#para:1

[jamieanders-blog]

we’re not lovers; we’re just strangers || dallie

WHO: @dallaspucks and jamie anderson  WHEN: monday evening  WHERE: dallas’ place TRIGGER: n/a atm 

Jamie hated Dallas. Or at least, that’s what he attempted to convince himself of as he grabbed the bag of take out food he had just picked up for the both of them -- well, mostly for Dallas -- and the bottle of vodka from his secret stash. Closing the car door, he stopped to temporary bend over and check himself out in the side mirror, fixing his hair and giving himself a wink. He didn’t care much to impress the other, but he did care about getting what he came for, especially after going to all this trouble -- for someone he hates. 

Stepping up to the Puckerman’s front door, he knocked, quite loudly. As a couple seconds passed and no one answered, the impatient asshole he is knocked again, banging his fist on the door this time. “Open up, Dallas. Your booty call has arrived!” He announced, quite loudly. 

[amphitriteseas-blog]

Caught || Nyx + Open

Before her awakening, Nyx was a quiet, calm girl. Most people saw her as someone who never really got in the way or bothered to stand out--rather, it came naturally. Her intelligence was beyond her years and her determination to get things done took her far both academically and not. It is this reason that she was so skilled at piano and ballet, two things that truly showed her passion. In dancing, nothing mattered anymore; she could master any move with grace and poise, impressing all who watched. But it was playing piano that set her apart. Nyx’s--then, Danika’s--fingers pranced and floated across the keys of the instrument. The sounds she could make were so beautiful that, at one of her recitals, the audience nearly brought down the walls with the echoes of their applause. 

The dancing had stopped long ago, never to be practiced again and, at the time, she also vowed to never touch another piano. Both reminded her of her weak past, the small, fragile girl who was loved but never feared--adored but never intimidated others. It sickened her to remember on most occasions but she was guilty of stopping by the piano hidden in her guest room now and then, letting her fingers glide across the keys and hearing their sweet music. When she felt especially daring, she played.

This never happened in public before. However, there was a man in Central Park who was challenging the passers to play a song along with him. She hadn’t meant to get caught up in the crowd nor pushed to the front, but suddenly there she was, staring at the grand instrument. Nyx tried refusing, very angrily at that, even offering the man money in order for him to let her go. The crowd was moving in, though, so it gave her little option. Sitting down on the bench, everyone waiting in eager anticipation, she began playing. 

Before she knew it the song was over. People clapped and smiled and eventually dispersed. All besides one. “Yes, yes, I know. ‘I never knew you could play!’” Nyx mocked, not smiling. 

[vocalclarity]

Catalyst

Who: vocalclarity and claringtonatdalton When: Late afternoon, August 21, 2015. Where: Lima Bean, Lima, Ohio What: Hunter discovers why Clara has been avoiding him.

Clare sat in the corner of the stupid Lima coffee shop, wondering what in the world was going to happen when this baby was born. She knew she wasn't ready to be a mother, and Hunter didn't even know she was pregnant... With any luck he might never find out... The swimming feeling in her stomach just got worse the more anxious her thoughts became, and she tried to calm herself down by taking a sip of the tea her mother had bought her before running off to McKinley to finish her transfer paperwork. Trying to put something in her stomach was a baaaad idea, and her hands flew to her stomach to try to make it seem like she wasn't as sick as she felt. Eight more weeks of this... Hell.

Hunter was exhausted after yet another long day of practice and for the thousandth time he checked his phone for a text from Clara as he made his way through the doors of the Lima Bean. Still nothing. He huffed out a sigh as he ordered his large black coffee with a shot of soy milk, turning on his heel only to see the one person he'd been looking for. He canceled his order quickly and wound through the tables, stopping in front of her and blocking her in. "So are you actively ignoring me now?”

Clare heard his voice before she saw his face. "I've been sick, I told you," she muttered, trying her best to ignore the wave of nausea that was trying its best to take over her. "Really sick." Apparently hoping she wouldn't run into him hadn't been enough. Looking at her tea only made the feeling worse, so she kept both arms crossed protectively over her middle and stared at the floor, preparing herself for the tirade that she was sure she would hear from him soon. Just as long as he didn't find out, then she'd be okay. They'd be okay.

Hunter huffed and crossed his arms over his chest in an almost mimic of how she was moving around. Mirroring her body language had become second nature after spending the summer almost always together. "How sick? You never told me more than throwing up and I thought that cleared up pretty quickly. Have you been to a doctor? Does your mom know what's going on?" Worrying was also second nature even if it came out as harsh.

Clare knew that he was pissed, and if she were honest with herself he had every right to be. She had kinda dropped off the face of the planet a few weeks before school started, but they weren't even really a thing. So maybe he didn't have the right to be upset at all... The pregnancy brain took over her thoughts, making her think anything and everything that would make her blameless in the situation. Then her mouth opened without her normal brain okaying the words, "This isn't the kind of thing they can cure."

Hunter blinked as soon as the words started to filter through, leaning back and glancing down at her for just a little bit longer than he usually would in public. "So either it's something really serious or you're pregnant," he stated, though he didn't really take either of those suggestions as a serious thing even as they were leaving his mouth. That wasn't possible - they'd had birth control of some form at all times and if she was like... dying... that just didn't happen to people like that, it didn't.

Clare laughed. That's all she could do at this point. Of course he would instantly guess the truth that she had been trying to hide from him for weeks. The laughing wasn't treating her stomach too well, however, and another wave of nausea swelled just as she was about to answer him. Falling silent, she resigned herself to not replying, simply attempting to not look as sick as she felt would take enough effort of it's own and she was not in the mood to throw up.

Hunter blinked when she didn't reply, looking her up and down and trying not to instantly panic. "Clara. Clara are you dying?! Are you seriously sick??" Pregnancy was a much better option than anything deadly would be, and he tried not to panic too much thinking about either of those options. God, this wasn't going to end well and he could already feel it.

Clare wanted to puke, and thinking about having to actually tell him only made the nausea worse. "No," she managed to get out without feeling too queasy, "I'm not dying, idiot." Calling him names and being angry was easier than panicking; that's all she could do at the moment, because panicking would make her feel more sick and that wouldn't help their situation in the slightest. He was going to have to find out the truth sooner of later, and she didn't want to be sick all over him in the process.

Hunter knew that only left one other option and he was too relieved she wasn't dying to truly process what that other option meant. "So you're pregnant with my kid?" That was one thing he didn't question. While this was nothing exclusive and they'd both made that clear, as far as he knew they'd kept each other so busy someone else getting in on the mix wouldn't have really been possible. Not to mentioned he didn't think she'd be so weird around him if it wasn't his...

Clare rolled her eyes at his question, obviously that was the only answer left. "Who thought not wearing condoms was a good idea again?" she hissed bitterly, completely sure that it had been Hunter's idea. Until she saw the look on his face and realized that it had been her.... "Shit..." she murmured, unsure of how to continue the conversation when it was obvious to the people around the store that something serious was going on between the two of them. It made her extremely uncomfortable, and even more nervous to transfer to WMHS.

Hunter knew her well enough to realize she was getting weird and he looked around before sighing and nodding towards the door. "My car's out there. We can get some privacy." He shifted from foot to foot as he avoided the seriousness of what was going on, not sure if it would be a better idea to be a gentleman or to just let her walk away before she murdered him because she kinda looked like she might right about now.

Clare nodded and started to get up, too quickly for her body apparently, which fought back by sending another wave of nausea. "Sorry," she muttered, sitting again in an attempt to regulate herself. This kid was swimming a little too much for her liking. "I wasn't lying about being sick," she quipped with a tinge of bitterness, making another try at moving from her seat. This time it wasn't so bad, but she had to use his shoulder to steady herself when she'd finally managed to get on her feet.

Hunter should've been a little more cold. That was their thing, right? Enemies, rivals, who just happened to sleep together and enjoy the other's more R-rated company. The sex was phenomenal but it shouldn't have him wanting to keep a steady hand on her back when they were walking to the car (which he did and he blamed it on Clara carrying his child). "What can I say? Any kid of mine's going to be causing waves from the get-go." The joke fell flat but he couldn't stop it, needing to ground the conversation somehow before they ended up fighting yet again. That was bad for the baby right?

Clare's sickness calmed considerably the longer his hand was on her back, it was like the thing growing inside of her knew who he was, that he was supposed to be there. Weird. She shot him a particularly furious death glare, not exactly in the mood for humor, before opening her own door and climbing in his car. Instinct started to kick in, and she almost reached for her seatbelt after the door shut before remembering that they weren't going to be leaving the parking lot, and she let her hands rest on her stomach as she waited for him to get situated himself.

Hunter turned in his seat to watch her, going quiet for a beat. There was no doubt he was seeking out the curve of her stomach that signified a baby. He completely believed her - even if she didn't have a reputation for being brutally honest it was senseless to lie about something that made you visibly sick and kissed your teenage years goodbye - but seeing proof made it all seem much more real. "What do you want to do?"

Clare's face burned as she saw his eyes tracing the area she had been trying to hide from the world for the past few weeks, and her face grew hot when she realized that he'd actually been able to find the little change. "I don't know," she answered honestly, "the doctor gave Mom some pamphlets for a place in Columbus to... take care of it... and there was one for a 'crisis pregnancy center' too, but I don't know if that one actually made it home or not." Eyes beginning to fill with water that wasn't usually there, she couldn't keep on talking. It was one thing to see other girls get put in this situation, she had more times than she could count, but it was a complete other for her to be the girl.

Hunter could suddenly feel the nerves that had started to settle in to allow the calm in come back full force at the thought of her 'taking care of it', or anything like that. As terrifying as this was and as much as he'd been pro-choice whenever his parents harassed him about his political viewpoint it was something else entirely to think about a child that was half-his suddenly not existing anymore. It made his stomach squeeze up tight and as much as he wanted to reach over and curl her into his arms even if she smacked him if Hunter moved much right now he was afraid he'd be as sick as she was. "Do I... get some say in this decision? I can tell you right now what I would want, but I know it's not all up to me either."

Clare knew that he was in shock by the look on his face; a mixture of confusion and frustration with a bit of utter disbelief thrown in there, he managed to wear it well, though. The one thing she knew for sure at this point was that their child was sure to be a beauty. Their child... The thought of those words just drove the idea further into her head: she was growing a human being inside her. Terrifying and exhilarating all at once, she wanted nothing more than to just cry and be held, but she wasn't sure that he was ready to deal with her emotions yet. "You're half the reason we're in this mess, I wouldn't expect you to be any less than half the solution." She paused for a moment to let her words sink in before jumping to ask, "Any bright ideas?"

Hunter brightened twice as much when he realized she wasn't going to just... get rid of the fetus or give their child up without letting him put in his input. "I want to keep the baby. It's scary, sure, it's incredibly scary but the only thing I knew when it settled in was that I wanted it. That was an automatic reaction and it's the one that I agree with. My parents are loaded, there's no way we won't have help, and... we can figure the rest out but we can't just get rid of her, or him. Not a believer in fate but a big believer in taking responsibility for things when they happen."

Clare's eyes grew twice their size when he first spoke. Keep the baby... They were in high school! Seniors, yes, and about to graduate... but in high school! They weren't ready for this! Rather, she wasn't. "In a perfect world, I'd have that be the answer..." she trailed off, not really sure what the point was that she'd been trying to make. Changing the subject she rushed through saying, "My mom's at McKinley now filling out my transfer paperwork. The 'rents didn't want my image at Carmel - their image with their friends - to be tainted."

Hunter bit down on his lip at the look on her face. Maybe she didn't agree, maybe he would have to watch her - ​their​ - child go to someone else and... that wasn't a thought he could handle. "So you... don't want to keep him or her?" He gripped the steering wheel, needing to focus on anything else not to freak out. "So they're... they're letting you stay with them. No kicking you out or any of the stuff that you see happen in movies."

Clare nearly burst into tears when she saw his reaction. "That's not what I meant!" she began to explain, then her face got hot and rational thought was all but forgotten. "I just... I don't know! I don't know if I can do this! I don't know!" The tears were coming now and there was no stopping them, not able to do or think of much else but the fact that she was about to be a mother and practically ruin both of their lives. It wasn't exactly something she wanted to think about.

Hunter slipped out of his seat in the car and moved to hug her almost instantly, wrapping a hand around her back and trying to rub it soothingly. "We can do this. ​We​ can do this, together. I'm not leaving you alone to deal with a baby. I want to be a dad. We can make this work, Clare. We can make it work." Hunter was mostly rambling now but he couldn't seem to stop. All he wanted to do was fix this somehow. Clare sunk into the crook of his neck and tried to calm herself down. "I just... There's so many things that could go wrong." She knew he was right, they could make it work. Did that make it any easier for her to breathe and actually form logical thoughts? Not so much. It was the biggest thing she'd ever had to deal with, and she knew she had no choice but to grow up. It wasn't a very fun realization, especially when she'd always thought herself to be so mature already.

Hunter held her tighter, instinct taking over as he tried to take care of her. "There's always things that could go wrong. Natural disasters, random financial ruin, car accidents. But you know what? We've got this. We do. It's going to be terrifying and we probably need to work on getting along more often but we're going to love this child, and I'm going to be there for ​everything​ that you or this child needs. I promise. Let's go get cleaned up and we can discuss this a little more calmly, okay?"

[privateeramaya-blog]

A Waning Moon.

My ship had reached port early in the day, tied off to the docks and my men were cavorting in town. I had stayed with my ship a little longer than them, once their duties done they all ran off to their respective hovels, most heading for brothels or taverns. I had other plans. There were things I needed to attend to in port other than drinking myself into a stupor; that was generally hard to do anyways. 

3 hours from stepping off my ship and a dead body later I had cleaned my hands of the blood of a man that had studied vampires for years. He was at the end of his rope anyways. He'd begged to be turned but I refused and instead took his life and all his research. I bought most of it to a tavern and had some of my men who were inside take it to our ship while I sat down at a table in the corner looking over a book of notes and research i'd nicked. This life is not something I would ever give anyone. Every day I can feel more and more gaps in my memory forming, filled with nothing but thirst and desire. Being near all that blood and not drinking a single drop required restraint, but leaving a body with puncture marks would only alert the town to my presence.

The town was finally going dark, the sun setting on the sea, The moon rose and I was reminded again of how close the full moon was. My powers were growing. A reminder of the curse that was 'gifted' to me. I sighed and ran my hand through my dark hair, pulling it over one shoulder and reading the documents by candlelight.  Maybe one of the captains in port would have something of interest… Just maybe.

[cassbrks]

As Cassandra slowly woke up from her deep slumber, she ran the pads of her fingertips across her eyes to rub them gently in a way of making her vision less blurry. The brunette sat up on her comfortable bed and glanced at the digital clock on her bedside table. Being that it read 10:30 in the morning, she thought that she’d get up and out of bed atleast. Before rising up from the bed, she grabbed her iPhone from the small table and let a quiet sigh escape her lips once she read that one of her best friends from back home would not be able to fly out and visit Cassandras lonely self over the summer. She absolutely disliked having to move atleast a thousand or more miles away from birthplace because of her parents jobs. She placed the cell phone back down where it was and took slow steps into the bathroom that was off of her room. With a few swift movements, she removed the materials of clothing that covered her body; tossed them into the laundry basket and stepped into the spacious shower.

After about the span of twenty-five minutes, Cassandra was finished with her shower and stepped out to grab a towel to wrap around her body. The timid brunette first made her way back into her bedroom and over to the closet. Cassandra grabbed a baggy t-shirt and a pair of comfortable shorts, being that of course she wouldn't be doing anything or going anywhere. The family had gotten finished with moving into their big and spacious home just three weeks ago so the shy female had no friends and a fear of getting lost so there was no use in going to explore around the town. The sixteen year old let the towel fall from her slim body and changed herself into the clothes that she had picked out. With her brown orbs, Cassandra glanced around her room and let out a tired type of yawn while going over and took the phone from the side table. 

Throughout the day hours, the girl spent them baking like usual; one of her favorite things to do. Along with swimming around in the backyard pool for quite some time. Cassandra had neighbors but as far as she knew so far atleast, they were just a bunch of stuck up adults of her parents age, she hadn't seen or met any teenagers her age. As day neared to night, the brunette ended up on the couch in her livingroom with the television turned onto a show that was a bit interesting. "Cassandra, we're home from work," the voice of her mother echoed through the large house a few hours later and the female turned her head to look at her parents that were standing infront of her. "We are going out to dinner in a little bit, though. Just your father and I. I know you'll be good of course so see you later on." Nodding, Cassie said her goodbyes to them as they walked off and ran her fingertips through her brown and wavy locks of hair; her eyes still glued to the television and boredom still present.

[millerbrandon]

Employee of the Month || Moreller

As the night dwindled down, customers dispersed, and Brandon finally got a moment to disappear from behind his grill. With a view of empty tables, his sights caught Dane quite easily, proceeding henceforth with a wide smile and a crave for entertainment.

"You know I was thinking about starting an 'Employee of the Month,' thing." Brandon started, his head nodding with raised eyebrows to indicate his contemplation. "And your amazing work ethics have been making it a hard decision." At that point, his smile widened, shoulder's bouncing already with contained laughter. His sarcasm, as intended as a joke, remained playful as his words started breaching a subject of conversation Brandon desired to bring up for quite some time.

"Especially with how punctual you are." He joked once more, his tone losing laughter but still sounding as gentle as he approached the conversation. With eyebrows pulled together to form a crease, Brandon remained hopeful his approach would correspond with his intentions. Concern pestered him, not annoyance or anger of the matter. And it was his concern that inclined Brandon to step forth and bring it up, as it was now with bright eyes and a lopsided grin at cause for the way he glanced down at Dane. 

While glancing down, his thoughts steered and Brandon considered his preferable outcome of the matter. Of course he approached the situation with intention of resolution, but up until that point he never really thought of it in depth. To him, Dane was still an honourable employee--a little tardy, however explainable Brandon presumed, but the personality that followed suit more than made up for it.  

That personality, despite lacking some--or most--qualifications required for the job, Brandon honestly enjoyed the company of. Consequently, he leaned out to nudge his elbow against that of Dane's, his smile returning in full form before arms raised and Brandon chuckled. Stepping back he framed Dane's face with squared fingers to glance through, "Just need to get a picture of you to put up on the wall." 

[future-cheerio]

Coming Home To The Future

Tagging : Santana Lopez and Rachel Berry

Location : Pezberry Apartment

She took a cab and told him the address and the weirdest thing is that he recognized her. Was she also famous? How the hell would he know her name? Santana would have asked but she was too shocked from the whole situation. After he left her infront of her home she searched through her purse for her key. When she finally took a minute to look at the house infront of her, she couldn't believe her eyes. Was she really living there? She took the keys in her hands and tried the first one, which turned out to be the right one, and as she opened the door she was stuned with the sight infront of her. She swallowed before stepping in, closing the door behind her. This life of hers did seem like a dream now for sure. Only thing that didn't cross her mind was that Rachel would be home as well.