#THEY FIGURED OUT I WAS HUNTING THEM CRUD

[moltengoldveins]

….. wait. What?

What the hell?

WHAT THE F-

[ckret2]

no idea if anyhting of the sort has been asked before but i was wondering mostly based off my past experiences

would bill be the kind of guy who is just Very Aware of like . sensations in his body and have it lead to shit like having a problem with chewing off old skin and stuff. In the sense that oh crud its just a Smidgen of old skin peeling off it's going INTO the Chomper or just out of boredom because He Can Do That

maybe both

like ohh . i think i feel a corner of my lip peeling off im gnawing that off or ohhh is that a little bit of skin slash nail at the tip of my finger i see i wonder if i can bite that off . Seems Cool .

apart from that your fic is feeding me so well and it took me a week to realize "lord almighty thats the same author that wrote those really fucking funny Alastor In Situations fics". i think a small part of my brain was in denial for whatever deranged reason there was .

ALASTOR IN SITUATIONS FICS LMAO. That really is what most of my fics about him are.

I think Bill is really aware of body sensations, but the sensations he is/isn't aware of have really low correlation to what a human who's overly aware of body sensations would be aware of. Like, this is the guy who's violently nauseous trying to comb his hair but who mixes mustard with maple syrup.

You and I have an idea of what our body should look like when it's Right—when our skin is whole and healthy and smooth, when our nails are cut correctly. If a little flake of skin is peeling off, if we have a hangnail, if there's a tear or a bump or a ridge that shouldn't be there, we know that's a Little Bit Wrong, and for some people that Little Bit Wrongness gets really really irritating until they remove it.

Bill doesn't have an internal conception of a Right human body. For him there's no such thing as a Right body that's human. You can't pick/chew at individual flaws when you perceive everything as one unending flaw. A human body is all skin flakes upon skin flakes, dead cells waiting to peel and slough free, odd little bumps and ridges and pores and wrinkles and folds... He could exfoliate his entire body down to the bone and then he'd find fault with the bone's texture.

Look at this image and remove the dots that are wrong.

Do you have the slightest idea which of these dots are supposed to be "wrong"?

What criteria do you base it on? It's all just visual noise.

It's hard to even focus on any particular dots.

Even if I tell that the yellow dots are what's "wrong"...

... is it any easier to see them in the image above? Even knowing what you should be looking for, you have to hunt for them. It takes hard focus to see the yellow dots separately from their neighbors in all that noise. You'll never find all of them unless you zoom in and go pixel by pixel. They just don't stand out. And still nothing about the yellow dots really feels "wrong" to us on an instinctive, visceral level. And if you do take out all the "wrong" yellow dots—do you know which color you're supposed to fill in instead? Even knowing what's wrong isn't enough for you to figure out what's right!

That's what flaws on human skin are like to Bill. It's nonsense on a plane of more nonsense. He's still grappling with the fact that he's bones slathered in meat rather than pure energy under a foil-thin shell of electrified gold. He is NOT in an emotional place to even NOTICE a hangnail.

When his skin starts to bother him, he's less likely to pick at little bits of it and more likely to be fighting the urge to claw it clean off.

He's more often bothered by things like the sound/feeling of his own breathing and choose to stop it for a few seconds just to get some GODDAMN PEACE AND QUIET FOR ONCE before reluctantly starting to breathe again because he knows he has to, ugh. Sometimes he moves his arms and is conscious of ribs under his chest. Sometimes he turns his head instead of his whole torso and gets a queasy sensation from being reminded he has a spine rather than a hard exoskeleton. He still sticks food in his eye when he's distracted and he's uncomfortable that he can't see his food inside his mouth. THAT'S the level of "bothered by bodily sensations" he's on.

(However: if he gets a cut/scrape, he definitely licks the blood off. He's the specific kind of weirdo that fits the "licks his own blood as a deliberate conscious thing" archetype. You know the type. Adolescent pseudo-goths keen to develop morbid fascinations.)

[gemwing1988]

Anubis TV Tropes

Warning, spoilers for those who have not read the Cuphead fanfiction, Heart, Soul & Mind. Read spoilers about this character at your own risk. Please enjoy. Profile picture is done by @akluthor1998.

A sinister and shadowy anthropomorphic jackal, who is one of the main antagonists of Heart, Soul & Mind. His backstory is still a mystery but he is said to be the Devil’s top bounty hunter, a dimensional traveller and a Shadowbender.

Abhorrent Admirer: He is this to Natty.

Animalistic Abomination:

And Now, You Must Marry Me: Much like the Devil towards Katie and King Dice with Lexie, Anubis is bent on making Natty his bride.

Ax-Crazy:

Baddie Flattery: No matter what the insults the girls, mainly Natty, throws at him, Anubis will brush them off and take them as a compliment.

Because I’m Good At It:

Berserk Button: Being purely a jackal, he hates being called either a wolf or a hyena. He’s also most easily ticked off you were to call him a coyote or even a dingo.

Big Bad Wolf: Okay, a jackal actually, but he’s still a bad guy with a terrifyingly wolfish Slasher Smile and he’s out to get the heroes.

Black Cloak: Since he doesn’t get introduced until Chapter 18, he is shown in a hooded cloak and is known as just “the figure” during Natty’s capture on Isle 2.

Bounty Hunter: The Devil’s top one at that. Straight up.

Bullying a Dragon:

Casanova Wannabe:

Casting a Shadow: As a Shadowbender, he can control and manipulate shadows, transform into a shadowy monstrosity and teleport via his own shadow.

Co-Dragons: Dice might be the Devil’s right hand man, Anubis is still the Devil’s most active and dangerous Bounty Hunter.

Dark is Evil: He’s a Shadowbender with a dark sense of humour and just as dark personality, he’s purely villainous. Not to mention he’s an anthropomorphic jackal with dark fur black as his heart.

Determinator: As a Bounty Hunter, once he is given a job to hunt you down, nothing can stop him. No matter what the obstacle or how far ahead you think you are, Anubis always gets his man. And it’s obvious that nothing will stop him from making Natty his wife either.

Dimensional Traveler:

Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Anubis mentioned about his mother had wanted to name him after the Egyptian God of Death and he honoured her wish by accepting it.

Expy:

It’s agreed between the authoresses that he’d be this to The Wolf/El Lobo/Death from Puss In Boots: The Last Wish.

He is also intended to be one to Dennis the mercenary hired by Plankton from SpongeBob Squarepants: The Movie.

Fingerless Gloves:

Gratuitous Spanish: Is he ever! Hardcore Boast:

Hardcore Long Coat: He wears a long sleeveless trench coat and is a dangerous Bounty Hunter.

Heck is That Noise: He alerts the heroes of his presence by whistling an eerie tune in his full debut in Chapter 18: Shadows Bending and Dragons Ascending.

The Heck With This! I’m Outta Here!:

I Have You Now, My Pretty: Much like the Devil and King Dice with Katie and Lexie, Anubis, likes having Natty right he wants her and is determined to keep her all to himself.

I Love You Because I Can’t Control You: Anubis is most alluded to Natty not just because of her beauty but also by her feistiness and witty comebacks.

Irony: He is a jackal who speaks in Spanish yet his name is Egyptian. Although there’s a reason why as he stated his mother wanted to name him after the Egyptian God of Death.

Karmic Butt-Monkey: Nowhere near the extent of King Dice but Anubis still suffers this treatment whenever his attempts to capture the Dreamstones and the Cup Brothers and making Natty his bride are thwarted. And you can be sure the Dreamstones are bound to deliver some painful servings of karma on him in two seconds flat.

Laser-Guided Karma:

Named After Someone Famous: He stated that his mother had actually liked the name “Anubis” and wanted to name her son after the Egyptian God of Death.

Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:

Oh, Crud!: His reaction when Katie first transforms into her dragon from to save Natty from his clutches and right before she beats the stuffing out of him.

Psycho For Hire:

Psychopathic Smirk: Basically his default expression before he breaks out into a terrifying Slasher Smile when things get serious.

The Rival:

To Katie.

Would sometimes alternate to Lexie.

He’s also this to Andy fighting for Natty’s affections.

Savage Wolf: A jackal rather than a wolf but still just as savage.

Sinister Scythe: His primary weapon.

Skunk Stripe: He has a red streak in his fur.

Slasher Smile: Anubis is specially fond of giving one of these out whenever he can. Mostly when he’s lusting for Natty or when he corners his prey.

Sleeves Are For Wimps: His trench coat is sleeveless to make room for pieces of armour to cover most of his arms and shoulders.

Smug Snake: A trait he shares with the Devil and Dice. He is a shady character and a dangerous Bounty Hunter (and proud of it!), who is just as arrogant, smug and overly confident that no alive had ever eluded him… until he met the Dreamstones and the Cup Brothers that is.

Stalker With a Crush: Much like the Devil with Katie and King Dice towards Lexie, Anubis has a Villainous Crush on Natty and will often hound and try to kidnap her.

Tempting Fate:

Those Two Bad Guys: Sometimes hangs out with Dice whenever they scheme to sabotage Lexie and Natty’s double date with Liam and Andrew and steal them away in Season 2.

Too Dumb to Live: Oh yeah, good idea, Anubis. Keep on trying to kidnap and marry Natty while taunting her friends and keep pushing Katie’s Berserk Button until she goes through a case of Big Sister Instincts and beats the mess out of you.

Undying Loyalty: Whether it’s the one from the game or the cartoon, the Devil’s the Devil and Anubis is fiercely loyal to him.

Villainous Crush: On Natty:

Vitriolic Best Buds: A bit of a stretch of them being best friends but Anubis and King Dice do often tolerate one another and are more than happy to team up in an attempt to capture and marry Lexie and Natty. Although they’re still not above bickering and insulting one another every now and then.

Would Hit a Girl: Anubis has zero qualms on picking fights with three young women. And he would go after any prey, whether they’d be a man or a woman.

Would Hurt a Child: If him kidnapping and holding Cuphead hostage in his introduction in Chapter 18: Shadows Bending and Dragons Ascending is of any indication.

[praphit]

Scream 6: Happy Women’s History Month!

Let me start off by saying that I am not a fan of this franchise. I like the first one, the second one is ok, but the rest?? - meh. I just can't go with it, you know?? I tried. There are always too many times when I say "Wait, what?" And yet, the "Fast & Furious" franchise; I'm 100% bought.

I know that makes no sense.

Maybe it's because I'm a child of Jason Voorhees. 

I hold all slashers to his standards of art, comedy, and excellence:)

Meanwhile, 

Ghostface is clumsy, kinda stupid, chatty, sloppy, reckless, and always has a partner. Teamwork is for heroes, villains are supposed to be able to do it all by themselves.

So, why did I watch this? - Women's History Month. Yep. A friend of mine (a woman) asked me to go with her to see it. Normally, I would have told this friend to kick rocks, but I figured since we're honoring women this month... that it's the least I can do :) Just trying to do my part.

If you're not caught up with this franchise, it doesn't matter. We all know the basics, and the basics still apply. It's a rated R Scooby Doo (Who dun done it?! Let’s take off their mask and see). Kinda like the show "Velma", 

but with better writing.

  Idk how many ghostface's we're up too now (that's another thing about him - he/she always dies, but somehow the masks are still getting manufactured and some new psychopath picks up where the last one left off), but he's back, and this time he's in NY. And this time, he's not chasing Sidney. 

Sorry, Sid, but apparently he got bored with you, and is now chasing after someone younger. Happy Women's History Month!

The youth I speak of are the same yoots from the last movie:

THE CORE FOUR (they call themselves):

We've got the trauma sisters (what I’m calling them). 

They've been through a lot. People keep getting murdered around them. They're trying to move on, but it's hard when Ghostface keeps tracking them down. Some of you kids out there might think you've got it bad, but at least there's no murderer hunting you down. Imagine your life like this: You try to go to college and get your education on, but here comes Ghostface to your classroom. You try to have a party and get into some sexy-time action with some drunken, shady, stranger, and here comes Ghostface. (side note: Jenna Ortega’s character does this - idk how old she is... 20ish maybe, but she looks like a teenager, so when some guy who looks like he’s in his 30′s tries to take her upstairs, it comes across to me like we have an R.Kelly situation on our hands)

You try to make a TikTok video alone in your room, and here comes Ghostface. You try to get a Big Mac with cheese from Mickey D’s, and you guessed it - Ghostface is there, ready to take your order.

Damn, dude! Either kill them or let them live! You gotta admire these young ladies. Despite the crud that this world keeps throwing their way, they find the strength to keep on keeping on. Happy Women's History Month :)

We also have... I forgot his name... we’ll call him Macho Man. He's the protector of the group, so he thinks. He's a level 10 bro. And no guy is good enough to be around the ladies in his life except for him. Isn't that sweet?? What would we do without our "protectors"?

And then there's the movie nerd.

She's the one who explains all of the movie meta stuff that's going on. One thing I can appreciate about her is that she leans into her nerdiness. But, that appreciation did not stop me from wanting to choke her out every time she talked. It's not completely her fault, cuz this franchise's schtick got old for me in the 3rd installment, but I'm placing all of the blame on her. Seriously, she could not have been more annoying. It was painful for me. I couldn't stop squirming through her monologues. I was gnashing my teeth. I thought I was turning into Ghostface. This movie almost became the crux of my villain origin story.

Look, the kills in this movie were multiplied, as they should be, but honesly, I think Ghostface could have killed MORE... OR this movie needed to be shorter, and cut out all of the emotional gush-gush from The Core Four. I have never rooted so hard for the "heroes" of a story to be killed. I wanted them all to go, including Ghostface. Perhaps I’m remembering it wrong, but weren’t the OG characters of “Scream” likeable? Not all of them, but enough, right?? (or maybe it was just Dewey - idk)

Everybody here is so ughckq... not one likeable character in this movie. I was rooting for something biblical to happen:

God interrupts Movie Nerd's monologue and says "ENOUGH! THIS IS HORRIBLE!" Then, he sends an angel to blow up the town. Everybody is dead. God says "Amen" and they roll the credits, but that's not what happens.

Everyone is so whiny! Not just the kids, but the adults too. Is that just what we are now? Maybe it's true to reality. Are we all whiny? Have my eyes just been opened?

Trauma sisters, I respect your strength, but don't TRY to move on with your lives, DO IT. There are ways! Adele uses grammy award winning music. Batman uses revenge, Chris Rock uses Netflix specials. Do something! Who's that lady? um... The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. She's been through worst shit than y'all, and look at her! She ain't bitchin about it! She’s bout it bout it! She got tough! and carved out a new life for herself. Look at her - 

  she’s living the dream!

Macho Man! AM I supposed to like you? All men know his game! He points out to the lady that he wants (he’s trying to score with Ortega), that the men she's been seeking are toxic (and well over 30). What she really needs is a guy like him. We all know that game! I think... do women know that game? I think they do... idk Happy Women's History Month! While Macho Man is not quite the picture of "toxic masculinity" he's close enough. He's like diet TM.

And don't get me started on Movie Nerd. She sparked this rant in me!

Ghostface! Kill! Kill them all! But, you won't will you?? You'll kill (awesomely) through NY. Bursting on the scene whenever The Core Four try to get some down time, but like every other part of this franchise, you'll never kill the main person/people whom you actually set out to kill.

These four are lucky that I didn't become Ghostface, cuz this movie would have only been about 30mins long, if that! I'd break in to their home, and call them to play a game alerting them to what I'm up to? NO! I'd kill them! I'm not going to let the trauma sisters take up valuable screen time to whine about their problems. I'm not going to allow Macho Man to... well, maybe a lil sexy-time action with the ladies before I kill him... bros before hoes, am I right?? (Happy Women's History Month). And I would definitely end Movie Nerd's reign of Annoyance. 

*WHEW* sorry... that's been building up for a while. It kept me up. Seriously... I'm up early, typing right now, cuz I had this rant in me, and it was keeping me from rest. Now, I can move on. See, trauma sisters, that's how you do it! You move on! You don't take a break while running from the killer to have an emotional pow wow. Now, is NOT the time! You're being hunted! DAG GON YOU! Ghostface, kill them! *WHEW* *clearing throat* sorry again. That's... the last drop, I think.

It wasn't all bad. Like I said, the kills are awesome. More blood in this one than the others, I think. You’ve gotta hand it to Ghostface, the man loves his work. I like his gusto. If he does catch you in this movie, he’s going to stab you like 35 times - that’s solid work ethic. The camera work for these kills is on point. Ghostface ain't playing around with all of the stabbing. You'll feel that shit, and that's why most people are there. I also LOVED the first scene. LOVED! I didn't see that coming at all. But, then... same ol bullshit. And that's the thing, I'm not about this brand of bullshit, but if you are, then it'll be just as enjoyable for you as the others. But, for a casual ( I use that word lightly) fan ------ Grade: D

I wondered to my friend (who's lucky that I love her) if the message over these types of movies are positive for women. I don't have the answer to that question. I mean, these "final girls (women)" are strong, but they've been through a whole lot, and don't seem all that healthy. They're bitter, angry, depressed, tired, lonely in some cases... that's a lot of pain/death they've been around.

Can we do better? Again, I don't know.

What if the woman is the lead antagonist? She hunts down the men for a change... although unless the writers let her win (which would be letting the murderer win) she'll end up being beaten up by a bunch of men... that doesn't look good.

But, what if...

Ok, what if there's some sort of alien entity that takes over the woman, and she becomes empowered. During the day she becomes powerful, independent, successful, glorious, and at night this entity leads her to kill... a lot. No, like A LOT - she's a beast. (look, we've gotta make money off this thing:). She'll only kill men... white men... Republican white men (kidding:)... but definitely white men who love Tucker Carlson. This way when she inevitably is defeated, they won't be killing the woman per se, but the empowered, successful monster that she has beco.... hmmm... Shoot... Maybe this is the best that we can do.

Happy Women's History Month!

[mazamba]

Danny wasn't happy.

He was eight again, a state he would very much like to change soon (one puberty is enough, thank you very much).

He'd also been given a juice-box which was, while admittedly tasty, somewhat demeaning.

What was really grinding his gears was that he owed Sam ten bucks.

"The Batman is Bruce Wayne," he muttered, voice way higher than he was comfortable with, "how did Sam call that?"

"I told you not to take that bet," giggled Jazz, "Bruce has a pretty distinct chin."

Danny gave her a weird look she couldn't quite decipher.

"We've been tracking your progress through the city," Bruce informed them, pulling up a number of security camera feeds, "you arrived at the Central Station on a train at noon."

"Why did you come here anyways?" asked Jazz.

"Just needed to get away from mom and dad for a bit," he admitted, "they've been a little... much lately."

"Much?"

"They've been trying to make up for hunting Danny," Jazz explained, "I mean, I'm glad they're finally looking away from their work for once, but Danny can't yawn without mom or dad tackling him with a pillow and a blanket."

"Yeah, it's all "are you ok sweetie?" or "are you getting enough sleep Danno?" or "are you sure you can go out tonight?" or- I mean, I appreciate it, but it's way too different from how they normally are."

"Ghost obsessed workaholics," summarized Jazz, "made me wish I was a ghost sometimes, if only to make them look my way."

Bruce gave her a concerned look.

"Not, you know, the normal way... without the dying bits."

"I've been telling her how messed up that sounds for years."

Jazz was saved from further scrutiny by the arrival of the two youngest members of the team.

"Yo Bruce! We're back!"

"Down here," he called back, "there's someone I want you to meet."

Two teenagers, one fourteen and the other sixteen, landed from the top of the cave with firemen poles.

"Ok, seriously, why are superheroes so dramatic?" groaned Jazz.

"How am I dramatic?"

"You yell Going Ghost when you transform. That's dramatic."

"Er, B, you do know you brought them to the... bachelor pad," pointed out the younger teenager, "if they're new recruits, I still get dibs on the Batmobile."

"Who's this little cutie?" cooed the older one, crouching to better interact with Danny, "Hi, I'm Barb."

"I have officially hit a new low I didn't know existed," he deadpanned.

"Danny, Jazz, this is Barbara Gordon and Dick Grayson," Bruce introduced them, "Barb, Danny's seventeen."

"... no he's not."

"Yes I am."

"Danny is actually Phantom, from Amity Park," he clarified, "something happened on his arrival here that triggered this. We're trying to figure out how to undo it."

"Preferably before I hit puberty again. Seriously, I'd just hit my big growth spurt, and now I'm back on the kid's menu."

"It's a thing that happens in our family," giggled Jazz, "almost no growth from fourteen to sixteen, and then comes the seventeen."

Barb looked her up and down her five-foot-nine frame, "Your growth spurt stopped early, huh?"

"...Yeah."

"If we could focus," Bruce cut back in, "as I was saying, I've been tracking Danny's movements through the city, but he drops off the radar near city hall and reappears in his younger form."

"Didn't poison Ivy attack that block this morning?" recalled Dick, "Then that mental ward tried to attack her..."

"Mental ward?" asked Jazz.

"I dunno, they were all in white, so I figured they worked for Arkham."

"Aw crud," groaned Danny, "do you have that on tape?"

Bruce pulled up the footage and centered on a fifteen year old girl with green skin and red hair drawn into big curls, standing on a mass of writhing vines. She was making a speech of sorts, but the footage didn't have audio.

"Yep, that's Pam all right," sighed Barb, "but where's..."

Right on queue, a white van pulled up and three agents in white suits poured out, immediately opening fire on the girl.

"That... doesn't look very effective," pointed out Dick.

The blasts succeeded in knocking her off the central vine, but she caught herself with a smaller vine behind her. She didn't look hurt, if anything she looked grossed out at the ectoplasmic slime she was now covered in.

"Oh, that stuff is so hard to wash out," groaned Jazz in sympathy.

"Meh, she's probably fine," dismissed Barb, "I'm pretty sure she's naked anyways."

"...naked?"

"Those leaves she's wearing? They're a part of her. Technically naked."

"I'm gonna make a list of things I don't need to know. Technically naked villains is up there."

"Gotcha. I won't tell you about Clayface then."

Danny cackled at the look on her sister's face.

"Wait, what's going on with her?" noticed Dick.

Pam was coughing out a red dust, pollen if Bruce had to guess.

"Ectoplasm does weird stuff to people," pointed out Danny, "Jazz once spent a week as a head in a jar."

"If she already has powers..." Jazz trailed off.

Poison Ivy eventually decided to bail, but not before crushing the GIW's white vans and sticking the agents to a tree.

"Wait, where did she go?'' asked Danny.

"Poison Ivy tends to travel underground," Bruce explained, "she's often seen in parks, but the whereabouts of her base are unknown."

"Pam used to be a friend of mine," sighed Barb, "she was way into saving the environment and stuff. Then she had an accident with an experimental fertilizer, and now she goes by Poison Ivy."

Danny couldn't help but think of Sam, "You know, if I had a nickle for every fifteen year old environmentalist that was turned into a plant-based rogue with mind-control powers and a hot dress made of leaves, I'd have two nickles. Which like, it's not a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice."

The footage sped through the arrest of the GIW agents and the subsequent clean up. It was surprisingly efficient, but some of the red pollen Ivy had coughed out was left behind.

"Wait, stop," Jazz cut in, "look, there's Danny."

Danny, in a much older form, was walking in from the corner, seemingly lost in thought.

"That's what you used to look like?" asked Barb, "You're... tall?"

"Told you," Danny bragged, "I'm betting I beat dad. He's almost seven feet!"

"Dude, why would you want to be that tall?" asked Dick, "Buying new clothes will be a nightmare."

"Yeah, but you know, taller."

They rolled their eyes and turned back to the screen, just in time to see Danny slip on the puddle of pollen.

"What's the point of being tall if you can't see what's under you?" jabbed Jazz, she hadn't been happy to start looking up when talking to her brother, so she was having fun.

"Shut uuuup," groaned Danny, "wait, does that mean I slipped in that girl's loogie?"

The Danny in the footage was now covered in the pollen, sneezing like he'd just snorted pepper shaker.

"And now you're covered in it," chuckled Dick.

Danny eventually stopped sneezing, but was visibly disoriented. After a minute, he wandered off. Bruce quickly switched the feed to follow him, until he finally wandered into an alley without cameras.

"Wait, where'd I go?" asked Danny.

"You don't know?" piped Barb.

"I don't remember anything after sneezing my lungs out."

Bruce sped trough the footage, until he finally got his answer. Danny, now visibly shorter, toddled out of the alley wearing oversized clothes.

"You look older than you do now," noticed Jazz, "actually..."

She reached down and picked him up.

"Uh oh. I think you're lighter than yesterday."

"Wait, what? Am I still losing years?"

"Put him on the table," Bruce ordered, "computer, run a bone age scan."

A machine descended from the ceiling and began running scans and x-rays. It took a minute for a result to come up.

"Seven years old," Bruce read out, "you're not losing years as quickly, but you're still losing them."

"How much time do I have doc?"

"I don't know. It might stop altogether or it might pick up the pace again... we need to speak with those GIW agents. Barb, I need you to track down Poison Ivy."

"Wait, just her?" asked Jazz.

"Ivy has the ability to control people with her pheromones," he explained, grabbing his cowl from the closet, "but it works better on men and her history with Barbara means she often hesitates to use it on her."

"We still don't know where she is," pointed out Barb.

"That was before she was shot with that ectoplasm," piped Jazz, pulling out a device her parents had insisted she take with her, "I can track her down."

"Wait, you're not going are you?" asked Danny, "Jazz, flying kicks aside, you're not exactly... coordinated."

"Hey! I've been taking classes?"

"What kind of classes?"

"... Tai chi."

Bruce sighed.

"Barb, take Jazz with you on the Batplane. We don't have time to retrofit that... thing into it. Track Ivy down and report back."

"She's gonna be a tight fit in my spare suit," pointed out Barb.

"She's not leaving the plane. No suit."

"And what am I supposed to do here?" piped Danny, "Just sit here and turn into a zygote?"

"I'm sure Alfred can find something for you to do."

"Yes, I do believe I have some coloring books lying around," jested the butler, "or some blocks perhaps?"

"... Seriously?"

"She also needs a code name," pointed out Robin, "what's your favorite bird?"

"Hey, why a bird?" protested Barb.

"We got two bats, we need a bird. Come on, favorite bird."

"Bird? Um... hey Danny, what was that ancestor of ours called?"

"It was... Fenton-Nightingale."

"Right then, Robin, you're with me," ordered Bruce, already walking to the dressing room, "Batgirl and Nightingale, track down Ivy on the Batplane. Bring her in if you have to."

"One question!" cut in Danny, "Is there anything in here that isn't called bat-something?"

"No."

-------

Couple things. Poison Ivy is one of Barb's classmates in The Batman. Unfortunately, that means that one of my OTPs won't be sailing, since Harleen's in her twenties and some sort of Dr. Phill rip off. A disservice to the character, but I don't want to mess with the established canon.

Another thing is that Barb and Dick are way closer in age than in any other version.

I'm gonna be using this post as a sounding board for now, but I think I'll post a proper fic out of this on my AO3. I need to re-watch The Batman first though.

Danny gets deaged and heads to Gotham to find jazz at collage there's only one problem he knows where the collage is just now where jazz's class is

Enter one bruce wayne who genuinely just so happened to be there (he's pulling a brucie wayme stunt) seeing a small kid looking around worried so what does the serial adopter do? Well he goes up to the kid of course crouching down to ask if he's ok whats his name wheres his parents or siblings?

Now jazz, jazz all but raised danny she protected him from a young age and helped him with anything he needed and durimg her time at collage she had worried for him, with the amount of bull her parents spouted she wouldn't be surprised if danny up and left

So imagine her surprise when she spotted her baby brother de aged talking to some stranger and at that moment every instinct flared and she remembered every warning she read or heard about Gotham and she acted

Danny was just looking for his sister when some guy crouched down to talk with him after asking some questions danny heard a sound he was familiar with jazz running

Bruce really wasn't expecting to be kicked for trying to help a kid

Artistic representation of jazz kicking bruce\/

[tabletopmayhem]

Beneath a scarlet light commanding passers by to travel via streetcar, a lone figure stood.

She watched the innocent pedestrians traveling by night, blissfully unaware of the horrors that lurked, the armies cloaked in darkness that waged a war no mortal eyes should see.  Across the street they buzzed and hummed in lively conversation, flies hovering around a venus flytrap.  Into the mouth of the poisonous beast they went.

Whatever they were before they were lured into its honey-sweet maw, when they departed they were something else.  Consumers.  Puppets violated by the monster of the North, feeding their money to the animal that cannibalized all of its kind who would not fall to the siren song of Her branding.

That great and terrible beast of corruption.

The Starbucks.

“Farah, I got you a coffee.”

Her eyes shifted down slowly to the cup held in her partner’s outstretched hand, steam swirling up thickly in the crisp autumn air.  Her eyes dragged up to his face, deliberate and slow, both eyebrows raising slowly.  He held two cups.  One of black, undoubtedly burnt coffee, and one abomination that looked to have no more in common with coffee than a horseshoe had to a hand grenade.  

She reached out her hand, and when he extended the black coffee to her, she slapped it out of his hand.  It fell to the ground, crumpling on its side, splashing coffee all over his pristine tennis shoes.  He jumped in place, skittering back.  

“What the fucking crud?!  I thought you liked coffee!”

Farah stared into his puzzled blue eyes, wondering how his mental definition of ‘coffee’ had gotten so warped.  “When I look into the mirror, I recognize my face.  I am it, and it is me.  I wonder if you can say the same, Tyler Stern.”

He lifted a foot and shook it, sending droplets of coffee spattering.  “I don’t know what that means.  These are new.  My mom got them for me for my birthday.”

“Grande means large, and it’s a medium.  It’s because of people like you validating that facade that the very fabric of reality is distorted.  You’re complicit.  What are you going to do, demand that Italians change their language to echo the lies you’ve been fed?”

“Grande means large in Spanish, too,”  Tyler said, and wilted under her cold stare.  “I took…Spanish in highschool.”

“I thought you went to Hebrew school.”

“I did both.  And marching band.  You didn’t have to slap it, buddy-oh.”

“Didn’t I?”  she asked rhetorically.  “Tyler, this is the second of the Great Beasts that has come here from that foul city.  When you support one, you support them both.”

Tyler frowned and glanced back across the street, staring at the Starbucks.  “Are you saying the vampires own the coffee shop?  I think that would have been in the brief.”

Farah rolled her eyes.  “I wouldn’t put it past them.  But no.  I am saying that you should support local businesses.”

“Oh.  But I like this chai tea cream frappucino and nowhere else has it.”

Rage rose, and she turned it on him, though he wasn’t to be the victim of their Hunt.  The anger within her demanded it.  His ignorance was not only offensive, it was painful.

“Chai!  Means!  Tea!”

A woman passing by stared at her, and then hurried on.

Tyler stared at her, lifting his cup and taking a sip.  She was fairly certain she could feel her eyelid twitching.  Why had they assigned her with this idiot?  What was she supposed to do when faced with ignorance of this magnitude?

“But if I said tea they wouldn’t know what I meant,” he said innocently.

“I loathe you,” she hissed.

“Loathe is just love with three different letters!  You know, if you had more of a can-do attitude, maybe we’d be reporting in with some good news, huh?”  He elbowed her arm with a goading smile.

“How many more corpses will it take to deflate your vile cheer, I wonder?”

“Well, I’ve seen a lot of ‘em in the last five years, and it hasn’t worked yet!  Dagmara said you’ve only ever faced the feral ones.  These, these are the smart vampires.”  He didn’t even lower his voice as a pair of pedestrians walked by, ignoring her warning sidelong look.  “These are the planning ones, the ones that build societies and play puppets with people.  This isn’t the same kind of game, Farah.  There’s a reason Dagmara called us in to help you all on this Hunt.”

“We do fine,”  Farah said, trying not to let her stinging pride show.  He was right, which made it all the worse.  When it came to Vampires like these, the old ones…they’d never faced one.  But even so-  “The Brood of Belial are not easy prey.”

“Not easy to kill, no, but they are easy to find.  These ones, they’re hard to find.  That’s why you need help.  That’s why you can’t get discouraged.  Vampires always slip up, it’s in their nature– they’ve got that ol’ hubris.”

Crossing her arms, she tucked them under her breasts, shoulders tightening.  “I have mostly dealt with spirits.  I just– I’m tired of people dying while we stand around watching video feeds and following three steps behind.”

Much to her displeasure, he reached out and patted her on the head, flattening her curls.  “Aw, hey.  It’s okay.  Listen, this is a big, big fish we’re after, okay?  We’re going to get him, I promise you.  The Butcher’s luck has run out, and we’re here to finally stop him– this isn’t just a job, this is history.  We’re gonna save every person we can.  I promise you.”

Farah stared at him, reaching up and pushing his hand away from her head.  His expression didn’t change, a wide smile on his lips, eyes crinkled at the corners.  The knot of anger and uneasiness wasn’t any better, but at least she could try to remember to point it in a more productive direction.  

“I’m sorry about your shoes,” she said grudgingly.

“It’s just coffee,” he said, glancing down at them.

“Right,” she muttered, glancing across the street as a knot of chattering people left the Starbucks. 

Just coffee.

[ladylynse]

what are your thoughts on scary/creepy danny? to me danny's never been good at scaring people beyond prank scares but gives off huge uncanny valley vibes once his powers settle because of things like being too cold, forgetting to breathe, dismissal and quick recovery from large injuries, moving too quietly and sharp teeth, I also like the idea that he can tap into his more ghostly side and press that part of people's brains that screams *get away from this thing it's dangerous* if he needs to.

I love the idea of it but have never written it. I admittedly never thought about Danny essentially weaponizing his ghostly side like in your last example, though. That’s a neat idea. So’s the uncanny valley feeling; that makes a lot of sense, and I love it. I just. Hmm.... What if I just....

-|-

EDIT: Now reworked and expanded on the AO3 as The Curious Case of Danny Fenton (FFN).

-|-

“What is up with that kid?” Wes whispered, loudly enough to be heard by the girl beside him but hopefully not by the kid in question. He hoped his nod in the appropriate direction was subtle enough, too.

The girl frowned and pointed at him with her nail file. “Why are you talking to me?” she asked.

Wes blinked.

The girl behind the first girl added, “Just avoid Fenton if you don’t want to be a loser like him.” The two of them laughed and walked off.

Fenton. That was Fenton, the kid with the crazy ghost hunting parents?

The kid in question glanced his way, and Wes looked away and tried to suppress a shudder. There was something about him, something…something…something wrong. Wes couldn’t put his finger on what it was, but he was going to find out.

XXX

In less than a week, Wes realized two very important things about Danny Fenton. One: Star’s assertion that Fenton was a loser was reinforced daily by the school bully. (Wes himself had enough athletic ability to stay off of Dash’s radar.) Two: Dash’s star quarterback status wasn’t the only reason the teachers turned a blind eye to the treatment.

Wes had seen Fenton picked up by his shirt and shoved into his locker more often than Mickey was into his, but the math nerd showed the treatment of it. He had bruises. Scratches. He still smiled, still had a cheerfully subservient attitude in the hopes that it would prevent further treatment, but he’d walk with a limp or eat only soup for a few days or stumble into class just before the bell with red marks crisscrossing his skin.

Fenton did not.

He’d be punched. Tripped. Kicked. All manner of ‘accidentally knocked into’ and ‘accidentally knocked down’. And it never showed. It wasn’t just that he didn’t bruise easily—or at all, as far as Wes could tell. He wasn’t favouring any limbs. He didn’t complain—at least in Wes’s hearing—of being sore. He didn’t act as if he were hurt. Ever.

No one else ever commented on this, so Wes kept his mouth shut and his eyes open.

That was why, months later, Wes saw something he was pretty sure no one else did.

Fenton was banned from handling glassware in chemistry, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t help Manson move some drama props for a prank or a protest or whatever he was up to, and Wes was coming out of the washroom after basketball practice when he saw Fenton drop some glass orb.

It broke, and Fenton cut himself when trying to clean it up. Wes heard the quiet crud muttered even as he stepped back to hover in the alcove by the washroom, and he peeked out just enough to see Fenton press some tissue into his hand and then pick up the glass.

When Wes walked by later, all he saw was a forgotten glimmer of glass and a trio of red splotches staining the floor.

The next day, Wes made a point of looking for it, but Fenton didn’t have so much as a band-aid on, and there was no sign of a telltale scab.

XXX

By their senior year, Wes had it all figured out. He’d long ago pointed out the truth—that Fenton was Phantom—but no one believed him, despite all the evidence he trotted out again and again. Worse still, Fenton didn’t even try to hide it around him anymore.

Wes always saw a flash of fangs when Danny’s smirk inevitably grew into a grin when he noticed Wes watching him, even when other people were around.

Entirely too often, Fenton would just appear, and even though others wrote it off as ‘not noticing the loser’s approach’, Wes knew it was so much more than that. And, okay, fine, it wasn’t always literally appearing out of nowhere, but no one should be able to walk that quietly over fallen autumn leaves. It just wasn’t natural, which was his (entirely ignored) point.

One time in gym class, Wes was the only one close enough to Fenton to hear the sickening crack when he slipped and fell on his arm and it bent the wrong way. Fenton never said anything about it, but he did favour it. For the rest of the day. The next day, it was business as usual for him.

No one thought it weird that Fenton didn’t dress for the winter weather. If he bothered with a coat over his T-shirt, it was never done up anymore. But they also didn’t find it weird that it was always cool around him, even in the heat of summer. Assuming anyone else acknowledged it, they’d blame the air conditioning or a sudden gust of nonexistent wind, as if that made any sense at all.

That permanent cold spot might be why no one seemed to think it weird that Fenton wasn’t ever warm to the touch, either. Not that Wes could bring that up without a lot of teasing for all the wrong reasons, but every time Wes had brushed by him, Fenton had been cold. Not just cool, not just chilly, cold. Cold enough to give Wes goosebumps.

It didn’t help that Fenton’s only redeeming quality in the eyes of the popular kids was that he could hold his breath for a long time. It had been discovered during one of Dash’s more questionable bouts of bullying, but it had earned Fenton some grudging respect. He hammed it up instead of brushing it off, and no one questioned the fact that he could hold his breath for five minutes, despite how insane that was, especially for kids their age with zero training.

No one noticed the fact that Fenton never took a giant gulp of air before doing that, either.

No one realized that he simply didn’t need to breathe, at least not as often as a normal human if he did.

There was just…. It wasn’t normal. None of it was normal. It drove Wes nuts, and no one else seemed to see any of it.

XXX

On their last day of high school, Wes managed to get Danny alone.

Well.

Sam and Tucker were hovering in the background, snickering, but it was as alone as they were going to get.

“C’mon, you have to own up to this,” Wes said, trying not to make it sound like the plea it was. “You just…. You can’t pretend none of this…. You can’t let everyone keep thinking I’m Phantom when you’re, y’know.”

Danny smiled, his teeth just a touch too long and just this side of too sharp. “Whaddaya mean?”

Instinct was telling Wes to get out of there, but he held his ground.

“You’re Phantom,” he said. “I know you’re Phantom. I’ve seen you change.”

Danger, shouted his mind as it reminded him of all possible exits. Run, thundered his heart, beating faster with each passing second. Get away, screamed his muscles, tensed and ready to spring.

He was standing there waiting for an answer, gulping in lungfuls of air, before he realized the unnerving feeling had entirely disappeared.

Danny was frowning. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

His teeth looked normal. His face, his demeanour…. It all seemed perfectly normal.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about!” Wes hissed. “The…the glowing eyes, the freaky stuff you do, everything!”

Danny raised an eyebrow.

“Stop doing that! You know what I mean!”

“Phantom’s dead, Wes,” Danny said. “He was long dead before you ever moved here. No one seriously thinks you’re him.”

“So you admit you’re dead, then? Because you’re Phantom?”

Danny snorted. “Phantom’s a ghost,” he said. “Ghosts are dead. I do not need to have grown up with the parents I did to know that. Do I look dead to you?”

He really didn’t, not at that precise moment, but Wes growled out an affirmative anyway.

Danny shrugged. “Suit yourself,” he said. “I can’t make you not believe your own crazy conspiracy theory. Have a good rest of your life, Wes.”

He started to walk away, his soft footsteps on the linoleum sounding loud to Wes’s ears.

“Hey, wait, I’m not done!” Wes yelled. He sprinted after Danny, easily catching up to him, and reached to grab his arm.

Wes watched his fingers pass right through Danny’s arm and backpack as Danny reached Sam and Tucker. Wes stared at his hand for a split second and then looked up to confront them with this obvious bit of proof, but the hallway was empty.

He couldn’t hear any footsteps leading away, nor any muffled laughter at his expense.

Wes stood entirely by himself, left with exactly as much concrete proof of the truth as he’d ever had.

Nothing.

(see more fics | buy me a coffee?)

[tomb-bloom-noctem]

Amphibia stuff I wanna throw out there.

The second gem not being fully charged it definitely an upcoming major plot point. Very excited to see what that's all about.

I suspect we're gonna get hit with a double betrayal. Sasha and Grime and the toads will begin their invasion on Newtopia. Then Anne will be trying to lean on Marcy however King Andrias' plans will come to light. I really don't think Marcy would betray for malicious reasons but Andrias definitely as someone Marcy looks up to and respects has figured out how to manipulate her (probably using logic and lies) so after the Sasha betrayal will come the Marcy betrayal. This order isn't necessarily important or set it stone but I feel like this is how things will go down. Like oh crud we got toad invaders now it turns out the King really is some kind of bad guy and trustworthy friend is now no longer trustworthy. To make things worse I can see this issue bringing back Anne and Hop Pop's trust issues from After the Rain slash The First Temple. This deep betrayal of Sasha betraying Anne twice, Marcy now betraying them, definitely feels like it'll force back the memory of how Hop Pop previously betrayed her. I can see Anne feeling like she's all alone in this episode, no one she can trust. But in the spirit of the True Colors, hopefully we'll see everyone do the right thing somehow. The trailer for Amphibia return on March 6th had a frame that suggested Sasha was surrendering in Newtopia. Now is this another trick? Or this this finally her true colors? Will Marcy and Andrias pull a run and disappear act like Sasha and Grime did? Spend season 3 on the run or hidden out somewhere, causing Anne and Sasha to have to go on the hunt to save her? Will Marcy stand up to Andrias and his villainy revealed to more than just our protagonists? Will his kingdom know of his evil plans forcing him to flee somewhere where he can carry out his master's plan? Will we learn anything else about that big freaky Frogthulu thingy? Anything on the Heron attack that ravaged Wartwood and killed Sprig and Polly's parents? (Cough, like was it a staged attack???)

These latest episodes have felt a little rushed? Temples 2 and 3 definitely didn't feel quite as fleshed out in comparison to 1 due to being 11 minute episodes rather than full 22. But at the same time I don't really think they've suffered too much as a result. We need the basic stage to be set. True Colors is shaping up to be a heavy hitting finale and then we'll see what Season 3 (probably the last season based on comments from Matt Braly) hits us with next.

[jaskiersvalley]

I just read your whole blog and your writing is amazing. 😍

Your name cropping up in my notes always makes me smile. It warms my little heart to know people come back for more! Thank you for being so sweet and reaching out with kind words as well as the likes on posts! Have a small ficlet as a token of my gratitude.

Life, Jaskier mused, had a way of working out. Things happened or didn’t happen because something better was around the corner. Which was exactly what he found to be the literal case when house hunting. The properties he was looking at were all dingy, damp and pretty miserable but, on his wages, it was all he could afford. Until he walked out of yet another flat that could only be described abysmal and turned a corner. The house he saw was for sale and he let out a soft sigh. It was perfect. Small, dainty cottage that looked like it needed a little bit of love to be at its full glory. Sadly, such a home was far beyond his means. Or was it? He saw the estate agent coming out, looking rather morose and he just had to approach.

By some miracle, the cottage was in his budget. Jaskier immediately demanded to see it, cooing at the features and was sold on the place before he heard that it came fully furnished. The fact the bed was bolted to the ground was curious. Especially as it looked old and unused. The previous owner had set up a mattress in the corner of the kitchen and seemed to have slept there.

“Why is it so cheap?” Jaskier asked and the estate agent looked uncomfortable.

“Nobody has owned the house for more than a year. Some say it’s haunted but it’s probably just a bit of draft and old wiring. The current owner wants to move as soon as possible, hence the low price.”

Jaskier nodded, he needed a bit of time to think and decided to wander around a little more. Ending up in the garden, he looked up the history of the house. No deaths, no murders but a very rapid turnover rate of ownership. Well, the house called to him. It was perfect for everything he wanted from a home.

“I’ll take it.”

In what was possibly the quickest sale in the world, Jaskier was moving in a scant month later. He smiled as he threw the curtains open, admired his new home and decided to celebrate. Going out for a drink turned into staggering back home late at night and laughing to himself as he fell into bed.

In the morning, Jaskier was stunned to find a glass of water next to him. Maybe drunk him wasn’t as much of an asshole as he thought. Marvellous!

It was small things like that. Jaskier’s keys are always hung up on the hook by the door, even if he deliberately left them on the coffee table. His washing had a habit of piling up in the sink - never done but always stacked nearby. Maybe there was something to the whole house being haunted. The most sensible thing, obviously, was was to get an ouija board and see what happened. Nothing. Jaskier was absolutely put out by that, even if he couldn’t shake the feeling of not being alone.

Usually, Jaskier slept through the night without trouble. Rarely did he wake up. But it did happen every now and then, which was probably why he turned with a soft huff and found himself staring at some large, looming figure slipping back into the bedroom.

“Seriously?” That was the first thing out of his mouth, too tired and sleepy to deal with an intruder. Who seemed to freeze before blending into the dark. By the time Jaskier put his light on, there was nothing there.

“You could at least do me the courtesy of introducing yourself.” Really, Jaskier should have been screaming and calling the police about an intruder but he was just too damn tired. He’d lived a good life, if this was it, this was it. He’d die content. Though a bit pissed that he couldn’t finish the show he was watching.

As he expected, there was silence. Common sense did win out and Jaskier did a quick sweep of the house, checked the door was locked and got back into bed.

“You know, it’s rude to wake someone. If you want to do anything untoward, please wait until the morning.”

He could have sworn he heard a grunt of agreement from under the bed but it could have been the springs in the mattress.

In the morning, nothing had changed but Jaskier suspected he wasn’t quite alone. So he chattered away, filled the silence and waited for whoever it was to come out. But, despite the feeling never going away, there was no food missing form his cupboards, nothing stolen and the strange little habits of the house continued.

At least, they did until he was eating pizza in bed (a bad habit, he knew) and dropped a slice and it bounced onto the floor. Cursing up a storm, Jaskier had to set his box aside, he had to put his phone away too and, by the time he leaned over the bed to pick up the offending piece, it was gone. But the grease stain remained.

“If you’re hungry, I could have just shared,” he groused. The stain was going to be a pig to get out. Still, fresh grease was easier to remove than dried in old crud. So Jaskier hauled himself out of bed and got the supplies, plus a plate for whoever seemed to live under his bed.

The grease stain was gone by the time he returned.

“Huh. Thanks,” he said and put a couple of slices of pizza on the plate before putting it on the ground. “What’s your name anyway?”

There was no response. The plate wasn’t touched as he watched. In the end, Jaskier gave up and returned to his phone. From under the bed, some crunching sounds drifted out, almost like....

“Please don’t eat my plates.”

“Sorry.” The voice was gruff, low and it made Jaskier’s heart pick up.

“It’s okay. Eat the food on it but next time, just put the plate in the sink.”

Next time? Jaskier was probably going insane. Making his mind up, he quickly twisted to look under the bed and was met with two, almost glowing amber eyes. Now he really needed a name.

Geralt, as the thing under his bed turned out to be called, was really rather shy and not very forthcoming with words. It took Jaskier weeks to coax him out. At least he took a humanoid form which was nice. That is, nice of him to accommodate a human. And very nice to look at too, he had chosen an aesthetically pleasing form.

The next step, Jaskier decided was to befriend the monster under his bed.

“Witcher.” Geralt had told him more than once. The one time Jaskier called him a monster, he had looked utterly dejected and spent three days under the bed without talking. It seemed that even supernatural creatures had feelings.

Things made so much more sense now though. Geralt liked his house to be tidy to an extent. The keys lived on the hook, the dishes in the sink. He was quite adept at chasing down and eating dust bunnies but refused to have anything to do with water. Until Jaskier introduced him to baths. Then, it was like trying to pry a cat from a basket at the vet’s.

There were other perks to befriending the monster under his bed. Geralt made for a wonderful snuggle companion. At first, Jaskier had slept with his hand dangling over the side of the bed, purely by accident. When he woke up to a hand in his, he gave it a squeeze and that was that. In a scant week, Geralt had migrated from under the bed hand holding to cuddles in bed. It was Jaskier who took the first step and pressed their lips together.

After a lovely evening spent on the couch, Jaskier was snoozing against Geralt’s broad chest, still on the sofa. They would need to move eventually but they were both quite content with their positions for the time being. The peace was interrupted by Geralt going stiff under Jaskier and turning his head towards a window. They heard the muffled clinking of glass breaking and that was when Jaskier realised what was happening. He was about to be burgled.

Gentle but firm hands moved him away from Geralt’s chest and he watched in fascination as the warm oranges of Geralt’s eyes melted into pitch black with darkened veins spreading around them like poisoned tendrils. Ignoring the gruff “stay”, Jaskier scuttled after Geralt, in time to see him pounce on the burglar who was brandishing a gun. It seemed, the intent was more than just to take a few valuables. But Jaskier didn’t have time to panic because Geralt moved, darkness enveloped the intruder and then Geralt was standing there, heaving a little.

“Did you-” Jaskier gawped. “Did you just eat him?”

The soft belch told him everything he needed to know and he marched up to Geralt, gripping his cheeks lightly.

“Thank you for saving me. But that is disgusting. No more kisses until you brush your teeth.”

Resigned, Geralt nodded. Maybe, if he was going to the bathroom, he could convince Jaskier to get in the tub with him. It would be a worthy trade.

[echoghost1]

Beta Timeline update!

Okay, as promised here is chapter 2 of The Beta Timeline using the DannyMay 2021 Prompt Nature!

I did not mean for this to take so long but life, you know?

Story Summary: Clockwork saw Danny's future unravel long before the boy was even born. Clockwork saw a multitude of ways to avoid such a terrible future.

This is one of them.

Story Word Count: 1893

Chapter Summary: A little dirt never hurt.

Chapter word count: 1146

You can read it on AO3 or down below the cut!

Danny sat back on his heels, the cool dirt caked his bare feet even more as he admired his handiwork.

Alicia had given him the easy task of weeding out the old strawberry patch. Easy, in that it was really just one repetitive task, but it sure was a lot harder than she made it sound. Not only were some of the weeds deep-rooted, but he also had to learn the difference between the plant he was trying to salvage and the invaders.

But that wasn't what he was doing today. He had finished the weeding last week. Now it was time to harvest the fruits of his labor. He chuckled at the pun.

No, two puns! In one sentence? That has to be a personal best.

Then he saw what he had been looking for, a bright spot of red between the foliage. Carefully he leaned over to delicately bending back the leaf that covered his prize. After a quick inspection to see that it was ripe and untouched by hungry bugs he plucked the berry with a little twist.

It rolled around in the palm of his hand and he was surprised at how small it was. He was used to the ones you'd find at the grocery store, but compared to the little berry he had now, those were monstrous.

Curious if it would taste any different, Danny easily removed the stem and popped the little berry in his mouth. Despite its diminutive size, the strawberry was amazingly flavorful.

With renewed vigor, Danny hunted for the sweet elusive berries. If all homegrown food was this good, no wonder Sam had a greenhouse.

The thought made Danny pause.

He hadn't meant to think of her.

He took a breath and remembered that his therapist had warned him this would happen. Or not warned, as much as encouraged it.

Happy thoughts were good.

He had to be good. He promised.

Danny smiled and figured if Sam was here then Tucker should be too. Even if he'd hate to be stuck somewhere with no cell service. Heck, he probably say that Danny had ‘gone native’ since he was literally foraging in the forest barefoot and in overalls.

Whatever, imaginary Tucker.

It's not his fault that overalls were the most efficient clothes. Besides, he used to wear jeans all the time, this was just more jeans with the added benefit of shirts being optional. Today was too hot for a shirt anyway.

No, that was a lie.

It was just too much effort this morning. Wearing overalls was the only reason he got dressed anymore. It was just easier if he didn’t have to think about it.

Besides, there wasn't anything wrong with overalls.

Wait, that sounded familiar.

"You got a problem with jumpsuits?" His mother's voice echoed in his mind.

Oh crud, this was just the outdoors version of his parent’s signature jumpsuits, wasn't it?

Whatever.

Danny went back to his task of picking strawberries.

================================================

He had completely lost track of time as he filled the basket. He hadn’t even noticed how low the sun was until he heard Alicia calling for him from the other side of the yard.

He stood up and brushed the stray grass and pine needles off of his knees before picking up the basket and heading back to the house.

“Well, that’s quite the crop you got there,” Alicia praised as she looked over his basket.

It didn’t look that full to him, but these were small berries so maybe it was a lot.

“How many did you eat?”

“Only a couple,” he admitted but then crumpled under her continued stare, “of handfuls.” he finished.

She just laughed and pulled him into a one-armed side hug, “So are they Fenton Approved?”

He nodded because they were really good. The best strawberries he ever had, good.

“Now just wait until we make jam and pie filling out of ‘em?”

“Do you think there’s enough for that?” he was pretty sure you need an obscene amount of fruit to make juice so that had to be true for the other stuff too, didn’t it?

“This isn’t the only wild strawberry patch in Arkansas.” She ruffled his hair and then gently pushed him towards the house, “Now go set those in the kitchen and get washed up. I got to get a few things to get in town and I could use the extra set of arms to hold things.”

He did as he was told but they both knew she just making excuses. She could go to the store on her own just as she had for the last ten years.

It was the leaving Danny alone thing that was the issue. Or maybe she just wanted to make sure he actually saw other people besides her, his therapist, and the receptionist at the therapist’s office.

Both of those seemed more likely than her needing help with shopping.

Neither of those things needed to be addressed.

He was…better. Not fine, not by a long shot, but definitely better than he was when he got there.

He was actually talking to his therapist now instead of just brooding and being suspicious that it was just Spectra in a really good disguise that wasn’t triggering his ghost sense for whatever reason. He was very glad that she was an actual therapist.

He still felt bad that he had to make his aunt drive so far just to see her though. There wasn’t a lot in the teeny tiny town of Spitoon and ‘good head doctors’, were one of the many things there were lacking. The town only had one doctor and he just kind of did everything unless you needed something serious, then he’d happily send you to an actual hospital.

Danny finished washing up and gave himself a quick once over in the cracked bathroom mirror. His cheeks were a little redder than they were this morning but it didn’t look too bad. He really should have put on sunscreen.

“Danny, we gotta go!” Alicia called from the front and Danny hurriedly ran a hand through his hair to get it more or less back to its usual level of disheveled before heading out and jumping in the truck.

She successfully started the truck on the second try but then gave him a look.

“What?” he double-checked and he had buckled his seat belt, so he wasn’t quite sure what that face was for.

“You forgot your shoes.”

He looked down and yup, he totally forgot. He’d gotten so used to just walking around barefoot in her yard that it completely slipped his mind.

He unbuckled his belt and slipped out of the truck and back into the house to grab the first pair of shoes he could reach before running back.

Once he was in the truck again, they were off.

[lunalovvvess]

I JUST mopped

Summary: based off of this ask/answer from @christhebish​ and @himbohargreeves​

Warnings: mentions of blood, cops, guns, and knives

•••

You really didn’t mind being the night shift manager. Really. Sure, the cafe was in a sketchy part of town, and yeah, the odd drunk person threw up on the floor, but you and your crew could handle it.

After all, you handled Rex’s stalker situation, Lisa breaking her water mid-shift, AND the Espresso Machine Fire of ‘17. You could handle a lot, but apparently your mother couldn’t handle going to your cousin’s wedding alone, and insisted you go as her plus one to the wedding. That was in the Appalachian Mountains.

You lost a week of work (thankfully, Rex kept the place running but still), and when you finally trudged back to the cafe, you were just hoping that the floors had been recently mopped. You did not expect to see Rex leaning over the counter, making heart eyes at the guy in the corner booth. You bump shoulders with him in your way past.

“Where’s Kendra?”

Rex finally looks at you.

“Hello to you too. She’s making out with her girlfriend. Don’t worry, she still has like, 10 minutes of her break left. How was the wedding?”

You tie your apron around your waist, double checking to make sure all your stuff was still in the pockets.

“Glad to see things haven’t changed. And the cake was made of fondant.”

Rex scrunches his face as he grabs a spray bottle.

“Gross. And there has been a new change around here.”

You don’t look up from the clipboard in your hands, skimming the supply lists.

“Oh?”

There’s no answer from Rex, but the sound of footsteps approaching the register makes you look up.

The guy from the corner booth is standing at the counter, and he’s, well, you understand Rex’s heart eyes. He also has a nasty looking black eye, but it’s nothing you’ve never seen before. Rex has noticed him by now, and practically skips to take his order.

“What can I get you handsome?”

The guy clears his throat awkwardly.

“Can I, uh, get a coffee?”

You tune out the rest of the conversation, trying to figure out how your crew used a month’s supply of caffeine shots in a week. Did the university have surprise exams again?

You’re pulled out of your thoughts by Kendra’s voice.

“Welcome back. You’ve already seen Rex drooling over the new regular?”

She’s washing her hands as you turn to her.

“Yeah, now mind explaining to me how we’re down a months supply caffeine shots?”

Kendra grins, tightening her apron.

“Okay so remember that robotics contest? Well they suddenly moved their deadline back a week, so we had...”

•••

Things settled back into a routine pretty quickly. You poured coffee, served danishes, kicked out influencers, and generally just tried to make sure the place couldn’t be shut down by the health department. The only addition was the new regular.

Every night, without fail, the guy showed up, usually with a new cut, bruise, or bloodstain, and ordered a coffee. Then, he sat in the corner both, while Rex made lovesick sighs in his direction.

Two days in, you asked him why he didn’t talk to the guy. Rex takes the opportunity to drape himself dramatically over the display case.

“I did! I’ve flirted with him, did the Elle Woods bend n’ snap, I even offered him my number! Do you know what he did?”

You don’t even get to answer before Rex barrels on.

“He didn’t even notice! He told me his phone was broken!”

“And you believed him?”

“Lisa saw him toss a broken phone in the trash in his way in. She didn’t tell me until afterwards and now I’m too embarrassed to face him. Do you think I should transfer to the day shift?”

You roll your eyes, and hand Rex a mop.

“Don’t you dare. If you leave me by myself, I’ll throw away your comic books.”

Rex whines, but he takes the mop.

•••

Thankfully, the crush only lasts another week. Rex gets a glimpse of the new delivery man and has his number three days later.

The regular (no longer new) still comes in, battered and bloodied. But he never got any on the floor so you didn’t mind too much. You were curious, sure, but not enough to be creating theories like Kendra was.

Speaking of Kendra, her break was over 15 minutes ago. You step away from the counter to find her when the regular walks in. Well, limps in.

He looks surprised to see you at the register which is... fair. Usually it’s a fight between Rex and Kendra to take his order. Rex, so he could ogle on the clock, and Kendra, so she could try and confirm whatever theory she’s come up with this week. Thankfully, he doesn’t notice.

You’re staring, specifically at the growing bloodstain on his leg. It’s okay, he’s also staring at you. A beat passes before he clears his throat.

“Can I get a coffee?”

You nod.

“Yeah. That’ll be 3.50.”

He hands you a crumbled up five.

“Keep the change.”

“Thanks.”

Your voice is sarcastic, but his money is genuine, so he gets his coffee and settles himself into his usual booth with a pained grunt.

You, very kindly, ignore it, and go about hunting down your wayward crew member.

•••

You had JUST mopped the floors.

Which is not the best thought to be running through your head during a robbery but there it is. The people holding you and your crew at gunpoint had tracked crud all over the floor. The floor that you literally JUST mopped.

“Eyes on me!”

The gunman in front of you shouts for your attention. You stand in front of your crew, and straighten up. Gently, you move your hand out of Rex’s and untangle Kendra’s hand from your apron ties. They’re scared, and you are too, but this is your place, and you’re not about to let a guy wearing pantyhose over his face tell you what to do.

“Give me all the money in the register!”

You were expecting that, and move towards the register. The guy watches you, but his hands are shaking. His partner is no better, but he still has a gun pointed at your crew.

It’s still early in the shift, so the stack of cash you have for them is... tiny. When you place it on the counter, their jaws drop.

“That’s it?”

You nod.

“Day shift clears out their profits before we get here. This is all we’ve made.”

They don’t like that, and the guy closest to you levels his gun to your face. Your eyes cross trying to look at the barrel.

“Where’s the safe.”

Rex barks out a laugh, but quickly smothers it behind his hands. The gun, and the person holding it, comes closer, pressing against your forehead.

“Why’s he laughing?”

You ignore the cold metal, and focus on keeping the shakes you feel in your hands out of your voice.

“We don’t have a safe.”

You feel the gun press harder against your forehead when the sound of breaking glass draws everyone’s attention.

Before you can see who it was, a knife whizzes past and jabs itself into the arm that’s holding a gun to your forehead. The guy barely has time to scream before another one lands itself in his leg. He drops, and you take the opportunity to duck behind the counter with the rest of your crew.

There’s more screaming, and the sound of punches being thrown, but no gunshots. You peek above the counter, ignoring Kendra’s whispered protests.

A figure in black is grappling with one of two gunmen. The other is yelling and holding his leg... which is bleeding on your floor. Damn it. A grunt draws your attention and you see the person in black take an elbow to the gut. You wince in sympathy.

The other gunmen is attempting to get up now, and you see that your savior(?) has their back turned. You quickly reach for the tip jar, heavy with coins and made of hard plastic , and push it as hard as you can across the counter. Luckily, it rockets across and falls on the gunmen’s head, knocking him out. Even better, it doesn’t break.

The noise catches the attention of the person in black, and when you get a glimpse of his face you have to hold back a yelp. Because you recognize him. You frantically reach behind you and tap your crew.

“Come look, quickly!”

Lisa, the reasonable one, shakes her head and you notice that she’s typing frantically on her phone. Good.

Rex and Kendra squish up beside you, and peek over the counter with caution. Their eyes widen when they see what you’re talking about. There, in a tiny domino mask that does NOTHING to hide his identity, is the regular.

Rex groans, while Kendra cackles (quietly).

“You owe me ten bucks and a frappe!”

You pull them back behind the counter, and Lisa rolls her eyes at the three of you.

“I talked to the owner, and he said that we don’t have health insurance so we should try not to get shot.”

The whoop of a siren interrupts Lisa, and you all groan in unison. There’s the sound of glass crunching, and you peek over the counter and come face to face with the regular. He stares awkwardly, and the police lights shine over his face. You have to stop yourself from asking if he wants his usual. Instead, you smile at him.

“Thanks.”

The regular nods, and looks around. The way he came in now has cops, so you helpfully point to the back entrance.

Lisa taps you to get your attention, and when you look back, he’s gone.

•••

You’re back in business the next day, with plywood over the window and a floor cleaned by the day-shift.

The regular walks in, as usual, and comes up to the register. You’re glad Rex and Kendra took their breaks at the same time, because the regular looks like he’s trying super hard to be casual.

“Can I get a coffee?”

You nod. He pays, gets his coffee, and walks to his normal booth. It’s business as usual, except for the fact that you now know he runs around at night with knives.

You’re so lost in thought that you don’t notice that another person is at the register. They clear their throat and you look up to see them flashing a badge.

“Can I speak to the manager?”

You raise an eyebrow and look down at your name tag that clearly states ‘manager’.

“Speaking. Is this about last night?”

The cop?detective? nods and whips out photo from his pocket.

“We’ve apprehended the suspects but there’s evidence that there was a person of interest on the scene last night.”

You stare at him blankly, until he gives a frustrated huff and practically shoves the photo in your face.

“Have you seen this man?”

You look at the photo. It’s definitely the regular. Rex and Kendra come in while you’re looking, and you turn to them.

“He wants to know if we’ve seen this guy.”

They both look at the photo, and shake their heads. You turn back to him.

“No one’s seen that guy. But we were behind the counter for a bit.”

The man shoved the photo back in his pocket with his badge, red in the face.

“Someone from the station will be in touch.”

He storms out without a glance. Rex and Kendra go to wash their hands and clock back in. You make a cup of coffee, and walk towards the corner booth.

The regular looks up as you get closer. You set the coffee down in front of him.

“I didn’t pay for this.”

Shrugging, you turn to go back to the counter.

“I know. Consider it a thank you.”

You don’t see his reaction, but when you get back to the counter he’s still staring at the coffee in shock.

Heading to the back for your break, you bump shoulders with Rex.

“I told you, the night shift isn’t so bad.”

[conspirwbytheorist-inactive]

Why I Don’t Want Yang to Be the Spring Maiden

So. With the resurgence in buzz around Raven possibly coming back I've seen an uptick in talk about Yang being the next Spring Maiden. While I can see where folks are coming from, it's always really bothered me how people take this as a given.

So, yeah, I figured I would let out my thoughts on the matter. It's - cough - a bit long, but the gist of it is that I don't think passing the powers to Yang really satisfies her or Yang’s character arcs. At the end of the day, while I think her death could be used to bring a poetic end to her character, it would speak more to her growth as a person and the themes of RWBY for Raven to relinquish her control and allow the powers to go to a random host.

So, I want to start off by saying that I do think it would be very satisfying for Raven's arc to end with her death (the ultimate "survivor" choosing to sacrifice herself for the sake of future generations and the daughter she left behind), but I find it very difficult to believe that she would want to pass the mantle of Spring down to Yang.

From what we've seen, Maiden powers aren't exactly a blessing. Sure, you get ultimate power, but you get the equivalent of a neon "come and get me" sign painted on your back for anyone even remotely aware of what they are. And. . .I don't think that that's what Raven wants for Yang. At every turn she does what she can to persuade Yang to give up on Ozpin's war and forge a new life. Why would she curse her with powers that (from her point of view) would destroy any chance of freedom Yang had to make her own life?

But what about the relic? If Raven wanted to give Yang a chance at freedom why would she knowingly give her new target in a different shade? Very fair point. Don’t worry, I’ll get there, but first I want to touch a bit more on Raven’s perspective.

True, one could argue she could see passing on Maidenhood as the gift of ultimate power. A passing of the torch to a daughter she deems worthy. But, I don't think that's how she views Maidenhood. I mean, when Yang confronts her, she flat out says she did the last Spring maiden a favor in saving her from a long life of being hunted. Granted, it's pretty clear that this is a rationalization she has told herself to justify outright murder, but the point remains that she, unlike Cinder, does NOT view her powers as a blessing. They're a price she has to pay to ensure that neither Salem nor Oz gain all of what they seek. A lesser maiden could be collected or swayed to join either side, forced into a life of running she didn’t sign up for as a pawn in their war. But someone like Raven. Someone who (from her point of view) knows what is going on and has become strong enough to act as a free agent in all of this. Someone who has severed any emotional tie and relationship that could be drawn in and hurt to get at her. Someone like that could act as a middle man, being chased and hunted all of their life, but able to evade capture long enough for loved ones they abandoned to maybe escape unnoticed. So, under her warped sense of logic, it would make sense for her to take on these powers for herself despite seeing them as a curse. Why would she put that on Yang?

So, what about the relic? I mean, if her whole motivation in taking on the “curse” of Maidenhood was to protect Yang from becoming a target, wouldn’t it go against everything she has done to turn around and, y’know, knowingly make her a target? Oh, in theory, yes, but the actual exchange we got with it is a bit more complicated than that. I see a lot of folks pointing to this moment as proof that Raven is a coward looking to pass as much responsibility and heat off on Yang as possible to save her own skin. But, it’s not like Yang gave her much of a choice. Raven left hoping that Yang would become everything that she couldn’t: smart and strong enough to stay out of Ozpin’s war in the first place. Raven was too weak to say no and paid the price for it. By sacrificing her life, which she believes is already ruined, and walking away to do what “needed to be done”, she could at least hope to give her daughter a chance at something better. Without her around, maybe Tai would come to his senses, maybe Oz wouldn’t take as much interest, maybe Yang would be strong and smart enough to say no even if he did. But, instead, there she is. Standing there. The embodiment of the strength and courage Raven always wished she would be, and she’s fighting to continue the battle Raven hoped she could protect her from.

It’s a jarring realization, seeing that all the pain she caused was for naught. But, more importantly it leaves her in a Catch-22. Does she say no and end up fighting the very person she gave up so much for? (even one armed an low on aura Yang would still fight a maiden, let’s be honest). Or does she let her have the relic and essentially admit her failure? Unlike Maiden powers, the burden doesn’t fall solely on Yang. She’s bringing it back to a team and there’s a chance she could ditch it later. So, Raven does what she can. She cries, apologizes and teleports away to brood over the husband who’s life she also ruined with her failed stunt.

So, yeah, it would be incredibly messed up for her to turnaround and pass on something that she legitimately views as a curse onto the daughter she’s spent her whole life trying to protect from it (admittedly in her own royally effed up way). Not to mention the fact that it would severely undermine a key premise of the show. RWBY spends so much time emphasizing the importance of relationships and emotions rather than brute strength and power that it would be really undermining for the end game of all that to be “you need god-like raw power to fix this”. Like, especially Yang. The character whose whole growth arc up to this point has been learning NOT to power through everything and whose growth moments come when she goes “crud. I guess I really can’t punch that”. Her with unstoppable powers. Like. Dude. She’d be able to literally punch everything. Ruby blinks and Yang’s just flat out already decking Salem in the face. Like, no. XD (I jest, but, it gets the point across)

I feel a little macabre in saying this, but I do think that having Raven’s arc end with her death would be very satisfying (especially paired with a Qrow who realizes his life is worth living). She’s justified so many questionable actions in the name of survival that it would be darkly poetic to have her last act be to sacrifice herself, knowing full well she will die, so that those she love may live. That being said, I think it would be oddly fitting for her to think of Summer in those last moments - of the friend that believed in her and made this same choice - finally relinquishing control and embracing the unknown as the powers go to a random host.

[sanchoyowrites]

Scrapped ideas for Cold Love! 

I’ve gone through about 5-10 drafts with a LOT of scrapped ideas and plot threads! Now that I’ve gotten almost done with it, I wanted to share some of those! I planned to earlier, but realized some of them might be iffy, so I waited until the latest chapter! I may come back and share more later, but these are the ones I can reveal up to this point. :)

Under the cut because if you aren’t 100% caught up with CL, some of these are a liiiiittle spoilery! (and definitely spoilery as far as the manga goes- but if you’re reading Cold Love, you’ve definitely already been spoiled if not a weekly reader... 3: )

-In the very, very first draft, Tenko and MC stayed in America her entire transfer term, without contacting the lov. It went through month by month showing snippets of what they were doing, then flashing to snippets of the lov. it got pretty angsty because the longer they stayed, the more Tenko felt bad about not contacting them, but he needed space to think for himself-

-in that first draft the first chapter thats basically all recap like that ^ ends with tenko getting kidnapped by AFO. and MC has to go to Japan, alone, and find the lov to Save Him!

-And then she runs into Hawks first and FREAKS. OUT. thinking he’s going to arrest her, and he’s like ooooh crud she doesnt KNOW. they don’t actually fight, he just calls up Dabi first thing. this was written back when everyone thought there was a good chance of Hawks Actually Joining the Lov :( Also in that version, Giran played a huge role in helping MC find the lov and was just SO funny. I love (1) uncle even though his role isn’t as prominent in this version. 

-MC killed the doctor in the first draft. it was dr VS dr, but he was basically trying to persuade MC to work WITH him and he’d teach her how to do his work and take up his mantle, and if she got AFO’s approval she and Tenko could be together without fighting AFO; then she shot the dr for even suggesting that LMAO

-Hawks actually escorts her to I-Island instead of Nine in one of the early drafts! Under the guise of her being a winner of a trip with him or something as a cover story. They persuade Melissa MUCH easier because he’s the #2 hero and all. I changed this when the new movie came out and I was thirsty for more lov/Nine’s group interaction...I get attached to minor characters/movie only characters, what can I say. And with everyone expecting Hawks to be a traitor, it made making it Nine do it more.. fun for me to write, honestly. haha 

-there was a draft where AFO effectively brainwashed Tenko after capturing him and MC had to try to make him fall in love again and try not to get murdered. fun to write, but I wanted to focus more on their already established relationship rather than the struggle of trying to build it again!! (it made for GREAT ANGST tho)

-In one of the early drafts Tenko and MC were trying desperately to hunt the dr down for info (or to kill him, I can’t remember) and Tenko KNEW the doctor hung around schools and pediatrician places for kid’s quirks because kids are easy targets, so. MC and Tenko went to a bunch of schools pretending to be parents looking to enroll their pretend child and asking about the school nurses/doctors for their sickly kid. it was SO EXTRA. but also a whole chapter of them making up funny backstories with fake names and pretending to be parents together. it was SO cheesy and cute and I’m so sad it had to be scrapped, personally. I ultimately chose to have Kurogiri do the dr in because. The poetic cinema, but. Yeah!

-There was a version where while in America, AFO broke out, and the commission (being supremely sucky, ) decides, well, to get him back or kill him, we need bait. All Might and Tomura Shigaraki shaped bait! So All Might comes to America where MC and Tenko are (the commission found out about that via Gran Torino snooping in Naomasa’s files...) and basically has to ask them to come with him. The commission sends Hawks as an extra security measure (obv they cant send ENDEAVOR, hes “”needed”” in Japan...I just didn’t want to write him <3) 

But again, this draft was super early on when we all thought Hawks would turn for real. So Hawks had brought the entire LOV via a bracelet of compressed marbles... (he likes jewelry in canon!! he’s always wearing a ton of it in official art!! this would have been perfect--)  And for one reason or another they all end up on a roadtrip together to the desert in America (that’s where the commission wanted to lure AFO, because it was a no civilian zone or something?) This was all very convoluted and just me like ‘well what if the lov had a fun roadtrip together in a small space like a bus, and had funny and tender moments. And All Might is the bus driver because it’s REALLY funny to have Tenko picking on him, but then have actual heartfelt moments and talks later about morals--

-A version where Melissa gave Toga her blood to go get information from the heroes! It was basically like ‘give us Melissa Shield back and we’ll exchange money’, but they ask for info instead to try and find out more about the Tartarus break-ins. Melissa is talking to Toga through an ear piece, and Toga has to act perfectly and pretend David Is her Dad And She Missed Him. It’s very jarring for her to see a parent who really loves their kid.  :( I cut this because I didn’t want them to need too much outside help to figure it out and the whole scene got very convoluted, but...it was really fun and heartbreaking. :”)

-That first draft I mentioned way up there ^ was super dark. No idea what I was thinking, but it was VERY angst-heavy, and ooc in places because the league splits for a while because of in fighting and without Tenko they fall apart and start questioning themselves. I did think I went mildly ooc in the other way with the league in the final draft, in that I made them SOOO affectionate with each other, but the latest manga chapters make me wonder about that. Maybe I was right all along. They are a family. >:”) 

[z-iridest]

Yu-Gi-Oh!: Renegade

Chapter 3- Dragon vs. Phoenix Part 2:

Previously on Yu-Gi-Oh!: Renegade:

"I summon Amazoness Chain Master to the field, which increases my Amazoness Sage's attack points to 3800 due to the effect of United We Stand. Now, I attack you directly with Amazoness Sage! Amazoness Sage, time to end this!"

"I activate the Trap Card: Mirror Cylinder! This handy little trap takes your attack and directs it back at you, destroying all your monsters along the way and inflicting damage equal to the combined attack points! Say goodbye to 6800 of your Life Points, Yuko!" Yuko cried out as she was thrown backward by the force of the attack, hitting the ground hard with a groan.

"Yuko!" Her friends cried simultaneously.

"She's only got 1000 Life Points left!" Jacob yelled with wide eyes.

"I can't watch this!" Isaac added, covering his eyes.

"Have more faith in her. She may have lost a good chunk of her Life Points, but this isn't over." Pops told them. "All she has to do is believe in her deck."

Yuko Adonis: 1000            Cornelius Yang: 2600

“How does it feel, Yuko? How does it feel to be on the brink of losing?” Yang taunted.

“This duel isn’t over yet. You still have 1000 of my Life Points to knock out, and I don’t plan on letting you do it... You're just lucky I can't do anything more right now. I end my turn.” Yuko replied. With a smirk, Yang drew.

“Either way, it's my turn now! I summon Protector With Eyes of Blue. I may not have the Blue Eyes White Dragon in my deck, but with 800 attack points, that's not gonna stop me from bringing you to my mercy! Protector With Eyes of Blue, attack Yuko directly!" Yuko grunted in pain as she was attacked, taking 800 points of damage. Yang laughed.

"You have 200 Life Points left, Yuko! Use your next turn wisely! If you don't draw a monster now, this duel is over on my next turn! I end my turn for now." Yang smirked as he ended his turn.

Yuko Adonis: 200 Cornelius Yang: 2600

"Don't count me out just yet, Yang! My turn!" Yuko shouted, grabbing the top card of her deck with her eyes closed. 'It all comes down to this one last draw.... Heart of the Cards, don't fail me now!' Yuko thought. "I draw!" She drew the card and opened her eyes, flipping the card so it's face was toward her. She cracked a smile.

"Uh-oh, she smiled!" One of Yang's friends shouted.

"What's she plannin'?!" A second one asked, sounding a little panicked.

"You're about to find out... I summon Blazing Phoenix in attack mode!" Yuko summoned the card currently in her hand, hearing her friends cheer. It wasn't that strong of a monster, only having 1500 attack points, but it was still a good card. "And because I was able to summon it, I now get to special summon a level 4 monster from my deck, and the card I choose is my Phoenix Warrior!"

"Yang, this ain't looking too good!" The third one shouted.

"Shut up, I can see that!" Yang shouted back in reply.

"Yeah, well I bet you never saw this coming! My Phoenix Warrior has a special ability that allows me to Special Summon one more monster from my deck to the field as long as the monster I choose has 1500 defense points or less, so say hello to Flame Champion! But sadly, my Phoenix Warrior and Blazing Phoenix won't be around for long, because now I'm tuning my Phoenix Warrior with my Blazing Phoenix..."

"OH, NO!" Yang yelled in fear.

"Here it comes!" Jacob exclaimed in excitement.

"I Synchro Summon... Phoenix Mage!" Yuko shouted as her ace appeared on the field, spinning her staff and striking a battle pose, a smirk on her face. "But, I'm far from done... See, due to my Blazing Phoenix's special ability, my Phoenix Mage gets a 500 attack bonus this turn only. Not only that, but due to my Phoenix Mage's ability, all Fire Type monsters I have on my side of the field gain an additional 500 attack points. Which means my Flame Champion now has 2400 attack points while my Phoenix Mage has..."

"3500 attack points?!" Yang shrieked.

"That's right!" Yuko exclaimed. "Flame Champion, take out his Protector With Eyes of Blue first with Flame Strike!" Flame Champion obeyed Yuko's order, attacking Yang's only monster left. Yang's face went pale, realizing he had only 1000 Life Points left, and a 3500 attack point monster was staring right at him. "Let this be a lesson, Yang, next time you wanna push around little kids on my turf, you're gonna pay the price! Phoenix Mage, finish him off with Phoenix Scepter Blast!" Phoenix Mage smirked before attacking Yang directly, knocking him backwards with a strong blow, his Life Points hitting zero as he landed.

Yuko Adonis: 200 Cornelius Yang: 0

"Yuko won! She won!" Her friends cheered, whooping and hollering as Yuko walked toward Yang, who was in a state of shock.

"I lost.... How could I lose?" Yang trailed off.

"Good game. You had me on the ropes for a while there, but I hope you learned your lesson... Don't ever mess with anyone around here ever again." Yuko told him sternly. "Now get off my turf before I kick your butt again." The boys went running, all except Yang.

"Hang on a second, you may have won by the skin of your teeth, but a deal's a deal. You get to keep my rarest card." Yang told her, taking out a Synchro Monster from his deck, handing it to Yuko. Yuko's eyes widened a bit when she saw it before looking at Yang.

"How did you get this?" Yuko asked.

"My grandfather was one of the original Chasers... He was the one who got Akiza. Black Rose was passed down to my Dad and then it was passed down to me when I joined the Chasers..."

"So, hunting down duelists runs in the family?" Yuko asked, bitterness in the edge of her tone.

"Hey, it's not like that, Chasers have no choice but to listen to him now... Ever since one of the Chasers spared the sister of a duelist from the Underground around 11 years ago, he's been making death threats to any Chaser that shows mercy to a duelist... Especially their family." Yang told her. "See you next time, Yuko... I'll be waiting for our rematch." Yang told her before walking off, leaving the teenager standing still, in shock of what she had been informed of.

"You won, Yuko!" Jacob exclaimed.

"Congratulations, Yuko." Pops smiled.

"Yeah, but look what he had." Yuko showed them the card Yang had given her... Black Rose Dragon. Everyone's jaws dropped in shock except Pops, who's eyes widened in a shocked recognition.

"That's Akiza Izinski's ace!" Adom exclaimed, voicing Pops' thoughts.

"Holy crud..." Isaac trailed off.

"They got her too..." Jacob breathed, running a hand through his hair.

"Were you really expecting her to get away?" Adom asked.

"No, I wasn't, I just... I'd hoped that there was a possible way that she could have gotten away." Jacob answered, shifting a bit sheepishly as he spoke.

"That accounts for every Signer being caught... Except Leo and Luna." Yuko realized.

"No, Luna was caught... Wasn't she?" Jacob asked.

"No... It couldn't be... Luna had to have escaped..." Pops trailed off, though he didn't look too convinced of it himself.

"We'll figure that out later, right now, we have that little kid to worry about." Yuko answered before leading the way back into the shop and down the stairs, Adom being the one to help Pops down the stairs. "Holden, it's safe now, you guys can come out." Yuko called for the young boy. Holden peeked out from a well hidden area of the garage, the little girl waddling right behind him as he ran up to Yuko.

"Are they gone? Did you kick their butts?" Holden asked as Jacob leaned against the wall and Pops, Adom and Isaac all sat down in a chair. Yuko nodded.

"They're gone, kiddo. I beat their leader in a duel, and look what I won." Yuko showed him the Black Rose Dragon, the boy's eyes lighting up in wonder as Yuko noticed the little girl come out slightly to look at the dragon card, seeming just as amazed as Holden.

"Wow, it's so beautiful... I hope we can see her in action someday." Holden told her. Yuko smiled.

"One day, you will, I promise...." Yuko told the little boy before putting Black Rose Dragon in her deck and ruffling Holden's hair. "Now, how about this one? Do we know her name?" She asked, kneeling down to the little one's height, only for the little girl to hide behind Holden again. Holdeen shook his head, his hair swaying back and forth with the quick motion.

"I've tried asking her, and she hasn't answered me.... She just keeps making these weird hand motions and tapping her lips." Holden answered, his little shoulders going up and then back down again in a hopeless shrug, though Jacob straightened when he heard Holden's answer.

"Hand motions?" Jacob asked.

"JSL?" Adom guessed.

"That's possible." Yuko replied before looking at the little girl, who was busy trying to hide behind Holden. Yuko smiled. "Can you hear my voice?" Yuko asked as she signed her words in JSL, thankful of the times her foster mother had made her perfect the sign language. Everyone watched as the little girl peeked out from behind Holden, staying hidden while her big brown eyes stayed trained on Yuko. Yuko smiled a little. The little girl was coming out of her shell a little. "You don't have to be afraid of me, I won't hurt you, I promise." Yuko signed each word she said. "My name's Yuko. Is it okay if I know your name?" The little girl came out just enough to show her hands.

'"My name is Alita."' The little one signed. Yuko smiled.

"That's a very pretty name, Alita. Can you hear my voice at all?" Yuko signed as she asked, her compliment making the little girl blush. In response, the little one nodded.

' "My voice just doesn't work, so I can't talk." ' Alita signed in response.

"That explains why she was using sign language." Adom replied, having known enough JSL to know what Alita had just said. "Her vocal chords must have been damaged when she was a baby."

"Poor thing." Pops commented before everybody froze when Alita winced, grabbing her arm. Yuko gently touched the little one's shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Yuko signed as she talked again. Alita's eyes were filled with tears of pain and she shook her head, pointing to her arm. Yuko noticed that it was a prosthetic arm... But it was extremely damaged to the point where it was giving off electric currents every few minutes and hurting the little girl. "Is it okay if I take a look at it?" Yuko asked, watching as Alita's eyes widened in fear as she hid behind Holden again, shaking. Holden looked up at Yuko worriedly, his little brow furrowed. He looked as worried about Alita as Yuko was currently feeling. Yuko placed a comforting hand on Holden's head before taking her glove off her left arm.

"Yuko, what're you doing?" Isaac asked, but found himself ignored by the young woman, watching as the little girl peeked out to look at Yuko. Her eyes stayed wide, however, the fear that had previously been in them was long gone. Amazement shone through as Alita reached her flesh hand toward Yuko's robotic one before she hesitated, looking at Yuko for permission as her little eyebrows furrowed. Yuko nodded.

"It's okay, Alita. You can touch it if you want." She told her. Alita's little hand soon touched Yuko's robotic one, following each gear and crevice as she seemed to be memorizing the pattern on Yuko's prosthetic hand. Yuko smiled, knowing that this had been what the little girl needed to be at ease... To know someone was just like her... "Alita." Yuko directed the little girl's attention to her after a moment. "Is it okay if I look at your prosthetic arm now? I can fix it if you want me to." She asked. The little girl froze for a second before shaking off her fear and nodding, a brave look on the little one's face. Yuko smiled before she looked at Holden. "Can you go get my tools for me?" Yuko asked. Holden nodded and raced upstairs with Isaac and Jacob following him to help him get the toolbox down. Meanwhile, Yuko got Alita comfortable, using her robotic arm to scan Alita's prosthetic to see what the problem was.

"What's going on with her arm?" Adom asked her, Pops keeping the little one entertained.

"Well, you remember that network Dracnus connected the DracTech prosthetics to in order to keep tabs on everyone in Cypher City? There's a part in each of them that allows an electric current to kick in everytime Dracnus wants to deal that person punishment." Yuko told him.

"I thought Dracnus couldn't do that to our prosthetics from down here, the signal can't reach Underground City." Adom replied.

"You're right, it can't... But for some reason, that part in Alita's is broken so that the electric current goes off every few minutes. It's not a strong enough charge to stop her heart, mind you, but it is strong enough to hurt her." Yuko responded as Holden came back with her tools. "I'm going to fix it so it stops hurting her altogether." Holden put her tools next to her.

"Here you go." Holden told her.

"Thanks, little man. You're the best." Yuko smiled, ruffling his hair again.

"Holden, where the heck are Isaac and Jacob?" Adom asked.

"After they helped me get Yuko's toolbox down, they went into the shop to "hold the fort down".... Whatever that means." Adom answered, using air quotes and causing Yuko to have to hold back her giggles. There was something about the look on the six-year-old's face as he used air quotes that struck Yuko as absolutely hilarious. After a deep breath to still her laughter, Yuko focused on fixing the part on Alita's arm that was bothering her, speaking to Alita to keep her distracted from what was going on.

"Alita, how old are you?" Yuko asked. The little girl held up her flesh hand, showing four fingers. "Four?" Alita nodded in confirmation. "That's super cool."

"Yeah, you're like... One year away from being old enough to learn how to ride a bike without training wheels for the first time. It's super scary at first, but I promise it's a ton of fun once you get the hang of it." Holden excitedly told Alita, a smile crossing the girl's face. Yuko chuckled a bit and let Holden tell Alita all the perks of being 5 years old while Yuko fixed Alita's robotic arm.

A few hours later, Yuko was looking over the blueprints of the Phoenix Whirlwind's original designs as she waited for the diagnostics to finish. 'How can I rebuild this so it's my own?' She thought, her arms crossed over her chest. She tapped her foot a couple times before glancing over at the pullout bed. Fast asleep, with her robotic arm fixed and her tummy full of good food, was Alita. A small smile crossed Yuko's face before a soft beeping indicated that the diagnostics were finished. Her brow furrowed and her smile dropped when she saw just how much damage had been done. 'I was afraid this was gonna happen, those stupid Chasers made sure Jack could never duel again on this thing.... Hell, would Yusei even know how to fix this?' She thought with an eyebrow raised before setting to work. After a while, her vision got blurry from looking at the blueprints too long, causing a frustrated sigh to leave Yuko's lips as she closed down the screen and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Pops was right, I really oughta get more sleep..." Yuko trailed off under her breath, though it pained her a bit to admit it. She slipped off her boots, sliding into bed as an exhausted sigh left her lips. Her emerald flecked sapphire eyes drooped, her hair falling in her face like a curtain as her eyes finally closed. 'I'll jump on repairs early tomorrow... For now, though, Pops is right. I need rest....'

While she slept, Yuko was unaware of the chaos that was about to unfold... Unaware of the growing threat on the surface...

[rayveewrites]

So as a simultaneous end of the year/ completion of Golden Echoes/ launch of Buried Gold celebration, I thought it would be neat to go through every chapter and post my favourite line/phrase/sentence/paragraph/etc from each. Why? Is this a genuine celebration? Do I think I’m funny and laugh at my own jokes? Am I actually just procrastinating? Yes. (Very obviously spoilers for the entire fic.)

Prologue: Lost  Darkness, pierced by the faint glow of sunlight through the holes in the ceiling. The sound of dripping water, pooling in the centre of the room.

Prologue: Found It remembered a time of life and colour, when it danced and played and sang, when children flocked around him and fed off its happiness and energy and gave him their own. Would it ever experience that again?

Prologue: Name  Old, brittle bones grinded. Rusted metal sounded against the tiled floor. Colourless eyes softly glowed silver.

Returned ...whoever thought it was a good idea to create a horror attraction out of the actual murders of actual children needed to have their heads readjusted. Forcefully. With a mask full of crossbeams and wires.

Exploration ...servos and circuits, they had been at this location for an hour and Freddy was already having a terrible day. Also it was 10 AM. The location operated at night. Why.

Darkness  So young, and left without a voice. I ask you now to make your choice. Clean the tiles of blood and tears? Or let them suffer with their fears?

Void He called up a memory, of turquoise eyes and golden fur, of whispers in the night that meant nothing and everything, of a feeling of happiness, that nothing would ever change, because the world was already perfect. 

Balloons Of course this place has wonky physics.

JJ “So let me get this straight. A potentially dangerous supernatural rabbit wants me to take a cryptic message to a potentially dangerous animatronic rabbit, and then somehow convince the other potentially dangerous animatronic rabbit and his potentially dangerous animatronic friends that the first potentially dangerous animatronic rabbit is not, in fact, the definitely dangerous child-murdering serial killer who’s...somewhere else. Have I got all that?”

Rabbit Part of his mouth twitched, as if he was trying to make a facial expression, but couldn't. 

Arcade The Void was not cooperating.

Parts Things had always seemed much brighter when they were two.

Guard Whatever came to one or the other's mind, in the breaks between people coming through and Sam playing creepy sounds over the speakers because 'a couple of teenagers are smooching on cam six, do they you realize I can see you, jesus christ, why are you even snogging in a horror attraction anyway, I really don't get the appeal, I swear to god-' or something along those lines, anyway.

Adventure Peace wasn't a feeling the ghost had had for a very long time.

Notes ...it had been a handful of wild yellow daisies a little girl had found, and he’d woven them into a ‘flower crown’ (actually more of a flower bracelet- the girl had picked as many as she could hold, but children had small hands) and put it on Fredbear’s hat when his partner wasn’t looking. Fredbear had promptly worn it all that night and the next day, daisies and all. Spring hadn’t been sure if he’d noticed or not, but either way, it had been very cute.

Cupcakes If the kid wanted a dinosaur, the kid should get a dinosaur, as far as he was concerned. Clothes were clothes. Why did people kick up such a stink about it sometimes?

Tapes “Uh, hello? Hello, hello! Uh, there’s been a slight change of company policy concerning use of the suits. Um, don’t.” “Oh gee,” JJ muttered, “imagine. It’s almost as if they were giant metal deathtraps.”

Talk ...she didn’t need to understand every aspect of Springtrap's life. That was Springtrap’s job, and he was apparently terrible at it.

Performance “It smells like something crawled in there and died.” 

Gold Fredbear had been Springtrap’s heart and soul; as much as he loved the children and gave each performance his all, his real reason for living was in the bear who sang beside him. Springtrap remembered singing on stage, a guitar in his hands and love in his soul. He remembered stolen kisses in the night, waltzing on cool tiles with music nobody else could hear. He remembered stealing Fredbear’s hat dozens of times, running off wearing it and giggling like a small child himself. He remembered quiet nights, when the only sounds were his guitar and Fred’s soft humming, sometimes the same tune, sometimes not, but neither of them ever cared. He remembered curling up together, watching stars twinkle in the night sky beyond the walls of the little diner, and truly believing that the time they had together was infinite. 

Stage He was holding something. He looked down, opened his hand and saw a gleaming purple microphone, accented with gold. It had been years, decades, since he had last seen it, but he recognized it. He knew what it meant. "Even after everything, I’m still with you." 

[Note: this is also the chapter that contained Springtrap’s poem. I’m quite proud of that one, despite how much of a pain it was to write. So, honourable mention]

Notes [Note: wait, crud, there’s two chapters named Notes? I’m gonna have to change one of those later.]

Maybe she just needed to hit something.

Knife [Note: I forgot to actually title this one in AO3. Welp. Better fix that later]

It was slightly strange, a Freddy’s-related crime that was just… basic burglary. It was always the unusual crimes that happened- murder, manslaughter, OSHA violations (so many OSHA violations). But theft? That was new.

Shadows

They lapsed back into silence for a moment. “So, this place… is it real?” In a fashion. It was created from your memories of what is gone. “So… if Fredbear isn’t here…” He is unreachable. “Where?” I cannot tell you. “You don’t know, do you.” The Shadow-Bear was silent, telling Springtrap all he needed to know. 

Puppet RWQ… Yes? Stop tormenting the rabbit. You’re no fun. Puppet? She hissed at the purple bear. Stop tormenting the rabbit. “And why would I listen to you?” Because, Shadow Freddy said as the Puppet was slowly levitated up into the air, all four limbs flailing, he’s needed. And also, you are being, as Springtrap so eloquently called RWQ earlier, an asshole.

Voice Specifically, it was more a mixture of blood, rotting flesh, and whatever other bodily fluids lingered in William Afton’s partially mummified decomposing head and was accessible via Springtrap’s mouth, without opening said mouth to the point where someone would notice said partially mummified decomposing head.  [Or] Springtrap was displaying remarkable self-restraint. First, he hadn’t punched the Puppet in the face for threatening his friend’s life. Then, he hadn’t punched the Puppet in the face for implying he had a problem with the golden bear. Now, he wasn’t squeezing the life out of JJ in a hug.

Ghosts “No. The thing is, I’ve never had a name I felt truly fit before it. I can’t be Bonnie any more; the Classic model has taken that name, and he is welcome to have it. Spring Bonnie was the name the Man Behind the Slaughter used; I never truly referred to myself with it. Some employees called me Golden Bonnie, to fit with the whispers of a Golden Freddy, but that was never truly a name either, although I suppose I could have gotten used to it eventually. But Springtrap? It lets me keep my past, and it lets me have a future. Sure, it’s a little odd, but I don’t mind. I kind of like it. It’s unique.”

Humans Oh, Spring has a key. That explains where the spare went! When did he get that? Jake’s been looking for it for ages. Not that it’s my business. He says he technically works here, so it’s not stealing. Cheeky. He’s right though.

Henry “I’m not sure whether I should be pissed about the weird way he’s been constructed, or impressed he hasn’t collapsed yet. What the hell is holding him togeth- wait what the hell is that.” Springtrap winced. He knew he should’ve warned them beforehand, but he still tended to hide the rotting corpse. It was instinctive, a sort of habit- born from the fear he would be scrapped is the workers found out, and increased by the fact he was being blamed for murder.

Sound No matter how bad Springtrap’s eyesight could get, no matter how often his joints locked up, Springtrap had always had his rabbit hearing. It had saved his life several times, back when the Classics were hunting him. He had figured out a basic method of echolocation for when his eyes were useless. He relied on his ears, and now they were letting him down for the first time in his life. It scared him.

Doors “Freddy! We have a problem!”

Attack He did. He needed a hand. God, it hurt. Where was his arm? Was that his arm? No, it couldn’t be. He was gold. Not green. Or maybe it was. It was hard to think. Thinking. What a strange concept. The Greeks had invented thinking, hadn't they? Why would they do that?

Rest There were voices. Voices. His voicebox had lungs. His lungs were in his spine. His spine was being held together by lungs. His spine attached to his legs. He had no legs. He heard voices. He couldn’t hear. The grass was nice. Cool. Soft. Green. Like his eyes. Not like his eyes. Like his fur. He had no fur. Like his plush. His plush was green. Or gold. Or red. Or brown. He couldn’t remember which. Maybe it was all of them There was a breeze. It was nice. Warm. Hot. It was sunny. The sun was a star. He liked stars.  Stars meant Fredbear. And dancing. Where were his legs? He wanted to dance with the stars. Or with Fredbear. Fredbear. His Fredbear. He missed Fredbear.

Epilogue: Box Smeared down the plaster, it started about six feet up, and grew thicker toward the ground. It looked like Springtrap, or the Purple Guy, had slid down the wall until they were sitting. The tile beneath was stained heavily, and Freddy marvelled at how much blood was in a human body.

Epilogue: Opening ... no killing. That was the new rule. It was a strange one, for Master, but he supposed Master knew what he was talking about. He had changed, too; he had scratched behind his ears a couple days ago and it had felt so good.

Epilogue: Spark He remembered a time of life and colour, when he danced and played and sang, when children flocked around him and fed off his happiness and energy and gave him their own. He would experience that again.

[meanwhile-on-spn]

Meanwhile...

Season 1 Ep. 2 - Wendigo

Previously on Supernatural: A demon waited for Sam to come back so he could start his BBQ.

___

“Why are you guys just sitting there!?” A young man demanded stomping up the slope to a campsite fire. An older man and woman sat, in dingy folding chairs, passing food and beer to one another. “We should be looking around.”

Laura turned to him giving a indulgent smile as she finished the last of her beer, tossing into an air tight container to avoid scavengers, “For what? It was a bear, Kevin.” Kevin was not happy about that, the tiny bear bells on his pack giving a jangle, as he stomped his feet in frustration.

“Guys, you said you would take this seriously.” He whined, an actual high pitched whine.

“Yeah” Jeremy popped in, around a mouth full of his trail mix, “and we seriously think that was a bear.”

Kevin scowled, throwing his pack to the ground and started to dig through it, “This is why I don’t invite you out on hunts.” Finding what he needed, Kevin pulled out a battered composition notebook that was bent, stained and had dozens of loose sheets of paper falling out of it, “We are supposed to find evidence of this thing.”

“No, We agreed to do this because we wanted to get out of the city and drink in the woods.” Laura restated, watching as her companion took the final folding chair for himself. Once seated, Kevin opened up the notebook, leafing through pages of what looked like internet printouts, crude drawings and gibberish written in what wanted to be organized text. “Come on Kev. We’re having one more beer and calling it a night.”

“How many times do we have to go over this!?” The agitated young man said, stomping his hiking boot, the dry foliage underneath giving a crackle. He hunched over more, trying to read the writing in the low light. Laura looked over his shoulder to see the name Wendigo, scratched in like a saw victim would their will, with jagged pen strokes. “Rumor is that this thing makes human noises. What kind of Bear makes human sounds?”

“Yogi?” Jeremy snarked, pulling out his vaping pen. Laura leaned in closer, actually reading Kevin’s notes.

WENDIGO

A Cree name for the Monster common in folklore of the First Nations Algonquin folklore, this creature is created when a human, usually in desperate need of food, starts to consume other humans. 

Mostly sited the northern forests of Nova Scotia, the East Coast of Canada, and Great Lakes Region of Canada and in Wisconsin, United States.

Tall, lanky, smell bad, superspeed, Cunning, Can mimic human voices. Under that were several crud drawings and multiple new clippings  about missing campers in the woods. The one Kevin was currently reading though, had just been published last week.

FIRE!! IN THE OLD SILVER MINES OF BLACKWATER RIDGE

Volunteer firefighters were baffled this week as a fire erupted from the long abandoned silver mines deep in the backwoods of Blackwater Ridge. The mines, built back in the 1870s, had long been lost to park rangers until the emergency forest fire that took out 2 acres led them to one the shaft openings. As for what started the first, experts are still looking for answers but are suspicious that it somehow sparked within the mines. Rangers want to remind everyone to practi... ropriate.... Afe... 

The lower half of the news article was jaggedly ripped. In the right hand corner there were coordinates scribbled in red ink and circled multiple times.

“Why the hell do you even want to ‘find’ this thing Kevin?” Laura was aghast, if she even believed in it for a second she would have already hightailed it out of the woods. 

“Come on I have one more place to look. Come with me.” Laura looked in his eyes and saw that unbridled excitement that she saw in her 6 year old sister. With a huff, she agreed, standing up to join him.

“Fiiiiiiine.” Jeremy groaned, lifting himself out of his seat. “Let’s get this over with so we can drink.”

Laura And Jeremy were behind Kevin as he led them through the woods, guided only by a coordinates app on his phone. Everything looked the same to them, charred, burnt and destroyed. Finally, after several minutes of stopping, inspecting his app, spinning in circles then reinspecting the app again, Kevin announced that they had arrived. The trip stood at the edge of a small ravine that was once probably covered with copious small plants. Now though, with the fire destroying everything the entrance to the mine was left bare and exposed to the world.

Carefully they slide down the ashes sides, coughing as the dust is kicked up into the ravine.

The entrance to the mine was completely blacked, ominous scorch marks from the inferno that birthed from its entrance leaving a lasting impact. Kevin pulled out his flashlight and slowly inched towards the entrance. The camera hanging around his neck banging about his chest in a rhythmic beat.

The insides of the mine smelled like a confusing mix of dry burning and musty dampness. It made Laura sneeze almost instantly and made Jeremy’s eyes water in irritation. They weaved through the labyrinthian channels of the mine so quickly Laura was scared they would be lost forever inside it. Just as she was about to demand they head back to the came Kevin froze. Laura and Jeremy both slamming into his back as he stood stock still, his flashlight frozen on a mass before them.

It was black and massive, laying prone like it was dead or asleep.  Kevin started to inch closer, even though Laura tried to lank him back harshly hissing him to come back. Kevin forged ahead walking a slow circle around the prone figure. “Is it dead?” Laura asked. To answer their question, Kevin sticks out his foot, jabbing at the body.

“Dead.” With a relieved sigh, his courage back, Jeremy walks over inspecting the body as well

“What the hell is that thing?” Jeremy pointed to what looked like a charred piece of jerky, tough, wrinkly, and smelling vaguely like a cookout. Laura picked up a stick and started poking at the corpse. “Hey, don-”

“It’s a bear?” She said with the absolute confidence of a person who had no clue what they were talking about.

“With no fur!?” Kevin's incredulous loud voice bounced off the stone walls, echoing down the chasm. 

“Burnt off probably. Or it’s got mange.” Jeremy added, then melted into uncontrollable giggles. Poking harder at the charred remains, “Hey look, it’s Smokey!”

“Oh for the love of god!” Kevin threw his hands up

“Come on guys,” Laura looked around her, uncomfortable with just how much noise this supposedly abandoned mineshaft was making, “let's get out of here. This place gives me the creeps.” Jeremy hummed in agreement, dripping the stick and instantly giving up on his probing of the corpse.

“Hey, it's okay, man. Who knows maybe we will run into the moth man, he can give us a ride home.”

“That’s not funny.” Bending down lower, Kevin inspects the head of the creature. It was burned beyond recognition but he couldn't shake the feeling that it didn't look like a bear's head. It almost looked human.

“It’s a little funny if you let yourself laugh.” Jeremy said, giving the body a kiss. Which managed to splatter some disgusting black goo on Kevin's face. Sputtering, Kevin hell back into the dirt, scrubbing at his face.

“Yeah, Kev. You’ve got to relax. It’s not about the monsters you find, it’s about the friends you make along the way.” The trio left, none of them noticing the luminous red eyes tracking them from a dark corner of the mines.

Onscreen Body count: 6