#I’m not even going to try and figure out how useful tentacles would actually be on land

[always-a-slut-4-ghouls]

Me trying to reason with myself: not every obscure question you have will have an easy to access answer

Me, snapping back at my reasonable take: how hard can it be to find something on how vertebrae jaws work for carnivores, which traits are favored, especially terrestrial ones! All I can find are papers on different families. One on mammals, some vague ones on dinosaurs, and when I look up reptiles all I get are comparisons! It’s all “the difference between reptiles and mammals” and “synapsid vs diapsid” all interesting topics but I’m trying to design a terrestrial carnivorous alien with a vaguely vertebrae style skeleton here! Sure, I’m making them a shape shifter, I’m not going for total realism, but I’m hung up on jaw anatomy! I don’t want to do the whole “make the face flat, bam! Alien” thing, no shade to people who do, but I’m trying to figure out if there is a reason most of their (the real animals) jaws are long-ish and if the mammal style dip between the brain part and the mouth and nose part that you see in Carnivora for example is just a mammal thing or is it advantageous in general?! I know all vertebrates evolved from a common ancestor, even more recently terrestrial ones, but I don’t care! I’m already borrowing enough, I just can’t design a skull! And dentition! I’ve made a few designs but I wasn’t happy with how they fit the rest of the character. And of course I had to make even more species of aliens! Tearing at my hair like an ace attorney witness.

The chill me again: who tf would have an article video or post on that specific thing and how would you phrase it? Nothing you’ve tried yet has gotten anything. Just accept that you might have to ask a subreddit yourself and see what happens. Dig through sci show first though

Frazzled me: but… what if they don’t have anything? I wanted a video or article. :( and what subreddit would I even ask? World building? Would they know what I mean? Is anyone else as autistic about skeletons AND making ocs?

[swaps55]

Twin Souls of the Same Star

Funny, Kaidan thinks as they lie side by side, Shepard’s bare skin illuminated by the fishtank. They’d changed their lives just a few hours ago, assuming Joker actually filled out and filed the paperwork to the hanar and Alliance’s satisfaction.

And yet…everything feels exactly the same.

Shepard strokes Kaidan’s ring figure, then pinches it at the knuckle and examines it closely. “Guess I need to put a ring on this, lest anyone doubt that you are now bound to me by official legal documents. Er, at least as far as hanar law goes. Do we know how binding that little ceremony actually was?”

“Are you questioning the legitimacy of Joker’s ordination within the Enkindler Souls of Stars?” Kaidan asks, tugging his ankle free of the twisted sheet and draping it over Shepard’s leg. “Or are you asking about the return policy?”

Shepard kisses Kaidan’s knuckle and then tugs him until he straddles Shepard’s hips.

“Just try and renege and see what happens to you.”

Kaidan hides his flush behind a chuckle. Shepard pulls him in and traces the shell of Kaidan’s ear with his lips. Bastard. Not even fair to go straight for the ear.

“You’re stuck with me. I just want the entire galaxy to know.” 

No hiding the flush now. “Well, in that case. Don’t need a ring. I know your transponder code. Your baseline biometrics. Your service number. Your mnemonics.”

“Okay, so you know how to take me in a fight, sure.”

Kaidan trails his fingers lightly across Shepard’s belly, smiling in satisfaction when he yelps and nearly shoots out from underneath him.

“I know that.”

Shepard gives him a wary look. “Tickling is just a dirtier kind of warfare than bullets, in my book.”

Kaidan wiggles his fingers in tune with his eyebrows, but pins Shepard firmly in place when he attempts to flee.

“Point is,” Kaidans says between sloppy kisses against Shepard’s neck. “I’m pretty sure I can stake a pretty convincing claim to you without a trinket as proof.”

“Don’t know why I’m worrying. Pretty sure you’re the only one who would put up with me, anyway.”

Kaidan trails kisses down the line of Shepard’s shoulder. “Dunno. Have you seen how pretty you are?”

Shepard preens. “Maybe. But Liara says I’m very vexing.”

“Lucky for you, I like vexing.”

“See? Soulmates. The hanar say so. Joker’s head garment thingy looked very official.”

“If you’re really worried about it we could always hire a hanar to follow us around and tell people.”

Shepard sniggers into Kaidan’s shoulder, then adopts a solemn tone. “This one would like you to know that these two are bound soul stars in the eyes of the Enkindlers.” His eyes widen. “Oh god we cannot tell Javik.”

Kaidan barks a laugh, and Shepard grins.

“Well, we don’t have a hanar on board,” Shepard goes on. “Suppose we could just stick some tentacles on Garrus. No one will know.”

“I’ll tell him you said that.”

“He’ll think it’s funny.”

He probably would.

Kaidan rests his head on Shepard’s chest, sighing softly as Shepard runs fingers through his hair.

“Should I have taken your name or something?” Shepard asks eventually.

Kaidan’s heart does a somersault at the thought. Not something he’s ever thought about. Not something he’s ever even cared about. But the fact Shepard has…

He swallows. Shepard continues stroking his hair and just…lets him feel it for a minute.

“You married me,” Kaidan says after a moment.

“Yeah, I remember. I was there.”

“Other people saw it.”

“Pretty sure they remember, too. Joker’s hanar impression was very memorable.”

“Wow.”

Shepard chuckles. The sound rattles under his sternum, and Kaidan lets the feel of it wash through him. “So? Should I be Sam Alenko?”

Kaidan huffs. “Well, you hate being called Sam.”

Shepard ponders that for a moment. “Yeah, I guess it would be kind of weird if people started calling me Alenko, huh?”

“Yeah, that would be pretty weird. Thought’s pretty romantic, though.”

“I am so full of romantic gestures. Just you wait.”

“Mmmm,” Kaidan says with what he’s sure is a stupid grin. “I could take yours, I guess.”

Shepard makes a face. “Can you imagine you and me in the same room as my mother? No one will have any idea what the fuck to call us.”

“Okay,” Kaidan says with a laugh. “No name changes.”

“It’s the thought that counts.”

“Definitely.”

They drift off for a few minutes. Shepard’s hand stills, the weight of it on Kaidan’s head warm and comforting. Maybe Kaidan falls asleep. He’s not sure.

“Did you know we get tax benefits for being married?” Shepard asks, startling him awake.

Kaidan raises an eyebrow. “Did you read a manual or something?”

“Well, I can’t suck at this.”

Kaidan stifles a laugh against Shepard’s chest. “You know, Williams even told me once we should get married for the tax breaks.”

“Did she? Do you think she knew?”

“Of course she did.” Kaidan hoists himself up on an elbow to look him in the eye. “Everyone did. Except you. You thought I was into Williams.”

Shepard flashes him a guilty look. “She made you laugh all the time.”

“She was funny!”

“Yeah, but she was funnier than me and I didn’t like it.”

Kaidan raises an eyebrow. “And that didn’t…raise any flags for you.”

The guilty look gets guiltier. “Does it make it any better if I say that when people mistook us for a married couple I’d think to myself, ‘there are a lot worse things than spending the rest of my life with him?’”

“Really? Really?” Kaidan gooses him again, this time with a lot less mercy. Shepard yells indignantly and twists beneath him. They tussle until Shepard manages to trap Kaidan’s back against his chest.

“In my defense.”

“I’m waiting.”

“Hang on, I’m thinking.”

Kaidan laughs. “You realize that this exact line of thinking is what got us in trouble in Vancouver.”

 “Hey, I remember kissing you in the rain in Vancouver, so I think my line of thinking is pretty great, actually.” 

“Yeah,” Kaidan says softly, gripping his hand. “This is pretty great.”

Shepard rests a chin on Kaidan’s shoulder. “You were pretty pissed at me over the Williams thing. I thought I’d really fucked up.”

Kaidan strokes his arm. The memory of Williams still sits like a bruise, but it’s less tender to the touch than it used to be. “Think I was more angry at myself.”

“Why?”

“For being so in love with you and so unable to do anything with it. About it. I don’t know. You were never going to feel the same way and I just…couldn’t even try to get over the way I felt about you.”

“Seems like I wasn’t the only one who was dense,” Shepard murmurs in his ear. “Turns out I was, in fact, very, very into you the whole time.”

Kaidan smiles into the dim room.

“You know I reached out to Beaudoin after that to get his advice?” Shepard asks.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I thought I’d really fucked up, but I didn’t know why and Beaudoin, you know. Knew how to people a lot better than I do.”

“So you thought you’d fucked up your relationship with me, went to the only person we know with any reasonable insights on dating and romance, for advice, and that still didn’t trigger anything for you?”

“No.”

“You have saved the galaxy twice.”

“I contain multitudes.”

Kaidan snorts. “What did he say?”

“His message was one line and it was zero help. It said, ‘You’ll figure it out, I’ve got money on it.’ I had no fucking idea what he was talking about.”

Kaidan laughs softly into the pillow. “He and Aslany had a bet about us.”

“Wait….he knew too? Aslany knew?”

“Told you. Everyone.”

“Motherfucker.”

Kaidan tugs Shepard’s arm tighter around him, thinking of simpler days and places and times you can’t go back to. “Wish Beaudoin could have been here today.”

Shepard kisses the back of his neck. “Me too. Can you even imagine what he would have said about Joker’s ‘vestment?’”

“He would have loved us getting married by a human ordained through the hanar. And yeah, he would have fucking loved that vestment.”

“He really would have.” 

They lapse back into silence. It feels heavier this time.

Williams. Beaudoin. The Normandy. The ‘Yang. And there’s more to come. Kaidan feels it in his bones.

“We have a lot of history, don’t we?” Kaidan murmurs.

“Yeah, we do,” Shepard agrees. He wraps Kaidan up tight. “I want more. Think we made some today.”

“This one now pronounces you twin souls of the same star,” Kaidan intones.

“I like that part,” Shepard says, nuzzling his neck. “Even better than the vestments.”

Shepard has always shone brighter than any star, but Kaidan has always walked willingly and unflinchingly into that light. There’s never been another path. At least not that he wanted to take.

“Kiss me,” Kaidan says, the sudden need for it overwhelming.

Shepard rolls him over and obliges. It feels no different than it did a few hours ago: beautiful. It always has, with Shepard.

The kiss gets deeper. Shepard’s corona kindles, bright and flickering, a fire without heat that graces Kaidan’s nerves with a soft, sweet hum. Kaidan reaches into the gravity well and lights his own star, their auras blending together into one, solid glow.

We’ve always been this, Kaidan thinks as he falls headlong into Shepard’s embrace.

Now they just have the documents to prove it.

[candycandy00]

Tentacle Tomura - A Shigaraki x Reader Fic

So here’s the tentacle fic. I’m not sure it needs much of a summary. Reader is a hero who has an encounter with Tomura with a tentacle quirk.

Smut. 18+. Tentacles. Oral. Anal. Size kink. Lots of slimy stuff and various fluids. This is a nasty fic!

You couldn’t believe your luck when you stumbled upon the underground facility beneath a hospital. Your quirk makes searching for advanced technology easy, and it has led you to an entire lab. There are great glass tubes with dangerous looking Nomus in them, staring at you with their creepy eyes. Are they awake? Can they actually see you? You certainly hope not. You’re a lone hero exploring your discovery. Combat is not your specialty, so your plan is to take a look around this obvious villain facility and then report your findings back to the other heroes. 

Just as you’re about to leave, you notice a door in the back. For some reason, the sight of that door fills you with a sense of dread, as if something terrible is waiting on the other side. But your quirk is telling you that more technology is beyond it, perhaps even more advanced than the stuff you’ve already seen. So you take a deep breath and open the door. 

Inside is just one large glass tube filled with liquid, and the figure of a young man floating within. You approach the tube carefully and look closely at the man. Your eyes widen and you instinctively draw back away from him. It’s Shigaraki Tomura! The heroes have been searching frantically for him for weeks, and here he is. When he doesn’t move or even open his eyes, you step closer again. 

Shigaraki is surprisingly young, with pure white hair floating around his pretty face. He’s dressed in form fitting black clothing, his body much more toned than in the pictures you’ve seen. You realize with a bit of guilt that you find him attractive. What are you thinking? He’s a dangerous villain! 

Still, you find yourself pressing your whole body against the glass and staring up at him. It’s at this moment that his eyes snap open, two glowing red orbs fixing immediately on you. 

In a panic, you back away quickly, bumping into some sort of control panel in the process. You’re not sure what happened. Buttons were pushed. Beeping sounds were made. And the water begins to drain from Shigaraki’s tube. 

Your first instinct is to flee, to run back out the way you came and call for help. But for some reason, your legs just won’t move. You collapse onto the floor as your legs give out beneath you, and you can only watch in horror as the glass opens up with a mechanical thud and Shigaraki steps out. 

He runs a hand through his hair, water dripping all over him. “Looks like you interrupted my nap,” he says in a dry, bored voice. “I’ll have to get the doc back down here to start it up again. In the meantime…”

He looks straight at you. 

You make a sound that comes out like a squeak and scoot back until you hit the wall. He’s going to kill you. There’s no doubt about that. He’s going to use that terrifying quirk of his to destroy you. 

“I’m guessing you’re a hero,” he says, squatting down in front of you, close enough that he could reach out and touch you. 

Too afraid to speak, you give a shaky nod. 

He stares at you, his eyes focusing on your face for a while before moving down, grazing over your whole body. Is he… checking you out? And if he is, would that be a good or bad thing? 

He stands up then, still watching you. “Who have you told about this place?”

“N-no one!” You blurt it out without thinking. Should you have led him to think others knew, and might be on their way to rescue you? Or was it better to try to avoid angering him? 

He won’t stop staring at you, and you realize, again with some guilt, that he has beautiful eyes. What is wrong with you? This man is going to kill you in seconds and all you can think about is how hot he is. 

But instead of attacking, he says something truly bizarre: “You look like a chick from my favorite hentai.”

What? Hentai? Like anime porn? What is he talking about?

His eyes finally shift away from you as he looks up at the ceiling, seemingly in deep thought. “Master gave me a lot of quirks. Let’s see if the one I’m thinking about already got transferred.”

He closes his eyes, concentration evident in his face. Then, so suddenly that you scream in shock, a mass of wriggling red tentacles burst from his back. They vary in size, from relatively thin to extremely thick and bulbous. They’re fleshy and shiny, some of them dripping some sort of clear fluid. 

Before you can even react to this horror show, four tentacles shoot toward you, surprising you with their length. They coil around your arms and legs, lifting you into the air. And this is when his previous comment starts to make sense. 

You’ve seen hentai before, mostly with friends making fun of it. So you’re definitely aware of one of the most popular types: tentacle hentai, where women get violated by dozens of gross looking tentacles, usually from some alien or monster. Though you’d laughed at the absurdity along with your friends, you’d always found the tentacles disturbing. You couldn’t help imagining that happening to you, how frightening it would be, how humiliating it would be to have your body forced into those lewd positions. 

Now, as the tentacles sprouting from Shigaraki’s back wrap around your limbs and hold you aloft in front of him, you realize exactly what kind of hentai had been his favorite, and your whole body trembles. 

“Whoa, I can feel everything they touch,” he says, looking excited. “They’re like extra limbs.”

You can’t help noticing two more tentacles that have been creeping up your bare thighs, toward your skirt. You squirm in the slimy grip, trying and failing to free yourself. “Please,” you say to him, “just let me go!”

He grins, baring his teeth. “What fun would that be?”

The two extra tentacles slide under your skirt and move up to place themselves between your skin and the waistband. Then they rip the skirt completely off you, causing you to shriek and jerk against your bonds. More tentacles shoot toward you and then slither under your remaining clothes, under your shirt, under your bra, even under your panties. You whimper and struggle, but it’s no use. You’re completely helpless. 

All at once, the tentacles under your clothes pull outward, bursting through the fabric, leaving it all in shreds. Your shirt is reduced to ripped sleeves hanging uselessly from your arms, your bra nothing more than two thin straps connected to nothing. But worst of all, your panties were completely demolished, as if they’d never been there to begin with. 

Almost at the same time, the tentacles holding you shift your body so that it’s like you’re sitting on air, your knees pushed up toward your shoulders and your thighs spread so far apart that you’re afraid you’ll be ripped in two. Your arms are pulled back painfully tight behind you, causing your full, naked breasts to jut out in front of you. 

Shigaraki’s eyes roam over you, taking in the obscene view. Heat floods your face as you’re overcome with embarrassment. You avoid looking him in the face, so your eyes wander downward, where you can clearly see an enormous bulge in his tight black pants. 

Is he that turned on by seeing you naked? And why the hell do you feel flattered by that? Even worse, you can’t stop yourself from imagining what that bulge would look like unclothed. With alarm, you realize you’re getting wet. 

More tentacles move across your body, two thin ones wrapping around your breasts, squeezing them. From the ends of each of these, tiny tentacles sprout and coil around your nipples. The tiny tentacles are covered in little barbs that prick at the delicate nubs, though they’re not sharp enough to break the skin. The sensation makes you gasp, but it’s not unpleasant. 

Then a single rope-like tentacle emerges from Shigaraki’s back and rubs across your pussy, pushing the folds apart as it finds your clit and clamps down over it. You jerk wildly, crying out, as you feel the end of the tentacle tightening around your most sensitive spot, and from somewhere inside the tentacle, you feel another tiny extension that feels like a narrow, wet tongue lapping at your pinched clit. The stimulation is too much. You can feel your arousal dripping out of you, can almost hear it hitting the floor. 

And all the while, Shigaraki is inches away, watching you buck and fight, your body contorting into ever more embarrassingly lewd poses. Even you can’t tell whether you’re moaning or sobbing as the tentacle between your legs relentlessly attacks your clit. 

“You really do look like her,” Shigaraki says, his eyes full of lust. “You’re even dripping wet like she was. Do tentacles feel that good?”

You realize he’s talking about hentai again. You also notice another tentacle heading toward your crotch. This one is much thicker, with a bulbous head on the end. It doesn’t take you long to figure out where it’s going. 

You’re still a virgin, and it’s something you’ve wanted to change about yourself for a while now. Most of your friends got their cherries popped in high school, or very soon after, and they teased you incessantly about the fact that you still hadn’t experienced that, even two years after graduating. You wanted to get laid, you really did, but you hadn’t found anyone you were attracted to enough to sleep with. 

Even so, the thought of your first time being with a tentacle just made you feel like crying, so you yell out, “Wait, please wait!”

The tentacle heading toward you slows but doesn’t stop. Shigaraki looks at you curiously. 

In desperation, you cry, “I don’t want to lose my virginity to a tentacle!”

That’s when the tentacle freezes in place, just inches from your spread open pussy. Shigaraki’s eyes seem to light up as he says, “Seriously? You’re a virgin?”

Blushing furiously, you nod. 

A grin spreads across his pretty face, red eyes shining. “So you’re fine with losing your virginity as long as it’s not to a tentacle?”

Your mouth falls open in shock. That’s not really what you meant, but now that he said it, the thought of him fucking you invades your brain. Your eyes shift to that bulge again, and this time Shigaraki notices. 

He uses a hand that’s missing a few fingers to palm himself through his pants and asks, “Is this what you want?”

You look away. Yes, it’s exactly what you want but you’re too ashamed to say it out loud. The tentacles working on your body are making it hard to think straight, and you can now see a large puddle of fluid on the floor beneath you. 

The tentacle that’s latched onto your clit tightens again, the tongue-like extension inside making rapid, feathery motions. It’s too much. You can’t hold back anymore, and you cry out in ecstasy as an intense orgasm wracks your body. It’s so powerful that tears leak from your eyes and your body convulses in midair. 

When you finally regain your senses, you notice Shigaraki pulling his pants down enough to free his cock, and you nearly gasp. You’ve never seen one in person before, but you’re pretty certain it’s not supposed to be that big. Shigaraki himself is looking down at it with a surprised expression. 

“I guess the quirk affects my body in a lot of ways,” he says, clearly amused. 

The tentacles pull you closer to him, then suddenly twist you around until you’re hanging upside down. From this angle, with your legs still held far apart, Shigaraki has a clear view of everything you have. And your face is mere inches from his cock. You stare at it, watching it throb with arousal. Without thinking, you stretch toward it and give it a tentative lick, drawing your tongue gently along his length. 

You can’t see his face from your position, but you hear him laugh and say, “Horny little hero.” Then the tentacles press your face closer until it’s smooshed against his massive cock. You open your mouth, almost by reflex, and the tip of it shoves in. At only halfway in, the cock is hitting the back of your throat and causing you to gag. But somehow, you’re not repulsed. Even when he begins thrusting into your mouth, cutting off your air each time, you find yourself getting more and more turned on. What a time to discover you’re a masochist. 

This goes on for several minutes, until your throat feels raw and your jaw is sore. Then he pulls out until just the tip of his cock is still inside, and fills your mouth with hot sticky cum. 

You gulp it down as fast as you can, not wanting to spill any and also wanting to be able to breathe normally again. Once you’ve swallowed all of it, he finally pulls out completely and the tentacles holding you twist around again until you’re upright, face to face with him. 

You’re exhausted, breathing heavily, your lips bruised red and trembling. His pale face has reddened slightly from the experience, but otherwise he’s not showing any signs of tiring. He has a look of hunger in his eyes, like he’s just gotten started. 

You feel something snaking up your leg again, and you look down to see the thick, bulbous tentacle from before inching toward your groin. You look frantically back at Shigaraki. “No, please!”

He laughs. “You still want to lose your virginity to this,” he asks, gesturing toward his huge cock. 

Oh God, there’s no way that thing is going to fit inside you. But you still want it. You need it. So you cry out, “Yes!”

He watches you for a moment, seemingly enjoying the show you’re putting on, with tears on your face, tentacles still teasing your tits and clit, your lips quivering. “Maybe I’ll give it to you,” he says in a mocking tone, “if you’re a good girl.”

Before you can ask what he means, you feel the thick tentacle move rapidly up your leg. You draw in a sharp breath and squeeze your eyes shut, preparing to have your first time stolen by this crawling menace, but instead of entering your pussy, the slimy tentacle wiggles its way into your ass. 

Your eyes open widely in shock and confusion. Why is your ass suddenly full? The sensation is bizarre. It hurts, your asshole stretching to accommodate something so thick. The slime and various other fluids only did so much to ease the pain. But you’ve quickly learned that you enjoy a certain level of pain, so you try to relax your muscles and let the tentacle slide in and out. 

“Tentacles are fine for this hole, right?”

You look at Shigaraki again when you hear his voice. You can’t believe all this is happening right in front of him. The embarrassment alone is enough to make you cry as your ass is railed by the long, gooey appendage. Your crying turns to moaning, and you hear his voice again. 

“You really like this, huh? You’re gushing.”

You glance down to see yourself squirting. The sight is enough to make you cum again, but the tentacles never stop, not the one in your ass, not the ones on your tits and clit. You’re sure you’re going to pass out, but the tentacles holding you pull you forward, so close to Shigaraki that your tender nipples brush against the fabric of his shirt. He looks down at you with a sadistic grin and says, “Tell me what you want.”

You look up with teary eyes and say, “I want you to fuck me… please…”

His grin widens. “Be more specific.”

You’re barely coherent at this point, your mind only able to focus on the pleasure and pain that have completely taken over your senses. But you manage to get the words out. “I want you… to fuck my virgin pussy… with your giant cock…”

He laughs then, using the tentacles to pull you away from him. You can’t help whining when you can no longer feel his body heat against you. You can see his cock, rock hard again and twitching. He wants to fuck you. That’s obvious. So why won’t he? Is he trying to torment you? 

Suddenly another thick, phallic tentacle appears out of nowhere and shoves itself into your open mouth, slithering halfway down your throat. The tip of it is leaking fluid, and you realize that fluid tastes exactly like Shigaraki’s cum. The tentacle moves in and out, fucking your mouth. 

A few feet away, Shigaraki is watching intently. His eyes are full of desire as he says, “I’ve stuffed all your holes except the one you want me to stuff, huh? Poor little hero.”

Meanwhile, the two large tentacles are thrusting into your ass and mouth mercilessly. You lose track of time. You don’t know how long this goes on until, at the same moment, both tentacles ejaculate inside you. The fluid keeps spurting into your holes, sliding down your throat, oozing into your ass. And all you can think is, “I’m full to the brim with cum and I’m still a virgin.”

The tentacles, all except for the ones holding you in place, withdraw. Your body is left bruised, raw, sore, dripping both your own cum and Shigaraki’s. You don’t know how you’re still conscious. 

You’re pulled back to Shigaraki again, so tantalizingly close. You wish he would kiss you, or touch you with his own hands, no matter how dangerous that would be. Or better yet, just fuck you already. He looks at you with a strangely serious expression. The tentacles pull your legs apart and draw your knees up, then pull you even closer. You feel the hot tip of Shigaraki’s cock pressing against your entrance, and your whole body tenses up. You can’t imagine what your face looks like right now, but you’re probably wearing a slutty, blissful smile as the tentacles pull you slowly down. 

It’s too big. But you knew that already. The huge cock shoves into you, stretching and ripping your hole. You feel something warm, and realize it must be blood, the proof that you’ve finally lost your virginity. You wince and hiss, involuntarily jerking against the tentacles that are pulling you down. You want this, no matter how bad it hurts. You look Shigaraki in the eyes, and he leans forward, sticking his tongue into your mouth. It’s not the romantic kiss you’d hoped for, but tasting his saliva as it passes to your mouth somehow makes you even wetter. 

Finally, the tentacles stop. You can feel that you’re absolutely stuffed with his cock. Your pussy is throbbing, pulsing. Shigaraki puts his mouth close to your ear and says, “If I push it any further in, it might kill you.”

You nod, understanding. You’re already plenty satisfied with what’s inside you. In fact it’s already too much. 

With the tentacles holding you firmly in place, Shigaraki begins thrusting in and out of you. It hurts at first, stretching you to your limit, but gradually your body accommodates him, and all you feel is full and warm. You maintain eye contact with him, not wanting to miss even the tiniest change in his expression. Does this feel as good for him as it does for you? 

His breaths are more shallow, his hair messy across his forehead and shoulders. Fuck, he’s beautiful. You wish you could stay full of him forever. 

With the other tentacles gone, all your focus is on the cock shoving into you. All your thoughts revolve around it. It’s like your life is nothing without it. You clench around him, and he finally groans, moving his mangled hand up to touch your face. Then he finally kisses you, passionately and sweetly, the way you wanted to be kissed. 

When you feel Shigaraki’s cum shoot deep inside of you, hot and plentiful, it pushes you over the edge again, and you cum for the third time. 

As you shudder and pant, he pulls out of you. Your body goes limp, your head falling back, exhaustion overcoming you. But then you look at Shigaraki’s face again, and you see that he’s grinning. He says, “Now that you’re not a virgin anymore, the tentacles can have their fun.”

You use your remaining strength to hold your head back up and ask in a weak voice, “What?”

As if to answer you, dozens of tentacles shoot out from his back, all of them coming straight for you. Then all at once they’re squeezing your breasts, teasing your nipples, clamping onto your clit, wiggling into your mouth, ass, and pussy, filling every hole you have while Shigaraki watches. 

It feels like an eternity before you finally black out, only after cumming twice more and feeling the three large tentacles ejaculating in all your holes several more times. 

When you wake up, you’re in a hospital bed. You’re sore all over but otherwise unharmed. A creepy looking doctor walks in shortly after and lowers his voice as he tells you, “Shigaraki said to let you go. If you tell anyone about what you found down there, you’ll never have that experience again.”

You look at him in shock. So this doctor is a cohort of Shigaraki’s. Your first thought is to get out of the hospital and report what you found to the heroes. But… could you really tell them what happened? No, you couldn’t possibly do that. 

So you leave the hospital, and you keep your mouth shut about what you saw, and what you did. Hopefully, Shigaraki would wake up again soon. You were already excited about your next encounter.

[cinnamccn]

ੈ✩‧₊˚

bad dreams

luis serra/reader

summary: your boyfriend comforts you after a nightmare.

tags: nightmares, character death (in the dream, not actual), soft luis, established relationship, a small bit of crying, emotional hurt/comfort, canon divergence, spoilers?? i’m not sure if this would count but i’ll put it there anyway, luis is a sweetheart, breakfast in bed <3, a lot of kisses (he’s so kissable), short but sweet

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

his blood is everywhere, all over your hands- his face weak and pale due to blood loss. you press hard upon the wound wear the tentacle had impaled him, your tears wet your cheeks as you try to talk to him him, to wake him up; yet his eyes are dull. you can hear leon talking to you, yet you can’t figure out what he’s saying due to the ringing in your ears. a pained sob racks your body as you feel leon’s hands grab you, pulling you from luis’ body. “we have to go, c’mon.” the blonde mumbles, helping you stand on your shaky legs.

you awaken with a sharp gasp, sitting up as your head spins. gathering your surroundings, you take soft breaths; pressing a hand to your chest to soothe your racing heart. a familiar groan emerges beside you as your boyfriend rolls over, arm pulling you gently so you’d lay down again. “are you alright, mi amor?” luis mutters, accent thick with sleep. “mhm. just a bad dream.” you respond softly, hugging him quite tightly.

luis’ dark eyes open, blinking a little to adjust to the rising early morning sun. he hums a little, palm gently caressing your damp cheek. “mi pobre bebé. don’t worry, nothing’s gonna hurt you.” he mumbles, thumb rubbing your cheekbone. “i know. it’s just…” you hesitate to tell him, but his gentle kiss to your lips make your worries melt away. “it wasn’t about me, luis. it’s just- i almost lost you and i…” you trail off. luis gives you a soft hum of understanding, kissing you again. “i’m here, mi vida. don’t worry. nothing’s going to happen to me, or you. it’s over.” he assures you, the tip of his nose gently brushing against yours.

your arms squeeze luis’ torso a little, chest pressing to his as you bury your face under his jaw, lips brushing against his neck. “te amo, my beloved. i’ve got you.” he whispers, lips meeting the shell of your ear gently. “i love you too, luis.” you respond, the urge of sleep washing over you. luis was always a comfortable warmth to lay against, it always made you feel sleepy. your hand idly rubs luis’ back, and eventually you can hear his soft snoring. you had no idea how luis always managed to make you feel so calm, even when he was fast asleep; it was truly a talent and a blessing for nights like this. eventually, you doze off again, curled up in your boyfriend’s arms.

you wake up to an empty bed, the indent of your lover still slightly warm. you groan, body already craving sleepy cuddles from him. “luis..?” you call out softly, sitting up. his phone wasn’t on the nightstand and his side of the bed was still messy. lying back down, you reward yourself with a few lazy minutes of lounging. “hermosa..!” your lover chirps, pushing the bedroom door of your apartment open with his foot. he’s carrying a tray and a cup of coffee with him. “luis.” you smile, sitting up a little. “i made us some breakfast.” he purrs, setting your cup down upon your bedside table. you noticed he had also taken your phone off charge for you earlier, it makes you smile. “thank you, baby. you’re too sweet.” you accept the plate from the tray. french toast, eggs and bacon- a simple breakfast you knew luis enjoyed.

“it’s nothing. i figured that after a bad night i’d spoil you a bit.” luis gets into bed beside you. the smile on your lips is wide as you kiss his cheek. “thank you, luis. really. you spoil me.” you reply, voice soft as you sip your coffee. he gives you a charming smile, kissing your lips after you put your mug down. “i called leon earlier.” luis quips, taking a bite of his breakfast. you hum softly, also eating. “he’s doing okay, always busy. it was a nice talk. he asked about you.” luis glances at you. “what did you say?” you look at him, fluttering your lashes a bit to tease him. your lover lets out a soft laugh. “i said you’re doing well.” he responds. you smile, leaning over and kissing his jaw. “i’m doing very well because i have you to take care of me.” you mumble, sitting back again.

luis beams as bright as the midday sun. “you flatter me, hermosa.” luis responds, letting you lean against you as you decide on flicking on the tv to fill up any silence. curling up beside luis, you decide on one of his favourite shows which normally aired around this time, yet it was halfway through the episode- not that it mattered considering the two of you had binge watched the show multiple times over together. luis smiles softly at you, admiring your beauty as you eat the breakfast he had made. leaning over, he plants a firm kiss against your temple, making you turn and peck his lips softly. you share a smile with him, eyes full of love and adoration. “i’m so lucky to have you.” you mumble, kissing him again. “i’m the lucky one.” luis corrects, kissing your lips once more. “alright, sure, now eat before your food goes cold.” you grin, looking back at the tv. luis chuckles, turning back to his plate. he truly was lucky to have you.

[moss-and-marimos]

Tmnt 2012 headcanons of mine/my designs for them:

Both donnie and Mikey have scars from their respective vivisection attempts, their brothers stopped it before it could get too far, but there’s still scarring around their collar bones and the top of their plastrons, they both comfort eachother about it, it’s one of the few things the other brothers can’t quite understand bc they didn’t experience it

Mikey still has residual electricity powers from that one part of s5(? If I’m remembering correctly), they’re just small ones but sometimes you can see lichtenburg figures on his fingers/hands before they fade

^ he has used this to make the toaster go wild on leo and the fridge spray water on donnie before

Donnie rarely sleeps in his actual bedroom, so when karai stays over that’s normally where she sleeps, but sometimes it’ll also serve as a room for april or Casey

April and leo are really close, she’s a much needed break from responsibilities sometimes and will take him to do human things like raves or parties or even just grocery shopping

Karai and leo are really close (/p) they understand the burden of being an oldest sibling and having the weight of the world put on you by your father

I do not care for 2012 splinter as a parent

Raph kinda took up the role of father like leo took up the role of mother a little bit, he helps organize the lair and actually really likes organizing stuff, just doesn’t when his siblings are around because it’s overwhelming (cough he’s autistic cough)

Leo uses mobility aids after his incident with shredder, normally forearm crutches, a cane, or on better days just a knee brace

All of them experience psychosis symptoms to some extent, leo probably has the most delusions, I think donnie would have a lot of auditory hallucinations, Raph would have a lot of tactile hallucinations, they all get a lot of paranoia but especially leo, they all try to hide their symptoms from the other because they don’t want to seem “weird” or “crazy”

Sometimes donnie will go to April if he’s having bad paranoia or just generally a bad time with his symptoms, she helps him calm down and do grounding exercises

Mikey and leo are actually really close and hang out a lot and talk about space heroes and other comics

Raph needs wrist braces

Raph is actually the cook of the household, he finds it calming and the routine is nice

Donnie still hates himself for not finding a way to turn Timothy human again yet

^ he made a fake note from Timothy and left it for Timothy’s mom

Like leo can’t be trusted with the toaster donnie isn’t trusted with the blender (this was probably Mikey’s doing)

Aprils eyes reflect in the dark and sometimes will glow, a lot of the time they turn pink/purple like the kraang

April can turn her fingers/arms into tentacles, she found this out pretty late in the show timeline and is trying to hide it from the turtles because she knows how much of a hard time they have with the kraang and she doesn’t want them to hate her

Probably all of them have BPD and are sensitive to rejection

Mikey in particular has cracks/scarring on his shell from getting attacked by slash

After everything with slash Raph is really careful what he tells chompy about his brothers

Raph and leo are both either transmasc or transfem, I’m a big fan of both of those headcanons so I kinda use them interchangeably some

When leo came out as aroace spec he was worried he wouldn’t be accepted, Raph was the first one to comfort him and would threaten to beat up anyone who was an asshole to leo

Raph has abandonment issues

Karai and leo will go stargazing, leo has a space special interest and his favorite constellation is the Big Dipper

The first time the turtles really clearly saw the night sky was at the farmhouse, all of them, especially leo, were in awe a little bit, Casey and april didn’t really get it bc they were used to seeing the stars and being out

It was also their first time seeing daylight so much so you better believe at least one of them got sunburnt

Mikey’s favorite activity at the farmhouse was cloud watching during the day, which leo would sometimes do with him

Leo’s favorite activity when he was recovering was stargazing, on occasion Mikey would join him, Raph always wanted to but was too anxious he would intrude

Donnie keeps special teabags for leo to help his throat after it got messed up from the fight with shredder

Leo can’t talk too loudly or too much or it’ll fuck up his vocal cords, sometimes he’ll push it and get yelled at by april and/or donnie about it

April can’t get salmonella bc she’s part kraang but the other humans can, once she gets mutated karai can’t either

April, Casey, Donnie, and Raph still have slightly extra pointed teeth from being turned into vampires

Multiple times Mikey or Raph has had to stop Donnie from pulling at his plastron during a breakdown, especially after the vivisection it gets bad, Donnie has a lot of issues about not being human

It kinda dawns on everyone later how serious Mikey sprinkling himself with mutagen actually was, he’s not stupid, he was so desperate to feel as good as his brothers that he was willing to die for it, so it only kinda registers later on that it could probably be considered a suicide attempt, everyone makes sure to spend more time with him after that and make sure he knows he’s loved and when he does good they let him know

Not a headcanon but I think about it sometimes that Mikey has cannibalized a man

Mikey likes spending time in Donnie’s lab and learning chemistry stuff

Mikey one time steals buys Raph a paint mulling set because he knows how much Raph likes painting

Raph can and will easily carry Mikey on his shoulder

Donnie doesn’t like to be picked up, but if he needs to sleep or eat and won’t leave his lab Raph won’t hesitate

^ on days when Leo’s leg is acting up and he can’t, Raph is in charge of getting Donnie out of his lab

^^ on one occasion Raph was out of commission too, so leo sent Mikey to do it, Donnie didn’t think he would be able to but Mikey picked him up easily, he’s a lot stronger than he looks

Leo teaches Mikey healing hands after splinter dies

Leo still has splinters cane, he thinks about using it instead of his own sometimes, but Raph convinces him not to, he can’t stand to see his brother putting more pressure on himself to become splinter junior, he knows how their dad fucked them up a little bit and even if he won’t say it directly he knows it can’t be good for leo

^ sometimes he’ll make Mikey hide splinters cane if leo is really thinking about it

Raphs bandana tails are all torn up because he chews on them

Mikey’s bandana tails are short so that he can’t chew on them

April introduced them all to chew jewelry and they all are big fans but they go through them really fast because of their nonhuman teeth

Donnie chews on his bandana tails too but not enough to damage them

Raph and Donnie train together outside of official sessions, donnie asked Raph to help him get better at combat and so that’s what they do

Raph is horrible at rollerskating at first but eventually gets really good

Mikey isn’t the best but really likes rollerskating anyway

Donnie prefers ice skating because he can do it with Casey but falls on his ass every time, Casey thinks it’s hilarious

Raph also goes ice skating with Casey some time

Leo doesn’t like ice skating. He wants to, for Casey, but the cold is triggering and it aggravates his knee and it’s just a bad time, he has a breakdown about it the first time he tries and he still feels guilty for “ruining” the night

Donnie is really cautious around Mikey at first when he gets his electricity powers, he remembers the electricity simulation thing he was put in and doesn’t want to go through that again

Mikey would listen to cbat to piss off his family because it’s funny

Leo still has his broken helmet from when he died in space, it’s kept on a shelf, he thinks about it a lot

Mikey has a pair of lab goggles because he does so much chemistry stuff with Donnie

Casey never wears safety goggles in the lab even when he should, april wears hers though

Transfem leo feels a lot of dysphoria about having a shell indent

Transmasc Raph feels a lot of dysphoria about not having a shell indent, but being friends with Casey and finding out that amab humans have flat chests makes him feel better some

The turtles can and will eat raw meat, maybe even should (april found this out when she brought over an expensive cut of meat to cook only to find it gone later, it was an awkward explanation when the turtles remembered humans don’t eat raw meat)

^ april could eat raw meat bc she’s part kraang but she hasn’t tried so she doesn’t know that

^^ it was quite the change when karai had to start eating more rare meat

I don’t think this one fits with the canon timeline but shhhh I think it would be funny if karai taught leo how to drive who then taught everyone else

Not super a headcanon but I think the brothers would be a lot more worried about leo talking to the hologram of splinter when they were in space than they actually were in canon

All of them are lactose intolerant except Mikey who fucked around with chemistry stuff and cured himself of lactose intolerance, to this day neither he or Donnie really know how he did it but he can eat so much pizza now

Donnie and leo both like architecture, they found this out on accident but it’s one of the only things they have in common interest wise besides insects

Leo deserves a pet I think he should get to keep the wasp and it imprints on him and is very sweet, for personal preference I’m making it more bee-like so it’s fuzzy

Donnie (I think? I might be thinking of the wrong turtle idk I’ll check my fanart later) has a crack/scar from a crack in the left side of his shell, it’s hidden under his arm but you can see the edge of his plastron is damaged from it

There’s probably some I’m forgetting but yep here’s some of them!! Feel free to ask me more about them or use these B)

@idiot-mushroom sorry for the @ but I figured you would want to see

[the-duke-of-nuts]

The Florist and The Tattoo Artist

Day 1: Tattoo Shop/Florist @dukexietyweek

Author’s Note: It’s Spooky Gays week bbs! You all remember last year when I said I'd write a fic to this exact prompt based on my post? Of course you do! I of course did not write it yet B U T don't scroll away just yet I promise there's something. I've written a little snippet (I say snippet as if it isn't literally half of one of the chapters) on one of the scenes that happen in the story but I made sure to write in a way where you don’t really need the whole fic to understand what’s going on. With that being said enjoy I guess!

Summary: Pretty much just Remus coming up with a tattoo design for Virgil and asking him out on a date.

Pairing: Dukexiety

Word Count: 1018

Warnings: Food Mention, I guess Remus mentioning his ass I don't know there's not really much here so I think just those should be fine

"Y'know for a tattoo artist I'd expect you to have at least one." Virgil commented as he started watering the beautifully grown plants in the shop. "Oh I do I gave myself a tentacle sword one on the right side of my ass." Remus answered casually. "How did- Y'know what I don't wanna know." The tattoo artist cackled at seeing Virgil shake off the impressive yet disturbing thought. 

"Trust me I'm gonna get more soon. So what about you, have you ever thought about getting a tatt?" 

"I mean... I wouldn't mind getting one I just don't know of what." The florist shrugged as he finished watering the plants and walked back to the counter. "Well for starters where do you want it?" Remus asked. Virgil thought about it for a moment. Despite the florist's appearance he never thought that far ahead about where'd he even get a tattoo let alone hoped for one in the first place but knowing the tattoo artist, the mustached man would probably come up with a big or possibly suggestive kind of design for him so he went the safe route. 

"I don't know probably like..." Virgil started rolling down his sleeve and pushed his wristbands and bracelets out of the way and pointed to his wrist and forearm. "On my wrist or forearm or somewhere around there." "Hmm..." Remus suddenly took Virgil's arm and started lightly tracing the design he had in mind on the emo's wrist area. The florist fought back from shivering at the touch already knowing the smug words that would come out of the tattoo artist's mouth if he did or looked back up and saw how much he was blushing but luckily Remus was still distracted with figuring out the design. 

How did we get to this... One moment we're working across from each other and I'm trying to kick you out of here as much as possible on the daily and next thing I know I can't get enough of your stupid flirting...

"Got it." 

Virgil immediately snapped out of his thoughts once he heard Remus speak again. "I think something like a stormcloud with patches on your wrist would look good. Something like... OOH! Do you have any paper?" Virgil looked under the counter and found his sketchbook and handed it to Remus with a pencil. The florist mentally hoped and prayed the tattoo artist didn't carelessy flip the pages too fast and see the drawing of him on the very last page. 

If he asks or says anything just tell him it's Freddie Mercury but edgy. 

But Virgil instantly relaxed when Remus thankfully started sketching the design on the first empty page he spotted which was in the middle of the book. 

Remus was known to be fast with his sketches but he made sure everything was detailed and perfect to the point where he didn't even need to use the eraser. After a minute or two Remus finally finished the drawing and looked at it satisfied. "Like this."

Once the tattoo artist flipped the sketchbook over to reveal the design, Virgil stared at it amazed. When Remus said a stormcloud with patches he certainly delivered. It was so detailed that the emo even immediately knew what colors he wanted it all to be. 

"Woah holy shit that actually looks pretty badass!" "Thank you! I tend to give only the best for my Muses~" Remus winked smirking as he put the sketchbook back down.

Wink at me with those damn pretty eyes one more fucking time and I'll give you something to be smug about  

Virgil cleared his throat blushing. "I'll think about it." "Cool just let me know and I'll give it to you for free." The florist went wide eyed at hearing that. Normally people would be grateful for not having to pay for a tattoo but the thought of Remus possibly needing the money one day just didn't sit right with Virgil. 

"What? Ree no no no I can't but what if-" 

"No butts except yours getting the tatt for free Vee Vee!" Remus booped Virgil's nose to which the florist sighed defeated trying to swat the tattoo artist's hand away. "Fine." Virgil playfully huffed and crossed his arms looking away. "Good..." Remus suddenly smirked. "Fair warning though tatt's on the wrist hurt like a bitch but I'll gladly hold your hand if you need me to~" He teased wiggling his eyebrows. "Shut up." A flustered Virgil playfully hit a cackling Remus' shoulder. 

"But if you really wanna pay me back I'll also take a date as a form of payment~" 

"Not that I'm immediately saying yes or anything but what did you have in mind?" 

"There's an Italian restaurant down the street... I know how much you love pizza and bread sticks~" Remus took Virgil's hand and kissed it smirking as the emo's face became even redder. 

Can you stop making me wanna fucking kiss you for 10 seconds!?

"Alright fine you had me at the pizza and bread sticks." Virgil said not letting go of Remus' hand. The tattoo artist beamed at hearing that. "Really? Well how does tonight after we both close sound?" Virgil couldn't help but smile at Remus' eagerness. He missed seeing that pretty spark of excitement in the tattoo artist's eyes. "I'd like that." "Yes!" Remus fist pumped whispering victoriously to himself. 

"You won't be disappointed-" 

The tattoo artist was cut off by his phone alarm ringing to which he dramatically sighed and turned it off. 

"Looks like my lunch break is over... Meet back outside of here later?" 

"Sounds good." 

Remus smiled at the approval and before he could turn away and leave Virgil tugged him back to him and kissed his cheek causing him to freeze and blush.  "Now go before I change my mind and you mess up your schedule and if you do, that won't be on the lips tonight." Virgil teased. "Yes Sir~" Remus smirked and quickly ran out of the shop and back to his job. Virgil chuckled and shook his head. 

I'm in love with a dork.

[rainbowolfe]

Kalamar’s Gamer Pad

[Modern AU]

[The bishops are influencers. Shamura makes video essays and documentaries but is currently taking a break for their mental health. Kallamar and Narinder are Twitch streamers, Kallamar w/ a focus on horror games, and Narinder w/ a focus on FPSs and anything Nintendo-related. You’ll find Heket and Leshy on Youtube and Tiktok; Heket as a fitness and food influencer, while Leshy does vlogs, comedy skits, commentary, and reactions (and really whatever else he wants). Lamb/Lambert is a rising Youtuber who was initially hired to be Narinder’s editor and mod but got dragged into a feud Narinder was having with his siblings. They were to dig up dirt to use as blackmail, but wound up exposing all five of them in an eight-part series with a mix of embarrassing secrets and mild-to-moderate problematic (but mostly forgivable) actions.]

[Ages: Shamura(32), Kallamar(30), Narinder(29), Heket(26), Leshy(24), Lamb(22), Palaal(22), Lulu(31), Hatty(25)]

Heket let out a long, dramatic sigh, leaning back as she did so.

“Do I have to?” She corrected her posture with a lurch forward.

“It’s important to him.” Shamura hummed in reply before taking a sip of their tea.

 “I’m supposed to hang out with Eligos this afternoon! The new Marvel movie comes out today, you know?”

“I’ve heard.”

“It’s bad enough we couldn’t get tickets to the premiere; You want me to get an even later showing? There’s going to be spoilers all over social media! You know how people are nowadays.”

Shamura was not surprised that Heket had thoughtlessly made plans for today. She had once again responded to their survey as “fully available” for the month, not because she actually was, but because she left the default response in every slot.

“You could simply stay off of social media for the day.”

“Yeah?” Heket did a mix of a scoff and a laugh. “And Narinder could simply stop smoking.”

“Hey.”

“What? I’m kidding!”

“It’s not a matter to joke about.”

Heket crossed her arms, attempting to be stubborn, but she knew she had two strikes already. Shamura was looking away from her. They didn’t want to show they were upset, but it was their go-to move, so she knew.

“Fine, whatever. I’ll tell Eligos to reschedule.”

“Thank you,” Shamura mumbled.

What would usually be a natural end to the conversation felt strained and awkward to Heket. She hoped Leshy would pop in, as he always had good timing—it felt almost supernatural sometimes—but the silence continued.

“It wasn’t a jab, you know?” She added.

“Mmhm.”

‘Gods, where’s Leshy?’

Heket scraped her brain for why Kallamar needed an audience. She was sure that if she asked, that would be strike three, and she’d be rewarded with one of Shamura’s scathing lectures. She was going to have to figure it out as the day went on.

She tapped away at her phone, partially pretending to look busy by refreshing the app for tickets.

Leshy finally joined the two down in Shamura’s living room.

“Finally! Were you passing a kidney stone up there?” Heket exclaimed.

“Fuck off, I was taking a shit.” Leshy shot back lightheartedly.

They piled into Leshy’s little car—Shamura in the passenger seat, Heket in the back—and went on their way. She was surprised when Leshy pulled onto the freeway, she assumed they would be picking up Kallamar next. Now she really didn’t know what they were doing today.

-/-/-/-

“Who doesn’t own a hair dryer?”

“Narinder… I don’t have hair.”

“How do I smell?”

Kallamar raised one of his tentacles and placed it near Narinder’s general vicinity. The smell he picked up was faint, but he made a face regardless.

“Better than you did.” He responded as the tentacle slithered back where it belonged. 

Narinder groaned. “Seriously?”

Narinder had arrived early to shower off the evidence that he’d been smoking before Shamura got a whiff of him. He knew they’d hold their tongue—today was Kallamar’s day—but they’d have something to say afterwards if they figured out he wasn’t as clean as he said he was. He was willing to try and hide it, but he felt that blatantly lying to them was crossing a line.

“Why don’t you just switch to vaping? It’s the same garbage without the stench.” Kallamar rolled his eyes.

“Because I’m not a loser. Vapes are lame,” Narinder rolled his eyes right back. “No one looks cool taking a rip off their bright green, raspberry-pussy flavored USB-drives.”

“Oh, is that why you smoke? To look cool?”

Narinder had to admit, that actually was the reason why he started.

“You’re a few decades too late.” Kallamar added. He checked his phone. “Ah, they’re almost here. Come on.”

Narinder got a different, dry towel and threw it over his head to obscure his vision. Kallamar then took him by the hand and led him back through the house to the front door. Normally he wouldn’t indulge such silliness, but Kallamar was doing him a favor by allowing him to come early like this.

And it was impressive that he had bought his own house for him and his partners. Narinder had to give credit where credit was due, even Shamura still lived with roommates. Heket and Leshy lived together in a one-bedroom apartment, and though Narinder was currently playing an extended game of chicken with Lambert over moving in together, they would still be renting. 

Kallamar diminished this achievement (according to some, anyways) by referring to it as a tour of his “gamer pad”, but it was important nonetheless. Narinder would make a conscious effort to reel back his usual teasing and mocking of Kallamar, and he advised Leshy to do the same. He would’ve said something to Heket, but he didn’t want to give her any reason to block his number this week.

He had a friend that managed to get into an early screening of the new Marvel movie coming out, and they slipped him a few recordings of “big” moments sloppily done with their phone. He hid a clip of a major character’s death in the middle of a short, unrelated video, so that once the recipient saw it, it’d be too late to look away. Then she could (and most definitely would) block him.

He didn’t expect Heket to show up. He knew the stupid movie came out today (and knew what time her tickets were for), so he’d be ruining it for her. Her absence would surely dampen Kallamar’s mood, so Narinder felt it was only fair to dampen hers as well. For Kallamar’s sake, he hoped she would prove him wrong today, but he wouldn’t hold his breath.

“Here are the stairs. Be caref—Be careful!”

Kallamar nearly had a heart attack as Narinder sped down the stairs with confidence, somehow making it down without missing a step. He huffed, then began hid descent down at a pace that worked for him.

“I trust that your house is built to-code.” Narinder turned to face Kallamar with a shrug, but instead faced the nearest wall.

“What does that have to do with running down the stairs blind?”

“A good set of stairs are all the same height and length. Once you take the first step, your brain knows where the rest are.”

“…I don’t think that’s true.”

“I made it down the stairs, didn’t I?”

“By sheer luck, maybe.”

Narinder laughed shortly, then paused as Kallamar began to guide him again. He hadn’t thought much about it when he arrived since his mind was preoccupied with other things, but…

“Why did you buy a house with stairs?”

Narinder’s tone wasn’t accusatory, he was genuinely confused. If there was one thing Kallamar complained the most about, it was stairs. Rightfully so. But while he would have trouble finding a house in the area with squid-accessible stairs, there are certainly plenty of one-story homes available. Maybe that’s why he sounded so defensive in his response.

“I just loved this place the most! It’s perfect! Er, aside from the stairs. But that’s it’s only flaw!” He explained. “A flaw that can be corrected with some modifications. Is that not the point of homeownership? To make it your own?”

“Sure.”

“Okay, front entrance! You can take the towel off now.”

Kallamar opened the door. His face lit up with glee when he saw his three other siblings. He called out each of their names as a greeting and proclaimed how happy he was to see them. He really was, he was afraid only Shamura would show up. Narinder gave a single greeting to address all three of them.

“Come in, come in! Welcome to my gamer pad!” Kallamar held the door open.

“How’s the Triforce?” Leshy asked as he passed through the doorway, referring to Kallamar’s three partners.

“Oh, they’re just lovely. Hatty and Lulu are out together, and Palaal’s around, but he’s working. Supposed to be working, anyways.”

The foyer was illuminated with natural light from the tall windows on the front and side walls. On the walls without windows and the hallway leading into the rest of the house were framed posters from various games and movies, some of which were even signed by the voice actors and actors.

The group exchanged hugs and handshakes—Leshy and Narinder’s “secret” handshake seemed to increase in complexity every time they saw each other—and made the usual small talk as they took off their shoes and coats. There were questions about when Narinder arrived and why he was damp, but he gave no solid answers. Though he hated their nosiness regarding his personal relationships, he namedropped Lambert as bait to change the subject, and they took it.

“I didn’t know you were doing another content house.” Heket suddenly commented, causing even the conversations she wasn’t apart of to grind to a halt. “Who else is staying here? Anyone I know?”

“…what?” Kallamar stared in confusion. “I’m… not? This is my house.”

“My gods, are you crazy? Renting a place this huge? You might as well buy the damn place.”

“I did?”

“What?”

“What?” He parroted back with a different intonation.

“…you bought a house!?”

Shamura and Leshy sighed.

“Yeah, that’s why I—”

“That’s amazing! Congratulations!” Heket clapped her hands together. She was sincerely excited now that she knew, but also didn’t want to leave any space for the others to question how she didn’t know already. “I can’t believe it! Well, I can, your RSS feed’s always got something new in it. You’re a hit!”

Kallamar could’ve harped on her not knowing. Tt did somewhat hurt his feelings. He opted not to, however. He thanked her warmly and moved forward.

He turned with a flourish and began to lead the way down the main hallway.

“I’ll make this very quick! Let us commence the tour,” He announced. “I know you all have busy lives, and I really appreciate you all coming! Don’t worry, this wasn’t just for the sake of attention. There’s something in it for you,”

The left wall in the spacious hallway was different. It had been painted matte black from floor to ceiling. Kallamar picked up a plastic bag that had been sitting up against the wall. He reached into it and pulled out a handful of white Sharpies of varying thickness.

“I wanted you all to be the first names on my guest wall!”

Kallamar frequently hosted parties and other gatherings, and the day he saw a similar concept, he dreamed of having one of his own. When people visited for the first time, they could sign their name on the wall like a guestbook. His siblings eagerly did so.

Leshy wrote his name with a standard-sized sharpie, and then his simple logo under it. Heket signed hers in big, blocky letters that she then filled in with stripes and dots. Narinder used the thickest sharpie available to sign his, placing a pair of cat ears above the “e” as he often did. Finally, Shamura signed their name in cursive, not nearly as large as everyone else. They had to go over it again to make up for their normally light handwriting.

Seeing all their names together filled Kallamar with unimaginable joy. He continued the tour passed the stairway (which he promptly justified again) and into the living-dining room, which certainly screamed “gamer pad”. The curtains were closed so that the LED lighting slowly shifting through the rainbow could properly set the vibe. There was additional lighting that provided actual visibility without overpowering the colored lights.

The blocky, red and black couch, the massive TV mounted on the wall, the side tables being held up by out-stretched hands, the tablecloth with a pattern of blood splatters, and the handful of beanbag chairs splayed out somehow worked in cohesion despite no obvious common thread. Maybe it was the Dead by Daylight themed rug in the center of the room. The posters in this room weren’t framed, but they were plentiful, alternating spaces on the walls with decals depicting some of Kallamar’s preferred perk-loadouts. Shelves on either side of the TV held minor collectibles Kallamar didn’t mind losing if a guest got a little handsy.

“This is the living-dining room! The place where everyone’s kind of free to gather. It’s equipped with surround sound!” Kallamar gestured. “It’s not setup yet, but there’s a working photo booth! Isn’t that so vintage?”

“Aaah… you’ve already painted?” Shamura observed. “It’s very… bold.”

Kallamar had indeed painted the walls a royal purple with the help of Lulu and Palaal. The ceiling was also purple, albeit a less saturated shade.

“The red and purple work, surprisingly.” Leshy hummed as he took it all in. It wasn’t how he’d decorate, but he thought it looked well-enough.

“Yes, yes. I wanted to color code the house. Purple means anyone can be in here.” Kallamar explained. “Though, we have a lot more painting to do, this room was the most important to finish first.”

“Huh. Not bad, brother.” Narinder said. “Gaudy, just like you.”

“I won’t dignify that with a response.”

“You just did.”

Kallamar made a noise of defeat. He ushered them deeper into the house, showing off the spacious kitchen equipped with a pantry (painted blue to mean “you can come in here if you need to”), and then the second living room (painted maroon to mean “invite only”). This second living room was sectioned off with a sliding glass door. Though it had a similar vibe and setup to the first living room with its massive TV and variety of consoles, instead of merchandise and quirky décor, it contained photos of Kallamar, his partners, and his family on the walls and atop of every surface. There was a box containing more photos already in frames, waiting for more shelving and wall mounts to be installed.

“This is our personal living room.” He said as he slid the door open.

The group went quiet for a moment as they entered and looked around.

“Awww, when was this taken?” Heket cooed, moving closer to a particular photo.

“No clue. Hatty found it hidden on the bookshelf while we were packing.” Kallamar shrugged.

The picture depicted the five siblings as teenagers, dressed in formalwear. Despite their fancy clothing, the photo was taken in the midst of chaos, everyone slightly blurry as they reacted to something out of frame. Narinder began to laugh.

“Look at your face!” He pointed out Heket’s goofy, shocked expression.

“My face? Look at yours! And your fluffed up tail too,”

While Kallamar was initially in a rush to do the tour, he relaxed as he realized everyone was enjoying themselves. No one seemed disinterested or anxious to leave for once.

“Ah, ah. I remember.” Shamura suddenly interjected amidst the younger trio’s teasing of each other. “This is from Kallamar and Narinder’s prom. On the boat? We were boarded and hijacked by terrorists.”

A long ‘ohhh’ came from all four of them in unison. No wonder the photo had been hidden away. That year prom was held on a yacht. Shamura came as a chaperone, Heket tagged along as Narinder’s “plus one”, and Leshy snuck aboard with the aid of Shamura.

“Terrorists” may have been a strong word for what those hijackers were, but they did ruin prom. Kallamar was by-far the most upset by what happened, even years later when what was a fairly terrifying situation became a funny story shared as an icebreaker. It was really Kallamar’s prom after all, Narinder was just a junior. He got to go to a prom the next year that was very fun and wasn’t invaded by pirates.

Once everyone got their fix of looking at old photos and reminiscing, the house tour continued. The rest of it was less of a “gamer pad” and more of a normal house, for now at least.

“The recreation room is through those doors, but right now it’s just the room we’re keeping all the boxes.” Kallamar gave a short chuckle. “But through this door,” He pushed it open and stepped outside. “Is the natural swimming pool!”

He paused for the ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’, which he received. Along with a comment from Narinder paired with agreement from Heket.

“You mean, a pond?”

“NO. It’s different!” Kallamar insisted.

“How?”

“Er… Ponds… are for nature. They’re decorative.”

“Ponds are living ecosystems that maintain themselves. Interference from people can make one clean enough to swim in.” Shamura chimed in. “A natural swimming pool, on the other hand, is just a regular pool kept clean without chemicals.”

The pool was on the smaller end, nothing fit for a large group. But Kallamar didn’t intend to use it for events, this door was slated to be painted red. The walls and ceiling tapered off and blended seamlessly into the path leading into what would be the garden, but was currently just a large patch of grass and dirt.

“Okay, back inside. There’s really only two other rooms I wish to show off.” Kallamar said.

He led the group back the way they came to the main hallway, this time taking them up the stairs. All the while pointing out various features of the house that didn’t need a dedicated stop, like the closets and bathrooms:

“There’s a half-bath halfway up the stairs here, isn’t that queer?”

“I’m thinking of commissioning a mural to put on that wall, so that’s why it’s so bare.”

“I forget which ones which, but this series of doors are Hatty’s, Lulu’s, and Palaal’s rooms.”

“There’s three bathrooms up here, plus the master one. Can you believe that?”

He finally came to the next stop on the tour, situated next to a large, bay window that looked out into the backyard.

“And heeere’s… my office!” He flung the door open with a flourish.

The gamer pad was in full swing in here. Though the LEDs were off in favor of letting in natural light, the vibes didn’t need their assistance. The door would be painted red with the rest, but the walls in this room were painted a bright shade of green. All but one wall had a black, checkboard pattern layer on top of the green, each square a little over a foot long and wide.

There was, of course, his ocean-themed gaming computer that made it look like there were fish swimming through the parts. Lots of recording equipment (cameras, lights, etc) was both setup and placed aside for later use. The floor was carpeted, but was almost completely covered with a massive, light blue rug. On the opposite side of the room was a second computer, one intended for editing. And between them, there was just enough space for a Nugget couch in a pale shade of green.  

“This looks exactly the same as your old office.” Heket said, feigning to be unimpressed, but mostly just messing with him.

“No! It’s totally different! Look, I painted!” Kallamar gestured wildly. “And it’s less cramped,”

“Ah. I’m sorry. This looks like a slightly more spacious version of your old office.”

As Heket and Kallamar went back and forth about the differences in décor and styles of the old and new office, Shamura went to sit down. They had a sense for how long those two would go on after all these years, and it was long enough that they’d take the chance to rest their legs.

“Don’t sit on that.” Narinder said when he noticed.

Shamura paused mid-squat. “Why not?”

“You don’t know about Nugget couches?”

They straightened up, unsure if they were now being messed with. “I can’t say I do. What’s wrong with them, pray tell?”

“They absolutely have sex on that thing.”

Shamura and Leshy both snickered at the same time, Shamura more out of surprise than anything.

Kallamar sputtered mid-sentence, akin to a verbal keyboard smash, before he could respond. “What!? We do not!”

“You. Are a liar.” Narinder then looked at Shamura. “They’re modular couches for children, but they happen to be great for sex,” He looked back at Kallamar. “And unless there’s a secret child you’ve been hiding from us…”

“I got it from a sponsorship! It’s a cute couch, is it not? A cute, free couch!”

“I’d be more inclined to believe you if it wasn’t in your office.” Heket joined the conversation after processing what had been said.

“It’s too small to go in the living rooms and it doesn’t fit the theme. I stuck it in here because there was space.”

“Sooo, you don’t use it, then? It’s just a space filler?” Leshy asked.

“Yes, exactly.”

“Can I have it?”

Well, now Kallamar was cornered. He wanted to say ‘no’, but it would confirm their accusation. His silence goes unnoticed as the banter continues.

“Why do you want a used sex couch?” Heket laughed.

“Well, it’s not used according to him. Those things are great to sleep on, there’s one at the library.”

“Wasn’t there another stop on the tour?” Shamura chimed in, coming to Kallamar’s rescue as they often did.

“OH! Yes, yes, the most important stop, I almost forgot!” Kallamar jumped at the chance to change the subject. “Lets go everyone, don’t get comfortable.”

Leshy and Heket tittered to each other about the couch as they all were shooed out the room. Kallamar took them further down the hall where they seemed to be storing more boxes waiting to be unpacked. He turned and waited for them to stop chattering amongst themselves, which they do surprisingly quickly.

“Right about here I’d like to get a partition installed, somewhere down the road. It’d give the guest rooms… your rooms… a bit more privacy.”

There was a moment of silence. It’s broken by Shamura’s uncharacteristic squeal of excitement.

“Aww, Kally!” They surged forward and trapped Kallamar in a tight hug. “Did you really…?”

His other siblings had similar things to say about this pleasant surprise. Excited chatter filled the hall.

“Is this your way of inviting us to move in?” Narinder asked, eyebrow raised.

“No.” Kallamar replied, maybe a bit too quickly. “They’re just if… if you guys wanted to visit…! Stay for a few days, or a few weeks. Or if you end up needing somewhere to go, I guess you could move in. And during the holidays too!”

“Look at you, trying to act stand-offish.” Heket grinned. “Get over here!”

Now it was her turn to smother the little squid in a hug(one that was bordering on a headlock). Maybe it was worth missing her movie to see Kallamar’s “gamer pad”.

“This is perfect. You can just move that Nugget couch into my room here!” Leshy chortled.

“Oh my god.” Was all Kallamar had to say to him.

When they went back downstairs, the group noticed the smell of meat wafting through the hallways.

“Would any of you care for a snack before you left?” Kallamar asked.

“Who else is here?” Heket mumbled mostly to herself.

Leshy reminded her that Palaal was said to be around, though none of them had seen him. Narinder was already walking back towards the kitchen.

“Aaah, do we have time to spare?” Shamura directed their question mainly to Heket. “I’m rather peckish, but I wouldn’t want to keep you…”

“We can stay longer.”

And off Shamura went before she could finish her sentence. In the kitchen, Narinder and Palaal were having their usual level of exchange.

“It’s strange of you to sneak around your own house.” Narinder said.

“Maaaybe,”

“Maybe?”

“But I like people’s reaction when they discover—Surprise! I’ve been here the whole time,”

He grabbed a taquito off the tray Palaal held. “Well, Kallamar told us you were here.”

“Awww, really? Shame.” Palaal gave a mock pout. “Well, thanks for the pity-reaction.”

The pout became a barely-contained smile as the two of them held extended eye contact. Narinder’s ear twitched. Palaal broke the eye contact to greet the others.

“Hey Darling! Shamura! I made taquitos!”

“May I?” Shamura was more hungry than they previously admitted.

“Of course!”

[crystalninjaphoenix]

MerMay 2024 Day Twenty-Five Connection in Isolation

Jameson put down the stone, taking a deep breath through his gills. His hands were cramped up from the days of working on the power stone, but by now, he thought it was... functional. There was no way it would hold a lot of power. The carvings were too rough and shallow for that. More like scratches, really. He was worried that he might ruin them just by brushing them the wrong way. But it was the closest he could get while he was stuck using another rock for a carving tool.

He had to rest for a bit to fill up the power stone with his magic. He burrowed down in the sand some more, one hand on the stone, and tried to ignore the occasional human who walked past the glass and stared at him. The stone seemed to grow warmer under his hand, but he knew from experience that he was not actually feeling heat, but the sensation of magic pouring into the stone. When it stopped feeling hot, he knew that it was as full as it would get... which was much sooner than he hoped, or even expected.

His heart sank. He had a couple different plans, but most of them shriveled up upon reaching the realization that he wouldn’t be able to power them. There was only one thing he could think to do.

Most merms reached each other through communication stones when they needed to talk, but there were other ways, all of which required magic. Only one could help them now. Jameson glanced around, making sure that there were no humans nearby, then burrowed deeper into the sand and concentrated.

The stone began to glow blue. Its surface rippled like water, then cleared up. Jameson could see four images in the stone. Marvin, swimming through a green environment. Jackie, curled up between tall plants. Schneep, tentacles wrapped around him as he sulked in a hole. And Jack, nervously going in circles in a colorful area. Good. Now, he just needed to think harder. {Hello?} he called with his thoughts.

All four of the merms reacted in surprise, looking around. Marvin gasped. “Jameson?!” His voice came from the stone, and Jameson put some more magic into transferring it to the others as well. “How are you doing this?! Did you get that power stone I dropped?!”

{No,} Jameson said. {I had to make one.}

“What?! While you’re in a tank?!”

{There’s no time to explain this! I couldn’t make a really good one. I’ll run out of power soon and have to recharge it.}

“Did the humans notice you doing this?” Schneep asked in a hushed voice.

{I hope not. If they did, they might take it.}

“So we don’t have much time at all,” Jack muttered.

“Do we have enough time for you to explain what spell this is?” Jackie asks.

{Nope. Long story short, it’s a spell with a very short range. Now moving on! How are you all doing?}

“I’m... fine, I guess?” Marvin said. “There’s a group of humans who keep... annoying me.”

“They have left me alone so far,” Schneep said.

“I, uh... woke up with weird bandages on,” Jack said slowly.

Jameson saw Jackie flinch. “Y-yeah. Me... me too.”

“Oh... I think I... understand,” Schneep said quietly. “But, ah, there is some good news. That Lise human. She can write words I understand.”

“She knows the merm alphabet?” Jack asked.

“No, I know some words from one of the human languages she speaks. Enough to figure things out. I think she is working on getting other humans to help us and turn against TridentCorp. She... she also spoke with our ‘friends from outside.’”

Marvin gasped. “Chase?!”

“Maybe. And maybe Anti, too. She did not explain and I was not sure how to ask. Maybe... next time I can see if I remember ‘who?’ That would probably be enough. But they are trying to get us out. Having some difficulty, though.”

“Of course they are, we had to have Anti transform into a human last time to get Chase out,” Jack said. “But, uh, I’m sure they have a plan!”

Splash! Jameson started, losing concentration on the spell for a moment. Some fish floated down from the top of the water. Apparently it was feeding time. Jameson stared at the humans, making sure that they hadn’t seen the power stone glowing. Luckily, they didn’t seem to notice. One reached up and almost hit the glass, but the other human smacked them before they managed to. Jameson waited for them to disappear before darting over to the fish, scooping one up, then returning to his burrowing spot. His stomach growled as he ate. It must have been forever since he’d eaten.

After he was done, he started up the communication again. {I’m sorry about that, I was worried some humans saw,} he explained.

“That was so strange,” Schneep said. “It was as if... I felt it disappear. The magic connection to you all.”

“Anyway, I’m sure they have a plan!” Jack repeated.

“I’m sick of just waiting,” Marvin grumbled. “We can’t do anything in here!”

{I don’t have much power left, is there anything else we need to talk about?} Jameson asked.

“Can you... do this spell again?” Jackie asked.

{Well, yes, but... it will take some time to refill the stone,} Jameson explained. And filling up the power stone too many times in a row would leave him exhausted. He’d fallen into that mistake once early in his training; he slept for a full day afterwards.

“I can’t think of anything that’s, um... really urgent,” Jack said.

Schneep sighed. “I hope we get out of here soon. I miss Vea and the others.”

Jackie chuckled weakly. “Oh? You miss her that much, to mention her by name but no one else?”

“Shut up. We can gossip some other time.”

The image on the stone was flickering. He gripped it tightly, the physical contact helping him to  concentrate. {I’ll try to reach out again soon. Oh, and by the way, you don’t need to actually talk. You can just focus your thoughts.}

“Huh?” Jackie said. “I don’t get it.”

“Riiiight.” Marvin nodded. “But talking is easier.”

{I’ll see you all again,} Jameson said. {I promise.}

The other four said their goodbyes, sounding a bit desperate. None of them wanted to go back to being alone in these tanks, but there wasn’t any other choice. This crude stone just wasn’t able to keep even such a simple spell going. The last of the dregs of power faded away, and Jameson put the stone on the ground, partially burying it in the sand.

Huh. Strange, he... felt unusually tired now. He’d spent a lot of energy, but he shouldn’t be this sleepy out of nowhere. What happened? He lowered his head, blinking slowly. His gaze landed on the remains of the fish he’d had. You know, that fish tasted a bit funny...

[thequietmanno1]

Thelreads, MHA 286, Replies Part 1

1) “Things are about to get spicy, on Chapter 286: The one withing us

Oh, is this about how AfO is here, inside what used to be Shigaraki?”- Within Shigaraki, Izuku – it’s a regular family reunion between the living, the dead, and the asshole who’s just here to rub it all in their faces.

2) “Even AfO is not taking this shit, he knows Bakugo is fine, coughing blood when stabbed on the lungs is something all healthy boys his age do.

Now, are you going to activate his quirk and blow him up to damage Midoriya even more? Please?”- If he could have, he would have, but fortunately, Tomura’s fighting from the inside at the same time AFO’s hijacking control of his charcoal corpse to strike out at the heroes, so that means AFO can’t be as effective in killing the heroes as he wants to be- at least, not until the control gets a little stronger….

(MHA ch 248)

3) “Ah, so Todoroki will get a dash skill as well? Fucking hell everyone now has a dash, the balancing team needs to get their shit together”- Frankly, I’m more impressed by Shoto’s balance of everybody on just one foot. Even if he’s carrying one half-dead adult and one nearly-dead Pomeranian, that is some impressive skill to be able to keep himself aflost without any stabilising thrust. Boy’s got mad balancing skills.

4) “Oh this is definitely not Shigaraki talking, that’s for sure. Time for an evil speech?”-  AFO doesn’t need to speak long to stab straight to the emotional heart of the matter…

5) “Nope, no evil speech, just trying to drive the knife deeper, but what he’s not counting on is that Midoriya is about to flip his fucking shit and he’ll make the potato face that All Might gave him look like a classical sculpture.”- Actually, that is what he’s counting on. AFO’s goal is to bring Izuku in close to finally get a hand on him to steal OFA with, and he figures that if Izuku’s anything like All Might, all it’ll take is hurting and more importantly, insulting his allies to make him flip his shit out and forget about the “bad touch” powers….and he was bang on the money.

6) “Oh this is definitely not a good sign.”- AFO pressed the Kachan button. Tomura really wishes he hadn’t done that… 7) “OH JESUS FUCK

MIDORIYA

WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU FUCKING RIPPED HIS TENTACLES WITH YOUR TEETH JESUS”- Midoria: Your throat and my teeth have an urgent appointment, bitch!

8) “CHRIST THIS VESSEL IS REALLY FALLING APART AND MIDORIYA IS ABOUT TO MAKE SURE NOT A SINGLE CELL REMAINS TO TELL THE TALE”- Tomura’s gone through a small army of assembled heroes, been burned, battered and pushed to the brink of death, and he’s never once panicked or thought he was in danger of losing. But this?. Seeing Izuku’s sheer wrath aimed square at him? That’s the first time he’s actually gone “Uh-oh” ever since he awakened, faced with a force more primal and destructive than even himself.

9) “NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE

WHAT THE FUCKING NOPE

YEAH I MEAN, WE KNEW AFO WAS IN THERE, BUT WHAT THE FUCK NO

IS HE EMERGING FROM SHIGARAKI’S BODY LIKE A COCOON?”- And as always, AFO’s greatest skill is his ability to incite the anger of his opponents, pushing their buttons precisely so to manipulate them to his tune without effort, allowing him to puppet Izuku into reach as easily as he’s puppeteering Tomura’s body

10) “OKAY ALRIGHT LET US MOVE AWAY FROM THAT IT SEEMS

AND NOW GIGANTOMACHIA JUST REALIZED THAT AFO IS THERE AS WELL, AND BY THE VISUAL METAPHOR HIS SMELL IS COMING FROM INSIDE SHIGARAKI

I’M STARTING TO FEAR LIKE SHIGARAKI WAS PRETTY MUCH JUST A COCOON FOR HIM TO GET A STRONGER BODY”- It’s half symbolic….for now. But given how their vestiges/souls appear to be merging within Tomura’s body, it may well be that AFO could indeed be “reborn” within the chrysalis that is Tomura. All the advantages of youth and experience rolled into one. 11) “Oh what the fuck I thought that was Hawks there on the right for a moment Also, unfortunately that’s no more than to calm them down, because there’s no way to stop that thing. Those heroes don’t stand a chance, there’s no stopping it”- And he’s not even the real superweapon the villains have, but the prototype! @thelreads

[chibivesicle]

Daniel Law - when you’re only human all you can do is smartly manipulate others

After writing one meta about Daniel, I realized that I’d only really hit the highlights of his character around three key events.   His introduction, the Noctova Smile Incident and then the Calamity Auction.  However, he pops in and out during the rest of Back 2 Back and I figured that he was worth a revisit.  Plus, I already write super long meta - I couldn’t fit everything about Daniel into that first one.

Let’s dive into Assistant Inspector Daniel Law a bit more.

This is pretty much the only image that I can find where Daniel is genuinely happy and not looking like a smug bastard.  Things resolved themselves, lives were saved and he got the outcome he’d wanted.

First off, I’d previously written about his formal introduction in the chapter ‘Run! Lunch!! Run!!!’ where he threatened to arrest Klaus and Steven in the back alley.  Going back on a read through and comparing with the wiki, I realized that he actually appears in ‘Z’s worst day part 2′.  Very stealthy there Nightow.  I didn’t even notice since I’d watched the anime first and will always think of his smug ass in the alley scene.

As all of the intoxicated citizens rush to see the plane be destroyed by the tentacles and the like the HLPD try to get them to move away from all of the chaos.

A policesuit tells Daniel that the drunks keep coming.  Of course Daniel replies as we’d expect him to, stating that it would be surprised for them to actually listen to the police order.  He then states that he needs facts and orders video for evidence.

As things wind down it is interesting that Steven is the one who gives orders to the team to disperse.  With clear instructions to shake off any police who might be tailing them.  Therefore, at this point in time it is unclear if the HLPD knows the current location for their office.

Then we have Daniel’s official introduction, which I’ve discussed at length.  And yes, he ‘convinces’ Libra to assist the HLPD using a moral argument to win over Klaus, implying he knows that Klaus is the person to target while Steven snarks back annoyed leading to the threat of arrest.   His comments about K.K. also tell us that he’s been doing his homework on Libra.  Perhaps, he was assigned to them or became the in house expert on Libra?

The next time he appears is when the immature Blood Breed is wreaking havoc and Leo is at the mercy of the deranged doctor who wants him for his eyes.  Daniel is charge of setting up the perimeter so it doesn’t cause more damage and he clearly called Libra (well, likely Steven) for assistance as soon as they figured it out was a Blood Breed.  I’m not sure if the title of captain is a typo/translation error or what.  The point is that Daniel is barking orders at the beat cops and threatens to dock their pay.

Daniel is annoyed but slightly relieved when Steven and Klaus arrive and he gives them the update on things.  That’s pretty much it.  He’s in a few background scenes but won’t do anything else active since the entire story is about Leo trying to figure out how to fight a mainly visible foe and contact Libra.

We get the return of Daniel in the Noctova Smile Incident which has lots of quality Daniel and Steven bickering.  Through context, we can determine that Steven and Daniel have met up other times between the events where we see them on the pages. Apparently Steven has a habit of showing up when it is any event of importance to Libra.

Their behind the yellow tape conversation highlights both of them don’t sleep enough (we already knew this for Steven) and it is clear both have their vices; coffee and cigarettes.  It also shows that they have very similar body posture, with much more slouchy/noodle than other characters.  I’ve previously stated that the two of them are very much each other’s foil.  Both will do whatever it takes to get people to do what they want but with different styles.  Steven will snark you quietly into submission all with a sly smile while Daniel will bark at you, but because his suggestion is valid you’ll go along with it.

Now, I’m going to call bullshit on Daniel in this scene.  Steven is quite upset spitting out that he has no faith in him at all and Daniel replies (without looking at him) that is his rule to not trust anyone.  This is a great example of Daniel using very threatening or menacing language but not following through on it.  Why do I say this?  He wouldn’t be able to do his job if his subordinates didn’t trust him in the first place.  And for his subordinates to trust him, he must also trust them as well.  Daniel Law does not lead through fear despite being very loud and emotional when giving orders.

For Noctova Smile, Daniel still uses his HLPD influence to have Libra work with them, but instead of going only to Steven and Klaus, he invites the key members to the precinct showing professional respect and dare I say it, trust. After the death of Veneno the interdimensional thief, we get the chapter where the role is passed onto his daughter, Venedranda.  Before that main point, Steven and Klaus meet with Daniel to get more information from the HLPD.  He stayed behind after the events resolved and Noctova Smile was destroyed by Klaus to continue to comb through the scene.

This really tells us that Daniel did his due diligence following the crime scene and that he’s detail oriented and wanted to find that mysterious blade. As he’s talking we get a clear view of their positions as they talk somewhere outside and undisclosed.  Daniel almost completely has his back towards them!  What was that about trust Daniel?  You definitely trust Klaus and Steven to turn your back to them and have your left hand in your pocket and right hand carrying your leather briefcase.

We get some monologue from him about how the incident is stuck in his brain. However, we don’t get the completion of that statement as he then pulls out the briefcase and hands a document to Steven.  I love how he doesn’t make eye contact with them when he holds the manila envelope out for Steven to take a look at it, making it clear that the information is confidential.

Yep, Daniel, sharing confidential information with Libra, I see where this is going.  Klaus then asks if they’d be able to examine the head but Daniel reveals it sucked itself into nothingness along with a part of the room.  As the chapter unfolds Daniel gets one more page where he gets to be a little badass.  It is obvious that he’s dealt with a lot of otherworldly items popping up in HL and that trying to understand them is pretty much impossible at best.

Interestingly, his monologue continues over the next page noting that it may be a sort of contract between the wielder and someone else related to the sword - very similar to what we know is the case for Leo.  So, kudos to you Daniel, you have a pretty good grasp of how these sorts of things work.

He shows up in all of volume 5. First, when Brody’s old gang, Dead Lynx, try to rescue him from prison with Hummer and the Warden Alice gets kidnapped along the way.  Thus, he has choice but to call in Libra since Brody & Hummer were taken along with the Warden as Brody & Hummer are technically Libra when he’s allowed out of prison.

For the two chapter, ‘My life as a Doc’, Daniel leading the HLPD runs directly into the Bradbury Hospital where Dr. Estevez works.  He is attempting to arrest a very nefarious criminal with the nickname ‘the mechanic’ as he’s able to manipulate everything to allow for him to fight, absorbing all sorts of random items.

The criminal dashed into the hospital grounds heavily wounded putting Daniel in an immediate pickle.

Luciana stands up and states that they will be taking things from here on out, which Daniel isn’t a fan of.

In typical Daniel fashion he demands he be handed over, but Luciana explains that he must be treated first.  Realizing that he’s stuck, Daniel asks if this is for real before calling Minsk a bastard.  Who gets half a page of hahahaha while we turn to Daniel in a terrible mood on a rooftop.  He angrily kicks a HVAC pipe or something of that sort while Mackenzie (who must be his partner) Steven and Klaus watch him vent from a distance.  Steven tries his “Now, now” which only gets cut off by Daniel telling him “Don’t you “Now, now” me!!”  Which tells us Steven has used his trademark line on him in the past and it no longer works on him.

Steven awkwardly looks like he wants to reach out and support or console but is stuck as Daniel continues to vent.  Again, with his back towards the three of them.  Interestingly, Klaus is the one who tries to reason with Daniel stating that Law and Estevez are both trying to do their jobs to the best of their abilities.  Welp, I guess this will be the last time Klaus tries to converse with Daniel in a professional setting how well that went over.  This allows for him to bring up an interesting point; we want to be sympathetic to those who are injured, even those who have committed crimes.  But what do you do when that person is going to use that time to be treated only to recover and return to their criminal activities?

This also has a line where Daniel states he needs to make the hospital staff remember that those with power (like himself) have a responsibility to the general public to protect them.

 Now back to his usual eloquent self, Steven asks the Assistant Inspector what he is going to do as someone with this power. Since he called them specifically to meet him on the roof top.  There is an odd silence before Daniel replies; it seems it takes him a minute or two to shift from ranting mode to work mode.  His solution is for Libra to be guards while Minsk recovers in the hospital, stating this is the best compromise he can manage.  And in that Daniel is legally correct - if this were a normal criminal there would be armed guards on him.

All of his reasoning is totally logical.  You can use normal mechanized guards against him and that he has the right to post guards on Minsk is all within normal protocol.  The only difference is that he has pulled in Libra for a favor since the HLPD can’t handle this and all of their abilities are not mechanical something he can’t manipulate.

As expected, Minsk eventually gets discharged, after threatening to kill everyone which is oh so pleasant in the room in front of the group too.  Daniel is waiting armed to the teeth and is also cleverly making use of Libra who are still there with Dr. Estevez keeping an eye on Minsk.  Once Klaus saw him in person, you know that Klaus would not let this man go if he hurt anyone.

As soon as he become aggressive both Steven and Chain along with Zed try to stop him, but it doesn’t go as planned since even he has counter measures to their attacks that he’s seen.

When Minsk is released as soon as he leaves the hospital grounds, Daniel orders the force to open fire on him to try to capture him.  This goes poorly yet he remains undeterred and boldly holds his ground as Minsk literally splits his body in two around Daniel.

This goes terribly, but it anything showed that Daniel trusted that the HLPD forces had his back, I don���t know what else would prove that point.  Ultimately, as things spiral out of control, Klaus tries to seal him like a Blood Breed which Steven stops and it looks pretty bad.  Yet, the one who finally figures out that they need to ask for aid from Luciana is Law.  Recognizing that she’s the person who healed him, he likely will be able to wound him in a humane-ish way.

She prepares to perform surgery on him to cause him to stop, but understanding her moral quandary, Leo messes with Minsk’s vision so he can’t see that Zapp and Klaus are protecting her and Klaus obliterates him into a blob of cells.  The cells were then collected and once she’s able to put him back together, he’ll stand trial.  Either way, this all ended with Daniel putting the right people in the right place to perform actions he could not accomplish.

Which led the the only panel where Daniel looked happy in the manga.  This also resulted him to taking Libra out for dinner and drinks but it devolved into a night from hell with Luciana and Chain outlasting the rest of the group.

Daniel is face down on the table his tie off to the side possibly wearing his dress shirt only.  Steven is passed out next to him looking equally disheveled with his tie loose and someone had managed to balance a bottle on his head.  Leo and Sonic are in the foreground looking pained while Klaus is limp in Luciana’s grasp.  I can’t image what the bill was when Daniel went to pay it much later.  Klaus may have forced Daniel into inviting Luciana to join them but it appears his gut reaction to exclude her was correct.

Before the Calamity Auction, Daniel returns for a minor role in ‘Be Quiet & Follow Me’.  As usual he’s the contact point for Steven as they are discussing the next job to stop another attempt to destroy HL. The HLPD have some sort of device that is in revision with their engineering team, who are stating that it will be able to get the job done.  Always skeptical, Steven asks if it is secure while Daniel bluntly tells him to shut up and not ask him.  This is a point where instead of saying, “I don’t know.” Daniel of course deflects that question and says that the engineering team said it will work.  Very political language there Assistant Inspector.

There is also management bonding during the course of the call where reservations about working with a domestic terrorist group aren’t an ideal option for the HLPD and Libra.  Doing their day to day job whether Libra or the HLPD is a giant money pit, so they will tread carefully moving forward.

We learn that Guinness Purururo is one of the engineers working on the updated HLPD device and she smartly asks where she could get a good glass of scotch.  Daniel kindly obliges her request allowing for her to find Patrick at his usual bar drinking alone.  As the chapter unfolds we learn that Patrick brought Neyka along with him from some previous job in her home country and they started working together.  We also learn that Patrick and Guinness dated a long time ago and ran in a similar group with K.K. as well, who knows her trade nickname of “Queen Bee”. 

Under some sort of weird mind control, Guinness’ son Andrew is used as a way to manipulate her including her sabotaging the HLPD device which results in a panicked call for Libra’s aid.  It is quite obvious that the engineers may have over engineered their own creation as Daniel screams out at why they designed it as such.

Libra rush to their aid, destroying the device.  Welp, another time things didn’t go Daniel’s way but this time, as we saw from his language earlier he wasn’t the person fully endorsing the device in the first place.  It slowly unfolds that Guinness was forced to sabotage the device and Patrick rescues her to the best of his abilities.  After he’s able to cause their van to crash no one other than Daniel is there to whisk them back to Libra to put the special anti-magic gun in perfect working order so that Libra can crush this week’s opponent set to destroy HL.  Daniel is more than willing to listen to their story as they fly back to Libra to save the day.

He knows that both of them are critical to the success of their current goals, as he did give Guinness information to find Patrick earlier.  However, once he delivers them to Libra he watches silently in the background.  Patrick states he’d return to her sooner, while Daniel snarks he won’t come and rescue him either.

The ending panel for the chapter has Daniel talking to no one in particular that there is not way the Patrick is going to run back to Guinness again.

While someone else comments that it is a bold declaration.  How do we read this?  That Daniel is correct in stating that Patrick should steer clear of trouble? Or is this how dense he is to the feelings that Patrick will always hold for Guinness despite having dated her a long time ago?  I could go either way, Daniel is no idiot but we have not seen him have a social life besides work, yelling at people to do things and meeting with Steven in secluded places. 

With that the next major arc with him is the Calamity Auction where he does many things including getting his ass literally frozen by Steven, violating house arrest, tracking the Blood Breed bat Bloodline Gate correctly, saving Chain in the process, making sure Leo isn’t hurt in all the chaos and then arresting the auction house owner. When Daniel no longer has his regular position of power, where he’s barking orders, he still has people who are more than willing to work with him.  For example, he snuck out on his own and started chatting up some of the beat cops who were on the ground when the auction house incident occurred.  MacKenzie finds him and joins him as Harrison reports what the snipers saw in regard to the bats.  Both men turn a blind eye to Daniel’s violation of house arrest.

This circles back to the whole concept of trust.  The fact that Harrison is ready to follow Daniel Law’s orders even when he’s technically under house arrest and off duty, the option is better than dying.  Which only results in a normal Daniel spaz response that he’d get fired.  However, he’ll reveal his active role when he spots the bats borrowing a police radio and drops his badge number.  Later, he’ll lead the SWAT team to the room with the bat gates, save Chain right as the bat blob was about to kill her and also find one of the active gates left behind.

What all can we conclude about Assistant Inspector Daniel Law?

Despite all of his bark, he doesn’t have a lot of bite.  He clearly trusts others in the HLPD, his partner MacKenzie, and a decent number of the beat cops.  Perhaps, not so much those guys in the policesuits?  They seem to get the most of his bitching.

He says that he doesn’t trust Libra but he frequently leaves his back towards Steven or Steven and Klaus when meeting them more discretely.  If anything, the fact that asked Steven for more information on the rooftop seems to show that the trust is a little bit more on Daniel’s side than Steven.  Whoever at the HLPD above Daniel was smart enough to go after Libra without his knowledge.  And when you look at all the times he’s either calling them or working on things with them it is obvious that he is the closest member of the HLPD to Libra. This really demonstrates that Daniel is excellent at manipulating others into helping him to achieve his goals - big picture - to protect HL and its inhabitants from all of the threats.  Daniel knows what words to say to get Klaus sucked in, how to convince Steven something is important and he even requested Luciana’s assistance when it was a smart thing to do.  Why does Daniel do this?  He doesn’t have any other options; he’s a fairly smart and honest guy who is still a normal human.  He knows he can’t make a difference in HL or the HLPD unless he plays things a bit differently.  This goes back to my previous comments in my first meta about him.  Daniel never uses his gun.  I keep thinking that he sees it as a moot point, thus, only finally drawing it when he arrests the auction house owner view the Bloodline Gate.

With Beat 3 Peat several chapters in, I’m still waiting with baited breath when Daniel will return.  Hopefully wearing his pinstripe three piece suit too.  That was when he had the best style.

[dragonmuse]

I’m rereading the main series to fight the SADD and get the tone on my festival entry right, and I found myself thinking about Eddy dreaming of the Kraken taking Lucius in The Kid is Alright. Beyond the obvious reference to the actual show 😃 I wondered how much of that is her subconsciously worrying about him getting hurt by Izzy, and how much is about him getting hurt by her, because of jealousy over Izzy! (If you wanted to throw in a snippet of Lucius and Eddy interacting, I also wouldn’t protest!) 🤭

(I also feel the winter coming on, I feel you. This one is kind of piecemeal, but I think it gets to the root of it)

Usually when the dream came, it stuck to Eddy for a few days like gum on the bottom of her shoe. Not an injury, just the sticky, constant knowledge of it, making everything just one degree more difficult, one degree less enjoyable. A bad taste in the back of her throat.

Every time she saw Lucius, the taste was there. He seemed not to notice, going about his business, clearly pleased with his current lot in life. She tried not to seek him out in the dark, not to check that he was fine. 

Lucius was a pest and a damningly insightful one at that, but Eddy had grown to like him as much as anyone at the bar, partially because he was so inclined to poke at her. In her old life, there hadn’t been anyone left that wanted to even try to tease her. Oh, Izzy might’ve insulted her and been an outright asshole sometimes for his own ends, but he wouldn’t tease. None of the other guys would’ve dreamed of disrespecting ‘boss’’ like that. 

Yet, Lucius, who had seem to have their number right front the start, had no such qualms. He prodded, teased and basically pulled her pigtails, then would skitter a few steps back like a puppy, waiting for another dog to jump on him and continue the game. 

More and more, Eddy found herself taking the bait. She liked the verbal sparring and the general low stakes assholery that Lucius brought into her life. 

But he was playing with fire now. He’d gone to a place Eddy had never ventured, stepping into Izzy’s lair. No one knew better than Eddy how dangerous the man could be when he was crossed. 

Was that why she’d seen him screaming and devoured? Eaten by the beast and dragged to the depths? 

“Do I have something on my face?” Lucius raised his eyebrows as he set a drink in front of her. 

“Just the usual shit,” Eddy said vaguely, plucking up the glass and taking a sip. It was the new stout on tap, a creamy chocolatey note in it that she liked. “Thanks.” 

“You ordered it, figured you’d like it,” he shrugged. “Want to tell me why you’re tracking me like my head is gonna explode?” 

She took another sip. 

‘No?” He rolled his eyes. “Eddy, come on, what the fuck? Is this because of the Izzy stuff?” 

“No!” She blurted then winced. Fuck, she had really lost some of her edge. 

“Uh huh.” 

“You won’t like it.” 

“Probably not. Tell me anyway.” 

“Ugh,” she pressed the glass into her palms.  “I’m...worried. Like genuinely worried. He’s not a safe person.” 

“Yeah, I got that, actually,” Lucius planted his elbows on the bar in front of them, resting his chin in his palms. “Part of the appeal, if I’m honest.” 

“But-” 

“I think he’s more dangerous to himself right now for one thing,” Lucius considered. “And I’m not you.” 

“What do you mean?” She frowned.  

“I mean you two have a lot of history and pain between you. I just met him. He can be new with me. You know how that is.” 

“Yeah,” she said roughly. “But...” 

“I know he’s hurt you personally.” Lucius sighed. “Probably a lot. That’s real. It’s real that he might hurt me too.” 

“You don’t really think so.” 

“Of course I do,” it was said calmly, just a given fact. “But so could a lot of the randos I hook up with. People, even ones without violent jobs, can hurt us.” 

Eddy saw tentacles, waving up and dragging down. “Bleak.” 

“Just real.” 

“I reserve the right to worry about you,” she decided, taking another sip of beer.

“Do you now?” He smirked. “Guess I can’t stop you.” 

That seemed close enough to permission. Eddy went on watching him, monitoring for changes. Lucius went on being Lucius. He caught her staring again, winked and went on flirting and half-assing his job behind the bar. 

“What is it, honey?” Stede frowned, following her eyes one night. They were all at the tables after closing, passing around the cloth samples Stede had brought for potential new napkins for the tables. 

“Just checking.” 

“For what?” 

“That’s he’s all right.” 

“Oh! That’s sweet of you,” Stede said uncertainly. “But it looks like you might be trying to assassinate him with the power of your mind.” 

“Nope.” 

“You think maybe there might be something else?” 

Eddy shook her head and looked back down into the cloth in her hand. She had crumbled it up in her palm, holding it white-knuckled. 

“...maybe a little,” she conceded. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” 

The gum stuck to the floor. Came loose. Made a horrible sound. 

“I really do not.” 

“All right then.” 

What was there to say? He wasn’t hers anymore. She’d cut him loose. It had been one of the best decisions she’d ever made.  

No apologies. No regrets. 

Lucius threw back his head and laughed. Carefully, she smoothed the cloth back out and turned her attention to Stede. 

“Tell me about the cotton percentages again, my love.” 

“The one you have is actually 100% cotton! Very finely made, but for some reason less absorbent,” Stede began and she sunk into his words and let them soothe her fiery brain. 

If she ever got a taste for danger again, she’d only have to watch Stede enthuse about one of his passions. He lit up, his hands flung around, a dance of excitement and she could lose herself in that joy so easily. It was the beautiful kind of contagious. 

[mejomonster]

Oh also, chapter 151, this whole scene I assume will be important later. And I know it was "high stakes" but it was just Incredibly funny to me lol?? Fei Du was 1 just SO utterly nonplussed about temporarily being hostage in a car 2 a little self destructive so would've been pretty chill even if someone had tried to kill him 3 his CHILL was scaring the fuck out of the driver holding him hostage (which was ALSO funny and i assume the criminal org thinks fei du is a threat and that's why they didn't try shit... but equally funny would've been if fei du was actually super risky just then and in a fucked up situation he Should NOT have been in and he just Didn't Give a Shit and his cavalier attitude is what made him seem still in control of the situation... and honestly I think in the past when he occasionally HAS lost control of situations he goes numb and relaxed and winged it and it tended to work). 4 the fact fei du IS CONFUSED but just compartmentalized that shit IMMEDIATELY. The second he was out of the car his brain was like "OK kidnapping over, I'll process the confusing statement he made about me seeing their leader later. Now back to FIRST task I left for: go to villa basement."

I always thought that they would be the first to come see me,” Fei Du said unhurriedly. “I hadn’t expected them to be more composed than I imagined, and much more cautious. To the last they’ve only dared to take a roundabout path, not meeting me face to face before Wei Zhanhong was ferreted out and my ill intent towards them was unfortunately revealed. Now, at the heart of the struggle, I figure they would love nothing better than to bury themselves deep underground and not come out. It won’t be possible now to make them contact me voluntarily… But I really didn’t expect that you people would be the first to appear in front of me.”

 

Fei Du had his head propped on his long, slender hand, tapping his temple from time to time, the frequency setting off the driver’s nervous breathing—each time he took a heavy breath, Fei Du would tap the side of his forehead once, as though pursuing his breaths with a forceful tempo, so the driver at once felt even more panicked and short of air.

 

“I’ve been considering it this whole time—what intersection do I have with you? I don’t think there is any. Or has the great individual behind you suddenly been inspired to come see me? Oh, yes, what do you call him?”

 

“We call him Teacher.” The feigned oiliness and flattery vanished from the driver’s face. In the midst of his tension, there was also some unspeakable grimness in his expression. “Since you’ve gotten involved in this business, you can’t say you have no intersection with us. Besides that—President Fei, I’m only an errand runner, a useless nobody. Even if you capture me, you won’t get anything useful out of me. But you’re different. No matter how great your resources, right now you’re still sitting alone in my car. Won’t your people hold back for fear of involving you?”

 

The finger at Fei Du’s temple slipped downward beside his lips. Without batting an eyelash, a joking expression appeared at the corners of his eyes, as though he were restraining a laugh, as though the threat he’d just heard had been adorably childish. The driver was inexplicably drawn in by his not-quite-smile, for a moment nearly suspecting he’d said something idiotic. He tightly clutched the weapon at his waist, the veins climbing up his neck.

 

Meanwhile, in the hospital, Luo Wenzhou was carefully considering the past events Director Lu had just told him about.

 

He couldn’t help thinking, why was it Binhai again? The members of the Su family had buried the bodies of the kidnapped girls in Binhai, Fan Siyuan had even chosen to jump into the sea in Binhai, and that patch of land in Binhai belonged to the mysterious Guangyao Fund—they’d investigated the Guangyao fund, arranged to talk to the company’s representative, but just as Fei Du had said, it was only a frail shell, a tentacle that could be cut off any time.

 

Perturbed, Luo Wenzhou pulled out his phone to look at the time, and found that there was a notification light flashing, showing there was a missed call or unread message. He opened it and only then saw the message Fei Du had sent.

 

Ordinarily, Fei Du occasionally went back to the office, and before winter vacation had started, he’d gone to school almost every day. While he no longer went out to fool around with his drinking buddies, he still had some indispensable social engagements. He wasn’t always home. But he did things very considerately. No matter where he was going, he’d tell Luo Wenzhou, both when he was leaving and when he was coming back. And once he’d told him, he would take it seriously, punctually keeping to the times he’d said.

 

“Going home to get something” didn’t fall into the category of “running around”; Luo Wenzhou ought to have read that and let it go. But perhaps because the hospital felt oppressive to him, Luo Wenzhou was suddenly uneasy. By the time he pulled himself together, he found he’d already called back.

 

Luo Wenzhou thought he was being kind of annoying. While he brought the speaker to his ear, he searched for an excuse to cover up his clingy behavior. Then he heard a mechanical female voice come over the phone: “The number you have dialed is busy…”

 

Luo Wenzhou paused, hung up, absently waited two minutes, then dialed again—it was still busy!

 

Fei Du wasn’t the sort of person who talked endlessly on the phone. Luo Wenzhou knew his habits. Normally when he picked up the phone, he’d exchange a couple of polite remarks at most, then say whatever he had to say. If more than a minute passed and he couldn’t say it clearly, he’d arrange to talk in person; he’d very rarely keep talking unimpeded.

 

Luo Wenzhou stood up. Just then, a nurse came over in haste. “Where are Fu Jiahui’s relatives? Who can sign? The patient’s condition isn’t very good.”

 

Tao Ran’s expression altered at once. Lu Youliang leapt up. Luo Wenzhou’s phone suddenly rang; he thought it was Fei Du and eagerly picked up without looking, but it was a colleague’s voice that came over the line: “Captain Luo, we’ve found one of the cars, but the person in it ran away!”

 

Luo Wenzhou took a deep breath, hearing the nurse saying to Director Lu, “That won’t do, it has to be a relative who signs…”

 

The colleague on the phone said, “Captain Luo, what do we do now?”

 

Luo Wenzhou’s gaze turned to Director Lu, hastily saying something to the nurse, then went past them to the opaque door of the operating room—he didn’t know whether Lao Yang was conscious in the underworld, whether he was watching, or how he would feel when he had seen.

 

Luo Wenzhou said, “Call for reinforcements, search all the surrounding surveillance cameras, contact the traffic advertisements, the nearby shopping centers, and the subway. Put out a missing person notice. Find Yang Xin and tell her…”

 

“Tell her what?”

 

“Tell her her mom’s dying and get the hell back to the hospital to sign!”

 

When he’d said this, Luo Wenzhou hung up the phone and gently pressed on Tao Ran’s relatively intact shoulder.

 

“Go on if you have something to take care of,” Tao Ran said quietly. “It’s no use staying here. I think if she gets the chance, she won’t want the last thing she sees to be the two of us… Go on.”

 

Luo Wenzhou didn’t say a word; he turned and left—

 

The beep of someone trying to call in came over Fei Du’s earbud for the third time. He ignored it. As though humoring a child, he said entirely insincerely to the driver, “All right, your threat is a great deterrent—will that do? Do you think you should tell me why you came?”

 

“Someone gave me some words to pass onto you, President Fei,” the driver said very tensely. “He said that you’ve seen him before, and he regrets being unable to come in person this time…”

 

Fei Du frowned faintly. “I’ve seen him before?”

 

The driver didn’t answer, only relayed the message with dedication: “Some things seem confusing, but it’s because that person is too crafty. But while the net of heaven has large meshes, it lets nothing through. There are no walls in the world that air can’t pass through, and hands that have been stained with blood can never be clean. He must already be at his wits’ end—there’s one important clue you ought to know.”

 

Hearing this bewildering message, Fei Du frowned and asked, “What ought I to know?”

 

“I don’t know that.—He also said, he hopes that this case can be resolved openly and clearly, in strict accordance with the rules, not leaving any points of suspicion, so in the end there can be an entirely unflawed accounting.” The driver slowly asked, “President Fei, can I leave?”

 

Fei Du’s gaze swept his tense shoulders. “A knife? A narcotic? A taser? Or…a gun? This is my first time running into someone holding a weapon asking me whether he could leave.”

 

Then, without waiting for the driver to speak, he laughed, pulled a hundred yuan bill out of his wallet, and threw it on the seat, opening the door and getting out of the car. “I don’t need a receipt, and there’s no need for change.”

 

Then, hands stuck in his pockets, he crossed the street to the villa estate without a look back.

[luckyrave]

Chainsaw Man Chapter 111 Thoughts

A huge realization came to me upon going through this specific chapter, and it’s actually not a huge thing relevant to the story.  What exactly could that be, you might ask? To put it simply, there are only 8 chapters left before I’m fully caught up on my thoughts for the manga.  I literally went from the double digits range throughout these past 4-5 day to the single digit range, and that couldn’t honestly get me even more excited to continue sharing my thoughts on the manga for Chainsaw Man.  

Asa wastes absolutely no time beating around the bush with Yuko,  and asks she is gonna devour her. Not an ounce of hesitation lasts for her best friend to provide Asa with an answer that makes Yuko look away ashamed by her answer, but it also leaves Asa rather stunned as well. The reason Yuko came to visit Asa in the middle of the night was because she was gonna leave to be with her distant relative in hopes of trying to be human again.  In saying so,  Yuko wouldn’t be surprised if her fate also ended up in death at the end of the road. It’s here  Asa apologizes to Yuko for making a contract with the Justice Devil for her sake, but it’s revealed that wasn’t the exact truth.

 Yuko made a contract with the Justice Devil to be like Chainsaw Man as a way to get attention while using Asa as an excuse, but also having hopes it would make Asa her friend due to the simple fact that she never had any friends. Killing her neighbor and attacking people at The Academy. None of it was for the sake of justice. Many peoples thoughts creeped into her mind after that contract was made and it took away her own in the process.  Asa attempted to reach out to Yuko who uncontrollably used one of the tentacles to attack her.  Not knowing who she was anymore, Yuko made the decision to leave while giving Asa a proper goodbye; this also gets her to second guess whether those were really her own thoughts to begin with. 

Right before that happens,  Asa gives Yuko back the same shoes for being barefooted much like how she was that day at Yuko’s place.  That day when Asa walked around barefoot and Yuko lended her the shoes. A simple returning of the favor which really spoke a lot about their friendship. Asa even makes an effort to quote the very same thing that Yuko told her that day, and immediately the two girls began bursting out in laughter about the whole thing.  Thoughts ran through Asa’s mind about everything that’s happened in her own life about how a bunch of people died.  How she killed her own teacher and class president, and feeling like she’s the absolute worst due to just laughing about the whole thing. 

Finally, Yuko bids her farewells to Asa promising to return the shoes back to her one day to which she’s very hopeful about. She hopes through town from building to building as the night transitions over into the morning before being startled by birds.  Interestingly,  it is also revealed that Yuko can’t read the minds of animals and wished it was possible.  A quick shot was shown of the student,  Asa who is rather sad about Yuko leaving,  and a quick sneak of Denji being sleep with a small tease of Nayuta next to him with the dogs surrounding them. When it cuts back to Yuko quotes “Chainsaw Man?” in confusion while her head was severed onto he floor with a shadowy figure of Chainsaw Man holding her body upside down as blood leaks onto the floor bringing an end to the chapter. 

All in all, I give this chapter of Chainsaw Man an Amazing+ rating. When it comes to story progression there wasn’t really a lot that happened per say, but the real strength comes from the emotional aspect between Asa and Yuko. Their final conversation with one another was really captivating and heartfelt seeing the two friends bid their fair wells to one another, but it also comes with a huge sense of tragedy taking into the fact that at the end of the chapter Yuko was killed by a mysterious figure that resembled Chainsaw Man.  The mystery behind this particular outcome has still yet to be determined, but we can infer that it wasn’t Denji as he was asleep with Nayuta during the whole time. Which Tatsuki Fujimoto does an incredible leaving us at the edge of our seats waiting to know what happens in the chapters to come, but that’s just only gonna add more for what’s to come with Chainsaw Man.Until then, I hope you all take care of yourselves out there.                    

[icaruskey]

As I’m coming into the crunch time, I’m having to figure out exactly how I’m going to figure out this whole final critique thing. 

I have five projects to have some level of “finished” by final critique. Two of them won’t actually be done anytime soon, and then unrelated I have a five page paper to write. But the projects, and details, and things I need to figure out, are under the cut because it’s a lot of talking to myself.

untitled lithography print: a 3 color print (because I always have to be extra, even with a smaller print). Edition of 5, starting printing in class Monday, so we’ll see how long it takes. 

depending on how this goes and how much time I’ve got free, I may use the scraps of photo litho plates to make a couple of little books. No idea what the subject matter would be. If I enjoy the lithography process, maybe I’ll test some pigeons? That’ll make sense in a minute 

dermatillomania book: my “sculptural” book. I need to purchase some brown ink to mix into the red and make it more like dried blood. I need to get through a small but decent chunk of it, maybe an entire section (there’s four)? But they’re pretty fat. 

this also needs a cover. I know the style of cover I’ll be making, but not the cover. Very possibly bare board since my bookbinding professor is extoling the virtues of bare board so much. I think that + white thread would be rather striking if I decorate the cover at all. no ideas yet. 

tentacle book: yeah this still needs a proper name. My main goals are to finish the base etchings (3 layers of tentacles on each side of my papers). I need to cut down another page of stonehenge because I fucked up a page. :’) But I think I can do nine layers a day. Just depends cause it takes me about an hour, hour and a half including clean up. 

Cover (yeah, there’s more). I need to make a mockup of my cover with the proper stuff I’m using (though I might use a thinner board just for my own sanity. I already broke a needle. 

Oh yes, there’s a lot to this one. I need orange, fluorescent orange thread for this. Dunno if I’m going to dye something from school or purchase it. Also, small beads to sew into the tentacles. 

oh I also need to work on the poem that’s going in. I can do that now cause I have the mockup text block. I can get that started at home at least.

Basically, I need to have a completed mockup yay.

kudzu prince: this is a two part project. The broadsides only need the text and car (”only” lol), and I’ve got...240 pages to print for my books. Yes, I’ve already gotten several layers done on half of that, but even a conservative six layers per page results in  over 1400 layers. Luckily for me, I am doing this on the vandercook, and I got through a nice amount of layers in six-ish hours. So I’ll do some math Saturday night to try and plot it out. 

untitled pulp painting: this is an edition of ten, and I’m trying to figure out if I want to do massive variations or not. Basically I’m creating an image and squishing it between two sheets of paper. It’s all paper and a piece of string. Trying to decide if I want to change the image or just where I’m placing the color. But this is the easiest cause I’m doing one image a day, and that’s it. 

Trying to think of what projects I’ve done and am willing to show off for final critique...

woodcut print

etching print 

(lithography print)

(dermatillomania book)*

first tentacle mockup (that I’m now using as a sketchbook)

(second tentacle mockup)

(kudzu prince broadside)

(kudzu prince book)

paper editions

(untitled pulp paintings)

(tentacle pages)*

*will be WIPs

That’s actually quite a bit of work considering this is all in four months. 15 weeks technically. Fuck, okay, no wonder I’m so tired. 

[freewillacquired]

When Nemesis turned around, it took everything in K-Mart not to start screaming or running for her life. A few months after the apocalypse had erupted, she’d learned that she needed to stay as calm as possible, but it was extremely difficult at times. K-Mart would be lying if she said she hadn’t broken down once or twice, but surprisingly enough, Nemesis didn’t chill her to the bone the way she half-expected him to. Genuine help was rare, so she’d take what she could get.

Despite herself, K-Mart took a few steps back when Carlos showed up. If something went wrong, he was likely armed, and he would protect her to the best of his ability, so she stood behind him. She nodded as he warned her to be careful, even if she didn’t entirely agree with the sentiment. Nemesis had just saved them all; why would he suddenly turn on them? She maintained her calm exterior, crossing her arms and observing the conversation.

“Wait, wait, wait, go back. Did I miss something? You guys know each other?” K-Mart titled her head in confusion. Her blonde hair, which had been tied back in a half-up half-down style, framed her face, and she removed her sunglasses to get a better look at them both. She pursed her lips when Nemesis told them his real name was Matt. Why would someone name a creature like that an human name? “Ohhhhhhh,” she said as it dawned on her. “Are you human? Or, were you human? Did someone make you all… like this? Is that a rude question to ask? If so, I’m really sorry. I try not to offend people I don’t know super well. Also, who’s Alice? Why does nobody ever tell me anything?” she whined.

K-Mart was acutely aware of the fact that Claire wouldn’t trust Nemesis. To be honest, if she hadn’t watched him taking out the murder of crows, she probably wouldn’t trust him either. She smiled at both of them.

“Okay, but you have to tell the story the right way,” she told Carlos, scrunching up her nose. “You can’t leave any details out, and you gotta tell them that Matt is nice. Matt should just come with us and explain it himself! That way everybody understands, and we can all ask our questions, and then we get to decide what to do. But I hope he can stay.”

__________

Nemesis could tell that the girl was scared but trying to be brave. Fortunately his tentacles behaved themselves and quieted down with their irritated movements, curling around his shoulders and arms. There was no way he could look pleasing to the eye, but he knew he looked a little less menacing without flailing tentacles all around him. Even so, he stayed where he was, not wanting to cause more trouble for these people than they’d already had with those crows. 

Carlos... was really sorry K-Mart was hearing this conversation, because now she wasn’t going to let any of it go. It wasn’t her fault, she was young and naturally curious, and she was extremely observant. She latched onto things she didn’t understand or that didn’t add up and picked away at them until she’d gotten the answers she wanted. It was actually a sign of intelligence, but it meant he had ended up explaining more things to her here and there than he really wouldn’t have preferred.

“Not... personally, no,” he replied in response to her question. “We met once, about five years ago. When everything first started.”

As the girl asked a whole bunch of questions rapid-fire, Nemesis was wondering how he was going to answer them all... and if he even should. Given his speech impediments, he figured it was better if Alice’s friend answered them instead of him. “Nayde you... should an-swer...” he said to Carlos.

Carlos sighed. “It’s not really a happy story, K-Mart...” Oh, what would it hurt, though? She was already curious, and that meant she wouldn’t stop asking questions until she got her answers. “Yeah, he used to be human. He was an environmentalist named Matt. That’s all I know about him. Well, that and...” he looked at Nemesis. “What happened down there? In the Hive? Alice said... the T-virus escaped from the labs and everyone died. She never really wanted to talk about it in any detail. But why were you down there? You didn’t work for Umbrella, did you?”

“No...” Nemesis answered. “I was try-ing... to extose then. Ny sis-ter... worked there. We were try-ing... to get... in-thor-na-tion... that would... retheal what Un-drel-la... was re-sear-ching.”

“Who released the virus? It wasn’t you and your sister... was it?” Carlos asked.

“Hell no!” Nemesis said. “It was Stence.”

“Stence?” Carlos asked, his face scrunching up in confusion. “I don’t know anyone named-” But then it occurred to him. “Wait, you mean Spence? Spence Parks?”

“Yeah... He was... a real dick,” Nemesis said without thinking, before remembering there was a teenager standing right there. “Er... sor-ry. He was a... a jerk.”

Carlos chuckled cynically. “Yeah, he was. I mean I knew he was an arrogant person, but I never thought he’d pull a stunt like that.”

“I don’t think... it went... ac-cor-ding... to his tlan,” Nemesis said.

Realizing K-Mart was probably completely lost, he turned to her. “Umbrella is the corporation that created the virus that did all this to the world. They had this underground facility called the Hive that was located underneath a city called Raccoon. Alice was head of security at the Hive. I just lived there in the dorms. I lived there, trained there, that was where I was based. So when the virus was released from the Hive, it spread into Raccoon City above and my team and I were deployed to help fight it. But we weren’t told very much about what we were even fighting, and things quickly fell apart. They weren’t able to contain the outbreak, and... now here we all are, five years later, still fighting the virus.”

“You worked... thor Un-drel-la?” Nemesis asked.

“Yeah. I was in the U.B.C.S. The Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service. We were a paramilitary force maintained by Umbrella to help combat any biological or chemical hazards to the public that might result from their activities. We were deployed into Raccoon City that night... and promptly abandoned by Umbrella. So we defected and started helping the civilians and Alice. She’d woken up in the hospital, and I’m guessing you did too. We saw empty weapons cases inside it that were pretty heavy hitting.”

Nemesis nodded, recalling that night. “I was un-der their con-trol. Un-til A-lice and I were or-dered to thight. That nade... ethery-thing... cone dack a-gain.”

“Any chance they could still regain control of you?” Maybe it was an insensitive question, but Carlos had the safety of the convoy to think about.

“Not un-less... they can cadture ne... a-gain... and thix what-ether they in-stalled... ut here.” Nemesis tapped his head. “In thive years... they hathen’t deen adle... to do it re-note-ly.”

Carlos nodded. “Okay...” he sighed. He turned to K-Mart once more. “Alice and I didn’t really know each other when we worked for Umbrella. We were in completely different departments. But after Raccoon City we... we became friends.”

“Where is... A-lice?” Nemesis asked.

“I don’t know,” Carlos answered honestly. “After Raccoon our helicopter crashed and she was captured. We got her out and went into hiding, joined up with other survivors and those who wanted to expose Umbrella, but... we were attacked. During that attack, Alice left. No explanation, no goodbye, nothing. That was some four years ago, at least. I haven’t heard from her since.”

“Then she’s still... out there,” Nemesis concluded.

“You think so?” Carlos asked.

“It’s A-lice. She’s real-ly... hard... to kill,” he replied with a shrug. A low, rumbling laugh escaped.

Carlos couldn’t help but smile and then chuckle himself. “Yeah, she definitely is. I hope she’s out there too.” I just don’t know why she’d want to be out there alone.

“Go,” Nemesis said. “I’ll wait... here.” He didn’t have high hopes for being able to stay, but he also didn’t have anything else better to do. Besides, if he hung around, even outside their perimeter, then he could take care of things if any more of those nasty crows decided to show up.

Carlos nodded again, but as he was about to turn and head back to talk with Claire, he stopped. “I have to ask... Alice said she wasn’t contagious.” And he found out in a very personal way that she wasn’t, but he wasn’t about to get into any of that. “Are you?”

“No,” Nemesis replied. “We’re gen-e-tic... car-ri-ers... oth the thirus. It donded with our cells. Its... gen-e-tic code... is in our DNA... dut there’s no act-tithe thirus... in our dlood or sa-li-tha. We can’t... in-thect others.” He shrugged once more. “At least... that’s what... we were heard... in the la-dor-ra-tory.”

“Alright,” Carlos said. “Wait here. I’ll see what I can do, Matt.”

“Thank you,” Nemesis said. He was thanking him both for trying to include him and for calling him by his real name.

[kingbabydollbilly]

Saudade (B. Hargrove x Reader)

Saudade: the intense longing for something that has been loved and then lost

Word Count: 2.1k

Summary:  After surviving the mind flayer attack at Starcourt Mall, Billy loses who he once was.

Warnings:  Neil Hargrove, swearing, mentions of blood, disability

The screams.

God the screams.

They haunted you.  They weren’t even just nightmares anymore, they occupied your mind every waking second of the day.  Blasting music over your stereo didn’t even help anymore.  You thought you would go insane each time the blood-curdling cries resonating from your boyfriend as he was pierced by the mind flayer played on repeat in your head.  Every night you tossed and turned for hours with the images of his blood spilling out of his body like it was nothing.  The feeling of the hot liquid seemed to still drown your hands, replacing your own skin.  What you thought was his last breath stole yours away.  His immense pain and suffering was all you could see, all you could feel, and all you could think about.  It took over any other thought you could possibly have.  It never left you.  And to your dismay, it never left him either.

“Billy?”  You called out quietly.  

No answer.

“Billy, is that you?  Are you awake?”

A low groan came from your boyfriend’s resting figure.

“Yeah.  I’m up.”  He answered plainly, his voice rough and gravely from first waking up.

“Okay.  Let’s get you up, love.”

As much as you loved calling him that, you hated the way his face would contort when you did.  It’s not that he didn’t love you or relish in the fact that you thought so highly of him, it’s that it made him feel weak.  It’s something that he would call you, not the other way around.

“Yeah, sure.”  

Ever since the attack, it was hard to get many words out of him.  If you did, it was usually him sending empty insults that he never actually meant your way or he would complain about anything and everything, like he couldn’t find happiness or peace in anything in his life anymore.  The only thing he ever felt content and at peace with was with you.  He never thought he would feel such a love like yours.  Your warm touch and soft heart being completely focused on him.  He loved you more than himself and felt that it was his duty to protect you from all kinds of harm.  But as life would have it, one shot to the spine from the mind flayer’s merciless tentacles took all of that away from him.

“Can you roll to your side a bit more, Billy?”

Billy inhaled deeply, releasing it in a weighted sigh.  It took so little to agitate him but you knew to never think it was anything against you, no matter how it came off.

“There we go.  That’s better.”  You smiled lightly, sympathetically even, and watched how he rolled his eyes at it.  

You chose to ignore it and lifted his legs closer to the edge of the bed.  

“Alright, let me help you sit up so we can-”

“I’m not completely useless, I can fucking sit up on my own.”  Billy snapped back.

You said nothing, only frowning at his response and watching as he struggled to use his once buff arms to prop himself up.  It hurt so bad to watch as his arms slowly shrank over time while he was still in the hospital.  Before all of this, he religiously worked out.  If he wasn’t spending his time with you at a party, ravaging you in his sheets, or going on small dates to run down diners the two of you stumbled upon while going on drives in his Camaro, he was lifting weights.  You used to joke about his arms being bigger than your head, about how you swore he loved the weights more than he did you.  Now, here you were, watching him barely able to bring himself upright on his own.

Billy let out a loud growl, obviously feeling frustrated that he had to grab your shoulder for support just to sit up.  

“It’s okay, I’ve got ya.”  You reassured him.

“Don’t talk to me like I’m a fucking child.”  His voice carried so much venom, yet his eyes seemed lifeless.

“I’m sorry, I’m just trying to help you, Billy.”

“I don’t need help!”  You boyfriend shouted, startling you.

Attempting to hide the tears welling up in your eyes, you turned your back to him and went over to the wheelchair placed at the end of his bed, bending down to undo the safety lock, then gripping the two handles to push it over to him.

“Do you want me to-”

“No.”  He interrupted. 

“Okay.”

He was letting his stubbornness get the best of him but you didn’t want to force anything on him.  Anything to relieve some of his suffering, you would do.  Right now, it was best to let him try and wake up on his own.  Today was going to be one of his bad days.  Listening to his grunts and groans as he tried his hardest to lift his entire body with just his arms into the wheelchair certainly did not help the tears that had previously been building up in your eyes.  With each sound of him wrestling with himself, you could feel the dams breaking.

“Why are you crying?”  Billy asked, speaking monotonously.

“Nothing, I’m sorry.”  You lied, swiftly wiping away the tears that got loose and were running down your cheeks.

“What, you can’t talk to me now?”

“No, that’s not-”

“Think I’m not strong enough to handle what’s bothering you, huh?”  Billy wheeled himself forward, moving closer to you.  “Think I can’t do anything now?  I’m probably a shitty boyfriend now because of this FUCKING CHAIR NOW, RIGHT?!?”

Sobs were escaping you now, unable to hold back anymore.

“Fucking shit.”  He mumbled under his breath, wheeling past you out of his bedroom, making his way into the kitchen.

You waited a moment before following him, giving yourself a minute to compose yourself and face him again.  Once you excited his bedroom and walked into the kitchen, you found him yanking a loaf of packaged bread off of the kitchen table, taking out a few slices before throwing it back onto the surface.  

“Whatcha makin?”  You asked, trying to lighten the mood a bit, leaning against the doorway of the kitchen.

“Toast.”

He always had toast in the mornings.  You weren’t sure why but he refused to eat anything else.  His breakfast plates used to be filled with eggs, sausages, bacon, you name it.  Now, you’re lucky if he eats three meals a day.

“Do you want something more….filling?  I could cook you something.”  You offered.

“No.  Toast is fine.”  Billy grumbled.

“If the bitch wants to cook, let her cook.  She knows her place.”

Both of your heads snapped towards the front door, where Billy’s father, Neil, had just walked in.

“I’ll just…finish the toast for him.”  Your voice trembled.  

“Baby, it’s fine.  I got it.”  

Baby.  You didn’t hear that very often anymore so when you did, it was like music to your ears.  You stood silent,  your breath shortening from nerves, eyes darting between your feet on the ground.  Billy noticed.

“She’s your woman, Billy.  It is her JOB to serve you!”  Neil shouted, pointing his finger at Billy while his eyes were glued on you.

“She’s not my fucking slave, dad!”  

“What did you just say to me?”  Neil took a step towards his son.

“I said, she’s.  Not.  My.  Fucking.  Slave.  And you can’t tell her what to do!”  Billy raised his voice.

Fear ran through your body.  Any other time you were nervous when Neil went at Billy, sure, but this was different.  It was much more terrifying when your boyfriend didn’t have use of half his body and it disgusted you that Neil seemed to use it to his advantage.  

Smack.

The loud crack of Neil’s hand connecting harshly with your boyfriend’s face thundered throughout the kitchen.  At that sound, you found yourself crying once more.

“Look at that, Billy.  Now your bitch is crying.  Good fucking job.  Fucking useless and disappointing.”  Neil spat, turning back into the living room and leaving out the front door.

An intense silence filled the room as you were frozen in place, unsure of what the next move was.  You were doing your best to keep your crying quiet, not wanting to upset anyone else anymore.

“Baby.”  Billy broke the silence.

You didn’t respond.

“Baby?”  He turned his wheelchair to the side to get a better look at you.

“Sorry, yeah?”

“Stop saying sorry all the time.”

“S-...okay.”  You didn’t know what else to say.

Billy inhaled deeply and wheeled closer to you, taking your hands in his when he got close enough.  He just stared at them for a few minutes, never willing to admit in that moment, he was afraid.

“You still love me?”  He questioned, eyes locked onto your hands.

The question caught you off guard, never expecting such insecurity from him.  All this time you assumed that he knew you loved him more than anything, to the point of obsession.  You’ve never so much as thought about another man, let alone considered leaving him or had faltering feelings.  He was yours, and you were his.

“I….of course I do, Billy.  Why wouldn’t I?  You….you breathe life into me.”

“I breathe life into you, even though that flayer shit stole half of mine?  Doesn’t make sense.  You don’t make sense.”

You frowned.  Was he angry at you this time?

“You are everything to me, Billy.  You are….the air in my lungs, the blood in my veins, the stars in my sky, the-”

“Alright, alright, nuff’ with the sappy shit.  I get it.”

You almost felt yourself start to chuckle.

“You know what I don’t get though?  Why you feel that way when I’m half a man now.  Stuck in this fuckin’ chair.”  He balled his fist and punched the side of the chair.  “Can’t do shit for myself.  Can’t do shit for you.  Can’t fuckin’ do anything.”  

Your heart wrenched at the sight of his eyes growing glossy.  He never cried in front of you; it made him feel lesser.  The only time you had ever seen him cry before this day was when he started telling you goodbye as he bled out on the floor of the Starcourt Mall.  His rivers of tears mixed with the blood caked on his face.  Both of you thought it was the last time you were going to see each other and feel each other’s embrace.  Neil had corrupted his mind so terribly that the ONLY time you saw him cry during your two year relationship was with his dying breath.

“Billy, I don’t care if you’re in that stupid chair.”

His eyebrows raised.

“No, I- I didn’t mean I don’t care.  I mean that….it doesn’t change my feelings for you.  I still love you just as much as I did when you could walk.  You suddenly being in a wheelchair doesn’t take away my love for you.  That’s not how love works.  It’s me and you, Hargrove.”

For the first time in days, you saw a small smile appear on his face.  Hargrove.  Took him back to your earlier days of knowing each other.  Before you really knew who he was under the thick armor he put on every day to cover his true self.  Back when in your brain, he was just another asshole, womanizing athlete.  Sure, the two of you had a rough start because of his tough exterior, but god were you wrong.  And you’ve never been happier to be so wrong.

“Me and you, huh?”  His hands left yours and pulled you closer by your waist.  

“Yeah, me and you….Hargrove.”  

A laugh left his throat this time.

“Quit teasin’, babydoll.”

“Teasing?  Me?  Never.”  You grinned.

“Commere.”  

Billy pulled you onto his lap, reaching his neck out to encourage you to move your face closer.  When your lips met his, he moved with passion.  He normally opted for hot and heavy makeouts but this was different.  This was grace and gentleness, like he was pouring his love into you with his mouth.  

You broke away from the kiss.

“There is nothing, I mean NOTHING that could take away how I feel about you, love.”

You waited for his face to grimace, but it didn’t.

“Guess you’re stuck with me then, huh?”  The small smile he had on his face grew larger than before.

“Guess so.”  You leaned in to kiss him again, then lifting yourself up off of his lap.  “So!  You want some eggs with your toast?  You can make the toast and I’ll make the eggs.”

“Yeah, that sounds great, love.”  He winked.

What started out as one of his bad days turned into a day of sweet and frequent kisses, gentle embraces, and a hot and hearty breakfast for the love of your life.  Although you wished he never had to deal with the paralysis in the first place, you couldn’t have been happier that he was simply alive.