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the--highlanders · 3 months

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I hope you don't mind me asking but what are your favourite Jamie EU stories?

oh my god not at all, I never mind being asked about my favourite little guy <33

I'm gonna break this down by media type, but there's some parts of the eu like comics that I'm not super familiar with, so if anyone wants to add some of those on (or any other eu stories) then go ahead!!

putting this under a cut because it got LONG rip

big finish

the jigsaw war

jamie is trapped inside a puzzle, experiencing events out of order, and has to figure out how to escape. this is THE audio for me in terms of like. recognising that jamie isn't stupid just because he comes from the eighteenth century. he really gets to shine on his own rather than being relegated to 'dumb exposition prompter' (which I feel like some audios can be kinda guilty of.....) also the fact that two and jamie canonically have a strong enough connection to form a psychic link over long distances makes me chew through glass. this audio GETS it in a way some others just don't.

the glorious revolution

two, jamie, and zoe travel back to the time of the glorious revolution, the event that set the jacobite cause in motion, and jamie grapples with not being able to change the past. if you saw that audio snippet going around a couple days ago you'll have an idea of why I'm reccing this one. it has been a while since I've listened to it & I do really want to relisten and check it out for historical accuracy. but regardless it's another one that gives jamie some of the depth he deserves, this time in terms of emotional depth and his feelings about his backstory.

the selachian gambit

two, jamie, ben, and polly get caught in the middle of an alien bank heist. this one is pretty focused on ben, polly, and jamie as a trio - they're largely taking on the action while two keeps the detective work of the plot chugging along. jamie doesn't hugely stand out here in terms of the audio really adding something to his character, but it does show his dynamic with ben and polly pretty well. in particular there's some great scenes with him and ben working together, and I love their friendship a lot so that's always a good time.

honourable mentions: helicon prime (I do feel this one underutilises jamie a bit and undersells him in some weird ways, but if you're looking for two/jamie content you can't get much gayer than this. plus it's the origin of the whole 'jamie and kirsty get married' thing which I hate on principle & am obsessed with in practice), the phantom piper (it's got so much more potential than it gives imo but the tidbits that we get are so good. jamie's relationship with his grandparents.... his best friend taking a bullet for him and dying in his arms...... I just wish I could explain to the author that there's no such thing as a bedroom door in a blackhouse)

novels

the roundheads

two, jamie, ben, and polly travel back to the 1600s, and get largely split up by events unfolding around them. this is a pure historical and it delights in that. if you're after ben and polly content, the roundheads delivers on that too - but it really is some great early twojamie content. (whatever way you choose to read them - it's definitely a shippable book if you're into that). they spend the majority of the book together, both for plot reasons and just hanging out (they go to a frost fair!! two buys jamie treats and then makes himself a flower crown!!) and you get a great sense of jamie figuring two out early into his travels, and how he's far more interested in the doctor as a person than some other companions - he's the only one to show interest in susan when the doctor namedrops her, for instance. this is the best two-era book to me.

the wheel of ice

two, jamie, and zoe visit a space station built a little before zoe's time, and find that not everything is as it seems. again, this is a great one for zoe content as well as anything else, and for some very sweet moments with zoe and two. I don't necessarily feel this one always nails two and jamie's dynamic, but they don't spend a massive amount of time together here, so it's not too jarring. really I'm reccing this because of the scenes where jamie falls in with a bunch of teenagers from the space station, and finds himself kind of responsible for them. it's just nicely done and gives a good sense of jamie as a caretaker character and someone who feels a drive to be responsible for other people.

honourable mention: the episode novelisations (these are a lot of fun, especially if you have particular episodes you enjoy. they often add in extra details, background for side characters, or just little things from the episodes that were cut from the script. I really like them for adding a bit more depth and life to existing stories, and just little things that make you go 'yeah I'll add that to my belief system').

short stories

the time eater/across silent seas

two and jamie give a massive time-eating creature a funeral, and save a space whale from being turned into a weapon. both from the compilation destination prague. literally nobody gets me like the destination prague stories get me I'm not even kidding. these are THE eu two stories to me. both of these are arguably 6b, and they really work in that position - both in showing two and jamie with a very settled, devoted dynamic and in their themes and subject matter. the time eater is a story with no villain, and even the incidental threat of the dying creature causing havoc in time is secondary to the emotional keystone of jamie helping two accept death rather than running away. across silent seas has jamie nearly being aged to death and two absolutely losing it. they're both really about age and death and loss, which hits hard for 6b, with jamie's determination to stay with two forever and two's growing realisation that even if jamie doesn't choose to leave or survives their adventures, his lifespan is still going to be far shorter.

the age of ambition

two, jamie, and victoria land at the house of one of victoria's father's friends, only to find he has been trying to reanimate the dead. from the compilation life sciences. this is really a victoria story, probably the defining victoria story for me. it's got backstory, it's got gothic horror/victorian scientific ambition vibes in a similar way to evil of the daleks, it's got victoria character moments. but it's also a really crucial story for jamie, to me. as a character, I don't think jamie never quite forms into the brawny action man stereotype he was originally drafted as - and that's one of the things I love most about him. again he's too much of a caretaker, he's a piper rather than a soldier. he's rarely truly angry, even when he fights he never seems out to cause much actual harm, and you get the sense his protectiveness over his friends wars with this almost inability to do harm. the age of ambition GETS that and pushes it to the extreme, with jamie being unable to fire a killing shot to save his friends, to the point where victoria has to do it herself. it's such a compelling character moment for both of them and their dynamic.

on a pedestal

two, jamie, and victoria travel back to meet william wallace, who jamie idolises. from the compilation the quality of leadership. this is another one that really gets and hones in on a particular nuance of jamie's character - in this case, the strength and rigidity of his morals and sense of responsibility, and his dislike of people who fall short of that. he's faced with the fact that someone he admires was once careless, lax about taking responsibility for their actions even when other people are at risk, and just a bit childish. it shakes him, and he spends much of the story grappling with that. it's such a good look into the qualities that jamie admires versus the ones that he can't stand. but that's balanced out with some very sweet moments (the whole scene with two, jamie, and william wallace going fishing is very fun and again gives a nice little snapshot of two and jamie having this very settled, secure dynamic). AND jamie gets recognised as a basically supernaturally gifted piper which. love to see jamie actually getting to be a musician, love to see him piping without it being the butt of a 'bagpipes suck and everyone hates them' joke.

honourable mentions: that which went away (this is the 'jamie turns into a bear' story I'm always talking about. I do think it has some major issues in terms of weird primitivism, both in terms of the side characters and how it treats jamie, but also. jamie turns into a bear. and two begging him to come back to him is just *chefs kiss*), undercurrents (two vanishes from the tardis and another man mysteriously appears. jamie believes this newcomer has done something to harm two, and very nearly kills him for it. this is one of the few moments where jamie gets really, properly angry and is willing to actually cause harm and I LOVE to see him pushed past the breaking point of his usual moral code), the slave war (two, jamie, ben, and polly in the roman empire. also really good for ben and polly content, but there's some interesting stuff with jamie grappling with the idea of becoming involved in another rebellion, but ending up getting involved anyway)

#replies #anonymous #the tl;dr of this is that there's a lot out there!#but not all of it uses jamie's character well or understands that he's nuanced and not just stupid/the brawn of the team/etc etc etc #anything that DOES understand he's an interesting character in his own right is probably going to pique my interest #& as you can tell the short stories are my favourite bit of eu media gkjfd. probably because they're so character-focused #and many of them do give jamie the interest and dimension he deserves

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mysticstarlightduck · 10 days

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OC Interview Tag

Thanks for the tag, @willtheweaver (here)!

I'll go with Renn Atrius from Song of Thorns.

Were you named after anyone?

"I'm not sure. My parents weren't that close to their respective relatives, due to a myriad of reasons - the main one being that my maternal grandparents are vampire hunters, and my father was a vampire. You can imagine how uncomfortable the family meetings were. Dad said my name means 'honesty, love or benevolence' - I think it's a pretty great name."

When was the last time you cried?

"Hmm. I'm not sure to be honest. It was probably a while ago - I occasionally have nightmares about... well an incident, in my past. Those dreams do make me cry most times, but they have been few and far between lately, which is good."

Do you have any kids?

"None. I'm pretty young still for a dhampir - my current age is equivalent to 18 in human years, so I'm basically still a kid myself - and regardless, I've been too busy not being hunted by the people who want me dead and trying to rebel against the King to even consider something like that. I probably won't for a long time."

Do you use sarcasm a lot?

"Yes, all the time! Especially when I'm trying to annoy that fancypants asshat of a prince I have to travel with. That is priceless."

What is the first thing you notice about people?

"Let's see (starts listing the following with his fingers): if they're a Hunter, if they work for my psychopath of a grandfather, if they're another stupid villager ready to call a mob with torches and pitchforks to go after yours truly, and so on and so forth... There's a lot to consider when you're in my shoes. Other than that, I guess I try to notice their demeanor, a bit of their personality, and whether or not I'd like to waste my time talking to them."

What is your eye color?

"Light greyish brown, like my mother's. When I use my vampiric powers, my eyes glow a bright red, like blood but glowing like two little lanterns."

Scary movies or happy endings?

"Happy endings. I don't like the feeling of fear that much and the world is already horrifying enough for me to subject myself to more scares while reading fiction. Ha, if I wanted to endure something scary, I'd just have to tell a random villager I'm half-vampire or go out into the cursed woods alone. Happy endings are honestly my favorite thing about some books - they show us that no matter how bleak things may seem, there can be a brighter future ahead."

Any special talents?

"It depends. I'm a great swordfighter, have perfect aim with my bow and arrow, and am very agile - after my family was betrayed I survived mostly as a thief stealing from corrupt humans, so I had to learn how to climb things and be silent, which are also talents I consider special. Oh, and I can turn into either a giant bat or a really tiny one - transforming into a giant bat is easier and lasts for a longer period of time! My Dad taught me how to."

Where were you born?

"I was born in my family's manor in the vampiric lands, where I lived with my Dad until he was killed by a Hunter when I was around five years old, during a diplomatic visit to my human grandfather's lands."

Do you have any pets?

"Yes, I have a pet raven called Cornelius. I call him Corn for short! He's a little crazy bastard of a bird and I love his chaotic energy, haha."

What sort of sports do you play?

"I'm pretty active. I'm constantly running, climbing things, and fighting people who try to hurt me, so I guess that counts, plus I often fly around in my bat form, which is a great exercise for the arms (as they're my wings when I'm in my bat form). I also practice archery and sword fighting quite frequently!"

How tall are you?

"I'm honestly not sure. Probably 5.9ft. So around 179 centimeters? I think. I haven't had time to really measure my height if I'm being honest, haha."

What was your favorite subject in school?

"I was born a noble, so I would have had private tutors teach me instead of going to a traditional school like humans do - fey don't really do institutions like that, and learning from tutors and parents is the custom in vampiric and fey lands. But my Dad died when I was five - so I was orphaned and had to learn to survive on the run since the Hunters also wanted to kill me. I didn't really have that chance. Before that, it was my father who taught me how to read, write, and draw. He also used to teach me a lot about vampiric history and botany. When we visited my mother in the human lands she taught me a bit about sewing."

What is your dream job?

"I'm not sure. I would love to be an adventurer and help people whom the kingdom has forsaken, but I'm not sure if that counts as a job traditionally. If I manage to aid others during my lifetime in any way and make the world a better place than it was before, even if just a little bit, then that's enough for me."

Tagging (gently): @sleepy-night-child, @kaylinalexanderbooks, @smol-feralgremlin, @oh-no-another-idea, @littleladymab,

@winterandwords, @cowboybrunch, @eccaiia, @sarahlizziewrites, @illarian-rambling

@agirlandherquill, @anoelleart

@leave-her-a-tome, @writernopal, @anyablackwood, @unstablewifiaccess, @forthesanityofstorytellers

@i-can-even-burn-salad, @cakeinthevoid

@lassiesandiego, @thepeculiarbird, @clairelsonao3, @memento-morri-writes, @starlit-hopes-and-dreams and OPEN TAG

#wip song of thorns #oc renn atrius #oc interview tag #writing #writers #writers on tumblr #character writing #my characters #writerblr #my wips #my writing #writeblr #oc interview #oc tag game

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msmercury84 · 4 months

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"I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm

South Philadelphia, New Year's Eve, 1945"

From "I Double Dare You-A Rendezvous With Destiny."

youtube

"Off with my overcoat, off with my gloves. Who needs an overcoat, I'm burning with love. My heart's on fire and the flame grows higher. So I can weather the storm. What do I care how much it may storm? I've got my love to keep me warm."

*Author's Note: Some sections are for readers over 18 years of age. In other words, smut warning. The expression "And how!" was popular with Bill Guarnere's generation. He used the expression in the book he wrote with Babe Heffron and I heard my grandparents use the expression, too. The depiction of Bill is based upon the actor's portrayal in the movie.*

A snowstorm was underway in South Philadelphia on New Year's Eve. Blowing and drifting snow made going out undesirable for the Guarneres and no one planned to visit them due to the weather. Since the storm was predicted in the newspaper and on the radio earlier in the week, Leigh ensured that she had everything she needed for a nice supper. She also made sure that the dress Bill gave her for Christmas was cleaned, pressed and ready to wear.

When Leigh returned home from work, it was much later in the afternoon. The snow caused the city buses to run late. She started to prepare supper and put a bottle of champagne in a bucket filled with ice. Employees of the CBS affiliate got champagne along with their Christmas bonuses.

She set about making a very elaborate antipasto while she cooked some steaks that came from her grandpa's farm. Leigh decided to make some spaghetti sauce with Italian sausage to go with some homemade pasta.

Earlier in the week, Bill mentioned that he would enjoy having a small serving of pasta "wit' that good gravy ya make" the next time they had steaks.

Leigh got a good recipe from Augusta for a marinade that was great for beef. The day before New Year's Eve, she combined garlic, red wine, some salt, a dash of pepper and a hint of oregano.

Prior to placing the steaks in the marinade, Leigh used a meat tenderizer on both sides of the steaks. Then, the steaks were placed in a baking dish. The marinade was poured over the meat. A lid was placed on the baking dish and the steaks marinated for 24 hours.

Since a snowstorm was going on, supper was later than usual. Traffic was crawling on all of the major thoroughfares. As the steaks simmered in a skillet, Leigh put on her new red dress, black stockings, a black lace garter belt, a black lace bra, black silk panties and her favorite black open toed high heeled pumps. She touched up her makeup, brushed her hair and headed back to the kitchen.

Leigh turned on the radio to have music playing while she finished the special supper. She donned an apron made of material with tiny red roses. Protecting her favorite dress was top priority.

A good bottle of red wine was open to allow it to 'breathe' before she put it into a decanter. Leigh used her best china plus the crystal wine glasses from the Andrews Sisters. The champagne flutes from the famed trio would be used for a midnight toast to the new year.

When Bill got home from work, he embraced and kissed Leigh after hanging up his snow covered coat on a coat tree in the kitchen and putting his gloves on the coat tree to dry.

"Baby, I love that new dress (he pronounced the word as 'dat'). You look like ten million bucks. Good thing we're stayin' in tonight. The snow is really comin' down an' the wind is ice cold. It kinda reminds me o' the Christmas Eve snowstorm in Aldebourne.

"Thanks, Honey." She winked, adding, "You ain't seen nothin' yet."

"What's goin' on, Sweetheart? Sounds like you're up to somethin'."

"You'll see, be patient. I'll make it worth the waiting."

"I like the sound o' that." Guarnere went upstairs to put on a clean dress shirt after quickly shaving. The atmosphere in the house was cozy, with the Christmas decorations, a fire in the living room fireplace and music on the radio.

Leigh set the table and lit the candles in cut glass candle holders. Bill helped her get supper served. He pulled out the chair for her to be seated at the dining room table. Leigh thanked him. Then, he sat down and asked the blessing.

After they finished their supper, Bill told her,

"Baby, that was one hell of a good meal. Ya went all out wit' the fancy dishes an' wine glasses. Everythin' was perfect. We couldn't get food this good from the best restaurants uptown." Leigh was pleased that he enjoyed supper.

"Thanks, Bill. Let me get the dishes and then we can get ready to celebrate the new year."

"Nothin' doin', Leigh. I'm helpin' wit the dishes. How 'bout I wash an' you dry? That way, your dress won't get ruined."

"That sounds like a good idea, Honey. A sweet, sexy man bought that dress for me." Bill grinned,

"I've gotta admit that guy has excellent taste in buyin' broads' clothes." Leigh playfully raised her eyebrows,

"Oh, so now I'm a broad, not your baby or your sweetheart?" She went into the kitchen to get her apron. Guarnere followed Leigh and stood behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, gently pulling her close to him.

"Ya little devil. You know you'll always be my baby an' my sweetheart. I'm gonna tell ya what ya tell me sometimes, you're a sexy smart ass. Speakin' of a sexy ass, that dress shows it off to perfection." Leigh giggled,

"Thank you, kind sir. Flattery will get you everywhere with me." Bill let go of her and rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt. Leigh put on her apron.

"That's good to know. We'd better get to work before we get up to somethin'. I'll bring in the dishes an' I promise to be real careful wit' 'em."

After Bill brought in the plates, silverware and wine glasses, Leigh put the leftover antipasto into a container that went into the refrigerator. While they cleaned and dried the dishes, Bill and Leigh talked about the way they had spent the past New Year's Eves since they got together. After the last dish was dried and put away, Leigh removed her apron and placed it on the kitchen counter. She embraced Bill,

"This year is very special. Not only because it's our first New Year's Eve as man and wife. It's extra special because, thank God, you survived." Guarnere tenderly kissed her.

"The man upstairs done most o' the work keepin' me alive, but you helped by cookin' for me an' bein' there for me. I owe you a hell of a lot, Baby."

"Thanks, Honey. You don't owe me anything. Getting married more than made up for everything. I was hoping to be your wife for a long time." Leigh had a smirk very similar to Bill's smirk when she added, "All you owe me is a good time later tonight."

"Oh, you can count on me givin' ya an extra good time later tonight, Sweetheart. Ol' Guarnere loves to satisfy a certain lady." Leigh got on her tip toes and playfully kissed the tip of his nose,

"And how! Remember when Perconte said he "really enjoyed Christmas Eve with the Guarneres," I was daydreaming about being your wife and having dinner guests over to visit us as I looked out the window at the snow coming down in Aldebourne."

"I asked ya what ya thought of Perconte sayin' that 'cause I wanted to know how ya felt about gettin' married someday. I was a happy man when I knew ya liked the sound o' what he said.

Do ya suppose they'll still broadcast the Guy Lombardo show on the radio tonight? We could have some nice music for our party here at home."

"Yes, Honey, it's scheduled for tonight. I saw the show on our schedule at work. New York City wasn't supposed to have as much snow as we have. The show should be starting in about ten minutes."

"I'll go ahead an' get the CBS channel on the radio so we don't miss anythin'." Bill went to the radio and got it on the desired station.

"I have the champagne chilling, do you want me to bring it in?"

"Not yet, Baby. Let's wait 'til it's closer to midnight so we can toast the new year. I really enjoyed New Year's Eve in Aldebourne when ya played the piano an' sang. Too bad there's no piano here, I'd love to hear ya playin' an' singin'". Leigh sat on the couch with Bill. He got a cigarette out of a pack on the table, lit it and settled back to cuddle with Leigh and listen to the radio.

"I'd love to have a piano, but they're so expensive. Truth be told, I miss playing the piano." Guarnere put his right arm around her shoulder and held the cigarette in his left hand so Leigh wouldn't accidentally get burned.

"Maybe someday I can buy a piano for ya."

"That would be wonderful." They listened to the live broadcast, enjoying the music. A half hour later, the band began to play "Moonlight Serenade." Bill stood up and stubbed out the cigarette in an ashtray on the coffee table in front of the couch.

"Would ya like to dance, Sweetheart?"

"Yes." Guarnere took Leigh's hand and they walked to the middle of the living room floor. Bill pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her as Leigh wrapped her arms around his neck.

They swayed to the music, looking into each other's eyes.

"This reminds me of a very special night at Ft. Benning and our wedding reception."

"Guess this is our song. You're lookin' as beautiful as ya did both times we danced to this an' I'm still crazy in love wit' ya."

"I'm still crazy in love with you, too, Handsome." Bill gave Leigh a tender kiss. After the kiss ended, she added, "Our first New Year's Eve was when you gave me my angel necklace."

"You must love it 'cause you're always wearin' it."

"I adore it." The song ended and they sat on the couch.

"I'm still wearin' the St. Michael medal, even though the war is over. I think it helped save my life. Baby, ya don't know this, but I was standin' outside the door to Teresa's bedroom.

I wanted to know if ya really liked the necklace. I don't think it's right to eavesdrop, but it paid off. I went to bed wit' a big smile on my face when I heard ya tell Teresa that you were crazy 'bout me."

They continued to listen to the radio and talk. At 11:45, Bill got up, went into the kitchen and got the bucket containing the chilled champagne from the refrigerator.

Next, he carefully put the crystal champagne flutes on a small platter and carried the platter into the living room.

"How 'bout a drink, Baby?"

"Sounds good to me, but I don't want to drink too much. I want to enjoy every minute with you later on tonight."

"No heavy drinkin' for me, either, 'cause I wanna make love to you." He removed the foil from the top of the champagne bottle and popped the cork. Bill poured some champagne into both flutes. He raised his glass,

"To my sweet, sexy angel. Seems like ya understood me from the day we met. You're a blessin', Baby. I'm lookin' forward to what ya got planned." Leigh gently touched her glass to Bill's,

"To the handsome love of my life, you're a blessing, too. I plan to make you very hot and hard." Guarnere winked at her,

"That's my sassy angel." They sipped the champagne.

"It ain't bad. Matter o' fact I like this fancy soda pop." Leigh grinned at Bill's comment.

"It is pretty good. The champagne you got the night you proposed was the best I'd ever had."

"That guy at the front desk (the concierge) really knew his stuff." Soon, the radio featured the voices of party goers along with Guy Lombardo, counting down the seconds until the new year.

While the band played the traditional "Auld Lang Syne", Bill pulled Leigh close to him and gave her a gentle kiss at the stroke of midnight. The kiss quickly deepened and became passionate. When the kiss ended, Bill gently cupped Leigh's face in his hands.

"Happy New Year, Baby. I love you."

"I love you, too, Honey. Happy New Year. They shared another kiss and finished drinking the champagne in their glasses. Leigh got up from the couch.

"As they say in the movies, I'm going to slip into something more comfortable." She had a saucy grin as she added, "Don't go anywhere or start without me, you handsome dream boat." Guarnere had a wicked grin.

"Oh, I ain't goin' nowhere, Sweetheart. I'll wait right here for ya." Leigh went upstairs to the bathroom. She put in her diaphragm, washed her hands and reapplied her red lipstick.

Then she lightly powdered her face, touched up her minimal blush and her mascara. Next, she used her eyebrow pencil. She left the bathroom and went into their bedroom where she carefully hung up her dress.

Leigh got the red silk bra and tap panties set Bill bought her for Christmas out of its box in her dresser drawer. She got the matching red silk kimono from Julia from her side of the closet.

Leigh got some bobby pins and carefully pinned the rose in her hair, placing it above her left ear. Satisfied with her efforts to secure the rose, she removed her bra, panties and slip, placing the items into the clothes hamper by the chest of drawers.

She put on the bra and tap panties. The panties covered her garter belt and her black silk stockings remained on. Next, she took off her black pumps and took them to the closet and places them in the shoebox in which they came.

Leigh got out a shoebox containing red pumps she bought at a clearance sale in a department store. The pumps, with stiletto heels, were a perfect match for her lingerie.

She left the bedroom and stood at the head of the stairs.

"Baby, are you ready to have a good time?" Bill had a big smile on his face as he watched her walk down the stairs. Leigh paused at the foot of the stairs and untied the kimono. She turned around and slowly exposed her shoulders and her back before she let the robe drop to the floor.

Knowing that Bill would enjoy the view, she bent over to pick up the robe. Her tap panties went up slightly in the back to show a small area of her behind. Guarnere once again had a wicked grin on his face.

She draped the robe over one arm and walked toward him.

"Do you see anything you like, big boy?"

"Oh, hell, yes! Baby, ya look like the hottest goddamn pinup girl in the world! That outfit an' those shoes are really doin' somethin' to me." He stood up and walked over to where Leigh stood. Bill gently pulled her close to him,

"You're beautiful, Sweetheart. Absolutely perfect an' you look as sexy as ya did in Paris."

"Thanks, Honey." Bill gently nipped at one of Leigh's ear lobes before kissing her neck. He delighted in her slightly shivering when his lips gently sucked at the skin on her neck.

Guarnere whispered into her ear,

"Does my angel like that?"

"Oh, yes! I love it." His hands moved down to cup her ass.

"Baby, your body was made to drive a man crazy. It should be against the law for ya to wear clothes. 'course I don't want anybody else seein' ya naked. I wish you'd go around the house just wearin' what the man upstairs gave ya."

They exchanged slow, sensual kisses. Leigh eagerly allowed Bill's tongue to enter her mouth. She sucked on the tip of it, provoking a soft groan from him.

Leigh felt his hard cock pressing against her. She broke the kiss for a moment, stepping back to allow enough room for her hand to surround and gently squeeze his cock. Guarnere made a hissing sound through clenched teeth.

She massaged him through the fabric of his trousers.

"Oh, Baby, that feels so damn good." Leigh unbuttoned his dress shirt, licking, kissing and sucking the skin on his neck and chest. Bill moved his hand inside the tap panties to cup her bare ass. He moved one hand to the front of the tap panties.

Guarnere smiled as he felt the obvious sign of her arousal. Leigh gasped as his fingers rubbed her clit. A few minutes later, she slightly shuddered as she came. Bill picked her up,

"How 'bout we take this to the bedroom?"

"We can't get there fast enough." Guarnere quickly carried her upstairs to their bedroom. He gently placed her on the bed as he turned on the light and walked over to pull down the shades.

Bill removed his shirt and let it fall to the floor. He sat on a corner of their bed to take off his shoes and socks. Then, he removed his trousers and boxer shorts, letting them join his shirt on the floor. He removed his artificial leg and sat up in the bed.

Leigh grinned and took off her red stiletto heeled shoes. She started to remove her bra, but Bill told her,

"Baby, leave it on, just for a little bit. Same wit' the panties, too. I got an idea. One time in Aldebourne, ya made love to me an' said it was all for me. I wanna do the same for you. Don't get me wrong, I still wanna make love wit' ya.

How about sittin' in front of me on the bed?" She got on the bed and did as Bill asked. He pulled her as close to him as possible and wrapped his arms around her.

"Just relax in my arms, Sweetheart, an' let me take care o' you." He kissed Leigh's neck, knowing how much she loved it. Bill caressed her shoulders and allowed his hands to roam lower.

"Baby, you have the most beautiful breasts." Leigh thanked him for his compliment.

"That isn't exactly what you wanted to say, is it, Honey?" Guarnere grinned, knowing that she would be aroused by him saying something off color.

You have a sweet, sexy ass an' you know I love your beautiful pussy." He paused to once again suck on the soft skin at the junction of her neck and right shoulder. Bill loved hearing the sounds of passion Leigh made.

Guarnere slowly pushed her bra straps down, uncovering her breasts. He told her, speaking in a soft, low voice,

"I'm glad I bought this set for ya. Sweetheart, red silk looks so good on you. Now, how 'bout I take off this bra so I can give those beautiful tits some attention?"

"I'm more than ready." Bill unhooked her bra and carefully put it on the small table by his side of the bed. He caressed her breasts with both hands as she leaned back against his chest. Then, he gently rubbed her erect nipples with his fingertips. Leigh started to moan softly.

"Your body was made for makin' love." He began to tug on her nipples. Leigh's breathing quickened. Bill kept on tugging on her nipples, knowing that she could come from this stimulation .

Soon, she slightly trembled in his arms. Guarnere was pleased that he made her come again. He moved his hands slowly down her body, all the while whispering in her ear,

"Such a beautiful baby. You're a fuckin' goddess. I wish I could take pictures of ya completely naked." Leigh trembled again, the idea of posing for Bill was making her even more aroused.

He slid the tap panties down her hips. Leigh briefly got out of bed to removed the panties, the garter belt and her stockings. She eagerly got back on the bed and sat facing away from Bill, leaning against him.

Guarnere wrapped his arms around her. He had picked up on the fact that his words inflamed her desire. His breath was hot in her ear as he whispered,

"You'd like that, wouldn't ya, Sweetheart? Posin' just for me." She answered in a breathy voice,

"Oh, yes!"

"I'd start out askin' ya to hold those perfect tits in your hands. It would make ya hotter than hell if I asked ya to play wit' those sweet nipples, wouldn't it?"

"Mmmm...yes, it would."

"I'd want ya to spread your legs an' let me get a nice close up picture o' that beautiful pussy. You would already be kinda wet, wouldn't ya?" Bill was enjoying the effect his words had on Leigh. She was trembling a little more and her breathing was starting to speed up.

"Yes, Baby, my pussy would be very hot and wet." Guarnere groaned, his cock was rock hard, but he was determined to give Leigh as much pleasure as possible. He continued to whisper in her ear,

"Hearin' you say that is so fuckin' hot. I'd ask ya to touch yourself."

"Oh, God! I'd do it for you, Baby." Bill grinned.

"Then, I'd move close enough to taste ya..." Leigh gasped, imagining the feel of his lips on her sex. Guarnere began to caress the soft curls between her legs.

"My angel's enjoyin' this, ain't no doubt about it. You're so wet, Sweetheart."

He stroked a few fingers up and down the open lips of her sex.

"Oh, Bill!'

Then, he began to gently rub her clit.

"Your body was made for fuckin', too, an' you're so good at fuckin'!"

Leigh was almost panting due to his words and the way his finger stimulated her clit. She moved against him, feeling his hard cock pressing into the cleft of her ass.

Bill rubbed her clit a little faster. Leigh couldn't speak, she just moaned louder. Soon, her hips jerked up involuntarily as another orgasm washed over her.

Guarnere continued to hold her and he kissed her neck as she came. When she had recovered, he asked,

"What way does my baby wanna make love? Do ya want me to love ya wit' my tongue and lips?"

Leigh got on her knees, facing him,

"Bill, you know I love that, but right now, I need your cock inside me!" She surprised him by straddling him and quickly lowering herself onto him.

He held her hips as she rode him hard and fast. Bill loved her breasts bouncing in front of him and he managed to wrap his lips around one nipple to suck it.

This made her go faster. Guarnere knew he couldn't last very long this way, but he wasn't about to tell Leigh to slow down or stop. All he could do was thrust up into her.

His groaning got louder.

"Oh, fuck, yes! So good, Baby!"

Leigh felt a tremendous orgasm building. She called out his name, not giving a damn if the neighbors heard her. When he felt her sex contracting around him, this pushed Bill over the edge.

"Goddamn!" They held each other as they came. After they got their breathing rates back to normal, Bill held onto her and gently turned on his side, letting her onto the bed.

Guarnere withdrew from her and then pulled the sheet up to cover them. He held her close, stroking her back as Leigh wrapped her arms around him.

"That was wild and wonderful."

"You're amazin', Sweetheart." He gently kissed her.

"You're pretty amazin', too, Bill. That was heavenly, although we didn't behave like angels." Guarnere chuckled,

"You're so damn good when you're not actin' like an angel. Let me get the rest o' the covers pulled up so we don't get too cold.

Once Bill covered himself and Leigh with the sheet and a blanket, he lay beside her. Leigh put her head on his chest and Guarnere wrapped his arms around her.

They were too exhausted to think of turning off the light or bathing. Before sleep claimed them, Leigh made Bill laugh and kiss her when she said,

"Honey, we definitely started the new year off with a bang."

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bangtanintotheroom · 5 months

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Goodbye 2023!

Well well well, it's the end of another year and miraculously, I'm still here on Tumblr writing my silly little smut fics. To think it's been two years since I started this on a whim and have experienced so much on this blog, it's crazy. But this year felt so different compared to the previous one, for multiple reasons that I'll talk about underneath.

To start off on a major personal note, my year didn't start off the best.

I lost my grandmother last December after she struggled with health issues since the pandemic (non-COVID related). She was my last grandparent and although I didn't agree with a lot of her views, she loved me and I loved her. The holidays were rough to get through, to say the least.

Then my great uncle (her brother) passed in February while my family and I were on vacation. We visited and stayed with him last summer, which was the longest I had ever been around him in my life. It was a sudden decline in his health and to have it so soon after his sister was shocking.

Only the people in my personal life know about this as I didn't want to bring this up on here. I make sure to keep certain things separate from my life as a writer, but now I feel comfortable enough to tell you all just what's been going on. I'm doing better now, thankfully. We visited the cemetery recently where my grandmother and grandfather are now laid to rest together with their newly-acquired headstone. It was bittersweet, but it felt good to finally see a marker there after all this time. 💕

Now onto the good notes, which there were plenty of!

This is the first time I have ever went to Trinidad TWICE in one year! We went in February and in May, both for different reasons, but it was a relaxing and fun time. Something about the islands is refreshing, especially when you live in a cooler climate.

And then came April...MUTHAFUCKIN AGUST D TOUR 🗣️🗣️🗣️

This was officially my first K-pop concert and boy, was it an experience. Despite the rain and Prudential staff being shitbags, I had an amazing time and I look back at my videos and pictures with fond memories. Shoutout to @minttangerines @kithtaehyung and @here2bbtstrash for meeting up and listening to me scream drunkenly about nuggets at 2 AM!

I also had some nice weekend and day trips with my irl friends, filled with chaos and conversations that would probably get us committed lmao

I went to Texas for the first time, too! My brother moved down there last year and I already made plans from the jump to go visit him. It's a whole different world down there, but I'm already planning to go back in 2024 (with a checklist of what we have to do)!

Let's see...I did my usual cons and got somewhat back into cosplay, too. My friends and I are planning to return to the last one we visited before the pandemic started, so we're very excited!

Those were the main things in my personal life that occurred, other than work (which is still ass) and the usual daily things.

Now onto my year in writing.

2023 paled in comparison to 2022. My output lessened considerably, due to multiple personal events, exhaustion and stress from work and mental health.

I was writing most of the time, but I was rarely finishing anything to post. My WIPs kept nagging at me on Notion and it got to the point where I recently cleaned up shop. I cancelled some of them, but kept them in a page where I could reuse the concept and scenes for something else. This gave me peace of mind.

But I also have to do some cleaning up for fics that have already been posted.

I know I said I would stretch some of them out, but I am at the point where I have zero desire to still do that. Plus I am getting into new groups and find myself wanting to write for them instead. I will make a separate post on my intentions for my current fics, just so there's no confusion on anyone's end whether it will be continued or not.

It's also been extremely jarring how many people have just...left.

When I compare the end of 2022 to the end of 2023, it's like a ghost town. A majority of the servers I was in have shut down or been abandoned. Many fellow writers have disappeared, deactivated or gone on hiatus (for reasons that are valid and I wish them all the best). And the atmosphere has shifted, but not in a positive direction.

Interactions have lessened, anons are being ruder than ever, people are plagiarizing left and right. It's a mess.

I've had a couple of moments where I debated on stepping away, but I can't right now. Writing gives me an unexpected joy and it's always a treasure to see my mutuals posting their own works that they've put their blood, sweat and tears into. I'm not quite ready to leave that yet.

Although, I do have to take a slight step back, just to focus on personal things. I'm practicing art again to see if I can start selling once I'm comfortable enough to. If things ever get overbearing and I can't juggle the two, I will let you all know as soon as possible. But for now, expect at least one more year of AJ aka bangtanintotheroom!

Wow, this was long 😬 but I've been sitting on these thoughts for months and I had to get it out somehow.

I'll finish this off by saying thank you to everyone who follows me or reads my fics or plans to start reading them. Thank you to my mutuals who are supportive and encourage my crazy ideas. Thank you to everyone.

Happy New Year! 🥳

#AJ getting her feelings out once in a blue moon #happy new year #rambles

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originalwinnercheesecake · 7 months

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So what do people actually think the background characters in the Underland chronicles look like

Just wondering. From all the (amazing) Fan art I have seen of Gregor , Lizzie, and Boots the fandom seems to have a pretty cohesive Idea on what they look like. Luxa also seems to have a pretty standard image in the fandom (Though wasn't she on the cover of the first design of MOS) with the only differentiation being how far along she is in puberty. Reminder if she was in the overland she would be in the sixth grade.

Other characters though Like really what do people think they look like. In my head Mrs. Cormaci is a plump/rounder women and I thought for years I had read that in the books until I saw fanart of her being drawn as more slim. Then I reread part of TPOB and was like Oh it never says what shape she is, I guess I just thought she was bigger because she is always cooking so much rich sounding food for charities. Then I remember seeing some one post once that what if she was Hazard's maternal grandmother. His maternal grandparents live in NYC, and Mrs.Cormaci is mentioned to have had a daughter.

Well that is bitter sweet because on one had that means that Mrs. Cormaci's daughter has been missing for years and in fact died without her mother ever knowing what happened to her (she also would not have known when her father died). Gotta then wonder if Mrs.Cormaci giving Lizzie her daughters old cloths is more than just her trying to help the Campbells while also declutter her house. But that also means Hazard has at least one Grandma who is really grand, if this relation was ever realized then maybe Hazard could come up to the overland for visits and stay with Mrs. Cormaci. Also she would probably have pictures of her daughter that she could show Hazard so he could remember what his mom looked like. Anyway I really liked this theory and wanted it to be cannon, but then i realized that since Hazard's overland features are his black hair and green eyes his overland relations probably have them to, and was like oh wow I never pictured Mrs.Cormaci having green eyes.

Another character I think about is Vikus. In my head the males in the underland Henry, Mareth, York all have short close cropped hair because they fight so much. Or in Howard's a short stack of wavy/curly locks cut just short enough to stay out of his eyes when wet. I do love the fan art I have seen of Henry with long hair though. But When It comes to Vikus , I guess since he seeks peace and is better relations, I usually imagine him with long grey hair and a long beard. to me he winds up looking kinda like men in biblical stories. Solovet however is muscled with a near shaved head. She is on the small side and slouches a bit when trying to appear as a gracious hostess and that plus her wrinkles make her seem non dangerous. When she is in planing/battle mode though she stands perfectly straight and those seemingly kindly wrinkles disappear, and she just looks completely terrifying.

Dulcet and Nerissa are other cases. Dulcet is described as being shy and very pretty. But as someone who works in childcare I can say with certainty that her hair is most likely a mess, her simple cloths likely have stains and crayon markings all over them. This girl is a beautiful mess. Then we have Neressa whom everyone knows is a mess. Since she is constantly described as wide eyed, tired, frail, to thin, and wearing her long hair a loose pony tail. But I don't often see it acknowledged that she canonically wears multiple layers of cloths at once or that her cloths never match.

I said most of the men in the underland would have short hair, could Hamnet have grown his hair out longer in the jungle, to try and make himself look different from how he did as a solider. Likewise I also imagine his lizard skin cloths being frayed and raggedy at the edges, much different from whatever military uniforms regalians wear. Anything to help hims see something different when he looks into the water. Can we talk about how when Gregor first meets Howard he describes him as tall and really strong, Then during his time with the plague Howard looses like 20 pounds and has scars wear ever he had bumps. Howard likely could not even fit into his old cloths after getting better.

What do Gregor's parents look like. We know they are both thin and tired. His dad's hair has gone completely white. Grace's cannot be to far behind with how hard she works and being in a state of constant worry for her family. Do fans still Agree with the theory that Grace is white and the Dad is black?

Also one more thing. Why does everyone think any of the underlanders that haven't completely greyed over have silver-blond hair. Like I know Luxa has that shade. Luxa would also probably be blonde if she has been born i t he overland. But it only specified that a silver tint was part of what distinguished the underlanders. Personally I always thought they could have any hair color (examples I imagine Howard being brunette and Mareth having black hair) but that it would always be paler than an overland counter part.

Like I know and respect that the characters descriptions are vague on purpose, and that the fun is that we can imagine them looking in so many different ways. But like really how do people imagine their favorites look. What little we get implies that the characters do not fall into the young adult novels trope of making them all look super hot. They are scared, beat up, anxious, and some are wearing cloths that do not fit them, some are missing body parts. To me that makes them infinetly more fun to imagine than most YA novel characters

So seriously if you have any strong clear/headcannons as to what you think certain human characters look like, please share them int he comments.

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emmashouldbewriting · 5 months

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Lmao, big same. Like I wish her well, my Queen I love you (Kate).

But KP is already becoming too much with their leaks and their: oh family first!. Sure, great, I will always put family first too as much as possible. But don't pretend that this is something 'new' from them, something extraordinary (as if they work that much), this is becoming a PR of trying to 'pull the heartstrings, they have always put their family first, I get it. But also stop with (in this case W): he cares a lot about the institution, he knows what is his job, he is very enthusiastic to make a change, but in the practice he won't even make an engagement when his father will be at hospital too, like I understand why he isn't working, but he can also try to be the 'face' of the monarchy for one day, it's not like he has visited K everyday or as if he can’t go out while children are at school (maybe the next week they will say that he cooked that’s why he cannot do a damn)

They are sounding too repetitive and in some articles they are even becoming kind of out of touch. The same with 'W' always will put the children first (in some they also mention Kate), super dad won't be working to do the school runs, super-husband visited K on Thursday. Like, I know they are genuine in their actions and in their love with each other, but are those kind of leaks from KP that made me side eye them because they brief things that make they over privileged (despite W desperation to be seen as normal), as if they are making lots of excuses, and as if they are doing something extraordinary by taking care of the children and the wife (as if that isn’t what decent families do). But also exposing KP’s (W&K) main problem: their inability to balance their job (more engagements, more royal duties, etc) with their family, you know, sometimes making them seem like the monarchy is the one that needs to change for them and they can’t do the least to change some of their practices for the monarchy. The better KP can do now is to STFU, but for real, because I’m sure the next week we will have another stupid pr leak

yeah, their leaking with this is becoming a real issue and also a direct contadiction to their request for privacy for her while she recovers.

i am genuinely so glad that they're able to put family first and break some of the legit generational trauma in the BRF, but let's be real, they aren't struggling for help. they aren't short of hands. they have grandparents and hired nannies and household staff, plus a large team of staff to handle their business affairs. they have never been, nor will they ever, be normal, and they don't understand that it's somewhat insulting for them to portray themselves that way. also, i don't want you to be normal. if you're normal, you're not royal lmao

but yeah. it yet again highlights their inability to balance the many facets of their lives, and it's not like this is new to them. they really should have a better handle on everything now.

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kosher-martian · 3 months

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My parents are moving and it's the most disastrous series of unforced errors ever.

For context, my grandparents retired in the late 80s / early 90s with a very healthy nest egg, having made their careers and retired at the peak of American Capitalism. Between Social Security, military pension, and pensions from their careers, they were made for life.

They lived in the middle of nowhere playing pretend farmer/rancher/cowboy, far away from any medical resources or modern conveniences. There was a small grocery store and hardware store nearby, but anything else was 30-40 minutes away from their stupid little farmhouse. Hospital? Doctors? 45 minutes away minimum, usually an hour or more once traffic was factored in.

As they got older, it was increasingly difficult for them to live independently because of how far removed from everything they were. Independence came with ever-increasing costs: Home healthcare visits, house cleaning services, and grounds keeping services (among others) all paid for out of their copious pensions. Eventually it became a combination of all of those things plus my mother and aunt visiting them multiple times a week (over an hour drive just to get there) to make sure all of their needs were being met.

Even I eventually got roped into helping them maintain their faux independence. I tried to convince them to move back to civilization, but it was more important to them to maintain their fake farmer/rancher/cowboy lifestyle. In the end, they had to be forced into a nursing home pretty much against their will. It was not a fun period and I'm not keen to revisit it.

My parents retired recently. They will be trying to make ends meet on Social Security plus whatever remains in their 401Ks. Their 401Ks are a disaster because they made no attempt to manage them until right before they retired, at which point it was too late to make any changes that might affect the outcome. But that didn't matter because they wanted to retire anyways.

They have a home in the city, 15-25 minutes away from their doctors and surrounded by hospitals, standalone ERs, and urgent care clinics. There are grocery stores, hardware stores, and every conceivable kind of specialty shop within a stone's throw. To my knowledge, until very recently their plan was to live in their current home until they died. They hadn't really settled on what they would do with my grandparents' home. My siblings and I encouraged them to sell it and put the money towards their retirement. My parents were not committed to the idea. Then the pandemic came. Almost overnight, it seems, they changed into radically different people.

While my dad is fairly outgoing, my mother has always been borderline agoraphobic. As far as I know she has no friends. The closest thing she has to a friend besides my dad (with whom she has nothing in common) and my aunt (who at best loathes her) is me. Did I mention my mother is a hoarder?

My mother LOVED quarantine. She was content to sit at home, watch television or read books, work from home, and then text me nonstop all day long (to the point that it was impacting my productivity at work and making me lose sleep). She still texts me nonstop.

She retired in the middle of the pandemic and now had even more free time; time she spent reading regurgitated reddit threads from those low-effort BuzzFeed knockoffs, writing fanfiction, and watching hours-upon-hours of television.

My dad did not like quarantine nearly as much, but he loved that he was incentivized to watch endless hours of television, play video games, and play on his iPad; activities he already enjoys.

I cannot overstate just how much television my parents watch. We're talking easily 14-16 hours each day, usually binge watching a single show or alternating between two different shows, and at most breaking for an hour to go buy lunch (which they eat in front of the TV) or maybe go to a doctor's appointment.

For the last 5 years, their daily TV consumption consists of Yellowstone, those HGTV home renovation shows (in particular Home Town), the storage unit auction show, and those travel channel shows that are just extended commercials for cruise lines.

All of a sudden their retirement plans changed. Now they want to move into my grandparents' old house in the countryside and play pretend farmer/rancher/cowboy AND also pretend home renovator AND go on a series of cruises they can't afford. It's like watching them toss their meager life savings into a burning dumpster.

I reminded them of how difficult it was for our grandparents to remain independent as they got older. "We're still young," they said.

I reminded them that our grandparents' independence came with high costs that they themselves will be unable to afford. "Don't worry about that now," they said.

I reminded them of how much time and energy they spent checking in on our grandparents and how me and my siblings don't have (and can't really foresee) the same standard of living that even my parents enjoyed. "You'll love visiting us in the country. We have so many plans for the house!" they said.

They've spent the better part of 18 months burning through their savings so they can live out the shows they see on TV. They've paid for a complete home makeover for my grandparents' stupid house, which included:

A costly asbestos abatement

All new appliances

Rewiring the house

Reupholstering much of the furniture in my grandparent's home plus more than a few pieces from their house in the city

Buying new furniture to replace the pieces they didn't want from either home

$20k for a top-of-the-line natural-gas powered generator (one strong enough to power a small restaurant) so they never have to worry about power outages

Art restoration for almost every painting in their current home plus a number of paintings my grandparents had

And they even renovated my grandparents' two barns!

By the way, they largely didn't clean out my grandparents' house, they just paid the contractor to dump everything in the barns after they were renovated.

They decided on March 1st that they want to move out completely by the end of March, which has forced my siblings and I to spend all of our available time helping them shovel out 30 years worth of my mother's compulsive hoarding. It never quite reached the point of the Collyer Brothers, but it did get to a point that our bedrooms were only nominally ours. We lost all functionality of the combination dining room / rec room around 2005. After 2018, neither of my siblings' bedrooms were even accessible. They want to move by April Fools Day.

I'm still cleaning out "my" room (only the upper layers of the piles of hoard were ever mine). I learned recently that my bedroom actually has a closet. I lived in that room for over 20 years thinking I never had a closet. I decided last night that I won't take anything. This will upset my mother. She envisioned "cleaning my room" as "taking everything somewhere else so she doesn't have to see me throw away anything". She has fought me on every item I have thrown away. I don't care about her feelings on the subject anymore.

She won't stop texting me about how much fun we're all going to have visiting them in the country, or how I need to hurry up and finish cleaning out "my" bedroom, or that I should be a good son and make time to help them go through everything they shoved into the barns. Maybe I should even take some of it (all of it preferably) because they won't have room for all of it once their stuff is moved in. Can't I help? Pretty please?

They've become completely unmoored from reality. My dad will just randomly force strangers at the grocery store to swipe through before and after pictures of their reupholstered furniture. My mother is talking in various fake accents (from her best approximation of "British" to Antebellum Southern drawl to 1940s Mid-Atlantic to that generic fake accent all modern country musicians use). They call me at all times of day. They don't care that I'm working or trying to sleep because I have work the next day. My needs don't matter anymore, only their wants matter.

EDIT: While I was typing this my dad sent me a before/after picture of a bookshelf they had restored.

When it became evident that I should probably wear a respirator and gloves to handle anything in the lower levels of my mother's hoard, she became upset. "It's not that bad! You're overreacting!" she said. Their home is a biohazard. They will never find a buyer for their home. the exterior is okay, but inside is wrecked beyond your wildest imagination. They are still ticked at my siblings and I because none of us could afford to buy their home nor did we express any interest in buying it at a significant discount. Whomever they convince to buy the home will need to gut it.

I'm honestly done with them. I don't think this personality shift is temporary. I just think it's who they are now. They've become selfish, shortsighted, incredibly inconsiderate, and unfathomably weird. Nothing I say has made a difference. I did everything I could to convince them they were making a mistake. I live with the existential dread that they are banking on me and my siblings helping them solve their problems when it inevitably hits the fan. Screw that! Luckily I live in a state without filial responsibility laws.

I will not be rescuing them and neither will my siblings. I will not be visiting them or sacrificing my time and energy when they could have just sold that stupid farmhouse and put the proceeds towards saving for their advanced age. For reasons I will never understand, it is more important that they get to play the characters they see on TV than it is to plan for a future when they are old and infirm. I get it, one is fun and one is not. Surely they can see that we're at the same age they were when they became parents. They had a house, two new-ish cars, & young kids. Meanwhile we live in miserable shoebox apartments, with cars that have 200,000+ miles on the odometer, and no path to home ownership in the foreseeable future.

But go on ahead. Go play Yellowstone. Go play Home Town. I hope whatever fleeting happiness they squeeze from their experience can fill the miserable void in their lives. I don't have the gas money to drive 100 miles round-trip to visit them every week vs the 40 miles round-trip I make now. They are making it harder and harder for me to see them. Once they are out of sight, they will be out of mind. They just don't realize it yet.

#childhood #moving #hoarder #hoarder parents #baby boomers

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xplrvibes · 6 months

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A week till Christmas, I feel he's gotta be planning to go back to his parents now/this coming week or at least have no obligations that include a camera.

Although I don't necessarily agree with you (and by extension Golbrock who I see has also been pushing the 'run to your family Colby' narrative) that going to his parents will automatically help him deal with his grief, different people deal differently with grief to one another. Plus going to his families risks being forced to become the rock for the parents grief whereas staying away at least gives time to figure himself out before he goes to them

I don't think this event was a bad thing to have taken part in for him, it was a fun distraction and sometimes you need distractions from the sad things. Especially when it is grief. I know this as it's how I deal with my own grief. If I don't find distractions I tend to wallow and just sink into a dangerous dark place.

It's how I dealt with the grief of my own Grandfather dying earlier this year, I found distractions like hang outs with friends, we did some escape rooms, I went to a concert, we did paint balling, bowling, among other things. basically I found staying away from my family more helpful in dealing with it than descending into grief with my family,who as much as I love them, being around them during that time I was more having to support my parents than deal with my own grief. (Adding here my family is extremely tight knit, many people thought I should be with them dealing with my grief because we're very close but it was so much worse being around them because I could not escape the grief even for a second which lead to bad depression things.... So staying away was so much better for me).

I healed much better when with supportive friends who would distract me and also allow me to talk to them about it all when I felt ready too or needed too. I kinda feel both Sam and Colby are similar to me in this regard. They love their families, but take more comfort in being around each other (I know on multiple occasions Colby has mentioned being closer to Sam than his own brother) and seem to cope with painful situations with distractions that prevent them wallowing.

The issue I see with them is the lack of talking about how they're feeling with anyone, so I hope if Colby does not go to his parents now that he at least has someone he can open up to about his grief even if it's just his best friend Sam.

The only issue I had in regards to Colby's grief with this event was because there were cameras he probably felt he had to put on a show though but as the stream went on it was obvious that he was actually having fun as he was grinning and laughing with Sam just out of shot a fair amount. At times it looked like he was having more fun than Sam was tbh, (maybe Sam's competitive nature was making him enjoy it slightly less I don't know, LOL)

Well, his original Christmas plans for this year was to spend them in Missouri where his brother and extended family (including his grandpa) live, so my guess was he was only a few days away from heading out that way and getting to see him, anyway.

In a sense, that makes this almost more tragic and is why I am a big proponent of him going home - he missed saying goodbye by a few days. He was supposed to go home and be there anyway, but this happened before he got there. Whether he knew it was coming or not, that's a horrible, horrible feeling to hold onto.

I have lost 3 of my 4 grandparents already in my life, and while I was in the room when 1 passed, and was able to get there in time to say goodbyes to the 2nd, the 3rd was a situation similar to what he's going through now. I was supposed to go over and visit, didn't get there in time because of work, thought, "Oh, I'll go tomorrow," and tomorrow never came.

That's a guilt that stays with you, even though it's not a guilt you should be carrying.

If he feels better being with friends than going home a few days early, than that's totally fine, and valid and absolutely his prerogative. I just don't think it's good for him to be hanging out with people with cameras/livestreams right now. I don't think he should be going on streams, worrying about work obligations, worrying about being camera ready or sucking it up for an audience and whatever else. I just feel like that has to be draining on him, whether he realizes it or not, especially when he lost a loved one so close to the holidays and was only days away from seeing them.

Now granted, to your point, he and Sam are a bonded pair of doves at this point and seem to find the maximum amount of strength in one another, so in that respect it's good that he's with him...but I don't know, I just worry that he'll just stay in LA and keep doing influencer shit when his heart clearly isn't in it because he wants to "be strong," and that I have an issue with. Just call it wraps and bump the flight up by a few days, go home and get some home cooking from the extended family and take a load off.

Or at least hole up in the air bnb and chill with Sam for a while, if that is not feasible or wanted.

He did seem to warm up to the stream activities by the end, and that's great, but they got out of there as soon as it ended so I'm wondering if he was reaching his limit for the day. He's a man that likes to have his time to recharge even on a good day, and this has been nothing resembling a good day, I'm sure. But if he truly enjoyed himself, then that's great for him.

And Sam was taking this shit so seriously, you'd have thought this man was about to win a Superbowl ring lol. That is one competitive human being right there!

(Also, sorry for your loss, anon).

#asks #colby brock

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meimi-haneoka · 8 months

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Thank you so much again! I love your chatty responses. It actually articulates so much of what I am thinking. And yes, by "arrogance", I definitely meant 'taking on the burden of everything by myself' thing rather than the former but your exposition is certainly very illuminating. Also, I was wondering if people feel uncomfortable with Akiho and Kaito age gap. I surprisingly don't and I think it has a lot to do with the fact that Kaito's love for Akiho, despite being romantic, is not as yet sexual. I am not sure if I am conveying this in the right manner. I was reading the manga and I was creeped out by the Rika Terada shipping in it but surprisingly was alright with Kaho-Eriol ship because I see the latter as "mental" peers. I am not sure whether I am able to articulate my thoughts right, but what I am trying to say is that while I understand were the hue and cry against the age gap comes from, somehow Yuna and Akiho's age gap does not bother me. On the topic of age gap relations, I was also wondering about Sakura's late Amamiya great-grandmother. Back as a kid, I always thought it was a bit strange that Masaki was her great-grandfather instead of just a grandfather (Nadeshiko's dad) who could have even more easily disapproved of Nadeshiko's union with Fujitaka. It leads to wonder about Nadeshiko's own family tree. Also, I didn't understand the England connection with her and I believe that had a lot to do with discrepancies with the English translation. Did Nadeshiko grow up in England? Or just visited England? What exactly is Sakura's late great grandmother's (and I believe her birth family's) connection with England? Do you think that the great-grandmother was a Reed? What happened to Sakura's maternal grandparents? By extension, same with Tomoyo's, considering the Amamiya cousins' parents where siblings who retained their Amamiya family name? Do you think that the potentially Reed great-grandmother was the source of magic in the Amamiya family's lineage? Do you think Tomoyo is subconsciously sensitive to magic or some latent psychic powers due to the potentialy Reed great-grandmother? After all, she made that Sakura doll with the Final Judgement clothes, she also made the right costumes for the right cards or incidences, she also could feel something was off with the play (unlike Naoko?) and could also feel something was off with rewritten world. I am so sorry but I really went down a rabbit hole while reading the manga. I would love to hear your thoughts!

LOL you might be my new favorite follower & asker 😆 Your questions stimulate my chatty side because they touch topics that are very interesting to me! Not only that, but we agree on many aspects! ;)

Ohohoh, the matter of the age gap between Kaito and Akiho........(/laughs but actually wants to cry) As you probably have guessed, it's a difficult matter for the fandom, it's always been frowned upon ever since day one and even now that it's becoming more apparent that their feelings are mutual (despite many still hope for them not to be) and now that they went to such lengths for eachother, there's still discontent towards them (I have to say that the supporters have increased too, thankfully for me). (continues under the cut)

The fact is, we don't really know Kaito's age, but from some calculations I've made he really might be the same age as Touya and Yukito or even one year younger. What we know for sure is that he cannot have an age gap bigger than 10/11 years with Akiho, judging from what Lilie said in chapter 72. I want to specify this because in these 7 years of serialization I've seen lots of nonsense in fandom spaces (when I still checked them), like "he must be close to his thirties because you can only be a legal guardian to someone if you're older than 25", some completely made up bullsh*t because 1) who said CLAMP have to abide to those rules in their manga, a freaking 10 year old was living all on his own in the OG series, plus we got MAGIC here; 2) Whoever said he's her legal guardian?? He's her butler, her butler and nothing more. In fact, the events depicted at Parents Day (chapter 40-onwards) made clear that Kaito is not considered Akiho's legal guardian, not by Akiho herself but not even by her school (they were looking for her to get one of her relatives to participate, Kaito only offered himself at the very end because he didn't want to see her sad and because he wanted to check her future real parental figure). For this reason, Kaito is often seen in the fandom as some improbable "parental/brother figure" to Akiho, because his (apparent) detached behavior, his apparent "non-response" to Akiho's romantic attempts and his being older than her gets interpreted in that way, ignoring the fact that the guy is so immature that it feels really inappropriate to stick a label of that kind on him (the fact that he's immature is not my delusion, he's been called like that multiple times by CLAMP in their Twitter Spaces). I get it, in the beginning Kaito really looked way older than what he's looking now. At some point me and a friend found out that in volume 3 CLAMP removed the adam's apple that was drawn on him on his first appearance in chapter 11 while it was serializing on Nakayoshi...we wondered for years what was that for, and it's apparent now with the constant and gradual "rejuvenation" process he underwent throughout the story that "someone" clearly didn't specify or didn't communicate Kaito's age properly to her colleague, and they had to correct that "in progress". The fact he's never been drawn with that adam's apple ever again indicates that he's not meant to be considered a full grown adult in his 20s, for example. Then, another culprit is certainly the ENG translation, which keeps making other characters refer to him as a "man" when no one in this manga ever called him like that. They call him "butler", or "attendant", "magician", he's even called "kid" by Momo and Lilie. But never specifically "man".

I've expressed my thoughts on this matter three years ago in response to an ask and now with (much more) updated information I can confirm even further what I said back then: I'm not usually one into age gap ships (despite it's still a popular trope in Japan and not only), but this one really got me by the throat because of the intensity of their story and the emotional development that touches my heartstrings in a very deep way. Probably due to their shared background, I feel an intense wish to see them happy, see them together and comforting eachother because when I think about them I don't see their age, and honestly with how immature Kaito is, I don't even feel the "age gap". I completely agree with you that there isn't absolutely any sexual connotation to the feelings these two are having for eachother at the moment, but honestly it's like that with all the ships in CCS. For a person on the asexual spectrum like me, CCS is like a breath of fresh air and a story I can really resonate with. It's true that its protagonists are very young, maybe too young to feel that kind of attraction, but the same treatment is given to the more mature characters as well, so you really feel that that is the "protected environment" where CLAMP want these characters to interact. Moreover, judging from the "vibe" he's giving, I have the headcanon that Kaito might actually be asexual or demisexual. I totally understand what you mean when you say that Kaho and Eriol are mental peers, in fact it's really true due to Eriol's circumstances, and they're not together because of their bodies but because of their soul, heart and mind. That is also what makes me support Kaito and Akiho romantically, it's because they're soulmates and as such, they recognize eachother no matter the time, space or events in between, and react accordingly. Let's also remember that when Kaito decided to accompany Akiho in her travel to collect books, and therefore starting his plan to save her, he was a kid himself. You can see it in the latest flashback of ch. 70. We don't know exactly what kind of emotion "unlocked" his stunted will to interact and do something for someone else, but certainly he was already feeling some kind of "connection" to her, which became only deeper along the years and eventually brought him to extend his plan from "I need to remove the artifact from her" to "I want to give her happiness" too.

Despite that, there are objections like "okay, even if you take out the sexual element from it, it's still wrong because of the power unbalance" and I swear to god, I can't feel that either, from them. There isn't any unbalance because first of all, he's working for her, he's not in a position of power over her (his being a magician does not factor in this because he used power to make her happy, not to dominate her), she's his freaking boss and he does whatever she asks him to. Moreover, when it's time for Akiho to call him out on his bullshit, she's absolutely not afraid to do so, like in chapter 52 and I think chapter 78 was the epitome of that. That shows that he isn't having ""power"" over her, he's not even manipulating her despite wanting her to not notice anything to not disrupt her peace of mind. She's not codependent on him, she's got her own life with her friends at school. She doesn't even see a parental, guiding figure in him, that's not what she's looking for in him and not what made her attracted to him: even when she was placed in a familiar environment where she got a father and even a brother, she still looked for him. Her heart, her very soul, still felt a huge void that hurt her everyday. We wouldn't see her going red as a tomato and be so assertive with him, if she looked at him as one of those figures. That's why I feel icked when some fans reduce their relationship to only that. I wouldn't be able to ship them if I detected those vibes. I honestly don't see anything toxic between them and I know that if CLAMP will confirm that Kaito reciprocates her, it wouldn't change much from what we have already seen till now, especially cause they're not SyaoSaku, they have their own story, their own couple dynamic, their own scars to heal from, and so also their own timing to become a full-fledged couple, in that sense. For now he would just continue to express his love through food and the care he's been taking of her till now. Especially cause he would need to learn along the way how this "strange thing" works. That's why I say that they would "grow up together". *draws a deep breath*

.....Oh my god, did I really write all of that? 😂 You just need to mention those two and it's like you're opening the dam 😂😂😂 It might also be that I'm a little bit in abstinence of long talks about those two and their story.....Well. I took it as an opportunity to state once again my view about those two characters and their romantic involvement.

Now, onto the other part of the ask...

There's a lot of speculation that can be done about Nadeshiko's family, but there is a canon material that helps us understanding at least a little bit more than what was said in the manga/anime, that's the first Drama CD of the OG series, "Sakura and her mother's organ", where Sakura needs to write about her mother for an assignment at school and Fujitaka talks a little about her past. Apparently, Nadeshiko worked as a model when she was very little, she was an elementary schooler and it seems like she was convinced to get into that industry because an acquaintance of her father and grandfather (Masaki) asked them so. Nadeshiko didn't care for that experience, though, because as Fujitaka says "it's a very complicated environment", and she dropped it by the time she went to middle school.

In that drama CD was already introduced the fact that Nadeshiko had a mysterious power, and more specifically, was able to know future events in advance: for example she already knew thanks to her "sixth sense" that she would have two children, a boy and a girl. For this reason, she was the one to beat Fujitaka to the punch when it came to propose for marriage. Yes, it was Nadeshiko the one who asked Fujitaka to get married! And in the same way she also seemed particularly eager to have children soon, I can't shake off this idea that she probably already knew or could feel that she didn't have much time left to live....... And that's also why she decided to take on again the modeling job because she felt that was something she could easily do towards the goal of acquiring a nice house in "a city full of greenery", thanks to Clear Card now we also know that Nadeshiko wasn't looking for "any house", but a specifically well positioned and special house with a barrier that would protect the ones who would become her family in the future.

From what's depicted in this Drama CD, I get the idea that Nadeshiko's family of origin was very wealthy and they probably loved her, but she didn't feel understood in that kind of environment. Like, money, this modeling job based on looks, it was very far from what Nadeshiko was searching for in life. And that's probably why she recognized her soulmate in Fujitaka, who's still got this aura of "naivety" and is extremely kind to this day, and probably why she sought after her happiness with him, eventually causing a rupture with her family of origin.

We don't know really anything about Nadeshiko's grandmother, and there isn't really any tie (that we know of, coming to chapter 78) to England in that sense: Nadeshiko was able to meet Lilie because she went there with her grandparents in occasion of one of their travels abroad. Nadeshiko and Lilie didn't spend long time together, but they bonded greatly over such short period of time. Yeah, I can see how this part might have been confusing in the ENG translation.

Actually, in relation to the "Reed" clan, I've had for the longest time the theory that the Squids are actually the Reed clan 😂😂 so the "Reed in disguise" would be our Akiho! I know for a fact that a huge translation mistake in the ENG version makes one of the Squids say "we have the same blood of Clow Reed", hence suggesting this theory as true, but sadly I have to confirm that we actually haven't had any kind of statement in that sense and that was just a translation mistake!

For Tomoyo's great capabilities, I think she's just amazing as she is!! Her intuition, after all, spans over many situations, not only when it comes to Sakura but about other people too! In one of the Clear Card chapters it was suggested that even Naoko involuntarily ended up writing a scenario for the play that was very fitting with the current situation, and that's something that people who are particularly perceptive are capable to do!

#reply #card captor sakura #ccsakura #akiho shinomoto #yuna d. kaito #yunaaki #akiyuna

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pollystyrene-draws · 1 year

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Sarah Crossan's "Toffee"

Just wanted to write down some thoughts on a book I read today. I need to keep a reading diary for my Creative Writing module so I thought I might as well post it on here. A few light spoilers here and there, you have been warned.

20.12.2022 I've enjoyed Sarah Crossan's work for a while now, having read One and Moonshine a few years back. She writes in free verse which is really refreshing when you're used to prose. The book covers abuse, being a young carer, coming of age, dementia, and the free verse helped to blend between past and present. Dialogue never felt confusing even without tags due to the one-to-one nature of most scenes, which I enjoyed as a stylistic choice.

It was lovely to get to know the main character Allison, and the short "chapters" where she is asked about her facial burn give easy access to her character development, offering a sense of recurring structure to the book. I found it intriguing how she found comfort in becoming Marla's carer.

Whilst I am unfamiliar with the details, I believe Marla's dementia was handled with care and compassion. This book would probably be good to help people understand their loved one's condition. Some of the scenes spoke to my experiences of my own grandparents, which I thought was really nice. I liked the use of parallels between Toffee and Allison to help Marla and Allison bond and grow closer. The dancing scenes especially were lovely. I loved their friendship and gradual trust of each other. Marla was also super funny, which was great.

I liked the portrayal of Lucy. She was used to explore a number of topics, like superficial friendships, the isolation Allison has felt, plus a few ideas on the class divide. The contrast between her luxurious "white house" and Allison squatting/sleeping in a shed was very effective. Although exaggerated, it felt very familiar and spoke to the class divide present in Britain. This also made Lucy's actions around money and stealing later both more surprising / shocking, but also helped to contextualise them as out of boredom or apathy rather than desperation. Despite not seeing Lucy too much, she felt very real. The fluidity of the scenes meant Allison's time with Lucy and Marla blended together, giving an idea of the passage of time, which I liked.

Overall, the characters have entire lives away from the plot, which was great to see. Even Marla's son Dolan, with pretty unsympathetic actions shown in scenes, invited a sense of intrigue about his life outside of Allison's view. I enjoyed that characters seemed to have intricate family/friend trees that were tricky to follow in places as it made them feel more realistic. It also added to the sense of mystery surrounding Marla's past. From a writer's perspective, I thought the decision to have Allison's phone stolen was a clever way of removing her agency for a bit, enabling some needed character growth. I also liked that upon getting a new phone, it took her a while to log back in to her old life. I also thought that having Allison use multiple names enabled the reader to see multiple sides of dementia, and the difference between Marla with Allison vs Marla with Dolan helped to drive these differences home. I did feel like the abusive background Allison fled from got a little cliché in places, but it was written really well, so I don't mind. The portrayal of social services (through both visits to Allison's home, and the care worker Peggy) felt similar to what I had read before from other authors but this worked well as these services share the same common problems across multiple areas. It's effective portrayal; it complemented the story's themes well.

I feel like I missed a few points in the story (how did Marla know Toffee, for instance), but that's probably because the book was such a page turner that I read it cover to cover in about two hours. On reread, I'm sure these details will become much clearer! Even if such areas remain foggy, Toffee was a fantastic read, and a sweet, heart warming story. Crossan handled the mature themes with an effective and compassionate lens without ever talking down to the reader. I would definitely recommend.

#sarah crossan #book thoughts #childrens literature #book review #ramblings #booklr #books and reading

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poppletonink · 2 years

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Let It Snow Review

★★★☆☆ - 3 stars

On a Christmas Eve, Gracetown becomes blanketed in snow. As three stories come together to form one, a group of teenagers lives change indefinitely as romance forms in the most unlikely of places. Alongside romance blooming, a series of dramatic events sends them down festive paths they never would have anticipated ending up in.

The Jubilee Express by Maureen Johnson

★★★★★ - 5 stars

Jubilee Dougal was not expecting to spend Christmas in Gracetown with a family she didn't know. But when her parents got arrested; her boyfriend was being neglectful; her train broke down on the way to visit her grandparents; and she trekked in the snow to a Waffle House, she didn't have much choice. She wasn't expecting to fall in love with a total stranger either - but Christmas has an effect on people.

It took me a few pages but once I got into this one, I loved it.

Jubilee is awesome - who doesn't completely favour her over pretty much every character in this book. And Stuart is the sweetest man on earth.

Stuart's mam kind of freaked me out a bit, but she was nice so it was fine.

And the way that Stuart and Jubilee bonded over having terrible exes was cute.

Also, on that note, I hate Noah with all of my guts - he found out his girlfriend had several near death experiences within a few hours and he didn't even care at all!? What's wrong with this guy!?

But, overall, I got really invested in this one - it was the cute, cozy Christmas romance I was looking for. I loved it.

A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle by John Green

★★★★☆ - 4 stars

When Tobin and his friends get a call from Keun at the Waffle House, they set out on a trek to join him there - if only for the cheerleaders. But getting there isn't so easy, with a broken down car; miles of travel all if which is covered in snow; and two twins threatening their every move. Along the way, Tobin discovers maybe he isn't going for the cheerleaders after all - maybe he is simply in love with his best friend: the Duke (Angie).

The Duke is definitely my favourite character - she was created well, she wasn't very feminine but didn't judge other girls for being feminine.

Also I love the pop cultures references - Twister is one of the best board games around and James Bond is iconic.

I think it was kind of slow paced, but it was still good. My main issue is the sexist interpretation of cheerleaders - sexualising the concept of cheerleaders themselves, pom poms and short skirts. It was addressed, but it still made me uncomfortable.

I thought Tobin and the Duke were super cute together. However, it took me a while to get there.

Overall, I liked it quite a lot - this is the second thing I've read by John Green and his writing style is still something I'm getting used to but I do like it.

The Patron Saint of Pigs by Lauren Myracle

★★☆☆☆ - 2 stars

The fate of a singular teacup pig falls into the hands of a dramatic teenage girl, Addie. Whilst trying to keep the pig safe, she has to navigate her broken relationship with her boyfriend Jed, after having cheated on him by kissing someone else.

I didn't really like the writing style - frankly, I found it boring after the first page. Also, can we talk about the writing is very Eleanor and Park esque - even down to the racism ("He seemed so exotic" almost killed me).

Addie is really annoying too - she totally doesn't deserve Jeb.

Plus, this story argues that it's okay to cheat on someone as long as you apologize profusely in an attempt to salvage the relationship.

But, I have to admit I mostly finished this one for the teacup pig - and to see how the stories intertwined in the end.

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teakoodrawz · 3 months

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Here's why i love the Brothers Blood au the same i love the star projects (from what i realized and the list is longer than i expected.)

the Fitzbat family (Mark, Seren, Selene, Mathew) are all family oriented and always put themselves on others before their own. always look after each other. they're an active healthy family with happiness, care and humors. "Family is Forever and ever. A Bound that cannot Unbound but to hold together."

((they have good angst story that caught my interest......)))))

I don't like any main protagonists of my version having family issues (the songbirds au has a healthy family made with unintentional idea and connected to this au)

I have a good family that i'm happy with and i experienced that very well.

Family is important. always love our family first before others outside of the family tree because they're the source of our lives that catered us

I love when Seren is a great uncle who's still not ready to get a family of his own so he just spoiled Mark's kids everytime he was called to look after them while the band are gone(because he's not great with kids sometimes so he does what the kids want)

Seren is everything to what i appeal....(he was already a great person not because of what I desired him to be but because of how his mom raised him. plus killing is still his satisfaction as an assassin)

Seren being a professional assassin is augh...💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛

good brotherhood (they fight each other too both verbally and physically)

separated after the twins can afford a house of their own but still visits their parents as much as they can (Seren lives alone so he never minded for any of the scc band or his family to visit him (they have to inform him first or else he haven't hid any of his blades and guns he forgot to hide (or dead bodies with blood on the floor or on his hands and face) when unexpectedly visiting him))

in MS, S-2 was envious on Mark's success in life. now this au Mark is ironically envious of Seren's strength and wealth.

Seren provides the Family by sending them his money for their expenses while Mark takes care of his family when they're sick

the twins loved their grandparents when they were little because of how they always give them their favorite candies but sometimes they get bored when going fishing with their grandpa (their grandpa tells them stories about what it's like to be a soldier)

the twins have a special friend as their neighbor (Derek)

Mark is probably the only person who gets jokes from Leo, Sunny's dad too good and catches his humors (most of em are just dad jokes or any silly things at all. they're both silly guys)

Mathew was a teacher once in middle school near their hometown so that means the twins are his students by that year until he became a professor in college a decade 2/4 years later but sadly it was in another state so he's separated. he can go back when on holidays obviously

the au's name itself can give various of meanings connecting to its lore

Seren is canonly single forever in this au

#[records]#brothers blood au

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msmercury84 · 3 months

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"I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm

South Philadelphia, New Year's Eve, 1945"

From "I Double Dare You-A Rendezvous With Destiny."

youtube

Author's Note: Some sections are for readers over 18 years of age. In other words, smut warning. The expression "And how!" was popular with Bill Guarnere's generation. He used the expression in the book he wrote with Babe Heffron and I heard my grandparents use the expression, too. The depiction of Bill is based upon the actor's portrayal in the movie.*

Earlier in the week, Bill mentioned that he would enjoy having a small serving of pasta "wit' that good gravy ya make" the next time they had steaks.

Leigh got a good recipe from Augusta for a marinade that was great for beef. The day before New Year's Eve, she combined garlic, red wine, some salt, a dash of pepper and a hint of oregano.

Leigh turned on the radio to have music playing while she finished the special supper. She donned an apron made of material with tiny red roses. Protecting her favorite dress was top priority.

When Bill got home from work, he embraced and kissed Leigh after hanging up his snow covered coat on a coat tree in the kitchen and putting his gloves on the coat tree to dry.

"Thanks, Honey." She winked, adding, "You ain't seen nothin' yet."

"What's goin' on, Sweetheart? Sounds like you're up to somethin'."

"You'll see, be patient. I'll make it worth the waiting."

Guarnere went upstairs to put on a clean dress shirt after shaving. The atmosphere in the house was cozy, with the Christmas decorations, a fire in the living room fireplace and music on the radio.

After they finished their supper, Bill told her,

"Thanks, Bill. Let me get the dishes and then we can get ready to celebrate the new year."

"Nothin' doin', Leigh. I'm helpin' wit the dishes. How 'bout I wash an' you dry? That way, your dress won't get ruined.