You love fluff. Don't even lie. You do.

[phantastus]

The Shameless Fluff Meme
(you know you want it)


_{Source of the photo is here!}

You know those days when the school is stressing you out or work is wearing you down and it seems like nothing will drag you out of your gloom, and then suddenly you and your friends find yourselves leaning all over each other laughing like dweebs at something really stupid and for some reason that just makes everything seem a little better?

Fluff is fun and you know it.

So grab a buddy, make like a marshmallow, and FLUFF.



INSTRUCTIONS:
‧ Post with whatever character you want
‧ Responders roll (random.org is good for this!) for scenario + type of contact (if desired) and get to threading!
‧ ???
‧ Profit!!

SCENARIO
1) SLUMBER PARTY!! You know what? Fuck that paper you have to write. Fuck responsibilities. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Maybe your friend called you up to drag you out of the monotony for a night, or maybe you're the one throwing in the towel and kidnapping a buddy to have some fun-- but either way, you're gonna order a pizza, break out the ice cream, and spend the night playing video games and watching movies with your bro! ... Or maybe you're gonna paint each other's nails and talk about crushes. Whatever keeps your mind off the work you have to get back to later.

2) Sick Day. One of you is under the weather and at home wrapped in blankets for some reason or another, be it a nasty flu bug or some sort of injury. Good thing someone's around to bring you tea and soup and patch you up... or stand over you intimidatingly to make sure you sit still and keep that thermometer in your mouth.

3) Cheer up! It's been a dirty, rotten, no good, really bad day. Maybe it's a bunch of nasty little things all adding up to a big dark stormcloud over one of your heads, or maybe something straight-up awful knocked the wind out of their sails and left them on their knees. Either way, one of you is here to cheer the other up.

4) Got your back, bro. Maybe they're not just sad because of something beyond their control-- maybe there's been some bullying going on, or a big fight coming up. Either way you want to let them know you're gonna be right behind them, ready to hand out some righteous ass-whuppins on their behalf. Maybe that's what you've already done! True friendship, people. True friendship.

5) FOOD. Are you two being saccharinely sweet and sharing a dessert? Or maybe you guys got stuck in the kitchen making a last-minute meal for guests or a party. Either way, cooperation is the key. Otherwise one of you might get stuck having to explain the presence of half-cooked pancakes stuck to the ceiling, or how the other person managed to get a spoonful of ice cream stuck up their nose.

6) Sorry... So, uh, yeah. There was a fight. Doesn't matter what it was about... it wasn't worth losing a friend over. So one of you's decided to man (or woman) up and apologize. And hope to dear god that they've had enough time to cool off.

7) Sun's out! Let's go exploring! It is a sublimely perfect blue-skied day, and the whole world is out there. Drag your friend out on a picnic-hike in the hills, or take to the streets and see what kinds of wonders you can find hiding in between the sidewalk cracks.

8) Rain, rain, go away... It's pouring cats and dogs out. Maybe you guys hastily ducked into a building for shelter or maybe you've been holed up all day, slowly going stir-crazy with cabin fever... Time for blanket forts, board games, and maybe bothering the hell out of anyone who's too much of a sourpuss to be entertaining. ... Or cuddles. Cuddles are good, too.

9) CONFESSION TIME. You've got a secret, and it's a secret that you've been longing to express to this person. Are you in love? Do you have a dark past or inner fear that you're a little scared they'll judge you for? Or are you the one who accidentally spilled the punch bowl all over their carpet at a party ages ago and were too embarrassed to say anything before now?

10) Don't hate-- appreciate! Yeah, so this person means a LOT to you. By hook or by crook, today you're going to show them just how much you appreciate them. How are you gonna do this? ... Well, that's up to you!


Physical Contact:
1) Hugging. Whether it's a gentle slip-your-arms-around embrace or an all-out bear hug, almost everybody loves to be held sometimes. Share a quiet moment together or greet your pal by knocking the wind out of them with a rib-crusher.

2) Kissing. GIVE YOUR AUNTIE SOME SUGAH. Or maybe they're your significant other. I don't know. Whether it's romantic and tender or playful and silly, let's see some smoochin' up in here.

3) Holding hands. You don't always have to say anything to let somebody know you're there for them-- sometimes just taking their hand says more than enough.

4) Carrying. Time to give your shorter buddy a boost to get somewhere high-- or maybe they're slowing you down in an urgent situation and it's time to piggy-back them out of danger. Or maybe you just feel like carrying someone around. Look at them, using their legs to get places! How silly. You just wanna scoop 'em up and tote them around.

5) Massaging. Holy crud, you're sore in places you didn't even know you had. Good thing you've got some outside help on loosening those muscles, because you'd probably make it worse if you tried it yourself. Or maybe you're the one giving someone a nice back/shoulder/neck/foot/belly/nose??? rub at the end of a long day.

6) Tickling. Maybe your friend hasn't been smiling too much lately and could use some encouragement-- or maybe they've been bugging you and it's time to teach them a playful lesson. Just watch out for retaliation!

7) Cuddling. No better cure for loneliness or nightmares (or maybe just being a little cold) than curling up with somebody under a blanket! Maybe you're flopped on the couch or maybe you're in bed, but either way, snuggling up to whoever's next to you seems like a good idea right now.

8) Wild Card! Mix and match, or make something up!

Comments

[foolishwren]

<sub>[... Something about hearing it from the mouth of someone who it actually happened to... hearing how... makes Heather's throat tighten. Part-- even MOST-- is out of sympathy. Sadness and anger at the fact that this girl had to endure that. Still does. ... But a little piece is fear. Because he's appeared to her too. And she is so scared of things like what Laura is saying.]

[But she swallows. Because the last thing she can do right now is show fear.]

[She has to be strong. FOR Laura.]

[So she bites back the fear and focuses on the anger.]</sub>

That piece of shit.

_{[It might seem sort of inappropriate to respond with a simple insult, but there's a spitting hiss in her voice that adequately displays the violent emotion behind the relatively tame words.]}

[nowherefast]

<sub>[She'd been watching Heather carefully in the moment it took her to answer. She'd almost been expecting a turnaround, disbelief and 'no, that didn't happen, you must be lying', and she's relieved that that's not what Heather answers her with.]

[Anger, she can deal with. She's got plenty of that herself. She shrinks back against the wall, looking remarkably small against the wood, and hugs herself in another rare show of admitted vulnerability.]</sub>

... I call him that a lot too. <sub>[There's a bit of bitter humour in that, but it disappears in the small noise she makes before she carries on.]

He says I'm an experiment.</sub>

[foolishwren]

<sub>[No, Laura, no. Heather wouldn't disbelieve something like this. ... She knows it can happen. Does happen...]

[She manages a grim smile at Laura's reply-- the girl's got some fight in her, that's for sure. Better than the alternative. As far as Heather's concerned, there's hope for anyone who hasn't given up entirely...]

[But at the same time, there's still that sick chill running up and down her spine as she remembers what BOB had said to her in that diner. I will HAVE you.]

[The next words jerk her out of her anxious thoughts, though, and she furrows her brow as she looks at the other girl, sitting there against the wall.]</sub>

... An ... experiment?

[nowherefast]

_{[She shrugs. Well, it was something she'd guessed and he'd confirmed, but ...]}

Yeah, but ... I don't know. You can't trust him. You can't trust anything he says. Okay? But he ... he wrote in my diary and I think he just ... wanted to see what he could to do me.

So he did everything he could.

_{[Voice breaking at the end there, she looks to her hands, turns them over where they're held near her knees.]}

He told me about fire ...

_{[And with a murmur and a completely different tone of voice, she repeats that last word to herself.]}

Fire ...

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Trust... no, Heather doesn't trust him. ... But all the same, the things he says...]

[When Laura mumbles the word, Heather watches solemnly.]</sub>

... Fire, walk with me.

That's what he says, right?

_{[A brief pause.]}

... He told me I had fire in my hands.

[nowherefast]

<sub>[She nods, slowly. That's indeed what he says. It's one of his favourite things to say, and he never really stops saying it, like it's a background noise to every other word out of his mouth.]

[...and fire ... in her hands? There's both fear and sympathy for the other girl there, and so she returns Heather's gesture from several minutes before and takes one of her hands. It's not gentle, not really, but it's the kind of grip that lets you know you're being held onto.]</sub>

He's a liar.

_{[Which she says fiercely, but with an odd distant tone. Probably because she's almost always believed his lies, so it's a dull statement to her own ears.]}

[foolishwren]

_{[Heather looks up at Laura when her hand is taken, and her expression is a little less confident than it was when she was giving that pep talk a few minutes ago.]}

... Yeah... yeah, he is.

... But that... that was something that was true. I think.

_{[A pause.]}

... It was the fact that he knew that was...

[nowherefast]

<sub>[Laura knows the meaning behind that better than anyone and lets out a small "yeah" in response, eyes once again drifting.]

[She's very serious and earnest when she speaks again though.]</sub>

Heather ... promise you'll be careful.

[foolishwren]

I will.

_{[It's the same answer she gave Cooper... and she does mean it. This is something bigger than most things, and... well, she sure doesn't intend to blow it off.]}

I've survived this long.

_{[And then her tone darkens a little bit.]}

... Like I said... there's nothing he can do to me that I can't weather.

_{[Haven't already weathered...]}

[nowherefast]

<sub>[For a while, she doesn't say anything. Laura likes Heather, and she does want to believe her, but there's still a sniffle in the 'yeah, okay' movement that means she just can't quite buy it.]

[Obviously, really, since she has no clue what Heather's been through. But she doesn't ask, instead leans against briefly the other teenager briefly, gaze drifting out the window.]

[When she straightens up she finally answers. Voice weary.]</sub>

... you sound pretty sure, you know. I think that's good.

[foolishwren]

_{[Although she doesn't try to cling when Laura sits up, Heather goes ahead and lets her arm snake around the other girl's shoulders while she leans.]}

... Yeah, well... _{[A quiet chuckle.]}

I try to be.

Helps, y'know?

_{[There's a pause.]}

... I'd ... if you'd like, I'd...

... We could stick together?

[nowherefast]

<sub>[She looks at Heather mutely for a moment, then nods slowly, too caught up in the relief and comfort that came from those words to fall back into her usual but-he'll-kill-you mindset.]

[And, in a way, right now, she'd probably reject it anyway. She doesn't have any friends here and she knows she needs them. She wouldn't have been able to hold out half as long if she hadn't had Donna or Ronnie or Bobby to lean on every once in a while.]

[And Heather knows now. Knew things even before she told her. That's a pretty big deal.]</sub>

... yeah, I'd ... if you're sure.

_{[She even smiles, just a little.]}

Thanks.

[foolishwren]

<sub>[PSH, once you've died a few dozen time, the shock wears off... I mean, not that she WANTS to die...]

[When the smile appears on Laura's face, Heather lets herself break into one of her own.]</sub>

Well, like you said... I'm sure.

_{[Because she is.]}

You're welcome.

[nowherefast]

_{[She laughs a little, feeling much better. Yeah, Heather's sure. If there's one thing she's learned about the girl, it's that she's sure about things. And that's good.]}

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Sometimes the only way to get through things is to just be firmer on them than the world around you. You don't make lemonade when life gives you lemons like some kind of twerp, you keep those lemons in your hand and stomp on until you find out who gave them to you and then you shove the lemons into their eyesockets and say 'Well, guess I'm out of lemons. Now I'll use the free space to get some fucking apples because apples are delicious'. And it doesn't matter if you were secretly scared, because A) who would argue with that, and B) even if anyone did, you just shoved lemons into a bully's eyes, so who the fuck CAN'T you deal with now?]

[The laugh makes Heather's grin grow, and with a bit of confidence starting to replace the unease, she sits crosslegged, hands casually resting on her knees.]

[There's hope.]</sub>

So... friends?

[nowherefast]

_{[Laura raises an eyebrow, because it sounds so formal, somehow, and that's why she sticks a hand out to go with it, offering a handshake for the occasion. Seemed pretty fitting, after all.]}

Friends.

[foolishwren]

<sub>[A handshake makes it official, so Heather takes the other girl's hand and gives it a firm shake. Her grip is tight-- one of those 'I'M TOUGH AND I GOT SOMETHIN' TO PROVE' grips perfected by obnoxious teenage boys everywhere, although in Heather's case, it's just to show how solid her convictions are.]

[Friends.]</sub>