#Baby crow post is the first that comes to mind

[dragoncarrion]

i hate misinfo about animals. I'll kill you

[pedroscurls]

in every lifetime

summary: you lost logan in this universe. logan lost you in his. what happens when you both see each other again, but realize that you're both from different worlds? pairing: logan howlett x fem!reader warnings: post deadpool & wolverine ("worst" logan!variant), angst (mentions of death, loss from both reader and logan), no use of y/n. word count: 2.1k a/n: this is my first logan fic, so if anything is ooc, i'm sorry in advanced! just like everyone else, i've been obsessed with hugh jackman / logan after watching deadpool & wolverine (if it isn't obvious lol)... i had the song 'unchained melody' in mind when writing this story because whenever i hear it, i think of logan for some reason lol (tried to embed it but it didn't work, but i'd highly recommend listening to the song while reading this!) anyway, hope you enjoy! next part.

“I’ll be back.”

“But what if–”

“I always come back, bub.” Logan’s looking down at you, hand cupping your cheek. In moments like this, you can see the age in his features. The crows feet at the corners of his eyes. The gray in his hair and beard. 

“Logan…” Tears sting your eyes. You know he has to leave, has to go help Charles, but there’s a feeling deep in your gut that knows that if he goes, he isn't coming back. 

“Wait for me, then.” He says, dipping down to gently peck your lips. “Okay? Wait for me.” 

“Logan,” you repeat. “What do I do if I– if I lose you?” 

There’s a feeling in the pit of Logan’s stomach, a sense of dread and fear that he’s only ever felt when you were concerned. This feels a lot like a goodbye… That maybe if he does go, he won’t come back. And the thought alone scares him. He never used to have to think about the possibility of dying, his regenerative powers always healing him in record time, but he knows that he doesn’t heal as quickly as before. He feels more pain now than he ever had. And he knows he’s sick, knows that the adamantium that once gave him strength is now slowly making him weaker.

But now, the thought of dying… It fucking scared him. It scared him to think that he’d leave you here, all alone, grieving him. He had never thought he’d be deserving of someone like you, to be loved and taken care of so gently, so sweetly, so patiently. Even with all of the baggage he carried, you never pushed. He knew, right off the bat, that you deserved someone so much better than him, but you stayed. 

Through it all, you stayed. 

And Logan would forever be grateful. After everything he’s been through, the things he’s seen, the things he had to do, the people he’s lost, you gave him a life that was finally worth living. 

“Then, you move on, darlin’.” Logan finally answers. 

“And if I can’t?” 

“You’ll have to.” 

“I don’t… I don’t want you to go, but I know that you have to. Charles needs you and–”

“I love you with every fiber of my being, baby,” Logan interjects. “And I will love you in every lifetime.” 

And that was almost a year ago. The moment he stopped calling, you knew that was it. That he either got into some real trouble or… Or that he was no longer here. It wasn’t until a young girl named Laura showed up on your doorstep, holding his dog tags that your assumptions were correct. 

You had fallen to your knees, a sob escaping your lips, as you felt your world come crashing down. Logan’s death had left a gaping hole in your heart, in your life, and everywhere you looked and everywhere you went, all you could see was him. 

You learned from Laura that during his last moments, he had told her to come and find you, that you would take care of her and give her a good life. Whenever you were around her, you tried to be strong, tried to put on a brave front, but behind closed doors, you were a complete mess. There were days where you didn’t want to get out of bed, didn’t want to eat; you just wanted the pain to stop. Every night, whenever you closed your eyes, you forced yourself to sleep because that was the only place where you could be with him. 

In your dreams, he was alive. 

In your dreams, he had made it back home.

In your dreams, he was here with you, helping raise Laura. 

And every time you woke up, you were welcomed with the sudden reality that he wasn’t alive. He wasn’t coming back home. He wasn’t ever going to be here with you to help raise Laura. 

Logan was dead and now, you had to try and learn how to move on. 

For yourself.

For Laura.

For Logan. 

—

He didn’t know what he was doing here, why he agreed to stay with Wade because it was driving him crazy. This wasn’t even his timeline; he wasn’t even meant to be here. Despite saving Wade’s timeline, Logan still found it hard to fit in. He tried to keep Wade and every single one of his friends at an arm's distance because he knows what happens to people he cares about. 

But the more time he spent around them, the more he felt at ease. Logan would be lying if he said he was waiting for the other shoe to drop, but when Laura mentioned your name at one of Wade’s family dinners, his heart skipped a beat. When he realized he would be able to stay in this timeline, you were all he could think about. 

Logan wondered if you existed in this world and what he would do if you did. So, when Laura casually said your name, his head turned around so quickly that he felt dizzy. There were so many things he regretted in his own timeline, but you were his biggest regret. 

Just like he failed the other X-men, Logan had failed you too. You had been there with the other X-men, trying to warn them of a planned attack and ended up getting caught in the crossfire. You had called out for him, just like Scott, like Charles, like Storm. 

He managed to get to you before you had taken your last breath, holding you in his arms. Logan begged and begged for you to fight, that he’d do things right from now on as long as you just held on, but you were losing so much blood and Logan couldn’t stop it. 

Even then, when you had every right to be angry with him, you gazed up at him with an understanding look on your face. You had always been so patient and kind, so sweet and considerate. You had made him so happy and it scared him, which ultimately ended in pushing you away because he didn’t think he was deserving of it. Of you. 

“I love you, Logan,” you had said, wincing at the pain. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m–” Logan felt a sob catch in his throat, tears stinging his eyes as he looked down at you. “Please, baby, please please please, don’t–”

“I–” you coughed, eyes fluttering as you felt the pain overcome your entire body. “I will love you in every lifetime, Logan.” And then, you took your last breath, eyes falling shut and body falling limp in his arms. 

Since then, Logan drank himself day after day, from dawn to dusk. The alcohol never truly helped, his regenerative powers sobering him so fast, but with every swig of liquor, it burned. And he spent years bringing pain unto others, including himself. 

That was, until he met Wade who had given him a chance, a reason to fight for something… To not turn his back on someone who relied on him. A chance for redemption, to finally make things right. 

“So, will you meet her?” Laura asks, holding Dogpool in her arms as she gazes up at Logan. “She– She used to be with this universe’s Logan and…”

“No chance, kid.” Logan interrupts, shaking his head. “I’m not him.” 

“Did you have someone like her in yours?” she asks. “She’s always put me first, always made sure I was taken care of even when she didn’t have to, when she was grieving. And I think–” Laura sighs. “I think if she knows that some version of you is alive, it would make her real happy.”

“I’m not him,” Logan growls, feeling his irritation spike. “‘Sides, she’s better off without me.” He stands from the table and walks out into Wade’s balcony to get some fresh air, shutting the door behind him as he leans against the railing.

“But she’s coming tonight,” Laura finally says, long after Logan’s walked away.

Throughout the rest of the dinner, Logan remains outside. He can hear the muffled laughter coming from inside and it only angered him because it was just another confirmation that he didn’t belong here. He’s already on his fourth bottle of beer when he hears a familiar voice, smells a recognizable scent. He turns slightly and catches you stepping into Wade’s apartment, an arm slinging over Laura’s shoulders so casually, so maternally. 

He feels his heart rate pick up. Your smile still lights up a room and he can’t help but his lips turning upwards at the sight. With his enhanced hearing, Logan can hear your voice and he shuts his eyes for a moment, tuning all of his attention on you until you’re the only one he hears. 

Then, he hears your laugh and he lets out a sigh. He never thought he’d be able to hear that again, but his eyes shoot open when he hears you say his name. There’s a shocked tone in your voice, laced with sadness and hope. It all but crushes him because he knows that you’re probably expecting someone else, expecting this world’s Logan and he doesn’t want to disappoint you. Not again. He doesn’t think he’d be able to handle it if he were to hurt you again. 

But when he looks at you, his breath catches in his throat when your eyes meet his. Logan notices the surprise look on your face, but before he could try and escape, you’re already walking towards him. When you open the door and step out with him, your scent fills his senses and it makes him dizzy, like he can’t fully concentrate. 

“You…” he hears you say, voice unsteady. “You’re not… I’m–” you sigh and shake your head. 

“I know who you are,” Logan finally says, his own voice shaky. 

Your hands reach out for him, but stopping halfway when you realize this isn’t your Logan. This is not the same man who died all those years ago. This is some version of him – much younger, less wrinkles and gray hairs in his hair and beard, but he still has that same look on his face. The scowl. 

“From Laura?” you ask hesitantly. 

“From my universe,” Logan answers. 

“There– There’s a version of me in your universe?” 

“There was.”

“And what happened to me?” 

Logan’s jaw tightens. “The same thing that happened to your Logan in this universe.”

“Oh.” Your face drops, eyes softening. “I’m sorry,” you whisper. 

Logan wants to run far from here, far from you because he feels himself yearning for more. He almost forgot how it felt like to be near you, to be inches away that he can just reach out and pull you into his arms. Your eyes captivate him, the kindness it expresses makes him feel like he matters. You had always made him feel that way that even through all of his anger, through all of the walls he put up, you showed him that he was deserving of something good. Even if he didn’t believe it himself. 

And you… You were the best thing to ever happen to him.

“Don’t know why you’re apologizin’,” Logan mutters. 

There’s an uncomfortable silence that engulfs the both of you. He can see the tears threatening to spill over, can see the way your lower lip is beginning to tremble and he has this sudden urge to console you, to wipe away the tears that have now fallen down your cheeks. 

“I’m sorry,” you repeat, bringing your hands up to wipe away the tears that seem to be trickling down your face nonstop. “I just– Losing my Logan just crushed me and I don’t think I’ve ever recovered.” 

My Logan. 

Logan can practically feel his heart beating in his chest. This isn’t a conversation that he thought he would be having and certainly not with someone he loved and died because of him. 

“That’s okay,” Logan responds quietly, his tone softening. “I don’t think it’s easy to recover from losing someone you love.”

“Did you– Did you love me in your universe?” 

Logan nods slowly, tightening his jaw as he gazes down at you. “With every fiber of my being.” 

Your eyes widen and stare up at him. This might be a different Logan, but hearing those words again just brings you back to the moment you last saw your Logan before he left to go take care of Charles. 

“Did you love me in yours?” Logan asks hesitantly.

You nod instantly, tears trickling down your cheek as you stare up at him. “I’d love you in every lifetime.” 

Logan feels his own set of tears pool at the corners of his eyes and he moves a hand to rest on the railing, fingers lightly brushing against yours as he stares into your eyes. 

“I’m not him,” he whispers. 

“I know,” you say quietly. “And I’m not her.” 

[ubeb0nes]

NSFW Sevika HCs

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A/n: i haven't written any smut in god knows how long so pls go easy yall 😭

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This is a dom

I love indulging in the bottom!sevika content when i come across it, it's beautiful, showstopping

But bby, you only get to do what she lets you do. Even when she's on bottom, you're never really the one in charge, no matter how you might try to convince yourself

She's a terrible tease, and has an absolutely filthy mouth. Loves watching your jaw drop slightly when she whispers things in public, and how you scramble to gather yourself

Her self-control and patience is absolutely insane. She's not one to jump your pants at the first tease you give her.

She'll let you have her fun, all while running the tip of her tongue across a canine and plotting her revenge

Gets a big head/ego if you call her mommy. Nearly loses her mind and reputation for restraint if you call her daddy

A lot of her turn-ons are things that aren't inherently sexual. I like to think she's attracted to both masc and fem-presenting people, and anything leaning deeper into these characteristics will get a rise out of her.

Ex.'s -> watching you put on makeup in the mornings, specifically lipstick/gloss. Conversely, how your thighs look and your face hardens when you manspread while striking a deal. When you look up at her and rest your hands on her chest. When you lean back and rest your arm over the back of her chair

Particularly masculine and particularly feminine things. She eats up both

Absolutely a bit of a sadist/madochist. We know this from the whole cait thing

She's obsessed with your mouth in particular. The marks you leave, the shapes it makes with certain sounds she pulls from you, how your lips wrap around her fingers when she teases your mouth open with them

She rarely ever has you on your back because she wants to watch your tongue loll and your eyes roll

Goes crazy for certain things you say when you start to reach melted brain levels of fucked out; "baby, it's too much…" "Sevi, i can't keep going" "no, baby, no more…" it's like a second wave. And, (always) only with your emphatic consent, she'll proceed to push your body even more

Her favorite position is missionary i'm sorry lmfao. Vanilla in theory, but definitely doesn't feel like it when she's slinging that shimmerstrap LOL

I HC she's generally pretty gentle with you, at least lovesick!sevika is. In the sense that she's not tossing you around or slapping your ass purple.

Rather, she'll wrap her hand around your throat but not really squeeze. And she'll push her fingers down your throat until you're teary-eyed, but she won't fuck your throat until it's raw and sore.

She prefers using her hands and her mouth, but her strap game is insane. That stroke would be hypnotic to watch.

Her eyes read clearly when it comes to intimacy. The way they darken and narrow when she's about to pounce on you, and how they always get so glossy and self-satisfied (if not a bit smug) as she watches you cum.

Her crows feet crease as she smiles down at you, whispering "good job, baby" and "there's my girl, you're okay. I've got you."

Always insists on taking care of you afterwards, but won't fight you on it if you flip it on her and make her lay back so you can clean her up

In fact, please do this. She'll think about it for weeks

Cuddles you afterward like she's trying to burrow in your skin. Can't get enough of the smell of you post-sex, burying her nose in your neck and your hair

Yeah, she's never sharing you. Everything about you is too precious, too hers.

She demands hickeys/lipstick marks on her chest- over her heart- because your claim over her deepens her own.

[longingforrotkehlchen]

My 2024 Top 10 Favourites.

On Melancholy Hill Tumblr's and my absolute favourite. There isn't much to say. I just remember turning around while counting geese, and there it was - an idyllic scene. A crow extraordinarily relaxed, loafing on a nice spring afternoon. I came a bit closer thinking I *really* hope it stays. Then I crouched fearing the same, but the crow, watched me attentively and stayed. I was blessed - the luck of photographing birds more used to people. The slope gave me the perfect height for the shot, and the crow just chilled there, looking like something was occupying its mind. I got what I wanted and left. The crow stayed there, but it also stayed with me forever.

Sweet mommy's love It was Graugansito season and fortunately I was right in time to see the very little ones. This scene was beautiful, and obviously the geese just chill by the lake and all you need is a perfect moment to capture. This one stood out for me. And I can neither confirm nor deny whether there were more goslings hidden under mommy's wing.

Europe's angriest bird This picture was taking by cheating. So call me a cheat. It is nice, but I cheated. And even worse, I made a little guy angry. Yes, I did play playback (even though I believe that's wrong) in this one because I had seen a pair of goldcrests here the previous week and I was very curious to see if they were genuinely staying and breeding in this place. The male came and sang immediately –that's how I got him nicely close to me–, but the best thing about this encounter wasn't the pictures - it was realizing that the bird seemed to know there wasn't another bird. That I was the source of the goldcrest song. That I was his enemy. I haven't managed to make a bird love me, but that day, I managed to make one hate me.

The light of duckling This pond lends itself to high contrasts and you can play a little with that. I didn't have much time, and the ducklings were all over the place, but I got lucky (otherwise, this post wouldn't exist). As I was leaving I took one last shot with the settings I had for a different spot - and it turned out well. Some of my favourite photos are those that transmit emotions when you look at them. I think this is also one of them.

Spring has arrived It's easy to forget you don't have to be very close to the bird to get a nice photo. In any case, here I was taking a photo out of excitement at seeing Hausrotschwanzkehlchen back, before getting closer to the bird. I never intended it to be anything more than a 'proof' shot, but sometimes those turn out way better than expected.

Is this fluff real? It was peak migration, sunny late afternoon, Schwanzmeise flock and there I was, trying to capture this so-called product of my imagination. It was difficult to get the right angle as the sun was behind them and I had to avoid the backlight, but the good thing about them is that they don't seem to care much about your presence. I got this one really really nicely, and right after they left, I saw my first black storks in the sky. Last September was good.

One more shot As I focus on birding and photography comes second, sometimes I might just leave with zero nice photos to post. That day was no different, but that day I was also thinking: "I'm running out of current photos to post." So I gave it an extra shot, overstayed, and tried to find a subject. A big Blaumeise bunch showed up, many of them, busy foraging, and (I think it was always the same) one came so close that allowed me to take some cute photos.

The pose There's little challenge in taking photos of the coots in this pond. If that wasn't enough, the light was nice that day and someone had thrown a pallet in it. The coot was standing on it and I thought the opportunity was too nice to ignore. Then it even started stretching, giving me the chance to capture this nice pose. The poop is just extra.

The babiest Wacholderdrossel As I was leaving the S-Bahn station, coming up the stairs, I saw this baby perched on a handrail. I could barely believe it, so I emerged, went there, and took my camera out. The baby was going nowhere despite people walking right in front of it. I took some photos, in awe, and I don't know what everybody else contemplating us thought, but I thought that I was so damn lucky to have such a cute photo without even having started.

Just a moment If you're learning photography, nobody is going to tell you "just shoot at whatever you see," but that seems to work sometimes. It's not my intention, mind, because here I saw a little bird perching above my head and I really needed this shot to indeed confirm I was seeing Fitis and not Zilpzalp. But look at that little face, that smoothness... I guess when you take thousands of shots while going places, a few might also be nice. It's never easy to decide, but here's my selection with some background/behind the scenes. As usual there isn't much to it. Mostly just press the button. Let's hope 2025 brings us more bird joy to all of us!

[stariyu]

Sanji Headcanons ❀༉‧₊    ──★ ˙ ̟

⤷ General Relationship Head-canons - 

a/n: So I tweaked this a little bit because I was so so exhausted when I first wrote + posted this at 12am and then I woke up this morning and decided to look at the post and was like why would I post this omg… I went the whole day regretting it so I fixed it a little because I couldn’t stop myself from not doing it, but anyways, once again enjoy!

—-------

⤷ LOTS of endearing pet names, I swear he’ll call you every single pet name there is to exist. His main pet names for you are baby, sweetheart, mon amour, mon ange, mon coeur, my dear, darling, honey -  this list could on for forever honestly - 

⤷ I also feel like he might come up with nicknames on the spot for you depending on the situation - like I could totally see you helping him in the kitchen chopping cabbage (for this specific example) and him gushing calling you chou (cabbage in french if I’m correct). 

⤷ I’ve seen some headcanons calling Sanji disloyal or saying he would cheat on his partner, and let me say this loud and clear, my chivalrous prince charming black leg Sanji? HE. WOULD. NEVER. (it blows my mind people actually believe this) 

⤷ While in a relationship with you Sanji would still be a gentleman to Nami and Robin as to be expected, but he would definitely tone the flirting down now that he has you, his love and joy. 

⤷ He doesn’t want to mess up what you have after the mistreatment he went through during his childhood, you make him feel like he’s on cloud 9 and all of his worries melt when he is with you, losing you is honestly a great fear of his. 

⤷ Trust me when I tell you that you’ll. be. spoiled. rotten. If Sanji is willing to spend millions of berries to buy the Thousand-Year paper for Nami in the Post-Alabasta Arc, just imagine what lengths he would go for you. This man will seriously go into debt just to see your stunning smile and a kiss to his cheek as a thank you. 

⤷ He would smother you in so many fancy gifts. If he was dead broke at the moment, that wouldn’t stop Sanji from still spoiling you - heartfelt letters which he claims his love for you (seriously he puts his soul into them) flowers hand-picked, he would even attempt a handmade gift like a painting or a scrapbook - all for you. 

⤷ His love language(s) are acts of service and quality time. This man would be learning and cooking your favorite meals all the time even if you didn’t request them, Sanji would then get pissed that Luffy had eaten it all before you got to have some (this happens A LOT btw.)

 ⤷ Sanji would also love to do little things for you to make your day easier, he’ll make you breakfast in bed, do your chores for you, carry the stuff you bought on a new island, anything for his darling love.

⤷ For quality time, it could be you just hanging in the kitchen with him while he’s cooking chatting his ear off, having romantic dates, or just simply staring into each other's eyes in silence after a particularly long day - Sanji doesn’t care - as long as he basks in your presence, his day is so much better.

⤷ Dates with Sanji would meticulously be planned out with great love. I honestly feel like he would prefer to cook you homemade meals rather than go out to a restaurant. (ironic i know) Sanji pours his heart and soul into his cooking and he likes to know that your dishes are made with great care. Picnics with him would be the absolute best. I just know it. 

⤷ I also see him planning very intimate dates with you, like going dancing, a candlelit homemade dinner, cuddling in the crows nest on the ship stargazing. 

⤷ Even though he plans his dates with care and wants them to go perfectly, he loves it when you drag him off the ship to see something interesting on the island and it turns into a spontaneous date, it allows him to relax a bit and of course do his favorite thing, spend time with you ;)

[blueiight]

ldpdl, ethnicity, and the false monolith of blackness

there's this false tendency to think amc louis being made black is pandering, or a means of removing louis from his oh-so-detailed /sarcasm/ background in the books. i also find that people tend to not even understand what show louis's ethnic background is, despite rolin jones the showrunner and even the fictional louis both coalescing around this multigenerational explanation of the gens de couleur in new orleans, and how jim crow disempowered them.

I came around to his ethnicity a sort of interesting way which is through Lestat. [ … ] I was like lets give him a legitimate a third attempt at figuring how to be with somebody for the rest of his life and how to not repeat your mistakes. [ … ] I started from there so it had to be someone with some money cause he had to be with his own folks and I thought he wanted someone who could fight back and who could be a challenge and would force him to restrain himself. And nobody at AMC was interested in 7 seasons of the regretful plantation owner, so we made Louis come from a lineage that did have a plantation and did own slaves.

rolin jones in the s1 post-finale episode of the podcast names how he came to this understanding of louis's character. lestat, after failing to make a bride of his mother, and a concubine of nicki, was seeking for someone of a similar background, or the most approximate equivalent. he would not have been interested in louis if louis was an anglophone baptist black man descended from upper-south arrivals into new orleans, nor would he have been interested in louis if louis was a poor black creole honestly s1 does not give a good reading of claudia's ethnic bg in new orleans, but since she cannot understand french, we can presume shes either a poor creole removed from her cultural background with her vampiric adoption narrative in mind, or was also of an anglophone baptist black background like claudia was. louis coming from this fallen sort of gentry, the free gens de couleur, similar to that of the tvl lestat who came from this barren aristocracy dating back to the crusades, was key to lestat's long-term goals with louis.

Capital accrued from plantations of sugar and the blood of men who looked like my great grandfather but did not have his standing. But then decades of Jim Crow and the electrified light of a new century had vanquished any idea of a free man of color. - AMC IWTV 1x01

louis was of the first generations of the gens de couleur to be born, raised into, and face the institutional and personal ramifications of being viewed as black in america. this fuels much of the character's rage as he moves through storyville, trying to continue the similar modality of exploitation to the contrary of pretty baby with brooke shields, majority of the brothel circuit was statistically black girls + women being sexually pawned off to white men but ultimately failing to do so bc of the anglophone white american class that now rules over him. [tom anderson, alderman fenwick, finn o’shea starting out as louis’s subordinate then ending w/ him entering whiteness by having a sporting house throwing torches at louis’s brothel in s1e3]

By 1850, the free population of color, beset by the hostility of white supremacy, was economically diminished and residentially segregated. The Americanization of Louisiana, and in particular New Orleans, was completed before the state became the sixth to secede from the Union in 1861 in the struggle over the perpetuation of slavery. [link] The Democratic redeemers who came to power in 1877 lost no time in redefining the Negro's "place" in Louisiana life. They immediately restored the color line in the New Orleans public schools and offered silent support to de facto segregation practices in places of public accommodation. With the assistance of two landmark decisions by the United States Supreme Court, the redeemers soon dismantled the egalitarian legal apparatus put together piece by piece under the Radicals. Finally in 1890 they began to write their "final solution" into Louisiana law with a series of "separate but equal" statutes. Soon New Orleans Negroes were again segregated in virtually every public pursuit. [link]

[logansargeantsbabymom]

Hi could you please write an imagine for the f1 boys (mainly Charles, lando, Pierre, Charles) where they surprise the reader at work and she works in childcare. Thank you

Hey pretty, thank you for the request <3!

Work Surprises with the F1 Boys

A/N: I did make this where Y/N has different occupations working with children so it's not the boring same old same old for every driver. I hope that's okay!

Follow my instagram account (THATS STRICTLY FOR THIS BLOG) for updates on when i post and fun stuff like that!

Instagram

F1 Masterlist

Charles Leclerc: Pediatrician

I woke up at the same time I have for the past 3 years as I would everyday to get ready for work, at 5:30am. Now I was never and never will be a morning person but I absolutely love my job because it involves me helping kids whether they're sick or just need to get a physical for a school field trip.

I felt my boyfriend stir in his sleep next to me as I tried to sneak out of bed. My attempt of sneaking out though failed as I felt the strong arm of my boyfriend wrap around my waist and yanked me against his body. "Mmmm, don't leave" my boyfriend, Charles whispered against the crook of my neck, which caused me to shiver at the sudden breath hitting my skin.

"Baby, I have to get ready for work." I said as I ran a hand through his messy hair

A groan left his mouth before he continued, "Call out sick" his grip on my waist tightening as he snuggled closer to me to fall back asleep

"No Charles, I have too many appointments today and I won't have any cover. I'll be back soon though, remember the office closes early because it's the 4th of July?" that seemed to persuade him enough because I felt his grip loosen a bit and I took that as my queue to slip out before he had enough time to change his mind.

-

I'd only been at work for about 2 hours and I've seen about 24 patients and attempted to finish some paperwork but every time I get the second to sit down and start the papers, a new patient needs to be seen. I think the last time I've been more stressed in my life than I am right now was back when I was waiting for my score to see if I passed my pediatric exam to get my license and that because I have a waiting room of 6 more patients and all the other doctors and nurses are busy.

I can only thank the heavens because the next patient I had to see turned out to be quadruplets, which would save a significant amount of time on my behalf. Once I called the patients and led them to the room where I closed the door before asking the most important question any doctor could every ask.

"Who's Nicky, Ricky, Dicky and Dawn?" I was slightly annoyed with myself as I finished my question because anyone could tell who Dawn was so I could've easily excluded her from the question.

"I'm Nicky, that's Dicky, and that's Ricky. Dawn obviously is the only girl here so" Nicky said

"Right, well who wants to get their shots first?" I said as I looked at the pan of 8 needles. Each kid needed a flu shot and a hep b shot but as I looked around the already crowed room, none of the kids wanted to volunteer first.

With an unamused look on her face, Dawn reluctantly agreed to go first. It only took about 10 minutes to give all 4 kids their shots and when the last kid got his shot, they all bolted out of the room.

"I'm sorry about them, they hate needles" was all the mom said before she left to follow her kids.

-

It's now 11:55am and the last patient is just about to leave before we close for an hour to have lunch "Okay, if the meds aren't working for your son after about a week, I would come back but if he develops a fever and starts vomiting while taking it, I would suggest taking him to the emergency room." I said as I guided the new mom and her 3 year old daughter to the front lobby.

As soon as the last patient left, I locked the door before making my way to my office to attempt to get some of my paperwork done during my hour break instead of eating.

I was walking back to receptionist desk where I kept my paperwork so I could take them back to my office, only to find it not there. A look of confusion plastered on my face as I continued to look for my missing paperwork. I frustrated groan left my mouth as I realized I'd have to restart all that work.

"I hope you really weren't about to skip lunch for work mon cherie"

A gasp slips past my lips as I quickly turned around to see my boyfriend standing there with a stack of files in one hand and bag of Chinese food in the other.

"Charles!" I said as I walked over to him and took my paperwork back "I thought someone stole these! You scared me!" I placed my hand over my heart and I took deep breaths to try and regulate my heartbeat.

"Sorry, mon coeur but I had to take them because I knew you were going to skip lunch again." A baffled look played across my face because how did he know I have been skipping my lunch breaks to get paperwork done?

"Your coworkers have been telling me you're not eating at work. You can't tell kids to eat to grow and be strong and then not take your own advice. I'm here to make sure that you eat today so I'm making it a little lunch date. Sit and eat."

Lando Norris: Kindergarten teacher

"Ms. L/N, my dad told me that you're dating a famous wace car dwiver, is that twue?" my one student, who's name I just learn was Leo asked me.

Today was meet the teacher day at the school I taught at just 2 weeks before the first day of school and this question was very different than the ones I've been asked before. I looked up at the single dad behind him as I let out a little chuckle

"Why yes I am Leo, is your dad a fan?" I asked as I knelt to be at level with him

"Uh huh! He woves the orwange one!" I've always had a soft spot for kids and right now Leo is making my heart melt.

I didn't have a chance to respond before he ran over to his dad to tell him the good news. I got pulled aside by a parent who told me about an allergy her kid had to a specific cleaning chemical which I made a note of to avoid using in my classroom. I stuck the sticky note on my computer screen before hearing "MS L/N, YOUR BOYFRWEND HERE!" I could recognize that voice as little Leo's.

My head shot up to look at the door and sure enough, my very famous Formula 1 driver boyfriend was there with a bag full of school supplies and gift bags filled with goodies for the kids.

"Kids, I've got presents!!" Lando shouted which caused a little sea of 5-6 year olds kids ran over him making little grabby hands.

Once all the kids got their little baggy of toys, Lando talking to Leo's dad and I answered more questions, the classroom started to empty as Meet The Teacher time ended. The room fell in a comfortable silence as I started to clean up and organize all the supplies I was gifted today.

"Have you ever thought of having a kid or two?" Lando asked, my body tensed at the question

"I dunno, I haven't thought about it. Have you?" I asked as I looked him in the eyes.

"Everyday since we started dating."

Carlos Sainz: School Counselor

"Listen Jess, I can't keep getting you out of trouble. You have to stop getting attitudes with teachers over a small issue." I said with a sigh as I had to deal with a troubled 14 year old freshman for the 4th time this week and it only being Tuesday.

"It's not my fault Ms. Jones was being a bitch to me." Jess said as she shrugged and slouched back in the seat she was in.

"Jess! You can't go around calling your teacher a bitch!" I scolded

"I will if they're being bitches!" Jess shouted

The ring of my school phone is what prevented me from further scolding the student sat in front of me

"Ms L/N's office" I started as I listened to the person on the other line "Okay, tell him to sit at the door of my office while I finish up with this student I have now. Okay, thank you. Bye bye" I hung up the phone before turning my attention back to Jess.

"Do you have another student?" she questioned

"I have another meeting, yes, but you're my top priority right now." I said as I readjusted my position in my chair

"To be honest, I cause these problems because I need someone to talk to and I feel most comfortable with you." Jess admitted as she looked down at her lap

"Jess," I started sympathetically "How about this, once a week we will have a 20 minute meeting to talk about anything and everything you want?" I compromised, which got a nod from her.

I watched as Jess left my office, I attempted to clean my desk a little before bringing my other meeting in before hearing Jess' voice

"Woah, you're hot. Are you a teacher?" before I could questioned who she's talking to I heard a thick Spanish accent answer her question

"No, I just have a meeting with Y/N." Disbelief spread across my face as I recognized the voice. There was no way that voice belonged to who I thought it did to.

I quickly ran outside my office where I was met with the most beautiful man on planet earth and who I was proud to call my boyfriend.

"CARLOS?!" I shouted as I jumped in his arms before planting a kiss to his lips

"Sorry for calling your boyfriend hot Ms. L/N" Jess said before she walked away

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" I asked as he put me down but not breaking the hug

"We have the week off before the Miami Grand Prix so I wanted to surprise you." Carlos whispered as he kissed my temple

"Well, consider me surprised" I mumbled against his lips before littering his face in kisses.

Lewis Hamilton: Peds surgeon

I’m currently on hour 8 of my 12 hour hospital shift and I’ve never been more exhausted in my life. I’ve performed 2 surgeries today and I still have one more lined up, now don’t get me wrong, I love my job and everything that comes with it. The ups, the downs, all of it.

I’ve finally finished up a post-op check up with one of my patients before hearing my stomach growl, I sent one of my trusted nurse friends to do the post op check up on the other patient while I grabbed a quick bite before my next surgery.

When I got to the cafeteria, I got a sandwich and sat down with another one of my friends while I scarfed my food down.

“So what’d you do today?” My trauma surgeon friend, Nalani asked as she took a bite of the sandwich she got

“I had to fix a bowel in one kid and another one swallowed a whole bunch of magnetic balls so I had to remove those. One balls tried to stick to the other and pierced an intestine so I had to fix that up. What about you?” I asked a I took another big bite of my food

“Oh well two people came in impaled in the chests with a long rod. Had to separate them, they both survived. It was a real miracle of God because when the images were taken, it looked like neither one of them were gonna survive.”

-

I’d been prepping for my last surgery of the day before I finally get to clock out and not worry about coming back for the next 4 days.

I walked into the OR getting suited up before noticing a figure in the amphitheater which caused me to look out of pure curiosity. Looking up I was locking eyes with the most handsomest man Ive ever seen in my whole life, who just so happened to be my fiancé.

“What is Lewis doing here?” I questioned the surgical intern

“He said he really missed you. The chief of surgery gave him clearance to be there, I think he promised to autograph a whole bunch of things for him and his kids?”

“That sounds like something Lewis would agree to” I giggled as I started to walk to the head of the table before hearing over the intercom

“Good luck with this surgery darling, I love you.”

“I love you too” was all I whispered before starting my last surgery of the day.

Daniel: Summer Camp Director

“Alright everybody, can I have your attention please?” I shouted as I glanced around the room filled with 10-15 year olds.

This is my 3rd summer being a Camp Counselor and I have to admit that I always have a blast here.

“Thank you. My name is Ms. L/N, and I’m the main counselor here at Camp Kikiwaka and I’m going to be going over everything that we’re going to be doing here over the course of the summer and you then I’ll open the floor to you guys so you can ask me questions, okay?”

I heard a sea of “Yes” “Okay” “Got it” before I continued. It only took about 45 minutes to go over the expectations at Camp Kikiwaka and the summer itinerary, “Okay, now does anyone have any questions?” A small hand shot up the second I finished my question

“I thought the big kid camp was the building?” a little girl said

“Yes it is, the camp section for older kids is right next door, why? Do you have a sibling over there?” I questioned as I looked at the little girl in front of me

“So who’s that man and why is he smiling at you?” okay, that was scary at all.

Before I could register who she was talking about I heard an older boy say “That’s Daniel Ricciardo!! What is Daniel Ricciardo doing here?!” which caused me to shoot around to see if he’s actually here.

“Hello guys! Don’t mind me, I’m just here to be your counselor’s assistant for the next week and a half” Daniel said as he walked over to me and engulfed me in a hug, swaying us side to side before placing a quick kiss on my temple.

“What are you doing here?” I whispered, looking up at him to stare in his beautiful eyes

“We have two weeks before the next race so I thought I’d volunteer my time here. I already got permission” Daniel said as he cupped my face.

Turning around I let the kids know the news “Okay guys so this is my boyfriend and your guys’ new camp counselor for a week and a half, Mr. Ricciardo! You guys can go up to him and ask him questions just as you are able to come to me!”

“You guys can call me Daniel, there’s no need for formality. Alrighty, any questions?” Daniel corrected me

“HOW CAN I BE YOUR ASSISTANT IN FORMULA 1????” The older boy shouted which caused Daniel to let out a loud laugh before he answered the question.

This was going to be a fun week and a half.

Pierre: Therapist

To say that today has been stressful would be an understatement. The lady who was in charge of booking my appointments scheduled who people at the same time and then proceeded to fill my schedule today so I couldn’t place the poor girl anywhere so I did the only logical thing anyone would do: I skipped lunch.

Well skipping lunch obviously wasn’t the best idea ever because just about 4 patients after lunchtime is when my headache started settling in, right in that spot behind my eyes. God I hated headaches so much but I despised them even more at work because how am I supposed to be helping my patients if I can’t even think straight.

To make matters worse than they already were, the headache went from just being pulsing behind my eyes to throbbing every time I moved my head in the slightest moment. Thank god this meeting ended quicker than intended and I had 15 minutes before my next patient was to walk in which gave me time to pop a few ibuprofen’s and let it settle in, in hopes that this would go away before the next one walks in.

I must’ve drifted off because two seconds after popping the ibuprofen’s there’s a knock at the door. I suppressed my groan before letting out a weak “Come in!”

I heard the door open but I just couldn’t bring myself to lift my head up

“Woah, you look like shit.” I heard a thick french accent say as the person let out a little giggle.

I knew who the voice belonged to, the owner was my longtime boyfriend who I haven’t seen in 3 weeks but right now, I couldn’t even be excited because I was in pain.

“Pierre please, I love you but right now I have such a massive headache. I feel like I’m going to pass out.” I mumbled into my hands

“Did you eat? I brought food.” He said as he lifted up the bag of french food that he claimed I “needed” to try.

I reluctantly lifted my head so I was able to take a bite or two out of the food. After a few bites I could slowly feel my headache going away, letting out a satisfied groan I continued to dig into my meal.

“You look like you haven’t eaten in days” Pierre chuckled as he watched me absolutely scarf down the food he placed in front of me.

“I feel like I haven’t” was all I managed to get out before I finished my food.

By the time my next appointment arrived, my headache was nothing but a slight throb behind my eyes which I was eternally grateful for.

I made a mental note to thank Pierre in different ways when I got home.

Logan: Speech Therapy

I’d been working with this kid to say ‘Water’ for the past 20 minutes and I’m nowhere with him.

I work with kids who have trouble talking and I get them to where they need to be at whatever age they are. Like if the kid is 4 years old and isn’t talking, I have to work a lot with the kids to make sure that I can get him to talk and be at a 4 year old’s level of communication.

Something about this 4 year old though, I just can’t get him to say ‘Water’ no matter how hard I try. I glanced up at the clock noting that it’s almost lunch time and I would have to end our session soon.

“L/N, your boyfriend is here and he brought food for all of us!” My coworker Destiny said

“Logan, can you help me? I can’t get him to say ‘Water’ and I’ve been trying for the last 20 minutes” I’m pleading with anyone at this point to at least help me get some type of progress done with him.

I watched as Logan got at level with the kid before attempting his own way “Hey buddy, can you say ‘water’?” after a second of silence he tried again “say ‘wah’.”

“Wah” my body tensed at the kid talking

“ good! now say ‘ter’.”

“Ter” I can’t believe he’s doing it

“Yes! ‘water’ !”

“AMERICA”

“WHAT THE FUCK?”

Lance: Nanny

“Baby why are you here?” I shot around to face my boyfriend

“When the fuck did you get here?” I asked in disbelief

“I missed you. How about we dip?” The nerve of this handsome man.

“Lance, I’m babysitting YOURE NIECE because YOU didn’t want to”

“I’ll pay my sister to take her kid back”

“Jesus”

Oscar: Librarian

“Excuse me Ms, do you have the Pete the Cat book? Me and my friend really want to read it. Please” I heard a little girl say.

I looked down at her before typing in my computer to see exactly where in the store it was at.

“Yes, you can follow me right this way and I’ll take you to them!” I said as I made my way over to where the books were placed. “They’re right here then. Just come up and let me know if you need anymore help!” I said as I watched her and her friends grab different books before going over to the bean bags to sit and read.

Back at my desk I was trying to place pre-orders for the new Ana Huang book coming out. I only got to the part where I could place the amount I wanted in my cart before I was being asked a question

“Do you guys have the King Of series? My girlfriend really wants to read them.” I looked up from my computer only to be faced with my Fiancé of 6 months

“Oscar?? What are you doing here?” I asked in disbelief

“I was in the area. Okay well I was a few cities away but it was only a hour drive” He said shrugging

“You’re so weird. The books are this way” I said as I grabbed a hold of his hands to guide him the way to my favorite Authors section.

Max: Nutritionist

“Okay Mom so you want to make sure that baby gets as much veggies in his system and more water, Santa said he only puts kids on the nice list if they listen to their mom and eat what she gives.” I said as I directed that last part to her 5 year old son who scrunched his face before hiding behind his mom.

“See Chase, I told you that Santa said that. He didn’t want to believe that Mommy has ties with Santa.” She smiled at the last part before picking her son up to take him out. “Thank you again, Chase is going to eat his veggies, right Chase?”

“No!” he yelled

“Do you want to be big and strong?” A thick Dutch accent could be heard

“Uh huh!!” Chase replied

“We’ll eat veggies. That’s the only way.” I turned to see my boyfriend Max in the doorway of my office.

“Otay!”

“Oh well that was one way.” The mom shrugged

“Have a good day!” I shouted as she left “I don’t know how you did that”

“Kids love me”

“oh that’s not-”

George: Sports Coach

“RUN THE FUCKING LAPS NOW!!!” I screamed at the kids in front of me

To the outside world I would seem crazy for yelling at a bunch of kids like this but in reality, I’m coaching my brother and his bastard friends soccer team this season and they bet me $20 I wouldn’t say that in front of their parents, so that was a quick $20 I put in my pocket.

“CURSING AT KIDS NOW BABE?” My boyfriend George asked.

He was helping me coach them this year and he’s a really do-by-the-book type of guy and he really disapproved of me cursing at the kids.

“Sorry baby, they deserve it. They said that you’re too bad to be in F1” I said shrugging as I made up that lie

“RUN 2 FUCKING MILES NOW!!”

taglist:

@luckyladycreator2 @itsmiamalfoy @jeffs77 @ilivbullyingjeongin @forevercaffeinated-lee @daemyratwst @gulphulp @callsignwidow @f1wintermoon13 @teenwolf01 @victoriassecret101 @hiireadstuff @formulaal @eddieharrington @kazza72584 @zabwlky1999 @dark-night-sky-99 @rougekiki @xoscar03 @jess-wither @bountychanti @dhanihamidi @Ggasly.p @tellybearryyyy @a-panseuxalmess @love-simon @tallrock35 @iiaik0ii @Milkyymelanine @ilovsyou3000morgan

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

TW fandom loves to speculate and theorize about mer and beastmen anatomy like how much they borrow from their animal ancestors. How about Miss Raven? What raven traits does she still have?

[Might be referencing this post?]

wiulwoyefapa THIS IS A TOPIC I THINK ABOUT A LOT, ACTUALLY. I think it's really fun to theorize what animalistic traits our non-human characters might have :DD

Here's just some of the raven stuff that stuck around with our Miss Raven:

(Please note: I do talk about bird and human anatomy in this post! Nothing explicit, but figured I'd warn in case this is an uncomfortable area.)

I think Miss Raven's general personality matches that of a raven; they're intelligent yet playful. She's less communicative and sociable than a raven, but I think she makes up for that in her writing.

Birds cannot taste capsaicin, which is the irritant that often registers as "spiciness" to humans. (It's an evolutionary adaptation that helps birds spread the seeds of chili peppers they eat.) Miss Raven has a high spice tolerance because of this, unlike her uncle (who is sensitive to spice).

Likes shiny things; her eye is easily caught by them regardless of value, size, color, etc. (That's her bird brain talking www) She can't wear much jewelry because she might get distracted by it. Instead she keeps jewelry in a little box and stares at it for fun, amusing herself with the sparkle.

This has been mentioned a few times, but Raven sleeps in a manner that's strange for a human. Instead of lying down, she'll form a "nest" of blankets and pillows and sleeps curled up in it.

Miss Raven is a little clumsy on her feet because the weight in her human body is distributed slightly differently than in her bird body.

She equates clothes to a bird's feathers, and being naked like having all your feathers plucked. (Man, have you SEEN a bird without its feathers? Most pathetic looking dry ass babies ever, I tell you.) Miss Raven tends to cover up her skin because, in her mind, she doesn't want to be seen as a crusty ol' naked bird.

Tends to wear skirts instead of pants because pants feel restrictive to her. She's used to having her legs out and feeling the breeze down there.

Miss Raven mostly wears black because she feels like she's kind of obligated to, as that is the original color of her feathers. More recently though, she has come to terms with the freedom her human form grants her and has been more experimental with her fashion.

Likes cuddling and when people play with her hair. This is because actual ravens cuddle with their entire bodies and preen their partners.

Ravens can eat almost anything, even garbage and carrion. Miss Raven has a strong stomach and an adventurous palate because of this.

She's smaller than the average raven, but she has the same protective instincts of one. If she's upset or trying to come off as intimidating, she'll puff up (her feathers stand up) and get verbally snippy (an actual raven would try to nip you).

Doesn't like people touching her things or being in her space. This is because ravens can be territorial!

Bird mouths are actually dry because their salivary glands are in the back of their mouths. This wouldn't work for a human and the kinds of food they eat, so when Raven first gained a humanoid form, it was weird for her to have a wet mouth and teeth 😂 Words felt so strange to speak too.

Initially nervous around predator animal beastmen and actual predator animals, particularly cats. This includes Lucius, Grim, Chenya, the Octatrio, the Savanaclaw trio, Fellow, Gidel, etc. It's Miss Raven's natural instincts letting her know she has to prioritize her own safety! She usually gets over it once she gets to know the other person a little better.

Distrustful of scarecrows since they're the things put out in fields to keep crows and ravens from eating their crops. Also has weird distrust of farmers because of this.

In terms of mating, ravens are monogamous and devoted to their partners, never straying too far from each other. They often go for romantic flights together and even give each other special treats. Miss Raven has that idea of an idealized romance in her head.

When content, ravens make a soft warbling noise (similar to how a cat might purr). Miss Raven does too, but she does her best to actively repress this sound, since she feels it is embarrassing.

Mid-February to late May is an odd time of year for her, as that's mating season for ravens. That's when she's at her most sentimental/emotionally squishy... She doesn't like being in public because it's so easy to make her cry (and those terrible NRC students would definitely do that) 😔

In early summer/late fall, ravens tend to molt and replace their feathers. Now that she has a humanoid form, Raven doesn't have to worry too much about that but sometimes still scratches excessively at phantom itches that come with molting.

Really impressed by skilled flying! This is because male ravens fly to impress females and to find mates. Raven always stares in wonder during Flight class. (Unfortunately, she's not that good at flying in her new form...)

While Raven's bite isn't as strong as Sebek's, she does bite. Birds typically have three kinds of biting: biting to open nuts and berries, biting to defend themselves (which can draw blood), and love bites (which mostly occur in domesticated birds). asbiliafeafia I like to think she gives little affectionate noms...

Insecure about the size of her "breast muscle" (not realizing that humans mostly have fat there). This is because the size of a bird's breast muscle is directly related to their flying ability... and flying's pretty important for her kind. Genuinely believes that the most skilled fliers at NRC must have a certain kind of physique to be as skilled as they are. (Envious of those buff boys/j)

Being a raven, she experiences culture shock when put against the habits and behaviors of others with animal ancestry. For example, aggressive behaviors that are affectionate to a dog or a cat are seen as intimidating threats to her.

Has cute domestic fantasies! That’s because a lot of birds will build nests together and share the responsibilities of parenting. She thinks it would be nice to build a life together with someone like that.

It's not weird for her to eat eggs! Wild ravens do it :>

THERE'S A REALLY SPECIFIC BIRD BRAND OF FLIRTING THAT SOUNDS WEIRD TO HUMANS. Birds in nature are protective of their eggs and typically only entrust their partner to look after them while they do something else, like hunt for food. Because of this, Raven is really flustered by someone asking for eggs in any context. For example, maybe they're eating eggs in the cafeteria and a peer asks her to "pass the eggs".

[whocaresstillthelouvre]

Close Encounters Of The Corn Kind

Rating: Teen, for marijuana use where it's legal. Mature, for marijuana use where it's illegal. Pairing: Dieter Bravo x Female Reader Summary: Exploring a corn maze high out of your mind after eating an edible all by yourself, beautiful? Or... you and Dieter are high and end up separated in a corn maze. He must do whatever he can do to save his princess. Warnings: Dieter's POV, stoned paranoia, Dieter calls reader princess, panic but in a corny way, corn, corn, and more corn. Words: 1,400

A/N: Written for @goodwithcheese and @jolapeno's Fall Challange. I know Javier Pena x bonfire won my poll and I promise that will be posted but woooo boy, once I started writing this I couldn't stop. I happen to find it quite a-maze-ing!

Masterlist

🌽🌽🌽🌽

Corn, corn, corn. So much corn. It’s everywhere. The stalks move in the evening breeze, secrets whispering out with each sway taunting him as he ventures deeper into the maze. It surrounds him. He jumps overwhelmed by fear with every brush of a dry leaf against his skin. He looks down at his arm, he’s safe, he hasn’t turned to corn yet. You’re still out there somewhere lost in the labyrinth of grain, he must rescue you. 

A couple wrong turns here and there and now he’s lost. Who knows how far away you are. A sea of corn now stretches between you. What if you’re both stuck here forever, wandering through the maize maze for eternity?

He shakes the thought from his head. No! He can’t think like that. He must continue. His princess needs him. 

A rustling sound comes from behind him. He whirls around, sliding on the muddy ground. His Croc slips, betraying him, but he catches his balance, nice try maze phantom. The mud, it’s another obstacle. He cannot fall, he has a mission, he has to save his princess.

Take a left? No, take a right. Left? Left as in left behind? He better go right. Right? Well, right might mean he’s asking for approval. 

He wishes he had a map. He wonders if that children's menu from Olive Garden he filled out last week might just hold the answer for this. He was able to connect the spaghetti to the meatball on his first attempt. Wait, is he the meatball? 

He doesn’t know what shape the maze is. What if it’s all an elaborate trap sent down from the aliens? Everyone knows that aliens love corn fields. Is he currently roaming a crop circle? He could very well be headed for the big red X where they’ll beam him up. Have they already captured you? 

“PRINCESS?!” he shouts, turning down another corn concourse. Corncourse, that’s a funny word, maybe he can talk to someone at Merriam-Webster about adding it to the dictionary. That is–if he escapes out of here. “PRINCESS?!”

No answer, only a murder of cawing crows laughing at his misfortune as the plume of them takes flight. They’re mocking him, laughing at his pathetic desperation. Maybe if he wishes hard enough he can sprout wings, lift off, swoop down and rescue you, then fly out of this place. Crazier things have happened… after all, he did win an Oscar. 

“Dieter?” your voice harkens him back to reality. He can just barely see the brown fuzz of his coat on you. Why didn’t he give you an orange security vest? Ah, but then you’d stick out amongst the corn and that’d make you more of a target for them. 

“Princess?! Is that you?” 

“Yeah…” you reply, your voice muffled by the wall of corn between.

“Baby! Are you okay?” He asks, his spine straightening, his heart skipping a beat.

“I’m like… really high,” you whisper loud enough for him to hear behind the corn barrier.

“I am too, but don’t fret Princess,” his voice drops with a heroic tone. “I will find you, all this corn be damned.” 

“Can’t you just… come through the row?” you ask, confusion tinging your voice.

He eyes the tan and green blades of stalks reaching out towards him like they’re ready to infect him, he refuses to become a corn person. 

“I’m sorry my love, that’s what they’d expect me to do, we must not cheat. Cheating would cause us to lose the maze, and we don’t want to lose the maze.” 

“Okay… so what do we–” 

CLANG! A loud noise reverberates from outside the maze. A sober mind would realize it’s just the ramp for the hayride trailer hitting the ground, but to Dieter it’s a warning shot.

“RUN!” he shouts, speeding away, stalks burring past him as he entangles himself farther into the mass mosaic of maize.

He’s left you, he knows this, but now it’s even more important for him to track you down. 

He turns a corner and freezes. A friendly face appears, wearing  a wide smile and a straw hat. 

“Hey! Sir! Hi, I–I can’t find my princess,” Dieter huffs, catching his breath. “Do you know where she is?” He holds his phone up, showing the kind looking stranger your photo that's set as his wallpaper. “She’s wearing my brown fuzzy jacket, I got it in Sundance.” 

The man doesn’t answer. He doesn’t even look at Dieter’s phone.

“Sundance, you know, the place in Utah? You ever been?”

Still no answer.

“Dude, look,” Dieter pushes the phone closer to the man’s face. “Can you tell me if you’ve seen my princess?”

The man ignores every word he says, his eyes stay staring forward.

“Well, fine, fuck me I guess,” he mutters, backing away. “I’ll just leave you alone then, obviously you don’t want to help.”

He retreats from the straw hat man, shaking his head at how rude people can be.

He continues down another path.

Right turn. Blocked.

Left turn. Blocked again.

He must retrace his steps and attempt another thoroughfare. Crossing paths with the straw hat man again. 

“Ahh! We meet again,” Dieter says, shaking his head.

Silence still. 

“You know buddy!” He steps closer. “You’re really rude!” He jabs his finger into the man’s soft–very soft–chest, straw pokes out from under the man’s collar. 

“Oh, shit, sorry dude. DIdn’t realize you weren’t real,” Dieter says, sheepishly, grabbing his straw filled hand to shake an apology before heading down another path. 

He feels like he’s getting somewhere, this corn doesn’t look familiar. 

He can hear the crowd of the fall carnival get louder as he takes a left instead of right. He hasn’t been taken yet, he’s close! So close to freedom! Feet don’t fail him now, he can see The EXIT sign in all of its rusted and hand painted glory. And yet, a defeated whimper leaves his mouth, the corn barrier stands tall and intimidating, still holding him captive. If he can leave, he can find you help. Call in the reinforcements, find his princess. 

“Okay Dieter, okay, you gotta get outta here,” he says aloud to himself, pacing back and forth, yanking his hair, causing it to stand even more haphazardly. “Think Dieter! Think! Think!” he shouts. 

“Dieter?” 

Your voice on the other side of the corn! You’ve made it out! 

“Baby?! Y-you’re out?!” he asks in shock. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine Dee, just really hun–”

Another CLANG echoes, he HAS to get out of here. He can’t leave you behind, not when he has the car keys. He hesitates for a moment, before charging through the corn stalks, if he becomes a corn person, then so be it. He HAS to be with you. He’s sure the poison isn’t instant.

He breaks through the corn wall and tumbles to the ground, snapped stalks litter the ground around him, causing quite a scene. He looks up, breathing a sigh of relief when his eyes meet yours. 

There you are standing right outside of the maze exit happily eating an apple cider donut. 

“Hi,” you smile, through a mouthful of crumbs.

“My princess,” he sighs, a wide, adoring grin spreading across his face. He pushes himself up, wincing slightly. He wishes he had a cape. He bets he’d look real cool right now with a cape billowing behind him as he stands amongst the conquered leaves and bits of broken stalks scattered around him.

“Welcome back, brave traveler,” you smile, offering him the donut.

“I made it,” he breathes, taking a bite of the sweet, cinnamon bread.

“Sir,” a stern voice catches Dieter’s attention. He turns to find a security guard eying him, face set in a firm, annoyed expression. “Looks like someone decided to make their own exit, huh?”

Dieter straightens his posture. “I’m sorry sir–there was a very urgent situation.”

The guard raises an eyebrow. “Urgent?”

“She was trapped,” Dieter says, gesturing towards you, his tone heroic again. “I had to save her!”

A laugh bursts from your mouth. “He got lost,” you explain, shaking your head. 

“Lost or not, you two need to leave,” the guard instructs, stepping aside.

“Right then,” Dieter nods. “Come, my princess, this maze has been conquered,” he bows. 

You roll your eyes and giggle, grabbing his hand as the two of you walk towards the exit. 

Dieter’s back where he belongs–with his princess and an inkling of pride, even if the guard trails closely behind.

[autisticlancemcclain]

Keith walks into his room after a deliciously vigorous training season, wiping his sweaty face with a towel, and immediately notices something is off.

He freezes, towel clamped to the back of his neck, and carefully scans his room from corner to corner. His lock was still intact when he walked in, so unlikely break-in. His bed is still exactly as messy as it was when he left it. His dresser drawer is still left cracked slightly open, as he always leaves it, because it’s harder to put a drawer back to the same level of open it was before than to close it (he’s caught Hunk snooping through his shit many a time with this method. Thanks, Pa’s paranoia).

His gaze lands finally on a nondescript black book on his nightstand, and his eyebrows shoot up. He finished his book this morning and returned it to the library on his way to the training room.

He did not leave that black book there.

Wary, a thousand anxieties running through his brain, Keith approaches his nightstand bayard-first, sword extended and sharp. He pauses before he comes in contact, taking time to analyse it, attempt to puzzle out any kind of traps or discrepancies before they jump out at him. He can’t see any — the book is on the newer side, with a roughened black hardcover, gold detailing on the spine but no title or author. The paper looks thick and it’s strangely uncut, raggedy.

Hesitantly, Keith pokes it.

Nothing happens.

Less suspicious, now, he prods at it with his hands, and when that does nothing, he picks it up. It’s heavier than he expected. He cracks open the cover to reveal a red paper lining. Stuck to the inside of the cover is a baby blue post-it note, crookedly place, with only a neatly drawn heart in glitter gel pen. Keith can’t help the smile, even as his eyebrows furrow in confusion.

“What even…”

Pinching the first page from the bottom corner so as to not accidentally rip any paper, he slowly turns it over.

He gasps, fumbling with the book as he nearly drops it.

“How did it…”

He recognises the first page — it’s his. Or he made it, anyway. Scrawled in every white space of the nearly parchment-esque alien paper is his own doodling, from a boring meeting several weeks back. He recognises the slightly mean drawing of the Capnir leader and his snooty expression in the left corner, and the ninety games of tic-tac-toe he played with Lance on the bottom half of the page (Lance insisted he won because he is a nasty cheater. Keith didn’t even know it was possible to cheat at tic-tac-toe, but it is. It’s crazy).

Gobsmacked, Keith begins to flip through the rest of the pages, eyes getting wider and nose getting closer to the book with every corner he turns. These are his doodles and drawings — hundreds of them, loose papers from meetings and scrawled diagrams from mission plans and notes to other paladins and dorky little drawings he made for his friends or because of his own boredom. There are grocery lists covered in drawings of engine parts and knives and strange alien vegetables, hand-to-hand manoeuvre diagrams, several drawings of Shiro as Captain America, of Pidge and Hunk covered in soot except for the line around their eyes from their goggles, of Allura with the mice in her hair, Coran in the wackiest outfit he’s ever seen, Shiro with his eye twitching from Slav, Matt making goo eyes at Allura. Some of Kolivan, even, with over-exaggerated eyebrows and a frown that touches his neck.

And dozens, maybe even hundreds, of drawings of Lance. Smirking at Keith from across the kitchen table before he instigates a Pidge-Hunk argument, crowing in victory after making a shot, serious and focused mid battle, face drooping and sad and fixed on a glowing blue Earth projection with his chin hooked over his knees. Drawings that itched at Keith’s fingers every hour of every day, that he barely tried to resist; snapshots of Lance that plagued his mind ‘til he finally found time to grab a pencil.

Drawings that he had, apparently, left scattered all over the castle without thinking.

He cradles his flaming face in his free hand, heart pounding in his ears. He’s sure — he knows he threw half of these out. Some of them he left lying around, sure, and others he left out deliberately for his friends to find, but — Keith knows he threw out the full-page and coloured portrait of Lance, bright and beautiful in a dozen shades of earth, smiling softly at Keith in the low-light of the common room well after midnight. He can see the creases and smudges from where he’d crumpled it, embarrassed, and where someone had fished it out of the trash and carefully straightened it back out, brushing dust out of the crevices.

“Oh my God.”

Hunk would never have been able to keep the secret with how long it would have taken to bind this book — by hand, by the looks of it. Allura couldn’t either. Both Pidge and Shiro would have been gleeful in mocking Keith about the clear affection in every pencil stroke. Coran would have probably stuck it proudly on the fridge — he did that, once, Keith remembers, with a sketch he’d done of the whole team during a movie night. It’s still there; it’s been so long that Keith doesn’t notice it anymore.

There’s only one person who would pick up the discarded slips of paper and slide them in his pocket — only one person who’s that kind of sentimental. One person who prints every photograph he takes of every planet they’ve ever been on, who pins up every drawing gifted to him by young children no matter how objectively horrible, who tears off notes written in the margins of battle plans and keeps them in a jar on his dresser. Only one person who has a scrapbook with a dried blade of grass from Arus and piece of sea glass from the mermaid planet and a napkin stained with food goo from their food fight all those years ago. Hell, there’s only one person on this castle with enough skill with a needle and thread to bind a whole ass book.

Keith drops his bayard to the floor with a clatter, book clenched in his fist, and sprints out of his room. He flies down the hallway, ignoring the startled shout from Pidge as she jumps out of his way and the wide-eyed stare from Allura. He almost runs straight into his brother, spinning to the right at the last minute and rushing past him without bothering to entertain his questions. He runs all the way to the MedBay, where he knows Lance is taking inventory for Coran, and nearly crashes right into the pods because he’s too pumped up to slow down properly.

“Whoa there, cowboy, cool it before you give yourself a concussion. Christ.”

Lance places a cool hand on his shoulder, concerned, bin of counted bandages left abandoned behind him. Almost immediately his face coils in disgust.

“Aw, gross, you’re sweaty.”

But he doesn’t move his hand.

Keith stares.

How did he — how did he miss it, before?

“Keith?” Lance asks again, alarm clouding his face. “You okay, buddy?”

His fingers curve absentmindedly along the junction of Keith’s neck, and he leans in closer, and he smells so fucking good and he always does and Keith is lightheaded from more than just his cross-castle sprint.

“You’re in love with me,” he blurts, and he didn’t mean to say it like that but there’s no doubt in his words.

Lance startles, yanking his hand back in shock. Keith darts out to stop it, fingers wrapped around his wrist, keeping him from going far. Lance’s breath hitches.

“…What?”

“You’re in love with me,” Keith repeats, steadier this time. He waits a moment, then says, much more urgently: “The book.”

Mortification rings off Lance in waves.

“Oh,” he croaks. His pulse is so loud and so fast that Keith can feel it in his wrist. “I didn’t think it was — oh.”

There’s a strange quality to his voice, besides the embarrassment of getting caught, and then it clicks — he’s afraid. Of rejection, of disgust, of Keith. Keith isn’t sure. But he hates that it’s there.

Faster than he can talk himself out of, he cups Lance’s face with his free hand, relishing in the sharp intake of breath, and leans in and kisses him. There’s a moment of rigid shock on Lance’s part and it could spell trouble but Keith holds steady. He keeps his hold loose and the pressure soft and soon Lance — melts, into him, there’s no other word for it; he sinks in close and sighs and the hand Keith has gripped goes slack. His lips are soft, and his hair tickles Keith’s forehead, and Keith can still feel his jackrabbit heartbeat, and he still smells like that intoxicating mix of flowers and — sunshine, somehow, straight from the brightest days in Earth. Keith’s hands have never been steadier.

“You collected my doodles,” he says, staying close when Lance pulls gently away. He can see the deeper browns in Lance’s irises, the places where the gold gives way to near-black. They look like the flecks of the precious metal Keith would see at the bottom of the river mud in the mountains of Arizona.

“They were worth keeping,” Lance says quietly. He holds Keith’s gaze. The tips of his fingers trace Keith’s temples; they’re rough with old guitar callouses.

“You think everything is worth keeping.”

“Only the things that — bleed.”

Keith thinks that they’re both right. Lance can’t leave anything behind because he aches for the soul he finds in it. He finds the worth in everything. He found the worth in Keith.

He found enough to make Keith stay.

Keith grips the book in his right hand, left still cupped around Lance’s cheek. The difference in textures is startling, grounding.

“No one has ever done something like that for me before,” Keith admits. There’s a lump in his throat but Keith thinks it’s manageable, thinks he can talk through it. Thinks he might hold the strength for it.

Lance waits patiently.

“I want to —” Keith stops. He opens the book. The drawn Lance smiles up at him, beautiful. He looks up and Lance smiles over at him, breathtaking. “I —”

He doesn’t know how to say it. It’s there, bubbling in his chest, spilling out of him; obvious. But he doesn’t know the words for it. He’s not sure anyone’s taught him before.

“Okay,” Lance says. He tugs his wrist out of Keith’s grip then laces their hands together, squeezing. His smile only widens and he — sparkles, almost. Keith’s throat goes dry.

“Okay?”

“Yes.”

“Oh.”

“Oh,” Lance repeats, teasing. He leans in again. “I’m going to kiss you again, now.”

“Please,” Keith begs, and he does.

———

based on this post

[alwaysahiccupandastrid]

Kraven The Hunter - Thoughts

Let’s state right now by saying that 90% of the reason I went was for Fred 😭 the other 10% was ATJ, Russel Crowe and it being a Marvel film to be honest.

I’m also still slightly ill as I’ve been battling a cold since late Sunday/early Monday so I probably shouldn’t have gone but I dosed myself with Sudafed and for the most part wasn’t congested during the film, plus I feel miles better today, so…yeah. Bear with me if I seem dumb or like I missed something 😭

Anyway… Spoilers below for Kraven the Hunter!

First, some general things:

The way the critics were going on, you’d think this film was completely unwatchable and that there’s zero redeeming features, which in my opinion is not true at all

Let me make it clear right now: is it the best movie I’ve ever seen? No. Is it the best Marvel film I’ve seen? Also no. Is it the best Sony Marvel film I’ve seen? Still not really. But it was watchable and I had a good time eating popcorn while watching it

I really could have done without the cinema going couple on the row behind me who kept going “it’s Kraven time” during the film and who laughed at weird moments but eh, they aren’t the worst people I’ve been stuck in a movie theatre with

AARON TAYLOR JOHNSON’S ABS 🥵

The best performances in this movie were definitely Aaron, Fred and Russell in my opinion (although young Sergei and Dmitri were also good)

Some of the line deliveries in this film were not always it 😭 I don’t know if it’s a post production ADR problem but Ariana DeBose had some really wooden line deliveries which baffles me because she’s an Oscar winner?!? Did she just not care?

Some of the special effects were also not it; I wasn’t expecting ATJ to fight a real lion or for a real bear to kill Nikolai but come on now-

Oh this film delivered on bloody and violent!

My only knowledge of Kraven before this film was from watching half of JackSepticEye’s Spider-Man 2 playthrough so I’m probably the worst person to ask about whether they did his story justice or not 😭

Okay, now the actual film:

I was half expecting David Harbour’s character from Black Widow to turn up in Russian prison 😭

(Speaking Russian) “Can I sit with you at lunch?” “No.” - ASDFGHJKL

Kraven really wasn’t kidding when he said he’d be gone in 3 days, he was in and out fast

Bear with me and I’m sorry if I sound stupid but is Kraven damage proof or are the Russian guards just shit shots? 😭

My mind blanked for a hot second when ATJ turned around shirtless at the beginning and his fucking 8 pack was on view 🥵

The film kind of weirdly started in present day, then spent 30ish minutes in flashbacks, then went back to present day which was an interesting choice

Baby Dmitri 🥹 I wanted to protect him so bad

Nikolai really just went “boys, your mother is dead. She took her own life, she was weak, she does not deserve funeral so we’re going hunting”?!?!

Calypso being there and being told by her granny about the tarot cards saying something bad was going to happen, and being given the potion was…very convenient. Like the grandma really was just there to dump some lore and plot devices I guess

FUCK PEOPLE WHO HUNT ANIMALS 😤 the ONLY reason it’s ever remotely okay to hunt animals is if you’re doing it for food/survival. If you’re doing it for trophies, for “legacy”, just for the horns etc., you can get fucked

I felt so sad when the hunters were making fun of Dmitri for being a bastard 😭 at the very least Nikolai said “it’s not boy’s fault for his father’s weakness”, he’s not a great father but at the very least he said that

^So does this mean that Dmitri’s mother is not Sergei’s mother? Because both boys are Nikolai’s sons? But did Sergei’s mother raise Dmitri too or…?

Sergei really just wanted to protect Dmitri and he got injured 😭 thing is, I don’t think the lion was going to hurt him until Nikolai fucking shot at it - before, it seemed like Sergei and the lion were having a moment, and it only got aggressive when it was shot at, so really it’s Nikolai’s fault entirely

Calypso being more interested in her grandma’s wack ass tarot cards and potion than in the giraffes on safari was by the most unbelievable part to me, like that girl really was so unbothered about the fucking animals in nature?!?

The lion carried Sergei’s lifeless body for MILES, saw Calypso standing there, put Sergei down and looked at her for a moment before wandering off, as if he was bringing him to her?!? 💀

I’m so confused, is it the potion that gave Kraven his abilities? The lion’s blood entering his?!? A mixture of both?!! They don’t really go into detail

Sergei: *lying in Ghanian hospital after being mauled by a lion and being medically dead for at least 3 minutes* // Nikolai: Get your ass up I’m taking you boys to London

Sergei’s mom wrote him a note before she offed herself telling him not to become his father so that’s…why he doesn’t want to be like his father I guess

Dmitri’s powers are shown by him doing spot on imitations of other people’s voices, like he opens his mouth and Russell Crowd’s voice came out, and Sergei is like “you’re getting way too good at that”

Nikolai killed the lion 😭 fuck that guy

I get that Sergei was upset about his dad being an asshole but why did he shut Dmitri out like that 😭 so rude of him

So because his dad is a dick, young Sergei decides he’s going to run away to Northern Russia or Serbia or wherever, abandoning his little brother who their father clearly doesn’t like very much… bro-

I wasn’t aware that Russia or Serbia or wherever he went had a particularly large buffalo population, can someone confirm?

How does his vision just zero in on things from absolute miles away while his eyes turn gold?!?

After young Sergei it switches back to present day and I do feel they could have done it a bit better? It just cuts to black then cuts to present day I think. There’s a scene before this young Sergei seems to be testing his new abilities by jumping over a chasm, running through the forest etc, they could have easily done a switch there in my opinion (if that makes sense)

I smiled so stupidly when Kraven got a voicemail that started with his father’s voice before Dmitri laughed because it was him messing about 😭 And immediately I love him-

Did Kraven eat a fish raw?!? 💀

I agree with Sergei/Kraven, we should 100% kill hunters who do it just for sport/not for survival

HE BIT A GUY’S FUCKING NOSE OFF I WAS GAGGED A BIT

I won’t lie, I was also gagged when he was going through the book of names, found the Andrei guy’s name, then immediately killed him before crossing off the name like it was nothing, I think that was pretty fucking good

So Calypso is a lawyer and Kraven somehow managed to track her down just from the tarot card she left in his pocket and the potion vial?!? I know that’s his whole thing, tracking and finding people, but HOW-

With all due respect to the actors, there was pretty much no chemistry between Kraven and Calypso so if they were meant to be love interests, I was not feeling it at all

Not me getting overexcited when I saw the Daily Bugle newspaper and website 😭

Aleksei (the Rhino) has a dog and I thought he was going to hurt the dog 😭 he just snapped at him but still-

“Like a Rhino, I take what I want” - BRO I AM SORRY BUT WHAT

DMITRI PLAYING PIANO AND SINGING SIGN OF THE TIMES BY HARRY STYLES?!?

For the record, whenever Dmitri “sings”, it is NOT Fred singing - they use studio recordings of the actual artists and Fred just lip syncs which is kind of a shame because I personally want to hear that man sing 😭

So Dmitri runs a nightclub where he plays piano and sings while impersonating actual singers which is…definitely an interesting use of his gift, to be honest

Nikolai says Dmitri does this for him and that just breaks my heart personally

“My son, he is like a Chameleon” - bro. Bro. BRO. This film has zero subtlety 💀

There’s something about Fred wearing rings and a gold chain, his chest hair on display, that just hits different 😋

Nikolai: I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t like Tony Bennett

If I had a nickel for every time Fred was in a movie released in 2024 hiding under a piece of furniture, I’d have two nickels which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened in two different movies released a month apart 😭

Dmitri was really upset about his club being the site of a fucking shoot off (understandable), and Nikolai started saying what a coward he was and berating him, as if Dmitri didn’t impersonate Tony fucking Bennett for his father-

There’s a noise the Rhino guy let’s put when he hears that a load of his men were killed at the nightclub that made my entire screening (of which there were not many admittedly) burst out laughing - not in a good way, but in a “what the actual fuck” way because he sounded like a velociraptor or something?!? It was so fucking odd

Kraven scales the outside of the apartment building to get into Dmitri’s penthouse instead of just taking the lift like a normal person-

FRED IN THE SHOWER I REPEAT FRED IN THE SHOWER-

^Regrettably, we do not see him in the shower nor shirtless - for some reason Dmitri has a bathrobe on before he steps out of the shower 😭

IT’S DMITRI’S BIRTHDAY 🥳

“When it’s your birthday, we can go to a petting zoo or whatever it is you do to unwind” ASDFGHJKL I LOVE DMITRI SO MUCH

I literally burst out laughing when Sergei and Dmitri walked past a couple while going into the club and Sergei was like “oh nice perfume” to the woman, and she said “I’m not wearing perfume”, and he sniffed again then looked at the boyfriend who had wide eyes - for a moment I thought they were making a joke about the boyfriend wearing perfume but then Sergei was like “she had to find out eventually” and I realised “ohhh he cheated on her and has another woman’s perfume, got it”. Had us all laughing in the cinema though, so 10/10 for that scene

Dmitri got really hammered and I think that’s adorable of him personally, that Sergei had to put him to bed like that 😭

Dmitri saying he forgives Sergei for leaving and that he knows the only reason Sergei comes back for his birthday every year is because he feels guilty?!? 😭

Sergei decides to sleep barefoot in the park where it’s allegedly quieter for him (which is bullshit because anyone who’s been in London knows that even at night it’s a fucking nightmare of noise)

“I was going to hold it open for you” “No you weren’t” ASDFHHKL

Not him telling that random man he hunts people like are you even trying to be low-key about being a serial killer at this point 😭 (cool motive but still murder-)

So the Rhino’s men went to Dmitri’s apartment to find Sergei and trashed the place, and they took Dmitri instead?!? Like you’re telling me they managed to figure out he had been to Dmitri’s apartment but they didn’t see him lying in a public park sleeping on the floor?!? 💀

I just want to know why Sergei didn’t put any shoes on before going up to the apartment, he had that whole lift ride to do it-

You can tell that most of the film is set in London because when Kraven is running through the streets barefoot and climbing shit, no one moves out of the way or blinks an eye 💀

THEY CUT OFF DMITRI’S FINGER?!? 😭

Nikolai really believes his legacy and power is more important than Dmitri’s life, which is why he refuses to pay a ransom… fucking hate that man-

Not Dmitri sassing the guard by mimicking him 😂 he got smacked bad for it but still, love him

I am still so confused about the Foreigner and his powers like…? Is it when he takes his glasses off, it’s to do with the eyes or…?

The whole monastery thing is a blur for me because I was trying to clean my glasses at this point and so the screen was literally a blur 😭

That guy recording on his phone like “We killed the Hunter!” Only for Sergei to appear behind him and go “no you didn’t” 💀

If I’m getting this right, the Rhino’s whole deal is that he was upset by Nikolai on that hunting trip years ago (when the boys were kids) saying he was weak, so he allowed himself to be experimented on so he’d be stronger, and now he has rock hard skin but he’s also in pain which is why he has to keep medicine in his backpack that’s fed to him through a tube into his side?!? And when he takes the tube out he goes from looking normal to the greyscale rhino shit?!?

I’m sorry to be that thirsty bitch but Fred looks so good in the turtleneck 😌

^Me too, mate, me too

There’s a scene where Kraven meets Calpyso off some kind of aircraft when she arrives in Russia or Serbia or wherever, and I’m so sorry but the line delivery Ariana DeBose gave was REALLY wooden and their conversation was clearly ADR work.

When it shifted to the next scene of them walking through a forest, it was so fucking jarring and I can’t put my finger on why exactly that is

Kraven wrestling with the leopard only for it to run away and he’s like “…knew her as a cub. She’s a lot bigger then last time” “?!?

So is Kraven just able to communicate and be a friend to all animals or…?

The whole second half of the film is a blur to me quite frankly, Calypso has to go to Serbia or wherever to stay with Kraven because her informant was working with the Rhino’s men, all the baddies went to go kill Kraven… I don’t know, man, a lot happened and my congestion was kind of coming back by this point, so…yeah

Some random lore drop: Calypso is good at archery because she learnt at camp, I think?

THE GASP I LET OUT WHEN KRAVEN USED THE BEAR TRAP ON THAT GUY’S FACE, WHAT THE FUCK-

The Foreigner uses this poison dart thing that apparently causes the person to see their deepest fears and then kills them, which is why Sergei starts hallucinating fucking spiders in the middle of the woods

So Sergei’s mother was driven insane because…she was seeing spiders? And she’s afraid of spiders which she’s passed on to Sergei?

(Me too, Sergei, me too 🥲)

I shouldn’t be surprised that Calypso saved Sergei by shooting the Foreigner with a crossbow especially since ten minutes before they made a point of her holding a bow and going “I’m good at archery” 💀 also that she just so happened to have some more of the magical strength “this can cure any injury” potion on her person so she could save Kraven

I’m being 100% serious when I say that my reaction to seeing The Rhino in his full form was “what in the actual fucking greyscale?!?”

Kraven stabbing the Rhino in that little hole where his medicine tube should be was so nasty 😭 and he was still fighting after that?!?

Bearing in mind the Rhino’s skin is indestructible enough to withstand being shot, I’m honestly surprised that being trampled by a buffalo herd was enough to do the man in 😐

When Dmitri appeared with the gun I thought that the film was dropping a “Dmitri was in cahoots with the Rhino all along” twist but…no. He was just wanting to shoot the Rhino but his brother wouldn’t let him (would it even have done anything though given the Rhino seems bullet proof?)

WAIT IS THE RHINO FUCKING DEAD?!? I THOUGHT HE WAS A HUGE SPIDERMAN VILLAIN IM SO CONFUSED RIGHT NOW

This film had way too many bad guys for any of them to feel actually threatening: Nikolai (technically?), Rhino, Foreigner… they were all shoved in I guess

Nikolai was the one who leaked the video of his son being the Hunter who escaped prison etc like…? I thought Sergei was the favourite, bro, the fuck you doing-

HE REALLY TOOK THE BULLETS OUT HIS DAD’S GUN AND A BEAR KILLED NIKOLAI

Fred was so fucking hot in his last scene and a half, I’m sorry but I’m right, stop booing me-

The first two times we saw Fred lip sync in the earlier part of the film, it looked more believable that Dmitri was singing with someone else’s voice but maybe that’s because the camera didn’t linger too much…in this last scene though? Oh that was OBVIOUS lip syncing, again that could be an ADR/post production thing though?

Dmitri says that a doctor in New York did something to him…? Who? Is it Miles Warren or whatever the name Rhino mentioned earlier was?

Dmitri is pissed that Sergei killed their father, says Sergei is just like him, just “big game hunters searching for their next great trophy” and he’s…technically not really wrong?

BRO WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK-

So Sergei is trying to talk to Dmitri as he walks away across this busy London Bridge (I think it’s the Millennium Bridge?) and when Dmitri turns around he’s got Sergei’s face and speaks in Sergei’s voice…?? And then he walks away and his face goes all white and porcelain and blank before going back to being Fred?!?

SERGEI WAS GAGGED AND SO WAS I 😭

Fred looked hot as fuck though so I’m not going to complain

The film ends with Kraven going back to his dad’s London house, reading a note from his father and a vest made from the skin/fur of the lion he killed years ago, and Sergei puts it on before sitting in a chair in front of a mirror…and then the film just fucking ends?!?

There’s really no mid credits or post credits scene 😶

FRED HECHINGER THE MOVIE STAR YOU ARE

Final thoughts:

Honestly the film was okay. Not great but it was watchable and not the worst film I’ve seen (that honour is currently held by “Sausage Party”). “Mid” is a good word to be honest.

Listen I know I’m biased but I do truly think Fred was a highlight of this film 😭 the fact that Sony has already said they’re giving up on the SM villain universe thing they’ve had going on makes me sad because we probably won’t see more of Fred as Dmitri but given the reception some of the films have had… yeah.

I feel like this could have been a great movie if the editing and post production had been done better. And some of the lines, obviously, because there were some REALLY cringey lines in this film that not even the greatest of actors could save (I’m pretty sure a few of them were definitely the Rhino)

It makes me sad that you can tell ATJ was genuinely passionate about this character and doing him justice, but the material he was given let him down I think - again, that could be a mixture of editing and writing

Hearing F bombs dropped in a Marvel film just seems so strange to me 😭

Honestly, I think I’m probably giving this a 5.5/10, maybe 6/10 if I want to be generous. It was watchable and fun to watch while eating popcorn, which can be nice sometimes.

[mrsjellymunson]

Hello! 👋

Requests: ON HOLD || Asks: OPEN || Inbox: ALWAYS OPEN

Hi, hello, I’m Kittie and I’m obsessed with Stranger Things. I’m married to Eddie Munson and there’s nothing you can do to change my mind. I write for Eddie (x fem! & gn!reader) and Steddie (for them and x reader), and, very occasionally, Joseph Quinn. I hope to write for other characters too, and already have ideas for Mr Clarke and some of the girls. I’m very friendly so please feel free to message or ‘ask’ 😊 I’m new to fandom (and old, in Tumblr terms!), so if I get things wrong please be kind. I’m fairly new to writing, and I’m enjoying myself immensely and hope you enjoy what I write (and if you do, please let me know!)

I have general and series-specific taglists, if you’d like to be on either just drop me a comment, ask or message 😊💗

🔞 Important: I post and share mature and dark content; DO NOT interact with my blog if you’re under 18 🔞 If you want to follow me please put something in your bio like your age/age range, or respond to my request for confirmation.

Content key:

💗Fluff ❤️Mature themes ❤️‍🔥Smut 💔Hurt/angst 🖤Dark themes

FIC LIST BELOW THE CUT

Series/Multi-Parts:

THE BIOLOGY TUTOR 💗❤️❤️‍🔥 virgin!Eddie Munson x fem!tutor!reader Eddie’s failing class, again, so you offer two different styles of biology tuition, textbook-based and *ahem* practical

KNOCK AT THE CABIN ❤️🖤💗❤️‍🔥 Eddie Munson x fem!reader Post-S4, Upside Down exists. After the events of the previous months, everyone is shocked by the unexpected return of an old friend. But how much has he changed?

DAMSELS & DEBAUCHERY: The D&D Chronicles Game 1: Start Something 💗❤️❤️‍🔥 DM!Eddie Munson x fem!reader

GOOD THINGS (Come in Threes) 💗❤️❤️‍🔥 Steddie x older!fem!reader Moving to a new town was hard, but some of your son’s new friends make the transition easier

HELLO, STRANGER/HEY, BOSS 💗❤️🖤 Eddie Munson x gn!reader Black comedy/dark humour. A stranger buys weird stuff at odd times, and as the cashier at the local hardware store you’re not sure what to make of it. Now with a Prequel showing how Eddie fell into his new line of work

Oneshots, 5+1’s, etc. (newest first):

The Essence of You 💗❤️❤️‍🔥 Steddie; Eddie Munson x Steve Harrington 7.3k+ An argument, shared feelings and soft, slow smut

That Was You? 💗 Eddie Munson x fem! or gn!reader 1.6k A meet cute in a record store

Take Care of Me 🖤❤️💗 Eddie Munson x fem!reader 7.4k Eddie rescues you after a disastrous date [REQUESTED]

The Boy Is Mine, Kittie’s edition 💗❤️ Eddie Munson x fem!reader 1.6k A romantic night in at the trailer, using prop & dialogue prompts

Candyman, Candyman, Candyman 💗 Eddie Munson x fem! or gn!reader ~2.1k A Valentine’s 5+1: Five times you get to give Eddie a kiss, and one time he kisses you back

S.A.N.T.A. BABY 💗❤️‍🔥 Eddie Munson x fem!reader ~10k A festive 5+1: Five times you embarrass yourself in front of Eddie, and one time you don’t…

Leaving Hawkins? Come Again Soon! ❤️❤️‍🔥 Eddie Munson x Patrick Verona x fem!reader. Eddie and Patrick make your last night in Hawkins a memorable one (coming soon)

Ficlets, drabs, asks, headcanons (newest first):

Drummer!Eddie Munson headcanons 💗

Get Lucky 💗❤️ Corroded Coffin ficlet featuring Eddie Munson & Grant/‘unnamed freak’ 1k

A Crown For Your King 💗 Eddie Munson x gn!reader Eddie takes you on a picnic [ask]

What are those stains on Eddie’s mattress? 🤔 SFW Part 1💗 NSFW Part 2 💗❤️❤️‍🔥 [ask, headcanon]

Eddie Munson brings home a box of kittens 💗 [ask, headcanon]

‘Til Next Time ❤️❤️‍🔥 can be rockstar!Eddie Munson x fem/masc/gn!reader 0.7k. A tryst with your secret lover

Thinking About Dom!Eddie’s Thighs ❤️❤️‍🔥 Eddie Munson x gn!reader

Something To Crow About 💗❤️ Eddie Munson x gn!reader Eddie dresses as Eric Draven (With NEW accompanying art and an edit with me in!! 😍)

Series:

GOOD THINGS (Come In Threes) 💗❤️❤️‍🔥 Steddie x older!fem!reader

Oneshots:

The Essence of You 💗❤️❤️‍🔥 Steddie; Eddie Munson x Steve Harrington 7.3k+ An argument, shared feelings and soft, slow smut

Ficlets/minifics (<600words, newest first):

Meet Me💗❤️🖤 Something Old, Something New💗 Time Me ❤️❤️‍🔥

Hurt Me ❤️💔 Dress Up 💗❤️ Look At Me ❤️ Say Hello To My Little Friend 💗❤️

One Fine Day (1.1k)💗 A One Time Thing❤️‍🔥 I Need A Moment💗

“The Stuff”❤️‍🔥 The Counter Argument❤️‍🔥 Top & Tail💗❤️ Turning P!nk💗 Fool Me💗❤️

‘It’s My Birthday!’💗❤️ Pin Me❤️ The Edge of Insanity❤️❤️‍🔥 Fill Me (dom!Steve)❤️‍🔥

Fill Me (dom!Eddie)❤️‍🔥 Filler ❤️ Play Me💗 What’s His Name Again?💗

Find Me ❤️🖤💔 Teach Me❤️❤️‍🔥 Steve’s Keychain💗 Mud Cakes & Pancakes💗

Special Treatment v2❤️ Special Treatment v1❤️

We’re definitely not thinking about JQ’s unnamed Warfare character doing push-ups ❤️ [ASK]

‘Til Next Time ❤️❤️‍🔥 can be Joseph Quinn x fem/masc/gn!reader 0.7k. A tryst with your secret lover

Happy Halloween, Love ❤️❤️‍🔥🖤 Joseph Quinn x fem!reader, RPF 4.4k. Joe raids the costume department at work and conspires to make this Halloween your most memorable yet

Non-ST writings:

‘Til Next Time ❤️❤️‍🔥 A CHOOSE-YOUR-OWN-CHARACTER FIC 0.7k. G/N!reader x celebrity!masc!character. A tryst with your secret lover

If You Go Down To The Woods Today Freaky happenings in a forest featuring OC/RPG characters

Fic recs:

This section is a work in progress, but here are some to start you off:

Authors and fics

Eddie fluff recs

Some of my fave authors

BTW if you come across anything like typos, inconsistencies, broken links or whatever please let me know, I honestly will not mind! 😍🙏

I’m still fairly new to all this, but I understand that comments and, especially, reblogs are the lifeblood of this site. Please support each other and share the creativity! 😘💗

All works are my copyright; I do not consent to any of my writing being copied, edited, shared on other platforms or put into any AI programmes.

[ethanscrocs]

Six of Crows Playlists 🐦‍⬛

Edit: Check the notes for more!

I made some Six of Crows playlists, forgive me for the sheer amount of songs, I listen to a downright obnoxious amount of music. I was also legally obligated to include some very 2016-2018 "edgy" music that was typically associated with these books back in my fandom days. The middle school nostalgia aspect really got me.

General book playlist, some of it is songs that fit all of the characters as well as book events, some of it is songs that fit the atmosphere of the setting.

My Jesper and Wylan playlist. I'd be down to make playlists for other specific relationships, they just happen to be my favorite. If that's something you're actually interested in, let me know, because I do have some ideas!

Possibly a collection of all my favorite love songs. They meant so much to me when I was 13, I have such a soft spot.

I'm most embarrassed by this one. It has a lot of the nostalgia element that was mentioned above. It was difficult to find songs that contend with the persona Kaz has so carefully cultivated. Forgive me for the possibly shallow reading of his character that it may convey.

There's lots to work with in regard to Inej. Her past as an acrobat, her future as a pirate, all on top of her character throughout the duology. I had fun.

Possibly one of the most conflicting and chaotic playlists on this list. Creating it really had me pondering Nina's writing. She's a lot more complex/multi-faceted than I'd ever given her credit for, haha!

I struggled the most with Matthias' playlist, I'm actually surprised it's as long as it is. I didn't connect with him as much as the others, especially during my first reading of the duology, but I've definitely gained some respect for his character and what Bardugo was trying to convey when writing him. Normally I'm drawn to characters whose experience parallels mine as a "cult survivor", but there's a lot of notable distance between our experiences.

Similarly to the Kaz playlist, I hope the "just vibes" theme of this playlist doesn't come across as a shallow understanding of Jesper's character. It's the longest playlist, he's my absolute favorite and it shows. I have a lot of respect for him!

A contender for the discordic energy of Nina's playlist. I intentionally leaned into this aspect. Wylan holds a special place in my heart, he helped me come to terms with a lot of things. I fear some of the self projection is clearly evident.

A couple of extra notes:

Expect a follow-up post soon. I very much need a Kuwei playlist, as well as a Kanej/Helnik/Ninej playlist. Perhaps one highlighting the friendship between Jesper and Inej as well, who knows.

If you're uncomfortable with songs with sexual or suggestive lyrics being applied to them, I totally understand and respect that. Those songs were included either because I found that aspect of them ignorable, because I think it matches their "energy" or is the style of music they might enjoy, or quite rarely because I'm specifically keeping the Shadow and Bone continuity in mind.

Example: ...Baby One More Time is a fairly suggestive song. But I'll stand by the fact that Jesper Fahey would listen to 90s pop artists over my dead body.

[attic-club-sandwich]

Thoughts on Mammon being a bird dad?

Like there isn't a doubt in my mind he names them all. From cool names like Gucci to names of an object, like Rocky because he saw a rock on the ground... he's running out of names

omg i could go on all day about bird dad Mammon! He definitely treats his crows like his children. I always thought it was such a cool concept for him to be able to communicate with them (since they are his familiars... in my mind at least!)

But here's some of my personal headcanons/thoughts:

I imagine that when Mammon first enters the Devildom, he spots a crow sitting on the fence as they are leaving the Demon Castle for the first time.

Then all of a sudden more keep landing and he keeps hearing voices calling out to him and his brothers.

"H-Hey uh, do you guys hear that too?"

The brothers shoot him weird glances since they think he's crazy, and for a second he thinks he's also losing his mind.

Then all of a sudden he realizes the birds are talking to him.

Beckoning him over to the fence.

It's like they immediately knew who he was.

Mammon hesitantly walked over to them, instinct telling him to hold out an arm.

One gently lands on him, looking directly into Mammon's golden gaze.

It speaks words that only he can understand, leaving his brothers visibly confused.

Mammon starts forming relationships with the birds, giving them gifts and getting things back in return.

There's a tree outside of Mammon's window that has the perfect branch that extends right past his bedroom window, so the crows often perch outside and tap on the window when they return home.

They like to bring him things like buttons, bells, stones, rings, etc.

They'll even bring him Grimm that they find laying around on the streets.

Mammon is very quick to return to his bedroom after RAD to see what gifts that they brought him.

He also keeps all of the feathers that the crows leave behind. He has a collection.

He always gets something to bring back for his crows too, like a shiny rock or a Demonus bottle cap he found or maybe some leftover snacks from the RAD cafeteria.

Mammon usually has peanuts or something in his pockets, and Lucifer gets very annoyed on laundry day (if he forgets to give them to his crows lol)

As far as naming them, i feel like you are absolutely right lol he definitely has them named after luxury brands like Gucci or Louis Vuitton or something 💀

He would also totally name them by the first ever gifts they brought him! So Rocky is 100% a possibility he's so cute omg.

Maybe he isn't too good at coming up with names sometimes so he has MC help him name them too because new crows will come along 💕 (baby crows perhaps?!)

He basically has his own personal little army of crows. He commands them and they listen and do favors for him, but he also takes care of them too in return.

If one returns injured, he will personally see to nursing it back to health!

He definitely takes his dad/grandpa responsibilities seriously. 😂

thank you for sending this in, Hack! I had so much fun rambling about this it sorta just turned into a headcanon haha

Taglist: @amberrskiies @obey-me-posts @sassykattery @delphi-dreamin @bite-sized-devil @a-hidden-gem @otomefoxystar @marvelous-maniac @nonbinary-disaster @selfmadender @animeismyhappyplace @vampire-tr4mp @ana-dear @gaychaosgremlin @sidgethegamer @meiloorun-tea @temnuk0

[silent-littles-blog]

Hi hi hi! I’m melatonin! Do you wanna be friends?

I have a request if you don’t mind could you do Cg pomni x fem baby regressor reader? Maybe with mentions of stuffys playtime packs and baby bottles

Only if you want to ofc!

Thanks a lot!

-Melatonin💘💉

Cg Pomni x Fem baby regressor

Theme: Stuffies, playtime, baby bottles

I am using more broad tags, if this isn't your tea, just skip this and continue to other posts

· ─────────꒰🎪꒱───────── ·

[ Prologue ]

I hope I did well! Ive never done fanfics before, so this might suck. I am better at writing casual things with characters I know (preferably OCs)

It's been a long time since the Digital Circus welcomed a new member with open arms, so your sudden appearance shook everyone up. For a moment, everyone remembered that despite the saturated colors of the circus, the infinite dimensions they could explore, it never made up for the life they had before.

Pomni had a horrible time adapting to the circus, which eventually graduated into an argument with Caine. Though, after the harsh exchange of arguments, Caine decided to study human behavior closely, but very secretly without admitting it upfront.

You found yourself in the circus about a month ago and so far it's been traumatizing. A new name has been picked for you, ‘[name]‘, a silly one at that. You've been introduced to new activities and new people, but your memories have been taken away. You knew something was missing, you don't belong here, but you can't do anything about it.

Frankly, Pomni had the same issue. She's been here for six months, Ragatha introduced her to age regression, as Gangle showed signs of that first. Pomni adapted the coping mechanism quickly and it helped her on her journey to recover. She's been a flip now.

Pomni has noticed your strange behavior, the sudden anxiety and stress that plagues your mind whenever you seem to get deja vu. It feels like you've been uncomfortable when approached with childish things. Being offered toys, or even confronting attractions around the circus yourself.

She introduced you to age regression a month ago, but so far, it's been no help. Only today, Pomni stumbles upon you regressed as she enters your room.

[ Story begin ]

"[name]?" A silent squeak escapes Pomni's mouth, a tone that makes her worries clear. Her eyes dance around your room, with no sign of your presence. Only when Pomni sets her foot in, her ears capture soft giggling coming from beneath your bed. She cocks her eyebrow as she keeps the door open, assuming the worst, has the anxiety got to you? Did you finally abstract?

She keeps herself on high guard, "[name], I- I can hear you. Where are you?" she speaks as she advances further into the room, closer to the bed where you dwell. Suddenly, you crawl out fast, striking her feet with a soft grasp. Pomni gasps and almost allows a scream to escape her throat. Her eyes are wide open as she stares at you in shock, suddenly noticing the hand-made paci she's made you a week ago.

"Oh my... hello little one!" Her eyes sparkle with the sudden surprise, she kneels down and gently tucks her hand under your arms, lifting you up and pulling you on her lap. "You scared me! Such a scary little thing you are." You giggle under your pacifier, hands put together as you let her embrace you. Pomni slowly stands up with you in her arm and she coos at you, she can't contain the excitement about finding you regressed by yourself.

"You must feel pretty bored, no? Hiding under the bed, let's take you outside, yeah [name]?" You squeal silently and clap your hands together, and off to the door you go. Pomni carried you into the main hall, finding Ragatha and Zooble enjoying some tea time together. They both face you in Pomni's arms, Ragatha gasps, covering her mouth with her soft hands. "[name]!" She happily crows.

Pomni sets you down on the ground to let her arms rest and stretches a little. In instance, you crawl to Zooble and Ragatha as you notice the colorful blanket they are sitting on. You get yourself comfortable in their presence, Zooble coos at you and Pomni quickly rushed away and you stared at her with a whine, but in a moment, she was back with some blocks and stuffies in her arms. She set the stuff on the blanket, showing you a cute, fluffy teddy bear, a stuffed kitty and a stim toy with a variety of textures made from different materials. She took the teddy bear into her hands, "Hello [name], would you care for a snack!", she imitated the bears voice and pulled out a chocolate bar from her pocket. You squealed in excitement and took the chocolate bar with no hesitance.

For the time being, you spent the time playing with the three. Mainly snug to Pomni while Ragatha took care of snacks and food. Later, you began to be hungry, it hinting at your sudden shift in behavior. Pomni stood by your side while Ragatha disappeared to prepare you warm milk. She handed the bottle to Pomni, who then proceeded to bottle feed you, your eyes began to feel heavy gradually.

You finished your bottle and cuddled into Pomni, tugging at her hat for comfort as you liked how the bells ring. She picked you up and walked you to your room where she placed you upon your bed.

"Goodnight, [name]." She pecked your forehead with a kiss and let you rest.

· ─────────꒰🎪꒱───────── ·

[feartoxinjelloshot]

Poor little Jonny with guts made of straw;

Far from his bed did he go that night

Jon, Mama and Papa, early in thaw

Flew he to the cornfield, sickened with fright.

Too close, too close! Cried the mother crow

And with her beak tore poor Jonny's hand

The child asked weeping his parents to go

But all still and quiet they both did stand.

Checkered blue curtains his morning-bird;

Mama's scratch fire burning his blood

Laid sick little Jonny and said not a word

In his hospital bed of magnolia wood.

They had given him water and supper and tea

And ointments of healing all down the limb

Still Jonny said nothing: they could not see

The straw-filled man stood in front of him.

Threw up the supper and bled out the tea;

Pecked and scalpeled the arm that he kept

Woken by terrors in the moon's light of three

All of the doctors and nurses had left.

Jonny cried mercy to the spiders and dirt

Lord, said he, one who made me so sick

His prayer then he spits like a curse

Heal me, my God, sweaty hands in a grip.

And to the son's cross on high he turned;

For black into the morning the sun had crept

But Jonny was older and soon had he learned

That God was a scarecrow with a noose 'round its neck.

I actually have not talked about Jon's original-original scarecrow incident here (as opposed to the NJ hospital one or sitb), mostly because it didn't really exist in any kind of coherent form until recently: the story goes that Jon, as mentioned in my other posts, was a severely chronically ill child and spent large chunks of his upbringing in and out of the hospital. as a teenager (somewhere in the 14-17 range) he was on a very rare family vacation with his often-neglectful parents; he was of course ecstatic to spend quality time with them outside of a medical environment or school. during the vacation Jon went into a cornfield by himself and ventured too close to a mother crow's nest, who pecked and drew blood from his hand in an attempt to defend her babies. Knowing of his own weakened immune system, this frightened Jon immensely, but upon telling his parents of it they were skeptical and said as long as he cleaned and wrapped it it would be fine -- it was just a bird peck. It wasn't worth ruining a whole vacation over. And Jon didn't really want to go back to the doctor, anyway, so he did as they said and went on with the trip.

Within several days the wound got severely infected. Jon was carted to the hospital in a feverish fugue and pumped full of an antibiotic cocktail that, while it did save him the arm and eventually fight off the infection, gave him a medley of hallucinatory side effects. The important thing to know about Jonathan here is that this was not an isolated incident -- he had a history of bad medication reactions, and coupled with his severe anxiety and potential undiagnosed psychosis, over the course of his childhood he had come to personify his own fears in the form of a frequent sleep-paralysis-creature-slash-nightmare-visitor that he dubbed The Scarecrow. Up until the crow-peck incident he had purely been afraid of it: the Christian ideals pushed on him over time led him to think of it almost as a devil figure, haunting him for his imaginary sins.

But the delirious hallucinatory episode of the concentrated antibiotic treatment, over the course of a long hellish week or so, started to change his perception of it. He had elaborate out-of-body experiences where he took his Scarecrow's place, lumbering and silent, following a sick child in the night, peering into the windows of sleeping households. He unbuckled the white face of the straw-filled man and found his own rotting skull inside. He prayed to God and the Scarecrow answered, speaking in a deep hoarse voice that sat hollow in his lungs. For the first time in his life he grasped the purpose of his own creation beyond the clutches of sickness -- he was to become his own Lord. He was to hang on the nightmare's noose and leave his human body and mind behind him. For the first time he felt strong.

The fear hadn't left him -- it never would -- but when he emerged from his fever and into the new world, it was with a black fountain of faith at his lip.