#and then went to ANOthER STORE bc they didn't have any at the first one

[daisywords]

.

[dixons-sunshine]

js read your shopping spree and dying for your haircut fics and omg

can u pretty please, with a bow on top, write another part to that series or like an au where they get separated at the fall of the world and a few season later (preferably that prison era of daryl he was so fawking sexy there like omg) they found each other again and i want some build up to their reunion yk like someone else finds r and brings them in and some ppl kinda chatting abt the new girl or wtv and dars not rlly gaf cuz he kinda getting tired of trying to find r (realistically i don’t think he’d give up easily but let’s js pretend yk) but then they see each other and they’re like omfg the love of my life’s here and safe and like i need that glenn and maggie type reunion but like tenfold bc r and dar alr loved and knew each other before the fall yk and like yeah😣

idky but i’m a sucker for “r and daryl had a relationship beforehand, got separated, and reunited” trope (?) fic, blurb shit and you’d literally be godsent if u wrote this oml

I Found You | Daryl Dixon x Fem!Reader

Summary: When the dead started to rise and the world went to hell, Daryl got seperated from you, the love of his life. After over a year of searching for you and finding no evidence of your survival, Daryl was beginning to give up and count his losses. One day, Carol stumbled upon a wounded woman while out on a run with Glenn, and the two of them decide to accept you into the prison. Little did they know, that would end up being one of the best decisions they could've ever made.

Genre: Angst to fluff.

Era: Prison, pre season 4, post season 3.

Warnings: Swearing, blood, death, mentions of attempted sexual assault (not descriptive)

Word count: 4.3k

A/n: Thank you so much for the request! I've decided to write the au since there's already a part three for the SSHD (Shopping Spree, Hangout Dreams) universe in the works, but this request was way too good to not write. I hope you like it! And I absolutely agree with you. There's something about prison era Daryl that just hits different. He was on another level completely.

As always, my requests are open for any TWD requests.

(Just thought I'd say that both third- and second person is used. I referred to the reader in third  person when Glenn and Carol first met her, but it soon shifts to second person when she introduced herself. Just thought I'd let y'all know the shift is intentional.)

—

“Okay, so I can't guess what you did before all of this correctly, but I bet there is something that I will be right about.”

Daryl looked at Zach skeptically as they trudged through the abandoned store, looking for supplies to bring back to the prison. “Yeah? Wha's tha'?”

“You're brooding, quiet, you like to keep to yourself,” Zach started, leaning nonchalantly against one of the shelves while he watched the archer place multiple different packs and boxes into his bag. “The way you act most of the time would suggest you've never been in a relationship before, but there are clear signs that you were with someone before all of this.”

Daryl stiffened for a moment, his hand lingering above a pack, before regaining his composure and continuing his task. “Wha' signs?”

“Well, for one, you know exactly what kind of tampons and pads to get for the ladies at the prison. I would've just dumped everything in and have them sort through it, but you are only taking specific brands,” Zach pointed out, motioning to the box of tampons Daryl had just put back onto the shelf.

When Daryl didn't reply, Zach took that as his cue to continue. “And while we're on the topic of periods, you seem to know exactly what to get the girls for the pain and what to do to curve their bad tempers. What guy would know that if he didn't have a girlfriend before all of this? And to top it all off, and this is totally unrelated to everything I just said, I've seen that locket necklace you keep in your pocket. It's pretty worn out and faded, but you can definitely tell it's something from this generation, so it can't be something that was passed down from a relative, so that brings me to my conclusion. You, Daryl Dixon, had a girl before all of this.”

Daryl sighed, shutting his eyes tightly as he willed the onslaught of memories away. Memories that were too painful to think of, memories that did nothing but remind the archer of his failure. His failure at finding you, the love of his life, after the dead started walking. A failure he had to live with for as long as he remained alive.

Daryl opened his eyes and turned abruptly, leaving the young man behind him as he stalked towards the exit, his bag slung over his shoulder. Zach hurriedly caught up to him, struggling to keep at a steady pace beside him as Daryl strode quickly, wanting to put some distance between him and Zach.

“Woah, man! Slow down!” Zach complained, jogging to keep up with him. “Was it because I brought up the girl thing? I didn't realise it was a touchy subject.”

“It ain't none of yer damn business,” Daryl grumbled under his breath, stalking over to the truck him and Zach were using that day.

“Daryl! Come on, man. It's not that deep.”

Daryl gritted his teeth as he opened up the driver's side door of the truck, throwing his bag into the back before climbing inside. He started up the truck and revved the engine, a warning sign to Zach that he was about to leave, with or without him.

Zach hurriedly scurried into the passenger seat, barely having time to close the door before Daryl started speeding off. He gripped the edge of his seat, sending Daryl an exasperated look.

“Daryl, what the hell? Calm down!” he exclaimed, unnerved by the archer's sudden burst of fury. He'd seen Daryl angry before, but it was never directed towards him. It was downright scary.

“'M calm,” Daryl replied through gritted teeth, his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly.

“That's what you call calm?!” Zach exclaimed, motioning out towards the road. “You're driving like a maniac! Slow down!”

Daryl simply ignored the man, keeping his eyes trained on the road. Memories of you unwillingly flooded his mind. Memories of your smile, your laugh and your beautiful eyes. Memories of the calm mornings you'd spend with the archer in your shared sad excuse for an apartment where the hot water was a joke. Memories where you'd both stand under the cold water of the shower, Daryl embracing you from behind in an attempt to make the cold water bearable for you. Memories of your loving touch on his skin, your fingers lightly tracing over the scars on his back as you whispered reassuring things into his ear, assuring him that his father's abuse had nothing to do with him, that it wasn't his fault that any of that happened to him.

The more Daryl's mind wandered, the more he remembered some of the bad memories. All those arguments you had with him over some of his escapades with Merle, telling him that it would only get him into trouble, flooded his mind. One of those arguments ended up being the reason he got seperated from you in the first place.

Merle had wanted to go do some drug deal and had barged into your apartment, practically dragging Daryl from your bed. You had begged him not to go, arguing with him that it was a bad idea and that something would go wrong this time. He remembered being so angry at you for insisting during that argument that Merle wasn't good for him, that he needed to cut back on seeing him or set some boundaries with him. He had stormed out of the apartment without so much as a goodbye, and now he regretted it more than he's regretted anything before in his life.

Daryl blamed himself daily for not having listened to you that day. If he had, he never would've been seperated from you and you would've been safe by his side. He longed to have you by his side again, to tell you that he was sorry and that he loved you. However, even after all this time of searching, going out for extended periods of time to look for signs of you, it was to no avail. You were gone, and it was all his fault.

“Daryl? Are... you okay?”

Daryl snapped back to reality at the sound of Zach's concerned voice. He felt a droplet of water roll down his cheek and he hurriedly wiped it away, realising that he was crying. He hadn't even realised that tears had started to well up in his eyes, so immersed was he in his own thoughts.

“'M fine,” Daryl insisted, wiping his eyes hurriedly as he willed the tears away.

Zach furrowed his eyebrows, before realisation dawned on him. “You did have a girl before all of this. You lost her, didn't you?” he asked sympathetically.

Daryl hesitantly nodded, swallowing in an attempt to get rid of the lump in his throat. “I didn't lose her,” he began, bringing the truck to a halt in front of the prison gates as he waited for someone to open them.

“I don't know if she's even dead at all. She's just... Gone.”

—

“What are we looking for, exactly?” Glenn asked Carol as they scanned over the shelving of an abandoned pharmacy, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Carol sighed as she looked upon yet another empty shelf, its medical contents a thing of the past. “Anything medical. With all the new people we've been taking in, the supplies we have aren't going to be enough.”

“Okay,” Glenn drawled hesitantly. “But it doesn't look like there's anything worth scavenging here.”

“Let's just do a once over before we check the back. If there's nothing, we head on back. It's getting late,” Carol instructed. Glenn nodded, and the two of them dispersed to sweep through the small store once more.

“So,” Glenn started. “Is it just me, or has Daryl been more grumpy than usual?”

Carol hummed in agreement. “He has. He gets angry at the smallest of things lately.”

“Do you know why?”

“No,” Carol said, shaking her head. “I've asked him, but he won't say anything. Just tells me to mind my own business. It's really odd. He's more like he was back at the quarry. More closed off and snappy and I don't know why.”

“It's ever since he came back from that run with Zach a week ago,” Glenn replied, meeting up with the Carol again to go into the back room. “I've asked Zach if he knows why, but he refused to say anything. Says it's not his place to say.”

Carol frowned, opening the door that lead into the back room. “That's odd. So that means something—”

“Stay right there. Don't move another inch or I swear to god I'll shoot.”

Both Carol and Glenn froze in their tracks. They looked up and locked eyes with a woman, who's eyes were fiery as they darted between them.

“Names. Now. And weapons on the ground.”

“Okay, alright,” Carol responded, trying to diffuse the situation. She slowly lowered her gun and knife to the ground, urging Glenn to do the same. “I'm Carol, and this is Glenn. Now before we answer anymore questions, what's your name?”

The woman hesitated for a moment. “Y/n. What are you doing here?”

“We were looking for some supplies,” Carol spoke truthfully, eyeing the gun aimed at her carefully. “We're running low on medical things.”

After a couple of long, tense moments, with you scanning them from head to toe, you nodded to yourself after spotting something. Deciding to trust them for now, you slowly lowered the gun. However, you quietly hissed in pain, quickly clutching your side as you stumbled to regain your balance. After you steadied yourself, you limped over to your bag and grabbed a few things before handing them over to Carol and Glenn.

“Here. Hope these help. The place was ransacked when I got here. Wasn't a lot left to clear out.”

“Thank you, but we need more than this. This isn't going to last us long,” Carol responded, placing the items into her bag.

“No offence, lady, but I think I need the supplies more than you do at the moment. And I gave you more than half already. I can't spare more,” you said, clutching your side tightly.

“What happened?” Glenn asked, pointing to the your side, unable to stop his curiosity from seeping through.

“Flesh eaters,” you replied nonchalantly, shrugging your shoulders. “I was fighting a bunch of them when one lunged at me from the side. It toppled me through a broken window, and a shard sliced me.”

“Don't you have a group? Couldn't they help you?” Glenn questioned.

“Nope. I've been on my own since this whole thing started. I guess I should probably find a group, though. Things like this wouldn't happen if I had backup.”

You gingerly lifted your shirt, and both Carol and Glenn grimaced at the painful sight. The wound was deep and oozing blood. It would definitely need stitches, as well as someone to remove the remaining fragments of glass that still painfully stuck out of the wound. It was terrible. You wouldn't be able to get it all out without a professional.

Suddenly, an idea struck Carol. “You gave us some of the supplies you scavenged without even knowing us. Why?”

“Well, you didn't try to kill me, even after I held you at gunpoint. And by the looks of it, you guys have a group and are set up somewhere. Figured I should do the honourable thing and offer up some medical things if there's kids involved.”

“How do you know there's kids?” Glenn asked, confused.

“I can see the toys in your bag,” you pointed out, motioning to the toy truck that stuck out of the top of his bag. “Figured that adults wouldn't be playing with toy trucks while the world was ending.”

“Still, why would you? You don't owe us anything,” Carol questioned, though her mind was already set on one thing.

“Some might call me naive, but I hope that by doing some good in this fucked up world, karma will decide to do something good for me. That probably makes me stupid as shit, huh?” you replied, laughing before wincing at the pain that shot through your side at the small action.

Carol smiled at you. “We have a group set up not too far from here, at the prison. You can join if you want, but you have to answer three questions first.”

You raised your eyebrows at her. “Three questions? That's it?”

“Yeah.”

You shrugged your shoulders. “Alright, shoot.”

“How many walkers have you killed?” Carol began, watching you closely.

“A lot. Too many to keep track of at this point.��

“How many people have you killed?”

You hesitated for a moment, guilt creeping up on you. “Three.”

“Why?”

“Two of them were bit. They asked me to kill them. The other one... That bastard tried to rape me. I wouldn't let him.”

“I'm sorry,” Glenn said sympathetically.

“It's fine. I'm fine,” you waved him off, before turning your attention back to Carol. “How'd I do? Satisfactory enough?”

Carol nodded. “For me, yes. You'll still need to meet the leader and have him evaluate you, but I think you'll be alright. You'll fit in just fine.”

“Hopefully,” you laughed nervously, instantly paying the price for it with a sharp pain shooting up your side, making you visibly wince.

“Come on, let's get going. We have a doctor who can get that checked out for you,” Glenn prompted. He walked over to you and grabbed your bag, stopping your protest instantly. “It's fine, I've got it. One extra bag won't kill me.”

Together, all of you made your way out of the pharmacy and over to their car. You got settled in the back while Carol and Glenn got into the front, and before long you were setting off to the prison. Your eyes were beginning to droop, but Glenn seemed eager to get to know the new recruit better.

“What were you doing out there on your own anyway?”

“I was looking for my boyfriend. I was hoping that he might still be alive.”

“No luck?” he asked.

“No,” you shook your head, pursing your lips. “I'm beginning to think I might never find him, if he's even still alive.”

“Never say never,” Glenn encouraged you. “You'll find him someday, I know it.”

“I really hope so.”

—

“Have you seen that new chick Glenn and Carol brought back? She's a real looker.”

“I know, right? You think she's into blondes?”

“Even if she was, I doubt she'd go for your scrawny ass.”

“Easy, boys. She might not even be into guys. I could have a shot with her for all you know.”

Daryl groaned inwardly as he entered the cellblock. The new girl that Glenn and Carol brought in the day before was seemingly the hottest topic of discussion amongst everyone and he couldn't escape it, no matter where he tried to run to. Nobody, apart from Glenn, Carol, Rick and Hershel have officially met her, yet everybody had seemingly already formed an opinion about her. Although there were a lot of different opinions, everyone seemingly agreed on one thing; the new girl was hotter than hell.

Daryl was the only guy in the entire prison that hadn't seen her yet. He was out hunting when Carol and Glenn brought her back and he hasn't bothered to go out of his way to introduce himself to her ever since he got back. He'd meet her soon enough and he wasn't hoping to make friends with her. The more people he managed to keep at arm's length, the better.

“Yo, Daryl. What do you think about the new chick?” a guy called Mitchell asked him, snapping him from his thoughts.

Daryl shrugged. “Ain't met her yet,” he replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Okay, but have you seen her?” another guy called Ronnie asked. “I'm telling you, man, hotter than the sun on a summer day. I'm hoping she'll let me hit at least once.”

“How 'bout ya leave the poor girl alone?” Daryl snapped, turning to face the group that was walking with him. “She ain't even been here two days and y'all are already ogling her like she's some prize to be won. Have some more respect.”

“Jeez,” Mitchell whistled. “What's got your panties up in a bunch?”

“Nothin',” Daryl muttered angrily, turning around to walk further into the cellblock. “Jus' wanna get this fuckin' job done and all y'all can do is yap 'bout some girl ya dun' even know properly. I dun' give two flyin' shits 'bout who or wha' ya talk 'bout, but do it after the job's done. Y'all ain't free loadin' here. Do yer job, earn yer keep.”

“Sorry,” a girl called Ariana muttered, sending him an apologetic look. “What do you need us to do?”

“Take those planks over there and take em to the guard tower. Rick wants to fortify it and wants it done by the end of the week.”

“What are you gonna do?” Ronnie asked, crossing his arms as he sized Daryl up.

Daryl glared at him and squared his shoulders, looking down on his shorter, scrawny frame. “Hershel needs help with somethin'. I believe ya can understand tha' if the doctor needs somethin' done, it's considered top priority?”

Ronnie shrunk under Daryl's intense glare, nodding quickly. “Yeah, of course.”

“Great.”

With that, Daryl turned on his heel and set off to find Hershel. He didn't have to search far, however, because Hershel halted him before he could go outside.

“Daryl, over here,” the old man called after him, halting him in his tracks.

Daryl turned and walked over to Hershel, nodding at him respectfully. “Wha' ya need, Doc?”

“I'm sure you've heard of the girl Carol and Glenn brought back yesterday by now?” Hershel questioned, chuckling at the slight groan Daryl emitted.

“Who hasn't? Apparently she's really good lookin'. Her looks has been all people has to say 'bout her.”

Hershel nodded. “Unfortunately, that is true. Only Rick, Glenn, Carol and myself has had the pleasure of meeting her personally up until this point. She's a lovely woman. Had no problem that there wasn't anything to ease the pain when I had to stitch her side and she's more than willing to get up and start working to earn her keep. She won't be able to for at least another day or so since her side needs to heal up a bit first, but Carol and Glenn did good with bringing her back. She'll fit right in.”

“Good,” Daryl nodded. “She a good fighter?”

“From what I understand, she's been out on her own since the beginning. She's not dead yet, so I'd say she's alright,” Hershel replied, adjusting on his crutches.

“Alrigh', now enough 'bout her. Wha' did ya need me to do?”

Hershel gave him an encouraging pat on the back, confusing the archer. “You're going to be one of the very few people who gets to say they met the new girl for the next couple of days. I was hoping you could help her fix her bunk? One of the legs on the bunk broke and she's dead set on repairing it. She won't let me help because she keeps insisting I've done enough for her, so I told her I would send someone else to help. She'll be expecting you.”

Daryl pursed his lips but nodded, parting ways with the older man. He walked over to the cell that Hershel had pointed towards and stopped at the doorway, hesitating to make his presence known.

You had your back turned towards the door, hunched over as you inspected the leg of the bunk. You weren't aware of the archer that stood a few feet behind you, engrossed entirely in your own thoughts. That was, until he spoke up behind you.

“Hey. Hershel said ya needed help?”

You froze at the voice, willing the supposed hallucination away. You slowly rose to your feet and turned, locking eyes with the one person you've been searching for since the world went to hell—your boyfriend, Daryl Dixon.

The moment Daryl locked eyes with you, a whirlwind of emotions flooded his being. Relief, love, happiness, wonder, sadness, confusion and so much more that he couldn't decipher. Although his first instinct was to wrap you in his arms and never let go of you again, he hesitated, refusing to believe you were real. He took a step back, his eyes wide as he looked at you.

You stared back at him with equal amounts of disbelief. You took a hesitant step forward. “Daryl?” you whispered. The man in front of you looked slightly different; a little bit older and his hair was longer, but there was no mistaking it. The man in front of you was Daryl.

Daryl remained silent, his eyes locked on you as you continued to take agonizingly slow steps towards him. He watched as you stopped in front of him and hesitantly raised your hand, bringing it to rest on his cheek. Daryl instantly melted into your familiar soft touch, and that was all the confirmation he needed. Without another thought, he gently grabbed you and pulled you into his arms, tightly clinging to you as he pressed multiple kisses to the top of your head.

“Yer real,” he whispered, a laugh of amazement falling from his lips. “Yer real. Yer alive. Yer actually still alive.”

You laughed quietly against his chest as you held onto him tightly, never wanting to let go ever again. Your laughter soon turned into sobs, tears of relief and happiness falling from your eyes.

“I thought I'd never see you again,” you whispered through your tears, burying your face into his chest. “I thought you were dead, Dar.”

“'M here,” he whispered into your ear, a few tears of his own falling from his eyes. “'M alive. Yer alive. 'M never lettin' ya go ever again. 'M sorry I ever left tha' day in the first place.”

“It's okay. I'm sorry, too. I never should've asked you to cut Merle out of your life. He's your brother. It was unreasonable of me.”

“Nah, it wasn't,” he denied, placing another gentle kiss on the top of your head. “Ya were jus' lookin' out fer me. I never shoulda gotten mad at ya in the first place.”

“Let bygones be bygones?” you whispered against his chest.

Daryl chuckled before nodding. “Yeah, of course.”

The two of you held onto each other for a couple of moments longer until you pulled back. Daryl was about to voice his protest until you pressed your lips against his in an urgent kiss, wrapping your arms around his neck. His arms settled on your waist, pulling you closer into him as he kissed you back. There was no lustful hunger behind the kiss—there was only love and longing, two broken parts finally reuniting and mending together as one.

Daryl pulled back and placed his forehead against yours, closing his eyes. “I missed ya so much,” he whispered, willing the lump in his throat to go away.

“I missed you too. More than you even know,” you replied, cupping Daryl's cheek with one of your hands. “But I found you. I finally found you.”

Daryl leaned into your touch before turning his head to kiss the palm of your hand. However, he soon pulled away from you and strode over to your bag, slinging it over your shoulder.

“C'mon,” he said, taking your hand in his as he pulled you to walk beside him.

“Where are we going?” you questioned, falling into step beside the man you loved.

“There ain't no need fer ya to sleep in there. Yer gonna sleep with me in my cell,” Daryl said simply, pulling you along to his cell.

You giggled but said nothing, silently following him into his cell. When he placed your bags down on the floor, Daryl placed a soft kiss on your lips before stalking out of the cell.

“Where are you going?” you called after him, furrowing your eyebrows in confusion.

“'M gonna find tha' prick who objectified ya and teach him a lesson. Yer hot as fuck, yes, that much I can accept people sayin', but Ronnie implied he wanted to sleep with ya outrigh'. He's really gonna regret sayin' tha' in a few moments. Dun' even try to talk me outta it.”

“Hey, Dar?” you called after him, halting him in his tracks. “I love you.”

Daryl smiled at you. “I definitely love ya more.”

[sayorithot]

oh my fuckin GOD I just had such a piss adventure

so I went to a restaurant, and was like oooh free soda refills?? niceee and got like THREE big cups of sprite. I finished two and had a couple decent sips from the last one

and I did pee after the first two, I thought that would take care of it, I wouldn't have to worry for a while

and THEN

I drove some friends home from the restaurant, and thought "oh, I kinda gotta go, would it ve impolite to ask if I can use their bathroom? eh I'll just hold it it's fine" and I was like. DYING by the time I got to theirs

and then I drove away w my one other friend in the front seat and asked where a good bathroom would be and they were like oh sure! I need to go too, can u hold it til you get home tho? and I was like uhhhh. no.

so we decided to head to a grocery store we knew abt. we were like hell yea, it's close right? and then we realized it was like, up to TEN MINUTES AWAY and we had to drive past a LAKE.

i kept having to take deep slow breaths, and at one point I winced bc I got a sharp bladder pain and my friend was like wtf are you good?? and I was like yea I just really gotta go.

I had MULTIPLE different times delaying us-- once, I was going the wrong way until I pulled up my gmaps, and got us turned back around the right way. and then, we had to stop for a cop car to go. AND THEN we saw the accident the cop was rushing to, and I turned a lil to go down another road on the way so I wouldn't get stuck at the scene of the accident-- lol I ended up at the MAIN part of the accident instead 😭 luckily didn't get *stuck,* but definitely slowed a bit... I near rushed the last block to the store

and then I was like okay where's the bathroom and my friend was like uhhh good question! so we walked around. first we went to the back, saw it wasn't to the left of the store, and started walking down the back aisle-- I was nervous that there wouldn't be one at ALL. then my friend came up behind me and was like hey I asked someone, they said it's down at the other end of the store from where we entered but we are going the right direction! and I was like thank god

so we found these two family restrooms and I was like yesss and we each knocked and went inside, luckily they were both empty, and I was SO READY

and then the fuckin toilet was COVERED in droplets of who knows what. i had to wipe the thing down. hell, some employee left a bottle labeled "general purpose disinfectant" so I tried to spritz that on to kill any freaky germs-- and the thing was empty. I squeezed that thing a few times thinking the noise was spritzing, but no, it was literally just empty and my bladder was YELLIN

so I finally WENT and it took a second for me to really feel it bc of how FULL I was but when I did the relief it hit like a TRUCK and I sat there like half a minute at least sighing in relief

I'm still sitting here with my bladder refilling lil bits, and trying to make sure I don't sit desperate in my car again hfjdnfhd

[sulumuns-dootah]

Taking the WHB demons thrifting

⟡ Masterlist ⟡ 

Characters: Paimon, Bimet, Eligos, Barbatos, Beelzebub, Amon, Morax, Ronove, Andrealphus, Vassago

A/N: First time writing for Vassago so let's hope I can nail his personality down since we didn't really get much of him the Beleth/Bephie event.

    ༺☆༻

The best one to go with, honestly

You could be looking through a rack for hours and yet, they manage to find something cute and in your size in the same rack

Will hype you up to buy something a bit out of your comfort zone

A thrifting trip can't be complete without a lunch before and a slushie or a visit to a café afterwards

    ༺☆༻

"Tell me why we're buying rags after some hobos instead of buying something nice and unworn, again?"

You've made a mistake, I'm afraid

Even designer outlets aren't good enough for Bimet

Your explanations about how more fun and good for the planet it is fall on deaf ears

    ༺☆༻

Another amazing patootie to choose to go with

It's harder for him to find something he likes, but once he sees the stuff you like, he's hoarding that shi at your feet

Snacks, snacks, snacks!

Honestly tho, Eli and Pai is the best fashion duo ever

    ༺☆༻

For someone who is naked most of the time, Barbs enjoys shopping for clothes a lot

He's especially interested in eye-catching prints

Doesn't really care about what you like, but what he would like on you (again, he literally wants you to be naked all the time, so what's the point of picking out clothes for you?)

Withe very item he wants to get the criteria are: how easy is it to remove? and will it make Barbatos look too good, making Leviathan hang him out of envy?

    ༺☆༻

This fucker tagged along only bc you promised to take him to some restaurant he hasn't tried before after you're done

*sigh* I hate to say it, but he would try to smell the articles of clothing for any remaining scent of the previous owner

You better hold him by the scruff of his neck so he doesn't do anything

"I like this top, I'm gonna buy it." "Oh? Lemme see *sniff sniff* Ooh, this belonged to someone who liked italian food and mostly matched it with (some other article of clothing)!"

    ༺☆༻

Amon, doesn't really have much of an input

Most likely he'll just stay parked somewhere, leaning against a wall and sleepily watch you browse the racks

When you ask for his opinion, you always get the same answer: "Looks good on you, love"

If you find something he might like, he'll have more to say, but is mostly happy that you want to get him something

    ༺☆༻

Aw, this cutie only went with you because you mentioned you wanna go to a cat café afterwards

Ironically, Morax ends up getting more things than you

The amount of fluffy and comfy sweaters that he can wear at home is enough to fill two bags

Visit to the cat café goes even better

You barely couldn't even leave bc the cats kept surrounding Morax

    ༺☆༻

As soon as you enter the store, he's immediately making his way to the lingerie section

"Hey, how about this? You'd look good in this and wouldn't have to be mad at me for ripping it apart."

To be fair, his style is on point and you end up buying the things he found for you

But to disappoint him, you also don't want him to rip thise things too, especially since they're unique and not from some store where you can buy more

    ༺☆༻

Oh no, this poor baby is trying to help you find nice things, but he can only pick them out by touch :(

He always brings you the ugliest things and it hurts you to tell him that they might feel nice, but look horrible

You end up buying some of the stuff anyway, so you can at least wear them at home while spending time with Andre

On the other hand, you find some nice suits for him, but he hates the texture of them

    ༺☆༻

Somehow, going thrifting with Vassago, you come out with outfits that would make a profesional stylist jealous

This man can take anything and make it look fancy af

Hell, you could give him a tablecloth and he'll make you look like a greek statue

In the end you both end up having a full bag of things

You have a bag of stuff for yourself and Vassago has a bag full of stuff for Agares

[pajarinwrites]

LOLLAPALOOZA | Boo Seungkwan x Reader

➳ gn!reader x seungkwan

➳ wc: 2.4k

➳ TAGS: angst? no au!au?? seungkwan gets lost in berlin and reader helps him hahaha

➳ WARNINGS: sadness? unrequited attration/infatuation? german language, german people (jk love y'all), kinda insta-lovey

➳ AN: obviously i had to write something about lolla bc the boys ate that. i love them so much. this is my gift for every carat that didn't get to go (i'll probably continue this bc i did not enjoy that mildly sad ending) also it was my anniversary this week, so you get two stories within the same week (unheard of from me fr)

side note: no shade to the German people. Also, if I butchered Berlinese, please ignore it, thx. also also i don't know where the olympia stadium player entrance is and i was too lazy to look it up. different side note: if you were one of the carats that went to LOLLA in cheers outfits (you know the ones: purple, blue, orange, hats with jewels) and you happened to be stumbling across this, just know i am actually in fact in love with you and you are contractually obliged to marry me, you guys all slayed <3

masterlist

He stared down at his phone, helplessly. But the stupid thing remained stubbornly black. The sun was beating down onto his neck, bared, unlike his face that was protected by his cap, and he rubbed at it in frustration. It must have been getting close to noon, way past the time he had promised to be back. It also meant the sun was nearly above him. Without any shadow to seek refuge in, Seungkwan continued down the street. He had been avoiding getting a new phone for ages, and now it had finally caught up with him.

“Ah fuck,” he cursed under his breath, shoving the hot, useless brick back into his pocket. The pavement was flickering with heat as he looked down the street. He’d have to ask someone for help. Now, if only someone would brave the sun and temperature outside. What kind of city was this empty at noon, anyway? Granted, he wasn’t exactly in the middle of the city, but still.

He made it to the corner before finally spotting the long-awaited sign of actual life. There was a store across the street, a bright red sign reading ‘kiosk’.

He strutted in, surreptitiously wiping his hands on his shirt and trying not get too stressed out by the fact he’d have to communicate his troubles in English now.

“Hi, hello…” he started, waving softly at the clerk behind the counter. He was a middle-aged man, tan and bearded, gruff-looking, like so many of the people Seungkwan had encountered here.

“Uhm, I am… need help. I need help.” he stammered, searching the man’s face for any sort of emotion. The only reply was a grunt. He tried again, “I am… lost way. I am looking… uhm… looking for Olympia Stad—?”

The man started waving his hands in front of his face.

“Keen Englisch!”

Seungkwan tried again, just slower this time but that seemed to agitate the man even more.

“Ick sech ick kann keen Englisch. Icke versteh’ nüscht!“

He seemed angry, so Seungkwan bowed and hurried out of the store. Who knew Germans could be this scary. This also left him at square one. Or, possibly, worse. He had no idea where he had gotten turned around and there wasn’t another store in sight. With no one around the hour approaching early afternoon, he was busy trying to keep the panic at bay.

A sudden voice startled him out of his spiralling thoughts.

“Alles in Ordnung? Kann ich dir helfen?”

He spun around, and met with wide eyes, fluffy hair, and a worried expression. A person, probably about his age, was standing in front of him. Kind, was his first thought, the way you were clutching a hand-painted tote bag to your side, and looking honestly concerned for him, gave him hope.

“Ah, yes, hello!” No matter his anxiety about English, Seungkwan wasn’t going to let this golden opportunity pass.

“You speak English?”

You inclined your head, “Yeah, a little. Are you lost?”

He nodded fervently but before he could attempt to explain any further, the person in front of him suddenly slipped into Korean.

“혹시 한국인 이세요?“ Are you Korean?

“Oh!” He exclaimed surprised and so relieved that he felt close to tears.

“Yes, yes! How did you know?” He replied.

You laughed and Seungkwan, oddly, felt all his former worry drain away, “Just a lucky guess. Your style and hair, maybe.”

Seungkwan clasped his hands, starting into a relieved tirade, “Wow, I’m so glad that I happened to run into you on the street like this, you have no—“

“Uhm,” you interrupted him, raising a hand, “…slowly, please?”

Seungkwan took a few seconds to realise that his excited outburst had probably been too much, linguistically.

“Oh! Yes, of course. Just… I’m happy I met you. I need to go to the Olympia Stadium but I don’t know where it is.”

This time, your brows remained unfurrowed as you focused on Seungkwan’s speech, which he tried to keep as slow and clear as possible.

“It’s that way. Do you want to go together?”

He nodded with relief, falling into step beside you.

“Are you also on your way to the festival?” He inquired, but was met with the shake of the head.

“No, I just don’t know how to describe the way in Korean.”

Seungkwan laughed at your sheepish expression. “How do you know Korean?”

“An ex of mine was Korean.”

“Wow! You learned just for them?”

You nodded, laughing. “Yeah, I visited their family in Korea and I wanted to be able to communicate. Then I just kept studying on my own after we broke up.”

Seungkwan nodded, studying your side profile, somewhat severe, he thought.

“So how did you get lost?”

“I was taking a walk.”

“You don’t seem to have… your direction isn’t very good.”

“My sense of direction?”

“Yes!” You turned, mumbling the phrase under your breath repeatedly, and Seungkwan had trouble holding back a giggle. Apparently, that severe look disappeared entirely when you were excited about something. He giggled at your concentrated expression.

“Do you wanna write it down?”

“I’ll write it down later. So, are you going to the… concert?”

Seungkwan blinked, averting his face. He had forgotten, for a second, the fact that he was, technically speaking, world famous.

“Uhm, yeah… I’m going to the festival.” He said, hoping you would leave it at that but of course, no such luck.

“You came all the way here for Lollapalooza? Or do you live in Berlin?”

“We flew here.”

“Wow! Who do you want to see that much?”

“Sam Smith,” he said, both because he did want to see them and because it seemed like a safe lie.

“They don’t tour in Korea?”

“Uhm, we wanted to visit Europe anyway.”

“Ah! I see! Not only Berlin, then? Where else will you travel?”

If you realised his increasing discomfort, you didn’t let it show. Seungkwan didn’t enjoy lying, and the longer the conversation kept going, the surer he was that you must’ve figured something out. Or worse, recognised him right at the start.

“Are you going to the festival?” He asked in lieu of a reply. You looked taken aback for a second but seemed to shake the awkwardness off quickly.

“Nope, I’m not really a… festival person…”

“Ah…” he trailed off, unsure whether or not to pursue the subject. Eventually he settled on, “you don’t like that kind of music?”

“Pop? I don’t mind it.”

“Ah, and… K-Pop? You like it?” Seungkwan knew he should not breach the topic; he should ignore the possibility of you knowing of him. He should just pray that you would say ‘no, not really’ in reply. Technically, he was aware, that everything would be a lot easier and more genuine if you no knowledge of the genre. But he couldn’t help the small voice that was hoping for you to say you adored his music, his voice, his stage presence. He wasn’t sure why, all of a sudden, he craved it like this. Hence, his emotions remained equally confused when you replied, “I prefer older songs, from back when I first got into K-Pop. Like SHINee, 2PM, VIXX, Girl’s Generation, SES, you know? Do you like the group playing today?”

He didn’t dare look up. Your tone had been genuine. You didn’t seem to even know their name. He shrugged his shoulders in reply and tried not to let the speck of disappointment in his chest spread too far. Seungkwan didn’t even notice his lack of reply until he glanced over, seeing your wide eyes staring at him.

“Ah, err, yeah I like them,” he finally decided. Why lie about that?

“Anyone else you want to see? I guess a festival like this... I guess you want to…”

He looked over, letting you sort your thoughts patiently until you gave up with an embarrassed chuckle.

“It’s only worth it if you want to see several artists.” You finally said, switching into English. It took a few seconds for him to untangle the sentence but eventually he nodded, smiling. Unfortunately, his brain used that exact moment to blank on the rest of the people playing at Lollapalooza, and he ended up having to say, “Yeah, I really like Seventeen.”

“Seventeen, huh?” You whipped out your phone and typed away on it. He didn’t have time to worry what would happen if you started looking for photos online, before your phone started blaring Maestro.

“This is the first song on their Spotify page. Which one is your favourite?” You held out your phone as the both of you came to stop at a traffic light. He took it, gingerly, his fingertips grazing yours for a few seconds.

The first song that popped to the front of his brain was Ready to love, so he pressed play. The traffic light turned green and you took your phone back. As you listened intently, Seungkwan looked around, realising that the area started to look more familiar again. The streets also seemed less empty, which was at the same time reassuring and anxiety inducing.

He tugged at your bag to get your attention, “Do you know where the, uhm...” This was it. He should have just been honest from the beginning. There was no way he could get through the masses at the entrance unnoticed. He probably wouldn’t even make it five minutes. And there was no good lie for needing to find the back entrance. Other than…

“I’m part of the staff, so I have to get to the back entrance.”

You cocked your eyebrow before recognition crossed your face.

“Ah, you mean the player entrance? The one the… people who do sport usually use?”

“Yeah!”

You grinned in a way that he couldn’t quite read, “Sure, I’ll have to look that up, though.”

You pulled him over, away from what he had realised was a metro station or something to that effect. A steady drip of people had been exciting the station and turning towards the same direction, so Seungkwan abducted that you had very much picked up on the fact that he didn’t want to be spotted by the masses. The two of you leaned against the wall of a building opposite the street as you pulled up a browser on your phone and looked for the map of the Olympia Stadium. Seungkwan watched the people pass, a lot of them were clearly discernible as Carats, either by their outfits or accessories. He saw a few people with Cheers-inspired outfits, carat bongs, and a frankly abnormal amount of people in tiger print.

“Got it!” You announce after a second, showing the graphic to Seungkwan. “We can take the roundabout way, if you prefer. Just follow this street, then turn right, and enter through the western entrance. Should I take you?”

That was no question for Seungkwan, “Yes, please.”

To his relief, you didn’t hesitate, only nodding happily and taking off in the right direction. He fell back into step beside you, watching you from the corner of his eyes.

“I really liked that song,” you eventually stated. It took him a few seconds to realise that you were talking about his song.

“Yeah? Then you should listen to Rock with you and Hot. Maestro is the latest song, it’s also really good. Then there’s God of Music and…” he trailed off at the sight of your amused expression.

“I’ve got a lot of listening to do, it seems.”

He nodded, avoiding your gaze. Seungkwan was at a loss for words, feeling the end of your companionship draw closer with every step. As short as the time had been, he had enjoyed talking to you and hearing your laugh. Ridiculous, he thought, as he had to concede the feeling in his chest.

The two of you made it to the staff entrance, where security awaited. His hand shot out, stopping you a few metres away from them. Their eyes turned towards you, but they remained at their posts.

“Thank you so much,” Seungkwan reiterated, holding onto your arm feverishly. There was this wild thought bouncing through his head that, if he let go now, you’d vanish from his life and never return.

“It’s no problem, really. I had nowhere else to be. I’m happy I could help.”

You voice was earnest and your eyes creased at the corners with happiness. Seungkwan wanted, so badly, to ask for your contact. But there was the issue of communication, and the – much larger – problem of his fame. He had been ‘advised’ not to share any personal contact information with anyone, and he couldn’t very well give you his public Instagram. Not least because that would mean this little pocket of normality would come to an indisputable and abrupt end. You seemed to read his inner conflict on his face because your expression softened. Carefully, you extricated your arm from his grip.

“It was nice meeting you…”

“Seungkwan.”

“Seungkwan,” you repeated, and the care you took in pronouncing it, the way your lips fit themselves around the shape of his name, made his heart seize. “I’m [name]. Maybe I’ll see you again.”

You were smiling so softly, almost hopeful, and Seungkwan didn’t have the guts to say no. “That’d be nice,” he replied instead.

“In German we have this saying: you always meet twice in life.”

Seungkwan nodded, somewhere between regretful and smitten. He steeled himself for the final goodbye when you held out your phone.

“Could you write down those songs for me? The ones you said earlier?”

Lucky, he thought, heaving a relieved sigh. He wouldn’t have had the courage to reject any possible advances of yours. Although, maybe that meant you weren’t interested at all? Maybe you didn’t find him as cute, and interesting, and kind as he did you. Or maybe you were more realistic in withholding judgment of a person you had known a grand total of fifteen minutes. He took your phone, writing a small list in your notes app before locking it and handing it back to you. You took it without looking at it, your eyes never leaving his. It seemed almost like you were searching for something in them. When you finally looked away, Seungkwan had no way of knowing whether you had found it.

“Tell the artists I wish them good luck for their show,” you said. There was a glint in your eyes that told him there was more weight to your words. For a second, he was sure you knew, maybe had known all along. But in the end, there was nothing he could do but watch you walk away, waving and smiling as he made his way backstage.

[orchidsangel]

Recently imagined Jason and y/n, his ex, meeting again after a few years. Still obviously caring about each other. Eating cake alone at the apartment and awaiting the New Year together. Not wanting to say that this is the least lonely, however sad-looking, night they've experienced since they split up.

(jumping off a cliff bc i missed the glaring "new year" part of this and was like "i'll get to this later" so sorry beloved, also this got more angsty than i intended.)

Exes to lovers with Jason is always in the back of my mind somewhere, eating away at my sanity. Just the idea that he loved you so hard he had to let you go, knowing the life he lived wasn't suitable for you. You told him you didn't mind, that he was so important to you that you could put aside the constant worry that would sit in your stomach like a rock every time he was off being Red Hood. You said it was fine, but he saw the way bags appeared under your eyes after too many nights of staying up for him, how you forgot to eat when he went too long without contacting you, and how the tears would slip past your lashes when you were patching him up.

At the end of it all, you had begged him to stay, telling him over and over how much you loved him. It killed him to tell you that that was the reason why it was ending, because you loved him too hard, and you were neglecting yourself because of it. He was sick, wondering if he'd made the wrong decision, wondering if this would only make things worse for you. So, despite the fresh ache in his heart, he still watched out for you, determined to make sure you thrived without him, and thrive you did.

It felt like it had been ages since the last time he saw you that couldn't be mistaken for stalking. Watching you from rooftops and alleyways, rushing fights to make sure he could see if you got home safely and intervene if there were any threats. It became routine for him to hang up his helmet at night once he knew you were safe in the confines of the apartment you once shared. What wasn't routine was you knocking on his apartment door at exactly eleven forty-seven pm on New Year's Eve with a sad-looking store-bought cake in your hands and an even sadder look on your face.

"I know we're not together anymore, but…"

Splitting a whole cake between the two of you on New Year's Eve instead of having a typical dinner had been your tradition for years. Jason took it very seriously, planning the cake in advance for weeks, testing different flavors, even going as far as calling you once in the middle of a fight, asking if you preferred chantilly or sponge. It was stupid to most people you told, but to you and Jason, it was the perfect way to end the year. Now, you stand before him, holding a cake that could never compare to the decadent black forest cake he had made the last time you'd spent New Year's together.

You look down at the cake and then back up at him, the familiar gleam of water in your eyes. He takes the container in one hand and uses the other to pull the door open more so you can come in. It had been a while since you'd been there last, but everything was the same. A wall with an extensive collection of weapons, a stack of books that only collected dust when he was gone for long periods of time, and a framed picture of Jason and Bruce from his robin days.

"How'd you know where to find me?"

"Lucky guess."

Not a lucky guess, the first place you'd told him you loved him.

He roots around a drawer, pulling out two forks and handing one to you. Silence hangs in the air, several year's worth of unspoken feelings lingering with nowhere to go but up. he pops the lid off the container and gestures for you to take the first bite, another tradition that came with his hours of cake-making; he'd always insist on you having the first taste so you could give feedback and you only ever had positive things to say. Now, the weak taste of vanilla paired with a dry crumb, and your mouth turns downward into a frown.

"I don't think it's that bad."

"You'll eat anything."

"True."

No, it wasn't that bad. In fact, before you'd met Jason, this was something you probably would've treated yourself to when life decided to be good to you, but he had spoiled you, given you so much more than you even knew was out there, and it wasn't all material.

Three minutes to New Year's now, and approximately six bites taken out of the cake, five from Jason, and you're ready to part ways again with you leaving him this time. There's still time to make a run for it and ring in the new year without the baggage of your ex hanging over you; there's still time to pretend your world wasn't shattered when he left.

"Why are you here? Why not spend New Year's with your friends?"

"Friends?"

"The people I always see you with when I-"

"Watch me?"

"Am on patrol."

"Right."

"Why aren't you with them?"

"Not friends, coworkers."

"You're with them all the time."

"Workplace comradery."

"So, friends."

Thirty seconds now, and the words you still haven't said are on the tip of your tongue and in the back of your mind, egging you on to admit the feelings you've been sitting on for what feels like forever. He beats you to it.

"Please come back to me."

"I'm not the one who left."

Fireworks go off outside, signifying the beginning of a new year, and you and Jason stand across from each other. Physically, only the kitchen island stands between you two, but emotionally, you're still miles apart. You can't hear in his words how much he needs you back in his life, how hard it is for him every night to not climb in through your window and find his spot in the bed you'd shared like he'd done so many times before; and he can't hear in your words how the wound he left in your heart never healed, how it never even started to, and how through him leaving, you found out that time doesn't heal all things.

[scentedpepper]

Cinderellas Slipper

BILLY HARGROVE X MALE READER

Summary: Billy tries to apologize but loses his slipper instead.

Content Warnings: "Queer" used in a derogatory manner. Brief mention of Billy and Reader having sexual relations. Established Relationships/Lore

Other Pairing(s): Steve Harrington x Male Reader, Jonathan Byers x Male Reader, Will Byers x Male Reader, Nancy Wheeler x Billy Hargrove (implied not said)

AUTHOR NOTE(S):

Writing specific scenes that pop into my head is much easier than committing to an entire fanfic :p

Feeling kinda meh abt this one guys idddkkkk

Uhhhhh Billy is gay bc I say so

No but that headcanon really gets my writer loins spinnin

The depth

Anyway

Billy's a wee bit jealous

👍

_________________________________________

Billy's not sure what lead him to this point.

But the moment he steps out of his Camaro he has to pause, place his hands on his hips, and pace. Once. Twice. Three times for good measure before his attention is redirected to his destination.

Depot Central.

"Hawkins for the Family" Or so the sign outside had stated.

It's 4:30 in the afternoon, you've only been on shift for 30 minutes.

Three and a half hours to go.

Billy has memorized your schedule like the back of his hand.

The depot wasn't small by any means, but most of its stores closed at the latest of six due to its small town status. The depot itself mainly used the second story to hoard it's products, what couldn't fit through the windows displayed itself like an open antique shop on the 1st floor, the remaining area that couldn't be utilized by the display lay store merchandise.

This was the third time in a row he'd come back to the depot.

The first time he'd be stepping inside.

If the place had more customers he would've stalled a little longer, maybe considered another 3 rounds of pacing the parking lot but there was no one in front of him when he stood off to the side, peering through the windows.

His hands find his hips again, pressing agaisnt the brown leather belt adorning his dark blue jeans. It was new. He'd went out and bought it a few days ago. Even went as far as hiding between the aisles of the women's section trying to scope out style.

He didn't buy the pink or purple belt, regardless of how "nice" you said those colors were on him. Instead, by a random struck of luck that felt unwarranted, he'd found one even more perfect. One in which the gems were arranged in a way that made it look like the night sky.

Fucking space because you were into that shit or whatever.

Gemstones on top of silver. And Billy felt like a star on the belt, big and prominent.

Maybe that was wishful thinking. He couldn't really reject the feeling of suffocating when the gems shined in the sunlight through the window panes beside him.

Girly.

Feminine.

Queer.

Billy tries to ignore them and in the process, he considers ditching his clothing choices for today and giving in to his original idea. But even so, with all he's been through, Billy isn't really aware that the things he's learned from you have stuck this long.

He'd scrubbed himself raw in the bathroom just 30 minutes ago. And he made sure to perfectly place the top portion of his maroon button up that was peeled open. And he dabbed cologne on every inch of his body, just in case the amount he had initially put on wasn't enough. And while he was driving he made sure to keep the cigarettes in his dash because he knew the smell, reminiscent of your father, was the sole reason you had never picked them up throughout your teenager years. Not even to just try.

So once more, everything right down to his clean socks were an item of scrutiny. He even had spare deodorant in his car if he started to sweat.

And for what? He didn't fucking know.

The urge to repeat his pacing however came and he knew very well what that meant.

He was thinking about turning around.

But to make sure his body isn't going the opposite direction, he checks his front pockets where two cards were securely nestled in.

Dare Billy say he was almost scared.

He feels sweat starting to prick on the back of his neck, underneath his perfectly defined curls –he didn't even want to think about the measures he went to learn how to make them look so pretty– and he ducks back into his car, deciding he should just put the deodorant everywhere.

As he fumbles for the anti perspirant in his dash, feet sticking out of the car and body pressing against the middle console awkwardly, he realizes that he's almost forgotten the singular rose that he specifically taped to head of his passenger seat so he wouldn't forget it.

Quickly, Billy retrieves the rose and proceeds to rub himself down with the light spray of deodorant.

And despite his previous antsy nature, when he finally goes to walk to the entrance of the store, his face is the perfect mix between cool and ready. But his eyebrows are furrowed, a giveaway to the turmoil going on in his head.

Once the doors slide open, the chimes on top barely audible in the distance, Billy's face twitches ever so slightly when he realizes who is bent over the checkout counter, chatting you up, eliciting deep, rumbling laughter from your wide chest.

Steve.

Billy makes sure the displeasure is gone from his face with a blink of the eyes before he's approaching the two with nonchalant grace. He makes sure his gait is perfect and makes no noise against the flooring of the store, this way he can spy on your conversation from behind the taller shelves of canned food.

He listens close enough to pick up the murmurings of some new ice cream recipe you had apparently tried over the weekend with Will and Jonathan. Sounded absolutely disgusting to Billy. There was pecan and raspberry involved, as well as a hint of honey which would be fine if it wasn't inside frozen food.

But Billy found himself not really paying attention to the words being exchanged, moreso the tone.

Or, more importantly– how Steve said them. Emphasized certain vowels that he wouldn't unless he was in the presence of someone really close.

Just the thought tightens his grip on the small rose clasped tightly in between his fingers and he decides to finally make himself known by making a detour into the candy aisle beside the front desk, going over to get a pack of black liquorish and throwing the item down at the counter for you to ring up.

Your eyes fling up in startle, as though you hadn't noticed Billy at all until the very moment he slammed the unsavory candy on the counter, the plastic brushing a strand of Steve's hair on the way down.

Maybe it was a little bit of an overreaction, but he couldn't help it.

There were instances in which Billy acted purely upon instinct or impulse. Moments in which he let those feelings go to his head and not only let it manifest into words, sometimes that energy even moved his entire body without asking.

You had paused mid-sentence to take in the scene before you. How could you not?

Steve was dumbfounded. Not because the candy was an offense to his palate but because the intensity with which Billy pushed the packaged item towards you was a big one.

Steve moved away from the man looming over his shoulder, offended for his friend across the counter.

The first time Steve had walked in on you two, Billy wanted to kill him –almost killed him. Whatever he was about to retort would most likely have the same outcome.

Because it didn't matter how nicely Billy dressed or spoke to you, Steve could still see the shadow of Billy in his mind, a storm all his own lurking underneath flesh.

"We're still talking. " The brunette finally speaks up, motioning back and forth between himself and you.

Billy snorts and rolls his eyes, trying his hardest not to call the boy across from him something more obscene than asshole because he knows it would lose him any chance of speaking to you.

"You're a worker, right? " Billy plants his forearm on the counter, mocking Steve's pervious position.

"Work. " He spits.

You stare back at him pointedly, hands on your waist before you grab the item and run it across the scanner. A green light graces you skin and a beep fills the empty room.

"52 cents, sir. " You retort simply.

Sir.

Sir.

"Sir?" Billy reels, face controrting into disgust. The word burned all over, and surely the older boy in front of him knew how much that word would affect him. He must've known that it'd make Billy Hargrove piss his pants.

You did.

But nevertheless, Billy pulls his wallet out and drops a five on the counter, telling you to keep the rest.

The plastic covering of the candy crinkles under your fingers as you lift it from the counter, passing it back to the blonde.

Your fingers brush beneath the packaging and all air seems to whoosh out of Billy's lung in response.

You meets his eyes in the middle.

It's silent for a moment.

–Save for Steve who's munching on the same type of candy just off to the side.

The blonde blinks, once, twice. His brows raising again like they had in his car. Billy can feel it, and he fights the urge to pull his fingers away but he doesn't, both of your hands just dangling there for a minute longer.

"Mm!" Steve chokes suddenly, wincing right after as the liquorish becomes a glob in his mouth and his body jerks backwards in discomfort.

It breaks the moment but Billy has an easier time collecting himself than his competitor.

"Steve. " You exclaim and you make a move towards him, patting your friends back with exaggerated aggression.

"I'm okay. " He rasps. "I'm okay. " He raises his hands up in the air but his words deceive him as he starts another fit of coughing.

After a minute or so of more gagging and choking and violent beatings on the back, Steve finally manages to swallow, with a loud groan of course.

You manage a laugh at the boys struggle, masking the noise the bell atop the door makes when it flies open.

And when you turn back around, half a grin still on your face, you're met with emptiness.

That, and a singular rose haphazardly placed on the counter.

[asarajaa]

Me encanta los colores de tu blog!!

Do you have any head canons for Bachira?

How he would react to falling in love with someone? :)

I hope you are doing well!

Omg mil gracias! Me pasé como 2 días buscando el aesthetic correcto, en un principio iba a ser coquette pero cambie de idea en último momento jajsjsja

Said and done, my love! Hope you like it <3!

Warnings: fem!reader, spanish lyrics, bllk fem!manager Words: 565 Disclaimer: English isn't my first language so I apologise for any mistakes or misunderstandings!

Bachira falling in love hcs

₊˚ෆ We have to be realistic, this man wouldn't notice.

₊˚ෆ I believe Bachira hasn't any experience with the female genre except his mom, so he think of you as just a friend.

₊˚ෆ At first he didn't know how to 'name' you, because it felt different being your friend compared to being Isagis, but he thought it was because you were girl.

₊˚ෆ It isn't until Chigiri pointed out your treatment to each other. How you always give him first water or anything he needs, how his eyes look for your presence when he enters any room and so on.

₊˚ෆ Then is when he started to notice.

₊˚ෆ Bachira is confused af, so before making any move (or making another one, apparently) he waited until break and ask advice from his mama.

₊˚ෆ How can you blame him? You were such a really nice friend (?) and he didn't wanna mess things up.

₊˚ෆ When his mama tells him about the feeling in his stomach (know he knows they're called butterflies), the heart beating faster and more signs, he agreed with the idea of being in love with you.

₊˚ෆ "How to make my crush like me back".

₊˚ෆ MY POOR BOY DOESN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO 😭😭😭

₊˚ෆ After some advice (from his mama ofc), he decided let the things flow. Again, I believe Bachira is very cautious with this thing and doesn't wanna mess thing up (plus i'll be awkard if he does bc you guys will see eachother everyday for a long time, he doesn't want that).

₊˚ෆ His mamas advice help him, but he's still confused. Like, does he really fall in love? He doesn't know the answer to that.

₊˚ෆ You, on the other hand, were 100% sure you were in love with him.

₊˚ෆ Until on day, the day. It was during the break, you were hanging out with the boys when all of a sudden it started raining.

You were alone with Bachira, in the middle of the way back to the arcade. All of you were hungry and since the arcades food wasn't cheap, you guys decided to go to a convenient store.

All of you put your names on a roulette you find on the internet to decide the 2 persons who had to went, and omg- Bachira and you? How unexpected.

However, it started raining and you were with Bachira. Bachira, as the gentleman he is, offered to carry all of the bags ( because mama didn't raise no ungentleman boy ✋🏽).

And your first thought wasn't to put on the hood you had, or going to a covered place- no.

Your first thought was to touch your fingertips making a little house and cover Bachiras head.

Of course, it barely worked.

But the effort.

The effort. Because you were shorter than him, you have to tiptoe so his face was pretty close to yours.

The effort. Because you were getting your hair wet, which made it stick to your cheeks while his face was almost all dry.

The effort. Because you put his needings before yours (and he'll be damned if he didn't do the same).

At that moment, with your face millimeters away from him, he could only had one thing in his mind:

Mama will like her.

₊˚ෆ "Ya encontré, la que será mi futura esposa" was his only though at that moment apart from the fact that his mother would like you AND U CAN'T CHANGE MY MIND 😻✋🏽

₊˚ෆ For those who not know spanish, that is a line from a very popular song here in Spain. It's called "Mi Estrella Blanca", the line appears in the 1:45 minute. It means "I have already found the one who will be my future wife" and the song means "My White Star", it's a very beautiful song, go listen to it!!!

I LOVED how this turned on, I think I'll be making content inpired by lyrics from now on, tell me your opn!!

idk if you guys understant what y/n was doing with her hands?? here's a picture:

WHJBDJHD SRRY IT'S THE ONLY ONE THAT MATCHES. Imagine it like that but the thumbs are w/ the rest of the fingers.

PODER BESAARLA, CADA MAÑAANA. MIRAR PAL LADO Y VERLA TUMBADA EN MI CAAMA. SERÁ MI NOOCHE, SERÁ MI DÍAAAAAA. MI ESTRELA BLANCAAA

btw I finished 4 today, my abdomen hurts a little bit from sitting for a long time, lovya'll 💗💗💗

3 post in a day wow

26/04/24

© asarajaa — Please, do not copy, translate or reuse my work without my permission.

[cherrirui-official]

Friendlocke Violet Gijinkas (Part 3/7)

PART 3 RAAAAGH!!! SO SORRY THIS ONE TOOK SO LONG AAAH!!!! But it's here now, yippee!!! And just in time for Christmas too, wowie!

I plan on posting them in order by groups of three, so there's gonna be seven parts in total, all of which I'll be linking here when done vvv

(Part One) (Part Two) (Part Four) (Part Five) (Part Six) (Part Seven)

!! These will contain personal headcanons I have for the cast, little fun facts, and also spoilers for Friendlocke Violet (for both the edited vids and the streams) !!

@saltydkart-reblogs

Designs under the cut!

GRACE:

The light scars/ cracks on her body were injuries formed while she was accidentally sent through Turo's time machine. Unlike the paradox pokemon/ miraidon, GrAce's body isn't made of iron or metal, so her body wasn't able to withstand the large amount of tera energy used to power the machine as easily as the paradox pokemon were.

Luckily, she was just barely able to hold out against the time machine's energy until she made it to Turo's lab in the present day. Unfortunately, she can't be sent back because she would literally die if she went through the time machine again. Sooooo she's stuck in the modern era.

Very familiar with Area Zero and the various pokemon that reside down there, but moved out in order to continue producing music as well as familiarize herself with current-day Paldea.

She only vaguely know Clavell back when he was a rebellious teenager, though she didn't know his name. Clavell, on the other hand, was one of her biggest fans back in the 50s-60s.

Funny enough, when she sees "Clive" for the first time, she recognizes him! But not as Director Clavell, she just barely recognizes him as the random teenage fan that would occasionally ask her to sign various GrAce posters he had bought. She is also under the belief that he too, was sent from the past into the present, unaware that he simply just grew up.

Likes doing random poses for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

BRAIDY:

Believes that everything can be solved without violence, but can and will throw hands if need be.

Everyone in Braidy's family greet each other by playfully ramming into one another. So when Peppy and his team were getting chased down by Braidy's family during their journey, they weren't trying to attack them, they just wanted to say hi!

Braidy is really good with kids due to his experience with being the eldest sibling, as he'd often have to take care of his younger siblings.

Mykyie and Braidy shop at the same clothing store.

Speaking of Mykyie, the lighter parts of Braidy's fur appeared only after Mykyie passed...

As of now, he's still an apprentice, but he has great potential to become an all powerful wizard... someday.

CHRISTENE'S:

Artist's note: I couldn't fit their children in the bio sorry girls and gays. I'll probably draw them out later on after I'm finished with everyone else.

Their stomachs are basically voids, so every time they eat the food just disappears, which is why they're ALWAYS hungry.

HIGHLY flammable.

It is speculated that they're poppets, but you don't have any proof of that, do you?

If you listen closely, you can hear soft bell noises every time they walk. It is unknown why this happens, but I believe it is best not to ask.

Aaaaand that's it! I plan on taking a short break from these bc I wanna draw some other stuff. Dw, I'll continue to work on these very soon!

[bumblebeehug]

What do you think is the contents of Jude's gifts to Lucy? Any headcanons?

i'm a firm believer that he gifted her his only belongings from the Heartfilia-estate, and that the only things he brought were items from when Layla was alive. Jude was harsh, unfair, neglectant etc, but even though he wasn't a good father, i'd like to think he was a really great husband. after all, he was the one who was married into the Heartfilia name, not Layla. so when the company went down, he allowed for the entire estate, everything he owned, to be confiscated - everything but some keepsakings he kept from Layla: i'm thinking diaries, her favourite books, some family heirlooms, and other small but meaningfull trinkets.

(Longgggg analysis of their relationship below the cut)

I also think that Jude always meant to go through these things with Lucy. I think he had a flighty dream to reconcile with her, even if he only came to talk to her after he needed to loan money from her, even after sending Phantom Lord after her so he could marry her off to a wealthy business partner. Because despite all of the terrible things he had done, he wanted her to know all about the amazing mother she had. He wanted to show Lucy the exact shade of pink that was Layla's favourite (i'm bringing Nalu in here though bc coincidentally Layla's favourite shade of pink is the exact shade of Natsu's hair), he wanted to go to the market and point out the flowers she liked the most, he wanted to tell Lucy about all of their anecdotes, because after many years of lonliness, and after some time being unemployed, he had realised that he wanted Layla's image to be strong in Lucy's memories.

Then Jude would hear about the Tenrou accident, and though he wanted to believe that Lucy would pull through, he understood that it was unlikely. His daughter was dead, and he had been the worst father imaginable. His guilt was chewing through his sanity, but this time he decided to do something about it. He knew he might never get the actual chance to repair the relationship between him and Lucy, but the only way for him to keep going, was to repair it despite her not being there. So he, an old business man, created a new business, just so he could fund both his and his dead daughter's life. I don't think he ever made any extreme sums with the new company - he could pay for his own life, the monthly rent of Lucy's flat, and a bi-monthly cleaning of it, in case she came back. The cleaning was mainly for Jude's sake, since that was the way he could keep hope that she would come back, any time he visited.

He never earned enough money to live completely comfortable again - he often ended up grabbing free meals whenever he could, and if the rent at one place got too high, he didn't shy away from living on the streets until something reasonable came up again. He found ways to wash up and keep clean, and he kept his income, but he had it tough economically. he never lived in Lucy's flat either though, and he never even considered selling it.

When Lucy's birthday came around, he started writing letters. They contained all of the information about Layla that he could remember, which ended up being way more than he had anticipated. But he wrote the letters, and now, whenever he wasn't working, he was writing. As he wrote, he noticed that the letters started having matching items - in one he would mention a heirloom that had bothered Layla because of how hideous it was (and then he'd write about the stories of the people who had owned this heirloom and why it was important for the Heartfilia women to have), and another would be about him praising his wife's clothing style, and then there would be a package with some of her dresses in it.

Then the company started pulling its own weight and more, and he started putting away money for Lucy's landlady. First he just wanted to give the lady some cash so she could store the gifts until Lucy came back (he was aware that it was an if, and not when, but this was his way of healing, he argued), but then, as the company grew, he realised that he could pay Lucy's rent beforehand. Before he knew it, he was paying almost double of the cost of Lucy's rent, just so that the landlady could keep the apartment empty.

I don't think Jude ever felt like he had redeemed himself. I'm pretty sure he spent his last years deep in regret, and that he struggled with guilt and depression from both Layla's and Lucy's deaths - after all, he died not knowing that Lucy survived Tenrou. I've never loved Jude either - I think there's a limit to how much you should be allowed to put your child through, and Jude crossed that line not long after Layla died. He made insanely bad choices again and again regarding Lucy, and I don't think Lucy ever needed to forgive him.

But I think she did forgive him. I believe she sometimes finds resentment lingering in her memories that contain him, but that she reminds herself that his life wasn't a pretty one either. I think she's aware of the fact that he struggled on so many planes (mentally, socially) and that she's decided to let his image rest - she'll never go out of her way to defend him if his name is getting thrown around, but she'll never start a conversation just to bash on her late father. I think that she'll let him seem nice when her children hears about him, and she'll let the kids learn the full truth once they're old enough.

And lastly, I think she'll always be thankful of the gifts he gave her, and that she's greatful that he never stopped believeing that she was alive, and that he gave her such wonderful stories about her mother.

[kithlien]

Laken Dahl for @melien's Cornelia Archer's BC

✨ ️Inspired by Girl in Red’s song I’m Back. ✨️

she/her | biromantic greysexual

26 y/o | Boston, USA

Traits: Ambitious - Workaholic - Perfectionist - Frugal - Technophobe

LTW: CEO of a Mega-Corporation

Laken had always been a workaholic, but that was just her nature. From an early age she knew that only with hard work you could achieve something great. That's why, while her peers were playing video games or going to parties, she was stuck in books. She believed that such nonsense as fun or romance only distracted from learning and didn’t bring anything useful. To people Laken was quite cold and abrupt, which is why she made virtually no friends, let alone any relationships. She also turned up her nose when her schoolmates bragged about the things they bought that she considered unnecessary; she put every money she earned (e.g. scholarships for excellent academic results; she also had a few part-time jobs in high school) into a deposit so that she could buy an apartment in the future. Her hard work paid off, because she got into one of the most prestigious universities in the world - Harvard. During her studies of course she got straight A's, ran two student clubs, took various courses, and engaged in volunteering - all this to have a perfect CV and find an ambitious and well-paid job in which she could constantly develop.

Everything was going great until suddenly the Covid-19 pandemic came and Laken's world collapsed nearly overnight. As the chief technophobe of her generation, she was unable to find her way in the new situation, because first the whole world seemed to stop - shops were closed, classes at university were not held, and then technically everyone switched to remote communication, working and learning. Moreover, it suddenly turned out that Laken had basically no one around her to whom she could turn and complain. Ok, she had parents and a brother, but they were far away in another state (Wisconsin, she lived in Boston due to her studies). She realized that she was terribly lonely. This is how Laken, always motivated and mentally strong, fell into depression. She spent all days at home, ate poorly and took a dean’s leave from the university so as not to have to deal with all those Zooms or Google Meets and somehow survive the difficult situation. She only went to the store occasionally; during one of these outings she walked into a deserted park, sat on a bench and started crying. All the previously hidden emotions came out. Suddenly she heard a quiet voice above her saying her name. It was Laken's friend from college - Claire, who couldn't believe that she was seeing Laken Dahl crying in front of her - the same Laken who had always been extremely strong, intimidating and believed to be a robot. Claire however said that it's okay to cry and that she had been going through a hard time too, because her beloved grandparents died of Covid. This made them both cry and then Laken began to speak. She had never said so many words at once before. She found comfort in Claire's eyes full of compassion and understanding. They promised each other that they would stay in touch and Claire gave Laken the contact details of her psychological clinic, where reportedly good specialists worked. Laken was full of doubts at first; she didn't like talking about her feelings with anyone, after all. However, she broke down and went to the clinic to give herself a chance to recover. Thanks to Claire's recommendation, Laken got a job as a hotel receptionist, thus gaining some source of money and an excuse to talk to people. Together they also signed up to volunteer at a local animal shelter.

Days, months, then a year passed. Gradually, the pandemic subsided and the world opened up again, and with it Laken. Thanks to therapy, as well as work and friendship with Claire, her well-being was back on track, but this time she decided to cut herself some slack. She realized that she didn't really know what she was living for. Ok - work, money, but in the end you don't live to work, you work to live, i.e. travel, start a family, make your dreams come true. But what exactly were her dreams? Now Laken is ready to get to know herself better, finally find a hobby and a sense of existence. She looks at the world way more positively than before. That's why she decided to do something different and crazy, which was to take part in Cornelia's BC. Will Cornelia help Laken learn the truth about herself?

Some facts:

half American, half Norwegian (from her dad’s side)

Taurus; her birthday is on the 25th of April

173 cm (5’8)

ISTJ

has one brother - Einar, with whom she wasn't very close, but now she's trying to fix it

speaks English, Norwegian and Danish fluently

studies economics at Harvard

doesn't like sweets (yes, chocolate too!)

hasn’t got her driving license yet, even though it "would look good on her CV"

had been picking mainly basic clothes until Claire convinced her to start dressing more colorfully

yes, the tattoo was also Claire's idea

has a very practical view of the world

the only children’s tale she read as a child was Moomins (she was always compared to Hemulens)

a tea person and a tea expert (“Rooibos is not a tea! It's an infusion of red bush!”)

likes watching sunsets; no one knows what she's thinking then

despite her young age, she is a terrible technophobe: she has probably the simplest smartphone and laptop possible, she hates online shopping and it took a long time to convince her to pay by phone

often points out something that no one else notices

now she is very change-oriented and tries new things (which often ends up being quite funny)

has never traveled outside America (but she would like to visit Norway someday – it’s the country of her ancestors)

has zero experience in matters of the heart

↪ Private download (unless she’s eliminated)

[severevoiddragon]

Hi!

Do you have a funny natural 1 story from your D&d campaign? :D

(Or any other story really I just love D&d)

OMG AN OPPORTUNITY TO TALK ABOUT MY CAMPAIGN !!!!

You get TWO stories and a background story bc I love talking bout my DnD campaign

So, to begin, the cast of PCs (all level 3 atm):

Hecate, a Tiefling Monk/Druid (she/her), the party's braincell but also notorious low roller

Nivaira, a Sun Elf Bard (they/them), deadpan and sarcastic but a prolific spellcaster

Izumi Luthien, a Half Elf Rogue (he/him), the party's angsty teen boy

Important NPCs:

Bella Banducci, human Sorcerer (she/her), joined the party at the party's request (I didn't WANT her to be a DMPC but the party insisted on her coming along-), used to live in a morally dubious circus

Ammon Luthien, Elf Wizard/Sorcerer (he/she/they), Izumi's half-sibling, childhood friend of Hecate and Nivaira (but separately), in love with Eiwin

Eiwin Tamiel, Human ? (He/they), works at an artefact store, in love with Ammon (I ship them sm <3)

Kilvar (he/him), Dwarf smith, one of two people to look after the bounties of the town they are in.

Relania (she/her), Human wizard, current antagonist for the party.

Background:

The party became a party at the request of Ammon, who mailed them a letter asking them to look for an amulet of Ammon's. He is currently hidden from an "evil presence", and the party are awaiting Ammon's next instruction. The town they are in now is Mytheas, a town by the sea. It's the kind of town where everyone knows everyone, and is just generally a pretty nice place to be. In the party's first adventure, Relania tried to be a friend, but ended up revealing herself as trying to steal the amulet, so the party tied her up and went to sleep, leaving her in a different room. She escaped and ran away. She is now trying to get the amulet.

The Bear Story:

The party, while working out what to do, decided they wanted to take up a bounty (I. Don't remember why now??? My party members on Tumblr pls help). The bounty they took was a small bounty (like. 50gp I think? I don't have my notes w me) for a big bear in the forest. The party talked with Kilvar about the bounty. The terms were to kill the bear, and bring 'proof of death'.

The party got there, killed the bear no problem. The problem came when they tried to carry the bear to Kilvar. You see, they misinterpreted proof of death not as a head or a paw or something, but. The whole. Bear. So, they all rolled Strength to try and carry it. Nivaira rolled very high, and carried most of the weight of the bear all the way from the forest to Kilvar's. Izumi rolled fairly well, so carried like. The back paw. And nothing else. Hecate rolled so badly that she tried to lift a paw of the bear and struggled so much that she walked alongside, giving motivation to the others, much to Izumi and Nivaira's disappointment. They got back, and they sent Hecate in to talk w Kilvar, since she didn't help carry. She rolled badly on the charisma check, and Kilvar responded with essentially "you idiots I just wanted the head". And Hecate just asked him to come outside to take the bear. He repeated what he said to the party, meaning Nivaira and Izumi were fuming. The players are still fuming to this day.

The Wolf Story:

Another bounty !! This time, for Aarpol, a huge wolf in the forest. He had two wolves that helped him. Nivaira, as a bard, can do poison spray, however they didn't cast many spells up until I reminded them they can cast spells. Poison spray, if you don't know, casts a 15ft cone of poison, and you take damage if you fail a constitution save. They cast the spell, and then we realised that Hecate was in the firing line. This was because Hecate had jumped on Aarpol and sat on its back, to punch it in the neck. Hecate and Aarpol had to do a con save. Aarpol failed. Yay ! Hecate....

Failed. She failed. She lost a lot of hp, and iirc she went unconscious? So there was Hecate on the back of a wolf, unconscious. Izumi (iirc?) killed the wolf, and Nivaira I THINK healed Hecate so she didn't have to death save.

Bonus story:

The party are currently on a quest in an evil mushroom place, and I do sleep rolls. 1-5 is bad sleep, barely slept. Useful if there's a goblin raid on your camp, but too many bad sleeps in a row cause exhaustion (3 in a row). 6-14 is moderate sleep. Normal sleep. Woke up if there's a goblin raid, but no exhaustion. 15-20 is amazing sleep, didn't wake up at all. Useful for no exhaustion, but slept right through the raid. Izumi has failed 2 sleep rolls in a row :>

Oh and Bella may or may not be poisoned by evil mushrooms I don't remember

[teetle-time]

It's Free Baby Estate

In one universe, a freshly-escaped cloud of nanobots would see a conman selling robots and imprint onto him. In this one, the nanobots would escape just a few minutes too late to see the man, and they would spend the day alone, without anyone to call their dad.

When nighttime falls, however, that's when teenage brothers come out to play.

(Or, HI THE IDEA OF THE TEETLES IMMEDIATELY ADOPTING NANO IS CONSUMING MY BRAIN)

Based on this post from @mycatateit bc the writing gremlins got to me again lmao

〜

Raph leapt across the rooftops in blessed silence. Nothing against his brothers and father, of course: Donnie was simply enamored with some new hunk of junk he'd found after they'd helped April move into her dad's antique store, Leo was helping him brainstorm possible uses, Mikey was suggesting wild comic-book-type ideas, and Splinter had gone to his room to meditate.

This all just meant that Raph needed some time to himself to try and put that advice he'd spewed at Jones the other night into action- that was to say, he needed to clear his head SO freaking bad.

He jumped a slightly large gap, tucked, and rolled, keeping his momentum going as he leapt back to his feet.

Another gap came up soon after, another jump got him over.

He happened to catch a weird flash of motion from the alley below, and it was easy for him to come to a stop on the next roof and peer down at whatever-it-was.

It was some kind of…robot.

Now, Raph really wasn't all that keen to interact with any tech that hadn't come from Don's lab, especially not after the recent run-in with Baxter Stockface or whatever-his-name-was. Even this new robot's small size didn't matter- the Mousers hadn't needed to be big to be a major pain in his shell.

However, it seemed to be vaguely person-shaped, and it was seemingly hugging its knees as it sat against the wall of the alley.

Raph scowled.

He scanned the surrounding area with a keen eye. If he went and got himself captured by humans because some Pinocchiobot or something looked sad, his brothers would never let him hear the end of it.

However, the only humans Raph could see were sitting in their apartments, engrossed with various things. An old lady knitting, a young couple leaning into each other and looking at a TV, a man bouncing a baby and singing something Raph couldn't quite make out- all of them were minding their own business, and none of them were pointed out the windows Raph could see them through.

A quick check of the rooftops revealed even fewer humans, and even the one he saw was facing the other way and tapping at a cigarette as they headed back inside their building.

Whatever this robot was, it didn't seem to be bait in a trap.

Raph scaled his way down the wall of the building he was on, and as he grew closer, he heard sniffling.

"You gotta be kidding me," he grumbled under his breath.

The sniffling immediately stopped, and when Raph glanced down, the robot was jerkily scanning the alleyway, its face frozen in a blank expression. In a synthetic voice that sounded almost nervous, it asked, "H-hell-lo?"

Aw, shell, it sounded like a toddler.

Raph knew now that there would be no escape from his brothers' teasing, though for a much different reason than he'd first thought.

Welp. In for a penny.

He let himself make noise as he hopped the last few feet to the ground, then held his empty hands up for the robot to see when it whipped around to look. "Whatcha doing out here all alone, kid?"

The robot stared at him, then asked again, "Hell-lo?"

"Yes, hello, we've already passed that part of the conversation," Raph tried not to groan.

The robot ducked its head back behind its knees. "Sor-ry."

…the robot kid just apologized to him.

The robot kid. Just apologized. To him.

"Welp, you're already the most polite pile of metal I've ever met," Raph remarked. "And trust me, I've met more than I ever thought I woulda. It's been a weird few days."

The robot peered out at him again, and while its face didn't have the ability to change shape from the simple slab it was, its tight grip on its legs loosened a bit.

"That still don't answer my question, though. Why're you out on your own?"

The robot's head dipped slowly, and it fumbled through its next word even worse than the last couple. "Alllll-lone."

Raph found himself dropping to one knee in front of it. "What, you don't got a mommy or daddy or nothing? You can't have just popped out of thin air. Where'd you come from, huh?"

All he got in response was a mechanical whine.

Raph gave the robot a quick once-over. It looked like something Raph might've built- focused entirely on function, not necessarily the prettiest piece of engineering, and (this was the most critical) unable to house any fancy-schmancy spy cameras or what-have-you.

Like, Raph was pretty sure the robot was built exclusively from the parts of one of those street conmen's cheap toys. If there was any kind of surveillance in those things, he'd eat his own shell.

"Well, how about this," Raph said. "Me and you, we don't really look like the kinds of folks that most humans wanna hang out with. I do have a family, though, my brothers and my pop. We all don't fit in, but we do it together. If…if you wanna, I can bring ya home to meet 'em."

The little robot perked up. "Fa-mi-ly?"

"That's right, kid," Raph said. He held a hand out for the kid to take. "Whaddya say?"

The kid's posture brightened, and it (he? she? they?) took his hand, standing to a full height of Barely To Raph's Hips.

Raph picked the kid up without a second thought, and once his passenger was secure against his side, he made his way to the nearest manhole. "Alright, kiddo, I mighta got here from the rooftops, but I don't really wanna drop ya, so we'll be taking the boring way home."

The kid pressed tighter against him with a small nod.

His brothers could tease him all they wanted. So long as this didn't blow up in their faces or turn out to be a ploy from Stockman after all, Raph was already too attached to the kid to care.

Much.

He hefted the cover off with his free hand, slipped inside, then gingerly slid it back into place over his head. It was a bit of a balancing act, making sure he didn't fall or drop the kid while he did so, but he managed it with a little bit of luck and a whole lot of spite.

Just the way he liked it, frankly.

He began the descent down the ladder. "So, you got a name, kiddo?"

The kid's head tilted. "Name?"

"Yeah, kid, your name," Raph said. "Like…you can call me 'Raph.' Or 'Raphael,' that's my full first name, but the only times someone calls me that is if they're trying to convince me I'm doing something rash or something. Or if I'm in trouble, heheheh."

"Raph…" murmured the kid.

Then, in a stern woman's voice, as though from an audio recording, "Codename: Nanotech."

Raph blinked. "Wait. Don't tell me that's your name!"

The kid shrank in on themself a bit as the two of them hit the bottom of the ladder.

…Raph had a sudden urge to figure out who that woman's voice belonged to.

For no reason in particular.

Just because.

Out loud, instead of telling the kid this completely true information, Raph said, "Well, that's all fine and dandy for somebody's science project, but it's a bit wordy to use for a little kid, right? What if we shorten it some? Like how I stick to 'Raph' even though it's just a part of my actual name?"

That got the kid to loosen up a bit.

Raph struck out, mentally tracing a path back to the new lair before nodding. "Yeah, what about…Nano? Short, sweet, and snappy."

The newly-nicknamed Nano nodded into his plastron. "Raph! Nano! Nano, Raph!"

Raph chuckled. "You like that, then? Thank goodness."

Nano giggled unsurely, then again with more confidence. "Nano, Raph, Nano, Raph!"

As Raph started seeing more of the fancy architecture that came with the new lair, he realized- "Aw, shell, I gotta let my family know I'm bringing you home. You mind if I make a quick phone call, Nano?"

"Fa-mi-ly," stated Nano seriously.

"I'm gonna take that as 'you're fine with it,'" Raph decided.

He fished out his shell cell and dialed Donny, who picked up after only a few rings.

"Raph, what's up?"

Raph snorted. "Alright, first order of business- you gotta promise not to laugh at me."

Donny's voice tinged with amusement. "Why?"

"So I may or may not have found a little kid robot crying in an alleyway while I was out," Raph said. "I already checked 'em over- there's no fancy-schmancy spy tech in here, just some kinda AI in a toy robot housing. Not even an evil AI like whatever the Mousers had going on, either- I'm pretty sure this kid considers itself…himself? Herself? I dunno. Kid acts and thinks like a toddler, is my point."

Donny chuckled. "Awww, did Waphie find a widdle baby?"

"Hey, watch it. Is Mikey getting in your head or something?" threatened Raph without heat. "Since this kid seems to be just that, a kid, I'm bringing 'em back to the new lair. Figured I'd give you guys a heads-up before I show up with a robot, especially after what happened with Stockman's little toys."

"Good thinking," Donny conceded. "I'll want to give this 'kid' a once-over before we officially declare them safe, for sure, just so we can try and avoid another forced move. I'll meet you just outside the lair, in the northern tunnel?"

"You got it," said Raph. "I'm coming from that direction, anyways."

"See you then," said Donny.

The call ended, and Raph pocketed the cell once more. "Y'hear that, Nano? My bro Donny wants to give you a bit of a checkup once we get there. That okay?"

"Check-up," repeated Nano quietly. Then, louder, "Doc-tor?"

"Eh, he ain't licensed, if that's what you're asking," Raph admitted. "Kinda hard to get a diploma when you're short and green and mutated all over, but he's plenty smart enough for it. He works with tech a lot, too, so he's probably the closest thing we'll get to a robot doctor. You don't gotta, but it'd help us make sure everything's going okay with you."

Nano thought it over for a long moment- long enough that Raph was starting to get nervous, he could see Donny just up ahead- then nodded. "O-kay."

Phew.

Raph grinned and turned his attention to Donny. "Alright, we're here. Let's get Nano's checkup taken care of."

Donny smirked knowingly at Raph, then softened the smile into something friendlier for Nano. "That's right. Would you be alright with Raph setting you down for a bit so I can check you over?"

Nano looked up at Raph.

Raph tried to look reassuring.

Even though those kinds of expressions had never really been in his wheelhouse, it seemed to work, because Nano nodded to Donny. "O-kay."

Raph carefully set Nano down, stepping to one side to give Donny room to work.

"So, 'Nano,' huh?" Donny asked as he knelt down, inspecting the kid's joints. "Did Raph name you?"

"Raph!" Nano said. "Nick-name!"

"Oh, really?" Donny peered nonchalantly through a gap in Nano's chest, then up to the kid's face. "Might I ask what Nano's a nickname for?"

Nano's head ducked down, and the stern woman's voice spoke again. "Codename: Nanotech."

Donny blinked, then glanced at Raph.

Raph crossed his arms. "Like I told the kid, that sounds like the kind of name somebody would give their science project, not a kid."

Pick up on what he's putting down, Don.

Donny seemed to clock what Raph wasn't saying almost immediately, if the quick flash of hardness in his eyes meant anything, but when he turned back to Nano, the steel was already shoved out of sight in favor of a warm smile. "Well, I think I'm with Raph on that one. 'Nano' definitely rolls off the tongue better."

Nano nodded. "Raph, Nano!"

Donny rocked back on his heels. "I think that's about everything we gotta check up on. Everything looks good, as far as I can tell."

Raph grinned. "Hear that, Nano? Everything's good!"

"Good! Good!"

Donny pushed himself to his feet. "Let's introduce you to the others, then, alright Nano?"

Nano nodded quickly, grabbing for Raph's hand and clinging to him tightly.

Raph gave the kid's hand a squeeze, drawing a little giggle, and oh, shell, he was so in over his head here.

Donny smirked at him again, but just turned to head into the new lair. "It's right over here."

Raph led Nano towards the arch, letting the kid hide behind his legs when Mikey, Leo, and Splinter all glanced their way.

"Hey, guys, remember how I said Raph made a friend and wanted me to check 'em over?" asked Donny, walking over to one side to leave Raph and Nano in the spotlight. "Meet Nano."

Nano peered out from behind Raph. "H-hell-lo…"

"A robot baby?" asked Mikey.

"Raph…" said Leo warningly.

"Hey, me and Don both checked the kid over already," Raph defended. "They're a robot kid I found crying alone in an alley."

He raised the ridge where his eyebrows might have been at Leo knowingly. "Pretty sure the kid built the body from scratch somehow, too. Just motors in there to move the limbs around. Nothing else."

Hint, hint.

After a second, Leo nodded, relaxing slightly. "Well, it's not like we're not used to the unusual around here."

Mikey grinned. "You can say that again!"

Splinter got to his feet and walked over to Raph and Nano. "How curious."

Nano looked up at Raph, the grip on his hand tightening.

"It's okay, kiddo, this is my dad," Raph said quietly. "This is Master Splinter."

"Dad…" Nano thought for a moment, then looked back at Splinter. "Dad-dy?"

Splinter's eyes widened, then he smiled. "I would be honored to be your father, little one."

Nano gasped, then let go of Raph's hand to waddle up to Splinter. "Dad-dy! Dad-dy!"

If anybody asked Raph later, he most definitely did not smile to himself as Splinter gave the kid a hug, and he certainly didn't feel a warm lightness in his chest at the sight.

"Hey, if Splinter's adopting you, then that makes us your big brothers!" realized Mikey.

"Hm, that's right," Splinter agreed. "I see you already know Raphael and Donatello, but the other two are Leonardo and Michelangelo."

"You can just call me Mikey, though, little dude!" declared he, hopping over to join the little group.

As Mikey, Splinter, and Nano walked over to the couch, chatting to each other, Leo stepped closer to Raph and Don, speaking lowly. "How'd a toddler-bot capable of building a body end up in an alleyway?"

"I dunno, but if I had to guess, whoever built the kid wasn't trying to build a kid," Raph said.

"When I asked Nano's name, Nano played what sounded like a recording of someone saying 'Codename: Nanotech,'" Donny added. "Whoever made this kid, they operate under some kind of official protocol, be it legal or otherwise. My money's on Nano either escaping or getting scrapped for not working the way those people wanted them to."

Leo frowned. "Nanotech, huh? Why the not-very-microscopic body, then, you think?"

Mikey's voice gasped in awe, and the three of them turned to look as a cloud of silvery somethings rose from Nano and engulfed Donny's latest whatchama-hoozie-doodle, pulling it into Nano's body. After a few moments, the cloud settled back into wherever-it-had-been, and Nano's face turned to them and smiled.

Because Nano's face wasn't a solid plate anymore, instead being made of a few plates around the eyes and mouth that could now move on their own.

"That answer your question?" murmured Raph. Then, louder, as he flashed a thumbs-up, "Looking good, kid!"

Donny smiled wearily. "I guess that's one way to settle the debate about what I was gonna use that for."

Nano beamed and went back to whatever was going on with Mikey- oh, crud, Mikey was already turning the kid into a comic book addict.

"Right, well, I'll leave the serious tech talk to you two," Raph said, narrowing his eyes at Mikey. "I need to relieve Mikey of his Nano privileges."

Mikey blinked innocently, even pointing a finger at himself as if to say 'moi?'

"Jurassic Park is where it's at, Mikey, not your comics!" Raph pressed, striding over and hopping onto the couch. "Master Splinter, y'mind if I take the TV and show Nano some true art? I think the tape's still in there from last night. It's not a perfect adaptation of the book, but I dunno if the kid can read yet."

Splinter chuckled. "I don't see why not."

"Raph!" said Nano, hopping up next to him on the cushion and shuffling over until he had an armful of robot.

Raph just gave Nano a pat and settled in, digging the remote out of the cushions. "I'm right here, kid."

Nano smiled up at him, then turned to face the TV as Raph switched to the VCR and started rewinding.

Mikey started snickering, but Raph just flicked him in the forehead without even looking.

"Ow! Hey!"

Raph chuckled to himself, and Nano giggled with him after a few seconds.

Ooh, yeah, Raph would tear the world down for this kid, alright.

[astralfuchs]

Given how “unique” a Miku concert would be I’m surprised Crypton themselves didn’t send some team members or equipment personally to make sure things are set up right bc other than some performers that might hide their face/wear disguises idk how many usual concert locations have something prepped for “holo” projections compared to Japan and their Vtuber boom (although I’d rather buy a plushie from a booth but hopefully at least the theatres would have good sound quality)

Sucks for any workers scrambling and getting hate/hope it doesn’t affect the sales of any other indie ppl performing their concerts

The weird thing is it worked before. I went to miku Expo 2018 in cologne and 2020 in Berlin. Both times it was an actual hologram concert with the same band as magical Mirai. Neither of these two locations had a concert like this before, I'm pretty sure. All of the equipment must've been toured around with thew Miku Expo crew. Going against advertising and expectations (basically all of these concerts, and like all of them in recent years were holographic) without notifying buyers beforehand and also not even afterwards when people keep asking is, to put it lightly, customer unfriendly at best and a scam at worst.

I arrived a bit late in 2018 since I only had standard so I don't know how it was there, but in 2020 people went around giving out free stickers and badges, or general stuff they got from other miku events. One of them seemed to be a huge meiko fan so when she gifted me something I gave her the meiko badge I got from the random gacha button bags. Stuff like that really made it feel like a community coming together, so reading that giving out badges, stickers, etc. wasn't allowed this year, even for people who specifically got an okay from cfm and also got their stuff stolen from is surreal.

I had vip in 2020 and as far as I know everyone got their vip merchandise, which doesn't seem to be the case this year, which makes no sense because you would know how many people at this location have the vip ticket. Another thing I read is that vip ticket holders were supposed to be let in earlier for merchandise and the concert hall but it didn't happen, which also worked flawlessly before in my experience.

Merchandise being not enough for everyone is sadly not new, I was in line for it in 2018 and when I was three people away the store people shouted they were all sold out, which was very much a bummer but I thankfully bought the penlight and t-shirt beforehand in the online store so it wasn't too bad for me and as I said I was quite late to the so definitely in the latter half of the people that got in. Still should've been more but I would chalk it up to being the first concert in Europe and them not having expected such a huge crowd maybe. How this is still the case 6 years later and in America where there were concerts way before 2018 is beyond me.

I don't know if this is because of crunchyroll (it probably is tho) but I can't say cfm is innocent either since they partnered with them and it's their job to ensure everything is up to standard, which clearly didn't happen.

For me, I was really happy to hear there was going to be a Europe one again, especially since I really loved it, it is such a magical experience so the last year's being online only made me super sad since it isn't the same in the slightest, but seeing it's also partnered with crunchyroll I decided against it. It's because I loved it so much that it really saddens me to see what is currently going on (also probably why I wrote so much, very sorry). Miku Expo is one of the best, magical and insane events you can go to as a vocaloid/piaproloid fan and I wish for all fans, people who've been in the Fandom longer and already have been to Miku Expo, and newer fans that didn't have the chance yet, to have that same experience but this is not it. This being someone's first miku expo experience is just a sad thing to think about considering what a massive downgrade the experience is. I hope there will be official statements soon and that the people who are currently experiencing it still have a good time.

[js337]

okay so i have this little situation at work and i'm wondering how y'all feel about it/would handle it. it's gonna be long, forgive me

a couple weeks ago a co-worker was getting ready to leave and was saying goodbye to everyone in their department (which didn't include me but I could hear them.) they couldn't find one person and so just said "bye (name) wherever you are!" couple minutes later that person walked by me so i said "oh, (name) said bye!"

and at first she just went "oh" but then stopped, walked up to me and leaned in and went "actually, it's (different name) now. they're... transitioning." to which i had a pause and went "????? oh! okay! sorry, didn't know." (the way she said it and like... rolled her eyes gave me transphobe vibes especially how i've heard her talk before, but, that's for another post.)

anyway, it's been a couple weeks and i haven't heard anything else and basically i don't know if i should ask them about their name/any possible change in pronouns, because i don't want to misgender them or call them by their dead name. but like, here's the thing:

while we worked together in the past and are on perfectly good/friendly terms, they moved departments over a year ago and we haven't worked together since. we no longer interact except for the occasional "hey how's it going" as we pass each other, or when i ring up items for them when they go on their break. so i've yet to have a chance to talk privately w/ them

i have not heard anyone else call them by their supposed new name

they haven't updated their name anywhere (it's still the same on the schedule, in our system, and on their rewards account for the store. i haven't seen their name tag so idk if they've changed that.)

if they've started transitioning, it's not in any visible/noticeable way yet

they personally haven't told me anything

i feel weird getting this information from someone who i'm pretty sure is at least a little bit transphobic (tho i guess they cared enough to tell me i was using the wrong name? idk.)

i was originally thinking to ask, but now i'm thinking i shouldn't because of all the above reasons. the person who gave me this info in the first place is someone who works in the same department as them. it's possible they told everyone in that department bc they work with each other on a daily basis. i have no idea if they're comfortable with the rest of us knowing. i have no idea if the person who told me had permission to do so. idk if she outed them to me before they were ready for me to know, or if it's a situation where they're fine w/ others knowing and just haven't felt the need to announce it. idk if the person knows that i know (probably not.)

SO LONG STORY SHORT, basically i'm asking if you think i should ask them, or act like i don't know until they choose to tell me themselves. i'm leaning towards the latter but either way, in the meantime i figured i'd stick to gender neutral pronouns when referring to them until i hear otherwise but also like... idk what to do about the name. i rarely have reason to talk about them by name since we're in completely separate departments now but like. i feel weird knowing their new name when they haven't told it to me.

[continent-of-wild-endeavor]

Adventures in beekeeping

May 2023

I went into winter 2022 with 5 hives, two of which were small and not expected to survive, and came out with two strong hives. Split each of them in March, but both splits failed. Caught 3 swarms, 2 of which are still going strong. Then the 2 big hives, out at the goat farm, both swarmed - guess I wasn't on top of them enough in late March & April, and they ran out of space despite the earlier splits I'd taken.

As of last weekend, neither had a laying queen, though they did have decent population & honey being made. I found queen cells that looked to have been used & opened, but no brood at all in one, and just a few scattered capped cells left in the other. Was there still hope they'd replaced their queens? I had to check the internet for a chart of the timeline, & compare to the last time I'd seen eggs or a queen in those hives.

Good thing I take (& date) notes in my phone each time I inspect, or I'd never remember anything that's going on in my hives. One had definitely had a queen 3 weeks before, so not too worrying (though there's a lot that can happen to a virgin queen after she emerges, such as getting eaten by a bird on a mating flight). The other, though, had had a capped queen cell at that previous inspection, & evidence it had already swarmed then, meaning it was anywhere from "getting less likely" to "just about hopeless".

With the splits failed & both hives queenless, I didn't have an easy way to fix them. My home bees could potentially donate a frame of eggs, but that's still at least 4 weeks before a queen might get back to work, and the hives' population was already on the decline. I resolved to give them a few more days, and then come back with a purchased queen, to put in whichever hive needed it more. I'm working too much right now to get back to it any sooner, anyway, and had run out of time that day.

I had to reduce the size of one of those hives by half, as the population was low enough (must've been a big swarm, or a couple) that they couldn't defend all the honey they had, if another hive should try to rob them.

Ok, early honey harvest for me! The next day I dragged my extractor up out of the barn & cleaned it, got all set up, uncapped 4 frames, and started to spin them...and something went "thunk". A rubber piece that connects two pieces of the extractor had disintegrated, & I couldn't continue without it. I've been running all over looking for this part - learnt a lot about this type of coupler, something I couldn't even name yesterday morning - and concluded it's a nonstandard size, probably gonna have to replace the whole coupler. Very nearly got one that'd work at the bee supply place locally, but after much struggle taking mine all the way apart (it was quite stuck) we determined it wouldn't do after all, even though it could fit in place.

I picked up a queen from a shipment they got in today & went up to the goat farm, only to find both hives have new queens, both laying well. This is good, of course, but now what'm I going to do with this one I just bought?? Neither of those seemed a good candidate for a split she could go in, since they had no brood to share. Not impossible, but not ideal. So I took her home & split the larger of the two swarm hives, removing its original queen & 5 frames of bees, brood, & stores to a new hive, and putting my new bought queen in the original hive. It would be better to let them sit queenless for a couple days first, but keeping her in my house in her little box seemed more risky.

Meanwhile the partially-extracted frames are sitting in their boxes on my kitchen counter, wrapped in plastic wrap to ward off the ants, but the ants may find them nonetheless. My very good, very kind friend said I could come do my extracting at her house, though I couldn't borrow her equipment bc she's harvesting this week too. I'd love to go hang out with her, but I don't have the damn time, what with work & game night & Mother's day this weekend. If I can't get the part replaced in the next day or so, I'm going to have to figure out how to fit all these frames in my chest freezer, or I'll risk losing the honey.

Whew. It could be going a lot worse, but it's sure going a lot right now. I gotta finish my smoothie & get back to things. People will start arriving for D&D in 45 minutes, and I haven't mopped the floors or refreshed my memory of where we were in this dungeon.