#and watch things like river monsters and stuff

[moss-and-marimos]

sometimes I miss watching tv with you

[indecisivemuch]

Cupids in Converses

Pairing: Luke Castellan x Reader

Summary: Valentine's was rolling up. You and Luke played Cupid on Percy and Annabeth. But what if playing matchmakers gave both you guys and your unspoken feelings the nudge that you guys have always needed? (Fluff, friends to lovers, happy ending)

Warning: sort of cliché, but it's Valentines so.

Note: Valentines got me in the mood of writing something rom-com-ish. Let's just assume Luke wears red converses that looks like Maia in the show. Also, I've been incredibly busy so I kinda rushed through this one to post it on time for Valentines.

Word count: 4.1k (whoops)

February has always filled the air with some sort of sugary chemical. Everything seemed sweeter like a pink filter had been put over the world. Some may dislike the upcoming February holiday, but it was perhaps one of your favorite times of the year. 

Why? You were somehow blessed with the skills of getting people together and nudging them just enough to cross the line they needed to. So far, you have managed to help six couples get together. With Valentine’s right around the corner, the urge to play cupid grew to the point it was itching your hands.

“Well, compared to the Chimera on Monday, Medusa on Sunday, could have been a lot worse,” Percy was quickly interrupted by Annabeth. 

“Medusa was Saturday.”

“I thought Sunday?”

“No monsters on Sunday. Monday, you died in a river.” You squint your eyes at the conversation that Percy and Annabeth were having. The familiar bells rang in your head; you could practically hear them roaring at you.

“Right, so Medusa on Saturday…” 

“Woah, guys, what’s this?” Luke interrupted. “When did you turn into an old married couple?” Percy and Annabeth both grew slightly flustered at the Hermes counselor’s words. Muttering a few things here and there, the two kids quickly excused themselves and walked off from you and Luke just to avoid the topic in general. You slowly turned towards Luke and peered up at him.

“Surely…” you spoke cryptically.

“Surely what?”

“Them!” you gestured to the direction that Percy and Annabeth had headed off to. You kicked a small rock with your Converse and watched it tumble away. “Surely we can give a little nudge?” you trailed off, bumping into Luke’s shoulder.

“You’re not seriously gonna play Cupid on them, right?”

“No, I’m not…because we are,” Luke let out a loud breath, hands on his hips as he peered down at you. However, you could see a glimmer of amusement in his eyes. 

“Sweet girl, I adore you, but why not let things run their course?” you hope he did not see the physical reaction over that nickname because, internally, your heart skipped a beat.

“Oh? And you’re telling me those six couples from before would have gotten together without me? You know I’m right about this kind of stuff. I can usually sense it. Besides, it’ll be fun, I promise.”

“What’s in it for me?”

“Uhm…you get to spend time with me?” you decided to answer, grinning up at Luke when he gave you a feigned unimpressed look. “Please, besides, you and Percy are close, so it would help a lot. I already have a plan and I need your help for it.”

One look into your eyes, and Luke knew he was doomed. For some reason, you just can make him do anything you ask. Luke could feel the hands on his hips slowly slipping as he looked into your eyes.

“Fine.”

Stage 1: Get Percy to realize his feelings cause he’s blind as hell

It was midnight and everybody else was asleep except for you and Luke. The two of you were in the kitchen, trying to be as quiet as possible.

The two of you were making some fortune cookies for your plan. However, there was a tiny twist to the treat you two were making. You had personally printed out a couple of prompts that you wrote yourself in hopes they would nudge Percy into realizing his feelings. 

“Really?’“Romance is in the air. What you’re looking for is right in front of you’?” Luke read out the small piece of paper that you printed. You pulled the cookies out of the oven when they were ready.

“It’s cliche and sort of obvious, but hey! It’ll work because it’s Percy I’m working with,” you quickly pulled the paper out of his hand to put it in the fortune cookie before folding it into shape and letting it cool down.

“Mhm. He’s gonna realize you’re trying to play cupid.”

“Are we talking about the same person? I doubt Percy would realize. Annabeth would, hence why I’m not trying this on her.”

Luke helped you out with a couple of other spare fortune cookies that you two intended to keep for yourselves.

“Alright, finally done,” you muttered, washing your hands. However, you were caught off guard when Luke dipped his hand in the bag of flour on the counter and smeared some on your cheek. Your mouth hung slightly at this, and you looked up at him challengingly. You wiped your hands with a hand towel, “Oh? Is that how we’re playing it?”

“...No…” Luke sheepishly replied, a grin growing on his face when he saw the look of mischief creeping on your face.

“Game on, Castellan,” with that, you dipped both of your hands in flour and chased after the tall boy, who was sprinting around the counter. You caught up with Luke and compromised by smearing flour onto the back of his shirt first. At your attack, he turned around and smeared some more across your face from your other cheek to the top of your nose. You immediately did it back to him.

“Ok, ok, I surrender,” he coughed in between quiet waves of laughter after you smeared some from his cheek down his neck, marking your last attack.

For a moment, Luke and you stood in silence, but when you two let the state of one another sink in, laughs echoed throughout the room again. Luke was able to stop his laughter first, though he was still wearing a wide grin. He washed the flour off his face and dried it with kitchen tissues as you muttered: “Oh, I wish I had a camera. I could practically blackmail you with that photo.”

“I have no doubt you would have never let me live that down,” while replying, Luke also approached you and started wiping the flour off your nose before moving to your cheeks. Your laughter slowly faded as your cheeks heated at the feeling of his hand on your skin. He was looking at you so tentatively. Callous hands - a reflection of his remarkable title as best swordsman - delicately holding your face as if you were the rarest diamond to exist.

Something about this moment felt so domestic. Luke allowed himself to indulge in the fantasy that this is how it would feel like to be with you and share cute moments like these together. Luke unbeknownstly let out a breath he didn’t know he was keeping in as he made eye contact with you. 

However, the moment was interrupted by another camper who yelped upon seeing you two in the kitchen. The presence of another person caused you two to spring apart. “I’m so sorry, I’ll leave,” the camper muttered, clearly abandoning their plan of stealing food and sweets in the middle of the night. Luke coughed to break the silence.

“So what’s the plan after giving it to Percy?” Luke asked, looking down at the fortune cookies before picking one up and munching on it.

“Hopefully, he’ll finally realize his feelings, and when he does…Percy will come to you, for sure.”

Stage 2: Romantic gesture

You were right, Percy came to Luke for dating advice. As you planned, Luke suggested that Percy make a flower crown for Annabeth. Hence, here the Hermes counselor was - with Percy as he picked out flowers for Annabeth.

"I'm gonna need you to guide me on this 'cause I've never made flower crowns before," Percy muttered as he picked out California Poppins, Annabeth's favorite. Luke grinned at this. He found it interesting how the young boy already knew. "Maybe you could make one for someone special too?" Percy said, his voice somewhat unsure. 

At the young boy's words, Luke froze. The first person that seemed to pop into his mind when Percy said that was you.

"I mean, might as well, right? It's for Valentine's. Maybe you could give it to someone who means a lot to you and makes you happy?" Percy spoke, though there was something instigative about his tone.

Happy. The word bounced in between the walls of Luke's mind. Once again, the first thing that flashed in his head was you. Then, a surge of images came running from memories of you two. He almost could not remember happiness before you. A warm feeling embedded in his chest as he pictured your smile. Just seeing you happy seemed to do it for him, like you could spread happiness to him by just looking at him. You were like the first glimmer of daylight after a cold night. He subconsciously smiled at that thought.

You have always made him feel loved, even though he knew you were probably doing it platonically. However, he would gladly take any form of love that he could receive from you. Every day, waking up and knowing he had you in his life was good enough for him. Maybe he should try giving you more hints. Maybe you'll finally see it. Perhaps Percy was right with the flower crown idea. 

“Uhm, sure,” with that, Luke decided to take some of your favorite flowers into his hand and went to a nearby table, where he started guiding Percy on how to make a flower crown. However, ever so often, his mind would trail to its own thoughts whenever he focused on making this flower crown for you.

Percy watched Luke as the older boy started intensely working on his own flower crown, crafting it with so much care as if it was an artwork intended for a national museum. If Percy didn’t know better, he would think Luke was a perfectionist.

Meanwhile, you were sitting with Annabeth near the ocean where she had previously pushed Percy into the waters, leading to Poseidon claiming him. You asked, “Any plans for Valentine’s Day?” 

“No, you?”

“Nope.”

“Oh?” she replied, though you tilted your head at the tone of her voice. “I’m just surprised,” Annabeth explained as she looked out at the ocean instead of at you. “I mean…I thought you and Luke…”

“Huh?—”

“Well, I mean, you two are together all the time, and there seems to be something going on —”

“What do you mea—”

“It always seems like you two would gravitate to one another. I just assumed you two were together already—”

“We’re…just friends,” you settled on saying, though you could hear your heart beating loudly, seemingly echoing near your chest and neck. Of course, you knew you had feelings for Luke. However, you have always ruled it as a silly little crush.

“...You sure? You sound really unsure,” Annabeth challenged, making you sigh. 

“I mean, he’s really sweet, and nice…”

“Uh-huh”

“And he makes me laugh all the time…”

“That’s good,” Annabeth’s words echoed as you sunk into silence and started reflecting on who Luke was to you. He has always made you feel cared for. Out of everybody at camp, perhaps he was the one you were most comfortable with, never having to be afraid of being yourself. Almost all of your favorite memories at camp included him in them. 

You remember the night you told him about your minor fear of the darkness and how he promised to always protect you in it. In a way, since then, he has become your light. You always felt lit up when he made his way to you. Your eyes are always drawn to him like a moth to its flame. Then, it finally dawned on you how serious your feelings were. You realized how most of the time you seemed to be mindless about the existence of your heart until Luke was around because it was only then that your heart would tug or race to run you breathless. You gulped as your eyes darted around slightly. 

“I mean…maybe…” you started but snapped out of your thoughts when you heard Luke’s voice. And there it was again, the silly familiar tug your heart was doing just from his voice. “Hey…” you greeted Luke and Percy before noticing Percy with a flower crown in his hand. 

“Annabeth, can I speak to you privately?” Annabeth stood up and gestured for Percy to lead the way, presumably somewhere, so the young boy could give her the flower crown and ask her out on Valentine’s Day. You remained seated, still pondering at your feelings and wondering when they had exponentially grown that much. 

“I actually have something for you as well,” you finally looked up at Luke when he said this. You noticed he had his hands behind his back. Something about the way he looked now seemed so shy and timid, which was unlike the outgoing and confident boy you always knew.

Your mouth fell agape when he pulled out a flower crown made of your favorite flower. “Luke…” you said his name and stood up when you saw the item.

However, because your eyes were on his gift, you didn’t notice the way Luke’s breath hitched at the sound of your voice calling out his name. He never thought it was anything special until November two years ago when you said his name while laughing at one of his jokes by the campfire. It was probably a moment you did not remember, but ever since then, he felt so sure that he was named so because the name sounded like it was born just for the sole purpose of being sounded from your lips. 

“I made this for you,” he muttered, though it sounded almost like a whisper. His eyes shifted to both of your Converses instead of at you. Something about this made him so nervous as if he was handing you his heart instead of a simple gift. He almost scowled at himself for acting like a boy in kindergarten, confessing to his crush.

If only Luke was looking at you because you were looking at him and the item in awe. Your cheeks flushed from his gesture. Though, you were somewhat glad he was not looking at you because you were sure one look at you right now would tell Luke exactly everything about your feelings. You were a blushing mess. “Luke, thank you so much. This is beautiful. I can’t believe you made one for me.”

You touched Luke’s hand that was holding the crown, and he almost grew an even deeper shade of red. “Put it on my head,” you instructed, and he obliged just like everything else you would ask. He was sure he must have caught a sickness or something for wanting to follow you this blindly. But you were perhaps the only one with the power to get him to do absolutely anything. Just as the crown touched your hair, you peered up at him, and the sight alone made Luke swallow nervously. 

You looked breathtaking.

And he meant this literally because Luke felt like he stopped breathing for a second. He could not look away. That was until you wrapped your arms around his waist and hugged him. His arms wrapped around your neck almost immediately to return the hug as if they existed to only hold you. 

However, unlike the hundreds of hugs before, this one felt different. It was as if something had shifted and was bound to unfold.

Final Stage: Valentine’s Day

Annabeth had said yes.

You were ecstatic to learn that the young girl had agreed to go on a Valentine’s date with Percy. Even though you didn’t want to intrude, you and Luke decided to just have a peep to see what Percy had planned. You were not planning to stay long. It was just a sort of reward or a way to see your plan grow into fruition. You smiled when you spot the cute picnic date near the shore.

“See, I told you the plan was going to work,” you muttered as you tiptoed up in your converses to peer at the kids through the tall bushes nearby. You almost lost balance and step onto Luke's shoes that were similar to yours, except his was red.

The boy quickly steadied you with his hand on your waist. You muttered a quick thank you before turning back to the kids, trying to ignore the blush that was slowly decorating your cheeks. But you were quickly caught off guard at the sight of Percy and Annabeth pushing a small boat off the shore and hopping on it.

“Uhm…that is not what I expected. Where are they going?” Luke looked over your shoulder when you said that. Your eyes fluttered at his warm breath hitting your neck. 

However, you noticed the two kids looking like they were in trouble and panicking as they quickly started rowing away. You turned your head towards Luke, forgetting he was very close to you. Your voice faltered as you were about to utter your next sentence. Noticing this, Luke turned to you, only causing the two of you to come face to face with little distance in between. You gulped and forced yourself not to glance down at his lips, “Do you think they’re okay? Should we follow them? I mean…what if they’re in trouble?”

Seeing the worried look on your face, Luke frowned. He deeply disliked anything that caused that kind of expression on your face. Hence, he decided to go over to the second boat there and started pushing it towards the water. “Come on,” you hopped onto the small boat with him and started rowing after Percy and Annabeth, hoping to help them from whatever trouble they were seeming to have.

After a few minutes of rowing behind them, you saw Percy and Annabeth rowing into a small tunnel. Luke and you quickly followed in, rowing your boat, only to be engulfed by darkness upon entering the tunnel.

The wind blew much harder in there, causing goosebumps on your arm as your hand gripped your oar tightly. To make matters worse, it was your most hated type of darkness - utter pitch black. Even with your eyes adjusted to the darkness, you could see nothing, not even Luke. 

You were fine with darkness in familiar places like your cabin, where you knew at least there were other campers around and you were safe. You were also mostly fine with darkness where you could see as your eyes adjusted to it. But here, you were in a tunnel you’ve never been in, where there were possibly monsters that could attack you at any moment. 

You were slightly startled by the hand that softly touched yours that, unbeknownst to you, was crushing the wooden oar. You immediately recognize it was Luke’s hand from the warmth and familiar touch. He soothingly ran his thumb across your hand. His actions were proven effective at calming you down when you could feel your grip loosen around the tool.

“Breathe, sweet girl,” his words somehow made you release the breath you were subconsciously holding.

A few seconds later, the lights were turned on. You were met with one of the most beautiful sights you’ve ever seen. Lights were decorating the path throughout the tunnel. There were also plants and trees with extended branches and leaves that softly brushed past the boat Luke and you were on. 

Suddenly, you both heard a tune start playing quietly in the background, almost quiet enough to make you two think you were imagining it:

“There you see her, sitting there across the way.

She don’t got a lot to say, but there’s something about her”

His thumb hasn’t stopped rubbing over your knuckles even though the darkness was no longer casting over the both of you. His eyes were absorbing how you looked at that moment, embracing it. You were absolutely stunning and he was hopelessly infatuated with you. 

“And you don’t know why, but you’re dying to try

You wanna kiss the girl.”

The lyrics made Luke subconsciously lick his lips as he pictured himself kissing you. Gods, he wondered if his heart would even survive doing so and whether anything would ever surpass getting to kiss you. Your eyes flickered to Luke's lips, and he noticed it. He also noticed how your cheeks flushed as you gulped at his actions.

“Luke.”

“Y/N,” you almost melted at the way Luke was saying your name as if it was an honor or privilege to do so. The tone he used was sweeter than any dessert you have ever had. Gods, it was as if your name was a sacred passage he lived by.

“Yes, you want her

Look at her, you know you do”

Indeed he was looking at you, and it felt almost like he was spellbound because he could not take his eyes off you. Right then, you could see it all - he was utterly smitten. He was giving you a soft smile. The lights decorating the tunnel shimmered in his eyes, illuminating just enough to display his pupils and how they almost completely overtook the usual dark brown color that you love. Before you knew it, he was leaning closer to you on the small boat and you mirrored his action.

“Possible she wants you too, there is one way to ask her…”

Just when Luke was inches from your face, he stopped. His eyes longingly stare at your lips like a long-awaited dream that was within his grasp but not quite within his grip yet. You noticed how he took a deep breath as if mustering all the drops of courage he had. His eyes fluttered shut for a second before he opened them again. 

“Can I?” he uttered only two words, but somehow, his voice conveyed enough the yearning coursing through every inch of his body. Luke gulped as he restrained himself from closing the distance and waited for your consent. 

You nodded wordlessly.

“It don’t take a word, not a single word

Go on and kiss the girl.”

Almost instantly, he caressed both sides of your face and sealed the deal.

All the glory Luke has gained throughout the years seemed trivial compared to kissing you. It almost convinced him that everything he had gone through to get here today was worth it. He hummed against your lips as you wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him even closer. Kissing you felt like the best gift he had ever gotten in his entire life. Luke knew he was forever screwed from the way it felt. He could not fathom the idea of his lips ever touching anyone else’s. Maybe they were made for you, but his heart and mind do not seem to oppose that idea.

You slowly slid your arms down, allowing your hands to caress his jawline and the sides of his face. However, your hands slightly jolted at the pace of his heartbeat along the side of his neck. It was as if his heart was trying to break out of his body. Your own heart started replicating the same rhythm. It had you flustered that you had such an effect on him. 

Luke broke away from the kiss breathlessly. For a second, he hated the idea of needing air to live because if he could, he would not have stopped showing you how much his lips belonged to you. His forehead leaned against yours while his hands rested on your hips. He looked at you endearingly as if he could not fathom that he just got to kiss you. You smiled at the sight of him.

“I know I’m a tad bit late, but will you be my Valentine?” he sweetly asked. 

“Of course, Luke.” Luke grinned at your answer. He drew you in for another kiss as giggles escaped your lips and echoed through the tunnel that now marked an important memory for the two of you.

You truly must be Cupid because your plan not only worked for Percy and Annabeth, but somehow also indirectly gave Luke and you the nudge you both needed.

14th February marked the day when two Cupids wearing Converses got their happy ending. 

Bonus:

“I told you that would work,” Annabeth whispered to Percy as the two hopped back onto their boat with a speaker in hand, rowing away hastily to be out of sight from the older couple.

Little did you know, Annabeth had orchestrated the whole thing, including the conversation between her and Percy about their mission in front of Luke and you. Annabeth’s plan of getting Luke and you together through playing cupid together had seemingly worked just like she had planned.

Who said you were the only cupid at Camp Half-Blood?

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

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[smuthospital]

⭐️Degrees of lewdly: Eden⭐️

Premise: You're a spooky place youtube explorer, and you get lost in a big scary forest! Eden voorhees lol. Reader is fem. Enjoy!

Art by Minagami

Re-upload because tumblr took it down last time.

Content Warning: Non-con, kidnapping, tummy bulge, blood, Eden is Jason, Voorhees

Miners DNI

You've never really gone hiking before and it's proven itself to be a lot more difficult than you originally thought it would be. You like to explore places you've never been, spooky places. more for the thrill. you started filming it and posting your videos on youtube. You usually take some friends along, but all of your friends decided to be little babies this time since the place you're exploring is extra creepy this time. It's a large forest 20 miles away from your city. You borrowed your mom's car to get here. you always tell them you're at a friend's house because they'd kill you if they ever found out you're putting yourself in possibly harmful situations. This forest is known for creepy sightings, disappearances, ghosts, and lots of other things your viewers would love to watch. You've been to abandoned hospitals, cemeteries, tunnels, all that good stuff. You don't think you'll actually see anything, but you brought a can of pepper spray just in case.

The wind howls, making the trees dance above you. The shapes that were once branches in the day have turned into long gangly fingers that desperately reach for you and the bushes now house entities with red eyes and fangs that you imagine want to tear you to pieces! "Wow, guys. This might just be the scariest one yet, haha. There's probably some sort of scp in here with me haha!" You try to keep yourself company by talking to your soon-to-be viewers when you post this, but it's really just to keep you calm.

"I'm a bit lost. The trail kinda disappeared somewhere around here, I think. there's just so much long grass and it's more of a footpath than an actual trail." you complain as you try to spot any familiar landmarks. It's almost impossible. It might be easier in the day for sure, but the night masks everything. You step over decayed logs and large roots, feeling worry set in. What if you're really lost!? Your thoughts come to an abrupt stop when you hear a strange sound not too far from where you're standing. Your blood freezes as you feel a cold sweat coming on. Maybe...maybe it's a person? And maybe they can help you?..or..a monster!? No, (Y/n), this is no time to be silly! That could be a person willing to help you before you get yourself completely lost!

Little did you know you were already a mile deep, walking in the wrong direction.

“I heard a sound. It could be someone who could help me get back on track.” You whisper. You turn off your video camera's flash light and carefully make your way to where you heard the sound, being careful not to step on anything that could alert whatever it is of your presence. You don’t want to startle it, just in case it's an animal willing to protect its territory from invaders like yourself. The sound came from below you. There's a rocky slope leading down to a river. You get down on your knees and peer between the long grass. You can't make out much in the dim moonlight... until you spot a giant of a man dragging a sack through the shallow water. His size alone sends shivers down your spine. Even from where you're crouching, you could tell he would dwarf you the way a cat would to a mouse. You examine him a bit more.The sack is stained in a dark colour that is seeping through the fabric and into the water. You don't dare move a muscle or even breathe. You can't believe your eyes. This can't be real. Are you in a horror movie?

You make sure he disappears behind the tree line with the mysterious sack before letting out a breath. You didn't want to accidentally alert him of your presence in any shape or form. He was probably just a hunter. Yeah, he could have helped you, but he also could have added you to the wet sack and you were not risking that.

You stand up and turn around, ready to get as far away from here as possible, only to bump your nose into a tree. The collision causes you to drop your camera. That's strange. You don't remember walking around a tree to look over the cliff. You rub your nose in annoyance. Wait a minute... This tree didn't have rough bark like the rest of them...Your brain blanks out. You've been in denial this entire time, your brain working extra hard to rationalize what's happening. Before you is a large torso. You can't even see their shoulders from how close you're standing, just a wide, firm chest. You crane your neck up and it takes you a good three seconds before your brain registers that you're looking at the man from before..and he's wearing a mask!

He looks down at you with a focused gaze. You let out a short scream and try to run away, but being within arm's reach of the giant makes it too easy for him to simply reach out and grab the back of your top. He lifts you off your feet with one arm and brings you to his eye level. He cocks his head to the side, observing you slowly. He looks down at the camera you dropped and places his large boot on it, pressing down and crushing it. You start to hyperventilate. He's gonna chop you up and wear your skin, he's gonna keep you in a dark hole and shout "It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again!" You thrash in his iron grip, pushing at his large hand and sobbing untellable pleas for mercy, but your begging falls on deaf ears. "I-I'm sorry. I-I'll leave, I promise! Please let me go! I-I didn't mean to bother you, I'm sorry!" You cry. Your little struggle seems to have made your shirt ride up a bit, showcasing your supple flesh to his thirsty eyes. His eyes laser focus on your bare skin.

To your confusion, his hand reaches to caress your skin, feeling the smooth texture before slowly moving up. You wiggle more, scared of where this is going. His hand soon finds your breast and cups it before giving it a squeeze. He shudders. His breathing becomes heavier as he continues to mess with your body, his thumb rolling over your nipple. All you can do is whimper and wiggle in his hold. his hand begins sliding down and you scream. You suddenly remember you brought a can of pepper spray, whipping it out of your back pocket and pointing it at his face. Then as you were about to press down and unleash the fire juice, it was gone. In his hand that was previously molesting you lies the remains of your poor pepper spray, crushed and bubbling pathetically. He was so fast you hadn't even realized he snatched it. You just stare at him in horror. To your surprise, he's not even mad, too preoccupied with the need to explore your privates. You hold his wrist and look into his eyes. He looks back into yours as if telling you to stop. You hesitantly let go, and he nods as if to tell you that you've made the right decision. His hand cups your pussy through your jeans, pressing in a bit at the entrance. He seems eager.

He lifts you higher and uncomfortably sets you on his shoulder, his hand on your ass to keep you in place. You don't even bother struggling. You'll wait for an opportunity. If this man wanted you dead, you'd be dead. You don't want to provoke him. From your spot on his shoulder, You notice that he's got a hunting rifle strapped to his back along with a machete. He has an assortment of things attached to his hips among them being a hunting knife and bullet pocket. You shiver. One more off-putting thing that's just about forcing bile up your throat is that he's also covered in a dark wet liquid. You haven't noticed till now, but you haven't been breathing so his smell has now come to your attention. He smells strongly of iron. To that, you're not very surprised.

He starts marching down the hill you were previously watching him from. You have no idea how you saw him disappear through the treeline and he still managed to sneak up on you. He picks up the large stained sack where he left it in favor of locating his little spying mouse. It smells awful, the meaty smell assaulting your senses every second. It's been 15 minutes and an opportunity to escape has not shown itself. This is it. This is how you die. Your body will never be found. Maybe in a few years in a shallow grave by some hiker if you're lucky. This inhuman mass of muscle is going to cut you up and eat you. Maybe even skip cutting you up. He could probably eat you whole as pre-workout. He lifts his leg to step over a large log, his grip on your ass slightly loosening just enough for you to catch him off guard and slip off his shoulder. You grunt as you fall into the dirt and leaves behind him. You scramble up before the giant can scoop you up. You run in a random direction. You just needed to get away from him, getting out of the forest was a problem for later. You didn't even think about how fast he'd be. How could someone be so big and fast!? He took off after you and suddenly, he was on your ass. You've never felt such a primal fear as he chased you like a hungry animal.

A large hand grabs your shoulder and rips you backwards. You fall on your back and stare up at the man now on his knees in front of you, his body completely casting a shadow before yours. He gets down on his hands, caging you too the ground, his body inches above yours. You stare into the holes of his mask and into his rabid eyes. He leans in by your neck. You stop breathing once again, you think your heart stopped. You feel something large and hard pressing roughly into your crotch. You hear him take a deep breath and smell you..."Smells nice." His voice is deep and rough, but it sounds like he rarely uses it. You scream and begin to cry again, not being able to take it anymore. You fight him with all your might. He grabs your wrists with one hand. You hear him chuckle a bit before his hand comes up to cup your check. He suddenly squeezes it and twists your face around to get a better look at your features. He grinds his hips against yours, teasing you of what's to come. He roughly releases your face, before standing to his full height and dragging you up with him. He tosses you back over his shoulder, this time with an almost bone-crushing grip. “Name.” His tone is commanding. When you fail to answer right away, his fingers press into the area on your crotch. Threatening to rip right through. “(Y/n)! My name is (Y/n)!” He hums in response.

Hot tears run down your cheeks as he walks back over to where he left his murder mystery sack. He navigates through the forest as he knows it like the back of his hand until he comes upon a clearing where his home stands. A lonely wooden cabin. He drops the gooey meat bag on the ground. You cringe at the wet sound it makes on impact. You peer over at the sack to see a human hand flop out. Before you could react, he slams his hand over your mouth painfully. "Shut up." He waits for you to nod before removing his hand. He opens his front door and steps inside. It smells musty, like old wood and man smell. Not bad, but not amazing either. He walks up his stairs and sets you on a very large bed. You take a deep breath in, your stomach sore from being jabbed by his shoulder for the entirety of the long walk.

He doesn't let you get comfortable though. His hands are on you in an instant, grabbing your clothes and ripping them to shreds like tissue paper, you're naked before you could even hold any of your clothes together. Hungry eyes leer over you through his mask. You feel his hot breath fan you through the bottom of his mask. "S-stop it, please! Don't hurt me!" You beg. As if to mock your plea, his rough hand grips your plush thigh a little too close to your cunt and squeezes it tightly before shoving it against your chest, making room for himself between them.

He releases you for a moment, only to unzip his uncomfortably tight pants. You shut your eyes and look away, only to feel the soul-crushing weight of his cock slam against your lower stomach. You writhe underneath him, small sobs and hiccups coming from your mouth every few seconds. He pauses for a moment but ultimately decides to continue. You peer up between your wet palms and see him rubbing the tree trunk between his thighs while looking down at your pathetic form.

"W-wait! I-I'm not rea-" He grabs your thighs and forces you closer to him and lines his cock up with your entrance, he slides it up and down your folds, causing you to shudder. He doesn't care if you're ready or not. You shut your eyes as he presses forth. You scream in pain. It won't go in. You're too tight, he's too big and you're dry. The tip can't even get through. You whimper in pain. It burns. You need moisture. He lifts his mask a bit and you get a peek of his jaw. It's noticeably sharp and covered in stubble. You feel his saliva plap against your poor dry cunt before he puts his mask back into place. He tries to enter you again. You yelp. He gets a bit through before he can't anymore. He sighs. He was trying to be gentle. He didn't want to break you so quickly...

He grips your thighs tightly. You feel his nails dig in. You barely have time to register the pain before you feel like you're being ripped in two. He's forcing his way in. You immediately let out a scream and begin spazzing. He just continues until he reaches his base, more than snug against your insides. Drool leaks past the corner of your lip as you stare off into space. He breathes heavily and stares at the bulge he created in your lower stomach. He brushes his hand over it and watches as you whimper and twitch. He pulls his hips back and watches it disappear before ramming himself in again and seeing it jab through your insides. He chuckles.

You lay there, unable to do anything but feel what he's doing to you. You lift your arm and place it on his lower stomach, hoping to stop him that way. You feel his rock-hard abs through his shirt and push. "You're...adorable...fuck.. you're tight." He groans before he slams himself deep inside and you clench around him. He hisses and struggles to pull out halfway, your insides trying to pull him back in. He slams in again and presses himself as deeply as he can, firmly hugging your cervix with his cock. Your eyes cross as he thrusts in and out, keeping a proper pace. Moans spill from your lips along with jumbled-up words he can't make out, all of which sound like music to his ears.

He leans over you, forcing himself snugly against you again, his mask right next to your cheek. He groans as he feels you twitch around him. "Feel..so good... was worried you'd rip... you're only bleeding a little." You can hear the smug grin in his tone.

It feels so good. You're so ashamed, feeling good when you're being raped by a maniac. You clench your tear-filled eyes as he pounds into your aching cunt. The knot in your lower stomach bursts as you cum. He moans as you tighten around him. He stills for a second, just enjoying how you feel before he pounds into you like a feral beast. You're surprised your pelvis is holding up. He grips your waist tight and grunts as he empties his balls deep inside you. You can almost feel yourself getting pregnant. You feel too full. Your stomach bloats with cum. You feel hot and fuzzy. Your pussy is so very sore and your legs are numb. He pants above you. "I've been thinking of getting myself a little wife like you." He says as he slowly pulls his still throbbing cock out with a wet 'pop'. "You're a pretty little thing and you take my cock well. Be grateful I'm letting you live as my cock sleeve." He stands up, towering over your crumpled body once again. "My name is Eden. Your duties from now on are cooking, cleaning, mending my clothes and taking my seed. Do not make me repeat these orders. Object and I won't hesitate to remind you of your place. I was gentle this time." His giant cock is still dripping your juices. You can't stop looking at it. Ge takes notice and climbs over you before grabbing your head and forcing you close to his groin. "I see you love cock. Lick it clean then like a good wife. go on."

You look up at him and hesitate a bit too long. You see anger flash in his eyes and you quickly envelop his tip in your mouth. He groans as you lick your mixed juices off, going as deep as you can without choking. He moans and grabs the back of your head. He stares down at you with such intensity that you can feel him burning holes into you. You suddenly feel your throat being invaded and your nose pressing into his pubic hair, nose pressing into his crotch. He moves you back and forth, face fucking you. You struggle to breathe properly through your nose. You let out muffled whimpers and cries, sending vibrations through his cock. He grunts in pleasure before you feel a load of hot thick liquid being shot into your mouth and down your throat. You're so tired. He slowly pulls his cock back and laughs at your exhausted state. Your head flops back onto the bed, your jaw and lips so incredibly sore and raw feeling. "Good girl." He says before your sight fades to black. You explored a bit too much.

[thesmpisonfire]

God. You won't ever understand the feeling of cheering for Soulfire unless you watched Pac or Bad's stream today. It's literally Soulfire against the world. Everyone wants to kill them and they were told to their face. Bad had to act just like a cornered animal and make himself look bigger by trash talking and ended up making things worse. Red got a mission to kill Pac. Red circled Tina and Rivers at their spawn and spawnkilled both of them and tool River's stuff and blamed it on Bad for not giving up Pac. Pac was hidden the entire time, running in caves and desperate to finish his tasks. Cell messaged Pac, calling him darling. Pac found out his personal monster is hunting him again. Bad talked him through a panic attack and promised to keep him safe and protect him. Bad promised to destroy the Red base for Pac. They promised they'd do anything to win

But also

They finished their secret base. They made home out of purgatory. They have cows and chickens and a farm that won't be vandalized. They held each other's hands through today. Pac made chairs for the rest of the team

[c0ld0utside]

hey don’t push yourself to post a work every day, you’ll get brunt out. Go at your own pace, we’ll wait :)

also, have you thought of a human father with a monster child? Like he just grabbed a monster off the street lmao

OHOHO I LOVE THIS IDEA- And you're too kind tysm ;-;

Warnings: Child abandonment (Circle of life scenario), Reader unknowingly eats weed raw, Reader gets chased, Reader accidentally knocks themself out, Kidnapping, Reader gets tied up, Reader just has a lot of oopsie-daisies in general, Obsessive, Possessive, Delusional and Ignorant behavior

“***” means POV swap! Gonna try these out in this story. 

Growing up, you never thought about the day you had to “leave the nest.” Sure, it was a thing that your species did, but you never thought about it too much. …Until you hit a certain age. 

You still remember it all. The rain was pouring down hard and making you shiver. You called out to your parent, whining about wanting to return home, but they pressed forward and expected you to follow. So you did. You walked for hours, feet getting covered in mud and feeling icky. The two of you reached some black river with white dots in the middle, going in a perfectly straight line. 

Your parent turned to you, said that you were old enough to take care of yourself, that you weren’t allowed to come back, and that they wished you well. They left you there. You tried to follow them, tried to track their scent, tried begging and pleading and calling, but you never found them. Somehow, you managed to find the black river again, and you followed it. 

You followed it for a long time, only stopping during the day so you wouldn’t be seen. At night you stuck to the shadows, trying not to get scared when one of the husks roared past you, bright yellow eyes lighting up the darkness for a few moments. The smell it left behind was always awful. You lost count of the days, and at one point you thought you came across a forest fire, only to find that it was the sunlight reflecting on several somethings in tall structures.

You know now that the “black river” is called a road, and that the weird loud husks humans travel in are called “cars.” You’ve grown used to the smells and the loud noises. You’ve also learned that living in human environments got you free food since the morons just threw the stuff out. Like, come on, why would you dump an edible “burger” over some pickles? Just take ‘em out! 

Hiding your appearance, on the other hand, was harder. Your horns were coming in and from what you’ve seen, humans don’t have those, or naturally brightly colored irises and star-like pupils. …Or tails. Or pointed ears. Just your luck, though! Some guy forgot to lock the backdoor into the mall, and the shops you “borrowed” from were out of the cameras’ view. 

Finding a home was hard, too. It took a lot of trial and error, but you eventually found a good spot in an abandoned building after scaring a few squatters. They even left their blankets and strange leaves behind. You found out the hard way that those leaves are not good for you, especially after coughing them back up out the window. But hey, it’s all trial and error. Just like your parent said it would be. 

You’re comfortable, living in the abandoned home with ratty blankets and a mattress. Sneaking around the city after dark to snack on the unwanted leftovers thrown in trash cans. “Borrowing” shiny things off of people while they weren’t looking. Like that one guy’s watch, or that girl’s bracelet. Or some kid’s fidget ring. You even have a few things called “wallets.” Humans make interesting things, you’ve come to find. 

Like money.

Money, you’ve come to find, makes it so you don’t have to dig wasted food out of the garbage. You’ve managed to get some new clothes as well, which was a relief because your horns are very noticeable now without a beanie, and they ripped a hole in your old one. You had a hard time throwing it away, but the new one you have is the best thing you’ve ever gotten. You even bought a few things called “pins” to decorate it with.

The issue with money, however, is that it runs out quick, and getting more is harder than getting food. Which brings you back to your collection of empty wallets. You don’t want to go back to digging food out of garbage cans, trying to find scraps that were clean enough to eat. Your blankets are worn to shit, too. So, eating the last of your food and slipping your beloved beanie on, you head out of your abandoned home and into the city. 

***

A man in his late twenties enters the shop, and he cheerfully says “Hello” back to the greeter. “What you looking for, Tim?” The greeter asks, recognizing the regular. “Pins,” He replies simply. “I’m getting bored of the ones I have.” 

The greeter nods slightly. “Well, we got some new ones recently. Maybe you’ll like one of those.” She offers. The two exchange friendly smiles and Tim heads over to the pin basket, giving it a once over before starting to dig through it. He plucks out a Mothman one. A bit standard, he knows, but it’s adorable and Tim likes it so that’s that. 

Tim plucks out a few more monster pins and a few goofy animal ones, like a spider pin with the words “I cry from every eye” printed on it and a duck with a knife. Satisfied with his haul that only costs around fifteen bucks, Tim looks up and spots the best thing he’s ever seen in his entire life. It’s just a keychain with a ghost plush, but it’s probably the cutest thing he’s ever seen in his life and he needs it. It even has a little smile on its face. A smile. It’s so precious and tiny and he just wants to hold it in his palms and dub it “Bartholomew the First.” 

So he feels less alone. 

Tim frowns at the sudden thought. Yeah, he’s a loner. Yes, he has friends, but they’re more work buddies and classmates than anything. He’d like to get a pet, something funky like a ferret or a rat or a lizard. But no, his landlord says no pets, so no pets for Tim. He’s always been sympathetic to others, having a lot of love to give but no one close to share it with. People from the past always found him odd because of it, but never told him why. Never told him what to do instead. 

He knows he’s not alone. Most people want someone to care about them, and most people want someone to care for. Because no one really wants to be alone. Especially not him.  So why does everyone treat him funny? How can he make it better? The kids don't think he's weird. They love it when he babysits. Please just- 

Tim’s snapped out of his thoughts when he feels something slip out of his back pocket. A teen wearing a beanie with a rabid possum and “peace was never an option” duck pin on it quickly leaves the store, brushing past him. It takes him a few seconds, but he puts two and two together and rushes over to the greeter. 

“Kathy hold onto these please some brat just took my money,” Tim says in a rush, shoving the items into her hands before booking it out of the shop. Kathy stands there, a bit stunned and processing what just happened. With a sigh, she heads over to the register and buys the pins and keychain. 

“Don’t you already have that one?” One of her coworkers asks, squinting at the spider pin. 

“I’m buying it for Tim. Some kid just took his wallet.” Kathy explains, blushing slightly at the teasing glance her coworker gives her. 

***

This guy is stubborn. So stubborn, it’s scary. Scarier than that one wolf that would not stop chasing you after you got too close to its pups. It was an accident and you wish your parent was here to charge through the street and intercept the damn guy who’s still chasing you. Like they did with the wolf. 

You know your parent had some love for you because they listened to your screams and begs and let the poor thing go. They also immediately scolded you for the whole thing afterward. Reckless, stupid little joey, poking around where they shouldn’t be. Just go back home and stay there. Food will come, I’ll bring some back. 

Running away from the threat is harder, too. Especially when you have to shove and weave past hordes of people who are either really slow or just aren’t paying attention. It feels suffocating. Claustrophobic. You can’t get out and you can’t take a moment to breathe. You can’t give this up though, you need it. 

I wish you were still here. I wish things were different. I wish I could’ve stayed. 

Without a second thought, you round the corner and scramble up the old fire escape, throwing yourself through the open dirtied window and tumbling into your blankets. Safe, safe, safe, your mind chants. You’re safe. You lost him. You got your money, so you won’t need to get your hands dirty.  You pull your beanie off of your head. It was starting to feel uncomfortable on your head and make your horns ache. 

There’s a clang outside, and a few muffled curses. Wait. What. What? You immediately stand up, pocketing the “borrowed” wallet. A familiar scent wafts into your nose- sweat and palm leaves. Funny for a guy who’s a regular at the most “teenage angst” store you’ve ever been in. The man from before hops through the window and dusts himself off. His gaze screams murder as he looks up at you.

…Only to fall the moment he spots your odd eyes and horns that are starting to curl. 

Okay. Okay. Stay calm. The dude managed to track you home. He’s a human- he’s weaker. He has no defense. Do what your parent taught you. 

Like a stag, you take a defensive stance and show off your horns. Don’t wanna get hit with these. They’ll hurt really bad. Go away, please. Wait- please? No! Go away now! 

You expect the guy to get the memo and leave. 

Instead, he coos at you.

***

Tim was wrong. The creature was the most cutest, precious thing he’s ever seen.  “Awwwww, look’t you!” He coos, relaxing and taking a friendly stance. “Wait hold on- no, this could be a cosplay. This is a cosplay, isn’t-” 

He yelps as the creature charges, narrowly moving out of the way. Its horns slam into the wall and when it pulls away, there’s a noticeable dent and cracks in it. The beast grunts, teeth flashing in a snarl. Fangs with some flat teeth. Its tail slips out of its hiding place and lashes angrily. 

Tim kneels, holding his hand out and trying to How To Train Your Dragon his way out of this. “Hey buddy, it’s alright. I just need my wallet back. Can I have it, please?” He asks sweetly, making a small motion with his hand. "We can talk about this. I can help."

Tim frowns when it hisses at him, an idea blooming in his head. When the monster charges again, he moves to the side and wraps his arms around them. “Easy, easy, aw…it’s alright. Shhhh…” 

“LET ME GO!” The creature screams, making him pause. It can speak? It sounds young, too. Tim glances around the room, taking in the empty bags of chips and other generally bad stuff that kids eat without a second thought. He notices the ratty blankets and worn, moldy mattress on a broken bedframe.

“...How old are you?” Tim asks, tone full of pity. He winces when he feels claws dig and scratch at his arms, but doesn’t let go. “Ow- hey, it’s okay, I can help you. Let me help you.” The creature doesn’t give up, continuing to struggle. He feels his grip slipping, and he has to take several steps back.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa- hey, chill out-!” 

The creature breaks free and slams into a wall. 

***

When you wake up you know you’re not in your home. It doesn’t smell rancid and there are soft, silky textures brushing against you. Your head in resting on something soft and fluffy. The smell of palm trees is everywhere, and the world seems brighter. The noise is still there, though.

Outside, a car’s horn goes off repeatedly, resulting in you shifting around and trying to bury your head in the soft object. 

…Your hands are bound. So are your legs. The softness rubs against you. It’s a new sensation, one you aren’t used to. The smell gets stronger and you start to panic. So, like any scared joey, you start to call out for your parent. 

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” You hear the man call. You hear him head over and enter the room, immediately joining your side. He starts to rub your back gently, shushing you. Stop it- stop it- you try to protest but he interrupts you. “I know, I know. It’s all new and confusing. But it’s okay! I’ll take care of you now. Don’t worry, I know you’re not a pet. You’re…uh…well, I don’t know, but you’re a person.” 

“Oh, don’t cry, it’s okay. I’m helping. I had to tie you up ‘cause I didn’t want you to hurt yourself again! It’ll be okay, I promise. No more of that nasty stuff for you.”

“I know you’re scared, but look at it this way! You’re not alone anymore! And now I’m not alone either. I wanna guess you’re…what? Seventeen? Y’know, most humans think you’re an adult when you hit eighteen, but I think twenty-one is more reasonable. No “teen” in “twenty-one,” is there?”

-

I was actually thinking of this while writing the werewolf story! And I gave “Dad” a name this time. Speaking of which, I feel like giving the other guys names. Is there a way to vote on it or something? I want to hear your guys’s ideas

I will definitely add onto this as well.

You're looking spectacular today! Drink water! Eat something that isn't chips! SLEEP!

[ashen-char]

dating river - hcs (pt 2!)

ship: river (all souls) x gender neutral reader

warnings: bit of swearin

notes: since the last one was so focused on river as a mom and how you slot into her little family, enjoy some more general hcs about your relationship. requested here

✦ river hates grand gestures. she just doesn't know how to deal with them, she's not really a romantic

✧ the tiny things you do always surprise and elate her though

✧ a simple handwritten note, a surprise cup of coffee, buying snacks or Monster for her without being asked

✧ she likes that you think of her when you're out, though she does tease you for being so fucking cheesy

✦ if you asked, river would say she loves your sense of humour

✧ the fact that you can make her smile on the toughest days is why she just couldn't help falling for you

✦ protective

✧ if anyone messes with you, they'd better watch out because river would deck a motherfucker for ya

✦ river initiates physical affection surprisingly often

✧ despite her tough, 'i don't need anyone' exterior, river craves physical closeness and intimacy with you

✧ she likes to use touch as a way to express her care in a tangible way

✧ sometimes she just needs a hug to recharge after a bad day

✧ you can feel river smiling into your kiss. she thinks you can't hear it but you always catch a little "god i love you"

✦ river always sings. you wonder if she notices she does it so often

✧ usually it's a lullaby, but occasionally you'll catch river vibing to some top 40 even though she swears she doesn't listen to it

✦ with her never being in a proper relationship, she always prefaces whatever she does for you with a "ok so i didn't know what to do but"

✧ and yet everything she's attempted has been the best ever!

✦ river doesn't do a lot for herself! anything extra in her paycheck (i.e. whatever didn't need to be put towards bills or the week's groceries) she used to buy toys and clothes for her daughter

✧ so you were surprised when river took some of her hard-earned cash to give you gifts too

✧ river struggles to accept thanks for 'em, even when they're so sweet and thoughtful and river clearly put a lot of effort into getting things she knew you needed or would love

✧ river hides her smile and stuffs her hands into her hoodie, shrugging. "yeah whatever, don't say i never do anything for ya"

✧ and she is AWFUL at accepting compliments

✧ whatever she doesn't bat away with "you're just saying that", she'd go completely still and blush hard. she tends to brush them off or respond with a joke

✧ hates being called cute. don't try it.

✦ she lets you steal her hoodies

✧ when she noticed how much you love 'em, river even bought some just for you and pretended she was going to keep them

✧ she sprayed these with extra perfume so you can keep that river scent a little longer

✦ when she's out, she likes to take random pictures of things that remind her of you and you've never felt so seen

✦ with her busy schedule, river sets aside dedicated time to spend with you, free from distractions and interruptions, notifications from cops be damned

✦ river plans awesome dates. they're the perfect blend of fun and being able to talk and be together

✧ she shows you how to tag, showing you hidden spots where you can make beautiful art together

✧ she takes you to the tattoo parlour and lets you choose her next one. river swears she's tough but it hurts less when she's holding your hand, ok?

✧ she'll cook you home cooked meals. she asks you questions about what you loved to eat growing up, surprising you by already knowing how to cook it the next time you come over because she stayed up researching it

✧ she knows the best spots in the city and loves showing them to you. she knows the city like it's the back of her hand

✧ like making notes on her phone of what you'd enjoy, writing all her ideas about where to go next

✦ she was surprised when you slowed the relationship down and told her that you'd be ok with not sleeping together so soon

✧ river had this long lasting thought that people only liked her if she did stuff for them - be that favours for friends or spreading her legs

✧ so she couldn't understand how you claimed to like her without her 'doing anything' for you

✧ you had to very explicitly explain that her being around made you happy and that there was nothing else to it. she only understood when you asked her why she likes you, and river realised that there was no real reason either

✧ like, of course you two appreciate when you do things for each other. but those things should be done because you want to. because you care about each other. it's not the reverse - that people only care because they got something

✧ so you two waited before you got intimate. and every day that went by without affection having to escalate, river's trust that you wouldn't leave her built

✧ she doesn't completely get what you like about her. but river realises that she doesn't have to

✧ you like her, and she likes you, and that's all both of you need

✦ the fact that she has someone to depend on now means the world to her, and you know river would never take you for granted

[lycheeloving]

I'm currently re-watching the first season of the Witcher... I forgot how much I love Geralt. So I had to write yandere headcanons for him ofc:

He still has to hunt monsters, but he tries to keep it to a minimum, as to not endanger you

When he does have to do something dangerous, he leaves you at the safest place that's nearby-ish. He doesn't tie you down, so you can still run away if you're in danger. At the beginning, this means he always has to chase you down after he gets back, but he couldn't live with himself if you got hurt because you couldn't get away from some monster.

That being said, you quickly realize that Geralt does, in fact, leave you in the safest place possible, whether that's an inn in a town or somewhere in a forest. Running away usually only gets you into trouble that Geralt has to save you from, so at some point you stop running. He always finds you in no time anyways, because of his enhanced senses. You might as well stay where you are, that's less exhausting.

He doesn't punish you for running away. He thinks it's annoying and might grumble and complain a bit while carrying you back, but that's all. He knows that this isn't an ideal situation for you and how could you ever love him, but he just can't live without you.

He does teach you some basic self-defense stuff, and how to act around certain monsters, so you're not totally unprepared if something were to happen. Usually the only thing you should do is run, though. (He teaches you for which monsters you should stand still, so you don't make a horrible mistake)

You'll sleep outside most of the time.

Downside: he insists on cuddling while you sleep. His arms are around you like a vice and you can't go anywhere. Plus the floor is uncomfortable (even if he has started to carry more comfortable sleeping bags etc with him bc you kept complaining) and cold. Really cold.

Upside: At least Geralt runs hot, so he keeps you warm?

Being outside all the time also means you usually have to bathe in various rivers and lakes... Geralt always stands guard with his sword in his hand. Just in case. He has to look at you, to keep you save! Not because he likes seeing you naked or anything...

If you're ever in a town, don't expect the people there to help you. Nobody wants to enrage a Witcher, especially not the butcher of Blaviken...

Geralt will let you talk to others if you want, as long as you (or they) aren't flirting. He gets jealous easily. So if you don't want them to "mysteriously" disappear, try to be careful about how you talk to others. And who you talk to.

Doesn't care if other people call him names because he's used to it, but if anyone makes a comment about you because you're with him? They're dead.

Lets you ride Roach. of course.

I feel like he would still be friends with Jaskier. Jask would just think you're being silly if you talk about how Geralt kidnapped you and won't let you leave or whatever. "Haha, yeah, I get it, I keep coming back to him as well, his life is just so fascinating! So, what did you think about my new song?". Useless in helping you escape, but at least he's fun to be around. Might try to hit on you once, but immediately realizes that he should never do that again if he wants to live keep being friends with Geralt.

I feel like Yennefer would flirt with you and make demeaning comments like "Can I borrow your little toy?" about you, to piss Geralt off. You don't like when she's there because she always makes him feel like he needs to prove that you're his.

Will probably leave a bite mark on your neck, to mark you as his. So everyone knows not to touch you, even if he's not around.

Yes, he'll take you to Kaer Morhen. The others make fun of him for "acting like a lovesick puppy". He doesn't care, as long as they're not making fun of you. If someone does make fun of you, Geralt will seriously hurt them, unless you convince him not to. In which case he'll have to hear even more comments about how he's totally whipped. But at least it makes the other Witchers like you more, if Geralt hurts them for you that just pisses them off, and in that case nobody has a good time.

[strawberrycarat]

Another rant about this episode... I understand that producers can use the "Fire & Blood is a historical novel type so it's not 100% accurate and we can do a lot of stuff with it...." but, come on ! Even Joffrey said Rhaenyra's rests were still down in the red keep. It's clearly they can't fight against the fact that there are actual human remains that are half bitten / half burned by a fucking dragon - so it doesn't make sense that they killed Sunfyre (for all we know he's dead) or that Daemon is still playing in Luigi's mansion with lord Strong instead of bending knees of half the Riverlands and leading small fights for Rhaenyra... as much as we can't know for sure all those details, we know a war happened in real life even if we don't know the specifics - there are records, bodys, graves... Idk... and it should be the same in Westeros...

Producer's creative licence is making the story going so far from the book it's senseless at times + slow in moments that don't help the plot and are somewhat boring + showing preferences for certain actors whose storyline doesn't help the plot in this moment (which is not their fault) + and, worst of all, painfully fast and (sometimes) ridiculous in the most important moments (Exemple : Jace and Cregan’s oath that leads the North going South to end the Dance of the Dragons + the ice and fire pact that leads the prince that was promised + the fight against the darkness and the Others??? But no, let’s give them 3 min of screen time and make Jace leave immediately)

It is true they don't need to show a full ass battle to be interesting, like GoT did in the first seasons. But they at least had a good rhythm, a coherent narrative and plot twists that were actually surprising and logical with the characters and the story at the same time. In here, I think they are just using those "OMG or WTF" moments without thinking about the plot

Exemple -> Cersei and Jamie being discovered by Bran and him being thrown away from the tower? Made sense with Jamie and Cersei's personalities + they couldn't being discovered or Robert would have their heads and their children's, probably - and it was one of the detonating for the Three-eyed raven plot

-> Daemon having sex with his (I can't believe I'm writing this, even if it was an hallucination) mother???? like why???? what does this help to Daemon's storyline? If he had mommy issues, why is this the first time we see it? I can see Aemond having mommy issues in the way his own mother was distant and believe him some sort of monster AFTER Luke's death (kinslayer -> a terrible sin in the Seven's eyes - the religion she follows with passion) and him seeking out an older woman that had some motherly characteristics and with similar hair than her mother + then keeping Alys Rivers (a wet nurse) when conquering Harrenhall is logical to his storyline... but Daemon??? It seemed more like a "let's have a plot twist just for fun and surprise people" kind of thing)

And even when they want to create plot twist that could work in the plot they don't make them really a plot twist....... Like when they wanted to end Cheese and Blood with Alicent and Criston's sex scene. It would've worked........ if they didn't had already show us Criston Cole going down on Alicent in the middle of the episode. WE ALREADY KNEW ! like why ending with that in the episode anyways when there was no surprise - not anymore ?

honestly I don't know how can they save it now - I'm kind of only watching it for Ewan mitchell / Aemond + the acting in general

Anyways, thank you for reading, I needed to let it out.

[monsterfuckerconfessions]

I'm aroace but somehow monsters can get me hot and bothered? It's probably because it's fantasy so I feel a bit removed from it, but it's nice either way. The thing you're doing with your blog is also really cool.

A plant monster who keeps a garden/forest, miles and miles of carefully, beautifully cultivated greenery with their own vines and flowers spread throughout, and one day you make the mistake of wandering in to this unearthly beautiful and completely animal-less place, and you know, they've been looking for a pretty new flower to add to their garden.

And you are so pretty, especially when you're being fucked open, flushed face and teary eyes as you contort in terrible, inescapable pleasure. And you're so good and quiet for them, you've always gone nonverbal under stress, with only cute little panting whines to interrupt the sanctity of their garden.

Sometimes they put together a human form, just for you, and you shake apart in a different way when held by firm hands and kissed by green lips than when you're held tight by vines with every hole pumped full.

They let you go, sometimes, only not really, because you could travel for miles and they'd still be in every tree and blade of grass, and you learned that very quickly. So instead you go to the river and wash off your cum and the sticky, sappy stuff the monster is fond of pumping you full of (you don't try to get it out of you, or to remove the soft plug that keeps you stuffed full. You only made that mistake once). You pick some berries even though you're never as hungry as you should be and curl up in a small cave, hoping the lack of greenery will keep them away. But later that night you wake up burning, trembling with it, and you knew you shouldn't have eaten anything of theirs even if they never poisoned you before, but now the aphrodisiac is burning it's way through your veins and you don't even have the strength to try to take care of yourself, forced to just lay there and sob silently.

And they just leave you there, shaking and alone. Because this thing doesn't even care about sex the same way a mammal would, they're just interested in the way your face scrunches adorably in pained pleasure and how your fingers twitch like they don't know what to do with themselves and the clenching of your thighs against the ground. So they just leave you there to watch, because you're their flower, part of their beautiful, perfect garden, and you're so lovely right now, how could they interupt?

But then, just when you think it's over and the aphrodisiac is leaving your system, a vine sneaks into your little cave and drags you out by your ankle, another already slipping into your pussy. There are more berries at your lips, the same as you ate before, because the monster got to see what you look like alone and now they want to see how you fall apart when you're full of them and nothing else.

And overtime, you know you should be dying. You haven't been eating or drinking or sleeping enough, but instead your skin turns green and not even starvation can save you. At the very least, your emotions should be dimmed, broken by the experience of (months? years?) of this, but if anything everything feels stronger, more immediate, and your tears come more easily because you are just a flower in their garden and every good gardener knows how to make sure a plant grows in exactly the right way, and this monster wants you beautiful and bright and weeping.

And maybe some day that sap they stuffed you full of will catch, and you'll swell up with baby monsters ready to inflict themselves upon the world and at that point you'll know:

There is no escape. From the moment you stumbled into the garden, you were theirs.

.

[mejomonster]

Just watched till the end of the moon ep 9:

I'm so down bad for these 2

I cannot stress enough that skipping them to marriage so no stupid "innocence" or naivety stuff as is the usual situation is here

I cannot stress enough how much I LOVE that li susu seems adult, mature, seasoned in battle love etc, and just generally like a late 20s early 30s adult trying to save the world instead of a young adult Hero and how nice it is. Just for me, I'm happy for the variety

I LOVE tantai jin. He's a fucked up guy. He's the wet skinny pathetic man fangirls always say they want. He's genuinely a pretty cold bitch AND he gets to be lead (in a cdrama!). He is monstrous cause bitches have treated him monstrous so like susu said! He responded to a cruel world with cruelty back. It's not a lead I'm used to but I AM loving it. I also love how for him a kind gesture really is worth it's weight in gold like? For him. As awful as ye xiwu was in marriage pre susu, as much as susu literally said she wants to kill him more than anyone else in the world... she keeps saving him. Giving him food. Risking HER life for his. And for him those specific actions are worth more than anything anyone's ever given him. Maybe even more than what Lan gave him, since at least ye xiwu is upfront about wanting to imprison him and being mad at him so like she probably isn't going to "secretly" betray him since she's fairly honest (now). I love that he is JUST a fucked up guy with a fucked up destiny meant to be devil God, who the universe was probably intentionally shitty to cause its hoping (on like a cosmic scale) he will Suffer and Die and become devil God in revenge. I love that its not trying to make the bitch noble. He is who he is. For whatever that means, it's just a story about 2 people who'd never have met. But susu has changed the trajectory just by being herself around him and it's COMPELLING.

The transformative power of love (or simply being kind to another person) and all that. How the cursed jade said she's mostly just SO SURPRISED someone would help another person. I feel like that's probably the Theme of the show right there. Even susu is probably surprised by herself helping him. And in the jade transfer moment, I think she's surprised she genuinely does NOT think he only is comprised of bad traits. For all the cold bitch that he is, betraying her that he's done, cruel view he has of the world... actions speak louder than words to susu too. And for all the bad he's done... he has also done some good things. And she finds herself seeing him in shades of grey instead of a monster like she expected to.

I just love their bickering lets be real. Susu just SAYS shit on the top of her mind (to be fair tantai jin is a bitch and deserves to be bitched at). But she's like "from now on let's have NO CONNECTION" to 6 hours later being like "your life is in my hands and I say when you can die I'm imprisoning you forever ill see you nonstop bitch." And it's like... susu honey, that was LITERALLY tantai jins plan to do to you like 6 hours ago. Yall have the same plan. Just who's the prisoner is switched lmao. No wonder he's oddly attracted to you. You see him being a big manipulative bitch and like you're not stealthy, but you ARE like "WELL FINE ill say some SHIT and BREAK YOUR HEART then. Cry me a river! Oh you thought I was dead? You cried? GOOD. Now anyway fight is over as long as I'm winning!"

Their emotional fights are both ridiculously huge (like rumor of the Kingdoms wild) but also so shallow cause these bitches will be like "I DECIDE when you DIE" then you find them clutching each other in the woods BOTH unwilling to abandon the other and BOTH taking life threatening damage trying to protect the other and BOTH trying to then heal said damage of each others! Like. That's just so fucking funny??!! And fun. Xiao Lin is going to be like "what in the world??" But move on

Anyway speaking of Xiao Lin: I love how he genuinely seems to care for tantai jin! Probably only person in the world who does! I hope one day tantai jin finds out its genuine heartfelt care for him. Buy knowing tantai jins life... he's going to do some awful shit to Xiao lin that ruins his life or kills his wife or kills thousands of innocents in front of him, THEN Xiao lin will be breaking down crying how he never thought tantai jin would do this and he thought tantai jin was a good person who wanted to avoid seeing the ppl in harm and he always wished tantai jin could have a better life. And then tantai jin, probably newly learning compassion from enough bullshit attempts with susu, that his own heart will be breaking BECAUSE of the consequences of his own actions. So. Thrilled to cry later I guess

Speaking of susu and tantai jin. tantai jin LAYING ON HER SHOULDER THINKING ABOUT WHAT SHE BULLSHITTINGLY SAID LOVE WAS AND HOW HE THINKS SHE LOVES HIM AND HOW HE THINKS HE MIGHT LOVE HER AND CUDDLING

that is what watchers want!! (At least me!!) Men lying heads on their lovers shoulders and thinking dreamy about them

Bai Lu gives off such bisexual lead energy tho even without a woman to flirt with I'm sure thats part of the appeal for me. Bottom line is I like in my b/g romances on occasion (who am I kidding more of the time than not) to have a dominant kind of woman. And bai lu delivers. Her man leans on HER shoulder. Is carried around her shoulder with HER arms.

Speaking of, people who cast this were 1. Fulfilling so many wishes letting Luo yunxi just play PURE FUCKED UP and I love it. 2. By casting him as this suffering Weak physically nearly always dying willfully little skinny twink of a man, who's also God tier powerful especially with rage, who's costume entails constant bloody whump, collars, choking and ropes, like. There's a HELLA SPECIFIC NICHE Luo yunxis character resides inside this show and it sure is feeding That Demographic. I'm up for it. It's like if mo ran and chu wanning had a fucked up mashup

I'm fearing the jade maker witch was somehow susu in a past life and now I'm wondering if time travel is gonna be in this bitch

If there IS time travel? I really like the idea of tantai jin specifically time traveling the 2nd time around, once he and susu fell in love, once he knows what susu knew from the beginning. I think that could open a lot of new avenues that he is not currently able to go into given his current personality and knowledge

It's still funny as hell to me tantai jin is kind of angling for death cause he KNOWS he gets super-powered once he dies. But his wife keeps being like NO BITCH YOU GOTTA LIVE WELL. And I'm hoping eventually he's like: maybe she's right... maybe the revenge means more if I'm alive for it and not dissassociated. Maybe I SHOULD try to become a God tier monster without dying. Which would still lead to oh no devil tantai jin lol, but a version of it that is fully Himself which I would like

You know I'm liking a show when I'm contemplating binging beyond what's on youtube rn

[golden-explosions-main]

"Howdy, you already know who I am, so let's stop wasting time and get going," 🌻🎸🌟

(About/Rules below👇)

About: Welcome to Flowey's ask blog! It's a funny thing though, he usually has Frisk (his best friend) by his side when he answers questions, perhaps he feels more comfortable with them by his side? Or perhaps he just needs help with dealing with some the crazier stuff that happens time to time.

They live on the surface together, and both Asgore and Toriel are still divorced but both have shared custody, the teens switch houses every month or so.

Flowey used to go to public school alongside Frisk, but that only lasted nearly three years until a 'bully revenge incident' at 12 years old that got him permanently expelled, ever since then, his mother has been home-schooling him.

At 14 years old, after a very late visit to Alphy's office, he found out that he somehow got his soul back, however it's tinier than it used to be and malformed and lopsided, it also causes him a great deal of physical pain when he experiences strong emotions, he rarely complains though, at least not on the blog.

Proof of said soul. 👇🏻

At 15, he received what they ended up calling a potbot! (created by Alphys) It's a flower pot, but it gives him height, moves around, and has hands! It's not as great as a real body, but it's almost as great. Annnd...not long after that, he lost it in a river and nearly drowned, BUT, after a few months, Alphys gifted him a better one, and it's the one he still uses now. The potbot! (I'm really proud of this thing) 👇🏻

At 16, an Anon temporarily gave Chara their body back and it was revealed that not only has Chara been following their brother for years, but they were also the one responsible for returning his soul to him. They've been keeping in contact as best as they could ever since then.

Also at 16, Flowey and Frisk met a haunted creature who they call ??? or the Doctor (created by Complex) an Amalgamate from another timeline. The Doctor is a powerful mad scientist, who had long ago done something unspeakable which resulted in them being an Amalgamation (there have been several big hints as to who they may be), they have been keeping in contact with both of Flowey and Frisk ever since their introduction, donating their burned black book to Frisk, watching the two teen's lives from afar, the Doctor also seems to have VERY big plans for Suzy (from Undertale and not quite Deltarune(?)

Due to his anxiety, depression, self-hatred and trauma from his childhood and from being a literal soulless murderer, Flowey struggles to make plans for his future, but the love from the people in his life and his hobbies keep him afloat day by day.

Fun fact: Flowey has a surprisingly good relationship with his parents and even more so with his father.

Fun fact 2: He considers Frisk, Chara, Papyrus, and Monster Kid his best friends, with Frisk being his Number One Best Friend Who Is Alive. And being Chara is his Number One Best Friend Who Is Undead.

Most important fact: They live the Sunshine Route timeline or the Sunshine Route AU, it was born from my fanfic series, Growing Pains, which is where the Frisk, Flowey, and River Person blogs are very loosely based on.

---

Rules:

Aside from the occasional swearing and harsh language, I consider this blog to be...fairly SFW, and I'd very much prefer to keep it that way, I'll let you know if I don't like something.

Flowey is very protective of his timeline, he considers himself lucky, so if it or his loved ones are threatened in anyway, he will make threats and be very mean, his bark can be just as bad as his bite, so be careful if you're sensitive to that sort of thing.

I usually prefer to keep things simple for my sanity; and prefer to have the role plays be one on one, so unless you have a very good idea or want to do something helpful, please don't ask to join.

I also prefer to keep things light and funny, something to cheer myself and others up, but I'll allow depressing and dark things to happen if it's well written.

That's it, have a good one!

[alice-angel12x]

Hey sooo i get it your probly busy with other stuff but is it wrong that im very curios what would death!yuu do in the halloween event Like i want to know they're reaction and what they would do you don't have to answer if you don't want to its just a thought thou have a good day/night 💜 (sorry for errors)

Twisted wonderland Scary Monster Event

Death was feeling the season, they find it amusing that mortals think a silly disguise is enough to scare or hide from monsters and them.

They thought the NRC boy's costume was just as amusing. Especially Heartstlabyl and Octivinelle, cause they had an... abstract artistic take on their respective monster.

But we're happy to watch the festivities as the mortals had their fun. As the young one goes through so much for some candy. So to not ruin the atmosphere, Y/n Death isolated themselves to Ramshackle. And to simply watch from the roof.

They were pretty disappointed in the Magicam Monsters, for not listening to the rules or having basic decency. And to put the cherry on top, they could be the reason they take the NRC's party away. Which everyone was looking forward to.

So Death would not stand ideally by, so they comforted the NRC students. Telling them to continue as scheduled and that They will deal with the problem.

So The students nervesly did and waited in anticipation for results. Throughout the night they would hear screams of terror, which were followed by a wave of Magicam Monsters running out of the school. Some with pure terror on their face, or crying a river.

But when the students went to go check the area, they would find...Nothing. This went on for a full night.

So when the next day arrived, no Magicam Monster dare set foot in NRC. So the party was saved. Though crewel noticed that Y/n wasn't dressed for the occasion. So he gave them a simple costume, a Nun costume.

But Y/n choices to watch the party from a distance, so they would ruin the vibe for the guests visiting the school. This sucked so Malleus decided to do something about it.

Hey, 100 reblogs + 200 Likes. I'll draw Y/n Death in a sexy Nun costume.

Twisted wonderland Endless Halloween Event

During the whole event, Y/n is just surprised that Time would even agree to stop the clock.

But was heart warmed by malleus's surprise to Y/n. The Fae prince simply wished to enjoy a festive party with his "best" friend, and all the ghosts who missed out.

Since it's a party with ghosts and people who are familiar with Y/n. They don't have to worry about making people uncomfortable. So for the first time, Y/n got to attend a party. And a party that was thrown for them nonetheless.

The NRC boys wanted to talk to Y/n at some point during the party, but Y/n was very popular amongst the ghosts. Who were all gathering around them to have a friendly chat.

Y/n and the ghost had a lovely time reminiscing about the time long past. Sadly all good things have passed and time had to start moving again.

But Y/n will always remember this Halloween night.

[crystalgastles]

After the flesh

This is a very rough draft of the first chapter of my Jeff the killer fanfiction please spare me if you find any grammar mistakes

Trigger warning for normal Jeff the killer stuff

Rain pattered outside my window, the cold grey of the morning stinging my eyes as the dull feeling of a headache began to brew at the bottom of my temples. My teeth felt sore.

The remnants of last nights events began slowly moving to the forefront of my mind and the reminder that I had to work a nine hour shift was threatening to make my hangover worse.

The coffee in my hand was bitter and the cigarette that graced my lips as I pulled from its burning embers was hot on my lungs. I should have stolen more sugar packets from work.

I could work up the courage to call out, use an excuse that no one wanted to ask more about but I need the money, rent was over due and I’m two weeks away from having the water and electricity cut out. Another drag out the cracked window, another sip of the coffee I don’t have cream or enough sugar to make bearable.

——————————————————————————

Another sip from the bottle, and a shit attempt at washing off my clothes in the river behind the house of a well off family. Father was a Lawyer I think mother was an accountant or receptionist or insurance broker?

I never know anymore. Lines blur the faces are warped, people look like animals the more I do this. Man sins he runs to church, monster sins he runs to the bottle, and I am no man.

Thunder rumbles in the distance as lightning crashes a little too close to my position than I’d like. I’ll just steal from the slaughterhouse I’ve created behind me, all that’s not covered in blood.

I rummage through the teenage boys things, never bothered to learn his name even though he was the one to wake up, he doomed the entire family. The soft white of the fabric made me wince. The clean white of the oversized material falling over my frame with ease.

——————————————————————————

The diners bright lights practically blinded me as I tried to get through the day. Zombies had more energy than I did at this point and tips were slow. I couldn’t blame the customers, but it would put a spring in my step if I got more than a five percent tip for large groups I mean, Can seven business men not afford more than five dollars to spare between all of them?

Cold ice water spilled down the front of my uniform as the clatter of glass hit the ground in a sharp ear piercing crack. I had tripped on one of their feet, made to look like an accident but it was because I forgot more creamer. I was sure if it. Fabric uncomfortably clung to my skin as one of them giggled like a school girl. “Jesus” I whispered harshly under my breath and didn’t turn back to face them before I ran to the back room.

Someone else could clean it.

My entire front was covered in water, the tips of my hair soaked and freezing, I couldn’t help but let out hard and choked sobs, my body shaking with each breath while I stood in the freezer in the kitchen trying to compose myself.

The end of my shift and I could even hold it together. I removed my apron and clocked out without telling anyone.

Mascara ran down my cheeks,my nose and cheeks flushed while I clung to my winter coat, it was cold enough to be uncomfortable but not enough for it to snow, the puddles from the earlier rain squelched as I worked on my walk to my car from the parking lot. 98 days since I had been kicked out from my family home, 26 days I had been couch surfing and 72 had been living in my friends apartment, barley being able to split rent. It was almost December. I missed my mom.

——————————————————————————-

I liked to watch the news, between the mundane and the weather the bright face of the news anchor would fall, sharing the details of the family I had ever so kindly turned into my art project. Three people, five people, an extended family of eight on vacation, only the dog was left. All me across different states, yet I wasn’t suspected for any except my own family’s. Dogs, animals can’t tell the police what you’ve done and sometimes they don’t care. I don’t leave witnesses that can speak.

The diner was mostly quiet, bright droning lights almost drowned out the sound of the box television hanging over the booth in front of me that displayed the news. The chief of police was speaking at a press conference, the bright white hoodie suddenly making me feel too visible for my comfort.

Politician. I killed a local politicians whole entire family.

Not that I particularly care about politics, quite a distaste for them actually. Police tend to work harder to find the people who harm them even at the local level.

My attention was drawn from the problem I was facing on the screen in front of me as I watched the guy in the booth across from my table in a group of suited fraternity brothers who barely graduated college stick his foot out and trip the server that was waiting on him. Making them drop the tray of half full ice water they were carrying.

The crash of glass and silverware clattered to the floor as the seven giggled, mockingly saying sorry and throwing their half crumpled napkins at her in feigned support of helping them clean up. Tears welled in their eyes as they stood up straight and ran to the back.

It’s easy to pick targets. Some people might as well paint giant red circles on their foreheads. I don’t usually pick people for their behavior on a whim, but I missed my portion of the news because the accident they caused. Not the server.

I don’t discriminate when it comes to what I do. I watch people, I study them, some more than others. Sometimes I don’t, admittedly I should be more careful but when you need a place to stay for the night you can’t be picky especially if they have a McMansion on the side of town people don’t expect murder in and you really need a shower.

I watched the seven, not pay walk out and to their respective gaudy cars, lifted trucks and one lime green hummer, but two, the one who tripped the server and the one who laughed the loudest, made the detrimental mistake of walking home.

I followed at a distance, hood up. The cloudy cold weather allowed me to have it that way without suspicion. I just wanted to see where they lived. I’d deal with it later.

———————————————————————————

My keys clinked on the glass of the entry way table into my shared apartment. My roommate wasn’t home yet but I saw the mess of papers, boxes, a box cutter, fake skin for practice and a half drunk Red Bull on the coffee table and knew she hadn’t been gone long. They’d never learn to pick up after themselves.

They were a night shift worker at a gas station who had a dream of being a tattoo artist, something I also wanted to do but apprenticeships were not in the cards for me, I needed to eat and a place to shield me from the rain. The clock I could barely see from the kitchen, a glowing green glob that i could barely make out read 9:15.

I shivered, my front still wet from the water spilled on my brightly colored and obnoxiously 50s themed uniform. I needed a shower and to change.

Warm water cascaded down my back while I sat with my knees to my chest, focusing my eyes on the vinyl coating on the shower wall that’s been slowly starting to peel. I hate the mundane, I wish for just once , something different would grace my life. Something that’s not wake up, go to work, smoke a cigarette, shower, watch tv, check the landline for messages that my mother still sent me, begging me to come home. I can’t.

I watched the remainder of my hair dye fall down the drain as I turned the water off, I would keep it on forever if it stayed warm. The rough material of an old towel wrapped around my body while I brushed my wet hair and then my teeth, got dressed in an old South Park t shirt I had from high school that my dad gave me, one of the only things we ever bonded over was that show. I swallowed the guilty feeling that overcame my senses as I pulled on my sweatpants and clipped my hair back so my wet hair wouldn’t stain my shirt. Perks of having dye that never seems to fully Rinse out.

The yellow glow of our singular lamp bathed the living room in a warm light, the couch seemed to sink in on me while the tv played some sitcom I wasn’t too invested in.

Tap tap tap

The unmistakable sound of fingers on glass made me turn my head towards our sliding door, I grabbed the box cutter sitting on the coffee table. Something my roommate left out after she had finished opening a package, her forgetfulness becoming something I was grateful for in this moment.

I could see a figure. My own reflection in the glass obscuring my late night visitor’s appearance as I approached the door. Seeing it was unlocked as the glass slowly started to slide open.

She forgot to lock the door.

A large black boot slapped onto the linoleum, wet with rain. The white hoodie the intruder was wearing, covered in red. The rain that had seeped into the fabric had turned the large splotches pink around the edges of what i could only assume was blood. And I didn’t want mine on there next.

Exposing the box cutters blade I ran at him, yelling obscenities as I hopped onto his back, a low grunt escaping his lips as he tried to pull me off and throw me onto my own kitchen floor,

Large calloused hands tried to grab at my arms as I wildly slashed without really looking. blood dripped onto my hands when I sliced his arm with the box cutter.

He grabbed my wrist and pried me off of his back, grabbing my shoulders and slamming me against the ground.

The wind was knocked out of me when the cold kitchen floor hit my back, the blood from his arm now dripping onto my face while he had me pinned to the floor, grabbing my wrist and wrestling my one and only weapon out of my hands.

Kicking, screaming, and biting I eventually got out from under him after I bit down his palm hard enough to draw blood and to feel his skin rupture between my teeth. I ran to my room, grabbing my flip phone off the living room table as he was preoccupied,clutching his hand where I had bit him and tried to shut the door but a steel toed boot stood in my way.

A deep gravely voice barely loud enough to hear came from the other side of the flimsy wood that was cracking in between my non stop pushing and the leather and steel on the other side

“I don’t want to hurt you. I need a place to sleep.”

What the fuck.

I tried to think, of something anything that would make him scared enough of me to leave but I kept drawing blanks. My lungs still trying to catch up with me.

“I have a roommate! He’s big and will be home in ten minutes, I have a shotgun in my closet if you don’t get out right now I’m blowing a hole through your stomach”

I lied. All I had was a box cutter that he now had, and a scrawny caffeine addict who was not a he who wouldn’t be home until six in the morning.

“You should go get it then, cause I’d rather have a hole in my stomach than be in a jail cell for the rest of my life”

I didn’t know what to say, my hands were shaking and I was covered in sweat and blood, my bangs stuck to my forehead and I pushed the door harder and harder, trying to push him out of the way so i could have some semblance of safety.

The crunching of the door reminded me of what was between me and this man, who was determined on staying in my home for the night, the sirens passing by my house one after the other, catching my attention. I made the connection that, that’s what he was hiding from pretty quickly.

The creaking from the door opening further brought me back down to earth, his foot swiping mine off balance causing me to fall back and balance myself on the wall, allowing the door to fully open as he stepped through, hands up as a show of surrender.

——————————————————————————

I returned to the townhouse three hours later, crouching behind a large bush right while I waited for one of the men from the diner to step out the back door and onto the patio, bong in hand.

I overheard on their walk home about a new strain they had gotten from a dealer in the city, something about how it was supposed to be smoother than a generic? I couldn’t give a shit I hope it was laced.

As if on queue I heard the glass back door open, to my surprise both of them stepped out, one carrying a small bag and the other carrying the large glass bong shaped like a family guy character.

Assholes. Stereotype defining assholes.

The water sloshed inside of the bowl when one of the men stood up, both backs turned to me as I lunged at one of them from the bush, large Bowie knife clutched.

Sharp Metal pierced between skin muscle and bone, the squelch of blood and raw screaming disturbed the peace of the quiet neighborhood, the glass bong shattering as it hit the concrete. The sound wasn’t as funny I guess when you’re being stabbed through the spinal cord.

The first one was swift. The man fell to the ground and was sobbing while his friend, the one who tripped the server stood dumbly off to the side.

I lifted his head by his shortly cropped and gelled hair, the crunchy pompous locks making me want to vomit.

“Open your mouth.”

“W-what?” The cracked voice of the man annoyed me. Once so proud and full of arrogance reduced to a babbling child

“Are you deaf I said open your fucking mouth.”

He did as I said, and as I placed his front teeth on the metal feet of the patio stable and kicked down. The sickening crunch of his teeth and skull satisfied me. He’d finally stop laughing.

I turned to the other man, who was now holding a wooden board.

I pulled my knife out of his friend’s back, looking him in the eye and slowly wiping the carnage off on the paper white of my sweatshirt, lightly laughing to myself.

“What was your friends name?”

The man swallowed, Lowering the board and taking a shaking breath before looking back at me

“Look man if I owe you money or something, I don’t make the Coke I just deal it, I can give you the guys number or-“

I shook my head. This guy watched his friend get curb stomped and he was worried that he owed me money

“Do none of you listen? It’s like you can only hear yourselves, what was your friends name sweetheart”

I was wasting time. The neighbors definitely heard and or seen what had happened. I would be hearing sirens soon enough. I needed to get this over with.

“Ronnie, um his name was Ronnie”

He finally answered my question and I let out a breath as I took a slow and deliberate step forward, tilting my head so I’d be at eye level with him. Keeping quiet while he just stood there as if waiting for me to make a move instead of actually doing anything to stop me or using that wooden board he had so lovingly clutched.

I stopped, tracing the blade along my fingertip. His unwillingness to fight back making me want him to just smack me square in the face with that wood just to prove to me that he wasn’t all talk, and that he didn’t only like to pick on people he deemed lower than him.

“It’s harder for a rich man to get into heaven than it is for a camel to travel through the eye of a needle”

Tears ran down his face as he let the board fall on the concrete, sniffling when he twisted his face to try and figure out what I meant “What does that even mean”

“I’ll see you where we both belong”

The knife slipped through the fabric of his shirt as his blood dripped onto the front of my jacket, the friction of flesh similar to when you slice an orange in half. One after the other after the other until his body resembled hamburger meat. I only stopped when i could hear sirens in the distance, my anger finally subsiding in a dull guilt.

I hopped the fence of the small back yard, running into back alley ways and parts of the city that were abandoned at night, only resuming when the sun came over the trees.

My lungs burned as I coughed, and sprinted through the streets. Hardly being able to catch a breath as sirens grew closer, reminding me I had to keep running.

I made my way to an apartment building, scanning the downstairs units until I found one tucked away at the end of the tree line, with a sliding glass door leading to the outside of the back yard that was connected to the other tenants.

I saw the tv on from the other side but couldn’t quite make out who was watching it from the other side, the light from a street lamp casting a glare on the glass. They probably weren’t even home.

I searched for the door handle, my fingers accidentally tapping on the glass when I finally found it, unlocked. I pulled on the door the loud scraping sound surely alerting whoever was home if there was anyone there at all of my presence.

I didn’t have time to react when screaming ensued, weight suddenly on my shoulders as whoever was sitting on the living room couch was on me, yelling at me to get out and waving around a box cutter wildly.

I reached up, grabbing this persons wrist and also thrashing, whoever this was was hell bent on staying on my back, getting me out, or stabbing me.

There was a sharp sting in my forearm as they sliced me in an upward motion that i could only hope didn’t hit any major arteries, can’t go to the hospital when you’re wanted in all fifty states.

I managed to grab their shoulders flipping them so they were facing me , then pushed and fell with them to the ground, using the time they couldn’t breathe to pin their wrists to the linoleum, clamping down so hard they had to open their palm so that the box cutter would fall out of that iron grip. I stopped for a moment, recognizing their face and hair. It was the server. The server that was tripped, the server I saw run away from broken water glasses and the men I turned into New York strip steaks was now tussling with me.

A few kicks to the stomach I can deal with, wiggling is easy to endure, teeth tearing through my fingers is not something I ever want to feel again.

I let go, but not before I kicked the makeshift weapon where they couldn’t reach and cradled my now bleeding hand and arm while they skittered to the living room, and to a room down the hall. Probably to call the police. I ran, my longer legs carrying me to the room right before they could close the door, and stuck my foot in between the frame and the wooden board.

“I don’t want to hurt you I just need a place to sleep”

[anonymous-dentist]

I felt that I was going insane every time bad would "forget" shit (casually, shit that involved what he did during purgatory) but then he would remember other stuff with incredible detail (recreating the fucking base and distorting what happened with rivers). I'm glad to know that I was not making shit up in my head

Idk man it just feels a little Hmm for qRoier’s worst enemy qBBH to tell Roier’s son how his dad’s missing husband (and thus his missing father as described by Roier) is a terrible person who murders people and eggs (because apparently Cellbit is the one who killed the green egg during the egg war even though it was Phil and because apparently Cellbit is the one who killed Rivers even though it was, again, Phil) like.

And then all these English Fans watching going “Oh yeah this is yet another reason why Bad should adopt Pepito bc Pepito’s actual parents are bad people!!” like.

And Bad being like “there was such a terrible monster in purgatory that scared Bolas, but it’s fine because Bolas scared the monster because they were soooo evil back!!” (Paraphrasing) like.

And then there’s ccBad coming up with all this big huge lore and stuff (coughs remembering forever and not skeppy, fueling shippers) right when he was coming under fire for openly supporting an alleged pedophile and groomer and while ignoring evidence for the millionth time because Dream’s allegations are over a year old at this point like.

Okay yeah the memory stuff was supposedly predetermined to happen but it can at least be consistent. At this point it’s just a way for qBad to not be held accountable by the other islanders for what he did to them in Purgatory and it’s done super inconsistently with him apparently specifically remembering Cellbit as the worst out of the entire island for some reason and like. Only remembering the stuff convenient for him. It just isn’t good writing, and I can say this as a writer. It’s lazy! He should at least be consistent with what he remembers, like maybe he only remembers the good things. Like he can specifically remember so many things about Purgatory, but he just so happens to forget the things he doesn’t like? Like???

[simplegenius042]

Showcasing My OCs Favourite Things

Tagged by @raresvtm

Tagging @inafieldofdaisies @voidika @icecutioner @socially-awkward-skeleton @derelictheretic @shallow-gravy @direwombat @strangefable @rhettsabbott @josephseedismyfather @josephslittledeputy @imogenkol @cloudofbutterflies92 @skoll-sun-eater @cassietrn @carlosoliveiraa @adelaidedrubman @g0dspeeed @wrathfulrook @afarcryfrommymain @strafethesesinners @aceghosts @turbo-virgins @shellibisshe @softtidesworld @starsandskies @ladyoriza @la-grosse-patate @florbelles @titiagls @minilev @yokobai @thewanderer-000 @omen-speaker @justasmolbard @alypink @thesingularityseries @nightwingshero and @noodlecupcakes + anyone else who'd like to join.

Got together five of my protagonist OCs from each of my series to do this because I found it actually very addictive. Be warned: I might do another. Anyway, you can find the OC stuff below:

JOAQUIN COBALT (THE UNTITLEDVERSE)

Name: Joaquin Cobalt

Universe: Various (Jurassic World, IT, Stranger Things, Gravity Falls, & more...)

Favorite book (and why): "Wonder" - R. J. Palacio. Wonder is honestly a book that helped Joaquin during his transition (and after a very distressing encounter with the Chairman), allowing him to be put into the shoes of another who goes through similar microaggressions based on his existence alone, and the hope he feels that... he isn't a mistake like the Chairman had insisted he was. That he is a wonder for simply existing against the odds (and reality according to the Chairman). It was also a gift from Maisie, and it was a stepping stone that gave him the confidence to let down his walls and share his personal feelings and fears with her (and eventually, he is able to open up to many others).

Favorite song: "World's Smallest Violin" - AJR.

Favorite piece of clothing they own: Leather jacket. Tough and helps keeps him warm.

Favorite "little treat": Lemon Cake or Lamingtons.

Favorite person in their lives: Maisie Lockwood; Mario Emmet & Calvin Dearing; Lisa Cobalt.

Dream home (if there were no obstacles, financial or otherwise): A regular two-story house somewhere near the woods.

Dream life: A regular one where he lives with his best friends and doesn't have to worry about the world ending.

SILVA OMAR (THE SILVER CHRONICLES)

Name: Sylvester Silva Omar (Note: Sylvester was the name Adam gave her, meanwhile "Silva" was what Paul and everyone nicknamed her... after the deaths of Persephone and Paul, she rejected her "Sylvester" identity in favor of the stronger "Silva" one).

Universe: Far Cry 5 & Far Cry New Dawn.

Favorite book (and why): "Frankenstein" - Mary Shelley. She can't help but compare herself to the monster, as both are outsiders to society and (to what she had been pushed to believe) is a failure to their fathers and the ideals they worshiped (Dr. Frankestein and his science, Adam Omar and his God). Silva also enjoyed the likes of "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte and "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Silva is a big fan of gothic and romance novels (a bonus if it's both), sometimes with a little bit of mystery and a pinch of depression.

Favorite song: "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)" - Kate Bush.

Favorite piece of clothing they own: Turtleneck sweater. However since she can't always wear that, the trench coat when she's out and about.

Favorite "little treat": Cranberry Pie.

Favorite person in their lives: Previously it was Elsa, Irene, Persephone and Paul. Now it's Azriel, Faith, Mercy, Sharky, the Ryes, Joey, Pratt and Ezekiel. Kamski's on thin ice.

Dream home (if there were no obstacles, financial or otherwise): Her residence in the Whitetail Mountains near the Henbane River. It's home.

Dream life: To simply live a normal, productive life (whether that be helping out the community of Fall's End or protecting Hope County as a deputy). No cults, no violence, just peace with a little adventure exploring America and possibly traveling with her family. She wants to watch her kids grow up, she wants to be with the love of her life until they're old.

HAOYU ANABUKI (LIFE, DESPAIR & MONSTERS)

Name: Haoyu Anabuki

Universe: Various (Doki Doki Literature Club, Love Death + Robots, Poppy Playtime, & more...)

Favorite book (and why): Haoyu doesn't like reading. The closest thing they've fully and completely enjoyed reading is the "Southern Reach" trilogy and they can't even begin to explain WHY they liked it so much. Honestly a surprise Haoyu was able to successfully bullshit their way into the Literature Club.

Favorite song: "Are You Bored Yet?" - Wallows.

Favorite piece of clothing they own: Belt.

Favorite "little treat": Cookies-and-Cream Ice Cream.

Favorite person in their lives: Monika and Icarus. Everyone else sucks despite the fact Haoyu goes to save them anyway.

Dream home (if there were no obstacles, financial or otherwise): Caravan.

Dream life: A caravan roadtrip lifestyle. Drifting from place-to-place, doing gigs and odd jobs, using their abilities for any reason that doesn't include leaving one universe. As long as their boyfriend and sister is with them, Haoyu is happy. A life of adventure on the road doesn't sound so bad on paper.

ORTEGA "ORE" BRANTLEY (A RADIOACTIVE CALAMITY OF LOVE, BOMBS & GORE)

Name: Ortega "Ore" Brantley

Universe: Fallout (1997), Fallout 2, Fallout 3 & Fallout New Vegas.

Favorite book (and why): "Things Fall Apart" - Chinua Achebe, a surviving copy oddly enough. Also "Animal Farm" by George Orwell. These books gave him an insightful look in how change and societies can occur due to circumstances often within but also out of the control of others; much like the post-apocalypse he lives in, plus allowing him to understand the politics of the old world in a way. It also helped him develop his own sense of masculinity, educated mind and humanity, differing from his father, Arcane Urias.

Favorite song: "Big Iron" - Marty Robbins.

Favorite piece of clothing they own: He'll always be appreciative of the ranger face/mask-helmet that Elrand (the Vault Dweller) and the Brotherhood had implemented into his face after it had been mutilated by Urias.

Favorite "little treat": Ore doesn't need to eat (a benefit(?) of being Urias' son I suppose). He can just consume the radiation from the sun and surrounding waste. However, he does like to treat himself to Ruby's Radscorpion casserole though.

Favorite person in their lives: Marissa "Ress" Bishop; Ryder (the Courier Six); Elrand Brandt; Finidy Mona (the Chosen One); & Marcus.

Dream home (if there were no obstacles, financial or otherwise): A farm in Goodsprings probably; he likes the place, and he can fix up the school to actually become a education center for the children.

Dream life: After he kills his father, Ore plans to settle down in a place like Goodsprings probably, and put his vast amount of knowledge that he's gathered over the years into good use as a teacher when he fixes up the school for the children while Ryder continues her couriering. He expects Ress to drift in and out of his life, probably going on adventure after adventure as expected of his lively and restless sister. Maybe reach out to some old companions like Marcus, Goris and Lenny, or even visit newer ones in the Capital Wasteland and the Mojave. However, he'd never reach this dream... not when he chases after Aggravor into the Divide for a forlorn hope that Ryder was alive...

MARISSA "RESS" BISHOP (A RADIOACTIVE CALAMITY OF LOVE, BOMBS & GORE)

Name: Marissa "Ress" Bishop

Universe: Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas & Fallout 4.

Favorite book (and why): She doesn't have a favorite book. Closest thing is Piper Wright's newspapers, simply because they're funny and wacky and she likes Piper.

Favorite song: "The Wanderer" - Dion DiMucci.

Favorite piece of clothing they own: Her sunglasses.

Favorite "little treat": Fancy Lads Snack Cakes.

Favorite person in their lives: Her Bishop Crime Family; Ortega "Ore" Brantley; Alph Dolen & Amata Almodovar + Butch DeLoria; The King, FONV companions + Red Lucy and Sarah Weintraub; Piper and Nat Wright, Nate Gust Sarid & the FO4 companions.

Dream home (if there were no obstacles, financial or otherwise): After the adventure she went on to kill her dad for her dead bro, she honestly wouldn't mind moving in with Piper in her apartment(?).

Dream life: After taking a break from killing her Urias, Ress would go back onto adventures out in the Wasteland of America, but would always return to the Commonwealth back to Piper and Nat.

[obsidiancreates]

Alone Together

(CoS and Icebound spoilers)

When Skrimm died, he didn't end up sucked to hell.

He would've been relieved, but he was dead. So he wasn't much of anything.

Whatever claim was on his soul was blocked, somehow, and he simply Died. And it took this time, unlike when he was eaten alive by that monster on the river. Just a corpse, and then a skeleton, and then nothing more.

Until he blinked awake.

Awake in an unfamiliar place, next to a newborn Tiefling baby, floating.

Skrimm looks around.

He's alone.

"Oh, what the fuck is this?"

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

He watches Shepherd drink, face in his hands as he sits on the bar counter. He sighs. "Ya' know, I miss that almost as much as I miss my friends. At least if I could drink, I could blackout and forget I'm alone for a while."

Shepherd didn't respond, of course. He never does, unless it's a dream, and even then Skrimm is always a little unsure how to converse with the guy. Maybe if he'd popped in when Shepherd was already grown up that'd be different, but he's been stuck with the guy since he was a baby. He'd seen some shit he... wishes he hadn't. If he thought watching Barnabos's memories all those years ago was a lot to handle...

But he's not Shepherd's friend, nor some guardian spirit. He's tried, oh boy, has he tried. He knows other ghosts can usually go something, even just little things, but not him.

It wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't alone.

Not for the first time since waking up, Skrimm scowls and mutters "Fuck you, Jack."

Because that's the only thing he can think of. The only reason he might be stuck in this nothingness. Why he's connected to this random Teifling, he doesn't know, but it has to be some twisted game, like The Hound.

Shepherd, still unaware, just sips his mug again. Skrimm groans. "Come onnnn, you've barely touched the stuff! You're torturing me here! If you're gonna sit in a dark corner of a bar, you might as well get absolutely tanked while you're at it! Otherwise I'm just watching you brood!"

Nothing.

Skrimm groans again and flops onto his back, splayed dramatically atop the bar with no-one to witness his theatrical displeasure. He hears the doors swing open, and looks up to see-

Just a couple of humans. Great. Out-of-towners for sure, with their fancy outfits. The human man's tophat has Skrimm absentmindedly pulling on his own hat, a little self-conscious despite the invisibility.

And then the man's eyes fall on Shepherd. They narrow, and he says to his companion, louder than he probably thinks he's being, for her to be cautious, as someone "might not be who he thought they were."

The hat comes off as he approaches, awkwardly sidling up to the seat next to Shepherd and looking more out of place than Taishen in the snowbanks.

"Ah, whoa, whoa, hey." Skrimm gets back up, walking over to look down at the human man. "Fuck off buddy, you can't just say what really sounded like anti-Teifling shit and wander right up to us."

Unaware as the rest of the world, the man simply clears his throat and asks Shepherd how he's doing, and Shepherd just... answers and asks the same.

"What?!" Skrimm looks between them. "Are you kidding me! Shepherd, buddy, this guy is not our kind of person!"

The human man tries to order a brandy, instantly enraging the barkeep.

"See?! He's going to get us cut off, oh gods, for the love of all that is holy to yourself and everyone I've ever known, please get away from him!"

Shepherd just listens with a faint smirk as the human fumbles with his words, asking if he knows anyone named "Shepherd". With a small laugh and a smirk, Shepherd confirms it, because it's him.

"You obviously knew that already," Skrimm growls at the human. "What's your game here, huh? Playing innocent about something? Trying to get us to lower our guards, huh?!"

"Professor Clayton Azran, pleasure to meet you!"

"Ah, you're the professor then, I've been waitin' for you."

"Wait, what? Since when?" Skrimm stares open-mouthed at Shepherd. "What the hell are you doing when I'm not paying attention?! You took a job from this guy?!"

Skrimm sits, fuming, for the rest of the conversation. Especially when this "Clayton" just pulls out a sack of coin and puts it on the bar without even trying to hide it.

"Oh gods, he's gonna get you killed," Skrimm mumbles. "I don't trust this guy as far as Barnabos could throw me. At least Victoria there knows to look around the fucking bar!"

He gets more amusement than is right out of seeing Clayton so easily lied to by the bartender about the price, and even more seeing Vitoria have to point it out before Clayton realizes what's happening.

"I mean no offense ma'am, ya got some pretty eyes-"

"Oh, she'll kill you for that-"

"Thank you."

"Oh. ... Gods, I miss Queenie."

"Just name a number and I'll pay it, I'm confused!" Clayton ends up saying.

"Shepherd, this guy is literally the easiest mark I've ever seen. Please just rob him blind and let's get home, how's that sound?"

It sounds like nothing to Shepherd, who probably wouldn't dream of robbing someone that way even if Skrimm literally showed up in said dream to make it happen.

Sure enough, Shepherd says it's not about the money, and Skrimm groans and flops onto his back again as Shepherd follows up with "I mean it when I say I'm goin' to protect you, especially the young woman."

"Pretty sure she can handle herself," Skrimm says, watching Victoria keep an eye on the people around them. "This asshole's going to be way more trouble, I can feel it. Who doesn't tell their fucking hired weapon about how big their group is gonna be? See, she's lecturing the guy now, she can look after herself. I'd never be able to get a single copper out of her. Gods, this bartender is intrusive."

"I do have several questions for you, Professor."

"And I have several questions for you!"

"You'll find he's, full of questions."

"He's like a worse version of Manny," Skrimm deadpans, now laying on his stomach and glaring at Clayton (and the bartender, whenever he speaks. Whatever that guy's deal is, he needs to chill the fuck out.)

When Shepherd says he's not expecting too much trouble, Skrimm barks out a laugh. He knows trouble, knows it far better than he wants to, and he can smell it coming, quickly, and in large quantities.

And then his head snaps back to Shepherd as Clayton begins touching Shepherd's horns.

Shepherd says it's okay, but Skrimm has his ghostly Brutal Blade passing through Clayton's neck over and over, spitting curses as it does nothing. Tonight when Shepherd falls asleep, Skrimm is going to be going on a rant.

For some reason Shepherd actually leaves the bar with these two instead of yanking the gold and booking it. Skrimm imagines this is what it feels like to be a disappointed parent.

They. Spend. Days. With these people. As each one passes, Skrimm decides he hates Clayton more and more, and decides Victoria must have some ulterior motive for willingly being the man's assistant.

And now they're picking up another person. From a creepy, horrific, definitely-haunted woods.

"We're turning back now, right?" Skrimm ways, sitting on Shepherd's head and looking down. "The horrifying distant lantern lights are the last straw here, right?!"

They aren't. Skrimm thinks he'd be having a heart attack if he was still alive.

"If you trust this man, Professor, I trust you-"

"Why?! Why would you ever trust him?! If anything that makes this mystery guy less trustworthy! I swear to the nine hells, the next thing we know he's going to be saying this guy is a some kind of-"

"-they might be what you would call a cult."

"... Okay, cultist was not my guess, I'll be honest. What the fuck, Shepherd. Why are we still here?! ... Oh, and the bird people above hate outsiders and ground dwellers, great! This is so fucked up, at least my whole fucking ordeal was unwilling. You just walked right in, all by your own choosing! I thought you were smarter than this. I really did."

Clayton asks Victoria if knowing her a month or two is enough to be on a first-name basis, and Skrimm remembers how after knowing his friends for, really only one actual night and then just passing meetings afterward, he'd been planning ways to break all of them out of prison together.

Then again, this is Clayton. So Skrimm would probably say No if he was the one being asked right now.

"Miss Isaacs, I'm with you, I don't judge-"

"I do. This whole thing sucks. Where the fuck is the cultist guide, we gotta get this over with. ... Oh. Oh, gods, no."

When Clayton said Cultist, he really meant Cultist. Everything about this man puts Skrimm on edge, from the strange lantern to the grimy robe to the smile.

And as Sarnax's self-introduction goes on, he goes from On Edge to over it. If he was alive, this would be about the time he'd try to Glimpse this strange new... companion. But he's not alive, and his magic hasn't worked for Shepherd's entire life, and it doesn't start working now.

"Oh gods, he's getting closer, back up back up back up! Where the fuck did you survival instinct go?! BACK UP! Don't shake his ha- you shook his hand. That's it, we're fucked."

"Sarnax, can we trust you?"

"Finally, you're using your fucking brain! No we cannot! This guy is way too obsessed with fire and dragons, okay?! I knew a guy who literally got fire magic directly from a fucking dragon, and he was nowhere near this weird about it, okay? Big fucking difference, and-and Taishen had a lot more reason to be weird about fire."

And then they follow him into the dark and dangerous forest. And they set up camp. And Shepherd fall asleep.

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

"Hey, hey!" Skrimm barrels right into the dream, storming through whatever it was before, the whole environment turning into the deck of a ship sunk so long ago that only the dead remember it now. He storms right up to Shepherd, climbs up, and scowls in his face. "What the fuck are you getting yourself into?!"

"Get offa me!" Shepherd tries to yank Skrimm off, but Skrimm's been working with dreams for decades now. He keeps a tight hold, unmoving. "What in the nine hells!"

"Yeah, that's exactly where you're sending us! This professor is either a moron, a secret evil mastermind, or both, that 'guide' you just met is a fucking pyromaniac, and the only person with any gods-damned sense in this whole group is the person who's job is to just be an assistant! This 'archeological dig' is about to be your fucking gravesite if you don't book it right now!"

"What in the hell-"

"Don't even try to fucking argue with me on this, look around us when you wake up! We're in the middle of fucking nowhere, you didn't tell Doc all the details because you didn't know all the details, and we are surrounded by weirdos!"

"I'm not turnin' my back on them! I was hired to protect 'em, and I will!"

"I love money as much as anyone, but this can't be worth it! You gotta feel like you're walking into danger, I do and I'm not even doing the walking!"

"I'm not leavin' 'em vulnerable and alone."

"But you will be safe and home!"

"I don't even know who you are!"

"I'm your fucking common sense, apparently! Do you know how bad things have to be for me to be the common sense?!"

It goes on, around and around, and Skrimm just can't get through to him. The whole night spent on that ill-fated ship, arguing as storms rage silently around them, and as Shepherd starts to wake up-

Oh, that sound. Wood crashing against ice. Cracking, breaking, ending.

He'll never forget that sound.

Shepherd wakes up, gasping a little. Skrimm sits next to him, staring at the dirt.

That sound once spelled out the death of dozens.

Skrimm hopes against hope that it's not an omen.

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

It's two days into the dig that Shepherd is sat beside Sarnax, watching the woods, the two together merely because Victoria and Clayton as busy sketching the ruins.

Sarnax has already done his obligatory preaching at Shepherd, and it's been silent since.

An awkward silence.

Something snaps a twig in the woods, and Shepherd's hand goes right to his hip. A moment later, a fat mouse scurries out of the trees and into a hole in the ground.

Shepherd relaxes, just a bit, as Sarnax eyes him.

"Do you fear something is coming, Shepherd?"

"No, no. Just a little... on edge."

"Yes, you are. You have been on edge since yesterday."

"... Been havin' unusual dreams, is all. ... Standin' on a big ship while it's stormin', and some little fuckin'... I can't remember what it is, but it's screamin' at me that I'm gonna die, and it don't mean the ship. And right before I wake up, it crashes."

Sarnax raises his lantern, peering closely at Shepherd. "... I, too, have dreamt of a ship in a storm. I am visited by a large figure, something I know to be... the opposite, of my god's purifying flame. It has tried, throughout my life, to turn me away from Gherix, and my order."

"Really?"

"It speaks in a bellowing voice, unlike any I have known. It tells me that I am being mislead, and am denied what I need to have freedom, and choice."

"And... what do you make of these dreams?"

"I believe they are sent to mislead me. They are from a being that wishes to deter me from Gherix's path, and cannot be trusted. When I dream of this ship, I awaken feeling stronger than ever in my faith."

"... And you think mine might be the same. Misleadin'."

"I do."

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Skrimm stares up at Sarnax.

He tries to find something. Anything. Any hint that Sarnax might be-

That Barnabos is-

It's absurd. It's impossible! Skrimm is here because his soul is fucked up, right? ... But maybe, maybe it wasn't Jack. What if he's here because of his death from The Spirit? Barnabos was eaten too, so-

But Sarnax is so... not Barnabos.

... Then again, Shepherd is not Skrimm.

But if Barnabos were here, why wouldn't Skrimm be able to see him? They're both ghosts, right? Presumably for the same reason? So he can't be here.

... But a ship in a storm, a large bellowing figure, ranting about freedom and choice...

It's too coincidental to be a coincidence, right?

"Y'know, the professor seems to know a bit about omens." Shepherd looks back at the ruins. "Maybe we outta ask him his opinion on these dreams."

"I do not need his opinion on my dreams. I am sure of what they mean."

"Right. I meant mostly mine, and maybe you just mention yours bein' similar."

"You began having these dreams of the ship only last night, did you not?"

"I did."

"After your first time coming to know of Gherix's burning light."

"... I suppose I can't say you're wrong about that, but I'm not jumpin' to any conclusions just yet, Sarnax."

It a few hours until Clayton and Victoria finally come back for dinner around the campfire, and Shepherd comes right out with the questions.

"-ends up sinkin'. Now I don't usally go puttin' too much weight onto dreams, professor, but this feels different, and you've had a few cases on this journey of knowin' things just before they happen. I want your input on this."

Clayton's jaw is tight as he stares into his meal. "... I... won't like to you, Shepherd, this is... deeply concerning." He looks up, as though searching the stars for answers. "I have also had dreams about a ship in a storm, much like you've described, and a large figure giving me warnings."

Sarnax leans forward slightly, the focus of his lantern's light all on Clayton. "Does it bellow, professor?"

"No, no, quite the opposite. It speaks in flat tones, and though I cannot tell you what this figure looks like I can tell you that it is something old, and wise. I've been warned against many courses of action, and... even reprimanded for others. It speaks to me as shortly as possible, in an accent I've... never been able to place. I'd always assumed it was some... manifestation of my inner turmoils, or perhaps my magic leaking into my sleeping mind."

Shepherd leans forward, resting on arm on his knee. "And now?"

"... Now, hearing that you have had similar dreams... I wonder if something else might be at play." Clayton looks into his meal again. "... I'll see if I brought any books with me about prophetic dreams. It's... all I can offer at the moment. But if you both would like me to continue looking into it after this expedition, I'd invite you to accompany me back to the university. We could study this much more effectively there."

"I do not know if I would be willing... or welcomed, so far from the Edelwood. I would need to consult with my order."

"An I don' know about goin' that far from home without knowin' how long I'd be gone just for some dreams, Professor."

"Of course, of course. Take your time to consider it. In the meanwhile, if we could continue comparing our experiences throughout this expedition, perhaps even noting them down! Victoria, if you wouldn't mind- in fact, have you any dream experience to add to this?"

She shakes her head, already noting down the stories at Clayton's request. "I've never had any dreams like yours."

"Even more mysterious." Clayton picks at his meal instead of eats it, lost in thought for the rest of the waking night.

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Skrimm gapes.

"No. No no no, no. That's not possible." Skrimm climbs up Clayton and tries to rap his knuckles against the man's forehead, but of course his hand just goes right through. "Jornir! Are you stuck in this bastard's head?!"

No answer. Just like there was no answers from Barnabos all day.

"There's no way you have Jornir following you around," Skrimm says, trying to grab Clayton by the cheekbones. "You're the least trustworthy person I've ever met, including myself! ... Alright, I'm maybe stretching it there, but you're not trying to be untrustworthy and that makes it like, ten times worse. And Jornir was the most reliable person I ever knew, even when it was really, really irritating for him to be!"

Skrimm climbs up to stand on the top of Clayton's hat and scans around them. "If you've got Jornir haunting you, he's got even less input than I do."

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"Mr. Jornir?" Barnabos waves his hand in front of Clayton's face. He walks around him in a circle, puts his hands to his mouth, and shouts as loudly as he can, "MR. JORNIR, CALL OUT IF YOU'RE WITH US, OR SEND A SIGN FROM YOUR GODS!"

Nothing. No signs from Jornir, nor The Triad. Barnabos puts hsi hands down and waits.

Still... nothing. The world is deaf to him, blind to him, dead to him.

"Aye, I knew it was too good to be true. Still just us, then." He turns back to Sarnax. "I wonder if Mr. Fireblossom 'ould be able to get through to you. Suppose I'll try somethin' new tonight. Maybe try to make it li' that Kolbold bonfire this time."

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Jornir sits cross-legged beside Clayton and heaves out a great, heavy sigh.

"There is no hope, then." He looks once more at Shepherd and Sarnax, and sees only them.

No-one familiar.

"If you are here," he says, raising his eye to the starry sky. "May the gods guide us all. I know... we will need it."