#I'm slowly working though these asks peeps

[nastylittleghouls]

In a whole in the ground there lived an earth ghoul? Please tell me this is a Hobbit au WIP!

I sadly have to disappoint you, dear Anon. (For now because I am playing around with that idea ngl) It's the next part of my "A Ghoul's Guide to Yuletide" series. It'll feature, among other things, quite a bit of Mountain lore, Aether being oblivious, medling Ghoulettes, Zephyr being a little shit and Dewdrop being obsessed with s'more recipes.

Have a little excerpt. No context , no warnings

Mountain seems to walk straighter too and take up more space, his limbs growing longer and his breathing coming deeper from his chest. He doesn‘t seem to feel the need to make himself smaller and Aether follows the transformation with growing hunger in his eyes. 

That’s not to say that they don’t talk. It’s the little gestures of stopping the other to show them something peculiar, something sweet that they know the other would be sad to miss. It’s catching the other when they slip on a stray patch of ice and then dissolving into embarrassed laughter when they’re both taken down by gravity and just laying there momentarily, outstretched arms making sure they can wriggle their fingers against the others. 

WIP Ask Game

[astonmartingf]

YOU'VE BEEN ON MY MIND—

— co-parenting with alonso has been smooth sailing, until he starts dropping hints that he wants to be with you again

P4 ★ SUNSHINE, RAINBOWS, AND THUNDERSTORM

amgf written portion down below. more lore, also peep lewis' story. we're in the calm before the storm hahahahaha, enjoy this 👍

previous ★ masterlist ★ next

How could the end of the week turn into a nightmare when things were starting to look better not just for Ales, but for you and Alonso.

Somehow the world always works in your favor, and just when you're about to fall into the pattern of domesticity around Alonso, shit somehow always hits the fan.

You can't help but get mad, not just at him but to yourself. You can't help but long for what could've been, you can't help but think about the family you're supposed to have together, it was a dream. Was— no longer yours to be shared.

Now you've let yourself stay too long into a sense of security, a habit, nothing out of the norm, spending mornings with Ales before dropping him off Alonso, picking him at the end of the day and eating dinner together. Once in a while he would stay over his place, and you'd pick him up while having breakfast.

You didn't mind that— co-parenting with him near. You thought you'd perfected this routine, you've gotten yourself in the habit and slowly the pick-ups turned into lunch dates and dine-outs. Heck, you even let him call you late at night while you eat dinner after an overtime shift, you were sharing and learning all these things about Alonso you never knew before.

How he is as a father; how attentive he is whenever Ales is around, how he prioritizes Ales' comfort over anything, spending time and bringing him to work. All feeding into your brain, turning you into the same girl who met him years ago. The man you promised to be with, get married to, planned to start a family with.

Though a little bit out of order and some not even done, you found yourself in the illusion of wanting to be with him again. And that despite the years of your grudge, his magnetic pull on you causes you to fall into the comfort of his arms.

Pulling back from your thoughts, you find yourself watching the trees pull away from your vision as you leave Alonso's apartment complex.

Leaning against the window of Lance's car, you slowly let the soft hum of the engine lull you back to sleep. Ignoring the rest of the evening, your thoughts revisit your date with Alonso a few nights before the raging thunderstorm.

"I'm excited! Are you excited Mama?" Ales was bouncing off the room, his excitement having no bounds as he skipped along your room.

"Papa is excited as well, he said that if I do good I'll have a surprise gift! Can you believe that?" You laugh at Ales' antics, watching him through the view of your mirror.

"Do you want to go out more with Papa?" You were in awe of Ales' acceptance of your co-parenting situation with Alonso. It's been two years since then, and you're surprised by how his bond with Alonso grew.

Two years ago you couldn't imagine yourself spending more than thirty minutes with Alonso, let alone leave him with Ales. Now you've found yourself enjoying his updates throughout the day, whether it be pictures of Ales or random outbursts about how meetings in the office are boring, to his small reminders to take breaks, calling you in between shifts to talk to Ales for a while. It was a whole different Alonso that you knew.

It makes you think how time will slowly heal all your wounds.

When Ales asked about his father for the first time it didn't shock you. Throughout the first years of his life, Alonso was committed to being a father, although not present his work often left him missing weeks of Ales' life. And when he chose to race again, the weeks turned into months, and slowly you pulled away from him.

Your choice to leave him out of Ales' life was a selfish choice, not just for Ales who at that time had no idea what was happening, but also to you. Mainly because it hurts your pride that Alonso chose to race instead of focusing on your family, at the time you couldn't understand as to why he would choose racing instead of raising a family with you.

Thinking back it might've hurt Alonso more, he chose to race— all alone this time. You left him, leaving him little interaction with Alonso, and despite all that he chose to stay and persist.

"I like going with Mama and Papa, we can have dates together!" You smile to yourself, watching Ales bring his toys on your bed.

"Mama, do you want to go on a date with Papa?"

His question caught you off guard— you haven't really thought about your relationship with Alonso, especially since the co-parenting is going well, not only did his relationship with Ales drastically improve, your relationship with him was also begging to be defined.

Alonso has made it clear multiple times how he still loves you, not that you doubt his love for you, but you're definitely teetering around love and fear. You love him? Yes.

You don't deny yourself of these feelings, despite everything you've been together it wouldn't make sense if you didn't love Alonso, you wanted a future with him for God's sake. But fear came hand in hand, when you were dating racing became a divide between you two. His safety was always swept on the sidelines, something that you didn't enjoy, seeing as you encounter accidents in your profession daily, having to overthink about his well being during races wasn't something you could handle.

And when you got pregnant with Ales, eventually giving birth to him the fears only got worse, to the point where you had to take a break away from him. You slowly have to remind yourself that things are different now.

You turn around facing Ales, waiting for your response, "You think, should I go on a date with Papa?"

Ales shrugs, "You already go on dates with him, you always call every night and Papa talks about you a lot. He loves you so much."

You blink the tears forming in your eyes, a rush of emotions piling up on you. There's no better person to ask for the truth than your son, knowing Ales he probably heard you talking to Alonso multiple times already. Wiping the tears you stand up, wrapping Ales in a hug.

"I should go give Papa a chance hmm? What do you think about staying with Uncle Lance next week?"

"Papa, you know Mama wants to go on a date with you alone next." You freeze in your seat, watching Ales with your signature "mom" look.

You look away, a warm feeling rushing through your cheeks as Alonso's laughter fills your ears. "Really Ales? Mama told you that?"

You cough into the napkin on your lap, shaking your head, a measly attempt to divert the father and son pair poking fun at you.

"Now what were we talking about before this date thing... Ales, we'll talk about this later."

You catch Alonso looking in your direction, a small smile on his face before turning back to Ales. "As much as I'm happy to hear about this upcoming date, your mother is right Ales, you shouldn't say anything that doesn't involve you."

Ales tilts his head, "What does that mean?"

Before you could answer, Alonso inches closer towards Ales, "Think of it this way, would you want me to tell Mama that Uncle Lance gave you ice cream before meal time?"

Ales shakes his head furiously, lips pouting, "Why would you say that, it's supposed to be a secret."

Alonso's eyes widened, "See! That's exactly what Mama meant when she said that to you. You eating ice cream was something between you and Uncle Lance, so is it right for me to tell Mama about it?"

Ales shakes his head no, "I'm sorry for telling Papa about your date. No! I said it again, I'm sorry Mama."

Somehow the wholesome moment you witnessed only confirmed your choice of going on a date with Alonso. That and you also found him hot, but that thought is not appropriate in front of the table, let alone in front of your son.

You smile nodding at Alonso, "Thank you for apologizing, Ales. I'm sure your father is equally as excited and looking forward to this date now that you told him about it."

★ YOU'VE BEEN ON MY MIND — @namgification @nebarious @minkyungseokie @viennakarma @lxclerc @booksandflowrs @c-losur3 @lichterfee @moonyzsworld @e-nonsense @vicurious28 @dannyriccsupremacy @thearchieves @welovediaaxx @vogueprincess

[littlemissstel]

Miss Detective- Shiu Kong

detective!reader, use of (Y/n), swearing, not proofread

dividers by @saradika-graphics

Shiu gets a visit from an old co-worker who knows a little more than she should.

Shiu sprung up with a sleep drunken expression, cursing out at whatever being dared to disturb his much craved slumber. The poor man had spent more nights awake than days; and while the incessant knocking that threatened to break down his door was irritating, what annoyed him the most was that he knew it couldn't be important. Besides for the old man that lived two doors down asking for help with his thermostat, there were no other reasons for the intrusion; he'd already messed with all the salesmen to the point of being blacklisted and no one from work knew his home address, even going as far to send packages to a separate storage unit.

So why wouldn't they just shut up?

Begrudgingly leaving the warmth of his estranged bed he made his way to the commotion, not bothering to look through the peep hole before swinging the door open with a deep sigh. He hoped the force didn't leave a hole in his precious wall- one more thing to do this weekend- but the exaggerated display felt more than justifiable in the moment.

He scrutinized the audacious figure with squinted eyes, blinking away the remnants of sleep that clouded his gaze. The hair...The face...a woman?

You?

"Hello Mr Kong, long time no see." you say, offering a smile that faltered as fast as it came.

Shiu's mouth hung open slightly before moving, though the words struggled to come out as he shook his head in unsettled confusion.

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

He slowly steps out, blocking the entrance with his body. You both had worked in the same precinct as detectives years ago and as the time past, the people he once worked with faded from his memory. Yours, however, was becoming ever the more vivid. Working for an established agency there were many people who matched his prowess, you included, though what set you apart was your unmatched ability to get on his nerves. The two of you shared a mutual feeling of contempt as you fought for the recognition you deserved over your peers: taking any measure to avoid working together, being discreet about sharing case information on potential leads- he didn't really need to ask how you found him. As much as he would never admit it, he had faith you could do it simply because you wanted to. But that was a separate lifetime, in Korea, and since he has moved onto more...controversial means of work, he doubted your appearance would bring anything good with it.

And with the way you flashed him your detective badge, ducking under his arm to push past... he knew he was right.

He followed you with hurried steps to the kitchen as you seemingly made yourself at home, discarding your bag on the counter and rummaging through the fridge, stopping occasionally to check the information of an item. He could feel the absurdness of the situation create a surge of exasperation through his veins. Maybe you merely existed to antagonize him. He stood across the room, an island separating you both.

"Get out of my house or hurry up and tell me what you want." His minatory tone would serve as a warning to any other person and had he of known no better- he'd deem you dumb, watching as you continued your thorough inspection.

Closing the fridge with a yogurt in hand you leisurely made your way across the kitchen, opening each draw with a sigh as you presumably looked for a spoon.

"That's no way to talk to an old friend who has a warrant out for your arrest.""

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Suspicion of murder." You peeled back the yogurt lid with an amused expression, "You know i almost laughed when i saw the footage, someone with your expertise being caught by something as simple as a camera- it is laughable isn't it Shiu?"

"I'm not a murderer-"

"But it was even better when your DNA popped up all-too-close to the crime scene-"

"I don't know what hallucinatory state you're in right now-" "HAH!"

"--but I am not a murderer (Y/n). So i suggest you take your business somewhere else." He says gesturing a rough hand to the door.

He wasn't lying. He had never killed anyone before. It was very well possible that DNA could have been traced back to him but other than that you would have no proof of his involvement. Saying that, you shouldn't of been able to come here in the first place. Shiu's heart rate went up for a number of reasons, none of which he could decipher, as he watched you with uncertainty. With more to live for now...he didn't want to test his luck.

"You should stop putting on a front with me, I'm the one who's been covering for you. Yeah, you're not a murderer but I know what you do and by taking out the magical powers and unicorns the rest of the world doesn't know about, I could easily get decades added to your sentence."

It took a moment for Shiu to render what you said, in momentary disbelief of your awareness. You knew about his world--Surely he would have realised if you were able to see curses too? And you chose to live normally? Too much is happening and he's gaining more questions than answers.

Your face brightens as you finally reach into the designated cutlery draw and it makes Shiu feel sick. You bring up the pink toddler spoon and place it into the carton before making eye contact with him for the first time since you entered his home.

"The poor babe."

"Get to the point (Y/n)."

"Why don't we make a deal?" you continue taking his silence as an agreement, "I'll make sure your little activities are covered up if you give me a cut of whatever your making and help me get evidence for other cases."

"That's ridiculous. Get out."

"You forget about your daughter Shiu."

That seemed to be the all you needed to make Shiu's patience dissipate entirely as he stalks over to you, pushing the carton to the side so it fell off the counter and leaning in close.

"I could kill you right now. And then what? No deal, no threats, and life continues as before."

"I've got someone waiting outside with instructions to call for backup if i don't come out in three minutes...you're running out of time."

Fuck. What should he do? What would he do? Go on the run? He couldn't, he had someone else to think about. Irrational thoughts ran rampant in his mind, trying to find, for just a second, a single reasonable solution. What should he do? He releases a breath before slowly standing to his full height.

"We'll discuss how much I'm paying you later."

Your face lights up with that sickening look once again as you match his stance, reaching for your bag and pulling out a burner phone which he takes with hesitance.

"It only has my number on it. I'll call first"

"Leave before you cause a problem." he says and is somewhat grateful when you do just that without a word. He awaited the sound of the doors click before allowing himself to relax, if you had told him what would happen when he first woke up he would've laughed in your face. It did feel like some kind of sick joke.

You had found him, you knew where he lived, that he had a daughter, could see curses. You blackmailed him. Now he wanted to find out why, or maybe he should get Toji to take care of you now that you've left- The scenarios he created became more and more extreme as the minutes went by, though each came with their own major flaws. He couldn't allow the agency to find out about his connection to you, they'd no doubt get rid of you both but maybe- just maybe he could use a few of their connections within the police force to help him out. Get rid of the evidence and then get rid of you. There were many calls to make, but for now, he had to focus on picking up his daughter on time from school.

it's one of those ideas that just need to be put out there and re-evaluated later so i may re-write it, who knows?

Please feel free to leave any ideas/recommendations x

[oh-koenig-my-koenig]

Hey peeps. I'm really sorry but I actually have bad news and not a Valentine's Day chapter for today. I got diagnosed with tendonitis and I need to rest my hand and not write too much. I'm currently also working on my Master's thesis and that has priority, for obvious reasons I think, and I'm having a really hard time not being able to write some more König stuff, because really that's all I want to do.

I mean, I have found some speech to text programs that work pretty well (I'm actually using it right now to type this out), but it still takes a lot more time and then I still need to proofread manually, so it will take until the weekend or next week to post some more.

I have some chapters already written out that I finished some time ago that might not fit the plot exactly, but will work as random scenes. So I might fall back on some of those for the time being.

I hope you understand and thanks for your patience! 

I actually wrote a little scene about it when my wrist first started hurting, so I'm just going to post this today (I also read through it again and the big guy is still my comfort character), maybe some of you can also use a little fluff with König today <3

kissing it better <3

(domestic fluff, hinted-at smut, mdni)

Monday at 8, I go to work after drinking my morning coffee with him and I return to his house again in the late afternoon, finding him and Mimi cuddling on the couch, the little ball of fur snuggling into his broad chest. Seeing them like that, squeezes my heart a little bit.

I hop onto his lap, Mimi meowing because now she isn’t the only one occupying this space anymore. We laugh and I can finally give him a kiss. He kisses me back, his arms wrapping around my waist and thighs.

Next to him on the end table, there are three new bottles of black nail polish. “They didn’t have the brand you normally use, so I just bought a few.”, he explains, smiling at me apologetically.

And this small gesture makes me melt a little. I picture him, the ridiculously tall, scary looking metalhead standing in the boutique in front of the shelf with all the tiny bottles of nailpolish – and then picking out three of the same colour because he didn’t know which one I would like.

“Thanks, even though that wasn’t necessary.”, I say, pressing a little ‘thank you’ kiss onto his nose. I reach for one of the bottles but pull back when a pang of pain shoots through my wrist.

His eyes widen, just a bit, his look fixed on the spot where I hold it against my chest, slowly massaging it. “What happened?”, he asks.

I shrug. “I don’t know, my wrist just hurts.” I sigh. “It started today at work and it just doesn’t go away.”

He catches my hand, pulling my wrist from my hold, and inspects the joint, softly moving it. He stretches it down gently, my small palm between his huge, tattooed fingers. “Does that hurt?”, he wants to know. I shake my head and he pulls it into the other direction. I hiss slightly, as the light sting of pain spreads, and he lets go immediately.

“I think, you may have overworked it a little bit.”, he mumbles, softly massaging the muscles and tendons around the wrist. Pushing his thumbs into the sensitive skin, until I sigh and relax a bit.

König pulls my wrist closer, up to his lips, pressing them onto the joint. Placing soft kisses where it hurts. Kissing it better. I can feel his warm breath coasting over my skin as he slowly makes his way to the inside of my wrist, still rubbing the spots that hurt lightly with his big strong fingers. His eyes snap up to mine, holding my gaze that is already on him.

His tongue darts out, licking over the pulse point, like he can’t help himself. The soft wet touch sends a pleasurable shiver down my spine. My mouth drops open just a little bit as he puts his over the sensitive spot and sucks, gently. A little moan escapes my lips, and I can see the heat in his eyes intensifying.

He pulls back, pressing another kiss to my wrist, lingering a little longer than he needs to. Still holding my gaze. “A little better?”, he asks, with a soft smile. His little kisses seem to be the best medicine, even though they are pure placebo.

“Yes, thank you.”, I say as I lean forward and give him a proper kiss on the lips.

“Just let it rest the next few days and it’ll get better, okay?”, he suggests then.

I nod, but I can’t help myself, as I add-on: “So, no handjobs?”, biting back a grin.

He shoots me a look that tells me to stop being such a brat, but the corners of his mouth turn up. “Exactly, that was my point, Fräulein.”, he answers sarcastically, patting my ass.

His demeanor changes again before he asks: “Are you hungry? I cooked some pasta.” He already kinda knows the answer to that (I can always eat, especially carbs) as he’s getting up, just lifting me up in one swift motion, only to set me down on the floor next to him.

“Starving actually, I didn’t really have lunch today.”, I sigh. “More exhausting clients instead.”

“We’ll get you something to eat and then you can tell me all about it. How does that sound, hm?”, he suggests. His arm snakes around my waist while he presses a little kiss on the top of my head.

“That sounds great.”, I tell him, a small smile on my face, as I take his hand – with the wrist that doesn’t hurt – and follow him to the kitchen.

Mimi gets up as well and tipples after us, her tail flicking up in the air, as she meows again like she wants to say ‘I’m hungry too!’.

~ more stuff in the Masterlist~

[waynes-multiverse]

Don't Call It A Comeback...

...I been here for years 😎

Hi peeps!

I'm officially back from my maternity leave! Well, sorta... consider me a part-time writing mama now, but I'm at least back in some capacity and will be posting stories again. Have you missed me? (I know some of you have, judging by all the asks, comments, and messages. Thank you so much for that 😂❤️)

First and foremost, I'm sorry I left so abruptly. Life got insanely crazy towards the end of last year, but I'm happy to report things are slowly settling down and I'm finding my groove again.

Now to the things that really interest you – STORIES!

Rehab will resume, oop wait... to-fucking-morrow! Yes, you've read that right. Definitely catch up 'cause it's been almost a goddamn year since the last chapter, even I can barely remember... It will then continue to post every Friday till the end of March 💚

Plastic Hearts will hopefully resume after Rehab has finished. I'm working on the last few chapters as we speak. I shortened it down to the original 25 parts that I intended because I felt that ending just fit better. Don't worry, though, there's still tons of messed up stuff happening, so catch up with the 20 parts already posted! 🌟

Otherwise I plan on finally, finally, finally posting the last chapters of To Be Human and Season 3 of Don't Blame Me. It's been a long few years, guys... 😅

So glad to be back! I missed you guys greatly! Don't hesitate to drop by my inbox and tell me about all the stuff I missed out on 🤓

Love, Wayne 🤍

[tophatwearingidiot]

TRAP AND DEVOUR.

A small Smg4 BREAK THE CYCLE!AU writing for the sillies. A bit rusty on my writing but I think I did well.

AU by: Me (tophatwearingidiot) and @bear-boi-5 Cover art by: @bear-boi-5 Writing by: Me (tophatwearingidiot)

TW/CW: CANNIBLISM, DEATH, VOILENCE, BLOOD AND GORE.

Enjoy reading.

It was dark. The moon shone onto the soft western sand, making it glitter faintly in its light, a noticeable chill in the air. It was quite cold during the nights in this hell hole of a simulation, it felt all too realistic to Saiko. She was walking along the dunes, she came here to do something, something very important. Confronting Meggy. She'd been acting so fucking weird lately, like some crazed person, her ramblings and speech weird, and she had been quite distant, only getting worse each day that passed by. At the same time, Shroomy had gone missing, and it was… unnerving. No one has heard a peep from him in days, he hasn't stopped by with more potatoes, none of his associates: Belle, Whimpu, Jeeves, or anyone else in his group had seen him either. He seemingly just… vanished. She was hoping Meggy may have some insight since she's a bit further out than everyone else… if Meggy didn't know anything she'd try asking Tari to since she's been with Meggy the whole time. She hoped it would give even just a tiny bit of insight, everyone was worried, especially Karen, quite close they are, and she's been worried sick, Saiko just wanted some proof that the mushroom man was ok.

Saiko looked at the rickety, old, lone building… standing in front of it nervously- it smelt kinda fucking bad… she walked up to the door and knocked lightly, the door slowly creaked open, Meggy staring at her with an intense burn of a stare at Saiko. "Meggy." Saiko said softly… "We need to talk." "Oh Saiko! I-It's just you… uhmmm… sure what is it you need to talk about!" Meggy said in a fast-paced manner, opening up the door more, her eyes looking a bit sleepless, hair tangled up and ratty. Saiko started to talk again "Not sure if you're aware but Shroomy's been missing for a bit you uh… seen him?" "Oh nooo… sorry I haven't." Meggy smiled, a bit weirdly. "You haven't seen him at all?" "Nope… not for a couple days, Karen's worried sick…" Saiko said, a bit sadly… Meggy looked to the side a bit- her smile weaking to a nervous one before turning back into a broader one… and crazed-ish. "Why don't you uhm- come in Sai. I haven't chatted with you in a bit, heh." Saiko thought about it… she felt uneasy but, Meggy wouldn't hurt her? Their gf's… with Tari too… it's worth it right? She needed the comfort of them anyway. "Uh yeah sure. Is Tari still with you?" Meggy looked at her and nodded. Saiko felt a bit better…

She stepped inside the house and looked around, it was pretty banged up, but Meggy and Tari seemed to be making it work. Still have no clue why they moved out here though. She walked through the house with Meggy and into what seemed to be a living room. Tari sat on the ripped-up couch just staring blankly, she looked sort of drained- made Saiko slightly worried. Tari looked over and looked a bit nervous for a second before smiling… "Oh Sai… nice to see you…" She said softly. Saiko smiled back and hugged her, she planted a small kiss on her gf's cheek and smiled again, Tari blushing softly. "What are you doing here anyway Sai…" Saiko was about to speak when Meggy answered for her- "Shroomy has apparently gone missing… she wanted to know if you had any insight…" Her voice seemed a bit strained… Tari looked at Saiko and answered quickly, "U-Uhm no, not at all…" her voice seemed nervous, Meggy soon widely smiled and looked at Tari with a stare that could pierce rock. "Tari, you look a bit drained. Why don't you go ahead and go get something to eat. Hm?" Tari got more nervous "Uh- no I think I'm fi-" "Tari. I insist." She interrupted, tone a bit stern. "But I… alright…" Tari got up and walked to the kitchen, opening the door a waft of a rotten smell burst through for only a second, causing Saiko to gag. "Oh sorry… we haven't been able to clean out the kitchen yet, ignore the smell." She said with a softer smile… but it felt fake. Meggy spoke up once more… "Why don't we go for a walk on the dunes? Just me and you, hm?" "Why just us…?" Saiko asked… "Why not? We need to catch up, don't we?" She said… Saiko paused for a second and then replied, "Alright then, should we tell Tar?" "No need. She's an adult, we don't need to say anything. Now let's get out there before it gets too cold hm?" With that the two walked outside.

They talked a little about what had been happening recently in each other's lives, a little bit of laughing, a little bit of sorrow… but it felt nice to Saiko. While they were walking among the dunes, she noticed something. A green and golden hat sitting alone in the sand.

Shroomy's hat.

She paused, Meggy looked over at the hat and then directed her gaze at Saiko, who was already running towards it. She picked up the hat and inspected it, it looked damaged. She looked around a bit and saw something… horrifying. Not too far from the hat was Shroomy. A bullet shot through his head and his body picked apart by animals, what you could only assume to be vultures. She felt a presence right behind her, Meggy who was staring at her blankly. "He needed to go ya know." She said… her voice null of emotion. Saiko's eyes widened "You… YOU FUCKING DID THIS!? MEGGY WHAT IN GOD'S NAME IS WRONG WITH YOU." She screamed angrily. Meggy just… stared… "He's a traitor." "THE HELL YOU MEAN" Saiko shouted back quickly before getting met back with a quickly spoken, angry response, "HE IS A TRAITOR. WREN'S LITTLE FUCKIN SPY. SO, I GOT RID OF HIM." "Spy…? Sp.. SPY!? ARE YOU DENSE. HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG. YOU RAT BASTAR-" She was cut off being tackled to the ground, Meggy pinning her down tightly. "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND SAI. WITH THAT… ABOMINATION THAT IS HIS OTHER SIDE HE WOULD HAVE TAKEN THE OFFER. AND HE DID. SO, HE MUST BE TAKEN CARE OF. I DON'T LIKE THE FACT OF YOUR DENIAL SAIKO BICHITARU." She growled… her voiced crazed and rabid. Saiko struggled, but Meggy dug her hands into her arms more causing a yelp from Saiko… Meggy paused… hearing a small rumble come from her stomach… she smiled sadistically… "You know. I've been a bit… low on food. Been given most of it to Tar but… now that I know you're no better than that Shroom… maybe I'll just have a bite." Saiko looked in pain and in confusion for a second before it turned into a small scream, Meggy bit her leg, and started to dig her pointed teeth in… she quickly began to rip her bottom half up, Saiko screamed loudly in pain, crying out for any help, her screams piercing the air like a knife to butter, but it did not pierce anyone's ears. Her legs were torn up brutally, Meggy swallowing each chunk of flesh like a wild animal, eventually getting down to bone… which she tore from Saiko's body, a loud crack being heard as Saiko screamed more, Meggy continuing to eat… Saiko's voice became shrill as her throat hurt from her screaming… crying buckets of tears… the world started to get darker yet darker as she bled out. She felt so betrayed, so angry as the last bits of her life finally gave out, the last thing she saw was Meggy face… still tearing into the last bits of flesh on her detached leg bones.

END. THANK YOU FOR READING.

[helloalycia]

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐒 [𝐎𝐍𝐄] // 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐤

summary: as tensions rise between your tribe at Black Hat and the Ottos at the ranch, you're certain the killing won't end. Of course, things start to change when the Clarks join the ranch, and one Clark in particular seems to be after the same thing as you: peace.

warning/s: mentions of discrimination, violence, death and injury.

author's note: hey all! so this was a request on here about a month ago and i've been trying very hard to get it written up, but between work and being ill lol, it's been hard. Finally though, it's here! this first chapter is a lil quick-paced to get through the scenes in the show, but it slows down after this and there’s much more alicia x you scenes too. four parts to expect, so stay tuned :)

(also peep the new layout 👀)

two / three / four / masterlist / wattpad

I was finishing eating lunch when my dad returned from his outing with a small party from our tribe. He didn't look hurt in any way thankfully, but when he spotted me, he dismissed those around him so he could speak to me privately.

"Hey, Y/N," he sighed, pulling me in for a side hug. "How are you?"

I returned the hug, curious to what he wanted to share. "I'm good. What happened? Did you get into another confrontation with the ranchers?"

The ranchers were those inhabiting Broke Jaw Ranch, owned by the Otto family, and whom had problems with us at Black Hat Reservation ever since they stole our land. Prior to the dead rising, my father and ancestors had been trying to win back the land the legal way, but legalities never worked in our favour. Now, no more laws meant resorting to the old fashioned method – violence. And that was exactly what the ranchers practiced, which made me fear every time my father left our home.

"We came across Troy and some others," my dad explained. Troy was one of Jeremiah Otto's sons – the other being Jake – who also headed up the ranch, and he was an absolute dickhead, but a dangerous one. "We warned them to stay away from us."

"You think they'll listen?" I asked.

He tried not to smile as he suddenly threw a bag on the ground from his back, and out tumbled several pairs of boots. Presumably Troy and his party's.

"They should get the hint," he answered. "And if not, they know the helicopter was us. They know what we're capable of."

I sighed inwardly, knowing he was referring to the helicopter our people had shot out of the sky the other night. It wasn't something I was particularly proud of, even if I wasn't directly involved, but it did serve to send a message. I understood why we did it, but sometimes I only wanted peace and not more violence.

"What is it?" he asked, sensing something was wrong.

I looked up at him, expression softening. "Can't we try to negotiate with them? I'm sure if we agreed to speak with Jake–"

"You know what this land means to our people," he said sternly. "The Ottos don't negotiate. Never have. Why would we try to meet them halfway?"

I nodded slowly, having heard this many times before. And to an extent, he was right. The ranchers and the Ottos were all the same, as experience had shown us. They didn't like us one bit, solely because we were different to them.

But if there was a chance at negotiation, Jake would be the one to go to. The most levelheaded of the Ottos, he wanted a peaceful solution, too. But my father didn't trust him, nor see it that way. And maybe I should've started to think like him, too.

"Sorry, I know you're right," I admitted. "I'm just tired of trying to survive, even now. I thought it would be over."

My dad frowned apologetically before pulling me in for a hug. "We're going to get our land back. And they aren't going to hurt us anymore. We've got the upper hand now, Y/N, you just wait."

I nodded, returning his hug, and tried to stop being so soft. His methods weren't always agreeable, but maybe they were necessary to winning this war.

"I'm gonna double check our security on the perimeter," he said once he pulled away. "Take care of yourself."

I offered him a small smile as I watched him walk away, before it faded and I felt shitty all over again. Deciding to get my mind off it, I went to the well to get some water, only for Ofelia to join my side and earn my attention.

"Hey, you look down," she noticed, glancing at me as she filled her bottle up. "What's up?"

Ofelia was one of our newest members of the Black Hat Reservation, someone my father saved from dying out in the desert. As I'd gotten to know her more and more, we became quite good friends and I was grateful to have her around, not really opening up to many people like I did her.

"Just thinking about all this stuff with the ranch," I admitted. "It's tiring is all."

"They should give back what they stole," Ofelia said with a sigh. "They can't get away with it, even now."

"I know," I agreed. "I just– sometimes I feel like the violence is a never ending cycle. They steal from us. We fight them. They fight us. We blow up their helicopter. When does it end?"

"When they surrender," Ofelia said confidently, and I envied it because why couldn't I think that way? Why did I have to be so soft?

I nodded, spacing out a little as I looked back to the well. She squeezed my shoulders slightly, comforting me.

"It won't always be like this," she promised. "We're getting close. They'll give it up eventually. And the cycle will end."

"I hope so," I muttered, before nudging her in the side. "Thanks, Ofelia."

She smiled. "You're welcome."

Barely a few days later, there was a commotion out front, and by the time I'd left the diner to see what was happening, my father was stood before Jake Otto himself and a stranger he'd brought along with him, probably another rancher. All guns were pointed their way and I grew curious to why Jake had shown up. Did he want to negotiate? Maybe there was a chance after all?

"Take them inside whilst I get cleaned up," my dad ordered, flicking his hand.

Some guards ushered Jake and the girl inside the diner as I exchanged glances with my dad, ignoring the bloody apron he wore, a consequence of him beheading a pig moments before.

"You're hearing him out?" I asked, trying to hide any hopefulness, but he knew me too well.

"Doesn't mean anything," he told me, giving me a knowing look. "But we shall hear what he has to say."

I tried to contain my curiosity and eagerness as I nodded. After waiting for him to clean himself up, we both went to the diner and took a seat at the booth opposite Jake and the mystery girl. It was quiet at first, Jake and my father eyeing each other up. Then his eyes met mine and he nodded slightly in acknowledgement, to which I returned. We'd spoken a few times on occasion, but that was in the old world.

The mystery girl beside him also looked between my father and I, though with a hardened stare as if she'd already made her mind up about us. It could have been laughable considering she didn't know us, but I was too eager to hear what their proposal was to care.

"My father will never abandon the ranch," Jake started calmly, meeting my dad's eyes. "You know that."

Without faltering, my dad answered, "Then we'll feed him to the crows like Phil McCarthy." I tried not to cringe as I recalled said rancher being left to be pecked away by crows when he trespassed on our land. "Then Russell Brown and Vernon Trimbol."

Those named were all shared founders of Broke Jaw Ranch, and the number one reason we could never have our land returned to us. My father harboured enough hatred for them for all of us, and I didn't blame him, even if he sometimes let it dictate his actions.

"Russell's dead," Jake informed us. "The adobe burned."

A little pleased, my dad said, "That karma's overdue, but welcomed."

"Vernon Trimbol's dead, too," the mystery girl spoke, eyeing my father curiously.

"I hope it was a long and... painful illness," my dad said without any remorse.

"He died with his family," the girl continued, almost challengingly. "His wife, his daughter. You killed them."

I furrowed my brows, eyes studying the brunette and her absurd accusation. But before I could even think to defend my father, he spoke calmly to Jake.

"Is this girl speaking for you?"

The girl and Jake exchanged glances before Jake ignored my father's question and instead pleaded, "We need the violence to stop."

"Soon will, Jake," my dad answered nonchalantly, before raising three fingers in the air. "Three down, one to go."

"My father never did anything to you or your people–" Jake began, but this seemed to irritate my dad.

"Tell me, junior," he interrupted, "do the lies turn your stomach? Do you taste the bile in the back of your throat?"

"State police investigated this," Jake explained, "they found no correlation between–"

"Stop–" my father banged his hand on the table with frustration, "–talking. You're boring me, like you did in court. Those days are dead."

"I thought we had an understanding, even outside of court," Jake tried again, and I could see why my father was growing more angry, despite holding it in.

"I understood," my father reminded him. "When you came here with your drunk friends, I was to serve them their food with a smile on my face. Tolerate their slurs. Clean up their vomit in the toilet, and thank them for their pocket change tips."

I swallowed hard, the memories of those days returning to mind as he mentioned them. Nobody wanted to see their family belittled, but that's exactly what we had to endure from Jake's family. The peace we wanted was looking farther and farther out of reach.

"The days of the white man's courts are over," my dad told him. "Land grabs, desecrations... over. Now you have our verdict. The first humans' verdict. You must vacate our lands."

It fell quiet as Jake stared at my father, trying to read his expression. Would he finally give in? Could this be it?

"I was hoping for a parley," Jake said instead, and I should have known it was too good to be true. "A chance to negotiate and to avoid more loss."

I glanced at my dad, seeing him stuck in thought as he digested Jake's words. But this was exactly what I was after this whole time and we couldn't just let it slip by.

"Let's do it," I spoke up for the first time, earning everyone's attention.

"Y/N–"

"No, I'm serious," I cut my dad off as he tried to make me reconsider, no doubt. "A parley is good. It's what we all need. To stop the killing. To stop the cycle."

"Exactly," the mystery girl agreed, and I glanced at her with both gratitude and curiosity.

My dad paused, studying my expression, and I communicated my hope for this all I could with just my eyes. Thankfully, he seemed to understand.

"Maybe you're right," he finally gave in, responding to Jake's offer. "If a parley can spare blood... we can talk about it. After we eat."

Just on cue, Ofelia approached our booth with a tray of freshly prepared food, setting it down before us.

After sharing an awkwardly quiet meal with Jake and his newly introduced rancher friend, Alicia, the latter excused herself to chat with Ofelia outside. I watched them leave, wondering who exactly Alicia was and how she knew Ofelia, but my attention was returned to Jake and my dad as they discussed the terms of the parley.

One of our people were to be exchanged with one of theirs as a hostage – in this case, Jake – to earn each other's trust and respect the temporary ceasefire. I was familiar with this method and even ready to offer myself up, but as soon as I brought it up to my dad once Jake left the room, I was immediately shut down.

"I'm not sending you," he said in that annoyingly calm but stern voice he pulled out on his subordinates. "I've already decided it's Ofelia."

I raised my eyebrows with disbelief. "Dad, c'mon. I'm the right person for this! You know peace is all I've been preaching! I can do this, just let me! Let me be useful!"

"You are useful," he told me. "Here."

"Dad–!"

"End of discussion!" he silenced me, before closing his eyes with annoyance. "You're not going over there. Ofelia knows what she's doing. She's older."

"So, what? I'm a kid all of a sudden?" I asked rhetorically. "We both know I stopped being a kid a long time ago. Back when–"

"Don't say it," he warned me, and the hurt returned to his eyes momentarily. "Please, Y/N. Just respect my decision."

I clenched my jaw, frowning. I couldn't argue this with him, I knew it. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't hurt him, so I nodded reluctantly and left it at that.

"Good," he said with relief. "C'mon."

We joined the others outside, where Ofelia and Alicia seemed to finish up their conversation. My dad nodded to Ofelia, who approached us, seeming to know what was going to happen. After discussing the parley with her, we waited for Jake to be ready, but he seemed to be bickering quietly with Alicia on the sidelines.

"Do we have a parley or not?" my father asked impatiently, interrupting their fight.

Jake gave Alicia a disapproving stare, but nodded. "It appears we do. Alicia will be staying."

My father nodded and motioned for Jake to follow him for a moment. This was the perfect chance for me to speak to Ofelia.

"You know them?" I asked her quietly, away from prying ears.

"Only Alicia," she answered truthfully. "Remember when I told you about that family who helped me? The Clarks?" I nodded and she continued, "That's Alicia, the daughter."

I was surprised to say the least, glancing over at the brunette in question. "Small world."

"Uh-huh..."

"From what you told me about them, about her, it doesn't sound like they're like the Ottos," I said with confusion. "Why is she helping them?"

Ofelia frowned, looking down at her shoes. "We killed Travis, her family. He was in the helicopter when we shot it down."

I sighed, glancing out at the Clark girl who was standing with her arms crossed, looking like she was holding in a restrained anger. It made sense now, why she was so frustrated back there.

"It wasn't right," I said quietly, looking back to Ofelia, "but dad's stubborn. He wasn't trying to hurt anyone but the Ottos."

"Well, Alicia won't let that go," Ofelia said knowingly. "Not right now."

"But she's staying for the parley, so that's gotta be a good thing, right?" I asked somewhat hopefully.

Ofelia nodded. "She's levelheaded. Smart. She wants the same as you, Y/N. Peace. She won't wreck this, if that's what you're worried about."

I hummed in acknowledgment, studying Alicia once more, wondering if she was all of these things Ofelia was saying and more. If this was the same girl who took Ofelia and her family in when they needed help, the same girl who cared for strangers as if they were her own, then maybe all wasn't doomed.

"I have to go," Ofelia suddenly said, eyes glancing behind me at Jake and my father.

I nodded, pulling her in for a quick hug. "Be careful over there. They aren't all like your friend."

Ofelia snickered quietly. "I know." Then she met my eyes one last time, nodding in Alicia's direction. "Look out for her, yeah? She's good."

I nodded, if not for the stranger, then for Ofelia. "I promise."

Shortly after Ofelia left with Jake and a scout, I found myself washing up some dishes in the diner kitchen as usual. My dad was showing Alicia around the place, but I didn't expect him to turn up in the kitchen with her in tow, leaving her to me.

"Y/N," he called, and I shut off the tap, turning around and surprised to see to them. "Alicia is going to be sticking with you during her time here, helping around as much as she can. Is that alright?"

I raised my eyebrows slightly, glancing at the deadpan expression of the girl in question before meeting my father's eyes questioningly. Why me? There were so many other people he could have left her with. And besides, I thought he didn't trust my instincts when it came to stuff like this.

Obviously, I couldn't argue that with him in front of her, so I simply nodded.

"Sure," I said awkwardly, before meeting the green eyes already fixed on me. "You can help me finish the washing up, I guess."

"Thank you," my dad said gratefully, before leaving the two of us alone.

"Nice to meet you," I greeted her. "I'm Y/N."

"Walker's daughter, right?"

"Yeah," I confirmed, before turning to face the sink as she joined my side. Swallowing uncomfortably, I felt the need to glance at her and say, "I'm sorry. About your– about Travis."

She furrowed her brows. "How do you know that? How– how can you even say that? It was your father's orders that killed him."

She wasn't shouting, but the anger in her voice was still present, only making me feel guilty because she wasn't wrong.

"Ofelia told me," I answered. "And I didn't want that to happen. I told my dad not to shoot the heli down, but his hatred for the Ottos runs deeper than anything else. Even me, sometimes."

She clenched her jaw, looking down at the sink, and I almost regretted bringing it up in the first place.

"What do you want me to do?" she changed the subject.

Knowing I couldn't do much about her dismissiveness, I nodded to the sink. "Start washing, I guess."

Between the two of us, we finished washing all the dishes and pans in no time, an uncomfortable silence filling the air, then I wiped my hands and spoke.

"I'm gonna go pick some vegetables from the field, if you wanna join."

"Do I have a choice?" she asked, neither bitter nor indifferent, but it still rubbed me the wrong way.

"Look, you might not like this, but this exchange is the only way to ensure peace. If this works, maybe things can finally be okay."

She quirked a brow curiously. "And you want that?"

"What?"

"Peace?"

I looked to her with confusion. "Why wouldn't I?" She rose an eyebrow judgementally, so I asked, "Do you?"

Her eyes flickered between mine, giving nothing away. "Of course. I want to be safe. I want to keep my family safe."

"So do I," I said gently.

"Then we're in agreement," she noticed.

I sighed quietly, already leading her out the kitchen. "If only it were that easy."

She mumbled in agreement as she followed me to the vegetable patch, the both of us holding a basket to collect our pickings in. Again, it was quiet between us, something I presumed would remain considering we were still 'enemies', but it didn't last long as she spoke up.

"Will this really work?" she asked from beside me.

I paused, glancing at her as she worked. "Well, if we leave them out any longer, the sun's gonna fry them and then they won't be very edible any–"

"Not this," she stopped me, giving me a disapproving look. "The parley."

"Oh." I cleared my throat, continuing to pick the chillies from the plant. "Hopefully, yeah. If your people treat Ofelia with respect–"

"They aren't my people," she interrupted firmly.

As if she wasn't a mystery already.

"Okay...," I said slowly. "Well, if the ranchers treat Ofelia with respect, a relationship of sorts can form between us and them, opening everything up to negotiation."

"And if they don't?" Alicia asked.

I gave her a questioning look. "Won't they?" When she didn't answer, I grew worried. "Alicia, is Ofelia in danger there?"

"No, no she's not," she assured me when she saw my expression. "Not with Jake. He'll keep her safe."

Feeling warm under the sun, I used my sleeve to wipe at my face and sighed. "Jake is patient, much easier to talk to than his family, but it's not enough."

"Your father isn't very patient," Alicia commented.

I smiled dryly. "My people have been patient for centuries. More than you could know, Alicia."

"I'm not going to pretend to understand what the history of the ranch means to you and your people," she said earnestly, "but I'm hoping we can find a peaceful resolution. That's why I'm here, Y/N."

I nodded, meeting her gaze. For some stupid reason, I wanted to believe her. I think I might have. She seemed different to the others, maybe because of everything Ofelia had told me of her. I wasn't sure, but I truly hoped she wouldn't disappoint.

Unfortunately for everyone, the parley didn't last long and I still wasn't sure if it was slightly my fault. Maybe if I'd kept a closer eye on Alicia, they wouldn't have smuggled her out of there? Or maybe it was inevitable.

I wasn't sure. All I knew was one second I was telling her to get some water from the well and the next there was the sound of shooting coming from outside, along with a mini ambush of ranchers. By the time I'd grabbed a gun and made it outside, they were already driving away, a glimpse of Alicia in the backseat of their truck. And to make things worse, a few of our people were either injured or shot dead.

It angered me, but mostly I felt disappointment at the fact that we'd come full circle yet again. Alicia had seemed different earlier today, like she actually wanted this to work. So, why had she broken out of here, hurting my people in the process?

My fault for believing her, I suppose.

Of course, this didn't bode well with my dad, and understandably so. However, I certainly didn't expect him to send Ofelia undercover there, under the guise that she'd been thrown out, when in fact she was there solely to poison their militia with anthrax. As soon as she returned, that was when I found out. I worried about what was going on with her, since I didn't even know she'd left, but she was distracted.

"Ofelia, what the hell happened?" I asked worriedly, upon seeing her battered and bruised face. "Where have you been?!"

"The ranch," she answered angrily, though it wasn't directed at me. "I was supposed to make them sick. But he didn't tell me– it was fucking anthrax!"

"What are you talking about?" I said with confusion, trying to meet her flickering gaze. "Why were you at the ranch? What anthrax?"

And that's when she explained the plan, conducted by none other than my father. Except the catch was that it wasn't a little something to just weaken their militia, it was anthrax poisoning to kill as many of them as possible, and Ofelia didn't know until it was too late.

"Alicia didn't want to mess up this parley," she continued to explain. "Her mother used Troy to get her back because she was scared for her. It wasn't her fault. She still wants peace."

At this newfound information, I was surprised and also a little relieved because, stupidly enough, I still believed there was hope.

"And now her brother, Nick, is sick because of the anthrax," Ofelia finished guiltily. "And it's my fault."

I frowned, shaking my head. "It's not. You didn't know. He should've told you."

Not in the mood for my sympathy, Ofelia shrugged me off and walked away to be alone. And I only grew more frustrated at my father, ashamed at his manipulating tactics amongst his own people, all because of a vendetta.

Storming over to him in the greenhouse, I tried to keep myself calm, but it only irked me more when he tried to pretend everything was okay.

"Hey, Y/N, you okay?"

Squeezing my fists together, I stared at him with disbelief. "Seriously? Am I okay?!"

Confused, he blinked. "Is that a no?"

"You lied to Ofelia about the anthrax!"

He sighed, like this was all a mild inconvenience. "I didn't want to. But it needed to be done. Someone had to weaken their militia."

"You don't get it, do you?" I asked with a glare. "This will never end. They killed our people. You poisoned theirs. They'll just keep coming back. It's a never ending cycle!"

"And I'll keep it going if it means getting justice for our people!" he finally snapped. "If it means protecting our home, taking back our land, then yes, I will keep going!"

I unclenched my jaw, exhausted already. "Wow. I hate to say it, dad, but maybe this just isn't worth it anymore. Maybe the ranch isn't worth it."

He frowned with frustration, about to retaliate and berate me no doubt, but our argument was conveniently interrupted by the sound of shouting in the distance. The two of us ran out to see what the commotion was, only to see some of our tipis on fire, along with ranchers driving around and shooting around.

"Defence, now!" my father ordered, and I immediately ran to grab the nearest gun before taking cover.

It wouldn't have made a difference though, as soon enough, a pickup truck belonging to the ranchers began to drive away with our reliquary in tow, one that contained many of our ancestor's belongings in one place. The only rancher who knew of its existence was Alicia, considering my father had shown it to her when she was here. Which only meant one thing.

She'd told them to steal it.

As predicted, this war was a constant back and forth and my dad was only seeking revenge, as usual. Once the ranchers had stolen our reliquary, they used it to try and negotiate peace with my father. But he was so angry that he declined and threatened them, giving them until nightfall to vacate the ranch. Instead, Alicia's mother, Madison Clark, did one even better. She offered us up Jeremiah Otto's head.

And that was how we negotiated a peace deal, where we could finally move back onto our own land, though sharing it with the ranchers.

It wasn't ideal, but if it meant no more bloodshed, and also no more Jeremiah, then my father was more than happy to accept. So, a handful of us began moving in.

Most of the ranchers seemed to accept it, but I couldn't personally be sure. I tried not to focus on that though, nor the clear divide between our people. Instead, I did what I did best. Gardening.

I was taking stock in the vegetable patches to see what was growing and what else could be planted when I heard someone approaching behind me. To my surprise, it was Alicia.

"Hey," she greeted softly.

I nodded awkwardly before returning my attention to the clipboard in hand. We hadn't properly spoken since the parley was broken, so I wasn't so sure where we stood with one another.

"So, it worked," she tried to make conversation, referring to the peace deal.

"Barely," I mumbled.

It went quiet, and if it weren't for the fact that her footsteps weren't heard, I could have believed she'd left.

"I didn't know they were going to come for me," she suddenly said, a hint of guilt in her voice. "My mother was worried."

I shrugged halfheartedly, but she felt the need to justify it, as if she cared what I thought.

"I didn't want more people to die."

Finally, I lifted my eyes to meet hers. "Nobody ever does. But when it's my people, it's just collateral, right?"

Her lips curved into a slight frown as she shook her head, and I really wanted to believe her. Desperately. Because she seemed genuine, and if she was, then this wouldn't be for nothing.

"Jeremiah is gone now," she reminded me. "This can be a fresh start."

I pressed my lips together, lowering my clipboard. "I know that. You know that. But what about the ranchers? His followers?"

"Most of them only want peace," she tried to reassure me. "They'll follow anyone who gives them a sense of safety."

I suppressed the urge to scoff. "I hope so."

"The only way to show them that is to be unified," she added.

I quirked a brow. "And how do you suppose we do that?"

She tilted her head slightly. "Work with me, not against me. Side by side. If our people see us working together, maybe they'll realise it's not a bad thing."

I exhaled quietly, impressed at her thinking. "That's a good idea." She nodded gratefully, and I continued, "But why? Why would you care? And why us?"

She ran a hand through her hair as she explained patiently, "I've already told you that I only want to keep my family safe, same as you. So, why not work together in that? You're the daughter of the leader of those the ranchers are learning to trust. They see you working with us, they'll ease up. I just know it."

It made sense what she was saying, and she'd never done anything to give me reason to distrust her. Best case scenario, we could truly establish peace. Worst case scenario, we didn't become friends. I couldn't see much to lose, so I gave in with a nod.

"Okay. I guess you're right, Alicia."

She began to smile, both hopeful and relieved. "Great. Maybe we can start with me giving you a rundown on what we're growing?"

I sighed, returning her smile, and it felt good to have a reason to smile again. "I– yeah. That would be super helpful actually."

[makedatmoneymayne]

✨✨Welcome to The Boys✨✨

--Y/N(I might give her a name later) is a store owner who loves what she does,BAKING. Ever since a young child she enjoyed it. Later on in her baking career, she started catering for shows like Supernatural, Dexter, and Grey's Anatomy. Now she's gotten a call from the one and only Eric Kripke to cater for the cast and crew of The Boys--

Y/N is a BLACK woman.☺️

🕺🏾MEET THE PEEPS🕺🏾

Y/N❤️

Owner of the shop

Bestie/Co-Owner of the store

Kapoia💗

Best Frenn/Co-Owner (technically)

Julaya💙

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

Lovely Day✨

You and the girls, well more like just the girls you were terrified of riding bikes on hills. They decided that it was a perfect morning to get some air and ride y'all bikes to work for the day. Julaya swerves whilst Kapoia does wheelies trying to get you to join in. "Y/N do some tricks or sumn, you lookin like you being made to do this with how hard you're grippin the handles." Kapoia yells zooming off with Julaya laughing their asses off at you. "Girl hush, you know I'm scared of riding on these hills. I see the shop right up ahead lemme speed up."

You all slowly come to a slight stop as yall see a man laying on the bench right outside your shop reading a newspaper.

As yall inch closer you notice his face immediately. "Omg heyyyy Eric!" You scream running up to him for a hug. "Hey honey!" He catches you and lifts you up. You look over his shoulder and notice Julaya and Kapoia giving you a look of confusion. "IS THAT YO NIGGA Y/N!" Julaya yells still confused. Eric dies of laughter, "No dumbass, this was the first director of a tv show I catered for. Yall know the show Supernatural?" The girls start screaming and rambling, "come on inside please you're like a legend." You just shake your head walking into the shop right after Eric.

The Shop✨

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

"So why are you here anyways E?" You ask confused by his presence. "Awww what happen to the nick name Eric pooh" Eric pouts at you "Chile that was a long time ago, things change" You say walking behind the counter already smelling the fresh coffee and pastries. "Anyway, I'm here to ask you to cater for my cast and crew again." "Oh reallyyy what's the show called?" You raised your eyebrow slightly seeing Julaya and Kapoia out your peripheral, listening in while still setting up. "Have you heard of a show called the boys?" The girls start screaming again nonstop. "Wait y'all what is it." They collectively gasp and Kapoia starts actin up. "Girl what the fuck what do you watch Virgin River or some shit?" She looks at you waiting for an answer and as you didn't answer she already knew. Julaya snickers and mumbles under her breath, "Aw hell naw". "Don't answer that, it's about these FINE ASS superheroes that are highkey corrupt." Kapoia says with heavy emphasis shoving a picture of the superheroes in question in front of your face out of their costumes.

"OH MY FUCKIN GOSH IS THAT JENSEN!?" Y/N yells loosing her mind. "Yeah I know right he got old on us, ladies still adore him though even labeled him "zaddy" ." Kapoia laughed so hard she started coughing before sayin, "I know thass right, alright I'm gonna leave my phone with you babe so I can keep baking for Eric" Eric always asks for 4 boxes of anything that's delicious. "Who's that fine ass man in the back middle" you ask. "Lemme see, oh that's Antony Starr. He's a cool guy kind of quiet , but cool." Eric says shrugging his shoulders walking out the door heading back to his car to go arrive on set. "Alright honey I got to go back to set before everyone shows up. Just bring it by 4pm." He yells walking out on his phone to warn his boys about you showing up with pastries showing pictures of you all.

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

3:00pm hits as you and the girls hop in the delivery truck getting on the road. You're blasting System of a Down - B.Y.O.B, windows rolled down. "STILL YOU FEED US LIES FROM THE TABLECLOTH" You all scream in unison. A big black Suv pulls up next to you guys at red light but you pay it no mind. Their windows are rolled down waiting to surprise you guys with the next lyrics to the song. Jensen and Jack yell in unison with you guys, "Lalalalalalalalalala Ouuuu!" You snap your neck over aggressively trying to roll your window up from Jack and Jensen who were laughing hysterically. "Oh my gooossshhh roll up pleasseeee!" "JACK WE LOVE YOUUU AND ANTONY, Y/N THINKS YOUR SEXY" Julaya says from the passenger. You zoom off deciding to taking the long way to drop off the pastries.

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

On Set✨

You walk through the trailers trying to get to the main room. A trailer door opens aggressively, Antony and Chace walk out laughing. You drag the two girls away quickly not wanting Antony to see you girls after Julaya's outburst. "Girl what the fuck you draggin us for they still saw yo foine ass. Had em droolin." Kapoia laughs. "Wait for real wait is the dress cute? Is the makeup eating?" "BREATHE GIRL we aint even delivery the food yet come on you look sexy." Julaya mentions walking away with the boxes. "Heyyyyy honey it smells so good and fresh." Eric says giving a tight hug like yall didn't just see each other 5 hours ago. "Alright alright let gooo and eat it let me know how it tastes, text me alright?" You turn around walking noticing Julaya and Kapoia has wandered off. "I told them they can chill before you walked up to us." You turn, "Aww how nice I'll text them to not take too much of those actors' time." You begin to text while walking away zoned in on your phone. Walking through the trailers you crash into a hard body head first. You grip your head immediately snapping back into reality, "Oh shit i'm so sorry." Looking up you make eye contact with Antony mother fucking Starr. "It's okay darling." He bites his lip not hiding him scanning her curvy body. You stare back him in the eyes noticing them glance down to your the lip you're now biting seductively. Snapping out of it, make the most random excuse which was, "Oh well um hi I've gotta go back to my shop." Looking over you see your girls. "YALL COME ON WE GOTTA BUSINESS TO RUN!" Once you see your girls jogging over to the car, you start up the car. "The fuck you in such a rush for? We own the fuckin place, we can open later." Kapoia says upsettingly putting her seatbelt on. Ignoring Kapoia you notice Julaya in the back lipstick smudge like hell. "GIRL WHO THE FUCK YOU MAKE OUT WITH" You ask looking in the rearview at her. "Huh what Jessie girl he was so fine in them pictures I couldn't help myself." Shaking your head you turn up your radio, blasting Frank Ocean - Solo with Antony on the brain.

-

--

---

End of chapter one❤️💗💙

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

~~If anyone wants more let me knoww~~

~~i lowkey got bored and noticed barely anyone wrote Antony Starr/Homelander fics for black women so uh here~~

--If i messed up my bad im not really proof reading--

Enjoy☺️

[splatreference]

File Garden Mirror of Splatrefs

hey peeps! I genuinely forget if i've already made this post because i've been meaning to for like 5 months, but the gist of it is that i've been working on a mirror of this blog on File Garden.

This will function as a backup of the blog in case something ever happens to it (e.g. tumblr dies, i get banned, i accidentally delete it and whatever else giant meteor etc.) But it will also serve as an alternative way to access the resources here through another website, as well as easily access all the files themselves rather than having to sift through photo posts.

The pros that come with this:

MUCH easier management and uploading of pictures and even videos (for me). Tumblr has a daily image upload limit and even then the images have to be split across many different posts, which makes it a days-long, sometimes weeks-long process to be able to add pictures. Also don't have to memorize tags. -

Clear organization; folders and subfolders mean that everything can be neatly in one place. Whether you find this easier and/or more convenient to navigate than Tumblr tags is subjective, though. -

Easy downloads! I'm always saying that if you need some references a lot, I recommend saving them for yourself and File Garden makes it pretty easy to my knowledge. I will keep recommending this, by the way. -

In MY experience, load times for images are usually much faster than on Tumblr (which is definitely my main draw for making it in the first place) -

It's not Tumblr, but an actual file hosting site. I know, that's revolutionary

Unfortunately File Garden also isn't perfect, so to be thorough here is also a list of cons:

The site is down ALL the time. I feel like it has constant outages which isn't really unexpected for a smaller site. The good news is that these rarely last very long - the bad news is that you might also run into errors. -

There are no folder icons, which can make it a bit harder than it needs to be to actually find where you want to go, which is annoying given there's no search -

While faster at loading image previews than tumblr by a country mile (especially when reloading the page), loading in the images can be really flashy. As in they literally flash white when loading in sometimes.

Going forward, I'll be uploading everything I upload here also to File Garden. I'm slowly working towards copying every major thing from the blog over to there (it's horrible guys, one copypaste at a time) so it should fill up over time and be usable as an alternate resource!

(Also, for anyone taking a look, please help a guy out in the endless war against admin error. If there's pictures in folders where they shouldn't be or there's thumbnail-sized uploads in some of the folders, shoot an ask here with the location and I'll fix it...)

That's it for this century's status update. I've been procrastinating a fuck ton on actually getting anything uploaded here... hope everyone has a good Sizzle Season and maybe I'll try to catch up at least a little bit.

[chiconisroc]

"Hope In Hell" Hazbin Hotel - April fools prank

I pulled a prank on my readers today for april fools : ), made peeps think the update I did was for chapter 16. I'm planning to delete the april fools chapter since I'll be updating the actual chap 16 tomorrow, but someone wants me to post it up somewhere else, so gonna post it up here, in case others were curious on the prank:

Vaggie didn’t waste to think things through as she jumped through the portal just before it closed on her.

And she couldn’t help but grow confused when she found herself in some dark tunnel, though, behind her was solid black wall.

She could have sworn that she had seen trees just before she got into the portal. Unless…somehow, Lucifer had at the last second, teleported her to another location?

“Lucifer?” she called out down to the dark end of the tunnel, but she received no response in return, though… she saw something in the darkness shift. Cold dread made its way through her soul when slowly, a red smile emerged from the shadows.

Immediately, Vaggie conjured her spear and got into a defensive stance, ready for any oncoming attack, but the red glowing, twisted smile simply began to fade away.

Vaggie cursed under her breath and began to slowly move forward – she had no other choice, after all.

As she moved, she expected whatever was in the shadows to jump at her, but nothing happened as she continued the path that eventually led to a bright opening, the exit.

She felt relieved when she stepped out, but then blinked when she glanced around her surroundings to see unicorns flying up in the sky above her, cotton candy growing out of the tree’s branches, and small cute little rabbits jumping in an out from the bushes.

And in front of her, was Adam, just standing there, with gold wings instead of the dark ashen ones.

“Adam?” Vaggie couldn’t help but call out to him, but he didn’t respond, nor did he move.

She tightened her grip on her staff and gradually made her way up to him.

“Hey, where the hell are we?” she asked, but again, he remained silent.

She stopped a few feet from him, then suddenly, he twirled around to her, making her eyes widened in shock when she was met with some blue horsed face with a bright big smile.

“Hey, Vaggie!” the creature said with glee. “I’m so glad you’ve finally decided to join us! Now, it’s time for you to become one of us!”

Vaggie had no idea who the creature was and what it meant by its words, but suddenly, she felt a strange sensation run from her toes to her head.

She looked down and was shocked to see her feet were now shaped of a horse hoof.

“What the fuck is this?” she exclaimed before her hands began to shake and slowly morph as well into hoofs.

“I told you, it’s time for you to become one of us!” the blue horsed face creature laughed and Vaggie looked up at him with a mixture of confusion and fear while other floating horses began to descend around her.

“One of us, one of us,” they began to chant with excitement.

“No, wait, stop,” Vaggie cried out as her body twisted and turned, making her scream in agony as she fell to her knees. But then after a minute, she fell silent before she finally looked up, her face a shape of a smiling horse as well, becoming one of them.

[daydreamsandafternoonteafics]

First Date

A Let's Pretend It's Love drabble

That one looks better," I mumbled, holding the navy dress in front of me whilst inspecting my reflection in the mirror.

I gave myself a final glance, deciding that I should go with something much more casual, tossing the dress on the bed along with with a bunch of other clothes I'd been debating on wearing. As I pad over to my drawer I can't help but think how long it's been since I've done something like this.

After a terrible landslide, the surface of my life was slowly leveling out and returning to normal. I was back in my flat, I still didn't have a job after deciding to discontinue working at Darby's leather but in other great news, Harry was back.

After coming to an agreement that feelings were completely sincere and mutual along with lots of amazing make up sex, we were slowly beginning to rekindle things. I was really excited as well as grateful that he was giving me the second chance I knew I didn't deserve. He should have given up on me much sooner than later but I suppose the heart wants what it wants.

We've been a lot more talkative lately and a few nights ago during a late night conversation, Harry proposed the idea of going out on a first date. Harry and I had gotten to know each other for quite a few months now and had gone to lots of places together that were considered date-worthy but Harry argued that they didn't count and insisted on taking me out for a "proper date".

So here I am for the first time in a long time, getting ready for a first date.

As I put the finishing touches on my make-up and slip into my jumper and a pair of leather trousers, I can't but feel jittery and nervous and I don't know why.

I mean, it's just Harry and we've pretty much done pretty much everything that couples in established relationships do together but a large element of that was pretend. We were now transitioning from a faux relationship to a real one and the thought of that was both exciting and terrifyingly uncertain.

I'm filling Ollie's bowl with fancy feast when there's a knock on my door. I can't suppress the smile tugging at the corner of my lips as I saunter to the door, peeking through the peep-hole even though I know the face on the other side of the door.

I am pleasantly greeted with the sight of him leaned against the door frame, arms behind his back and dimpled grin adorning his face.He's devilishly handsome as always, casually dressed in one of his funky shirts and I can't help but think back to the night at the Wild Spinx and how horrible I'd thought his flamingo shirt was.

"Hey," he smirks snapping me out of my daydream.

"Hi," I grin.

He gives me a once over with his gorgeous green eyes.

"You look lovely," he removes his arms from behind his back to reveal a bouquet of white and purplish flowers, extending them to me as he steps over the threshold. "these are for you."

I smile brushing my finger tips against the petals. I'm not sure what kind of flowers they are or what they mean but they sure are beautiful.

"They're pansies," Harry announces, moving to stand closer to me, " They're a coy way of saying "I think of you often" but can also be a way of expressing passionate feelings. Nothing really fiery or sexy was in season."

The butterflies return to my stomach and at that moment I'd do anything he asked me to.

"They're beautiful, thanks."

I stretch on my toes, planting a kiss on his jaw.

"What was that?" he asks, eyebrows crinkling once I've pulled away.

I grin.

"It's a kiss, silly. A chaste one. If it's our first proper date, there should be no mouth kissing, we barely know each other after all, who knows where your mouth's been," I answer smoothly.

"But, you know where my mouth's been," he smirks. "it's been all over you,"

I can feel the heat rising to my cheeks and I have to look away, unable to find a rebuttal.

"Hush before you make me change my mind," I chide. "what's on the agenda for our first real date, anyway?"

"Pizza," he pauses to swipe his tongue against his bottom lip."and later, drinks. There's a band playing at the Spinx, you game?"

I grin.

"Have I really got a choice?" ****** "You're kinda quiet tonight, you okay?" Harry asks, his knee brushing against mine underneath the table.

I shift my gaze to his gorgeous green eyes, the half eaten slice of margarita pizza on the plate in front of me has gone cold. The night has gone smoothly so far, Harry doing the typical chivalrous first date things like opening door and pulling out chairs. My stomach is still pooling with excited nervous energy and I almost feel dizzy. I still can't believe that this is real, that we're actually dating.

"I'm fine," I reply fiddling with the napkin in the lap, a lazy smirk against my lips. "this is just so, awkward." I blurt.

Harry looks up from his plate, dropping his fork and knife against the porcelain surface.

"It's me, init?" he runs a hand through his hair. "I shouldn't have gone with pizza, 's cheap, too casual. I-"

"Harry," I grin sheepishly. "it's not your fault. I'm just nervous, that's all."

The crease between his brows suddenly smoothes as a grin forms on his face. He reaches across the table placing his hand on top of mine, causing the butterflies in my stomach to swarm.

"You're nervous, yeah?" he grins.

"I know it's stupid. I mean, we've known each other a while and you know what I look like naked but I can't even sit across the table from you without my hands feeling clammy. And do you know how long it took me to pick out this outfit?" I ramble.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm nervous too."

The corner of my lips curve up into a grin and I lean across the table, pressing my mouth against his.

"Heeey," he grins, once we've pulled away. "I thought it was against the rules to kiss on the first date."

I shrug.

"Some rules are meant to be broken."

[quinloki]

omg this has been rotting in my brain ALL DAY BUT

on the one piece wiki it says marco's hobby is collecting bar coasters

firstly, cute, secondly omg he's such an old person at heart bc that's what all the older peeps did at the bar I worked at

thirdly i'm dying bc a lot of times I picture my 'self insert/oc' as a bartender (idk why that job, I worked in a sports bar for awhile so I guess it's just what I know??) and i'm like omg that gives me so many ideasssss

anyways I know you read the wikis for characters so you might've seen that but it's just so random. going to bars with him just to collect the cute coasters >w<

It would certainly make for a cute vacation date kind of deal. Heading out to hit up some islands in the West Blue or whatever, and in every pub and bar you take a couple coasters, always leaving a few extra berri behind.

Marco always painted something on them, on the back if it was blank, or the side rim if it wasn't. The name of the bar, and/or island, and the date. It was just to make sure he didn't forget, for better or worse, whatever happened there.

I think another reason he collects them is because of how compactly they can be collected. Coasters stack, so the collection never takes up much room. It's effective and efficient. Almost subtle too, woven in with the other pieces and parts of his life that are woven into his room on a ship that's been his home for 30+ years.

Some nights, leaning against him after dinner, watching the sun slowly set, you'll find a coaster and read off the island and bar and ask him what happened there. Sometimes it's a somber tale, most of the time though it's a story that puts life and light in his voice, tears pricking at his eyes as he laughs about whatever happened.

He doesn't talk about himself much, but you still learn about him every time you ask. Through the memories of those who were close to him. Eventually there are coasters that become important to you - memories that comfort him, expressions that warm your heart to see.

Marco notices when you tuck them away, not to hide them, but to keep them from being accidentally damaged. You don't want the coasters or the memories buried in them to fade, and eventually you create a custom case, toiling away in the hours that Marco's out being a doctor.

You carve, or stain, designs on the box. Izou's tattoo, the shape of Thatch's cooking, Ace's hat, Pops' naginata. Woven through the markers of friends lost you add Marco. His mark. His flames. His tail feathers, chaining through it, connecting them all.

You add other details. A straw hat, the shape of Deuce's mask, other marks and shapes of comrades not lost, but still remembered. Hopes and protection for them, etched into the memories of everything else.

Nothing's said when you're done. You set the case up in the common room and slide coasters into it. You leave the ones the two of you have collected out and around the house, but now the older ones are tucked away safely, and still visible.

At some point Marco adds to it, but you don't know exactly when. On the edges of the box is a carefully painted label, with the date you had given him the case, the name of the island you were on, and a second date at the end of it.

The first day he'd seen you.

[bookish-bogwitch]

Thank you @larkral, @forabeatofadrum, @ic3-que3n, @blackberrysummerblog, and @aristocratic-otter for the tags. You're faithful elephants, sitting on that egg month after month. I'm excited to peep at your WIPs.

Here's a snippet from chapter 4 of Basil Pitch's Diary, at which I'm plugging away even though it might look abandoned. Seventh-year Baz is helping the twins move from the nursery to their own rooms, to make way for their future baby brother.

Our parents have never asked me to help much with my sisters. Even in the relative chaos of the twins’ arrival, no one ever asked me to look after Mordelia. Daphne had said I had enough on my plate, a diplomatic way of not trusting her firstborn to a vampire in blood withdrawal. (Four-year-old Mordelia would have staked me with a coloured pencil.) The move took several trips, since Out with the old hadn’t worked. (The twins aren’t old, they’re two.) At first I carefully wrapped and packed their things, but gave up after the girls rioted through their third box. I dumped the rest of their drawers on a blanket and sealed it up with my wand.  We paraded slowly to a bedroom that was once my mother’s, Sophie riding a spelled rocking horse, Petra rolling the blanket ball in front of herself like a dung beetle.

It's late in the day and I have no idea who's already gone so I won't tag anyone, but--happy summer!

[dearestspirit]

haikus

-> kazuha x gn!reader

-> fluff

-> wc: 1767

-> note: kazuha my beloved <3 set around when kazuha first boards the alcor and becomes part of the crux

it was a rowdy night on the alcor, a new crewmate being welcomed to the crux. despite the crew's overall ruckus, the man has yet to say a single word to anyone on board. so far, he gestured only using his hands. beidou had taken him in as a refugee, citing the situation in inazuma as the cause. news of the sakoku decree had spread faintly outside of the region, as did the vision hunt decree. it wasn't a surprise the newcomer hadn't said a word, for one could only guess what he had been through. whispers circulated quickly throughout the ship upon his arrival, rumoring where he possibly could have come from. questions were asked that likely wouldn't be answered any time soon. even with his silence, he was incredibly helpful around the ship. he cleaned, took care of storage, taking on whatever duty he could. still, not a peep from him. no matter what you questioned him about, there was nothing. he just continued to work until it was time to eat and sleep, retiring to his quarters. until juza simply… asks.

"inazuma boy. what are we supposed to call you if we don't know your name?"

"my name is kaedehara kazuha. as i'm in your debt for taking me in on your ship, you may call me kazuha." his voice is gentle, breathtaking even.

from there, he slowly blossoms into a real shipmate of yours. he tells tales of his travels, opening up about how he had been a wandering samurai, not liking to stay in one place for too long. he tells of his sword, the great mark of pride he always wears. how he sees poetry in all nature– the sixth sense he had been gifted. the signs of storms and earthquakes all nestled into his mind at even just a whisper of the wind. it was beautiful, the way he weaves his stories and haikus effortlessly (despite him claiming to not have much talent at it). to him, even a simple leaf could be used to create. he shows this, whistling into a stray leaf, the tune of music soft and delightful.

he's mesmerizing. it makes you wonder, if he can hear all the secrets of the earth, surely he must hear the way your heart beats at his anecdotes? with kazuha comes a great sense of longing, one that you hadn't known until he came. he gestures with his hands as he tells about true freedom. how without the burden of wealth he could traverse across the whole of inazuma, settling on warm rocks in the sunlight. even more, he spins a story about the playful tricks of bake-danuki he had come across, light shining in his eyes as he recalls them.

more nights pass, and you find yourself awake, staring at the ceiling of your quarters. the ship rocks gently, the sound of waves lapping at wood bringing a sense of peace. regardless, you find yourself restless, stepping out of bed. perhaps the stars could keep you company for the night, you thought. you make your way up to the deck, looking up to see xu liushi up in the crow's nest. shaking your head, you make not to tell beidou of his refusal to sleep– though, she'd likely wonder why you were awake to notice in the first place– and head over to the side of the ship, leaning over the railing. the breeze blows through the air, the scent of seawater tickling your nose. in the sky, the stars shine exceptionally bright, a pleasure to see.

"you're awake quite late, aren't you?" a voice comes from behind you, startling you. "may i inquire why?"

"oh, it's you, kazuha," you feel the panic start to slip away. "i was just having a bit of trouble sleeping. no cause for concern, surely."

"i see," his bandaged hand comes to rest on his chin, seemingly lost in thought. "i must confess that the same has happened to me. shall we keep each other company?"

"i'd really like that." you smile, remembering back when kazuha had trouble opening up to the rest of the crew. he had come a far way from that.

"you know, i don't know too much about you… (name), was it?" he asks.

you nod at the name he calls you. "anything you’d like to know? i'll answer."

"where are you from? you're not from inazuma, yet you don't treat liyue like home whenever we are docked there." he's quite observant, you notice.

"i'm actually from (region)," you look over at him. "however, if i'm being honest, i never quite liked it there too much. i figured the kind of life i wanted was something more like this! on a ship, where i can really see the world and what it has to offer. i got what i needed from (region) and left as soon as i could."

"so you prefer the sense of freedom rather than the sense of home?" kazuha ponders. "is that a correct assumption to make?"

"i suppose so," you shrug. "i never noticed how much i desired independence until you showed up, telling us all your fanciful stories of your travels."

"then it must be fate that i arrived on this ship, no?" he jests, a smile on his face as he bumps his side into yours playfully.

"you joke, kazuha, but i think you're right in a way. you've helped me make some realizations about my life that i hadn't before. one day, when i retire from my work here, i want to see more of the world." you stare up at the stars, feeling a sense of yearning for those days. "you haven't talked much of inazuma. why's that?"

he sighs, hand coming up to hold the rail. "inazuma… makes me feel lonely to think about. i have lost many things to that place, and i wish to maintain my sense of self. i've thought about returning, but for now… this is enough for me." one of his hands goes up to his chest, clutching at the cloth of his haori.

you nod along solemnly. "i'm sorry to hear that," you tentatively place a hand on his shoulder, giving a gentle squeeze. "though, it's interesting to hear your perspective. i feel similarly. while we may have our pasts to work through, we have the present to bask in as well, don't we? the future is ours to mold into what we desire, not what our countries desire. whatever you may have lost, you have just as much to gain. maybe it won't be long before we find what fate's leading us towards."

"how poetic," he shakes his head, the sober look on his face fading into a pleasant calm. "have you ever written haikus?"

"not any good ones, i'm sure." you laugh, hand falling off his shoulder and back to your side.

"hm," he hums, trying to figure out how to word his next sentence. "would you be interested in going back to my quarters to write some?"

"oh, i shouldn't take up more of your time than i already have," you mumble, eyes wide and face warm. "we should both sleep, shouldn't we?"

"well, that is true that we should sleep…" he looks at me with a mischievous glance. "it doesn't mean we must."

"alright, i'll join you." it doesn't take much to convince you, interested in spending more time with him.

"even mountain's path, bleak and rocky to the eyes, has the heaven's clouds." he speaks out as you count syllables on your fingers. when you confirm, he dips his feather quill in ink and pens it down on paper. "your turn."

"um…" you mutter. "the kiss of maple, breeze on the lips of your love, sticks sweet in your heart?" your shoulders rise, feeling a hint of embarrassment.

he smiles, admiring you as he rests an elbow on the desk, chin in palm. "romantic," he says, once more dipping his quill in ink and writing your haiku down next to his. "i enjoyed it. you did well."

you go back and forth, creating pages upon pages of haikus. you barely notice the time passing, caught up in each other's company. eventually, you lay your head on the desk during a moment of silence, trying to come up with more words to use in your haikus. without realizing, you fall asleep, head in your arms.

the next morning, you awake to beidou hollering. kazuha, red faced next to her, stands unusually slouched and shy.

beidou's laughs roar throughout the ship, pointing at you. "oh man, (name) is in kazuha's quarters," it's as if a riot breaks out, loud footsteps hammering in your ears as the rest of the crew barrels in, still barely awake. "in his bed, even!"

she throws an arm around kazuha's shoulders, pulling him into her side and giving him a noogie on the top of his head. he flounders, trying to push himself out of her grasp. when he successfully does so, he manages to escort everyone else out of the room, walking back to you. groggily, you sit up, rubbing at your eyes as the sleepiness leaves you.

"i apologize deeply for that," he mutters, taking your hands in his. "i didn't mean for them to disturb you. you fell asleep earlier at my desk, and it would've been rude for me to disrupt your rest. so i brought you to my bed and then i happened to fall asleep at my desk… then beidou came barging in, as you're aware."

you laugh, not too worried about things. "that's just how the crew are, kazu," you see him flush a little at the nickname. "we're all a big family here, and that includes teasing each other. besides… it's not like i mind." you bring one of his hands up to your lips, pressing a kiss to the back of it.

he's shocked, glance lingering on the spot where you kissed his hand. "ah," he mumbles. "we… we must get to our duties," he gets up quickly, going to his desk and aimlessly shuffling around some papers, trying to make himself look busy. "i shall see you later tonight. i enjoyed your company last night, and…"

he hesitates for a moment, steps stuttering as he makes his way back over to you. he cradles your face in his palms, eyes briefly meeting yours as if to ask, 'is this okay?' when you nod, he gently plants a kiss onto your forehead.

"there," he smiles, chuckling a bit. "the kiss of maple, just like your haiku."

[pbandjesse]

I just got done helping James cut their hair. I am not feeling as low tonight. Maybe taking the medicine in the morning is the way to go. Though I am worried about waking up feeling sick in the middle of the night. But I'm trying to remain positive.

I was a little bit of a baby today. Any time I started to feel unwell I would get so worried I was about to fall apart that I was very much in the edge of shutting down. But I made it through most of the day. I was trying really really hard.

When I woke up this morning I was fine. I wasn't amazing. But I was fine. My hair looked nice. I felt pretty. But I also just had all this pressure in my stomach and when I was done getting ready I laid on the floor. James would come upstairs to check on me and laid with me for a bit. It helped. I needed to get up and I needed to leave.

James would pack me a lunch but I would barely pick at it. They packed peanut butter for me to eat with pretzels but I ended up eating spoon fulls of it on my drive into camp as my breakfast. And honestly it was good. I had a cup of milk and my peanut butter and my favorite podcast put out an episode about why my least favorite painter sucks and I felt so very vindicated!!

When I got to camp no one was in yet. I would spend a few minutes putting things away but then pretty quickly went and got the gator to take some packages of field trip supplies up to the art building. I got that stuff put away and continued on my drive around camp.

I went to the nature building to say hello to the animals. Samson was speed walking in his tank which was really cute.

I would drive over to peeps to get my last box of stuff. I would stop when I saw the impressive mushroom pictures above. I believe it's chicken of the woods but it's more spread out then I'm used to seeing so I'm not 100%.

Getting my last box from peeps didn't go amazing. The box split open and I dropped everything. But it was fine. I would just make two trips. Still made me huff and puff and feel really woozy, walking up the hill. But I would sit for a minute and catch my breath.

I drove back to art one more time to drop off the box. Saw Lucky the three legged cat and couldn't get him to let me pet him but he did lead me to another kitty. So that was nice. I drove over to the pond and up behind stockade. And then back to the office. Where Alexi was just getting in.

Soon after that everyone else was back in too. I would slowly run out of things to do. It as in charge of contacting someone I had to search for online. And I am very good at googling and was able to find his email but I'm going to try and call him tomorrow. Even though I hate calling people. Especially when there is information being passed. I would much rather have it in writing.

But it's fine.

I would spend a lot of time sending emails. Working on my hand out for my beading workshop next week. And starting research for specialty program ideas for next year.

When I would get bored I would go do other small tasks. I went over to the pioneer cabins to measure a wall. Jeff was over there and he asked how my dad was doing. We chatted for a bit.

I would go put away the tent tarp, per Joe's request. I would lay in my hammock for a half hour. And then back to the office to continue researching. I think I have a good smattering of ideas now though and will start to write things out soon.

I decided I really wanted to get Taco Bell. I would keep myself focused by promising myself I could get Taco Bell. I truly hate how often I have been eating out lately but eating at all has been so incredibly hard I'm trying to not fight it when I think I can eat something.

And at 3 I would say goodbye to everyone and drove to Taco Bell. And I don't know why but I didn't get what I had planned and got a crunch wrap instead. Which was good. And a potato taco, which was a little spicier then I wanted but was still good.

I ate half of everything in the car. And then headed home. I started feeling not amazing. I just tried sipping water and breathing and would be okay. I was just really happy to go home.

When I got back here I would sit with sweetp on the couch. I had the other half of my taco bell. And waited for James to get home. I thought about playing the new video game James got me but I was worried about getting motion sickness. Instead I just watched a video and laid on the couch.

When James got home they would consult with me about new stickers to order for my market table. But the one company we were going to go with (after sticker mule lost their minds and we can't order from them anymore) was going to be $600?? So James would reach out to a smaller company in California and if would take a few hours for them to respond but they were so nice and the whole order, the same order, is going to be less then $50! Incredible. I hope they are good quality. They had good reviews on reddit so fingers crossed.

James would clear the landing for the washing machine delivery on Friday. And the. We would hang out for a while. Eventually moving upstairs. They worked on their research for their longer podcast episode. I watched TikToks.

Eventually I took a bath. I trimmed my bangs. And when I was done I cut James's hair too. They are using the clippers for the sides now. And I am feeling very very tired.

My allergies kicked off a little but I am feeling a little better now. I hope I can sleep earlier tonight and feel nice tomorrow.

I have lots to do at camp tomorrow. Things to sort and things to paint and people to call. I hope it's a good day.

I hope you all have a good night. I love you all. Sleep well. Be safe.

[nfumbewalk]

Channeling: Not so New Age

My Record Keeping Quartz that I use for keeping muertos "in transit" temporarily from graveyard to vessel. Yes, this IS legit. Conferred with Paleros about it. Rofl, peeps just have no clue about true necromancy. It's not in books or on the internet!

So, how'd I learn it? Truth! Experimenting, trial & error and...other ppl!! The best living (now deceased) teacher I had was Leilah Wendell and her books. But, mostly it was by instinct and a mysterious teacher in the shadows. She has been with me since I was eight years old. Who is it, you ask? Santa Muerte.

She teaches necromancy? No. She guides. Santa will aid anyone who listens well, obeys instructions, doesn't defy her & is 100% honest with her. No need to be obsessed with her, though we all go through a Santa Muerte buying phase. She wants devotion & love but don't choke her. She is conservative but wildly independent & will let you know if you annoy her. Offerings look untouched? Flowers die too fast? Something weird or random happen to you that manifests as a statue missing or tumbling over and breaking? Lol! That's her saying "Lay off a bit!"

I am technically a devotee but my practice is too heavy with beings to take care of right now. I never forget her. I did a $300, 3 hour skin sacrifice on my arm that is fucking awesome. Here she is:

Don't say I'm not devoted! She's faded now but looks great. Scares people. Lol! My in-laws don't even ask.

Personally, I think what really taught me, or guided me with the Necro Arts is the Death Energy itself. Totally serious. It's an all encompassing energy that flows like electricity. It has polarity, a positive & negative, a 0 & 1, a male & a female. Yin & yang - yeah. The Death Energy is constant, it has no off switch, no delay, no breaks. All you can do is submit. There's no stopping it. Death prevails.

I'd love to go over my hypothesis here, but can't. It's about a certain type of Death Energy, yes - there are types but no one has ever said anything, anywhere. I'm working very slowly on a writing project that is very good and would be revolutionary if the right publisher came along. A huge NO on self-publishing. Did it too long, not worth it. My ideas would probably change a lot of minds & really make you ponder.

My little project has very little to no magic written for it. It's big on practice but for some reason, the messages I channel just don't mention spells or other castings. Yes, I channel & write but it's not with a spaceman named Lars. Lol! Or some 4th dimensional jabba-hooey.

Anyway, I could go on but I'm fuggin tired. Until next time.

Memento Mori! 💖💀💖