#also. Archie is a cat they are matching

[valentimmy]

didnt post the zouxie batman au here and i think that’s a crime so

[one-half-guy]

Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening everyone!!

Third chapter from Goldaze Year of The OTP posted, this time following the prompt "Acceptance"!

I hope you enjoy!!

[long-live-astronerd-ghost-king]

DPXDC prompt. Family? Assemble!

Reporter: Gotham News, and we have a new supervillain on the line. Mr Phantom, what are your demands at the moment? Phantom with lack of sleep and with tears: I..I want a titanium model of a spaceship! And to get a good night’s sleep and to go to the local school…and some fudge and.. Reporter: Oh, my bad. Just one question for clarification, are you by any chance an orphan or are your parents villains? Phantom: I prefer the term mad scientists Reporter: Okay. So, Gotham news! And with me on the line is the new potential child of Wayne or Batman. Want to know how two serial adopters will share a child leading a double life? Stay with us and find out. Now let's check in with Jessie for our weather report. Phantom: Wait, what?

~~~~~

Danny spends the night running from the Red Hood with a bag of fudge, Red Robin with a pot of coffee, Batman with the adoption papers and, for some reason, Brucie Wayne with an idea of internship at a space station. Ha! The Justice League will never let a ghost into orbit. Not that Wayne can blackmail superheroes or smth. Danny: Fuck you all! I’m done with vigilante activity, I’m not your competitor! What do you want from me? And I’m done with crazy billionaires too. I swear, I’d rather be adopted by a local mob boss just to piss you off! ~Later~ Danny *sees peering out of the corner Matches Malone*: Are you kidding me?! Robbie *jumps off the roof and lands right behind Danny*: Stop running, lil brother, No one’s left the family yet. Minnie: What about Neal? Robbie *shakes a knife with a bow on the handle negatively*: He’s on sabbatical, that doesn’t count. Anyway, it’s a gift for you, cub. Danny: Um, thank you, but my lab scalpels are definitely sterile, and your blade was in who knows who before you brought it here. Robbie: It’s brand-new! And Archie decorated it with a ghost on the handle. Look! It's cute! With a smile and… Dick: Hands up! You’re under arrest for trying to steal our new member! Minnie: Why is he yours, damn cop? Selina: Boys, don’t fight. He’s mine. Schrodinger’s cat is still a kitten. Killer Croc: No way, my niece is staying with me. Danny: Uncle Waylon? Long time no see. Ra's: My grandson needs steady access to ectoplasm. Danyal, come with me. Danny: Over my dead body! Oh shiii…I mean no. Anyway, don’t you think the alley’s getting a little crowded?

~~~~

Killer Croc: Is he still mad at me? RR: Danny doesn’t talk to uncles who tried to eat his beloved brother Red Robin. Killer Croc: He wasn’t even your brother then. What do you want? An apology from me? RR: That would be nice.

~~~~

Danny: I didn’t think the GIW agents would really fear the reputation of Gotham and not follow me. What a relief! Jason *quickly throws the knife into the sink*: Wow, you got lucky. Alfred: Master Jones, why don’t you eat your steak? I thought last week you were complaining to Batman that 'cause of him you got not many prey. Croc *pulls a piece of white robe from the teeth*: Well, now there is a lot of it. Bruce *gives Jason and Croc the side-eye*.

~~~~

Ra's: You do realize that Malone, Wayne and Batman are the same person, right? Boy, you were born into a family of geniuses, don’t disappoint Grandpa. Danny: Triple pocket money, triple gifts for the holidays, the opportunity to complain about the same family member three times. No, Grandpa, I definitely don’t understand. Ra's: Smart little weasel.

~~~~

Selina: Okay. Purely theoretical. Do you like to steal? Danny: I wouldn’t say that. But somehow I stole the sword from the fright knight. And also stole few jewels but then I was under the mind control. I returned them. Well, the crown and ring of the king of the ghost zone I also took without permission. Oh, and the answers to the test once. And I’m really sorry about the last one. Neal: I feel the story behind it but I prefer to know nothing about it.

[deadsetobsessions]

Hi, good day ✧⁠◝⁠(⁠⁰⁠▿⁠⁰⁠)⁠◜⁠✧

I want to say that I love your prompts and your writing a lot (⁠*⁠˘⁠︶⁠˘⁠*⁠)⁠.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡

I have an ask for the triplet!Tim au, would the triplets regain their civilian identity as triplets or would they still maintain the one identity as Timothy Drake? Also if, really if, the triplets have a favorite rogue to hang out with or beat up, who would they be?

HDGASJKHDFGSAKJGD thank you????

The triplets would regain their separate identities, but only after Damian's been well established as the new Robin. It'd be kind of suspicious if Timothy Drake became Tim, Archy, and Lionel around the same time people realized there were three feral Robins running around instead of one. The fam would probably try to convince them otherwise but they'd totally bully the Bats into going along with it. Except Barbara. They bribe Barbara.

They do have a favorite Rogue!

Archy's favorite Rogue to beat up is Clayface. He tried to pretend to be Robin once except it was Archy's turn that night, and Clayface punted him into the sewers. Clayface got extra crispy that night and Archy found a new appreciation for electricity.

His favorite Rogue to hang out with is Cat-Woman. He's got a passion for looting that she appreciates. He's learned some of the tricks of the trade from her.

Lionel's favorite Rogue to beat up changes weekly, but the main roster is Penguin, Victor Zsasz (they have matching psycho energy but like on different sides of the scale), and Prometheus because the guy tried to off Commissioner Gordon.

His favorite Rogue to hang out with is Poison Ivy. He brings her plants and she's got the best kidnapping etiquette. As in he never wakes up with a headache if she ever tries to take him out. She can match his intensity in protecting the things they care about. She's like a mentor to him.

Tim's favorite Rogue to beat up is Cluemaster (bc he's bffs with Steph) and Two-Face. They're relatively simple to outwit- they're smart but they're not Tim-smart and fighting them gives him a break from his own head.

On the flip side, Tim's favorite Rogue to hang with is the Riddler. He's chill when he's not setting up bombs and traps everywhere. Plus, when Tim gets kidnapped by him, they do like a little trivia to pass the time before Batman comes to rescue him.

[sonicjustbecause]

Humans are hard to include in worlds filled by anthros (Sonic aestetic analysis)

Aestetic... a word I like.

This kinda work. Both of them have about same cartoonish proportions, similar head size, similar hands and feet size. The human girl has a thicker body and is bigger, but humans are tricky to include in a world with anthros.

The fact is, since we are humans, the specie is particularly familiar with us. What we are is written in our DNA. If you ask to a blind person to draw a fellow human, the drawing will turn out correct, the very same a person with normal sight woyld do.

So is tricky to avoid the uncanny valley and keeping them recognizable as humans. Humans are also rather large overall compared to hedgehogs and other beasts as specie. In fact we are included in the great apes group. Alongside the gorillas we are the also the tallest so pretty much big animals (but we are also slim).

Actual hedgehogs are as big as human hand, or so. Sonic doesn't need to be this small. Just more balanced.

Humans are always been a presence in Sonic world. Eggman is the most well known. And he has large hands and feet, like Sonic and the other. But his proportions are quite realistic and I think he should look bigger because actually, his head is smaller than Sonic's and the other...

In this scene from Sonic X it works well. Eggman's human features are exaggerated (like the typical human long nose compared to the flat noses of the other apes), and his head is about as large as Sonic's, making him fit the enviroment.

Those are very a little bit awkward. When I complain that the size are awkward is because of Eggman's small head.

This is no-no! She just doesn't match in the universe. Like, she belong somewhere else. Small hands and feet, anime proportions, vintage Italian style doll face...

Back in the '80s I saw some that were even closer to what Maria looks like. There were even drawings of girls who just looked like Maria around, some hanged on walls in my granparents home, I just can't find them not even online (the last time I saw them I was 16).

(Shadow likes those pictures...)

Surprisling Mario fits greatly despite being part of a completely different universe.

With modern style...

And even with SatAM style

Both in Sonic and Mario, humans tend to have small eyes.

Roundish head, large hands and feet, noodle limbs just like the beasts... Eggman obioulsy has small eyes. I figure them being about roundish, like Mario's.

Now, we see some human eyes there. A western aestetic just look better within Sonic world (the aestetic is pretty much western overall, being based on rubber hose style). Maybe hands and feet size could be more balanced...

I don't like Eggman having Majin Bu style eyes like in SatAM and AoStH. I've read somewhere he has regular human eyes. There (Archie) he looks as if he is possessed by an entity, so I wonder, Sonic should try to save him at this point? I imagine is to show that Eggman is a psychopath, but it doesn't do the job. The shape and size of the eyes is fine.

This is a joke... 'never mix styles' I was told 'Characters should look like they're part of the same universe!'...

Even Eggman was changed to have a realistic look, and it sucked.

Elise should be with Cloud Strife and Sephirot, not with Sonic, if we are talking about the style.

Outside Sonic series...

Top Cat

A human and six cats. They fit perfectly in their universe. Like Sonic, the cats are bigger than real cat, still smaller than humans. Heads look perfectly in proportions.

Now, here we are in the opposite territory. The feline is bigger than a human. In fact he is a puma.

Just to show how well human and anthro blend togheter in Hanna&Barbera works. In addition they also have actual four legged beasts, like Scooby Doo.

In Japan antros are rare, yet it can still work it the style is consistent. In Dragon Ball and Dr Slump we have plenty of anthro characters who blend well with humans. And there are also actual four legged beasts.

Some Japanese anthros

[kiwipineappleparasol]

I Meant to post these Awhile Ago and Simply Forgot . Silly Me. Anyways these are Mostly just AU Design Concept Scribbles. That I May or May Not have Changed my mind about Already 🙈

Notes are Once Again under the Cut:

Gave Shadow his Riders shades (but Yellow) and made the underside of his gloves black like his cuffs. I mean his Shoes follow that logic, so Why Not his gloves?

Updated Rouge to be more akin to her Heroes appearance -- I really like the Purple Gloves and Shoes.

Changed the color of Silver's eyes to match his powers -- it just Felt Right. The belt is Entirely Pointless as of now, and the Gloves being black is Inspired by his Secret Freedom Fighters outfit (which Yes I know is originally a Thing from Sonic Rivals but . I mostly read the Comics as a kid Okay)

Shard's... shard, doesn't change color with his eyes in this AU. He also has.. TWO hands??? Gasp??? (But they Both can now turn into Various Things) Enjoy the Evil Fisher Price Color Scheme (for when you are Evil and have Yet to learn the Error of your Ways)

Espio the Chameleon is a character from the Sonic the Hedgehog Comics.

Big the Cat is a character from the Sonic the Hedgehog games.

Changed Nicole's outfit once again, the one I came up with Before didn't feel very Sonic-like to me. I gave her some Chest Fluff because I thought it would be cute and match her Face Fluff better (which itself was changed to look A Bit more like a Lynx.) I overhauled her Design a Significant bit to try and fit my Outfit Criteria ... I do love her Original Gloves and Shoes from the Reboot Archie Comics however.

[starsreminisce]

You know what I think is overlooked? Elain's curiosity about Prythian. I can only find a handful of essays that delve deep into this trait. What are your thoughts on curious Elain?

I love curious Elain! I actually think it's a defining part of her personality that she's just waiting for a chance to explore. She asked Azriel what it felt like to fly, and she also asked Amren about shapeshifting.

Elain, to my surprise, held Amren’s gaze. Amren said after a moment, “Are you asking out of curiosity for my past, or your own future?” The question left me too stunned to even reprimand Amren. The others, too. Elain’s brow furrowed before I could leap in. “What do you mean?” “There’s no going back to being human, girl,” Amren said, perhaps a tad gently. “Amren,” I warned. Elain’s face reddened further, her back straightening. But she didn’t bolt. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I’d never heard Elain’s voice so cold.

There are many ways to interpret the passage above. Some believe it hints at Elain wanting to go back to being human, while others think it suggests hidden shapeshifting abilities. Personally, I've always interpreted it as Elain simply trying to make conversation with Amren, given her reaction to Amren's questioning. If she were trying to hide something, her body language would have betrayed her. To me, it's another way of showing how she and Lucien are similar when confronted, but that's beside the point.

I feel like this curiosity was something Papa Archie fostered in her. Feyre mentioned that he bought and traded a Lapis Lazuli pendant, but Feyre was more interested in the myrrh and figs Papa Archie snuck for her. This was seen again in ACOSF when Feyre tried to get Nesta interested in Papa Archie's dealings, but Nesta was more focused on finding matches.

It makes me feel like Papa Archie does his best to involve his daughters with his business and I feel like Elain would end up being more exposed to this than Feyre and Nesta would have been.

Elain is Papa Archie's princess. She wanted to travel and was excited to hear about the tulip fields, and I'm positive it's because she'd heard stories about his travels and dealings. We see how close they were in ACOTAR, how long she grieved for him, and how often she visited his grave in ACOSF. Nesta might have pointed out that Elain's imagination stretched no further than the tulip fields, but it's not the first time she's been wrong in her assessment of Elain. Cassian even pointed out that Elain is not the dog Nesta described her to be.

Elain is well-liked by many people, and I feel like her natural curiosity is what lends itself to this. We see this when Elain and Feyre are out shopping and find the black tapestry—Elain asks if the weaver made it, why it wasn't taken down, and about the silver thread. Earlier on that page, she also talked to Feyre about the importance of gift-giving, so she must have asked someone to gain that insight.

We also see this when Elain wanted to learn how to make bread in ACOWAR and how involved she was with her own garden, literally and figuratively digging deep into it, as she eagerly discussed it with Feyre.

Also, for what it's worth, one of my absolute favorite tropes is when the MMC has to "cat wrangle" the FMC, and I can definitely see Elain wandering about and Lucien having to chase her down. But I want any and all the reasons for Lucien to toss her over his shoulder like she weighs nothing.

But yeah, I know one of the main arguments is that Elain hasn't rejected the bond because she doesn’t know how to, and I feel like that's false. She absolutely knows how and is choosing not to. I also think her curiosity will end up involving mating bonds and how that will play a part in her story, exploring what makes Feysand's, Nessian's, Tamlin's parents, Rhysand's parents, Kallias and Viviane's, Alis's sister's, and perhaps most importantly, LoA and Helion's bonds different and similar from her own with Lucien.

I hope this was insightful! Thank you again for asking!

[saturnaftertaste]

Does jughead match Betty's freak

this ask ended up twice in my inbox and i think that’s so funny. ask so real it came as a two-for-one deal !

honestly? no. jughead and betty are like, the epitome of an arranged marriage with the genders inversed. like specifically, jughead is the wife with unfortunate and irreversible neediness syndrome and betty is the strapping young man who has been tied down against his will. like, all betty wants to do is get out there and explore - first in a journalism sense, then in an investigator sense, then in a sexuality + life’s pleasures sense. betty really really likes being in charge of stuff, in taking command and moving stuff forward and getting shit done. she’s also a little more substantially fucked up than jughead in the sense that jughead is like. abandonment/inferiority complex 1000 ie. his mom left him, archie left him, his dad left him, his gf cheats on him or whatever. jughead is mostly a bundle of soft-type emotional-relationship issues which are fucked up in their own right, but he also expresses those issues a lot more openly (the whole Being A Writer thing, narratively the dying over and over thing, his whole misanthropy thing being just an accepted part of who he is).

betty on the other hand has: a serial killer father, serial killer grandparents, a mom who kills assailants and hides the bodies under floorboards, a serial-killer FBI-agent half-brother, a serial-killer cam hooker half-brother-in-law, a cult-indoctrinated accidentally-incestuous sister who had twins with the town dead boy who was killed by his father (said father also being one of betty’s own blood family), a boyfriend that dies every season and is an attempted gang leader, a cousin who is an insane witch, a gang-leader step-dad-situation who is also the father of her boyfriend, not to mention her serial killer genes! when i say she’s substantially more fucked up than jughead i mean that jughead weeps/whines/acts pathetic about his circumstances a lot more, which are sad in general bc that’s his role, but despite betty’s increasing “darkness” over the seasons (something that she says verbatim . lol) she still keeps it together on a surface level. still dresses in pastels still wears little pink sweaters and skinny jeans and does her cute hairdos and sheer pink makeup well into her adulthood, which makes her all the more fucked bc cognitive dissonance goes crazy!! the difference between how she’s perceived/what she’s supposed to be and all the things that happened to her/the way she’s supposed to react to it are two different ends of the personality spectrum.

of course, the problem this creates is that jughead (ultimate sad wet cat) sees her suburban good girl aura and takes it for granted that she will stay the same sweet girl and attaches himself to her - unfortunately, betty’s core directive is to keep moving, so naturally she starts looking in different directions. jughead needs her too much and she doesn’t really need him at all. consider that also jughead walks around like a festering open wound and betty graduated from the cooper school for emotionally repressed women…like. there was no way for betty to be weird (to be a weirdo. to not fit in and not want to fit in. she doesn’t even have a stupid hat on) like jughead is weird bc jughead is a freak because of his problems - ie he has no one, originally, bar archie, because he’s so “misunderstood” and “misanthropic”. the inverse of that - betty has, superficially, zero problems - which is what draws veronica and jughead to her, and her freak is just that much more intense because she never deals with it except in really unhealthy ways (a pile of coping mechanisms for which she is always looking to add to.)

tl:dr betty’s freak is a lot more intense and unsolvable than jughead’s and so while jughead can be fixed by a one-hit wonder vent novel and a new project-focused girlboss gf, betty can never be fixed - ergo they really need to see other people (NOT ARCHIE.)

[jims-strap-on]

ABOUT:

hi i’m ash!! 27, any pronouns, genderqueer/bi/ace. i’ve been rping since 2009, and have been on fbrp since 2012. i decided to try out tumblr again. im married and have four cats.

i’m a multimuse rp account in the our flag means death, acotar, supernatural, good omens, marvel, phantom of the opera, and harry potter fandoms. my main fandoms are OFMD and ACOTAR, and my main muses are Jim, Izzy, Rhysand, Azriel, and Feyre. OC and crossover friendly.

I love writing angst, hurt/comfort, and romance, including (optional) smut. i can do either canon or AU. i especially love themes like enemies to lovers and mafia AUs.

I’m okay with dark themes such as violence, blood/gore, self-harm, drugs and alcohol, etc.

I don’t reply terribly consistently so writing with me requires patience, I work full time and suffer from PTSD/depression and can’t reply while in funks. I will not tolerate my partners nagging me for replies.

i’m not picky about reply length, there is NO need to match mine. sometimes I tend to rant and reply length gets away from me, I don’t expect the same detail in return. however I do prefer para/lit. usually I’ll write a couple of paragraphs.

𝙁𝙀𝙔𝙍𝙀 𝘽𝙄𝙊

𝙍𝙃𝙔𝙎𝘼𝙉𝘿 𝘽𝙄𝙊

𝘼𝙕𝙍𝙄𝙀𝙇 𝘽𝙄𝙊

OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH:

Muses: Izzy Hands, Jim Jimenez, Edward Teach, Archie, Stede Bonnet

Izzy/Stede

Izzy/Ed

Ed/Stede

Stede/Izzy/Ed

Oluwande/Jim

Jim/Archie

Oluwande/Jim/Archie

A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES:

Muses: Feyre Archeron, Azriel, Nesta Archeron, Rhysand, Eris Vanserra

Feyre/Rhysand

Nesta/Cassian

Azriel/Elain

Azriel/Gwyn

GOOD OMENS:

Muse: Crowley

Crowley/Aziraphale

SUPERNATURAL:

Muses: Sam, Dean

Dean/Castiel

Sam/Ruby

Sam and Dean (NOT shipping NOT as a pairing!! but I love brother interactions!)

HARRY POTTER:

Muses: Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger

Draco/Harry

Draco/Hermione

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA/LOVE NEVER DIES:

Muses: Erik, Raoul

Erik/Christine

Erik/Raoul

MARVEL:

Mus𝙚𝙨: Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers

Bucky/Natasha

Bucky/Steve

Bucky/Sam

Bucky/Tony

Bucky/Zemo

Bucky/Clint

Steve/Tony

AU WISHLIST:

enemies to lovers mafia boss AU: our muses are both leaders of rival organized crime rings. they are both alone in the world and have spent their lives looking out for number one, falling into a life of crime desperate for money with no other options left. could take place in the present, or 1940s brooklyn.

sugar baby AU: my muse is a successful, professional business owner searching online for a baby to take care of long term and spoil. the arrangement is strictly platonic and sexual, until feelings start to develop.

sugar baby mafia AU: our muses meet on a sugar baby website. my muse is a crime boss who is interested in your innocent muse as a live in submissive in exchange for a handsome monthly salary. your muse is interested in the world of organized crime, letting my muse show yours the ropes while providing sex as a stress relief. bonus points if your character ends up joining a life of crime and running the crime ring with mine

BDSM club owner AU: my muse is a BDSM club owner who meets your submissive character at the club and frequently run scenes in my character’s private room at the club. it turns out they compliment each other in the bedroom well; your muse is the brat who likes to work for their rewards, while mine is the brat tamer who has all the time in the world. possible kinks include degradation, masochism, knife play, bondage, spanking, ropes/cuffs, cock warming, voyeurism, praise—open to suggestions. i’m also open to a pleasure dom and eager submissive dynamic.

mafia boss/police officer AU: our muses match on bumble, meeting up at a club my muse owns for a first date. your character works as a police detective, not knowing that their date is actually the owner of several clubs which secretly are coverups for sex work and drug dealing. the very same crime ring that your muse is assigned to taking down.

slave auction AU: your muse is sold to mine at a slave auction, only my muse only purchased yours to take them away from this life, gain their trust, and slowly heal them over time. maybe my muse is also just a little lonely and wants companionship. my character keeps yours safe while only ever treating them with gentleness, which your muse is not used to after such a hard life. this could also be sunshine x grumpy, my muse being the brooding grump who has a not-so-secret soft side.

Other plots:

enemies to lovers, our characters hate each other and have frequent hate sex as an unhealthy coping mechanism to serve as a distraction. they are in deep denial about their feelings and keep the arrangement strictly physical, until they can’t any longer.

good omens only: crowley and aziraphale decide they want to explore the human act of intercourse, exploring what each other like in the bedroom as they learn about their boundaries and various kinks, leading to BDSM. they are only friends wishing to indulge in a new human interest they realize they really enjoy, leading to eventual relationship. dom!aziraphale

These are only possible specific plot ideas I enjoy, of course i’m open to anything; as mentioned earlier, my favorites are angst, hurt/comfort, enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, found family, fwb to relationship… feel free to come to me with ANY of your own ideas! shipping/NSFW is not a necessity, i’m open to a lot!

[chaoxfix]

mobians have to have genetic splits among cross-species offspring otherwise we’d positively have more mixes in canon, or at least a greater diversity in range of appearance of mobians. alternatively, mobians could very easily be among similar evolution tracks as chao; parentage simply dictates ONE chao ‘type’ among multiple genetic possibilities. this may also lead to lineages that have a surprising ‘type’ present itself after lying dormant for 1-2 generations

ex: wolf + cat -> mongoose

this would due to the cat being produced from a cat and mongoose, or wolf being produced from a wolf and mongoose

generally the offspring of one pair would follow one parent or the others lineage as truly crossed types is something we haven’t seen in any media.

however, like chao gaining additional, completely outside-genetics traits from their environment from creatures they interact with, im willing to bet that the species of the mother/carrying parent would influence the offspring’s type more than the father/non-carrying parent. even aside from type though, i’m also talking about phenotypes (additional traits such as coloration) extremely so, even if the offsprings type doesn’t match the mother. just due to being held in that environment for so long.

we DO see this in archie … but nowhere else, as it’s rare we see kids and their parents in sonics world, and cream and vanilla look extremely similar which does nothing to prove or disprove this theory. all mothers we’ve seen in canon have at least one offspring that matches their species and looks significantly like her though: vanilla, aleena, bernadette, sally (and much of the M25/30YL)

for coloration that doesn’t match the mothers significantly: perhaps coloration doesn’t settle til they’re older, and matches a parent who may share particular milestones with them. if there’s no father in the picture, the coloring defaults to the mother if she raises them — if the mother doesn’t raise them, they may be more likely to share her species but will take on coloration of the guardian who does raise them. ex: sonic underground has manic, sonia, and sonic all with significantly different colors, similar to their guardians/environment; ex, uncle chuck was blue like sonic became, manic is green like ferrel… this isnt perfect, as sonia’s guardian was more brown and peach than pink, but, aleena is purple … and pink seems to lie between purple and peach.

[mydarllinglover]

Alone || Fearless

Previous

Carols whisperer wouldn't crack, they were nowhere near finding out where Alpha's horde was, and Carol knew that if anyone could get someone to croak, it was Natalia.

But she had only agreed to talk to him, if Carol were to babysit the kids, as well as making a special remedy for Bambi and Archie, the woman could work miracles with a pan and a few ingredients.

Daryl insisted that he had to go with Natalia, he didn't want her alone with the freak, he didn't like it.

Lydia had been removed from the holding cell, Daryl had personally kicked her out, Natalia hadn't known this, and she didn't know where the girl had disappeared to, either, or where her eldest daughter had gone, for a matter of fact, but apparently seducing a mind-fucked freak-show was more important than tracking down two teenage girls, according to Carol.

"This is a bad idea." Father Gabriel gave his opinion."

"Shut up, Gabe." Daryl answered, fluffing out Natalia's hair, he liked her curly hair, it made her seem happier, more free-spirited, easier to open up to.

"I'm just being honest, here, this is no offence to you, Natalia, but you are a hothead, where is the logic in sending her in there, she'll just kill him in a matter of seconds." The priest carried on. "What's the point of having a dead, captured whisperer, with no results.”

"I'm not gonna kill him." Natalia rolled her eyes.

"Natalia-"

"Gabriel! I'm not!, Daryl, you tryna pimp me out or let me interrogate a man?" Natalia removed her husbands hands from tugging down her top, exposing more of her cleavage.

"We need results." He explained himself.

"We'll get results, and no one's dying today." She turned to the priest. "Anything that's gonna take Carol off her warpath, so you can stop chasing after her like a lost puppy." She turned back to Daryl. "Are we ready, or not?"

"Yeah, uhm, yes, yeah, I think so." Gabriel turned to the other man.

"Yup." He nodded.

"Perfect."

Her so-called hostage looked to be an middle-aged man, with greying and receding hair, matching his thick moustache and short trimmed beard, he was also quite thin in statue.

His face seemed to be caked in dirt, but it also looked slightly red, maybe sun burnt? But how would he manage that when he apparently was always sporting one of the hideously gruesome masks. He had an bandage taped to his left side, interesting.

He let out an unimpressed scoff when he layed eyes on her.

"My names Nat." She layed on the southern charm, thickly. "A lil birdy told me you got some pretty clever intel that I wanna know, we can either do this the easy way, or the hard way." She scanned him with fake interest, "Somin tells me you like things hard, though, ain't that right?" She smirked.

"Must be a busy day, up there, if they got a lil thing like you down here." He laughed to himself. "We don't see much of your kind, anymore."

"My kind?" She raised a brow.

"Hunting season came and went a long time ago, all the prizes went the quickest, now, its just what's left, the last thing you can get your hands on, that ain't just about animals, lady."

"I don't know what you’re talking about, we only have the best around here." She shared. "No fighting for scraps. But you know I'm not down here to promote this place. Where is the horde?"

Suddenly the cat got his tongue.

"Hard way it is." She sighed, standing up and leaning towards him, she watched with an impressed grin as his eyes shamelessly looked down her top, she let him, only for a second, before she jammed her thumb into his injury, letting it bleed through the bandage, she pushed deeper as he cried out, attempting to nudge her away. "I'll stop, all you have to do is give me a place, then it'll stop."

"Lady, you ain't the prized prey, you the hunter." He told her.

Natalia looked over he shoulder, an amused glint in her eyes as she met blue iris's, that didn't share her sense of humour.

"But, if we were out there, I would take you like a bitch in heat." The man finished.

Gabriel was quick to move himself in front of Daryl, seemingly "accidently" purposely block his movement, as Natalia sat back, lifting up her left hand, taking in the rings on her finger, before taking them off. "You like?" She asked her victim, switching hands. "They're from my husband, just too bad I'm right handed." She then threw all her force into throwing a punch that would break his nose, and the satisfying crack that followed, confirmed that.

"Ugnh!" The sound that came as he smacked the concrete floor, then, as he gathered the strength to try and sit back up, she threw another, into his cheek, and then another.

"I have daughters, four, that live around here, so you understand why I can't tolerate that sorta language, have some respect." She told him, gently. "Babe, hand me that knife." She layed her hand out, her fingers than wrapped around the weight.

"I would never betray Alpha." The man started speaking. "She rescued me. She protects me. She loves me. She loves us all."

"But she's not gonna come looking for you, is she?" Natalia asked. "That's part of the rules, you separate from the pack, the pack move on, and you'll just be forgotten. I mean, that is what she did for her own daughter, right? Until she waged a war to come back and get her, seems like someone has a hierarchy."

"She sacrificed her own daughter for us." He shook his head.

"She killed Lydia?" Natalia whipped round at the voice of Carol, behind them, not at her house, with her kids.

"Uh huh." He nodded.

"Oh."

"She did." He "Confirmed.” "And I am willing to give my life for her."

Natalia watched the lightbulb go off in the woman's mind, before she darted off.

She rushed forward, handing the knife back to Daryl, before going after the woman, herself.

"Carol." She hissed, as they reached the stairs of their home. "Stop it."

"This ends now." Carol replied.

"You are not involving Lydia! You may have my husband at your beck and call, but you are gonna leave that girl the hell alone."

"He swallowed every ounce of Alpha's bullshit." Carol aggressively pointed at the jailcell door. "Every ounce."

"And I couldn't care less." Natalia shrugged.

"If he sees that Lydia's alive and well, and gets it that his great leader lied to him, then maybe that changes something." Her voice turned desperate.

"Please, Carol. Don't, just leave Lydia out of this, she is in my care, and just like my children, I'm going to do everything in my power to protect her and let her live a childhood, or what little she has left of it."

"Let her make up her own mind." Carol decided. "She's not your kid. This is the only way, and you know it." She sprinted up.

"Hey, you can't go in my house! That's breaking and entering, Carol!" She yelled, as she ran. How did Carol even know she was home?

Natalia had lost, Lydia decided to talk to the whisperer, show her face, for Henry, she had said, before sending Evie, who had also appeared, an apologetic look.

Except, when they had got back to the cell, Daryl was trying to usher them back out, they were only able to catch a glimpse of the two doctors sat behind the unmoving body of the whisperer, he was dead.

"I didn't do it." She called, as she was pushed out. "I gotta go check on my kids." She grumbled, stomping towards her house.

"Should clean up your hand, too." Carol called after her.

"Two birds, one stone, Carol." She replied, entering her house.

The kids were sat at the table, Evie was with them.

"Hey, Mom. Kid's fevers came down, so thought Bambi would enjoy sitting at a real table to eat dinner." Evie smiled at her, but then her eyes bulged at the bloody mess that was her mothers knuckles.

"Mommy! You're hurt!" Daisy gasped.

"What happened?" Bambi asked.

"Oh, just work." She shrugged. "Are my babies feeling better?"

"Yeah, Aunt Carol made us drink a red tea, it wasn't very nice, but she said we would die if we didn't drink it."

"She said that to you?" Natalia asked, anger flooding into her tone, as she walked towards the sink, to wash off the blood from her hand. "Where's Archie?"

"Carol dropped him off with Rosita, she's feeling better too, so thought she might want the company, and so he wasn't stuck with us."

"Carol has some serious nerve." Natalia muttered under her breathe. “Eve's you busy." She gestured to her hand, but the teenager was already up searching for the supplies to properly treat it.

"Mom, come sit down, the girls can learn a thing or two." She ushed her mother to sit at the table, as the six year olds watched eagerly. "Y'know, the first medical treatment I gave, was to Dad." She smirked, looking at her younger sisters.

"Our Dad?" Daisy asked, her eyes swam with wonder, the same as her twins.

"Yeah, gave him stitches, and I was around your age, too."

"Cooool." The kids oohed.

“Eves, what happened to your own hand?” Natalia asked, looking at the girls knuckles, which looked a bit sore, themselves.

“Oh! Nothing, don’t worry about it.” Evie brushed off, pulling the sleeve of her sweatshirt down, covering her hand.

In the night, Siddiq was unfortunately the one to discover the mole inside the walls of Alexandria, it had been Dante, and upon this discovery, the man had killed him, to keep the secret, though Rosita hadn't known this, not until she walked in on the scene with a one year old in her arms.

She almost broke down in tears as she explained to the parents of Archie, how she fought, not just for her life, but for their son's, against Dante and an reanimated Siddiq, and how she hadn't let anything harm him.

And in other news, Carol had led Lydia out of Alexandria deep into the woods, where they had ran into Aaron, that was before a whisperer had spotted the girl, realising the truth of her existence, fleeing the scene, and it was at that moment Lydia had connected the dots on what her place was in Carols scheme, the “help” she needed, causing the girl into also leaving, refusing to not come back.

Natalia bounced her baby on her hip, reassuring her friend, as Daryl beat the ex-doctor, who was actually an whisperer.

"Hope that hurts." He spat, shaking his hand, moving to stand beside Natalia.

"It doesn't matter." Dante said, spitting out blood onto the infirmary floor. "None of this matters. Watch enough people get incinerated, devoured alive, you see how ridiculous it is getting attached to ourselves. But knowing that sets you free." He smiled.

"Is that what you're doing? Setting us free?" Carol entertained him.

"If you learn that lesson, it'll only help you."

"What, so we can be more like you?" Daryl asked.

"Accept the future." He raised a brow, smiling at the man, as he stepped away from his wife and child, lighting an cigarette.

"Why put him through all that hell in the barn just to kill him months later? I-I can't see an ideology behind that." Gabriel pressed.

"I liked Siddiq. "

"Oh, you liked him?" Rosita scoffed.

"He wasn't part of the plan." Dante whispered. "But he found out who I was, so I had no choice."

"What plan?" Carol asked him.

"Encourage your paranoia about us... which will push you into bad decisions. Places like this are cruel promises to their people and they crumble at the smallest nick. Hell, I'm gonna enjoy watching you rip each other apart over what to do with me. Just like with Negan." He winked at the Dixons.

"Easy, we're gonna kill you." Natalia spoke up for the first time. "You ain't no Negan, honey, and there ain't no one around who's gonna sympathise with you, not a single soul, after what you've done, you're the enemy, and now, we have a face to put to the hysteria."

"We helped you." Rosita was still trying to wrap her head around the betrayal.

"Why?" Dante asked. "'Cause you wanted another doctor around? You got something from me, too. Don't pretend you didn't." He grinned, shaking his head.

Rosita begun cursing in Spanish, pacing behind him.

"No one is actually kind. We are selfish. We are brutal. Come on, that's why she's been using her time popping out all these kids, during all this, I was trying to do the both of y'all a favour, I hear boys are always the hardest to raise." He nodded at Archie, but Rosita had kicked him to the ground, hard, ending his monologue about the near murder of Archie Dixon.

She then stormed out of the door that Aaron had just happened to be walking through.

"He's been here four months." Aaron had reminded, during their debriefing on what to do about the situation. "How didn't I know?"

"None of us did." Daryl said, his way of trying to comfort the man.

"We all ate together. Talked about training the militia. He treated Gracie." He choked up.

"You can't do that to yourself." Carol told him.

"Hey." Natalia layed an hand over his. "He treated mine, too, I sat with him, had conversations, you're not the only person who could've or should've spotted him, We especially can't do anything about it now, we do not cause or fault ourselves for other people's actions, we can't do that, it is not our responsibility."

"All we can do now, is figure out what's going on." Daryl gave his opinion, seating himself on top of the counter.

"Mary, the Whisperer I've been talking to, um, told me where Alpha is keeping the herd."

Daryl and Carol both jumped at this, eager to know more, but Natalia took her hand back, placing it to her forehead as she prayed for strength, with a heavy sigh.

"Just over the border, on their side. It's this sunken field. On the edge of the natural forest."

"We can leave right after the funeral." Carol suggested.

"We?" Natalia scoffed. "He said it's on their side, not our business, not our problem. Besides, it really wouldn't hurt to have some compassion, Siddiq is dead."

"You wanna do nothing?" Carol asked.

"Lydia's still gone." Daryl reminded.

"Oh, yeah, because Carol let her go!"

"We don't even know what that means yet." Daryl continued.

"Alpha doesn't know that." Aaron whispered. "With Dante locked up in a cell, she never has to."

"We ain't gonna talk about how this is probably an ambush?" Daryl asked.

"Well, the baby that Connie rescued, apparently that's Mary's nephew. She wants to see him."

"Hell no" Natalia put her foot down.

"I don't think she's lying." Aaron told her.

"Alright. Get a group from Hilltop and meet us there. Second we're done, we're going looking for the girl." Daryl ordered.

"Yeah. I'll radio them. Maybe they can get the news to Michonne, too."

"Alright."

Aaron then left the house, and Carol followed, but Daryl stopped her.

"Hey. Why don't you stay here? I'll go." He said.

"What?" Natalia stood up, facing him.

"Why?" Carol asked.

"You gonna tell me what really happened out there?" He glanced at Natalia, before facing Carol again.

"I told you. Lydia didn't want to come back. I couldn't make her."

"Because you scared her."

"Nat, you weren't there!" Carol snapped at her.

"Hey! Her being here protects us. You know that.

"So, that's it for her now, to be our shield? Just lock her up again? I showed one of Alpha's people that their leader lied to them, and that's good for us. We can push on their wounds, too."

"Oh, of course, yeah, because keeping her behind these walls and keeping her safe is unfair to the young girl, so that she can actually have a chance of growing up, but using her as an tactic is fair game, right?" Natalia mocked.

"Bottom line is, you should have told us." Daryl moved on before the two women could get into it.

"I'll help you look for her, but I don't think she wants to be found." Carol shared.

"Are we talking about her, or are we talking about you?" Daryl pressed.

But she didn't give an response, instead left their house without another word.

"I'll go get the kids ready for the funeral, then, I'm going to take a shower, you can either help me or go chase after her." Natalia told him, heading upstairs.

It was silent for a half a minute, then the sounds of heavy steps moving towards the stairs alerted her of his decision.

The pair worked together to get the twins as well as RJ, washed, dressed, teeth and hair brushed, as well as reminding them on manners and funeral behaviour expectations, it was a lot, and it was a hard conversation on why people had suddenly begun dying so often, when neither child had experienced it since the new people had joined their lives.

Evie was already out, with no other Doctor in the community, she had volunteered to take on the rounds and to do house calls for all the people who had got sick from the infected water, most of them were already on the mend, luckily, but Carol's special tea was helping.

When they quietly opened Archies room, he was playing with his blocks, curiously, as though he was trying to work out a specific pattern for them to be stacked.

The couple leaned against the doorway as they watched, taking in their youngest child, Daryl glanced at his wife, hearing a small sniffle from her, noticing the tears that welled up in her eyes, the sad expression on her face as she watched their baby.

"He's alright." He murmured, tapping the back of her hand with his own.

"We almost lost him, Daryl, we almost-" She choked up, screwing her eyes shut, tightly. "I knew something was off about that guy, I felt it in my gut, and I just left it alone, that's not me, I never make a mistake, not like that, but-- and Henry, I saw her, I spoke to her at that fair, I knew it was her and I ignored it, now, Carol is going to get herself killed for revenge, and you, and it's all my fault" She dug her fingers through her hair, pulling at it with frustration.

"Hey, hey, come on." He grabbed her wrists, stopping her as he walked backwards, towards their room, shutting the door.

"It's all my fault, this is all my fault, Henry wouldn't be dead, Tara and Enid wouldn't be dead! And I haven't done anything to do anything! Our friends are dead and I did nothing to prevent it! Now, Archie was almost eaten, eaten alive by Siddiq, the doctor who helped me with the twins, who Carl risked his life to save, I mean, the irony in it all." She laughed with horror.

"Nat, stop, just breathe." He sat on their bed, bringing her to stand between his legs, rubbing her arms up and down, trying to get her to concentrate on him instead of breaking down and snapping. "Archie is safe, alright, he's fine and alive and I've checked him over, Rosita's checked him over, so has Evie and you've already done it about five times, he didn't get bit, he's gonna be fine, and he's too young to even remember last night."

"That's not the point, Daryl!" She raised her voice. "I could have prevented it even happening, I could have prevented all of this, but I didn't."

"You couldn't have done anything." He held her tightly, trying to get her to come off of it. "There's nothing that you could've done, you didn't know, but you know now, that's what matters."

"If,... If I never killed that guy... If I never killed those guys, that day... Glenn would still be here-"

"Nat, stop it!"

"Glenn would still be here, then Maggie wouldn't of made me distract Michonne, she wouldn't of tried to kill Negan, and the bridge never would of exploded, Rick would still be here, and none of this would happen, because Rick would've known what to do, he would've known what to do, and this wouldn't be happening, then Henry wouldn't be dead, and Carol wouldn't be going nuts, and they wouldn't all be dead, but they are, and it's because of me that they are, I can't keep anyone alive."

"Natalia, listen ta me-"

"Do you regret having the kids?" She seemed to have awoken from her self-deprivation.

"What?" He looked at her, he wasn't sure if he should be stumped or angry at her question.

"Just, our lives would be so much easier if we didn't have them, and I'm not saying that we shouldn't of had them, cause we never planned them, that was all your fault, okay, my body just bakes like it's supposed to do, but you're the one who gave it the ingredients, but I just mean, like what if there was another world in which we didn't have kids, so we could just focus on ourselves, and maybe we wouldn't be so preoccupied and less people would have died because of it, which is kinda funny if you think about it, but totally morbid, y'know, like take a life, leave a life... well, birth a life, but then there's reincarnation, we have three kids, a lot of people have died because of me, but out of those people, three of them could be our kids, but then what if it turns out that it's one of the bad people I've killed, instead of the good people, like what if one of them is Harley, now that would be bad-"

"Natalia! Shut up! Just stop talking, damn." He could barely keep up with her talking 100MPH, but he was catching bits of it here and there. "Just... just shut up, we're gonna be late for Siddiq's funeral." He slightly nudged her away from him, getting up from the bed and walking out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Natalia look a deep breath in, then exhaled, before moving to have a quick shower, before getting ready, building herself back up.

"I remember this passage from my studies. Written by a scholar centuries ago who was trying to understand the impossible." Gabriel told the crowd at Siddiq's grave. "Let me live if life is better for me and take my life if death is better for me." He had surrendered himself to fate because his world defied logic. Defied justice." He walked towards the mound of dirt, throwing a handful on top of Siddiqs cocooned body. "We created you from it... and return you into it... and from it we will raise you a second time." With every pause, he threw another handful. "Evelyn... would you like to share some words?" Gabriel looked to the girl, who was stood with the Gage boy, who had a bruised cheek, but no one cared to ask about it. "You probably spent the most time with him, than all of us."

Evie looked around, as the people waited for her to speak, she then turned to her parents, who gave an encouraging smile along with an nod.

She then stepped forward, clearing her throat.

"Uhm... I met Siddiq when I was only seven years old, which means, Carl Grimes had risked his life ten years ago for him. And Siddiq never let himself forget it. Because since before Uncle Rick allowed him into our community, he was already pushing himself to help in any way he could, it didn't matter who you were, he just wanted to help, no matter what..." She let herself peer into the grave. "Siddiq was my mentor, but he wasn't my first mentor, no...but... he didn't even know me and he saw my potential, he never left me out despite my age, either... I mean, the man was teaching me fractions the same time he was showing me the proper way of how to amputate a limb." She laughed with watery eyes.

"Boy am I thankful you could both multi-task." Joe, the amputee from the story commented, earning a chorus of laughter.

"Then he was teaching me how to read blood, and what it could mean, that's how I found out a certain person was having twins, yet he failed to share that it was my own mother." She earned another chuckle, and a small smile from Natalia, the twins were looking up at her realising that they were their mothers twins. "Siddiq was a person who was full of light, he was a person for the people, he was fearless, he never had to prove to us that Carl Grimes sacrifice wasn't a waste, because that was just Siddiq, that was just who he was, and we dall have many thanks to give..." She then crouched down, picking up a handful of dirt. "I'm going to miss you, Siddiq." She said, lowly, before dropping the handful.

Next

[whymustyouhurtmeinthisway]

I think Scourge is one of the funniest Sonic characters, because he checks a lot of boxes on my list of objectively funny character traits

Stereotypical Main Character But Evil, and just about never explains why he does what he does

Has a fashion sense reminiscent of a five year old’s idea of coolness (red sunglasses, leather boots, and a leather jacket with flames on it)

Is Sonic but green

Is also an abusive dickwad that literally everyone fucking despises

Talks big game but is actually a cowardly bitch

Still an enormous threat despite the last trait

Got roasted to tears once by Sonic’s elderly robot dad despite the last trait

Got a huge chest scar from Knuckles’ dad Locke of all people, one of the few characters in Archie to match him in assholery

By the end of the series he’s stuck in jail in the sideways dimension, where he constantly gets the shit kicked out of him by the other inmates, including an evil alternate version of Big the Cat named Smalls the Cat

What a guy

[randomheadcanons]

Do You Want to Fight?

a little drabble & of course we do not edit

“Do you want to fight?” Justin blinked, looking up from the sudoku puzzle he was working on, hair falling into his face. 

“What?” “Do you,” Tally repeated, pausing between the phrase, “want to fight?” 

Justin shifted to face her from his spot on the couch, Archie snoozing lightly next to him. Cat and Guy were out doing something, and Tally had opted to work on her current case on his living room floor. Better floor-space, she had claimed the first time she had done so. 

“Like, vocally, or physically?” “Physically.” Tally said, jumping up and dusting off her jeans. 

“Why?” he asked with a chuckle. 

“Afraid I’ll beat you?” She challenged with a grin. 

Justin scoffed, standing up. “You couldn’t beat me when we were teenagers, what makes you think you can beat me now?” It was Tally’s turn to scoff. “Excuse you,” She corrected. “There were several times you and your buddies ‘tactically retreated’” she said, framing the last part in air quotes. “Also, you’re a teacher now.” 

He laughed, “What is that supposed to mean?” He asked. “You don’t think I kept up with it?” “There’s no way you are in the same shape.” She argued. “And you are?” Tally shrugged, “I fight more than you on the daily.” she said, gesturing down to the papers sprawled on the floor. 

Justin shook his head. “C’mon,” he said, gesturing to the door. 

“Oh are you running away?” Tally teased. 

Justin smirked. “No,” he said as he opened the door. “I just don’t want to break a window. We’re going to the roof.” Tally grinned, cracking her knuckles before following him out. 

—----------------------------

“Did you forget that stint I did as Batman for a hot second?” Justin asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet as Tally rolled her neck in preparation. 

Tally shrugged. “Lifetime ago, Juice,” she reasoned. “A lifetime.” 

“So are there any ground rul-” Justin began to ask, before promptly ducking a swing from Tally. “-Hey!” he shouted, spinning around as Tally readjusted herself, grin on her face. Justin matched her grin with his own, “Guess not,” 

Tally lunged again, this time with a roundhouse kick to Justin’s side, to which he blocked with his forearm. He responded with a punch of his own, to Tally’s cheek. She ducked under it and hit him with a gut punch. But Justin was anticipating it and blocked. He had fought Tally many times before, and she was still up to the same tricks. 

“You’re predictable.” He said as she spun around him. 

“And you have a blind spot,” She replied before her fist clipped his jaw. Justin let himself fall to the ground while hooking his leg around hers, causing her to stumble backwards. 

“And you’re overconfident,” He quipped back with a grin as Tally righted herself. He had to admit, this was making the same adrenaline rush over him, just the way it did when he was still Foot. But this was…different. There was no looming doom about it, it felt almost like he was back training with this squadron, back with Carter, Miller, and Bauer. Justin had always found solace in training; it was the only thing he had to concentrate on in those moments. Back then, he didn’t have to think about missions, or lies, or feelings-he only had to think about his body, and the task at hand. Now, there is considerably less stress in his life. Well, there was still stress: lesson planning, curriculum navigation and general child welfare, but no one was going to die. 

And that felt nice. 

It was Justin’s turn to go for a kick to the ribs, which caught Tally off guard. She grunted when his shin collided with her side, but pivoted to spin so that she was behind him. She went for his kidneys,but Justin rolled away in time before spinning himself and almost landing a punch on her jaw. 

“Okay,” Tally grinned, as she blocked it. “I admit it, you’re still in shape.” Justin grinned back “Duh,” He said as he blocked her next hit. “Gotta keep this temple in shape.” 

Tally danced back and laughed. “Finally leaning into the hot teacher of it all, huh?” Justin shrugged, “I’m warming up to the idea.”  he said, subconsciously reaching for the place that his throwing knives would have been in his previous life. He had suspected that Tally would have lunged again by now, but she was biding her time. 

She had grown in her technique, he realized with a realization of pride. 

Just then, she lunged. 

Not too much growth then, he thought, as he promptly flipped her to the ground. He winced as he heard the air get knocked out of her

“Ouch-” She groaned as she rolled up, clutching her left hand. 

“Shit-ouch, sorry,” Justin apologized, clocking Tally’s pinky, which was not at an angle a pinky should be at.

“Comes with the territory,” She winced, getting to her feet. The fight was over, they both concluded. 

Justin took her hand gingerly to examine it. She winced. He pressed gently where the finger was bruising. Definitely broken, but not shattered. 

“C’mon.” He said, leading her toward the roof door. “I’ve got some splints and can reset it for you.” “You know I’ve broken this specific pinky like four times?” she asked as she trotted down the stairs in front of him, as he closed the door to the roof. 

“You need some milk,” He chuckled as they entered his apartment. She shrugged and went to hit the coffee on while Justin went to get his first aid kit. 

[aceouttatime]

Short-Lived: .02 Dinner With Archie Next Chapter: (Coming Soon) Previous Chapter: .01 The Humdrums and The Noteworthy 3040 words TW: Alcohol use, (potential) drug use, grotesque imagery, depression Also, heads up, this chapter is intended to be vague!

Synopsis:

I left for home that night with quite a lot on my mind. I left for home every night with quite a lot on my mind. And by the time the week caught up to me, there was nothing left to rationalize.

I left for home that night with quite a lot on my mind. I left for home every night with quite a lot on my mind. And by the time the week caught up to me, there was nothing left to rationalize.

“What am I doing, Arch?”

I set down my half-read book–it was some heavier novel I couldn’t get myself to focus on. It was partially because the protagonist was the blandest and most predictable character I’d tried to relate to in a long while. Excruciatingly so, really. I wasn’t sure why I kept picking it up at all.

It was getting to be late evening, just warm enough to be outside in my hammock with a very fancy bowl of ramen noodles with cheese and spinach. Tonight was one of those in which I hadn’t the energy to make anything more than a microwave meal for myself. And I certainly didn’t need to dirty the table when the weather was finally getting to that pleasant, spring-ish temperature where I could don a sweater and slacks without worrying I’d catch a cold.

Shooting a glance at my partner in crime, Mister Archibald himself, I cracked a pursed-lipped smile. He was a regal fellow, sitting all prim and proper on the balcony rail like he owned the place. He tilted his head amongst the begonias and hydrangeas, clearly off in his own little world.  And those olive eyes of his that almost matched my own lowered sleepily.

Of course, Archie said nothing in return, as he was a cat.

“Grand advice. You should write that down.” I chuckled, polishing off the rest of my lukewarm dinner.

The past week had been difficult. Tamia was quiet. And when she got quiet, she was the sort to get lost in her own head and focus on anything but the task at hand. I didn’t have the heart to bring it up to her when she forgot to water the plants on her desk–they were starting to look wilted, so I gave them some water for the next couple of days. I’d seen a few other folks comfort her throughout the week, knowing better than to offer their console to me. She seemed grateful enough, though her hands still shook when she wrote on the whiteboard in the lobby.

I busied myself with my job again, researching a few things about another, more minor case’s suspects. It kept me occupied, other than yesterday when I’d finally given in and visited the graveyard by the park with some oats for the ducks. Archie wasn’t much one for adventure, but I didn’t mind being by my lonesome. I was glad for the company now, though.

“Sweet boy–how’d I get so lucky, hm?” When I reached my arm out, Archie sniffed at my fingers, little whiskers tickling the faded, dark freckles on the back of my hand. He was a ginger cat, and as all ginger cats were known to be, he was the sole cause of chaos in my tiny home. Lord knew my side of things was a lot calmer.

“Careful-” Heavy paws forced a cough out of me as he landed square on my windpipe, purring loud and droning as a car engine. “Do you think I should call Tam? Do you think she’d just try to get me to talk? I haven’t heard from her in a while, and part of me wonders whether she wants an apology.”

I scratched between his triangle ears as he curled up like a honey bun, chirping as I hit a good spot. I took that as a yes. “She does deserve one.”

Later. I’d deal with that later.

…

While I typically made a point to avoid the bar on busy Fridays, I had an old acquaintance who’d invited me. I’d tidied up, setting Arch back on his favorite rug and giving him one last scritch before I grabbed my jacket. The thing was, these days, I didn’t mind a drink at all.

“Well, now, if it isn’t Mister Sylvan Okeanoú himself.”

“That’s Lieutenant Detective Sylvan Okeanoú to you, Ms. Vidia Donelle.”

She smirked something sinister, skimpy violet dress accentuating how she popped her hip to the side in jest, her hair even longer than mine had I kept it down. Life and time had been kind to her over the past eight years or so–she looked more alive than I’d ever seen her. Part of me envied it.

I pulled my coat closer to my collar, giving a brief roll of my eyes as I followed her into the hole-in-the-wall spot that was The Odyssey. It was built back when dance clubs were in their prime and hadn’t been updated much since, rafters still dusty and couches still whispering of old cigarettes. It had been a popular spot back when the two of us were still kids floundering in university; well, one of us was floundering, and I was inclined to believe it wasn’t me. I did wonder what became of her after she dropped out of our program to ‘pursue her passion.’

I supposed I would find out soon enough.

“You always did know how to be a gentleman, hm?” We sat down on barstools I mentally noted were maybe a touch too tall–I wasn’t the most vertically gifted of men, and my ‘date’ practically towered over me with those heels of hers. Vidia ordered something fruity, and I figured I’d start with whatever the house special was these days, to which the tender and owner, Rick, politely clued me in was a cinnamon something or other.

I was relieved to see him still around. He was a big, burly bear of a man with a well-trimmed beard and cheeks hard as stone. There was, from what I could recall, usually a cigar clamped between his teeth, and he hadn’t given up the pleasure tonight. It still shocked me he worked the bar, but his hands were as steady as ever with the spirits, dusting the rim of mine with cinnamon. He and Vidia shared a glance.

“Glad to see you finally got what you wanted, Lieutenant,” she mused with a roll of her eyes.

“Yes, yes, I know, how dare I correct you on my title. It’s not as if it took me a degree to earn,” I prodded, nodding thanks to Rick.

Vidia and I made short of small talk, exchanging a few choice words about my work and her Uber driver and the odd men in the corner of the bar that didn’t quite seem to know how to speak to one another. For as difficult as I’d thought it would be to talk to her, my anxiety was quelled in a matter of minutes. But, as I’d learned of myself, I couldn’t let good things last long. She became serious when I addressed the elephant in the room.

Vidia had always been quick to switch in that manner.

Taking a swig of my shot, I clicked my tongue at how it burned my throat. “Not to be terribly blunt, but what’s the occasion? I was under the impression you had forgotten we’d been close all those years ago.”

Vidia just shook her head, pinching the stem of her drink’s cherry between her fingers. It was a brilliant red that matched the windflower pinned up in her hair. A little crease formed between her brows, eyes downcast as she stirred her drink with a well-manicured nail.

“Oh, no. I just got caught up in the atmosphere of it all, you know?”

Truthfully, I didn’t. And when I raised my own brow, she heaved a sigh.

“The nightlife. The city. I mean, you know I came from nothing. That was, like, practically the only thing we had in common,” she laughed, and I felt myself ease into the melody of it. “After I dropped out, I got a job at Chuck’s place down the way.”

Vidia’s dark eyes got darker, a long silence of slow music and distant chattering filling the little gap between her lips.

“I, God, I’m going to be painfully honest here, but I felt guilty, y’know? Both about the things I said to you and about quitting. My parents had given up a lot for me to move up here and get my education. And, really, I ended up throwing that away because, for the first time in my life, I felt free.”

When she finally looked at me, her eyes seemed hollow and glassy. Maybe, behind her makeup artistry and harsh smile was that same exhaustion I felt.

“I didn’t know how to tell you, Sylvan. And after the awful things I said to you after you…told me about yourself, well, I wasn’t sure if you’d care,” she admitted. “I should’ve just apologized instead of disappearing off the goddamn map. And I missed out on keeping one of the only friends I knew I could trust to be brutally blunt with me. So, that’s why I invited you. To apologize.”

I sat in stunned silence. Vidia passed me another glass, cinnamon sticking to her fingers like sawdust and glitter in the lowlights. I had trouble thinking back to the end of my first semester. It was a lifetime ago, back when I was a bit more open and a bit more immature. I’d trusted Vidia with something I shouldn’t have. I had trusted my parents with those same feelings years before–I no longer spoke with them afterward, as was the same with Vidia. I hadn’t expected her cruelty. I couldn’t have.

After a moment, I took the shot. In the reflection of the glass, I noted the stillness of the suited men in the corner.

“I owe you, Sylvan.”

She did, but I was owed a lot of things. Enjoying the flavor past the fire, the hearth in her voice kept me warm the rest of the night. I lost track of time. I lost track of how much I drank, but it was enough to ease my nerves and then some. Heat flushed on my cheeks and over the bridge of my nose when she brought up the personal and unforeseen topic that was my love life, or lack thereof. I figured she’d probably already reckoned I’d no interest.

Vidia, however, was a viper who struck best on the unexpecting.

“You’re telling me that, in all the time you’ve been moving up through the system, you still haven’t found that special someone?”

Drink long abandoned, she gaped at me in the glow of the blacklights, hand slapping the bar as she leaned closer yet, inches away from brushing a slip of paper to the ground. Jesus. I’d brought up the odd little love note I’d found in one of my files, considering it had quite nearly fallen out of my jacket. Vidia was under the impression that it was an actual, if not childish, means of interest. I hadn’t pondered that possibility, quite literally because it was preposterous. If someone wanted me like that, they would simply ask. I wasn’t the most approachable of sorts, sure, but really. No self-respecting person sends a post-it note with illegible handwriting to their coworker, or anyone, for that matter, as a form of affection.

Plus, it was quite clear I wasn’t searching for that sort of thing. Picking up the stupid thing, I scoffed, pointing it in her direction accusingly. “That’s an off-topic question, Miss Vidia. If my mind serves me right, we were discussing the very-professional subject of unexplained evidence I’d found on my desk. Do its placement and contents not raise any questions to you?”

“Oh, you prude. Mister Okeanoú, you are still no fun,” she droned, head falling back in faux defeat. “Let me have a little fun, hm? We didn’t come here to talk business, my dear friend.”

“Mhm. And, yet, I didn’t come here to talk about my romantic pursuits.”

Blatantly ignoring that, she snatched the yellow slip from between my fingers, the heat of her proximity causing my brow to furrow. The pressed flower’s dust left a residue on my fingers.

“So. Sexual pursuits it is.”

“Vidia Donelle-”

She stopped me there, my glasses a touch foggy. “You’d think, considering what I was like back in uni, you’d have at least expected this sort of ‘uncouth behavior’ from me.” She gave a pout, eyes large and drunk. “I’m sure with that gorgeous…face of yours, you get at least a few offers every now and again.”

“Please,” I groaned, pinching the sleeve of my sweater. She snickered, the hiss of it all slurred-like, and I suddenly recalled why I stopped inviting her out alone. “No. I have no time for frivolous flings and certainly not for anything more. The work I do is more important than those sorts of interests.”

“You’re lying.”

“You have no reason to believe that.”

“You’re avoiding the question, sweetheart.”

“I quite literally just answered you.”

She laughed through the bass of a particularly grating song, my head aching and stomach ripe with unspat bile. Following her gaze back, I noticed how she eyed up a tall, handsome stranger at the pool table, lip bit at the way his back arched over the edge. It was a picturesque, half-dim open sign framing his strong jaw like an incomplete halo.

It was then I found it high time I left for some air.

Finding my footing, I bid her farewell, finding a hasty set of numbers scrawled on that post-it after I’d snatched it back. They weren’t hers. The floorboards were more uneven tonight than they’d been a decade back, the mirrors bright and rusty. The balcony door, half-hidden behind the edge of the traditional bar area, seemed a reprieve from the heat and haze and sinking disgust in my gut.

Rick tipped his head at me, flicking ash off the end of his cigar. There was cinnamon on his lips, and I wondered if he’d been drinking too. His eyes were bloodshot behind seas of shining cerulean–it took me a moment to notice the old home phone off the wall and teetering on his shoulder. Past him, Vidia was already gone.

I left The Odyssey, brushing shoulders with an odd, suited man as I did. The corner he and his associates had overtaken when the night was younger was empty, and catching the light of those empty seats made something in my chest clench like my fists at my sides. I heard a muffled grumble. His face was grim and ashy, sunken-in like yellow-papered decay.

I made certain to let the foggy glass door click shut behind me, hollow eyes on my back.

Out in the fresh air of the night, I leaned against the rail, grateful for the lack of company yet feeling lonesome anyhow. Beyond my perch lay mostly-barren avenues and alleyways lit only by the pollution of streetlights. If I had better vision, perhaps I could see the lights of my old university–the very tallest of its buildings, at least. With a long drawl of a sigh, my head and stomach protested again, now-felt heartbeat linking the two as if I’d upset them both.

I took a sip of my shot. Strange, as I didn’t recall having brought another with me out here.

Vidia was a fool for forcing herself out onto the streets of this worn-out carcass of a place. There wasn’t beauty in the booze and sex and drugs she found so freeing; there was an immense sadness to it all, a longing for something fulfilling. How many Fridays would it take before she found this repetitive? How many Fridays would it take for her to realize that she’d fucked up?

I missed university. I missed the way Vidia and I used to huddle close in those beat-up dorms when it rained, back before we’d learned anything at all. Before she’d known who I was and why I always wore high-collared sweaters–before I’d known why she kept her hair loose and lips looser.

The years had been kind to her. Too kind.

I almost poured the rest of my beverage out into a potted tree in the corner, old leaves wilted from neglect and the season. But I thought better of it, letting the few drops of liquor dribble through the nooks and crannies of the vintage floor planks to who-knows-where. It was getting colder, the longer I pondered things, the hues of things a little off in my peripheral vision.

Maybe I had missed out on things back in my younger days. Still, I was here, and she was there, and I still had a fighting chance to be successful, courted or not. Love note or not. Vidia or Tamia or Archie or not. I trembled. There was a sun-bleached ashtray near the pathetic plant.

The man was there, too. His eyes were missing, and his sockets were darker than the sky.

I blinked, and he was gone.

I knocked the ashtray to the ground. On accident. On purpose.

My head hurt.

Was I…still scared?

The bar was a blur of color as I passed back through it. Pool man was gone. Vidia was gone. The men in the corner were gone. Rick was pacing and polishing that same goddamned glass he’d been fiddling with when I’d stepped away.

I didn’t think much after that.

…

Somehow I’d made it home, body all sprawled out on the couch and damp from a shower I surely must’ve taken. The television was off, and my head was cold from my hair and aching like a particularly nasty hangover. Whatever I’d consumed to do this to me was grounds for suing.

Across the room, Archie sat like a grotesque atop a pulled-out dining chair, royal and angry as if my being on the couch rather than in my bedroom upset him. He did not climb to my chest to sleep as he always has, instead gazing at me from beyond. The balcony door was still open, night just as dark as it’d been when I’d stepped foot in here, and I’d not the mind nor body to close it.

When exhaustion had finally pulled my weary mind under, I heard the distant cry of Archie’s yowling.

...

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[ferrarism]

There's a party where you MotoGP/2/3, WSBK/WSSP/300, F1/2/3, FE drivers/riders or whatever are invited, but there's a catch. They need to be dressed up as something that starts as their first letter of their name/surname or popular nickname. It can be in any language you know. It can be as general as Celestino going in blue jeans and a blue sweater with his face painted in blue with black dots, as he is going as 'cielo' sky in Italian. It can also be specific as Celestino as Captain America.

So who is going to the party, and what are they wearing?

oooh an interesting question I love this very much, ty!

first of all i’ve been dying to talk about this for a hot minute so Joan Mir is there in a hot catsuit because ”mirri” in finnish means a cat. and he’d look very good in that i’d reckon.

now with one repsol honda rider we can’t miss his teammate, Marc, who obviously went for the costume route with ”Pedro Marquez” aka spiderman, a very fitting costume

the ”couple’s costume” goes for Fabio and Tom. they teamed up to for ”Tom of Finland” look with Tom dressing up in period clothing as ”Tom” Touko Laaksonen, the famous finnish artist, and Fabio in a hypermasculine leather getup reminiscent of Tom’s drawings straight from finland. it’s all very gay.

Lewis Hamilton is once again the most stylish person at the party, dressed up in his namesake Louis Vuitton’s clothing. I’d imagine it’s a loose look with interesting patterns and a pair of sunnies to go with it.

Valentino Rossi took the costume party also literally, as he is naturally going for a doctor costume. i wanna say they are doing a couple’s costume with Francesca, going as derek and meredith from grey’s anatomy (maybe the doctor’s jacket is named ”mcdreamy”)

his prodigee, Celestino Vietti is also there in a more of an interprative look, as ”vietti” means drive or libido in finnish, and he decided to dress like the god of love and seduction, Eros, with baby wings and a halo added.

Francesco ”Pecco” Bagnaia and Marco Bezzecchi went for a couples costume as well, going for a version of the classic finnish song ”Päivänsäde ja Menninkäinen” (Sunray and Hobgoblin). Pecco is wearing all fluffy yellow and light fabrics as the ray of sunshine, and Marco contrasts him with a darker, earthier look as the goblin.

Luca Marini matched his eyes with his outfit full of wavy blues like the sea, mare. he wore a simple coloured jeans and jacket - look that had all kinds of blues painted on.

at first glance, it looks like Charles Leclerc has just worn his ferrari suit to the party. upon closer inspection, it comes apparent that the number is 95 and those are not shell logos but rust-eze, and he has actually dressed up as Lightning McQueen.

Alex Albon loves to dye his hair so naturally he went as the redhead Archie Andrews, in a comic book style with the letterman jacket with R and all.

Lando Norris is clearly dressed like Lando Calrissian.

Max Verstappen went for a roman emperor look like Magnus Maximus, toga and all.

and who can forget Oscar Piastri, who went for a full-body golden look as an oscar statue. all the paint took weeks to come off.

Jonathan Rea shows up to the party dressed in discount tags because ”rea” in swedish means for sale. he keeps flirting with his wife, saying he’s going cheap today.

Jack Doohan took the safe route and borrowed an old race suit from his dad, because hey, there’s a famous racer named Mick Doohan out there right?

whereas the other famous mick, Mick Schumacher, took his surname literally and dressed as an old-timey cobbler or a ”shoe maker”.

i’d imagine there’s a funny moment when Casey Stoner shows up very stoned to the party.

[ninjacat1515]

Deaths of Legends

Alex had spotted Archie first, and was confused as to what an Illager child was doing out here. Not that she cared what would happen to the vermin, it was just a bizarre oddity in a normally quiet part of the woods.

It was gathering wild hazelnuts and the red eyes made Alex's skin crawl. Gods it was hideous! Illagers were ugly filth in general, but this one's red eyes only made it demonic.

Wait, it wasn't a kid...it looked older, like maybe 20's or something. It had no weapon or armor but that didn't matter to Alex, an Illager was a dangerous monster and monsters needed to be disposed of.

Archie sensed he was being stared at by something hateful, not a wild beast. It was a sinking feeling that brought on a terrible rush of fear. He spun around and saw the human woman.

She was young, perhaps early to mid 20's, and was tall and had a strong build. Her gaze was nothing but hate and disgust, and he backed up, shaking hands in the air to show her he had nothing to harm her.

"What the hell are you doing good here, freak? Your kind come to disturb and defile this forest? You're stealing food from this tree and not welcome."

"It's-It's a wild tree and not a farm-"

"You're still here, near my house."

"I'll leave, ok?"

Steve had jogged up and was taken aback by the small Illager. His expression was not friendly either, and he had drawn his sword.

"You'll leave alright, a permanent departure." Steve growled.

Archie wanted to scream at them that he wasn't a monster and had no interest in stealing from them or causing harm. But he also knew they wouldn't listen, and he was no backed into a tree.

"Please let me go...just let me go..."

The pathetic, whimpering plea seemed not just for himself but it was like he was desperately trying to warn them of something; they could see it in his eyes. He wasn't just afraid of them, but afraid FOR them.

Alex was tired of seeing the grey skinned, sniveling thing, and swiftly stabbed him in the stomach as Steve swung at the neck; which he ended up missing because something had seized his body and yanked him back.

The pain of teeth and immense pressure from angry jaws made him scream. A bear must have been nearby, or some massive forest cat. The teeth let go only to make a mess of Alex's shoulder and back. She couldn't raise her sword as the tendons and muscles had been so badly damaged.

Then they saw him. A huge male Illager with the fire of vengeance in his eyes; a parent's vengeance. Steve wanted to swing his sword but could not manage a maneuver and slumped to the ground. Briefly, the towering Pillager gathered up the small illager and placed it against a log before he turned his deadly attention to the pair of humans.

"You human filth, there is no end to your gall."

Whatever hatred they had for Illagers could not match the disdain and loathing in his voice for humans.

Alex and Steve now realized far too late that the small Illager had been warning them about this devil, and for a long moment felt deep pangs of regret. One for not heeding the warning, and two...for hurting what had clearly been a most unexpected ally.