#OL-404

[pegasister60]

Go for it, CAR-11E!!

--

Do your part in helping CAR-11E defeat the source of their increased anxiety by voting for CAR-11E in the @best-hifi-rush-character polls!! CAR-11E has the opportunity to rock Kale’s shit and it’d be really fucking funny to watch them obliterate him.

[amiizuki]

it will be forever funny to me how the flashback portraits of Wittebrothers made Caleb seem like he's had packing peanuts for a brain

(this post ended up becoming quite lengthy, and so did the tags somehow, because I kinda devolved into a rant closer to the end of writing this whole thing, so bear with me here)

so we know that Philip and Caleb became orphans when both of them were still kids. after that, they ended up in Gravesfield and, to fit in with everyone else who lived there, picked up witch hunting and started thinking that witches are pure evil. Caleb knew perfectly well that he's the only family Philip's had left and that he even may be his his only friend, since, judging by the portraits, they've only ever hung out with each other and we don't know if those two ever made any other actual friends.

until one day, during a witch hunt he and Philip were both a part in (something Caleb seemed happy to do, judging by his smirk there), he met a witch – Evelyn – someone he's been taught to hate and want dead by the townsfolk. someone who, again, in his mind, should be evil.

but he just suddenly does a 180 and goes "damn, you can make fire with your hands, you're actually pretty cool"

and then a few days (?) of talking to her later, he's running off to live with her in the Demon Realm, while simultaneously not giving a single fuck about the brother he's abandoning.

(he even runs off with a smile, with a literal :D face, I fucking can't lmao)

Philip ends up seeing Caleb get dragged off through a weird portal and later follows along, thinking something like "no, my brother wouldn't just up and abandon me without saying anything. he probably got captured by that witch we saw together that one time! she probably used some demon magic to bewitch Caleb and took him through that portal to kill him or worse! I gotta go save him!". and, after spending god knows how long in that realm, searching endlessly for his missing older brother, he eventually finds him. but he also finds that Caleb is not only perfectly okay and not hurt in the slightest, he's also peacefully walking together with the same witch who "captured" him, even holding hands with her.

and when enraged Philip tries to attack Evelyn, to protect Caleb from the witch who took him from his home, from his brother, still thinking that Caleb's under her control, Caleb just... gives him a hug and goes on to introduce the witch as his new wife to him (I'm assuming that portrait is the same day as the other three, if not the same scene), also adding on top of that that they're having a child. all as if nothing happened. treating the whole thing like everything's perfectly okay and just another normal day, fully ignoring the fact that he threw his brother away with no care or thought, leaving him completely alone, a full orphan, now with zero actual family left (in TTT, during their backstory, it's said that "Caleb did his best to take care of his younger brother", meaning that either they never got adopted in Gravesfield, or whoever adopted them didn't give a shit about the two, so they still mostly had to fend for themselves), all to go smash some random 5 out of 10 witchussy he talked to, like, 3 times. no fucking wonder Philip killed him!

(btw, jokes aside, it didn't seem like he intended to kill Caleb, because in that portrait where he's ready to kill with a knife in his hand, he's facing forward, while Caleb is actually to his left. so it just looks to me like Philip was gonna try to kill Evelyn again, and Caleb either jumped in front of her to protect her and got accidentally stabbed or he attacked Philip back, to, again, protect Evelyn, and Philip ended up winning that fight. but that's just my theory)

my brother in literal christ and literal titan – why in the FUCK are you just hugging it out with a smile on your face??? you ran off while giving absolutely no warning to anyone, especially your younger brother! why do you think he's here and actively trying to attack you and your new wife? you're not even trying to address the fact that you left him! at least when Luz ran off to a different realm without warning, she had a "I'm still at the camp" cover, so Camila wouldn't worry that much about where her daughter is, and even then she still felt bad for leaving her mother and planned to go back home once summer was over. this chucklefuck, on the other hand, just permanently portaled away to the Boiling Isles, knocked up a witch and fully settled down there, walking around with a big ol' smile and no care in the world. "Philip who? never heard of him"

the only thing that would sorta make this situation seem better (as in, not make Caleb seem like an overly naive ignorant brick), in my opinion, is if they added one more portrait – after the one where he meets the witch, but before the one where he leaves. in that portrait, Caleb would look like he's trying his best to convince Philip that witches aren't actually evil, and perhaps even try to get him to go live with them in the Demon Realm, all the while Philip's looking at him with either disagreement/disappointment/disgust or just rolling his eyes and full on ignoring him, while sharpening his witch hunt tools or something. then it would look like Caleb at least tried to make his brother change his mind, like he tried to offer him a chance to go with them. but no. with the way the portraits look in the final version it just seems like Caleb was fully on-board with killing witches since he was young, even pulling his younger brother along to think the same way, Philip also thought that Caleb was perfectly fine with killing witches, but once he actually meets a real witch (assuming they've never met one before) he instantly pulls an uno reverse card and just runs off with her, without so much as telling his brother beforehand.

I'm not trying to say that "Belos should've been redeemed, because he's the victim here and Caleb is bad and it's all his fault". he still murdered his brother and went on to manipulate everyone on Boiling Isles for centuries, with his end goal being the death of all witches, while simultaneously being stuck in the loop of "denial" and "bargaining" stages of grief – repeatedly trying and failing to recreate a perfect copy of Caleb, but also killing each one that came out wrong or went against him. Belos not being redeemed in the end was the right choice (ignoring the "Belos was always le bad" from King's dad), I agree with that. frankly, if he actually got redeemed in the end, I'd probably be seething for the next 3 to 5 years, like how I did after the Diamonds' "redemptions" in SU (yes I'm still pissed about that lol). I'm just saying that, from what was shown to us, Caleb didn't seem like that good of a person either, not as bad as Belos ended up being, but still not that great. and, once again, seemingly had a raisin for a brain.

(off topic, but during Masha's retelling of Wittebane's backstory, their "sounds like big bro got a hot witch girlfriend and little bro got upset" line was so fucking cringe, it gave me a fever for 3 days the first time I watched the episode)

k, rant over, I dunno what else to add

TL;DR: I think Caleb was dumb as a brick, because, from what was shown to us in their backstory, he seemed to have run off to Demon Realm and abandon Philip without telling him anything beforehand. when Philip came to BI to look for his brother, who he assumed was under control of the witch who "took" him, since he thought his last living family member wouldn't just abandon him, and when he eventually found him, and it turned out he wasn't in any danger at all, Caleb just brushed the whole "I left you for witchussy" thing under the rug and pretended everything was and is perfectly fine, even though it clearly isn't. rip bozo

[erigold13261]

Hi Fi Rush Turnarounds: Part 4

Final part for these turnarounds! I didn't get the pigeons or the snail because I did not have enough tickets and did not want to play the game over completely just to get more easy-to-get tickets.

[spotforme]

i am so annoyed with myself righ now, i know, i know that i got a joke reference about velcro but i can't remember what it is

[oraclememehacker]

"My mother..." She began, voice already shaky as she knew this was gonna be tough to say. It had to be said though for the little that it actually mattered.

"My mother never should've died that day!" She yelled as a few tears sprang from the corners of her eyes. It just wasn't fair, she knew the truth now: She was killed for the sake of merely having her out of the way. It was a power grab by an absolute monster of a human being. "And you know it!"

@oraclememehacker asked// "This is just a game for you, isn't it?"

Questioning Sentences

--

"A game? No, not at all. But it is a job. I can't afford to let myself get too attached to the people who I'm meant to help die. I can't change fate."

Not even the fate of someone like Ishiki Wakaba. Futaba's mother had been one of the first souls he'd been tasked with collecting when he first became a grim reaper. It was awful, to hear the women begging for her life, and still not being able to do anything about it. But that was just how things worked.

"I'm sorry, Futaba."

[pumpkinspiceeddie]

Desperate part two

Part one here, this is an immediate continuation 😏

Read on ao3

@steddiemicrofic prompt ‘hole’ is the best thing that’s ever happened to me • 404 words

Rated E • tags: and they were roommates, pet names, dirty talk

Steve whimpered again at the way Eddie was staring down at him as he rubbed incessantly against his prostate. He was already so close and he knew it wouldn’t take much to get him there.

“Please, oh fuck, please! Need to come on your cock,” he begged.

Eddie chuckled at him before pushing another calloused finger past his rim, next to the vibrator still in him. “You can wait a little more, greedy. Shh, I know. Gunna get this cock in you, gorgeous.”

Steve writhed and grabbed handfuls of his sheets, trying his best not to come as his rim was stretched impossibly.

“Please please please.” His voice didn’t sound like his own, and he chanted nonsensically as Eddie continued to drag this out.

Eventually everything was pulled from his hole and he felt himself clench around nothing. An embarrassing wail tore out of him and Eddie chuckled again, the menace.

Eddie knee walked closer between his sprawled shaking legs, his hard length already shining with lube and precome.

“God, look at you, honey. All spread out for me waiting for my cock to ruin your pretty hole. Fuckin’ wish you would’ve let me know sooner you needed dicked down, Stevie. We could’ve been doing this ages ago.”

Steve had no idea how he was this coherent while he felt like he was going to disintegrate at any moment. He whimpered and Eddie shushed him, taking his legs and bending them up towards him. Steve cried out when he spit directly down onto his hole. Who knew Eddie was going to be perfectly nasty about this?

“God, c’mon,” Steve huffed, quickly becoming impatient. He’d thought this plan would’ve made Eddie more crazed and hurried, but he was taking his good ole time.

“Such a slut, Harrington,” he chastised, the tone and words going straight to Steve’s dick. “I got what you need, you better be nicer.”

When Steve opened his mouth to argue, Eddie slid forward with one long thrust, sinking in to the hilt. He couldn’t breathe, or move, only stared opened mouthed up at him.

“You just needed to be shut up with a big dick in your ass, pretty boy? That it? Here you go, then,” he said through his teeth and pulled back to shove roughly forward.

It only took a couple more thrusts before Steve came hard between them, untouched.

“Hold on, sunshine. I’m nowhere near done with you.”

[rogdona]

assorted doodles of some of ur ocs because they are all COOL and AWESOMESAUCE <3

AUDIEKFJDLFKDKSKDKD I LOVE EMMMMMMMMMMMM♥️💕♥️💕♥️💕♥️💕♥️♥️💕♥️💕♥️💕♥️💕 NICO OUTSIDE MY HOUSE NO WAYYYYY AJDJSJJS HE LOOKS SO SILLYYYY💗💕💗💕💗💕💗💗💕💗💕💗💕💗💗💕💗💕 AND THE HORTENSIA AND FLAGPOLE ONEEEEEE LOVE THE BIG GRIN AND THUMBS UP🌷💕🌷💕🌷💕💕🌷💕🌷💕🌷🌷💕🌷💕🌷💕 AND TRANSITO LOOKS ADORABLEEEEE LOVE THE EARS💗💕💗💕💗💗💕💗💕💗💕 POPPYSEED BEING CUTE AS ALWAYS TOO AND 404S BIG OL EYESSSSSS♥️💕♥️💕♥️💕♥️💕♥️♥️💕♥️💕💕♥️💕 SO HAPPY U LIKE THE D20 GUY TOO JAJFJSJSJ💗💕💗💕💗💕💗💕💗💕 LOVE THESE TYSMMMMMMMMM🌷💕🌷💕🌷💕🌷💕

[omegaremix]

Omega Radio for July 19 & July 20, 2014; #56.

Wu-Tang Clan “Can It Be So Simple”

Public Enemy “Tie Goes To The Runner”

A Tribe Called Quest “Lyrics To Go”

Wu-Tang Clan “Da Mystery Of Chessboxing”

Black Moon “Crooklyn”

Gang Starr “Take It Personal”

Organized Konfusion f. O.C. “You Won’t Go Far”

Boogiemonsters “R.T.N.S. (Recognized Thresholds Of Negative Stress)”

Bushwackass “Ruff, Rugged, And Raw”

Jeru Tha Damaja “Mental Stamina”

AZ “Rather Unique”

Notorious B.I.G. “Unbelievable”

Group Home “Suspended In Time”

Funkdoobiest “Doobie In The Head”

Q-Ball & Kurt Kazal “Makin’ Moves (Bass Radio VER)”

Smooth Da Hustler “Broken Language”

Mic Geronimo “Shit’s Real”

Half A Mil “Another Homicide Scene”

Kool Keith (as Dr. Octagon) “Blue Flowers”

All City “Move On You” (RMX)

Reflection Eternal f. Gil-Scott Heron “The Blast”

Big L “Holdin’ It Down”

GZA f. DJ Muggs “When The Fat Lady Sings”

Bad Seed “For The Kids”

Deltron 3030 “Virus”

Hieroglyphics “Oakland Blackouts”

Smut Peddlers “One By One” (demo)

Kool G Rap & RZA “Cakes”

Slum Villlage “Raise It Up”

KRS-One “Underground”

Nas f. Large Professor “Stay Chiseled”

Peanut Butter Wolf “Dopestyle”

Company Flow “8 Steps To Perfection”

Yak Ballz “Nasty Or Nice”

Arsonists “Flashback”

Chi-N.Y. Network “Keep The Fame”

Dalek “Trampled Brethen”

Rubberoom “Evil Arch Angels”

Murs “H-U-S-T-L-E”

Company Flow “Collude / Interlude”

Cannibal Ox f. Vast Aire “Atom”

Smut Peddlers “Smut Control”

MF Grimm f. Kool G Rap & Akinyele “AIDS”

Cage f. Jello Biafra “Grand Ol’ Party Crash”

King Gheedorah “Take Me To Your Leader (Fazers)”

Madlib as Quasimoto “Return Of The Loop Digga”

MF Grimm f. MF Doom “Foolish”

Vast Aire “Cholesterol”

Madvillain “America’s Most Blunted”

MF Doom & MF Grimm “Tick Tock pt. 2”

King Gheedorah “G-Force pt. 2”

Molemen “Put Your Quarter Up”

R.A. The Rugged Man “On The Block”

CX Kidtronik “Wild Kingdom”

Jonwayne “404 Garbage”

Matches Malone / PIllsbury “It’s Like That”

Tragedy Khadafi “Best Of Both Worlds”

Diverse “Ain’t Right” (DJ Mitsu RMX)

Immortal Technique “Harlem Streets”

Tech N9ne “Who Do I Catch”

Action Bronson “Savage From Sarasota”

Jonwayne “The Come Up”

Skeme Team & Brooklyn Academy “Con Artists”

Serengeti “Directions”

DC The Midi Alien f. Vinnie Paz “Man-Made Ways”

Bonus Omega; overnight golden-era and backpacker hip-hop / rap.

[venelona-turtle-den]

🎇FUTURE LEONARDO GHOST MASTERPOST🎇

All things future Leo desktop ghost involved 🐢💙 (last update 09.04.2023)

⏩MAIN POST - read all about and install ol' man Leonardo on your computer here

▶Future Leonardo GUIDE - a walkthrough/all unlockable things for Leo

▶Future Leonardo FAQ - most asked questions

🟢Latest Ghost update log (no update yet. will be added later)

◽Hashtags:

#ghost future leonardo - all posts including ghost ol' man

#ghost future leonardo dev - posts answering technical questions/addressing bugs/troubleshooting/development facts

#ghost future leonardo shinenigans - reacting to your favourite moments/screenshots + posts where I answer with new doodles of Future Leo (usually when he's off your screen and back in his world)

#ghost future leonardo fanart - other people's art of Future Leon 💖

◽Ghost doodles (art I made related to Future Leon):

Banner picture

Leo listens to your music

Leo tells Mikey about you (response to fanart)

How Leo feels about being sent back in less than five minutes

Leo loves your not-traumatic background

Leo reacts to you asking about his brothers (response to fanart)

◽Ghost help (answering questions related to Ghost troubles):

SCREENSHOTS OF THE INSTALLATION PROCESS

How to make Leo stay over the top of your screen applications

I can't pet Leo! (gif of how you do it)

Will Ghost work on: Chromebooks

Possibility for more ghosts?

Is it possible to slap Leo

How to report a grammar/spelling mistake

Leo says 404 on updating

Leo restarts on boot (introduction process plays again)

[brujapix]

My "get through the game in as few days as possible" Rescue Corps Scout, Wyler!

Discharged from his old position as a scout for Exploration Corps, Wyler took the mission to ol 404 as a way to claw his way back to a "respectable" position in life.

Hoping to mutiny against Shepherd and take her place, Wyler wants to exploit the vast resources of PNF-404 and uses pikmin as little more than free labor! And if the little guys cross him, that's a one way ticket to being tossed into a bulborb's gullet.

I hate him!

[pegasister60]

Track eight gave us another glimpse of this interoffice romance! CAR-11E’s love is requited, it seems, but still forbidden! Oh, will CAR-11E ever know fulfillment?

--

Apparently not, because not even their normal work-life is safe from stress. Please vote for CAR-11E in the @best-hifi-rush-character polls to help them get a step closer to kicking Kale’s ass! We’ve advanced to the next round but that’s a hell of a match-up.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

HxH 404: The True King's Return

There is a guiding thread to this scattered chapter. Everything is moving forward to a big ol kerfuffle tomorrow night. Building off of the recent setup for Kacho/Fugetsu's team and their upcoming assassination attempt. But this time I want to try and cast a wide net instead of focusing on just the part that intrigues me the most.

Starting here. We have a very tense exchange between Kurapika and the Third Prince. A lot of it though is just making characters aware of stuff we already know. Very cool how Pika picks up on the First Prince's guard likely swiping an early coin. But we go over how Zhang Lei's power seems to work, reiterate it'll show its true strength after he wins the war, and reinforce that the mafia games on the lower decks matter here. Especially when Benjamin is looking for a good excuse to declare martial law. I'd also note here the worry that Second Prince Camilla will use the next round of nen lessons to strike at Woble with her curse-carriers. But this man ain't no main character, no that's coming up...

The #1 main man himself, Leorio! I can't believe this is the first time I get to really talk about him being here on the whale ship. And it's very little honestly. Just a reminder he's with Cheadle and part of this mission to finish off his medical training. Truth be told, I feel like he's just biding his time here to have a bigger role in the Dark Continent when we get there. Will Kurapika even continue on? Recall the plan is to dump most of the Kakin people on an island that's uninhabited but still a ways away from the actual DC. Morel will make good on being introduced as a deep sea hunter for the rest of the trip.

Still, this is around something very important. Halkenburg is taking a huge gamble right now. He swapped bodies through his power with one of Benjamin's guards. In true Togashi fashion we get a whole diatribe about how this works. He will have a limited time after his body dies to control the guard's body and from the sound of it thinks he can execute his master stroke in that frame. Looking at the timeframe, it seems to line up fairly well with when Kacho is planning to strike at Seventh Prince Luzurus. That's the running theme here, and something I've figured about the Succession Contest for a while. There'll be one big moment where everything comes to a head and winnows down the number of princes dramatically.

Meanwhile, #4 still seems to be engrossed with his nen training. Which is something I keep thinking about him. I get a lot of Meruem vibes out of Tserri the more we see of him. He's so powerful, so detached that the revelation of nen has finally given him something to capture his attention. Like Meruem when he finally met his match in Komugi. There was someone out there who could compete with him in some way, that knowledge consumed him.

We've had aspects of this series that hint that nen changes a person. Tserri is a very bored person when we meet him. Consistently this training with nen has solved that. I don't think he'll become a good guy through this, just that he may become a bit of an ascetic like Netero. Isaac, not Beyond. Though he may differ on the challenge of the Dark Continent. Honestly...that's kinda what I see out of him. He'll ultimately be willing to forsake the contest over the chance to explore the real mystery.

And to bring it all home, we have the announcement of Halkenburg's death and impending funeral procession. Which leads to a little update on the Troupe. Not much to say there, Feitan's pretty funny, but of course they're here and involved and could throw a huge wrench in the main plans if Kurapika goes a little nutty learning that.

[boffeeceans]

Actually think Billy deserves some smooches. From Eddie specifically. Just all over his face out of no where. And then Billy goes "the fuck was that for?" And then Eddie shrugs and goes "cause I love you." And then Billy goes all 404 not found. Stops working. Have you tried turning him on and off. Maybe give him a good ol shake

[moodooivy]

Ranking Sanscest ships

To celebrate the fact that it's almost Valentine's Day I have decided I wanted to rank all Sanscest ships (I won't be including ships like Erosion x Ceno, Paperjam x Fresh, Fallacy x Encre, Mad Sci ships, Passive ships, Shattered ships, Empireverse ships, etc. I'll also leave out genderbends because then there would be way too much). I'll try not to be bias and just put every Swap Sans ship at the top, but if I like it and think it's good, it's going near the top... Or well. Bottom... Keep in mind this is all my opinion, which is constantly changing. This might not be in the best order but I tried. Also, when I say bad I just mean I dislike it. I don't think any ship is necessarily "bad". All ships are good... Except for the first five. I do think they're pretty bad... Anyway! (Ok not anyway. Real quick I jut wanna warn you that I dislike a lot of popular ships. Please don't yell at me if your favorite is near the top. Or at least not at the bottom)

111: And the worst ship in my opinion is.......; Dussic/Classic x Dust! Dussic is just bad. Very bad. It's boring, it's weird, it doesn't make sense, it's gross, and that's all I'mma say. I wont give an explanation to every ship but if I have something to say I'll say it.

110: Classic x Nightmare Lazymare is bad. You're going to see a lot of Classic ships, Dream ships, and Ink ships near the bottom. This ship definitely stems from Classic harems. Aka the worst part of this fandom (To me. Ship whatever you want. Just keep all your harems away from me unless it's a Blue harem or Fluttershy harem. We'll talk with a Dust harem).

109: Classic x Horror

108: Classic x Error Ah yes. Lazyglitch. Error in love with the original anomaly. The most generic cookie cutter Sans out there. He's a real catch. I mean I guess it would make sense Error wouldn't want to destroy his AU since it's the original but. Still.

107: Cross x Dream Cream. One of, if not THE most popular ship in the family. Also one of the worst. Why? Because it's generic and bland. People try too hard to make it look cute. It looks cute but it really isn't.

106: Classic x Ink

105: Dream x Dust Drust is boring. I don't like it when people ship Dream with the Bad Sanses if you couldn't tell. I know a lot of people who do this with him, I'm not gonna name names, I don't want to shame anyone because they can do what they want, but it's still annoying.

104: Fell x Ink

103: Dream x Horror

102: Fresh x Nightmare

101: Fresh x Dream Dreamfresh. I dunno. Maybe Dream can make Fresh feel something?

100: Dream x Fell

99: Alter x Gans

98: Black x Blue

97: Blue x Razz

96: Fell x Razz

95: Dream x Nightmare People often forget that Dream and corrupted Nightmare are not related. This isn't incest. That being said this still isn't good.

94: Dust x Reaper

93: Error x Reaper

92: Error x Outer

91: Error x Horror This ship is absolutely adorable. I see Horror as being the only Bad Sans (Besides maybe Nightmare) Error will stand and allow to touch him because he likes to cuddle with the big ol' teddy bear mass that is Horror. It's only so low because it's not that good.

90: Hate x Nightmare

89: Cross x Epic

88: Color x Delta

87: Blue x Delta

86: Bill x Blue

85: 404 x Bill

84: Alter x Blue

83: Color x Killer

82: Killer x Outer

81: Outer x Science

80: Lust x Nightmare

79: Fell x Science

78: Fresh x Horror

77: Error x Lust

76: Blue x Hate

75: Melon x Sugar

74: Fell x Fresh

73: Nightmare x Reaper

72: Cross x Ink

71: Dream x Ink I really don't ship Dream with anyone. I just can't see him falling in love with anyone. But if he were to love anyone I think it would be Ink because they're both kinda guardians (But then he'd loose interest when he finds out Ink's intent). I list more Dream ships below but they're only there because I like them more.

70: Dream x Geno I ship the CQ bros with the Stars.

69: Ink x Reaper Well well well...

68: Geno x Ink

67: Geno x Nightmare

66: Fresh x Science

65: Dream x Error

64: Dream x Killer ZeFanatic. I blame you for why I like this and think it's kinda hot.

63: Killer x Nightmare This ship is so annoying... But there's so much hilarious potential! Squee! It's kinda good! (I'm honestly hooked on the idea of a fem Killer singing Poisonous Love from Rio 2)

62: Dream x Outer

61: Fell x Nightmare

60: Classic x Lust

59: Fresh x Lust I once saw this adorable comic of these two and ever since I did I fell in love with this ship.

58: Horror x Lust Horrorlust is too overrated for me to enjoy it. I also just don't think it's that good.

57: Cross x Error They would fight over literally. Everything.

56: Ccino x Dream

55: Dance x Lust They'll probably dance together. I think this is the best ship with Lust because Dance is a realistic and healthy partner for him in my opinion.

54: Classic x Fell

53: Geno x Reaper Before anyone threatens my family for putting Afterdeath so low in this ranking, I just don't like the tsundere dynamic. When it comes to tsunderes there is a very fine line before it's clear said tsundere is not a tsundere and is just not into the other person. There is only one ship in my opinion that nails the "Tsundere x Flirt" dynamic.

52: Ccino x Hate

51: Cross x Killer Just like Afterdeath, too many tsundere stuff. But at least it's not all just 'Tsundere. Thas it.'.

50: Ink x Lust

49: Farm x Horror Same situation as Horrorlust.

48: Epic x Fresh

47: Fatal x Lavender

46: Ink x Killer Killer simps for Nightmare. Ink simps for Dream. You get it~

45: Error x Fresh I used to hate this ship. But I've decided to open my mind and have decided it's not that bad actually.

44: Squid x Octopus- I mean Ink x Nightmare

43: Nightmare x Science Bookworms lol.

42: Blue x Science

41: Error x Ink I keep going back and forth on whether I think this ship is good or not. I think "hey it's kinda cute", but than I look at an Errink pic and want to throw up. I have finally decided on my opinion. It's good. As long as people don't take it seriously. It's not 'good good' so don't try to make it dramatic but it's cute so make some silly art. Even better if it's a poly with Fresh or Blue.

40: Blue x Melon

39: Blue x Classic

38: Blue x Outer

37: Blue x Gans

36: Blue x Farm

35: Blue x Lavender

34: Dust x Lust

33: Cross x Dust

32: Blue x Fresh

31: 404 x Blue

30: Dust x Razz

29: Horror x Nightmare They so silly and cute.

28: Blue x Geno

27: Lust x Science This ships makes me think of Rarijack but if it was actually good.

26: Error x Fell

25: Dust x Fell

24: Horror x Killer They'd get into so much shenanigans. I like to imagine Horror would want to eat Killer becaus he's small but not too small.

23: Error x Nightmare

22: Ccino x Nightmare

21: Dust x Horror

20: Dust x Nightmare

19: Fell x Lust

18: Ccino x Killer Cat lovers. Lol.

17: Blue x Ink As long as you don't make Ink shorter this is adorable.

16: Asylum x Blue

15: Blue x Fell

14: Cross x Nightmare Better than Cream. So much drama potential.

13: Blue x Dream

12: Blue x Reaper

11: Blue x Lust Lust would give Blue so many cute nicknames. He would be so sweet to his baby Blue.

10: Blue x Ccino This is definitely the most wholesome ship of all time.

9: Blue x Dust Probably the most popular ship that I enjoy. So many '"I Can make him better""I can make him worse"' vibes. Also I just ship Blue with the Bad Sanses so hard.

8: Blue x Killer Lol Killer such a flirt and would tease Blue so much.

7: Blue x Horror Horrorberry is very cute. Blue would make Horror so many tacos.

6: Fresh x Ink Paperfresh this, Errink that. When are people gon wake up and realize the truly perfect artsy couple. They so silly! It's kind of like Horrorkiller where I can imagine them getting into different high jinks. I especially love the idea of them bothering Error together. Ink gets scary dog privilege because Fresh lol.

5: Blue x Fatal Fatalberry is very good. Enough said.

4: Dust x Killer I LOVE KILLERDUST SO DAMN MUCH SQUEEEE!!! Dust is such a tsundere and Kills is such a flirt. I know I criticized other ships for this dynamic but... Hush. This is the only one that makes it really work. There's so much potential for this pair. This is the highest non Swap pair lol.

3: Blue x Cross Crossberry will always be the cutest ship ever. Cuter than the below pairs even. I love their dynamic so much. Blue would so fangirl over Cross's hotness constantly. He such a bottom lol.

2: Blue x Nightmare Nightberry. I. Love. This. SHIP!!! SO MUCH!!! It's so cuuute! And kinda hot honestly-

1: And the best ship in my opinion is...; Blue x Error Errorberry is and will always be my favorite ship. They are beauty and the beast, opposites attract, they were made for each other. I love this ship (Except when people make Error shorter than Blue. Don't like that. Bleh. Blue must be the shortest).

Feel free to disagree with me and tell me your opinions. I'd be very interested to hear what you guys think. There's way too many ships for me to tag so I won't even bother.

[eldritch-muppetshow]

more pikmin 4 spoilers, this time abt louie

on one hand i’m a little disappointed that this game debunked a lot of potential “lost on an alien planet”-related angst for him, but the implication that louie would rather live on a hostile alien planet to sate his cravings for bug flesh rather than go home at any point + decides to make it everybody else’s problem is very funny to me. the player character + company defeating louie and taking him home isn’t just to rescue him, it’s to protect pnf-404’s ecosystems from this one-man extinction event lmao

(also there’s some story potential with the idea that he doesn’t feel like he belongs anywhere on hocotate, for those who miss the ol’ classic “this guy is sad as hell inside” interpretation)

[lagingersnapz]

Some Rain Must Fall - (Fallout Fic) Chapter 10: Ancient History

Chapter: 10/?

In the past, the tension between Lucy and the Ghoul comes to a head, or rather a finger, and a good ol' fashion honest exchange... of fingers.

In the present, Lucy and Cooper settle in for a night or two in Vault 4, and Lucy gets a chance to ask about why Cooper didn't want her to know who he was.

Characters: Lucy MacLean/Cooper Howard(The Ghoul), Dogmeat(CX-404), Original Characters

Word Count: 5245

Warnings: Violence, Swearing

Author's Note: Well, we made it to the final chapter that includes a scene from the show at the beginning. After this it'll just all be fanfiction stuff. Thank you again for everyone who has read my little story so far. Hopefully it continues to be a fun read. No end in sight yet, since I still have a lot to cover in my story. I would like to reiterate, though. this is a SLOW BURN. Really... really... agonizingly slow. Though I've read ones that took longer than I intend to take, so maybe it's not really that bad.

Previous Next

Ao3

~~~

The sounds of the Wasteland had faded away, replaced by the pounding of blood in Lucy’s ear. There was nowhere to go, but she was going to try anyway. Ahead of her was a car. There was no time to go around, she needed every second she could get out of this head start. Rather than running around it, she slid over the hood, almost catching herself on a piece of jagged metal.

Rounding a corner, Lucy ran a few more steps and then stumbled to a stop in shock at the sight in front of her. Their surroundings had been a fairly standard broken down city, but suddenly all of it gave way to a massive crater, the likes of which Lucy had never seen before. It could only have been from one thing: a bomb.

Before she could finish processing what she was seeing, let alone figure out a way to get around it, something wrapped around her torso. Lucy had just enough time to look down and see that it was a rope, a lasso, before it pulled taught and she was sent flying backwards, butt over tea kettle through the dirt, her neck bending painfully. Thrashing, she tried to gain some traction on the ground, but the lasso stayed tight, and she was being pulled back in the direction she had just come running from. It didn’t take much to realize the Ghoul must have caught up with her. Where the heck had he even been keeping enough rope to make a lasso with?!

“Where d’you think you’re goin’? The pulling stopped and he threw down the rope, moving to stand over her. “You ain’t goin’ nowhere.” The Ghoul reached down for her, one hand grabbing the lasso still wrapped around her chest, and the other reached for the front of her jumpsuit, trying to get a hold of it to stop her squirming. Lucy became more frantic, and the hand came up to her face. She felt fingers trying to grab her jaw, and knew he was probably trying to make her look at him so he could threaten her some more and tell her how futile her escape attempt had been.

As Lucy felt the fingers brush over her lips, an instinctual reaction took hold and she bit down, feeling something crunch between her teeth. She swung her head, ripping, and felt something come loose, and as blood dripped into her mouth and over her chin, realization of what she had just done set in. Lucy had just bitten off the Ghoul’s finger﹘it was still in her mouth﹘and the two of them locked eyes.

“There you are,” the Ghoul said, more calmly than she expected. “You little killer.”

Lucy turned her head, spitting the finger as far away as she could manage, hoping he would never find it again. It didn’t seem likely that medicine up on the surface would be able to reattach a finger, but in this case she was hoping to make sure of it.

Hands closed on the fabric of her jumpsuit and the Ghoul pushed himself to his feet again, hauling her up with him, bracing her legs against his to make sure she stayed upright. With one hand he held hers, pointer finger extended, and with the other he drew a knife. Lucy realized what was about to happen, shrieking as she tried to get away, but his grip was like steel and she was stuck fast. The knife slid in a circle around her finger, slicing cleanly, though not painlessly, and Lucy screamed again in shock before the finger finally fell away into the Ghoul’s hand.

Holding the finger up in front of her, he twisted it around a little, driving home what had just happened. She had taken his finger, and in return he had taken hers. Ma June’s voice echoed in her recent memory, commenting on how telling it was that Lucy still had all ten of her fingers. Well, that certainly wasn’t the case anymore.

“Now, that right there is the closest thing we’ve had to an honest exchange so far,” he said.

Lucy was shaking, breath trembling in shock as she looked between him and the finger he held in his hand. The smile she hated so much, his self-satisfied, smug smile, returned to his face and Lucy hated that he felt like he was coming out on top in this situation. Even worse, she hated that she felt he had as well. She was right back where she started, in his custody. The Ghoul shifted his grip and took the finger back out of her field of vision, grabbing the lasso wrapped around her and pulling her back in the direction of the puddle they had been drinking from. On the ground next to it was his saddlebags, which he must have left there when he came after her.

“Sit down, Vaultie,” he drawled when they got closer, and he pushed her down so she was sitting next to a rusted out car. Her mind was still reeling, and the stump of her finger burned and ached in equal measure. While she sat, he pulled the rope off of her, coiling it back up and stuffing it into one of the bags. Then he pulled out a roll of cloth, and unrolled it enough to store her finger in there before returning it to the bag.

“Now, I feel it’s only fair to warn you that if you try anythin’ like that again, I’ll be obliged to cut off more fingers.” The Ghoul spoke as he pulled his gloves back on over his hands, covering his freshly missing finger from sight. Lucy still felt his blood around her mouth, and tasted the tang of it on her tongue. Rather than answer, she glared at him. She wanted to spit some of his blood at him, but considering her state of dehydration she didn’t think she could even work up that amount of saliva.

“Come on, now. We’re almost there.” Reaching down, he pulled her back to her feet and pushed Lucy in front of him, and their march continued the same as it had been before, minus a finger or two.

The Ghoul had been telling the truth, and after only another hour or so of walking, he steered her in the direction of a massive building behind a half collapsed chain link fence. The pair stepped through a hole in the fence, and Lucy looked back at him with uncertainty, feeling her stomach start tossing with nerves again. A sign on the side of the building proclaimed it to be an old Super Duper Mart, though what purpose it served now she couldn’t have guessed, and that inability to guess was terrifying.

Every step seemed more difficult than the last, and Lucy could feel herself stumbling more often than stepping. The Ghoul grabbed her by the arm, tugging her along, half guiding and half keeping her upright. Finally the pair came to a stop in front of an intercom, and the Ghoul pressed a button, holding it down to speak.

“Transaction,” he said. Lucy felt the world tilt violently on its axis. A transaction? What kind of transaction?

A voice crackled at them from the speaker. “Yes?”

The Ghoul pressed the button again. “Two month supply of vials. Exchange one female. Mint condition.” He glanced over at her, his eyes landing on her maimed hand, which she had tucked against her chest. “Near mint condition,” he amended.

“Condition grading requires physical evaluation. Please send her in.” The voice on the intercom was startlingly cheerful, considering they were discussing trading her like livestock. A door nearby buzzed, and she heard the sound of a lock disengaging. The Ghoul heaved a sigh, running his tongue over his lower lip as he turned to face her. Lucy’s mind was slow from fatigue and a lack of water, but she still realized what was happening. The Ghoul drew a knife and stepped towards her, but Lucy was suddenly more afraid of what was in the building than she was of him.

“What’s in there?” she asked as he cut the ties on her wrists with the same blade he had used to cut her finger off.

“You’re ‘bout to find out.” His voice was flat as he looked at her, sheathing the knife, eyes squinting at her from under the brim of his hat.

“You’re selling me?” Lucy didn’t know why she was so surprised. Nothing he had done up until this point had indicated he was capable of kindness. If he was willing to eat another person, what was selling someone into slavery by comparison?

The Ghoul drew one of his guns, only half pointing it at her. “You got problems out here, too, Sweetheart. Best you try your luck behind that door.” He nodded his head in the direction of the opening. Lucy met his eyes again, searching for any sign of humanity. Any sign that he might change his mind. She found nothing, and shook her head at him, wondering why she continued to be surprised at how much cruelty he was capable of.

He indicated to the door with his head again. “Go on.” His voice sounded tired. When Lucy still didn’t move he reached out, grabbing her by the arm and half pushing and half shoving her towards the doorway. Lucy started to shuffle forward, head spinning. Stopping just outside the open door, she gave him a last glance over her shoulder. She watched the Ghoul gesture her forward with his gun, the threat lazy, like he knew she didn’t have enough left in her to fight him on it. Then, steeling herself, Lucy trudged forward into the waiting gloom while the door slid shut behind her.

The next time the door opened, Lucy was coming back out, though she didn’t feel quite like herself anymore. In her head she heard the words ‘My name is Martha.’ repeating over and over. In one hand she held a gun, and in the other a handful of little glass vials filled with amber liquid. On her way out of the store, after witnessing the carnage of the feral ghouls, Lucy had been debating which hand she was going to need if she found her Ghoul still waiting outside. Her new finger, helpfully attached by the Mr. Handy that had met her inside the store on arrival, tapped the side of the gun. It still felt a little numb, and she wasn’t used to it quite yet, but at least she had a finger again.

The sunlight outside was nearly blinding after the darkness of the store, but the ground under her newly boot clad feet felt more sturdy now. The Ghoul was still waiting outside, though in a vastly different state than she had last seen him in. Rather than standing, gun in hand, he was laying in the dirt, with a growing puddle of drool around his mouth. As Lucy approached, she saw his eyes flicker up to her, but he apparently lacked the strength for anything else, and continued to wheeze from where he was.

Lucy stood above him, feeling the weight of each item in her hands, still deciding which one she wanted to use. The events of the store were telling. She was smart enough to put two and two together. Roger, the ghoul they had met in the gutted clinic, had been in the process of going feral, and the Ghoul had put a stop to it when he killed him, saving him from losing his humanity slowly. The process could apparently be prevented by the little vials she now carried. The same ones that had been destroyed by the gulper when she had thrown his saddlebags into its mouth to save herself. The same ones the Ghoul had just tried to sell her for to save himself from the same fate.

It wasn’t clear to Lucy what stage of the process drooling in the dirt was, but it didn’t seem like a good sign. The Ghoul, who had been her tormentor, was reduced to this. He was pitiful. Pathetic. Weak. Lucy sighed.

“You don’t get these, you turn into one of those?” She gestured vaguely back at the store, knowing she didn’t have to elaborate on what ‘those’ were. He was clearly familiar with this place. He knew what it was they did here, and what was going to happen to her once she had gone inside. “That how it works?” It was obvious he wouldn’t be answering her, but Lucy didn’t need him to.

Crouching down, she looked at the gun in her hand again, making sure he could see her doing so. She had made up her mind on what she was going to do. She had thought she made it up the moment she saw him, but maybe she had already known from the start, because Lucy knew who she was, and she knew what was important to her. Still, she tapped her new, grey finger against the trigger guard.

“I may end up looking like you,” she said, making sure to look him in the eyes as she spoke, “but I’ll never be like you.” Reaching down, Lucy placed the vials right next to his gloved hand where it twitched in the dirt, before rising back to her feet, looking out over the Wasteland and back to him. “Golden Rule, motherfucker.” Then she turned her back on him and strode across the parking lot, away from him, and away from the Super Duper Mart.

***

Despite herself, Lucy felt her body relax a little moving through the halls of the Vault. Even when their group was herded into the quarantine rooms to wait for doctors to come and look over them. Cooper, on the other hand, looked like he was ready to jump out of his skin. His hand hovered over a weapon the entire time, gaining him wary looks from the Vault-dwellers, though none of them tried to disarm him. After Lucy’s last visit to this place, she couldn’t fault them. She and Max hadn’t set the best example.

Their wounds were treated, and a few were recommended IVs for dehydration, but overall their physical health could have been much worse. Their mental state, on the other hand, was abysmal. Although everyone felt a sense of relief at being inside the Vault and supposedly safe, nobody had had time to mourn and it was all starting to catch up to them.

Once they were all cleared by the doctors to be placed in housing units, the main group of survivors was placed in a large housing unit so they could be kept together. Lucy and Cooper, however, were placed in a separate unit close by, as they would not be staying long term. Kelly begged to be allowed to stay the night with them in their unit, and eventually Lucy relented.

The children had never experienced life in a Vault, and so much of it was like magic to them. Lucy showed them the bathtub and let them play in the warm water with soap and toys graciously provided by the Vault until they were all cleaned up, while Cooper sat stiff-backed in a chair against one of the metal walls of the living room, looking around like he saw ghosts wandering the halls and refused to let any of them sneak up on him.

Afterwards, the kids sat huddled in clean clothes on a couch, watching the Atomic King television and snacking and passing bits of food off to Dogmeat, who alternated between gobbling up every morsel and snuggling with a small stuffed bear she had managed to find, while Lucy put together something resembling a meal for them. It felt hauntingly domestic. None of them had had good sleep yet, and before the food was even finished the children had fallen asleep.

Lucy heaved a sigh and clicked off the stove top burner, leaving the pot of Blam-Co mac and cheese to cool before she could put it in a container for the refrigerator. “Cooper, can you help me?” Their unit had two bedrooms, and she gathered up Nate, leaving Kelly for Cooper to handle, bringing the little boy into the kids’ bedroom and tucking him into bed. Cooper was right behind her, and settled Kelly into the same bed as her brother. Dogmeat watched, teddy bear in her mouth, then jumped up in the bed with the kids, settling at the foot of the bed, putting the bear down between her front paws, nose turned towards the door like she would be keeping guard over them all night. Lucy brushed some hair out of Kelly’s face, tucked the blanket further around Nate, gave Dogmeat a thorough scratch on the ears and muzzle, then moved out of the room, clicking on a nightlight on her way out.

Back in the living room, Cooper looked around and shook his head, rubbing at his eyes. Lucy felt like her body was about to give out on her, and she debated whether she had the energy for a shower or not. Cooper’s hands clenched and unclenched until Lucy finally walked over to his side and stood, trying to think of what to say to him. There was so much that needed to be addressed. His name, for one thing, and his hatred towards the Vaults, but Lucy had no idea how to bring up any of them.

“I’m going to go shower,” she finally said. Cooper grunted in response, and went back to his chair by the wall. Water had never felt so good, and Lucy let herself stand in it for far longer than it took to get clean. It wasn’t until she started to sway on her feet and was afraid that she might actually fall asleep standing up that she made herself get out, dry off, and get dressed. She chose not to put on a vault-suit, instead putting on a pair of pajama pants and a tank top.

Cooper was right where she had left him in the living room, sitting in his chair, staring off into space. His hat rested on the table next to him, and the food remained untouched on the stove. Lucy ran her fingers through her uncombed hair, feeling them hit a snag as she chewed uncertainly at her lip. Eventually, she went and settled herself on the couch, facing Cooper where he sat in his chair.

“You’re Cooper Howard, right?”

***

Cooper almost laughed at the way Lucy ripped the band-aid off of the questions surrounding his name. It would have been funny if he wasn’t dreading it so much. The fact that she had figured out who he was shouldn’t have surprised him. He knew Lucy was smart, and maybe he hadn’t been as secretive about himself as he should have been. There was definitely a part of him that was happy she had figured it out. It felt good that there was someone who knew who he was again. But then he reminded himself that he wasn’t Cooper Howard anymore.

“Don’t call me that here,” he said, keeping his voice as even as he could manage. Lucy cocked her head to the side, her still damp hair falling over her shoulder.

“Why not?”

It was hard to say for sure why Cooper felt so on edge. Not that he had no reasons, but that he had far too many. The lack of sleep usually wouldn’t have been so difficult for him, but between the stress of getting the survivors here, the difficulties of losing people, and the discomfort of being inside a Vault, and not just any Vault, but one he had been in before, Cooper knew his nerves were completely shot.

“Because that’s not who I am anymore, so I don’t need anybody comin’ up to me asking questions about ancient history.”

Lucy continued to look at him with her big, hazel eyes, and Cooper squirmed a little in his chair until finally he couldn’t take being still any longer and rose to his feet to start pacing around the room.

“Why didn’t you just tell me that? Why didn’t you want me to know who you were?” Her voice was so soft and non-judgemental. Whether it was because she was truly not passing judgement on him, or because she was just too tired to be angry in that moment wasn’t totally clear, and Cooper realized he didn’t have a good answer for her, either. Why didn’t he want her to know who he was? His full identity of Cooper Howard wasn’t one he handed out often, but he had introduced himself as Cooper to people in the last 200 years.

“How many of my… How many Cooper Howard movies did you watch growing up?” he finally asked. He couldn’t bring himself to refer to them as his movies.

Lucy shrugged. “All of them, probably. My dad was a huge fan. Still is, I guess.”

Her answer stung a little bit. She knew what he had been before all of this. Before the ruined face and the harshness of the end of the world had changed him. Not just in a physical sense, but in every way. Cooper didn’t doubt that Henry would have talked about who Cooper had been if he was still enough of a fan to watch all of his movies with his kids. Had he told Lucy that Cooper was a good man? That he had been kind and generous and other bullshit from the time before?

“And how about you, Lucy MacLean? Were you a Cooper Howard fan?” In his life, Cooper had heard people say not to ask questions you didn’t really want the answer to, and as soon as this one left his mouth he knew he didn’t wanna hear what she was going to say to him. Rather than answer right away, Lucy continued to look at him with her searching eyes, taking in every detail of him as he stopped his pacing, waiting for her answer.

“Yeah, I was a fan,” she finally said, and the word ‘was’ was surprisingly painful.

Swallowing hard, Cooper pushed himself on. “And how about now? How do I compare to the man your daddy told you about growing up, huh? Am I everything you dreamed I’d be?” Cooper couldn’t keep the bitterness out of his voice. He spread his arms wide so she could take in the full effect of him. Skin scarred, practically hairless, nose rotted away, and clothes tattered and filthy. Every cruel thing he had done to her and everyone else in the last 200 years passed through his mind. It wasn’t that all he had done was bad, but she hadn’t exactly seen him at his best since they met. He could almost taste the coppery tang of Roger’s blood on his tongue.

“You helped save these people,” Lucy said. Cooper fell back a step like she had struck him physically. Nothing she could have said would have startled him more.

“I ain’t done it outta the goodness o’ my heart, Sweetie.” Cooper’s voice was taking on the thicker drawl that he used when he wanted to get mean. The further he got from himself and the more he tried to be like one of the characters from his films, the thicker the accent. He wasn’t about to let Lucy see him as anything but what he was.

Lucy stood up and took a step closer to him. “Those kids,” she pointed off towards the bedroom they had laid Kelly and Nate down in, “are alive because of you.” Cooper opened his mouth to interrupt, but Lucy cut him off and continued, taking another step closer. “Whatever your reasons were, you stayed. Nobody tied you up or forced you. You made that choice yourself. If you hadn’t stayed with us, those Raiders might have killed all of us.”

She took another step. “I’m not going to sit here and tell you that everything you did over the last couple hundred years was good or justified, because I’m sure not all of them were. I’ll bet there’s plenty of things you would take back if you could, and even more things you wouldn’t take back. But whatever has happened, it brought you here, and because you were here, these people are alive.”

Now she was toe to toe with him, and Cooper’s throat felt swollen and thick as he tried to think of what to say to her. Lucy didn’t give him the chance. “It’s not just about the bad you’ve done that makes you who you are. It’s about the good, too. I told you before I wasn’t familiar with your circumstances. That’s true. I don’t know what keeps you going through it all. But I know there has to be something, and I hope when you’re ready you’ll tell me.”

The two of them stood in silence, the only sound the background hum of the Vault, almost too quiet to hear. Lucy was seemingly unwilling to back down, and Cooper felt about two feet tall under the scrutiny of her gaze, even as he was looking down to meet her eyes. Her soft breath puffed over his face, and he smelled the mint of toothpaste. Her newest wound was visible on her chest above the neckline of the tank top from when the Raider had been trying to kill her, cleaned and with a butterfly stitch applied. When she had screamed out his name for help, he’d been terrified. When he found them he thought he’d been too late.

“You…” He started to speak and then didn’t know what he had been about to say. His eyes flickered down to her lips, which were set in a tantalizingly stubborn line. With a start, Cooper realized he was wondering if they were as soft as they looked, and if she would taste like toothpaste. So he said the first thing he could think of to make her take a step back before he did something they would both regret. “You’re a terrible judge of character. You don’t know me, Miss MacLean, so don’t pretend you do. I ain’t the men from my movies.”

Rather than be offended, a slight smile broke out over Lucy’s face and she crossed her arms over her chest. “Maybe. Now go shower. You could use it. I already put some clean clothes in the bathroom.” She held up her hand to silence him when he started to protest. “It’s not a Vault suit, so don’t worry.”

Was he really about to let this young woman tell him what to do? Apparently so, because Cooper grunted at her, half in annoyance and half in amusement at her willingness to boss him around, then he turned and stalked off towards the bathroom.  He wasn’t sure what the name of this little battle they were fighting was, but mentally he knew this was another tally in Lucy’s favor.

Cooper’s clothes were practically a part of his skin by this point. They were the same clothes he had been wearing the day the world ended, other than the duster, and he hadn’t bothered with washing them often, if at all. The hot water of the shower felt like stepping back in time, and for a moment Cooper closed his eyes and imagined it rinsing away the scarring on his skin, returning him to the handsome Hollywood man he had been. If he still looked like that, would he have let himself kiss her?

Snapping himself out of his thoughts, Cooper turned the temperature of the water down and hurried to finish. When he stepped out of the shower, he found his clothes had vanished. How the hell had he not heard her sneak in to take them? Growling in the back of his throat, Cooper dressed in the clothes that Lucy had said she left for him and hated when he looked in the mirror. He looked fucking ridiculous. In fact he might just have to kill her over this. Clothes was not the right word for the shirt and pants he was wearing. These were god damn pajamas. And there were actual slippers left out as well. Hell would freeze over before he put on a pair of slippers. Cooper stalked past them and out of the bathroom barefoot.

“Where the hell are my clothes?” he demanded as soon as he saw Lucy. She was putting away the food that the kids had fallen asleep before they could eat.

“In the washer. Don’t worry. I set it to gentle. Otherwise they looked like they might disintegrate.” She wiped her hands on a towel hanging from the oven. “Hungry? Or ready for bed?”

Maybe he was in Hell. Cooper had actually died in the swamp, and every moment after was Hell. That was the only explanation for how he was standing in a Vault dressed like this. “I sure as shit ain’t hungry, Sweetheart,” he snapped.

Lucy shrugged off his comment. “Alright. Let’s go to bed then. I want you to sleep in the bed with me.”

Cooper just blinked at her for a second. “I ain’t sleeping in the same bed as you.”

Now she was rolling her eyes at him, and Cooper felt his jaw tense. “How is it any different from me sleeping next to you on the ground? Besides… I have a very practical reason for it.”

“And what would that be?”

Shuffling her feet, Lucy held his eyes, though he got the distinct feeling she wanted to look at the floor. “After everything that happened… I’m afraid I’ll have nightmares. I don’t want to be alone if I do.”

“And you think my presence is gonna help if you have a bad dream?”

Lucy nodded. “You make me feel safe, Cooper.”

That took the wind right out of his sails. Cooper wanted to argue that safe was the last thing he should make her feel, but the look on her face made him bite his tongue. Rolling words around in his mouth for a little bit, he let them out as a long, put-upon sigh. “Fine. But I better not end up with kids piled on top of me again.”

Neither of them said anything as Lucy led the way to the bedroom and crawled under the blankets. Cooper looked at it like another swamp monster was going to come bursting out from between the sheets, before resigning himself to another sleepless night. He’d felt more at ease in his coffin than he did between the covers of the soft queen sized bed. Rather than keeping her distance, as Cooper had assumed she would, Lucy immediately tucked herself up against his side again, and this time there was nowhere for him to rest his arm but around her.

“How the fuck did I end up here?” he whispered quietly to himself.

“Go to sleep, Cooper.” Lucy’s voice was soft, and he could tell she was already starting to drift off.

The silence lasted long enough that he thought she had fallen asleep, but then she started talking again. “Hey, remember how you said you didn’t want anyone asking you questions about ancient history?”

“Yep.”

“Know what I did for work in my Vault?”

“What?”

“I was a history teacher.”

“Well… shit.”