#I mean. the shop button addition

[freakinflipflop]

I’m so glad I have android, partially bc it’s cool and partially bc from what I’m seeing on my iPad it looks like tumblr rolls out all the Bad updates to apple users first

[armoredisopod]

Arknights Thank You Celebration 2024 PVs

New Operators

Figurino, 5* Merchant Specialist

I have a lot to learn, and right now, i'd like to start by making a new suit.

Crownslayer, 6* Welfare Executor Specialist

"Crownslayer", that's the name we're familiar with, let's keep it.

Vulpisfoglia, 6* Pioneer Vanguard

I appreciate the acknowledgement. But you know this means in the future the people who are hunting me for bounty will come to Rhodes Island first. Will that be fine?

Lappland the Decadenza, 6* Limited Mech-Accord Caster

Is this your way of trying to get me to settle down, or do you also think this game needs more excitement...

I just can't guess you, no wonder i like your trust in me!

2 new operators to the voucher shop

Contrail, 4* 巡空者 (Air Patrol) Specialist

Philae, 5* 本源铁卫 (Primal Protector) Defender

Operator Outfits Update

Total of 6 new outfits, 2 new additions for the Cambrian brand, 1 new addition for the Epoque brand, 2 new additions for the Test Collection brand and 1 new addition for the 0011/Tempest brand

Cambrian

At the Warm Velvet Corner - Warmy

Travel Freely - Sussurro (Login Event)

Epoque

Il Segreto Della Notte - Texas the Omertosa (21 OP)

Test Collection

Allmind As One - Executor the Ex Foedere (24 OP)

The city lights up. I can sense everyone's presence, and everyone's absence. We are together——— as one "Laterano".

Diversity Oneness - Virtuosa (24 OP)

Please stay, Sankta. Please tell me, is the Laterano of now a place that is connected to the rest of the land?

0011/Tempest

Ignis Fatuus - Lessing

Lessing's outfit will be up for sale during Zwillingstürme im Herbst Retrospect

Announced outfit reruns

Young Branch - Muelsyse

Red Countess - Skadi the Corrupting Heart

Operator Modules Update

All the new operators (except the red cert shop ops) being part of branches with modules immediately get their modules

FUN-X module base effect increases the starting damage of Lappland the Decadenza's drones to 35% of her ATK

SOL-X module base effect gives Vulpisfoglia +8% ATK and DEF when blocking

EXE-X module base effect makes it so retreating Crownslayer refunds 80% of her current DP Cost

MER-X module base effect reduces the DP drained by Figurino's trait effect

Ritualist Supporter branch gets 1 module type

Lessing gets his second module

DRE-Y module base effect allows Lessing to survive a single fatal blow, healing back to full and gaining +30 ASPD at the cost of -60% Max HP, this effect only activates once per deployment

Angelina and Rosmontis get Integrated Strategies specialized modules

These modules' effects are unknown at the time of writing

Events and Stories

I Portatori Dei Velluti, a Siracusa side story event

Put on your masks and dresses, the show is about to begin in the streets.

Come on, don't be boring - you're probably the least "Carnival" of the bunch!

Stronghold Protocol, limited time autobattler gamemode, opens during the third week of I Portatori Dei Velluti

Zwillingstürme im Herbst Retrospect, scheduled after I Portatori Dei Velluti

Operator Archives update for Lessing, Jieyun, Schwarz, Sora, Totter and Vigil

Misc Stuff

New QoL changes

Added the ability to have preset base loadouts that you can easily swap between

Added the ability to instantly send every exhausted operator into dormitories with one button

Max Sanity cap increased by +45

Refilling sanity using Originite Prime will refill 135 sanity regardless of level/max cap

Added the ability to instantly move to required lower materials when crafting and a button to move back the higher tier material that required it

Mountain, Kafka and Pinecone added to recruitment

Bagpipe's [Queen, No.1] outfit will be available in the certs shop to players that don't have it

Livestream Stuff

Showcased Lappland the Decadenza, a hyper offensive 6* Mech-Accord Caster with potent self buffs and powerful debuffs

First talent makes her stronger the longer she stays on the field, getting the following buffs in order: increased drone damage cap, ability to inflict Silence, gains more drones

Second talent increases the initial SP of all [Siracusa] operators when she's in the squad

Skill 1 has a passive effect that immediately gives her an additional drone, when the skill activates she gains ATK, releases her drones to attack enemies and her drones will attack idling enemies anywhere on the field

Skill 2 expands her attack range, increases her ATK, gives her more drones and releases her drones to attack enemies randomly within range, her drones have a chance to inflict Panic

Skill 3 increases her ATK and gives her more drones, then releases special drones that actively seek out and hunt enemies, the special drones inflict Panic upon reaching a target and locks onto them; enemies near the drones will have decreased movement speed and take Arts damage every second

Showcased Vulpisfoglia, a 6* Pioneer Vanguard with a strong battlefield presence

First talent makes her attacks deal additional Arts damage for a few seconds after the first time hitting them

Second talent increases the natural DP regeneration by a small amount and lets her recover HP when she hasn't taken damage for a few seconds

Skill 1 is a power strike skill that makes her next attack deal Arts damage and generate some DP, this skill can store charges

Skill 2 lets her immediately deal Arts damage in an area in front of her, Slows the hit enemies and generates some DP. If the enemies were already under the effects of Slow they will be Stunned instead, this skill can store charges

Skill 3 immediately generates DP, expands her attack range, increases her ATK, gives a massive decaying ASPD boost, allows her to attack enemies equal to block count and each attack briefly Stuns the hit enemies. If she defeats any enemy during the skill she will gain Camouflage at the end of the skill that lasts until the next skill activation

Showcased Crownslayer, a 6* Executor Specialist with a unique disruptive kit

First talent sprays a smokescreen on the 8 surrounding tiles around her during skill duration, reducing the Physical and Arts Hit Rate of ground enemies in those tiles

Second talent lets her deal increased Physical damage to enemies that have not landed a hit on her

Skill 1 gives her increased ATK and some amount of Physical and Arts Dodge

Skill 2 stops her from attacking upon deployment, makes her less likely to be attacked and increases the amount of Physical and Arts Hit Rate the smokescreen decreases, when skill ends she will deal a certain % of ATK as Physical damage to all enemies within range

Skill 3 increases her first talent range, gives her Invisibility and sets her Block Count to 0, every few seconds she will appear to attack an enemy within the talent range dealing a certain % of ATK as Physical damage and Stunning them for a few seconds

Showcased the event mechanic, a fireworks machine that will apply effects on a number of tiles around it when activated

While the machine is active, operators on those tiles will take periodic damage and cannot be healed but will not have their HP go below 1, enemies on those tiles will take constant damage

Players can additionally customize which tiles will be affected by the fireworks machine and have it apply additional bonus effects in the event menu

Showcased Contrail, an experimental 4* of a neat new branch 巡空者 (Air Patrol), a Specialist branch that consists of operators that have 2 Block Count and utilizes the new status "Takeoff"

Takeoff: Does not block ground enemies and will not be attacked by ground enemies, can block aerial enemies

S1 makes her takeoff immediately upon deployment, expands her attack range, increases her ATK and gives her some Physical Dodge

S2 makes her takeoff when activated, expands her attack range, increases her ATK, lets her attack 2 targets at once and is able to attack an additional aerial enemy and her attacks inflict Slow to aerial enemies

Showed footage of the new base loadouts feature

Work rooms and Dormitories are now in separate tabs

You can set up to 3 loadouts for each individual room and press a button to immediately swap out exhausted operators, there is also a button to immediately do this in every room all at once

Showed the button that immediately sends all exhausted operators into the dorms

Teased even more base QoL features planned for the next Sui sibling event update

Expanded the Reception Room and added the ability to decorate it

Added activity rooms, operators assigned to this room can be manually controlled and move around the base

Announced the ability to register your birthday, players will receive gift furniture on their set birthday and operators have special birthday voicelines

Announced the ability to have a list of rotating assistant operators that change every day

Announced the ability to make loadouts for the main menu background/UI theme/assistant operators for quick switching

SSS will get a skip feature, uses the same PRTS Proxy Cards used for annihilation skip

The older SSS maps will become playable again

Stronghold Protocol, limited time autobattler gamemode

In the gamemode the player will have to prepare their squad and operators before each battle, the player can hire additional operators and have multiple copies of them deployed or combined into a higher tier of that operator

Players can hire reserve operators should they lack usable units and also hire up to 8 friend support operators

Teased the next event involving Thorns and the history of alchemy in Iberia

Announced some kind of mini game collection "Poly Vision Museum"

Announced the second expansion update for IS#5

A 5th ending exploring the story of an alternate universe Amiya

The ability to share seeds of runs you completed to other players, completing a seeded run will not unlock higher difficulty/new relics/etc

Max difficulty increased beyond 15

New starting squads

New collectibles and thoughts (IS5 gimmick items)

Teased Arknights anime season 3 [RISE FROM EMBER]

Announced U-Official mini series

Announced Ambience Synesthesia 2025: Best Song Award, the song lineup featured in the concert will be decided via community polling

INVESTIGATED TERRA lore video covering the history and development of Originium on Terra and the technology that sprouted from it narrated by Kal'tsit

[oleanderfox]

Palia Tips

Some things I have learned that might help others. 🩵

Game Controls

You can put away your tool by pressing X.

If you get stuck, type /unstuck in the chat window and you’ll be teleported to the nearest stable surface.

Right clicking with a tool equipped will let you switch between different types of ammo (for bug catching and hunting).

You can cancel without wasting ammo after entering "aim" mode by pressing the Shift key or right mouse button (h/t @sharky857 ).

You can climb ivy in addition to cliffs. (Like inside the lighthouse..!)

You can cancel climbing/drop from a cliff face by clicking X. (h/t @lazyadmiral )

You can jump (space bar) while climbing cliffs to climb faster.

You can hold down the mouse key when mining, tilling, and chopping down trees rather than clicking for each chop.

Camera & Photos

Press K to enter camera mode.

There’s a 🔁 button in the corner if you want to swap to a front-facing camera/“selfie mode”.

If you want to see your photos while in the game, you have to save them to the album. However all photos taken, even if you don’t do that step, will be saved to your computer’s hard drive.

To find your photos, open Windows Explorer and enter %appdata% in the location bar. From there navigate to %AppData%/Local/Palia/Saved/Screenshots. You should be able to pin this folder to your quick nav/favorites to find it again easily.

Time

One hour of real time = one entire day in Palia. That means an hour in Palia passes in only 2.5 minutes of play.

You only get "credit" (for building friendships) for chatting with villagers once per villager per day.

Many bugs, fish, and plants can only be found at certain times. Time in Palia is divided into: ‣ Morning: 3-6am (rooster crows at 3) ‣ Day: 6am-6pm ‣ Evening: 6pm-9pm ‣ Night: 9pm-3am (owl hoots at 9)

Time in Palia is the same across all servers. Midnight (a new day) will always be on the hour in real world time, so 6am in Palia is at X:15, noon is at X:30, and 6pm is at X:45.

6am is a "new day" for crops, but midnight is a "new day" for chatting with villagers. Midnight also seems to be when the furniture in Tish’s shop refreshes.

Gifting runs on real world time, not Palia time. You can only give a villager one gift every 24 hours in the real world, and "Weekly Wants" are valid for one real world week. The week currently resets on Mondays at 12am Eastern.

Once you get a villager's key, you can talk to and visit them even when they are "asleep".

Mail is delivered and picked up (shipping bin sales) at 6am and 6pm.

To find rare spawns, arrive in the area 15-30 Palia minutes before the start of its catch period and clear all the common critters/plants. This will make it more likely your rare will spawn when the clock chimes.

Inventory & House

Furniture does not take up inventory space!!

A gold star on an item's icon means it's "star quality." Starred items fetch higher sales prices and are required for some quests.

Starred items will not stack with normal items.

Only star quality food can be placed in your house/lot.

More storage chests = more storage slots, but you are capped at 8.

You can hang items on the exterior walls of your home - including wallpaper!!

When in placement mode, you can rotate items using Q and E. You can turn off “grid mode” by pressing z, which allows more flexible item placement.

Leveling

Your character level is a combination of your level in each of your skills.

Eating food increases your "focus," which applies a percentage bonus that will make you level faster.

You can increase that bonus by visiting the Dragon and Phoenix shrines and spending Renown to increase the percentage (Phoenix Shrine) and the amount of focus you can accumulate.

You can only "carry" 1,000 Renown at any time. If you're not spending it, you're throwing away Exp.

Renown is also needed to expand your housing plot (by buying "Writs").

Event

You can get "displayable" food from Reth and Delaila, but it's based on RNG. Just keep buying the item until you get a star quality one.

The quickest way to get Chapaa Chase tickets is by completing the Achievements; some require you to party with others.

The drums are not obvious, but you only need to go back and forth between a pair of them interacting as they light up. Eventually the big fireworks will trigger and you will get the achievement and reward. (Do this 2 more times for the second achievement!)

The event achievements are on the Event tab, not the achievements one.

Skill-Specific Tips

Fishing: If you don’t click in time and the fish disappears, don’t panic — the same fish will keep trying again! And if you change your mind, you can pull your line in/cancel and you won’t spend any bait. This means you can wait to be sure you’ve hooked the fish you want before reeling it in so you don’t waste all your precious glow worms! The one caveat is that sparkle pools (and the guaranty of a star quality catch) disappear if you don’t catch the fish on the first nibble.

Hunting: The Proudhorn Sernuk can teleport and the Azure Chapaa can make an illusion of copies of itself that disappear when shot. They're both very difficult to hunt until you learn to make Dispel arrows. If you’re still struggling to have enough resources for everything, learn the lowest quality arrow that can kill something in one shot and hunt with those. (Kilima chapaa can be killed with a makeshift arrow while regular Kilima sernuk require a standard arrow. Bahari chapaa need at least a standard arrow while elder sernuk in Bahari will cost you several fine arrows.)

Looting: For hunting, mining, and chopping down trees, everyone who gets one "hit" in gets loot, and the loot is not diminished by sharing. So working together to find pallium nodes or hunt rare critters rewards everyone. :) (Note that you need to have the required equipment quality to be able to share, though - if you get a message saying “sorry, you need to upgrade your equipment” then you won’t get any loot.)

Mining: On the topic of Palium, it’s not as rare as you think. It has very specific spawn points, which it only shares with stone - you’ll never find palium where you found iron before. This means you should mine all the stone sharing those points to encourage palium to spawn for your next visit. Palium can be found in the caves hidden around the perimeter of Bahari and in the Pavel mines.

Foraging: Purple glowing trees are flow trees, and require more than one player to chop them down. Again, everyone gets "full" loot, no matter how many people get a swing in. For small trees, let them heal after each hit if needed to make sure everyone present can get a hit. If you’re looking for a specific resource, say, sweet leaf, look up what it shares spawn points with (in this case, morels) and pick three as well so sweet leaf has a chance to spawn. Also, brightshrooms are typically found in ruins right up against the structures so they can be easy to overlook or mistake for glowing bugs at night.

Cooking: You can find recipes in villager's homes, by fishing them up in bottles, lying around the wilderness, and completing quests or bundles in addition to buying them from Reth.

Cooking together: Like with looting, everyone gets the full reward, even if you don't contribute any ingredients.

Lore & Fun Stuff

There is a mysterious beast in the Elderwoods.

The mine's haunted.

Sooo much queer rep: All the romanceable characters don’t care about the player’s “body type.” Sifuu, the Duchess (Kenyara), and Eshe are canonically wlw. Chayne was raised by two dads. The former lighthouse keepers in Bahari Bay were a gay couple. 🏳️‍🌈

Critters that have been mentioned but don't have in-game models or released concept art yet so we just have to speculate: ‣ Kitsuu: Sacred companions, according to Hassian. There is a kitsuu constellation which has "floppy ears" and horns. Possibly the "fennec fox with antlers" creature drawn in the Vault of the Waves? (Confirmed by the official Discord emotes!) No longer unreleased as of 0.3.6. :) ‣ Peki: Palian version of chickens, or at least they lay eggs and have feathers, and according to Nai’o “there are at least 72 unique color and pattern combinations for peki breeds.” ‣ Riffroc: Palian mounts. Nai'o has a beloved one named Sugarfoot; Kenyatta’s is named Sundrop.

Bug Reporting, Suggestions, and Help

Report problems here.

Give feedback and request/suggest features here.

If you're stuck on a quest or where to find an item, there's an "Official" wiki and an "unofficial" wiki.

[ashwhowrites]

Hello, could i request smth along these lines - person A does relationship type things with person B, but person B thinks they’re just flirting whereas person A thinks they’re actually in a relationship/dating? Just some cute fluffy misunderstanding stuff with eddie pls.

I love this

So Y/N believes they are dating and Eddie has no clue

Not proofread

"for you, handsome" Y/N said as she kissed Eddie's cheek, planting down a new comic from the bookstore she worked at. He smiled up from his seat in the lunchroom.

"Sick! The newest addition" Eddie beamed amazed, "thank you sweets" pecking her cheek as he dug into the new comic.

She smiled and skipped away. Walking to Chrissy as they linked arms.

"you guys are so cute together" Chrissy giggled

"I know!"

~~

"you guys are so cute together" Dustin smiled

"who?" Eddie asked, not looking up from his comic

"you and your girlfriend duh" Dustin chuckled, shaking his head as he tried to look at the comic

"girlfriend? Y/N? No way. She's just a friend" Eddie denied.

~~

"here baby" Eddie said as he wrapped the blanket around Y/N, noticing she was shivering. She smiled and cuddled closer to him. Sitting underneath his arm as they watched a movie.

"how long have they been together?" Robin whispered to Steve

"depends who you ask. To her, about three weeks. To him, they aren't even dating" Steve shrugged. Throwing popcorn in his mouth as the movie played.

~~

"so I'm thinking we should do red?" Y/N said as she looked through the prom magazines. Eddie holding her in place as she sat on his lap.

He hummed over her shoulder, "red is nice" he agreed

"but do you want to wear red?" She asked, looking over her shoulder to read his expression

"I'll wear whatever color you want baby" he smiled, kissing her cheek as he squeezed her hips

"red it is, we can go shopping for a tie tomorrow. Now time to pick out my dress!" She said, looking and circling her favorites

"HEY EDDIE NEED TO STEAL YOUR GIRL FAST" Robin yelled

Y/N's head snapped up as Robin walked across the library

"see ya soon!" Y/N said as she scooped up her magazine and met Robin half way.

"prom? Matching?" Robin teased

"hey he's my boyfriend, he gets to match my dress!"

~~

"prom? Matching?" Gareth teased as he sat at the table. Being easily ignored by the two who were smitten with each other

"she's my best friend and she wants to match" Eddie shrugged

No doubt his stomach did flips when she asked to match her dress to his tie

"mhhm best friend" Gareth mocked, wiggling his eyebrows

~~

"so Steve wants us to join his date because he's terrified of the girl so we need to dress nice" Y/N said as she dug through Eddie's closet. Searching for a button up, plain shirt or even a flannel

"why is he going on a date with her if he's so scared?" Eddie questioned, watching as she yanked through his clothes.

"because he was too scared to tell her no" she laughed. Cheering as she found a plain white shirt

"okay baby. Throw this on with your red flannel and your black jeans, no holes!" She added as she threw the clothes at him.

Holding hands as they walked into the restaurant, easily finding a terrified looking Steve, pressing himself as far away from the girl as he could.

"hey my favorite couple is here!" Steve announced as Y/N and Eddie sat down.

Y/N laughed as Eddie gave him a confused look

But Y/N took control of the conversation in seconds.

~~

"how did you guys meet?" The girl asked, her hands moving along Steve's chest

"math class" Eddie answered as he dug into Y/N's plate of fries. Smiling as she slid the plate closer to him.

"how long before you knew you liked each other?"

Eddie gave her a weird look, about to ask her what the hell she meant when Y/N spoke first

"oh right away. I mean he's so handsome. Plus he's so funny. He's sweet and nice. I had a crush on him right away but it took us around six months before we ever made it anywhere"

Eddie was taken back by her answer

She liked him?

Made it anywhere?

Where the hell are they?

"that's so adorable. You guys seem to fit together really well" Y/N smiled at the compliment

Eddie was still confused

"oh yeah. These two are going to make it far. They are even matching at prom! Let's talk about that!" Steve said fast, dying to keep the topic on them

~~

Eddie listened as she answered every question about their "relationship", one he didn't even know they had.

He thought about how to ask her about it as he dropped her off. Standing at her door.

"I have something to ask you and I don't want it to upset you" He said, watching as she anxiously looked at him.

"what's up?"

"why did ... How come....why did you answer all of those questions about us being a couple?" He spit out

She laughed, "because she was asking" she didn't quite understand why he was asking that.

"but like....we aren't a couple" he said confused, watching as her laughter died down and turned into a frown

"oh..um what?" She said, shaking her head as she tried to understand

"we aren't together" he said again

Now both staring at each other confused

"wait we aren't? I've been calling you my boyfriend for like two months? Oh my god. I'm so sorry. " She apologized. Now she just felt like an idiot. Walking around and claiming they were in a relationship. They weren't even close to being on the same page

"wait no. Don't be sorry. I want to be with you. I want to be your boyfriend. I just didn't know we were already there. I thought we were just flirting and chasing. But I definitely would rather be official. " he explained

"we already suck at communicating" she laughed, enjoying the way he laughed with her

"okay as of right now, we are officially together!" He declared. Holding his right hand up

"officially together" she agreed. Holding up her right hand.

"can I kiss you then?" He asked, stepping closer to her

She nodded with a small smile.

Watching as he moved closer to her lips, bumping her nose softly as he connected their lips.

It was soft, slow and warm. Many months leading up to the emotions in this one kiss. And the many that came after.

Tags!

@bmunson86 @mxcheese @ladymunson @michaelfuckinglangdon @z0mbie-blah @biittersweet @mirrorsstuff @slightlyvicked @micheledawn1975 @ago-godance @magnificantmermaid @tlclick73 @hargrovesswifee @cityofidek @manyfandomsfanvergent @silky-luxe @lokiofasgard616

[circus4apsycho8]

knife to meet you. | cole x reader | chapter iii

A/N: I don't know what's wrong with me, but I've been CONSISTENTLY WRITING???? And I'm already starting the fourth chapter for this fic??? What is happening!!

Anyways, chapter 3 is here! I hope you all enjoy. Thank for all of your support so far!

Masterlist for this Fic

Wind batters the ancient walls of the monastery, silence creeping through the hallways as you down the remnants of your morning beverage. Nya and the ninja are nowhere to be found, and you’ve yet to see Wu today. On any other day, the silence wouldn’t have bothered you, but something is…off, somehow. You can’t put your finger on it, but something in the atmosphere is suffocating.

After you finish cleaning up, you decide you need some fresh air. You’d been meaning to explore other parts of the mountain anyway. Tucked underneath your arm is a blanket, your medical bag in your other hand as you proceed to the exit. You’ve probably just been cooped up too long.

Just before you’re about to exit the monastery, your peripheral vision catches motion from one of the open rooms. Halting, you glance at the source.

Sensei Wu is kneeled in his meditation room, thumbing through a photo album. Next to him rests his tea kettle, steaming with his latest brew as he gazes at the people in the photographs. The elderly man senses that you’ve stopped, eyes lifting from the photo album as he snaps it shut.

Realizing that you might be intruding, your eyes widen. “I’m sorry, Sensei. I hope I didn’t interrupt.”

Wu shakes his head, closing the album and pushing it to the side. “Oh, you’re not interrupting. I was about to check on the dragons anyway.”

As Wu reaches for his teacup, you can’t help but glance back at the album. Printed on its worn, muted gold cover is the symbol for Creation - you remember seeing the same symbol in one of Mystake’s books. Underneath that symbol is another one - this one stands for remembrance.

Interesting.

Sensei rises from his position, accompanying you down the hall. In one hand, he carries his bamboo staff while his tea kettle hangs from his other arm. “Have you been settling in well?”

“Yeah! Everything’s been going great,” you answer as the two of you approach the sliding doors.

“I am glad to hear it. Change is neutral and carries no regard for those it affects. Adjusting can be difficult, so I’m glad everything is working out so far,” he muses as you pull the doors open with your free hand.

Not to your surprise, the ninja are nowhere in the courtyard; in their absence lies an empty, eerily silent training course. “Where’d the guys go? I haven’t seen them all morning.”

Sensei Wu pushes a button on one of the monastery support beams. In response, the obstacle course retreats into the ground. “They went out earlier, to investigate something Zane found last night. I’m not sure when they’ll return.”

“I see. Well, I’m going to go look for ingredients for potions. Everything I need should be on the mountain, so I won’t be far in case they need patching up after.”

“Ah, ingredients, you say? You’re welcome to use some of the herbs from my tea garden, if you like,” he says.

“You have a tea garden?” you say, grinning at Wu.

“Certainly. Mystake’s tea blends are the best in Ninjago, and her brand is the only one I drink. However, I’ve yearned to create my own brand of tea for some time now. So, I learned how to grow my own herbs and have been trying to craft the perfect tea recipe ever since.”

“I see,” you reply, tilting your head in thought. “You know…part of my work at Mystake’s shop involved me helping out with her tea blends. So, if you need help, I’d be willing to lend a hand.”

Wu considers your offer, a thoughtful expression on his face as he nods. “I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you.”

…

It only takes you about fifteen minutes to find Wu’s garden, and an additional half hour for the ingredients you need. The fresh air helps clear your head, ridding you of that strange, oppressive atmosphere you’d felt earlier.

Why do I feel so weird today? you wonder as you pull open the massive courtyard gates. I’ve probably just been cooped up in here too long. Maybe I can go out with Nya later.

An herbal scent draws you back into the present, beckoning your gaze towards the source. Sensei Wu sits in front of a stand filled with incense sticks, pale smoke ascending to the sky. Deciding not to disturb him, you return to your room.

A flurry of motion flinches when you push the door open. You jump in response, realizing Nya is back. She must have been hard at work over her desk, if the series of writing utensils and blueprints on her desk say anything.

“Nya,” you realize, chuckling at the scare. “You’re back.”

“You scared me!” she exclaims, settling a hand over her chest as she laughs. “Yeah, sorry. I went to check on the dragons this morning, and you were still sleeping. I didn’t want to wake you.”

“I see,” you say, setting your bag next to your bed and coming to sit next to her. “What are you working on?”

The black-haired girl grins, rotating the pencil in her grip so that she can tap the eraser on the page of schematics. “Well, a few different things. First of all, the last mission made me realize that we need some form of long-distance communication. I’m thinking maybe earpieces? That way, the ninja can wear them underneath their hoods, and they wouldn’t be super bulky,” she frowns, tracing the outline of her sketches. “For me, I’m going to rig my bracelet into a communicator. We’ll have to figure out something for you. But we can wait to decide on that until I’m further in the design process.”

You nod in acknowledgement, scanning her notes and sketches. You don’t really understand any of it, but it’s still cool to look at. “Wow…this looks complex. Having a way to communicate over long distances would be helpful, though.”

She flicks the pencil back onto the paper, swiveling towards you as she shakes her writing wrist out. “I hope they’ll help. The designs are going to be a bitch to make, but I think Jay and I can swing it.” She punctuates her sentence with a sigh. “How about you? What have you been up to? I know it’s kind of a slow day until they get back.”

“I just gathered some herbs from that small section of forest up here,” you reply, shrugging. “I’m going to try and mix some medicines later on.”

Nya nods, swiveling back towards her work. “Got it. Maybe when they return, and you’ve patched them up, we can go out. There’s something I want to show that I’ve been working on, but it’s kind of far-”

“Nya?” interrupts Sensei’s muffled voice from the hallway. You and Nya glance at each other, the urgency in Sensei Wu’s tone alarming you. The two of you hop out of your chairs, rushing over to the door.

Before Nya even gets the door all the way open, she starts responding. “Sensei, what is it?!”

“The ninja are in trouble,” Wu answers, clutching an aged flute in one hand. “I had a smoke vision of them. We must go help them.”

“Got it,” Nya turns to you. “We’ll be back as fast as we can!”

“Okay. Be careful!” you call as the two rush down the hallway.

An overwhelming sense of helplessness overcomes you as you pace around the monastery. All of your potions are already prepared, so there’s not much you can do in terms of prep. It’s a matter of waiting now, which is the worst part.

Biting your lip, you pace around the monastery, your medical bag slung over your shoulder and at the ready. It probably hasn’t even been ten minutes since Nya and Wu left, yet it feels like it’s been hours. Nya was right about the team needing communication devices - not knowing what’s going on is eating at you.

Maybe I’ll just wait outside so I can see when they get back, you think, heading for the front sliding door.

Pushing your bag out of the way, you move to open the door. To your surprise, it doesn’t budge.

“What the hell?” you mumble, hands drifting to the lock. Just as you thought, it isn’t latched. So why isn’t it opening?

Uneasiness creeps throughout your tummy as you tug on the door one more time, frowning at its refusal to open. Something deep inside your gut tells you that the chill of the draft isn’t the reason why the hairs on your skin are standing.

“Something is coming. Be careful,” whispers an unfamiliar, feminine voice. You jump, gasping at the nearness of her words. When you swivel your head, however, it reveals no one else in the hallway with you. Words freeze in your throat as you shake your head, trying to get ahold of yourself.

“What’s coming? Who are you? Are you the lady I saw outside?” you wonder, voice cracking a little as you try the door again. It’s still not opening.

“Yes. Snakes. I cannot hold this form for long. Please prepare.” With that, the atmosphere lightens as the presence evaporates. You swallow at the lady’s warning, questions buzzing about your mind.

Man…what would Mystake say if she were in your position? She’d tell me to listen to my body and instinct. She always said that if you feel as if something is wrong, then you’re probably right, and to never doubt your intuition.

You don’t feel threatened by…whoever that was, and you wouldn’t put it past the serpentine to try and steal their staff back. You decide to heed her warning; you can always try to figure out who she is later. But how are you supposed to prepare for an attack? The only thing you can think to do is lock the gate. Not to mention that you’re still learning the monastery’s layout.

Your mentor’s words echo in your mind: Don’t freeze. Make a decision. Doing something is better than doing nothing.

Swallowing your fear, you try the door again. This time, it swings open. You dash towards the gate, holding your medical bag steady against your side. With a grunt, you swing the swiveling wooden latch into place.

Autopilot kicks in when you realize that the snakes will probably ransack the place looking for their staff. It’s too bad you didn’t see where Sensei Wu hid it, otherwise you could take it with you.

Running through the memories of items you recall everyone using, you decide to collect sentimental items that can fit in your bag. You manage to grab Jay and Nya’s blueprints, the siblings’ twin, custom-made knives, a container of Kai’s hair gel, Cole’s art supplies, Jay’s handheld gaming console and invention journal, a few of Zane’s books, and Sensei Wu’s photo album.

Mental note to thank Mystake for making this bag so big, you think when the zipper closes your packed bag with ease.

As soon as you finish, the ground shakes in response to something booming outside. You gasp as shouts emanate from the direction of the courtyard, eyes widening when you realize you’ll be the first thing the serpentine see if they get inside.

So much for the gate.

At the thought, you dash through the monastery, ducking inside the guys’ room and locking the door. Thankfully, your memory was right - they do have a window, and outside of it, there’s just enough room for you to walk around the perimeter.

“Find the staff!” commands a voice - this time, a familiar one. Maybe one of the snakes you and Nya eavesdropped on at Jamanakai? “Burn this pathetic place to the ground! Ensure the ninja have no home to return to!”

As soon as the leader stops talking, chaos ensues: the snakes cry out, immediately tearing the building apart. Glass shatters, footsteps thunder through the halls, furniture is torn and ripped apart.

With no time to waste, you slide the windowpane up. Shrugging your bag off your shoulder, you push it through the window first. After giving yourself a boost on the bunk beds’ nightstand, you manage to haul yourself through.

Your landing is ungraceful, but it works. A grunt escapes you as you pick yourself back up, grabbing your bag again before looking around. You’re on the back portion of the mountain now, and there’s not much room for you to walk on. There are only a few feet between the monastery walls and the edge of the mountain, so you follow the walls.

Fear tightens your throat, wind whipping against your skin as you work your way along the side of the monastery. You force your gaze to remain on the path, paying no heed to the mountain’s looming height. As you walk, a smoky scent starts drifting about the air as the chaos inside rages on. Even so, you continue forward.

To your dismay, once you round the corner, your pathway ends. It’s blocked by a windowed wall of the monastery, meaning that you’re going to have to cut through inside. Cursing underneath your breath, you crouch down underneath the kitchen window. You need a plan.

Okay…where should you go, first of all? Everyone else is gone, so you’re on your own, and you sure as hell don’t stand a chance against the snakes. You wrack your mind for a solution before recalling something that Nya and Wu said earlier.

“The dragons!” you realize. Sensei Wu said he had wanted to check on them earlier, meaning that the ninja hadn’t taken them on their mission. If you can make it there, you could hunker down with them. Unless the serpentine thought to light the keep on fire too…

You shake that thought away, deciding to tackle one problem at a time.

Decision made, you peek through the kitchen window. From what you can see, it’s clear for the moment, but thick plumes of dark smoke have gathered above. Flames have consumed the left hallway, meaning that you’ll have to make a break for the keep from one of the windows facing the courtyard.

First Spinjitzu Master, help me. Here goes nothing.

You’re not so lucky with this window - it’s locked. You reach down into the pockets of your bag, pulling out a knife you’d taken from the ninja’s room. The hilt seems hefty enough to shatter the glass. With a grunt, you slam the butt of the blade down onto the glass, flinching as it shatters. Glass pools at your feet, the noise drowned out by the chaos emanating from the main side of the monastery.

Tucking the knife back in your bag, you start climbing into the monastery. Remnants of glass nick your hands as you hoist yourself inside, leaving your palms stinging and bloody. Heat singes your skin as you rush towards the other window, smoke ravaging your lungs and throat. Through coughing fits, you make it to the window and manage to unlock it.

Once you push it up, you spot a group of snakes huddled near the front of the monastery. The path past the gate seems clear otherwise; you just have to make it. Hopefully the dragons can bail you out if the snakes chase you.

Okay. Here you go.

Initially, the snakes don’t notice you clambering through the window, too focused on watching the monastery burn. You immediately break into a sprint, bag jostling against your torso as you pass the gate despite your efforts to keep it steady. Voices shout from behind you, but you don’t stop to look back. Instead, you run faster, lungs burning as you resist the urge to cough again.

When you make it to the stretch leading to the keep, you force yourself to keep your eyes ahead. You don’t focus on the fact that you could tumble to your death with a single misstep.

Your heart breaks when you realize the serpentine had lit the dragon cave on fire. Roars pierce the air, prompting you to scramble for the lever embedded in the wall.

“Fuck!” you yell when the lever turns out to be harder to pull than you anticipated. The blood on your hands isn’t helping either; your grip keeps slipping. Frustrated, you fish a medical towel from one of your bag’s many pockets, using it to secure your grip. Adrenaline rushes your muscles when you hear the serpentine approaching. “Come on!”

With a strangled cry, you finally manage to pull it all the way down. Gears screech from within the cave, the wooden gates retreating into the earth moments later. Shard and Wisp stomp out of the cave, immediately taking flight while Rocky lingers behind, stepping out of the fiery portion. He growls at something behind you, prompting you to turn around.

You gasp when you see a snake closing in on you. He wields a twin set of katanas, zeroing in on you. What he fails to notice is Shard hovering in the air across from you, the dragon’s powerful wings pumping gusts of wind in your direction. Icy blue breath erupts from his jaws, freezing the snake solid against the mountain.

“Thank you, Shard!” you yell, voice hoarse. He roars in response, ascending to the top of the mountain and leaving you with the remaining dragon. “Rocky! Are you okay?!”

The dragon whines, nuzzling your hand when you pet him. He crouches, lowering his wing to the ground. You waste no time climbing atop the dragon, sitting in Cole’s usual spot. Thankfully, Rocky doesn’t wait for you to take the reins. Once you’ve got a secure grip on him, he rushes out of the flame-filled cave, wings taking it from there.

Tears gather in your eyes when you spot the monastery completely ablaze. Rocky hangs back so that you’re not exposed to the whelm of smoke rising above the mountain, letting Wisp and Shard take turns blasting ice or sparks at the remaining serpentine. The bastards finally seem to be retreating, but the damage is done; what remains of the monastery is nothing more than a pile of flaming rubble and debris.

“I can’t believe it…” you mumble, watching as Shard begins spraying the remaining flames with his icy breath. “It’s…it’s gone.”

Rocky responds with a mournful growl, coasting on the air as he circles the mountain. You blink a few times, your surroundings not feeling real anymore. Dizziness sways your vision as the events replay, mind having trouble processing everything.

Rocky deems the mountain safe enough for you to land a few minutes later, gently descending to the ground. When you slide off his back, he nuzzles his snout into your shoulder.

“Thank you,” you whisper, petting his scales a few times. Rocky merely leans into your touch, sorrow lacing his eyes.

You collapse to your knees, pulling the strap of your bag off your body as Rocky lays down next to you. With the adrenaline wearing off, your skin is starting to sting with the mild burns you probably got inside the monastery. Even so, you elect to hold off on using any supplies until the ninja have been treated.

With the back of your hand, you pet Rocky. He closes his eyes at your touch, adjusting his head so that he’s resting on his forelegs. Another soft dragon groan from your other side catches your attention, a draconic shadow looming over you. Turning, you spot Shard slinking up to you.

“What is it?” you wonder. You swear these dragons can understand you.

Shard sidles up next to you, enveloping you with his wing from behind. The chill from his freezing body temperature numbs the burns on your skin, making you sigh in relief.

“That’s…that’s better. Thank you, Shard.”

Wisp wanders in front of you, growling softly as he lowers his snout to you. Not wanting to leave him out, you give him a few reassuring pets.

For a while, you simply process the event alongside three dragons as you wait for the others. Your thoughts zigzag to miscellaneous questions: what would the others say when they returned? Where are they? Are they hurt? Who (or what) warned you about the serpentine? Was there anything you could have done to stop the serpentine from burning the monastery down?

Your thoughts are interrupted when Shard retracts his wing, standing at attention. Rocky gently bumps your shoulder with his snout, urging you to stand. Obliging, you study the dragons’ reactions. It takes you a minute or so, but finally you hear the distant roar of Flame approaching.

To your relief, everyone is aboard the dragon. Okay, that’s good at least: no one seems critically injured. You and the dragons step to the side when Flame hovers overhead, sailing down once he has a clear area to land.

The ninja are the first to descend, surveying the area as they flip their hoods off. Jay, Cole, and Zane make their way to their respective dragons, making sure they’re okay.

“Our home…” Kai mumbles, trailing off as he processes the damage. Nya rushes out from his side, making her way over to you.

“Are you okay?!” Nya questions, gesturing to the mild burns on your skin. “Oh, god, one of us should have stayed with you.”

“I’m fine. You couldn’t have known. Is everyone else okay?”

“Just a few bumps. But this…” Nya trails off as everyone gathers together. Grief and shock bubble in the atmosphere, merging into a tension that has you fidgeting.

“The training equipment, gone…” Zane murmurs, petting Shard as he looks around.

“Our video games! Gone!” Jay cries.

“They stole their staff back,” Sensei Wu realizes. You remember what he told you about the monastery; it had been standing for thousands of years, and had been his childhood home. You can’t even begin to imagine the loss he’s experiencing.

“What do we do now?” Cole wonders, returning Rocky’s nuzzle with an embrace of his own.

The tension snaps when Kai crushes a piece of charred wood in his grasp, expression darkening as he swivels towards Zane. “If you hadn't followed that silly bird, none of this would've happened!”

“Kai…” Wu warns.

Fed up, Jay shakes his head. “No, Sensei, he's right! Because of you, my high score has been deleted!”

Zane’s expression falters as his teammates begin accusing him of something he couldn’t control. “This is a teaching moment. We must learn from this!”

Cole throws his hands up in the air, defeat scrawled on his expression. “A ‘teaching moment’? What's wrong with you? Don't you get it?! Everything is gone!”

You step in front of Zane, expression hardening. It’s not fair that they’re blaming all of this on him; Zane couldn’t have known the serpentine were going to attack.

Coming to the white ninja’s defense, you argue: “Not everything is gone. I managed to save a few sentimental items before they ransacked the building. And if you’re going to blame anybody, blame me. I was here, but I couldn’t stop them. Maybe there was something I could have done to prevent this from happening. Zane couldn’t have known they were going to burn the place down!”

Nya joins you, hands on her hips as she scowls at the guys. “Without Zane, you guys wouldn’t have found Lloyd’s hideout.” She steps up to her older brother, meeting his accusatory glare with one just as stubborn. “We could have planned this out better, but we didn’t. We’re all at fault here, and we’re going to learn from this.”

Sensei Wu steps in, gesturing for everyone to separate. You all do so, lining up together. “Yes, we are all at fault. Ninja, Zane is your brother. Apologize at once.”

Silence overcomes the groups, anger dissipating.. Kai turns first, regret lacing his eyes as he starts: “I’m sorry, Zane. I-”

When Kai trails off, everyone turns to look for the mentioned ninja. To your surprise, Zane is nowhere to be found. Neither is Shard.

“Zane?” Jay wonders, confusion lacing his tone.

“There,” Nya says, pointing to the sky. Off in the distance, you see Zane and Shard sailing through the air.

Sensei Wu sighs, rubbing his temples. “He will come back when he is ready, and you three will apologize to him. We may have lost our home, but we have not and will not lose each other. No matter how dire the circumstances are, we will never turn on each other. Disagreements are bound to happen, but we must learn to address them in a more productive manner. Let us take this experience to reflect on what we have lost and how to prevent something like this from happening again.”

“Yes, Sensei,” everyone replies in unison.

Sensei Wu nods, making his way towards the path to the dragon keep. “Good. I would like to have a few minutes alone here. Please head for the Mountains of Impossible Height; I will catch up shortly.”

“Yes, Sensei.”

As the guys head for the staircase, you gesture for Nya to stay with you. She quirks an eyebrow, wondering what you need.

“Can you grab the photo album out of my bag? My hands are still kind of bloody,” you request, glancing at the dried bits of blood sticking to your skin.

“Oh, yeah,” she says, unzipping your bag and fishing the book out.

“Sensei, before we go, I wanted to give you your photo album. I was able to grab it before I had to escape,” you say, watching as your friend hands the mentioned item to Wu.

“Ah…you saved our pictures,” he says, voice low as he accepts the album. “Many of us had irreplaceable photos in here. Thank you for bringing these to me.”

“You’re welcome, Sensei.”

Nya smiles softly, tugging on your bicep as she bids Wu goodbye: “Take your time, Sensei.”

…

An hour or so later, the six of you make the hike up to Sensei’s specified location. The dragons fly your group up the steeper bits. Eventually, you all find a spot big enough to sport everyone and the dragons.

Silence overcomes the group after Cole gives everyone a task to focus on. He and Kai are setting up a makeshift tent together while Jay and Nya search for firewood. You’re tasked with finding edible plants in a nearby forest.

To avoid smearing your blood on everything, you pull on a pair of blue medical grade gloves when picking the plants. You leave your bag back at camp, grateful for the chance to give your sore shoulders a break from its weight.

Finding edible plants doesn’t take long considering how small the patch of forest is. Nearly fifteen minutes later, you return with an armful of potion ingredients, edible plants, and supplies. Kai and Cole have finished with the tent, and Jay and Nya appear to be finishing up with the firewood. As you bump into the others, you hand out the items you saved in hopes it would bring up the mood a bit.

Kai and Nya are first: for the siblings, you were able to grab some of Nya’s blueprints as well as a twin pair of custom-made daggers: one for Kai, and the other for Nya. The engravings and color on the blades differ, but they’re the same shape. You wonder if they came from the siblings’ blacksmith shop. Kai is also relieved to see that you managed to save one container of his hair gel, replying: “At least my hair won’t suffer!”

For Jay, you were able to save some of his blueprints, a journal filled to the brim with invention idea sketches, and a handheld gaming console that was in its travel case when you’d grabbed it. Jay thanks you with glassy eyes when you hand him his belongings, telling you that the journal and console were gifts from his parents.

Of Zane’s possessions, you were able to save three old books. Despite their age, they appear to be well cared for. You hope he’ll be back soon.

Lastly, you have a sketchbook and a set of art supplies that you suspect are Cole’s. You spot the black ninja shuffling the firewood that Jay and Nya collected over to the finished tent.

“Hey,” you greet, keeping your voice low as you approach him. “How are you holding up?”

Once he finishes tying a knot, Cole looks over to you. “Hey. I’m…okay, considering the circumstances.” He sighs, running a hand through his hair as he surveys the tent. “How about you?”

You shrug, gently tracing the line of your gloved palm with a finger. “I’m okay. I wanted to give you this,” you reply, taking his sketchbook and art supplies from your bag. “I was able to save it before they fully ransacked the place.”

Cole’s fingertips brush yours as he accepts his belongings, a ghost of a smile twitching over his lips. “My sketchbook…thank you.”

“Not a problem,” you reply, withdrawing your hand. No longer under the cover of the items, your gloves are now visible. Some of your bloodstains have darkened the blue fabric from underneath, making Cole frown.

The black ninja tucks his sketchbook and case of supplies underneath his arm. “Your hands… Did they hurt you?”

“Oh, no. This was just from me having to climb through a busted window. Some of the glass shards were still on the frame when I grabbed it.”

Cole cringes at the story, stare still not averting. “Here, guide me through your method of bandaging. Where are your supplies?”

You chuckle, shaking your head. “No, Cole, don’t worry about it. I can do it.”

The raven-haired male shoots you a funny look, shaking his head in response. “Come on, you’ve done it for me like…eighty times already, and you haven’t even been here for a month yet. At least teach me how to do it in case we have to administer first aid if we’re on the field.”

“Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of my job?” you wonder.

“Not if you’re far away,” he counters, spotting your bag a few feet away. You follow him, realizing that the Golden Weapons (minus Zane’s shurikens) were placed next to it while you were in the forest, all resting on the ground but not touching. The metal twinkles in the evening light, pulsing with a hint of energy.

“Good point. Maybe we should have a basic first aid class, then,” you muse, deciding you’d ask Sensei Wu about it later. “Okay, fine. Let’s sit down.”

He nods, snatching your bag from the ground while you make your way underneath the tent. Sidestepping the pile of sticks, you have a seat on the dirt. Cole settles in across from you as you peel the gloves off, letting them fall to the side.

“Okay, what first?” he asks.

“First, our priority is to stop the bleeding,” you instruct, peering at your cuts. Thankfully, the bleeding is coming to a halt. “It looks like my bleeding is slowing down, though. But, in the case that it wasn’t, you would use a bandage or cloth to stop it.”

“Got it,” Cole replies.

You nod, tipping your head in the direction of the bag. “Okay. Now, it’s time to clean the wound. I have a bottle of cleaning solution in there somewhere. It’s a little bottle with a teal-colored liquid. There should also be a pink cloth in there too.”

“Okay…” Cole mumbles, rummaging through your bag before pulling out the items. “These?”

“Yep. Pour a little bit of the liquid onto the cloth, then just dab on the cuts. I usually like to clean off the excess blood if the cut isn’t much of a worry at this point, but that’s more of personal preference.”

Cole nods, dampening the cloth with the antiseptic. Once that’s done, he gingerly takes your hand, making your heart bash itself against your ribcage. After he dabs at the blood for a moment, he glances up at you.

“What is it?” you wonder.

“I was hoping that you’d be cringing or hissing at the stinging,” he admits as he continues.

You frown incredulously at him, huffing a laugh. “Why?”

“Because I wanted to make fun of you for making fun of me when I cringed at the stinging sensation. Unfortunately for me, you’re not even reacting to it, which makes me look like a wuss.”

Not expecting his response, you can’t help but laugh. “Are you kidding me?”

“Nope,” he replies, moving to your other hand. You wonder if the others had been teasing him about it, hoping that they hadn’t been doing it too much. After all, you’re still getting to know everyone and their senses of humor. You don’t want to go overboard, so you elect to tone it down a bit just in case.

“You’re not a wuss,” you say after a few moments. “I mean, I’m not the one throwing myself into dangerous situations for the greater good.”

Cole doesn’t answer, instead focusing on cleaning the remainder of your hand. When he’s done, he glances back up to you. “Is that good?”

“Yep, perfect. Now, it’s time to bandage. See the gauze roll, tape, and scissors I have tucked in one of the inner pockets?”

“Uh…here,” Cole mumbles, fishing the items out.

You nod. “Go ahead and wrap my hands up. I’ll tell you when to stop.”

For some reason, you don’t focus as he wraps your hands. Instead, your eyes sneak peeks at his biceps, exposed underneath his rolled-up gi sleeves. When you catch yourself, you squeeze your eyes shut and admonish yourself. To keep yourself on task, you restart the conversation:

 “Are you feeling any different today? It looks like your symptoms are gone.”

“About that, I realized why I looked sick,” he replies, frowning when the gauze comes loose. He starts again, this time making sure to keep the gauze pulled tighter. “You know how that one snake almost hypnotized me in Jamanakai? Well, it turns out that the snake still had some kind of hold over me. It was able to hypnotize me while we were on the mission today. Thankfully, Nya and Sensei Wu arrived with his ancient flute that apparently cures snake hypnosis.”

“That’s…weird,” you answer, face scrunching in confusion as you process his explanation. “A flute that cures snake hypnosis?”

Cole shakes his head as he finishes up with your first hand. “I don’t even know. I’ve learned not to question Wu anymore.”

“Mystake was the same way,” you say, grinning at his reaction. “Just had the wackiest solutions to the most random problems. Must be an old-timer thing.”

Your heart stumbles when Cole smiles again; this time, you can see dimples dotting his cheeks. “Must be.”

With that, the two of you fall silent. As Cole works on wrapping gauze around your other hand, you look out towards the others. Everyone seems to be in their own little bubble for the moment. Kai and Nya are sitting together, facing away from everyone else and observing the sunset as they chat amongst themselves. Flame lays next to the siblings, accepting pets from Kai as Nya twirls her dagger mindlessly.

On the other side of the mountain is Jay, leaning against Wisp’s body. The blue ninja studies a page in his journal, expression taught as he does so. Last is Sensei Wu, meditating off to the side. Somehow, he still has his blue tea kettle; the item is in front of him, steaming with yet another batch of tea.

Did he take the kettle with him when they left…?

“Are you really doing okay?” you wonder, not quite thinking about your words as you speak.

Cole sighs as he snips off the unneeded gauze with your scissors. “Yeah. It’s just…being leader has turned out to be a lot harder than I thought it would be. I keep wondering if there was something I could have done differently to prevent this from happening.”

“You’re a leader, not a psychic. Your job is to lead the team and adjust your actions to the circumstances. You can’t blame something like the fire on yourself. There’s no way you could have known the serpentine were going to do that,” you say, nodding as he tapes the gauze in place.

The raven-haired ninja contemplates your words, tucking your supplies back into the bag.  “You’re right. I just…I don’t know, I can’t help but feel guilty still.”

“You have to give yourself some grace, Cole,” you add, recalling what Sensei Wu told you back at the tea shop. “You guys just got out of training, right? So, you guys are still learning. Not just as individuals, but as a team, too. Leading a team is no easy feat, but I think you’ve been doing a great job of it, if the battle in Jamanakai showed me anything.”

As Cole contemplates your words, he shifts so that his elbow is resting atop his knee. “How is it that your advice is on par with Wu’s?”

You shrug, wiggling your fingers to test out the gauze. It holds well, and while his handiwork is on the messier side, it still gets the job done. “Probably because I’ve lived with a crazy old woman for a while. By the way, nice job on these.”

“Thanks. Hopefully I’ll get better with practice,” he replies, admiring his work for a moment before zipping your bag shut with a sigh. “How about your burns? Don’t those hurt?”

You wave his concerns off. “Eh, I’ve had worse. I’ll get to them later. Thanks for your help, though. It would have been a bitch to try and bandage my hands on my own.”

“Yeah, thanks for teaching me.” Cole leans forward, arranging the sticks into a neater pile. Beside the tent, you spot a pile of hefty rocks, probably to help keep the sticks contained. Without a word, you start lining the rocks up around the pile while Cole works across from you.

“Do you think Zane will come back?” he speaks up suddenly, making you glance up at him.

“I know he will,” you reply. “He might just need some time.”

 “I wish I hadn’t been so hard on him,” Cold admits, shifting his attention to the rocks. “I wasn’t thinking straight, and I should have just walked away to let myself cool off.”

“Well, we’re all bound to have those kinds of moments. The important thing is that we learn from our mistakes. Like Sensei said, we need to take this time to reflect and improve.”

“Yeah. I’ve been thinking about it, and I might see if Jay and Nya can spruce up defenses wherever we end up next,” Cole agrees as the two of you complete the makeshift fire pit. All that’s needed now is a spark.

You nod in agreement, remembering Nya’s blueprints. “Nya was talking about getting earpieces made for you guys too. Hopefully having better communication will make things run more smoothly.”

“Yeah, I saw Jay working on schematics for those the other night,” Cole recalls before frowning. “By the way…I just remembered. You’re staying, right? I know Sensei said your trial period was up, but I never heard an answer from him,” he questions, leaning back on his free hand. It’s all you can do to maintain eye contact and not ogle his arms.

“Oh, yeah, I am,” you reply. “Why?”

He shrugs, averting his gaze to the horizon. “Well, it’s just…you know you’re part of the team now, right? You keep speaking like we’re something…separate, I guess.”

Do you? You hadn’t even noticed. Taking a moment to reflect on his words, you shift your position a little bit. “I…guess I do know, but it’s more of me not wanting to disturb your dynamic. You guys already have your own routine, your own way of life, and I just…I don’t know, I don’t want to intrude.”

“Well…” he trails off, rubbing the back of his neck. “I don’t want you to feel like an outsider. You’re a part of us now, so…um, I just want to make sure you don’t feel excluded or anything, I guess.”

“Oh, no, I don’t feel excluded. I guess it’ll just take me some time to get adjusted,” you assure, grinning when Rocky bumps Cole’s shoulder.

“Oh, shut up,” Cole grumbles, playfully whacking Rocky’s snout. The dragon growls, laying down next to Cole with a huff. Cole shakes his head at the dragon while you shuffle to the other side of Rocky, petting his head.

“Thank you for your help today, Rocky,” you mumble, giggling when the dragon nuzzles into your hand.

“He helped you?” Cole wonders, returning to a cross-legged position.

“Yeah, he flew me out of the monastery while the other two fought the remaining snakes off,” you answer. “Sweet dragon.”

“You’re unbelievable,” Cole retorts when Rocky flashes a smug expression to the black ninja. “But I’m glad he was of some use. He might have just earned himself another T-O-A-D,” he spells out, making you laugh.

Over the course of the next few minutes, the others start to join the two of you underneath the tent. Flame uses his breath to ignite the pile of sticks before the dragons retreat off to a more open area, all opting to rest. You’re positioned in between Cole and Nya as everyone snacks on the plants and berries you were able to gather.

Defeated chatter emanates from the group, and you find yourself zoning out as exhaustion overcomes you. For a few minutes, you find yourself on the verge of dozing off as the heat of the fire wards off the evening’s incoming chill. You don’t join in on the conversation, instead reflecting on the events of the day as you stare at the fire.

Just as your eyelids are about to drop, a commotion snaps you out of your groggy state. You jerk when you feel the others rushing out from the tent, stumbling to your feet and making your way over to Nya. To your relief, Zane stands in front of the others, Shard nearby. Thankfully, he doesn’t seem upset in spite of the apologies the guys are throwing.

The white ninja offers his signature, soft smile. “You don’t need to apologize to me.”

Kai frowns at the response. “But what about all those awful things we said? Isn't that why you left?”

“Of course not. I saw the falcon again,” answers the white-haired ninja, turning as he gestures to the sky. Sure enough, a falcon soars overhead, chirping along with Zane’s words. “And I followed him.”

Cole chuckles, shaking his head as he claps Zane’s shoulder a few times. “That’s our Zane.”

You can’t help but smile as everyone pulls Zane in for a hug, relaxing when the overwhelming sense of relief in the air floods you.

Nya pulls back first, settling her hands on her hips. “We’re happy to have you back.”

At her remark, Zane frowns as everyone steps back from him. “Why? Is it my turn to make dinner?”

The group laughs at Zane’s question while Sensei Wu steps beside the white ninja. “Yes, Zane. We would love for you to make dinner.”

“But I already made it. Come,” Zane responds, gesturing for you all to follow him as he turns around. “I want to show you what I've found. I think you will all be pleased.”

After you all shoot each other confused glances, you shrug it off and follow the white-haired ninja towards the path leading off the mountain. Just before your group rounds the corner, he pauses, turning back to you all.

“I can't explain it, but I feel a strange connection with the falcon. I think he's trying to help show us the path we need to take.”

Zane doesn’t wait for anyone to reply, instead gesturing for everyone to proceed. Turning the corner reveals…

…a ship?

It’s nothing like any ship you’ve ever seen, though – this one is a deep red, accented with gold in places and complete with a carved dragon on the bow. For a moment, you find yourself stunned at the sight – you take a moment to appreciate the design.

“Our new home,” Zane says, smiling at the team’s reaction.

After you all take a moment to process the sight, Kai immediately breaks out into a sprint, shortly followed by Cole and Jay. Nya full on growls, snatching your wrist and pulling you in the direction of the ship. “Come on, we can’t let those idiots nab the best room!”

A/N: I think my consistency with this fic is due to me getting to the juicy classes of my Creative Writing degree. I had my first writing class last month and I feel like I learned a lot. Got some great feedback. I'm going to try and apply what I learn here to practice!

Would love to hear what you all think of this fic!

Masterlist for this Fic

Rules for Requesting

[scoops-aboy86]

Hot & Heavy

Prompt Used: Back to school shopping (@thehairandthebanished) and service dom (@steddiesmuttyseptember) | Hot & Heavy | Rating: E | CW: weight gain, feeding kink, outgrown clothes, humiliation kink, dom/sub dynamics | Additional Tags: chubby Eddie Munson, feeder Steve Harrington, semi-public sex, anal fingering, anal plug, spit kink, spit as lube

also on A03

“It’s stupid,” Eddie whines. “I’ve done senior year twice already, what the fuck use is a third round going to do?”

Steve just sits patiently on the other side of his parents’ couch, an eyebrow raised and twirling his keys on one finger. Every once in a while he gives them a little toss and catches them again without even looking, then goes back to spinning. 

Eddie scowls and crosses his arms over his chest, ignoring how this makes his shirt ride up a bit more than it had been already. “Don’t look at me like that.”

A shrug, and another little toss. “I’m not looking at you like anything. Just wondering why you signed yourself up if you didn’t want to go.”

Which hits a little too close to home, because yeah, Eddie had done that. Uncle Wayne wouldn’t judge him for getting his GED instead. It’s his own personal crusade, and he does want to, he just…

“I need new pants,” Eddie admits in something that’s half grumble, half whine.

And he knows, he knows it’s his own fault. He’s spent the whole summer coasting on Steve’s generosity, ever since skulking outside during the second graduation he hadn’t been allowed to partake in had sent Steve, ducking out of a gym full of happy families congratsing their grads, stumbling right into him. Eddie hadn’t graduated and Steve’s parents hadn’t shown, off on some indefinite business trip or something, so they’d decided to be miserable together. At least the Harringtons had sent their only kid a cake, and after sharing a couple joints Steve hadn’t had any qualms about letting Eddie go to town on it. 

They’d kept spending time together after that. Around the time they’d started making out whenever they got bored, Eddie opted to take a break from most of his dealing to hang out either at Steve’s air conditioned house or the cool (if slightly sticky) parlor of Scoops Ahoy. And the more they made out, the more sweet treats Steve offered him. All kinds of food really. It had gone to Eddie’s head in a way he’d never expected because, before, he’d always eaten as a means to get by. Steve opened his eyes to enjoying food, the flavors and the textures and savoring it all as he chewed, and when Eddie got going like that he didn't want to stop. Even when he physically couldn’t bring himself to eat more, he still asked for it; asked for Steve to feed it to him, to push at the boundaries of too much for him while Eddie’s mind went fuzzy with static and sensory-dominating fullness, finally quiet instead of spinning at a hundred miles per hour. Sometimes he’d doze off, and Steve would just let him sleep there, on the couch at first then more and more often in his bed. Always with a snack ready for when he woke up. 

It shows on his waistline, his arms and legs, and in the roundness of his face. Absolutely none of the weight has gone to his ass, he’s still flat as a pancake back there. None of this bothers him, exactly, but the problem remains; he barely fits into his jeans anymore. Even when he does squeeze into them they bite, and the hair tie holding the button in the vicinity of the hole it should fit into is barely cutting it anymore. 

“Eds,” Steve says, still annoyingly patient, “you need more than just new pants.”

Eddie huffs, resisting the impulse to look down at himself. Doesn’t need to know exactly how much of his belly (which took the brunt of his gain, in lieu of his ass) is showing out the bottom of his shirt to know that he feels an indecent amount of draft down there where it juts out over his lap. 

“Even your shoes don’t fit,” Steve adds, not unkindly. 

“Yeah, well.” Now Eddie is resisting the urge to stamp his foot and pout, but that’s too dramatic even for him. “I can’t afford to get new ones, alright?”

Steve finally stops spinning his keys with a pointed look. “So let me help you out, man.”

“I’m not letting you take me shopping, Steve.”

~

A few days later, Eddie lets Steve take him shopping. 

But they talk it out a lot, first. Because Steve, despite his former monarch status at Hawkins High, has never strong-armed him into anything—insists it’s impossible to do so, in fact, and Eddie appreciates that. Autonomy is very important to him. 

To a point. Which is why they had so much to talk about. 

As they pull up at a mall a few hours drive away from Hawkins, Eddie starts brushing the wrappers from the last road trip fast food stop onto the floor and attempting to wipe the remaining burger grease from between his fingers and the corners of his mouth. He hefts himself out of the Beemer’s passenger seat with a stifled belch and a shower of the little slivers of fries that were small enough to fall unnoticed while he was eating. Doesn’t even blink, just kicks the car door shut behind him and follows Steve’s lead inside. He’s full enough that he drifts along behind a little sluggishly, damp with sweat by the time they get there and grateful for the blast of air conditioning as soon as they do. 

“Shoes first,” Steve announces, and steers him in the direction of the nearest shoe store. 

Getting off his feet is already a relief. Eddie pays very little attention as Steve talks to the salesman, preoccupied with resetting his bloated belly over his straining waistband and studded belt that’s on its very last notch. (It’s less comfortable than the hair tie, but that had snapped while he was getting dressed, so.) 

They’re just here for sneakers, in a wide size. All he needs to do is sit back on the padded bench and put his feet where directed. First, to measure. Then to try on a few different pairs, although… 

Steve provides commentary on how they look, because Eddie can’t really see them once they’re on. Not without bending over further than he cares to on a still-full stomach. But he provides feedback on how they feel—whether the support is any good, if they punch in the toe or beneath the laces, that sort of thing—and that’s enough. Every time he has to walk to test them for fit and comfort in action, he shoots Steve a petulant look for help and Steve lends him a hand getting up. It’s part of the game they’re playing: Eddie gets to see Steve’s biceps flex, and Steve gets to feel the weight he’s been so instrumental in piling onto Eddie’s once scrawny frame; it’s a win-win. 

They leave the store with a box tucked under Steve’s arm and comfy new sneakers on Eddie’s feet. 

Next is the record store. It’s a chain, but they have a decent selection of new and used band shirts. Eddie once again finds somewhere to sit while Steve browses for him, knowing his favorite bands well enough by now to come back with plenty of decent options in his size. The one drawback of all Eddie’s recent indulgence is that, eventually, typical merch simply won’t be big enough to fit… but he’ll cross that bridge when he comes to it. Denim vests come in all sorts of sizes, so he can always make a new battle jacket if need be.

“Do I have to pick?” he whines, and Steve just smiles indulgently and buys them all. 

~

Finally, they arrive at the department store. 

By now Eddie is a little more tuned in. He starts to notice people glancing at him—which he’s used to, really, as the resident Freak of Hawkins. Only, none of these strangers are staring because of his long unruly hair or his dark, ripped clothes and Dio splashed across his back. No, now people stare because he’s gotten fat, yet still has the audacity to go out in public with his shirt riding up his jiggling belly, deep navel on display beneath the straining fabric and the hang of his gut hiding the way his fly won’t stay zipped even with the belt. There’s something about the judgment in their eyes that hits different from just being seen as a nerd, Satanist, and trailer trash super senior. Eddie tugs fruitlessly at the bottom of his shirt just to make sure, just to make them fully aware of how poorly it fits, and feels himself start to chub up in his already uncomfortable jeans. His hand slips down to cup the bottom of his belly so it doesn’t wobble as much as he picks up the pace to keep up with Steve, reveling in its plush, pliable weight. 

How many of those watching right now can see his cheeks heat, notice him bite his bottom lip, and wonder in disgust if he’s thinking about more food?

… Well, now he is. God, the food court after all this walking around and sitting down and getting up is going to be so—

“What do you think of these?” Steve asks, waving at a display of jeans that to Eddie’s distracted eye all look pretty much the same. 

“They’re alright,” he mumbles. Taking the opportunity to stand still, he absently runs his hand back and forth along the curve of his belly, back and forth, kneading gently. It lulls away the sting of the embarrassment, leaving only his pleased flush at the attention. 

Steve picks a few things up and they move on. 

A store clerk approaches them with a simpering smile—no, approaches Steve. She’s ignoring Eddie like the elephant in the room. “Can I help you with anything, sir? I can get a changing room set up for you, if you’d like.”

And Eddie gets it. Objectively, he gets it. Steve is bonkers hot. But, he is smugly aware, this twig-shaped girl is merely a passing curiosity at best; Steve likes his partners (likes Eddie, and Jesus H. Christ isn't that still a heady thought) insatiable and demanding, not demure and easily impressed. The time when he felt self-conscious about their relationship, when he worried that Steve was just a confused straight boy who would go back to girls with their curves and small hands and baby-soft skin after a while, is long past. 

Partly because now he has those things too, except for the small hands, but mostly because like has recognized like. 

So when Steve replies, “Oh, this isn’t for me, it’s for him. But yeah, could you get us a changing room? My buddy here has some mobility issues so I’m here to help him out,” and winks at the girl, Eddie doesn’t even blink. From the looks of it, Steve is going to leave the store with her number. Eddie, feeling her gaze slide critically over him and linger on the way he’s bulging out of his clothes even at the sleeves and between the rips in his jeans, already knows she’s never going to get a call. 

~

The changing room is a bit cramped. Eddie stands by the mirror with one hand on the wall for balance as he steps on the heels of his new shoes to wiggle out of them while scowling at the only place to sit in the changing room: a chair with fucking armrests, way too narrow to squeeze his doughy hips between comfortably. Not when he’d have to get up again pretty soon after, anyway. 

It’s as thrilling as it is irritating. The amount of weight he’s put on in a single blur of summer indulgences still catches him by surprise sometimes. Half of it is probably from s’mores marathons they’d had in Steve’s back yard, which… Yeah, he wouldn’t give those memories up for anything. 

But at the moment, man is this annoying. 

“You’d think they could’ve just installed a bench, but nooo,” he grumbles. He gets the shoes off and leans back against the wall. “Whew. Mind helping me with my belt here?”

“Uh-huh,” Steve replies in a casual voice, for the sake of anyone who might be listening. His eyes are fixed on Eddie’s middle though, going smoothly to his knees with both hands already reaching. It’s cinched so tight that he has to grab both ends and pull them closer to get the buckle loose, compressing Eddie’s belly enough that he has to stifle a burp, then bite back a moan as the belt comes undone in Steve’s big hands and his belly drops with a noticeable bounce.

When Steve holds the belt up to show him, the last hole is so stretched it’s a miracle the thing had held. Eddie had noticed it creaking when standing and sitting in the shoe store, but he hadn’t thought it was that serious. And kind of doesn’t now either, with Steve still kneeling at his feet and peeling his outgrown jeans down. 

“Step,” Steve murmurs, tapping his calf over the crumpled denim. While Eddie extracts himself from his pants, he pops back to his feet with his hands still out, fingertips skimming up the sides of Eddie’s legs to settle on his exposed love handles and kneading rhythmically. “Need anything else?”

A number of lewd things he could ask for flit across Eddie’s mind, including with the impulse to ask for a pre-lunch snack—but they have a plan and he’d like to stick to that. So he shakes his head, and Steve retreats to the chair and settles in. Spreads his legs as wide as the armrests allow and puts a hand casually over the fly of his jeans, brazen in the way he adjusts himself while flashing Eddie an eager smile.  

Eddie licks his lips but tears his gaze away, focusing on the clothes hanging just inside the door. They’re already sorted, pants and shirts paired into outfits of his boyfriend’s choosing, which. Okay. He can do this. 

First is a pair of slacks and one of the button-down shirts. And they don’t fit at all. 

“Steve,” Eddie complains, struggling to try and get at least one button on the shirt fastened. He’d given up on the pants already, a little winded from all the jumping and wiggling as he tried without success to get them anywhere past where they strained obscenely over his thighs, and just left them there. It feels like he’s hogtied from the knees down. “Did you even look at the sizes when you picked these out?” His own body blocks most of the view in the mirror, but when he stands off-center just so he can see the way Steve is staring. It only lasts a second but he could swear—

“Try the next one, then,” Steve suggests, voice rough, and he is. He’s already touching himself. 

Jesus H. Christ. 

But the biggest thing confronting Eddie in the mirror is, obviously, himself. His eyes linger on his curves, the bulges where he all but explodes out of the clothes’ attempt to restrain him. Already flushed from all the walking and attention he’d garnered on his way to the dressing room, and now the attempt to get the clothes on, he realizes that it’s about to be a struggle to get them back off and suddenly feels even warmer. All over, but especially where Steve’s eyes rove over his ample backside—because his ass may be flat, but it’s gotten wide from all the time he’s spent parked on it lately. 

Because that’s a thing Eddie gets to have now: a doting boyfriend, who feeds him out of his clothes and then takes him shopping. 

He bites his lip and starts shrugging the shirt off, wiggling his hips to shift the pants from where they’re boa constrictor tight around his legs. Unable to shift his eyes from the mirror as he watches himself, the way his body shakes and bounces in new ways. And, like, fitting room mirrors aren’t flattering for anyone, but he looks big. Barely fits in the frame, especially when he turns fully to the side to grab the next outfit lined up for him. 

This one is a little better. Chinos that seem absolutely huge until he gets them on and realizes they don’t button over his lower belly; he has to lift it up and button them with one hand with a grunt, blushing hard as he hears Steve hum approvingly in the background. But the next hanger, a Black Sabbath shirt that Eddie actually really likes, doesn’t even come close. 

“Steve,” Eddie whines this time, trying to keep his voice down because they are kind of in public but fuck, the fact that his boyfriend is doing this to him on purpose is making really him squirm. He turns around with his hands on his hips, fully aware that he looks like he’s wearing a goddamn crop top the way his belly pushes up the shirt. 

“Eddie,” Steve teases back. He does a good job of not sounding breathless, but even if the urgency of how he’s fondling himself through his jeans didn’t give him away, the rapidly shrinking slivers of hazel around his blown pupils would. “Is there a problem?”

What’s Eddie supposed to say to that? As much as part of him wants Steve to play fair, get him things that he can actually put on without feeling every additional, quivering inch of himself so they can buy some damn clothes and move on to lunch, he can’t ignore the way it's making his blood rush south. 

So instead of focusing on fair—which, clearly, his dick could not care less about from the way it’s threatening the integrity of these chinos—he makes the world’s most ineffective attempt at pulling the shirt up and pouts. “I need help.”

And once again, those magic words make Steve light up. 

~

So, here’s the thing. Eddie has been to Indy. He’s done things in bathrooms at gay clubs with complete strangers, gotten his rocks off, and gone right back out onto the dance floor after. Yeah it felt like something was lacking, a little bit lukewarm even when the sex was good… but he’d always figured that was just part of the package when you had a sexuality that could get you run out of town if the wrong people found out. 

Nope. Incorrect. Or maybe that was it for some people, but Eddie has only recently figured out what the missing piece always was. 

Because right now, he feels like he’s on fire. 

“How’s this one fit?” Steve asks, and Eddie doesn’t know how the fuck he can sound so normal. So unaffected that he might actually be helping his fat friend struggle out of one article of clothing to the next, instead of what he’s actually doing, which is sliding a second finger into Eddie’s ass beside the first. 

“It’s, ah, it’s good,” Eddie gasps. He’s breathing hard, but he kind of was even when he really was still trying on clothes. It’s a good thing the changing room walls go all the way down to the floor because otherwise it would be way too obvious from outside that he’s on his hands and knees, biting his knuckles whenever Steve plays Morse fucking code on the bundle of nerves deep inside. “I think, ha, this one’s a winner, definitely. Put it in the keep pile for me.”

“Sure, man.” Behind him, Steve lets a gob of saliva drop silently from his mouth, adding more wet to his fingers and Eddie’s hole. 

Eddie is going to leave teeth marks on his entire fist at this rate. His mind is swirling around the proverbial drain, close to dropping out completely, eyes squeezed shut in a desperate attempt not to forget himself. But he can’t resist rocking back, angling his hips as he tries to get more. Steve moves with him, the bastard, but the underside of his belly rubs over his cock as it sways with the motion and the extra stimulation makes him jerk and that, that nearly makes him moan out loud. He doesn’t, though; they’re going to get away with this. 

It’s cleaner here by far than any bathroom he’d ever encountered in Indy but Eddie has never felt more dirty in his entire life, and it feels so. Fucking. Good. 

~

Before they leave the changing room, Steve dresses Eddie in new everything. Boxers from one of those economy packs that come with five pairs, because his old ones are… yeah. New Judas Priest shirt. Black jeans that don’t have any rips in them yet. Socks from similar plastic packaging because the ones he came in with have holes. Steve, kneeling at his feet, pulls those on for him and then gets his shoes on and tied one by one. 

Eddie lets him, feeling like his insides have been liquefied into honey. Or something thick and slow, anyway. Sticky and sweet. He licks his lips absently and watches the top of Steve’s head because he doesn’t want to lean forward enough to watch his hands, but can’t think of anything worth watching besides this perfect man whose eyes, when he meets Eddie’s gaze, are burning with the ‘you’re so fucking hot’ he doesn't dare say out loud right now, still riding that thrill of getting away with this in a public place. Who’d just played out the scene Eddie had asked for to glorious perfection.

There’s one thing Steve improved on, though. He feels it with every step as they head for the register, Eddie a few steps behind with a dopey expression on his face: the constant reminder of the plug in his ass. 

In a perfect world it would be there to keep Steve’s come inside him, but that would’ve been too risky. No, his sweet boy had spit on him again after he’d come into the ratty boxers now shoved deep in one of his new pockets, pushed it into Eddie’s lax hole with his thumb, and offered the plug shyly—as if there had ever been any chance of Eddie turning it down. It’s keeping him ready for when they get home. 

“So,” Steve says as they leave the store, glancing at him with a knowing grin, “you still up for the food court?”

Eddie smiles back at him serenely and pats his stomach, which  isn’t empty, exactly, but isn’t full anymore either. He could eat. 

“Always, baby. Lead the way.”

Permanent tag list (if anyone wants on or off, let me know): @hotluncheddie @lawrencebshoggoth @sofadofax @irishvampireboy @oatmilk-vampire

@wheneverfeasible @hamiltonswiftie @grtwdsmwhr @yesdangerpls @theseaofdespair

[chikos-workshop]

Shop update – On-going sale, new items and restocks!

September is half over and that means the sale is halfway done! Enjoy 20% off everything on Shopify and Etsy while you can!

(Cotton dolls are still additional 10% off on my shopify :3)

(Sorry I never announced this here I was exhausted after doing twitter announcement)

Shop Link

1. Collab merch - EGO buttons and Yan Sticker

Starting with more collab merch, we have a pair of buttons featuring the seasonal EGOs by @AzeruArts on twitter! Ryoshu and Yi Sang are contained neatly in their cells, ready to be dispensed :)

This will hopefully be an expanding series, let me know if there's any EGOs you'd like to see 👀

Button Link

Work getting you down? Yan’s there to keep you company as a sticker! Now you can be stuck to a desk together. Try not to distort :)

Another collab merch by @AzeruArts

Sticker Link

2. Double sided Angela Acrylic Block

Robot Assistant or Library Director. Both Angelas are now on sale! She comes in either an acrylic block or in a quicksand block. Watch the Light she cultivated gently fall in the background, or peek at the Carmen between the layers

Quicksand

Acrylic Block

3. Other Merch that Dropped and I Forgor to post here

Tiny Sephirot Standees

Tiny ALEPHs standees

4. Restocks & Other Notes

The (Note)Book of the Library makes a return along with the highly requested tiny librarian phone charms! The notebooks will come with an Angela bookmark, while supplies last.

Book Link

Phone Charms Link

If you see a phone charm design that sold out, feel free to contact me! I'll try my best to accommodate if I still have stock!

Also, the prices for phone charms will go up a bit after this sale (12 CAD per charm) to match the prices of other kc on my shop!

[genericpuff]

hello! i'm not sure if you remember me, a while ago i asked about digital art and if it's possible to do on an ipad or something similar. i was really grateful for your response and i got an ipad over christmas! i didn't realize how expensive the pencils were though and was only able to get one recently. now that i have all of that, i download the first art program i saw (ibispaint x, i don't know how good that is) and feel super overwhelmed by everything, all the tools and brushes and i have no idea where to begin. i know this is a super broad topic, but i don't know if you have any advice for a beginner hoping to become a digital artist? or know of any resources? thank you so much in advance and no worries if this topic is too broad to really get into properly!

Oh hey!! Congrats on getting an iPad! And yeah, shopping for the pens is a big pain in the butt, but I'm glad you finally got it all setup!

So most of the advice I'm gonna give you is very basic, starter advice that can apply to virtually any digital art software, as the vast majority of them are built with the exact same base tools, they just vary in their intended purposes which means they may differ in more advanced settings and what they offer beyond the basics (ex. Photoshop has more colors than Clip Studio because it's built for editing high quality photos whereas Clip Studio is meant to emulate comic art, but Clip Studio offers more in the way of comic-creating tools such as specialized rulers, 3D material support, built-in screentoning, etc. and all of the software available will tend to have different brush engines, meaning it doesn't always 'feel' the same to draw in one software as it does in another).

Your bestest friends:

Layers! This is the biggest pro to going digital, because now you can work with layers! So anything you draw on each layer is preserved and can't touch or affect whatever's on the other ones :3 You can find the layers tab in Ibis Paint X in the bottom right, don't be afraid to make a bunch of them and mess around with what you can do. Play around with the different blending mode settings (in Ibis Paint it's the menu that's labelled 'Normal' in the layers popup) especially Multiply, Color Dodge, and Overlay, as those three are the most commonly used to make coloring more efficient and give your art some extra pop.

Lasso/marquee/magic wand tools! These are basic selection tools that allow you to select an area within the layer you're working on, so that whatever you paint won't travel outside of that area. The Lasso is a free draw tool, the marquee tool is typically 4 sides by default (so squares/rectangles) and the magic wand detects and selects a closed area with one click! (just note that by default it's only on the layer you're on, so if you use it on a layer that has nothing, it will typically select the entire canvas).

Alpha locking! This is a simple button setting you can click to 'lock' the layer you're working on, which basically means that whatever you've drawn on that layer, anything you add can't travel outside of that drawing. So if you want to quickly shade something without going outside the lines, alpha locking is your solution!

Clipping groups/layers! This is a bit more advanced but is basically an even better version of alpha locking that you can use in conjunction with it. Clipping layers are basically additional layers that , when you click the 'clipping group' button, 'attaches' that new layer to the layer that's below it. It performs the same function as the alpha lock by preventing whatever you draw on that layer from travelling outside of it, HOWEVER it comes with the added benefit that it's on an entirely different layer, meaning you can erase and mess with whatever's on that new layer as much as you like and it won't hurt the base layer. It kinda follows the same logic as animation cels !

Masking! Y'know when you're doing a traditional painting, and you put down tape to cover the area so you can paint over it and later remove the tape and everything underneath is untouched? That's basically what masking is! Once you put down a layer mask, using the erase tool on it will 'erase' whatever the mask is applied to, and using the brush will make it magically return! This may sound silly at first, but I find masking is especially helpful if you want to erase something on the layer you're working on without it disappearing forever! It's also really helpful for comic work because you can mask whatever's outside of the panels and voila, nothing you draw will travel outside of those panels!

Stabilization! I don't know how extensive Ibis Paint X is with offering stabilization tools, but many digital art software comes with it and it's a LIFE SAVER for new digital artists adjusting to the feel of digital art. It essentially 'slows down' the output of the ink on the canvas which helps a lot with getting cleaner lines in fewer tries. It's not quite as big of a deal when drawing on iPads because obviously you have more control by default by drawing directly on the screen, but it can still be really helpful when you need to pace your hand ahead of the actual drawing tool to pull cleaner lines!

That's pretty much all I can think of for now! But here are some other commonly asked questions:

1.) There are so many brushes to choose from, which one do I use?

The round brush is small but mighty. Virtually anything can be painted with it, it's simple, but malleable, especially when you start messing around with the hardness and opacity settings. Don't get too lost in the sauce with the brushes that are available to you, it can be very easy to get overwhelmed by all the options and variety. Some artists still work purely with just round brushes, some artists have custom brushes they like to use to speed up their drawing process or achieve certain textures. Play around with them, but don't get too stressed about which one you use because there's no wrong answer, the right brush to use is the one that gets the job done ! <3

2.) What canvas size should I use?

It depends on a variety of factors such as whether or not you're planning to print, where you're going to be posting it, etc. By default I like to work on 8.5 x 11 inch canvases (standard printer paper size) at 350 dpi, which if you want to make that canvas in Ibis Paint X, means you just have to make a canvas with a pixel ratio of 2975 x 3850 pixels! Just note that the lower you go in either pixel count or dpi, the lower the resolution, so it's typically encouraged you work at a minimum of 300 dpi (but you usually don't have to go any higher than 600) to ensure you don't wind up with any blurry low res JPG's/PNG's.

3.) Should I export my final drawing as JPG or PNG?

This is usually just up to personal preference, but like the canvas size, it depends on what you're using the image for. You can always export as both, the biggest difference between them is that PNG is lossless meaning you won't experience image compression like you will with JPG, BUT you're also going to have much larger image sizes. JPG is often fine for any standard posting, PNG is typically recommended if you want to have a drawing with a transparent background for printing (as JPG can't do transparent backgrounds) or if you just want to have a really high res image file for sharing outside of social media sites (as social media sites like FB/IG/etc. will typically compress the hell out of your images anyways)

Here are some other super helpful resources as well if you need some visual and/or audio guides:

Sinix Design - How to Learn Digital Painting (Beginners)

Marc Brunet - The Beginner's Guide to Digital Art

Skynix Art - 50 Digital Art Tips in 5 Minutes

One thing I also like to do is watch speedpaints of digital artists as it can really help pull back the curtain on what they're doing (or at least, it can help you see what they start with which can help you better picture the process of turning a blank canvas into a finished work of art!) And though I don't do it as often, if there's an artist whose work I REALLY like, I'll try and find their actual work files (many bigger artists sell them on their crowdfunding sites/Gumroad/etc.) so that I can actually break the drawings apart layer by layer for the purpose of analysis. Of course, all that is something that you'll grasp better over time as you learn the tools and learn to recognize what artists are doing in their own workflow, so don't worry if you don't glean a whole lot of info from the "big guys" right away, you should always be referencing artists who are higher along the skill ceiling from you but not too high that they're using techniques and tools that are outside of your realm of understanding.

Other than that, just try to have fun, don't stress too much about it, and save often!!! Part of creating art is learning to be at peace with the process, so don't stress too much if it takes you a while to get adjusted to the layouts and tools - at the end of the day, digital art is another medium entirely, so it's not uncommon at all for traditional artists to need a lot of practice to 'switch' to digital, because they both utilize different tools and techniques. Be patient with yourself, always be on the hunt for new resources and guides and references, and don't be afraid to experiment and make mistakes (the best part about digital art? Mistakes don't cost you any paint or materials!)

Good luck!! And congrats again! 🥰

[twinkletwirl]

A little something different...

I thought I'd talk about this electronic toy I imported from Korea, the WishCat WishPad! It's super cute, but... somewhat scammy!?

Based on the WishCat Korean animated series by the same studio that brought TeeniePing, the WishPad has a 2.8 inch touch screen and comes with a stylus (that can be separated in half as the feather part has a sensor), a strap, one card, card portfolio pages, activity pages, and a binder than can hold all the pages as well as the device itself.

I find that the home button on my device keeps getting stuck, and I noticed that there is some extra acrylic that jams it, so must be a manufacturer error with just mine.

The device has 20 games, the ability unlock Wish Cats to care for, a shop so you can renovate your room, and some pointless profiles for human characters from the animated series. Here is what I think of it!

Pros:

Audio - It has cute music and a lot of spoken dialogue, including cute cat meow sounds. The speaker isn't the best quality of course, but I am very pleased with all the audio.

Graphics - The animations aren't very smooth, but the sprites themselves are super cute and in the mini-games there is usually a lot of detail on screen. The device sometimes even displays the full-on 3D artworks as the characters appear in the show.

Exterior design - The design of this device is intricate and dazzling! Every detail, including the little cat ears and paws, is gorgeous!

Variety of games - 20 games is a lot, and they're of varying difficulty and styles. Many of them are really basic but I still find myself failing to win sometimes even as an adult. A few are like "move the character to avoid or collect objects", but there's a Bejeweled-style game, dress-up games, a tennis game, a very simplified rhythm game, etc.

Battery level on display - The device takes four AAA batteries and there is a meter with 4 bars in the upper right of the screen sometimes, so you know how much power is left. Oddly while I was playing, the meter went down to 3 bars but later back up to 4 bars haha.

Decent touch screen - I've had touch screen toys where the touch sensors were literally divided into only 4 areas... Thankfully, this is more like a normal touch screen even if there's a slight delay to respond. You can even move your cats around on the main room screen, which I find nice because you can choose precisely where you want each cat to sit!

Cons:

This device is almost useless unless you buy separate figures. You do NOT earn ANY points for playing a game UNLESS you have scanned a card from a separately purchased figure, after which the corresponding game's "Star mode" will be unlocked. This means you CANNOT buy any wallpaper or furniture for your room unless you buy additional figures. You better hope the figure you bought corresponds to a game that isn't too hard to win, and that you're okay with playing the same game tons of times for points. Additionally, you cannot care for any cats beside Iemeow, or read ANY profiles for any of the cats, unless you buy these extra figures. I understand the former so that scanning the cards will have more incentive, but the latter bothers me because the boring human profiles are readily available. Thankfully I bought 5 Wish Cat figures as well, but the fact that an entire feature (buying furniture and customizing your room) is paywalled feels scammy to me.

Even if you do buy figures, you have to grind - You earn 20 points for winning a game that you have scanned a card for. How much is the cheapest customization item? 1000 points. The most expensive is 20,000 points. Three of the games have a "Special mode" where you can win 300 points instead of 20. For each of these three games, you need to scan 5-7 unique and specific cards to get Special Mode. I find this quite predatory considering the toy is for young children and the figures with the cards cost $10 or so each. Despite me buying 5 figures, they aren't the right ones for any of the exact lists, so no Special modes for me!

You cannot pet the cats! - I was almost devastated to discover this! Despite the touch screen, if you touch the cat while in care mode, nothing happens. Instead, you can choose petting under one of the options and WATCH a hand pet the cat... I saw this petting animation in marketing and assumed you could pet the cat manually, so I am a bit disappointed!

The card it comes with doesn't really do anything - It's a card of Iemeow (the default cat on the device), but it does NOT unlock Iemeow's profile or Star mode for her game. It just plays the Wish Cat music theme and a simple looping animation of all the Wish Cats. That is still cute and nice, but I had thought it would at least unlock her profile... You still need to buy the separate Iemeow figure for all that.

Neutral aspects:

The stylus has a sensor, but... - In care mode, you can choose to feed, bathe, or play with your cat and to activate the option you selected, you have to touch the base of the plastic feather to the emerald above the screen. This is cool, but if you lose the stylus or even just the removable feather bit, you won't be able to care for the cats at all.

You can get extra foods and toys, but... - They are single use. And to get a new food or toy, your Wish Cat has to have a full meter, and their meter will empty after you exchange it for the new item. So, you deplete your Wish Cat's meter entirely in exchange for an item that will increase the meter by 2 bars once... It's a little odd. But the extra toy animations are cute, at least.

Sorry for the long post. I know I complained a lot, but I just wanted to express my thoughts on this toy! It was very expensive but I do not regret buying it; it is very cute and I like electronic toys that have a lot of games. I just hope the figures show up on AliExpress at some point so I can get more (International shipping from Korea destroyed my bank account lol).

[goodtoyous]

The Trouble With Tagging

Tagging in fandom is useful, but ultimately detrimental because of how people are using it.

When I shop online for shoes, tagging is what lets me filter my view to white sneakers in size 7.5. But there are other attributes I look for in shoes. Maybe I want shoes with widely-spaced holes so they aren’t too tight when I lace them. Maybe I want to buy soles that aren’t too thick because I think that makes them clunky. And there will be other people who have these preferences too, so that must mean they’re useful classifications to have!

So it should be in a company’s best interest to provide me a way to find white sneakers in size 7.5 with widely-spaced holes, thinner soles, and whatever else I want in my shoes. Because otherwise it’s just a waste of time for me to buy something and return it later when I don’t like it, right?

No. Absolutely not.

I can’t ask for all the shoes that aren’t red to be tagged as #Not Red. I can’t ask for all shoes to be tagged #Loose Around the Ankles, when that isn’t a universal metric. The best way for me to find the shoes I want, and maybe this is still somehow controversial but I can’t imagine how, is to go into the store MYSELF and either try on shoes until I find ones I like, or ask a salesperson to help me.

Yet, somehow, people fail to see how this applies to tagging.

Back in the days of cable television, when a show was about to start, you’d see a rating and a content warning. ‘Viewer discretion is advised’, and maybe a few more words on what kind of content to expect: crude language, sexual situations, or graphic violence. We still use variations of those ratings and contents warnings on AO3 today, and they are very useful, standardized indicators.

Writers would use these indicators, and it was understood certain ratings would contain adult topics. There was nuance there, and room for interpretation, and responsibility on the reader’s side for monitoring their own content consumption.

In fandom, we coined our own terms to help enforce the idea that fanfiction was a free space for everyone to write what they wanted. ‘Don’t like; don’t read’ (DL;DR) is a common term that has perhaps become less common over the years, and has lost some of the meaning it used to have.

DL;DR does not mean ‘we, the writers, will warn for every topic that this work will include so you can avoid it’. What it meant was, if you read a story and came across something you didn’t like, you would stop reading. It did not have to be something triggering, it could just be something you didn’t like. You would hit the back button and that was the end of it.

Using tags became a way to include additional information on a story so that people could avoid certain topics more easily. So that back button didn’t need to be hit quite as often. Nowadays, I feel as though people have begun to see it as a requirement.

People will preach about wanting to avoid content they don't want, but you have always been able to do that from the very beginning. You always have the option to close the tab, to stop reading.

‘I wouldn’t have read this if I had known ___’ is a complaint most writers are not unfamiliar with. Readers complain about having wasted their time on stories that were ‘disappointing’, ‘problematic’, or ‘misleading’, simply because there is an aspect of a story they disagree with.

If a story doesn’t have ‘Unhappy Ending’ slapped on it, readers hold the author responsible for their emotional response. If one topic isn’t tagged, the author is somehow at fault for being ignorant, insensitive, or irresponsible.

It is grossly misleading to approach this by assuming authors are acting incorrectly, or possess malicious intent for not including a tag. Simplifying fiction by categorizing it into tags is exactly what that is, simplifying it. Maybe it isn’t tagged because it's a spoiler. Maybe the author didn't think it was an important aspect of the story. Maybe they just forgot!

If an author is mistagging and misrepresenting their work, that is a different story that is subject to different nuances. But it is not a requirement, unspoken or otherwise, to include a tag, because this isn’t how reading works! There is a reason why 'Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings' exists, and that is because tags are for an author to classify their own work how they see fit. It is their choice!

People have been trained by social media into not curating their own content; they let algorithms and FYPs do it for them, and when they see something they don't like, they blame it on the person who posted it.

"How dare anyone encroach on this public space with something I don't want to see!"

So I ask you this: does an author’s opinions and desires on how their work is presented not matter? Are authors shackled to public opinion irregardless of what they believe is most important about their own creation? Should creative control be fully relinquished because people who had nothing to do with a work's creative process believe they know better?

If your answer to that last question isn’t a firm, resounding NO, then you are admitting you feel more entitled to a creator’s work than the actual creator.

Society has evolved to no longer value art for being art, but value art only if it is able to conform to various labels for commodified consumption. Yet there is no faster way to kill true art than to try and cram it into a billion tiny little boxes.

Fiction is subjective. Tastes are subjective. Tagging is useful, but it isn’t everything. Take responsibility for the content you consume. Stop asking people to pick out your shoes for you, and go try some on for yourself.

[fluffypotatey]

i haven’t seen a lot of mechanic!SWK au’s going around *sighs* have to do everything around here 😤

In Sun Wukong’s 500 year retirement he found many hobbies to occupy himself with

art and animation and game design were a huge hit to help get those brain juices flowing

however, they don’t do much help in actually silencing the racing thoughts in his head (and boy does he have a lot of them! not to mention that he can’t help but notice everything and everyone and yeah sure, being given the title of Bodhisattva is great and awesome but the omniscience part is a little taxing 😅)

anyway, enter cars

more specifically car engines, the machine behind the wheel, the things that actually make these automobiles move and function

those things

yeah so Wukong starts to pick up on a new hobby and it is……car mechanics!!!

Wukong being able to just open up the hood or roll under the car to observe whatever the problem is, to be able to examine and hone in on all the little details that go into making vehicles and it just silences that part of his racing mind

it’s a little similar to how fighting used to do it. where he didn’t need to think of much besides the person in front of him and how to take them down

it was similar. so similar

except, you know, no violence

also, instead of coming home covered in blood, it’s motor oil this time 👍

anyway,

in this AU, Sun Wukong opens up a mechanic shop. it grows very popular for obvious reasons (or not bc maybe Wukong just disguised himself as a human to avoid suspicions and “yeah no, Monkey King Mechanics is in no way related to the Monkey King because….that guy is just sO cool he inspired this name….yeah”) and soon has franchises all over the city

and Wukong is having a grand old time, retirement is going well, until one day an old broken down kart is pulled into his shop and the driver is begging him to fix whatever is wrong and “just please don’t tell my boss! Dads-I mean, Pigsy will freak if he leans what Mei and I were doing—”

so he agrees to help out the kid (“I’m actually 23…?”), free of charge. however! only if he promises Wukong will get free noodles for a week

they shake on it

Wukong thinks nothing of this encounter until the end of the week (his last free bowl of noodles) and MK ashamedly admits that actually his friend Mei is also a mechanic but he denied her help this time because his boss/pseudo-dad has been able to pick up on her magical signature (because she has a knack for adding fun additional touches like a glider button for the steeper roads) and would find out very quickly that MK got himself into some mischief (again) and MK just didn’t want to be nagged again

which leads to Wukong offering to help teach MK on how to fix his own delivery kart bc 1) he’ll avoid another confrontation about responsibility from Dads- i mean, Pigsy 2) it was just good to know what goes on in your own vehicle “not to mention being able to sniff out the load of bs that some mechanics can give you, making everything overpriced!” and 3) MK was starting to rub off on the guy and Wukong would miss him (maybe. a little. a bit. a lot)

AND THUS brings us to our beloved sunburst duo hanging out as mentor and student once more!!!

[kittiecode]

Things I wish I knew when I found the Law Of Assumption..

1. Time is entirely irrelevant

If you stay awake for 48 hours, the sun setting and rising doesn't take away from your continued experience of being awake for 2 days straight.

Sleep creates an illusion of separation between moments in "time", but life is all just one huge experience.

Watch where you are putting yourself at all times. Time isn't real, you are constantly creating.

2. There's no off button

This doesn't only get put to work when you choose to remember to use it. This is how life works. Try to not see it as some kind of life hack, or a human version of an additional Google chrome extension.

This is life, this is how you play it. The sooner you keep yourself in check, the quicker life will change for you.

3. Everything is possible, you're just too familiar with bad states

And that's why things don't seem to change. Revision is great, but too often forgotten. Changing how you feel about previous situations, changes how you get to experience similar situations linked to the previous ones. For anything. SP, friends, money, career.

Change how you feel about things. And yes, that can take a bit more deliberate monitoring of how you see things.

Not everyone comes from stable homes with parents who have decent amounts of money where you've been given iPhone after iPhone after shopping spree after new furniture after vacation after new family car. So yes, that takes changing beliefs and emotional reactions to things for a good amount of people. And yes, that takes as long as you need to in order to start feeling yourself changing how you feel about things.

We are forgetting that we have beliefs that have roots as deep as early childhood. Not everyone has had the same experiences, and so you cannot tell everyone that feelings don't matter.

You tell that to someone who's experienced stress in their home from their mom not being able to pay for electricity and so on that has created pretty strong beliefs surrounding money and stability that has gotten to the point where they think of money and their body goes into panic mode, and they'll struggle to manifest the way you manifest when you've had a pretty stable good foundation to grow up on.

If you have had a rough life and you're still able to easily detach from the bad and accept that everything is possible for you and you can have anything, that's amazing and I mean that. But a lot of people who find out about conscious manifesting are seeking entire life changes, and the old story can come with some baggage

A journey of creation is a personal one. It's for you. Other people can help, that's why I'm on this blog. But remember that what we teach others is what we've experienced movement and success with. I've studied this for years now. I've changed my family's life for the better, from poverty to a significant change to our current standard of living. I've used this enough to know it's the truth, and now I'm here to help others too!

[writingforfishes]

Hicvember: Random Case

I cranked this fucker out all tonight. So, enjoy me making something and having to release it into the wild without overly editing it like it's some sort of homework assignment!

CW:

loud squeaky hiccups

brief mention of fatness (positive/in humor)

atticus' embarrassment

mention of Olivia (Otto's birth giver)

a new hiccuper has entered the fic

short case

mention of a vibrator

slapdash knowledge of tea and herbs

mild teasing

Margie ran an apothecary downtown. She’d started it before gentrification got into full swing on the street her shop resided. Nowadays she got college students and tourists in addition to regulars coming in the store. When she first started her business, she would frequently have 5 customers the entire day. While she was grateful business had picked up since the addition of other popular shops, she was also frustrated to see most shop owners were young folks who’d moved from either richer areas of the city or other states. Very few owners were locals of the neighborhood. It was definitely a double-edged sword.

It was summer so the shop was back to being slower. She was happy for the rush when the college kids were in town, but she was grateful for the slow days as well when she could spend the day catching up with her inventory and refilling the shelves and containers with herbs, spices, and teas.

The door jingled as it was opened. When she looked up Margie smiled at the couple who entered.

Otto and Atticus had taken a day for errands. They were both dressed in their usual casual dapper attire. Otto had his curly hair loose and wore a button up with a vest and Atticus had on a flat-cap with a short sleeved patterned button up over a graphic tee. They both waved to the auburn-haired woman at the counter and Margie waved back, her dark brown eyes squinting in a grin.

“Hey! You two need a tea refill?” Margie asked.

“We certainly do!” Otto’s voice called out.

The couple closed the distance to the counter. Atticus stood in front of Otto as Otto put his hands on Atticus’ shoulder, lightly rubbing them.

“Let’s see if I can remember,” Margie said pushing up the billowing sleeves of her peasant top and thinking, “Green tea...lemon ginger...mmmm, Earl Grey and...lemon balm...something...shoot.”

“Lemon balm lavender chamomile,” Atticus supplied helpfully.

“Right! Lemme get those mixed for you!” she said. “Is that helping by the way?”

“It is!” Atticus said. “I mean, I’m still an anxious mess, but now I can at least get to sleep at night.”

“Hmmm,” Margie said, tapping her mouth. “I’m going to put some Ashwagandha in there, too this time. Might help with the anxiety.”

“Will it help with the looming deadlines and existential dread?” Atticus asked dryly.

Margie giggled.

“Sweetie, if I could find something that helped with that Cindy and I might actually have settled on a wedding date,” Margie said with a shake of her head.

Margie and Cindy had been engaged for a couple of years now. The only thing stopping them from getting married was every single maladaptive coping technique to both of their forms of ADHD and their ever-changing desires for wedding themes, not to mention having to deal with family members on both sides and all of those opinions.

“I still call being a flower person at the wedding,” Atty said as they watched Margie bring down the canisters of dried tea and herbs. “When I was younger, I wanted to be a flower girl so bad. I am determined to be a flower person at someone’s wedding one day. I don’t care if I’m 80 years old. I’m gonna do it, dammit!”

“Yes, you will, dear,” Otto said as he rubbed their shoulders more purposely. It was just on the edge of being a condescending remark. But there was enough genuineness in the gesture for Atticus to let the teasing slide.

“Well right now th—the theme is fairies,” Margie said. She’d ignored whatever spasm had interrupted her. The second one hit her after her sentence finished and she frowned a little.

Atticus blinked at the movements Margie made as her speech paused. They swallowed hard but tried not to focus on it.

“I will wear the fuck out of some fairy wings, then! And if you have any nieces or cousins, I will fight them for the role. Just warning you!” they said as they upped their snark with the nervousness that came from having noticed the possible beginning of a case of hiccups.

“I’ll heep! pass that on heep! to Cindy! Heek! Goodness!” Margie said finally relenting to having to notice her body’s involuntary movements. She covered her mouth with her hand as the high-pitched squeaks continued to interrupt.

Otto, for his part, was suddenly engaged not only in the hilariousness of Margie’s normal speaking voice being naturally husky mixed with endearing squeaks which were almost too high pitched to listen to comfortably, but Atticus immediately tending in front of him more than merely being startled by the sudden hiccups.

Otto, who was usually the victim of hiccuping more than any of the couple’s friends, opened his mouth and widened his eyes in shocked amusement.

“Are you...okay?” he asked trying not to smile too much.

“Yeah heep! These came hee’ulp! came out heek! of nowhere! Eep! I don’t ev—even remember ee’up! the last time heeulp! I had the hicceep! hiccups!” Margie answered, hand to her chest now.

Atticus could only watch their friend as the hollow above her clavicle hollowed and Margie’s brows furrowed adorably with each hiccup. The sound she made was startling, but the frequency and her frustration was both endearing and arousing.

“Um,” Atticus said trying to act like a person who was totally normal about hiccups. “A-are they always this...uh…”

“Adorable?!” Otto finished for them. Atticus was startled into a laugh and rubbed Otto’s hands in silent gratitude for his interjection.

Atticus stole a look up at their husband to find a face of delight and amusement above the scruffy jawline.

“They are heeeep! not adorable! They are hi’eep! annoying. I’m sEEP!sorry. I used to eek! to get th—these in class when HEEP! when I was a kid. Teacher mameep!made me waIP!wait outside because I was disturEEP!disturbing the class. They’re so loud heep! loud and shrill. I really hi’EEP! can’t control it!” Margie said and held her hand on her mouth.

Even when she suppressed them the high-pitched sound could be heard through her mouth and hand. Her neck pulled in all the more with the attempt.

“I think that was more a sign of a bad teacher than you being annoying,” Otto consoled. “I mean, I got pulled out of class for my hiccups too. Heh, remember when I was helping you move into this store? I think that was the first time you saw me hiccup.”

“I had HEEP! completely forgotten that! Mmmp!” Margie remarked with the shrilled suppressed hiccup as an exclamation mark.

“It’s funny,” Otto said casually. He kept one hand on Atticus’ shoulder, thumb rubbing it soothingly, and the other hand gesticulated. “I never realized how often I got hiccups while sober until Atticus moved in with me.” He felt them jolt under his touch.

Atticus had no idea where Otto was going with this but felt heat prickle their neck. For her part, Margie hadn’t seemed to notice, though glanced down as the writer was mentioned.

“Atty noticed when I hiccuped more than I did!” Otto said. It was probably the biggest understatement he’d ever made.

“I did do that,” Atty said, determined to stay as normal as possible.

“Apparently, I’m a pretty hiccupy guy!” Otto said with a shrug. “Made me remember all the times in the past before I started drinking heavily, too. I would get them all the time when I was a kid. Didn’t bother me at all. Was the one thing Olivia didn’t call me out on. Being too loud when I was excited was a problem. Me hiccuping a mile a minute and causing everyone to stare at us was apparently endearing. And if anyone complained she would actually defend me. Which is...actually really weird come to think of it.”

“Well, there’s heep! one thing she heek! she got right,” Margie said with an eye roll. She was well aware of Otto’s experiences with his mother. “Well, that aHI’eep!and having you.”

The sounds of clinking scoops into glass jars were creating a very satisfying sensory experience to go with Margie’s hiccups. Atticus was well stimulated, to say the least. But they were holding it together pretty well. Otto was also doing a decent job of grounding the by keeping a hand on their shoulder.

“I agree with that last one,” Atty added. “I don’t think I knew you helped Margie with the shop!”

“Oh yeah. You were so scared, Marge. She took the biggest leap when she stopped bartending. And this was before Cindy and her were dating,” Otto said.

“I w—was having hip! anxiety attacks every day. I put everything into this place. Every last dollar,” Margie explained.

“Yeah...that first year was rough,” Otto admitted with a wince.

“Well, it would’ve been rougher if you and Mark hadn’t stepped in financially to help out,” she said. “I felt like an idiot. I didn’t know how to run a business. What did I think I was doing? But then things started to pick up. Cindy and I started being a thing. She had connections. Got the word out. Pushed me out of my comfort zone to advertise and represent my business. Hell, before she showed up this place was called The Apothecary. When she suggested Two For Tea: Apothecary and I said she’d have to stay with me now for relevance she said, ‘Well, that was kind of the plan, toots!’”

Margie chuckled to herself as she envisioned Cindy’s bedroom eyes as she had winked at her that day. She felt herself blush a little.

“Ah, I didn’t know she came up with that. That’s actually really sweet,” Otto said smiling down at Atticus.

“I agree,” Atticus said. They were actually relieved that Margie’s hiccups had stopped so they could focus more on the conversation. “Extremely gross. Very cute. I approve.”

Margie laughed. Then she paused.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so glad those damn hiccups finally went away. I’ll have to tell Cindy, though. She gets them a lot, too,” Margie said.

“Yeah, her and I talked about that a little. She told me about when she was a kid and she was in--” Otto started before Margie interrupted, laughing.

“In church! Yeah! And her hiccups went in time with the choir singing? And the congregation laughed and that was the only time she ever felt accepted and appreciated in her church. The little fat metronome. Her words, not mine,” Margie said with a chuckle.

Otto laughed too. Atticus forced a laugh because, again, this is what normal people did when they talked about hiccups, right?

“Okay, I’ve got you all set up,” Margie said laying the bags of dried tea and herbs out on the counter. “Green, lemon and ginger, Earl Grey, and the ultimate tea for anxiety and sleep. Report back to me on that, Atticus. I’m hoping that Ashwagandha will help.”

“Will do!” Atty said, dutifully.

The couple paid, said their goodbyes while exchanging hugs, and walked out the door.

“So, how are you holding up?” Otto said, a hint of teasing in his voice.

Atticus held out the anxiety and sleep aid tea mix with a stern look.

“I’m going to need, like, 2 mugs of this and maybe a vibrator session, but I’m holding up surprisingly well considering!” they said.

Otto couldn’t help it when he burst out laughing.

[marshallpupfan]

Marshall Merchandise Update!

Got some interesting new additions for my collection to show off today! Eventually, I need to show everything off again... as soon as I get things organized again. I still have items I bought from early last year that I still haven't found a spot for yet. I've been slacking! lol

First off, this lapel pin... being graciously held up by Wolf O'Donnell. There's probably a "can't let you do that" joke in here somewhere, but I can't think of any right off hand. 😅

This was actually sent to me by a friend, who recently paid a visit to Nickelodeon Universe (an indoor theme park). While she was there, she seen this and got it for me, hoping it was something I didn't have. Fortunately, it wasn't! A fine item for my collection, indeed! She'll likely see this post later, so if you're reading this, thank you again!

Actually, I believe she also went a year or two ago and managed to find the Meet & Greet Marshall wandering around. She even got a picture & video with him, too. I was quite envious! 😄

Next, this "magic towel" thing. It's also being held up by another wolf - this time, it's Wolf Link, from "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess". Can you tell I'm a bit of a Nintendo gamer? lol

Anyhoo, I was just doing some shopping with my mother in a dollar store when I happened to stumble upon this. It was only $1.25, so... why not get it? The artwork isn't the best, but hey, I still like it.

Next, one of those "Good 2 Grow" snack containers! Actually, funny story about this one. I was at a gas station, not expecting to see anything pertaining to PAW Patrol, when I seen one of these that someone left at the front near the cashier. However...

It was actually one of Zuma, which surprised me, since they usually pass him up to focus on the main four. I meant to post about it on Twitter/X, but like usual, I forgot. In any case, I decided to track one down, and I soon found one of Marshall at Walmart. It was the last one, too! Unless I'm mistaken, they also had one of Liberty, so I guess they went beyond just the six original pups this time. Nice!

As you might recall, we've actually seen products like this before, about a year or two ago. Back then, it was just the pups in their regular outfits. This time, they went with a superhero theme, no doubt due to The Mighty Movie. I'm not sure why they went with Super Paws and not the Mighty Movie outfits, but maybe these were easier to mold. Who knows, but hey, I quite like it when older outfits get brought back, instead of them getting forgotten in the sands of time.

I just wish we could see THIS outfit again someday. It had a brief reappearance in that "Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay" video game, but that's it so far. Sadly, at this point, I doubt we'll ever see it again.

Er... guess I got a little distracted here, sorry!

Last, and absolutely not least, is this brand new item! Something I knew about for many months and couldn't wait to get a hold of one for myself! It's "Storytime with Marshall" by Leap Frog!

(In hindsight, taking these pictures in front of my monitor may not have been the best idea. Hopefully they're not too hard to see. 😅)

This thing is legitimately super awesome! They really got his likeness down so well here! I mean, seriously, just look at it! It's so cute! It's easily one of the best pieces of merch I've got in my collection now!

According to the box, it can do quite a lot. It includes 40+ stories, which I assume are based on various episodes (I haven't listened to them yet, but I also assume they focus on different pups, going by the buttons on the front... yeah, it's a shame there's no Rocky or Zuma again, I know). It has a sleep timer, to help lull the little ones to sleep at night before shutting off and all that. Additionally, it teaches "core learning skills" or something, whatever that means. That's cool and all, but of course, for me, I just wanted it because I absolutely love how it looks. It'll look great on one of my shelves! lol

I'll admit, I'm glad this came out before the new animation style got applied. While I like Marshall's updated season 11 look so far (I might make a separate post about that later), his original design is still my #1 favorite. A part of me hopes to keep collecting more merchandise of THIS Marshall, but I know that, by next year, they'll probably retire this design and start using the new one, permanently. Guess I'll enjoy it while it lasts. 😅

And that's all for now! I currently have another item coming in the mail; Marshall's new Rescue Wheels big wheel vehicle + figurine. It's been delayed, but it's supposed to show up at some point next week. Hopefully, the remaining Rescue Wheels merchandise will show up in stores soon enough, and I'll be able to show them all off soon. I might also have to buy a Boomer figurine, too. lol

[ahhvernin]

possibly unpopular opinion: OTC drugs, over the counter drugs meaning meds you don't need a prescription for, a med you should be easily access and buy from the store and go home without judgement....is no longer really OTC if you lock everything up behind a cabinet.

You have to wait for like 15-20 minutes for a sales associate to come over and unlock, say a cabinet of cold medicine.

The entire time they are hovering.

Which makes it near impossible to sit or stand there comparing and contrasting the different brands, to make judgement calls on which one is best suitable for you, especially if they're just sighing, rolling their eyes and telling you to hurry up.

Most of the time they lock it in a box.

Sometimes they hand it to you but other times they carry said box to the front counter.

At that point, just put them behind the counter and I will badger the pharmacist for the next 15-20 minutes about the pros cons and ingredients of said drugs.

6. What the fuck are these little credit card like cards for the OTC drug that say "Bring card to the pharmacist, meanwhile on the back is the drugs label but its damn near impossible to read because the image is blurry as heck and TINY AF. I am not that old and I was struggling to read the ingredients and side effects on the back. Your loss prevention method SUCKS. People who need medicine shouldn't have to deal with some overworked retail sales associate dropping exasperated sighs and telling you to hurry the fuck up because they have work to do, because the whole point was you wanted to shop somewhere local and get something that is on the shelf but now its locked up...I might as well go home and do the whole process online on my computer and order off online. Plus people who want to quietly shop and keep interactions at a minimum are probably just skipping the item because of the wait time to find someone with the damn key and then have to deal with the unhappy sales associate that you have now inconvenienced. Also your damn call button is BROKEN. Also sometimes people do not want to wait an additional 20 damn minutes to get fever reducer for their sick kid, when they could have just grabbed it off the shelf along with all the other things, paid and leave to take care of the kid within 5 minutes.

Also why is basic toothpaste being locked up????????? It's TOOTHPASTE. You brush your teeth with it and then you spit it out. I'm talking your basic Crest and Colgate like the $2.00 tubes. I'm not talking about the fancy electric toothbrushes, which I can understand being locked up. $2 toothpaste?????

[lachlanthesane]

People of Tumblr, my cousin and I have made a major stride forward in the field of Fictional Character Autism Research.

Name a fictional character who:

Has a single safe food they are extremely well-known for enjoying

Goes through multiple hyperfixations, usually a different one in every story/episode they appear in

Stims when happy or excited

Wears the same comfortable but old-fashioned outfit every day

Has an incredibly well-trained service dog

Drum roll please, folks...

It's WALLACE.

1. Cheese is his safe food! He knows loads about cheese because he is hyperfixated on it and he wants to know everything about why its taste and texture varies!

2. In addition to cheese, he hyperfixates on various different things and usually expresses that by inventing stuff to help! In A Grand Day Out he's hyperfixating on space travel. In A Close Shave he's hyperfixating on window-cleaning and bungee-jumping. In Curse of the Were-Rabbit he's hyperfixating on rabbit behaviour (at a time when the rest of the village is getting very upset about rabbits).

3. This hand-wiggle thing he does when he's excited? That's STIMMING, baby!

4. He always wears the button-up shirt and woolen sweater because it's comfortable for him. He wears the tie because he's heard in the past that it's important to dress formally when you want to be taken seriously, and so he dresses formally all the time because it's more comfortable for him anyway. (TBH this is the biggest stretch because most autistic people I know despise the feeling of woven wool, but at least he's wearing the sweater over the top of another clothing item?)

5. Gromit is a service dog, possibly the best-trained service dog of all time. He doesn't wear a service dog vest because he doesn't need to -- it's possible that Wallace trained him personally without actually knowing what a "service dog" means. Everyone else in town just lets Gromit do whatever, because whenever a new person buys a shop in town, they get a brief talking-to along the lines of "This Wallace chap is a bit weird but he's a good soul, his dog is smarter than him and you can let it do whatever it likes, do not trust any of Wallace's inventions".

Anyway, if anyone has any research grants for the Fictional Character Autism Research program, I'll split the payment with my very autistic cousin who came up with most of this.