#and the fact that they use time loops to take advantage of a bit. now THAT is how u do it

[ajdrawshq]

wheres that one post thats like do u ever find a character that feels so specifically tailored to ur interests that it almost pisses u off. that is siffrin to me rn

[forsworned]

USE YOUR HEART ft. NEEDY!SIMON 'GHOST' RILEY

Warning(s): Sexual Content, Grinding, AFAB!Reader, Mentions of Narcotics

Synopsis: Simon is high off of morphine and it reveals his true feelings for reader...

Author's note: Idk because @dmitriene told me to do it and i <3 her

"I don't wanna be alone."

His voice breaks as he reaches out to you. His usual stoic demeanor had completely diminished in your presence. For the first time, Simon was needy. You gaze down at his hand gently gripping your hand, "I need you." He says. Pleas even. Dark, stormy, and now conflicted eyes are peering up at you and he tugs you toward him. You didn't know how to react. Seeing Simon so injured and broken makes you feel some type of way. Somewhat wrong, but somehow...powerful?

"You need me?" You finally spoke up. His Adam's apple bobs up and down.

"Yes.” He croaks out.

The morphine that has been coursing in his system finally kicks in and you were experiencing the lowering inhibitions of Simon Riley, not Ghost.

The Simon Riley laying out on the infirmary bed before you at this moment was vulnerable, desperate, and reliant on your presence and aid--insistent even.

But naturally, you're hesitant. A situation like this is compromising and delicate. Given the nature of the circumstances and his stature, he is obviously still at an advantage, but it feels wrong to pounce at the opportunity. You don't want to feel like a predator skulking about as he studies you with reliant, onyx hues.

You look at the time on your watch.

12:38 AM

It was quite late, but the tugging of his hand over yours disrupts your train of thought.

"C'mere. I want you by my side." He susurrates and you're in a bit of a trance at the resonance of his soothing, sleepy tone. It's not its usual gruff and gravelly, but instead a lulling rasp that pulls you in.

"It's late, Lieutenant." You gently chide as you attempt to pry his fingers off your wrist, but he takes his free hand over your own and pulls you flush against him. Goddamn, he was strong. Even in his dazed and confused state, he is built like a fuckin' boulder.

But he's not listening to you as he fiddles with your fingers, tracing over the skin and where it creases and finely wrinkles. Over the nail bed, and the unfiled ridges, down to the chip that you earned from earlier when you reached for your gun in your holster too quickly. He's thumbing over the half-moon on your thumb and then the scar on the meat of your palm before he brings it to his masked lips as if to kiss it over the fabric.

A small, shuddering breath escapes you, and your eyes are glazing over before you swallow thickly. He cups your hand over his jaw and inhales sharply as he closes his eyes.

"Don't care." He replies, curling his bicep around your waist and secures you so have nowhere to go.

Your heart thuds at the contact and your cheeks are teeming with warmth. And suddenly it feels like the heat in there is turning to the max because you're sweating like a dog under his keen gaze and snug hold on you.

"Want you to stay." And it's as if he's speaking purely from the heart when he looks at you like that. You want nothing more but to crumble into his arms and cave into whatever feelings are lurking within you, but there's an urge to maintain your professionalism. And Simon senses that. He wants you to let go.

Why? He didn't know. Be it the drugs, the near-death experience, or the fact that you look utterly gorgeous under the strong moonlight or all of the above; he wants you with all his being.

His bandage-wrapped fingers loop around the bottom of his mask and he's lifting it up to expose just his lips as it scrunches up under his nose. Even if you have seen the sight a multitude of times over the years of knowing your Lieutenant, it is always as awestriking as it was the first time you saw it. His pretty rosy lips kiss at your wrist and you're stunned.

"Stay." He croaks out.

"And then what?"

You can't help yourself from asking such a silly question. You just need to feel needed by him because there is just something about the clinginess in his body language that pulls you in for more. If Simon is being honest right now, he's on cloud motherfucking nine. He's so high that everything feels like tunnel vision right now and you're the only damn thing he can focus on, not that he would want to focus on anything else.

So when he's telling you to stay, he damn well means it. But he also wants more. He's telling himself not to be too hasty, at least the logical part of him, though he is following his heart's desires. And his heart is conveying to him that he yearns for your closeness, for all your regard, and selfishly enough, your own heart.

At this point, all reasoning is being tossed out the window when he fixates on your trembling, shimmering eyes and your quivering glossed lips that are slightly chapped. But he's thinking to himself, one kiss. One kiss would fix that for you.

Simon is no longer struggling to sit up when he's tensing you closer to him feeling the sweat wetting the small of your back. His brows slightly raise and you feel your cheeks flush at his little observation, but he's not halting his motion to close the short distance between you two. He's bringing his hand over the nape of your neck, carding his scarred fingers through the tendrils of your hair and a soft sigh leaves your lips.

And the way you visibly relax draws out a small smile onto his lips as your foreheads collide. You don't even dare to open your eyes. You swallow thickly as you feel your breath become shallow and sharp. It fans against his lips and he's feels even more enticed to just kiss you.

"Dammit, [name]..." He finally breathes out. And you're eyes are on him and he can feel a thrill creep up his chine when he sees the flash of longing overcome your half lidded gaze.

And now you're yearning to bridge the distance, creeping closer to him, nudging your nose against his, and faintly brushing your lips over the stubble on his philtrum. You notice how his chest huffs out, stuttering as it leaves his lungs.

Long blonde lashes tickle at your own as your lips graze and you're heart is thumping out of your chest. You feel yourself holding back from your own hankerings but the moment that Simon brings his thumb to skim over your bottom lip, you feel the tension snap like a rubberband and you're crashing your lips against his. To hell with ethical conduct and decorum, you want nothing more than to satiate your thirst for him.

And with every kiss, you feel like your hunger is being appeased. The ferocity that grows in the depths of your groin is clawing out as you clamber on top of him and you're tuning out the noisy heartbeat monitor that's becoming rapid. And it cuts out, thanks to the swift movement of Simon pulling out the cord so he can nestle his hands under your shirt and slip his tongue between your open-mouth kisses.

He's losing himself in you and he doesn't care because the feeling of your nails digging into his abdomen is more than pleasant. As if the morphine wasn't dizzying enough, he was starting to feel like he was reaching some sort of seventh heaven. Especially when he hears the soft whimper that leaves your lips when he thumbs atop your hardened bud and gently tweaks it between his fingers.

The tent that's starting to feel like it's pitching between his legs is getting ground upon and he shudders at how fucking good it feels.

"Fuck." He murmurs as he lifts your shirt up to expose your breast to him and he's latching his lips to your sensitive nipple. It's a soft probing of his tongue against the erogenous zone and you're instantly arching your back and he grasps at your hips to abrade your clothed sex against him. And it feels so fucking good.

So, naturally, you're not stopping. And Simon can't help but become absorbed in your pleasure. Your milky moans are like music to his ears as he switches over to your other nipple. The friction builds in your lower belly as you get into a good rhythm and it becomes increasingly euphoric with every roll of your hips. And fuck, it's not even much but the way you are so touch-starved makes it all the better.

"Simon, I—hah—gonna—" You moan out, throwing your head back in ecstasy as his tongue swirls around your bud. He's already addicted to the way you're saying his name between your whimpers.

"Cum." He commands, as he clutches your hips to help achieve your oncoming orgasm. His sexy, raspy voice is enough to send you over the edge and a terrific gasp escapes you as you bury your face into the crook of his neck. Your breath is gone and you feel like your voice melts into a deep, hot sweetness that soothes your electrifying nerves.

There is a brief pause of silence as you catch your breath and the embarrassment skulks in and you don't want to withdraw from him. You only focus on his heartbeat which slows and his breath that levels. Your throat tightens as you shift awkwardly and his hand on your hip feels a little limp. You take another moment to memorize how he smelled to help you calm your nerves.

The aroma of his natural musk enmeshed with the faint scent of cypress digs into your brain as you try your hardest to engrave his essence before it slips away. With one more breath of courage, you withdraw from him to face the music but it seems he's fast asleep. His thumb is still hooked into the belt loop of your jeans, and you can't help but giggle at him.

A small sigh leaves your lips as you calm down from your climax and your shaky fingers, lower his mask back down so it's stretching over his neck. Maybe if you slip away right now he'll think that it was just a nice little wet dream...

But you feel his hand cling to you as you try make your sweet escape.

"Thought I told ya to stay." He mumbles under his breath while he wraps his arms around your waist, securing you and making certain you're not leaving his side anytime soon.

There's a feeling of assurance that fluxes over your edginess and you can finally breathe again. Simon's body feels weightless as he lays in this infirmary bed with your toasty form atop his. It feels heavenly to have your figure pressed against him and he hums in contentment. He's replaying the sound of your moans and the way your body writhed under his touch. And you're starting to feel the rigidity of his dirty thoughts against the zipper of your jeans.

"You sure?" You murmur back, feeling the warmth sidle back into your cheeks.

His grin grows under his mask and you can feel it against your forehead. Sleep overtakes him, but he gives you one last squeeze.

"'m sure."

[cometchasinglove]

Starscream and Juniper: Dynamic Rundown

Ah, these two…my main ship for my AU!

Early on, Starscream certainly doesn’t like her, but he doesn’t despite her with a passion either. At least, not as much as he says he does. Starscream, although repulsed by humans, does find value in Juni. He was the one who suggested that Megatron should keep her in the first place. After all, the Autobots use humans to their advantage, don’t they?

Of course, he still complains about her, huffing about how high maintenance she is and the like. Similarly, she frequently scowls at him. She hates it whenever he refers to her as “vermin”, and rightfully calls him out on it. She knows that he can’t do anything to harm her with Megatron around. The two snark at each other constantly, but there’s no genuine malice.

After a mission that went awry, Megatron actually tries to beat Starscream for almost murdering her in the cockpit of his jet mode.

(It’s accidental. Starscream wanted to scare her with loop-de-loops, unaware that she required a g-suit and a helmet).

Before Megatron could punish him too severely, Juniper makes it out of the medical bay at just the right moment to stop him. She brings Starscream to the lab to treat his wounds, and then she stays with him for the rest of the night. The Seeker is absolutely puzzled. He believes that she wants something from him; he cannot fathom the fact that she saved him from the kindness of her heart.

This is a crucial moment in their story. It helps the two change their tune about each other. It’s also brought up again much later, during another significant moment in my AU.

During their MECH Arc/Rogue Arc, the two grow closer together. It’s much easier since they’re both away from Megatron and the Nemesis. Well, at least at that point. Season Three is rough on both of them.

Starscream learns to view Juniper as a friend. The feeling is mutual on her part as well. Sure, there’s some ups and downs, even a tremendous mistake on Starscream’s end (which involves the creation of her scar).

It takes PLENTY of time, devotion, patience, and trust for them to reach a certain level of intimacy and closeness together. It’s difficult, but definitely not impossible.

When the two form a connection, Starscream is SUCH a tease towards her, and Juniprr responds with peeps and blushes, just the way he likes it. However, there are instances where she flips the tables on him to surprise him!

Eventually, Starscream vows to never let her be hurt again, especially by him.

He even has two special names for her! It’s either “Mouse/Little Mouse” or “Comet”. The former refers to her cuteness and smallness, a huge step up from the initial “rodent” meaning. The latter pet name, however, comes from her love for outer space. During their shared arc as rogues, they stargazed and Starscream told her about living Cybertron.

Much like him, Juni calls him “Raptor” or “Dove”. The latter, of course, is used during moments of sweetness without teasing (such as the former).

Starscream becomes possessive and a bit jealous sometimes, such as when Juni hangs out with her best friend, Tayden, or the other bots. Still, her heart continues to stay with the same cybertronian.

Besides Dreadwing, Soundwave, and the predacons, Starscream is the only mech who listens to her sing. Initially, he teases her for it (which sucks). However, he grows to appreciate it. Juniprr can sing pretty damn well actually, she just doesn’t outwardly sing in front of others. She’s too shy. She will, however, hum for Starscream. Maybe even sing so, so very softly for him.

After the war and Cybertron’s revival, the two experience nightmares. It requires comfort from both parties. It’s something soft and gentle, just what they need.

Stargazing is still a common pastime for them! Only now, after she receives her upgrade from Primus (the pink and gold suit) Juniper can fly and keep up with him, too. He finally has a flying buddy!

On Earth, Juniper likes to bring him to the beach. As a former lifeguard, the redhead LOVES to swim. Starscream? Not really, but he admires her in her bathing suit.

Although she forms friendships in unlikely places, she shares her strongest bond with Starscream. It’s not hard to see why. The two go through a lot together, but they preserve, a shared trait between them, and I’m proud of them.

Divider Credit: @/saradika

Art Credit: @/destinysquared

[triplethreat-triplea]

I have thoughts and ideas for fics that I will never write so I'm putting them out into the world for The People to take inspiration from!

Detective Conan/Magic Kaito:

1. Shameless - Both Kuroba and Kudo have absolutely zero (0) shame. Kuroba is Kuroba and Kudo had to pretend to be a 7 year old. He absolutely weaponized that despite his initial shame, and got over it because of the strategic advantage.

2. Change is Hard - Kudo, as a teenager again after the APTX cure, has a hard time breaking childlike habits he formed as Edogawa Conan. (Inspo for this here on Tumblr). I know there are already fics like this (one is linked under the post attached) but I need more.

3. Who, or What, is this Child??? - POV outsider. The police think that Conan is a child agent or something. Maybe they think he's cursed, or a shinigami. Just debating, sharing ideas of what is up with Conan.

“Is he even human?”

He's very unethical, someone overhearing him explaining things would be concerned.

He says stuff that he should not know and then just does not explain, a very fun habit to have to deal with.

He just has so much audacity for a small child.

Many of the police just accept that he knows everything but when they go to him to confirm anything he just pulls out the “i'm just a kid, how would I know” like the little shit he is.

His kicks too, what do they make of that? Is he just super strong (a point to the non-human argument)? or do they just not question why he has shoes that enhance his kick strength?

He knows absolutely too much about everything/anything and uses TV or Hawaii as an excuse.

4. Let the Maze of my Design Carry you on - Someone realizing how Conan is the one behind stopping/solving so many things. POV outsider. (Title from this song).

5. Wounded - Outsider POV, literally anyone notices the injuries Conan gets doing crazy shit. But they don't know he does crazy shit, so they jump to conclusions.

6. Cafe Gossip - Amuro’s coworker/usual patrons notice that he hates this one guy that comes in sometimes and that Amuro is basically a father to this kid that comes in sometimes. POV outsider. 2+2+1: 2 times Amuro was familiar with a kid, 2 times Amuro was familiar with a guy, and 1 time the kid and guy came in together (and were a family with Amuro).

7. Going on After Completing Your Life Goal - Kaitou KID finds the Pandora gem and destroys it in front of the organization that wanted it for immortality. Now that he has completed his mission he has to find out how to go on with his life without a looming threat or an ultimate goal. He continues his shenanigans at school but now it lacks a bit of heart. After the initial rush of destroying the gem he feels that his life is a bit lacking and without direction. He eventually learns to live life in the present with his friends and to give his life a bit of meaning with human connections that he neglected a bit when he was KID.

8. The Price of Opening Pandora's Box - Do whatever with this title as a prompt for Magic Kaito.

9. Who You Gonna Call? Ghostbusters! - Kudo's friends think he is a ghost due to the fact that he just vanishes sometimes. We, the audience know that's because the APTX cure ran out, but he seemingly vanished while in the backseat of a car that was driving on the highway. Or from a dark hallway with only a fleeting touch. Add on the rumors of his death after he went missing, and boom! Ghost Kudo.

(I also like any POV outsider fics, there aren't nearly enough in any fandom. Nor time travel/time loop fics in non time related media.)

(Different fandoms are in different posts so take a gander at my blog for ideas if you like: Debut or Die, Omniscient Readers Viewpoint, or BBC Merlin!

[chimerahyperfix]

RECIPE OF THE DAY

[OR: This was the most upsetting alternate looper option]

Long post because i have been cooking this in my brain for like, two months, and it's all-consuming. Also I'm not in the Discord yet because Anxiety so my ramblings had to go somewhere, and what better than one big fucking post yknow. I cast spell of fuck you mind blast on the tag/lh /j

TLDR for below: Siffrin words his wish differently, Bonnie gets trapped in a time-loop, and despite saying they're in a timeloop repeatedly nothing works and no one can help them. The normal ISAT absolute horrors ensue.

CONTENT WARNINGS: the normal ISAT tags [death, violence and trauma, suicide, self harm and unreality], Notable Pin on child endangerment and death, poisoning.

most of these get discussed ^ even if shortly

SO. THIS AU.

This is it this is my big one. Ignore me pushing the literal 12 other isat aus I have into a pile pls this is THE big one. I’m looking at the note I’ve stored all this lore in on my notes app,and it’s like. 35 fucking pages?

I've looked at a ton of alternate looper aus [that's part of the hyperfixation babeyyyy I need to consume ALL content forever and ever and ever] and I was like “oohhhh I wanna do that!!” So I literally just listened to music until I caught an idea and yikes. Looking at the AUs playlist now [it’s about 100 songs! Oops!] and I’m like [cartoony image of me laying face first on the floor]

This is a bit scattered because I wrote it over 3 days instead of working on the fic I’m supposed to be writing ooopsieeeee. Ramblings belowvvvvvvvvvv

It begins as simply as the game does. No one knows how to wish properly; so Siffrin wishes, because they know how to. The same folded leaf, repeated three times wish. Close to what is said in canon; different enough for the Universe to read it differently. No longer does Siffrin loop, because the wish isn’t about him, it’s about Bonnie and their sister. Siffrin’s wish is construed as “I wish Bonnie’s wish would come true,” and even if the Universe can’t hold onto Bonnie’s wish as they did it wrong, it CAN hold onto Siffrin’s.

And that’s the base point: EVERY LOOP, Siffrin wishes, because he wishes after he talks to them and that's where they loop back to, and its wish craft goes to Bonnie. A recipe for disaster with how much time they have!

They loop back when Siffrin gets crushed by the rock, because they can’t win while being down a party member. When they touch a tear, or when the sadnesses get the jump on the party and they all go down, or when they use the dagger equivalent [a poisoned snack], or when they get to the King. They Never Beat The King. Think SASASAaP but ISAT.

Bonnie doesn’t fight with craft, but rather craft-infused weapons. The wok and their pan for rock, a pair of kitchen shears for scissors and a cookbook for paper. Snacks for healing and buffs. And they have a cool friend that lives in the favor tree! [they get in fistfights like every five loops. Maybe it would be funny, someone just as willing to spar with them instead of trying to find the right words they can’t find because they’re a kid, if their friend wasn’t ALSO another version of themself, which bonnie clocks pretty late.] They pick up little quirks from their friends, like biting their nails like Belle, and puffing up to look bigger like Isa and stealing Dile's curses and closing an eye to match Frin's in focus. And maybe they start forgetting a little bit, just a little! The same thing over and over will get to you.

So everything essentially boils down to this. Bonnie specifically needs to be strong enough to beat the King, as the rest of the party doesn’t keep experience through loops. For a good chunk of the loops, they take advantage of Siffrin asking them if they need help and drag him into a training lesson that slowly goes from a whole emotional conversation to them quietly listening to Siffrin’s every word. [Siffrin fills this silence with random star facts that pop into their mind. This Is Important It WILL Be On The Test] Eventually the training becomes too tedious, so they start sneaking off to go fight sadnesses— and eventually just punch trees, which busts their knuckles— to get stronger faster! Everything goes downhill from there, with them forgetting to make food to them sneaking out at night to fight more to them getting reckless and uncaring; it snowballs down into “oh this could be considered suicidal confidence”.

Every loop, you say "hey, I'm trapped in a time loop", and EVERY time it is a big emotional thing that exhausts you to the point of going to bed immediately after, and everyone gets antsy and worried, and in the end the anxiety and trouble NEVER ends up mattering because the King still flattens the party every time. [And (shuffling through the sea of my notes for the au), imagine this from their situation for a second; Today, you tell your friends you are trapped in a time loop. They drag you into a long, uncomfortable conversation that makes you cry, and you go to bed with a full stomach and the knowledge they will protect you, and you will protect them. You make sure he doesn't get squashed by a boulder, you make sure they find the key, you make sure they don't die. Tomorrow, you will tell your friends you are trapped in a time loop. They will drag you into a long, uncomfortable conversation that will make you cry, and you will go to bed with a full stomach and the knowledge they've failed to protect you, but they're trying this loop, and you'll still protect them anyway.]

And then the King fight. He grabs them and he kills them and it fucks them up. [it fucks them up, until it too happens again and again, and eventually it simply is just another obstacle you must pass, because the second his stupid hand wraps around you like a ragdoll it’s over, so you just spit in his face to make him press the trigger immediately and not drag it out for forever- imagine the most traumatic event in your entire life, repeated over and over, until it looses all meaning. It’s still traumatic, it’s sewn into your brain forever you will never forget this.]

They tell the party ‘hey, I just got murdered’, and if this au was ISAT, it would go from having a memory that gave everyone a defense buff to a memory that literally stops you from winning, randomly attaching to a party member. You couldn’t get rid of it. They’d take every hit for you, and you’d have to loop back, because you couldn’t win with an unremovable memory like that. and that’s why they stop saying things, because if the people you loved would die to protect you, something you don’t want and have the ability to stop, would you stop them?

And so everything collapses, and from that point [the start of act 4] it collapses fast.

WHICH LEADS US TO ENDLESS MY FAVORITE LITTLE THANG

if this is transparent or not I don’t fucking know and honestly. After 2 hours of fighting ibisPaint X to make it transparent I stopped caring. o7

Slight design notes tangent: the fucking. Wispy things around their limbs just kinda move around them- yknow because black holes pull things in and they are one. Their like,,,, face spike design??? Question mark on what 2 call it? It’s designed to look like their hair lol. The little star-dot things on their knuckles are important smile. Eventually I’ll post a full thing 4 them (I have like 2 pages of random doodles of them it’s craaazy)

Endless (or Ness, later on) is Bonnie’s loop-alike. They’re a little angry hater and I based them on the song Black Hole Sun [therefore they double-dip in the space theming, the little scoundrel! Imagine being both a black hole and a partial eclipse!! Damn why you taking all the space theming for!!] which was the song the whole AU was based on! Woah! Damn you carrying ALL the out of AU lore in you! They’re anger over fear while Bonnie is fear over anger.

They make me SO fucking upset. Like. I’m not being funny anymore. This is THE most upsetting character I’ve ever written. They make me cry. My entire schtik is making horror and this little creature is the most upset I've ever been at a creation of mine.

Endless is a Bonnie who, without exaggerating, literally imploded from having too much wish craft in them— hence the black hole theme. They went through an unreasonable amount of loops [i think I noted down 400??? Probably not that many, but hey, leveling is slow when half the time you rely on a scripted event that has like 3 enemies. Never really pinned anything down, but it’s a CRAZY upsetting amount.] and just couldn’t win,, and they eventually broke, and begged for it to stop— and, well, with so much wish craft in them, even without the proper rituals the Universe just couldn’t ignore ALL this wish craft, overflowing, in one spot. They asked for help and it killed them.

And then they were at the tree! And they’re helping a DIFFERENT Bonnie, who they’re upset at because what. What why is this happening? They asked for it to stop, not for a whole NEW Bonnie to exist and to do it all over again, what is this what, stop stop it. And they have to keep watching Siffrin wish, and doom them to their endless loop, and they have to tell Bonnie no, the party can’t help them like they want the party to do because the party never could help them, and it’s just going to bring them distress and heartache. Bonnie does it anyways, until the very beginning of act 4: it goes downhill from there, until they’re worried This Bonnie will end up like THEM.

They’re not the most self-confident type. They give themself the most un-nicknameable name [Bonnie still finds one that fits— Ness. They reluctantly accept it.] [Endless vc: Ness? Like? From Earthbound???] they can think of because nicknames are a love language and they speak it, and they don't think they deserve it anymore because they've Changed, and trade out the nicknames they have for the party for things they learned from Siffrin in their own many many training loops: The Sun, The Moon, The Star, The Sky, and Bonnie is Supernova, because its cool as hell and Siffrin told them that’s what happens when a star dies, and they died. Open foreshadowing. They take to closing the same eye they made Siffrin the Star loose, because if he doesn’t get to see anymore neither should they— even if that eventually becomes a natural thing, something they do now to focus. They talk about a sister they have— had, because their world is gone and she never got unfrozen, they never learned if she was alive under all that icy craft or not, and they’re not Bonnie anymore. Ness is Bonnie, but Bonnie is not Ness.

And so, when act 5 hits, they’re desperate. They can’t see it happen again, because it erased them as a person and it was terrifying enough why would you want to see it happen again? they prepare to storm the house, bevause theyre strong enough to tear it apart themself, get stopped by the party, and essentially they’ve replaced Bonnie for a loop; which would be okay, if failing didn’t mean there would probably be Two Endlesses and No Bonnie’s. By the end of the au, Bonnie, lvl 99, is like bringing a brick to a stare down. Endless, in comparison, is like bringing a bazooka to a fistfight. They can’t face the King, they can’t, it would probably mess something up [the party has them pinned as being a kid by this point— wether they realise Ness acts a lot like Bonnie or not, who knows] so they panic and wave the party off into the King’s room and fights off the remaining sadnesses to calm down.

And the Party brings Bonnie down, and they fight a fake version of their sister [who they win against, even if barely, because Nille is their sister and damnit, Nille would never hurt them, not after giving up her life for them] and they have a breakdown, and then there's two of them. There's Bonnie and there's Ness. Bonnie confronts them and they get in ANOTHER fistfight, bveause how else would two angry ultra-powerful preteens settle things, and Bonnie convinces them to come along, because their identity has been found out and damnit Nille really won't care, Ness is her sibling too.

[Nille approaches the situation carefully, but Bonnie is right: Nille sees the two of them and immediately decides she has two siblings and she wants to protect them. Both of them went through so, so much, and they saved the country and damnit it would be monstrous to throw Ness out to the wolves because they Changed. Aka I was physically incapable of letting Ness dissapear or have a bad ending they deserve the world too.]

I just I jsutt. Auguhghghghhh. au too big in my brain spill it out on the floor it goes everywhere. When you hyperfix on your own au

[theglamorousferal]

The Halfa King and His Court

So this is a fic that I started at the beginning of the pandemic that I kinda just hit a block with. I really like it as a starting point, but I’m not sure what else to do with it. I had a sort of bullet point outline but it seemed more like I was just tossing in every different DP fic plot line all together so it wasn’t going to make much sense. I was going to have there be a field trip into the GZ where the Trio judge whether the a-listers and Val have changed enough to have them join in with Team Phantom, there was going to be a reveal to his parents of him and then later on after Plasmius had been helping out then Vlad as well. It was gonna be this whole thing, but anyway. I’m not sure if I will continue this, so feel free to add your own spin on it or take it for adoption, I’m not sure how to do that exactly.

*****

“No.” Danny said, in a tone that rang with finality and a general sense of “I am so done with this whole situation.”

“Danny, I know this is hard to believe, but technically by the laws of the Ghost Zone Frostbite gave to you-” Sam started, only to get cut off by Danny's glare. She sighed. “Seriously Danny, it says right here in the text he gave you.” Sam shoved the scroll at Danny who scoffed and passed it off to Tucker.

“Oh man Danny, do you know what we could do with this? The new laws you could put in place?” Tucker laughed as he read what was written.

“The protections you could put in place for Amity and the Earth?” Sam hinted at poking Danny in the shoulder. Danny sighed.

“Guys, I get it, I could use this to my advantage, but there's so much more responsibility to go with it. I'd have to take over the general affairs from the Observants and Walker, though I guess Walker would have to do what I say wouldn't he.” Danny seemed to think about it.

“Let's say I did do this, what would I do? I don't have time to take care of the whole Ghost Zone! I'd need to pick advisers and establish some sort of method for figuring out small disputes, some way of checks and balances. Guys, you know I'm failing History and Government, and this is basically saying that I'd get complete control over the Ghost Zone and have to set-up an entirely new system!” He gripped his hair in frustration and panic. And it caused his friends to sit and think some solutions through.

“Well,” Sam began, “you could start with getting a few people you know that do know about this kind of stuff together and getting their opinion about it. Frostbite, Dora, Clockwork, Pandora, maybe Ghostwriter from what we know of his library and... maybe... Vlad?” she added the last person hesitantly. Danny shot a look at her of surprise and confusion, dropping his hands from his hair to his lap.

“Vlad? Why the hell would I ask him for anything?” He was honestly baffled as to why she would bring him up.

“Besides the fact that he has more knowledge of modern government compared to the others I listed, I think he would relish the idea of being able to mentor you at something.”She paused to consider something. “He seems to have calmed down a bit after his last scheme almost got your mom killed instead of your dad. He almost seems to realize now that your mom is completely dedicated to your dad and finds him a bit creepy. I mean, last time he was over, he actually asked Jazz some stuff right? Doesn't he usually ignore her completely?”

“Crazy-man acting less crazy?” Tucker snorted. “I'll believe it when I see it.”

Danny thought about it for a second and realized that Sam was right, he hadn't needed to fight the Fruit-loop since his last scheme put his mom in the hospital. She was fine, just had a concussion and a fractured leg, but it still had shaken him. In fact, Danny hadn't seen any sign of Vlad as either Masters or Plasmius since the incident except for when he visited when Mom first got out of the hospital.

“Yeah, maybe you're right, I should go and pay Uncle Vladdie a visit.” Danny stood and paused. “Should I bring the scroll with me to show him as proof? I doubt he'd believe me if I just told him.”

“Yeah, probably should. It's not anything that he can modify to fit his own needs anyway, just a list of laws.” Sam rolled it up and handed it to him. “Want either of us to come with?” She offered.

“Nah, I should be good to visit the cheese-head on my own. You guys mind covering for me until I get back?” They were supposed to be having a study-sleepover at Sam's.

“Sure thing, we’ll just cover our electives while you’re gone and tell my parents you went to get pizza.” Sam fished out some cash and handed it to Danny. “Actually, while you’re out can you grab some?”

“Sure, the usual?” Danny put the scroll and the money in his pocket.

“Yup, a large all veggie vegan cheese for me.”

“And a large extra meaty supreme for me!”

Danny laughed, “and a large extra cheese for me. I’ll place the order as I’m leaving Vlad’s. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” With that he transformed and took off through the ceiling.

Tucker turned to Sam. “Do you really think going to Mayor wack-job is a good idea?”

Sam sighed. “Tucker, you weren’t there that day, the look on his face when he saw Mrs. Fenton take the hit instead of Mr. Fenton…” Sam looked away thinking. “He looked devastated, and not just in the ‘the love of my life will never love me’ way but more in the ‘my actions are hurting those I love’ way. He looked like he realized that if he continued the way he was going that he might just accidentally kill either Mrs. Fenton or Danny and I think that would hurt him more than anything.”

[mellowwhumps]

Whumperless Whump Event Day “everything else”: Domestic hurt/comfort || Accidentally poisoned || ALT PROMPT: Panic Attack || Temporary Amnesia || Fully unconscious

OCs: Cicadas (all) - 3.9K words

masterlist (for them only)

@whumperless-whump-event

——

After an admittedly extended trip, they were more than happy to return to the dull scenery of their ship rather than the vibrancy of the outside. Finishing their commission meant that they should be getting their worth as long as they submitted their evidence, which they most definitely had acquired. 

Right now, their goods were scattered in Lotti’s bag, the contents of the two glass jars clinking within, repetitive noise barely mentioned amidst all the conversations going on.

“Home, sweet home! Or as I read in a book, all aboard!” Kyrai exclaimed, more than rushing up the ramp. A little more hyper than usual, Lotti assessed, but normal in the current situation.

“Kai, this is neither a house nor a train.”

“You’re no fun. I saved you for the umpteenth time and this is how you repay me, Itaph?”

“First of all, you did not. Secondly, yes, actually.” Itaph smiled, as though waiting for something to happen. Of course it would.

Scenario starts: Kyrai gets a little annoyed, the conversation continues until shutdown time and the bi-weekly game night is utterly obliterated for the week. Still a joyous activity, though. Easy enough to assess.

Why wasn’t it, though? Lotti could barely come to any comprehensible conclusion about anything, at that very moment. It was as though their strength was being sapped out of them, which was…odd. She had just replenished her energy reserves a few days ago, which meant she wouldn’t need to do so again for at least half a month more. 

No warnings were showing on visuals. Nothing was wrong. Resume normal operations.

Lotti hurried to the ship’s control room, placing a hand on the touchpad. It should have been manually done, but that was the advantage of having her around, she supposed. She could see where every bit of current was linked to, and hence could divert and control it through her own system, or sap it completely out. The ship took flight with little problem apart from the heated commotion in the main quarters, because god forbid the crew ever sit down without issue. 

She triggered the notification for them to unbuckle their seatbelts after assessing the safety of doing so. The scenery in front of her was barely a blur, but they should be in decent range out of the planet. It was fine. 

The blare of some siren sounded in their head, piercing yet silent. She took a moment to glance around for the source of the noise. Just that small movement seemed to make the ship spin loops around her. Not a moment later, her visuals fully shut down, the world seeming almost darker than the endless space outside. 

Blinded, but she was the pilot. She couldn’t…She had to…she had to…

———

The ship lurched forward, throwing everyone askew. Zyx got up with a groan, rubbing her head as she fervently voiced some choice words. Hitting the wall was never a good start to any trip. 

Sighing, she stumbled her way to her feet, taking a quick survey of everyone. Nobody appeared to be harmed too badly, so no matter. It’s a short ways to the cabin room, barely five steps away from her current location. The place wasn’t that big.

“Idiot’i, what in universes are you doing, drive the damn ship properly!” The door was slammed open with little care. The person in front of her barely moved in response. As a matter of fact, she wasn’t sure the controls were being used.

Autopilot indicator. Not on.

“Um. Lotti?” She stepped closer, pressing a series of keys to toggle that option just in case before checking in. Upon nearing, it was clear the other was responding, though so softly that she had to strain her ears to hear.

“—Can’t.” Her voice was strangely robotic, despite it being decently human-sounding for the short period she’d known the other for. 

“Can’t what? Drive the ship? Did you forget or something, at least remember a few buttons, come on. And look at me, I’m talking to you.” Zyx grasped the other by the sides of her face, promptly flinching away with a hitched gasp. 

She could have cooked a proper meal there with how hot it was, so painfully scorching she only caught a glimpse of Lotti’s single, jet-black eye before her face was obscured by shadow once again. There was no light entering it at all, nothing to indicate functionality.

Zyx slammed her hand onto the intercom button. “Telios! All of you, pilot’s down. I repeat, pilot’s down!” She shouted, perhaps a little louder than needed. For emphasis. 

Almost immediately, the others rushed into the room, finally followed by Telios lugging the toolbox with them, panting as they stopped to catch their breath.

“What's going on?” Aelya asked first.

“Dunno. Critical malfunction or something. Don't touch her, by the way, she's burning up.” Zyx moved away from the chair, leaning against the wall in a pose that could hopefully convey nonchalance. 

Itaph joined her by the side. From her angle, she could see his hands were balled into fists behind his back. Well. She knew what that feeling of uselessness was like as well, she supposed. 

“Iot’i, can you blink for me?” Telios softly instructed, squatting to get a better viewpoint as they put on gloves. 

A second passed, then two. “UNABLE TO COMPUTE,” the voice coming from Lotti's body said, inhumanly uncanny. If the question itself was odd enough, then the answer was worse. Blinking was a simple thing to do, right? At least for her. 

Oh. She saw the problem now. 

Telios was speaking to themself, hands still lingering near Lotti's body but not quite getting close, the toolbox staying shut. Eventually, they put their hands down. “Iot'i, override code 29362, protocol E-two-five AUTO toggle off. I’m really sorry for this, but I’d, um, I’d like to—”

Lotti crashed to the floor and interrupted that thought process, a failed attempt to get out of the chair. Even so, she moved quickly, getting to a sitting position and shifting back. She unsheathed the gun by her side holster, pointing it forward with no clear target apart from the general direction of Telios, who froze in place. 

Lotti was strong. She shouldn’t have to fight blind, fight unfairly. It was quite the sorry sight to her, a person who would have done the same.

“Who are you?” Lotti demanded, “I’ll shoot if you don’t answer.” 

The room went quiet. Threats were very real, coming from her. Kyrai treaded on those glass shards, answering in turn. 

“Kyrai’is. That’s Telios you’re pointing your gun to, so you should put that away…ah, stay calm, please…” The gun shifted to point at them, its edge glinting.

Pause.

The shot fired. It just barely missed, grazing Kyrai’s clothes as it put a dent in the metal wall behind them. First step of asking someone to calm down was never to ask them directly to do so. She learnt that the hard way.

“I don’t know you. I repeat, who are you.” Though Lotti’s hands weren’t shaking, it was obvious that holding the gun up took a lot of effort. Too much. The scent of something burning wafted through the room, not helping the situation in the slightest. Zyx hoped it wouldn’t get worse. 

No use in hoping. She had to do something.

“You don’t remember, right?” She inquired, prompting no answer. “I tried to hit someone you know and you tackled me in our first meeting. In this place, I train with you on every alternate day. Name’s Oryizyx, or Zyx for short. I promise everything that happens next is to help you. You know that when I swear on something, I follow it, and if you can’t recall, now I’m telling ya.”

A wavering of the gun, though now pointing at her. “I…you’re familiar. I recall that happening. I…What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I function properly, I can’t function properly.”

It was terrifying, to know her life was in the hands of someone who could barely aim. It was worse to give anyone the shame of knowing they tried. She didn’t know Lotti’s past, not in the slightest, but she could at least spare her the regret of the present.

“We don’t know what’s wrong, but right now my friend here is going to help. They’ve helped you before, I think. What I do know is that you’re in safe hands. I promise I’ll keep watch, if that isn’t enough. Nobody’s going to try anything funny.”

In that moment, she wasn’t scared. Maybe the other could hear it, maybe some other force of nature showed mercy on both of them.

“…Alright.” And then, even more hesitantly as she lowered her gun, “I trust you.”

Job done. But that was merely the simplest part. 

Telios whispered a few things into her ear, instructions she could barely process amidst all the foreign terminology. She tried her best to relay it through voice, the typical way of using excessive gestures to get her point across rendered useless.

“…So. In short, just shut your systems fully down, my friend not-so forcefully drains your energy out, gives you some more, and you wake up fine and dandy. Got it?” 

Guilt was a terrible emotion, something utterly weak and unbefitting of a being like her. She had recollections of that feeling, even past those blurry memories that made up her childhood. 

Right now, it was churning in her being like waves within a stormy sea. There was no guarantee it would end up successful, the weeks of fixing any damaged wires and finding another energy source for Lotti to siphon from, the weeks that would later make hollow gaps in her database. 

It quite reminded her of her old ship being sent for upgrading every once in a while, leaving her vulnerable. Later on, it left Aelya susceptible as well, which was another thing altogether. But that was over long ago.

“Okay…okay.” Lotti relaxed, the gun clattering to the floor in front of her. 

Then, she was gone.

———

Aelyeau was awoken by the shuffling of bed sheets beside him. On any typical day, he’d have been a decently heavier sleeper, but not that day. Not for the past week, honestly; the culmination of a whole list of occurrences.

They asked him to keep watch and he still managed to fail at that. Wonderful.

Better him than anyone else, at least. A certain two people would have fainted on the spot, exaggeration warranted. The amount of times they’d tried to barge into the room was getting unreasonable. 

“Mor-night, Lotti! How’re you feeling?” Aelya asked, hoping his smile didn’t come out as too wide. 

“Systems operational, energy at full capacity. Though, I don’t find myself trusting that now. Mm. I take it that Telios was able to…”

“Wouldn’t be here if they weren’t. The workshop was locked up for ages.”

“How long was this ‘ages’?”

“Approximately two weeks, give or take a few days. I can fill you in—” The door promptly opened. “Never mind. Later.”

The rest of the crew poured into the room, some looking considerably more worn than others. In particular, Kyrai may as well have been dragging the resident mechanic, the way they could barely stand. Lotti stared at him in question.

“You forgot to check on them. You know they don’t sleep with work undone.”

Itaph interrupted. “In all fairness. They started it.”

“I can stay in stasis. The well-being of living things should be prioritised.”

Aelyeau opened his mouth to object, then decisively closed it. Once again, nobody was saying the things that mattered. If he continued it, he was only perpetuating the cycle.

“They were worried about you, Lotti,” he stated, “and Telios wouldn’t tell us anything. Maybe with the victim of your secrets in the room with us, you’d care to explain? I know you could—”

A sharp inhale. “—I’m sorry for using your override code! I shouldn’t be aware of it, I-I just needed you alert because the AUTO system actually doesn’t help at all and you—”

“Slow down. You don’t need to explain that breach, you’re forgiven. My privacy is a topic for another time. Do you understand what happened to me?”

“Um.” Clearly not expecting that, it would seem. Once upon a time, he would have acted the same. 

Telios continued, “A part of your energy reserves was incompatible with your processors, for some reason, so your systems tried to reject it but couldn’t. Which is…odd? You’re meant to accept most types of these things. Which means you got this source from the Outer Sector, which also means it wasn’t something you should have acquired, which…erm, begs the question?”

Aelyeau had the sinking feeling he knew what happened. But, like any rational approach to an inquiry, Lotti saw nothing wrong and spoke. 

“Spare batteries from Oryizyx’s ship.”

Behind the wall, footsteps echoed away. Aelyeau could barely turn the corner of the corridor before gasping for breath, the door to the small training room slamming shut, the lock clicking.

———

It wasn’t hard to see the signs, every single day. Oryizyx was never that angry, never to him. So frustrated. If Aelyeau told her he was the one who caused the demise of her most precious belonging, would she have been enraged at him as well? 

The place he knew she’d spent all those years in. Alone. The only thing she had, apart from some semblance of past memories.

The alternative to him not owning up was this. An inability to take the wheel, forcing herself to only ever resort to violence as an option. And now, when she had to do so, she could only stay uncomfortably quiet. It was either fury or fear. Certainly not this third thing, so foreign to everyone.

Even Kyrai was at a loss, the navigator unable to cooperate with her for directions, only giving the bare minimum. Aelyeau could almost hear the kettle whistling, the lid clattering, froth moments from reaching the top. He’d spent enough time with Itaph, after all. 

Because they were stranded here. Because he stranded her here.

The workshop wasn’t actually locked, but he remembered. He might always remember it. Walking into the room to ask for a small, admittedly unneeded favor; seeing his friend sprawled on the work desk, chest open, a mishmash of wires and exterior connections tangled up. Unmoving, unseeing. Helpless. Almost as if frozen in time. 

He could see why Kyrai never entered, prefering to pace about the common room. It made him want to leave too, the request in his head immediately forgotten.

He was already standing up and taking a step forward before Telios grabbed the hem of his shirt. One gentle tug before promptly letting go, their arms falling by their side, their shoulders tense. 

Gently, he sat down beside her, scooting a bit to get closer and leaning his head on their shoulder. No sound but circuitry humming, the outside quiet even with the door ajar.

He remembers stopping by the galley and finding Itaph, cooking alone as always. Having awoken early that day, he thought they might need some company. They didn’t ask about it, surprisingly, focusing on stirring whatever it was they were making: yet another form of silence. Itaph told him, then. 

When Telios talked about the things they liked, they would be a completely different person altogether. Something cheerful, innocent, confident. There was something bittersweet in his voice, something that told him there was more to it. Aelyeau wasn’t the type to pry further. 

Where was that person now, when there was nobody else to speak to? They were both truths. They were both Telios. The sight beside him, he realised, was the effect of perhaps, everything, or nothing at all. 

This was all it took for them to cry.

He thought about Zyx again, after that.

———

He was banging on the door, his arms hurting, his lungs barely taking in enough air. At some point, his legs had given out, his body now half-leaning against the metal frame.

“Come out, Oryi. Please. Don’t stay in there. You didn’t…it wasn’t…” The hitting of something was his only reply. Every once in a while, there was a muffled noise, before it was back to striking. 

Two weeks. Two weeks of bottling all of this up. He couldn’t choose whether he prefered this or noiselessness, but both were equally bad. He just wanted to help.

Someone was approaching, the clang of metal on metal easy enough to recognize. Lotti stopped beside him, squatting to survey the keyhole.

“Hello. I do not know what mistake I made. I’d like to fix it. The others were unable to convince me to stay in the room.”

Sigh.

“It’s locked—” A click resounded, a strange metal object in the other’s hand. Whatever it was, it worked, the door swinging open with ease. Like a deer caught in headlights, Zyx’s expression was frenzied, a million emotions flashing by at once. 

She was teetering, swaying from side to side, visibly indecisive as to whether to fight or flight. Her entire face was red, sweat trickling down her skin, blood on the knuckles of her hands and smeared on her cheeks. No words were said. Zyx tilted a bit more to the left, imbalanced, one foot leaving the ground as she finally toppled over. 

She never hit the ground. 

Lotti was there in a second, slowly settling her down on the floor. “Belated apologies for not catching you in time when we first met. You’re hurt.” Gasping for air she could barely take in, Zyx trembled. 

“Breathe,” Aelyeau tried, regaining the strength to move to where she was after closing the door behind him. His words fell on deaf ears. What was wrong? This wasn’t just about the battery, he could tell. 

It was awfully quiet.

In space, all their problems were theirs and theirs only. Nobody was going to hear them outside this small place they adapted for themselves. 

She wasn’t breathing, because she didn’t think she could. Zyx had forgotten how to be alive, the months that followed beyond her small little corner of her own lonely universe, the two weeks that dwindled away in not-stasis.

“Hey,” Aelyeau started once again. “We don’t care what you do. You don’t have to hold back. Scream if you want.” 

So, she does. 

It started small. A noise escaped her, a small, stuttered, breathless exclamation. Testing the waters. Lotti let her punch wildly, beating fists on her frame. Too light to have ever done anything of harm; too heavy to not be meaningful. A crescendo, a wave parted in two at its climax as she shouted herself hoarse. 

It was a loud thing, a broken thing, tapering into disjointedly incomprehensible sentences from some bygone language and then words that simply couldn’t come out anymore, voice worn ragged. She could breathe now, after exhausting herself. Tension couldn’t coexist with that.

Zyx pulled her legs inwards, curling up. Clutching at Lotti’s clothes like touch wasn’t enough, grip leaving creases on her cloak. There was no comfort to cold metal, but yet, and yet, Lotti was the closest thing to her, tugging her into her lap. 

It was an easy thing to do, simply being there, and he realised: he must have been that anchor. He still was. Eyes still searching for escape, they landed on him and locked in place, together with the rest of her body. Trying to match his breathing. 

In, out.

———

“I heard you drove the ship,” Lotti mused, tilting her head. The others had gone to get some much needed sleep, it would seem, or possibly another sleep-deprived task. Preferably the former. 

Zyx had separated herself from her after calming down, the three of them sitting in a small little circle, Aelyeau barely paying attention to the conversation as he took out a roll of bandages from its package. He should have gone back to his room, but she understood when this kind of thing was needed.

“You told me you wouldn’t go anywhere near the wheel.” Lotti hoped her voice was enough to convey what she wanted. At her words, the other averted her gaze, a slightly sad smile failing to be hidden.

“Eh. It’s fine, I guess,” she said, shrugging.

“Kyrai’is told me you did a good job at it, for your first time on this kind of ship. Itaph’ri also conveyed to me the chemical makeup of your ship’s battery. They are good adaptations. I will ensure I don’t make the same mistake again. And Telios installed a temperature sensor for me.”

“Good? You joking? I nearly killed you with my stupid project.” A gust of wind swept through the room, brought on by a flap of her wings.

“My calculations conclude that it increases the efficiency of energy supply by 230%. You’re a ‘natural’, if my wordbank is not failing me.”

Aelyeau scoffed, pulling the gauze over Zyx’s hand as she took a sharp inhale, hands still raw. “That’s an understatement. Oryi’s great. You should’ve seen our ship.” A half-hearted shove with her other hand. Lotti could see him biting the inside of his cheek. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologise. This one’s pretty alright too, isn’t it? Even if the autopilot and navigation systems are pretty…sucky. It’s…very spacious.”

“You want to talk about boosters and stuff, don’t you.” Now, she was glaring daggers at him. “Called it. Ship nerd.”

“The ships at PAGE would be of your interest, I should expect.” 

Not the ones she’d ever been in, but she had the pleasure of testing one, once. There were so many controls and linkages it managed to make even her a little overwhelmed. The Cicada wasn’t too advanced; she found herself thankful at times.

“Mhm.”

“Never seen the interior of one…wait, who said that?” 

Lotti gestured to the doorway where the three other members of the crew stood, Kyrai waving at them too enthusiastically to have ever been asleep. Telios’s face was half buried in their blanket, fluorescent lights indubitably bothersome as they squinted blearily and tried not to trip on the loose folds. The outside of the training room was dark, the lights powered off without any other occupants requiring them.

Itaph ambled in first, squatting down to inspect the bandaged hand, Zyx tugging her arm away from the offending person.

“You tied it too tightly. And you didn’t wash it first.” Blunt as always.

“Oh, enlighten me, almighty one, I am but a lowly peasant,” Aelyeau replied, doing as best of a bow as he could while sitting.

“So I shall.”

Zyx groaned. “I am not the patient here, go away.”

“Lotti’s fine. Your point? Want to overheat like her?” Back and forth, back and forth.

Scene one. The minor wrestling match goes on for a while before Zyx gives in, reluctantly letting Itaph inspect her fully and help. Telios checks up on her one final time while describing the different types of ship-related features and the sheer marvel that battery was, the other listening on. When Lotti finishes compiling one final report internally to prove functionality, Telios has long since been sound asleep. 

Scene two. Aelyeau yawns, resting his head on the palm of his hand, and proceeds to shift himself so the singular blanket covers him, sound asleep. Zyx goes next, of course, attempting and failing to blink away fatigue. Tomorrow, the blanket would be on her instead.

Scene three. Following suit is Itaph, the cold of the floor more comfortable to him than not. Then, satisfied, Kyrai slumps against the other bodies, relaxing.

Scene four. All is quiet. All is well. 

[End log entry, fade to black.]

——

scuffed a/n + analysis (please tell me this works)

[manyothermusingsofmine]

Combat Skills || Drabble

Fandom: Xmen

Warnings: Dirty fighting tactics, and just all around fighting scenes (cause I need more practice with those)

Wordcount: 3208

Summary: Having to train in the Danger Room with Gambit is a different beast all together

AN: brings up plotpoints from @shadowphoenixrider's story because as she calls it we're just in an ouroboros loop together now

------------------------------------------

"I don't want to train with Remy in the danger room"

Shadow couldn't stop a bark from laughter escaping as Drifting flopped onto the kitchen table in defeat, a groan leaving her.

"Stop laughing, I'm serious."

"Oh, come on, it can't be as bad as me being teamed up with Logan."

"Ah, the age old question of would you rather die by knives or explosions? The answer is; neither."

She knew fully well that by stepping into the training room the actual risk of Gambit seriously injuring her wasn't high. For what it was worth, with how the team looked out for each other, there was always some safe fail to pull to immediately stop whatever was going on. However, the risk was not at zero, and maybe that's why she entered said danger room with a little more trepidation than she would otherwise. He stood in the middle of the room, casually leaning his elbow on the staff he used in battle and shuffling his deck of cards in a way a professional dealer would be jealous of.

"Didn't think you'd show up."

"Had half a mind not to."

Taking one of the cards with a flick of the wrist and immediately setting it alight with the pink glow that spelled out trouble, Gambit cocked his head at her with a smirk painted on his face.

Oh, she really didn't like where this was going.

"Can't keep hiding and running from me forever, mon ami."

How long had they been in combat? It wasn't like she had the time to worry about the passing time when explosive cards were thrown her way, row by row, like ammunition leaving a sentry. Trying her best to stay quiet, in her head she thought about how she would rather not be directly in his line of sight.

"At some point you gotta come out of hiding, or, start using it to your advantage. I've got all day, and plenty of cards to spare."

God, his cocky attitude about it was annoying. Good for him for being so in tune with his abilities, but that also created the problem that she didn't see an opening in his attacks to do something about it. She couldn't think of any solution to her problem, the onslaught of explosives being thrown her way in erratic patterns that she somehow had to dodge keeping her too on her toes to formulate a plan of attack. So first things first, she needed to get herself the hell out of the line of fire.

Clambering one of the many structures around, she finally found some much appreciated relief as he hadn't heard her leave the flat floor. Right. Okay. From her higher perching point, Drifting observed Gambit for a little bit, trying to get an idea of what exactly he was trying to accomplish with these constant... ranged attacks.

Of course they were ranged. If he kept them closer to himself he risked being in his own blast radius; that was probably what the staff was for instead. So the real question was; how did she get in close enough range where his cards would be too dangerous to use in what was still supposed to be a friendly match, and what did he have up his sleeves for when she got in that range?

... Teleportation would be useful right about now, but she assumed the whole point of this was to not depend on the talents of teleporting mutant.

She was lightly disturbed from her thoughts as he whistled a little tune, stopping his attack of cards as he had apparently somehow put together she wasn't on the ground floor anymore- the fact that she hadn't made a noise since clambering up over the small yelps when pink cards had dropped at her feet probably giving it away.

"Come out, come out, wherever ya are," and despite knowing he couldn't see her she couldn't stop herself from flipping him off at the tone of his voice. Either way she had to get in close combat range.

With Gambit.

It wasn't her preferred plan by a mile, but it was the only one she had.

"Are you really tossing the towel in this early, mon ami? Are you that scared of confrontation that you'll tap out of a fight with Gambit so soon, hmm? Such a sh- hey!"

Something, or really someone, had grabbed onto the lowest part of his coat. It was lifted up and yanked back hard, only to be swirled over his head as his attacker clearly had the idea of trapping him in his own outfit. He had to give it to her; it was a clever idea despite being a dirty tactic. He had just enough time to free himself from the tangle of fabric before the staff he used for fighting in close rank now came flying towards him. He didn't react fast enough for the first blow to not hit him square on the shoulder, but he blocked the next few to get an idea of how she was wielding it. As soon as he saw the opportunity to he grabbed on with both hands, feeling her struggle to get it back from his grip.

"You wanna play it rough? Don't hold back now; a real enemy wouldn't either."

"Okay, wait, hold on a second," she called, her position pretty much already been given away with how they struggled for possession over the staff, "you really don't want me to hold back?"

"No time outs in real fights either, petite-"

"Gambit."

"Oui. Fight as dirty as you like. Gambit can handle it."

"... on one condition,” Condition? The mere notion of it made him raise an eyebrow until she continued, "when you inevitably have to go to Shadow to get healed, and she asks why you look the way you do; you tell her it was your idea."

".... D’accord," and if she wanted to play it dirty then he didn't need to hold himself to all the honor rules either. As soon as the agreement to her terms left his mouth, he forced his energy into the staff just enough to make it hot to the touch. It forced her to let go with a yelp of 'ow,' relinquishing the staff back to him which he immediately wielded against her, hitting her sides as she struggled to cover her flanks.

Her invisibility no longer gave her any advantage, so she dropped it in order to focus on fighting back. She started blocking attacks, grabbing back onto the staff to start a new tug of war over its ownership. She couldn't physically take it back, his grip too strong. But hey, he had said she could play dirty. Planting the full force of a powerful kick to his upper left thigh stunted him enough for her to rip the staff out of his hands, before wielding it much more like a make shift baseball bat to hit him with.

 It was such a non-conventional way of this weapon being used that she easily connected the hit to his shoulder, before so easily wielding it properly and shoving the end hard in his stomach like she was trying to win a pool table match that she actually got him to the ground.  Okay, she had to have had practice with one of these before; enough to wield properly, while with enough give to her technique that she wielded it in wildly inappropriate ways.

"What was that about tapping out?" she dryly remarked, approaching him with the staff to keep distance between them. He just smirked, grabbing onto the end pointed at him as she got close enough and watching as the realization hit her.

"Oh, fuck-"

Before the last letters of the words had left her mouth he yanked with all his might, immediately pulling her off balance and making sure she collapsed by sweeping her feet out from underneath her, tossing the staff aside so neither of them had control over it anymore. Within a second he had her in a headlock- Well, sort of. Instead of having his arm around her neck and risking actually hurting her, his arm rested more or less on and under her collar bones. She could sense that to him he was only applying minimal pressure to keep her in place, but to her it felt like a vice grip she wouldn't easily slip out of.

"Tap out, and I'll let you go. Easiest deal of your life, mon ami."

Well, those were apparently fighting words, because he could feel long nails clawing at the material on his arms. It was lightweight and not that easy to break, but those talons were definitely digging in. She was still trying to break free from his grip, her brain for one moment wondering if this was anything like being bitten by a guard dog that refused to let go. She halted her struggling for a moment, summoning that thought back to the forefront.

Instead of clawing and pulling at his arm to try and break free, she harshly shoved it further up towards herself; biting down hard as soon as the offending limb was in range. It was enough to make him let go, and she ignored his yelp of pain as she flung herself out of his grip. She immediately picked the staff back up and swirling it towards him, pointing the end of it at his neck.

"Stay. Down," she almost barked, not wanting to have another round of all this. There was a moment of a truce between them, then she started to wobble on her legs without any of his doing.

She flicked the staff back around, using it as a makeshift crutch and leaning pole; both her wrist resting on the top part as she leaned it away from her. She was breathing so bad Remy swore he could see the faint outline of her ribs through her suit.

"You alright?"

One of her hands shot up, gesturing at him to hold his thoughts for a moment. She couldn't answer, her breathing and heaving so intense that she knew for sure that if she decided to talk her breakfast would come back up the wrong way to say hello. She waited for the feeling of nausea to subside before changing her position so she stood beside him, facing the same direction, lightly tapping her fingers on the staff thrice. She had enough.

"Don't tell Gambit he tastes so bad that you gotta tap out before your victory?"

"Oh Jesus fucking Christ, god damn you, you son of a- what the fuck are you laughing at?!"

"Was that every religious curse you bottle up when talkin' to Kurt, or what?"

"Unleashing that kind of hell around a catholic is considered unkind in most circles, if not 'kind of a dick move,' so," she shrugged lightly, taking another deep breath before finally pushing herself up straight.

"Mhh, wouldn't want to upset him now would- nice try," he said as he grabbed onto the part of the staff moving towards him; Miranda had tilted it sideways, using her wrist almost as a makeshift barrel to a seesaw and hit the backend with her free hand to use its leverage to her advantage, "you've got some skill; where'd you learn all that?"

She just shrugged, looking at him with a slight smile.

"Girl's gotta have her hobbies, buddy. Anyway, no, it's not because you taste vile; I just got up too quick and my body had enough. If you want to know what you taste like, well, you know who to ask; and it's not me."

Gambit decided that it would really be in his favor to not react to that, instead checking just how bad the damage was where she had bit him. After stripping his arm of the skintight fabric, he looked where the indents of her teeth stood pressed into his skin, giving a slightly impressed sounding whistle.

"Good thing you don't come with fangs, petite; you would've drawn blood. If that's you still holding back, hate to see the guy who actually pisses you off enough to make you bring your full house."

"Oh, like you weren't holding back?"

"Gotta be gentle with the new folks, y'know. Or maybe your cards just came up a lot luckier than for most when facing me in here, who knows? You're quite a wild card yourself, all things considered. Oh, and if you must know, it's also quite 'unkind' and 'kind of a dick move' to show up uninvited to what was supposed to be a private moment.'

He rolled his red gaze towards her, lazily observing her while not bothering to move from his spot. If he wanted to get up, he would've done so by now.

"And really, thirty minutes was enough for you to drag your favorite teleporter into- ow," it wasn't actually that hard of a hit, but he certainly just missed dodging the open palm that connected to the back of his head.

"You know what your problem is, LeBeau? You like the sound of your own voice so much, people barely have a choice but to find creative ways to make you shut the fuck up for once. Some methods, granted, more in your favor than others. Either way, both of us should pay Shadow a visit. Me, so I can stop feeling like I got hit by a fucking freight train, and you to get that bite looked at before we find out I also possess zombification powers or something."

"... Invisible zombies," Gambit mused, clearly letting the thought of it linger in his head for a moment too long, "... thanks. I hate it."

He took the hand she offered to get back up from the ground, also accepting his weapon back when she twirled it over and held it out to him. A visit to the resident healer of the mansion was very much in order.

... And awkward, above all. Remy insisted Miranda would be healed first, and whether that was to prove that chivalry wasn't dead or because he wanted her out of the door before himself was anyone's guess. Green eyes flicked back and forth between Gambit and Shadow, until the silence grew so awkward that someone had to say something.

"So," Remy started, the word doing little to deal with the tension so thick it could be cut with a knife, "what are you gonna do?"

"About what?" Miranda dryly replied, getting off the chair and gesturing at him to sit down, "I mean the plan is kind of to get my ass upstairs and then face down into my bed, if that’s what you mean."

"Non. About what you saw-"

"Saw what?"

Two sets of eyes were on her, blinking in confusion, as she calmly leaned back on the closed door to the room, shrugging for a moment.

"The trees in full bloom? If anyone wants to see that, they don't need me to tell them, they can go out there and check themselves. Why, was I supposed to see anything else?"

Shadow and Gambit stared at each other for a moment in utter confusion, not understanding Miranda's sudden change of heart on a dime- Until it clicked for Shadow when she realised this had been exactly how Drifting tended to move in a crowd. Or at least, through the crowd of coworkers they both used to deal with. Drifting knew everything, about everyone; sometimes even against her will as people tended to spill the beans to the one most withdrawn and to themselves. Ones who weren't in the habit of sharing the secrets granted around.

"You're giving us a way out."

"Way out of what? Honestly, I have no idea what you're talking about. I saw nothing but dense trees full of lovely smelling blossoms; which is not quite a juicy tale to tell. And if I did see something story worthy, which I didn't, mind you; wouldn't be my story to tell, now would it?"

She mimicked zipping her mouth shut, before clicking the doorhandle down with her elbow and graciously leaving the room. Because, truthfully, a bed sounded like a wonderful place to crash in right about now.

As she dragged her way upstairs, she remembered that Kurt's room was much closer by the staircase than her own. She saw through the slightly opened door that he happened to be in there as well, sitting on the bed while reading some thick classic book that she was too tired to comprehend the title of; she couldn't even tell what language it was supposed to be.

For just a moment she tried to walk past and go to her own room, but a mere two steps away from his door her mind seemed to stubbornly decide that she wasn't going to move a singular step away from the nearest comfortable looking bed. Rolling her eyes at herself, she took the two steps back and lightly tapped on the door with her knuckle.

"Come in. Oh, guten Abend Miranda, done with the danger room training? How do you feel?"

"Physically, fine," she replied, watching as he swiveled his tail aside to make room for her on the bed, before sitting down and pressing her face to the back of his shoulder, "mentally; like I've been up for seventy two hours because some mad scientist wanted to study what that would do to the human body."

The gentle sound of his laughter was somehow so heartwarming, as a sense of comfort started to seep in. Listening to the occasional sound of him turning the pages, she found her mind already being more at ease.

"And why didn't you offer to be my trainer, anyway?" she asked, the light accusatory tone of her voice totally meant in jest.

"Because I don't think you want to try your luck with a swordsman that fast."

In the silence that followed Kurt swore he could almost hear the cogs in her head turn as that statement sank in, feeling the slight weight against him being lifted as she pulled herself back up.

".... Wha- You fight with a sword?!"

"Swords," he corrected, holding his fingers up as he counted them out, "Eins, zwei, und drei; three in total."

He really tried his best to not chuckle when the dead silence further implied that her mental image of his fighting had been something else entirely. Maybe he would ask her sometimes how she actually imagined he took down the sentinel alongside Rogue and Wolverine, or what kind of weapon she had assumed he wielded instead.

".... I'm not unpacking that right now," she replied, flopping down on the bed and looking at the ceiling for a moment, before rolling over on her side as she much preferred sleeping that way than on her back. The bed was soft, the sheets and pillows had an inviting scent of freshly clean laundry about them, and yet as her eyelids fell shut she still felt the need to bring something up.

"Hey, Kurt, do me a favor; wake me up for dinner?"

"Mach ich, kein Problem."

“.. thank you.”

[p1xx13-pixxie]

xiao fucking you into oblivion after he gets teleported into your world

i was listening to avril lavigne only because i wanted to hear the "come come kitty kitty" part and i walked upstairs as it was pitch black in most of the rooms and i just got a lewd idea literally :skull: mentions of kidnapping (no you aren't kidnapped :skull:) degrading and butterfly position _________________________________ it was what? 2:34am? you were on your computer, looking at xiao fanfics, you had nothing better to do- and your life was really.. really boring, and it was so boring you couldn't help but read. the fantasy of xiao loving you was so overpowering, and you couldn't help but look at fine ass fanart. you stretched your body out lazily- realizing your eyes was beginning to burn, and that alerted you to get up and get drinks from the kitchen, ranging from a powerade to cokes, sadly your uncle, ma, grandma, nor dad bought energy drinks, so you was just.. surviving. your family went out on a vacation, and since you had bad experiences from where they wanted to go, you denied their questions of you wanting to go. so you was home alone. on the other hand.. xiao didn't know what to do, as far as he could tell right now, he was in a house that was larger than the average one hes seen, having more rooms than the standard room in wangshuu inn, - and using his common sense- he wasn't in a hotel, and he knows for a fact that he didn't teleport here on purpose. every now and then, he would hear feet moving, and he would look up at you in the dark room he was in, and you would walk pass him everytime, but he realized he felt odd, he didn't feel the karmic debt, he felt really relieved, ( little did he know it was because he was in a different world, where those gods' energy couldn't come) he also felt a bit more humanly, he felt weaker- but atleast he felt relief. but feeling humanly comes at a prince. archons, when he saw you walk pass the few times, you would put your hand in your shirt and just.. itch? but the thing is- it would pop out while you did so, so he kept catching glimpses of your tit. and then you would yawn that was so similiar to the noises he would overhear when on the balcony of the inn, to which verr goldet responded "really? an adeptus- this old.. doesn't know what the noises were? well, they were having-..." his memory doesn't want to say such an embarassing word. the 3rd time he saw you accidently pop your tit, and yawn afterward- you stared in the room - he was .. caught off gaurd, progressively feeling uneasy- he felt like you was staring directly intp his soul, narrowing your eyes, really- you was just messing around in your head thinking "el em ef ay oh, what if there was a random person just staring at me" you swiftly turned on your heel and just walked back where your computer was.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

you felt yourself getting sleepy again, for fucks sake. you just didn't know it was gonna be a different outcome this time. you checked the fridge. fuck, you was out of drinks, your house was actually fairly medium sized, but you loved to eat so you had two fridges, but since you didn't use it much- you forgot where it was... so you began checking your house, minus the rooms you knew for sure it wasn't in.

you had verbally explained your plan, so xiao knew what you was doing, and god he was not ready to be caught. something about your presence made him nervous, afterall.. he's been feeling some heat down there for a while now... he came up with a plan, he would quickly move to a room you already searched, as you refused to turn on the lights- claiming it would hurt your eyes too much. so he planned to take advantage of you wanting to not hurt your pretty little eyes from flashing light and this plan worked for a while, but he ran out of rooms to hide in- because she knew she would keep going in a loop due to her forgetfulness. so when she almost turned on the last light, he quickly snatched her up capturing her arms with one arm around her upper waist and one hand on her mouth, but- after you processed the situation, you quickly squirmed, and your ass happened to be squirming the most, which was on his heat, which wasn't good- "fuck, shut up and stop moving." oh, oh you could recognize that voice from a mile away, but you thought your "kidnapper" just sounded like him out of irony, and you squirmed even more, but you realized it wasn't working, and you ended up just slobbing on his hand, making him feel the wetness of his glove, disgusted, he moved his hand, freeing her head- which meant freeing her upper body from being immobile. but you was suprised at how quickly he let your upper body go, causing you to bend over on his arm, that was still holding on you. xiao went quiet, you could feel a predatory stare on your back, looking back the best you could, he.. really looked like xiao. ___________________________________________ " hah, ha... fuck.. ha...." all you could hear was you getting pounded into, your whimpers , and xiaos grunts, along with your dog-like whimpers,

"i.. can barely.. think.. with you... poundin'... into me like this...ha... mph..."

you tried speaking the best you could, clenching as you felt yourself about to come.

"ha.. stop clench..ha.. clenching,, slut.." he hissed, he doesn't even remember what came over him, but when he saw you all bent over, and your loose shirt hanging off, revealing you having no bra on, he couldn't resist when you looked at him. xiao still made sure he had consent and thank the archons you said yes, unaware of how down bad you was for him anyway. god, the way your hair bounced forward and back as he bent you over on a table in the room, and the way your chest bounced as he had you in butterfly position,

" please.. go.. hah! . . . faster.. 'iao.. m' need more.. '"

you cried. the tears building up in the corners of your eyes as you clenched your teeth. whimpering like the pathetic bitch you were. oh, you was so pretty, you felt heavenly, he hasn't had his way with someone in a long time, he doesn't even remember when he did at that. he was tempted to find a way to bring you back to liyue, so he could bend you over again and pound you in greater speeds with more adeptus powers, so he could hear your whimpers and pleas even louder. he wouldn't tell you while he was in you, but in his mind he would praise you like "so pretty.. pretty.. dont want her to go.. gotta find a way to take her with me.. '' and so he did, giving less than a fuck about your family, he wanted to mate for life. ___

hello! this is my first time writing ACTUAL smut so please tell me what i can do better

[perfectpaperbluebirds]

Domestic Drabble #97

(In F [lu] Major)

Couldn’t decide whether I wanted Sick!Theo or Sick!Shane so have a generic sick male protog instead. 

She's in the kitchen cooking dinner when he arrives home. Usually he wastes no time in running upstairs and hopping into the shower, sometimes not even saying hello, but today he breaks pattern and pads into the kitchen. Going to her side, he loops his arms around her waist and buries his face in her shoulder, sighing heavily. 

"Hello to you too," she says, kissing the top of his head. "Everything okay?"

"No. I'm getting sick," he mumbles, not lifting his head. 

"Oh no… how sick are we talking? On the couch with tissues and a cold or in bed with Tylenol and the flu?"

He only shrugs, scrubbing at his nose with a sniffle. 

"Poor thing. You must be feeling really crummy if you're admitting it to me already." 

As if in response, he suddenly turns away from her and presses his elbow to his face to catch a loud, miserable pair of throat scraping sneezes. 

"HehyYIIZSHHhoo! hihtESHHHiew!"

"Bless you, babe," she coos sympathetically. "Those sounded rough. Why don't you go change clothes and get more comfortable?"

To her surprise, he shakes his head. "I'd rather stay with you." 

"With me? Why? I'll just be cooking for a while longer yet."

"I know." He makes his way to a nearby chair gingerly, as if in pain, and slowly lowers himself down. "And I'll sit with you while you cook." 

She smiles at him over her shoulder. "Needing some extra company tonight because you're not feeling good?"

"I guess maybe." He unbuttons the cuffs of his shirt and begins to roll up his sleeves, shaky but determined, giving her a tiny smile. She loves when he shows off his forearms, and he is well aware of that fact. He loves to tease her about it, and use it to his advantage when necessary. 

Worry stirs in her heart nonetheless. "Too warm?" she asks. 

"Only a little." 

"Think you're feverish?"

"Don't think so. You can check if you want, though," he says with a sleepy yawn. 

Of course she moves to his side right away, pressing her lips to his forehead this time. "You might feel a little warm… or else it's my imagination. I think you're probably okay for now."

"That's good," he sniffles. "I need to rest for a bit and I don't want you fussing around with the thermometer." He props his head up on one hand, elbow on the table. "Tell me about your day," he says with another yawn. 

Unable to miss the sore-sounding rasp in his voice, yet flattered her company was wanted in spite of that, she willingly takes over the conversation. "Okay, so you know all the drama that's been going on between Kelly and Amanda? So today…."

She talks for a long time as she cooks, filling him in on the mundane goings-on at her workplace. He nods and frowns and laughs at the correct places, but his sniffling, throat clearing, and fittish coughing are a constant backdrop, and his eyes gradually take on a foggy, glazed look that she knows from experience will get worse before it gets better. Still, she so rarely gets his undivided attention, busy and easily distracted as he tends to be, that she continues as long as she can. 

The spell is broken at last when he erupts into another painful sounding sneezing fit, one that she had seen him struggling against for several minutes. 

"TTSSSZ'shieww! heh'TIHSSHH! "HAHHT'zzxxsshh!"

"Bless you, love," she says as he blows his nose. "You're sounding worse, not better. Think you're ready to go shower yet?"

"If I must," he sighs, slowly standing. "Maybe it'll help."

"Help what?" 

"...Everything." He huffs an approximation of a laugh.

"Aww, poor guy. I hope it does help. I don't know why you've put it off for so long as it is, Mister Showers-Three-Times-A-Day."

"What can I say? I like being clean-n…." The last word is cut off by a hoarse cough, followed by several more. 

She can only look on worriedly. He looks so miserable and pitiful as he quiets that she can't help but go wrap her arms around him. He sags into the hug weakly. 

"Those made my chest hurt just hearing them," she murmurs in his ear. "You need to rest. The sooner you go change, the sooner you can lie down."

He grunts in assent and reluctantly pulls away, turning to shuffle toward the stairs that lead to the master bath. She watches him until he's out of a sight, torn between fondness and concern.  

He returns in due time, freshly showered but otherwise looking no better. If anything his fatigue is more visible without his work clothes to give the appearance of composure, though she loves the ugly, red sweater he's wearing in the way one loves familiar, comforting things. He shuffles his way to the couch and collapses into the corner, letting his head fall back with a weary (and wheezy) sigh. 

Dinner is ready only moments later. She prepares a plate for him and sets it down on a TV tray at his side. He perks up a little and pulls the food closer with murmured thanks, digging in eagerly enough. She joins him on the couch with her own plate and turns on the National Geographic channel for background noise. They don't talk much as a rule during dinner, both of them preoccupied with their own thoughts and plates. He eats some of everything, enough that she doesn't worry too much, then brings his plate into the kitchen and clears it. She listens to him sniffle and cough the whole time, not quite drowned out by the sound of the TV, especially when he sneezes twice in quick succession, and wonders once more if he's playing it up a touch because he's tired, or if he's coming down with something nasty. 

He sinks back into the couch when he returns, bundling a blanket around himself this time. His eyes follow the screen, but he seems distant and unfocused. His blinking gets heavier and heavier, and in no time he's sleeping, head tucked into the corner and snoring softly. 

She leaves the TV playing and takes the opportunity to wash and dry the dishes while he naps. She wonders, though, how much rest he's getting. Between the snoring and the interspersed coughing fits triggered by the snoring, she can't imagine sleeping is doing him much good presently. 

Once the dishes are finished, she makes her way back to the living room to find he has changed positions. He's now lying on his back, sprawled out across the whole couch, still bundled in blankets and snoring even louder if possible with an arm thrown over his eyes. She turns off the overhead light, and she thinks he relaxes slightly. Since the TV seems to be the last thing on his mind, she changes the channel to one of her shows. Upon hearing the new program, he groans softly and rolls over to face the back of the couch. She goes to his side, nudging his shoulder. 

"Sit up a sec. And scootch down a little."

He groggily does as he's told, and she sits where his head was, putting a pillow on her lap for him. He smiles a tiny smile as he assumes his new position.

"Thanks, babe," he rasps. 

"Sure. How're you feeling?"

"Cruddy. I ache all over." 

"Do you want to go to bed?"

"I dunno," he mumbles, barely audible. 

"Hmm. Just try to relax, then," she whispers as she begins to run her fingers through his hair and rub his neck. He's asleep again in no time, and he's no longer snoring, for which she is grateful. 

They stay that way for a long time, her watching TV, him dozing. She mostly lets him be, stroking his hair if he gets restless and starts coughing, but she can't keep her eyes from straying to his face every so often. After a while she begins to note the saturated tone his skin has taken on, even visible in the dim light. Yet when she tries to push the blanket down, he clutches it tighter with a little moan, though he doesn't seem to wake.

With careful maneuvering, she reaches for the thermometer she'd brought with her and positions it under his arm, trying to disturb him as little as possible. He seems not to notice, sleeping on, or so she thinks. Yet when she removes the device to check it, she makes a concerned 'tsk' in spite of herself. At the sound, he shifts ever so slightly and his eyes meet hers.

"What's the verdict?" he croaks. 

"You've officially progressed from tissues and the couch to medicine and bed," she whispers. 

"Lucky me," he sighs. "So that means I have to move, then?"

"Indeed it does." She prods him to sit up, and he sluggishly complies, but then immediately sags against her when he's sitting, his head falling onto her shoulder as he yawns hugely. 

"C'mon, love. You shouldn't stay down here. We'll get the heating pad going for your aches and Vicks for that cough so hopefully you can be comfortable and get some real sleep. You've got a hell of a fever already. I don't want it to get any worse." 

"Hell of a fever, huh?" He chuckles tiredly. "I'm glad I've impressed you. So what do I win for my effort?"

She laughs too. She shifts him off of her so she can stand, then takes his hands and pulls him up behind her, speaking as she does. "If you keep impressing me like this tomorrow, you'll win an all-expenses paid day home from work in our luxurious bridal suite with bottomless soup and tea. You might even get a soothing massage, if you play your cards right."

"Hihh'KHHTCH! TZZZ'SCHUUH!"

The sneeze bursts over the second half of her joke, and she's slightly miffed that he probably missed most of it. But he still smiles wanly as she blesses him.

"I guess I'll take it. But are you gonna sleep in the other room to avoid my germs?"

"Should I?"

He shakes his head. "I'm cold and sore and I need you in bed with me more than ever. I don't want to be alone. Even if I am gross and sneezy."

She stretches up to kiss his hot forehead. "If you need me there, then of course I'll be there, germs and all."

She begins to lead the way to their bedroom, and he finally follows. Of course he has to cough as they walk, and his coughing is sounding even chestier and more painful than before. She's glad when they reach their destination and she can help him into bed at last. He groans weakly as he sinks into the mattress with a shudder, and she can't tell if it's from pleasure or discomfort. She thinks it's likely both. 

" 'm so achy," he croaks again, reading her thoughts. "Can barely move."

"Let's see if we can do something about that," she murmurs, tucking the blankets around him. 

She fusses around for a bit, getting all the things he needs. But once he's drunk a good amount of water and taken medicine and is lying on a heating pad with plenty of Vicks, she throws on her pajamas and crawls in beside him. He wastes no time in closing any distance between them, enveloping them both in the scent of menthol. He muffles a cough behind his lips as he presses his face against her side, then sighs as she begins to scratch his back. 

"I hope you don't get too warm from sleeping with me," he mumbles. "I probably feel sweltering to you."

"You do," she agrees. "But it's not the first time I've slept with you when you're running a fever and it won't be the last I'm sure. Your comfort is what matters right now."

She feels him smile against her but doesn't reply, letting her ease him into sleep by her gentle hand on his back. 

[the-fort-official]

THE CITIZENS:

PRIME APPLES: great and powerful leader of the fort. He may not be fair, or mature, or kind, or just... But honestly who cares he is funny sometimes.

Robo-Prime: he is back from the grasp of the average arcade owner in whatever fucked up sub-multiverse the text doctors live in. And by average I mean only, apparently. Anyways, he is basically prime but with more offense and less defense. Yes, the robot can take less hits than the human. Ironic, I know

Robo apples: head of engineering, and avid hater of fazbear entertainment. His past with them is spotty at best. Also, he doesn't like pizza. Which is weird. Probably trauma...

Control Apples: head of science and with the ability to express himself as well as a cardboard cutout. He does feel emotions, he just cannot show them. At all. Something about one of those therapy beds that was a O.O.P. (Object Of Power). He also likes burning things. Like, more than most Versions.

The tank (formerly known as Fallout apples): bright green power armor, yet blends in better than some people with stealth boys. Want to try to silence a fat man? He's your guy. Also for drugs. He makes all the drugs. ex-soldier of three wars. One for Alaska. One for Vegas. One for Boston. All three for his survival. And maybe fun on that last one.

Felix (fur-merly known as Fursona apples):, Engineer, former leader of the Regrettables (both the faction and the band). He got his time in the limelight. Now he is a actual character! And with the free trauma too. Also he made a lil ring to propose with so... don't tell Will.

Looper: robotic* mercenary for hire. Hope you got the gold! Also there are hundreds of him running around because of time loop shenanigans. Some of them even canonically fuck. Do with that information what you probably won't. (*He isn't a robot, technically. It's a techno-organic virus. He still has all the bits, just robotic. Minus nose, unless it's a snapshot of him with a snout. )

Fog killer: Also known as the apple themed streamer, the apple themed mayor, and the guy with a bigger arcade than @the-arcade-doctor, he is a totally normal and sane botanist trust me bro. Ignore the vines slowly leeching all your blood that's natural. (Now available to talk to on the @evil-group-that-hates-the-fort blog :3. )

Fog survivor: He is an engineer. He solves practical problems. Also works as a medic. He used to be scared of his own shadow. Now nothing phases him. Except getting stabbed because that still hurts.

Clone 007: traumatized asshole with no sense of friendly fire. He will kill anything in his way, no matter if they are helping him or not. Also he has extreme trauma, abandoned issues, and mood swings. The last one isn't related to his past, it's related to his very DNA.

Cashew: A young creature in an old automaton. He is basically a nutcracker from lethal company with some damages. And shorter. Still taller than the average dude, but small for a nutcracker.

Zweifel: What happens when you put a teen so far in the closet he tricked himself into thinking he isnt gay, into a endless colorful hell of wacky whimsical adventures? A hatred of the circus and a fear of vr.

The Angel Of hypocrisy, Nicholai: A homophobic and transphobic douchebag who should eat shit and die. Depending on which version you meet, the name makes more or less sense. Because post time skip, he gets a trans-mask boyfriend who he loves with all his heart. Even ignoring the fact his boyfriend is a serial killer. (If I reference El Carnicero, this is who I'm referring to)

Pixel: Kleptomaniac heister with more kills from just using the environment to his advantage than with his actual weapons.

Stuffie (Formerly known as Monster Apples.): see @plushiemonstervoid I ain't repeating myself.

Satchel: living puppet made from old junk like torn towels and potato sacks. He is tall, lanky, and overall intimidating. He is also a complete pushover who literally can only attack with yarn. Normal yarn. Not exactly lethal.

Demons-Bane: a demon that kills demons. Simple as that.

Warface Apples: currently turned into an anthropomorphic raven for fuckin with... I don't remember, one of @ignisuada 's characters. Generic military dude #171. Nothing special.

Warframe apples: Sneaky, but like stealth in the Deadpool game. He has lore, I just forgot it.

Metal gear apples: god im not even going to bother trying to tie this fucker in with all the bullshit lore this game has. He is a super-soldier. He has a flamethrower. That is all thats important at this point in his non-existent lore.

More to come. Check for edits. Lore is ever-changing after all.

[thequietmanno1]

TheLreads, Vigilantes ch 89, Replies Part 1

1) “Alright, so, let us try to recover a bit of the lost time. Vigilantes? Yeah, vigilantes. Mirko just started kicking ass? Tricky question, she’s always kicking ass? Okay, so, did the story punched any holes in the worldbuilding or plot? pffft- yeah, I suuuuure it didn’t happen…”-

(L, after reading the chapter)

“NUUURSE! I’ve found a massive hole in this plot! Fetch the band-aids!

2) “Alrighty Mirko, time to show us some badass scenes, if you’re gonna escape persecution from criminal acts I want it to be worth it, aright?|- If there’s one advantage to Mirko, it’s that she’s a guarantee of badassness to ensure, or double your money back, guaranteed.

3) "A person who we don't know the identity of and definitely won't be charged for this even though those event are being transmitted online if I recall correctly "- Given what AFO’s up to, and later resorts to openly stealing Quirks in the chaos, I assume that he cut the feeds at some point when he judged it was time to sabotage the venue and make off with what he wanted from it- in fact, knowing him, he’d already twigged to Knuckle’s infiltration before his match and had pre-emptively  prepared to burn the whole operation to the ground before he’d found anything that could concretely link AFO to the event, hence why he feels secure in (literally) showing his hand in matter now.

For all we know, the feeds were stopped before Mirko burst onto the stage, once “The Ripper” had been taken to the infirmary where he was free to find the incriminating stuff.

4) “Holy shit even the staff? Alright, more meat for the grinder I suppose. Poor bastards.”- They got caught up in the rush, but should have considered where the end result would take them. Oh well, at least this place likely has good dental – AFO had to keep his winning smile somehow, right?

5) “But if we theoretically knew, I bet we would be about to see a true carnage. A one-woman massacre. The Beast of Caerbannog brought to life.”- They’re locked inside a slaughterhouse, and they’re the meat products that need tenderising.

6) “Like I said, a massacre. And glad to see confirmation that this is indeed being shown online, where deeefinitely it won’t remain as a permanent record that can be used to identify her later on, I mean, there’s just so many bunny-people that are on high school and have already been expelled due to illegal underground fights, right?”-  Hmmm, I’m honestly uncertain how much of the event is even being shown anymore. It’d leave too much evidence of AFO’s direct involvement for him to use Kurogiri’s portaling + his Quirk stealing this openly unless he’d already stopped the broadcasting, or put the feed in a closed loop to hide what he was doing, unbeknownst to the actual participants, who are now getting beaten for nothing but Mirko’s amusements

7) “Alright narrator calm down there before she climbs up there to kick your ass as well”- Actually, where the hell is he? He’s still keeping the commentary flow going despite a mass rush of bodies in the cramped confines headed straight for Mirko, so where’s he standing that he can keep an eye on the action without getting knocked over?

8) “Oh yeah it did, but don’t worry, there is enough of it to go around, blood just started being spilled after all

Now rappa, I want you to meet your new best friend forever

god if only Mirko was part of the overhaul raid… “-  Rappa and Mirko really do be sharing the same braincell, just in opposite directions/interests. God but it would have been cool for them to meet/fight in the Hassaki raid again and settle the “Fist vs Kicks” debate once and for all…and I’d actually pay money to see Mirko’s reaction to Tengai’s barrier trciks when he pulled those stunts, and whether or not she could break them by herself unlike Fitgum’s mega-blow. Actually, now I wanna see Mirko and Kirishima interacting, just to see if she’d be up for training his endurance whilst also training her kicks.

9) “ “trying” might be the right word here, because they sure as all hell aren’t succeeding on it.”- An uncoordinated mob vs the most coordinated asskicker in the series, no contest.

10) “Now rappa I want you to apologize to your new best friend because being honest she’s way more “manly” than you. Can’t believe we’ll cancel rappa on shitter due to sexist comments smdh”-  To be fair, he hadn’t spoken to her yet, and I’d honestly find a hard time finding somebody in this series who is more on each other’s wavelength than these duos. I’d also say I ship it, but they love violence more than any romance could hope to compare.

11) “Rappa please, your new best friend is right there and she would actually be incredibly happy to kick your ass into oblivion jesus just get out of Knuckleduster’s dick already”- This is why you should never be afraid to try new dishes on the menu, you might find something you’ll like more than your tried and tested favourites.

12) “oh my god he’s still going after him while casually yeeting people to the side

I can only imagine knuckle back at the office and Rappa outside, holding a boombox over his head like in a 90s romcom.”- That would imply that despite his simple love of straightforward violence, Rappa is skilled enough to track down and keep up with a man whose Quirk is literally all about super-speed, and that’s too funny not to be canon.

13) “I’m sorry, it doesn’t look like knuckleduster is paying attention to what that buzzer was, it looks like he’s so done with this shit he’s disassociating.”- Knuckle is still trying to avert his eyes from the path of the fist, but it will take him down his destined road, one way or another…

14) “Oh boy, is that the proto-trigger? So much for asking consent before giving it to conscious people, right?”- Well, maybe the manager would have asked for consent, but AFO’s not him, is he? Plus, I bet that gas piping was introduced as a “security measure” should the fighting get too out of hand, advertised as a means of sedating the whole crowd at once to avoid ‘incidents’, only for AFO to switch the payload when using it here to his benefit.

15) “Wait, so did the staff knew this was going to happen? But then why would they jump in on the mess? If I knew someone would deploy a quirk-enhancing drug that makes people lose their mind I would avoid going in the middle of a crowd of crazy-ass fuckers”- I’m betting they’re equally confused when people’s Quirks start exploding and spiking in power, but they were expecting the pipes to help sedate them, not push events more and more out of control. But hey, at least it’s really entertaining for AFO, the only one watching from the monitors now.

15) “Alright, so it is trigger alright

So, is this still being transmitted online or did the feed already got cut? Because boy I think it would be hard to overlook this when investigating trigger.”- AFO has definitely cut the feeds, especially since he starts getting ‘directly’ involved now, but it’s unclear as to when he did so.

@thelreads

[thedaveandkimmershow]

Thursday, April 4

Yesterday morning my wife was a very bad wife. (And not in a good way) She got me to get out of bed completely against my will taking advantage of the fact I also had to use the bathroom really bad.

Next thing I know I'm hustling for the bathroom only to discover it was being cleaned...

So it was closed.

Meaning I had to hustle up to the campground above us before finding Relief. 

Kimmer laughed herself silly the whole time.

Not. Cool.

In the meantime, over at the grill, her cousin's discovered that, while we all were sleeping, birds set about making a nest on one side of the grill that's set lower.

Incredible.

He had to fish all the sticks and tiny branches out of there before starting in on the morning's cooking.

No idea how to prevent this the next morning because in the afternoon while all the adults were away, the birds started in again building the nest from scratch.

Whaaaaaaat???

"We weren't paying attention" said the boys in their defense.

Oy.

By the way, the morning was a bright shiny morning in preparation for a warm lovely day. I know because Kimmer's first attempt at waking me up was simply to throw open the doors of the van and allow the bright rays of sun to assault me as if I were a vampire.

By the time the morning's drama is over and I'm back from the bathroom and we have a pretty much vanilla yogurt centered breakfast...

We head out for a morning walk that, if we lived in a warmer climate, we'd probably do every morning at home. We walked over to the main street then up the hill then walked each of the campground loops, spying each of the RVs and camp setups, saying good morning to the people we passed, and observing the occasional couples gazing out at the waters of the Pacific Ocean from their camp chairs. We walked our loop twice before starting up the van and hitting the road.

Hitting the road?

Yeah. I accidentally left my polar fleece at Kimmer's cousin's place so went back for that. And, since we were there, you know, we took advantage of the showers, the electrical outlets for charging our tech, and Kimmer cooked up a new batch of two dozen chocolate chip cookies. We also have a list of stuff we've gotta buy, at the top of the list being a replacement hose for the one I thoroughly scorched the previous night. Then we're picking up semisweet chocolate chips, hot chocolate, and eggs at Ralph's along with the Trader Joe's organic lemonade and orange seltzer from the refrigerator we forgot to grab when we left the first time.

It's a bit of a list and we deal with it by splitting up. Kimmer handles the baking and charting she's gotta do. I hit the store for everything but the eggs and the replacement hose. I do, however, score a tall dark drip coffee for my lovely wife before returning to the house.

Two forty five we're back on the road again because a mutual friend's gonna meet up at camp. 

Three thirty we're sitting around the picnic table catching up, plowing through freshly baked cookies, splitting a non-alcoholic Heinekin, and even getting in a pair of rounds of Uno Attacks! with the boys amidst the conversation.

It was a really sweet and relaxing time under the noonday sun, catching up, telling stories... until it was time to go our separate ways. 😕

530 we're on the road again, stopping by the Trader Joe's not a mile down the road just to figure out where we're going. Our mission is to purchase a replacement propane hose because we burned the one the previous night. To find that replacement we've gotta find the nearest Home Depot which turns out to be in Costa Mesa which also, as I think about it now, well... we woulda done better just going back to Irvine to get everything we needed. Instead we took a long drive to Costa Mesa as the sun was setting. We scored the replacement propane hose then drove over to the nearby Trader Joe's for the eggs I didn't get that afternoon plus a birthday card for Kimmer's nephew whose birthday's next Thursday but we're gonna celebrate today.

Kimmer needs to pick up some allergy meds so I plot the closest Target that ends up being in...

Irvine.

Whoops.

Did not see that coming.

We pass John Wayne Airport. We pass exit signs for familiar Irvine streets. So we call it a night and head back to camp that, by this point, is actually 18 minutes away.

By the time we're back, it's almost 8.

We spend a little time around the campfire spinning our tale of shopping woe, I spend a little time writing while evening lattes are prepared, then I join the boys at the table for a few EPIC rounds of Uno Attacks!

I won't tell you exactly how we made it epic. Let's just say we added some of our own personal flourishes to the game after each play. Especially when a particular play screwed someone.

At some point, we became aware of a number of mice scurrying about the ground around us. Under our table sometimes. I don't know what to tell you but eventually they completely spooked Kyle's friend's Dylan who could no longer concentrate on the game, eventually taking up guard on a camp chair situated right in front of their tent.

He was armed with a mini blower that he wielded as a warning to all mice wherever they might be.

Any mouse he saw got a rush of air that sent them scurrying. Even mice who weren't actually there got a blast.

They really got in his head and it was a helluva thing.

By the time we called the game it was around 930. The boys retired to their tent, making sure mice were not afoot, and I joined Kimmer in the van for the next hour and a half whilst she finished her studies for the evening.

Around 11pm we called it a night. Turned off the lamps. Pulled the blankets tight around us.

And went to sleep.

☺️

[shvdwscng]

"perhaps  if  our  guests  were  not  carelessly  tossed  here,  it  might."  her  cousin  possessed  her  own  talents  of  charming  those  she  wished.  however,  in  the  case  of  their  new,  unexpected  guests,  the  results  would  not  be  swift  as  they  would  hope.  aurora  for  all  her  talents  had  finally  found  her  ultimate  test,  she  knew  with  them,  a  pretty  smile  and  a  few  charming  words,  even  compliments  would  not  be  enough  to  soften  them.  all  of  which  she  had  expected,  it  would  take  much  longer  to  see  a  more  amiable  side  from  the  other  courts.  at  her  cousin's  words,  swift  in  her  words  of  their  beloved  dragons,  has  a  rather  amusing  but  tender  smile  for  the  woman  who  was  her  family.  they  were  fiercely  protective  of  their  reptiles,  even  when  it  they  knew  their  dragons  had  no  need  of  such  thing,  they  saw  more  than  the  faes  ever  could.  "i  do  not  know  if  vala  was  offended,  but  the  latter  is  the  issue,  they  don't  approach  them.  wise  on  their  end,  we  know  that  ones  that  are  a  bit...unpredictable,  we  do  not  want  a  blood  bath  here.  i  believe  the  beautiful  sylphira  can  attest  to  that."  aurora  flashing  the  blonde  a  pointed  look,  as  a  hand  reaches  out  to  her  cousin's  red  dragon,  a  gesture  the  other  was  quite  familiar  with,  and  waiting  for  the  red  dragon  to  accept  it.  "it  is  strange,  when  vala  was  observing  them,  it  was  not  danger  he  sensed,  it  was  that  he  could  not  read  all  of  them,  not  entirely  not  the  way  he's  used  to.  he  did  not  read  anything  awful,  but  he  too  was  a  bit  puzzled  on  the  few  he  managed  to  hover  about..particular  the  high  rulers."  a  chuckle  falls  from  ves's  remark,  "come  now,  i  would  not  use  that  term  around  them.  they  shall  only  ever  see  the  charming  emissary,  not  the  devious  one."  she  winked,  lilac  hues  glinting  "not  yet  anyway." 

aurora  settles  beside  her  cousin,  "i  will  keep  you  in  the  loop,  i  am  also  only  just  getting  to  know  them,  not  inquiring  too  much  not  even  from  the  other  emissary's,  they  will  not  speak  so  soon  yet.  i  believe  for  now,  giving  them  some  space,  and  trying  to  be  accommodating  might  the  best  course  of  action.  i  inquired  from  our  high  lord  if  we  could  assist  them  in  settling,  giving  the  families  their  living  quarters,  seems  they  did  not  have  their  belongings  with  them  so  our  seamstresses  and  tailors  will  have  their  hands  full  providing  them  all  clothing.  particular  for  the  high�� families."  her  gaze  shifted  once  more  from  her  cousin  to  their  skyline,  "there's  a  few,  in  due  time  i  will  introduce  you,  but  i  have  taken  a  special  interest  in  the  winter  and  summer  faes,  as  well  as  day.  you  might  like  winter's  general."  dusk  did  have  the  advantage  of  not  being  caught  off  guard,  aurora  did  not  believe  in  danger  but  once  more  they  would  not  divulge  any  information  to  their  guests  until  they  had  a  better  understanding  of  them.  then  there  was  the  fact  that  the  rest  did  not  have  the  full  extent  of  their  abilities.  "i  think  our  lord  moods  have  soured  further  because  of  these  strangers  in  the  hallways.  it  will  take  some  time  for  our  faes  to  get  used  to  interacting  outside  of  our  court.  i  did  speak  to  our  high  lord,  he  is  preparing  before  he  reveals  himself  to  our  guests."

"Cauldron, if only pretty curtsies had that much power," Vesparia mused, her voice tinged with both irony and a hint of wistfulness. If only it were as simple as a bow and a smile to bridge the chasm between their worlds. For too long, the Dusk Court had been fed tales of the other courts' coldness, their selfish natures—stories whispered by their Mother, painting a picture of isolation and caution. Yet, now that she stood amidst these supposed strangers, Vesparia could see that they were not so different after all. They breathed the same air, felt the same fears, harbored the same hopes. Some bore wings upon their backs, but in the Dusk Court, their dragons provided the wings of their souls. Despite being outnumbered, the Dusk Court had their draconic allies to level the playing field if relations turned sour. These magnificent beasts, with their ancient wisdom and fierce loyalty, were what set them apart, a deterrent to any who might think to challenge them. "Have they? Anyone who dares offend or approach a dragon would deserve what they got, in my opinion," Ves continued, her tone sharpening. The sheer audacity it would take to advance on a creature with fangs the size of swords—such recklessness bordered on lunacy and a severe lack of self preservation. Sylphira, her own dragon, embodied this very wildness and danger. Curiosity might have stirred within her when the other courts arrived, but her temperament was far from hospitable. "Well... it would help if you thought of them as our guests and not prey, cousin," she advised, her seafoam gaze meeting hues of lilac. There was a gleam of amusement there, a shared understanding of the absurdity of the situation. Ves looped an arm around Aurora's as she continued. "But I await more news from you about our new visitors. I, for one, have met none so far that are worth mentioning," the huntress concluded, her lips curving into a wry smile. The truth was, while the others might see the Dusk Court as a dangerous enigma and be wary of them, Vesparia knew they were simply people trying to survive, to protect their own. And perhaps, in time, they could all learn to see beyond the stories and the fears, to the common threads that bound them all. Until then, they would watch, and wait, dragons at their side, ready for any confrontations just around the corner. "Oh, but I did meet Mùyáng within the halls of the palace. Still as sour as ever."

[ditto-the-alien]

I Hate My Job

A story I wrote for a college class, You can ignore. 1010 words

Synopsis: Death vents to a psychologist about their job.

I really, REALLY hate my job. I’ve had it for my entire adult life, yet it never gets easier. You think it would be easy, just go in, lead them where they need to go, get out, and maybe take a bit of a break afterwards to catch your breath. But no, more people need to be led to their final destination every minute of every day. 3383729 people every year, 9246 people every day, 386 people every hour, 7 people every minute. I used to have to do a lot more, but thankfully more people got hired a while back. I still got stuck with one of the worst places to have to do the job though.  I mean you probably know that you LIVE there.

“…I’m still confused on why the grim reaper is in my office.”

Well, you are technically dead right now.

“So, the defibrillator won’t work?”

Nah, it probably will, time just slows down when you are either a reaper or a soul. I’m taking advantage of this to actually talk to someone about my job. And before you ask, I am not going to describe what happens after OR if any of the religions are right. I don’t know, I just lead people to the end, not go in with them.

“So why me, of all people to talk to?”

You happened to be the closest psychologist currently dying or that is currently dead and not in what happens after. Now can I please continue talking?

“Sorry, please continue.”

Ok then. The United States is possibly the worst place to have to be a reaper, for several reasons. The first of these has only really started happening in the past decade or so: have you ever had to console a child who has just been taken away from everything they knew because some wingnut thought “Hey, I’m going to shoot a bunch of people!” And I know that’s really simplifying what happens but the end result is the same: you end up not knowing what to say. Either because you didn’t expect someone to go and kill a bunch of elementary schoolers for who-knows-what reason, or because you have seen it go play out so many times you don’t know if there is anything you CAN say that hasn’t been said before.

“You know a lot of people feel that way about that, right?”

Nothing ever changes though. I’M the only thing that isn’t supposed to change, you know, “Death is inevitable” and all that jazz. Instead this hellhole is stuck in an endless loop of me having to go back and forth.

“You said there were several reasons that you dislike your job.”

Yeah, Failed childbirth. Regular old dead babies are fine. Sure they are loud but I don’t have to explain what happened to them. But when the mother dies, oh boy do they cry like hell. All they want is to hold that child in their arms, and then they kick the bucket before doing it and feel like they “Abandoned them”. Then they try to hurt me thinking I’m the reason that they died, but I’m just the messenger! 

“Wait you don’t kill people?”

No, I don’t! If I could half of the problems, I have with this job would not even matter! And to be honest that kind of pisses me off too, the fact that people blame ME for them dying. I did absolutely nothing, people either die thanks to their own actions, someone else’s actions, or because their body hates them! If it wasn’t for the fact that Jack gets mauled every single day, I would take his job of dealing with the animals because at least THEY don’t think it’s my fault!

“… There has to be at least one positive about your job. If not, why are you even working there?”

The one good thing is that sometimes when a person dies, one of their deceased dogs goes and tackles them to the ground and licks their face. It’s nice to see at least something get fixed or reunited every now and then, but that happens so rarely. it makes me really pissed that its either “Do this job” or “Un-Exist”. And before you ask, yes, if reapers quit we cease to exist and some other shmuck has to do this job. 

“… Wow…. That… to be frank, really sucks.”

Yep. To be honest one of the few reasons I do this job is so that nobody else has too. I did it back when one of you got mauled by a sabertooth tiger and I’ll do it when one of you decides to kill the only other person on the moon with a rock. Corporate barely listens to my requests, it took eons for them to even hire people for the other continents and even longer for the individual countries. Thankfully at least Jack always dealt with the animals so I never had to worry about that. 

….

You know, I think I just really needed to get that off my chest. Given that I haven’t been able to actually take a break in years, even just venting about how horrible my job is helped. It made me realize that as long as you even just have someone to talk to, your day can be made just a little bit better. 

“Perfect. Well, I am pretty sure the EMTs are going to restart my heart soon, so I guess this is goodbye.”

Yeah.  *BUZZ*

…. huh. well, see you next week I guess.

“You too.”

“…Wait what do you mean see you next we-” HUNDREDS DEAD IN HOSPITAL EXPLOSION

At Approximately 3PM Wednesday afternoon, a large explosion rocked the Saint Joey Memorial hospital. After the psychologist Wilson Adams had a heart attack, Doctors arrived with a defibrillator. However the gas main had broken in that room, and the electrical charge ignited it, causing a chain reaction of explosions that eventually caused the entire building to collapse. Wilson Adam’s body was found among the wreckage.

[princess-lilura]

The older man

You finish putting the last few touches on your hair and double check your lipstick. It's a girly night and you need a drink. Adjusting your dress, you head out the door around the corner to your favorite bar. The bartender has a heavy pour and it never takes you more than 2 to get to your happy place especially when you're meeting your friends.

A few hours pass and no one has showed and you might have had one to many. An older man has been trying not to stare to hard at you all night but even buzzed you can tell. You get up to go to the bathroom and stumble a little bit and I go to help.

"Easy there, don't want to ruin a perfectly good evening by going to the hospital" I say smiling and trying not to be to flirty. You blush and look away and say "Thank you and no that would be horrible." Swaying a bit, you make you way to the bathroom and make sure everything still looks perfect. For some reason older men have always made you tingle. You come out of the bathroom and as you're walking by my table you pretend to stumble this time.

"Looks like someone could use some water, can I help you to your seat?" My hands are on you for just a second but you shiver and say "Um, I wouldn't mind sitting with you...." I help you sit down and you can feel me be gentle and help you sit down. Even though you didn't need the help, the fact that I'm touching you makes you wet and your face goes all red.

I order some water for you another beer for myself. You shift in your seat and try not to make eye contact so you don't blush again and get even more embarrassed.

"So, what's your name? I don't usually come down here but it's close and my night off. Needed a few after a long week, but seems you had an even longer week." Playfully teasing you with a smile. Your cheeks turn bright red now that I'm actually talking to you.

"It's Kaitlin" Looking up you actually make eye contact with me and I notice your beautiful green eyes.

"I'm Michael, nice to meet you Hanna" Your cheeks go red when I say you name and that makes me smile.

"Making pretty girls smile always makes my day. Sorry, not trying to flirt with a girl that's had a bit too much to drink." Now it's my turn to look embarrassed.

We talk for a while after the water shows up and you are more comfortable with me. You tell me about getting stood up by your friends and for some reason that you live right around the corner but I try and write that off to the drinks. You decide to order one more drink and get a little flirty. I find it super cute but still think it's the drinks but can't help myself and flirt back.

Once your drink is done you head to the bathroom one last time and check your dress and that everything is in place. I finish the last of my beer and ask if you'd like me to walk you home. You nod and blush again and we head out the door. You’re a bit stumbly and I put my arm around your shoulder to help and you nuzzle in as we walk down the sidewalk.

I think "She must really be drunk, I'm twice her age.'

We get to the door of your house and before I can say anything you lean in and kiss my cheek and whisper to me "I've always wanted to be with an older experienced man. If you've ever wanted to be with a younger girl now is your chance." You hide your face in my shoulder and give me a big hug and moan a little.

"You sure this is such a good idea? You've been drinking and I don't want to take advantage of you." You grind your hips into my pants give me a proper kiss before walking into your house and leaving the front door open. Taking the hint, I follow you in and close the door. You shake your shoulders and slip completely out of your dress and keep walking to the bedroom.

I follow you in and stand at the door still not sure but you walk over to me and loop your finger into my belt and drag me over to the edge of the bed where you sit. You slowly undo my belt and look up at me as you unzip my pants and pull them down slightly. Your hands grab my ass and you nuzzle your face on my boxers, pressing it against my hard cock and moan so softly I almost can't hear it

"Daddy, can I please have it?" You don't move your face and just breath in the smell of me and moan so lightly. I can feel your thighs start to clench around me and your legs pull me closer. Your hands wrap around my waist and make it impossible to move and your face is pressing tighter against my hard cock. Precum is leaking out of the tip and my boxers are sticky from it. You can't help but give them a little lick.

I can't help it and moan and pull down my boxers down a little. The head of my cock pokes out and you lick it and smile at how I taste. Just the way you always thought an older man would. You start to kiss it and take just the head into your mouth and moan and pull me closer and squeeze me tighter. You slowly take more and more into your mouth and push my boxers and pants down with your hands and then grab my ass to get even more of me in your mouth.

Stroking your hair, I tell you how good your mouth feels and flex my cock with the movements of your tongue. You keep moaning louder and try take more of me into your mouth. I reach down and pull your chin up and lift your face to mine. You blush and just realize what just happened. "I um...didn't mean to...call you that..." you hide your face in my shoulders again and cling to me, my cock pressing against your belly getting it sticky.

I stroke your head and tell you it's okay and bring your lips to mine and we kiss for the first time, I can taste me on your lips and flex my cock against you. "It's okay, you can call me whatever you want, and I thought it was really hot. But I'm sure you can tell that." Flexing my cock again as a little joke. You kiss me back and hug me and pull me back onto the bed.

We kiss and let our hands rove over each other’s bodies. I unclasp your bra and your arms come up and let me pull it off. Your breasts press against my chest and I kiss your neck and down my way between them to one nipple first and then the other. They get hard and you moan, your hands on my head and legs wrapped around my waist. I'm still rock hard and throbbing and leaking all over your little young belly.

I kick my pants off and bring my knees up. You slide your panties to the side and guide me into your warm wet pussy. We both lock eyes and just moan. I stretch you and make you clench me tight and flex and grind my hips into you. You bite my neck and milk my cock and whisper "Daddy I'm gonna cum, please tell me I can cum." I moan and respond "Of course get Daddy's cock all messy." You squeeze me so tight I think you're going to rip it off and pull me close and keep biting my neck and moaning.

As your orgasm subsides, I tell you that I'm starting to get close and even though your legs are still shaky you roll me over and say "But I haven't tasted you yet Daddy." You give my cock one final squeeze of you tight hole and slide off and kiss your way down my stomach to my cock. Your mouth hungrily devours it and my hands go to your head to stroke your hair. I can feel you breasts on my thighs and your hard nipples and your moans.

My cock gets even harder and I start to grunt and flex it "Ohhh fuckkk.... You’re making me cum...uggghhhhh." Each word with ends with spurt of my cum into your mouth and you moaning on it, sucking on it greedily with a bit of a laugh. You stop for a brief second "Was I a good girl Daddy?" then my cock goes back in your mouth and you hug and cuddle me with a full mouth.

"You were a very good girl Princess, or can I call you that?"

The next morning, I slowly start to regain consciousness and I can feel you on me. I'm on my back and try to roll over to find you, but you're lying on me already. Your head is on my chest and for some reason my thumb is in your mouth. One of your legs is wrapped around my thigh and you're slowly grinding against it, making it wet as I can barely hear you whimper "Daddy" around my thumb. It's one of the sweetest and cutest things I've ever seen and lay there and enjoy the feel of you cuddling with me.

You slowly start to wake up and realize what you’re doing and jerk back, face bright red and burning. "Ahh, I don't usually do that..." is all you can manage at the moment. I smiled and stretch my arm out and curl you back into me. You immediately hide your face with your hands but your leg wraps around mine again and the slow humping starts. Both of our legs are quite sticky by now and you whimper a little at the embarrassment.

"I think someone likes having a Daddy." Teasing you a little bit because I think it's funny. Your hand goes to mine and you say "Daddy's aren't supposed to tease Princesses!" before my thumb goes back into your mouth. The grinding starts to get harder and I feel your warm wetness spreading all over.

You moan a little and I feel the heat of your face on my chest. My cock is throbbing now and leaking precum all over my stomach. Your hand pulls my thumb out of your mouth and wipes some of it up before bringing my thumb back to your smiling mouth. "Seems like someone is enjoying themselves." teasing you a little again and giving you a squeeze. You try to talk but can only mumble while my thumb is still in your greedy little mouth.

Your free hand goes down to my cock and traces the outlines and veins with the tips of your fingers, making it drip even more. You giggle a little and say "Daddy's so big" before quickly putting my thumb back in. The thigh humping becomes more intense and you start to lightly nibble on my thumb as we can both feel your orgasm begin. The biting becomes harder the closer that you get until your teeth are almost breaking skin as you being to cum. Your little legs shake and you whimper as you climax. It almost seems like it won't end, your legs quivering and the biting of my thumb and the growing wetness on our legs. Finally, it crests and you start to come back to your senses.

Realizing how hard you were biting me you take my thumb out of your mouth and say "Sorry Daddy, I hope I didn't hurt you...." cheeks starting to burn again as you inspect my thumb and see your teeth marks on them. "It's okay, Princess needed her cummies right?" smiling and enjoying your little legs shaking against me.

Suddenly you sit up and blurt out "Now it's time for my special breakfast right Daddy?" before I can answer you roll slightly, keeping my leg between yours and slide down and lick my precum off my belly giggling before devouring my cock.

If you were bashful about it last night you certainly aren't now. It immediately hits the back of your throat and you hold it there and I flex it to tell you that Daddy likes it. That makes you giggle more and you take your hand and put it at the base of my cock and as your mouth comes up as does your hand, stroking me to make sure you get any and all precum that you can. You can taste me start to get closer as there's more and more for you to enjoy.

I can't take any more and I start to grunt and rub your head "Daddy's cumming baby girl." You smile and your mouth moves all the way down my shaft until I'm cumming right at the back of your throat. Each squirt of my cock makes you feel so dirty, swallowing Daddy’s cummies like this. Your face turns even redder as you swallow everything, I can give you. You move back up to the tip and stroke me a few times just to make sure you didn't miss any.

Once satisfied you had all of it you made sure there was none on my belly that you missed and slide up, leaving a little wet spot on my shin where you were humping while you were sucking Daddy's hard cock. You give me a deep kiss and I can faintly taste a bit of me on your lips and in your mouth

My cock is still quite hard and you wiggle down to feel it and whisper "Thank you for the yummy breakfast Daddy" before biting my neck again and slide all the way down. It only takes a few strokes to get you to cum again, but this time you cling to me, whimpering "Please to take it out Daddy..." over and over as you cum on Daddy’s cock

"Daddy would never dream of it" I say loving how quickly you cum after getting your breakfast. You lay there, clung to me tight, unwilling to let go or even let my cock leave your warm wet pussy.