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the-quiet-winds · 5 years

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So Much More than Royal (part one)

alright, lads, we have reached the final installment (for now). @ichlugebulletsandcornnuts has admitted this is her favorite part, and i have to say it is really good.

this is part one of five, with another dark story coming your way. trigger warnings for the whole story: death, ransom, violence... that’s all i can think of for now.

[Part 1: Still So Young, Desperate for Attention]

nine years had flown by in the blink of an eye for jane.

edward had grown into a charming, mischievous boy, inquisitive and silly, and katherine, meanwhile, had absolutely blossomed. she had grown like a weed, physically, but jane was much more impressed with her intellect. she was now fluent in latin, french, spanish, and italian, and was working on russian with parr. the ice between her and henry had cooled. they were in no way close, but they could at least be civil now.

jane couldn’t be prouder or happier.

much to jane’s joy, her children got on wonderfully and were as close as siblings could be. they had small arguments, of course, but nothing that ever lasted for longer than a few hours. that is, until one day.

it started out much like any other. edward had lessons with his tutor in another part of the palace, and katherine and parr spent the morning engrossed in the russian language. katherine’s own relationship with parr had also changed as katherine grew into a young woman, becoming more like friends than tutor and student, and their lessons tended to be based around discussion rather than parr teaching. by the time parr left katherine was in great spirits, triumphant at finally managing to master a piece of grammar that had been bothering her for weeks. edward, on the other hand, was not so happy when he traipsed in. unlike his sister, edward struggled with languages, and several hours of latin felt like torture to the young boy. he slams the door as he enters the room, a sulk plastered on his usually happy face.

katherine turns at hearing the sudden loud noise. she frowns when she sees edward’s less-than-great mood.

“what’s wrong, eddie?” she asks.

“stupid latin,” he grumbles. “i keep messing up my translations and i don’t know what to do.”

“can i see?”

edward hands her the paper and she skims it over a few times. “you’re mixing up your ‘t’ endings and your ‘nt’ endings,” she states. “it’s okay, i did the same thing a lot at the beginning.”

edward huffs and crosses his arms.

“what, eddie?” katherine asks gently. “it’s an easy fix.”

he throws his arms out, “look at me!” he mocks in a high falsetto, “i’m katherine and i know everything about languages because i’m soooooo perfect!”

katherine raises an eyebrow, folding her arms in front of her. “come on, eddie, don’t be like that,” she says, gentle but firm. edward scowls.

“you think you’re so perfect,” he challenges. katherine frowns.

“i don’t think i’m perfect.”

“good, because you’re not. you’re mean and ugly and horrible.” edward stomps his foot and katherine rolls her eyes. she’s not particularly affected by edward’s immature insults, and she wasn’t interested in watching him have a tantrum because he was frustrated about his latin work.

“is this really what you’re going to get upset over?” katherine asks, a bit sarcastically.

eddie scowls, the best a nine year old could do. “you’re always so mean to me!”

“who’s mean to who?” a gentle voice calls. jane enters the room, looking confusedly at her children.

“katherine is always mean to me!” edward declares fiercely. “she always thinks she’s so much better than me!” he whips his head back towards katherine. “guess what! someday i’ll be king!”

katherine gives a shrug. “and i’ll be there helping out.”

“i don’t need your help!” edward seethes. “i never do!”

“eddie,” jane attempts to soothe, “calm down now, love. katherine didn’t mean to upset you. she’s just trying to be a good big sister-“

it’s then when edward explodes. “why do you always treat her like she’s perfect?! she’s not even related to you! i’m your son! she’s not even your real daughter!”

there’s a moment of absolute silence, katherine frozen where she stands. then, jane speaks, voice quiet and slightly shaking.

“edward, don’t ever say that about your sister-”

“but it’s true, though!” edward huffs. “dad told me! he says that she’s not your real daughter, and she’s not my real sister either. he said a piece of paper saying she’s yours can’t ever measure up to blood.”

katherine suddenly turns around and leaves the room, the door slamming shut behind her.

jane watches her leave, and for just a moment considers chasing after her. she knows what that brought back in katherine’s mind: all the fears she harbored for the first year she was with jane, that she’d be kicked out, she was illegitimate. there was even one point where some less-than-friendly members of staff referred to her as ‘the queen’s bastard’.

but she also knows katherine needs space and time. she’ll be back.

jane turns to edward, possibly more angry than she had ever been towards him. “how dare you say those things about your sister?” she asks, voice so dangerously low.

edward shrugs, not seeming to understand the gravity of his words; and in a sense, he didn’t. he was parroting what his father had told him during one of the rare moments they spent time together.

“you always side with her,” he grumbles. “it’s not fair.”

“edward,” jane continues, barely restraining the anger in her voice. “no matter what your father may have said, katherine is your sister, and she loves you and looks out for you. you have no right to say those kinds of things about her, do you understand me, young man?”

edward rolls his eyes. “sure, whatever.” he turns away.

“don’t you walk away from me, edward,” jane challenges.

he turns back around, sits down in a chair at the table, and looks up at her expectantly. “well?” he asks.

jane quirks an eyebrow.

“i’m ready,” he says plainly.

jane still doesn’t understand.

“i’m ready to hear ‘the speech’.”

“what speech?” jane asks, genuinely confused.

“‘the speech’,” edward reiterates, “the one where you tell me ‘katherine has had more hardships in her life than you know,’ and ‘you really should be nicer to her in the future’,” he quotes, pushing his voice up to sound like jane.

jane stares at him, practically unable to believe that her sweet, mischievous little boy was coming out with such cruel things.

“where did all this come from?” she asks. “you know she’s your real sister. you love her.”

“you love her, more than you love me,” edward says, crossing his arms and frowning.

“i do not!” jane protests, and edward scoffs.

“do too!” he shifts his voice up again to mimic jane. “be nice to katherine, katherine’s so perfect, never say anything bad about her ever or she’ll cry herself to sleep again, katherine’s my favourite even though she’s only the queen’s bastard.”

jane’s face transforms into one of shock and rage. “where did you hear that?” the phrasing was too specific, edward had to have heard it from someone, and she didn’t know anybody still referred to katherine as that.

something seems to click in edward’s mind at hearing jane’s reaction to what he said. he shrugs. “i heard dad saying it to one of his...” he struggles to remember the word. “courtiers! one of his courtiers. thomas, i think.” his voice is smaller, less sure than it was before. then he looks at jane curiously. “what does it mean?”

jane looks very, very pale. “it’s a very mean and very rude thing to say about your sister,” she says faintly, before turning back to edward. her voice is dangerous, serious, and somewhat cold. “and i hope to never hear you say it again. no matter how mad or upset you are. do you understand me, edward?”

it finally seems to sink in that edward has said something he really shouldn’t have, and his defiant tantrum starts to fade. he gives a somewhat subdued nod.

“yes, mum.”

“good.” jane takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself. “now, you listen to me. katherine is your sister, and i love you both equally. i don’t want to hear any more fighting about it, because i love you both more than life itself. do you understand?”

“yes, mum,” edward says again in a quiet voice, looking at his hands.

jane gives a tiny nod. she crosses the room to give edward a kiss on his head. “and don’t you think that your sister doesn’t feel the same way,” she says quietly. “she’d give her life for you in a second.”

he nods ashamedly. “i know,” he whispers.

“good,” jane says with a nod. “are you alright now?”

edward shrugs. “i’ll go find dad,” he says, standing up. “or maybe thomas.” he avoids jane’s eyes as he leaves the room.

jane watches him as he leaves. she knows edward has a good heart, and he’s got a lot to think about at the moment, so she lets him leave. she’s certain he’ll apologise to katherine later without jane telling him to. for now, however, jane wants to make sure katherine’s alright.

it doesn’t take long for jane to find her. years on, and katherine’s favourite place to be alone is still by the lakeside in the forest, and sure enough jane spots her perched on a rock at the water’s edge.

“kat,” she calls softly as she approaches.

katherine stiffens. she was really hoping that this would be the one time jane didn’t follow her. but her mum is too sweet, too kind to ever let katherine wallow alone.

“leave me alone,” she calls back, surprisingly firmly.

“kat, i think we both know that won’t happen.”

katherine turns halfway, looking at jane through the corner of her eye.

there are no tears on her face, jane is surprised to see. no tears, no evidence of emotion whatsoever.

jane comes to a stop a few feet away from katherine.

“i had a talk with eddie,” she says softly. “i helped him realise why what he said was completely wrong and i don’t think he’ll ever be saying it again.”

katherine turns properly to face jane now, and her expression is almost eerily calm. it’s strangely unnerving; tears, jane would expect, maybe even anger and frustration. but this odd calm puts jane on edge.

“kat?” jane asks. she twists her fingers around each other, looking at katherine nervously. she feels like she is staring at a tiger without a cage, a bomb waiting to explode. anything.

katherine doesn’t look at her. “alright,” she says quietly, then turns back to face the water.

“kat, love, what is it?” jane asks. she closes the distance between them, laying a hand on katherine’s shoulder. she runs her thumb up and down over the raised patch of skin beneath the dress - the awful shoulder injury she had sustained from henry had left behind a nasty mark.

katherine moves subtly, pulling away from jane’s hand. “nothing. i’m fine, really.”

“kat,” jane sighs softly. “i’m your mum, i know what he said hurt you.”

“it’s not his fault,” katherine says, voice even. “he’s only repeating what other people say. honestly, it’s a wonder this didn’t happen sooner.”

jane blinks, slightly confused. “what do you mean, love?” katherine lets out a dry laugh.

“i mean, i’m sure henry has some things to say about me, and i don’t think he’d be the type to care if edward heard him. henry made it pretty clear he’d never consider me part of your family long ago. perhaps somewhere after the time he broke my shoulder and threatened to send me to a brothel, that’s when I realised he’d never accept me. can’t think why I finally got the hint.” she laughs again, although her voice is without humour. “so yes, it’s surprising it took this long for edward to resent me. and i’m fine. i’ve had a long time to think about it.”

those words strike jane. she, too, knew that henry would never accept katherine, even though they had warmed to each other enough to hold stifled conversation over the nine years katherine lived with them. “edward doesn’t resent you,” jane protests. “he was just mad and took his anger out on you. he realized what he said was wrong, and i’m sure he’ll apologize soon enough.”

katherine drops her head with another quiet, mirthless laugh. she turns around. “that’s not the problem.” she looks at jane calmly.

jane, admittedly, had been expecting one of katherine’s pleading looks, which always was answered with hugs and long spills of quiet sentiments.

but katherine was calm, steely, even.

“maybe...” katherine sighs and runs a hand through her hair. “maybe it’s time for me to move on from court life.”

jane’s heart drops like a stone. “no,” she says quietly, “no, love, you don’t mean that.”

“it’s okay,” katherine gives her a small smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. “i’ve been thinking about it for a little while. parr has some family up north, i was thinking i could call in one last favour as the queen’s ward and ask to be housed there. there’s a community of scholars there who i could get in contact with, and i suppose i’d be happy enough.” she didn’t sound happy to jane; no, she sounded empty.

“but-” jane chokes out, eyes rapidly filling with tears. “but don’t you want to stay here? with me and eddie? with your family?”

“a long time ago,” katherine speaks slowly and evenly, not looking properly at jane, “you promised me that you’d support me whatever i chose to do. well, this is what i choose.”

jane remembers that moment vividly. standing on the riverbank ten feet behind her, promising that katherine would never be forced to leave, and jane had promised to support her in her future endeavors. a bit selfishly, jane supposes, that had meant more towards katherine never wanting to leave court, which made logical sense at the time.

“but love,” jane protests weakly, “i can’t bring myself to support it if it isn’t what will make you happy.”

“it will,” katherine insists quietly. “i’ll get to learn from experts, from other intellectuals. help spread parr’s message about women getting an education.” there is a faint conviction in her voice, but it still isn’t enough to convince jane that it’s what katherine truly wants. “it would be fulfilling work.”

“but... it’s so far away, love,” jane’s voice is close to pleading, trembling slightly. “several days by carriage. only seeing each other on the rare occasion, barely seeing your brother. is... is that really what you want?”

katherine doesn’t answer, instead staring out at the water. “it’s what’s best,” she says finally. they both know that wasn’t the question jane asked, but the silence stretches out between them for several moments longer.

“i can’t just let you go like that, love,” jane says.

katherine straightens her back slightly. “i don’t need your permission,” she answers. her tone was biting at all, just matter-of-fact, but it hurt all the same.

“i’m still your mother, though.” jane hates how weak and pathetic to she sounds, but she can’t just let katherine leave.

“you always will be,” katherine states. she turns to face jane again. “i just need to do this.”

#six the musical #six musical #jane seymour #katherine howard #catherine parr #julie and jess write #so much more than royal #hold onto me you're all i have

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audreyannerp · 4 years

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Pen Pals

(A roleplay between @askaudreyanne / @audreyannerp and @red-rad-and-rod .) It had been about a week since Audrey met J.C. and his siblings. It was kind of hard to miss them, given Lola seemingly bee-lined towards them during their stay at the park. She was grateful for her pooch’s detour, however, as the three proved to be good company (as did their father, who they had lunch with.) She wasn’t sure how long she should wait before emailing J.C., but figured a week was a long enough wait to not seem overly eager. She did originally intend to only send pictures of the dogs to show his sisters, but now she wanted to talk to him too. She decided to start slow, with a simple email. This is J.C., right? It’s Audrey, from Michigan. Here are some pictures of Lola in some flowers. She wasn’t supposed to be in them, but I just had to snap a few pictures before I got her out! Let me know how you three like them! She hoped asking for a response would lead the way to them talking about more than dogs.

- Ping! Oh, thank goodness, something to actually respond to! Surfing through a seemingly never ending list of ads for things he didn’t need was starting to get tiresome. A few clicks later, J.C. found himself searching through his e-mail. Hmm…junk. Junk. E-mail from Audrey- wait. E-mail from Audrey? … Ah, right! That was who he met over in Michigan when he and the family were over in Michigan! Man…even though they had only hung out for a little bit, he missed her. Her beautiful smile, her cute giggle…sigh~ Snapping out of his little lovestruck trance, he went ahead and read through the message, snickering a bit as he got a glimpse of Lola being a goofball. A short while later (mainly after Syd and Kat stopped squealing over the little pup), he sent back a reply: Yyyyup, it is! At least, that’s what people have been calling me for 23 years… Ahaha, I kid, I kid. 😋 What a little goofball! She’s such a sweetie. Syd and Kat seem to think so too, given the fact that they’ve been fawning over her for the past fifteen minutes or so. And reignited the whole “Mum, Dad, let’s get a dog!” debate, but that’s to be expected. How have things been over by you? - Audrey wasn’t the type to live on her phone or computer, so it was a good thing she had written a note to herself to check her email later. Upon coming home that evening and checking her notebook of reminders, she brought up her email and took a look. She chuckled at J.C.’s response and promptly began typing a reply, pleased he wanted to chat. (Or was at least acting like he wanted to, in order to be polite.) Ohhh deeaarrr XD I hadn’t intended to start a debate. Could you please tell them I’m sorry? Anyway, things have been pretty ordinary over here. Weather is still pretty nice, so I’ve been taking Lola on longer walks. She got a little over excited today though and ran into someone’s garden, as you saw. I was sure to tell her no… after I stopped laughing and taking pictures! XD So, how have things been on your end? - After hitting send, J.C. had to think…did it sound like he seem interested? Did he sound bored? Should he have added more emojis? …Nah, maybe that would’ve been a bit excessive. Maybe a little immature…who knows, maybe Audrey would have thought that Syd or Kat took hold of his computer. Now came the waiting game. He would’ve done a bit more internet browsing, if he hadn’t have been dragged outside by Syd for a game of football. That was probably a more productive way to spend his time, anyway. No real need to worry. (…) Later on, now relaxing with a cup of tea, he went back on and found a reply. Haha, I will! They’ve been getting that for years, but I’m sure they’d appreciate the regards. Glad to see the weather’s manageable. Kind of makes me wish I was back there; right now, we’ve had a couple of gales come through. Nothing too bad, but having to be stuck inside for most of the day. Plus side, it’s supposed to clear up soon. Oooooh, Lola, what’s your mum going to do with you? 😂 Kind of reminds me of this time when Syd was a toddler…she’d done the same thing with our next-door neighbour’s back garden. I’ll have to send the picture in my next e-mail, but the end result was her being held (gently, of course) by her overall straps by our neighbour’s sheepdog! - Audrey discovered his reply the following morning. While she sent her reply early, it was likely the afternoon over where J.C. was. Wish you were here for the weather? Are you sure you don’t just want to see me? HA! I kid. I kid. We barely know each other. Aaaanywaaaaay… A sheepdog holding a toddler? That sounds both hilarious and adorable! You have GOT to send me that picture! Let’s just hope karma doesn’t come back to bite me. Mom and Dad recorded EVERYTHING when I was a kid. They have soooo many VHS tapes in the basement. Photo albums too. For a non-photogenic child, they sure loved taking pictures of me. - Why did time zones have to be a thing? He could respond at ten in the morning, and it’d only be five A.M. over by her…ah well. Upon reading Audrey’s response, he couldn’t help but blush a little. Okay, yeah, part of it was the weather, but part of it was because he wanted to see her. Weeeeell, that would be a major plus, if I’m being honest. …Does that sound creepy? Jeez, I hope it doesn’t; virtual communication’s tricky that way. 😓. If it did sound that way, I do apologize! Guess, ah…guess I should get on with the rest of this reply. Heheh… Don’t worry, little me wasn’t exactly the poster child for being photogenic, either. Guess it must be a parent thing…mine were the same way. I’ve made sure to bury one of the albums that has the MOST embarrassing ones as deeply as I can in storage, but somehow they keep finding it. Speaking of ‘embarrassing’ photos… Ask and ye shall receive~ Not going to lie, her face still cracks me up; sort of like she’s saying “Curses! Foiled again!”

- Audrey was pleasantly surprised to see that J.C. seemed to enjoy her company as well. Aw, really? You’re sweet~ <3 Don’t worry; no creepiness detected! Well, you know parents and their magic able-to-find-stuff powers. You could search for something for hours and they’ll point to it right in front of your face! That photo is somehow more adorable and hilarious than I thought it would be! She really was a scamp from the very beginning, wasn’t she? Anyway, if you’re interested, maybe I could tell you a bit about myself and vice-versa? Make sure I’m someone you want to see again? - Oh, good! This was off to a great start~ Phew! Good, good. Just want to make sure, y’know? True, true. Heck, you could try to send something that you don’t want seen to…I don’t know, Antarctica…and they’d still manage to find it. Haha, yeeeeah; once she started crawling, it was all downhill from there! Sure, why not? I think it’s better one-on-one as opposed to doing it in front of a group, like on the first day of school. That whole “what’s your name, what’s your major, one fun fact about yourself” spiel. How should we do this? Do you want to go first or should I? - Well, I suggested it, so I guess I’ll go first. Now let’s see… My full name is Audrey Anne Davis. I’m currently 24 years old and my birthday is March 27th. I’m a college graduate and I work as a personal trainer at a local gym. My hobbies include working out, cooking, listening to music, and dancing. Not sure what else to put so, uh, your turn! (P.S. Feel free to ask me anything!) - My turn it is, then. Soooo, let’s see…mine is Jean-Claude Henri Malone (née Bellerose), currently 23, aaaand my birthday’s August 23rd. Right now, I’m working on my bachelor’s (almost done, though!)…started in gen. studies, decided to do something with humanities. I do a bit of work at the student bookstore, aaaand my hobbies include listening to music, playing videogames, reading…aaaand I would say I enjoy a bit of footy every now and again. Aha, dancing, eh? Any specific training (e.g. ballet, hip hop, anything of that sort) or is it more like “put on some tunes and see where the music takes you”? (P.S. Likewise!) - I have to admit, I had to Google née and footy. XD Anyway, I learned to dance from my dad. He took some classes when he was a kid, but is mostly self taught. (He’s REALLY good!) I pretty much just go with the music. I know some specific dance moves, but I don’t really know how to do those fancy dances you’d do at a ball. What kind of books do you like to read? I’m not much of a reader myself, but I do listen to audio books on occasion. I’m not exactly the brightest bulb, so I try to stick to books that don’t have seven layers of meanings you have to analyze in order to understand and enjoy them. - Ah, yes, the “English to English” thing. If I find one of those sorts of dictionary, I’ll be sure to send it your way. XD Interesting! That’s how I tend to dance as well…I’ve been meaning to take one of those “ballroom dancing” classes, just for the heck of it, buuuut…dunno, haven’t had the time as of late. (Or a partner for that matter, but that was a different story.) Just kind of want it as some random skill to have under my belt. I’m not super picky- if something looks interesting, I’ll pick it up, read the first couple of chapters, see where it goes. Though I will say, audio books are a godsend…always good for plane or car rides, if you’re not the one driving. I totally feel you on that whole “analysis” thing; that used to throw me in secondary school so much. “The blue door is supposed to represent the main character’s feelings of sadness”…mmmmaaaaybe the author just really likes the colour blue? 🤔 Personally, I always like to recommend “Le Petit Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (don’t worry, there is an English translation…and about 298 others, haha). There’s some analysis like that that could come with it, but not a ton. It’s one of those stories that doubles as a “children’s” story and one for adults, as well. - You never know when you’ll have to break into a waltz! I jotted down that title in my handy dandy notebook, so I should remember to look into it. (The act of writing things down helps me to remember. You should see how many notebooks I go through in a year! LOL) Speaking of children’s stories, have you ever read any Goosebumps books? I only read one as a kid and it really scared me, so I never read any more. I wonder if I could handle them now. The problem is my fight or flight response is just a fight response. If I get nervous, I might hit things out of reflex. I once accidentally broke my dad’s nose as a kid because he snuck up on me. I felt SO BAD. My mom couldn’t stop laughing though. She was actually recording when it happened, so that infamous family moment is on tape. - True, very true! 🤣 I have, actually! Read a few when I was a bit younger- my favourite had to be the ‘Night of the Living Dummy’ stories. They were pretty creepy, I have to admit…although I stumbled upon another series around the same time that, I argue, is quite creepier. I’m not sure if a series known as “Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids” made its way over to the states, but hoooo boy. It was made into a TV series as well…not much better in terms of toning down the creepiness. I used to say it makes Goosebumps look like Mother Goose! 😮 (Granted, I don’t think Goosebumps is supposed to be a series that scares you into good behaviour whereas G.T.F.G.K. sort of is, buuuut…still kind of has you going “WHAT did I just read?!”) Okay, just reading that made me cringe, ouch! Remind me to never spook you…or if there’s ever a time we’re over in the states for Halloween, remind me to not take you to a haunted house/scary movie. If it’s any consolation, there’s quite a bit of embarrassing footage of small me as well, haha. “Cowboy J.C.”, “Super J.C.”, tiny siblings/cousins spitting up on me, you name it. 😅 - It doesn’t sound familiar to me, but I was never on the lookout for such things. Scaring kids into behaving? Ick. I’m of the belief that you should influence a child with positivity. I don’t mean in a spoiling kind of way. I just think finding the cause of a problem is more important than punishing the child. And when it does come to punishments, never do something that can damage them in the long run. Don’t be too lenient though. It is important to learn that actions have consequences. There has to be a balance. Sorry for the ramble there. It’s just that the way children are treated is important to me and I do not censor myself with such things. I’ll be sure to remind you. I’m not a fan of scary things. Unless they’re a fun type of scary, like paper bats or those fuzzy spider decorations. We’ve only ever had really silly looking spider decorations at our house during Halloween because my mom’s arachnophobic. If they’re too realistic, she gets the heebie-jeebies. Speaking of embarrassing, I feel it only fair to you and Syd that I share a photo of my own.

Guess who. - Hey, that’s fair! And makes sense, too. My thing is just…kind of let them do their thing (to an extent) and experience the world, just guide them along the way, you know? If they’re being a little butt (or rather, standard kid who’s still learning) about something, tell them why they shouldn’t be in a way that they understand; cause and effect. Like yes, you may want to eat six ice lollies in a row, but if you do, you’ll get a stomachache. Kiddo knows from experience that stomachaches suck, so a compromise of one or two ice lollies is made. As you said, balance is key. Aaaah, arachnophobia. Guess I’ll have to tell Syd that if she wants to show your mum a cool spider she found to…well, not to. XD; Awww-ha-ha-ha-haaaw, caught red-handed! I guess since I’ve put Syd and you through it, I figure one of mine wouldn’t hurt, either:

Apparently, small me did not like the idea of a fork, haha. - I’m glad we have similar views on children. I think we’re going to get along juuuuuust fiiiiiiiine. (Don’t get me wrong. I won’t hold it against anyone if they aren’t good with kids. Just don’t be mean to them.) Awww, you’re adorable~ Hmm… This email is a little short. I’ll just add some random stuff about me here. I love plush animals and have a LOT of them. My favorite fruit is either strawberries or raspberries. I hate pickles, but I like cucumbers. I can do the splits. … I’m out of stuff to say. - Right? I mean, they’re people, too. Just…y’know, tiny. XD As long as you try, then that’s what counts. Eheheheh, I mean…kiiinda? 😅 This was one of the ones I could find that wasn’t completely embarrassing. I think Dad’s in possession of one of the ones that would made me melt into a puddle of shame. Hm, so’s this one. Guess I’ll follow suit? My favoruite fruits are probably apples and watermelon. I can touch the tip of my nose with my tongue. I like those indoor trampoline parks, buuuut the last place you’ll catch me is in the foam block pit (of course, guess who loves to go in those). If I had to pick my top three favourite animals, I’d have to say either cats (big or small), dogs (same), ooooor elephants. - I can’t really think of much to say this time around, but I’ll leave you with this. Given your favorite animals, I’d say I can always rely on you to address the elephant in the room! - LOL! 🤣🤣🤣 Haha, that’s alright. Guess that means we’ll have more to talk about the next time around. I think?I hope? XD; - It was a few days later that Audrey took the time to really sit down and think of something to write. Sorry for the wait on this one. I wanted to actually have something to say this time. Before I forget though, did you guys remember to try Blue Moon ice cream while you were here? Anyway, I find it so odd to think about how, if it wasn’t for Lola, we might have never met. Well, maybe not never, given our dads work for the same company. We might not have met until much later, if not for Lola. How neat and silly is it that my dog found me a pen pal? Also, I was able to think up some more questions for you! What are some of your favorite animated movies? What about songs? Desserts? Oh! By the way, here’s a video of Daisy my mom took the other day. It’s amazing how high that little dog can jump when treats are involved. - Now, logically, J.C. knew that taking a few days to respond was no real issue. Perhaps Audrey had gotten preoccupied with other tasks. That was typical for a twenty-something nowadays (he should know, he was one). A small part of him, though, couldn’t help but feel as though she had lost interest in him. If he had, he wasn’t the kind of person to be bitter about it…maybe a bit upset, but…Audrey was her own person, she had the right to make her own decisions. When he got a reply a few days later, that fear had melted away…then again, a video of a little dog getting some serious air in the name of treats always helps. Hey, no worries! We did, actually. Interesting flavour! Kind of like cotton candy, but also kind of not. If “blue” itself can qualify as a flavour, I guess, that’s what I’d call it. Kind of bites that wer don’t have it over here. Guess that gives me a reason to go back to the States, LOL. Ooo, okay, let’s see…I’d have to say one of the more recent ones is Ernest & Celestine. When I was little, apparently, I used to watch My Neighbor Totoro at least once or twice a week. I don’t remember, though, if I had watched it in English or in Japanese with the subtitles on. Might have been the latter, I only know the song in Japanese (and that’s….probably the extent of my Japanese XD. I can’t translate it, but I can sing it, so there’s that!). Songs, I’m all over the place, so I can’t exactly list a specific one. Mum and Dad like the Beatles, and they grew on me, sooo I guess there’s them? Will have to get back to you on that one, haha. Dessert-wise…can’t go wrong with creme brulee, that’s for sure~ Hot fudge sundaes are a close second. To be honest, I’ll take any offerings when it comes to sweets. 😋 Ha! Man, she’s got some power there…imagine her trying to make slam dunks! …Granted…that’s….kind of hard to do without thumbs, but…you get what I mean. I think? I know, right? I’m not entirely sure what dogs think about, but can you imagine if she was actively/knowingly playing matchmaker? ‘yes, hello there other human, meet mine’. 🤣 Guess that makes it my turn for questions? Mine are kind of weird, but: What outdoor activity haven’t you tried, but would like to? What was the last song you sung along to? What’s your favorite type of day? (weather, temp, etc.) - Blue really is the best way to describe that flavor! Hard to imagine that ice cream as any other color. Then again, it might work in another color as long as it’s pastel. I think it’s pastel flavor. LOL Ernest & Celestine looks adorable! As for the other one… Honestly, it would probably have scared me as a kid. I think it’s the art style. Something about how big their mouths get, maybe. I don’t know… Nothing against the movie though! Just not my preference in style, you know?I’d say a few of my favorite animated movies are The Lion King, Lilo and Stitch, and the Emperor’s New Groove. I like to think New Groove is safe for any audience because no one dies; not even the villain.I like the Beatles as well! My music taste is varied. If something sounds good, I like it. Genre doesn’t really matter. Creme brulee? I’ve never had that. I do like custard though, so I imagine I would like it. And who doesn’t like hot fudge sundaes?! I love sweets as well! Yeah, I get it! Maybe we could get her a little basketball and hoop? She could carry the ball in her mouth! Her dribbling will be drool! XD I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what dogs are thinking. As for your questions, rock climbing might be fun? I’ve climbed indoor rock walls, but never the real thing. I honestly can’t remember the last song I sung along to. I kind of sing bits and pieces or hum when I listen to music, as opposed to full on singing along. Maybe I can go with the most recent song on my iPod? It was Fortune Teller by Maroon 5. I tend to find good things in any type of day, really. If I had to choose though, I’d say a sunny mid-spring day. The temperature would be right in the middle, not too hot, not too cold. Maybe the occasional cool breeze to help you feel alive, but enough sun that you don’t need a light jacket, but can wear one without burning up. Woof! That was a lot of typing! Maybe we could do an audio chat or something, one of these days? She hoped she wasn’t being too forward, but, seeing as they’ve spoken in person, she reasoned it wasn’t a big deal. - 😂😂😂 Eh, blue, pastel…close enough. Still tasty, regardless! 😋 Totally understandable! To each their own, right? Ooo, I might have to recommend New Groove to Kat. I’ve seen it a couple of times, but she hasn’t. I think anytime we’ve tried to settle down and watch it, something comes up (i.e., she’s going to a friend’s house, I had plans with a few of my friends, etc.). Lilo and Stitch is a pretty good one (def. one of Syd’s faves), and who DOESN’T like The Lion King? Can’t help but sing along with it, haha. Remind me to send you a recipe for some. It can be a little tricky, but it’s not like you have to have four or five things going at once. J.C. stopped typing for a couple minutes, trying to move his wrists around and get some of the building carpal tunnel aches to calm down a bit. Maybe Audrey had the right idea, switching over to audio calls… As for audio chat, I’m perfectly fine with that! Just want to let you know that I am about four to five hours ahead of your time zone (I believe that’s what it is? Daylight Savings is a weird concept…I guess for part of the year, it’s four and then the other part is five.). Whenever you’re feeling up to it. :) - Oh, right. Forgot about the time difference. Oops. LOL I tend to wake up at six in the morning and head to bed around ten at night. My work schedule isn’t a typical nine to five deal, being a personal trainer and all. I generally work when the client isn’t; so it’s usually in the mornings and evenings. I suppose the best time to catch me is early in the morning and midday, my time. Or on my days off, of course. Do you have an account on Discord? I figured we could do our chatting there. - Time-zones, mon amie; Une vraie douleur dans le cul…😩 Early morning, midday, and days off…duly noted! So that’d be afternoon to early evening here, I believe. Works out, though- my available times tend to be later in the day my time. I do- Name on there is OuiOuiJC#0714. If you see a profile picture that has a ferret in a beret, and they’re holding a baguette and glass of wine, that’s me. - Audrey couldn’t help but giggle at his username and profile picture. Rather than email him again, Audrey sent him a friend request from her Discord; AudreySugarSpice#1734. Her profile picture was a pink teddy bear. Guess who~ - Pink bear? Hm, unless one of his sisters had secretly made a Discord account (”Not until you’re older”, as per Mum and Dad’s rules), theeeeen this had to be Audrey. Looking at the username, that definitely confirmed it. Friend request accepted~ Guess who, eh? Hmmm….the Queen of England? 🤣 - Feeling a bit bold, Audrey initiated an audio call with him, planning to greet him with, “How’d you know?” followed by giggles. - …Well, she did say that she wanted to try out audio calls, so why not? Picking up, he answered with a comically dramatic gasp. “Your majesty~! I am not worthy!” - Audrey giggled more. “I’d have followed up by pretending to be a queen, but, I don’t know how one acts and I can’t do an English accent to save my life,” she laughed. “Anyway, how are you doing? Can you hear me alright?” - “Incredibly proper, supposedly.” he chuckled. “Doin’ alright! Can hear you juuust fine. How about on your end? Hearing me and how things are going, I mean.” - “Same here! Glad I caught ya at a good time… I did catch you at a good time, right? It should be evening over there. Oh, I hope I didn’t pull you away from anything…” - “Haha, naaah, you’re fine! Been with the family for most of the day, so I’ve secluded myself in my room for a bit of ‘me’ time. It’s all good.” - “So I guess your me time is us time now,” she chuckled. “You live with your parents still or are you just visiting? It’s fine either way!” she added in a hurry. “The only reason I have my own place is because of Spike. He’s a workout friend of mine who works in construction and knows a few people in real estate.” - “Guess so; not that I’m complaining.” he responded. “ I spend most of my time here during the summer holiday…and, well, regular holidays.. During school, I live a bit closer to the campus. Soooo…I guess you could say both? Once I get my degree, I’m moving into my own. Haven’t settled on a location yet, really. Depends on if I want to be adventurous or not.” - “Ahhh. I see,” she nodded to herself. “What are some locations you’re thinking of moving to? Just curious.” - “Back to France is always an option…but knowing my family, either they’d be coming here at least once every couple of weeks or vice versa. Aaaaand that back and forth travel can be kind of pricey. I could always head up to and stay in Blackpool- where my university is. Or just take a total leap of faith and try somewhere else. The few times we’ve been over to the U.S. have been kind of nice- maybe I could live there. Might consider multiple citizenship, who knows. Eleven months there, one month here…” - “That does sound pricey… Though I’m sure you know that, if you’re considering the United States, I have to recommend Michigan. I’m biased, yes, but I have at least visited other states, so I’m not blindly swearing allegiance or anything. Fun fact, Michigan is one of the leading fruit growers in the States~ Cherries, especially,” she chirped. - J.C. laughed, “That doesn’t sound like a bad idea; being surrounded by fruit. I also wouldn’t mind living somewhere that gets actual snow in the winter. I mean, sometimes we’ll spend the holidays up in Northern Scotland, but not having to travel to see and play in the snow would be nice.” - “Oh, snow is definitely something we get up here,” she laughed. “Multiple feet of it, in fact. You should see Daisy during the winter; it’s hilarious! You just toss her outside and fwump; she disappears into the snow!“ - “Pffff! You might just have to tie a balloon to her collar or something and just track her that way. Or do you think she would float away?” - “Ha! Enough balloons probably would make her fly away! She’s so tiny! Truthfully, we just look for where the snow is moving. It also helps that she wears little sweaters when it’s cold out. Mom’s tried putting booties on her, but she just kicks them off.” - “Awwwhawhawhaw~ I’d hope she’d have at least a little something to wear. If I’m not mistaken, Michigan and a lot of those northern states can get pretty cold…like ‘stuck inside for days’ or ‘wearing five layers of clothing just to get the shopping done’ cold.” He thought for a minute. “Of…course, that’s all from word of mouth as opposed to personal experience, but…” - “I can confirm that it can get that cold. Ever see A Christmas Story where the little brother has so many layers of clothing he can’t put his arms down? It’s kind of like that.” - J.C. laughed, picturing the scene. “Oh, mon dieu. If we’re ever visiting during that time of the year, remind me to keep Syd away from metal poles!” - “Oh goodness… Yeah, that’s really a thing that happens here. Why do so many people think that’s a myth? Have they never gotten their tongue stuck to a popsicle before?” - “Apparently not. But hey, doing stupid stuff’s a part of life,I suppose. Maybe gain some status or fame in your friend group or among your class/workmates.” Sounded as if he was speaking from experience. - “Why do you sound like you’re speaking from experience?” she teased. - There was a brief moment of silence. “…Beeeee….caaaaaause I mmmmmmaaaaaay have done a few things that…could be qualified as such.” he responded, chuckling sheepishly. “N-nothing major, though.” - “Ooooooo~” she said, trying to sound like a studio audience. “What’d you do?” - The sheepish laughter intensified. “Aaaah…hm. You know those really, really hot peppers that are on the market? Short and skinny of it is ‘Guys Night In’ and a game of ‘Truth or Dare’. It wasn’t a…Reaper? I think that’s what one of those are called? Only reason I know that is because I probably would’ve ended up in hospital, haha. I think it was aaaa….habenaro? One was, the other’s called ‘Naga Jolokia’. Ate the habenaro with little issue, didn’t even get a full two bites into the other one before I was gulping down water like no tomorrow.” - “Oh noooo,” she laughed. “Oh nooo-ho-ho! That’s- That’s a ghost pepper, isn’t it?! Ah-ha-ha-ha!” She broke into a laughing fit. - His laughter became less sheepish and a bit more joyful. “Eeeeeeeyup, it is. Of course, I didn’t know that at the time, but hey. I will say, it did go better than when we played that one game with the Jelly Beans. …What’s it called? ‘Bean-Boozled’?” - “Yeah, it’s Bean-Boozled. Basically Bertie-Bott’s Every Flavor Beans but Jelly Belly brand. Dare I ask what could have happened when playing Bean-Boozled?” - “Weeeeell, plus side, I wasn’t the one who ended up with their face in a wastebasket.” he snickered. “The last few times we’d played, I kept getting the really gross flavours, and there was this joke that I was cursed. With our most recent game, the ‘curse’, I suppose, had reversed and the person who got all the good flavours last time got all the bad ones. He was fine up until…ugh, dead fish.” - “Ew-hew-hew!” she laughed. “Though, technically, all fish we eat is dead. It’d be pretty messy if we ate them alive… and gross… Say, that reminds me, you like scary movies, right? I have a question about zombies.” - “I doooooo. What’s your question?” - “How fast does a zombie need to eat before its victim becomes a zombie too and they don’t want to eat it? Like, zombies don’t eat other zombies, right? If you’re killed by a zombie, you become a zombie, right? How does that work?” - J.C. blinked, initially unsure how to answer. “That’s….actually a really good question. I like to think that it depends on the initial method of zombification. If it’s done via a curse, you’ve got a bit more time, whereas if it’s because of a virus, that time shortens, since you’ve got all this zombie saliva coming into contact with your blood. Blood takes about one minute to circulate through your entire body, so…you’d probably have to go all ‘pie-eating contest’ speed if your zombification is viral.” He stopped and thought for a minute. “Granted, you get bit regardless of the initial turning mechanism and still come into contact with their saliva…maybe one method is more virulent and fast-acting than the other? Kind of like how it can take something like food poisoning to show up in as little as half an hour to as long as four weeks, depending on what’s responsible for causing it.” - There was a long pause before Audrey replied with, “Huh… I don’t know what to do with this information… I’d write a story or something, but I don’t have the creativity for that. Hm… Maybe I should mention this to Adelyn… She’s good with this sort of thing.” - “Nor am I.” he chuckled, “Ah, Adelyn, eh? Friend of yours or a relative?” - “Relative,” she informed. “She’s my youngest cousin. She’s on the autism spectrum and is, like, really smart and creative.” - “Ah! Maybe she can tell me if the logic on my answer to your question seems sound.” All of a sudden, he heard a small sneeze outside the door, along with a small ‘THUD!’ and a young-sounding ‘Dangit!”. He closed his eyes and let out a sigh. “Hold on just a sec…” Getting up and walking towards his door, J.C. spoke to who he suspected was on the other side. “I know that’s you, petit singe. Are you eavesdropping?” “Noooooooo…a person can’t just chill against the wall in their own home?” “The wall that has their brother’s room on the other side?” “…All the other walls were taken?” - Though the voice was a bit faint, Audrey figured the little eavesdropper was Syd. “Tell her I said hi,” she called loudly, hoping J.C. could hear her from however far away from the computer he was. - “Can do!” he called back, before turning his voice back towards Syd. “Audrey says ‘hi’, by the way.” Syd gasped, “You’re talkin’ to her?!” She took a deep breath and shouted: “HI AAAAAAAUUUUDREEEEEEEY!!!” J.C., having been up against the door cringed and rubbed his ear a bit. Probably should have seen that coming… - “Oh wow, she’s got a set of lungs on her, huh?” she laughed. - “Tell me about it.” the older brother groaned slightly. “ ‘Kay! Soooo I’m gonna let yooooou twooooo get back to your conversation! Maybe we can do a chat later on; I don’t want to interrupt you two lovebirds~” the ten year old responded, laughing as she skipped away. Once she was gone, J.C. sat back down on his bed, rubbing his temple a bit. “Eheh…sorry about that. Siblings…” - “Never a dull moment, huh?” she chuckled. - “Never.” he laughed. - “Sooo… What were we talking about? … Oh, right; zombies. That reminds me; I punched a zombie once… Well, someone in a zombie costume… Did I tell you about that?” - “Pffffff! I don’t think you have…how’d that come about, anyway?” - “There was this haunted house a few years back. It was pretty intense, so children were required to have an adult with them. Well, these kids really wanted to go and every other adult they asked were either busy or flat out said no… So I wound up being that adult… Well, the haunted house did its job. I was on edge the whole time and, when one of the actors put his hand on my shoulder, I whirled around and punched out of reflex. I felt so bad! I kept apologizing and I even gave him a twenty dollar bill! I know they aren’t paid to be hit, but I had to do something!” - J.C. wheezed before collapsing into a fit of giggles. “Oooooh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho my lord! That’s aw-haw-haw-haw-haw-haw-ful! Hilarious, as well, but still! But hey, at least you apologized.” - “The kids thought it was funny too,” she chuckled a bit. “Shame I got us kicked out.” - “Aw, that bites,” the giggles started dying down a bit. “If it’s any consolation, I can be the designated adult if you and I are ever dragged to a place like that. I may let out a high pitch screech if I’m spooked, but I don’t think I’ll karate chop someone. At least, I haven’t yet…” - Audrey chuckled. “I’d appreciate that. I’m afraid my fight or flight response is just a fight response. Not a good scaring subject.” - J.C. snickered, “On the plus side, you at least know that. Better than running into a situation blindly and all confident, then end up running away.” - “As opposed to walking in scared and beating someone up? Not sure if I agree with that… If the person is innocent, anyway… I do wonder how I’d do, should I face a genuine threat… A non human threat, I mean. I know I can take humans.” - “Oh yeah, no; punching innocent people’s never a good idea. I’d imagine if you can pack that much of an unintentional punch on someone, intentionally punching can provide quite a…pack.” He chuckled sheepishly, “I was going somewhere with that. Sounded better in my head.” - Audrey snickered. “I think I get what you’re trying to say. I do imagine I’d do more damage from an intentional hit than I would a startled reflex.” - “D-D-D-D-D-Double comboooooo!” J.C. joked, mimicking a videogame announcer, “Nice hit!” - She laughed at that, having supervised enough sleepovers to recognize a video game reference when she heard one. “Which fighting game is that?” - “Aha, I’m not entirely sure if it is one? I was trying to go something ‘Mortal Kombat’ or ‘Punch-Out!!’-esque, but other than that…” - “Mortal Kombat’s the one with the ‘Finish him!’ line and the catchy theme song, right?” - “Indeed it is. I know there are a few newer versions out, but I prefer the older, less…aaah, gory ones.” - “You mean to tell me they get even gorier?! I saw some as a teenager and they were pretty dang gory.” - “I meeean….maybe more so in the way of being more realistic with the blood and guts and everything, but if you would qualify that as ‘gorier’, then yes.” - “Ahhh, I get it. I suppose that is gorier. It doesn’t matter how much red you add to a stick figure, I’m not really going to be affected by it.” - “To each their own. I suppose.” - “Hm? What do you mean? I thought we were agreeing,” she asked, confused. - “O-oh! I’m pretty sure we still are? I-I meant that in a…different context than what the original meaning of the phrase is? You’d said something about adding as much red as you can to a stick figure and it won’t affect you. I, ah, imagine it can be different for some? That…something like that would? “ J.C. chuckled sheepishly. “I was going somewhere with that, guess my train of thought got derailed…” - “…I think I was in the train when it got derailed because I have no idea where we are,” she laughed. - J.C. snickered before breaking into a short, impromptu song, “We’re goin’ off the rails with our trains of thooooooought…~!” - Audrey’s laughter increased with the song. “Oh my gosh! You are so silly!” - Her laughter had him laughing as well…aaaaand perhaps blushing just a bit. Good to see his dorkiness came in handy outside of cheering up a grumpy sibling or a bummed out friend. “I try, my dear, I try. Just how I am, I guess!” - She giggled softly at being called ‘dear,’ finding it both silly and charming. “Well, you succeed!” she chuckled. “What were we talking about? Fighting games? Something about fighting?” - “Something like that, yeah…come to think of it, how did we even get on that topic, anyway? What were we even talking about before that?” - “I have no idea. I don’t even really play video games. See, this is why I write things down; can’t remember a thing otherwise… Well, aside from the fact that Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. That’s about all that stuck with me from school.” - “I wouldn’t call myself a gamer, really. Kind of in the ‘I know just enough to keep myself from getting my butt completely kicked whenever one of the munchkins wants me to do a Pokemon battle with them’ camp. Maybe the occasional party game like those dancing ones, but otherwise…” J.C. chuckled, “What about ‘Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally’ for maths, or ‘Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492?’. Granted, that’s probably going back a looooong time, but hey.” - “I can play a bit of those Mario Party games, but that’s about it. I mostly button mash everything else. It’s amazing how often I win doing that…” she trailed off. “I know those too! It’s just the cotton gin thing stuck with me, for some reason. When will I ever need that information? Elementary school Jeopardy?” - “Haha, Iiiii’d imagine so. I remember when I was still in primary school, we had this ‘Bring-Your-Parent-To-School Day’ thing, and we did have something like that at one point. Kids vs. the parents. Sort of like…what’s the name of that one show? ‘Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?’. Pretty sure that show wasn’t around when I was that young, so your description’s probably more accurate.” - “I suppose you have a point there. I guess I can use it in a competition with my future kids,” she laughed. “Assuming I one day marry and have them or adopt them or what have you.” - “Same, honestly. I like to think I’ve gotten enough practice with ‘Thing 1′ and ‘Thing 2′, and having a kid of my own would be nice. It’s….different from having siblings, you actually have something that you had a hand in creating, and it’s like a little you.” He paused. “I mean…they’re obviously they’re own person, but half of their DNA is yours.” Cue a small sigh, “I dunno, having a tiny person thinking you’re the coolest thing ever for a time is a nice feeling. Kind of want to experience it on a different level than ‘older sibling-younger sibling’.” Cue another pause, then a somewhat sheepish chuckle, “That…aaaah, I didn’t mean to dump all that on you at once. Had an idea and ran with it. I hope that made at least some sense.” - Audrey giggled, pleased with his ramble. She liked the way this man thought. “Oh, no worries. I like listening to people talk about things that make them happy, especially when it’s about kids. And I know what you mean. I can’t help but wonder what a biological child of mine might look like. What traits of mine might they inherit? That sort of thing.” - “Basically a game of ‘roll the genetic dice and see what happens’, I guess. Sometimes it can be a little scary if you’ve got some potentially harmful stuff in your history, but otherwise it’s kind of cool.” A thought occurred to J.C., evidenced by the sudden change in expression on his face. “…I wonder if anyone’s ever had a child that’s exactly half of one parent and half of the other. Like one side of their head has curly hair and the other side is straight? I guess that could happen with multiples, but I don’t know about a singular child…” - “I don’t think that’s possible,” she scratched her head as she thought. “I know eyes can be two different colors, but I don’t think you can have two types of hair on the same head… Not naturally, anyway. I mean, my hair is kind of in-between Mom’s waves and Dad’s curls… Probably closer to Dad in that respect. Can’t style it very well… It’s not both though.” - “Mm.” He nodded as he listened to Audrey’s thought process. “Guess it all depends on what exactly the DNA wants to do when, for lack of a better term, building someone from scratch happens. ‘You get your mom’s eyes, your dad’s hair, the dimples of some relative a few generations back…’. Genetics are weird.” - “Tell me about it. Dad has no freckles, Mom has a few, I have a ton. Apparently, there’s some hidden super freckle gene somewhere in my family.” - J.C. chuckled, “Guess so. I don’t know a whole lot about what ran in mine, other than brown hair from my mother and…” he paused, “I know there was something on my father’s side, though what it is is escaping me at the moment…” - Audrey figured he must be having difficulty remembering as it’s been so long since his biological family was alive. Deciding it better to change the subject before he delves too deep into such a topic, Audrey thought up a distraction. “Do you remember that thing in school where you draw a square consisting of four smaller squares to figure out possible gene combinations or whatever? I forget what it’s called…” - J.C. thought for a minute; that sounded really familiar… “The thing where you put, like…uppercase ‘B’ for brown eyes and lowercase ‘b’ for blue eyes? I believe it’s a Punnett Square?” - “Yeah! That’s it! You’d think figuring out the odds of certain traits would be more complicated than drawing a few squares, but, there it is.” - He chuckled, “I know, right? Apparently, you can use them in…I believe it’s algebra, as well, but it’s a little more complicated there. ‘Square this number, multiply these two’…” - “Oh, gosh; not algebra!” she yelped in faux terror before chuckling. The two went on talking for a good while after that, but ultimately had to end the call. Finding such a thing quite enjoyable, Audrey made sure to call J.C. again… and again… and again. They’d even gotten to the point where they did video calls. It practically became a routine, but there were still interesting moments to be had. “Check it out! I got a wireless headphone microphone thingy!” Audrey chirped excitedly, waving her hand around her head to show there were no wires. “Now I can still talk to you, even if I step away from the computer a little!” - J.C. let out a playful, dramatic gasp at the reveal. “Ah, fantastique! You’re not confined to having to be close to the computer like I am.” he joked, pulling at his headphone cord a bit, “I have one of those microphones that are built into the computer, but I’m definitely planning on upgrading to a more ‘external’ one soon…seven to ten business days to be exact, should the delivery go without a hitch. Merci, online shopping~” - “Tell me about it! Present shopping has never been so convenient~ Also,” Audrey clapped, summoning Lola to jump onto the couch with her. “No more nearly knocking down the computer whenever Lola wants attention!” - J.C. chuckled at the little pup, “Ah, bonjour, Lola!” “Did you say Lola!?” came a voice from outside his door. “Can I see ‘er? Please, please, please, pleeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaase?” The older brother playfully rolled his eyes, “Oh lord, sounds like I said the magic word. You don’t mind Kat popping in for a bit, do you?” - Audrey chuckled and shook her head. “Not at all~ Let me just turn the speakers on so Lola can hear her. You like the attention, don’t you, girl~?” she cooed as she pet her head. - J.C. gave the two a small smile before turning towards his door. “Entrez!” With a small creak, in came Kat, bounding towards her brother’s bed. Thankfully, he didn’t have to worry about as much damage being done once she flopped onto it, as Kat was a good deal smaller than Syd. No real worries about his laptop flying off of the bed and onto the floor or the screen getting kicked in. Once she was on the bed, Kat crawled towards the webcam and made herself comfortable, smiling widely and cooing at the dog. “Hiiiiya, Lola! Hiya, Audrey!” - “Hiya, Kat!” Audrey returned the greeting as Lola stood up and wagged her tail at the excited voice. “Who’s that?” she asked playfully, getting a bark from her dog. “Yes! It’s Kat! Such a good girl~” she gave Lola a generous petting - The eight year old giggled at the dog’s response. “Kinda bites that you guys are so far away, an’ that I can’t reach through the screen an’ give her some pets…but seeing you two’s okay enough! How’ve you been?” - “I’m giving her plenty of pets for you,” she giggled, petting the dog. “Work’s been a little overwhelming here and there, but Lola and your brother have been doing a good job of helping me wind down. What about you? School treating you okay?” - “Uh-huh!”, the little girl nodded, “Right now we’re doing our sevens times tables in maths and we’re reading Sideways Stories from Wayside School. We’re supposed to be starting this really cool science experiment next week, but I dunno what exactly it is, ‘cos our teacher’s keeping it a secret.” “Maybe you’re doing the ‘butterfly life cycle observation’ thing.” J.C. commented, “I remember doing that a few times in primary school.” - “Oooo, that sounds fun~ Glad that you’re enjoying yourself. School takes up a lot of time, so, best enjoy it, if you can. Maybe you can give Syd some pointers on that.” Syd struck her as someone who didn’t enjoy school much. - “I meeeean, I dunno what exactly it is they do in Year 6, but I can try? She likes when they do more ‘science-y’ stuff and reading more action-packed stories, than having to learn history or maths….buuuut I can try!” J.C. smirked at his sister’s confidence. “Well, you know the saying: ‘Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it’.” - “Well… there’s a lot of action in history?” she shrugged. “Though that’s rarely a good thing in real life… And you need to know math in order to properly do science. Lots of equations and all that.” - “Yeeeeah, true. But I guess you gotta explain stuff in a way that’ll make it sound interesting with ‘er. Not totally sure how you could make maths interesting.” The older brother snickered, “Maybe if the question’s something like…’If there are 96 pieces of chewing gum in a candy machine and there are 8 friends, how many pieces does each friend get?’. Something that she can kind of relate to. Or at the very least, reword the question, but keep the same numbers.” - “I’d imagine she’d say something along the lines of, ‘Depends on who has to figure it out. They’ll get more than the rest.’ Gotta be careful with how you word these things,” she wagged a finger. - J.C. laughed, “She would. Or ‘Why would they be sharing, that’s 96 whole pieces of gum right there!’.” “I do know she likes when her class gets to do creative assignments, too.” Kat piped up, “Like when they have a spelling list, but get to write a story that uses the words in it. Or when they make a scene from something or a model in a shoe box.” “…A diorama?” “Yeah, that! She tends to make a big mess when she’s making it, but the end product’s pretty good…and she has fun doin’ it too.” - “That’s good! See, you’ve gotta focus on the good with these things. Focus on the bad and you’ll make yourself miserable. I mean, there are difficult aspects to my job, but I try to focus on the fact I’m helping people get healthy and/or stay healthy. Just remind her something good will come soon enough, you know?” - Kat gave Audrey a salute, “Can do!” “It takes a bit of patience, too.” J.C. added, “I know she wants to do some of the experiments that I did in secondary school and uni, but…well, you need to learn to crawl before you can walk, and know how to walk before you can run.” “It’s hard, though, when you’re little.” Kat piped up. “Trust me, I know. And I’m pretty sure Audrey knows too; we were both your age once.” - “Exactly,” Audrey nodded. “I used to get frustrated with what I wasn’t allowed to do, but, looking back, I wasn’t ready. I couldn’t go baking a cake without learning to crack an egg first.” - “…Ssssoooo she can’t exactly go sledding down the stairs without knowing how to steer the sled first?” J.C. snickered, “I mean, in theory, yeah, but you shouldn’t be doing that anyway because you could get seriously hurt. And that’s regardless of how many pillows you’ve tied to yourself, how many you’ve put at the bottom of the stairs, and with wearing knee and elbow pads and a helmet.” - “Even if you somehow managed not to get hurt, I can’t imagine it would be much fun. I mean, it’d probably be a really bumpy ride. I’d much rather sled in the snow.” - “But then we’d have to go waaaaaaay up north if we wanted snow. It almost never comes this far south.” Kat pouted. “If you want some deep snow, yes, but I think if we a tad bit as opposed to- as you put it- ‘waaaaaaaay’, it’d be fine. Maybe even go a bit west, as well.” J.C. looked to Audrey, “How much snow would you say you get over by you?” - “How much snow?” Audrey proceeded to cackle for a good long time before holding up a finger, asking for a moment to compose herself. “Sorry,” she cleared her throat. “We just get so much snow! I mean it. A lot. A little snow for us would be two feet deep. There’s a reason we have snowplows over here.” - Kat gasped excitedly. “We gotta go to Michigan for sledding!!” J.C. sputtered, laughing a little, “So you’d be willing to take a half-a-day flight just to go sledding? Not one that’d be maybe an hour, hour and a half at most?” “Yeah! ‘Sides, you’d be able to go an’ see Audrey! Us too, obviously, but still!” - “Oh, come now, it wouldn’t just be sledding… There’s making snowmen too,” she giggled. “Not to mention the feeling of coming inside from the cold and warming up with some hot chocolate.” - “And snow angels and snowball fights!” the little girl bounced excitedly. - Audrey chuckled. “Now, now, don’t get too excited. We don’t even know if this winter visit will happen.” - “Can it, thooooough?” Kat asked, giving the two the “puppy dog pout/puppy dog eyes” combo. As much as the older brother would love that, doing so was dependent on a lot of factors. “Iiiiiit’s a bit too early to say yes or no, sooooo…I guess we can chalk it up as a ‘we’ll see’?” - “It’s not up to me, kiddo,” she gave the child a shrug. “I’d certainly welcome you, but I can’t exactly fly you over here.” - “Awww…” “Hey, it’s not a ‘no’.” J.C. pointed out, trying to make the situation a bit more positive. - “There’s still plenty of time to figure it out,” Audrey offered. “I mean, school only started a few weeks ago over here. It’s still pretty warm out.” - “Yeah. You’re telling me you want to skip out on your birthday and Halloween and just go straight to winter?” J.C joked. Kat let out a small gasp and shook her head ‘no’. “Theeeeeeeeen you have to wait, kiddo.” - Audrey chuckled. "I’m looking forward to pumpkin spice season, myself.” - “I love fall.” J.C. sighed, thoroughly content. “Part of it being the pumpkin spice, part of it the cooler weather…” “Part of it being that you can toss me into leaf piles.” Kat added, grinning. The brother snorted, “That’s something that you love, goofball…buuuuut I do get a good laugh out of it. Next time we get a deep enough pile, you’re getting launched.” Kat responded with her arms joyously shooting upwards, and a happy “Yay!” - Audrey let out a small giggled, one of joy more than humor. She really liked seeing this man get along so well with children. This man was destined to be a father, she thought to herself as she smiled dreamily. - “Maybe if you and Syd team up, you can launch me.” he joked. Kat scoffed before laughing, “Yeeeeah, maybe not? Now, Audrey probably could! Either with us or by herself!” - The laughter snapped her out of her dreamy state and she laughed too. “I can’t guarantee a soft landing if I do.” - “He’s had worse!” Kat snickered, imagine Audrey doing just as she stated. J.C. smiled and rolled his eyes at the blonde and ruffled her hair a bit, “Alright, alriiiight…hey, did you finish your homework yet?” Kat shook her head no. “I was takin’ a break. Guess I should get back to it?” J.C. nodded, “Then when you’re done, we’ll go over it….maybe practice some of your multiplication flash cards?” “ ‘Kay….but you promised we would have a tea party after that and dinner, remember?” “Of course I do. You, me, and Mr. Bunnysworth are going over the details of the deed to your dollhouse.” The way he said it sounded so matter-of-fact. Kat giggled at her goofball brother before turning to Audrey and Lola, “Sounds like I gotta get goin’. I’ll talk you guys later!” - Audrey giggled again. These two were adorable! “Talk to you later,” she smiled and waved goodbye. Once Kat was gone, Audrey turned the sound back to her headphones. “Tea party, huh? Since you’re in England, do you have actual tea at those?” - J.C. smiled and blew a bit of air out of his nose, “Occasionally, yeah. Kind of a toss up between that or some juice. In the winter, she’ll use hot cocoa.” - Audrey chuckled. “That’s basically what we do over here. That or we just sip on air. It’s usually air, unless we’re using real cups. Those play tea cups are so tiny.” - “I know, right? You have to take teeeeeeny tiny sips if you want it to last the whole party. Like a little mouse or something.” - “Imagine if you were trying to actually hydrate with one of those,” she snickered. - “Oh jeez. If you drink out of them like a normal human being, it’s almost like doing shots.” He paused for a second. “…Oooor at least, how I imagine one would do them. Never done them myself. The occasional glass of wine on special occasions or on vacation, but otherwise…” - Audrey snorted. “I just imagined someone doing shots of tea, but instead of getting drunk, they just get more and more English!” - “Ha! I could start out sounding like this.…” He mimicked downing a few cups of tea before speaking again in a “fancier” accent: “…to something like this. And as the day goes on, it just….waters itself down.” - Audrey couldn’t help but cackle at the demonstration. Once she calmed down, she glanced at the clock and spoke again. “Oh goodness; is that the time? I need to let Lola out before she messes on the floor. Be right back!” She darted off camera to let Lola outside. While outside, her headphones were out of range of her computer, so neither of them could hear each other. With the silence, Audrey managed to forget she was wearing the headphones at all. Making her way back inside (and back in range of her computer), she sang softly to herself as she went about getting Lola a treat. - “Can’t be having that now! You two go do your thing, I’ll be over here.” As the two went off, J.C. took the time to readjust a few things with his computer, answer an e-mail, comment on a friend’s photo. His ears perked up a bit when he picked up the sound of Audrey’s voice again. Was she…? She was. He’d heard her sing once already (he had joined in, after all~), but regardless of that, she sounded lovely. Cue a bit of pink coloring his cheeks. - As she made her way back to the computer, she stopped singing and went about taking the headphones from around her neck and putting them back over her ears. “Sorry about that,” she sat back down with a smile, oblivious to the fact he’d heard her. - “Huh? Oh! Oh, it’s no big deal.” He chuckled sheepishly, “When you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go.” Cue the blush getting a bit more noticeable. Seemed to be that she was unaware that he could hear her… - Audrey raised her brow at this and cocked her head slightly to the side. “You feeling alright?” - Ah, crud, he’d been caught. “You, ah….” he gestured to where her headset had been. “You had forgotten to take your headset off, and I caught a bit of you singing when you came back in. N-not that that’s a bad thing! I thought i-i-i-i-it sounded lovely…” - “Oh? Oh!” she brought her fingertips to her mouth for a moment, then brought them back down with an embarrassed smile. “Ah-ha… Oops… Thank you?” - “Eheh…heh…aaaah, no problem…” Well, this was awkward. - “What were we talking about?” she twirled some hair around her fingers as she tried to distract from what had just happened. - “Tea parties and fancy accents, I believe?” J.C. answered, going back to said “fancy” accent as a joke. - Audrey tittered and the two went back to talking. As time went by, the leaves turned color, the temperature got colder, and their online chats became more frequent. “Since Halloween is right around the corner, I have an idea I want to toss out there, if you’re interested.” - J.C., currently in a rather “spooky” sweater, looked up from his hot cocoa, curious. “Shoot. What’cha got rattlin’ around in that brain of yours?” - “You know how I don’t watch horror movies because I don’t want to hurt someone on accident or watch it alone? Well, I can’t really hurt anyone if they aren’t physically in the room with me,” she grinned a bit slyly. “Could be something a bit different, you know?” - “Oooo-hoo-hoo, I like~ So! How should we start out with this? Something super tame like….well, I mean Hotel Transylvania isn’t a horror movie, but it has monsters in it…or do we go for the big guns like The Grudge?” - “I was thinking an actual horror movie. My cousin Chloe got me a nice mountain of horror movie files to choose from. She may have been a bit over zealous though,” she chuckled. “I doubt I’ll ever watch them all. Anyway, I can send the files your way and we can watch it on that Let’s Gaze website we tested out before.” - J.C. laughed as well, “Fine by me! Anything in said mountain that’s catching your eye? I’m not super picky with what we watch.” - “Chloe did mention that some of them can have a bit of humor or ridiculousness to them. What were some of them? Child’s Play… Scream… The Cabin in the Woods… Any of those sound good?” - Taking a sip of his drink as Audrey listed off a few titles, he perked up at the last one. “Oooo, Cabin in the Woods, let’s go with that.” - “I take it you like that one?” she smiled as she went about sending him a link to download the file. - “It’s actually one I haven’t seen,” he clarified, “Child’s Play and Scream, I have seen, albeit a few years ago. Figured I’d start with something ‘new’ before going towards more familiar, y’know?” - “Sounds good. When do you think you’ll have time to sit and watch a whole movie with me?” - “Mmmmm, probably sometime a little later this week? Have a few ‘autumnal’ things that are going on with the family, so I might not be able to find some free time before then. I can keep you posted, though!” - “Is it apple picking?” Audrey asked enthusiastically. “Or throwing your sisters into leaf piles? Pumpkin picking?” - “All 3~” he smiled, “Maybe some preliminary costume searching as well.” - “Ooooooo~ Sounds like you’ve got some busy days ahead of you! My mom, dad, aunts, uncles, and cousins are all going apple picking with me next week! We’re all gonna get some fresh air, pick some apples, make some apple treats… that sort of thing~” - “Ooo, sounds fun! Maybe I can suggest that to Mum and Dad; apple-flavoured stuff- rather, stuff made from apples- sounds really good right now. Plus, it can give Syd a chance to put some of her energy towards climbing some trees.” - “I can send you some recipes, if you need any,” she offered. - “Ooo, that’d be lovely, actually. Spice things up a bit in terms of autumnal snacks, you know?” - Audrey’s eyes seemed to sparkle at the concept of sharing recipes. “Oh! Oh! I have lots of recipes! What do you think you might want; pies, crisps, cobblers, muffins, cakes, cider, applesauce, fritters, breads?!” - Dang, she really DID have a lot of recipes! And they all sounded really nummy~ “Man, you weren’t kidding!” he laughed, “Hm, where do I even start? Maybe we can start with fritters and muffins and go from there.” - “Good choice~ I’ll be sure to send those your way.” She reached for her notebook off camera and jotted down a reminder. “Maybe I could add a nice apple drink recipe in there. Gotta wash those treats down with something~” - “Oo, even better. Kind of like a little bonus treat.“ - Audrey giggled at that. “A treat for your treats~” - J.C. let out a giggle as well…with an unintentional snort. Upon realizing that he had done so, his face went a bit pink. He was still smiling, though, so that was a good sign. - She didn’t comment on the snort. She didn’t want to embarrass him, especially when she did the same thing. “It’s a shame you live so far away. It’d be fun to bake together, I bet!” - He stopped for a second, a thought occurring to him. If they could talk to each other while being in two different parts of the world, what was to stop them from baking? “Unless…we do the baking, but like how we’re doing now. Find some sort of set up to where we can place our computers or phones or whatever out of the ingredient ‘splash zone’, and check on each other’s progress along the way. Baking together, but not physically together, if that makes any sense.” - “We should totally do that,” she exclaimed. “I wonder what we should make. I’d suggest an apple dish, but I don’t go apple picking until next week. Heh. Maybe we should try something simple, just to test it out?” She put a finger to her mouth in thought. “Perhaps a no-bake pumpkin pie? Still autumn themed. Do you guys have boxes of instant pudding over in England? Maybe we should make something with more common ingredients. Hmm… Oh! Pumpkin bread!” - “Oh definitely; do a test run, see how that goes, and then go from there!” J.C. agreed. “Do we have instant pu…I actually might have to check the next time I go out for groceries. Pumpkin bread might be a better option to start with, at least. I know for a fact that we have the stuff to make it here.” - “I’ll have to Google this sort of thing later,” she mused aloud. “I know you guys don’t have graham crackers over there. I’m guessing you’d use shortbread crust for pies in place of graham cracker ones…” - “Usually, yeah, or we use digestive biscuits in place of them. They may have them in the ‘’American’‘ section of a grocery store, but it depends on the store.” - Audrey nodded. “It really is wild how similar, yet different, our foods can be. I’ll try to look through my recipes for ones that are more basic. Here in the states, we tend to use shortcuts that you may not have; like instant pudding.” - “Right? And it can mean something completely different too. The kind that you’re talking about is usually called ‘custard’. If you look up ‘Yorkshire pudding’, that’s usually what we mean. Haggis is technically considered one. …English is weird.” - “Haggis?!” she asked with a weird face. “You’re right. English is weird.” She scrunched her nose. “I’m not going to lie here; if I asked for chocolate pudding and got haggis, I would be very disappointed.” - J.C. laughed, “Same, honestly. I mean, the food itself actually isn’t all that bad; it’s just the way it’s made that makes it sound gross…and…maybe some of what’s in it. To each their own, I suppose.” He shrugged, “I’ve only had it a few times that I can remember; usually when we’ve gone to visit one of my aunts up in Scotland.” - “I’ve never had it myself, but I know it doesn’t taste like chocolate pudding. Hence why I would be disappointed. I’m generally down to try anything at least once.” She thought a moment. “Scotland, huh? Is it as pretty as the pictures?” - “Always a plus.” he smiled. “I’d say so, yeah. One of my favourite places that we sometimes stop over in is Edinburgh, it’s kind of got a fairy tale-esque feel to it. Where my aunt lives is a bit further south, over in Dumfries; more of a riverside kind of town. If you go north enough in the winter, you’re able to see the northern lights, apparently. Haven’t had a chance to myself, unfortunately. I mean, we’ve been pretty far north there that time of year, but never at a point where we can catch ‘em.” - “Oh, that sounds lovely,” she smiled. “Maybe you could ask your relatives to send you pictures, since you haven’t been able to catch them yourself. Oh! Another name for the northern lights is the aurora borealis, right? Sounds all scientific that way,” she chuckled. - He laughed, “Indeed it does. …Y’know, that actually sounds like a good idea. Knowing my luck, if you and I got together just for that, there’d be a wicked snowstorm that moves in on the night we’d be seeing them.” Of course, the alternative of being all snuggled up indoors by a fireplace with some hot cocoa with her wasn’t bad. - She cocked her head slightly, a bit curious, but kept her smile all the same. How exactly did he feel about her if one of his first thoughts about the northern lights would be seeing them with her? “Well, I’m sure we’d find other things to do. Maybe hot cocoa and a crackling fire? I love those~” Seemed she had a similar mindset. - “Maybe in some comfy pyjamas, under one of those weighted blankets.” he added, goofy grin starting to sprawl across his face“…Ooooor a lightweight but super fluffy one. Either or.” - “Oooo~ Both are good! Might depend on how warm the fire makes everything.” She chuckled. “Here we go; talking about a fictional snowstorm. Our conversations sure are something, aren’t they? I was supposed to remember something…” Audrey opened her notebook. “Oh, yeah! I’m supposed to get you some recipes and find one we can both cook together!” Looking off screen, she spotted Lola. “Looks like Lola wants O-U-T and I need to look for some recipes, so I’ll talk to you later, okay?” - “Right, right! That should be fun; here’s hoping that when we do do that, the internet says running smoothly the entire time. Nothing worse that trying to get an exact amount of something from someone, and the connection starts to glitch.” At the mention of Lola, J.C. blew a bit of air out of his nose, smiling. “Haha, silly pup. You go on ahead; I’ll catch up with you later!” -End-

#Pen Pals #roleplay #compiled roleplay #redradandrod

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sonicrainicorn · 5 years

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Made of Love, Chapter 16

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Table of Contents

Ship(s): Logicality, (platonic) Prinxiety

All Characters: Thomas, Virgil, Roman, Logan, Patton, Dr. Picani, Joan, Talyn, and Deceit

Synopsis: Humans Roman and Virgil get wrapped up in some serious magic business without meaning to. Their other companions aren’t exactly as they seem, either. Together they all must defeat a great threat for the safety of humanity.

Chapter Desc.: W͏̤ę̫̙̥̜̹̘͔l͉̳̪͕̥̭c̘̰̟o̙͉͕̰m͏̼̪̥͈͔̦ͅe̞̼͍͡ ͉̦͔͉̤t̵̺̗̹o ̹̻̝͚̞̠͉t̩he ͏͚̜̤p͕a͉̝n̡͚̯i̮̪̟c̭̟̘ ҉̯̤̼̥̥r̫͓͙̼o̲̮̤̜̝͉̼om͇͍̗.

TW: Cursing, stabbing

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Virgil slept well passed one o’clock. In his defense, he needed the rest. Also, he hated mornings. He still felt tired when he woke up, but at least it was at a level he could manage. He stared up at the ceiling for several minutes before deciding to get out of bed. He trudged down the hall to see three faces he knew well. It was odd how quickly he had gotten used to living in a house with four other dorks.

Roman and Thomas sat on the floor at the coffee table playing some sort of card game. Maybe it was Speed. Virgil was too sleepy to pay attention to it. Logan was sitting with his legs crossed on the couch, scribbling into the notebook on his lap. Patton was most likely outside. The TV played mindless background noise.

Virgil plopped onto the armchair without a word. No one paid him any mind. It was nice; things felt normal. As if this was just a regular day with friends. If your friends happened to consist of two people who are sometimes one person, a ninety-four-year-old child, and a photographer who is way too into fantasy, that is. So, maybe Virgil wouldn’t say that “regular” fit in with this group in particular.

“Dammit,” Roman’s complaint was almost covered by Thomas’s cheer. When Virgil looked, he saw Thomas with an empty hand and Roman holding onto one card.

“You were pretty close that time,” Thomas teased. He pushed himself off the floor to wander over to the kitchen.

Roman frowned and started gathering all the cards into a single deck. “I’m going to call bullshit because Speed has been around since the 40s at least, and you’ve had the advantage of being around at that time.”

“Hey, just because I’m old doesn’t mean you can use it to justify your crummy gameplay.”

Virgil snorted. “He’s got you there.”

Roman threw a card at him. “No one asked you.”

Virgil retaliated by keeping the card.

Thomas came back in with a bowl of grapes and took a seat beside Logan to stay out of the rather immature fight going on. Virgil stretched to keep the card out of Roman's reach and kept going farther the closer he got to it. As long as Thomas didn't have to deal with it, he was fine. He munched on grapes as he watched the scene unfold. They were like two school children whose whole relationship was based on bullying each other. It often led to random entertaining moments such as this.

He glanced over to Logan and almost choked on a grape. “Holy cow.” He set the bowl down on the coffee table while placing a hand over his mouth. “How long have you been able to draw?” He had always been under the impression that Logan used his notebook to write in, not create literal works of art.

Logan stopped. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He pressed the notebook to his chest to hide the pages from view.

Roman snatched the card from Virgil’s hand and placed it in the deck. They stuck their tongue out at each other.

“Let me see it.” Thomas moved to sit on his legs and face Logan. He held out his hands expectantly.

“I think not.”

“Oh, c’mon. Please?” He gave his best pout and puppy eyes.

Logan wasn’t phased. “No.”

Thomas huffed and slouched his shoulders. “That always works on Virgil.”

“What?” Virgil stopped messing with Roman to pay attention to the separate conversation going on.

“Oh, nothing.” Thomas gave him a charming smile.

Logan rolled his eyes. “Thomas just wishes to see things that are none of his business.”

“It’s not gonna hurt anyone if you let me take a little peek.” He crossed his arms. “What’s so wrong about knowing how to draw?”

“That isn’t the issue.”

“Aw, you’re embarrassed,” Roman commented without even needing to look up.

Despite his scowl, Logan’s cheeks turned a soft pink color. “I am not. I just don’t see the point on how this is so interesting.”

“If you don’t see the point then why not let me take a gander at it?” Thomas blinked innocently at him.

Logan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “You know what? I’m just -- here.” He handed the notebook over. “I don’t know where you learned to be so stubborn.”

“Gee, I wonder.” He began to look through it. And he may or may not have held it out a bit so Roman and Virgil could peek over his shoulders to see. “It’s not like Picani practically raised me or any -- oh my God. These are the prettiest things I’ve ever seen in my life. How long were you planning to keep this a secret?”

"I have no idea what you mean."

Every page Thomas flipped to had a beautifully inked drawing. A realistic yet scratchy style that seemed very unique to Logan. There were many different subjects. Some inanimate, some real. Even a few that extended across two pages. They were very detailed and intricate for something done in a few days. So far, Thomas’s favorite had to be the one with the little fluffy bird. He knew for a fact Patton had a part to play in that. That man had a scary good way with handling animals.

“Is that Kilgarah?” Virgil pointed at the page with a roughly sketched dragon. A sly smile spread across his lips. “I thought you weren’t interested in Merlin.”

“I never explicitly said that.” Logan crossed his arms as his face turned a brighter pink.

“Well, it looks great.” Roman grinned. “You should do little Aithusa next.”

“I’m just -- I’m really blown away by this.” Thomas couldn’t stop gazing at every illustration in amazement. “How did you manage to trace all your lines so well?”

“I didn’t.”

Thomas lifted his gaze up to Logan. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I didn’t trace anything.”

He gaped at him for a moment. “Shut up. You had to have traced this.” His wonder only grew when Logan continued to deny it. “No freaking way. You free-handed all of these? In pen?” That sounded impossible to Thomas. Free-handing in pencil seemed a little more believable since there was a chance to erase mistakes, but there weren’t any second chances with pen.

Logan didn’t seem to understand Thomas’s astonishment. “Is that difficult?”

Too many words tried to get out of Thomas’s mouth at once. How in the hell did Logan not see anything impossible about that? “Uh, yeah it’s difficult. It’s really difficult. Have you ever even tried to use a pencil first?”

“I’ve never drawn with a pencil before.”

Thomas almost choked on air. “You’re over seven hundred years old and you’ve never drawn with a pencil before?”

“You’re seven hundred years old?” Virgil and Roman asked over each other, though Roman’s came out sounding similar to a screech.

Logan sent a glare Thomas’s way, who in turn raised the notebook to hide his mouth from view. “Yes, I am,” Logan continued. “But that’s hardly relevant to this discussion. And, Thomas, if you must know, pencils as you know them are a fairly modern invention. It was common to use ink."

"What'd you do before ink?" Thomas lowered the notebook a bit. He knew for a fact that ink would have been impossible for Logan to come by during his childhood.

"I, uh, I would burn shapes into wood." He traced a shape in the air with his finger as if to demonstrate. "Fallen wood, mind you. Patton might have killed me if I burned anything into a tree."

"Okay, that's great, but can we please go back to the part where you're seven hundred?" Roman asked. "I think I still need to wrap my head around it."

"You told them without me?" Patton complained as he stepped into the living room with a pout. "I wanted to be there for it."

"I didn't tell them. Thomas blurted it out."

Thomas chuckled nervously, raising the notebook back again. "Sorry."

Patton slipped into a smile and stepped forward to ruffle Thomas's hair. "Don't worry about it, son. Sometimes that just happens."

"I'm not your son," he mumbled under his breath.

"What year were you both born?" Virgil decided to ask.

Patton shrugged while Logan answered, "No idea. I had it narrowed down to some time in the fourteenth century, but I'm unsure of any exact years or dates."

"I was born in the winter," Patton added. "But I don't really know how to translate the date into something that makes sense for a modern, human calendar."

"What is it in a past, non-human calendar?" Roman questioned.

"Treto cheizmon tin pepti daméra naká punpó mjeslino."

Instinctively, the other three turned to Logan for a translation. "I have no idea how that would translate, either," he admitted. "It's not exactly a numerical date. It’s just kind of a statement."

“Alright. Well now that I know how old you are, I have at least a hundred questions I would love for you to answer.”

As Roman buzzed along with questions, Virgil pulled Thomas away for a private conversation. He made sure to lower his voice before speaking, “Did you tell them?”

“Oh, uh,” Thomas messed with the pages in Logan’s notebook, “I was kind of working up the courage?”

“I was knocked out for almost six hours.”

“Okay, so I might have forgotten about it a little.” He cringed a bit. “I just don’t know how to say it.”

Virgil sighed. “I don’t wanna put you on a time limit, kid, but maybe you should tell them sooner rather than later. Like today.”

Thomas continued to fidget with the pages. “Why can’t you do it?”

“Fine.”

He blinked in surprise as if he didn’t expect that to work. “Really?”

“Yeah, I’ll do it right now.” He walked over to the other three without another moment’s hesitation. “Alright guys, I hate to interrupt the twenty questions, but I have something really important to say.” He waited until he had their attention before continuing. “Last night I had someone tell me where Altair is. And this morning, Thomas and I double-checked with Joan and Talyn to see if it was reliable.”

“And?” Patton pried, clearly eager to hear some good news.

“It’s highly likely that it is.”

And then Patton lit up. He smiled so wide that literal sunshine seemed dull in comparison. It made Virgil feel ten times lighter and caused a little smile of his own to come out. “That’s amazing. We’re so close to fixing all of this.”

“There’s still the issue on what we’re going to do,” Logan pointed out. He seemed to be going over several different scenarios in his head already.

“You have us,” Thomas said.

Logan paused. “I certainly hope by ‘us’ you mean Roman and Virgil, and not that you’re implying you’ll be coming along.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Thomas poured all his attention into the notebook in his hands. "I figured I could help in order to make up for mistakes one might have made prior.”

A grimace flicked across both Logan’s and Patton’s faces as if a foul memory flashed in their minds for a second. “That isn’t the exact issue,” Logan continued. “You’re still a child. You have very little experience in fighting.”

“Logan’s right,” Patton added. “This could be very dangerous. I wouldn’t even want Roman and Virgil to get involved, but I don’t really think we have much of a choice. We don’t exactly have anyone else to ask.”

"But I can help."

"Maybe you should listen to them," Virgil muttered. He ignored Thomas's shocked expression to continue, "it would be a lot safer if you stayed here." The Theorist’s words were loud and clear: something would happen to Thomas if he went. And Virgil couldn’t allow that.

Thomas frowned down at the notebook. It took all of Virgil’s willpower to not take back anything upon seeing that expression.

“Why not give him a chance?” Roman spoke up. “Who knows? We might need an extra pair of hands.”

Neither Patton nor Logan seemed all that convinced, to which Virgil let out a silent breath of relief for. As long as one of them didn’t change their mind then everything would be good. It was almost as if they shared the same brain; if one of them thought differently, then the other could be swayed to think the same way.

“I promise I won’t get in the way this time. Please.” Thomas gave them a genuine plea.

Virgil glanced nervously over to Patton and Logan. He couldn’t say any more about this. It would be their decision in the end. He knew, if he wanted, he could tell them about the possibility of Thomas getting hurt if he went. But he was pretty sure he’d seen enough movies and read enough novels to know that telling someone the future was a surefire way to make it come true.

“It’s still dangerous,” Patton said. “At least Roman and Virgil know how to use weapons and are capable of defending themselves. But you…” He trailed off.

“I can’t just stay back and watch --” Virgil caught sight of Logan’s reaction to that. A spark of recognition. Words that were familiar and held a specific weight -- “at least give me a second chance. Some way to show you that I can do this. Please. I know I can do this if you just let me.”

“I don’t --”

“Okay,” Logan cut off in a steady voice.

“What?” Patton and Virgil stared at him in disbelief.

“Really?” Thomas beamed. “Oh, thank you so much, Logan.” He rushed over to give him a hug.

Virgil didn’t know how he could have interjected without sounding like an asshole. He didn’t want Thomas to come along for fear of something terrible happening, but he couldn’t downright say that. Maybe he should have said something when he had the chance.

“Uh, you sure about this, Lo?” Patton wrung his hands. It seemed Virgil wasn’t the only one nervous about it.

“Just trust me on this one.”

And that’s all it took for Thomas to tag along.

They elected to go the next night in order to be better prepared. And boy, oh boy, if that wasn’t agonizing for Virgil. Every second that ticked by felt like hell. He didn’t know what to do. At this point, it wasn’t avoidable. He just had to keep an extra eye on Thomas throughout this whole excursion. As if he didn’t have enough to worry about already.

The building, as it turned out, used to be an old shopping place. It had a vast parking lot full of litter and faded paint. The big, blocky letters that were once attached to the front were long gone and were instead replaced by faded outlines. Who knew how long this one had been abandoned for. Virgil didn’t even recognize the name.

Unfortunately, the inside was no better. Trash covered much of the floor. Some displays and shelves were still left untouched -- somehow managing to make things that much more creepy. An old, musty smell wafted in from all corners of the building. It was kind of disgusting.

“It’s so creepy,” Thomas commented as he huddled into his jacket. He stayed near Roman, as he was the closest person with a light source. “Did it have to be another abandoned place? It couldn’t have been like a park or something?”

Virgil felt that on a spiritual level. But this place didn’t seem as death-trappy as the manufacturing plant. It actually seemed like they had a chance at escaping this without dying.

“Calm down, Virgil Jr., I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Roman teased.

Thomas grumbled but his words couldn’t be made out clearly.

“Both of you -- be quiet,” Logan snapped. “We’re here for a reason and it isn’t going to help if you keep blabbering.”

They muttered apologies.

“I could always add a little extra light, Lo,” Patton whispered. If Virgil wasn’t so close he might not have heard it.

“Now is not the time, Patton.”

Patton frowned and fell out of step.

Interesting.

The group continued to wander around in near silence. Virgil and Logan kept at the front with their lights. No one had any idea of where to start. There wasn’t any evidence of anyone being here at all. But, as Virgil has learned the hard way, looks could be deceiving. Every turn caused more uneasiness to grow within the group. They had to find someone -- anyone. They couldn’t have made this trip for no reason.

And yet the deeper they got, with no sign of anyone appearing, a sick feeling began to swirl in Virgil’s stomach. Something was off. He couldn’t tell what, but it was something. It didn’t have anything to do with the building, either. No. This was… this was like dread. A deeply-rooted dread that might as well have always been with him. But he didn’t know what could be causing it. Maybe he was being paranoid.

“What the hell?”

A deep chill rooted Virgil to the spot. He could barely manage to turn enough to see Roman, who was looking off toward the side at something. Except nothing was there. Just a makeshift aisle with nothing in between. Nothing at the end. Nothing that should have caused that tone in his voice. And yet it somehow managed to make Virgil feel more uneasy.

“Roman?” Thomas tugged on Roman’s sleeve to grab his attention.

But Roman didn’t pay him any mind. He continued to stare in confusion and horror. “M-Mother? How are -- how did --?”

“What’s happening?” Thomas turned to Logan and Patton for an answer.

Logan frowned a bit. “Roman,” he walked over to him, “if you’re seeing something, it’s not there. There isn’t anyone here but the five of us.”

Thomas lifted his hand and waved it in front of his eyes. There wasn’t a reaction. “I don’t think that’s a good sign.” He gave Logan a worried glance.

“Neither do I.” Logan’s frown deepened.

Virgil wanted to ask if they had any ideas, but the words never got to take form. Patton’s frantic voice sounded before he could even open his mouth.

“Logan?!”

Immediately, Logan returned to his side. “Patton?” He grabbed his outstretched hand. “What’s wrong? Are you seeing something?”

“There’s -- I -- I can’t tell.” He put his other hand over Logan’s. “Too many things are happening. I don’t -- I don’t know what’s real. I can’t tell. Logan,” he squeezed his eyes shut, “why are you leaving?”

Logan stared at him in bewilderment. “I’m not. Patton, I’m right here.”

“Come back. Please. You can’t leave. You can’t…”

“Patton. Patton, I’m not going anywhere.” He shook his shoulder. “Patton.” But he didn’t get a response.

“I think he’s gone, too,” Virgil murmured.

Logan sighed and faced the other two. “I don’t have an answer to what’s going on, but just know that whatever you see -- if you start to see it -- is not real. No one is here but us.”

“What should we do?” Thomas hovered at Virgil’s side.

For once, Virgil could see right through Logan. He didn’t know. He was just as lost as them. “Until we figure out what’s causing this we can’t exactly do anything. So before we even think about fixing it we have to find --” He cut himself off with a sharp gasp. The phone in his hand clattered to the floor. “You.” He took a tiny step back, wide eyes never leaving the empty spot between Virgil and Thomas. “No. No, you’re not real.” He turned away from whatever he was seeing.

Uh oh.

“Shut up. You’re not real.” He covered his ears. “I’m not there. I’m -- I -- you can’t be here.”

Virgil had an awful feeling that the battle was being lost. “Logan, don’t believe it. You’re right -- it’s not there. You’re here with us.”

“You can’t stay. You have to leave.” Virgil couldn’t tell if he was talking to his hallucination or not. “You can’t stay.”

“Logan?” Thomas called in concern.

He didn’t get a response.

“What are we supposed to do?” He turned to Virgil. “Why is this happening to them? What are they seeing?”

“I, I don’t know.” He truly didn’t. “But we can’t fall into it. We have to figure out what’s going on.” He put his hands on Thomas’s shoulders, careful to mind his phone. “Focus on right here and now, okay? We’re the only two left.” That wasn’t stressful or anything.

“Okay.”

Virgil could tell he was frightened. Hell, he was too. The people around them were falling prey to hallucinations and so far there didn’t seem to be any coming back from it. Or any avoiding it for that matter. There was no telling what they were seeing or why, but it was clear that they weren’t seeing the same thing. Perhaps they saw something specific to them.

And then Thomas’s attention drifted away for a moment.

“Kid.” Virgil found himself squeezing his shoulder. “Did you just see something?”

“N-no.” Despite this, his eyes flicked away. As if to make sure something was still there.

“If I find out you’re lying to me I’m not going to be very happy.” Probably not the best thing to say to a child you’ve yelled at before about such an issue, but he couldn’t help it. He was trying his best to maintain some semblance of control.

“He’s not real. I know he isn’t.”

Virgil watched as Thomas tried to peer around him to see something. Someone. Only to return back to ignoring it with a more panicked expression.

Getting desperate, Virgil grabbed Thomas’s face with one hand and forced him to look him in the eyes. “Focus on me. There’s only five of us in this room, alright? No one else is here. And right now, you’re talking to me. I’m right here. I’m real and I’m in front of you. Whoever you think you see isn’t really there.”

“Y-yeah, okay.” He nodded as best as he could with Virgil holding onto his face. But with a gasp and wide eyes, he tore himself away. He pressed the heels of his palms to his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Virgil furrowed his brows. “Thomas?”

“You can’t tell anyone. I never should have said anything. Please don’t tell anyone.” He continued to beg to someone that wasn’t really there.

Fuck. Okay, this wasn’t good. This was the exact opposite of good. What the hell was Virgil supposed to do now? He tried to grab everyone’s attention -- just one more time -- but no one responded to him. It’s like he wasn’t even there at all.

Okay. Okay, okay, okay. Step one: don’t freak out. Well, don’t freak out any more than he already was. Step two: find what’s causing this. As long as Virgil wasn’t seeing anything then he was the only one who could find the source. It could be anything -- anyone. He didn’t know shit about magic. But he had a feeling he’d know it when he’d see it.

If he could see it.

Oh, God, what if he couldn’t see it? What if he walked right past it? What if it was invisible? What if it could only be seen by someone with magic? Or, worse yet, what if it was a curse? How would he reverse it? Curses never came with clear instructions!

A chill crawled down his back -- almost like an icy finger running down his spine. It forced him to shudder. The space around him started to dim. As if a shadow had been thrown over the surrounding area to the point where he couldn’t see anyone else. Not even his light illuminated anything.

Alright, this was not helping his situation. What the fuck.

He tried to keep his breathing under control. That was the one thing he had control over. He could manage that, at least. He could focus on that. Just breathe. Breathing is good. In. Hold it. Out. In. Hold it. Out. In -- hold on a minute.

Out in the shadows, something started to move. Someone? They took a step forward. Virgil took one back. The process repeated until a full person could be seen. And… they looked a lot like Virgil. An uncanny resemblance -- a copy. Except this version of Virgil had dark shadows under his eyes. His clothing lacked any sort of color and he looked downright unimpressed.

“It’s funny,” he spoke, but his voice didn’t sound all that human. It carried Virgil’s cadence but with layers in lower octaves, “that this is the one thing you fear the most.” He motioned to himself. “You’re nothing impressive. Nothing about you is threatening. Your friends are a lot more interesting, I think.” He looked out into the shadows as if he could see where everyone was exactly.

Virgil let out a silent breath. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t think. Here was this doppelganger talking to him as if he already knew what was going on. He wasn’t sure if he should be terrified or confused. Yet he somehow felt both.

The doppelganger continued. “There are so many regrets. It’s almost palpable. Things they wished they could have said, things they wished they didn’t say. There’s so much of it. And it’s honestly ridiculous. Is this how people live their lives? With constant regrets? There’s so much of it in here. Far too many lifetimes.”

What…?

“It doesn’t make any differences to me, though. Whether it’s the childhood Thomas lost, or the family Logan ran away from, it’s all the same.” His eyes turned over to Virgil. “It makes them miserable. I don’t think they like being reminded of it all, and yet it’s funny to watch them squirm.”

Virgil’s fear flew right out the window. This thing was messing with everyone. He spoke about them like they were new toys. “What are you doing to them?” He broke free of his instincts and stepped up to his clone.

He continued to get that unimpressed look. “Do you mind putting that thing away?” He pushed the phone down with a finger. “I’m not exactly partial to the light. And I don’t think you want to anger me.”

Virgil glared at him but did as he asked. As he shoved it into his pocket, it came into contact with something. A pen. He slipped it out without a second thought.

The other Virgil raised a brow.

“What?” He twirled it around his fingers. “It’s just a pen.” He clicked it and the ballpoint tip poked out. He suppressed a smirk. “Am I allowed to have this out or are you not partial to these, either?” He clicked it again to continue twirling it.

The other Virgil scowled. “I could care less.”

“Great.”

“What is it with humans and the need to be insufferable?” He began to pace around Virgil. “You’re all like flies. There are other things that are stronger and better than you, yet you are always everywhere no matter how those things try to get rid of you. Yet in the blink of an eye, you’re gone. And you leave new flies in your place.”

Virgil narrowed his eyes. “What are you?”

The other Virgil paused for a moment. “There are many names for someone like me. Many have called me a demon, others only think I’m a shadow. I believe you would have known me,” he appeared to think about it, “as the boogeyman.”

Virgil tried to ignore how the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He had no reason to doubt his clone wasn’t telling the truth.

Other Virgil stood right in front of him again. His eyes gazed over every aspect of Virgil’s person. It made him feel oddly exposed. “Why you?”

“I ask myself that every day,” Virgil shot back without thinking.

“I’m well aware.” He eyed Virgil once more, then sneered.

Wow, rude. “Alright, I don’t really care about you or what you think of my kind, but I would like it if you fucked off.”

He quirked a brow. Some semblance of interest crossed his features. “What’s making you so bold?” He took a step toward Virgil. “You’re the timid one. You second guess all your moves and think long before you act.”

Virgil stopped messing with the pen. “Well, for one, you’re wearing my face. So I’ve already lost all respect for you. And you’re messing with my friends. No amount of fear is going to stop me from saving them.”

The other Virgil didn’t respond. He simply stared. Like a cat that observes a moving toy before deciding to pounce.

“Why is it not affecting me?” Virgil had to keep the conversation moving. “If you find me so boring why let me be free from it?”

“How do you know that you are?” A smirk slid across his lips. “What makes you so certain that this is even happening at all?” He walked passed Virgil. “You can’t possibly believe that out of everyone, you were the sole person to be unaffected --” Virgil’s stomach did a flip -- “there's two powerful Magi, another one that can barely hold that title, and a human that’s just better than you in general.”

Alright, this dude was getting the name Anxiety for being an asshole. Also for being scarily accurate to Virgil’s own thoughts.

“If they couldn’t avoid it, how could you? There’s nothing special about you.” Virgil shifted to look at him. “You’re just a human -- and not even a good one. You fail at everything you try to do, and you think you have the ability to save someone? Don’t you think that if it was that easy Logan and Patton would have done it by now?” Anxiety looked Virgil right in the eye. He didn’t seem as intimidating before as he did now. “But they haven’t. So suddenly you think you can do things that not even magical creatures can do.”

“Someone has to,” Virgil mumbled.

Anxiety laughed. A sharp sound that echoed off nonexistent walls. “And that someone is you? Just look at you.” He threw a hand out to emphasize Virgil’s appearance. “Is this what a hero looks like?”

Virgil sunk into his hoodie. It felt too big now. None of his clothes fit right. He was standing out against the shadows. There were eyes looking at him -- judging him. He couldn’t make himself any smaller.

“And look at them.” Anxiety turned around and swept a hand out. As he did so, the shadows seeped away to reveal Virgil’s friends. They looked even more distressed than the last time he saw them. Anxiety glanced back at him. “Think you can fix this? Can you change anything about this at all?”

He…

“Can you?” Anxiety's voice boomed. His eyes changed -- shadows started to creep into them until they were filled with pitch black. In an almost immediate reaction, the others cried out in various levels of distress. They lowered themselves to the floor with a different reaction to what they saw. Thomas curled in on himself, breath hitching. Roman stayed surprisingly still and silent. Patton’s hands flew to cover his mouth. Logan’s hands curled in his hair with his eyes shut tight.

“Stop it.” It came out at a whisper. “Stop.” He couldn’t take it. He couldn’t look anymore. “Just -- just stop. Why are you doing this?”

Anxiety’s eyes returned to normal. “You think you five were my first choice? I have better things to do with my time than mess around here, but a contract is a contract and I am bound to complete it. No one is happy with this, trust me.” He put his hands in his hoodie pockets.

“Contract?” Virgil furrowed his brows. “What contract? For who?”

“I’m not at liberty to say.”

Virgil ignored how cold his limbs got. This wasn’t ideal. A literal boogeyman had them all trapped because someone wanted him to. What was the right way to go about this?

“But you -- why are you here?”

“What do you mean?”

Anxiety rolled his eyes. “You’re afraid of everything. So why are you here? With them.” He motioned to the others. “I know for a fact that you would rather have your old life back. Even if it meant you never got to meet Thomas. So why do you continue to come back to them?”

“I have to --”

“You have to? You don’t have to do anything. You could very well go on your own way and they wouldn’t do a thing to stop you.” He started walking toward the others. “Is it because you’re scared of them? Of what they can do?” He put his hands on Patton and Logan’s heads. They shuddered in response. “Ooh, if you only knew the secrets they have buried -- you’d be terrified. Would you like to learn some?”

Virgil couldn’t open his mouth.

“Do you want to know how many people Patton has killed? What about what Logan had to do to survive?” Another smirk began to crawl onto his face. “I could tell you all of their darkest fears -- every one of their secrets. I know how much you hate those.” He moved over to Thomas. “What about this one? The little boy who’s still scared of the dark. And we don’t even have time to unpack the mess of that one.” He pointed to Roman. “What do you think? Just because I’m forced to be here doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun.”

How in the hell was he supposed to respond to that? His friends’ secrets were theirs to keep. If they wanted to say it in their own time then they would. There was no way in hell he’d make that mistake again.

Anxiety crossed his arms. “There’s no way you can lie to me, Virgil. I’m inside your head -- I’m in theirs too. I could tell you what each of them is seeing if you wanted. It’s some juicy stuff if you ask me.”

“I don’t want to know. Keep it to yourself.”

Anxiety gave a mock pout. “Aw, you’re hurting my feelings.” He fell back into his unamused glare. “Face it, Virgil, you don’t want to know because you’re scared of what will happen if you find out. You’d rather be ignorant to their crimes and go on believing that they’re all innocent little angels. Well, they’re not as innocent as they seem.” He moved around Thomas. “You have a right to fear them.” He began walking back over to Virgil.

Virgil held his ground. He couldn’t let himself fall for any of his tricks.

“Do you want to know why Patton and Logan won’t talk about their human friend? What was his name…?” He paused to think about it. “Remy. That’s what they called him, at least. There’s a very good reason they wouldn’t want you to know.”

“Don’t.”

“Why?” Anxiety looked personally offended. “You have a right to know. Why would a close friend of theirs suddenly fall off the face of the Earth?” He shrugged. “Personally, I don’t know why Magi like them would even entertain the idea of befriending humans. Seems like tedious work. Especially when they die.” He sucked air through his teeth. “It must hurt even more when it’s your own fault.”

Virgil didn’t give him the satisfaction of a reaction.

Anxiety continued on anyway. “He was their best friend for such a long time. Right up until the end. Unfortunately, he met that end a little sooner than he should have. He was right around your age actually.” He tapped Virgil’s chest with a finger. “Just something to consider.”

“Do you have a point?” He needed to act like it didn’t matter. Like it didn’t cause millions of questions to stir in his brain or cause his hands to feel clammy.

“Oh, yes, the point.” He smirked. “The reason they wouldn’t want you to know. Well, it’s simple really.” He shrugged again as if the answer should have been obvious. “It’s all their fault. Why would they want you to know about them getting their best friend killed? It’s frowned upon to kill your pets, you know.”

Virgil frowned. “You’re lying to me.”

“Me? Lie?” He put a hand to his chest in offense. “I just told you that I’m inside their heads. I can see everything that they do. And I’m telling you, with full honesty, that Remy is their biggest regret. Emile Picani regrets killing his friend, Remy Magada.”

“You -- I can’t -- no.” Virgil spun around so he wouldn’t have to see him. “I don’t believe you. Picani wouldn’t -- he isn’t capable of that.”

Anxiety appeared in front of him. “What makes you so sure? You barely know him. He’s lived a long life. There’s a lot you don’t know about him -- a lot he wouldn’t want you to know.”

Virgil couldn’t believe it. He just couldn’t. He had to turn around again.

“Are you honestly willing to rescue someone who will end up leaving you for dead? He’ll do the same thing to you that he did to Remy. And then he’ll do it to Roman. Do you want to risk that?”

He didn’t want to risk anything.

“Might as well leave now. Running away is what you do best, isn’t it?”

Of course, it was. That’s all he ever did. Maybe it was what he should do now. He wasn’t a fighter. He wasn’t someone who could come to the rescue. He was just a coward. He couldn't do anything. He never should have even come. Why did he think he had a chance? He didn't have any helpful qualities. He should leave -- he had to leave. There was nothing for him here.

He took a step, ready to run away with his tail between his legs, but he noticed something. Thomas. He sat curled in a ball with tears streaming down his face.

What the hell was he doing?

Virgil blinked a few times, his mind clearing of the weird fog it found itself in. The voices stopped. Everything urging him to leave -- everything saying he couldn’t do it -- was gone. Those weren’t his own thoughts. He closed his fist around the pen. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“What?” Anxiety almost sounded angered.

Virgil turned to face Anxiety, determination set in place. “I’m not leaving. Nothing you say will get me to run away.”

Anxiety scowled. “So what? You’re going to be the hero now? You? Do you honestly think you’re capable of that? Do you think they’ll think of you like one?”

“It doesn’t matter what they think. It matters what I think. And I think I’ve entertained you for too long.”

“Why aren’t you listening to me?” Anxiety’s voice warped further. The angrier he got, the more twisted it became. “You’re just a human! How are you able to ignore me?”

Virgil clicked his pen. This time, a dagger filled his hand. “Because I know when the voices in my head are wrong.” He lurched forward and thrust his dagger into Anxiety’s stomach. “Plus, I kinda hate myself. So maybe using my face wasn’t the best idea.”

He yanked it out.

(Next)

#sanders sides #thomas sanders #virgil sanders #roman sanders #logan sanders #patton sanders #stabbing tw #platonic prinxiety #logicality #coinverse #this is the longest chapter #like wow

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mymixofmuses · 4 years

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Pen Pals

(A roleplay between my Audrey muse and @red-rad-and-rod .) It had been about a week since Audrey met J.C. and his siblings. It was kind of hard to miss them, given Lola seemingly bee-lined towards them during their stay at the park. She was grateful for her pooch’s detour, however, as the three proved to be good company (as did their father, who they had lunch with.) She wasn’t sure how long she should wait before emailing J.C., but figured a week was a long enough wait to not seem overly eager. She did originally intend to only send pictures of the dogs to show his sisters, but now she wanted to talk to him too. She decided to start slow, with a simple email. This is J.C., right? It’s Audrey, from Michigan. Here are some pictures of Lola in some flowers. She wasn’t supposed to be in them, but I just had to snap a few pictures before I got her out! Let me know how you three like them! She hoped asking for a response would lead the way to them talking about more than dogs.

#Pen Pals #roleplay #compiled roleplay #redradandrod #muse: Audrey Davis

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miasswier · 6 years

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miasswier’s ultimate glee ranking: no 88

88: Pilot

Written by: Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuck, Ian Brennan Directed by: Ryan Murphy

Overall Thoughts: I have a love-hate relationship with this episode. Before it was announced that Darren would be on Glee, I was told by several family friends that they thought I would really like Glee. So, I gave it a try. The first time I watched the pilot I think I got… ten minutes in? I had to stop. I was so bored. A few months later I was recommended Glee again, and I though, well, that’s like four people now that have told me to watch this show – I should try again. So, I did. I got maybe fifteen minutes in. I just could. not. do it.

I only managed to finally watch this episode the whole way through after watching several other episodes that gave me more of a feel for what the show was actually like, and made me curious enough to actually stick the pilot out. Plus, my favourite actor was going to be on the show, and I needed to catch up. I think I’ve watched this episode all the way through a grand total of three times.

That being said, I didn’t actually mind it this time around. It does feel draggy at parts, but what pilot doesn’t? I felt very nostalgic watching it, especially since we got “2009”, which filled in a bunch of this episodes gaps. Finn’s stuff, especially, was fun to watch, albeit heart-wrenching. Honestly, I think nostalgia is part of why this episode is where it is on this list. If it weren’t for the nostalgia, it would probably be a lot lower. Plus, there’s some pretty funny parts.

What I Like:

They do a good job of introducing Rachel as an obnoxious character, but also creating sympathy for her. The MySpace scene in particular tugged at my heartstrings. The words she’s speaking are so annoying, but when you watch her read the mean comments it really makes you want to root for her. Lea Michele does an amazing job at saying so much with just a little frown.

“I’ll pee in a cup. I’ll pee.”

Finn <3 As much as it frustrates me that they had him start out by being a passive bully, they do a pretty good job of showing some good character development, even just within these 50 minutes. You can tell that Finn wants to be more than what he is. Also, I’ve always found it sweet how much he obviously cares for his mom. Even though the whole “Finn finds a father figure in Will” storyline pisses me off, at least they never tried to act like Finn’s mom wasn’t enough. It’s clear he loves her, respects her, and wants to do right by her.

Great foreshadowing on the Kurt/Finn crush storyline! This is the first time I’ve noticed, but when Finn first starts singing in “You’re the One That I Want” and Rachel looks over at him and smiles in interest, Kurt is doing the exact same thing. It’s cool that they obviously already knew where they were going with that story.

The introduction to Emma’s OCD. I like that this was introduced in the first episode, and wasn’t just dropped as the show continued.

Howard Bamboo. I really wish he’d been a bigger character on the show. He’s hilarious, and adorable.

This isn’t really something the show did on purpose, but I find it really funny that Sue says that Will is “blurring the lines” while “When I Get You Alone” plays in the background.

“There’s nothing ironic about show choir.”

“Being a part of something special makes you special.” Oh, right in the nostalgic feels.

What I Don’t Like:

Quite a bit actually.

First things first: it’s too long. It’s only about 5 minutes longer than a regular episode, but it feels eternal. So much of it just drags on, and on, and on. Ugh.

There is way too much focus on Will. You can obviously tell that Finn and Rachel are going to be the main teenage characters, but they really paint Will as the protagonist in this episode. Having seen the whole show, it’s clear that Rachel is the main protagonist of the show, and that starts to come out relatively early on. I wish that they’d made that more clear in the pilot. Also, I hate Will.

The way Terri was characterized always pissed me off. She’s almost more cartoony than Sue in how absolutely horrible she is. The dichotomy presented in this episode of “Terri – Bad; Emma – Good” is annoying. I get that she’s a terrible person, but did she have to be that terrible? I mean, aside from Will saying that “she used to be so full of joy” there’s no indication as to why he would be married to someone like Terri. Plus, the way that the show always tried to push the “Will needs to get away from Terri because she emasculates him” narrative has always bothered me, and that comes across from minute fucking one. Basically just the beginning of this shows weird obsession with masculinity and “what it means to be a man” or whatever.

Emma’s creepy crush on Will, and Ken’s creepy crush on Emma. Like, I get having a crush on someone, but the way both of them act around the people they’re crushing on is really weird. They’re adults, not teenagers. Yet, the way that Emma acts around Will is dangerously similar to the way that Rachel acts around Finn (even just in this episode). I don’t know if they were purposefully trying to parallel the Finn/Rachel and Will/Emma relationships, but it definitely comes across that way, and it’s pretty weird. As for Ken, he’s just pushy and licking Emma’s door handle was just gross and immature.

Sue’s characterization. You would not know from this episode that she’s being set up as the show’s main antagonist. Yeah, she’s not that nice about the Glee club, but neither is Ken. In fact, Ken comes across as more of an antagonist here than Sue does. I mean, come on, she’s got like two scenes in the whole episode. I feel like they didn’t really know what to do with her yet.

Puck and Quinn. I find the mean popular kids character so annoying, and Puck and Quinn are just ridiculously exaggerated. Puck especially is not characterized as someone who interests me, or who I want to root for. Watching this episode, I don’t care if he has character development. It’s kind of the same with Quinn. Unlike Rachel, the show doesn’t juxtapose their obnoxious behaviour with something that makes you want to cheer for them. They’re just straight up mean.

There’s actually a lot of offensive stuff in this episode – ableism, homophobia, transphobia, to name a few. I mean, it’s cool to see this and contrast it with the end of the show when these issues had been dealt with, but it’s still shocking to see Quinn calling Rachel “RuPaul”, or listen to Figgins refer to Artie as “a cripple”. Yikes.

Will instantly making it clear to the audience and to Rachel that she’s his favourite student. He literally tells her that she’s the best singer in there. I feel like this would be more acceptable if the show hadn’t become such an ensemble show. Within the episode it doesn’t seem too out of place, but when looked at in the context of the whole show it’s a pretty shitty move. Also, he goes out of his way to blackmail Finn just so that Rachel will stay in the club. That’s pretty ugly.

Will’s Spanish. “Que hace en tu verano pasado” literally translates to “What it did in your previous summer”. It should be “Que hiciste el verano pasado”. I know a lot of people might not catch this, but it’s kind of frustrating that they didn’t try and make sure he was using the correct verb tense. I mean, it foreshadows the Will being a bad Spanish teacher stuff in season 3, but at this point they want us to cheer for Will. The audience is supposed to want him to stay at McKinley. We’re supposed to think he’s a good teacher. Instead they show him butchering the language he teaches, purposefully showing favouritism towards a student, and blackmailing someone and giving him false hopes about a scholarship. Considering Will is the “hero” of the story, he really, really doesn’t come across very well.

Songs:

Respect: I wish we’d gotten this full song. Mercedes absolutely kills it. Also, it’s interesting watching this having watched “2009” – Mercedes is (rightfully) upset in “2009” about how Rachel gets the first solo, but hers is the first solo of the show. Sure, it’s not a complete solo, and “On My Own” is more fleshed out, but it’s still technically the first solo. It’s just cool how that turned out.

Mr. Cellophane: Same as above, I wish we’d gotten this full song. Not just because I like this song in and of itself, but because Kurt sounds really good singing it. Plus, the way he fixes his hair as he holds that note always makes me giggle.

I Kissed a Girl: I don’t like this song. I briefly did, when it was popular, but the first time I heard it after realizing I was bisexual made me very angry. That being said, I think the context for it is better here than in “I Kissed a Girl” (which I have a lot of issues with, but if you’ve read my review of that episode you already know that), and it does a good job of introducing Tina’s voice.

On My Own: Very emotional, and an amazing introduction to Rachel as a character. She sounds fantastic, and the montage, as mentioned above, really makes you want to cheer for her. I don’t particularly like the song in and of itself, but it still works really well as a character piece.

Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat: Again, another song I’m not a particularly big fan of, but it’s still a pretty humorous sequence. I don’t think they sound as terrible as they seem to think they do. Artie sounds good, it displays his voice really well. It’s actually always confused me how Rachel insists on needing a male who can keep up with her vocally when Artie shows he’s a very powerful vocalist in this number.

I Can’t Fight This Feeling: While Finn sounds good in this song, it’s definitely not his strongest, and the fact that Will is listening to him in the shower (and doesn’t seem to realize how creepy that is) really puts a damper on the number as a whole.

You’re the One That I Want: Funny, and a pretty interesting way of introducing the love plot for Finn and Rachel. There’s not a lot of shows where the main couple start off with one half being blatantly, ridiculously obvious about their feelings, and the other half being totally terrified of how out there the first person is. While they basically ruined this by having them kiss in literally the next episode, it’s still a pretty original way of introducing Finchel, as a couple. Also, nostalgia.

Rehab: Watching this number, I don’t really understand why they’re all so freaked out. Yeah, VA is good, but a lot of that comes from the fact that they’re big. If you actually watch the choreography, it’s really not that complex. There’s a few cool moves, but nothing like some of their later stuff (I mean, let’s compare “Bohemian Rhapsody” to this number). There’s just a lot of them on stage. That’s it.

Leaving on a Jet Plane: Ugh. Not only is it boring, but we’re forced to watch Emma creepily draw a heart around Will’s picture in the yearbook like she’s some lovesick freshman in love with the senior football captain. Again, there’s a real high school feel to the way they portray Emma’s crush on Will. I know she’s inexperienced, but the audience doesn’t know that yet, and honestly, I know people just as inexperienced as Emma, and a lot younger than her too, that don’t act like smitten twelve year olds around their crush. It’s infantilizing, and kind of gross.

Don’t Stop Believing: This song and this scene is the highlight of the episode. I mean, DSB is what made Glee, Glee. It’s emotional, and it’s strong. Plus, after all these years, it has the nostalgia aspect. Definitely the strongest number of the episode.

Final Thoughts: Considering that the first season of Glee was so well received and liked, it has a really lukewarm start. It has some good, funny moments, but overall it’s draggy, and there’s way too much Will. Usually when I do Glee re-watches, I skip this one. It’s nice for the nostalgia of it all, and for a couple of funny lines, but that’s basically it.

#ultimate glee ranking

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bangtan-spells · 7 years

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Jungkook Scenario: Unexpectedly You.

Request: BadBoy Jungkook (Highschool AU) fluff of where he likes the reader (good girl) and he softens up for her? + Hello there,i dont know if this request will make it or not but if it does,i want to request a fluff College!au with jungkook or yoongi where y/n is a self taught pianist and jungkook or yoongi is a sport major saw y/n when she was performing for the university's events

Genre: Fluff.

You knew you were nervous, your legs were shaking, your hands were shaking, in your head a thousand thoughts on how everything could go wrong as fast as wind, you knew how important this event was for you, not only because you would be exposing your talent and skill before the whole campus, or because in the crowd there could be a potencial sponsor, you were nervous because this could be the start of something new in your life, whatever that might be. You had always believed that it was in occasions when people were most afraid to fail, when they were nervous, fearful or hopeful of the outcome of events when life decided to give a turn and then everything wasn’t the same anymore.

For this occasion you had chosen a pretty light but still elegant short dress in white, it had some lace applications that made it look romantic but chic, as for your hair you had let it down with soft curls that were near gone. The piano had been set on the stage by a group on the music department that volunteered for the logistics of the performers this afternoon, you went there, watching the crowd turning to the stage when they saw someone was getting on it. The festival was outdoors, with a stage being in a central area surrounded by all the stand up commerce of productos made by the students.

The long piano was beautiful, they had polished it until it shone and it reflected your face. The music sheet was already there, but you didn’t need it as you knew this song by heart. You were still nervous, your heart beating faster and your breathing unsteady, but you gave a big inhalation and stretched your hands, focusing on the instrument, the thing you loved most. The piano and the music you could create with it.

Jungkook could say he liked the exhibition festivals, he enjoyed walking around without doing anything in particular watching anything and everything, he also enjoyed all the free things girls would serve him, not that he asked but he wasn’t refusing any either. Jungkook knew of a certain girl that would give him the biggest ration of chicken wings for free, if he insinuated the slightness thing to her, she was pretty so Jungkook didn’t mind. He was walking only with his friend Taehyung, since Jimin and Hoseok had went who knows where, so they strolled around the perimeter, checking out the stands, if there was anything worth their while. The sound of the microphone made Jungkook turn for a second, one of the hosts of the event, a communication major must likely, was making the announcement of the next performer.

-A self taught pianist?- Taehyung snorted making Jungkook laugh. -Put those chicken wings on hold, this will be good, and wow- Taehyung whistled when you walked to the piano. -Miss sunshine is fine, but would she blow our tympani?-

Jungkook snickered his eyes examining you. You were indeed pretty, but he had his doubts about that self taught skill. Either way he stopped completely waiting until you started your performance, watching as you stretched your fingers and prepared yourself. You must had long slender fingers, or so they say about pianists.

-Come on- Taehyung pressed getting impatient.

Jungkook nudged at him and shushed. -Shut up man, watch-

The performance started, a low tune at first but then all of the sudden it went faster, almost merrier, making Jungkook wide his eyes.

-Girl can play- Taehyung whispered nodding.

Jungkook nodded but his eyes remained on you, the way your hands moved across that piano, how you were so immersed on your art you had your eyes closed and didn’t notice all the audience staring at you, how you didn’t need to read the music sheet. The movements were grateful and vigorous, gentle but it translated into a strong performance. Jungkook hadn’t even caught your name right when the host announced it but he noted to find our later. Right now he was hypnotized.

The festival was a success, your performance had been well loved by everyone, so much you had received offers from sponsors that could grant you scholarships in exchange of your talent, music was expensive, even if you had been self taught until now, but if you wanted any future on it you knew you’d have to step up and learn more.

Now you had to go back to the routine, particularly you liked wednesdays, it was midweek and you felt hopeful for the weekend, and also you only had a class that day so it was a bonus. You had to go all the way to the third floor of Humanites building so you were walking slowly to postpone the climb as much as you could, but then you heard something that grabbed your attention. It wasn’t odd to see intimidation in the hallways, the popular cliques always made their way, like in high school the campus had a hierarchy, although less evident than high school but it was still there. You saw the group of guys, all of them good looking, all of them overly confident, laughing at another group who passed by them, they knew the other group, by the looks of it Science majors, wouldn’t be bothering retaliating, but it made you frown just the same.

-Grow up- you scolded when you passed past them.

They whistled amused with your attitude, you turned a bit flustered but you wanted to give them a glare. But as you were doing that one of them was quieting down the others as if he was annoyed they were teasing you.

Out of all of them, at first sight he was the tallest and the most handsome, you usually paid a attention to a bit more than looks but this guy was attractive, although probably a douch.

-Wait isn’t she miss sunshine, the pianist?- one of them asked making you stay in place, of course they had seen your performance, suddenly you felt self conscious about it but you couldn’t find the way to tell your legs to move and just not waste your time with these guys.

-Shut up- the same guy said and then he looked at you, oh he was indeed attractive, but you refused to consider him nothing more than a bully. -Go, Y/N-

It impressed you how he even knew your name but as the group was howling now teasing him because he had defended you you decided it was better to save your dignity and go away before they got the wrong idea and thought you knew him or something of the sort.

It was like something had snapped in your routine after that, because from that day onwards you seemed to encounter with the same group of guys everywhere. They were in the food court the same time you happened to go to grab a quick lunch, they were at the north gate of the campus, the ones you frequented the most since you could get home sooner going from there, you even found two of them in one of your classes, different ones, but you hadn’t noticed them before, how?

But neither of those two were the one who had spoken for you the other day, you still didn’t know his name, but you did notice he looked at you whenever you’d bump into each other. Neither of them teased you anymore, at first you had thought it must be a prank from this group and that they were somewhat chasing you, but then you felt dumb when you found out it wasn’t like that. As none of them said anything to you or even looked at you inappropriately, well, that if you didn’t count the way that black haired guy stared at you. Like he was interested, and honestly you didn’t know what to feel about that.

It wasn’t until next wednesday when the black haired guy talked to you. You found him at the same place he had been laughing about the science guys last week. He was standing against the wall in a relaxed posture, you noticed him even from a distance, the girls walking around stared at him, the guys walked faster, he was unbothered but still there was the ghost of a smirk on his lips, like he did enjoy the reactions after all. This guy was trouble.

You propped your head up and tried to not look at his direction as you were approaching him, but just when you were on the closest point your eyes diverted from the stairs, your objective, and went to him who wasn’t longer by the wall and instead was taking steps towards you.

Biting your lip to hide a sudden yelp of pure nerves you pressed your pace but he said your name.

-Y/N, wait!-

You stopped walking after your heard him, scolding yourself mentally you turned to him, putting on a frown to hide your nerves.

-Wow- he lifted his hands and smiled like he was harmless, you really doubted that, even if he had a great smile.

Jungkook realized he was nervous when he saw that frown remained in your face, he really wanted to talk to you, but apparently you disproved of him. It was all because of the guys and his constant teasing and laughing at everything that moved, he had to admit it was fun, but it was immature. You seemed like the type of girl who was above all that, a good girl, you weren’t exactly the type Jungkook would linger around, but since he had seen you on stage on the festival he couldn’t get you out of his mind.

He had thought that maybe he could use his trademark moves on you to swoon you, but he wasn’t so sure of what he got anymore, you wouldn’t fall for that.

-Yes? I’m in hurry if you don’t mind…- you said trying to sound tough but your voice came out more shy and soft than fearless.

He was a bit taken aback when you spoke, you didn’t know why he just kept staring at you, then he cleared his throat and again his mouth sported a little smirk. -It’s nice to meet you, I’m Jeon Jungkook-

Now you were taken aback, you weren’t expecting him to introduce himself in plain hallway, you had thought he would say something else but then he said that and of course your main instinct was to introduce yourself back. -I’m Y/N, nice to meet you- damn your good manners.

-I saw you at the festival- he admitted with more confidence. -I thought since we have been seeing each other all these days It was only proper if I talked to you-

You actually laughed at that. -Why?-

-Why?- he asked back as if he didn’t expect you to demand an explanation. -Well, because it is the right thing to do, and I like to do the right thing-

-What a good boy- you smiled again, and then reprimanded yourself, had you just blatantly flirted with the trouble guy? You had to end this conversation as soon as possible, this guy caused in you some weird things and you barely knew him to not say you didn’t know him at all.

Jungkook licked his lips and put both hands on his head for a second like he hadn’t expected that and he didn’t know what to say for a moment, so you started to walk away. -Wait!- he called and you turned your head to him.

-I need to go-

-I just wanted to say about the other day, it isn’t like that, you know how it it is between guys, it is kind of stupid but we treat each other like that-

You frowned a little, that sounded right since sometimes dynamics between guys were just plain weird. -I really need to go-

-It’s ok but… maybe you can come see me, come tomorrow at the end of the afternoon, I’ll be by the indoors pools-

See him? This guy was really something, you didn’t know what to say so you just waved at him and kept on walking pushing yourself to not stare back to prove if he was there watching you go or not.

The next day you spend restless, all day you could only think if you should go to the pool or not. He was attractive yes, but he was surely a player, did he see in you an easy target? You didn’t want to think that, you didn’t see yourself as an easy girl and you neither were one.

Jungkook was his name. He had said he had seen you at the festival, had he watched all your performance? Was he into music? You were curious to know about it but you were also hesitant as to which were his true intentions, guys like Jungkook were known to be trouble, guys with smile like his, eyes like his, so attractive and alluring.Why go out of his way to talk to you, a stranger. And he had said he wanted to talk, he meant he wanted to get to know you or had that been an excuse.

You had many thoughts in your mind through the day and as if it was destiny that thursday you had just two classes, one early in the morning and the other at mid afternoon, so technically you were in campus already.

You could go there and see what he wanted, find out if he was just another guy looking for just sex or he genuinely wanted to get to know you. You bit your lip, you were being stupid, you had only talked with the guy once, or one and a half times and you were thinking all these things.

The indoors pools had their separate building, it had been a donation of some benefactor or such was was everyone told when asked why they were in an individual building. It was quite a walk there but it served you well to ease your nerves. This wasn’t a sex date or anything, but you had never gone to meet a guy before, so you felt awkward, usually guys would pick you up to go to dates, but he had asked you to go see him.

-Surely an idiot- you sighed when you reached the building, still giving it a chance.

The building wasn’t completely alone but the place where the pools were was, except for one swimmer in the pool. You thought if maybe this had been a joke of Jungkook, but then you went more into the room watching the guy swimming in what you thought was freestyle. You sat by some benches and looked at him doing laps, his velocity showed his strength, he had a wonderful back that was for sure. If this was really him… You shook your head but smiled, if this was really him he had invited to see him like this, then either he wanted to impress you or to boast about himself. The latter made you want to scowl but the former made you even more confused.

Your eyes followed the swimmer as he changed course and now he was swimming straight towards you, which confirmed he was indeed Jungkook. He inhaled deeply and placed his hands on the edge of the pool, pulling himself up with the strength of his arms and back. You stared at him, how he took off the goggles and the cap, exposing himself entirely. You couldn’t stop staring, his more than well built body covered by the swimming suit, it was a mid thigh one, but the extra fabric clung to his body like a second skin and you had him in front of you, even if he was covered the muscles of his arms and abdomen were pretty obvious, and below that more than so, but you forced to keep your eyes up until you saw his smirk and you turned your head.

-You came-

-Did you have to get out from here?-

Jungkook shrugged walking closer to you. -My towel is here-

You looked at your side and indeed, in the floor there was a duffle bag from where he took out a white towel.

-Oh- you were red to the ears and you didn’t want to look at him but he sat beside you and you just turned to him to see him with a smile this time, a genuine one in place of the smirk.

-I thought that since I have already seen some of your skills you could come by and watch mine, now we are even-

You nodded, that made sense. You felt shy, maybe because he was too close, wet and without much clothes, or maybe because this supposed bad boy wasn’t just that. -You are good-

Jungkook breathed deeply with pride, he was feeling too good with your compliment. He knew inviting you here was a high bet, he had thought you wouldn’t come but then when he saw you from the pool he had forced himself to do better so you would see him, and it had paid of. He had never felt so proud for impressing a girl before.

-You are pretty good too, a pianist- you nodded looking down for a moment to then go back to his eyes. -Can I see your hands?-The question made you look down again at your own hands, like wondering what they had of special and Jungkook thought it was the cutest thing he had ever seen. -I’m curious about an artist’s hands, sorry if that’s weird-

Slowly you extended one to him, Jungkook touched it light holding it with his own carefully, it wasn’t too small or too big, long fingers, short nails and soft skin. You were blushing to your ears and Jungkook thought he might be blushing too.

He let go of your hand and looked up before running a hand over his eyes. -Sorry if that was too much-

You were touching your hand, your nerves tingling all over because he had touched you, and he seemed so fascinated it made you more curious about him, he had already apologized twice, which told you this supposed overconfident guy was perhaps a bit selfconcious. -It’s ok, I mean, I don’t think its anything special-

-They are pretty, your hands- he confessed when he took his hands away from his face and he was blushing a little.

-Thanks- you said softly, too shy to think of anything else.

-So, Y/N, what are you doing after this?-

You shrugged, you had forgotten everything you had to do in life for a moment. -Eat?-

-How about if we do it together?- he asked and then cursed lowly. -Eating, I meant, don’t misunderstand, how about you and me, going eating after this-

You giggled at his little outburst that had been kind of cute, Jungkook was really hot and handsome, but discovering he could be cute like this made you smile. You were just going to eat with him, if you didn’t like him then you could go, but for now you wanted to see what else could you discover about this confusing bad boy Jeon Jungkook. -I’ll be ok with that-

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bananashemmo · 7 years

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When We Collide (Part 17)

Pairing: Assistant!Y/N/CEO!Luke

Rating: NC-17

Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16

Summary: He is the definition of high class smart ass, swimming in Dom Pierre Pérignon champagne and has never seen the shadow of poverty. She is underprivileged, lives in a messy dorm room on sale and struggles working as an assistant after being thrown out of college. But how will they collide when Luke makes Y/N pregnant after a drunkenly one night stand?

When We Collide on Wattpad

“Are you gonna eat that?”

“No, actually garlic has made me kind of nausea lately-,” Your eyes widened in surprise when the bread on your plate was gone like a light, you didn’t even get the chance to finish your sentence.

“So you can just have it...” You nodded your head in confirm and leaned back on your chair wishing that this ‘blind date’ could be finished as soon as possible.

Could this have been your worst date possible? Maybe. You hadn’t been on that many dates in your life but this one was topping to be one of the worst ones.

You were aware he it was one of Joe’s dear friends, you had met him a couple of times before and he did in fact look good. He also had a nice personality but never in your life had you felt this misplaced.

Tim his name was. Very cute guy, he was around your height and you didn’t mind that because with being constantly surrounded by tall people you felt a little bit out of place. He was also your age which was fine, you had had English classes with him in college but there was something about him that seemed so... Immature.

You had actually known him way back to high school. You had gone to the same school in Maine, at that point he was the typical jock, he had all the girls he needed and most probably had his way with the whole cheerleading squad.

He had the right looks, his eyes were brown like chocolate, they were pretty beautiful. He had curly locks that were shaved on the sides, something everyone concluded as a weakness.

Clothes were also spot on, he was wearing a blazer which you were pretty happy about considering you had your purple dress. You even managed to match because the tie he had around his neck was also a deep shade of purple.

He had even managed to find a pretty decent restaurant. It was in fact one of the most clean ones you had been visiting.

Not that you had any large places on your list of restaurants to visit. You had feared he would take you to some sort of grill where you could get a burger and a couple of fries.

No, this place was something out of the ordinary.

You didn’t understand half that was on the menu, he had to translate a few things here and there but it was okay. You were sure you would be getting something you liked out from his words but this place really liked to go for the garlic and because of the pregnancy you weren’t fan number one.

Your seating was also very nice, it was close to the balcony that had view over the busy streets of New York right by a park that had colorful fountains.

You didn't know how expensive this place was but you couldn’t avoid feeling a little sorry that Tim had decided to pay for everything. Despite being a little bit annoying he was a true gentleman.

But there was something about him that was very weird. He wasn’t anything like you remembered in high school and to be honest you just considered leaving before dessert.

You could almost compare the date to the one from That’s So Raven. He was a hottie but inside he was just... Somehow a huge pile of mess.

“You know garlic is the best thing in the world.” He commented with his mouth full and nodded with a smirk towards your direction.

“You tell me...” You mumbled and leaned back in your seat, just by the smell of it you had almost lost your appetite.

Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea you had ordered so much food in the first place. When seeing the menu your mouth had been watering just by the thought of the dishes but once they were placed in front of you it was a whole different scenario reaction.

Definitely too much garlic.

You had eaten the most of it on your plate though, only a few potatoes filled with sauce and a couple of pears. Safe to say you were definitely full in your stomach but Tim seemed to continue to eat.

It was kind of surprising since you were the pregnant one, eating for two. You still hadn’t gotten any cravings yet, but the nausea was constantly there and it was weird because it came at night instead of the morning like others.

“I think if college doesn’t go the way I plan I’ll end up becoming a baker and only serve garlic breads. Doesn’t it sound cool?” He continued to talk with the huge smirk on his face like he was the most hilarious person in the room.

You decided to just nod your head in agreement. He had, after all, done the most of the talking during the evening.

“How’s it going with you and college? I haven’t seen you around for a while?” He asked after thinking, the garlic bread gone but he most probably would order some more.

“That’s not really a sad thing huh?” You mumbled more to yourself than him.

You remembered the many times you had classes together. Always hitting on you and coming up with the words pick-up lines ever. You weren’t sure if it was because he was thinking they would make you laugh because it was totally the opposite.

“Did you like get kicked out or something?” He asked and turned his head around when a waiter walked past by your table.

“Yes.” You answered in a quick tone, you didn’t expect that he would listen and the reaction he had wasn’t something you were surprised about.

“How cool.” He nodded his head impressed and ran a hand through his hair. You weren’t sure if he was saying it because he in fact meant it or if it was because he was too caught up ordering more bread to listen carefully.

“You don’t say.” You shrugged your shoulder and rolled your eyes. Last time you would ever go on a date with someone who had just asked because he liked the sight of your breasts jumping in P.E during high school.

Grabbing your phone from your pocket you forcefully placed it on your lap under the table and opened it. You didn’t care if he caught you but you were at a fancy restaurant and you didn’t want to look lame.

It was a good thing the tables had white cloths to cover and you sincerely hoped they had some good cleaning detergent because Tim had spilled his sauce at least twice.

You weren’t sure if you were angry or just very frustrated. You quickly opened the group chat you had with both Nicole and Joe to give a little news on what the hell had been going on for the past hour.

“Joe are you insane? You literally let me go on a date with this freak without any heads up? He’s nothing like the guy he was in high school!”

It didn’t take long to get a reply but it was Nicole and she wasn’t careful with her emojis.

“Wait you really went on a date with him? I thought you would just bail on him just like we talked about?”

You laughed quietly by the memory. Nicole wasn’t really the sensitive type as she looked like. She was ready to dump his ass on your behalf but you still had a heart but maybe you should reconsider your decisions from now on.

“You wanted to dump him?? But he’s so into you! I swear he might seem like a freak but he’s one of my good friends and I assure he wants you nothing but the best.”

You rolled your eyes by Joe’s reply, of course he only wanted to see the good side of this. You knew well enough that they shared a lot of the same interests but you could stand Joe. Nothing like you could with Tim.

“He used the freaking table dew to wipe his mouth from sauce! On such a fancy restaurant! Who does that?” You grimaced by the memory and shook your head in disbelief.

“Seems like he’s already got the father role coming... See it as a benefit.” Nicole quickly replied while Joe was typing, you wanted to rip her head off or something by her lame jokes.

“Just stay for the dessert please... From that I promise you won’t have to talk to him ever again... Unless he asks you for a second date.”

“There won’t be a second date.” You replied and rolled your eyes, you didn’t care what he had to say this would be the first and last time you did him a favor like this.

“What is going on over there?” Tim pulled you out of your thoughts and you quickly placed your phone back in your pocket to see what he was talking about.

He looked at you to get your attention and when he got it he looked towards the sudden commotion. It was by the entrance, it was flashing with camera flashings and even if you had no idea what was going on.

You could almost predict it.

“You think it’s someone famous?” Tim asked with wide eyes almost as if he was having a small fangirl inside of him.

“I don’t know.” You bit down on your lip sincerely hoping that it wouldn’t. But of course the camera flashing and blitz were spoiling everything, it definitely was someone that needed to be seen.

“Oh my god! Look! It’s Luke Hemmings!” Tim looked at you with eyes ready to pop out and his jaw almost falling down to his empty plate.

“Of course it is.” You mumbled below your breath and ran a hand through your hair in frustration. You didn’t want to look up, you tried to focus on your plate but you couldn’t avoid it.

Inside came Luke first, sunglasses protecting his eyes from all the camera flashing and in his hand was Holly. She was on the contrary enjoying all the lights, she was smiling to every direction possible and waving her hand.

“Out of all the restaurants they could have visited.” You shook your head in disbelief and tried to focus back on your food.

“Can you believe it? Holly Fitzgerald! I have a poster of her in my wall with white spots-,”

“I don’t want to hear anymore.” You quickly moved your hands up to stop him before he continued. The conversation was getting way out of hand and just the thought of him having a poster of Holly made you gag.

“She is probably the dumbest girl I’ve ever come across in my life.”

“Well duh! That’s why I like her! I have a thing for girls with lack of intelligence. Makes me look like the smarter one.” He explained and you suddenly furrowed your eyebrows confused.

“Is that why you wanted to go on a date-,”

“Shh oh my god they’re coming!” He almost whisper-yelled and leaned back in his seat as if he was trying to act cool, the camera flashing coming closer as Luke and Holly walked past your table.

You sighed deeply and ran a hand through your hair, he didn't notice you but you clearly didn’t mind either. Forget about the dessert. Maybe you could crawl out of the window in the bathroom.

“Isn’t that cool?” He said in almost a cheer and watched them take a seat a few tables away from you by the end of the room.

“Very cool.” You nodded your head deeply impressed and took your glass to drink the last bit of your water.

“Would it be weird if I asked for an autograph?” He asked and you almost smacked your hands on top of the table.

“Yes! It would! If you’re so desperate to get one I can assure you, you will get one on Monday from Joe when classes start! But only if we can just skip the dessert and go straight to the bill now.”

“You can do that?” He asked in pure surprise, his jaw ready to fall down to the plate that was being taken away by one of the waiters.

“Yes!” You said with wide eyes. You were so desperate to leave it couldn’t go fast enough.

“That’s great, Y/N!” He smiled genially and grabbed the arm of one of the waiters, “We’d like the dessert card menu please.”

“Dear god...” You mumbled below your breath and rolled your eyes. You wouldn’t go anywhere until the date was fully over according to him, Tim was close to become a snail on date.

You politely grabbed the dessert menu and barely skimmed it through before you decided to take the first thing on the menu. Tim on the other hand was just as slow as you had predicted. He needed to go through everything and make sure it didn’t contain something he was allergic too.

Which were many things.

You knew you should just ignore them but you couldn’t avoid looking over your shoulder to see where they were seated.

You had heard they were talking about going to a restaurant tonight but you did not expect it would be this one. He had also been the one to book the table himself, normally that was your job.

They were sitting a bit secluded and had their menus in front of them. Or it seemed as Holly was the only one to look because Luke was sitting with his arms crossed watching her with a smile.

“Do you know how long they have been together? Tim asked and caught your attention.

“No why?” When you thought about it you probably should have known in the back of your mind since you had been here from the start. But why did that matter anyways, it was all just fake.

“I wish I had a relationship like them.” He sighed softly and leaned his chin on his hand. He was probably also impatient about his dessert.

“Could we be a couple like them?”

“No.” You replied with force. There was no way possible you would continue this horrible day into a relationship. Never ever in your goddamn life.

He didn’t seem to mind by your respond but he had been like this all evening. He had done the talking and when you said something it was like it was blown into one ear and pulled out of the other.

It was almost a sight of relief when the dessert was finally served, you had gotten a small fruit salad that would be gone before you could blink twice.

On the other hand Tim had managed to order so many plates of whatever cake and goods it would at least be an hour before he could finish this.

How could a boy eat this much? You didn’t understand any of it, you were surprised how little you had been eating compared to him. And it wasn’t like he was some sort of broad boy, he looked pretty decent just like Joe.

It was like waiting for rain to come in the Sahara and just by the thought of that it sounded impossible.

“Sorry,” You apologized deeply and stood up from your seat, “I gotta go to the bathroom.”

He nodded his head politely and watched you wrap your small cardigan around you to leave. You had decided to wear it just so it wasn’t that obvious that you were pregnant.

You had no idea where the toilets were or if you would in fact crawl out of the window but you just needed a break or maybe some sort of fresh air. The place looked clean so you expected the toilet to be the same and you could almost imagine how pale you would look in the face.

“Oh, sorry...” You mumbled carefully when bumping into someone who was standing with their back pressed against the doorframe to the kitchen.

“It’s alright.” He replied back but once you recognize his voice you looked up to see it was Luke. Of course. Who else would it be.

“Y/N?” He questioned just to be sure, not that he couldn’t recognize you he just thought it was weird that you were here. At the same time as him.

“Hello.” You didn’t know what else to say, there was no point in trying to hide or say no. You couldn’t just escape now and it would be too embarrassing if you did.

“What are you doing here-, Oh my god is that the guy you went on a date with?” He changed the subject once noticing where you had been coming from, Time sitting alone at the table but he didn't seem to mind. He had his cakes after all.

“Yes... His name is Tim... Very nice guy if you should ask me.” You nodded your head in agreement. He was a nice guy. Just too weird for your taste.

“That guy must be loaded!” Luke commented with furrowed eyebrows and a suspicious tone.

“Why do you think that?” You questioned and observed his face expression.

“Because this isn’t a cheap place. I know that well enough, it’s my restaurant.”

“It’s-, It’s your restaurant?” You had to repeat yourself just to try and see if you could actually believe his words.

When you thought about it everything screamed Luke. The furniture, the way the place was decorated. It looked like his mansion just in a restaurant style and suddenly it wasn’t such a big surprise.

“Well at least he’s got a great taste then...” You mumbled a bit off, you felt a little weird now that you were here but it also made sense to why Luke was standing in front of the kitchen and keeping an eye on it.

“And because it’s your restaurant... You’ve brought Holly along.”

“Double recognition.” He nodded his head in agreement, pretty impressed by his own idea. He could get the chance to both let people see his restaurant but also get more pictures and stories out with Holly.

“That’s great...” You said with a straight line, “Better than my night would be.”

“Oh my god Y/N?” Holly suddenly came from your behind and you widened your eyes.

“And from that it became a lot worse.” You spoke and looked up at Luke with half irritated eyes but he didn’t seem to mind and pulled Holly close.

“What are you doing here at such a fancy place? You can’t even afford a sock.” She spoke and glanced you up and down just to see what kind of dress you were wearing.

“No Holly that’s right I’m sorry,” You commented with a fake smile, “Should I take your order now that you’re here?”

“Actually yes I’d like-,” Before she could finish her sentence Luke stopped her, “Honey, Y/N is here on a date.”

“Oh really?” She said in surprise. She didn’t feel the least sorry about treating you like some sort of servant and she took a look around the room for him.

“Oh my god... Is he the father?” She suddenly said when she looked over her shoulder to see Tim sit alone.

“No!” You were both quick to respond in unison, and you looked up to see Luke’s eyes be wider than yours.

“Well that’s a good thing.” She said in a quick voice and shrugged her shoulder, “Could you have imagined a child with that nose? One word. Plastic surgery.”

You rolled your eyes by her words and chewed down on your bottom lip. What would be worst? Continue to stand with Holly or go back to Tim that had almost managed to eat everything including your fruit salad.

“Yeah okay...” You barely managed to say anything as you turned around deciding to leave.

Both would be horrible but you didn’t want to continue and stand to hear about more plastic surgeries that she would plan for your baby. It was enough that she invested time to do it on herself she had recently gotten fillers in her lips. They looked worse than the on the TLC programs.

“You know you pee a lot.” Tim commented once you sat back on your seat and you shrugged your shoulder.

“I’ve got a bad bladder.” You didn’t know what else to say, of course it had become worse because of the pregnancy and body changes.

“I’ve got a bladder of steal! It never happens, only when I’m completely wasted and accidentally do it in my bed.” He explained like it was nothing and used the dew again to try remove some of the chocolate.

You didn’t even want to finish your dessert. The way he was looking was inside and you were quick to grab a waiter by the arm to tell that you needed the bill as soon as possible.

“Already over! Man time has flied fast.” Tim commented in wonder and he still had bits of chocolate around his mouth.

“How about we go to my place and watch a movie or something?”

“No thank you.” You mumbled impatiently and looked for the waiter. You barely heard what Tim had to say because it was such nonsense he just needed a piece of tape over his mouth or something.

“Okay fine but I am in fact a gentleman. So do you want the kiss on your cheek or on your lips?” He raised his hands in surrender and you looked at him as if he was in fact kidding.

But he definitely wasn’t.

You looked at him with wide eyes, tempted between doing what you had in mind or not. You had been waiting to pull the card, you didn’t want to do it every time you somehow felt uncomfortable but now you couldn’t handle this anymore.

“I’m pregnant.” You looked at him deadly in the eyes and saw how everything changed in just a second.

“Pre-, Pregnant?” He had to repeat himself you could almost see the sweat drip down from his face.

“Yes you know... You kind of have to do the dirty thing and when the condom that is clearly not used and can’t be used to blame isn’t there you get a baby. Tried that before?” You didn’t care how you were acting now, it was all just a copy from how he had been all night.

“I uh-,” He grabbed his collar nervously and also managed to place his fingers nervously into the rest of his cake, too shook to say anything in full sentences.

You knew just well enough that he would be too immature to handle this properly.

“You know Y/N, the evening’s been lovely,” He still hadn’t cleaned his fingers when he suddenly stood up from his chair and threw his jacket over his shoulder.

“But I gotta go. Fast. Goodbye.”

You didn’t say anything you didn’t even want to protest. He was standing quickly out of the door almost like a shadow. He was that quick you barely saw his reaction when he turned around.

“What an evening.” You mumbled to yourself and grabbed the spoon in your fruit salad.

You didn’t want to eat any of it but you felt it would be weird to just leave now. Also you were feeling completely exhausted, this night had been complete chaos and it was a sad way to end it.

Would it be weird to leave now? Maybe, but you still continued to stay put in your seat and when you glanced over at the bar you happened to notice Luke.

He was sitting with his eyebrows furrowed and coincidentally looked over at you to see Tim being gone. He had a glass in his hand, he was most probably waiting for his food while Holly was out attacking the bathroom with too much bronzer.

You could tell something was on his mind and he wanted to question something so you just shrugged your shoulder. If he put his head together he could realize what you had said and why Tim was so quick to be gone.

“He left, didn’t he?” You looked over your shoulder when Luke had switched from the seat by the bar to stand behind you.

“Luke, this is not the time I don’t need any of your comments about him not wearing enough Gucci for your liking.” You leaned back in your chair and watched him take the small walk around the table to sit in front of you.

“I wasn’t going to say anything.” He admitted and folded his hands together.

You shrugged your shoulder not really knowing what to say. You wanted to go home as fast as possible, if you checked the time you would probably make it with one of the last buses.

“Dates can be brutal... I’ve been on a couple.” He explained and looked up when the waiter placed the small silver platter with the bill on top of it.

“I’ll handle that.” He fished out his wallet and placed it on top of the bill, giving it back to the waiter without a small blink and looked back at you like it was nothing.

“Especially when you don’t know what’s waiting for you. Who you are gonna be set up with, how the evening will go and if it will end just like a one like this. That’s what I hate about dates. They’re unpredictable.”

“Sometimes you have to do it though,” You said and furrowed your eyebrows, “They could change your life.”

“I’m not a believer in that,” He was quick to respond, “I like things a certain way to be in control. Make sure that the evening will go right and well deserved for both parts.”

It didn’t come as a surprise to you, he was in fact always the in control. And he was good at what he was doing.

“So keep me by the word, Y/N.” He stood up from his chair with the drink emptied and a smile on his face.

“Let me promise you a real date once. Just to see how it’s really done.”

You quivered an eyebrow by his words but couldn’t avoid nodding your head in agreement. You wanted to see what he could fish out of his pockets and with that smile on his face it was hard not to do it yourself.

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