#( itll catch up to him eventually

[tommygotwrittenoff]

i need eddie to get another guy friend in season 8, and buck loses his shit about it (again), so he breaks up with t because he's convinced that the weird feeling he gets when he sees them together is because he is Really attracted to the new guy.

[misc-muses]

"Magicians are a fat load of crap. I played Russian Roulette with one once an' that bullet still hasn't found me!"

[gravidwithlore]

Has anyone else ever thought about curses and kink? Not just someone being cursed and then discovering a new kink, but someone having a kink and purposely trying to get cursed in a way that fulfills that kink?

Like for example, witch gf has to leave on a business trip for a weekend, but she knows her bf will be so lonely without her. Knowing her bf has a pregnancy kink, as a kinky little parting gift, she curses him so that every time he masturbates the more pregnant he gets (with what? Guess itll be a surprise). She leaves with a wink and tells him she expects to see a sweet little baby bump by the time she gets back. When she gets back 3 days later, he's already cummed himself senseless, all the way to laboring and crowning around the head of a big demon spawn. Overstimulated and whining, he's still doing his best to touch himself. Because the spawn is partially born already, the curse doesn't just grow the spawn spreading his legs, it instead creates a sibling for his leaving occupant. As she walks into their bedroom, he cums again, and she can see his belly visibly start to swell again. The witch puts down her suitcase and wonders if she can get her slutty bf to cum enough that the 2nd spawn gets big enough to be born once her bf is done cumming out it's sibling.

Or you're single, and happy that way, but still looking to get a good spanking and its so hard to find someone to do it right. Too impatient to go through the human interaction and negotiation, you go to a witch and get a custom curse. Anytime you do some inane, mildly bad habit, you get a solid SMACK! across your backside. Let's say it's something you're more likely to do at home than out in public, or a certain phrase or gesture you tell the witch you're trying not to say or do. The more you do it the more the curse evolves, changing up the position and force of each slap. Sometimes you swear you can feel the metaphysical hand lingering, as if admiring it's own work. Instead of dissuading you from doing this 'habit' the activation thing genuinely becomes a habit of yours. Once it happens accidentally in public, you realize you might have a new, but still related, kink.

A man has always secretly dreamed of becoming a hucow, and after getting tired of his draining soulless business career, he finally decided to make it a reality. They make fake social media accounts and reach out to a curse creator. He pretends he's someone else who hates him, who wants to see him suffer and be humiliated. He DMs them a whole rant about how he needs to be taken down a few pegs, how he's awful and absolutely deserves this horrible curse to change him for the rest of his life. The curse creator absolutely agrees to help, even providing him a discount out of sympathy for his fake story. Since he knows it's coming, he feels when the curse hits. It's not long until people around him start to comment on how ditsy he's been lately, how much weight he's gaining, how his voice sounds 'different.'

Eventually, he tearfully admits to his friends and family that he thinks someone's cursed him! How could he possibly know who? And no one's come forward to gloat, who could possibly hate him so much to curse him like this? His loved ones look on in sad, if slightly condescending, empathy. It's not his fault he can't keep a thought straight in his stupid little cow brain, or that he keeps getting distracted by the growing teats bouncing on his chest, or that half the time he tries to form a complete sentence he can't help but moo a little! Eventually, when he's almost unrecognizable from the person he was, a family member suggests maybe joining a farm? They have a friend who's just bought one, and they're trying to get started, besides wouldn't it be so much better to be able to roam around a farm, rather than be cramped in his city apartment?

The moment he arrives at the farm and catches sight of the big minotaur running the place, he can't help but bat his long beautiful eyelashes and let out a visceral, lowing heated moo. When the curse creator reaches out to ask them to leave a review, he rates them 5 stars. Then immediately forgets what he was doing as he rubs his hyper-sensitive gravid belly, full to bursting with the minotaur's babies already, which is miraculously dwarfed by his massive udders, hooked up to the strongest milk pump his beloved farmer could find.

[rouge-the-bat]

i think itd be really funny if hiei didnt realize who kurama truly was for a while after they meet. kurama introduces his name to him as just "kurama," and im sure theres More Than One demon kurama, so its not like hiei would immediately assume hes THE infamous youko kurama. and kurama doesnt tell him, because hes a silly lil fox with much patience and finds much amusement in waiting and seeing how long itll take hiei to realize.

and its not like kurama tries to be subtle either. he gets a fox keychain on his backpack, hiei notices it and asks its purpose. kurama says its just a fun decoration, which hiei dismisses as stupid.

kurama eventually mentions having a tail in his old body. hiei realizes he was an animal demon, but doesnt care which he may have been, because what would it matter?

kurama also does not keep quiet about the fact he was and still is a thief. there are a lot of thieves in the makai, though, things dont click in hieis mind yet.

hiei turns down much of kuramas attempts to "pry into his life" (as he sees it) at first, and doesnt want to pry into kuramas either. he wants to keep their partnership as just business, he has no interest in getting all buddy-buddy (he will also not think into at all why he likes looking at kurama, it doesnt mean anything if he doesnt think about it). BUT. he does end up becoming very curious, because how could he not with a demon in a human body, that has such an unusual situation and loads of knowledge and skill?

kurama told him at least that his soul had escaped to the body of an unborn human before he was able to perish. hiei wondered how long ago that happened, and asked kurama how old his human form is. "14," kurama tells him.

at this point hiei is still able to return to the makai, and he goes to retrieve some various seeds kurama needs for weapons/medicine and such. a good way he can be useful for their partnership- he doesnt want it to be one-sided after all- and plus kurama equipped with more items would defintely be helpful for him as well.

on one trip he eavesdrops on some bandit hideout he discovers- nothing interesting they got there, but information they speak about could come in handy. a very unimpressive-looking demon mentions that theyre gonna become the next youko kurama (hiei manages to keep himself from snorting, but not from rolling his eyes). another demon says that theyve been hearing rumors that youko kurama died for over a decade now, but they still dont believe it. says they bet he faked his death so he can catch some big shot off guard and take em for all theyve got.

this conversation doesnt make him question anything until later, when hes relaxing in a tree back in the ningenkai. its late, and his mind starts to wander and remembers the conversation. hes always heard a lot of tales about the king of thieves, but doesnt know how much may be factual. he offhandedly wonders if kurama happens to know any concrete details, since hes proven to be very knowledgeable about many things.

then it clicks. all the little details over the months fall into place in his mind and hes suddenly wide awake and rushing to kuramas house. he slams kuramas sliding window open, and kurama startles and halts from brushing his hair. he sternly tells hiei to be careful, that glass can break easily, and that sound could have woken his mother. shes a light sleeper and needs her sleep! hiei doesnt comment on that, and just urgently says "kurama. what kind of demon are you?"

kurama blinks for a moment, then chuckles. he gives hiei a wicked grin as he replies "youre just now figuring out who i am, are you?" "kurama," hiei repeats, "what are you?" he sees a mischievous glint in those green eyes that almost looked gold before kurama answers "why, a youko, of course."

[pumpkinsy0]

since ponyboy cant seem to stay awake for shit (always passing out like bro please stop being a drama queen go to a doctor for this 💀🙏) lemme get some hcs for CURLYS reaction if pony passed out around him?? i feel as though youve done this already.... but more hcs bring me joy

yknow i dont think ive done this before actually, so y not

•curly wouldve noticed something was up w pony but theres not much he wouldve done until pony actually passed out, nothing personal, its just that curly doesnt take care of his own self and that can show through when other r sick around him, he has a “just push through it” attitude over it, “maybe itll pass” typa deal

•ur lucky if curly can even catch pony before he falls, curlys not weak, but just not the fastest to understand that ponys gonna pass out, its like curlys mind goes blank too

•but yea, pony passes out and thats when curly freaks out, cause he doesnt know what to do, like at all, usually when someone gets hurt, tim just handles it and curly watches, sometimes helps, but not much. but unfortunately, tim aint here so theyre both done for

•when it comes to ppl he cares about, curly obviously does gaf, so its not like he leaves pony there, but he is running around like a headless chicken trying to dig around his brain to find out what to do, its not like he can just full on carry pony home, like i said curlys strong but not “carry someone home miles away” strong

•hes slapping pony a lil, lets b serious, im not saying it has to b HARD, like small “hey cmon wake up” kinda ones, he gets aggressive when worried what can i say

•however it is completely possible that he just tries finding someone from ponys gang or tim or maybe even angela and hes like “yea i need help here” and then that person is just left to do most of the work

•i dont think he would just full on leave ponys side tho, he just becomes kind if a nuesance, just looking over the persons shoulder to see what theyre doing, telling them to b careful even tho THEYRE doing most of the work here n curlys just watching em intensely

•u couldnt pry curly away from ponys bedside, curly WILL b one of if not THEE first faces pony sees when he wakes up and curly wouldnt let pony even ask what happened before he does, theyre both confused as hell

•someone does eventually have to tell curly to back away for a bit and give pony space, hell maybe it even IS pony saying it, curly can come off strong at the worst times possible, its alright sometimes but other times, its just a lot

•at some point in time, ik curlys laughing at pony for it though, ofc its when ponys feeling all better but still, he WOULD

[p4r4n0rmal-exe]

follower nari but. nostalgic maybe

OKAY. FOLLOWER NARI AND SLAMB. RIGHT its become winter, everything turning white, and its flurrying, Narinders standing near the gate where the lamb usually appears, watching snow fall and eventually holds his hand out to catch a snowflake, and eventually slips into a memory where he's a child again with his siblings, watching them play in the snow with shamura standing next to them "Are you going to join them, young one?" they'd ask as he'd hesitate, opening his mouth to say something before a snowball is chucked at his face, and he's face planted into the snow, this also happens in reality, and shakes him back into reality where the lambs standing over them with another snowball with an evil grin "not fighting back for once?" they'd ask as the narinder stares daggers at them, pushing himself up and grabbing a fistful of snow in the process, shoving it into their face while hiding a sly smile in the process "get back to work, your followers are cold" he'd say before walking away, holding himself just that bit higher, he's.... happy. LISTENNN IT SBEEN IN MY HEAD FOR A WHILE... MAYBE ITLL BE A COMIC IDK..

[psiroller]

youre like the pam to my jim (preview)

im on my office romcom au bullshit folks. itll be a oneshot and basically pwp but here's the lead in to wet ur whistle.

dunmeshi/chilaios/dom!laios/eventual bdsm club shenanigans/2.2K

cw: blue collar blues, language, not so unresolved sexual tension, questionable workplace romance between a superior (chilchuck) and his subordinate (laios). this is not used for leverage (laios is actually the dom in this scenario, inverting the power imbalance) but i thought id mention it. they keep it professional on the clock (USUALLY)

Though he’d rocked up to the office less than an hour ago, Chilchuck’s workday had already run long. All the printers had gone offline, and he had to spend a few hours troubleshooting with Kuro how to get them operational; there had been a software update, apparently, that rendered the very outdated inter-office network unusable. Of course, this meant an hour on the phone with the district manager trying to get their network updated to the company-wide standard, something that had been blown off for a year and a half; the way she reacted to his request, Chil might as well have asked her for her firstborn. All he could get for his trouble was a tepid “I’ll look into it”. This meant running around handing out USB sticks like holiday cards so his employees could get something done, and lots of lines at the printers into the foreseeable future, and naturally their budget for office supplies had been cut, so it all came out of his pocket.

The whole department was behind on their calls, but Chilchuck fought back the urge to go around crabbing at people to catch up. It served him well, as Marcille approached him in the afternoon and informed him that the phone lines were down, and the voice mailbox wasn’t functioning, and there were angry customers on the line. Another call to Kuro, who was really stretching the limits of his contract, and it turns out that the phones had also been pushed a software update that made them incompatible with the inter-office network, and they would have to take every call in two rings or they would be automatically parked on a line that no longer existed and be summarily hung up on.

Mr. Tims announced he would be taking a lunch. He blasted a cigarette in the parking lot and returned to his desk to sulk, face in hands, dreaming of days when their lines were all directly connected and they didn’t have to go through the song and dance of software updates, firmware updates, network security updates, OS updates, wireless headsets, broken wireless headsets, lost wireless headsets and keycards and lost keycards and broken keycards and daily performance numbers and corrective action reports and work smartphones with keylogging software in them and mouse movement monitoring and—

Chilchuck went back to work. He used his personal cell to call up the DM and informed her of the raging clusterfuck that had become his department—and probably the whole branch—now that the office network was effectively obsolete. She sounded on the verge of tears—apparently her other branches had also fallen victim to the endless onward march of the digital millennium, and she was at her wit’s end trying to fix them all at once. Every stress-deadened neuron in his withering brain proclaimed: serves you right. If you had fixed this when I first asked, we’d all be stressed out at the usual operating baseline. He wished her the best and hung up. He stared blankly at his desktop calendar, seeing that the next district meeting was in three days. His vision briefly fuzzed over and he fantasized about leaping onto the table and screaming, just screaming until his throat was raw and his face was purple and they had to have the orc from the main branch’s operational compliance department drag him out.

 Chilchuck went for coffee. He was risking time theft, but his DM had bigger problems, and there wasn’t much he could do. The frantic calling died down, Marcille having performed some kind of forbidden ritual to pacify their frothing customer base. During his walkaround he saw most of the floor taking calls, even folks who normally ducked phone duty, so she must have gone around recruiting people to her cause. Chilchuck made a note of that; he’d have to compensate her somehow for taking on what should have been his job.

Laios, however, was nowhere to be seen. This rankled Chilchuck; Laios rarely missed a day except for the handful of times Chilchuck had to send him home for being deathly ill, so of course the day he had to miss, there was catastrophe. His cubicle was empty, he wasn’t in the break room, he wasn’t in the parking lot putting out an engine fire on his piece of shit motorcycle, not at the watercooler. Nothing. He checked with Marcille if he’d called out, and she quirked an eyebrow up at him.

“No? He’s in the server room, with Kuro.”

“Kuro?”

“Yeah, he said he went to help.”

Mr. Tims ground his teeth. “That’s not his—I’ll go talk to him.”

Marcille smirked. “Sure you will.”

Chilchuck glowered at her, but Marcille faced his evil eye with insufferable smugness. He remembered all too soon that she saved his ass this morning, and he had to close his open mouth and walk away.

“We’re even now,” he growled.

“Nope! Still getting that Starbucks gift card!”

She was right, but he wouldn’t be admitting it. Chilchuck stormed out of his department and down the hall, sliding smoothly into a closing elevator with a few other disgruntled employees, taking a frankly infuriating number of stops at basically every floor until he could ride it all the way down into the basement. When the doors parted, hot, stuffy air flooded in. Chilchuck winced and loosened his tie and waistcoat as he stalked the rows of servers, the heat only getting worse the longer he lingered, until he found Kuro kneeling with his arms in the guts of the worst cable management imaginable, Laios helping him separate out the lines to keep track of each spaghettified clump of wires.

“Chil!” Laios said, getting a growl from Kuro that probably meant be quiet in Western Kobold. “Oh, uh, sorry. Mr. Tims! How is it up there?”

“Bad,” Chilchuck ground out. “Of course. We could really use a hand with the calls up there, you know.”

“Oh, are the lines working again?”

“Enough to receive them, but not enough to park them, so it’s a disaster for customer satisfaction,” Chilchuck said, trying to manage his volume. “So what are you doing down here? I don’t recall you being in IT.”

Laios slopped some sweat off the back of his neck with the palm of his equally sweaty hand. His dragon-patterned tie had been loosened enough to nearly slip off his neck, just enough to stay in code, and he’d tucked the end of it into his pocket to keep it out of the way, having forgotten his clip again. The heat in their dilapidated, poorly ventilated server room made his business casual button-up cling nicely to the curves of his chest and solid core, the one bright point in Chilchuck’s day so far.

“Oh, well, I wasn’t getting anywhere with my work… I mostly had a bunch of bills to print and mail out today, so naturally that was going nowhere. I had my personal USB on me, so I tried to get it done manually, but Namari was hogging it for her shipment printouts because apparently their system is kaput in the warehouse… and when I checked again everyone was using it. Some of the newer printer models don’t come with USB ports, so some of the more up-to-date departments were mooching off ours.”

“I thought the lines seemed a little excessive,” Chilchuck grumped. “I don’t think I’ve seen those things used more rigorously than they have been today.”

“Yup, that’s why. So I caught Kuro running between the floors trying to troubleshoot his latest Band-Aid fix, so I’ve been doing all the stuff that doesn’t require a tech degree, heh.”

“Laios okay with software,” Kuro chimed in. “Break hardware.”

“Yeah,” Laios said with a frown. “But the part was replaceable!” He beamed, cutting off a lecture. “Good thing Kuro hangs onto spare parts.”

Chilchuck’s eyes narrowed, and he turned to the real IT technician of the pair. “Is he actually helping, Kuro? Or are you humoring him?”

“Nice to have extra hands.” His tail wagged loosely, bushing the cuffs of his slacks. “He runs up to other floors. Checks employee access and network strength in offices. Saves time.”

“Alright then. Keep up the good work.” Chilchuck met Laios’ eye. Laios winked at him. Chilchuck blushed and ignored him, heels clacking on the cheap linoleum as he walked away.

Chilchuck hopped on call duty, having found everyone in their place and doing what all could be done. His customer service voice got a workout that left him feeling tense and jittery, every call opening with a frustrated sigh or straight up yelling. After a few quick resolutions and a handful of longer, 20–30-minute stretches of troubleshooting and over-the-phone customer cocksucking, the landline made a happy little beep, the flashing lights next to every line dying out one by one as they were parked. A dialogue box popped up on his PC: Connected to HP-5669964.

“Hey, Chil!”

Laios strode into Chilchuck’s office, startling his boss for a second as he rounded the desk in a few long strides. A big hand clapped down on Chil’s shoulder, jostling his arm and spilling coffee on the crisp collar of his shirt. Chilchuck grimaced.

“What.”

“We fixed it!”

Chilchuck eyed Laios suspiciously and set his mug down.

“How the hell did you…?”

“Don’t get too excited, it’s a temporary fix,” Laios chuckled. “But we narrowed down the problem to some kinda software incompatibility. Shuro rolled back the servers to an earlier restore point, so it’s like the update never happened! Of course, the update’s going to get forced on us again once the clock rolls over, but we can just do that tomorrow, too. If you want, I can come in early to-“

Mr. Tims raised a finger. “No. We’ll take care of it tomorrow when we usually punch in. Not everyone’s a morning person like you, Laios. It’s going to be 10 AM before anyone’s awake enough to do any work, so that’ll cover the time it takes for the servers to spin up.”

Laios leaned forward on the desk, hanging over Chilchuck’s high-backed ergonomic chair, one he had to shill out for himself. “What?” Chilchuck hissed, glowering up at him.

“I’m not hearing a ‘thank you’.”

Chilchuck scoffed. “For doing your job? You’re not doing this just for me. You’re being paid.”

Laios’s cupped Chilchuck’s cheek, hand engulfing half his face, which flushed and burned in Laios’ palm.

“Watch it, Touden,” he growled, arms crossed. Laios’ thumb stroked his cheekbone; Chilchuck didn’t swat him away. “We’re both on the clock.”

“Chil,” Laios said, in that honey-sweet tone that meant Chilchuck was about to be nagged. “You’re burnt out.”

Chilchuck blinked up at him, dark eyes shadowed by dark rings that Laios traced, up to his subtle, deepening crow’s feet. “Huh? No I’m not. This has just been a frustrating—” Laios’ fingers pushed into Chilchuck’s hair, shaking it out, raking blunt nails against his scalp. “—day. I’m not… you don’t have to…” He slumped into Laios’ big, warm palm, calloused but gentle in handling him. “… what was the question again?”

Laios chuckled. “Nothing. I got it handled.”

Chilchuck snapped back into reality and bit into the meat of Laios’ thumb to try to get him to unhandle it. Laios took it like a champ, pulling his hand out of Chilchuck’s mouth and cradling the whole of Chilchuck’s head in his palm, raking it back and forth, mussing up his hair, which Chilchuck reached up to fight off; his arms disobeyed him, flopping around like limp noodles until he gave up and relaxed into it.

“I can see you through your office windows, y’know. You looked like you weren’t having a great time. So I figured I’d help take care of it, ease your mind a little.” Laios’ smile had a sad quirk to it. “You look a little pale. You didn’t have cigarettes for lunch again, did you?”

Chilchuck grimaced. “None of your business.”

Laios sighed. “That’s a yes.”

“It’s just a rough week, Laios,” Chilchuck said. “I’ll be alright.”

Laios’ hand trailed down, framing Chilchuck’s chin with his thumb and forefinger.

“You’re coming home with me tonight,” Laios said, meeting Chilchuck’s eyes with that relentless force, gold boring into him. Sometimes Chilchuck wondered if Laios’ eyes ever got dry; he hardly ever blinked.  “We’re getting food into you, and a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow, we’re going to the club to work some of that tension out of you. Understood?”

Chilchuck’s pupils blew wide. His thick eyebrows pinched and he grimaced, unable to look away. Laios’ body curled over him, blocking out the office, the noise, the chaos. Chilchuck sighed, dropped his arms into his lap, and let Laios carry the weight of his skull.

“Oh, right,” Chilchuck realized, his eyes bright. “It’s Friday.”

Laios grinned and patted Chil’s cheek. “See? The fact that you forgot means you’re burned out. See you at six.”

Chilchuck threw paperclips at Laios until he left his office. At 6 PM, they met up on top of the hood of Chilchuck’s old Mustang; his tongue tasted like black coffee. Laios smiled, making it hard to kiss him deeply; Chilchuck got impatient and started biting. Marcille speedwalked past the car and neither of them noticed or cared.

[neolxzr]

if you wanna yap more about the au id love to hear btw!! and can't wait to see the little comics if out post them :D

OK PERHAPS JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE ...

(revision after i wrote everything. it was not a little bit)

i imagine it all starts off where till is off doing his normal cryptid hunting things in the woods on like a friday evening and happens to catch a glimpse of sua and ivan outside of a spaceship in the middle of the woods. he watches one of them transform into their human form from a far distance, and manages to snap a singular blurry photo. the flash goes off and gives away his location, though, so he instinctually runs off before he can see more

(btw, the disguises don't change their clothes, only their body. the human clothes are real. although they were probably synthesized through weird alien technology or they stole them not 100% sure yet)

cut to monday, he's in class, and one of his teachers introduces two new students who have just transferred to their school from some unspecified other country. till is immediately like THATS THE ALIEN I SAW BEFORE and the two of them also talk strangely and have some weird device attached to their ears. he calls them out for being aliens, in front of the entire class, very embarrassingly, though of course this gets him nowhere.

i dont have like this ENTIRELY planned out at the moment but pretty quickly the main 4 settle into a sort-of friend group. mizi is incredibly friendly and befriends the two new students immediately, and till reluctantly spends as much time as possible with the two of them out of wanting to protect her and keep an eye on them for possible funny business. mizi doesnt NOT believe till that ivan and sua are aliens, but she befriends them anyway. till and ivan immediately settle into the type of relationship the two of them had in anakt canonically---they're constantly bickering and probably getting into fights in the hallway.

as much as mizi and till are best friends, mizi is quite the busy gal. she's always involved with school events and is in multiple clubs so she's only free during lunch about twice a week, of which she always spends with till. the rest of the week, till spent that time alone until the aliens showed up. he doesn't think about it for a while but eventually realizes that maybe theyre not so bad to have around. till's mom tells him after a few months of having them around that he seems happier. he's not sure what to think about that

this au is just lighthearted silliness mostly, ivan coming up with (real? fake?) world-conquering schemes to rile up till and get his attention and mizisua slowly developing a very cute romance. some aliens come to earth and accidentally learn how to love.

i think what i settled on for ivan and sua is that they were in fact sent to earth to do some kind of scouting of the planet to see if its worth anything for their crazy conquering alien empire, but they pretty quickly discover that they actually kind of like it there despite all its flaws. they are eventually discovered (by a familiar face maybe?) as being "traitors to the empire" or whatever but itll all end up fine in the end i promise i have no angst bones in my body

if this was like a serialized TV show i would imagine after enough time has passed and its clear the aliens aren't really a threat to mizi or humanity or anything like that till just kind of accepts the fact that theyre here and part of his life and he allows himself to be fascinated by their existence and their technology. ivan shows him his disguise willingly and till probably stares into his eyes which look like tiny galaxies and its pretty gay. if i was a more prolific fic writer the ivantill romance would be such a slowburn

so like assuming this is a tv show like the first season (or maybe even two? idk) of the show would be almost entirely set on earth and then once some big season finale event thing happens they start having adventures in space afterwards. i want mizi and till to get alien disguises at some point i love drawing aliens if that wasnt obvious

OK SORRY this got out of hand i didnt mention everything cuz i wanna have some surprises but thats a bunch of my ideas ^_^

[voidwritesstuff]

Long Way To The Truth

Summary: once in Oregon,Lucas comes across an old friend.

Cw: hurt/confort, Lucas has a fear of needles,mentuons of human experimentation,lmk if I missed any.

♡Chapter 7: Oregon

Light enters through the small Windows of the white van. Warm and nice sunlight that heats up his sleeping bag, it makes him turn to the side and let out a sigh deeply laced with comfort.

When was the last time he felt so...safe?

For a moment he thinks he can get away with sleeping in, like he can just relax and let life go by. His eyes flutter Open to see the small alarm clock hes got,fallen over probably by one of his one too Many movements while asleep.

Lifting it up,he checks the time, It reads "6:30" am. But he knows theres like a two hour difference,Between his home state and this one.

He simply retracts his hand and tucks it underneath his pillow, to then close his eyes to sleep just a few more hours. After the days hes been having, its better if he just allows himself a moment of the closest thing hes got to a domestic comfort. Itll help him in the long run anyway...

Its not always he decides to sleep a few hours in, with the sun in his hair and a soft breeze just pushing the clouds on the big blue Sky above. Wether he admits it or not,he Needed rest,a break from his hectic routine.

Lucas was exhausted, he just needed a moment for himself. He needs to feel like himself again. And Hes been so caught up in ,Well- Not dying or getting thrown in jail or a ditch, that his body is making the desicion for him.

His body feels like a piece of metal being pulled by the worlds strongest, biggest,magnet. His bones are made of lead and his nerves are just jumbled,tied up wires.

Who cares if he sleeps in? So whats one more day of travel? Its all the same to him,he figures he can wait,he can catch up on sleep and clear his head.

But by the time he wakes up,at 10:30 or so, he feels a lot better. A lot better.

Eventually he does get out of the sleeping bag, rubbing the tiredness out of his eyes with a loud yawn. He throws on his flannel and his boots- he reaches for one of his thermos since he could use a coffee right now.

Thankfully,the remaining water is enough for exactly one cup of coffee. He grabs a platic mug and simply whips up a quick breakfast.

--Please tell me I havent ran out of jerky--He mutters reaching out to one of his backpacks. He rummages though the contents,just the basic deodorant,change of underwear, toothbrush, a shirt-- Aha! Gotcha

He snatches a half empty bag of dry beef Jerky like finding it was a herculean task. And like a kid in a candy store he eats it, sat there on his sleeping bag like hes having breakfast in bed.

Lucas revels in the warmth of the van,provided by the sun that hits the metal roof above his head. Its just a nice,quiet morning.

When hes done, he makes his way to the drivers Seat and turns on the engine. It comes to life with a roar and he starts drumming on the steeringwheel as he pulls into the somewhat empty road infront of him.

Soon the radio accompanies his thoughts, god he loves music- The soft melodies and the quick paced,high energy rythm are enough to get him on a better mood.

As very tough as he liked to show himself to be,Lucas was a simple Man- When his neurotic brain decided to chill out that is.

Music was his escape,his comfort- Just like he had always had a thing for electronics, his first love was always going to be music. Maybe thats why he chose to be a radioman...

He reaches the town of Forlorn Hiraeth, being greeted with long pastures with farm animals, small houses of brick and some with Plaster. And as he drives into the town proper, he notices something...

The streets have a bit of fog, difusing the light from the sun, the roads are a bit cracked with greenery growing out of it- Dandelions and other weeds Sit there bathed in celestial warmth.

Around him the houses are a mix of modern 90s architecture with vestiges of old 60s homes, its a weird mix of appartments and family houses with porches,yards And even a small parking lot for a supermarket.

--Should re-stock on rations--He mutters to himself,pulling into the parking lot. It doesnt take him long to find a spot and leave the van.

With his eyes settling on the old supernarket,its quite wide and a little ornate with that midcentury modern style. The Windows are long,almost reaching the ceiling- It gives him a clear line of sight into the supermarket which hes thankful for. It eases his mind knowing he can see quite a lot of the inside.

Above him a long roof overhangs from the entrance, its really simple and honestly quite nostalgic- There used to be one supermaket like this in the town he grew up with. Then it was demolished And converted into an appartment building.

The Doors slide Open as he enters, he once again takes off his ballcap before even crossing the threshold.

He shouldve made a list-Too late now.

But its a bit disorienting sometimes, for some reason he keeps getting the aisles wrong- he confuses them with those that were in that old grocery store from his home.

--goddamn-- He whispers to himself, shaking off his thoughts and going to Grab a few canned goods that should last him about 2 weeks.

A few cans of peas,corns, beans(his favorite brand being Bush's Baked Beans), some chili and olives. And then he realizes he shouldve grabbed a cart and so he does that- He feels a little silly but he can allow himself this...dont gotta be perfect,right?

He goes to Grab a few bottles of water, some beef jerky and just as hes passing one of the aisles, he stops.

Before him he sees his younger self on an aisle that had alcohol on it, behind him is...Alphonso.

"Can I pleeeease have a beer?" A young Lucas asked the Man behind him.

"Dont be stupid,youre not 21 Years old"

"C'mon! Im going off to fight I think I derserve  a beer"

Alphonso sighed,nodding"Are you sure you dont want your first beer to be with your old Man?"

Lucas just shrugged"Whats tradition anyway?"

The older Man chuckled" Suit yourself,but if im getting your first beer,im taking you somewhere nice. Not store bought" he beamed at his friend who is jumping around like a spring chicken"its on me, of course"

--Young Man-- Says a woman behind him,elderly-- are you alright?

--Wha-?--He turns to see the old woman behind him,no taller than 5'4, olive skin filled with aging lines and wrinkles.

《I seem to recognize your face

Haunting, familiar yet

I can't seem to place it》comes from the radio equipment installed in the palce ,the song played by Pearl Jam but its not like Lucas has enough mental clarity to notice.

Her brown,hooded eyes look at him concerned,her long black hair tied in a half bun.--you seem..out of it?

Lucas clears his throat--Hah, yes. Sorry- lost in thought -- he sees her blink at him for a moment--Why?

--Nothing you just reminded me of someone --She answered,waving it off--apologies

《Cannot find the candle of thought to light your name

Lifetimes are catching up with me》

--ah dont worry- Truth is im not that busy--He replied-- thanks for the concern Ma'am

The womans eyes fall to his dogtags that are poking a bit from his flannel, but shes  quick to nodd back and excuse herself,walking away.

《All these changes taking place

I wish I'd seen the place

But no one's ever taken me》

Lucas sighs,pushing away his thoughts. He better not linger just in case, he was taking his time but he wasnt going to catch a bullet for it.

Soon he gets everything he needs and goes to the check out,as he waits for the cashier to pass everything through the scanner he hears a conversation between another cashier and an elderly woman.

--Its good to see you again Ms.zhao--Says a younger Man.--How is everything?

--Lonely sometimes,With Dexter's anniversary coming up and all-- he recognizes the voice, its the same woman who spoke to him-- Im planning to visit the cementery soon

--Well ive heard the green house is going on a sale soon,perhaps you could get some flowers there?

Ms.Zhao sounded...happy at the idea--Oh, that'd be splendid. Thank you,Rex

Lucas turns to see the old woman leave,trying to get a glimpse at her bicep for something- But shes wearing a red cardigan. "Shit" he thinks before paying for his things.

He leaves soon after,looking for the woman he just saw exit the store. But nothing finds him...

The last name made something in his head rattle, and as he packs his groceries into his van, his mind wanders...

Why did he know that last name? Why did the woman looked at him with recognition- or something close to it.

It makes him even more confused when he realizes that he instictively went to check the old womans bicep- He was looking for a tattoo, a specific one.

"No,it cant be Jane- Jane isnt from Oregon, Shes from Colorado. Did- why would she move?" He thinks,sat there at the wheel of his van.

And then his stomach rumbles and he sighs. Yeah,no use in thinking with an empty stomach.

《Hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away

Hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away》 the radio plays as he drives to a Dinner,the only dinner in the small town.

Once there he does his usual, he parks and while looking at the entrance from his van he just thinks.  The only Jane he knew was Jane Zhao, a nurse from the camp he was stationed at- a woman in her 30s, Chinese-American, kind and sassy.

She gave him shit for being scared of needles, he remembers only knowing her through Alphonso though... she had lost someone too-Her best friend, something Sullivan. Jane was more of an acquaintance to him,tough hes sure Alphonso told her all about his protegé young mister Cole.

Alphonso could never shut up about how proud he was of Lucas. He was a Soccer dad through and through

The bell above him rings as he steps, the Sixties exterior with its Open Windows and large rooves clash with the soft pinks,baby blues and light yellows of the inside, with those large bars that appear in greaser movies and that "Golden Age" posters and decor.

He sits at the edge of the bar, ordering a simple meal to eat and just listening to the music coming from the TV.

With the previous experience a few days back, Being in this restaurant made him a bit on edge. Especially with the TV channel being tuned into MTV.

《I swear, I recognize your breath

Memories like fingerprints are slowly raising

Me, you wouldn't recall for I'm not my former

It's hard when you're stuck upon the shelf》

But thats not whats eating at his mind, he taps on the pristine surface of the bar.

"Even if that was Jane, theres no way- She wouldnt recognize me, its been fourty years almost...I changed...I think" he thinks,going to reach for his dogtags. One is his,the other is Wheelers

--Here you go,sir-- Says a waitress with the nametag "Iris".

--huh?-Oh,Thanks-- he answers, turning to look down at the Plate of food.

God,the whole ambience feels so nostalgic, he grew up in places that looked like this- but some things are off,not the same layout, or equipment...

But the cutlery, the shiny steel,the big plates...even the glasses...

Is...is he getting homesick?

Homesick for the past?

Lucas sighs a little annoyed, Last thing he needs is to dig himself deeper down into old memories. He eats,quietly wondering about  that old woman, was it Jane? If she was would she remember him?

《My God it's been so long

Never dreamed you'd return

But now here you are and here I am》

When hes done, still in silent contemplation, he simply waves over the same waitress that handed him the food.

--Yes,what is it?

--Im uh- not really from around 'ere--He answers, refusing to meet her eye out of awkwardness. A part of him felt stupid for asking this--Say- I met Ms.Zhao- she wasnt an army nurse was she?

--She was,actually-- Iris answered,a little puzzled--Why?

He blinks a few times--I think she worked in my platoon,do you have any idea where I can find her?

The waitress thinks for a moment, looking off into space for a few seconds. Long,eternal seconds...

--i think she visits San Myra's park at night--Iris answered.

Lucas breathes out a sigh of relief-- Thanks, heres uh- a tip. For the help -- he pays what he owes and leaves a few 10 dolar bills.

And before she can say anything, he gets up and leaves. He really cant talk to people...

So with all that in his mind,he goes to ask around for the park hes looking for. Its pretty much in the center of the town so off he drives there.

Its a long wait, he tries to occupy himself with cleaning out his guns, his radio equipment and going to walk around the neighboorhood against his better judgement.

That 50s/60s architecture cant stop haunting him, but its not quite spot on. Some things are off,the colors,the shapes of the rooves and the crash of modern 90s architecture.

He finds himself digging into old memories, the Games he used to play with his dogs, the robotics competition he used to partake in...

Memories of the few pleaseant times while deployed, inner Jokes with his buddies that made him Snicker to himself, dumb little anecdotes and fun Shenanigans.

In hindsight he does pity Alphonso, he had to wrangle a bunch of teenager and a few rowdy "adults" every single Day of his life. He wonders if he ever got stress white hairs from everything- But at least to his credit, he took things in stride And with a big grin and a sassy comeback.

God,he does miss his old pal.

As happy hour begins to push,he goes to a small bar for at least one drink,something to entretain himself.

He sits there at the counter with a few other folk that talk to themselves. Lucas is happy to nurse his beer alone, taking in that 60 and 70s decor that fill the place with life and character.

Theres even an old jukebox and he indulges in a little throw back. He goes up to it and slides a coin in,choosing the song "Aint no mountain high enough" By Marving Gaye and Tammi Terrel.

Within the old machine he can see cogs whirre up,parts move and slide into place. The vinyl, an actual vynil,being grabbed by this claw like thing and being put on a platform with a needle.

It settles into place with a small click and he returns to his spot to simply enjoy the music that starts pouring in.

He turns to his left side to see the other Converse,but instead he sees the side profile of Alphonso.

"I do wonder why you choose me over yer old man" Wheeler asked,half joking and the other half serious.

"Dont-dont worry about it" Answers a young Lucas with his black curly hair all short" Short hair sucks"

The older Man chuckled,the sound so hearty and genuine "I told you- dont be a cry baby about it- itll grow back"

"But my long hair Man! It gave me all my charm!"

Alphonso laughed loudly" Hah! Kid c'mon, theres more t'ya"

"Oh old one give me some of yer wisdom!" The younger Man teased,making a grand display with a wide grin.

"Wise? Yes, Old? Go fuck yerself" Wheeler answered, taking a long sip of his beer" Ya have a good heart,kiddo" the bottle is set on the counter with a soft knock,his eyes are set on the interior of the bottle,spinning it with his fingers "perseviring,Smart, brave. Kind, sweet..."

Lucas remains silent as he usually does when his unofficial dad talks. His eyes glued on the older Man, leaning in a little to hear him better.

"You care for everyone you come across, and hell yer fathers have the emotional awareness of a pea- And you are so much better than them" the older Man sighs" youre the best of all of us,dont forget that- Even when i-" he makes a pause,conteplating something before correcting himself  " when some of Us kick the bucket"

"You talk like yer not coming back" the younger Man chuckled,feeling a little unconfortable at the idea of his best buddy not returning.

"Just old Man ramblings,kid-" he refuses to meet his gaze, his brows furrowed with deep concern that goes unnoticed by his companio.

"Hah,you just said youre not old"

"Maybe I am just starting to lose it" Wheeler says with a quick smirk, he rises his beer" for a better future?"

Lucas grins" and to good Friends"

Their bottles clink and-

--You done with that one,buddy?--Says the barkeeper infront of him.

--Sorry- i yes-- Lucas hands the empty bottle and adds--How much do I owe you?

He pays and finds himself already at night, he walks back to San Myra's park and waits sitting on a bench in silence.Thumb tracing the name on one of his dogtags "Alphonso Wheeler"

Not soon after he sees Ms.Zhao walk past him,up to a statue of a young soldier being held by Saint Nicholas of Myra.

Lucas is quick to follow the old woman and when she looks to her side he asks--Ms.Zhao?

--Oh hey its you--She answers--Yes, its me- What are you doing he-

--I was told you were an army medic,for Vietnam--He starts,the words just coming out like waterfalls,like hes desperate,lost child trying to find an adult to rely on--You tended To Captain Alphonso Wheeler from Alpha Company, a few times actually- Im-

--Lucas--Zhao finishes with a surprised,If not bittersweet look on her face--Lucas Cole

His eyes widen,his heart fills with hope--Jane?

--Ill be damned--She breathes out.

Finally,Someone he knows that isnt dead.

--Well,shit-- he breathes out.

--Dont just stand there,you Crud muffin! Give me a hug--Jane pulls him into a tight embrace. He has to bend over to hug her back,he smiles and burrows his face on the crook of her neck.

Tears pick at the corner of his eyes,he squeezes her a little with a wide grin.

Around them the air is silent,mist creeping from the corners, the streets a little barren. Beside them the saint holds the young soldier,reuniting Him God in peace, with Grace.

--You havent changed a thing --She added,pulling Back with a smile-- Still tall and lanky, that wild black hair and that deer in headlights look!

Lucas feels his face darken--Hey! I grew out of deer in headlights look a long time ago

She snorts--Hah! You did,now you look like a wet cat now

--Hey!!--He yells, flustered.--You and Al' always found a way to make fun of me! Not fair

--Life aint fair,kiddo-- Jane chuckled-- Jesus, you got taller?

--Or maybe you just shrunk--He teased back.

Jane has the Audacity to look impressed-- Finally biting back? About damn time

Lucas groans with annoyance,holding his face in his hands-- Jesus christ!

The old woman cackles,hearty,boisterous,loud and so genuine-- its like im seeing my grandson! Ha--she leans on the display plaque that details the story of saint Nicholas of Myra--Speaking of kids,any of your own? A hot wife? Orrrr husband?

His face grows Darker with blush, suddenly very aware of his personal connections-- No- Not really- for neither. Not yet anyway

Jane raised a brow-- huh..!--He looks at her a little insulted at her disbelief-- Thought you'd have people making line at your door,after all Wheeler told me how full of yourself you were when you were a kid

--I- well- I was 19! Of course I was full of myself-- He said,leaning on the small metal fence that met at the sides of the display plaque.

--well you were really,really full of yourself. Like- a lot

--Okay,okay,Point made,Jane--He looks at the statue,the young soldier- barely in teenhood with dirt on his face and an innocent grin.

He hears the shuffling of cloth,then then a groan of annoyance--Ah shit,got a light?

Lucas turns to see Jane with a cigarette in her mouth--Those things Will kill you

The old woman rolls her eyes-- tell me something I dont know- Do you have a light yes or no?

A soft sigh leaves him and he grabs a lighter from his back pocket. He keeps to himself that the lighter used to belong to Wheeler and flips it Open, soon she lights up her cig And looks at the saint statue.

--i...I heard about Wheeler-- she said quietly,as if hoping he didnt hear.

But his eyes fall to the young soldier and sighs-- course ya did

--I know you suspected that there was foul play involved--She said,exhaling smoke--You were the talk of the ward...

--Because there was,Jane--Lucas replied--Thats why I'm here, im...chasing after this one lead..Its one hell of a long story

She nodds--persevering...just Like Wheeler told me you were-- She takes a drag from her cig--I'd call you bullheaded . Couldnt you just...take a plane?

He shrugs-- Cant pay me to board a plane.. not with those goverment spooks chasing me

--What did you get into,Lucas?--Jane asked,her tone akin to one of a scolding mother.

--Its a long story...

The older woman rubs her eyes,being mindful of her red eyeshadow-- Ill regret telling you this...but I was offered a position not a few days into the ward back at 'Nam, to monitor enemy soldiers exposed to a biochemical weapon...

He snaps his head to look at her--Agen-- He stops,looking around for a brief moment before returning his gaze to her-- Alpha Romeo . Why didnt you-

--I didnt know the symptoms...I refused. It was inhumane! I didnt want to be part of it. But then I was told of the state you were in, and I just...knew -- the older woman's eyes fall to the young soldier statue-- I didnt tell you because I thought itll help you leave it alone...that you'd convince yourself with a lie and...and leave in peace. I mean you were almost like Wheeler's son, and I guess I saw myself as an Aunt, I wanted a peaceful life for you, Kid-

--Dont- Dont call me that-- His voice sounds stern,angry. But it soon breaks down,shaky-- please...

She turns and coos,going to hugh him with one arm as he tries to hold back tears--its not your fault-

--How would you know?

Lucas wipes off his tears angrily, he feels like a child again,lost in that muddly jungle, disoriented...

Jane shakes off her cardigan, dropping it on the floor,she shows her tattoo on her bicep. Its a faded red heart with a cross, the name "Dexter Sullivan" written on it.

--My best friend got shot--She starts, not meeting the Mans gaze-- many times...Then, he was brought to the ward, I was on call and I tried to save his life- Keep pressure on the wounds, I ran to the bloodbank to get transfusions ready. Hell,we shared bloodtypes so I just went and gave him my blood until the doctors could get everything ready

The radioman turns to the older woman, with his eyes misty and red and feeling...Moved.

--When that didnt work, I tried to Stitch the wounds myself- But in the end...he died--Her voice cracks and now its her who has to fight the tears--I spent so,so Many years blaming myself, the doctors kept telling me we were overrun with wounded, that I just afforded him a few seconds of life,allowing him to see that I was trying so damn hard. He died knowing I cared for him

--Oh my god,Jane-

--When he died I was broken. I hated myself,i felt stupid,useless, so guilty--she says, anger in ver voice-- I wouldve wished death took me instead, but as I aged I realized... he died with me around,he died knowing he was cared for,loved...it wasnt my own malpraxis that Killed him- He was already on deaths door when he got there--She continues-- I was a nurse- a damn good one, but he was bleeding out. I did all I could...

--Alphonso- He died in my arms--He added, sniffing--Shot clean through the head by-- he coughs out a sob-- By me- we got sprayed by well- you know what... theres not a day where I dont regret calling for air support, where I wish I was taken and not him

--You werent in sound mind...

--I know-- he replied--But I pulled the trigger, im the reason hes dead...

Jane takes a drag from her cig and offers one to him--Cmon, I saw you smoke a few times

He rolled his eyes, grabbing one and lightning it up soon after- The bitter taste of nicotine in his mouth that soon fills with smoke as he inhales.

《When you were young and your heart

Was an open book

You used to say live and let live

(You know you did)

(You know you did)

(You know you did)》One of the nearby houses blooms witt music. Neither mind,its good to have something to drift their attention away from the pain.

--Im here to chase down these fuckers,im going to expose them all--Lucas growls with a vibrant,youthfull anger in his voice.-- Im going to avenge Wheeler and anyone who died at the hands of the chemical

--Putting the world on your shoulders...Hah,I know the feel -- her voice softens as he takes another drag of the cigarrette.

《But if this ever changin' world

In which we live in

Makes you give in and cry

Say live and let die

Live and let die》

--But Lucas...--Jane continues--Itll eat you alive. The grief- it never ends really,but you can do something about the guilt--She takes his free hand,squeezing it-- Even I havent fully forgiven myself for Dex, but anger and grief makes you bitter- And if youre going after them as hard as I know you Will, you need your mind clear

《What does it matter to ya

When you got a job to do you got to do it well

You got to give the other fella hell》

--I have a job to do,Jane. Itll get done, Even if I dont make it out

--Good lord,Lucas. Youre sounding just like Wheeler now--She says,exhasperated--But dont you want a happy ending? What Will you do when you get your victory?

Lucas sighs,feeling childish again. Jesus, he hasnt thought about it yet--I- I didnt mean to- Do I really sound so....

《You used to say live and let live

(You know you did)

(You know you did)

(You know you did)

But if this ever changin' world

In which we live in

Makes you give in and cry

Say live and let die

Live and let die》

--Bitter?--She asks and He nodds-- Yes, you do. I have no doubt Wheeler knew of the chemicals, something seemed off with him

--Yeah...yeah he did sound off--He answers--He sounded so certain that he wouldnt come back, the day he took me out for my first beer-Right before deployment, He told me to never forget I was the best of our Group- Even when they kick the bucket. How wouldve he known?

--It was an army operation,and he was a damn good soldier

--Do you think...he got an offer?

--Most certainly--Jane agreed-- Knowing him he probably said no.

Lucas sighs with relief,messing witt his hair as his head hangs low at the mild scare he got from imagining his best friend working for Mayer, or its predecesor.

At least Wheeler was on the right side of history-- Probably yeah, i- God, this is so insidious

--Make Wheeler a favor,forgive yourself, Will you?--She says, patting his back-- He wouldnt hold it against you,ever. He loved you like a son, he wouldnt want you to suffer,and neither do I

He chuckles-- you know me a lot more than I know you

She smiles with that bittersweet look in her eyes--Yeah,he never shut up about you-You were the great Lucas Cole,promise of his platoon

Lucas snorts--He was big on hyping me up- All the damn time

Jane rolled her eyes--Oh he'd sing only praises about your aim,your kindnes...and all the dumb shit you did

He laughs loudly, taken by surprise. Its a warm,nostalgic laugh--Hah, im sure he did

Silence falls,the wind blows and the mist thickens. Between them they stand there,reunited.

Above them the Sky is starlit and clear, the music from that one house now a mere hum, the street is barren, and theres an air of privacy,of domesticity to this moment of sincerity.

The nurse figures its quite late now,she turns to the Man she sees as her surrogate Nephew and says--Need a place to stay?

--I can sleep in the van-

--Nonsense, itll fuck up your back--Its so weird to hear an old woman curse-- My son has left the nest a long time ago,my husband is well asleep- I can tell him tomorrow

He snorts-- youre too sweet-- he sighs and nodds,he could use a comfy bed--Fine, cmon ill drive you there

At Janes house,Lucas is guided to the barren bedroom of the place. The beds comfortable and warm, and with his heart and soul a little lighter, he can rest.

The house is quiet, the room is small and cozy-It has the outline of his old room back at his family home...it makes Him feel cozy,safe.

Next morning introductions are made,the ex soldier meets his host's husband, Jared Lawson. Both men get along quite well, specially when Jane tells her beloved who Lucas is.

Its nice to have people he sort of knows,he feels...welcomed,at home, and Jane is a great Cook so he gets not only a hearty breakfast but also some snacks for the road.

--You and Wheeler eat like damn starved hogs-- the nurse teased, seeing her guest inhale a Plate of Bacon and eggs.

Sheepishly,Lucas shrugs and keeps eating.

Just as hes ready to leave, his heart aunt stands there with her cream dress,her red cardigan and her crimson bandana holding her black hair in place. She unties it and her hair falls in beautiful Rolling waves.

--lean down ,Lieutenant

‐-Yes ma'am --He says,and leans to eye level. She Gently curls his hair into a bun and ties it with that red bandana.

--Red's a good luck color in China, now you carry a piece of me with you.

He chuckles,feeling his eyes get misty already--Ill come visit once everything is done, maybe ill even bring a hot wife and kids for you to meet

She laughs--You better, I want to be an aunt for Real

--Am I not enough Auntie Jane?--He teased like he was that shit head of a teen he used to be

--Hah! Asshole

They say goodbye with a good tight hug, and Lucas hops into his van and drives off. His spirits risen, his hopes high and his grin wide.

Its good to be reminded that youre not alone in things that feel like bigger than you. Just because his buddies are dead, it doesnt mean theyre gone

Jane is still there.

Wheeler lived on in his heart

Perhaps he can start the work in forgiving himself.

And as he watches the Rolling mountains of Oregon,the beautiful trees and Lakesthat frame the road he goes through, and under that blue skies

He decides to at least try to be Kinder to his mind and soul,and that young soldier that lives within him.

[rabbitgardens]

welcoem to my fuck house

Red | 21 | it/its | main blog

making this sideblog to meet people to play games with and justify my ffxiv subscription!

I dont have very much experience with mmos, and my histories with both gw2 and ffxiv are Falling Madly In Love With It Before Ive Even Beaten The Tutorial and Buying All The Expansions and immediately falling off because of some kerfuffle or another game catching my attention. But i wanna get back into them now!

this blog is a big fat work in progress so mind the dust, I’ll make a proper character list with art/pictures and shit Later

(current list under readmore!)

GUILD WARS 2 CHARACTERS

Revylin- it/any sylvari, cycle of dusk,mesmer. Just call it Revyl! My current main im using to relearn the game! Got converted to the nightmare court as a sapling for its higher than usual magical aptitude, had an Awful Time and was rescued by the Wardens before it could become a knight. Now travels around tyria pursuing a wyld hunt he cant remember (itll be fine!! itll come back to him itll be fiiiiiine) working as a dancer/storyteller before getting tangled up in the Plot

Irysel- she/they sylvari elementalist. max level commander from my original 2019 playthrough! idk if i’ll ever play her again but i remember having such a blast with elementalist i’ll probably try her again eventually

Rika Sunstalker- he/they ash legion charr thief. old dnd character made gw character! the campaign he was in stopped so now he only exists here! a gladium, formerly rika sunblaze, who got his warband killed?? Somehow??? and took the stalker name/joins a pirate crew of other disgraced charr to travel and see the world (still working his details out adldjd)

(I havent made these next few characters ingame yet, but plan to once im farther along!)

Irene- he/she sylvari, cycle of noon, guardian. Warden turned adventurer turned revyl's travelling partner (and eventual co-commander and lover!) Very devout dreamer with a strong sense of justice and desire (read: overwhelming uncompromising need) to be the pale tree's most devout, prized, heroic son. Travels around tyria working up the ranks of the vigil, trying very very Vewy hard to fuffil a wyld hunt she cant remember (all he knows is that it Must be tied to revyl. thats why she feels that way whenever revyl looks at her, right?)

-------------

Pyrotechnician Taz- she/mirror asura, college of dynamics, engineer. do not let her get in contact with revyl shenanigans will ensue

FFXIV CHARACTERS

Ciel D’luxe- he/they viera summoner/archer hes my little meow meow so full of problems. hes a drag queen. he has trust issues. hes trying to find love even though he thinks hes the wettest most miserable man in eorzea. his ex is hunting him for sport. the only reason he became a summoner was because he saw a carbuncle for the first time and Lost It. hes a bitch hes a lover hes my little booboo bear

(havent made these characters ingame yet but plan to!)

alta haragin- she/it au'ra pugilist/lancer (or pugilist/gladiator? i know i can technically have all three but shes gotta have two Mains yknow), Rapscallion Criminal turned pit fighter turned adventurer turned ciels girlfriend and co-captain of ciels adventuring party

drakaz verkach-he/him hroth hhhhheavy armor class of some sort. maybe he'll be the gladiator. the beavis to altas butthead. just here for a good time! please pay no attention to my myriad mental health issues/simultaneous identity crises

(this last guy is a joke character but i honestly cant gey him out of my head maybe ill make him a retainer like i wanna do with kaz)

nagayuki ittetsu-any pronouns au'ra(?) spellcaster who wants to ammase enough power to Become A Primal. he is always and forever getting tricked by ascians/beast clans/random fucking guys and gets Almost Murdered several times-

[applejee]

I posted 17,813 times in 2022

That's 80 more posts than 2021!

151 posts created (1%)

17,662 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@celeryw

@pishposhbagosh

@blas-ph-emy

@lemontongues

@ officialspec

I tagged 3,777 of my posts in 2022

#dc - 1,160 posts

#batfam - 683 posts

#just us - 204 posts

#csm - 180 posts

#sandman - 178 posts

#q - 143 posts

#batman - 132 posts

#timkon - 104 posts

#cute - 103 posts

#goncharov - 94 posts

Longest Tag: 118 characters

#burning the receipt so you can keep the kid you were handed for a weekend who is painfully cute and a cool little dude

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

who’s ready for

See the full post

68 notes - Posted December 6, 2022

#4

Hi! Any recs for timkon, or kon centric fics? It only tends to be in the background/implied in batfam centric fics that i read, but i keep seeing you post about timkon and 🥺🥰 I’m catching feelings about it

i’ll be real... im glad u asked bc i read So much timkon ♥ sorting by kudos for timkon is hard bc yeah... its so often background..... kon deserves better!!!!!! so here are some stories u should definitely read, by some lovely authors whose works i am absolutely normal about:

- everything by @batfam-chaos​ especially this one. kon is injured and tim panics my beloved... their stuff is *chefs kiss*

- everything by @lemontongues​ especially this one! slowburn in kansas.... their 2021 whumptober is very kon-centric as well!

- everything by @mindshelter​, this one in particular makes me CRAAAZY

- composed of us by @starlikeknight​ which so far is tim centric BUT itll be eventual timkon and its already amazing so you know the timkon will be too

here are some others i like, found in my bookmarks:

- Gonna Be A Better One (A Thousand Miles To Your Door) by Traincat

- Leap, Fall, Fly by malcyon

- A Night In by Musafir

- Three Little Words by timkons

- please don't live in fear by murmurare

- time flies by by Laroyena

- shenanigans’ timkon my beloved

sadly, i read less kon-centric fic simply cause i am so obsessed with tim my little guy, my poor little meow meow, but again there is good stuff out there. u may have to search excluding timkon on ao3. REGARDLESS,

this is everything i can find off the top of my head, really. trust me theres so much more out there i adore (like the pretending to be a gold digger wip, or the catfishing fic, or the hannah montana-style identity shenanigans fic, or this one astolat fic, or the one where dick picks up kon as a cop and tim on the phone asks if he’s cute, or any of the countless other stories out there) so definitely go and have a search!! yeehaw!!!!! hope that helps!

96 notes - Posted January 22, 2022

#3

omg omg i just BLEW through your dc fics (showstopping. incredible. magnificent) and AH TIM and was wondering do you have any Tim-centric fic recs? with that GOOD angst? no pressure or anything, thanks for all your hard work 💕💕💕💕💕

omg anon 😳😳😳😳 thank you im so glad to hear it <3

also FYCK YES IM HERE TO GIVE OUT ANGSTY TIM FICS. first and foremost u should probably jsut go thru my entire bookmark tag with tim drake but i will pick and choose the best for u here, i hopeu enjoy.

also fair warning all these may include, to some degree, violence, torture, child abuse, implied or referenced non con, etc, due to the fact these are very angsty and filled with hurt and comfort and lots of whump, so pls read the tags!

A Meditation on Railroading by eggmacguffin

this one is the best. i love it. @eggmacguffin blew it out of the PARK with this once ive reread it an absurd amount of times. tim's dad leaves him in atlanta so he makes his own way home, runs into jason, and shit happens. also, read ALL their other tim fic ok. u wont regret.

buried birds by envysparkler

have i told you to read everything by envysparkler? read everything by envysparkler. her shit is the BEST. buried birds is one of my faves, as tim is buried alive in a coffin and jason rescues him. luv it

Grilled Cheese by crumpetz

hooooooo 8k of pure tear inducing deliciousness. i reread this constantly for the catharsis. makes me cry everytime. cw for graphic injury

Echoes of You by SilverSkiesAtMidnight

wherein tim dies, is resurrected, and jason is the one to find him fresh out the grave. trauma times two electric boogaloo! check out their current wip and recent works as well!

best laid plans by Valkirin

ra's steals tim away at the same time as jason, freshly unearthed from his grave. Shit Happens. LOVE valkirin’s stuff

The Return by lurkinglurkerwholurks

essential reading. what happens after batman's brought back out of time. read all their other tim fic if u havent yet

It's Not That Funny by Ionaperidot

tim becomes joker junior! uh oh! tim's brain is scrambled by the joker and ra's and he and jason maybe become serial killers and highly codependant but they slowly heal and rejoin the family. so good. cw for graphc violence and so much more, check the tags

On the Way Home by ignesfatuis

little wolf shifter tim is kidnapped, then rescued, and stays with the waynes to heal while he cant shift back. chicken soup for the soul

Fussing Over Scars by maychorian

platonic soulmate au! i cried. check out all of maychorians stuff for more tim angst!!

Dangerous and Noble Things by destiny919    

tim is kidnapped by ra’s, and four years later the bats rescue him, and whaddaya know! he comes with a sister <3 love it. they have a bunch of other tim fic too!

more behind the cut!!

now theres a ghost in the back of this room by CosmoKid

tim helps an abused kid and comes to some Revelations of his own

whumptober 2021 by CosmoKid

just read all of it. chefs kiss. cosmokid has a lot of angsty tim fics and u should read them all

Bristol Kids by Anonymous

See the full post

109 notes - Posted January 30, 2022

#2

reminded seeing the collection of the batfam fic survey i voted in (which is fun and exciting, ill be checking some of those out later!!!!!) of some of the batshit collections people have requested my works be added to.

straight up some of you need to just use the bookmark function because it is beyond offensive to have your fic added to a collection titled “dumb bullshit to satiate my escapism”. like, really? obviously i rejected that one, and ive rejected a few others just because. that’s not what collections are for.

do people forget collections are public? do people forget that you see a list of collections a work is in directly under the tags? i’m honoured to accept my works into collections titled “fics i love”; “fics i’ll reread until the end of time”; “fics with good stephanie characterisation”—these are compliments, and things like “robin vs red hood” collect specific tropes and AUs together that ao3 may not have the tags for yet. they serve a function

i dunno, i think collection use has got a bit out of hand. im complaining on main because this keeps happening and at one extreme it’s offensive (dumb bullshit??) and at the other extreme there already exists a function for tracking it (“fics i have read”?)

respectfully, i think some people may benefit from bookmarks and bookmark tags. for one, you can tag nigh limitlessly, and search them on your bookmarks page using both the tags and the notes. also, most importantly, you can make them private. want to leave a note for yourself as to why you didn’t fully enjoy a fic? remind yourself of something that triggered you? want to simply keep track of a fic you didn’t enjoy as much as others? private bookmark, and the author never has to know.

this is a little bit of a rant but when i have rejected my works being added to collections multiple times it adds up, lol.

202 notes - Posted September 4, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

since i cannot find the masterpost i initially used to obtain all these extensions initially, here’s a list of privacy extensions i use in conjunction with firefox! i’ve included a link to each of them which is very easy if you use firefox. pls use firefox. brave is also good for privacy. there are others out there so do your research, and again, please for the love of god, switch from chrome if you can xx

–

Bypass Paywalls Clean - bypasses paywalls. v helpful. this one isn’t verified by firefox however

Decentraleyes - this helps to prevent websites from tracking you and blocks requests

Don’t track me google - stops google from lengthening urls theycan track you with. godsend

DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials - blocks tracking, enables https where possible, overall a good and helpful extension

Facebook Container - isolates facebook in its own container so its much harder for them to track you. always a bonus

HTTPS Everywhere - does what it says!

Privacy Badger - blocks trackers, similar to some of the others listed. can never have too many

Shinigami eyes - if you dont have this enabled wyd? marks trans friendly accounts as green and transphobic ones as red, or other colours based on your preference. makes blocking very quick and easy! not verified by firefox, but just as essential as the rest

uBlock Origin - basically an ad blocker, the best of the bunch; also prevents a lot of tracking and coin miners too

–

if you have any privacy extensions you use or find useful, feel free to reblog with your own suggestions!

248 notes - Posted January 18, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[godza]

hello elise. Smile. will you tell me about a webnovel or manhwa? whatever you've read most recently i guess. i wish i could provide you with another sui hunter update but as i'm sure you guessed i haven't been reading o(-( i miss him i miss gongja and his insaneness i just don't have the time... i've read all that's out for the dod manhwa and i'm just trying to catch up and ideally get ahead in the book but again there's not enough hours in a day for me to read. i read krn so much slower than english and i'm sorry to say but the english tl is kind of painful... i love those guys though my uselessly large moondae photocard that came with the books gives me courage and strength. did you ever hear about the tcf mobile game i think i made like one post about it a while ago it's like not available here though sad.... i haven't been reading tcf either i'm not gonna lie i'm sorry for being a fake webnovel fan.. they're in my heart always forever though i prommy this

yahoo!!! it is okay ive been slacking too. sui hasnt updated in a month i miss gongja so bad where is he. and tcf game??????? that sounds so epic i have never heard about it. i want to be raon pov and fly. i need a moondae photocard too mybe ill just print out a picture of him and stick it in my phone case i like moondae so much

webnovel/manhwa ive been reading: well i devour these shits to an absurd degree. i have been slacking on novels but certainly not manhwa its ridiculous how fast i read then forget the plot. at this very moment im reading lady and the beast. kinda beauty and the beast retelling but the girl has past life trauma and can kill anything. she trains the beast guy like a dog bc she was sold off to marry him but shes just too girlboss bc she was the empress in her past life but had a terrible life. eventually the guy turns back into a human for a bit and shes like hey we need to fuck now its my job but hes like uwaaa im shy. itll get normal relationship soon its rlly funny despite the horrors

[the-real-agatha-harkness]

I think I need time. I still want to talk to you. I always do. But I think I'll stay on anon for a little while. I will be comfortable again eventually. I'll tell you when I'm ready. But I have anxiety. In my mind you are still mad. I know you're not. But my whole life, all the people I loved held grudges. I just need time for my mind to catch up with the fact that you don't hate me. I will be ready eventually. Probably soon. Just not today. My ptsd is bad today.

Can you tell me more about agatha harkness? I don't mind spoilers.

💂🏻‍♀️-me

that’s ok :(

I was never mad at you, if anything I was mad at myself

YESS I CAN SO SOSO

SHES A SUPERRR POWERFUL WITCH BUT SHE LOST HER POWERS BECAUSE SHE WAS TRAPPED IN A SPELL BY WANDA MAXIMOFF (another marvel character) AND LIKE THIS KID NAMED TEEN CAUSE HE CANT SAY HIS NAME FOR SOME REASON, FREES HER FROM THE SPELL AND IS LIKE “HEY YOU GOTTA TAKE ME TO THE IWITCHES ROAD” WHICCH IS LIKE A ROAD WHERE IF YOU SURVIVE IT, ITLL GIVE YOU WANT YOU MOST DESIRE. SO HIM AND AGATHA GOTTA MAKE A COVEN SO THEY DO AND THEN THEY START ON THE ROAD

ALSO AGATHA HAS THIS LIKE EX GIRLFRIEND/WIFE NAMED RIO WHO SHOWS UP AND AHES FUCKING AWESOME I LOVEEE HER

[dothemindything]

im pretty sure theres a transportalizer the next town over that i could get to without too much hassle, so drop the coordinates and ill fling him in the neighbors truck that they always so kindly leave the keys in!!!! and as far as im aware hes still afteralive or whatever youd want to call it, because if he wasnt hed have just disappeared from the bubbles, right? but you can feel free to do all the poking and prodding you want, because im not a doctor and doing the mindy thing is much more your specialty. im not reaaaally sure what all you can do for him though, hes always been existing on borrowed time considering that his angel genetics or whatever are probably so beyond scrambled! but itll just be the two of us (if you can even really count the angel). i dont entirely recall what all happened after i was basically vivisected and still made a break for it, but i think he went down for the count around the same time? but it took wayyyy longer to heal than it ever normally does, so i dragged his angelic sleepiness along for the ride because i figured it was probably his fault!!!! but i more or less eventually healed and he never woke up, so now i wonder if it was a weird side effect of me catching a ride with him to the bubbles that transferred the injury to him???? very weird stuff!

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, BALIT, YOU REALLY HAVE A WAY OF MAKING ME FEEL BAD FOR SOMEONE WHO PROBABLY HAD IT COMING. BUT I GUESS IT'S WHATEVER. JUST US IS ALL THAT REALLY MATTERS. YOU CAN'T JOIN STABTAG WHEN YOU'RE ASLEEP!

I HAVE TO ASK DIRK IF IT'S OKAY FIRST, THOUGH. I MEAN. HE HAD SOMEONE HERE ALREADY, SO IT SHOULD BE WHATEVER, BUT I GUESS WE ARE DOING OPEN COMMUNICATION NOW. I'LL LET YOU KNOW AS SOON AS I GET FEEDBACK.

IN THE MEANTIME, I ASSUME YOU HAVE YOUR WEAPONS OF CHOICE ALREADY PREPARED? I HAVE A FEW EXTRAS ON HAND, BUT I KNOW YOU CAN BE PARTICULAR.

[xamaxenta]

sCREAMING dude you always have the best additions onto my ideas 🙏🏽💕

Marco is barely hanging on here your e right he wanrs nothing more than Ace’s hands clawing into his back legs up over his shoulders, itll be a tight fit but theyll manage, he just doesnt think a shitty little locker room is a suitable first time for someone like Ace (Ace however begs to differ, Marco wants to treat him like the treasure he is)

Sabo does need to get his shit together hes always yappin, bark no real bite because he doesn’t know if itll last, it took a long time to learn how to be with Marco, and theyre happy they coexist they work, but Ace is so soft compared to them, Sabo won’t admit it aloud but he doesnt want to put him in harms way because of what they do, Ace will always be a bright red target for their enemies

To which Marco will always say but youre the same to me, whats another, you talk big game and ham up the antics but youre just leading him on dont play your mind games on someone who genuinely cares about us

I love the gold chain pendant — gold cuff earring — golden tongue piercing its so lovely and sentimental of Marco 🥺💕💕💕 Ace will catch on eventually and when he does thats gonna be a conversation (a very good one ofc that ends in everyone being v happy that night)

Sabo did notice the necklace Ace was wearing, its why he kept him closer than normal, staking his claim and why he started a petty fistfight over what was “his” (and won) he will come around eventually hes just not used to being so intensely consumed by someone else that isnt Marco

Marco was his first and had hopefully been his last obsession, Ace is his second obsession and Sabo remembers what it feels like to be greedy again

i watched a movie called Red 2 and there was a moment where one spy was shooting people and another spy was commenting on how they love how their toes curled right before shooting and i feel like this fits MAS

Oh. Thats a Marcosabo conversation right there

Marco being the one shooting, he has no big emotions on what he has to do for the mission

Sabo loves the adrenaline toe curling thing

And then their new mission arrives in the form of some bigwig business tycoon’s beautiful son, Ace

[thespineoftherighteous]

the most tragic thing about exy not being real is that I'll never get to watch a compilation of Mic'd Up: Aaron Minyard