#I’m a sucker for cowboy ghouls | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

strawberrykidneystone · 4 months ago

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you’re a cowboy like me🏜️

the ghoul x bounty hunter! reader

summary: in a world where you have to be cut throat just to get by, it’s rare to find solace in someone else. even if it's just for the night

a/n: def ooc cooper howard probably but what can i say i’m a sucker for unspoken feelings!!! also i'm like halfway through my first playthrough of fo3 and omfg there's so much to do /pos

tws: previous sex implied, cuddling, kinda angsty?, 2nd person, gender neutral but slightly feminine aligned, unrequited love (?)

ao3 version

just as you were getting ready to sleep in the old shack where you had settled down for the night, you heard the creak of the door and the bear trap you set up go off along with a string of curses. you tumbled out of bed, quickly grabbing your plasma rifle off the nightstand and aiming it at the doorway as you approached the front door. what you were met with was a certain ghoul prying apart the bear trap off of his ankle, resetting it behind him before he looked up at you slightly bashfully. "we have to stop meeting like this," you jested, grinning like a cat as you lower your gun that you had aimed straight at his head. "do i always have to be mauled by one of yer little traps for you to be happy to see me darlin'?" he grimaced and walked towards you until you were toe to toe. "no, but it's always entertaining to see," you smiled innocently up at him and fluttered your lashes as he towered over you.

the ghoul rolled his eyes and quickly leaned down. you let out a yelp as he grabbed the back of your thighs and hauled you over his shoulder, letting you hang off of him like a sack of potatoes. he walked back to the rusted mattress you had claimed for the night and you relished at the familiar sound of his spurs chirping against the ground. cooper gently tossed you onto the bed and the old springs groaned as you hit the dirty bedding. you scooted over to the side as cooper took a seat on the side of the mattress before adjusting to leaning against the bed frame on his back. he never undressed when you slept together, not even taking off his boots. you eventually got used to this as fighting him on it was a constant losing battle for you.

he opened his arm to you and cocked his head, a silent invitation that you happily took. you snuggled into his side with his arm automatically curling around your shoulder. you curled your left arm into your chest and laid your right hand on his torso. he tilted his hat down with his free hand and covered his eyes. you never knew if he actually slept or not, but you didn't care. it was just nice to have another warm body next to you when the nights got cold.

it was a very simple arrangement. you two were head-hunting the same bastard and very reluctantly ended up working together. you went your separate ways after that, but somehow you always ended up running into each other. you knew you could trust him to cover your open spots and he knew that you could tinker a bomb out of nothing. it was just for convenience and safety.

and sometimes sex.

but tonight, it was just for warmth. you were both exhausted from your respective days. he stumbled upon your shack of the night by coincidence. he knew your signature from one of the frag mines he disarmed outside just as he was looking for a place to hunker down for the night. it also helped that your company wasn't horrible. besides the fact that you nagged him every so often about having shoes on the bed. you always smelled good, just like the desert before a rainstorm.

he did actually sleep when the two of you slept together, just way after you go to sleep. some sort of instinct keeps him up that tells him that he needs to protect you, god how he hated it. he refused to get attached to someone who could make a bomb out of a toaster and would blow him up if they really needed to. (if you get this reference ily)

as he heard your soft snores, he ran his hand up and down your arm, closing his eyes almost involuntarily as he felt the warmth radiating off of you. maybe just for tonight he could pretend, pretend like you two could actually be together, like death wasn't around every corner, like life was simple.

but he was gone when the morning came, like always. you found some extra ammo and stimpacks in your pack, but you were missing some of your chems. 'bastard' you thought to yourself as you packed up and disarmed the traps around the soon-to-be-forgotten shack. you shouldn't be surprised, but every time you hoped he would stay. you knew he never would for the exact same reason that you would never stay if you happened to wake up first.

he's a cowboy like you.

#fallout series #fallout on prime #the ghoul x reader #cooper howard x reader #fallout #the ghoul #fallout imagine

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defleurtradingco · 5 years ago

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Epoch- Growl

(Next: Carnivore)

"Ya weren't kiddin' mister, that there's the surliest lookin' ghoul I ever laid my eyes on!"

"Yeah, go figure huh? All things considered."

The ghoul in question growled viciously and skulked around the back of the cage, eyeing its captor and the undead ranch hand with a fair amount of rage.

Monte rolled his only eye and shook his head. "Well, that's that."

"It's a good thing ya came, I thought it was one'a them stories bout that uh...bout that uh goat-sucker whachamacallit. Always thought it was aliens or somethin'!" The other dead man exclaimed as he glanced back to the cage. “They’re always talkin’ abouts it an’ such- or- well th’ kids are. Dem young’uns like th’ oddest things nowadays-”

“Billy you’ve been herding goats since 1897 and still live in the same pile of sticks ya always have, and ya think THEY’RE weird?”

“Well ain’t nothin’ wrong with goats is alls I’m sayin’-”

The ghoul suddenly crashed against the bars, sticking its arms out and flailing its claws around as the hair on its back stood up, giving it the appearance of quills.

"See, that's where th' confusion is. Ain' no chupacabras or none'a that nonsense. They're ghouls. Toss 'em almost anywhere in any kinda weather an' they change ta fit in! Look!" Monte approached the cage and rattled the bars a little.

The ghoul swiped at him repeatedly to no avail and hissed angrily as its face suddenly split apart at the mouth, revealing several long tendrils that whirled around chaotically.

"Holy Jesus, well wouldja look at that!! That’s th’ plum scariest thing I e’er laid my eyes on! An’ I still got my eyes!!”

"Blood sucker for a reason ya know. Anywho...I laid stuff around th’ perimeter of yer property. They shouldn’ be botherin’ ya none fer a good while. Just don’t try ta do anything that invites ‘em over. You’ll probably get swarmed. Er, well, the goats will at least.”

One of the goats nearby’s bell clanked loudly as it looked up at Monte from afar, making a spitting noise afterwards.

"Course mister, I won’t! It'll be great not havin' ta find poor ol' goats all drained dry n' left out there'n the sun. Poor lil' fellers… Ya know- I’ll tell ya what they did ta poor ol’ Rosey an’ Abraham Lincoln-"

“Ergh- another time. I gotta go.”

“Oh! Well alright! Anywho, thanks again mister! Always a pleasure!!”

As the other dead man walked away, Monte sighed aloud, sticking his hand into his pocket and pulling out his phone.He moved around to the front of his truck and opened the door, sitting in the driver's seat as he text.

Done with my last job sugarsnap, headin’ home. Might be a couple days.

Ok, cya when you get back. Drive safe!!!

It had been a long drive from New York City to New Mexico, with a starting point of Kentucky before either of those two. It wasn't hard for someone who never had to sleep. Not at all. It was only the length of the journey he found boring.

If anything, he was glad that cars existed. They were much faster than horses.

The radio sputtered to life as he started the truck and pulled back out onto the dirt road. The small farm he'd visited had been far away from the city, where old Billy kept his goats for the last century and twenty-something years. Nothing but a long stretch of dirt and some highway for miles. No one ever came out this far. One could live in peace out in the middle of a desert rather easily (as for how animals like small livestock tolerated it, that was another story…)

For what it was worth, the landscape looked awfully pretty during sundown.

As he drove along, he spotted movement in the brush on the side of the road. Something person sized.

The truck rolled to a stop and he got out, looking around with his hands in his pockets. Scratches in the dirt were strewn all over the place, as well as bits of coarse hair and animal bones (he hoped.)

The ghoul in the back began to act up and make loud noises of distress.

"Now I jus' come back from a job an' got one'a yer little buddies.” Monte announced, “Don't let me end up havin' ta nab you too! Don't think ya'd like relocation much!!"

The ghoul in the cage in the truck bed rattled the bars and roared, only to be responded to by another ghoul in the brush. The one Monte had just seen.

He grunted, annoyed. "Now go on, git!!"

The free ghoul grew bold and emerged from a prickly patch of cactus and other sharp plant matter to hiss at him, only to back away when he came closer.

They played chicken for a few seconds with one another before the ghoul grumbled and retreated back down the side of the road and into the dust.

Monte smirked triumphantly. A small victory.

Something caught his attention however, and his smile faded.

On the ground had been a shoe. Beat up and chewed on. Someone must had lost it out there long ago. But who would come out that far? Maybe one of the ghouls carried it with them. It wasn't that unusual for them to carry keepsakes with them.

He came over to it, stooped down and picked it up, turning it over a few times and looking out towards the desert again.

Nothing. No one.

Strange.

Shaking his head, he tossed it before turning to go back to the car. As he did so, the ghoul that had run off made a high pitched noise out in the distance, wherever it was.

Monte looked over his shoulder again, seeing the ghoul running in circles some fifty yards away, maybe less. It stopped to look at him a few times before hopping around and making the same noise again.

Scavengers circled overhead, high in the cloudless and dimming purple sky.

"...Huh," Monte scratched at his head in confusion.

The ghoul continued to wait and beckon him over.

"...What's a lil' peek gonna hurt I guess," He muttered as he made his way over.

As he came closer, the ghoul maintained a certain amount of distance between them at all times, but it stuck around.

There was a small dip in the ground there that had made a sort of sand pit that he couldn't see from the level of the road. As soon as he stood at the top of it, he caught sight of red down below in the crater.

"Holy hell-" Without any hesitation the cowboy slid down to the middle. It wasn't very deep, a person sized slide at best. "Hey!! Shit, hey!!"

There was a man lying on the sand, face down with a mop of extremely red hair tied in a tail and ripped, dirtied clothes that looked more suited to a bargain bin. He looked chewed up, and not by the ghouls. The black and blue bruises looked fresh.

Monte glanced around again as he knelt down to feel for a pulse. There weren't any footprints or signs that indicated anyone else had been there. There wasn’t anything in his pockets or in his jacket, no wallet, no form of ID.

The man was alone, and beat up.

"I see ya breathin' buddy, good enough." And he wasn't dead, for what it was worth.

Monte sucked in a breath and pulled him up, throwing him haphazardly over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes as he climbed back out of the sand pit.

The wild ghoul followed them back to the truck, only stopping when it reached the edge of the road.

The one in the cage continued to jump around and screaming, trying to break free.

"Listen I know yer goin’ apeshit back there but yer gonna need ta pipe down. Can’t have ya screamin’ like that th’ entire damn way!" Monte waved a dismissive hand at the caged ghoul once he had secured the mystery man on the passenger's side.

He slammed the driver's door shut once he was in, and drove. Fast.

There was no way he could bring him to town with a crazy screaming ghoul in tow. He’d have to drop it off first somewhere, and then see about helping him.

"Bit of a bumpy road, mind yer head." Monte gave a short laugh as the truck jerked and rocked as they went along.

#epoch #and so the next tale begins

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thetygre · 6 years ago

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30 Day Monster Challenge - Day #20: Favorite Song/Musical Monster

1. The Phantom of the Paradise

Phantom of the Opera has spawned plenty of spin-offs and parodies, but none are weirder and cooler than The Phantom of the Paradise. Born in that stage-musical wasteland between the sinking of Hello Dolly and the rise of Lloyd Webber, Phantom of the Paradise was a bizarre rock-opera that was a mixture between the Phantom of the Opera, Faust, and The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Our Phantom this time around is named Winslow; he didn’t start off deformed, but got that way through prison experiments and a record press accident. Winslow just looks and sounds awesome; his teeth are made of iron, and he talks through a voicebox that sounds like a ghost screaming through a CB radio. The entire movie has a bird theme to its characters, so Winslow’s helmet winds up looking like a hawk. In fact, a lot of people probably only know about this musical through the comparison between Winslow and Griffith from Berserk. It doesn’t help that their stories are kind of similar; locked in prison, mutilated, deal with the forces of evil. It’s probably just a coincidence, but I’m not gonna’ lie and say it wouldn’t be a cool reference if it wasn’t. Still, people should give this movie a chance on its own merits, just because of what campy fun it is.

2. Lilith Immaculate

Cradle of Filth is a symphonic black metal band with a distinct gothic horror bent to their albums. They’ve done several concept albums, including one based around Gille de Rais and another on Elizabeth Bathory, but Darkly Darkly Venus Aversa was an original story. At the center of the album’s story is the monstrous goddess Lilith, trapped by the Knights Templar during the crusades and now possessing a girl sent to a nunnery. It’s all so incredibly gothic; sins of the past, sexual frustration, religious oppression, graveyards, doomed love.

I might not be the best judge of character, but Lilith here hits the nail with the hammer as far as gothic monsters go, reminding me a little of The Great God Pan or Gormenghast. Part of Lilith’s appeal is that, for all intents and purposes, she wins; the album ends with her former lover realizing that he has unleashed something he could never control, and now the world is doomed. Lilith heralds the dawning of a darker age, the antithesis of everything Victorian values holds dear. You can’t help but cheer for her as she readies to make war on the world.

3. Stanton Cree

Ghoultown is a gothabilly band, which means that it’s like rockabilly but with some Southern rock and it’s about ghosts and vampires and werewolves. Needless to say, they’re pretty great. Their best known song is probably Drink with the Living Dead, which tells the story of a cowboy forced into a drinking match with an undead gunslinger. The ghoul, Stanton Cree, shot a man for his beer and can’t rest until someone beats him in either drinks him under the table or beats him in a duel.

I love ‘Weird West’ songs, and Ghoultown is the epitome of that. Stanton Cree has gone insane from eternal life and is determined to find somebody to beat him, but he won’t go easy on his opponent. It’s the kind of story that belongs in Deadlands or some other cowboy horror setting. It lacks the morality tale aspect of Ghost Riders, but that’s a deliberate decision to emphasize just how bizarre the story is. It’s a perfect mood piece for a dark night out on the Wastes.

4. The Erlking

Schubert’s Erlking is an old-fashioned fairy, the dangerous and wild kind that need to be feared. As a father rides through the forest at night, his son sees the Elf King trying to seduce him to come away with him. It’s always nice to be reminded that fairies and elves aren’t nice, that they can be as dangerous as any monster or demon. But it needs to be done with a certain degree of subtlety, at least for a while, a delicate touch before the other shoe drops.

The Erlking is of course also a metaphor for death, and the father believe his son is only hallucinating as he dies in his father’s arms. It reminds me of the old medieval stories about how Fairyland was sometimes just a trap made by Hell, or how fairies would appear in afterlife narratives for children. Whether death, fairy, hallucination, or all three, the Erlking is still a chilling figure.

5. The Phantom of the Opera

I don’t claim to be in the Phandom, I only have a surface knowledge of it, but I feel like the Phantom is still an important monster/horror icon, even before becoming a musical star. The Phantom’s story, even from the beginning, has been about toxic people and learning to grow up. Born deformed, the Phantom embittered himself against the world, becoming a genius at music, engineering, and just about everything else, but a child socially. The lesson he learns is about putting another person’s wants and needs before your own, and that’s still a vital lesson that is incredibly painful to learn. Naturally, I don’t care about that; I just enjoy making fun of Love Never Dies and deciding which Phantom is the best based on grodiness of deformity. Obviously, that’s up to objective taste, but it’s Ramin Karimloo. Karimloo has the most extreme deformities, and is prone to fits of ACTING, so Karimloo takes top spot for musical Phantom. The best non-Musical Phantom is, of course, Lon Chaney, followed by Charles Dance, and I will fight anyone who says otherwise. Again I’m… I totally don’t care about this musical. I swear.

6. Mefistofele

I would argue that Boito’s Mephistopheles is the definitive version of the character, even more than Goethe’s. If nothing else, Boito’s Mefistofele defined the look of Mephistopheles, casting him in his famous red cavalier’s outfit. Mephistopheles here is also much more analogous to the Devil than his own separate entity here, since the opera begins with Mephistopheles challenging God to a bet over Faust’s soul. While Mefistofele might not be where the devil started enjoying his work, it’s definitely a far cry from Marlowe’s Mephistopheles urging Faust not to give up Heaven.

Still, despite the loss of complexity, Boito’s Mephistopheles is more personable, more charming, even a bit more human. There are situations he can’t control, and his relationship with Heaven is more casual. In the end, when Faust repents, you get the feeling that Boito’s Mephistopheles was enjoying the ride, and is almost as upset about not being able to have fun anymore as he is about losing his bet with God.

7. The Water God

Anything by Dethklok kind of feels like cheating, since they were explicitly made to be a parody band of death metal. At the same time, though, I’m not going to sit here and pretend that the entire underwater setting where sea monsters have race wars with mermaids isn’t the dopest shit. And then one of these sea monsters finds a deep sea oracle and they turn into some dark ocean god and it’s all so freaking cool. It is unnecessarily cool for a joke band meant to shill for an Adult Swim show. But the entire epic of the water god here is genuinely more compelling to me than a decent chunk of the fantasy characters I have read about. Maybe I need to read better fantasy stories, or maybe everyone else just needs to get with the program and starting writing Metal epics about killer tritons.

8. Ghost Riders in the Sky

Now this is the original Weird West song. Demon bulls, undead cowboys, nightmare horses; this song has got it all. And of course, this all goes without saying about how the song is also the unofficial theme song for Ghost Rider, one of my favorite superheroes. The song has that same ‘weird tale’ feel that Drink with the Living Dead has, which is probably because it’s based on an actual Texas folk tale. The image of a special Hell for cowboys is interesting, but I’m more fascinated by the prospect that Satan has livestock. Are all the Devil’s farm animals Metal like his steer? What about his chickens? Does Satan live on a giant dude ranch? Now I want some kind of Western/dark fantasy story where the Devil is a cattle baron all dressed in black and red.

9. Red

All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 was… God, I’m really putting this on the same list as Mefistofele good lord, but All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 was, well All Dogs go to Heaven 2. I mean it wasn’t the worst direct-to-video cartoon sequel of anything ever, it kind of just drifts there around the middle, but like many DTV cartoon sequels it has, unfortunately, a really great villain with a really great villain song. Designated antagonist Red is a demonic cat who’s after the angel Gabriel’s horn. His design is actually pretty good, and I appreciate the implication that if all dogs are heavenly, then all cats are therefore demonic minions. This is of course a known truth to anybody who has ever had to clean a litterbox, but it’s always nice to be reassured.

However, that alone would not let Red make the list; it takes more than being the redeeming feature of a DTV cartoon sequel to get here. What clenches it is Red’s pedigree; Red is voiced by Broadway musical veteran George Hearn, who has been in everything from Camelot to Wicked, but is most famous for being Sweeney Todd during the musical’s performance in 1970, and stayed with the production through its national tour and its Emmy-winning TV performance. In short, this man was the definitive Sweeney Todd, at least until Johnny Depp. All Dogs 2 even acknowledges it by having an entire sequence set in a demonic barber shop and theater. And I’m just a sucker for that kind of reference, so the evil red cat edges his way in.

10. The Beast of Pirate’s Bay

There are plenty of Voltaire songs I could have picked, but it figures I would pick the one about a sea monster. A variety of leviathans are conjured up to describe the Beast, without any actual answers given. It figures that like any good tall tale, the Beast changes from teller to teller. The truth is, though, that I find this to be one of Voltaire’s more sympathetic songs, and I can’t help but identify with the ending. Once upon a time there was a little me who loved sea life more than anything else too. The song takes a lower spot because of the actual nature of the monster, but the feeling still shines through.

#30 Day Monster Challenge 2 #30 Day Monster Challenge #Phantom of the Paradise #Cradle of Filth #opera #musical #Phantom of the Opera #long post

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mashimarorabbit · 8 years ago

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1. Favorite anime?

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and if I had to get specific, DiU. It’s not my favorite part but obviously the others have yet to be animated. We shall see. I also really love HxH, Cowboy Bebop, Mob Psycho and Fullmetal will always have a place in my heart. Yeah, I know, kinda generic answers. *shrugs*

2. Your worst anime?

I can’t do SAO, and I absolutely loathe Fairy Tail. The sudden “THROUGH THE POWER OF NAKAMA, I AM S TRONK” stuff makes me cringe when it’s in sheer excess. But honestly, if I find it horrid, I just stop watching and wipe it from my memory sooooo I can’t think of too many. I also can’t call anime “my worst anime”, just anime I couldn’t get into or didn’t like. Watching DBZ, for example, becomes a drag because it’ssofreakingslowfinishthefightalready. But there’s no denying that it’s a classic and inspired a lot of stuff that came after it.

3. Do you read the manga that goes along with the anime you watch?

I actually read manga far more than I watch anime. It’s faster for me and I get the author’s original intended plotline. Also, I’m impatient and I wanna know what happens. I usually watch the anime after I’ve read the manga. Though, recently, I’ve finally started watching more anime without the manga.

4. Most favorite genre?

I guess shounen? But there are plenty shounen I can’t stand as well. I can’t say for sure one thing, but I do like the introspective psychological thrillers like Paranoia Agent. I also like anime that kind of poke fun at its genre and doesn’t take itself too seriously like Jojo’s and OPM. And honestly a lot of anime switches tones/dives into all sorts of different genres (HxH), but I do need my action.

5. Least favorite genres?

See, I want to say Shojo, but I love Akagami no Shirayukihime to bits. Maaaybe straight-up horror. Not because they’re not good, though. It’s because I’m a chicken.

6. Favorite character/s?

We’re gonna be here all day pls. Caesar, Jotaro, Kakyoin, Rohan, Gyro, Diego, Hot Pants, Yasuho, and Jojolion’s Kira from JJBA because I love WAY too many chars from that. Akutagawa from BSD. Shigeo, Teru, and Reigen from MP 100. Arima from Tokyo Ghoul. Those are the ones off the top of my head. I’m bad with favorites.

7. Least favorite character/s?

I can’t stand Sakura from Naruto, but I mostly blame the poor handling of her story because she was cool in the saving-Gaara arc. I really don’t like Koichi from JJBA idk why.

8. Qualities you like in a character?

Clever, I guess. I don’t care if they’re goofy (Joseph Joestar) or an edgelord (Itachi). As long as they don’t come off horribly annoying, they can really mix up a show and make it more interesting. I also really do love my villains. Like Hisoka from HxH is unpredictable, so when he’s around, it’s hard to tell which way the story’s gonna go next. I’m just a sucker for morally gray (or just not moral) characters.

9. Short or long anime?

Short lately for saving time’s sake. I also have the worst attention span. But I have made it through long stuff. *cough Jojo’s cough*

10. Anime or manga?

Manga for getting more story faster and just aaaart. Anime for VA, animation, music, ughhh. I like both. So much effort goes into both. I just hate it when the anime stops being faithful like Tokyo Ghoul’s s2 COMPLETELY GOING AGAINST the manga’s story. The choices they made for that also lacked logic. Waste of decent animation and budget >.<

11. How do you choose the anime you watch?

Usually good reviews, friends’ recs, the studio, and seeing if I like the plot summary.

12. Skip or listen to intros/outros?

Depends on the OP/ED and if I’m in a hurry to squish in an episode. If it’s pretty and catchy I usually don’t skip.

13. How do you cope if your friends or family don’t like you watching anime?

I separate my friend groups so I don’t dump my weeb fangirling woes on them. As for family...ahaha... I watch when they’re not around. It’s been easier for me to do so now because uni so.

14. Do you stop an anime midway if you don’t like it?

Eyup. Definitely. I’m picky as hell and if something seems too generic I’ll stop. I usually give something 4 episodes to get me hooked unless my friend begs me to keep going. Usually seeing tropey things make me wanna stop immediately.

Errrr. Gonna tag @seridano

#rip i ranted #mine

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