he's here, Cub is taking them home.

Tears roll down Cub's face as he approaches, gently tapping the hippies as though he can't believe that they're back. He steps back, looking over to Wels and Evil Xisuma with a gleeful look on his face before Grian wraps him into a hug. He smells like sand and ocean and grass and home, and tears spring to Grian’s eyes. Impulse and Ren wrap themselves around Cub and Grian, joining in the hug. Wels joins the hug as Impulse pulls Evil Xisuma into the hug as well.

They’re going home.

---

The hermits stand nervously around spawn, shuffling on their feet. No one was prepared for Cub to leave in the morning, and besides from Joe and Scar, no one knows why he left. Joe called a meeting - Mandatory, emergency : You Must Not Miss This type meeting, though he refuses to say anything about why he called it.

The meeting did give Xisuma, Stress, Bdubs, False and Cleo enough time to apologise to Scar, though Joe had to force it out of them. Scar and Joe stand apart, hopeful smiles written on their faces. The sun ducks behind a cloud as Scar whispers the reason the meeting was called into Doc’s ear, and Doc picks Scar up, swinging him into a hug. No one is told why they are so happy, though Joe’s hopeful grin turns into a large smile.

Cubfan135 joined the server Welsknight joined the server Grian joined the server ImpulseSV joined the server Rendog joined the server EvilXisuma joined the server

---

Mumbo stares at Grian, noticing all the small differences between Past Grian and Current Grian. His hair is longer, his eyes are tired, he looks the same but different, freckles and tans and small cuts litter his face. There’s a burn on his lower hand, hidden under the sleeves of his coat. His coat is brown, and he’s wearing a black t shirt under it. There’s a rose around his wrist.

But the way that he smiles, the way he stands. That’s Grian, that’s his best friend.

Mumbo pulls Grian into a hug, barely able to form words. He notices Iskall, hugging Grian tight as well. They’re safe. They’re back. Grian’s back.

---

Doc puts Scar down, walking over to Ren with an incredulous look on his face. Ren’s hair is long, tied back in a ponytail, with a blue dress shirt on and a daisy around his wrist. There’s stubble on his face and grass stains on his knees.

“I’m not asleep, am I?” Doc asks, breathlessly. He can barely contain the tears that make one of his eyes go blurry. “I better not be dreaming.”

“You aren’t.” Ren punches Doc’s side lightly. “I wouldn’t let you.”

Doc breaks down, crying into Ren’s shoulder as they hug. He knows this isn’t a dream, even if it feels too good to be true. Ren is back, Ren is safe, and he isn’t going to let Ren go until Ren wants out of the hug. He can’t wait to show the werewolf around.

---

“I’m asleep again.” Zedaph mumbles. “I’m asleep and dreaming and I’m going to wake up and Tango will ask if I’m crying.”

“Zed,” Impulse has tears in his eyes. He’s got a black sleeveless shirt on with a brown vest, and a sword lays on his side. He’s a lot more buff, stubble rests where he is normally clean shaven. “Zed I swear, this isn’t a dream.”

“I know,” Tango’s breathless, holding out something to Impulse. “It can’t be a dream, because you have an orchid where you’re meant to have this bracelet.”

Impulse breaks down, falling on his knees as he cries. Zedaph and Tango wrap him into a hug, letting him release the tears that he clearly needed to. The three men hold each other, not letting go. Not even to eat when Joe brings food at lunch, nor when Stress brings soup at dinner. A point of contact remains as they eat and the three men fall asleep at spawn, tangled together. They don’t want to wake up separated.

---

“I’ll leave now.” Evil Xisuma mumbles, shifting uncomfortably as Xisuma watches him. “I know I’ve overstayed my welcome.”

“You haven’t.” Wels brushes off Evil Xisuma’s comments. “You’re the one who brought them back. You’re the one who woke me up. You’re the one who broke their curse. Like Grian said: You’re stuck with us now.”

“Curse?” Xisuma says, frowning. “What curse?”

“Impulse killed a Watcher and was cursed to never remember what's important, and the other hippies got the curse as well.” Evil Xisuma mumbles, careful not to let the other hermits hear. The sun sets and though most of the hermits had left, the hippies and their friends had remained at spawn. Scar and Cub also had stayed, Scar apologising to the hippies for more reasons than any had cared to count. “They didn’t even remember their names when I found them.”

“Thank you.” Xisuma says, smiling. “Thank you for taking care of them.”

“It wasn’t just me!” Evil Xisuma raises his hands. “Impulse got adopted by Herobrine!”

“I never said I was adopted!”

“Impulse I will take away your rights to say things again!” Grian smiles as he looks up from the pictures of Mumbo and Iskall’s megabases.

“Yeah man can we have a nice moment.” Ren laughs, watching the stars with Doc. Tango and Zedaph laugh, cooking marshmallows over an open fire.

“Don’t take his speaking rights away, he still hasn’t told us about his family reunion with his Dad.” Tango laughs, picking up a marshmallow and popping it into his mouth. Xisuma smiles, watching the group.

His family is together again.

124 notes · View notes

mhdiaries · 4 years

Photo

Wave 3 Toralei Stripe Diary

July. Two. Five.

Ooh they’re telling math jokes now...

Q: What do you get if you divide the circumference of a jack-o-lantern by its diameter?

A: Pumpkin Pi!

The math geeks I’m stuck on this bus with think that this is funny. So funny in fact, that the harpy sitting in front of me shoots milk out of her nose when she hears the punch line. I don’t think it’s funny at all. I’d rather be listening to the music I have stored on my iCoffin but two hours into our five-hour ride home my iCoffin gave up the ghost. It should have lasted the whole trip and then some except that one of my math camp roomies “accidentally” unplugged my iCoffin charger last night when she plugged in her fright light. I don’t even know why a ghost needs a fright light. What? Was she afraid she would trip over something and go “bump in the night?” I realized what happened when we woke up this morning but we had to leave first thing so I didn’t have time to put a full charge on it. At least I got enough battery life to block out the two hours dedicated to the singing of “X Number Bottles of Ghoul Juice on the Wall.” To add to the misery the seats on this bus only have room for two monsters and Meowlody and Purrsephone are of course sitting together which left me stuck in a seat next to a troll named Teala who had never been away from her bridge for more than a day until she came to math camp.She cried herself to sleep every night. Not that any other monster but me noticed but then again I notice everything. I also noticed Teala wasn’t laughing at any of the math jokes either. In fact she seemed to be more miserable than I was. Well now, here I was thinking she was missing her bridge but if that were the case why didn’t she seem excited about going home? “Dish,” I said. She turned and looked at me for a moment and then stared back ahead. “Okay - suit yourself then,” I said and then tried to curl up in the seat to take a cat nap which I had almost accomplished when she said; “My boy-fiend broke up with me...by text...the first night of math camp.” She still wasn’t looking at me but she wasn’t crying either. “He was my first real boyfriend and...and I don’t know why I’m telling you ‘cause you don’t seem to care about any monster besides yourself and you’ll probably figure out a way to use this to make me even more miserable.” I didn’t show it, but that really hurt. Just because I enjoy the chaos that a good practical joke brings doesn’t mean that I’m intentionally cruel does it? I don’t think it does and besides; where’s the fun of kicking some monster when they’re already down? It’s a lot more fun to see the surprise on a monster’s face when they think they’ve got it all together and you can “help them” see that they don’t. So I said, “Guess you better tell me the whole story then so I can do a thorough job.” That actually brought a ghost of a smile to her face. Teala told me that her ex boy-fiend was applying to colleges and that he decided he needed to keep his “options open” in case he might meet his “intellectual equal” at school. At first I didn’t believe he actually wrote that and then she showed me the text. “Does he really think he’s that smart,” I asked. She kind of shrugged and said, “He’s scary smart but not as good at math as I am, especially withy differential equations.” She told me he really wanted to get into this one school because his favorite mad scientist taught there. I’d never heard of the school but I knew who the mad scientist was because Mr. Hack made use watch a bunch of his videos in class. The videos were deadly boring but the mad scientist had this odd accent and strange speech pattern. I used to mimic his voice in class to make Mr. Hack jump. I’d wait until Mr. Hack’s back was turned and then scream, “Huhhacckkk - theeese stuuudannts reeelease youuu wuh-ill ah-yuat wa-unce!” It cost me several days in detention and a trip to Headless Headmistress Bloodgood’s office the last time I mimicked the mad scientist but even Mr. Hack admitted he couldn’t tell the difference between the scientist’s voice and my imitation of it. We talked about a few more things and then Teala finally fell asleep. I was able to finally fall asleep as well but not before having to hear another math joke followed by an explosion of milk from the seat in front of me.

July. Two. Eight.

I went to MH today to pick up some pictures I left in the FearBook office. When I was done I went up to the belfry. It’s a good place to keep an eye on things without other eyes watching you. It’s also a good place to take a nap. Usually the hunchback who rings the bells...the bells...works up there but he was on summer vacation in France or somewhere so I had the place to myself; until Spectra came floating through that is. She thinks that she’s very stealthy but it’s almost impossible to sneak up on me and I heard the rattle of her chains long before she actually appeared. I pretended to be asleep for a moment then with my eyes still closed I said, “What do you want Spectra?” “Oh, hello Toralei. Did you hear the news?” Most monsters don’t trust anything they hear from Spectra. I know better. There’s always an element of truth in her “news”. You just need to know how to listen. Here’s an example; Spectra told me she heard that Nefera is moving back to town and will be taking over for Ms. Kindergruber in Home Ick. Not only that but Ms. Kindergruber is also going to quit teaching to become a roadie for her favorite rock and roll band. Now as much fun as it is to imagine Ms. K. climbing stacks of amps while wearing a sleeveless leather vest, bandana and steel toed boots it’s not going to happen. Although when compared to the thought of Nefera actually “lowering herself” to teach, it’s practically a done deal Ms K will be hitting the road. I’m pretty sure out of that confusing jumble of information the one true fact is that Nefera is moving back to town and probably sooner rather than later...now there’s a monster who enjoys kicking some body when it’s down.

July. Three. Zero.

Got an email today from Teala, the troll girl I sat with on the ride home from math camp. Apparently her ex boy-fiend told her that he got a call from the mad scientist he wanted to study under. The scientist told her ex that his test scores indicated a “skuhh-ill weeeakness in diffuhh-wrenntial eeeequay-shunns” and that her ex should find some monster that was intellectually superior and “geeet sah-ummm tuutorr-ing”. Her ex was certain it was the professor since “no monster could fake that voice.” He also apologized to Teala for being an arrogant jerk and asked if she would tutor him in differential equations. Teala told him that she would have to check her schedule. Sometimes it is just purrrecious the way things work out for the beast.

August. One. Three.

I bought a ball of dragon thread today for Sweet Fangs. It’s just about the only material that’s strong enough to survive more than one play session with her. I don’t know what I’m going to do when Sweet Fangs gets bigger because I’m probably going to need the whole dragon and I’m not sure mom and dad are gong to be good with that.

August. Two. Five.

M&P came over today. They’re like my sisters and I can’t imagine how boring unlife would be without them. We do just about everything together and some monsters even think we’re related but we’re not. Not that it matters since we don’t really care what other monsters think anyway. We are who we are and any monster or monsters that want to try and herd us better get ready for a long miserable day. Today we weren’t worried about being herded, today was a brainstorm session. Our mission, repay Cleo de Nile and her minions for not only ruining our perfectly planned graduation prank but also for taking away part of our valuable summer vacation by “arranging” our trip to math camp. Knowing that it was Cleo who got the better of us is almost as irritating as being wet or having my fur stroked the wrong way. I can’t believe that I actually helped her when she first wanted to be a part of the Fear Squad. Cleo didn’t even know how to do a cartwheel, much less a round off. So I took her under my claw and taught her everything I knew and since I’d been doing gymnastics from the time I was a kitten I knew a lot. I finally got Cleo to the point where she started to “get it” and instead of being a liability she started contributing. I figured that for all my hard work and leadership Nefera would make me the Fear Squad captain when she graduated. Only she didn’t - she passed it onto Cleo. I can still remember what Nefera said to me when I confronted her about it. “I didn’t want Cleo to succeed - I wanted her to be humiliated but since you helped her, you get to deal with the consequences.” Then Cleo acted as if she deserved to be the captain and that she automatically knew everything there was to know about leading the Fear Squad. She should have showed some humility and stepped aside. She didn’t so now it’s up to me to teach her some new lessons and I can’t wait for class to be back in session.

August. Three. One.

There’s a meteor shower tonight, which will give us the purrrfect opportunity to practice the three D’s. Divert. Design. Demure. First I divert attention away from myself - although tonight the meteor shower should do that for me, next I design a “surprise” for my intended victim student and then after the unexpected happens I demure - “Oh my, what happened here?” More later...

Ended up scraping the three D’s tonight, mostly because the meteor shower diverted me. I was supposed to meet M&P at this coffee shop down close to the beach - it’s the only time I go to the beach since sand + water + fur = unhappy werecat - but they were late so I grabbed a catnipuccino and waited. The owner turned down the lights of the shop so it was almost dark and then the sky was falling. The ghouls showed up just as somewhere down the beach a monster started playing guitar and I said, “Just because we’ve got nine lives doesn’t mean we need to rush through this one.” And we didn’t.

#monster high #monster high diary #toralei stripe #text post #wave 3

65 notes · View notes

badlydrawndrawnings · 4 years

Text

atwq book four thoughts

guess who somehow got a lot of free time yesterday and made the bold decision to finish reading the last atwq book? me!

guees who feels like they jinxed qwerty’s fate from the previous book of being arrested, but alive, even though i bet daniel handler planned it from the start? still me!

guess who is rather upset netflix accidentally gave a clue/spoiler on the identity of hangfire?

also me.

okay, so first off, to get something out of the way. i love this book. i really do. it had me on suspense every chapter.

theodora figured out qwerty was in vfd (...when did she figure out? not long after sharon reveal herself as a fake vfd member? or during the period she and lemony weren’t speaking to each other?), and god she really was willing to take the blame on being qwerty’s killer. did she think maybe she once again screw up, but this time there was no going back because the screw up got someone killed? after all she seem to selfishly went to break qwerty out for a good evaluation. maybe she thought if things went different, he would still be alive. and given the schism happened, vfd while not divided yet, this is like a sign on how another librarian’s death in the long, long future, will be blame on an innocent party and things go to hell again in the pursuit of justice and truth.

also, ghede and gifford also knew of the coup as well? or at least knew the sbg was doing something and they’re like let them do this shit and we can watch it’s gonna benefit us in the long run’. also, holy shit olaf name drop take two with beatrice herself! i didn’t think while knowing each other young mean they actually hanged out with one another to think they’re possibility friends. this puts the opera night even worse. beatrice must have knew olaf’s parents. with my headcanon of olaf parents being caring parents to olaf and used their connections to get their son back earlier than others, this is just awful.

getting back on track from the mess that is vfd there’s a murder on a train (agatha christie ahoy!). i admit several weeks ago i made the decision to watch snowpiercer and train to busan so i couldn’t really take the murder on the orient express shout out clearly and kept on thinking of the wild willy wonka and the chocolate factory/snow piercer theory. and zombies in south korea.

all the damn sbts kids just thought it great to share the one brain cell to be on the same train (pip and squeak just follow in their taxi; cleo and jake had to travel through time in the dilemma to catch up with them). ornette got her time to shine with her artistic/sculpting skills and there’s some light on the subject of the lost family (of course it’s a fire that took ornette’s mom life. fires seems to be a way to kill a lot of parents). i was right to call her gung-ho working with lemony, she just agreed to make fake bb statues for moxie and kellar and was like ‘oh shit the two are sharing a brain cell. hangfire could figure something is up what have i done’ and had to make something else to give to lemony. i uh..wonder if seth has a reason to draw her baseball cap all...fuzzy. just a weird question.

kellar’s sister lizzie shows up. i’m going to be honest. she has the bad luck of appearing last and under two disguises that went over my head (she sure fooled me!). i do have some thoughts that surround her and the haines family, but that needs me to re-read the last two books to make sure i’m not imagining something . will say lizzie is much younger and shorter than i thought given her first illustration. i hope maybe a re-read will make me get some new insight on her. also, hi sally murphy. i’m glad lizzie got out with maybe your help (i mean, why else would she want to high tail it out of there).

the identity of qwerty’s killer was something i should have seen coming due to how the mitchum parents are more subdue. i want to slap stew’s parents. they spend all their time bickering they only got their shit together to see how their ‘precious’ son is really a bully and killer and working with the villian under their damn noses. i almost feel sorry for them because shit stew more or less blackmail his parents into covering the crime but at the same time...this call could have been avoid if you pay attention to how your son isn’t the angel you think he is..and you two are still fighting with one another please get your priorities straight i beg you. i admit i almost want to slap stew but i don’t slap kids, and i think if i exist in the snicket world i would get murder first by him.

qwerty’s death and the fact he’s a vfd member just hurt me so bad and i’m still kind of grieving over him. for one, i felt like i should have seen qwerty being part of vfd coming. he’s a sub-librarian. while not a sub-sub-librarian, the fact is qwerty is such so damn helpful to lemony i should have seen he was just doing his best to help lemony because theodora wasn’t honestly...wasn’t doing a good job at a chaperone. but he couldn’t blow away his cover because he wasn’t supposed to interfere in the apprenticeship and honestly he was just happy to be a sub-librarian helping children find what they would love reading.

but qwerty isn’t the only death in this book. i got to copy-paste something from an old atwq post in feburary 8, something i made as a joke, because oh boy, this part is the one negative i have honestly.

he tried to pretend to be her father! i know his voice mimicry is basically akin to juni cortez’s mimicry, but this is just cruel had ellington been there.

about a week later, i made the decision to rewatch netflix asoue. now, the first time i watch season two [edit lmao i actually don’t remember if it was season two i think i hated season two so much i could have blur two and three together i got to rewatch the show again definitely. edit two: okay, i’m certain it was season two i’m 98% certain it was was a pause and read easter egg that’s why i couldn’t remember what season exactly damn easter eggs] i honestly was like ‘so they gave nero a last name. coolio. feint isn’t a surname i was expecting but this is the netflix show this probably isn’t canon to the books’.

on the rewatch, after the austere academy part two ended, i realized something is...off, with nero now. he’s mocking people. and his voice, while not mimicking them, is like...it’s like nero could have inherit mimicry from someone but it never went through. or maybe he did got it but it’s not at its full potential without the proper teaching of someone with the skill...like a father, perhaps?

so the kronk meme is playing in my mind, but it’s the edit of him saying ‘oh no, it’s all coming together’. and given patrick warburton also voice kronk, it felt more like lemony snicket decided to materialize right behind me, be an asshole, and thought it funny to do a commentary on my possible realization hangfire, in the netflix show at least, couldn’t keep his dick in his pants and bore a bastard son in an adulterous affair and ellington has a half brother in the world she doesn’t know about and i hope she never learns about.

(given barrymore feint is just a cameo of barry sonnenfeld, i guess the bullshit gene i talked about in another post regarding a theory who netflix!h is should be renamed the feint gene.)

so reading the third book, and especially this book, i kept a close eye on any mentions to ellington’s dad and hangfire’s behavior. i kept on saying in my mind ‘please don’t be who i think you are’. and bam. armstrong feint is hangfire. i feel like if netflix didn’t have the need to make an atwq reference in nero’s surname, and if i was smart enough to have the book clues smack me in the face (i feel there are clues somewhere, and hangfire dropped all pretenses and just being ‘himself’ in book two was one), i wouldn’t be so angry and upset by this reveal. i more or less got spoil and put the pieces together due to an adaptation, and i should have known better than to do a re-watch while reading atwq. i should have consider the possibility of easter eggs to atwq.

anyway, lemony snicket thought it great to kill hangfire by feeding him to a copy bombinating beast (the tadpoles!!). with ellington right freaking there. with most of his sbts friends there to witness. moxie can’t even look lemony in the eye anymore (no more best friends anymore). everything happened just like that and after finishing the book and taking a walk around the living room, i have to say hangfire is a good villain. he achieved his goal of getting the bombinating beast, even if it’s a copy. he’s a very competent villain who succeed in almost every book in some way or form. he played everyone like a puppet and was a threat that is more akin to tmwabbnh and twwhbnb’s level of villainy. kudos to you hangfire i’m impressed.

hangfire totally got it coming too. however, i do feel...hurt in his death, if only for ellington’s sake. during the walk because i realize ellington reminded me of a character from a different fandom i’m in. there’s some differences that i won’t get into (it’s...complicated for the other fandom), but they’re cut from almost the same cloth: teenage girls with shitty fathers who are using them for their own selfish goals. thoughts for ellington and her future formed faster for me than for the other atwq kids as a result:

post-canon!ellington (a few days later when she finally gets her stuff figure out), has a simple list. 1: avoiding anyone with a vfd tattoo or give shady lemon vibes -ellington split asap after she and kit broke out and have 100% certainly no one is after them, but not before stealing some things from kit, one being notes of vfd volunteers (she thinks). 2: find a new place to live. 3: figure out a new name that isn’t an anagram, because the inhumane society once they heard the news, is probably going to try to get her if they get wind she is hangfire’s daughter and possible ‘successor’. ellington wants nothing to do with the bombinating beast. she never wants to see the statue or anything similar, or hear the words again.

adult!ellington (under a fake name of course), while accepting all that happened, hasn’t forgive lemony snicket. yes, her dad was a villain. yes, she finally understand her dad isn’t the kind naturalist and man, and used her for the biggest ‘what’ event of her life that is also a very selfish goal. many times in the past though, ellington wonders if she missed any signs of her dad’s descend to who he eventually became, or if he hid it very well to where he was wearing two masks all this time, one hiding his true nature. ellington even wonders at one point, dad was going convince her to willingly work with him without the fake kidnapping and had to change his plans to something crueler.

ellington will never know for sure. this is why ellington can’t forgive lemony and will say it to face if they ever meet again. what ellington hates the most out of her father’s death is that she can never tell dad all of her feelings about his wrong doings. she can ask all the questions burning at the back of her mind, or yell her frustrations how terrible a father he is for faking his kidnapping and getting her to do his dirty work, getting her to use her loyalty of family to do things she would never do under normal circumstances. she ask questions and yells at the only photo left of armstrong feint...

and in the end, she knows he’ll never answer, and it hurts to deal with the unknown. adult!ellington doesn’t do the yelling and questioning to the photo as much. partly because she did ‘settle’ on what might be an possible answer, but mostly because the photo is pretty faded to where it’s less ‘armstrong feint’ and more ‘hangfire’. once in awhile though, she slips up like old times.

adult!ellington with her new life (she travels a lot, pays in cash most of the time, and has no set resident; she still love coffee) tends to think of the past, especially when it came to what she had with lemony snicket. did lemony like her? was she just a question in need of solving? ellington admits to possibly liking him, but it was so long ago maybe she just thinks she liked him to have a ‘positive’ memory of the boy she haven’t seen in years that she kind of wants to see again, if only to yell at him for robbing her of something important. his name lands on her radar a lot, twice from the daily punctilio. the first one was learning of lemony snicket’s crimes, and it was an accident.

the second time, she learn of his death, though she read the daily punctilio on purpose in hopes of a name drop. adult!ellington ended up finding some children’s book, and made the mistake of going to the back of it and find a photo of lemony snicket. not really though. lemony is hiding his face (ellington hates it) and she buys it to know what it’s about. it spiral to where she bought the next two books because she wants to know if the baudelaires orphans are real (and because lemony doesn’t seem the same anymore from his writings). ellington settles on real when she pulls out kit snicket’s notes she stolen and cross references names, and even travels to the locations to them to make sure. after the third book publication, the series goes on ‘hiatus’ due to the daily punctilio and their announcement. ellington doubts he’s dead, but couldn’t help attend the funeral. ellington is certain lemony snicket is alive, because she convinced she saw him at his own funeral.

#atwq #all the wrong questions #why is this night different from all other nights #ellington feint #hangfire #asoue #a series of unfortunate events #netflix asoue #asoue netflix #lemony snicket #spoilers #this is a text post

15 notes · View notes

ficdirectory · 6 years

Text

Somewhere Inside (Disuphere series #4) Chapter 64

(To listen, click here) - 17:04

For a long time after that, Frankie can’t talk or anything. The anger is too big in her throat. She really wants to throw Dominique’s phone, but she doesn’t.

All of a sudden, Mari’s there in front of her. “You need Sister Time? In private?” she checks.

Frankie nods. She thinks Dominique might be surprised when Francesca doesn’t let go of her hand at all - includes her in sister time.

They go out to the one step thing where Fran and Mari ate donuts one morning when Levi came over all upset from Peanut Butter Cookie, probably. It makes Francesca feel like screaming. All the feelings make her CP side feel extra tight. Walking and balancing are even harder.

Out on the step, Francesca sits down and buries her head in her arms. Mariana asks to hug her and Frankie shakes her head no.

“I need to scream so bad!” Francesca growls in an angry voice. “But I can’t because I don’t wanna make anybody’s trauma worse!”

Dominique leans back and scoots open the sliding door. Calls inside. “Hey, Levi? Is it okay if we sit in your car for a bit?”

Francesca doesn’t understand, but soon Dominique’s back with Levi’s keys and they’re all walking together. Dominique opens the door, and they all get in the back seat together.

“You can scream in here,” Dominique says, like it’s no big deal. “I did earlier. It feels really good.”

Francesca lets out a really tiny scream. It sounds like a little dog yipping, but not like Cleo.

“How mad are you?” Mari asks. “That Moms said that to us?”

Francesca turns hot eyes on Mariana. “Madder than anything in the world.”

“Anyone. You’re a person with feelings, Francesca. It’s okay to feel mad.” Dominique says, gently.

Francesca’s heart’s beating hard. She kicks the seat in front of her. Punches it. Grunts a little.

“Will you scream with me? I’m mad, too,” Mariana says. “Can we be mad together?”

“As loud our madness?” Francesca checks.

“As loud as your madness,” Dominique nods. “I actually might wait for you guys on the step, though. I usually do screaming by myself, in private.”

They wait til Dominique gets out of the car and is far enough away on the step and not watching, because Fran and Mari don’t like people staring. Then, Francesca looks at Mariana. They count together:

“One, two, three…”

And then Francesca lets out the biggest, loudest scream ever. But she’s not alone because Mariana’s screaming her loudest, too. Which is very loud. Francesca’s kicking and punching the seat in front of her, which she is never allowed to do at home, and isn’t so sure she’s allowed to do here, either. But Mari’s not telling her to stop.

They scream for a while longer, until Francesca’s voice is tired. Until she feels small and weak and like screaming won’t make any difference at all. She covers her face.

And tears. And it’s like Francesca might never stop crying.

Mariana whispers again, “Can I hug you?”

This time, Frankie nods into her hands, and she feels Mariana’s arms come around her. She can feel Mariana holding onto her and hear her sniffing loud and breathing shaky and Francesca’s pretty sure Mariana’s crying too.

In a while, Mariana starts talking. “You should be in our family. You should.”

That just makes Francesca cry more. Because when Moms say stuff like that it makes Francesca feel like she should just disappear.

“Do you feel it?” Frankie asks. “Like you shouldn’t be in the family when they say those things?’

“I feel…” Mariana starts, still with a shaking voice. “Like they don’t love me now.”

“That’s the same as I do.” Frankie nods, sniffling. “But I love you now. Before and now. Both.”

“I love you now,” Mariana says, kissing Francesca on the head. “And tomorrow. And forever.”

Francesca thinks back, to the night when Moms had been talking to Mariana outside and she came barging into their room, wrecking, and screaming, and swearing at Francesca.

“That night? Why did you swear at me?” Francesca asks, peeking at her.

Mariana opens her mouth. Closes it.

“I won’t tease you. I promise. I just… Did they...like...say something mean to make you this mad? Only back then? When we couldn’t scream in cars?”

“Yeah,” Mari nods.

“So you wanted me to get out?” Frankie checks.

“Yeah. Like when Elsa gets mad...and she can’t control her powers. I didn’t wanna hurt you. But all I could say was...that.”

“So, you weren’t really mad at me?” Francesca checks.

“No. I was mad at myself. And Moms.” Mariana explains.

“Felt like everybody was mad at me that night…” Francesca confesses. “I felt really sad. And lonely.”

“I wasn’t...I just...couldn’t. When there’s strong emotions? Words are harder.” Mariana says.

“When I was having strong feelings, my CP felt extra tight,” Francesca confesses. “Walking was harder.”

“So, yeah, kinda like that.” Mariana nods.

Francesca takes a deep breath but it doesn’t work because her nose is stuffy and plus all she smells is Levi’s car. She opens the door to breathe some real air. She gets out of the car and waits for Mari to get out too. They walk back to the step where Dominique is together.

“Look,” Francesca offers, showing her hands. “I didn’t do it.”

Dominique opens her arms. Francesca goes into them. “I am so proud of you, babe. That was some tough coping you did. I can tell that coping muscle’s getting big and strong.”

“It’s still hard,” Francesca admits. Sitting on the step between Dominique and Mariana. “Mari and me? We don’t wanna go back. Right, Mari?” she checks.

“Try never,” Mariana scoffs.

“I’m sorry, guys,” Dominique says. “I wish you didn’t have to ever go back.”

“Mariana, you scream the loudest,” Francesca points out, admiring.

“Thank you?” Mari asks, smiling a little.

“What can I say except you’re welcome!” Francesca sings, like Maui. It makes them laugh.

“I did get an idea while I was sitting here. For something we can do at Feelings Time.”

Francesca doesn’t think she can wait to find out Dominique’s idea, but it turns out she can. Because they can go back inside right then, they all agree.

“Levi, I did your coping thing,” Francesca tells him.

“Yeah? How was it?” he asks.

“Good. I kinda hit your seat and kicked it, though. Sorry.” Francesca apologizes.

“Hey, it’s seen worse. Don’t worry,” Levi reassures.

“Guys, but Dominique has a great idea for Feelings Time, though.” Even though it’s got to be past 8:00 now, Mariana and Jesus don’t say anything. They let Francesca sit back down with all of them.

“Ooh, what’s your idea?” Pearl asks.

“Well, I was thinking...how all of us have kinda...negative thought loops? Where it’s not really easy for us to think positively about ourselves. So, I was thinking, what if each of us takes time to write down three words to describe positive characteristics in your fellow Avoiders.”

Francesca raises her hand.

“Yes, Fran?” Dominique asks, smiling.

“What’s a characteristic? Just, like, a thing we think of when we think of them?” Francesca wonders.

“Something positive. About their personality. Think about things each person does well.”

“Like nice?” Francesca asks.

“Can you be more specific about nice? Nice about what? And...I kinda wanna avoid...physical compliments if we can.”

“So just good personality things,” Francesca checks. “Not, like, pretty. Even if you are pretty.”

“Thanks, babe, but yes. I need to take some small steps toward accepting a compliment like that. Not quite ready for it yet.” Dominique clarifies. She hands out lots of Post-It notes and pencils.

“So, three things for each person. 15, total?” Francesca checks, doing the math in her head. “Or 18? Do we have to include ourselves?”

“No. But I think that hearing from your friends about what they see that’s good in you can help you be able to eventually see it in yourself.” Dominique points out.

Francesca gets to work, writing:

MARIANA:

Powerful

Smart

Loving

JESUS:

Feelings

Coping

Protecting

DOMINIQUE:

Noticing

Listening

Singing

LEVI:

Fun

Fast

Strong

PEARL:

Advise

Being clear

Hot chocolate

Mariana’s staring at her stack of Post-Its when Jesus scoots in next to her.

“I don’t know about you, but I need our twinbrain for this…” he confesses, quiet. “I’m overthinking everything.”

“Lucky. My brain’s empty.” Mariana returns.

But when they put their heads together, eventually, both have lists. They, ironically, don’t need help at all for each other’s:

JESUS:

Compassionate

Advocate

Artist

FRAN:

Curious

Feels deeply

Same

DOM:

Honest

Creative

Aware

PEARL:

Willing to learn

Recognizes limits

Deep thinker

LEVI:

Genuine

Gentle

Thoughtful

With Mariana’s encouragement, Jesus is able to eventually put pencil to paper without erasing a thousand times, or thinking everything he writes is wrong:

MARI:

Open

Intuitive

Encouraging

FRANCESCA:

Playful

Funny

Considerate

PEARL:

Role model

Love in action

Open hearted

DOMINIQUE:

Blunt

Photography

Kind

LEVI:

Phoenix

Backup

Honest

Right about now, Dominique’s not sure about everyone else, but she feels about due for some focus on some positive things. And to focus on the positives in her friends? All the better:

FRANCESCA:

Positive coping!!!!

Sloth-speed shopping

Trustworthy

LEVI:

Poet

Soulful

Generous

MARIANA:

Reliable

Dependable

SAFE

jESUS:

Knowledgeable

Respect

Boundaries

Pearl:

Loyal

Confident

Asks for feedback

Even now, Pearl finds herself feeling like a bit of an outsider. She’s not altogether sure she can come up with 15 words to describe all of these people in their best light. Because 15 words just doesn’t seem like enough.

LEVI:

Sweet

Caring

Thorough

JESUS:

Non-Judgemental

Integrity

Follow through

FRANCESCA:

Recognizes others’ progress

Helpful

Emotionally in tune

MARIANA:

Attentive

Facilitator

Patient

DOMINIQUE:

Good Listener

Logical

Authentic

Levi figures it’s just as well to try and distract himself from the note that seems like it’s tattooed onto the backs of his eyelids. From Carla. It takes a while for him to be able to start writing at all. And when the words start coming, he’s not sure he can stop them:

PEARL:

Keeps trying

Understanding

Believing

DOMINIQUE:

Unflinching

Careful

Guarding

MARIANA:

Best hugs

Great talks

I feel seen

JESUS:

Basic needs

Warm

FRANCESCA:

Mediator

Original

Wise

When Francesca gets her five Post It Notes she crams them all into her waist purse so she can read them later when she really needs them.

It’s okay because she isn’t the only one who is saving their good things. Everybody else is, too. It’s like, they’re not ready to realize those parts of themselves yet. And definitely not with people looking and waiting for them to, like, cry or something.

Even though the Avoiders wouldn’t do that. They respect emotions. And each other.

She’s starting to get tired, but doesn’t wanna admit it. Under the table, something gets passed to her, from Levi.

“Stress cow,” he whispers.

“Huh?” Francesca asks.

“You should get a stress cow. For when you’re stressed. Squeeze it,” he encourages.

Francesca does. It feels weird and good and squishy. And actually, she could really use a stress cow in real life. So she’s not always squeezing into her bare hands.

She hands it back. “Here, I’m not stressed anymore,” Francesca tells Levi. “You keep it. In case you need to squeeze it. Your coping really is good, by the way.”

“My sitting in the car and screaming?” he asks, like he doesn’t believe she’s being serious.

Francesca nods. “It feels so good to scream and not get yelled at, right?”

“It does,” he nods. “It actually really does.”

“So, you have great ideas,” Francesca tells him. “I should ask Mari if we can keep doing that idea when we go home. But Moms will probably worry about us looking weird or somebody hearing us and calling the cops,” Francesca realizes.

“Could always ask somebody to drive you somewhere quieter. Away from your moms. To scream and not have them worrying about how it looks,” Levi suggests.

“You mean, like, Jesus or Dominique, right?” Francesca checks. “Not a random person?”

“Right. Someone you trust. A safe person, like you guys say,” Levi points out.

“I wish you lived in California and right by Avoidance,” Francesca sighs. “Then, I’d ask you to drive. You’re safe.”

“Aw,” Levi smiles. “Thank you. You’re safe, too.”

“But don’t ask me to drive,” Francesca cautions, giggling. “I’ll run into everything.”

“I ran into a mailbox…” Levi confesses, out of the corner of his mouth.

Francesca just keeps laughing. It feels so much better. So much better than all the screaming and sadness. She unzips her waist purse softly, so Jesus won’t hear the zip. Looks at all the good things the Avoiders said about her.

She’ll definitely have to Google Levi’s.

Still Francesca flips through them under the table, trying to make all the good things sink in. So she’ll be ready, and strong, when it’s time to go home.

#fic: somewhere inside

4 notes · View notes

latchingontoallofyou · 6 years

Text

Journey - Part 7

Part 7

Their morning goes by in a blur. Val made them both some coffee. They had some bagels, so they didn’t have to put in much effort. They want to save all the energy they can for today. Nyla’s specialist will be with them at the hospital for most of the day. They are excited yet nervous to hear what he has to say and see how Nyla handles what is to come.

They have showered, packed some snacks, packed some new sweet outfits for Nyla. They have a bag packed for her just in case. Ever since she’s been getting good results they’ve had her going home bag ready and her car seat in the car.

“Jen, you ready?”

“I think so. I wish I felt more awake. I’m afraid I won’t be able to process what they are telling us.”

“Why?” Val asks as he opens the door that leads to the garage. “Why do you feel so tired?”

“I don’t know. I slept last night.”

“How often did you wake up?” He asks as they climb into the car.

“I stopped counting that long ago.”

“Was last night more than normal?”

“I don’t really remember. I’ll be fine. I’ll wake up. Once they start talking, I’m sure I’ll be all ears and forget about my tiredness. Holding her will help too.”

“Just seeing her always makes things better.”

“Just think, she could be coming home very soon” Jenna says with a smile.

“I’m hoping tonight.”

“That would be amazing. I’m telling myself to expect tomorrow so I’m less disappointed if she doesn’t come home tonight.”

“That would be smart” Val sighs. “I just really want her home.”

“So do I but I want her to come home all set. I don’t want to have to worry more than we have to. If that means staying a few more days, I’ll be fine with that.”

“Yea, I guess so.”

“We have to let out families know when we find out. They are going to want to come. I’ve been talking with both Moms. They are ready to come whenever they get the call.”

“But do we want a few days to ourselves?”

“We’ve had all this time with her here to ourselves.”

“I know but this will be different Jenna. There will be no nurses. No doctors. No wires or monitors keeping us in one spot. There will be no other sad parents or sick babies around. When she comes home, it will truly be just us and our baby girl for the first time. Don’t we want that time?”

“It would be lovely, but we’ll have plenty of time just us three. It would be nice to have our Moms who have experienced having newborns come home around to help us. You know how they are. They’ll love on her and us but will make sure we are doing the work.”

“You’re right. It will be nice to have everyone together too. Maks and Peta will want to come around too with Shai and Cleo.”

“That’s fine. It will probably be better to have everyone come at the beginning and then we go from there.”

“If you’re sure.”

“Stop stressing Val. Oh, I told Meryl she and Fedor should come when they can too. I’m sure that won’t be right away, but she said they’ll come.”

“Good. You let me know when I can tell the Dancing fam to come. Certainly not all at once.”

“Why not? Maybe we can just have an open house a few days in. Then anyone who wants to come meet her can come without any real pressure on us to figure out who should come when.”

“I like that Jen.”

“You know what I’m most worried about?”

“What’s that, honey?”

“When we have to change her placement of the device. Also, the nights. Like if her numbers drop overnight and she doesn’t want to feed. I mean, I’m sure they’ll give us all the information we’ll need but those are what scare me most of all this. Well, at least for now.”

“I can’t even think about what scares me most.”

“We’ll be going through all of this together, so we can work through our fears and worries together. We work best when we work together and not against each other.”

“For someone saying how tired they are, you are sounding so insightful right now.”

“Shut up” she laughs.

“Hey, we will not be teaching our daughter that word” Val tries to say seriously but just can’t quite hold back a laugh.

“That’s the least of worries of bad words she might learn between you and your friends.”

“Hey, I’ve been better.”

“Slightly yes. Some of our friends, not so much. We should make a rule that if you curse around Nyla, you have to pay a set amount of money that we’ll put into her college fund.”

“She’ll be set quickly.”

“They’re fast learners. They might change that behavior quickly.”

“We can only hope. I mean, it would be nice to have them pay for college, but I’d rather pay for college and not have her learn those bad words at a young age from our friends” Val says.

Soon they are pulling into the hospital parking lot. Jenna can’t hold back her smile. Val sighs like he’s finally whole again. They are so blessed that they fund a close parking space. They walk in hand in hand carrying the bag with some outfits for Nyla and the snacks they packed.

The front desk ladies smile, recognizing them and quickly make up their badges for the day. They walk towards the NICU on autopilot. They both keep looking around trying to get their bearings, trying to remind themselves that this is really happening.

As they wash their hands, both hoping that this will be the last day they’ll have to do this, they are looking around, trying to soak everything in. When they get the all clear, they head inside, all smiles as they walk up to Nyla’s bed.

“Good morning, sweet girl” Jenna says putting a hand on Nyla’s head. Nyla is still sleeping.

“Hi big girl” Val adds. “You’ve got a big day ahead. Rest up now, love.”

“Hi Jenna. Hi Val” Charlotte says coming over to them.

“Hi!” Jenna says hugging the nurse who has become their friend.

“Are you two ready for today?”

“Yes! A little anxious but so ready.”

“Charlotte, be honest with me so I can prepare myself” Val says. “Do you think there is a chance that we’ll get to take Nyla home tonight?”

“I think it’s more likely that she’ll get released tomorrow. But with how strong this girl is, anything is possible.”

“That didn’t help.”

“Sorry but that’s the best I can do right now.”

“We’ll just have to wait and see” Jenna says to Val.

“Good morning. I’m James Kline. I’m Nyla’s diabetes specialist. You must be Val and Jenna.”

“Yes. Hi! It’s so nice to meet you.”

“It’s so wonderful to meet you too. I’ve spent some time with your little one here. She’s such a strong girl. Today we are going to start with going over some details and answer any questions. We’ll talk about the device and how it works. We’ll discuss how to help regulate her numbers. We’ll discuss tactics to fix her numbers if they are too high or too low. We’ll discuss the best placement places and how to change them. Now I don’t want you to worry. It’s going to be a lot of information, but you’ll have a write up of all that we cover today. I’ve already written up the specifics to her case for you. You’ll be able to look at the packet I give you if you ever have questions. You’ll also leave with my contact information in case you have any questions that you can’t find an answer to or are just unsure about something.”

“Oh, that makes me feel so much better” Val sighs.

“Me too” Jenna smiles.

“Good. That’s a big part of this. We want you to be confident. We want you to be sure of her care. We won’t release her until I am sure everything is working correctly, she is staying consistent in her numbers, and she’s not acting uncomfortable. Depending on when we get her settled with her Dexcom will determine when I clear her. Her other doctors have already cleared her.”

“What would you say to plan for, to hope for?”

“Probably tomorrow morning. I like to see how she does sleeping usually. I know she’s a newborn and sleeps a lot so that might change the timeframe, but I would say plan for tomorrow right now.”

“Ok” Val says nodding.

“Shall we get started?”

“Yes please” Jenna says as she picks Nyla up from the bed and settles onto the rocker again.

It’s lunchtime both Val and Jenna’s brains feel like they are going to explode. There is so much rattling around in their brains. They received so much information that it’s hard to keep track. Dr. Kline could tell they were starting to get overwhelmed, so he called for a lunch break. They’ll meet back at 1pm to get Nyla fitted into her Dexcom and see how it goes from there.

They find themselves eating sandwiches in the car. They had both decided they just needed some time to themselves to process. They needed no other noise.

“I’m exhausted” Val says before taking another bite of his sandwich.

“Yea. I’m actually kind of hoping she comes home tomorrow because I could use some interrupted sleep tonight to recover.”

“I think I agree with you.”

“But I also just want her home, so I don’t know.”

“Either way will be fine” Val says after a yawn. “How much longer until we need to be back in?”

“20 minutes” Jenna says checking her phone.

“I’m closing my eyes for 10 minutes. I can finish eating on the walk back in.”

“We parked close to the door Val.”

“I can do it. I just need 10 minutes.”

“Ok. I’ll wake you.”

“You should rest too.”

“No. I’ll be more tired if I do. Eating is already helping. I’ll be fine.”

“Ok” Val says not having any energy to fight her on this.

It isn’t long before Val is asleep. Jenna steps out of the car and takes the time to call her Mom.

“Hi Jen. How’s it going?”

“Hi Mom. We are on a lunch break. We were in overload, so the specialist called for lunch. When we go back we’ll start the process of getting it on her. She’s been so good today. She’s not even cranky.”

“Oh good. She’s a smart girl. She knows how important today is.”

“I guess so. I can’t believe how close we are getting to having her home. I’m kinda scared.”

“Why? You are a wonderful mother.”

“But I’m a Mom of a girl that is living in a hospital. I’ve only taken care of her with amazing doctors and nurses around at all times. I don’t know how to do all this by myself.”

“You aren’t doing it by yourself. You have that wonderful husband of yours.”

“And you right? You’ll come when we get home?”

“I’ll come whenever you need me, whenever you want me.”

“The specialist thinks she’ll go home tomorrow.”

“Do you want me to find a flight tonight?”

“You really think you can?”

“We can make it work.”

“Ok.”

“Is that a yes?”

“Let me check with Val again when I wake him.”

“Ok. Just let me know. I’ll start looking but I won’t book anything,”

“Ok. He just thought we might want time to ourselves first, but I want you there to help us get through the first few days of her being home. You know, until we really get the hang of it.”

“I get it.”

“I want Larissa too.”

“I’ll talk to her.”

“Thank you. I’ve got to wake Val. We have to head back in. I’ll keep you updated.”

“Thanks Jen. I love you.”

“I love you too Mommy.”

After hanging up the phone, Jenna goes back into the car and starts to wake Val.”

“Val, honey, it’s time to wake up.”

“Huh?”

“It’s time to get up. We need to head inside.”

“It’s been 10 minutes already?”

“Yes.”

“Dang. Alright, I’m ready.” Val starts to climb out of the car, but Jenna stops him.

“Your lunch?”

“Eh, I’m fine.”

“Val.”

“I’m fine. Really.”

“Valentine.”

“Fine” he says and grabs his sandwich.

He finishes his sandwich in three big bites, the last bite right before they walk inside. When they get to the NICU, the specialist is waiting there for them.

“How was lunch?” he asks when they come closer.

“Just what we needed” Jenna says before kissing Nyla’s head. “Hi baby girl.”

“Good. I’m not going to lie but this might be tough at times. She’ll get upset but all that’s done needs to be done.

“Ok” Val sighs.

“Are you ready to get started?”

“I think so.

“Great. Please, stop me whenever you have a question or concerns.”

Dr. Kline reaches into his bag and pulls out a black case. He unzips the case to show a white, rectangle like devise.

“This is her device”

“It’s so small” Jenna says.

“Small but mighty. Just like her. They’ll grow with her as she grows.”

“Small but mighty. I love it” Val smiles.

“This pen like device is how you put it on. Make sure before you get it out, your hands are washed. I know you washed your hands before you can in but I’m going to have you use some of this hand sanitizer because I’m going to walk you through how to do this, so you feel confident.”

“Both of us?” Val asks.

“Well one of you will put it on but it’s a good idea for you both to wash up.”

They both scrub in the hand sanitizer.

“Ok. Next thing you want to do is figure out where to place the machine. It’s best in a flat but meaty area. For infants, we like to use the lower back/butt or the thigh. Sometimes we’ll go for the back of the arm too but since she’s so little still, her arm isn’t quite ready for that yet. I think we’ll go with the thigh. For her case, we’ll do the front of her thigh since she’ll sleep on her back the most and it will be less uncomfortable there. You need to wipe off the area with one of the wipes included in this kit. Go ahead.”

Val looks at Jenna trying to figure out who is going to do it. She nods at him, so he picks up the wipe and wipes down her thigh. Nyla curls her leg in at the contact of the wipe.

“Now this wipe is a special wipe I like to give all my clients. Skin Tac wipes help make the device stick better.” Val takes that wipe as well and runs it over the same area. Nyla scrunches up again and Jenna puts a hand on Nyla’s chest to try and comfort her.

“Alright. Right for the big part?”

“I think so” Jenna says. Val doesn’t say anything.

Dr. Kline then pulls out a large white envelope from the bag. It’s then that Jenna realizes the bag is from Dexcom.

“This is the applicator” he says as he opens the package. “This white part here is what will attach to the skin. You’ll have to pull of the white pieces and lay it on the skin where you want it. Who wants to do this?”

“I’ll do it” Jenna says quickly and takes the applicator for Dr. Kline. She pulls off the white backing to and holds it over the skin. “This way?”

“Yes. Just lay it right on the skin. Smooth it down so it’s flat. Great! Ok, now you need to pull off the latch off. The latch prevents the needle from coming out before it’s placed.”

“Is it going to come out now?”

“No. Just pull it right off. It might scare her, and she might cry but it won’t hurt her.”

“Ok. Here we go. Val, put a hand on her.” Jenna tugs off the latch and lets out a sigh. Nyla whimpers but doesn’t cry.

“Perfect. Next you are going to need to pinch the skin with one hand. Pinch the skin around the device. Perfect. Ok, now this is the scary part the first time or so. There is no way to mess it up though. You are going to have to push that piece down. It’s going to click twice before it’s all the way in. Now it’s not super painful but it’s going to be shocking. Until she gets used to it, she’ll probably cry. Ok? You ready for this?”

“I don’t know.”

“What’s worrying you.”

“I don’t want to hurt her” Jenna says looking right into Dr. Kline’s eyes.

“I thought so. Think about it this way. Without this device, you’d have to prick her finger often and that would hurt much more than this. This is a short time hurt and then nothing.”

“True” Jenna says. She takes a deep breath and then puts her hand around the applicator again and pinches the skin. With another deep breath, Jenna pushes down on the applicator until she hears the two clicks. Nyla starts crying and Jenna feels her own tears threatening to fall. “Now what?”

“You just had to lift off the top of the applicator. You don’t have to pull hard. It will come right off now. Great. Just like that. Alright. Remember that white rectangle?”

“Yes” Val says.

“Good. You help with this part Val” Jenna says happy Val seems to be back with them again. She puts a hand on Nyla’s chest, trying to calm her with some gentle pats.

“Alright Val. Take that white piece and lay it right onto the piece on her leg. You’ll find it fits right on there. You see that long piece? Take that and put it so it clicks into the device. Yes, just like that. Now you can twist it off. It comes right off.”

“It won’t hurt her?”

“Nope.”

Val twist it off and turns to Dr. Kline.

“It’s all on now. See how easy that was? Think you got the hang of it?”

“It’s definitely easier than I thought it would be” Jenna says.

“Good. Don’t worry though, there are instructions in this bag on how to change the placement and when.”

“Oh good.”

“Ok, now you need your phones. I’m going to show you how to set up the app on your phone to monitor her levels.”

It’s now diner time and Dr. Kline has left for now. He has decided that she’ll stay overnight just to make sure her levels stay level and she doesn’t seem to uncomfortable with the device. She is acting normally. She only fussed a little after it was applied but she quickly settled. Jenna and Val have been cuddling Nyla since then. She’s had a few feedings and she’s handling them very well.

“Val, can you believe we are almost all out of here.”

“No. I mean yes, but no.”

“I feel the same too.”

“You know, we’ll actually be able to track her while we’re home tonight” Val smirks.

“That will be the best night’s sleep since she was born.”

“Yea, probably. So, um, when you went to the bathroom earlier, I texted our Moms. They both said they’ll be on the next flight.”

“Funny because I did too. I called my mom at lunch and told her to start looking. I also texted her and your Mom when I went to the bathroom to tell them to book their flights. I had my Mom text your Mom earlier to start looking for flights.”

“You’re sneaky.”

“I know. Did you tell Maks yet?”

“No…” Val says and pulls out his phone.

“I had my Mom tell my siblings.”

“They live further away.”

“True. I’ve got to text Meryl!”

“Nyla is asleep. You can lay her down.”

“I’m good” Jenna says and shuffles, so she can get to her phone.”

The next day, Jenna and Val excited pull up to the hospital and hop out of the car. Val grabs the car seat and Jenna grabs the going home bag. They rush inside and check in, excited to finally check their sweet girl out of the hospital and bring her home. Tamara and Larissa are at the house waiting for them. Maks, Peta, Shai and Cleo will come over later today.

When they get to Nyla, Charlotte and Crystal are stand there waiting. Jenna hugs Charlotte first while Val hugs Crystal and then they switch.

“You two excited?” Crystal asks,

“Extremely” Jenna smiles.

“We’ll miss you all but we’re so excited for your family to finally be together for good” Charlotte says.

“We’ll miss you too! We’ll have to meet up some soon.”

“For sure.”

“Did we miss the sendoff party?” they hear someone say. They all turn and see Dr. Goodwin and Dr. Kline coming towards them.

“Hi! Now the party can really begin” Val laughs.

“Well let’s not party too soon” Dr. Goodwin says. “She needs to pass the car seat test. The last test and then she’s good to go. Her numbers are great, and she checks off on everything else.”

“What’s the car seat test?”

“Something every NICU baby has to do. Well put her in her car seat while she is still hooked up to the monitors. If her numbers stay even, she’s pass, and you’ll be on your way.”

“Let do it!” Jenna says.

“Well if you want her to go home in a special outfit, I would suggest putting it on her now, so you don’t have to take her out to put it on and then put her back in. I’m pretty confident she’ll pass with flying colors” Dr. Goodwin says.

Jenna reaches into the diaper bag and pulls out the adorable outfit she has for Nyla to go home in. She works to put on the white long sleeve onesie that says ‘NICU Graduate Nyla’ in pink lettering on it. There is a graduation cap on the ‘N’ and pink hearts on either side of her name. She then carefully pulls up some pink stockings that have pink ruffles on the butt. It doesn’t hide the Dexcom device, but it doesn’t matter.

Once Nyla is dressed, Jenna lays her in the car seat. They set a timer for an hour and settle in to wait for the test to end. Time seems to go so slowly. Nyla even falls asleep in her seat. With 15 minutes left, Dr. Goodwin brings over some discharge papers to sign.

“But the time…”

“She’s already passing with flying colors so why make you wait even longer after she passes to sign all these papers.�� He hands some to Jenna and some to Val. “As long as they are all signed, you’ll be good to go.”

“Thank you, Dr. Goodwin” Val says and stands to shake his hand.

“No need to thank me. Your little girl did all the work.”

“Bye!” Jenna and Val call as they walk out of the hospital for the last time, this time with Nyla with them.

Val had pulled up the car. He puts Nyla’s car seat on its base, giving her a kiss. Jenna has already climbed into the car and is sitting on the chair next to Nyla. Nyla is still sleeping peacefully. She’s totally unaware of the big occasion that is happening right now.

Val climbs into the car and turns to look at Jenna. She smiles at him. She has a hand on Nyla.

“Ready to blow this joint?”

“Definitely” Jenna laughs.

Val turns back around and starts the all too familiar route back home. He can stop the smile that’s hurting his cheeks.

“Val, your Mom wants to know what we want for lunch.”

“I don’t care.”

“Good cause I already said pizza.”

“I knew it.”

“I still can’t believe this is happening. I mean, we are in the car and Nyla is right here with us and I can still hardly believe it.”

“I feel you. At least you get to look at her.”

“You can cuddle her first when we get home.”

“Yea, sure. You know one of our Moms is going to take her claiming we got lots of cuddles at the hospital so now it’s their turn.”

“Mama” Jenna laughs thinking about how much that sounds like Larissa.

“You know it’s true.”

“I know. How about you take the first time she wakes up tonight then?”

“Sure… Wait a minute, you just pulled a fast one on me.”

“I sure did. No taking it back now.”

“That’s fine. I don’t mind.”

Soon they are pulling into their drive way and it all sinks in. They both let out a deep breath and smile.

“We’re home” Val says.

“Our journey as a family of three starts here” Jenna smiles.

She grabs the bags and paperwork while Val gets Nyla’s seat out of the car. She’s still asleep, again missing the excitement of coming home for the first time. When they close the car doors, Larissa and Tamara come rushing out the door.

“Get together you two and smile!” Tamara calls out.

Val and Jenna obey and stand close together. Val turns Nyla’s car seat, so she can be seen as well.

“Got it!”

“Come in. I want to hold her!” Larissa says in her broken English.

“I told you” Val laughs.

“I never doubted you” Jenna laughs back.

They walk inside together. Val barely puts Nyla’s seat down before Larissa is unbuckling her and getting her out. She settles onto the couch and cuddles her newest granddaughter to her chest, showering her with kisses and endearing words in her native Russian.

“Welcome home” Tamara says hugging her daughter.

“Thanks Mom. It finally feels like home again.”

“It’s cause now your heart is here and not at the hospital with Nyla.”

“I guess you are right.”

“Pizza is on its way.”

“Thanks.”

“How are you feeling?”

“I don’t even know. Happy but I don’t know what else.”

“Relieved. I know I feel relieved. She’s so precious” Tamara says looking over at Nyla in Larissa’s arms.

“She looks like her Daddy.”

“Oh baby, she looks like you. Hints of Val but she’s you. How’s she handing the… the…”

“Dexcom? Fine. It doesn’t seem to bother her.”

“Good. It’s working well?”

“Yes. Perfectly.”

“Good. I’ve been doing some reading on Type 1 but I feel like I have so much still to learn.”

“Me too, Mom. Me too.”

“Valentin, she’s gorgeous” Larissa says. Val has joined her on the couch since Jenna is talking with Tamara across the room.

“Just like her Mommy.”

“She looks just like her.”

“I know. Just how I wanted it.”

“She’s ok?”

“Nyla?”

“Yes.”

“Yes, she’s great.”

“Jenna?”

“Doing much better now that Nyla’s home.”

“You?”

“Great.”

“Good. Can I feed her?”

“I think Jenna will want to do that.”

“Oh.”

“It’s the first one at home, Mama.”

“I know.”

Later that night, after Larissa and Tamara went to bed, Val and Jenna are trying to get Nyla settled into bed. She is finishing her last feeding. She’ll have to have her diaper changed as well.

The first day home had gone well. Nyla was very calm. She loved all the cuddles she was getting. She got to meet her Aunt and Uncle, as well as her cousins. She loves her bassinet, which she napped in when everyone else was napping as well.

When Nyla is finished eating and changed, Jenna swaddles her and lays her in the bassinet beside their bed. Nyla is already asleep. Val is brushing his teeth in the bathroom. She had brushed hers while Val had changed Nyla’s diaper.

Jenna climbs into bed, feeling exhausted. She could barely wait for Val to come back to go to sleep. She feels the bed dip as he climbs into the bed.

“You awake?”

“No” she whispers.

“You feeling alright?”

“Exhausted.”

“Sorry. I’ll let you go to sleep.”

“You have the first wake up” she reminds him.

“I know. A bottle in the fridge?”

“Yes.”

“OK. Goodnight love” Val says kissing Jenna forehead.

“Goodnight” she whispers.

She tries so hard to give into the exhaustion and fall asleep but it’s just not working. She keeps thinking she hears Nyla. If she doesn’t hear anything for a while, then she’s afraid her numbers are bad and she’s not getting the alert. She reaches over for her phone to check Nyla’s numbers.

“Jenna, what are you doing?”

“I’m worried.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“We didn’t get any alert babe.”

“But what if it’s not working right.”

“It’s working Jen.”

“I just need to check.”

“Fine but then you need to go to sleep.”

“I’ve been trying.”

“I’ll help you.”

Jenna checks the app and sees Nyla’s number are great, so she relaxes and moves closer to Val. He plays with her hair, quickly helping her to fall asleep. He follows her into sleep shortly after.

2 hours later, Val wakes up to Nyla fussing. He feels Jenna start to get up, but he stops her and gets up to get Nyla. He picks her up and carries her downstairs to get her a bottle. Nyla settles to quiet fussing while he holds her.

Val warms the bottle and then settles on the couch to feed her. She’s staring up at him with her big eyes.

“Hi baby girl. Are you enjoying being home? I’m so happy you are home. Your Mommy and I have been waiting for this day for so long now. We love you so much. You know that, right? I know you met a bunch of people today but there are so many more people that want to meet you. You haven’t met you Grandpas yet. They’ll be here this weekend. You know that show that Mommy and I went to the other day? Well our friends from there want to meet you too. That won’t be for a few days though. We want to get settled though. You are already a well-loved little girl by many.”

Soon she has finished her bottle, so he shifts Nyla to his shoulder and starts to burp her. She lets out a few little burps, but he keeps her on his shoulder for a little longer before taking her back upstairs, swaddling her back into her blanket and settles her back into the bassinet asleep. He cuddles back into bed and quickly drifts off to sleep, dreaming of how this new journey is going to unfold.

So I want to clarify something before anyone say or asks. Normally babies aren't diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at infancy. And normally you can't get a Dexcom until you are 2 but for the sake of this story, I twisted it. Obviously nothing is true so don't take it that way.

#valenna #valenna fanfic #jenna and val #jenna johnson #val chmerkovskiy #dwts fanfics

17 notes · View notes

leightaylorwrites · 6 years

Text

Leigh Dissects YA fiction: Fallen Kingdoms (Chapter Seven- Chapter Ten)

Chapter Seven - Auranos

Sigh… I thought we’d at least get a break from Cleo by heading back to Magnus but I guess that was foolish of me to hope.

No one knew why, but Cleo guessed her sister had fallen in love with someone else.

The gender-neutral “someone” makes me hope for a single lesbian in this story. It’s another foolish hope.

Emilia had never so much as cast a flirtatious glance at any of the men in the palace [...]

LET EMILIA BE GAY 2K18

His parents didn’t approve of smoking inside the house. Aron might be arrogant and confident, but he was still seventeen and had to abide by his parents' rules until his next birthday-unless he wanted to move out ahead of schedule. And Cleo knew without a doubt that he didn’t want that sort of responsibility, financial or otherwise.

I’m sorry when did I leave this YA high fantasy and enter a teen drama on the CW? This entire part is a mess of modern-ness and should have been cut.

Aron: [I’m not sorry for killing him lol I kind of liked it too]

Cleo: How can you sound so calm about this?

Aron: Would you rather I lie and say I have nightmares too? Would that ease your own guilt?

Cleo: I want the truth.

Aron: And that’s what I’ve given you.

I get that Aron is a horrible creepy killer, but he has a point. He IS honest. When the villain makes more sense than your heroine, there’s an issue.

When he smiled, the look was equally menacing and enticing. “I will find you.”

YA authors stop writing scary love interests challenge.

Chapter Eight - Limeros

“Naughty girl.”

She ignored the flush that immediately heated her cheeks.She wasn’t being naughty; she was being inquisitive.

And I’m being disgusted. So not only does Magnus have the hots for his adoptive sister, Lucia blushes when he calls her “naughty.” Clace are BOTH unemployed.

“Cleiona’s also the name of the youngest Auranian princess,” Magnus mused. “Never really thought about it before. Same age as you are, right? Nearly to the day?”

I have… questions. First, how does he know Cleo’s exact birthday? Two, it’s likely going to come into play later that they are at most a few days apart but how does that work with Lucia? How does Magnus know her day of birth? We find out later Sabina (the lady from the prologue) brought Lucia to the palace as an infant but it wasn’t the day she was born so how would Sabina know her birthday? Even if she had a vision on the baby’s day of birth or something like that, how did Lucia survive without being breastfed? I need answers.

Magnus: One of grace and beauty, my sister, with a multitude of suitors at her beck and call. Forced to be siblings with a scarred monster like me.

Lucia: As if that scar makes you a monster. You can’t be blind to how girls look at you-I even see maids here in the castle wistfully watch you pass, even if you never notice them. They all think you’re devastatingly handsome. And your scar only makes you more… intriguing.

If you think plain hetero splooging is bad, just wait until you see plain hetero incest splooging!

“[Tomas] was cut down as a spoiled lord tried to show off in front of a princess - Princess Cleiona [...] The two watched Tomas Agallon’s young life bleed from him in front of his own family.They didn’t feel sorry for the pain they caused that family and all Paelsia.”

I mean… it’s true. Too bad the evil king is saying this and therefore the reader is supposed to disagree with him and know that Cleo the Super Special White Girl can’t do anything wrong ever but still. He’s right.

The words were acid on his tongue as jealousy flashed through him like a bolt of lightning. “But [Lucia] isn’t interested in walks around the palace grounds. Not with, well… not with you.”

The boy’s eyes widened. “What do you mean?”

Magnus forced a tense look on his face as if he’d said too much and now felt guilty. “It’s really none of my business.”

[...]

“It’s just that she’s mentioned you to me [...] And she made it clear that if you ever stopped by, you should not be encouraged any further. She means no offense, of course. But… her interests in a potential suitor lie elsewhere.”

In case incest splooging wasn’t enough to make me hate this character, he’s entered Rowboat’s, well, boat. Territorial pricks are not cute @ YA authors.

Magnus had no patience for anyone who would be manipulated so easily. If the boy was truly interested in Lucia, he should be able to stand up to any adversity, including an overprotective older brother.

But you literally just told this kid Lucia SAID she doesn’t want him. If he’s taking your word as truth, that’s not him being manipulated, it’s him believing you because why would a prince lie to him about this? He’s not doing anything wrong by respecting what he believes are Lucia’s wishes??? He has more respect for her than you do?? Why do people like Magnus??

“I wouldn’t hesitate to say you were lying.” He took her arm in his and squeezed it until she flinched. A flicker of fear went through her pale eyes. “Who do you think the king would believe? His son and heir? Or a kitchen maid?”

Amia swallowed hard. “I apologize, my prince. I would never say such a thing.”

“Smart girl.”

So… Magnus is literally physically abusing and threatening his casual hookup and people stan??

There was no Limerian law that stated that pure royal blood was necessary for the position. Even the son of a whore could become king.

Magnus is being all emo over the fact that Tobias could be king someday, a problem which is easily solved by Magnus killing Tobias. This doesn’t happen, but I think I’ve found the problem with all these series that try so hard to be the YA version of Game of Thrones/ASOIAF: nobody has the balls to write how these conflicts would actually play out in a real political setting. YA does have to be toned down in comparison to adult fiction but when you tone things down so much that they make no sense, it doesn’t work at all.

Blood sacrifice? How deeply savage.

Can’t tell if I’m tired of the word savage being used in this book (it’s used at least 20 times in reference to Paelsia) or if I’m tired of it in general (thanks stan twitter).

The king swiftly moved behind the boy, pulled his head back, and slashed the blade across his throat. Tobias’s eyes went wide and his hands came up automatically to his neck. Blood squirted out from between his fingers. He collapsed to the ground.

I’m DONE. We got half a page about Tobias being a threat to the throne for Magnus and instead of seeing them battle it out, or Tobias team up with an enemy later on, or anything that might give some payoff to the fact that Magnus has a secret half-brother, he’s sacrificed a few pages after his main introduction. Do you see what I mean now about YA fantasy writers holding back?

Chapter Nine - Auranos

I DON’T CARE, WHERE IS JONAS

“It’s unfortunate about Princess Emilia, though. So, so sad she isn’t well enough to attend.”

We get it. She’s dying. You’ve reminded us like four times already.

[...] Emilia’s most recently finished painting, a study of the night sky.

Subtle foreshadowing isn’t subtle enough for me.

That [her marriage] was solely a political choice sounded so cold, so analytical.

Does Cleo… not know what politics are? Does she not understand that royal arranged marriages happen all the time? Does she not realize she’s a princess? Why is she so dumb??

“You do know [Nic] is madly in love with you, right?”

Dammit. We came so close to having that platonic relationship but we can’t have a young man in this series not want to splooge over Cleo. It’s the first book and Cleo already has three love interests for this series. Alien Trashryver is worried.

Emilia: “I fell in love with someone else [...] I’ve never felt such love as I felt for him.”

DOUBLE DAMMIT.

Despite being named for the goddess, Cleo wasn’t invested in religion [.]

Isn’t being named after a religious deity frowned upon? I know in some religions you can be named after a minor figure - such as Christians with the archangels. But you can’t name your child God. Cleo being named after the primary person in the religion seems wrong.

But how else would we know she’s a Super Special Magical White Girl if she didn’t have a name far beyond what she deserves?

Her sister had been in love with a guard who’d died two months ago. “It was Theon’s father, wasn’t it?”

Isn’t he like… old??

Her sister had been in love with the king’s bodyguard who’d been thrown from his horse to his death. A tragedy.

That is verbatim from the book and I can’t stop laughing. This bitch said “a tragedy,” I’m CRYING.

Emilia was always the rock - comforting Cleo when she was upset over [some petty stuff] or the loss of her innocence to Aron.

“You’re the same as you were yesterday and the day before,” she’d soothed. “Nothing has changed. Not really. Forget what troubles you. Regret nothing, but learn from any mistakes you make. Tomorrow will be a brighter day, I promise.”

If you think things are cool because HEY we’ve got a YA heroine who isn’t a virgin, we later find out Cleo was drunk when this happened and therefore is an assault victim. The book never acknowledges the later, but instead has Emilia tell Cleo to learn from her mistakes and that nothing has changed. Feminist YA at its peak, y’all.

“You can’t. You’re to be the queen one day. If you die, that means it’ll be me. Trust me, Emilia, that would be a very bad thing. I would make a terrible queen.”

I mean, yeah I agree that Cleo would be a shitty queen but I’m more annoyed at how these five sentences are written.

Emilia: “There’s no one out there spying on us through the eyes of birds, hoping for clues of where to find the Kindred.”

Cleo: “I’ve never believed in such nonsense.”

Btw, Cleo said earlier she thought the birds were watching her. Consistency is hard, I guess.

[Theon] shook his head. “I knew my father cared about someone, but he wouldn’t say who it was. I figured he was involved with a married woman. Now I know.”

So Cleo’s boyfriend is her sister’s dead husband’s son… Cleo’s love interest is her nephew. He’s her step-nephew, but her nephew nonetheless.

Chapter Ten - Limeros (this time with the bird dude)

[...] to see his bird friend, Phaedra, perched on the branch next to him.

Now, I could give this book points if the whole point was that the western world was meant to be Greece, while Mystica is a mix of Italy and Spain. But the existence of Paelsia with its North African/Asian/Roman setting messes it all up.

All [Lucia] would see when she looked at him was a golden hawk. For some reason, this realization pained him.

So we can’t have lgbt+ romances or poc romances but Cleo the Super Special Magical White Girl can get three+ love interests and Lucia can get two love interests - her adoptive brother and a dude who can turn into a bird. White authors, man. White authors…

One thing I do like about this Ioannes dude is that his chapters are short, leaving little room for bullshit. However, they make me go back to Magnus and Cleo sooner than I want.

#leigh reads it #leigh dissects ya #falling kingdoms review

3 notes · View notes

likelovelikesuicide · 7 years

Text

Shadowhunters - Reflect - Rant

So… I randomly have the week semi-free (I work as an in-home nanny for 2 boys under the age of 10, think of it like an Au Pair but less french…and this week Dad is home) so I have all the time in the world for several days and I’m gonna share some thoughts… feel free to talk at me…

I want them to kill Valentine because fuck Valentine, but I don’t want to lose Alan because his scenes with Will are stellar.. Also, can we take a moment to praise Will for handling the role of Demon-Toast-Boy/Sebastian/Jonathan so fucking well. Honestly, give Will an Oscar, an Emmy, a SAG award, fuck just make him president. He’s earned it.

It’s nice that they’re not trying to force or rush the Simon/Izzy relationship that everyone expects via the books… They need time to develop because right now, it’s not romantic at all… they are just two people with common friends who have helped each other out in the past and they continue to support each other though some really shit times. It’s a relationship based on mutual understanding. Plus they enjoy each other. Simon clearly finds Izzy lovely and engaging and he already cares for Max… Izzy knows Simon is sweet, caring and smart, plus he makes her laugh. I think we will see a lot of Sizzy in s3 but I imagine it will take a least half a season to get to romance.

Speaking of which, I’m also pleasantly surprised that they aren’t diving right back into an intense, sexual relationship between Clary and Jace - I think the kiss at the Seelie Court sealed the deal for Jace but he realized that he has to give Clary time, like she gave him and frankly, there’s a lot of shit going on around Clary right now (that’s pretty much constant…really) but anyway, I like where they’re going and I like that it’s not just Clary jumping from Jace, to Simon, to Jace, to Sebastian (ewww stop that you, no. stop it. Bad demon. -#Hits Jonathan with a stick), to Jace - It’s Clary just dealing with life… and I get that.

I love that legit everyone is aware of Alec and Magnus’ relationship and they all support it. Shit most of the other characters knew they were in love before they even got close to saying it to each other… #everyoneshipsmalec #powercouple

I need Alec to figure out Sebastian can’t be trusted before anyone else does and before they’re told by Max…. let all the extra hours at work pay off (plus I think Seb/Johnny Boy is a little bit scared of Alec and he should be, that boy don’t play and if Alec ever found out that Seb/Johnny Boy was the reason for Azazel’s attack, and thus what happened to Magnus… well, like I said, our boy don’t play around. Ya feel me?)

Okay LOOK… This arc for Magnus and Alec is about perspective and perspective is one of the hardest parts of being in any relationship, whether you’ve been together a week, a month, a year or 50 years, sometimes people fuck up simply because of how they see a situation vs. how their partner will see it. This is also about Alec learning to prioritize Magnus and his relationship while still being Head of the New York institute and leading the Shadowhunters in what everyone acknowledges to be an open war against Valentine and his followers.

Magnus’ point of view on everything that’s going on is so vastly different from Alec’s that they are bound to have problems. They always knew this - they are very totally different worlds, different centuries - and Magnus’ past also includes many dealings with the Clave that ended in broken promises, empty words… and now he’s left to wonder, is Alec really so different from the rest?

This is my perspective on what happen

Upon finding out that the Soul Sword was not only missing, but the Clave has been lying about it since Valentine’s attack, Alec focuses his mind on locating it before the information gets out… Maybe he’s planning how to tell the downworld council as a way to avoid any bias? Maybe he wants to talk to the Clave personally, gather more information before causing another panic?

In confidence, he tells the shadowhunters he trusts the most - Izzy, Jace and Clary - (Izzy makes it clear she thinks Alec should tell Magnus)

Magnus comes to Alec’s office that evening when he doesn’t turn up for dinner. They enjoy a nice meal together as Magnus explains his meeting with the Seelie Queen, all the while praising Alec for his honesty as the new Head of the Institute. Alec is clearly aware that he should say something, but the words don’t come… he never did have a way with words. Plus he doesn’t want to have to ask Magnus to keep the information quiet, because that wouldn’t be fair either… He’s essentially stuck between two shit choices and instead of making a choice, he has a nice lobster dinner with his boyfriend and enjoy’s their time together. Was it the right choice? No. Did he have a right choice? No. Should he have informed Magnus immediately upon finding out about the missing Soul Sword? Yes. From a relationship standpoint. Should he have shared state secrets against orders? No. But he should have told his boyfriend. Fuck. moving on…

Magnus returns home and Luke is there with a note from Cleo that Valentine has the Soul Sword… Magnus immediately assumes Alec doesn’t know but Luke isn’t so sure, and he’s right because Luke, of all people, knows how the shadowhunters work and Alec is HEAD OF THE FUCKING INSTITUTE now… My point is, Luke knows that for Magnus and Alec, it’s fucking complicated and I love that he’s trying to help them.

The argument between Magnus and Alec is so well done, #kudos. Alec is defensive because he doesn’t see Magnus’ point of view at all - Magnus is pissed, throwing cheap shots, questioning everything because fuck… and look, Alec clearly compartmentalizes his feelings against his duties, he always has. This is the same boy who almost married a girl he cared nothing about because of his sense of DUTY TO HIS FAMILY. Plus, He was raised with a lot of prejudice ideals about emotions and downworlders and shadowhunters and now… He is finally living the life he always wanted -he has his dream job and Magnus - and he’s trying not to fuck it up, of course he fails at that sometimes… we’ve all been there, am I right? - Magnus, on the other hand, is experienced beyond comprehension. He’s been alive longer than many civilizations and he’s not about to take shit from anyone. Ever. But he fell in love with a Shadowhunter and he KNOWS what Shadowhunters are like. What they have always been like. The Shadowhunters are an elitist society. They used to hunt his kind for sport … But Magus believes Alec is different… He truly trusted that Alec was different and he got knocked on his ass for it. I would have blown up something too… but probably not my liquor stash…

Fuck all this fight was always coming because they are from totally different worlds and #life. Also, Alec needs to pull his head out of his ass and prioritize his boyfriend before he loses the best thing that ever happened to him

I see a lot of talk about racism in the fandom and my opinion on racism is that if you make shit about race you are the problem… also I am a ghost pale, freckled, ginger, bisexual woman, and I acknowledge that my point of view on racism is based on my parents/extended family being hardcore american southern racists and I never understood wtf their problem was at all. People all look different. Humans are all equal.End of discussion … So I’m just gonna put it out there that if you have a problem with Magnus that has anything do with the fact that he’s Asian because he was born in Indonesia to an Indonesian woman, but you don’t mind the whole thing were his father is a greater demon and literally one of the princes of hell… then you are the problem.

Okay so we have 3 episodes left and overall it’s shaping up to be a good season. I’m hoping the next 3 Mondays impress the hell out of me and we get a great season worth marathoning… I lost count of how many times I marathoned s1 (and yet I still almost always missed episode 13)

12 notes · View notes

randomidiocyncrazies · 7 years

Text

i found a wip!changeling fic when digging through my google docs, and finished writing it as best as i could. it was longer than i expected it to be, but then again i’ve been playing this character for a long time so i suppose it’s inevitable (also, it’s not actually that long) details start to get really hella vague near the end thanks to my inability to remember relevant plot details also, if you feel i had grossly misrepresented anyone’s characters please tell me and i’ll rewrite it (it’s mostly lolcat’s perception of other characters so it’s not Super Objective, but still.) i’m glad i finally finished this. even though it’s no longer relevant in my life, the 4 years i spent with this character and the community was incredibly meaningful, and something i’ll remember fondly

what do now (or, LOLcat tries to make sense of things)

Making choices can be tough when you don't know shit, like, 99% of the time. set after the doritoes bombed/allowed a friend to bomb a gas station in east gilead, and up to lolcat’s geist powers coming into play.

Warnings: alcohol, violence (ment.), murder, captivity and other standard fae things

Alcohol is a weird wobbly thing. It makes your nose twitch, it tastes bad, and if you have too much you feel gross and smell funky and everything hurts the next day. But people drink it all the time. She has no idea why Frances likes this stuff so much. It for sure doesn’t make her feel better about -- what just happened.

They shouldn’t have forgotten about that human guy. It’s their fault.

She takes another nasty sip. Maybe it’s punishment, she decides, coughing a little the way she does when there’s a hairball itching to get out. Maybe people drink it when they’ve done something Bad. But that doesn’t quite explain Frances: she drinks pretty much all the time. Besides, someone told her that Good and Bad all depends on what else is happening anyway (like people asking for Frances because they want her to shoot things; like maybe adding magic leaves to make people happy isn’t the best thing to do. Sooner or later, Banner said, she’s gonna have to make her own decisions.). If she wants to have a say, if she wants what she thinks to matter -- and she does, though she knows most people write her off, and wait a minute, how exactly do people write others off anyway, with magic ink? Or maybe they’re all really just squiggly lines in a book? Maybe she’s not even alive. Maybe she’s just a pigment(?) of someone’s imagination, maybe she’s not real --

But she feels real, with the slide of liquid fire down her throat and the memory of burning metal and salt water churning in her gut. The heavy feeling around her heart when she met Frances’ eyes amidst the flashbang of glass and too-late realizations that there was someone still inside the gas station had felt real too.

Anyway, back on topic. Booze as punishment doesn’t really make sense for Frances. If LOLcat knows anything (and there isn’t a lot that she knows, but she’s sure of this) it’s that Frances is Good, that Frances takes care of things she and Luna doesn’t understand, that Frances tries to help, that Frances does not deserve punishment like this.

Or maybe it’s not punishment. Maybe it’s some kind of test, because after a while it makes everything warm and nice even though it tastes gross. The coziness is maybe like a reward for pushing past the ickyness, like the difference between There and Here and Friends and Masters, like something that is not-real but real.

Maybe as long as they don’t overdo it, as long as they’re Good enough, there’s still hope and a happy ending for them.

---

Luna left to see the world, or something, with Rain, though LOLcat isn’t quite sure how Luna’s gonna see it all exactly -- unless maybe she’s gonna go on a spaceship? Sexy John could probably give her one, because he’s really rich and he’s nice like that. Kind of hard to understand sometimes (all the time) but he’s a pretty okay guy aside from the time he made Luna cry. But Luna forgave him, so he’s their friend now! They had dinner and everything, even, in his big underwater house-castle filled with shiny things. The fish was really good, as was the cheeseburger, and Sexy John has really tasty fruit punch too. Fruit punch that makes everything look and feel sorta wobbly, but in a fun, exciting way.

Anyway, the roadtrip is something Luna really wants to do, and she’ll meet up with Kate later anyway, so there’s that. LOLcat hopes she has fun -- maybe she can introduce the Avatar to other people, which would be neat.

And then Frances left too, looking for her... law-brother? Brother inside the law? LOLcat thought they’re running from the law in most cases, but whatever. It was someone in some place far away, called Ironland. She’s not really sure how Frances’s gonna deal with all the iron around, but Frances is smart so LOLcat’s sure she’d be able to figure something out. And apparently Ironland has tons of guns and things that go boom from the way Frances tells it, so Frances should be okay. (There’s also something about potatoes, but by that time all LOLcat really paid attention to was the fact that it’s very far away.)

Like Luna, Frances doesn’t know when she’ll be back, either, so it’ll just be LOLcat on Teh Bukkit for -- a long while, at least. It’s a little scary, because Frances was the one who found her on this side after LOLcat sneaked past the unlocked door and ran, thorns scratching bloody lines into her when she stumbled too close. Frances was one of the first Doritoes along with her and Bryce. After Bryce got kind of weird and left, after Luna arrived, after they all did something that LOLcat’s still trying to make up for, Frances is still here, a constant in LOLcat’s post-Master life. (But not her postmaster life, because she hasn’t got one of those; she hasn’t worked a day at the post office. All those squiggly lines and all.)

But Frances wanted to go alone, so there’s that. LOLcat still has to take care of Tom and be the best mom ever, now that Frances is gone, except three days after Frances left Tom vanished, with a note of squiggly lines on his pillow. Nonna told her what it said, feeding her cookies without happy magic leaves; there’s been a lot less of them ever since Banner had that talk with them, and anyway Tom has always been really smart and kind of more like a mom than LOLcat anyway, so maybe this is for the best because while Frances is busy looking after everyone -- people like Bryce and LOLcat and Luna and probably her lawful brother who is... younger? But older than her too, faery time is weird like that -- someone should look after Frances. And when her friends are away LOLcat will keep Frances’s room and workshop the way it was, and Luna’s too, which doubled as Tom’s (it’s kind of funny how they’re never in the same place together), in case they come back early. She takes a look at the furry rainbow blanket in Luna’s room, smells the lingering scent of gin and heated metal in Frances’s workshop, and slides the doors shut.

It’s alright. They’ll be back before she knew it.

(If only Frances didn’t take all the booze with her; LOLcat thinks she’d like some fuzzy-headed reward now, even though all she did was seal the rooms up.)

---

Things were quiet, without the others around. Nonna moved out a while ago with Pookie, found at last, and Echo, who stitched his soul back together. They have meals together sometimes -- well, Echo and LOLcat does in any case, though Echo seems like she’s in trouble again so it’s a little random. She talked with Tim (who is really shiny and a used big words sometimes, but he makes it easy to understand and doesn’t make fun of people) and the Spring court a little, and they told her about this thing called Fight Club. It’s hard work and it hurts a lot sometimes, but it’s also fun. Besides, you get to learn stuff and they heal you afterwards. She thinks Frances would like it, even though weapons aren’t really allowed in fights. She meets some new friends who aren’t so new, like Nak, and some friends who are new, like Vexalot, though she doesn’t meet him meet him, since they talk on the interwebz and all (see, Fight Club teaches you things like how to read, and now she can actually go read what the Avatar wrote to her before they all left East Gilead). She’s back to feeling a little queasy by the smell of booze because it’s weird, not because it reminds her of Frances on the couch giggling at that painting man in the TV while she and Luna stuffed themselves with candy. All in all things are looking pretty good right now. She still misses Luna and Frances and Tom everyday, but she’s doing okay.

She hopes they are doing okay, too.

---

Finding strippers for the Frost Father was kinda annoying to the max. Nothing like the interwebz said it’d be like. People thought she was lying when she said she’s an adult, and they didn’t even give her a captcha to prove it or anything. At least she got to drink a teeny tiny bit of expensive boozy grape juice with Vex and Nak; it still smells kind of strange, but it doesn’t, like, burn her throat. Frances wouldn’t like it (too sweet), and neither would Luna (too much burn).

Also, the new Summer king scares her a little. She doesn’t get why people want to be king or queen (or that word she can’t pronounce but basically means the same thing) in the first place, and shooting a court member who’s, like, 10 or something really takes the cake, except the cake’s a lie because there was no cake. It’s pretty awesome that he can still be king even though he’s a human though. The Frost Father used to call the Doritoes baby horses, which is silly, and banned them on the island just because they believe in the Avatar and the Ceiling Cat, so LOLcat used to think Summer is very hard -- no, that’s not the right word, is it, even though the feeling fits. Words are confusing -- and maybe kind of against new things in general. But he let them onto Summerset after Cleo talked to him, and he let a human take his place, so obviously he’s nicer than she thought. He’s nice to Cord too, even though Cord was kind of maybe definitely evil for a while, but they’re almost husbands, and husbands should be nice to each other, so that’s good. And! He shared his booze, so he’s kind of a bro now. The wedding’s going to be fun!

---

The wedding is the opposite of fun; SEEDs attacked and kidnapped a bunch of people, Celeste included, and when she came back there’s something not quite right about her, something scary. Maybe if Frances was there she could’ve shot the thing holding Celeste back -- shooting people is technically bad but it’s the kind of thing people asked Frances to do before, and besides Celeste is kind of their friend even if she never knows if Celeste is making fun of them or not -- or Luna could’ve got to her and took her back sooner. Tom might be able to stop the fighting before it even started, but Tim tried that and it didn’t exactly work.

There’s something not quite right with what Celeste has with Anon either, since Anon seems to spend more time being scared than happy when he’s with her. LOLcat kind of shipped them for a while, but she’s not sure how she feels about it now. At least hide-and-seek buys him some time away from her, though they don’t actually pay or anything (most people would say taking stuff for free isn’t right, and that’s kind of true, but who were they supposed to pay anyway, goblins? No thanks. She still remembers the whole thing with Inanna missing bits of herself. Goblins are seriously scary.) Thinking about Celeste like that is mean though, because it’s not her fault she got taken away, and it sounds like something as bad as most people’s time with their Masters happened to her. Maybe Celeste needs some booze, because it helped Frances, but Anon -- who’s having his Dude Talk with Vex while Celeste’s still counting -- would probably skin her alive if she gave Celeste any, and there’s enough trouble around town anyway.

---

Sexy John dies (they say he’s helping the Masters; maybe that’s true, but… he’s so nice to Luna, after the first time, and being nice means he’s good, right? Or maybe he’s one of those Affably Evil guys, even though LOLcat’s not quite sure what ‘aff’ means exactly; does it mean the same thing as ‘arf’? Is he secretly a dog?) and after a while crazy things are happening on the island everywhere -- for example, voting for an Official Leader at Seahold.

Yes, people on the Seahold voted sometimes, and yes, there’s always an unofficial leader around, but not like this. The Seahold isn’t supposed to be like a court -- sure, the leader’s supposed to make sure nothing important goes KABOOM, but each fleet is free to do as they please. What you do is your business, and as long as you don’t bring your mess into the Seahold nobody really cares, because everyone is their own person. Everyone here is their own King, or Queen, or that other word. Everyone is free. This is pretty much the reason why she and her friends (who are still gone) chose to live there in the first place. Having one leader to steer everyone just seems... wrong, somehow.

It’s good that there is more than one leader by the end (she’s not quite sure if the Burger King was cheating, because he’s Winter’s King and not Courtless, but then again the Seahold is not a court so it’s okay???), though she doesn’t know how she ended up as one of them -- she doesn’t really know what to do next, but she knows she wants to help the others fight for their islands. She wishes her (long gone) friends are here instead. Frances would know what needs to be done, Tom would know what to say, and Luna’s friends with everybody so she knows what they’re like. LOLcat, like always, is just guessing at everything.

“Hell no,” Captain Nope declares when they start talking about SEEDs, “I’m not going to wait around for the inevitable -- we’re up against them, it’d be a bloody miracle if we’re still alive by the end of this.”

LOLcat lived through miracles, if not here then in East Gilead; she remembers beating the Masters together with her friends, though the mess with Sid feels less like winning and more like the heavy feeling in her chest after the gas station incident. It’ll be okay, she wants to tell Captain Nope when he orders his men to flee the area, stay and fight and together we may win! But she doesn’t try to stop him either, or Captain Hammer for that matter, because this is the Seahold, and everyone is free to do as they pleased. The fact that she is one of the leaders makes no difference. (But maybe they would’ve stayed if it was one of the others instead.)

Squeaker scuttles towards the Burger King -- he’s kinda sketchy, and not the drawing kind of sketch either, but he’s pretty helpful even though she’s pretty sure he thinks they’re all idiots -- while Captain Obvious whirls around to rejoin his crew, making plans for the war ahead. She watches them go, wishing Frances and Luna are here with her.

(But maybe it’s for the best; it’s probably safer, where they are. Don’t be selfish. She sends a quick prayer to the Ceiling Cat to watch over them.)

---

She narrowly avoids the mouthful of teeth snapping at her, bringing His Fishyness down onto the creature’s head with a thwack. People from the other islands think the Seahold is full of pirates (the Jack Sparrow kind, not the downloading movies kind), but that’s not true. Sure, most people know how to work a boat or swim, because it’s not fun living in the Seahold otherwise. But these boats are mostly for living in, not fighting with, so after a while people started loading flowerpots and silver spoons and empty rum bottles into the canons when they ran out of ammo to fire at the hedgebeasts.

The water around them is red and smells like metal. Gabriel, newly Turned and growling, fires another shot as Feorra smashes her hammer on a huge fish with rows of pointy teeth when it jumps out of the water. A croc (not the shoes) bites at LOLcat’s ankles, and she swings His Fishyness down until it lets go and looks for an easier target. She pants, shifting her grip on the oversized boomerang, trying to ignore the sharp sting of salt water on open wounds as she staggers towards one of the newer Summer Court changelings being ambushed by two crocs when something throws itself at her suddenly, like a jumpscare. She sees long, shining teeth, and --

Everything goes dark.

---

When she wakes up she’s floating above the ground, and all she wants to do is go back to sleep again; but no, she feels herself pulled towards Autumn island -- maybe she’s going to meet the Ceiling Cat? -- and she wonders if she had made up for the gas station, if she had done more Good things than Bad. (She doesn’t want to become a faceless chili pepper.) She misses Luna and Frances, and she wants to see them now -- where are they? Are they safe? Why aren’t there here by her side? Will she ever see them again? (I just want to see them one last time.) Will she even know them in the next life? What if she’s too Bad to have a next life?

But then she sees Nak, and Claire, and Ceiling Cat. Not the Ceiling Cat, of course, but she calls herself Ceiling Cat, so maybe she’s kind of like an Emissionary or whatever. She certainly seems powerful enough, and offers a Deal: go on a treasure hunt for her, and she’ll let LOLcat live again. Kinda. The details aren’t 100% clear yet, but LOLcat’s pretty sure she gets to keep being herself and not end up as a rotting zombie, which seems okay, though a lot of stuff that seems okay actually aren’t, come to think of it. Claire’s smart, and she thinks this Ceiling Cat is dangerous, so that means she’s probably right. Besides, Deals with a big D are generally bad ideas anyway.

But.

LOLcat wants to be there when her friends come back, so. Yeah.

She takes the Deal. (The smile Ceiling Cat gives her is as sharp as the glass her Master used to feed her.) She prays to the Avatar -- hoping that she chose well, that she isn’t making a mistake, that Frances and Luna would be proud of her. She takes Ceiling Cat’s token, closes her eyes...

And wakes in the land of the living.

---

The war is over, but nothing is the same. There’s a weird bubble thing around the islands, and also Ceiling Cat is living in her head now. Does this mean her head is now a ceiling? It still feels like her head, but where else would Ceiling Cat live, if not in the ceiling? If Ceiling Cat lived somewhere else she wouldn’t be Ceiling Cat anymore, would she?

Then again, LOLcat moved from East Gilead to the isles, and LOLcat is still mostly LOLcat, so. (BUT! LOLcat doesn’t live in a place called LOL, where she lives isn’t part of her name, not like the way it’s part of Ceiling Cat’s. BUT BUT! The Ceiling Cat in her head isn’t the Ceiling Cat, so maybe the ceiling part doesn’t really matter that much?? This is confusing.)

Anyway. Being roommates with Ceiling Cat -- brainceiling-mates -- is kinda fun, because she’s never alone now, there’s always someone in her head even when she’s the only person on Teh Bukkit (though Ceiling Cat can get a little catty sometimes. So what if LOLcat still doesn’t really know how these new death and dying powers work, they’re kind of over 9000 on the scary scale okay?)

And speaking of scary... She knows about what it’s like to be beaten to death now, when she walks past the body of a dead human woman on the street with a few of her teeth pulled out, and she knows the burn of black smoke in weak lungs and split blisters along running feet when she walks around a house firebombed a few days ago; she knows what it’s like to have someone stab you, over and over again, and the snap of sharp teeth on your neck. She’s been lowkey feeling the deaths on the islands ever since she came back with Ceiling Cat sharing her head, and there is so much of it.

Still, she tries to go about her business, srs or otherwise, but everyone is unhappy. Things are hard, people are dying, and she is weak and hungry all the time. Everyone is hungry all the time, even the humans. (Especially the humans.) A group of them is yelling at the people LOLcat’s with, picking a fight, and by the time it’s over both sides are bleeding, red like her Master’s favorite drink once upon a time, and oh.

One of the humans is dying from a sharp stick through his tummy.

Banner told her a long time ago that sometimes you need to decide between what’s Good and what’s Bad. Nobody else can do it for you. Something normally good might be bad sometimes, like too much of Sexy John’s yummy fruit punch makes you wake up with a headache the next day, and sometimes Bad things can be good, like when Frances shot people trying to hurt their friends.

Killing is Bad, but he’s not like the gas station guy back on East Gilead. This human would’ve died anyway, with or without her. She is hungry and he is in so much pain, it’s better that he doesn’t have to suffer all the way through, right? The feeling of all your blood dripping away through a hole in your tummy is something dark moving through the bushes. It’s so, so cold, it drags on forever, you’ll never be warm again, you know you’ll just get colder and colder and there’s nothing you can do about it, and nobody who isn’t dying or dead really knows how it feels.

But LOLcat knows, now, so she does something about it.

#ric writes #tabletop #changeling the lost #i'm glad i finally finished this

5 notes · View notes

mhdiaries · 4 years

Text

Diary of Toralei Stripe

Better have nine lives if I catch you reading my diary.

July. Two. Five.

Ooh they’re telling math jokes now...

Q: What do you get if you divide the circumference of a jack-o-lantern by its diameter?

A: Pumpkin Pi!

July. Two. Eight.

July. Three. Zero.

August. One. Three.

August. Two. Five.

August. Three. One.

#monster high #monster high diary #toralei stripe #wave 3

29 notes · View notes

ficdirectory · 6 years

Text

Somewhere Inside (Disuphere series #4) Chapter 42

(To listen, click here) - 13:24

Pearl wakes up after falling asleep as a defense mechanism and finds a strange text on her phone from Levi:

Avoiders - Jesus wants you to know, please don’t ask him to do anything. Be careful with food and know that he is not feeling very human or very safe. (Pearl please let M, D and F know. Thanks.)

“What’s this text from Levi?” Pearl asks, spotting Mariana in the chair in the corner now.

“What text?” Mariana asks.

“To the Avoiders, regarding Jesus. Don’t ask him to do anything, be careful with food and know he is not feeling very human? Do you know anything about that? Is he okay? Is Levi?”

“I don’t know much,” Mariana offers. “Just that, Francesca came inside and mentioned she accidentally triggered Jesus while they were walking the dogs. Levi came in with him a bit later.”

“Are you sure they didn’t see my mom?” Pearl presses.

“Fran didn’t mention her, no. And she knows what your mom looks like. She spent enough time spying out the door when your mom was hanging around… No, I don’t think it’s related. But if you’re worried, text Levi and ask him.”

Pearl does, ignoring the plate of food that’s now where the brownies used to be. (Though Cleo seems interested.) Pearl tries to focus through the massive headache she develops whenever she cries too much and texts:

Is Jesus O.K.? You guys didn’t see Mom or anything, did you?

Levi:

He says to tell you he is triggered. No, didn’t see her. A different trigger. Just Jesus’s.

Pearl texts:

Are YOU O.K.???

Levi:

Yeah, just hanging out w/ Jesus. Dominique and Francesca are outside. How are you and Mariana?

Pearl:

Just wanna sleep. Mariana keeps bringing me food. Not hungry.

Levi:

You know I read this thing once? On Tumblr? That if you are having a hard time w/ eating, self care etc? Pretend there is a demon inside and he needs a strong host to survive.

Pearl:

What???

Levi:

I’m just saying, it worked for me when I didn’t think I could eat. Feed the demon.

He sends a wink. Then a heart.

Pearl turns her phone over, setting it aside. “My brother suggests pretending there’s a demon inside me that needs to be fed...in order to be able to eat today…”

“Yeah, I read that,” Mariana perks up. “On Tumblr,” she clarifies, when Pearl looks confused. “I used to have a blog there. A million years ago. How are you doing? You know, with everything today?”

Hesitantly, Pearl takes the plate, and manages a bite of chicken soup. “Just avoiding like a classic Avoider. I’m sorry I’m avoiding most of you guys in the process, though…” she manages.

“Hey, boundaries are good. Sometimes we trigger each other. It makes sense to wanna keep that a low possibility.”

“Thank you for understanding,” Pearl nods, thinking of Levi’s demon analogy and eating another bite of soup.

Finally, Francesca gets to try out her brand new life jacket with Dominique on the dock. The only thing is, Levi isn’t here, too. Francesca kinda wanted to come out here with both of them. But Jesus needs Levi right now. And Francesca always wants time with Dominique, just the two of them.

Dominique walks Francesca out slowly and they hold hands. They don’t have to rush. And Dominique doesn’t make fun of Francesca at all for being scared to walk on it.

For a while, they don’t talk. Dominique teaches her songs instead. Right now, Francesca’s learning Home from The Wiz. (She’s already learned all of Seasons of Love from RENT so that Dominique’s cat, Roberta, will like her better. Since Roberta loves RENT.)

When they finish learning the first verse of the song, Francesca asks: “Do you think Jesus knows?”

“Knows what, babe?” Dominique wonders.

“That I didn’t mean to?” Francesca asks. “You know, trigger him?”

“I think he knows Avoiders don’t hurt each other on purpose…” Dominique offers.

“But I don’t know. Like, I don’t know if he knew he was an Avoider. He just...looked...scary. I don’t know. Like not there.”

“Babe, can I talk to you about a trauma thing?” Dominique asks.

Francesca glances at her, surprised. “What do you mean? I don’t have trauma things…”

“Okay, well can I talk to you about something personal, then? It’s not to make fun, I promise.”

“Okay…” Francesca hedges. “What?”

“You know The Thing you’ve been thinking about telling my mom?” Dominique wonders.

Francesca feels a million butterflies start flapping their wings in her chest. “Why?”

“You’re not in trouble right now, babe. I promise. I’m trying to explain something to you. That’s all. Sometimes, it’s easier to understand stuff, when it’s connected to a personal experience of your own.”

“Okay,” Francesca breathes. She leans against Dominique so their arms touch. She’s leaning on some of Dominique’s scars even, but that’s okay, because Dominique said she could, and that they don’t hurt.

“So...The Thing… I have experience with that, too.” Dominique shares.

“I know. The other night when I helped you.” Francesca remembers.

“Right. So, that happens? And why we do that is...we’re trying to go away inside ourselves. To hide from bad memories or pain or trauma. While we’re hiding out, it can feel hard to let anything else in. Even safe people. ‘Cause it’s hard to know the difference.”

“So…” Francesca ventures. “I don’t get it.”

“So, Jesus was trying to hide from bad memories. From trauma. He went away inside himself because his trauma got too much for him. That makes it really hard to focus on anything extra. Like knowing we’re Avoiders. But once he feels safer? He’ll be able to use his energy to focus on knowing he’s an Avoider.”

“Because sometimes his trauma gets too big?” Francesca asks.

“Right. But we should try not to assume that because he’s triggered, he doesn’t know things. Because he does. Your brother is very smart. And sometimes, he just has to wait for his brain to calm down before he can focus on more things.”

“I didn’t mean to say, like, he was stupid. I know hearing that makes his trauma stronger. I just...didn’t know. What it meant. His blankness.”

“It’s called dissociating,” Dominique tells her.

“Dis-sociating? That’s when you go inside yourself away from bad memories? Sometimes hurt yourself?”

“Right. It’s protective. Jesus’s brain was trying to protect him from something scary.”

“I said Facebook to him,” Francesca sighs. “And I whined. And whining is hard for him to hear. I didn’t know the Facebook part but I knew that. I shouldn’t have whined.”

“Everyone makes mistakes, babe.” Dominique reassures. “When Jesus’s brain can handle focusing on extra things and when he feels safe again knowing he’s an Avoider? Go to him and let him know you’ll try never to do those things again. Tell him you’re sorry.”

“I might cry, though. And crying is worse than whining for his trauma,” Francesca worries.

“Feelings are okay to have. But I understand wanting to protect Jesus from more triggers. What about another way? A note?”

“Or a video!” Francesca exclaims. “I could go to the picnic table and make one, and I could send it to Levi because he has service and he could show Jesus.”

“That’s a good idea,” Dominique nods.

Dominique helps Francesca back up the dock until they’re on the grass again. Francesca goes to the table and holds her phone up in the air. “It’s alive!” she jokes.

Dominique laughs.

Francesca turns on a video and holds her phone with the little pop-out thingy on the back. “Jesus? It’s Francesca. I’m sorry I whined and said the thing to you that made you remember bad memories. I’ll try super hard to never do it again. Do you forgive me?”

Dominique’s been checking her phone, too. She nudges Francesca, saying, “Levi says Jesus wants us to try not to ask him to do anything right now, because it’s hard for him to say no.”

“Oh, sorry. Jesus, you don’t have to forgive me, okay? Just delete that part. So just know I won’t whine or say that thing to you ever again. I didn’t do it on purpose. I didn’t know. I would never hurt you on purpose.” Francesca talks until she runs out of breath.

She sends the video, and hopes Jesus’s trauma is getting smaller.

Levi is still sitting with Jesus, not talking until his phone pings with a message from Francesca. It’s labeled: For Jesus.

“Hey. Got a video from Francesca. It’s for you,” Levi tells Jesus, offering him the phone.

Jesus stares at the phone, then at Levi. Then, very slowly, he accepts the phone, and presses play on the video. He loves being able to see Francesca’s face. To hear her apologize. But his favorite part is definitely when he can hear Dominique tell Francesca that Jesus had asked not to have people ask him to do things, and Francesca taking back her request that he forgive her.

He actually laughs a little, despite the fact that his body’s still hurting. “Just delete that part,” he quotes.

Levi laughs too.

Jesus hands the phone back. “Will you tell her I say “Thanks?” he asks.

“Yeah,” Levi nods and sends the text for him.

They’re silent for a while. Dudley’s still half on Jesus’s lap. He shudders, the mixed memories of Moms force-feeding him, and Hell Week still too close for comfort. Still, he makes himself ask Levi, “Are you still cool with this?”

“Yeah,” Levi nods.

“I mean, it’s not like, freaking you out, is it?”

“We’re friends. It doesn’t freak me out to sit with my friend.”

“But like...your trauma…” Jesus objects.

“My trauma...likes knowing it’s not alone,” Levi explains. “I’m not freaked out by this. Or you.”

“Would you tell me if you were?” Jesus asks.

“If you wanted me to, yeah, and then I’d make sure I found somebody else who could come sit with you.”

“You wouldn’t have to…” Jesus insists. “I’m really good at being alone.”

“What would you say to me if I said that?” Levi asks.

“That...that’s exactly why I’d make sure you had somebody with you you could trust. To make it different. So you wouldn’t be alone or feel in danger,” Jesus says.

“Okay, so...I’m not leaving.” Levi tells Jesus plainly.

“I used to beg Him for a Facebook…” Jesus says softly. “So I could contact my family…”

Levi just listens.

“I think He knew why I wanted one. So He held me off from getting it. But the first time I asked, I was eleven like Francesca. He told me I had to wait until I was 13. I couldn’t imagine being there until then… It’s just…so normal for her to ask. But it was a huge risk for me.”

Levi’s just watching. Listening.

“And I don’t want her to think she can’t talk about normal things. Like how she wants a Facebook so she can message with us in the Avoiders chat. But I don’t even have one now, the idea of it gives me so much anxiety.”

“You don’t have to have that to have Messenger. There’s an app. I can show you. Tell Francesca if you guys decide it’s okay. Then we can still have the Avoiders chat.”

“Yeah. Maybe.” Jesus muses.

“I wish I could go back to California with you guys. Somewhere she could never find me,” Levi sighs. “I hate holding my breath all the time.”

“I know that feeling,” Jesus nods. “And you’re welcome to come visit.”

“Pearl wouldn’t, though, and I wouldn’t want to leave her…” Levi says sadly. “We spent enough time apart.”

“Who knows?” Jesus asks. “Maybe sometime if it’s not April, she might be on board.”

“Yeah.” Levi says skeptically. “More ice cream?” he checks.

“I was serious about not asking me stuff,” Jesus warns gently. “I can’t say no right now, especially to food. Feels like I’m starving.”

“Sounds like it’s time for a scoop then,” Levi says easily. “Wanna come with me? Sorry. I don’t mean to keep asking you stuff I just...I don’t want to leave you alone out here.”

Jesus stands up, wincing. “It’s good for me to move around,” he manages.

“Okay. No rush,” Levi insists. “Take your time.”

Somehow, he makes it to the kitchen. “What if we run out?” Jesus worries.

“I work in a grocery store. I can buy more. No problem,” Levi tells him easily, opening the fridge and holding the carton of ice cream out for Jesus to take.

He doesn’t. Can’t. So Levi scoops some for him and together they go back to the couch.

#fic: somewhere inside

6 notes · View notes