#also the more that I think about it the more hideous the cover becomes

[little-de-vil]

How we feeling in this fine SOTR day, fam?

Because I’m feeling…something for sure!

[avocado-writing]

Can I request companions + Halsins reactions to a tav who snorts when they laugh really hard and is embarrassed about it so they try to control their laughter as much as possible?

OH i love this one!!

Astarion

oh he is delighted when he first hears you.

will 👏 not 👏 stop 👏 teasing 👏 you 👏

but you know he doesn’t really mean anything by it. if you tease him back about things in return, he thinks it’s all good fun.

eventually becomes quite fond of your laugh. it’s nice to hear something so genuine when he lives a live of exaggeration and attempting to hide his emotions.

begins to smile whenever he hears it.

Gale

so so so so pleased to have made you laugh that hard.

he sees the way you cover your mouth in embarrassment and lets you know that he finds your laugh charming. he can see how flustered that makes you but you seem pleased, too.

goes out of his way to make you chuckle from that point on. more than usual, anyway, and he looks so happy whenever you snort because of him. expect lots of daft puns.

you think maybe you’ve laughed more with Gale than you have for the rest of your life.

Wyll

genuinely taken aback, but doesn’t mean to be rude.

when he sees you’re humiliated by it, he quickly reassures you that there’s nothing wrong with how you laugh, he just didn’t expect it.

you’ve been so solemn on this journey so far, after all — he thought you were just averse to humour, not that you were trying to hide how you sounded!

encourages you to laugh more, not cover up this lovely thing about you. if anyone has anything to say about it?? well your Blade will step in ❤️

Karlach

“oh my GODS I love your laugh!”

she’s so chuffed to hear it properly! you sound so lovely!

her laugh is loud too, big and booming and takes over the whole camp.

she tries to get you to laugh more. if she knows you’re ticklish, she will descend upon you until you’ve lost it, just left in tears.

it’s hard to feel self conscious about it when she’s there, making you so happy!

Lae’zel

also not known for her sense of humour… but something happens to make you laugh one day, and you snort so loudly.

she is so shocked that she starts to laugh too, and it’s such a strange sound! like a croak. you can’t help but giggle in response.

and then the two of you are just there, like you’ve had Hideous Laughter cast on you, losing yourselves at the silliness of the situation, stuck in utter joy at each other’s laughs.

eventually you compose yourselves. she looks you in the eye, wipes away a tear.

“we never speak of this again.”

Shadowheart

giggles when she hears you, then manages to get ahold of yourself.

“sorry, sorry. I just wasn’t expecting… that.”

confesses that she’s unused to much laughter due to her upbringing, so she understands your serious nature.

but, at the same time, encourages you to express your feelings. she knows she’d love to hear you laugh more. she finds it quite sweet, actually.

and if anyone mocks you? well, no heals for them.

Halsin

also overjoyed.

does what he can to bring the sound out of you more. it quickly becomes one of his favourites.

when you confide you’re self-conscious about it, he reassures you:

”my heart, there are many wonderful sounds in nature that perhaps we don’t expect. maybe yours is one of them. it makes it no less beautiful.”

then he turns into a bear and does a forward roll which leaves you in stitches 💕

[novankenn]

OOPS.. I'm SORRY!

Pyrrha had been bored so she had cone into the stacks. A dusty, musty collection of old books. Many of the works only having the significance of being out of print for years. So lost in her thoughts on how to finally get Jaune out of his funk about Weiss choosing Neptune, along with telling him of her own feelings, she just wandered.

Pyrrha: Huh?

A shimmer on the shelf to her left catches her eye.

Pyrrha: What's this?

Pulls a dusty tome from the shelf. She gives a puff of air to remove some of the dust from the cover. Removing the rest with a swipe of her hand.

Pyrrha: Mental Manipulation for Fun and Profit?

Cracking open the book, she began to browse the pages, trying to figure out what the title meant. However the light was too poor to read the fine type, so tucking it under her arm, she headed back to JNPR's dorm.

Twenty minutes later, Pyrrha had her nose buried in the strange text. Apparently it was a collection of techniques, and Spells? While she wasn't convinced about the "spells" part there were a lot of techniques detailed with in the pages to open another's mind to what truly surrounded them.

Pyrrha: Maybe I can get Jaune to FINALLY notice my attempts for his attention!

Flipping through more of the pages, she found a section detailing a "spell" that would help open someone's mind , and also guide them to become the perfect version of themselves. Pyrrha giggled, at the thought of Jaune becoming even more perfect for her, than he already was.

Pyrrha: Well what could it hurt? I mean magic is just make believe, everyone knows that.

So setting the book on Jaune's bed, Pyrrha began to replicate the actions and words the pages detailed. She was alone in the dorm so she didn't pay attention to where she was pointing... Pyrrha: Aperi mentem tuam, perfectam versionem effici qui sis! (Open your mind to the perfect version of who you are!)

Pyrrha felt something flow through her. Looking from the book she saw a golden purple light form at the end of her index finger that was pointing at the door to the dorm... just as it opened.

Pyrrha: Jaune!

The beam of energy hit Jaune in the center of his chest. He staggered on his feet shaking his head. Pyrrha was mortified at what had happened!

Pyrrha: I'm sorry!

Jaune: Pyr?

Pyrrha: I'm sorry, Jaune. So sorry! Are you okay?

Jaune: I think so?

Jaune blinked his vivid blue eyes a few times, before finally getting them to focus.

Jaune: Pyr, get on the bed right now!

Pyrrha: Jaune?

Jaune: You're hair is an absolute rat's nest! Bed! Now. I have to fix it!

Pyrrha: Huh?

Jaune moved about the room gathering up Pyrrha's combs and brushes as well as rushing into the bathroom, and grabbing some additional hair products.

Jaune: Sit. Sit!

Pyrrha was so confused, that she just did as Jaune told her. Her mind melted even further when Jaune stopped in front of the full length mirror on the back of the dorm's entrance.

Jaune: Ack! What am I wearing? It's hideous! Nope, nope, focus Jaune. One tragedy at a time!

For the next half hour, Pyrrha was treated to the most exquisite treatment she had ever received, as Jaune brushed and then braided her hair. Once it was done, Jaune headed into the bathroom, as Pyrrha stood looking in the mirror at the elaborate and complicated braid Jaune had weaved her long crimson locks into.

Pyrrha: It's... it's beautiful!

Half a hour later, Jaune exited the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his head and another tucked about his chest, leaving his legs from the thigh down.

Pyrrha: Did you shave you legs?

Jaune said nothing as he moved to the shared closet, and started to rummage. Pyrrha just stood there as Jaune redressed, with no care about her standing there, and getting a nice from behind view of her crush. Though him turning about, wearing an amalgam of her and Nora's clothes did blank her mind.

Jaune: This will have to do, until I can get to Vale and shop!

Pyrrha: What did I do to Jaune?

(A/N - I have no idea what this is. I'm listening to some Nightcore and this idiotic idea popped into my head. )

[anarchotahdigism]

"

This narcotizing blanket of small lies, slowly nudging us toward acceptance of fascist policy, has also functioned by being distinct from the more blatant, bizarre and openly violent right wing culture wars, which have served as a convenient ideological cover for the Biden admin's slow dismantling of the Covid safety net.

The archetypal move here, I think, was the CDC stopping tracking and collating Covid data at all. After 40 years of preaching transparency, studies and "more information", liberals have made the distinctly fashy pivot to "less data, more vibes" (see also Democratic governor of New York Kathy Hochul saying that subway crime is "not statistically significant, but psychologically significant" in justification of deploying soldiers to the MTA). This has gone hand in hand with the dismantling of the journalistic apparatus, which seems to be reaching its apotheosis over the last 12 months. Not to mention the rise of AI and the collapse of internet searchability.

While the right has been busy attacking the institutions and idea of history itself, in book bans, school board and university takeovers, the liberals have been engaged in an active campaign of forgetting the very thing we're literally experiencing right now." ... "They want us to forget that, a mere four years ago, the president of the United States cowered in a bunker underneath the White House as rioters shook the gates and destroyed the guardhouse at its entrance. They want us to forget what it felt like to take the streets with one another, they want us to forget that we fought the police and won, they want us to forget the promises to defund the police, they want to forget that ACAB became a slogan on every lips, that the burning of the third precinct in Minneapolis had higher approval ratings than either presidential candidate, that few things have ever been so beautiful as that hideous building given over to the flames." ...

"We can not afford such comfortable forgetting. In an age of mass gaslighting and mass misinformation in the name of mass disablement and death, where the state offers us nothing except the comforting lie that this is normal, the simple stating of the facts, standing up for our own memories, becomes an act of resistance.

Do not forget what you know. Do not forget who you are. Forgetting is an active process, and it's one we must resist and refuse."

[icycoldninja]

Can you write a reader who’s like Mileena from Mortal Kombat

Mileena is a mutant hybrid clone of Kitana, created in Shang Tsung's flesh pits at the behest of Shao Kahn, who had become increasingly paranoid that Kitana would one day learn the truth and betray him. As a fusion of Tarkatan blood and Edenian physiology, Mileena combines and fully utilizes attributes of both races in combat, boasting incredible speed, brute strength, nimble acrobatic prowess, and frightening, carnivorous savagery matched only by Baraka.

In stark contrast to Kitana, Mileena is an evil, sadistic, cruel, twisted, hot-tempered, selfish, and psychologically unhinged opportunist whose fondest wish is to kill her "sister" and claim her existence for her own. She fights using a pair of sais and a hideous, razor-sharp Tarkatan maw which she uses to bite off chunks of human flesh and crush bones

When the boys confront the reader asking why she’s hellbent on stealing her sister identity, she finally confessed that she wished to have an identity of her own, and that she’s tired of being referred to as “Kitana’s clone” and wants to be reminded as “herself”

She felt robbed of her own autonomy and sense of self every time she looks into the mirror just to realize she’s nothing more that her sister’s clone, not a person of herself. She felt that if she kills her sister, only then she feels that she can no longer be someone’s clone, just a solitary individual

As for her mouth, she’s proud of it and yet sometimes feel shameful for having them because while they’re excellent for combat, it’s a hassle taking care of them and hide them away when needed. Because she’s half Tarkartan, she always felt as if she’s starving and it gets on her nerves a lot, so she had to restrain herself from consuming humans ( not that she had a problem for the taste, it’s just that covering up the crime scene can be a hassle and will draw more attention than needed ) so she started shifting her attention to devils

“ Anything that’s not poisonous and alive…it will go in my stomach either ways”

She’s pretty much a voracious eater as well, f eating etiquette, we’re eating plates and stuffing food down our throat now

Also, Mileena is a really brutal fighter so I can imagine the boys having the “should i be scared or turn on” face when she perform the Fatility on whatever unlucky devils happen to be nearby:

https://youtu.be/fpvzIGHueqo?si=eYoeVa63mUOVzhOr

Sure, sure. Enjoy.

Sparda boys + V x Mileena-like!Reader headcannons

¤ Dante ¤

-Dante thought you were pretty fricking hot from the moment he met you.

-Your fighting style, your insane brutality, everything was just so cool.

-He knows he should be scared when he sees you rip someone's throat muscles out with your bare hands, but at the same time, he's kinda turned on. He wonders that if you had enough strength to manhandle him during intimacy. Now that'd be something.

-He wants you to know that he loves you, and only you, for who you are and not because you happen to be a clone of someone he doesn't even know.

-He thinks your mutant mouth is pretty damn sexy, though he does wonder how he's supposed to kiss you without getting pinched by your teeth.

-Your appetite is amazing, since it's just like his. You guys could chomp away on pretty much anything, enjoying yourselves (and the food) the entire time.

■ Vergil ■

-Vergil admires your strength and exceptional battle prowess, for it is a testament to your immense POWER.

-He finds your Sais and how you use them elegant in its own bloody way.

-He has nothing to fear when you go full rabid-wolf-monster on your opponents because he knows you would never hurt him, and if you tried, he could easily defeat you.

-Finds your bizarre mouth oddly enchanting, and though he'll never admit it, he'd love to feel that long, frog-like tongue down his throat.

-He MOTIVATES you to have pride in yourself and celebrate your individuality. You are awesome, who cares about your sister? He doesn't even know who that is anyway.

-Your eating habits are disgusting, and Vergil will not hesitate to tell you this.

□ Nero □

-Nero felt bad for you, not feeling happy with yourself all because of something you couldn't control.

-It wasn't your fault you were a mutant clone, and besides, Nero is sure you're way better than the original anyway.

-He respects your strength and would love to fight alongside you in battle, but you're so brutal and violent. It's kinda scary.

-Even though Nero has seen millions of nasty demons and equally nasty ways to get rid of them, your methods are beyond anything he's ever seen before.

-He loves you lots, but doesn't want to be anywhere near you once you start ripping people's organs out, or when you decide to scarf down some of the demons' remains mid battle.

-One of the many things Nero finds attractive is that gorgeously long tongue of yours, and he often fantasizes about what you could do with it.

● V ●

-V finds your violent side rather charming, strangely enough.

-He loves watching you fight, even when you do the most obscene things like chugging a can of something, then spitting it out at your enemy, and killing them with it.

-Your abilities are truly astounding, and V never hesitates to tell you that.

-He loves you for more than your combat prowess, however, he also loves how driven and wild you are, in contrast to his reserved and introverted nature.

-He could never be scared of you, for although others view you as a hungry, cruel monster, he sees you as a broken woman who never got to live her life, always being seen as a clone of someone else.

-He wants to help you create a new identity that might aid in your mental and emotional recovery. He's patient; with time, you might be able to live a happy, stable life.

[devildomditzy]

My General List of OM! Headcannons

If it’s listed here, you can assume my fics/drabbles/headcannons are compliant to it unless stated otherwise. I’ll keep adding to this as I think of/remember more of them that’ve popped into my head at some point.

Remember these are my opinions, it’s cool if you don’t agree with them, but please don’t write a multi-paragraph essay about why I’m wrong on this post.

It’s chill. It’s cool. It’s a mobile app. I’ve managed a gamestop. I’m a certified gamer. You can trust me.

so, without further ado…

Belphie is also a red head (bc twins), but he dyes it because he likes to be dark and brooding

The white stripe grows naturally and is from an accident back when they were still angels, but he thinks it looks cool so he makes a conscious effort to not cover it up

After the events of chapter 16, Mammon rarely wants anything to do with Belphie, causing major tension when either of them have to be in the same room

Riding off that, Mammon does not let Belphie get anywhere near MC, and will make sure he never has a chance to be alone with them

Mammon gets those gold streaks in his hair whenever in his demon form because it’s sexy and i say so

Lucifer is not an extreme sadist, he’s a tired old grandpa trying his best to keep his energetic siblings in line, because if he didn’t, who would?

Asmo is a LOT more fucked up and evil than in the cannon game but not is a psycho way, in a Jennifer’s Body way you feel me?

Diavolo is up to…. something… his charisma and charm hide some very ulterior motives for dragging you down here

Barbatos knows about them too

Lucifer does too but does not agree with them to a full extent so he goes out of his way to secretly keep you from harm

Solomon can probably do some form of mind control which makes him 1000 times scarier to think about

Their lives as angels were just as hard and painful, if not MORE than what they are experiencing as demons

The hardest part of the fall was adjusting to becoming the avatars of sins, they were like almost feral there for a moment

They are always under tremendous amounts of pressure and self control to not revert back to that state

but it is possible :) and if they do :) run :)

On God they have hideous eldritch monster forms be not afraid fucking demonic ass beasts

That’s their real form ^^^

And MC sees them and goes “…eh.”

And they are floored

MC is monster fucker supreme

They can shape shift into whatever form they’d like

What you see (their cannon designs) is the product of years and years of figuring out what they wanted to look like, they can change overtime

That’s all I got at the moment! I’ll update this over time.

[bonebabbles]

This is the pettiest thing I will ever post. But when I see Gray Wing put up with the song Mr. Cellophane I think,

Don't you dare compare Amos Hart to that hideous beast. Amos deserves the ENTIRE WORLD and also A UNION

good. gray wing deserves this, actually. Cry about it

It does legitimately interest me though, how the song becomes re-contextualized by changing the singer like this.

For those who don't know; Chicago is a musical about awful people and the way Roxie Hart and her lawyer, Billy Flynn, are able to whip the media surrounding Roxie's trial into a tool to get her acquitted of a coldblooded murder.

It's about trickery, with the only two well-meaning people in the entire cast taking the consequences. A hotshot prosecutor hangs the only innocent woman in the jail (Hunyak, a Hungarian who can't speak English and whose public defender refuses to do his job), and Roxie's husband, Amos Hart, bankrupts himself to pay for Roxie's lawyer.

Roxie haaaates Amos. She lies to him about her victim, convincing him cover up her murder, only for it to fall apart when he finds out she had been cheating on him with this man and the truth comes together. Yet, he still spends every cent he has on Billy Flynn, a very expensive lawyer, to save her from the noose.

He's not a smart man, and that's the tragedy. He's a rube she takes advantage of. She was always planning to leave him.

The whole time, Amos is kept out of the loop and used in even more schemes. Roxie feigns pregnancy to get media sympathy, frames him as a mastermind who "convinced a nun to elope one day," and ignores him for the entire trial before leaving him in the end.

So when he sings Mr. Cellophane, what that serves is to show that Amos wants ONE thing. He just wants to be noticed. Not loved, he doesn't want to own her, he doesn't wish he never paid for her defense. He wants to be NOTICED.

And that's very unlike Gray Wing, but people will hear Mr. Cellophane out of context and just think it's about sadboy pining.

Gray Wing treats Turtle Tail like shit as he obsesses over Storm, who was never interested in him. He treats her buddy Bumble like shit and yells at Turtle for having the wrong friend. He doesn't run after heavily pregnant Storm when she leaves Clear Sky for being a controlling, war-hungry monster who argues with her in public and exiled his disabled brother.

He holds a grudge against Bumble for "taking" Turtle from him, happy to watch her dragged back to a domestic abuser, and couldn't give less of a shit when she dies violently because she just HAD to go and get herself killed by his Beloved Brother and now no one will like him :(

And even worse-- he's NOT Mr. Cellophane. People think Gray Wing is the wisest motherfucker in the forest, they run after him and beg him to help them lead all the time, trusting his dumb, terrible choices and clouded judgement to the point of absurdity.

He's the writer's pet, even "rewarded" with a woman in the end to birth his biological kittens

There's something really interesting in that, though.

The song from the mouth of Amos Hart, it's insight to his goodness. Even after all this mistreatment, after being so OBVIOUSLY taken advantage of, slandered, drained of everything, all he wants is to be noticed. It's a fatal flaw.

In the mouth of Gray Wing, it's whining. It's the same bitching and moaning he does all series long, crying about how people don't listen to him when really they should listen to him less. It's "But I'm a Nice Guy!" entitlement, a refusal to self-reflect on why those three women didn't fucking like him. A fatal flaw, but in the opposite way.

[d2ydxsquare]

pudding character analysis!

I'm not gonna lie right now, Charlotte Pudding is one of my favourite characters. I know, I know, she’s an antagonist. Sorta? Personally I think she falls under this dere type, mayadere. Basically it’s a character that used to be an antagonist, but switched sides after falling in love.

I don’t know, I just love when teenage girls behave like teenage girls. One of the reasons why I enjoyed her character was honestly because of our closeness in ages. I was the same age as her while i was watching whole cake island, which is 16 if you didn’t know. It honestly just felt like she represented all of teenage girlhood or at least my experiences with it.

I will be honest first though, I went into WCI knowing that Pudding was lying throughout the whole time she was nice (it is difficult to keep away from spoilers i suppose). I was prepared to hate her, truly I was. I was surprised though, when slowly I started to identify with her more and more. Honestly, I couldn't help but fall in love at first sight, despite knowing of her lies and deception. A child of an Emperor, how could she be so sweet to the strawhats?

Of course then her true nature was revealed when she shot Reiju, and started telling her about how evil she truly is.of course this is the part i begin to dislike her, the way she spoke about Sanji broke my heart, especially with him standing outside. (i also loved the scene of him under the rain, tears in his eyes as he tries to light his cigarette again. Trying to revive the flames of the love he thought she had for him, only to realise it was futile as she didn’t love him in the first place, y’know, cause the fire can’t be lit under the rain.)

But after this line in chapter 902, ‘No one will ever fall in love with me. I’m a hideous, monstrous freak.’ It was heartbreaking to me because it was a realisation that everything she said about Sanji was a reflection of how she felt about herself. It’s common for a girl like Pudding, who’s been told time and time again that she was hideous and horrifyingly ugly because of her third eye to have a coping mechanism, especially one of projecting. 

See, Pudding is an extremely confused girl. I cannot blame her for it, look who she has as a mother, Big Mom. She calls herself Big Mom’s favourite (if i can find the screenshot i’ll put it here) yet ever since young she was ridiculed and put down by her because of her third eye, even asking her to grow out her bangs to cover it up. This is detrimental for a girl’s self-esteem, especially coming from a mother figure, someone you are supposed to look up to and respect. See how she is being both put down (Big Mom says no one will love her because of her looks) and complimented (yet she is her favourite child) at the same time? Any little girl will become like Pudding when put through this psychological turmoil.

It is no wonder all she does is want to impress her mother, seeking her validation and love in every corner. Pudding has it drilled in her mind that she is unlovable, what else can she do but chase after that sliver of what seemed like love from her mother by lying by becoming rude and basically being a bitch? She will never get it from her mother though, with Big Mom merely seeing her as an important tool as with her awakened ability, she is able to read poneglyphs. (this is just a personal thought but i think her learning how to act and lie flawlessly is to be favoured by her mother as she has yet to awaken her ability. If she does not have any ability at all, why should her mother ‘love’ her?) It's a complicated emotion, to both love someone yet dislike them for how they’ve treated you, especially if they are of your own blood.

Thus these two main reasons cause her to spiral out of control. Pudding had lost herself, in all the intricate lies and personas that she plays, to the point she doesn’t know who she is anymore. This is honestly really common, especially in teenage girls, or maybe I've seen it with myself. Painting yourself in a different light because you hate who you are due to your flaws, in hopes that it will make you feel better. In doing so, you lose yourself entirely, forgetting who you even are.

Even when she switches over to the strawhat’s side she is seen to have this extreme shift in character, from being mean to Sanji then to being absolutely lovestruck by him. This is the most glaring evidence of how messed up she had become from her mother’s brainwashing. She questions herself, why does she even say mean things to someone she feels so dearly towards? It has integrated so well to her personality that she is unable to switch back to whatever she considers her true persona– the ‘mean’, the ‘sweet’ and the ‘vulnerable’ all mixed up in one person. Anyways, Pudding was honestly a refreshing yet realistic character I was able to relate to. The small faucets of her personality, the motivations behind her character was very eye opening to read. In learning about her, I felt I was learning more about myself, so to speak.

Pudding is a character riddled with self-esteem and self-image problems that stem from an unhealthy relationship with her mother and bullying. To combat that, she becomes rude and ‘evil’ to earn her mother���s praise as well as protect her heart in some sense. It is a story that most girls can relate to, the real life ups and downs of complex teenage feelings all rolled into one character. That is exactly why I love her, because she represents the honest troubles of growing up.

[missdreamfyre]

𓂃𓏲࣪ ʚɞ succesion/fall of house usher hotd au brainrot i've had for a while ♡. 。°˖

(feel free to use for like whatever i'm probs not going to write this)

Viserys owns a mega company that's been in his family for generations after his great great great grandfather ruthlessly took over the company his first wife aemma died in labor he has one daughter and heir to the empire rhaenyra. his business partner otto convinces him to remarry otto's extremely young daughter and rhaenyra's private school friend best alicent (She's 16 almost 17 when they meet and 18 when they actually get married and have aegon) knowing that they're son would be set to inherit the company as it's tradition that the first born son gets control over the company.

• Viserys and Rhaenyra get into a fight after while drunk at a business party she "sleeps' ' with the much older ex business partner and best friend daemon.

• Daemon is Viserys ex business partner and college friend (not his brother but viserys basically still treats him like one) who was removed from the company due to trying to pivot them to more illegal business.

• The issue with the strong boys is less that their bastards and more that they're very obviously not Laenors.

• The Hightowers are new money and the Targaryens are old money.

• Rhaenyra and Laenor only get married because rhaenyra doesn't want to get married and still wants to privately "play the field" and Laenor is in the closet.

• Viserys dies and "the family goes to war" by suing each other into oblivion, another who gets control over the company and ends up pissing away the family fortune on lawyers and smear campaigns/pr.

• Alicent is basically treated similar to Willa (Succession) or Juno (Fall of House Usher) until Viserys dies.

• Laena is an actress in this au! Rhaena wants to follow her mothers footsteps while Rhaena wants to join the family business (also Rhaena and Helaena become friends in this au cause i think i'd be cute).

• Blood and Cheese is replaced with Daemon using mob connections to have Helaena and her kids kidnapped. Jaehaerys is severely injured by the goons and is hospitalized for a while and is permanently wheelchair bound but lives. This drives Aegon to continue in his war against rhaenyra.

• Alicent homeschools her kids instead of sending them to the prestige boarding school the Targaryens have been going to for decades (she also redecorates the mansion due to it being mildly hideous).

• Aegon is basically a useless fuckboy for the first half of this drinking, using and partying constantly and wants to start his own nightclub but Alicent and Otto stop him.

• Alicent buys a cat once Viserys dies and it's her favorite thing in the world (Aegon jokes she likes it more than him).

• Aemond losing a eye was a prank that the strong boys didn't intend to go that far (it was revenge for Aemond mocking them for being obviously not Laenors kids) Viserys defends them saying it was just boys being boys and that they were sorry and they're all family ect ect alicent loses it and slaps rhaenyra after she suggests Aemond be sent to military school for "Bullying" her sons.

• Aegon is basically a twitter troll and chronically searches his own name to know what people are saying about him. 

• Alicent starts out dressing more like a preppy teenager but covers up more due to her relationship with Viserys plus her being seen as a "Goldigger" by daemon and slutshamed.

• Aemond goes off to study business at a prestigious private university and meets the older Alys.

• This is semi inspired by a fic but Larys is very obsessed with alicent and 100% believes she killed Viserys (she didn't and is also a repressed lesbian in this au) 

• Criston was rhaenyra's bodyguard before what happened in cannon happens and he confesses to alicent and Viserys gets chewed out and fired and almost fired later alicent comforts him and convinces Viserys to have him switched to being her own personal body guard instead of firing him.

• Alicent was into literature in highschool before dropping out to get married and passed that love on to Aemond.

• Daemon has ties to organized crime and instead of taking rhaenyra to a brothel he takes her to a private strip club.

• Rhaenyra was a popular online it girl until she started dating daemon, she argues with people who don't like him on twitter (they're basically grimes and elon musk in this au).

[ladykarloff]

As Micheline lay there with her long unraveled waves around her face, they half-hid her cheek where a tear fell from the corner of her eye. She clutched her abdomen gently as she lay in the bed, waiting. She could feel something changing in her body. She suddenly felt ill around certain meats, the smell emitting a hideous odor that made her want to vomit. She was becoming queasy in the early morning hours and became cold easily. It was apparent that the change was upon her. A part of her was enthralled, curious. The other part of her was terrified. One question remained on her mind— which twin was the father? As she shuddered, she wrapped the blanket over her body and cowered beneath the covers. She struggled for warmth and yet was ashamed at the same time. Now, her father was in the castle. What would happen now that he was here? Would there be a resounding confrontation between him and the brothers? Would all of that bitter feuding come to a boil? She did not want to know. All she wanted was to leave the castle and marry Anton regardless. She did not want to be kept prisoner in a fortress where she had been raped repeatedly. She did not want to have to leave her room in fear, looking around every corner and down every dark hall to see if he was there.

Still, the heart of the conversation remained the same. She knew that eventually, she'd have to become a bride to one of the brothers. She prayed that Anton would be the one. She prayed for it, wished for it with all her heart, all her soul. As she lay there in the bed, she turned onto her back only slightly. She observed herself across the way into the mirror that stood only six feet from the bed. Her eyes gazed at her reflection, and she cupped her belly, thinking about the future. In her mind, she envisioned what the child would look like when newly born. Would it have his beautiful dark skin and thick brows if it were a boy? Would it have his smile and the piercing beauty of his lashes? Or would it still be a dark and lovely child, hair as bright as ebony and eyes as brown as chocolate? Either way, she did not mind which sex it would be. In her own time, she had dreamed of becoming a mother, a willing notion that most women did not share; she dreamt of carrying a child and becoming its mother. All this and more was what she wanted. She knew she'd have to become a wife and mother eventually, but the fact she willed herself and longed for it to come true made her realize the depth of the reality. She prayed it was not the elder brother's child. While he'd had her first, there was also a possibility that Anton was the father.

Please let it be his child, she thought, swallowing hard. I don't want it to be the eldest brother's seed I have growing inside me. Mother Mary, if you can hear my prayer, please, please let it be Anton's child. I know I have failed you by lying out of wedlock by disobeying my father. I know that if I break one commandment, I break them all. So, if I must be punished for my misdeeds, let the blame fall on me completely.

As she began to drift in and out of unconsciousness, she began to hear the wind whistling outside the small window. The pane of glass was lightly cracked, and she suddenly felt cold. She felt the cushions of the bed sinking beneath her, but she wanted to be close to the fire that burned inside the hearth. Quietly and still faintly nauseous, she removed the covers from her body and slowly made her way toward the fireplace. She knelt and sat on a small pillow that caressed her underside softly. She brought her thick robes around her and shuddered. The crackling of the wood inside gave her a sense of relief, and the popping noise of the sparks made her feel safe, drawn away from the world if only for a few hours. Still, something else other than the notion of her impending first pregnancy signaled a warning. It burrowed in her bones, in her heart. It made her feel as if at any given time, she'd been incapacitated and left vulnerable.

What if that damned prophecy should come true? What if Anton is taken away from me? Who would love me and protect me then?

Those questions sat inside her head, causing a migraine to form as she sat in silence. A growing chill came from the floor and crept up her spine. Even with the layers she wore, she was still cold. A part of her finally lagged, and she began to sink slowly, causing herself to lie down on three other large pillows that sat around the hearth. She reclined and relaxed. Her muscles were no longer tense. A part of her felt as if she could breathe freely away from the men downstairs, though she loved one with all her heart; it felt freeing to be alone if only for a little while. As Micheline finally fell asleep, the flames flickered, as did the shadows. The wind outside grew sharper and more brisk, nearing a howl. She lay on her side with her left hand underneath her cheek and temple, and with the other caressing her belly still. The layers did not disparage her from feeling for the little one.

[So this is a little excerpt from the recent chapter I've written. I've become so mushy, and I'm full of yearning for old time romance, and goddamn it, I wanted Anton and Gregor to be described correctly (i.e., given the correct description of their heritage and skin tone, not like that white-washed coloring of his skin in the film on Tubi).

And maybe I'd like to imagine having a beautiful little one by him with sleek black hair and perfect dark skin. I mean, Sara was such a pretty baby. Oh, but a girl can dream.]

[The photomanip of Micheline is yours truly, of course, for illustrative purposes. The character's dreaming of holding her firstborn in her arms for the first time after delivery.]

[tetrostaffsidereposts]

Chapter 2 November 1 Thread B

[294553703 / Fuhato Daikubara] Dr. Toranosuke said that im ugly and I have to fix it because he doesnt like looking at my face can you do something about my grafts

[762978338 / Anna Kasuga] ummmmm i can try but idk im not actually super good at makeup i just do a little bit for work also your grafts are rlly shitty so idk if i can totally cover them up you might just have to become a circus freak or something

[762978338 / Anna Kasuga] jk about the circus but not about the makeup uhhh i can try?

[762978338 / Anna Kasuga] wtf maybe if he didnt want you to have scars he shouldnt have given you such awful skin grafts on your effing face LOL

[294553703 / Fuhato Daikubara] Yeah no i dont really get it either but he said to cover them so

[294553703 / Fuhato Daikubara] I dont think my arms and face are that bad honestly most of it is on my back and my legs and my ass and stuff but those are normally covered because clothing

[762978338 / Anna Kasuga] not to be rude but if my entire ass got skin grafted i think id kill myself fuhato im not gonna lie to you

[294553703 / Fuhato Daikubara] Yeah no I kind of wanted to but Dr Toranosuke said im not allowed so I just came back to work after

[762978338 / Anna Kasuga] aww wait no dont kill urself fuhato youre so so cute i didnt mean it :( your ass is probably cute too you look good in dress pants at least? i mean i look at your ass sometimes i think its nice :(

[294553703 / Fuhato Daikubara] Thanks that actually really helps my ego a lot

[762978338 / Anna Kasuga] LOL GOOD i can try your makeup though idc. im not afraid of scars like DR. TORANOSUKE?? why would you become a doctor who hates scar tissue what a dipshit lol

[762978338 / Anna Kasuga] he was getting on suga for his ear thing like??? why are you a doctor if you hate sick people so much wtf lol

[762978338 / Anna Kasuga] im gonna have to go buy makeup for you though cuz uhhhh something tells me my foundation will not help you lololol

[294553703 / Fuhato Daikubara] Please dont spend money on me anna I can buy it myself and just bring it or I can pay you or something

[762978338 / Anna Kasuga] naw its fine ill cover this you cover me all the time dw about it you wont even know what to buy

[294553703 / Fuhato Daikubara] Also thank you for being willing to touch me

[762978338 / Anna Kasuga] BECAUSE YOURE NOT GROSS omg stop that hes just being a dick seriously youre not gross youre very good looking and cute hes being stupid

[294553703 / Fuhato Daikubara] Thank you, sorry for being all weird he just kind of gets in my head sometimes and I kind of miss not looking weird

[762978338 / Anna Kasuga] ok but think of this: youre young and handsome and hes old and grey and disgusting so i think hes probably just jealous actually

[154314147 / Kan Toranosuke] I find that rather impolite.

[154314147 / Kan Toranosuke] Since you two seem to be done speaking, allow me to elaborate on my stance.

[154314147 / Kan Toranosuke] Dr. Daikubara, to be clear, I find you absolutely repulsive to look at. THAT is why I've asked you to cover your hideous facial scars. There's no other reason. I find you ugly, and I don't want to look at you.

[154314147 / Kan Toranosuke] I tried to be polite by going through Dr. Ibano, but clearly you're irritatingly dense and require a more direct approach. I find you genuinely putrid to look at. Either remedy that or make yourself scarce.

[154314147 / Kan Toranosuke] Your most compelling trait is that you are exceptionally attractive to carrion-eating insects. I hope that serves as an adequate point of pride for you. Personally, I find it unimpressive, but perhaps for you, it's somewhat of an accomplishment.

[154314147 / Kan Toranosuke] Dr. Kasuga, the fact that you have maintained a position on this team for this amount of time is leagues beyond my understanding. You are exceptionally stupid. Type with some degree of syntax in the workplace.

[154314147 / Kan Toranosuke] From my understanding, you contribute nothing, and yet continue to spend your entire shift blithering on about nonsense in your private messages and bothering your coworkers. I find it very, very grating.

[154314147 / Kan Toranosuke] The fact that you respect yourself enough to call yourself a doctor while actively doing nothing at all is something I can't seem to grasp. Perhaps now would be a good time to close this tab and begin doing some work.

[154314147 / Kan Toranosuke] Both of you are absolute pestilence embodied. If you understand that, please let me know, so that I can close this thread in a timely manner.

[294553703 / Fuhato Daikubara] Understood, extremely sorry

[762978338 / Anna Kasuga] Understood. Sorry.

[154314147 / Kan Toranosuke] Well now, that's much better, isn't it? You can resume working now. Let's keep these threads a bit more professional in the future.

THREAD CLOSED

[aquariuskat]

Finfolk ReaderXWally

So... Obsessing over @aerkame's Finfolk AU... And I kept thinking about their Wally and how his self esteem got hit from the aftermath of a fight. So... Here we are! ENJOY:

Wally always viewed his back as one huge flaw… A blemish on his perfection as a Finman. You, however, saw the beauty in those jagged marks crawling over the expanse of rippling muscles. You kissed at those scars every chance you got, praising the owner of their handsomeness, that it was a show of strength, and how it made your heart flutter to witness them in their full glory.

Sometimes, it worked. As flustered as you were in worshipping Wally’s back, the Finman was undoubtedly worse. His finned ears would flap, hands covering an apple red face that mimicked his hair. Like he was unsure of how to take the compliments over something he viewed as hideous for so long, but always enjoying it deep down. It was endearing to observe, causing you to pepper your love in sweet little kisses onto whatever skin you could reach just to hear his small noises and feel him squirm in your arms.

But then, there were the times he’d brush off your words. So deep in a funk that he’d scoff and turn his head away. This one seemed to be one of the worst of those times… “My precious Moonrise,” you cooed, using the nickname you came up with when his scales reminded you of a Hawaiian Moonrise Shell in colors. “Talk to me, Love. Please?”

“How can you possibly love my back? Yes, it shows I’m strong to survive and win… But it’s still-“Wally’s breath hitched, huddled closer to his self-embrace as his face seemed to become blank in an effort to withdraw into himself more.

“You silly Rainbowfish!” You huffed out. “There’s still perfection with imperfections… In fact, Kintsugi is an art practice all about admiring the brokenness of an item! In fact, why don’t we try doing it together?” At seeing the lack of interest, you knew you had to pull out that tidbit of info. So, with a thoughtful hum you added, “I think you can also use silver powder instead of gold… and if you do it the traditional way, it takes, like, forever… but the process is food safe…”

That did it. Wally looked over with narrowed eyes and scrunched face where a nose was usually placed on a puppet. You grinned coyly; head tilted to rest upon you knuckles casually as the elbow settled on your crossed legs. “We could fix that teapot I accidentally broke… Good as new with a silver lining. I’m sure it’ll look fabulous given the number of pieces it’s in.”

It later became Wally’s favorite teapot, silver lines swarming the fine China cutting through Sea Glass blue filigree patterns and shining against a pure white background subtly. He did still have his moments of self-loathing, but he focused himself on the art of Kintsugi during those times as if reminding himself that he was still perfect because of his missing fin, not even with…

And you were happy for him. Even though you were having a harder time figuring where to put all his silver-fixed pottery pieces…

[myxsweetxeverything]

"The Lights in the Sky" Chapter 3 - "After School"

Read on AO3

Summary: A white van at the boutique, a talk over ice cream, and headaches.

Author's Note: Sorry for how long this took. Also apologize that this chapter is mainly character and plot set up - but I promise things are going to get weirder.

As per the last chapter's edit, this and the previous chapter now take place on June 3rd (again, keep track of dates, would be writers - don't be like me).

June 3rd, 1994 4:52 Lulu's Boutique

Lavender Creek had - on a good day - a population of around three thousand. If someone somehow had the desire to visit, they would have to drive two and a half hours south of Portland, smack dab in the middle of nowhere. Greeting you upon arrival were ruins of locally owned businesses closed down by Walmart, the great carcasses of the steel plant and textile factory, and the number one destination of any Friday night - the Dairy Queen. On the outskirts of town, you'd find the Lavender Creek Dairy Plant, which in the last ten years had been plagued by issue after issue.

That wasn't getting into the seedier parts of town. The patches of cheap bars with cheaper booze, a gun shop run by someone convinced doomsday would happen at any moment, and a pair of gas stations with pale and twitchy men hanging around back trying to make a quick buck with questionable substances.

It was nothing but a dead end of a town. In the mind of a thirteen-year-old fashion-crazy girl like Mariqueen, the worst part was that the only place around to buy anything resembling cute clothes was Lulu's Boutique.

At the front desk, keeping a disinterested eye on would-be shoplifters, was gray-haired Lulu herself. Supposedly she had been the town beauty queen in her youth (“I was this close to becoming Miss Oregon - then I would have been Miss USA,” she once claimed unprompted to Mariqueen), and she had opened the shop after her attempted acting career floundered. The ‘boutique’ had its walls covered in flowery paper that hadn’t been in style in almost 40 years, but Lulu had grown too attached to the hideous patterns of dusty roses. Even though smoking had not been allowed in the shop for several years, everything down to the carpet still smelled of a mix of tobacco and Eau de Toilette. The clothes in the boutique were more often than not two years out of date, squashing Mariqueen and her friend’s desire to match the latest trend that the magazines talked about.

Lori's twenty-six-year-old stepmother stood boredly near the magazine rack, tapping her freshly manicured nails against her thigh. She shot a glare at the girls here and there; when she saw that they weren't getting in trouble, she went back to staring at photos of Hollywood couples. Throughout the boutique, the four girls ran around and blabbered about the season's hottest colors, what would attract boys the most, and if those adorable high heels they couldn't possibly walk around in or afford came in their sizes.

"Do you think I can get this in blue?"

"Lori, you always look bad in blue. Yellow is your color anyway."

"You know I hate yellow! And what about that blue dress I wore to the spring dance? You said I looked amazing in it!"

"I lied."

"You're so mean, Chrissy."

"Only because I'm right and you know it."

To say that Mariqueen hadn't been paying attention to her friends' ramblings would be an understatement. Usually all too willing to join in with their fashion talk, something else had caught her eye. It wasn't a dress, a pair of shoes, or a piece of sparkling jewelry. Of all things, it was a white van parked on the curb in front of the shop.

A dirty white van in desperate need of a carwash, but still. Why it caught her eye not even she knew - white vans were a dime a dozen, even in Lavender Creek. The only thing she knew was that she had never seen a white van parked in front of Lulu's before. There were no business logos on the side, which made it even harder to figure out why it was there at all.

Mariqueen moved closer to get a better view out the window, failing to look the least bit subtle about it ("Why is she being weird?" Melissa muttered before heading to the dressing room). With her face practically pressed against the glass, she caught sight of the driver's seat. Barely visible through the tinted glass was a tall, thin figure sitting still. Their head stared forward; Mariqueen glanced at the front of the van, but if anything was interesting going on over there, she must have missed it.

She looked back at the figure.

Their head turned. The hairs on Mariqueen's neck stood straight.

Somehow, she knew they were now staring right at her.

Mariqueen froze.

"Hello? Earth to Q, are you there? Looks like she's shut up for once…"

"Show her the perfume, she'll love it."

A thick, musky stench shoved its way into Mariqueen's nose.

"Hey!" Mariqueen shouted. With a grimace, she pushed away the source - Chrissy's perfume-drenched wrist. "Ich, what is that? Are you trying to suffocate me?"

Chrissy pouted at her. "It's the same perfume my cousin Amy uses, and she says all the boys in Seattle go crazy when she wears it." She shook her head. "You know Q, we looked all over for you after school and we brought you with us, the least you can do is be nice."

"And what were you even doing with that ugly Reznor kid anyway?" Lori piped in. "He and his friends are a bunch of weirdos, everyone knows that."

An engine came alive outside the shop. When Mariqueen turned her attention back on the window, it was too late - the van had already made its getaway. And despite its absence, Mariqueen didn't feel any more relieved

Instead, she felt a desperate need to talk. About what, she didn't know. She looked around the shop in search of anything that would spark a conversation before settling on the sunglasses rack next to her. The rack stood like a tall creature made of mirrored eyes, each one reflecting her barely-hidden panic.

"Do you think this-" Mariqueen grabbed a pair of tangerine-orange framed sunglasses, "-will go with my new swimsuit?" She hastily placed the sunglasses over her eyes. She grinned at her reflection, but even she knew how fake the expression was; an actress she was not.

Behind her, Lori said, "Orange is a terrible color, Q."

"And what do you know about color?" Mariqueen asked, extending the 'you' in a mock snobby tone.

"I don't think you are allowed to judge anyone," Lori snapped and took a pair of tortoise-shell framed glasses.

Putting the glasses back on the rack, Mariqueen shot Lori a glare. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Emerging from the dressing room, Melissa pranced across the boutique's plush carpet. Her sundress, yellow with subtle butterfly patterns, reached just past her knee. "You know what she's talking about."

"No, I don't."

"God, Q…" Lori picked up a bottle of shocking pink nail polish, eying it. "You're so clueless sometimes, you know that?"

Melissa tsk'd. "What do you expect from her?"

"Girls, have you picked out what you want yet?" Lori's stepmom walked over in between the girls, interrupting the argument that was surely about to erupt. "I don't have all day."

Melissa threw her hands up in protest. "I'm not done trying out clothes!"

"Do I look like I care?"

All four girls sighed. Melissa begrudgingly went back to the dressing room, while Chrissy and Lori picked out their respective perfume and nail polish. For Mariqueen, who had barely been looking at the merchandise since laying eyes on the white van, the decision of what to get was much more difficult. She had a decent amount of allowance saved up, but it wasn't nearly enough to buy anything she did want.

Her eyes wandered until she saw the turning jewelry display on the front counter. Lulu had gotten bored making sure they weren't stealing anything, as her nose was between a paperback romance novel. She didn't raise her eyes while Mariqueen approached the desk. Hanging from the display, shining and glittering under the fluorescent lights, was an elaborately-designed heart pendant attached to a silvery necklace. She moved in closer and looked at the price tag.

It was the exact amount of money she had saved up.

She picked it up from the display, grinning. "I know what I'm getting!"

--

5:01 PM The Dairy Queen on 5th and Walker

It was in between spoonfuls of cheap ice cream that Robin asked him the question. "How did you get away from Mr. Roberts anyway?"

Four of them were sitting on the sidewalk with their cones in hand. The Dairy Queen was near the edge of town, passed the abandoned textiles factory, where the trees became greater in number and provided ample shade from the early summer sun. Danny had wolfed down his Blizzard in record time, got a brain freeze, and was hanging and spinning by one hand around a nearby street lamp. Richard was trying to get a peanut out of his braces with his tongue from his peanut butter cup Blizzard, and Tori sat silently watching Danny while eating her strawberry sundae.

With a mouth full of ice cream, Trent froze. He swallowed hard. "What?"

"How did you get away from Mr. Roberts?" Robin repeated. "No way you just ran."

Richard excitedly piped up, "Yeah! Did you kick him in the balls or something?"

"No! But I wanted to." Trent shook his head.

"Then how did you get away?" Tori asked. "You're so…tiny compared to him."

Trent sneered at her. Why was she always treating him like he was so fragile? "No I'm not! I got away because-"

The image was all too fresh in Trent’s mind, and he still had no idea how to attempt to process it. The memory flashed in his head - the hand letting him go suddenly. Mr. Roberts staring wide-eyed in shock. The way the hand was suspended as if an invisible puppet master was holding it still.

The throbbing in Trent's head was back in full force. Each breath he drew made his brain react with another burst of pulsating pain. The sunlight, even with the shade, didn't help matters. He could almost excuse it as an intense brain freeze, but this hurt more than any brain freeze he ever had.

Trent stared back at the remainder of his chocolate-dipped cone and frowned, his appetite gone. "He let me go. I guess."

Tori looked at him worryingly.

"If I -" Danny let go of the street lamp, but continued spinning in his sugar high. "If I were you I woulda kicked him in the balls. And give him the finger." He stopped spinning, but couldn't keep his feet from stumbling or his head still. "And then I'd tell him to-" Danny's face turned a sickly green. "Oh fuck…"

No one turned around as Danny stammered over to the nearby garbage can and dry heaved. The grip on Trent's sugar cone loosened. He was starting to feel ill himself - and he hadn't even been spinning.

Pain pulsed through his head again.

"I wanna go home," He muttered. "Mr. Roberts probably called my grandma and told him what happened. She's probably wondering where I am."

Next to him, Tori rested her arm on his shoulder. "Worried she's gonna be upset?"

"It's not that. I just-" He stuttered. Tori gave him an incredulous look (her "mom" face, he called it), and his face flushed. "Okay, yeah, I am. Not that much though."

"Hey, at least you didn't spray paint a teacher's car like we did!" Shouted Danny, still face down towards the trash can. "Tell her that, it'll put shit in perspective."

"And then get us in trouble?" Richard protested.

"Yeah, about that, I still have no idea how you talked me into that," Said Tori. "I lose several IQ points when I'm around you guys, I swear…"

"Because you're the minister's daughter," Said Robin, who had just bitten off the last of his Dilly Bar and was twirling the stick between his fingers. "And who'd ever suspect her when she plays piano at every church function?"

Tori gave Robin a silent but coy look, then went back to playing with her strawberry sundae.

"Dude, are you even puking anymore?" Robin asked. He craned his neck to see Danny's head still facing the trash can.

"Nah. Didn't even puke, nothing came out."

"...then what are you still doing over there?"

"Come here, I'll show ya…"

As Robin stood up and walked towards the trash can, Tori rolled her eyes. "Anyway, listen, she's not gonna be that upset with you. She and your grandpa will probably just talk with you and leave it at that."

"Yeah, but…"

"But 'what'?"

"...never mind. I'm going home." Trent grabbed his backpack with his free hand and stood.

"I'll come with you!" Richard chimed, oblivious to Trent's dour mood. "I don't think I wanna be around Robin for a while anyway."

Mere feet away, Trent caught the sight of Danny forcing Robin's head into the all-too-full trash can. A muffled "Asshole!" emanated from inside the can as flies flew around in a frenzy. Danny laughed maniacally, even while Robin fruitlessly tried to kick him. Tori suppressed a gag from her spot on the sidewalk, while the only thing Trent suppressed was a laugh at Robin's expense.

"...You know, I do have a curfew tonight, so I should probably get going…" She looked up at Trent. "Are you gonna be alright? With your grandparents, I mean?"

Trent shrugged. "Yeah, I guess." He tried not to imagine his grandmother, all sad and disappointed, as he and Richard walked away.

--

5:50 PM

"Hey, Trent?"

"Yeah?"

"So, I overheard my parents talking earlier." Richard fidgeted with the straps of his backpack, while his steps developed a spring. "And we might go visit Robert in LA in July, and I was thinking about asking them if you, you know, wanted to come with us?"

"Um, I'm gonna have to think about it. Ummmm, I might be-"

Catching a brief glimpse of Richard's excited and waiting face, Trent felt like an idiot when he realized what he was saying - Richard wasn't asking him if he wanted to do a run-of-the-mill sleepover. He was getting another chance to leave town.

What was Trent even saying? What 'might' he be doing this summer anyway? At most, his grandparents might drag him to some crappy tent on Mt. Hood. It wasn't like he was visiting his mom and sister either - Tera was spending the next six weeks at camp, and his mom was too busy working.

But Los Angeles would be cool. It would be way different than Lavender Creek. Different and better. And Richard's brother, one of the lucky ones who managed to escape town, became a movie star - he lost count of the times Richard dragged them all to see Terminator 2 when it came out.

It could be fun. It would be fun.

"Um, yeah, I'd like to go." He kept his tone calm, trying not to sound like an overly excited loser. "I have to um, check with my grandparents first."

Richard broke into a grin. "Yeah! I'll ask my mom. It'll be the best vacation ever!"

Trent nodded half-heartedly. He saw the familiar sight of the Patricks' house coming closer with every step. The family car sat in the driveway, but Trent couldn't spot any sign of life in the front yard or through the windows. Countless hours had been spent in the front and back yards, and despite not living there Trent knew that house like the back of his hand.

The front door opened, revealing a very displeased Mrs. Patrick. She crossed her arms. "Where have you been, young man?"

Richard sighed and visibly resisted the urge to roll his eyes. They were mere feet from the front lawn now, freshly cut by one of his older siblings. "I was hanging out with my friends, Mom!"

She shook her head. "Get inside and help me set the table."

The two of them reached the mailbox, and Richard looked at Trent, then at his mother. "Hey, Mom? So, Trent and I were talking, and, um, could he come with us to see Robert?"

Mrs. Patrick tightened her lips. "I'm sorry, honey, but your father and I…We've agreed to keep this a family vacation. Lord knows it's hectic just getting all seven of us under control for a vacation." She looked at Trent, still standing on the sidewalk with a newly crestfallen face. "Trent, dear, would you like to join us for dinner? It's casserole night, you like casseroles don't you?"

"Um, no thank you, Mrs. Patrick," Trent said dully. "I…I have plans with my grandparents."

Richard gave him a sheepish look. "Sorry, Trent."

"It's fine, whatever." Trent shrugged, but his muscles were stiff.

"Guess I'll see you later, man."

Trent nodded and went silent as Richard sprinted up the front porch, with his mom nagging him about something Trent couldn't make out. When the door closed, making mother and son invisible, Trent sighed and started his trek home. It wasn't a long walk, ten minutes if he walked fast enough. Just in time for his grandpa to get home from work.

He took one last look at the Patricks' house as he passed by the edge of their yard. It made him think of the day when he started kindergarten, and during recess, Richard had asked him if he wanted to play pretend. Trent said yes because he had just moved there and didn't know anyone. And then it turned out his grandparents didn't live too far from Richard's family, and his grandmother was quick to arrange a playdate between the two of them.

A seemingly endless amount of days had passed in that yard. A seemingly endless amount of days had passed in that street, in that neighborhood…

In all of Lavender Creek.

A frown crept over his face. He hadn’t always lived in Lavender Creek, but it sure as hell felt like it did. After he was born, he and his parents moved to Portland and lived in a one-bedroom apartment. Trent didn’t understand why they divorced, but he understood his mother’s reasoning for sending him to his grandparents even less. Why couldn’t he have stayed in Portland like his dad did? Like his mom and sister did? Why was he thrown out into the middle of nowhere? He loved his grandparents more than anyone else in the world, but did they have to live in a nothing town where the most exciting thing to happen was a bank robbery from when he was eight?

He was tired of Lavender Creek, absolutely sick of it. Seeing the same faces, the places, in and out every day made him want to puke sometimes. And his chance of getting out of Oregon just flew by just as he found out about it. It was like he was trapped in the same boring town until he died.

If he can't leave, why couldn't something just happen once? Just once he’d like something more to happen around there. Something interesting. Something he's never experienced before.

The wind rustled the bushes as he walked, his destination getting nearer. The sound of an engine caught his attention and he turned around. His heart sank with dread as he saw his grandparents’ worn-out station wagon slow down and pull over.

In the driver seat, his grandfather rolled down the window. Mr. Clark smiled at him. “Hey there, young man. Why the long face?”

Trent paled and looked down at his feet. “...I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Did it have to do with that call I got from the football coach at your school?"

No reply came.

"Why don't you come on in and we'll talk it out with Grandma when we get home? Sound like a plan?"

Before he could begrudgingly nod, a burst of pain struck Trent’s head.

Everything went black, with the only sound being Trent's grandfather yelling his name.

--

6:47 PM Ross Residence

"You have to see the plans, you really do. The mayor will have no choice but to agree to the proposal!" Uncle Marcus took another swig of his wine. "Iris honey, you think so, right? What am I saying? Of course, you do!"

Aunt Iris gave a reluctant nod as if even she was skeptical of her husband's ideas. Mr. and Mrs. Ross gave Uncle Marcus unsure looks, which they had kept for the entirety of the rather one-sided conversation. For their part, Atticus and his siblings paid zero attention to the extended business-related rant that their new uncle just gave at the dinner table. Atticus had barely looked up from the pile of vegetables that he poked repeatedly with his fork.

Mr. Ross sat his water glass down on the table. "That's…quite the project you have, Marcus."

Mrs. Ross was more direct. "This isn't going to work."

"Now don't say that!" Uncle Marcus exclaimed. "A mall is just what Lavender Creek's economy needs. And everyone will love it and want to go there! It'll be the crown jewel of the town" His eyes hovered over the Ross children, each one looking more bored than the last. His gaze settled on Atticus. "Hey kiddo, how's it hanging?"

Atticus felt a sense of dread coming on that he was powerless to stop. Holding in an annoyed sigh, he said, "Um, it's- yes?"

Uncle Marcus grinned. "Good! I have a question for you, and I'm sure that makes you feel special. A question just for hip, cool kids like you." Atticus hoped he didn't see him cringe at that. "Malls: like 'em, or love 'em?"

Atticus was paralyzed - mostly by embarrassment. He nervously looked to his mother, who stared at Uncle Marcus with bemusement.

"You're probably thinking, 'Why does an old man like him care about my opinion?' I just happen to think you're a cool kid, Alan."

"M-my name is Atticus."

"That's what I said, but anyway-" Just as Atticus stood up from his chair, Uncle Marcus put his hand up in a 'stop' gesture. "Wait right there, kiddo, you never did answer my question." Atticus slowly sat back down. "And why do you like malls so much? Go into as much detail as you want, don't be shy!"

"Um, I don't go to malls…"

"How can you not like malls? Oh, I get it, you're in that 'everything sucks' phase that all teens go through."

As everyone else started to gather their dishes and leave the dining room table, Atticus became more annoyed by him. If Uncle Marcus didn't speed this up, Leopold would get to the computer before he did. "I just don't like them much. I don't like shopping."

"Well I'm just gonna have to change your mind, aren't I? So, I was thinking of adding an ice rink right in the center of…"

Atticus never wanted someone to shut up so badly in his life. When he overheard Leopold telling their mother he was going on the computer, he wanted to scream.

--

7:04 PM Clark Residence

When he came to, his vision just barely made out the two dark, gray outlines above him. Quickly, they developed more features, becoming more human as his eyelids fluttered like butterflies.

"Oh thank God, he's awake!"

Trent looked up at his grandma's concerned face and in a hoarse voice, said, "I'm sorry I escaped detention."

A sad smile crossed Mrs. Clark's face. "Oh honey, what are you talking about?"

"I-"

"Shh…" Next to Mrs. Clark, Mr. Clark held up a tall glass of ice water to Trent's view. "We'll talk about it tomorrow when you're feeling better, alright?"

Almost too weak to nod, Trent somehow managed to pick up the glass and put it to his dry lips. The speed at which he downed it would have earned him the envy of any hard-partying frat boy, and when he finished Mr. Clark took the glass back. His grandmother brushed his hair back gently, and it made him realize how sweaty his forehead was.

"How's your head?" She asked him.

He shrugged. "I guess it's okay."

"We'll let you get some more sleep and we'll talk in the morning, okay?"

His eyelids growing heavy, Trent whispered, "Okay…"

By the time they turned off the lamp on his nightstand, he had already fallen back to sleep. Mr. and Mrs. Clark exchanged worried looks at each other, then at their grandson. Despite how sound asleep he was in his bed, Trent's face was just as scrunched up as it was when he was awake and barely holding up his glass. His breaths were slow, but shaky. The blanket was warm and thick, but his small body still shivered.

Silently, they both hoped he would be better by morning.

---

11:59 PM

Thick, velvety darkness covered Lavender Creek like a blanket on a child's bed. Even the few remaining stragglers in the waking world - blue-collar workers in bars, bored teens with nothing to do - would soon become transfixed by sleep's spell. Each bedroom window light would soon be switched off one by one, plunging the town further into darkness.

None of it would last. Not the peaceful sleep. Not the directionless nightly activities. Not the familiar but comforting darkness. Not the idea of a normal, carefree summer vacation.

Because with a burst of light coming from the sky, it all came to a horrible, violent end.

[twistedtummies2]

The Price May Be Right - Number 17

Welcome to “The Price May Be Right!” I’m counting down My Top 31 Favorite Vincent Price Performances & Appearances! The countdown will cover movies, TV productions, and many more forms of media. Today we focus on Number 17: Paul Toombs, from Madhouse.

“Madhouse” is probably one of Vincent Price’s more underrated pictures. It’s not a film I hear a lot of people talk about, which is a shame because it really is one of Price’s more interesting cinematic endeavors. This is yet another case where Price basically plays a fictionalized version of himself. The difference, however, is that rather than being a sort of self-parody, or even a parody of his career, the film plays things more earnestly. The plot focuses on Paul Toombs, a movie star who got his name in horror movies. Most notably, he was the titular character in a series of movies that – based on their description – must have been the precursors to the SAW franchise. The series was simply (and unoriginally) called “Doctor Death,” about a deranged criminal mastermind who enjoyed torturing and killing his victims in various brutal and sadistic ways. Paul is beloved and applauded by audiences, if not the critics, for his many successes and performances…especially as Dr. Death. One night, after announcing his engagement to a beautiful young lady, however, things take a sudden turn for the horrible for poor Paul Toombs. He blacks out at a party, and when he regains consciousness, he finds that his fiancé has been murdered! Not only that, but the murder resembles a scene out of one of his Dr. Death pictures. Paul is suspected of the murder, but the case is never proven; believing he might be going mad, he checks himself into an mental hospital, and remains there for years… …But that’s not where the story ends. You see, eventually, Paul leaves the hospital and returns to the world of the movies. His old partner in filmmaking and best friend – writer Herbert Flay, played by Peter Cushing – reveals that he is working on ways to bring Dr. Death back to life. Against his better judgment, Toombs agrees to reprise his greatest role…and as soon as he does, murders and horrible accidents occur. Each time, Paul blacks out before the hideous events happen. As the film goes on, Paul finds his grip on sanity ebbing away, as he is unsure if he is the killer, or if something larger is afoot. This movie isn’t perfect. The ending is a bit…weird, to say the least, and there are some plot contrivances that cannot be overlooked. However, what makes the film work, at the end of the day, is simply its sense of self-referential style. This is basically one giant love letter to Vincent Price’s whole career, up to that point. Not only is he basically playing himself, but whenever scenes from Paul Toombs’ movies are shown, they are actually taken from stock footage from various older Vincent Price pictures. The fact that Peter Cushing – one of Price’s best friends and colleagues in real life – plays Price’s friend in this film is likely no accident. There’s a wonderful scene where Toombs is on a TV interview, and talks about why he thinks people like villains and scary movies. With the way it plays out, its hard to tell if Price is really playing Paul, or if he’s simply speaking as himself. The closeness to real life makes this one of the most sincere performances Vincent ever gave; I’m sure a lot of Paul’s frustrations – disregarding the matter of serial murders – were frustrations Vincent had in real life, as well, with the people he knew and the situations he often found himself in. The joys he felt were likely also the same. As a result, it becomes difficult to tell where the fantasy ends and reality begins, as well as vice-versa. It’s one of the grandest self-tributes the actor ever appeared in, and if you’re a Vincent Price fan even in the remotest sense, you owe it to yourself to give this one a watch. We’re about to hit the halfway point for this series. Tomorrow, the countdown continues with Number 16!

[facelessxchurch]

The weird thing about the necronaut suit is that it seems to disintegrate/transfigure Valkyrie’s civilian clothes, then rebuild them when it retracts. In the books it explicitly covers clothing underneath.

The necronaut hood appears to be the same color as her t-shirt. The suit is always black with white components in the books, and has never been stated to turn any other color than those two. I don’t know if this is artistic license or if the necronaut amulet actually reconfigured the material of her t-shirt to build a necronaut hood.

Also, that jacket doesn’t look especially mobile, especially if her torso was shrink-wrapped by the necronaut suit, so it’s kinda weird she can move so freely once she activates the suit. There’s also no hint that the jacket is bulging up underneath the suit either, even though it’s obviously thicker than the suit’s material.

Given all the other time-space-and-matter defying things the suit can do, I guess it’s not out of the realm of possibility that it can somehow magically prevent clothing underneath itself from restricting the motion of its wearer once it covers that clothing.

Maybe that function, if it does exist, is so extreme that she could put the suit on over a full harness of medieval plate armor and she would still somehow be able to move like she was wearing a gymnastics onesie.

If not though, it strikes me as weird that she can even get her arms up above her shoulders. I have jackets like that and I can’t raise my arms very high unless the front zip is open, and like I said, that wouldn’t help if the rest of the jacket is glued to her body by the suit and can’t slide around underneath the necronaut material, which, I’m going in circles now, shows absolutely no sign of being loose or allowing the jacket to slide beneath itself.

Ofc this is after UtE, so maybe that’s actually a new armored jacket Ghastly has just recently made for her that explicitly interfaces with/merges with the necronaut suit when she activates it, which is the kind of detail that Landy would make sure to include in phase 1 but which are seemingly not worth mentioning except as after-thoughts three books after they become relevant in phase 2.

Overall I think the design is okay. It’s not how I would have designed it, but it doesn’t look buttfuck hideous either, so that’s great.

—

Hm? In the transformation panel it looks to me like the suit is going over the clothes? I think the red hood is artistic license to give her at least a splash of colour and to connect her necronaut suit look to her normal look colour wise. Making the art easier to read is probably also why she is wearing blue jeans instead of wearing completely black.

I honestly have no idea tbh. Comic book logic, I guess. I still like it more than Percival’s design tho. And I’m not sure how I myself would even design the suit. Then again, also don’t care enough to think about it. I guess I would draw it like the Darquesse blackness clinging to her body with armour plates attached to it that are fractured enough to allow for a lot of mobility and not make it skin tight to make it at least semi believable that there is a jacket under there. But that might make her look too much like Lord Vile.

[doctorstrangereview]

0024: Strange Tales #132

Cover Date: May 1965 On-Sale Date: February 11, 1965

Doc gets a nice little panel on the cover this month. It's actually relevant to the story. We get a cameo from a returning villain, a cameo from a returning heroine, and a brief introduction to a character who will become a real pain in the rear. While this issue extends the chase from the previous issue, fortunately it ends here for the time being. It's definitely more than filler this month.

Doc has returned to the United States and Greenwich Village. Of course it's night and raining. Atmosphere is everything, after all! He gets out of a taxi near his Sanctum Sanctorum. I gather he has a reputation as the cabbie doesn't ask him if he should wait. Hiding in an alcove across the street, Doc goes ghost and enters his house. Who's waiting for him? The Demon from a few issues ago. Doc is distracted by The Demon dying his costume from that ugly olive green to a fetching purple. While distracted, The Demon senses Doc and sends out the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak. While the last time he conjured them they were some weird polyhedron looking thing, here they are blobby bands. Doc manages to escape by the skin of this ghost teeth and returns to his body.

As Doc broods about his next steps, we change scene to the Himalayas where Mordo's ninja ghost minions continue their search for Doc and the Ancient One. Conveniently for the old dude they miss the cave he's currently stored in. The Ancient One continuously babbles about "Eternity" while his retainer, the yet-to-be-named Hamir does his retaining.

Flying back to New York, Doc passes by a costume shop and a light bulb that isn't the All-Purpose Amulet flashes in his mind. Giving vibes of the short, fat sorcerer dude from two months ago, Doc goes to his house in disguise. His disguise is a hideous yellow and green abomination, but maybe that's what he was going for. He's upstairs and pounding on a door. Now let's think about this for a moment. While it's reasonable to think that Doc can get into his own house, he is in disguise and doesn't want to alert Mr. Demon. Why would he go in the house? Does Doc not only not have no mystic protections, but also leaves the front door open?

Doc confronts Mr. Demon and after threatening to go to the newspapers for some contrived idiocy, sucker punches him. Then he makes his big mistake and tries to use the Orb of Agamotto. The sucker won't open. It must be stuck! No, it's been enchanted. Mordo knows where he is! What now? Well, Dormie and Mordo have plans. We see Mordo with the stolen orb talking to Dormie on the magic floating, smoky flat panel TV.

Dormie charges up Mordo who departs for Doc's pad while Dormie waits for news of Doc's destruction. I really like the way Ditko drew his eyes all low and sinister.

Nearby, we see Clea and, through dialogue, her father, the yet-to-be-named Orini. Orini is a disciple of the dread one and tells his daughter he doesn't know what's going on and they'll have to wait and see. The passage of years will reveal that Orini isn't a nice old dude. Mordo arrives at Doc's pad and immediately starts to pummel Doc. There's a nice battle going on, but it's not as well drawn as the battle with The Demon in issue #128. Ditko manages to draw a similar magical construct for Doc, but it's less effective here.

Doc may be distracted trying to discover who is Mordo's charging station. Mordo is still cracking Doc's magic like it's nothing. The battle continues and Doc is about to hit Mordo with everything including the kitchen sink. Dormie grows bored, says "Freak it, I'm taking over!" Mordo starts talking in Dormie's voice. Doc says he recognizes it.

As Doc has this revelation, he disappears. My, oh my! What's next?!

This is definitely improvement over the previous installment. It's more than filler and we have some movement on the plot. While Doc appears to recognize Dormammu, when he finds out for certain in a couple of issues, he seems somewhat surprise, only suspecting it. Doc is pretty contemptuous of The Demon and doesn't even bother to zap him, just punch him. Doc is still pretty powerful, after all. Mordo is delightfully ruthless. He's beating the heck out of Doc and relishing every moment. It's a satisfying read. Next month we sidestep the main arc which is necessary in a story of this length.