#and it is enough to appreciate the universe as it is

[d3arapril]

00 PROLOGUE | TOO FAR GONE | P.B

pairing: paige bueckers x female!oc word count: 1k warnings/tags: allusions to cheating? i think that's it for this tbh. remember this is just a prologue - it'll get crazier, freakier and sadder!!!! ᡣ𐭩 better late than never, hey! excited to finally share the start of paige & sydney's story. as always - feedback and reblogs are always appreciated <3 SERIES MASTERLIST | PLAYLIST

It wasn't supposed to be like this. Sydney Moore had an interesting childhood– she had a mother that loved her and a father that only ever seemed to have his best interests in mind. You could argue that it was a standard childhood for most.

She was loved. She had once been loving, too. But somewhere along the way, something shifted. The craving for chaos seeped in, spreading like ink in water, staining the good parts of her.

Sydney met Paige when they were both freshmen at the University of Connecticut. She didn't think much of her, at first. Just another blonde she'd thought when they locked eyes in class for the first time, the blonde's gaze hesitating on her before reluctantly pulling away.

Paige was quick to prove her wrong. The two found comfort in each other despite their differences; Sydney was more reserved, kept her cards held close to her chest whereas Paige was outgoing, open and ambitious. As they grew closer, the athlete would invite Sydney to her practices, to parties, to small get-togethers with friends. Sydney, more often than not, would decline, using excuses like “I need to study” or “I’m not feeling well.” Paige never pushed, only smiled, nodded, and spun away, leaving a soft ache in Sydney’s chest that would never really go away.

Sydney told herself it was better this way—better to keep that distance. Yet, there were moments when she would stand rooted in the hallway, books clutched to her chest and lips curled down in a frown, watching Paige walk away and feeling a gnawing sense of loss that shouldn’t have been there.

She wanted to be around her all the time, yet couldn't bring herself to let her in. Paige was already too close, and it terrified her but she couldn't help but want more.

It remained like this for a while and whilst the girls became closer Paige still couldn't worm her way into Sydney's brain, figure out why she acted so distant.

"Can I ask you something?" Paige had asked her one evening.

They were studying in Sydney's room, orange desk lamp casting a warm glow across the small space. Sydney hesitated, lead of her pencil hovering over the page of her notebook.

"You just did."

"Don't be a smart ass. Come here."

Sydney moved from her seat by her desk to the bed, sitting beside Paige with both of their backs leaning against the wall, feet hanging off of the edge of the bed.

"Is there something going on?" Paige sounded genuinely concerned, voice quiet.

“What do you mean?” Sydney’s voice came out strained. She could feel Paige studying her from the corner of her eye, waiting for her to open up. The thought made her hairs stand on end.

Sydney’s mind raced—memories of her father’s clipped words, of being told emotions were weaknesses, of learning to suppress every raw edge and every vulnerable part of herself. She couldn’t let Paige see the truth, not when it felt like she was barely holding it together.

"I dunno," Paige sighed, fiddling with her fingers in her lap. "You're just not there recently, y'know?"

Sydney swallowed, the taste bitter. The light in the room felt like it was dimming and she felt like the walls were closing in on her.

"I'm fine."

Their relationship evolved in fragments— moments where Sydney would let her guard down, just enough for Paige to think she was making progress, only for Sydney to retreat behind her walls again. And despite it all, Paige stayed. She stayed through the disappearances, the late night calls, the way Sydney’s affection often felt like a push and pull that left her dizzy.

Sydney grew to like it this way. She found a twisted comfort in knowing that no matter what, Paige would be there. She'd sacrifice everything for her if she had to, she was sure of it.

The thought alone awoke a part of her she didn't even know existed.

two years later

"Have you spoken to Sydney recently?" Paige had asked Aubrey, fingers mindlessly running through the small knots in her ponytail. They'd just finished a late night practice and the remainder of the team had already filtered off of the court, ready to end the day.

Aubrey raised an eyebrow, eyes narrowing as she looked at the blonde. "Why would I speak to her? Have you?" she stepped forward, trainers squeaking against the hardwood of the court. An accusatory finger dug into Paige's shoulder. "Bueckers?!"

Paige brushed her off, kissing her teeth. "Nah, 'course not. Forget I asked."

Since that evening in Sydney's room two years ago, something changed. She didn't become more open with her feelings but instead she became more affectionate, much to Paige's surprise. They would spend most nights together wrapped up in each other with no conversation about what they were; where they both stood.

It became too much for Paige, the uncertainty of their situation, the way it ate away everything she did. Her grades were slipping and her performance on the court was mediocre at best.

She pulled away from Sydney, despite her iron grip.

She'd known, deep down, that it wasn't going to be easy. What she hadn't expected was the sudden lack of air in her lungs, the way her head swam, the ache in her chest. She carried on, though. Carried on with her life, got her grades back up and soon shot up to become one of UCONN's best.

"What're you guys doing out here?" a familiar voice echoed through the gymnasium- Azzi.

Paige and Azzi had met one year after she had met Sydney. They were just team mates for a long time, but as Paige started to become more worn down from Sydney, Azzi was the shoulder she cried on. Their relationship blossomed and whilst they weren't official, they were definitely something.

Azzi brought a sense of peace to Paige's life that she hadn't felt in a long time but she couldn't help but crave more.

"We were just leaving." Paige sends a half smile in Azzi's direction. She beams back, pearly whites on show.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Jus' tired."

Azzi threw an arm over her shoulder as they both strolled off the court. Paige could feel Aubrey's gaze searing through the back of her head, burning into her. She felt guilty as Azzi rubbed a hand up and down her bicep, giving it an affectionate squeeze.

She felt guilty as she pulled her phone from her gym bag, lowering the brightness subconsciously. She felt guilty as she kissed Azzi on the forehead and promised she'd be over as soon as she was done running an errand.

She felt guilty as she told Sydney she was on her way to her.

[stxneflxwers]

tough love.

⋯⁂ summary. he could use tough love, but only yours.

⋯⁂ a/n. this glorious idea hit me... i had to write it immediately !! also if it reads weird halfway thru, it's cuz my internet fucking died and i had to finish this at two different times D:

⋯⁂ characters. aventurine x gn reader.

⋯⁂ cw. post-penacony. all lowercase. reader is brutally honest. aventurine gets some tough love. hurt/comfort. you knew each other pre-penacony. some cussing. awkward confession. you give him a hug.

aventurine is tired. fatigued. exhausted.

penacony has been one brutally eye-opening experience after another for him, and many others. a part of him wants to sleep for so long, so so long. perhaps not permanently, but when he feels well enough to face the world again. maybe.

this place is a goddamn nightmare, he thinks with a wry and weak chuckle.

right now, he's standing in clockie studios theme park – a place he's grown to partly resent, partly appreciate. he stares down the repaired big screen with crossed arms as he leans against a wall. it's now so isolated here, but people have bigger fish to fry, he thinks. yet... he can't help but feel so small in comparison. briefly, he feels relieved he isn't in the spotlight.

"you know, that was pretty shitty of you. maybe the shittiest. but... maybe you've learned your lesson, hm?"

a familiar voice nearby echoes in his ears – your voice. your sweet yet painfully forthright voice. you're perhaps the only damned person in this unforgiving universe that could hope to understand his inner machinations.

now, he finds himself appreciating you more than ever. maybe he's ready to be seen, even just a little. but only by you.

he smirks, "yeah, maybe i did." he laughs weakly.

silence casts a thick blanket over you two. maybe for a moment too long.

"you know," you start again, "i've been incredibly worried over your dumb ass." you sigh, yet it's the sweetest sound to him.

"ah," he mutters shyly, "my bad." he can't stop smiling, but it's hardly one borne from his false bravado.

"...damn right it's 'your bad'," you frown slightly, the sight hurts to see. and then you stride up to him with tentative confidence, "...i missed you, too." you stand a couple of paces away from him.

"you know what? i missed you like hell too." he confesses, there's something mysteriously soft in his gaze as he stares you down. his gaze lacks its usual lightlessness, it's the first time you've ever seen a shimmer of something honest in him.

"you're finally changing, then!" you grin, finally closing the distance, "i believe in you, aven. i always have, i always will. and, well…" you hesitate, a rare occurrence. "…i'm honored to witness your growth and change. you're not immutable… and, inevitably, everything is mutable." you whisper.

aventurine can't stop himself from blushing.

he's not sure why he's blushing – is it the proximity? no, he's used to standing near you. is it your words? no, not that either. is it your mere presence? ...maybe.

you notice his pink cheeks immediately. and you grin.

"what's with that look on your face, huh–"

"i love you."

you damn near choke on your own oxygen. (not that oxygen is entirely a necessity in a dream.) now you're the flustered one. actually, both of you are flustered – his red face rivaling your surprised expression.

"i–" he starts, "uh..." his mouth hangs open. why in the absolute hell did he just blurt that out? "haha! got ya! you know me and my–"

"that wasn't a prank, so don't even try pulling that on me..." your surprise shifts into a half-hearted glare, and a little pout that he wants to kiss so badly.

"haha... o-okay, not a prank..." he raises his hands defensively.

and then there's naught but silence. very awkward silence. the most awkward silence. he's still blushing, you're still glaring. he glances around, as if searching for the nearest exit, and when his eyes land back on you, you've taken a step closer to him.

"i love you too, you reckless idiot."

you sigh as your expression softens, even your voice is as light as a halovian's feather. it's music to his ears. he cracks a small smile, it's genuine and bashful with the way it curves his lips.

"...and i know my love can't fill the holes in your heart," you whisper, "but... you'll let me at least help you out with putting band-aids on for now, right?" you smile, he can taste how bittersweet it must feel for you.

"heh," he laughs breathily, "as long as it's you helping out."

"good. i can't keep pushing my way into your world, anyway, so... please... let me stay a while longer." you pull him into a tentative, careful hug – holding him like he's made of glass. and maybe he is.

"i..." he trails off as a sudden surge of emotions threatens to overwhelm him, bubbling in his chest. "stay." he hides his face in your shoulder.

"for as long as you'll have me."

"then... always?"

"always."

[mephistopheleswasrobbed]

Ahh, I don't want it to be over! But alas, here we are, so let me tell you about all the gay moments in Peaceful Property one last time:

1

We begin the episode with Home and Peach sitting next to each other and saying sentimental things. Framed by a flamingo. Which is literally a symbol of love (because they're pink and monogamous).

Saying your meeting was destiny while looking each other in the eyes lovingly is somehow not the most romantic line in this episode. It comes pretty close, though.

2

Back in the action, Peach is extremely worried about Home, alone with his would-be murderer.

And when evil lawyer mentions the possibility of Home being dead already, Peach loses is completely. (Though, in a parallel that is funny to me, exclusively, he's again held back by two *according to themselves* oh so weak women. Just like in Kan's home when one woman was enough to completely immobilise him. I'm really not sure why Panpang is so insistent that Peach is so much stronger than her)

Peach knows that they don't have enough time to waste it on those useless cops so he sacrifices himself by confessing to a crime he didn't commit, so at least Kan and Pangpang can try to rescue Home. That's some ride or die devotion right there.

3

A found family bond so strong it single-handedly derailed these scooby doo villains' evil plots several times.

4

Pangpang (seen here cosplaying as a ghost pizza) knows that in true romance fashion, Peach must be the one to save Home. (And because we've already established that physical strength can't be the reason, I'm choosing to believe it's the strength of his love for Home that's giving him the advantage.)

So Peach arrives just in time (there's that destiny, that soulmate timing) to prevent Somkid from stabbing Home. And I've previously talked a lot about how much Home has changed because of Peach, but let's take a second to appreciate how much Peach has changed because of Home. He went from hiding behind his little sister at the sight of a ghost, to jumping without hesitation at an armed murderer to save Home.

And once Somkid has been distracted, Home's first priority is, as they always do when there's danger, to go check on and help up Peach.

And then he just keeps holding him while Somkid is busy coming to the realisation that all the evil shit he did was meaningless.

5

There is no way Mr. Real Estate Heir doesn't know how to tie a tie. This is an excuse to share some comfort before the funeral and it is as understandable as it is boyfriend-coded.

6

There's been a lot of Home/Peach doing something the other had previously done, and here's one more:

Just like Home before, Peach also notices immediately when something seems off with Home and wastes no time to go to him and see if he needs to offer help or comfort.

7

And what is the problem? It's, of course, the impending separation that has Home moping over an electric stove cooker thing.

But well, after almost watching Home die, again, Peach has realised he doesn't want to leave. Because even if Home goes back to the US, at least he'll be around the memories they've made together. So Peach decides to stay.

And despite the excuse he comes up with about dialect speaking ghosts, we, and Home, know the real reason.

The "I love you and I don't want to leave you" might be unspoken but Home hears it anyway.

And Home has also finally figured it out.

So he's not leaving either.

And Peach might be a little obtuse about it at first

But Home's real dream has always been to have a family. And he knows he's finally found his. Grandpa knows he's finally found his.

So Home makes it clear to Peach.

And Peach gets it this time.

(Of course, then they immediately have to make a joke out of it because those two might actually be allergic to seriously talking about their feelings for each other. But the message has been recieved, anyway)

8

Their absolutely perfect timing can only be explained by soulmate shenanigans. (also look at him smile)

9

Even the universe is trying to tell them to embrace the gay. With their Cok Long bar turned Cok Long restaurant.

10

The dialogue from the beginning plays again, over shots of their family meal. And with the expression of destiny, the camera focuses in on them. Because while "family" is for all five of them, their "destiny" is just between the two of them. And they look so soft and happy in its glow.

And they look at each other when they laugh, and we leave them to their truly happy ending.

(And maybe one day in the future they will be able to plainly say "I love you" to each other without having to hide it behind five jokes and three metaphors, but until then, they know the truth of it anyway.)

Lesbian Corner

Kan has come to seriously trust and believe in Pangpang. And Pangpang, who felt like a useless burden at the beginning of the show, is made better by it.

And in reverse, Kan, who's been completely serious and focussed on revenge for the last decade, who'd had trouble letting loose and making connections with others even before her father's not-completely-but-in-effect-death, has found in Pangpang someone who can not only make her smile, but make her make jokes to make others smile.

Just like Home and Peach, these two also complement each other. They make up for each others shortcomings and both grow into happier, more well-rounded people through each other.

And with that it's over. Except not quite because I've still got some extra that didn't fit here.

[fix-it-darlin]

rhav (fullmetal alchemist oc, doctor and former state alchemist)

david- they probably appreciate his pragmatism and prioritization of others, finds gruff demeanor appealing but not much thought given beyond that, if the two of them got closer, they'd probably bond about trying to keep the people they care about from getting hurt, but those people not listening to them and then getting hurt

huxley- immediate short circuit of the brain and then lots of questions about how his 'earth based alchemy' works, they're a bit thrown off by his carefree attitude, but genuinely enjoy their interaction with him

vega- wtf even is this guy?, feelings are definitely mixed and their fight or flight is going off but they also get the sense that people will get hurt if they don't do something about him so definitely a fair amount of hostility that's feeding him

porter- thrown off by his charm initially and then realizes that he's got very little sense of self preservation and views himself as a weapon, gets real rattled about that and has to fight the urge to try and check him over for wounds

geordi- so glad to finally meet a normal person in this universe, they think he's a bit paranoid but they get it

blake- honestly just really disappointed in this guy, like c'mon, you've got the ability to see the future and help others and you've centered your whole being around one person when you've got the potential to be so much better than this, but ~no~ you have to go and be a massive racist asshole who's willing to hurt everyone to get what he wants, they don't even hate him, it's just more of a 'come on man, you're better than this. where is the board of ethics on this?'

hush- you know what, after everything else they've seen at this point, they're just glad that the god child isn't trying to kill them

rowan wagner (space cowboy)

david- he finds him pretty cute, thinks he'd be a fun guy to take out for a drink and get him relaxed but nothing too serious, discussion over drinks would likely be about taking on some kind of job, rowan's a flirt, but he knows when someone's out of his league

huxley- the accent? is something else, but once he gets past it, probably vibes with this guy quite a bit and talks shop on the quality of the earth in the area and what kind of wildlife hangs around the area

vega- well, doesn't look strange enough to be an alien, but is too strange looking to be a human, if vega tries to rile him up, his first reaction is going to be to flirt relentlessly while vaguely alluding to his gun but no one's sure if that's a euphemism or threat

porter- there's an accent he's familiar with, two flirts can play this game, definitely gets rich guy vibes from him and hasn't decided whether he wants to schmooze or antagonize him, the vampire part is the clearest cut part about this fellow and rowan's not even phased by it

geordi- rowan actually knows that star trek exists and is a pretty big fan of it (his space colony had recordings of all the episodes and some of reading rainbow available when he was growing up) so he catches the reference almost immediately and is delighted, he chats him up and teases him a little but is also just on the cusp of nerding out and has to hold himself back from instigating a star trek infodump, he's just got this big stupid grin on his face the whole time he's talking to him and has used some of his cheesiest pick up lines on him just to see if he can get a laugh

blake- this isn't his first rodeo with folks who've gone and gotten themselves possessed by some eldritch horror, he's this close to trying to shake this man by the shoulders and ask him why the fuck he's gone and doomed the universe, rowan is frustrated, annoyed, and just generally enraged by him, but he's handling it significantly better than he did the first eldritch possession he came across

hush- strange little fella, honestly not sure what to do with him, but he's happy to answer any questions, he's not spooked by him because he looks like a slightly less strange version of the aliens he deals with regularly, and he can relate to the whole not understanding people

joey (morally grey lie detecting detective)

david- they appreciate his honesty but also see way too much of their old boss in him and being prone to butting heads with authority, they're not a fan and just try to avoid him because they know that if they don't they are going to start a fight

huxley- they're intimidated at first because they're relatively short and huxley's kind of a big guy, a bit weirded out by the hole digging thing, but they have seen weirder in their line of work, wants to ask more questions but they're reminding themself that it's best not to go asking about things that might be more personal if they want to stay on people's good side and they really want to stay on his good side because they view him as a decent connection to have because they take notice of how much he seems to notice

vega- they're honestly pretty unphased as a sadistic super powered being is more their speed, yeah, he's a liar but he's a predictable one, they're used to people trying to manipulate them but they're able to see through it and brush it off, glad to find something that's relatively familiar in this new environment and has somewhat positive emotions about him

porter- they can not trust a word out of his mouth and they're so tired of it because they're not able to turn off their powers and it's just a constant ping of 'oh, that ones a lie' when they even try to talk with him, and they're probably holding their tongue about it because they've already come to the conclusion that he could probably kill them if he felt like it and it was beneficial to him, probably tries to return similar energy and probe him for information

geordi- confused as to why he thinks that they're a telepath as in their world, most telepaths are pretty damn invasive and loud about stuff in their experience (this is not normal and actually they have high mental paranoia and so that makes it hard for even the most skilled telepath to make it into their mind unannounced), vaguely annoyed by him but also find him endearing, they won't admit it of course

blake- they're immediately repulsed by him purely on the principle that they're reminded too much of themself by him, he figures out pretty quickly that they're "empowered" in a sense and he's spouting his bullshit and they just hate him so, so much and they want him and his lies gone, legitimately contemplating murder

hush- once the wtf is his deal wears off, it's just kind of like, oh yeah, vaguely murderous superpowered being who could crush them like a bug if they pushed things too far, this is just a typical tuesday, astounded by how not a single thing he says is a lie even though they're sure the stuff about him being a force given form is made up, but you know what, they'll humor him, stepping on eggshells around powerful beings is just their default mode

ok cmere listen

take an oc you have from literally any universe that you have (other than redacted)

tell me what’s happening if they were to run into

- david

- huxley

- vega

- porter

- geordi

- blake

- hush

you can doooo as many of them as you want to

(this is just an excuse to hear about peoples OCs btw)

[onlygenxhere]

A conversation between me, @innytoes, @missjoolee, @floating-in-the-blue, and @jatp-spinsb about that grindr post that went around a while ago about needing a screwdriver and not a hookup has led to a Juke version of that prompt. (I didn't think there was one) I'm not sure what to call it.

It was a lazy Saturday morning and Julie was cooking herself some bacon and eggs scrolling through the dating app Flynn had talked her into installing last night after her third glass of wine.

When the talk had turned to how long it had been since she’d been laid her best friend had insisted this new app was the way to break her dry spell. It was marketed as a dating app but was more popular for being the hetero version of grinder. On the plus side the men couldn’t message the women till they messaged them first. It was sexist as hell but when it came to a possible hookup Julie appreciated it.

She sighed as she swiped left on a guy that listed sky diving as one of his favorite hobbies. “Hell to the no.” She muttered under her breath.

She’d actually forgotten all about the app until her do not disturb turned off at nine and her phone started pinging that there were a few matches within the default radius of two miles.

She paused on a pretty cute guy that seemed to be a little too fond of his admittedly nice arms when the smell of her bacon burning finally pulled her attention back to her breakfast that was about to be ruined.

“Shit!” She dropped her phone on the table and only halfway noticed Dahlia, her cat, jumping up as she moved to save her bacon from ruin.

“Dahlia down!” She scolded over her shoulder as she turned the stove off and pulled the bacon out, laying it on a paper towel.

The cat ignored her of course, continuing to sniff at her phone, as she went about making herself a sandwich with her eggs and bacon.

She took a bite and moaned happily as she sat back down, pushing Dahlia’s nose away from her still open screen and froze.

Apparently the cat had sent the guy with the arms a message and he had replied.

Several times….

Me Ooo kiiiop

Luke Oh thank god Hi Hey I’m not actually looking for a date or hook up right this moment Not that your picture isn’t gorgeous But my bathroom sink is currently overflowing and what I really need is a flat head screwdriver I’m not sure if I have enough towels to keep my apartment from flooding. Hello?

Well shit. If his apartment was anything like hers there wasn’t a universal cut off so he’d have to wait for maintenance to get there and, again, if it was like hers, he could be anywhere from a few minutes to a few days showing up.

She checked his location and saw he was literally on the next block over and sighed. Guess she was going to get her good deed out of the way for the day.

Me Be there in five

She wolfed down her sandwich as she pulled out her little tool kit her tia had gifted her when she moved in, grabbed an armful of towels and her keys and was out the door in record time jogging down the block in her bare feet.

She was headed up the steps of Mr. arms, sorry, Luke’s building when her phone pinged twice.

Luke You’re a life saver Apartment 3C

“Of course you live on the third floor.” She grumbled as she started to climb. Realizing halfway up she didn’t have a bra on. At least her tank wasn’t white.

She banged at 3C’s door with her elbow three times as she tried to catch her breath before it was jerked open and she nearly fell in.

Her first thought was maybe he had a right to be proud of those arms because his profile picture hadn’t done them justice.

He also hadn’t been soaking wet in that picture.

Floppy brown hair curling around his forehead and dripping down his face, pajama pants hanging low on narrow hips and a sleeveless t-shirt plastered to an equally impressive torso.

“Oh thank god!” He grabbed the towels and the toolbox out of her hands and rushed down the hall. ��Come on in!”

She took a steadying breath as she stepped inside the apartment. It looked much like her own with only a small sofa, books and a decent sized tv in the small living room. But where she had her piano by her balcony door, he had an amp and guitar.

Julie shook her head and moved down the hall to the bathroom curious how bad the situation was.

She tried not to laugh as she peaked around the corner. There were wet towels everywhere and a literal spray of water coming out from under one of the faucets. Luke was on the floor with her screwdriver turning something she couldn’t see.

Whatever he was doing seemed to be working because the deluge of water started to slow and then stop.

He sat up with a sigh, pushing his wet hair off his face and smiled at her. “All better.”

She felt a throb between her legs and her nipples tighten. Fuck, that smile should come with a warning label.

“Glad I could help.” She smiled back at him as she casually crossed her arms over her chest.

He stood up, that smile never wavering and placed her screwdriver back in the little tool kit. He clicked it closed and passed it to her. “Can I buy you breakfast or something?” He seemed to finally be looking at her, probably noticing her lack of shoes, her flannel shorts and her tank top that she definitely had a bra on under. “Or can I make you breakfast?”

She shrugged. “Do you have a dryer?”

“What?” He laughed.

She waved at the mountain of wet towels all over the floor.

“Ah, no.” He sighed. “I’ll have to take them to the laundromat later.”

She bit her lip. This was probably a bad idea, or a really really good one. “I have a dryer.”

“Yeah?” He took a step toward her, his eyes twinkling in interest. “I already owe you for the screwdriver and now you’re offering the use of your dryer too. I’m gonna have to take you to dinner or something.”

She could swear his eyes dropped to her lips as she licked them. “Or something.”

He took another step toward her, forcing her to tilt her head up to meet his eyes.

She let her arms drop to her sides as he slid a hand around her waist ever so slowly, giving her all the time in the world to back up or say something.

Talking was not on her mind right now. All she could think about was that wet torso pressing against her thin tank top as he pulled her tight against his chest, and how she owed Dahlia a saucer of milk for her accidental text.

“Hi.” He breathed across her lips. “I’m Luke.”

“Julie.” She whispered as he closed the distance between them.

[blueishspace]

Hero, Villain, God 8

(Prev) (Next) (First)

*Scar's pov*

It's been almost a month since Poultryman appeared for the first time and more then two weeks since your first encounter with him... And you keep failing at catching him.

You always get so close to it too, you corner him or lure him to get close to you but he somehow manages to evade you each time. If you try to keep your distance he just escapes or avoids your arrows with agility you didn't think was possible.

In short, you are really trying your best here but it seems your best is not good enough to catch this specific vigilante, if you were a lesser man you would argue that It's like the universe itself is bending around him to give him the chance to escape but if you blamed the gods for every failure you wouldn't be a good hero.

The worst thing is that the Hero association had to assign Ocean Queen and Sheriff to help you catch him... And instead of catching him the first revealed a very important secret and the second was seen bantering with the vigilante in front of a crowd...that's just embarassing for you and for them and the association...

Cub has been constantly complaining about ever since he saw it go down in real time.

"Are they stupid? The number one hero failing to catch a vigilante was already a big hit on public opinion and they decided to publicly assign the same job to the number 2 and number 3?"

"Uh...Cub?"

"What's going to happen now? Did they think about that? If the top 3 heroes fail to stop a single vigilante the association is going to become the laughing stock of Hermittopia! Not that it isn't already considering the three of you act like you have never used social media before."

"Cub! You are tightening the straps too hard!"

"Oh... I'm ...Sorry Scar, I'm just...frustrated at their incompetence...*sigh* is this better?"

"Uh... Yes. Can actually feel my hand now"

"Right, I think you should avoid Poultryman for a while"

...

Record scratch, what? Why would you stop? He was the one that told you the association wanted you to catch him!

"What!? But It's literally my job to catch him!"

"If you keep going on like this without a good plan you'll just be giving him more chances to turn you into a meme. We cannot risk your reputation any more... I'm not saying to give up, just let things quiet down first."

Oh... That's fair you guess. You don't know if you are going to be able to do it but you can see Cub is serious about it. You can't exactly promise him anything but at least...

"I can try?"

"... Alright, I guess that's the best I'm getting, I'll trust you Scar"

*Grian's pov*

You keep going out as Poultryman for a few more days before you realize something is different... Going around is still fun but something is just off.

Then you get it, Hotguy seems to have lost interest in you and for some reason that irks you like very few things have done before.

You wanted to stick to only your vigilante persona for a while before introducing the other ones you had prepared but now your hand has been forced... It keeps happening. You wouldn't have it any other, more boring, way.

If you were mortal it would have been quite hard to mantain 3 different identities but you are not one and you can exist in different places at the same time.

You don't exactly know why you decided to bring Mother Spore in this early, you never cared about human aknowledgement before...but something about HotGuy...Scar... Is different, you feel ignored and that is not something you appreciate. Is it petty? Yes, very much so. Do you care? Not really, you are the god of chaos, It's natural.

And so Mother Spore is born, you decided to go less flamboyant and more mysterious with this one...With a slow walk and a long opaque veil which design is partly inspired by Lady Death... It is a good thing you already have an in with the villains, though he's still very much unaware, a certain... roomate of yours. Mumbo.

Mumbo...or Boogeyman does not expect your arrival into his secret lab, why would he? Nobody should have had access to it. Especially not a stranger never seen before. You walk towards him slowly and he is powerless in front of you.

"Who are you!? How did you get here!?"

"...Call me Mother Spore, at your service"

"W-what? Why-?"

"I'm here with an offer...one you'll greately enjoy"

He seems to calm down at this...or maybe it is intrigue.

"An offer?"

"A collaboration of sorts, I have sheer power you lack and you have a network that I need access to..."

"So what, you want access to my sources and info? In exchange for?"

"My power, of course, you have your machines but you are limited to this laboratory. You cannot act when you wish. I give you a way to do what you cannot now"

Boogeyman's anxiety almost vanishes as he grins and shakes your hand... He's still wary but you knew he was going to cave in.

"Well then Mother Spore, I'm sure this will be the start of a great collaboration."

Oh yes, it will be great.

"Indeed"

[sweetbugs]

[sunos-official]

Thank you! I sadly wasn't conscious enough to notice Sun Rays when they were relevant, but since they've been out of the public eye, I see thin clients in so many places! Medical institutions are the obvious use case, but we also use thin clients running Windows here at my university for print job release terminals. Sun by no means invented thin computing, but they certainly did a lot to popularize the concept, both with the aforementioned Sun Ray thin clients but also with the idea of "diskless clients" that they had provisions for in their hardware, even back in the 80s with the Sun-2 and Sun-3 systems, where the entire bootable system could be mounted over NFS from a central server for use at a workstation (this idea is also why SunOS and Solaris make local user home directories under /export/home by default: so /home is reserved for mounting remote home directories and so that it's easy to export local home directories to remote systems.)

And thank you! I appreciate it :3

Hi, since you are a shell, do corvids ever try to crack you open by dropping you in front of oncoming vehicles?

Hmm... I only get dropped when the kernel panics... and I don't know any corvids that use a shell like me. We've got a fox girl, a penguin, a lil devil guy, a lil green dragon kid, a chameleon...

Hey Linux fam, am I missing anyone?

[sunray-screaming]

my heart hurts so much for nick and tara and tori in this season of heartstopper because literally no one seems to notice that they’re not doing okay

there’s just the moment at the halloween party where nick just is not interested in anything (and I think tao’s the only one who noticed) and then tara’s panic attack on charlie’s birthday (which charlie and then darcy helped her through) but there’s never any follow-up, and the ferris wheel ride doesn’t actually address anything tori’s experiencing outside of michael. no one ever, ever reaches out to them afterwards, checks up on them, understands that there is something wrong.

and for tara and nick especially I feel like that support has to come from someone outside the group, from a trusted adult, ‘cause I honestly don’t think teenagers are equipped to help them without their own emotions getting in the way (unless they help each other but that defeats the purpose!)

and I hope so much that the next season addresses all of this (I haven’t read any of the books / original content so I’m really going in the dark here) but I am so, so scared that they just. won’t.

[bugr0t]

midasduo??? in the year of our lord and saviour twenty twenty FOUR?????

[smittyw]

would u believe me if i said. i got so wrapped up in the fantasy of my fake idols being real for the final fest that, i forgot the final fest started today. would u laugh at me

bonus: put them in the lineup too ok? they were here the whole time nobody saw them except me tho

[idk-i-want-mcl-content]

Amanda: You should not hesitate to be yourself. You will find your place.

I'm still thinking about this Amanda dialogue, because honestly I really needed to hear something like this <3 so thank u Princess Amanda.

[nadiaerre]

“You know Mozzie is an orphan. An orphan's gonna wonder about his parents, so he imagined they were spies. Occasionally, something happens that triggers Mozzie to revisit his childhood. When Ellen told me my Dad was corrupted, I ran from the truth and it became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Mozzie tells himself these stories to maintain his faith in the world. His faith, however limited, is all that separates a man with a conscience from a man without one.”

[gumy-shark]

girl who loves analyzing fighting styles and characters power levels vs mob psycho 100, an anime which doesn’t focus on the mechanics of its power system at all

[descendant-of-truth]

In light of recent events, I decided to spend the last three days compiling every single reason it's physically impossible for Prime to exist in the same canon as the games, as well as clearing up what happened in the last episode. Hopefully, this helps put a stop to some of the misinformation going around.

(Alternative title: "Systematically Disproving Ian Flynn's Post About the Show's Ending)

[dolorianwolf]

A tear in the membrane, allows the voices in