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lockewrites · 1 year ago

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Durge!Reader being comforted by Halsin

Reader (gender not specified) x Halsin || SFW-ish (slightly violent) || 2390 words AO3

From anon on Tumblr: I feel like theres a real lack of Halsin/durge fics, specifically him helping her after denying to kill, and I think you’d be amazing for this!!

SPOILERS FOR DURGE IN ACT II - wrote the scene Larian denied us with Halsin as our LI :3

You lie on your bedroll, the stars hidden behind the cloth of your tent, the air within suddenly feeling as though it’s not enough to breathe. Sitting up, a wave of nausea roils through you, bile eating away at the back of your throat; each breath in creates a ripple in your gut. You crawl out of your tent, desperate for the open air; your movements are slow as you push to your feet, fearing your stomach will empty itself.

This sensation is certainly not a stranger; you’ve felt it a number of times since waking from the illithid pod.

The campfire has long since died, and with it is the absence of your companions, each lost in a trance or dreams. You’re grateful for the solitude; they’re aware of your… general situation, or at least as much of it as you know yourself, but they needn’t see you in such a state.

Your eyes flicker to Halsin’s tent; the druid had quickly drawn your interest upon joining the party. It began solely as a physical attraction; the sheer size certainly was enticing, and his Wild Shape, that very nature spoke to the feral instincts inside you. But his gentle temperament despite the power he holds, both physical and arcane, is an enigma to you, and him extending that soft touch to you, someone who certainly does not deserve it… the interest had quickly shifted to something deeper.

And for reasons you still couldn’t fathom, it’d been reciprocated.

Without realizing, you find yourself having approached his tent, your hand reaching to open it.

“He believes you’ve relieved the weight of his worries, returning him to himself.”

You spin to find a despicable creature standing behind you; decaying skin stretched taut over sharp bones, beady red eyes looking past you at Halsin’s tent. Sceleritas Fel.

“Such delusions, to think you a savior. As though you aren’t the heaviest burden to wrap around his neck, until he breathes his last, losing himself forever.”

Your mouth pulls into a sneer, and you take a step to block his view.

“You could do so much better, Milady,” the butler says, shaking his head.

“Back off, you rotten gremlin,” you hiss, your fists clenching. “You won’t touch him.”

He holds his hands up, unphased by your words. “I won’t lay so much as a talon on the elf.” His pointed teeth show in his malicious smile. “I wouldn’t rob you of that delight.”

A sharp pain beats through your head as you stare the creature down; the evidence apparent in your expression.

“Your clever mind is penning tragedy as we speak,” he remarks, pointing at you. “Your repressed Urge yearns to kill.” His voice drips with something akin to desire. “And kill you will. Tonight, the moment you close your eyes, your favorite person will be brutalized.”

“But I love him.” Your words are quiet, yet they startle you, spilling from your lips of their accord. Are you surprised by the admission? So early in your journey? Or is it that you don’t know whether you’re truly capable of such a thing?

“We all kill what we love most, in time,” Sceleritas replies. “He is so beneath you; his very presence infects the air with a sickeningly sweet stench. His pure heart would be better served floating in a jar.”

With each utterance, bile crawls further and further up to your throat.

“Halsin believes I’m stronger than this,” you mutter, more to yourself. “He won’t come to harm by my hand. I haven’t even yet told him how I feel.”

“Why not whisper it while you twist a knife?” He smirks. “Or have a love confession be the final words between you.” Sceleritas leans toward you. “It is my duty to ensure you are making the right decisions, Master. There was much disappointment at your reluctance to kill the little Moonmaiden.”

Your glare sharpens, suspicion growing and nearly pulling a snarl from your chest.

“You could kill this one deliberately,” he explains. “I’m sure it will be considered a great show of goodwill. The tithe could still be yours.”

The pain stabs through your head again, forcing your eyes shut as you grimace. Your instinct gnaws at your mind, and your Urge claws and screams beneath your skin.

Forcing your eyes open, you speak through clenched teeth. “Perhaps I sate the Urge by killing you.”

“Oh, my dear Lady.” He shakes his head and smiles. “It’s been many a time I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing your malice personally. But my death means little to your father and the Urge.”

The thought of his death at your hand would be satisfying, but you feel the honesty in his words; it would be far too shallow a victory to quiet the Urge.

“I won’t do it.” Your nails threaten to break the skin of your palms. “I will keep him safe. From you. And from me.”

He tilts his head. “I do not doubt you will act with the decorum befitting one of your rank.” His head dips, giving a bow just as his body glows an eerie red. “Good night, sweet Lady.”

His body disappears in a moment, leaving you alone with your back to Halsin’s tent. With a deep breath, you will your jaw and fists to relax; the lingering pain offering a bit of comfort as you wrack your mind on what to do.

You turn, reaching up to open the flap of Halsin’s tent, leaving a dark spot where your fingers touch. A metallic tinge spills into your nose, and you look down to see your hands streaked with blood, spilling from half-moon wounds in the middle of your palm. Without thinking, you run your tongue across your skin, the taste sending a shiver down your spine as your breath wavers.

Your movements freeze, the Urge rising in your chest, desperate to taste blood spilled from a body you crave.

“No,” you whisper to yourself, as though simply speaking would placate it. “Not Halsin.”

You dare to step through, finding Halsin lying on his bedroll, still deep in his trance, unaware of the looming threat to his life. Kneeling beside him, your bloodied hands hover above his throat; it would be so easy to spill his life with a simple slice of your dagger.

“Stop,” you plead to yourself, to your hands.

They move to his shoulders and give him a shake. “Halsin,” you utter, hoping to not wake the others. He doesn’t react. “Halsin!”

He wakes with a start, sitting up and gripping your arms in concern. “What’s wrong?”

Your lips part, but you struggle to find the words.

Halsin’s hands move to your wrists, turning them to view your still-bleeding hands.

“Speak to me,” he pleads, looking at you with fear and concern, visible even in the dark.

“You’re in danger,” you breathe, not entirely confident your words are loud enough for him to hear.

His brow furrows. “From what?”

“Me.”

His mouth opens, and you half-expect a lighthearted remark, but perhaps your severe gaze makes him hesitate. Halsin’s grasp slides to rest on either side of your face, his warmth filling you and quelling the nausea still tainting your stomach.

“Whatever is going on,” he begins, his thumbs brushing away tears that you hadn’t known spilled, “we will get through it, but I need to know what’s happening.”

You blink, his image going in and out of focus. “I… My… My mind isn’t my own,” you cry.

Each word given steals more and more of your energy, leaving your body on the cusp of failing; your vision grows tunneled and red as a headache splits through your skull, the pain unlike anything you’ve experienced before.

You feel the last of your consciousness slipping, but you must get out what has your heart in a vice grip. You slip from Halsin’s touch, stumbling backward against the tent’s flaps.

“It wants to kill you, and I… I don’t know what to do. I can’t lose you.”

He leans toward you. “You won’t lose me,” Halsin promises. “Our time together has only begun.” He interrupts himself with a heavy sigh. “You’ve shared a touch of your troubles with me, but this is far beyond anything you’ve said. To hold such a burden alone will destroy you. You could have confided in me.”

“I’m…” Even with the absence of any of your strength, you somehow draw further back; your vision becomes nothing more than a blur, the world spinning beneath you, and your throat burns with bile. “I’m sor—” You collapse into the dirt.

Whatever time that’s passed is lost to you, waking near the dead campfire with your hands bound behind your back and any semblance of control over your Urge gone. Your body thrashes, your wrists twisting and pulling against the rope, its flesh tearing into your own.

“Calm yourself,” Halsin orders, his voice sounding authoritative, as if speaking to one of his druids. “My magic cannot penetrate what plagues you. You, your will, will conquer this.”

Your mouth tastes of iron; vile desires gather on your tongue, the Urge itself commanding your body. You try to focus on Halsin, your eyes pleading that he sees you’re trying, even if not successful.

“I know you are still in there.”

His words are soft, sweet… they sicken the Urge.

You lurch forward, your teeth seeking to clamp down on any piece of Halsin, wanting to tear the meat from his bones, devouring him raw.

He doesn’t flinch, but his jaw sets. “I’ve handled the most feral of animals. Your fangs are no threat to me.”

The response sends the Urge over the edge, your limbs pulling with all of your strength, no regard given for any injuries caused by their own actions. The rope breaks through your raw skin, blood soaking the binds.

“Easy, my heart,” Halsin says. “Your strength is greater than this curse, and I will grant you my own alongside. You will not suffer this alone.”

You hold his promise in your chest, hoping it blooms bright enough to allow you to express your gratitude. You try to speak, but all that escapes is a harsh growl that tears through your throat.

“A growl means little from a trapped beast,” he remarks. “But you can escape this. I will see you free of this affliction.”

Tears that feel like acid fill your eyes, and you can’t tell whether it’s frustration and anger from the Urge or fear and dread from you. Your body is beaten inside and out, exhaustion’s hands wrapped around your throat. Still, it fights against your bindings, even as your consciousness slips back into the dark.

“Let your mind rest,” he says. “Your body will soon follow.”

Again, you don’t know how long you’re out, but at some point, you come to. You feel sticky, your clothes clinging to your sweat-slicked skin; your head still pounds, and your stomach still turns, but your mind is once again your own. As your vision clears, you let out a sigh of relief; Halsin remains in front of you, mercifully unharmed.

His gaze holds yours, searching for you. And he finds you.

Rising to his feet, he steps behind you and cuts your binds; your freed arms settle in your lap, the muscles screaming, and your wrists and hands caked in dried blood. Tentative, you flex your fingers, the maroon stain cracking and falling from your skin.

Halsin returns in front of you and sits back down. His expression is relieved, but as the seconds pass, it shifts to something far more serious.

“I am overjoyed to have you back,” he begins, “but we need to discuss what happened.”

Your head drops, shame filling you. With a deep breath, you let everything out: divulging the severity of your Dark Urge, how often it haunts your thoughts and dreams, the little creature that calls himself your butler, your mysterious father you’re supposed to please.

Those hazel eyes are hard, his brows pinched; Halsin is deep in his thoughts, sifting through the heavy truth you’ve just shared. And all you can do is sit and wait, anxiety boiling within as you await his response. Will he claim you too dangerous to live? An unnatural being, something that disrupts the world’s balance? Perhaps simply cast you out, banish you from the camp as he’s unable to bring himself to end you?

Your hands are suddenly gifted his warmth, his own gently caressing yours. He dips a rag in a bowl of water beside him and begins cleaning your wounds, his touch impossibly gentle.

“In all my years, I’ve not come across anything quite like this,” he finally speaks. “But I stand by my words. You will not lose me. And I will not let you lose yourself to this Urge.”

He puts the rag aside and casts a healing spell; the golden glow fills the space between you, and the torn skin pulls back together. Your wrists still ache, still feel some remnant of the deep injuries, but it’s barely more than a pinprick to you.

His hands remain on yours, but you feel disgusted and have to fight the temptation to pull away. You should be left to rot, ended now to protect everyone around, to protect him.

“I’m a monster,” you mutter, unable to meet his gaze. “I’ve taken countless lives. I don’t even know the depth of my crimes. I’m an abomination now, and I know… I just know I was fully embracing this Dark Urge before I lost my memories.” Your throat feels as though it’s being stabbed. “You should end me.”

Your head is guided up, his thumb under your chin and forcing you to look at him.

“The Urge is a monster,” he argues. “You, the person you are now, is utterly incredible. And having learned just how hard a battle you face with this evil, I am in awe.”

The tears fall from your cheeks, and while you still don’t believe you deserve a single utterance he’s given, you’re grateful beyond what words could express.

Halsin wipes them away, and his hands remain along your jaw.

“We will free you from this abomination,” he swears, “and your mind, your heart, your soul, will be entirely yours. And you will see just how extraordinary you are.”

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #halsin #baldur's gate iii #durge #halsin x reader #reader x halsin #durge x halsin #halsin x durge #bg3 spoilers #baldur's gate #fic: treasures the night bestows

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harrowharr0w · 2 months ago

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making prsk aus based of spinning a wheel (max chars is 4 because i'm lazy) (this is much more important than my homework)

#: 4

characters: nene, haruka, mafuyu, shiho (yippee!!)

nene and haruka are relatively famous in their cyberpunk-dystopian-esque world, in which there is no wildlife left. their friend/colleague, famous musician shiho hinomori, suddenly goes missing. shiho, tired of life in general, runs off to go... somewhere. just out of the city. she runs into.. flowers?? she's only seen them in picture books. and theres... a girl here?? and wait... hasn't she seen this girl on missing posters before??

#: 2

characters: tsukasa, toya

a notorious spirit/ghost is haunting and essentially causing chaos everywhere he goes. toya is the one sent to try and capture this spirit. however, mysteriously, toya's come very close to capturing the spirit, but every time he almost gets him the spirit just escapes his grasp. it almost looks intentional... (toya knew tsukasa. before he died if it isn't obvious. brothers or something) (yes i already used ghost hunter cyber sniper set for nothauntedsekai. i don't want to hear it)

#: 3

characters: mizuki, shizuku, ichika

a passenger and the train driver. at the very last stop, with only one remaining passenger, the train suddenly breaks down. but when the passenger and the conductor get off to seek help, they find that they've never seen this area before. they come across a mysterious shop, seemingly the only place in the area, hoping to find contact or at least a recognizable map. but the shop owner seems... strange, to say the least.

#: 2

characters: saki, ena

a princess and an unsuccessful artist. the princess frequently stops by her studio in disguise to marvel at her paintings. one day, this humble painter suddenly finds all her paintings have sold?? right after, she receives an unexpected invite to the palace, and her paintings are all over the walls??!!??

#part 2 coming soon #project sekai #project sekai au #nene kusanagi #haruka kiritani #mafuyu asahina #shiho hinomori #tsukasa tenma #toya aoyagi #shizuku hinomori #ichika hoshino #mizuki akiyama #saki tenma #ena shinonome #I HAVE ONE FOR AKITO HONAMI AND KANADE BUT THE PICTURES WONT LOAD

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crushedsweets · 9 months ago

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Jdjejfjsjd can we know more about ninajack????? Pleasssseeee sucker????

I GOT YOU. i organized it by concept rambles, then if i were to write a 'getting together' one-shot thing.

A SORT OF BACKGROUND/GENERAL CONCEPT..

nina has a crush on everyone. usually its veryyy short and fleeting and she realizes it was moreso admiration and appreciation rather than romance, but its like she's hardwired for romantic love. even when she's "with" jeff (she calls him her boyfriend/fiancé but neither are very loyal), she's crushing like crazy

so, when she's introduced to Jack through Clocky.. he's tall, mysterious, has a nice voice, polite, freaky. SHE'S CRUSHING HARD. REALLY FUCKING HARD. like running off with clocky squealing and spinning and going 'I THINK IM IN LOOOVEEE HE'S SOOO FINEEEE' and clockys like no. you are not. please.

nina would start asking clocky/toby "ohh we should visit jack today i bet he's lonely lets go see him" and they see right through her shit. clockys more likely to be like 'i do not want you bothering him, i dont think he can take it' since she'd be aware of the whole... falling in love with jenny only to be horribly betrayed fiasco.... and even if she loves nina, she doesn't trust her not to hurt people. but toby is more likely to think its funny as fuck and bring nina along.

another big point is. nina's appearance matters a lot to her. she used it all her life to get what she wanted - ranging from when she was little and using doe-eyes to beg her dad for toys, to being a sexy, fun chick at the bar getting drinks from randos... but jack can't see her. he has thermavision and echolocation, so he gets the gist of her appearance, but it'd really mess with her. she doesn't think theres anything about her to love, other than her appearance and what she can give. but he really thinks she has a sweet voice, at least

A CURRENT STORY/ONE-SHOT CONCEPT

it would be after she officially breaks things off with jeff. jeff stabs her in the stomach, liu drags her to jack, and jack tends to her wounds.

they'd require her to stay with jack for a few days, just during her recovery.

nina's depressed, understandably, after the whole ordeal. jack gives him her room so she can actually lay down, and he sleeps on the couch. she never leaves his room, is always in there moping and crying and trying to contact jeff - but he's blocked her on literally everything, so..

it'd start by jack bringing nina meals. breakfast, lunch, and dinner, he'd bring her something and insist she eats. some days she would, some days she'd cry and beg him to leave and take it with him. he'll leave it alone for a while. "this isnt my problem" or whatever, but... she wont heal properly if she's not eating. so jack would eventually try collecting her, pulling her out by the hand and quietly asking her to come eat dinner with him. he'd insist it's for him, that he's been lonely, something like that - a little bit of manipulation, but it works. it gets her to eat.

he'd do it more often, and she'd think she's doing a good thing. he'd start bringing her out to cook with him, all that.

maybe one day while theyre cooking together, nina would be in such a good mood after a long time of moping, and he'd just comment on how nice her laugh is. and immediately she's like oh. woah. ok.

maybe that night, just like he asks her to eat with him so he's not lonely, she'd ask him to come lay with her so she's not lonely. then jack finally gets his fucking bed back. and nina, i guess....

bonus points cuz she'd be wearing his clothes. BIG AS FUCK ON HER. theyre so cute

#ninajack #hcs #creeped #nina the killer #eyeless jack

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tossball-stick · 2 months ago

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MORE TRANSFEM KIERAN

hii kicks my feet. twirls my hair. does a little spin. i wanted to write these out sooo much sooner but i got sick :(( luckily!! im here now!!!! so today ive decided to share some camp transition hcs. personally i dont actually think she would have the time to transition in the gang.. buuuuut its still nice 2 think about :) maybe later ill make a post about the domestic au ive got for her. smiles big and wide

sean is immediately supportive of her transition. this isnt really cause for suspiscion, sean is also trans of course. until his true intentions are revealed and hes simply staring at a womens fashion catalogue in the undergarments section holding it out to kieran and pointing, "i think youd look good in that one ;)"

eventually kieran is doing some of the ladies workload, she is one of them, after all (though i imagine her true role even post transition would be a little more mixed, like karen, who can be seen going on watch and such). of course this means grimshaw eventually coming by to nitpick her the same way she does for the rest of the women. chastised for not being ladylike enough, or being improper. i imagine susan and kieran get along pretty well, honestly, i can imagine kieran being a very effective little worker bee for her that goes along with whatever she says in an attempt to pass. susan clearly knows about being a woman. kieran wants to be a woman. its perfect!

you would think if i headcanoned bill as gay and kieran as a woman i would believe that bill eventually loses his crush on her. you would be wrong. very wrong. i think it maybe seems that way at first, but realistically bills manner of attraction has simply shifted. with men you can be rough and rowdy and awful and its expected, even when trying to court one, but trying to court a lady? now, thats a long process of wearing her down with charisma, wooing her, being a gentleman. things bill williamson sucks at. really badly. i think he would simply stop making moves on her because he just doesnt know how, but i dont think his actual feelings change even remotely

thusly, people start looking at bill weird the times he gets drunk and does dare to flirt with kieran. i imagine people would offer to have a talk with him about it, but she would just smile and shake her head, because bill stumbling over his words to drunkenly call her pretty was one of the best feelings shes ever had

i doubt hosea and dutch would care. really. i think either way they keep her stationed with the horses. it makes her happy and ultimately she is helping around camp more now. theres no loss of hands to complain about, they werent taking her on jobs anyway

her and molly!! i knowwww molly is saying some shit like "youre clearly just pretending, wearing that skirt with that lipstick" and it very quickly snowballs into convincing arthur to take them out on the town and buying kieran some clothes with at least a little class. maybe they kiss while out there. whos to say

look. all im saying is. if kieran goddamn duffy can become a woman then sadie adler can become a man. and sadie adler fucking haaaaaates that the start of his transition was watching an o'driscoll transition first. and i also think it would be really funny and i wanna torture that tboy some more.

grows her hair out for sure, i think in any other setting she would wear it down more than up, but due to the nature of her chores at camp, shes keeping the hair off the back of her neck

i can imagine mary-beth and her sitting together on a quiet night, kieran listening to her talk about whatever dime novel or bodice ripper she'd been able to get her hands on lately. its nice and all, but shes mostly just listening, shes not much of a reader, and mary-beth is clearly talking like she wants the man. until, out of nowhere, shes bringing up how the savior is always the men, and how, sometimes, it made her even more giddy to picture the "men" with long hair and even more identity protection, and thinking about them being women masquerading as men. seemingly, kieran is a lot more engaged now that mary-beth is talking about being saved by a woman that is stuck looking like a man for whatever reason. of course, mary-beth doesnt miss this little detail. theyre sharing drinks by the end of the night.

i think one of her first gender moments was getting her first skirt of course. but i think it only really hit her when she had to mount branwen sidesaddle for the first time, and get used to riding him like that. it was kinda like learning to ride a horse all over again. it gets branwen involved in her transition as well and i think thatd be crucial for her; bonding with her beloved horse in a new way, being a woman while doing it. even if he wasnt a part of such a big moment for her, i still think she would gush to him about all the womanly things she got to do that day. branwen is always the first to hear when a day goes by and she barely feels like a man the whole time.

i hope this was enough food to keep you and any other transfem kieran enthusiasts fed for a bit ^-^

#rdr2 #kieran duffy #red dead redemption community #red dead redemption 2 #verdemoun #i should also do a gang sexualities and genders hcs at some point..

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oh-surprise-its-me · 1 year ago

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Roy/Jamie prompt: Pirate AU. Jamie is being shipped to a loveless arranged marriage to Rupert or some other awful jerk. En route his ship is attacked by the dreaded pirate Captain Roy Kent and his crew. Roy's expecting a whiny, arrogant little rich kid to hold for ransom. Instead Jamie is fearless and doesn't give Roy an inch no matter what Roy threatens him with. At one point, Roy bluffs that he's whip Jamie proper, only for Jamie to tear his shirt off and reveal that his father's already left plenty of marks. Jamie eventually earns his place as part of Roy's crew, and more importantly, as husband to the dread Captain Kent himself.

If there’s something I love more then vampires it’s pirates. I absolutely can do this.

*Jamie’s mom is dead in this au because there’s no way she would ever let her baby be sold*

Jamie is furious. He’s worth so much more then just 500 gold pieces. At the very least 2000, he’s hot. He knows it.

He slams his fists on the locked door. It still doesn’t give. Jamie collapses back onto the cot they tossed at him. He figures he’ll catch a few more hours of sleep.

Jamie is just about to drift off when there’s screaming. He hears a new voice. A deep voice.

Jamie can hear it through the wood of the door so he must be close. “Unlock this now.”

The door swings open. Jamie stares up.

The man is gorgeous. The captain of their ship is standing behind him. A cruel laugh escapes the caption’s lips, “you’re in for it now Tartt.”

Jamie glares at him. The dark haired man gestures and he is dragged away. Jamie blinks. Oh. The man bends down to look at Jamie. He glances around the small room and sees all the clothing Rupert had sent.

“Pretty rich boy here should get us a nice ransom. Take him. I’m your new owner for the time being.” The man stands and gives a fake bow, “Roy Kent. At your service.”

Jamie shrieks. He’s heard stories. He knows who this is. He’ll not move unless he wants to thank you. Two men come toward him. They try to grab him but he bites them. He gets smacked by Roy. He’s been hit harder many times but it was unexpected. “Stop it boy. Be good. Let them carry you or I will.”

Jamie lightly struggles once again but let’s the two men carry him this time. As they leave the ship he looks at the bodies. Jamie can’t honestly say he feels bad for them, they all said horrid things they wanted to do to him. What Rupert would allow them to do.

He shudders without meaning to. The man on his right laughs, “cold princess?” Jamie slams his head into the man’s nose. Blood starts pouring out.

“Oi!” Jamie freezes. Fuck.

“Sink their ship then we need to teach princess here a lesson in manners.”

Jamie sighs. He looks at the man he head butted, his nose is probably broken. He feels a bit bad because the man was just following orders. But oh well.

They toss him into a cell. It’s going to be a long trip.

They’ve yell at him, dump cold water on him. Roy has threatened to take away his clothing. To shave his head. Jamie refuses to break.

He won’t do it.

He thinks the captain is slowing getting a bit of respect for Jamie.

Until that night.

It’s just the two of them again, Roy has a whip in his hand, he taps it against the bars. “I’ll make you talk with this. Final chance Tartt.”

Jamie laughs. He can’t help it.

He strips off his shirt and turns around. There’s an inhale of air. “You can’t do worse then what my old man did. Go ahead and try if you can find space.”

Theres utter silence from Roy.

Jamie spins around. He knows the front isn’t as bad but there’s still marks. Mostly from cigar burns.

“I’m sorry.”

Jamie thinks maybe he hit his head. “You’re what?”

Roy tosses the whip across the ship. “Sorry. I shouldn’t of made assumptions. They never get people places. Never got me anywhere.”

Jamie nods. He can understand that. Roy reaches forward and unlocks the cage. “Let’s talk. Come to my cabin. You can have clean clothes.”

Now Jamie knows it might be dumb but he’s exhausted, wet, and starving. He shrugs and picks up his shirt. He doesn’t care who sees his scars.

As they make their way up to the cabin they pass people, Colin, the man who’s nose Jamie broke, gasps when he sees his back.

It makes Jamie smile. He’s always loved shocking people.

Roy gestures for him to go into the cabin. It’s warmer. Jamie picks up a loaf of bread and bites into it.

Roy stares at him for a second before getting clothing. He passes it over. “It’ll be big it’s mine. We’ll try and find some in your size.” Jamie nods. Seems like the captain might like him. Interesting.

Jamie could start to like the captain.

10 months later it’s not just Roy who is feared, the blond who is now constantly seen at his side is always spoke of along with Roy’s name.

They say his name is Jamie Kent. He rescues people in trouble or from abusive marriages. They say he gutted his owner once Roy freed him. Those are just rumors though. The man who was supposed to marry Jamie actually went missing months before.

What no one really knows though is Rupert’s head made a lovely proposal gift. How could Jamie ever say no to that.

#ted lasso #jamie tartt #roy kent #jamie x roy #royjamie #jamie tartt x roy kent #pirate au #thanks for the ask !!#I hope you like it!

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walnutcookie · 2 days ago

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Can you yap about instruments. Literally anything about instruments I want to hear everything and anything because what you know Is Awesome /gen

LOOKS AT U WITH BIG OL EYES THANK U SO MUCH .....

im gonna yap about how weird the french horn is because ummm why not. I play the french horn and i love this weird thang. starting off:

- Most horns have no *spit valves. the french horns that do have them they dont really work that well. how do you get the spit out you ask? 1) take the main tuning slide out and tip it over 2) keep spinning the instrument until it comes out of your bell like a waterfall 3) be some weirdo freak and empty it through your mouthpiece (what is wrong with you)

*for those who dont know what a spit valve is, brass instruments (and some others like baritone saxophone) have little holes in the instrument that you can open using a tiny lever. while youre playing it youre putting in your warm moist breath so spit builds up in there and you gotta empty it out or else your sound will get blocked and it sounds like your horn is stuttering lol

- it has a small mouthpiece ! smaller than a trumpet/mellophone mouthpiece (i have an adapter so i can play on trumpet/mellophone with a horn mouthpiece)

- commonly known as a hard instrument, partially because of the mouthpiece but also because the notes are really close together so its harder to hit the right note

- believe it or not the french horn isnt even french!!! its fucking GERMAN!!!!! more often we're just referred to as "f horn" or even just "horn" because the french part is misinformation /silly

- french horns are used in woodwind quintets. again for people who dont know much about instruments theres two main classifications of wind instruments, those being woodwind and brass... woodwind quintets (group of 5 players) usually consist of a flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and Fucking French Horn. For some reason. i just think its funny that theres some random brass person with all the woodwinds HFDSJFHJ my middle school teacher said it was because saxophones sound too crass to fit in with a woodwind quintet so they stick a horn in there instead

- theres two types of horns commonly used in like. School bands at least i dont have much experience elsewhere. Theres a single horn which is in the key of F and also a double horn which has a trigger at the thumb which turns it into a Bb horn!!! heres where i admit that im a dweeb who, despite having ALWAYS played on a double horn, is a stubborn brat who hates playing on the Bb side rven though band staff is always telling me to use it. i vaguely know the fingerings but if you told me to sightread on it i couldnt HFDKJSHFSKJ

this is a single horn (left) compared to a double horn (right). double horn has a second row of slides (the tubes) and a trigger at the thumb instead of a hook or ring or some sort of thumb rest :] its also a lot heavier as ive learned HFDKJSHFJ i think theres also such thing as a triple horn but i hardly know anything about it and ive never seen one in my life

THANK U AFAIN FOR THIS ASK I REALLY APPRECIATE IT WAAHH I LOVE YAPPING ABT INSTEUMWENCE....

#🎉 asks #🎉 rambles

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xelmokidx · 9 months ago

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Reader is chilling in his home on Zaun, Until he hears a weird noise from his bedroom. He enters the bedroom, a little worried, then goes to the window to see that theres nothing. Then he looks back and Jinx scares him playfully! Then they talk and Jinx ends up straddling Reader on the bed, kissing and making out with reader. (Also include Reader touching and feeling Jinx's belly and groping her butt.)

hey dude, here’s the request, hope you enjoy!!

Breaking and Entering

Jinx x gn!reader

Request?: yes!

Whilst at home, you get a visitor, one that you are glad that intruded your sanctuary…

Home. My one safe place. Zaun can be potent, to say the least. There's always something going on. I plop down on my very worn-down musty couch, sighing loudly. My bones crack from standing all day in my booth. I sold more today than I thought I would. Made a decent amount of money. Not enough, it's never enough. But it was decent. Just as I was about to shut my eyes for some rest, I heard a noise coming from my bedroom. There was some rustling, a thud, more rustling, and then a voice

“Ow! Jeez toots, couldn't kill you to pick up your room once in a while, fuck,” I hear from an all too familiar voice. My girlfriend just broke into my house. Now, this isn't too new. She likes to pop up from time to time, surprising me with new gadgets she tinkered with fixing my kitchenware, or even just for a cuddle sesh. But breaking in through my window was new. She would usually bust through my door, which I deemed okay (though my landlord didn't). But breaking in was an all-new development. I force myself up from my couch and saunter over to my pink and blue graffiti-covered door. Yeah, she comes over a lot.

I slowly open the door to find Jinz looking through my things and placing some different gadgets around. I presume they were pranks. Harmless ones, but pranks nonetheless. I sigh softly.

“It couldn't kill you to use a door, ya know?” I say leaning on my doorframe. Jinx spins around, her vibrant blue braids swinging along with her motion. She quickly hides a hand behind her back, a prank she was going to place under my pillow. Her eyes widen and she drops the prank, hopping over to me. “Hi, sugar! I was only-,” she starts to explain before I cut her off. “Was only about to place hidden pranks all around my room to scare me with glitter and pink puff bombs?” I finish, a lovestruck smirk grazing across my face with a raised eyebrow. Her sly smile only widens. “Okay maybe, but I wasn't expecting you ta come home so early. '' She tries to reason. I chuckle. “Yeah, I sold more than I thought I would, so I packed up early.” I look down at Jinx. I was slightly taller than her. I always was, ever since we were kids. She hated that. Her blue eyes seemed even bluer in my dark room and her tattoos looked luminescent. I could look at her forever and never get bored. Jinx let out a soft “oh”, before tackling me in a bone-crushing hug. Yeah, she may be petite, but she was strong as hell. I wrap my hands around her waist and kiss her forehead. She nuzzles her face into the nape of my neck, her braids swinging from the motion and slightly tapping my thigh. “Missed ya, toots'' she mumbles, her breath tickling the skin beneath her lips. I sigh, “Missed you too, tink”

Tink. My favorite movie as a kid was Tinkerbell, and it was the only one my mom could download using the Piltover wifi she got from her work. I watched it every day, dreaming of the fairies and how I could be one if I tried. That didn't work out. I wanted to be Rosetta more than anything, wanting nothing more than to care for plants. Now I care for them and sell them, so in a way, I am Rosetta, just less girly. Jinx reminded me of Tinkerbell, always working on some little gadget. I loved that more than anything. And I love her more than anything.

Jinx looks up at me through her eyelashes, a glint of mischief in her eyes. “I just got home from work, dude” I reason, but she doesn't listen. She goes back down to my neck, nipping at the skin. I suck in the air in surprise. She always knows how to suck the air out of my lungs. It's a blessing and a curse at the same time. My nails dig into her flesh, definitely leaving crescent-shaped indents on her skin. Eventually, I find enough strength to push Jinx off of me, to which her lips turn into a frown, lines indenting her perfect face. “What, did I do something wrong?” she asks, and I frown. She could never do anything wrong. At least, not to me. “Never,” I start, “I was just thinking about how tired I am, and how the bed would be so much more comfy” A smirk goes across my face as I look at Jinx’s, waiting for her to get what I was saying. Her eyebrows are furrowed together like she knows what I'm trying to say, but just isn't getting the message. Then, her eyes light up, and a Cheshire grin covers her pale face. “Yeah, tired, right” Jinx drawls.

I grab Jinx’s hand, pulling her to my bed. I lean myself up against my headboard, then pat my lap, giving Jinx the throne to sit upon. She hops on gladly, practically jumping onto me. Her legs wrap around my waist, and I pull her impossibly close. My hands and fingers graze her thigh, going higher and higher inch by inch. Her breath is fanned over my face, hot and sweet, just like she is. She mumbles something along the lines of “Oh my god I love you, you're too perfect for me toots,” She's vocal, to say the least. I kiss her shoulders, going up higher to reach her neck. I suck at her skin leaving purple bruises behind. I'm only hoping Silco doesn't come after me for marking his beloved daughter. I'd be dead meat.

She whimpers quietly and I moan in return. My hands finally reach Jinx's ass. I grab at her flesh, making her rut her hips at the motion. I smirk against her skin, just as she did to me mere minutes earlier. “So good to me toots,” she says, pulling my face up my chin to look at her. I look at her face, her cerulean eyes, her pale skin, her pretty cheekbones. I lean forward, enrapturing her lips in a sweet kiss. She tastes of sugar and gunmetal, to which I'm slightly concerned but too enraptured in her lips to care. My hands continue up her body, past her waist and I stop them at her belly. I pulse my thumbs into her skin, feeling her tattoos and scars. I love every part of it, and I always will. My lungs start to burn from the lack of air, and I wish internally that they would just shut up so I could kiss my girlfriend. But needs are needs, so I disconnect my lips from hers, earning a whine from Jinx. We both pant, wanting nothing more than to intertwine our lips again. My head goes back to the headboard. Jinx leans her head on my chest. I bring my hand up from her belly to her hair, petting her hair gently. “I think that makeout sesh can excuse my breaking and entering, right?” She says breathlessly, trying to get out of my scolding. But right now, I couldn't care less. “Yeah, it definitely does.”

(AUTHOR SPEAKS!!): sup, guys! Hope you liked my first jinx x reader. And p,s if you want more pLS REQUEST!!! I am more than happy and willing to write stuff. Especially my girl crushes Hazel Callahan and Jinx and, like, so many more lmao. Anywho, have a great day/night( i know yall on tumblr at like 2 in the morning, get some sleep babe ) and love yall

Love,

xelmokidx

#Jinx arcane #jinx x reader #arcane #fanfic #x reader #jinx #Jinx x reader fluff

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saikiscleansink · 2 years ago

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Senku!Reader Imposter AU

(I mean like reader with big brain like senku)

"It cracked again." You scribbled down notes in your notebook. NileRed was right, aerogel is so freaking fragile.

This was the 4th time in a row that your aerogel had cracked. To be fair, in a way, it was still aerogel. But you wanted it perfect, more perfect than NileRed, more perfect than any other aerogel in the world.

You could feel tears of frustration threatening to fall. It had been a stressful week. Another failed prototype, another mistake you had to fix. I should take a break, you thought, Theres always tomorrow.

It was only 7 in the evening, way too early to head to bed, yet you could feel the exhaustion slowly entering your system. But, it wouldn’t hurt to try again, right?

It, in fact, hurt a lot to try again. Hours passed by, reading through what felt like a million research papers and non-stop annotating made your hand ache and your eyes droopy. I guess closing my eyes for a second would be okay…

You woke up to the sun right above you. The warmth of the grass felt so warm and inviting- wait… grass? Your eyes wide open and you sat up so fast that you could have gotten whiplash.

In front of you were 2 squirrels digging around a familiar bag. Your backpack. But how could it be here? It should be on your desk. You should be at your desk.

The scene in front of you felt real, and… familiar? It didn’t take long for you to see a very large statue nearby. You were sure it looked exactly like a statue in Genshin Impact. But that couldn’t be. It’s just a game, it doesn’t exist in real life, right? And on your left, in the distance, was a city with massive windmills spinning and a massive castle with pointy tops. You looked up and saw glowing butterflies. Crystalflies? Teyvat?

You stood up and picked up your bag. In your bag were loose pens, notebooks and notes. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, other than your location of course. On the ground was the notebook you were just scribbling on before you fell asleep. You picked it up and flipped through it, but everything looked the same. Maybe you were going crazy, but even if that was the case, a little vacation would be nice. And so off you went, towards the city that looked suspiciously like the city of freedom.

This isn’t how your vacation was supposed to go. You’re running out of oxygen, but you could hear the footsteps behind you. The screams of angry citizens and knights. The vile curses that spewed out of their mouths. God, when will it stop. You’ve been running for hours now with no rest. Your stomach was rumbling and your legs were screaming to stop, but you knew if you did, it would be the end.

You watched as an arrow flew right by you. You felt the sting of it slicing your leg. You saw the arrow covered in blood land in front of you right in a tree. You need to stop, you can’t run forever.

You jumped down a ledge and hid between some rocks and bushes. You heard the footsteps slowly come to a halt.

“Master Jean, we can’t go to Wolvendom, its too dangerous and most of us are too tired, we won’t make it.”

“This imposter has to be tired, she won’t make it through the night.”

A series of quiet agreements could be heard.

“Let’s head back, but tomorrow, we return to ensure that this.. this imposter is gone for good. We can’t allow anybody to defile the name of our creator as blatantly as this creature.”

You let out the breath you were holding in once you heard them leave. You looked at your leg and saw so much blood. It was definitely going to be infected. In front of you was a worn down carriage surrounded by small lamp grass that glowed in the dim forest. It wasn’t much, but at least you had shelter.

You limped over and took a seat on the tree root in the carriage. You needed a plan of action. You’ve read enough SAGAU fics to know what’s about to happen to you. Luckily, you were a loser who spent way too much time studying the lore of teyvat and had some basic knowledge in first aid. But where were you going to find bandages and cleaning alcohol? You remember that wolf berries had medicinal properties, but could it heal your wound?

“You smell… familiar.”

#genshin impact #sagau #genshin impact sagau #genshin sagau #genshin self aware #self aware genshin #sagau cult au #self aware genshin au #senku!reader

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im-a-goddamn-cat · 2 years ago

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didn't realize how much i loved The Walking Dead until around the time it was going to end

now i'm realizing how much i also love Fear The Walking Dead when it's final season is gonna start airing

truly don't realize a good thing until its (almost) gone 😔😂

#at least theres more spin offs coming out #meowing #twd #ftwd #the walking dead #fear the walking dead #twdu #the walking dead universe

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popculturebuffet · 2 months ago

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X-Month Finale: My Top 10 X-Runs

Welcome one and all to the grand finale of X-Month. A thing or two got changed and moved around but i'm overall proud of how it went this time. We've looked at darkwing duck, the greatest x-men cartoon ever, and Nightcrawler's two moms. Now we end this month with A look at something diffrnet but personal to me. These are my top 10 x-runs, the runs of x-men and it's various spinoffs that I truly love, that define the book for me and define this part of the franchise. There the books that either made me love mutants so much in the first place or helped reaffirm why. They run the gammut from the just ended at the time of this article Krakoa era's majesty all the way back to chris claremont helping retool a struggling half baked idea into one of the greatest comics ever. These comics are why I love x-men and i'm happy to share them with you and hopefully get you to read them and hopefully i'll be able to cover them all some day. But for now this is a nice smorgoseboard of what makes the strangest mutants of all marvel's best part, a small pocket full of creativity, commentary , change and artistic glory.

So a few guidelines: For longtime readers, I usually do top 12 lists, to the point i'm shirnking my best animated episodes list down to it, but with all the x themeing in the krakoan age it felt right to slim it down to a nice sharp x. The second is that i'm crediting every artist who worked on at least three issues. I'd credit all of them but the runs from the 2010's and 2000's are caked with one off fill ins and 80's comics tended to have a ton of one off fill ins or other people doing the annuals. I'm not against it, if you have someone who can do great art or guest on a run do it and it's thanks to this kind of thing we got walt simonson for one glorious issue of x-men, I just don't want the art credits to be 80 pages long, but DID take the effort to comb thorugh every run and find every artist that at least did an arc on the books honored here, as i'm trying to break out of only propping up the writers when it comes to comics. Their a VISUAL medium and the artists are often what makes a run. So to under the cut my x-men for the uncanny, the astonshing and my faviorites.

10. The New Mutants Written By Chris Claremont Drawn by Bob McLeod, Sal Buscema, Bill Sienkiewicz, Steve Leialoha, Mary Wilshire, Rick Leonardi and Jackson Guice Marvel GN #4, New Mutants Vol 1 , #1-54 + 3 Annuals, NM Special #1 59 Issues

It was the 80's and the Uncanny X-Men was marvel's best selling comic. Chris Claremont and a slew of talented game changing artists had turned a once niche property into one of the most layered, engaging and compelling books out there. So naturally Marvel wanted MORE money and to spin off this mother. Chris was reluctant because he wanted the main book to be special and it's own thing.. but was then threatned that if he didn't do it someone else will, so he found a concept he liked: Focusing on teenage emerging mutants something lightly glanced at with Kitty Pryde in Uncanny but this book brough to the forefront.

In the process Clarmeont and Bob Mcleod created a bunch of my faviorite mutants: The outspoken but Compasionate and tactical Dani, her bestfriend/sorta girlfriend and heavily abused prior to her coming to the team Rahne, naive country boy Sam, smooth talking only in his head and hot headed in everywhere including his body and my adopted son Roberto. Theree was also Karma, a later revealed to be queer immigrant (While not done by Chris Claremont here he certainly is responsible for it later int he 2000s', so respect) trying to care for two siblings the book quickly writes out.

The book would add four more to the mix: Amilla who thanks to a messy backstory and not a lot of use is eh, and three of my faviorites: Illyana, Kitty Pryde's best friend and a sorceress who was kidnapped and tortured by a demon man, Doug Ramsey, kitty's other friend and a computer genius who can read any language and in this era was a non combatant and Warlock, doug's best self friend, a goofy gloriously weird looking alien on the run from his abusive dad.

If your thinking this team has a lot of angst you'd be correct: Rahne is introduced running from an angry mob, Dani having to go with a white man she resents after her grandfather is shot, Roberto's girlfriend being killed by bigots and Sam barely able to keep his family fed having to mine in his pa's place after his dad died. The X-Men as a rule carry baggage but these poor kids had a whole planeload, not helped by being hated and feared.

And yet they perservere: they find love, find strength in each other. They sometimes clash, poor Illyana gets accused of being evil due to her demonic powers far too often, Sam has a one sided crush on Amara, and Doug grapples with being the only one on the team whose powers don't make him fight good.

The book also has a fantastic horror tone at times , something uesd early on as the Professor Xavier who brought these kids together to train them, and to not fight which being mutants is still something they run into constantly. While the issues after tried to go for a more conventional superhero book, Bill Skinewietz arrival, gloriously scratchy pencils and endlessly awesome covers helped cement it: these were kids dealing with terrible horrors: aliens who'd kill their own children, the DID ridden head of Charles Xaviers son, demons internal and without, and a demonic bear following Dani Moonstar I still don't fully understand, but still slaps.

New Mutants is one of the best x-books of the 80s, with X-Factor close behind it (It didn't make the cut but I still love Louise Simonson's Run), and one other just ahead. It's a book full of creative swings, ideas that would last the franchise a while and some of the best mutants ever made.

9. Iceman Written by Sina Grace DB Alesandro Vitti, Edgar Salazar, Robert Gil, and Nathan Stockman Iceman V3 1-11, Iceman V4 1-5, X-Men Winters End 17 Issues

This is the shortest out of these runs and that's for a very simple reason: Marvel's Editorial was very shitty to writer Sina Grace. They lambastated him for going on podcasts in a way that was subtly hompohobic, brought him back for another run.. and then cancled it 5 issues in. Grace has since done work for DC and marvel needs to both apologize and either bring him back or at least collect his run.

Iceman comes from RessuXion, Marvel's kinda sorta push to bring the x-men back after trying to kill them with the previous era. That's not hyperbole, there was a giant murder cloud, most of ya'll likely know, and Ike Pearlmutter was thankfully gone so the X-Men got something resembling a push and the fantastic four were reunited. That last part isn't relevant.

Ressurxion was only a half measure: the x-men really didn't interact with the rest of the lines still, one of the two flagship titles X-Men Gold, was a mediocre rehash of a bunch of previous stories wasting the great idea of having Kitty Pryde lead, and X-Men Blue, while awesome and only barely not making this list at various points, felt very weel spinny as Cullen Bunn wasn't alowed to change much as Hickman's run was on the horizon but not set ins tone. Which is stupid and something I doubt HIkcman actually approved or asked for.

Still Ressuction had a hidden gem alongside Blue: Iceman. So long story short that's going to sound weird even to fans who were there: The Original Five X Men were brough to the future by Beast in a stupid move that left them stranded and traumtized. Jean being about as tactful as a hurricane during Bendis run , OUted bobby claimed "he's not bi he's full on gay" and kinda shoved him out of the closet. While this was well meaning as Bobby still was in the closet in present day, it was done hamm handledly with a slice of accidental bi erasure.

Our Bobby coming out though was thankfully handled better with him admitting he didn't admit he was gay and while Bendis handeld the first part of the coming out with a sledge hammer, several previous x writers had left the seeds that the og class clown was indeed gay and it' sa move I support: the grounding was there and even with him dating women he never seemed that invested for the most part.

So the next era was too busy with the murder cloud to do anything of note with him being out, but thankfully they gave bobby to Sina Grace. Iceman is a fantastic solo and a fantastic queer superhero book, with Bobby figuring out what Coming Out means in his late 20's, and being both out and proud.. but still having struggles. He dosen't know how to put his profile together, has an akward mission with his last het romance kitty, a romance that in hindsight perfectly comes off like someone trying badly to pass as straight, and flirts with wolverine's disaster bisexual son who serves as the main antagonist. It's a book that explores just how fun bobby can be and sold me on a character I didn't care about before.

It also goes into his awful parents. His dad was a massive asshole in the 90's, tried to change but snapped back and while the snap back is a bit o fa continuity gafe, it's one that works as Bobby has to come out to two parents who already barely accept he's a mutant, and now have to accept he's gay. And then try to groom his past self to be the perfect son they always wanted.

It's a great run that not only lets Bobby show off his powers but his heart, humor and what makes him a great character. Check it out of you haven't and hopefully we'll get a one volume edition one of these days. Also just so I dont' have to say that a thousand time that goes for EVERY run present.

8. Wolverine and the X-Men Written by Jason Aaron Art by Chris Bachalo, Nick Bradshaw, Jorge Molina, Ramon Perez, Pepe Larazz and Ed McGuiness 42 Issues + Annual + AU Issue + Amazing X-Men 1-5 49 Issues

Wolverine and the X-Men is the big breakout of one Jason Aaron, a writer I have mixed feelings about. He has written comics I like, this one, doctor strange and so far his TMNT run, but has a weakness for putting over the top spectacle over character or cohesive plot, his Thor run degrading with time and his Avengers run having great ideas for plots but no real meat to said plots.

Wolverine and the X-Men does run into that a little, mostly with the x-men themselves as only WOlverine really gets an arc: most of the team gets a spotlight issue, but still spend the bulk of their time in fight scenes. Kitty Pryde is the only one besides logan to net decent focus and that gets thrown out as Brian Micheal Bendis called dibs as soon as he joined post avx. This was the first book I read with rachel summers but outside of her spotlight she's mostly there to be the token telepath. We never really get a sense of what she WANTS out of the school, how she feels about what Scott's up to anything personal. Cannonball, Sam from New Mutants, gets it worse as he's really just there for his sisters subplot and nothing else. I won't evfen get into the horny bird lady sexually harassing iceman. Ther'es also a bad tendency to treat Cyclops as some form of despot and not that guy what over at the other place.

That said the series manages to dodge this being a complete issue with the kids: Wolverine and the X-Men is at it's core a teen x-men book and the reason these teens are back in school at all also provides nice motivation for Logan to be running a school, something the book frequently lampshades is kinda nuts. With mutantkind dwindling at the time, Cyclops kept militarizing the children and Logan, tired of it and wanting them to live rather than surivvie, took half the x-men and any willing students.

The result is a diverse and intresting student body focusing mainly on Idie, a young religoius african teen who sees her powers as a curse and herself as a monster, Broo, my faviorite x-child period and an adorable nerd who happens to be a brood, a group of aliens that try to eat the x-men regularly with the mutation to not be a bloodthirsty monster, Gensis, a cloned apocalypse who was given superman's upbringing in stasis. And of course theirs Quinten Quire whose been overused sense this but hadn't really got to do anything. He's a punk who after a breakdown at finding out he was adopted decided to throw a riot at the school. He'd rather be on Cyclops Island but gets dragged to Jean Grey's School for Hire Leanring, renamed from "I did your wife school of hire learning". It' shis evolution tha'ts intresting: going from a mouthy twerp with way too much power and ego to.. well still a mouthy twerp but one with an actual heart and friends. We also have Kid Gladiator, son of the shiar empreoro gladiator and boisterious hilaroius jock. We also get great additions like eyeboy, sprite and shark girl, albeit none getting a ton of focus here.

While the main cast is great, what throws this series over the top its it's gonzo creativity. More than any writer since morrrison and until hickman, Aaron embraced the batshit insanity of the x-men and grasps at it with a gonzo whimsy few can match. Jason Aaron has had his issues with reining it in but with x-men it's just the right ballance.

The first arc alone, one of my faviorites despite not being a fan of chris bachelos art, Wolverine opens school, and find sit under siege from a revamped hellfire club, now a bunch of tweens lead by Kade Kilgore. Given hellfire was reduced to "sebastian shaw on occasion maybe" by this point, it was a needed revamp and I get it's not everyones taste but for me it works. Especially when one of Kade's minons is a frankenstien (the doctor not the monster man), who grenade launches frankenstiens at our heros and mutates two members of the school board into a wendigo and a sauron. Oh and the schools grounds have become a baby krakoa, the hisland that wallks like a schoolyard, which wins the day and soon becomes my faviorite part of the book. I loved krakoa since I was a teen so seeing him get revamped as this adorable adiditon was great and I still wonder what happened to them and why the krakoa era never adressed them.

Our heroes fight weaponized brood pregancies, go to space casinos to raise funds, deal with angel having come back as an actual angel and possed by.. something, too many tie ins, a murder circus lead by frankenstien, a field trip to the savage land and a final showdown with the hellfire club. It was a wonderfully creative, batshit insane story with tons of great ideas that have been barely touched, like School-Krakoa, Toad as a good guy or Logan's brother dog coming back as a time traveling badass. There are better books than Wolverine and the X-MEn but few have this much fun.

PS: Almost buried the leap, this book brought doop from x-statix back and i'm eternally greatful and his spotlight issue, drawn by co-creator mike allred, is easily the best of the run. I mean it has this alone

So speaking of doop

7. X-Statix Written by Peter Milligan Drawn by Mike Allred X-Force 116-129, X-Statix 1-26, Dead Girl 1-5, Wolverine/Doop 1 and 2 46 issues

X-Statix came about as part of marvel's big relaunch of the X-Men with New X-Men, canceling several titles, relaunching a few and changing up the few left. In this case X-Force, previously about the new mutants as they grew up and got guns then got their personalities back once Rob Liefield left, they instead completely upended it. The old cast was gone, the old premise was gone, and a whole new idea and cast of mutants were introduced.

The series had a genius premise: A shady reality show producer, Spike Freeman, starts up a mutant reality show at the height of the reality show boom starring a bunch of mutants who are desperate to be loved and adored by becoming rich and famous, often being conceded assholes like any reality tv star.

The catch was revealed in the first issue as the bulk of the team is gunned down: Only angry black man with internalized issues about his race Anarchist and the egotistical , pill popping shocking compitent u go girl are left as the team is rebuilt, now lead by the orphan, a man with super sensitivty and a ton of lampshaded angst, Vivisector, an erudite wolfman who later turns out to be gay, Phat, one of the many white kids approraiting black culture at the time, and Dead Girl. THere's many more but this is the core of the cast for most of the book, which was later relaunched as X-Statix. Many a member dies, no one is safe, and it's cyncial as fuck, making fun of celebrity, events, and mutant cliches. Some of the shine has rubbed off this one as a lot of these jokes have been made a lot, but it's still fun thanks to it's compelling cast who get fleshed out amazingly, meditations on fame, and Doop, the little ball of tumors that follows them around. It's it's own neat little pocket of the marvel unvierse: it's revivial is pretty detached from Krakoa and something I need to check out and it's cast, due to mbeing dead a alot, havne't really crossed over. But the book itself stands as a nice unique pocket

And saving the best for last no discussion would be complete without Mike Allred, an artist with a unique style remincent of jack kirbys btu still his own that's this nice art deco chunky goodness and works perfectly here, both giving the mutants all really fantastic designs and nicely giving everything a splash of color to contrast the dark tone. This is one I picked up in high school in backissues and hasn't left me since.

6. Uncanny X-Men Writer: Kireon Gillen Artists: Carlos Pachcheo, Terry Dodson, Greg Land and Daniel Acuna Uncanny X-Men V1 #534.1-544, X-Men Regenisis, Uncanny X-Men Volume 2 #1-20, AVX Consequences 1-5, 36 Issues

So when I first got back into comics reguarly I figured from both is more dangerous new design where he can't see too good

And the way both bendis own much worse companion book and various others like Uncanny Avnegers or Wolverine and the X-Men talked about him and AVX that Scott Summers had become the new magneto and a dangerous edgelord man.

Instead the truth was more nuanced as i'd learn: Some writers made Scott a bit of an ass during his time leading utopia, the slap of concrete what contained all the muants left. But despite some questionable actions down more to bad writing, he wasn't evil. He asn't purely good either as the schism I mentiond proved, driven to do whatever it took to survive. He was shady but never quite took the heel turn, instead being an intrestingly pragmatic character. Also while he did kill charles xavier it was while hopped up on the phoenix force, something he points out reguarly making everyone else come off as assholes for giving Jean a pass but not scott.

And the man who wrote this best was Kireon Gilleon, scottish writer and maestro who came along after a decent but forgetable run from Matt Fraction and gave the franchise the injection it needed.

His run started with the x-men on utopia nad not only reballanced Scott after said bad writing, but showed off the good and bad of Scott: he's repessed and obessive, but also a stategic mastermind determined to save his people. The early part of his run does what the run before it by Matt Fraction did: uses the whole of mutantkind for huge spectacle as well as return Kitty Pryde to normal, she was a ghost for a while, so she can go off with the other book. The highlight is it's climax: juggernaught, jacked up on the power of a god and a hammer like thor, is more unstoppable than normal and Scott throws EVERY plan he has at the guy and every mutant he has at the guy which is ALL OF THEM who aren't children. And even a few children because the situations that bad.

The real meat is the sadly short livedb ut awesome second volume of uncannY: After the schism, Scott splits up, getting Emma because she loves the guy, Namor because he wants to do Emma and i'm not exagerating he's blatant about it, Storm because Scott dosen't trust himself, Hope the mutants own personal jesus, Danger, the former danger room having gained snetience and tried to kill charles for enslaving her

Dr Nemisis, an immortal nazi hunter, Colossus, current host of the juggernaught powers, his sister Magik, Psylocke, and of course Magneto, who'd recently joined up and is master of magnet.

This team of scary motherfuckers is the exctinction team and that name is unsettling on purpose but also dosen't mean kill everyone.. it just means they could and Scott is both helping mutantkinds rep AND scarring the shit out of it's eneies my taking on extinction events: if something can wipe out huamnity it's their job and it's a fucking briliant setup. Take the strongest x-men left on scott's side, which is really most of THE strongest in general and put them against the worst.

This also sets up the big bad of the series and Kireon's best achivment: Sinister. Gilleon revamped him from a fairly sterotypical and deranced mad science man to a campy as hell horrible as hell man who sets out to remake the world literally in his image, thinks turn of the century britan was just fine, hates women and isn't lacking for quips or meance with our heroes stuck in a city of him that can develop safe guards every time they kill one. And he does so by stealing a celestial's head, which means the first mission alone is stop a space god AND a madman.

There's other good romps but sinister is the core and the series weathers the avx tie ins decently, weaving them into what's writtne. IT's ending, consequences, isn't nearly as good, with scott feeling out of character and was meant to set up further adventures that instead got handed off to bendis, but Gielleon's runs a great mediation on absolute power , scare tactics and the meaning of fear regardless and is still a joy to read every time.

5. X-Men Red/S.W.O.R.D. By Al Ewing Art by: Valerio Schiti, Jacopo Camagni, Stefano Caselli , Jacopo Camagni , Yildray Cinar and Luciano Vecchio S.W.O.R.D. V2 #1-11 , Cable Reloaded, X-Men Red V2 1-18 and The Resurrection of Magneto 1-4 34 Issues

Al Ewing is one of my faviorite writers in comics. easily. Starting with Mighty Avengers, i've adored his runs on Immortal Hulk, his ant-man/wasp trilogy, his character defining run for Roberto decosta on new avengers and usa avengers and what i've read of immortal thor among others. Al Ewing is Marvel's best writer these days and in a pool that includes Jonathan Hickman and now once again Gail Simone, tha'ts the highest praise.

So naturally given Ewing had a clear love of x-men from new avengers alone and a deep love of continuity I was chomping at the bit for him to join the krakoan age, a bit disapointed he wasn't in the first round of books but knowing he had ot show up he just had to.

Thankfully my prayers were answered as not only did Ewing arrive he arrived in style, bringing back SWORD, once shield's extraterestial arm now krakoas. Ewing at the time was reworking marvel's space with his Guardians run and wrote SWORD in concert with it, as big evfents happened and SWORD stood ready, while bringing earth, or sol as it's called onto the galactic stage, starting the run with stealing a mystery metal from the heart of creation and then using it to fund the galactic economy. SWORD was a solid captivating book, amping up the idea of mutant circutis (a bunch of mutants working in concert), galactic marvel and earth's place in it.

What's brilliant in hindsight though as while a great book on it's own, making characters I thought were highly underused like Wiz Kid or Frenzy rise to full potetial and making previously also ran mutant Peeper into a star overnight. I mean look at him

I also love Magneto is so .. happy to see him.

While SWORD is great what followed is truly incredibly, some of ewings best work and all the groundwork was laid in sword, from Magneto regretting his past in the hellfire gala tie in to said gala leading to one of the best events in x-history: Arakko. A bunch of mutatns who'd become a warrior civilization needed a home so thier island was put on mars giving them a planet and possible peace... and storm was put there as regent.

This leads to an even better sequel as ewing keeps SWORD head abigail brand on as big bad, wanting to destroy mutant civilzation and make earth a real power in the universe, and thus Arakko is a great chess piece as Storm plays against Abby for it's future for the first two arcs. Storm is a fantastic character and ewing gets her down pat, her grace, her badassery but also her humanity, kindness and mohawk. Helping her are my two faviorite mutants, no really 1 and 2 respectively, Magneto and Sunspot. Magneto was already eating well in the krakoan age, but ewing gives the old man humanity, with Magneto realizing his lost daughter Anya wasn't a mutant.. and thus can't be brought back and wondering what all this was for, being cojolled into things as he realizes as much as he wanted to retire he can't. Roberto meanwhile had a rough start in Krakoa as Jonathan Hickman took out all his brains for some reason despite being the one who started to emphasize that he's more than just a pretty face.

Ewing in his avengers runs made roberto into a master stratageist and chessmaster bar none who still loved parties, champaign robots and the mission impossible theme, so I was utterlyt hrilled to see berto on the cover. Now a consort to Shiar regent Deathbird and having a stake in the game, Roberto comes to arakko to play and quickly gets involved in things, using his skills to help his new team. Ewing is the man who truly made the best roberto decosta and it's so gratifying to see he got a second lap.

Ewing also builds up arakko well: it's culture, i'ts changes, and the challenges storm and magneto face in changing it, concluding in a massive war that ends the series as arakko's past rule comes knocking. Add in a great epilogue exploring magento and storm and you have one of the finest comic runs in recent memory.

4. New X-Men Written by Grant Morrison Art by Frank Quitely, Evan Van Sciver, Igor Kordey, Phil Jiminez, Chris Bachalo, and Marc Silvestri 114-154 Plus Annual 41 Issues

It was the early 2000's and the x-men had hit a fucking a wall. The 90s while fondly remembered for the jim lee outfits, awesome cartoon and other delights, were a nightmare time for the x-men. Just trying to read that era of uncanny and adjectivless to fill the gaps in my knowledge was a waking nightmare with only a few bright spots. I got as far as just after operation zero tolerance and bailed and despite bringnig back heavyweights like Alan Davis or Chris Claremont, restrictive ediotrial mandates, overdone crossovers and other nonsense had left the x-men barley standing.

Desperate Marvel had a bunch of creators pitch various ideas for a bold new take on the x-men.. and the winner was the one, the only Grant Morrison. Grant had already made big splashes at DC with their runs on Doom Patrol, Animal Man and more, had a penchant for writing gloriously weird, sometimes incomprehnsible stories with a beating human heart. So being both a hot writer from the other company and having a bigger bolder vision, and needing badly for the comcis to recover to cash in on the recent film and upcoming X-Men Evolution, they agreed.

The result is the run that made me the x-holic I am today: while I read x-men stories i loved before this, with Chris Claremont and Paul Smith's run being the first this is the one that got me as hooked as I am: a stylish run with what morrison called a kinetic strut, aided by Frank Quitely's weird and awesomely unique art and a variety of other artists of varying quality brought out a vision of a bold new era.

The run came out hot: it stripped it's cast down to a core of iconic x-men, added in Emma Frost finally fully reforming but still 100% that bitch, and threw in curveballs with kind monk with a hell of a look xorn and xavier himself getting his legs back. There were set backs as Colossus was killed before Morrison could use him and Claremont called dibs on rogue and storm for X-Treme X-Men, but they pivoted well.

However a flashy new look wasn't what made the book, it was it's frantic pace and bold new vision: Morrison recontexulizted the x-men as an actaul minority, giving them a culture, a voice and making many weirder and wilder than ever before, showing that not every mutant got to pass. He also threw the x-men out of the shadows: formerly, a group of outlaw mutants hated and feared, they weere still that but thanks to Professor Xavier's twin who tried to choke him in the womb, he's outed to the public and rolls with her , using his body as a suit at the time, doing so to change the x-mens mission, now doing more search and rescue with slick leather jackets. They aren't traditional superheroes anymore, but just a trained team of the best trying to help their own. The X-Men now hav ea worldwide reach with x-corp with missions going from paris to shang hai.

Morrison took plenty of other hammers to the status quo: Xavier and Lilandra broke up, he could walk, Genosha got destroyed in a devistating act, scott and jean had marriage crissi as Emma gaslit him into an affair and Beast got his awesome lion look. The run also isn't afraid to get weird with xavier's twin he seemingly killed in th womb Cassandra Nova, a corrupt general whose skin becomes golems, and a special class made of mutants all with weird borderline useless powers, most of whom would become fan faviorites.

Years ago this would've been my easy number one but age for both me and the comic have revealed cracks; Some bits haven't aged well like Dust, whow hil ea good character now was done with no real research or depth, the u men dangling way too close to a parody of trans people, being just fringe enough to avoid it but still far closer than they should be.

The biggest knock though is the final two arcs: everything up to that is minty fresh and full of cool ideas warts and all. The last two arcs have Morrison try to rerail magneto back into a hateful monster instead of the complicated monster he'd become, something already tried in the 90's but even worse here, with Magneto reduced to the boring silver age villian that got old fast. I'm not against holding his feet to the fire for his worse actions, but this one was too far and swiftly retconned.. in a very dumbass way but still, you uusally only get a patch on a bad story that fast. Here Comes TOmmorow likewise is a trippy and mediocre finale to the run. Not as bad as what just came before, but it's grant morrison at their most self indulgent... that i've read.

Still despite the runs issues.. it's a good ride and worth it for classics like E is For Extinction and Riot at Xaviers alone.

3. X-Men By Jonathan Hickman Art by Pepe Laraz, R.B. Silva, Lenil Francis Yu, Mahmud Asrar and Valerio Schiti House of X 1-6, Powers of X 1-6, X-Men 2019 1-21, 5 Giant Size X-Men One Shots, and Inferno 1-4 42 Issues

Anyone whose read this blog a long time knew this was coming. I mention X-Men as much as possible and the krakoan era, being so weird and wonderful, was something I brought up a lot. Especially the x-men colonizing mars. And I probably will again. The Krakoan age is one of the best eras of x-men and while it ended in fire and a whimper, it started with a bang.

The x-men were in a bad place in 2019. Ressurxion as I mentioned wasn't horrible but wasn't really a reinvention, partly because they woudln't let anyone make any real changes which... again this run could've easily dealt with fine. Before that Marvel , and once again entirely serious tried to kill the x-men, showving them to the side and trying intitally to make the inhumans symapthetic when they needed to get rid of their murder cloud. And the inhumans books WERE great, but no one could get the taste of ike pearlmutter trying to make them the new x-men out of their mouths.

And like the last time the x-men were in a bad spot, marvel sought a hot creator, gave them creative control and let them do a hard stylish reset. Last time it was grant morrison, , this time it was Jonathan Hickman.

Hickman is one of my faviorite marvel writers. While he started slow yet awesome with a small run on secret warriors, a book that remade shield and did black ops glory, he rose to his biggest success with Fantastic Four, taking one of marvel's greatest teams and plunging them out of their rut with a big sweeping sci fi plot, clever ideas like 4 great cities about to go to war, a council of far less moral reed richardses, and smaller scale but no less game changing ideas like havnig the fantastic four open up a think tank for children, the future foundation, finally once and for all resolving ben grimm's on and off state of being cured, and giving the richards kids fleshed out personalities.

I could gush about this run all day but i'll save that for next year.

The point is HIckman had a talent for big wordy sweeping epics and was quickly tapped to follow up Brian Micheal Bendis on avengers, which had also gotten old for some, expanding the team's scope, having a meta plot about the multiverse dying and combining a core of familiar faces (including hulk's first longterm run as an avenger), with people who had yet to wield the circle a like Cannonball, Sunspot and SHang Chi, giving all three a needed boost.

So him doing X-Men was a natural next step that seemingly just.. didn't happen. Ike Pearlmutter's attempt to dempahsises it probably is why and Hickman having completed his sweeping epic across several titles, was ready to go to dc. THen Marvel, desperate to revitalize the circle x.. offered it to hickman. And a thing I didn' tknow is while he got what made the ff and avengers work perfectly.. hickman wasn't a fan of either going in. He did his through homework and you honestly can't tell he dosen't, but X-Men on the otherhand was his teenage obession. Like me, it consumed him and he jumped at the chance to do it his way.

He also saw a franchise that post avx had stagnated, not really inovating and growing and gave it a shot in the arm. Just like New X-men before it, Hickman decided to ditch where the franchise had been stuck, in schools with never aging classes and wars with each other and try something entirley new, something that could not be walked back easily and that even going back to basics, the current run is still feeling the repurcussions of. With 6 golden words:

Hickman in his epic pair of mini series that are really one big 12 issue series, House of X and Powers of X flipped up the wohle gameboard and erased problems that had been plauging the x-men: The constant climate of fear? The X-Men decided to fuck off to their own island nation, Krakoa, the island that walks like a man and is now cool with them. Humanity hating and fearting them? still a problem but they can sue for peace with some mmmm drugs and deal with those who don't take the mmmmm drugs. And they could just give these mmmm drugs that cure brain diseases free but after the rampant genocides, not hyperbole they have a statistic

Their saying enough. And the various mutants killed off for shock value? Well... death no longer matters. In a game changing final reveal, mutants can now be revivied from teh dead thanks to 5 working in concert. Add in a meta riff with Moria Mactaggerts 10 lives and you have a brilliant start

And HIckman did'nt stop there, as his next book , X-Men and i'ts companion piece Giant Sized X-Men was less one long narrative and more a series of ideas for the universe he was creating, a series of brilliant one shots following Scott Summers in a good place in his life: His wife is back from the dead, their embracing polyamory so he can still see emma and Jean can see wolverine who lives with them, both their kids are alive and well. It's a dream. And with every issue hickman provided a great adventure from magneto standing against a tie in, to discovering Krakoa's lost sibling setting up the massive x of sowrds crossover, to a family roadtrip into space to dela with the brood, to the savage land ot fight the golden girls, to a hidden vault to face the future, there was never an end to his creatviity or clever ideas.

Sadly there was an end to his run with Inferno which left on a high tying up some threads and leaving the rest open for those to take up the sword after he left. Hickman's run is gorgeously drawn by a bevy of the best in the buisness, well throught out and stylish and I will likely read it forever. While Krakoa sadly didn't last this run stands forever as what it is : MUTANT.

2. X-Factor By Peter David Art by Peter David and Pablo Raimondi, Ryan Sook, Dennis Calero, Renato Arlem, Roy Allen Martinez, Khoi Pham, Scott Eaten, Valentine De Landro, Larry Stroman, Marco Santucci, Bing Cansino, Emanuela Lupacchino, Leonard Kirk, Neil Edwards, and Paul Davidson Madrox 1-5, V3 1-50, 200-262 , X-Factor The Quick and the Dead, X-Factor: Layla Miller and Nation X: X-Factor 119 Issues

Peter David might be my faviorite x-writer and is the other major reason I fell as hard for x-men as I did. Starting off at marvel with his character defining run on Incredible Hulk, he did a short stint on the x-side of things with X-Factor, following up the original run by focusing on a bunch of lesser focused mutants who weren't afraid to pepper things with jokes, weren't immune to tragedy, and threading a nice line between real danger and humor. It sadly didn't last long, but what we got was great.

So come the 2000's, he returned to marvel after a long stint at dc and another sensational run with young justice, Peter David asked "Are you ready for the sequel?" So came X-Factor, also known as X-Factor Noir to defretate it from the previous two runs, a decade long run rivaling Chris Claremonts in character, franchise impact and sheer girth. David's come the closest to Claremont's flair for shakeups, cast rotation and soap opera.

X-Factor primarily stars Jamie Madrox, an also ran mutant who could multiply who was the comic relief in David's previous run then kinda thrown aside like garbage and used in backgrounds. Clearly liking Jamie and seeing potential in him, David brought his boy back as a private eye working cases in mutant town. What was once the mutant burogh of new york is now filled with those who lost their powers on m-day, something our heroes also investigate as Wanda's mental breakdown wasn't exactly common knowledge.

Helping Jamie in his noir detective fantasy are Strong Guy, his best friend and the best character of the previous run, Wolfsbane, who was also on that team but is now older and angister, even more so after she leaves the team breifly to join x-force, Siryn, jamie's dupes ex and daughter of the banshee and M, monet st croix whose better than you and knows it. Monet is STILl a major fan faviorite and player to this day thanks to this run and everyone got a bump. This included later additons longshot and shatterstar, the latter of whom became a pansexual icon.

The run is massive and something I hope to cover someday in SOME form but loops our heroes as they do buisness in mutanttown, move to the east for goverment work, come back to nyc, and deal with everything from a manical man from the future to the invisible woman going missing. It's a fun run full of deep character development, well executed twists and while I used to feel it had a huge downturn, it seems far more coherent now.. though i'd still have to reread to see for sure. But what's ther eis one of the best runs in x-men , one of my faviorites.. and only one tops it you can transparently see coming

Uncanny X-Men By Chris Claremont Art by Dave Cockrum, John Byrne, Paul Smith, Frank Miller, John Romita Jr, Barry Windsor-Smith, Marc Silvestri, Rick Leonardi, John Bogdanove, Al Milgrom, and Jim Lee Uncanny X-Men 94-279, X-Men Annual #3-12, 14, Marvel Graphic Novel #1, Wolverine #1-4, Kitty Pryde and Wolverine #1-6,X-Men/ Alpha Flight #1 and 2, X-Men Vs Fantastic Four #1-4, X-Men #1-3 214 Issues

Hail to the King Baby. Having recently finally read EVERY issue of this run, I can say Chris Claremont defines the x-men. Even as things change, the basis was set by him. While Lee and Kirby created the x-men, Chris Clarmont made them truly exceptional.

Most of you don't need an intro but just in case: Chris Claremont was an up and coming writer at marvel who exploded when he took over x-men from Len Wein. Wein had relaunched the x-men with giant sized, creating a brand team with artist Dave Cockrum: Xaviers Original students were quickly written on in Wein's planneed next issue leaving only Cyclops, now moodier, as the vetral to command a group that was not 5 teenagers with attitude, later 7, but adults from radically diffrent backgrounds: A near feral and terse secret agent who once fought the hulk, a russian farm boy who can turn to steel, a woman from cairo who lived as a goddess in kenya, a former foe turned experinced ally, and a circus performer with the face of demon but the kindest soul of all.

Claremont would take this great setup and run with it once given full control. He reinforced the mutant metaphor which was present on and off in Lee's run, but now came blaring out, with the series first overarching villian being a mad scientest who speaks of mutants like a feral monster and has an army of shiny new sentinels, as opposed to the misguided previous users of them. The X-Men's rep takes a hit as the series goes and their forced to wipe goverment records as it plots against them. As the run goes on the racisim grows, as the goverment turns against them and the x-men are left as outcasts even among other heroes, going to war with both the ff and the avengers for diffrent reasons. In his most powerful use of this the x-men have to face Revered Striker, a fire and brimstone preacher with a secret paramilitary death squad.

But more than that he gave the franchise humanity: The X-Men here are fully fleshed out people: Scott strains under the role he's been given and trained since childhood and his rough past, Logan grows from a feral asshole who nearly kills nightcrawler for laughing at him, to Kurt's best friend and a wise if still gruff man who loves his found family. Ororo has the biggest evolution: from a shy woman discovering the world, to a goddess, to someone grappling with the darkness in her and the things she must do to keep her found family safe. Colossus grapples with the violence and confusion of his new world and of finding love even if it hurts someone he cares about. Things only get richer as new characters are rotated in: Jean is thought dead after joinnig breifly and leaves an impact and banshee goes to join his true love on a scottish island. This leaves the board open for Kitty Pryde, a 13 year old written shockingly well who grows up year by year and has to deal wtih the reality of being an x-man and of having a crush on a 19 year old and Rogue, who goes from a foe of the x-men they slam the door on badly haunted by her fractured psyche to.. well the last part dosen't go away but she's one of the most trusted x-men with time .

Claremont wasn't afraid to shake this up either: over the course of his run the x-men are thought dead by xavier and left to their own devices, loose jean, cyclops leaves, the mansion is breifly destroyed and their forced to live on magneto's spooky island, the new mutants arrive, and you never get a full sense of peace. When one status quo has set in a while, it flips. Just when the x-men were getting used to rachel summers, jean's troubled daughter from the days of future past, rachel flees and half the team is horribly mauled and they have to almost start over. The x-men sacrifie themselves and use their newfound supposed death to strike from the shaodow. and the final stretch of the run has the x-men scattered to the winds and coming back together.

Change is the constant as is a parade of intresting foes: Magneto is reconfigured from cackling super villian early on, to the troubled complicated man he becomes later, trying hard to be better while the world says no. The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants is reformed into a more modern for the time terroist group with the cunning mystique.. who tehn has the team work with the goverment when she finds that safer. Mastermind is taken from Magneto's lackey to a truly frightining figure whose only beaten because the person he was manipulating with. Then Claremont adds his own: The Hellfire Club, rich mutant assholes hiding in plain sight woh easily outflank our heroes, Nimrod, a robot from the future sent to kill mutants but who sees himself as a hero, the Brood, terrifying xenomorph knockoffs, and the Shadow King: Xavier's oldest and deadlist foe.

Ther'es a lot here: Our heroes go to space, grapple with demons literal nad metaphorical, spend time in the outback with a wiseman who can teleport, go to another dimension or two, there is FAR too much in this decade to recap but it is special

The run isn't without flaws and the age spots may be an issue: there's the entirely stupid and gross kitty pryde and colossus romance which is thankfully kept to mostly a crush but wolverine treats like Colossus wronged her by.. not wanting ot date a 13 year old and finding someone else. The bunche sof brainwashing. Kitty Pryde using the n-word twice. Coloring native american characters bright red. Ther'es a lot of stuff left over from the 80s in here that we'd rather throw back. Now Claremont's bdsm fetish on the other hand.. eh fair enough.

But if you can get past it, you'll find an epic like no other, one continuious story that nicely weaves with it's sister book new mutants. A story you can hop in at any point and enjoy (except maybe those last two years. Yeesh) yet as this glorious whole i've discovered now owning most of it and reading it often, it's a wonderful saga with tons of planning, and it'll likely never be topped in scope, though many of these fine runs equal it in quality. It's the basis for some of the best comic si've ever read, and I'm pleased to have read it all. Thanks for reading and please.. read some of these.

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the-s1lly-corner · 2 years ago

Text

Random Eyeless Jack tongue hcs

Cw// kinda borders into suggestive territory if you squint, but nothing intentional? Writing this before actually putting down the hcs, but

Yeah

Nothing too crazy, obviously

Also cw// for body horror and shit since I also wanna dive into his whole.. how he got messed up

Getting the body horror stuff out of the way, I hope yall already know ab my whole curse hc/interpretation on jack

If you dont/if you're new; hi! Welcome to my blog! I hc that jack used to be a normal dude but got dragged into a cult that made him the way he is now!! Real important and relevant to my take on him/I haven't seen many other people use that spin on fan story for this sort of thing

Anyways

As per the whole "his body is shifting into something horrific," thing, his tongue literally. Splits into several tendrils

Havent decided on an exact number, but hes got.. a few alright!

Thick, but get thinner to the tips; and they have the same goop that leaks from Jack's eyes! Sensitive sense of taste; and he can kinda detect scents with them, like snakes do!!

His mouth is kinda crowded, though, so sometimes he'll talk with a bit of a lisp (?), or accidentally bite himself

Now onto the real horror; the process of his tongue splitting was painful, and long. He felt all of it, and given that he's literally turning into a man eating monster, he was unable to seek medical help; so he had to suffer alone and without aid

Obviously, if your tongue is splitting itself open, there's gonna be a mess plus lots and lots of pain

Poor dude

Moving on

They writhe

A lot

Especially when theres... food.. nearby; they tend to flick out (snake like!!!) If hes hungry (tends to lose himself for a while)

In the most sfw way I can say it because there is literally no way I can say it without being sus, they kinda??? Wrap around things??

Like okay I had an art idea, to draw jack with a blood-popsicle, since summer is coming; and with the previous hcs it'd make sense that his tongues would just naturally latch around it and grip said blood-pop

So that's my hc now

Also back to horror stuff i feel like that'd make his feeding frenzies all the more terrifying

I mean when he goes into one he completely loses all his humanity and thoughts and just jumps on someone

Imagine he latches onto someone and like

Idfk anchors them into the persons flesh so they cant just easily shove him off

That's terrifying

I love it sm

Downside; kissing jack is not fun since 1) it's a legitimate choking hazard, and 2) the goop makes his tongues taste gross

I feel like the goop is also, to a degree, corrosive

Or at least, an irritant

Like super powered saliva that can break down meat fast; also explains why I draw jack with huge dark circles n shit around his eyes

I bet yall (who follow my main) just thought I made him tired

Nope, it's his flesh being slowly burned away!! Granted hes more durable to it since the whole monster thing + it's his own material but

Still

Yeah!!!

Take what you will with these hcs

#creepypasta headcanon #creepypasta #crp #creepypasta x reader #creepypasta x you #eyeless jack x you #eyeless jack imagine #eyeless jack x reader #eyeless jack headcanon #eyeless jack

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dumbass-tumbler-cryptid · 4 months ago

Note

What if Spider reported to Norm that Fike and Quaritch were in contact and a meeting took place?

Part 1 and part 2

I don’t think Spider would rat on Fike just because he doesn’t want his kids to end up like him. If he told Norm he’d tell him that his dad approached him at school and tried to have a conversation with him. Norm would move him immediately. I can see this going two ways.

The first way: Quaritch has already started the process of regaining custody and decides that that’s still the best course of action. Spider telling on him is definitely a bump in the road but Quaritch’s lawyer spins it saying (honestly actually) that Quaritch had no idea his son was there and went over with the intent of having dinner with his friend and nothing more. Fike would claim that he had no idea Spider was Quaritch’s son due to Spider’s last name not matching his father’s. The counter argument would of course be that Socorro was Paz’s maiden name and Fike knew her before she was married so how did you not put two and two together. Fike would just shrug and claim that he just hadn’t. Maybe they’d even pay off the judge

But the other option more in line with cabin: Fike can tell that Spider wants to get away. The kid has asked to borrow a phone and because he couldn’t say why Fike didn’t let him figuring he wanted to call his social worker. So Fike hides the phones away but first he calls Quaritch to formulate a plan. Quaritch is upset to hear it but he can’t let this opportunity go. He wanted the cabin to be more along- the structure is built and he’s gotten the garden started but he still needs to get a lot of furniture built, get the basement stocked with everything they might need and then get anything else he can’t carry airlifted in by one of his teammates - but the timing is to good to pass up on. So Fike tells Spider that he wants to take him shopping. Spider doesn’t think a thing of it. It’s not uncommon for a new foster family to want to buy him a new toy or a few new pieces of clothing. Fike drives for twenty minutes which does seem strange but Fike said he’s taking him to the good mall in the richer county. But when they get to the mall it looks abandoned. Theres only one car in the whole parking lot. They park right next to it. Spider starts panicking when he sees his father in the driver seat. “What’s going on,” he asks as Fike and Quaritch get out of their cars. He doesn’t get a response.

Fike opens the door to the passenger seat looking at least a little sad over the situation, “come on kid.” But Spider doesn’t. Instead he scrambles to get out the driver side door.

His father grabs him around the middle, “easy tiger. It’s alright….”

“Help!” Spider screams despite seeing what a ghost town the area is. “Somebody help me!”

(I know in my last post i gave an age range of 10-12 for Spider in this au so now I’m just going to pick the middle) Quaritch has no trouble prying his 11 year old out of the car. Spider might be tall for his age but he’s still really little and scrawny. For Quaritch the kid is like nothing. He wrestles his son into the backseat of his car as he kicks and screams. Quaritch gives him a little something to keep him calm but not knock him out, thanks Fike for everything then speeds off. Fike goes to the mall closer to home and makes a show of looking for his “missing” child. Manks volunteered to be a mall cop for a day and is in the office where he “accidentally” destroys the security footage for the day. After hours Fike calls the police claiming that his foster son has run away. He planted “evidence” in Spider’s room that would corroborate that story. A kidnapping is barely considered.

Meanwhile Spider is on the road trip from hell. He’s all loopy, the scenery going by in a blur. His dad is talking to him but the words are gibberish. Maybe he’s talking too? Or drooling? He can’t really tell until the drugs start to wear off. “Where are we going,” he asks when he can finally speak without slurring his words. His limbs still feel heavy and he’s super tired.

“Home,” Quaritch says simply. “Now you listen up. I’m your father and i love you very much. All i want is what’s best for y’a. I believe you’ll see that being with me is better than being kicked around the foster system. You’re just used to that right now. I’ll show y’a how good life will be with your family….”

“I’ll scream. I’ll run away as soon as i can…”

His dad laughs, “oh I’m sure you’ll try. But i will tan your hide if you step out of line, understood.” Spider hisses at him. Quaritch shakes his head, “you’ll learn.”

Spider is sat in the middle of the backseat with some kind of bright red child lock on the buckle of his seatbelt. He can’t reach the windows to bang on the glass in the hopes that someone will see him. No doubt the doors are child locked too. “Let me out!” Spider shouts, “let me out, let me out, let me out!” His dad just turns up the music. Spider screams himself horse trying to break the man but it doesn’t work. When his throat starts to ack painfully he finally quiets.

Quaritch turns down the music then holds out a bottle of water to him, “thirsty?” Spider glares as he swipes the bottle from his hand. His dad chuckles as he watches him drink. After about twenty minutes of silence Quaritch asks, “can we talk?”Spider’s throat feels swollen so he’s pretty sure he can’t talk so he simply glares. “Come on kid, you can’t tell me this isn’t for the best. I’ve been checkin’ in on you for years so I know you haven’t always had good foster placements. They never cared for y’a. But I love y’a! You’re my boy and I’d do anything for y’a. I know you’ve been told I’m dangerous and that this all probably doesn’t change that. But hear me out. I went to prison for taking revenge on your mama’s killer. I beat him within an inch of his life. But I didn’t kill him! He woke up from his coma and now he’s a middle manager at his daddy’s company. He’s doin’ just fine but I lost everything! I lost my wife, my freedom and most important I lost you. And then I did everything the courts told me to do to get y’a back. But the courts were corrupt! They let your mama’s killer get off with community service. They kept you away from me! In what world do you keep a loving father away from his child! That’s why I couldn’t trust it again. But I had to get y’a back. All I want is what’s best for y’a. I’ll break every law in the book for that.”

The account gives Spider a lot to think about. He can see his father’s point of view. He’s happy his mom was avenged but it’s also terrifying thinking of his father nearly killing a man with his bare hands. The fact that his mom’s killer didn’t get life in prison boils his blood and definitely makes him believe the courts are corrupt. Maybe they were wrong to take him away from his dad. Maybe his dad is just trying to save him from a life in the system.

They pass state lines. He’s not really sure how far away Missouri is from D.C but he’s sure it’s far. “We’re coming up on a rest stop. Y’a need to use the bathroom?” Spider just nods too stunned by the distance they’ve traveled to respond.

They pull off at a gas station. Quaritch refuels the car leaving Spider locked inside. Once he’s done he slides into the backseat next to Spider. “What’cha thinking tiger. Y’a want to stay with papa?”

Spider bites his lip to stop it from trembling and shakes his head no, “you’re scary.”

Quaritch sadly pats his shoulder, “I don’t have to be. Now we’re going to go inside. If you’re good I won’t have to be scary. But if you’re bad and try to tell any of the nice people inside what’s going on, well then, I might have to show y’a what I did to your mama’s killer.” Spider turned white as a ghost. “So y’a gonna be good?” He weakly nods. His dad smiles and undoes the child lock on his seatbelt. When Spider steps out of the car Quaritch smiles and holds out his hand for him to take. Spider looks around at all the people, the mom with her kids refueling their van. The many different adults getting gas on their way home from work. Could his dad hurt all of them? Spider couldn’t let him hurt any of them. So he takes his dad’s hand.

First they use the restroom Spider in a stall, Quaritch the urinal so he can block any escape attempt. As soon as their hands are washed and dried Quaritch grabs Spider’s hand again. Spider hangs his head as he’s led around the connivence store. He’s gotten lucky with his last few foster placement who had respected it when he’d said he was growing his hair out. Now it was just long enough to hide his face and he was so thankful for it. He didn’t want anyone to see him and possibly give his father a reason to hurt them. “Do you want any snacks?” Spider stays quiet. His dad picks out a few bags of chips and some beef jerky. “How about some candy?” Quaritch gently tucks some of Spider’s hair behind his ear, taking away his hiding place. He picks out some sour skittles just to keep him happy. “And how about a hotdog? Or do y’a want a corn dog instead?”

“Corn dog,” Spider mumbled

“What was that?”

“A corn dog please.”

His father smiles, stroking his hair. “You got it kiddo.”

They get to the register where Quaritch pays for everything plus the gas in cash. The young cashier gives Spider a sympathetic smile. “Aw what’s the matter sweetie,” she asks.

Spider looks at her like a deer in the headlights. He can’t think of a lie and so instead he shyly hides behind his dad. Quaritch gives him a sad smile dropping his hand only to pull him into a side hug and rub his shoulder. “He’s having a bad day,” Quaritch says, “he lost his soccer game this morning and he’s still really upset.”

“Aw, it’s okay! You’ll get’em next time.” Spider refuses to look at her but she doesn’t give up. “What’s your name?”

Spider startles looking up to his dad for an answer. “Go on. Tell this nice young lady your name.”

That instantly makes him know exactly what answer his dad is wanting. “Miles,” he says reluctantly.

“Well Miles,” she reaches into a freezer off to the side of the counter pulling out an ice cream cone dipped in chocolate, “here’s a treat. Everything will get better soon.”

“What do you say son.”

“Thank you,” it’s taking everything in him not to cry.

But once they’re back on the highway Spider finally breaks down. He never allows himself to cry but now he just can’t help it. He’s sobbing, hyperventilating, tears and snot pouring down his face. He doesn’t realize when Quaritch pulls over. Suddenly he’s wrapped up in his dad’s arm, being rocked and shushed as circles are rubbed into his back. “You’re okay. Ssshhh, you’re okay. You did such a good job. Good boy. You’re my good boy.” Spider cries until there’s nothing left in him. He lays his limp head down, feeling absolutely dead inside. He’s a monster. A total psycho. How the hell am I going to get away from him.

I’ll end it there but I totally have more ideas if you’re interested. Thanks again for reaching out! I always love hearing from people 💞

#spider socorro #miles spider socorro #miles quaritch #colonel miles quaritch #cabin in the woods #avatar fanfiction #my fanfic

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anonymousj3ster · 9 months ago

Text

Pester the Jester

A Ragapom fic based off the song "Pester the Jester"

Don't know why I'm still searching.

The door slams. Footsteps trudge to the next door. A blue gloved hand reaches out and turns the knob.

Don't know why I'm even looking.

Door opens. Not an exit. Door slams.

For a way to get back home again.

I reach for the next door, only to find there were no more. I slowly turn, feet shuffling on the red carpet. I had checked every single door in this long hallway. One of many hallways. Every door was empty of the one thing I wanted. My feet move in slow, mechanical movements. Down the hall back the way I had come. Into the main area. Into another hall. Into my room. Again. A hand that is mine but doesn't feel like it locks the door behind me. Again. I drag myself over to my bed, falling face-first into the soft blanket. But that was ok. Because I didn't need to breathe, did I? After all, this was just a game. A sick, twisted game.

I jerk out of my thoughts as a soft knock comes from my door. "Darling? Are you ok?" A voice asks from the other side, muffled but still clear with concern. Her voice "Feeling fine." I lie loudly, not bothering to raise my head off the bed, so it comes out sounding distorted. But, now that I said that, I realize...I kind of did feel better now. But I didn't know why.

There was just something about her, something about the ragdoll that made me want to beg with my hands on the floor for her to drag me by the arm out of these dark spiraling thoughts, to give me all her charm, to tell me I would always be hers. Inside, I was craving her, craving another hit of that, of just hearing her voice, or seeing her smile, or her touching my shoulder for a brief moment before pulling away as she remembered I didn't like being touched, even though I didn't mind being touched by her. Honestly, she was like an angel, I was crazy for her. I growl in frustration into a pillow, annoyed by my own pestering thoughts. But then suddenly, I wasn't holding a pillow, and I wasn't in my room.

I was also currently defying the laws of gravit-

"OMPH!" Nevermind. I wince as I hit the ground full-force on my face, the black and white tiled floor hard enough the crack my teeth, or my skull. "Pomni, are you ok?" A soft voice asks, sounding a bit startled.

I raise my head slowly, pupils now spinning spirals as the world slowly settles back into focus. I blink hard a few times, disoriented. I had been teleported to the main area of the circus, in front of the stage, along with the other 5 people trapped in this hell with me. I slowly stand up, shaking my still-fuzzy head in an attempt to clear it and look across from me to the owner of that soft voice. "Y-yeah..." I mumble, quickly glancing away.

"Are you su-"

"Yeah." The ragdoll nods, but she obviously didn't believe me, because she hadn't just been asking about my fall. Her eye was filled with concern, worried over me. But why? Why would she want to waste of time on me? I look away, only to sneak another look at the beautiful doll. I don't know why I'm looking, don't know why I feel the need to stare, whenever she's near me.

"GOODNIGHT MY SUPERSTARS!" A voice booms, making me jump. Caine materialized in the air above us all, hovering there as he beamed at us- at least I thought he did. It was hard to tell, you know with him just being...teeth. "It's noon." Jax grumbles, narrowing his sickly yellow eyes at the deranged ringmaster. "WELL THEN, GOODNOON MY SUPERSTARS!" The purple rabbit's permanent smirk shrunk in annoyance, but he didn't comment any further. "TODAYS ADVENTURE IS GOING TO BE THE BEST ONE YET!" The pair of teeth shouts. Theres a few mumbles of irritation around the room, but it settles down quickly. "TODAY, I HAVE A SPECIAL SCAVENGER HUNT PREPARED! I HAVE RELEASED ALL OF KINGERS INSECTS LOOSE INTO THE CIRCUS!" I hear Ragatha make a strangled noise in the back of her throat. "YES, RAGATHA, I MEAN ALL OF THEM! YOU MUST CATCH ALL THE INSECTS AND PUT THEM IN THE JARS I WILL GRACIOUSLY PROVIDE! THE PERSON WHO COLLECTS THE MOST INSECTS WILL GET A PRIZE!" The ringmaster proclaims. "SO GOOD LUCK, AND HAVE FUN MY LITTLE SUPERSTARS!" He disappears in a cloud of smoke. There's a moment of silence, before Jax bursts out laughing.

"Ah, God, this will be a fun adventure!" He wheezes, glancing at the ragdoll, who's single black eye was darting around in panic, body tensed up. I cringe a little, remembering the dolls fear of centipedes. Gangle gives Ragatha a sympathetic look. "I-its ok Ragatha. I-I'm pretty sure Kinger only had a few centipedes in his collection." She whispers, the tears on her mask falling to the ground when the doll whimpers slightly.

"I have exactly 3 centipedes!" The chess piece blurts. I yelp and flinch away from him, having not realized he was standing next to me. "Their names are Omi, Anni, and Sepa! Did you know that centipedes can climb up walls and ceilings at up to 24 miles per hour!?" Ragatha's eye widens and her breathing hitches as her panicked gaze darted to the king piece. He blinks his wide blue eyes and he looks around, suddenly baffled. "...Where am I? Whats a fork!?!"

I eye him nervously as Ragatha walks towards me, managing a weak smile. "Hey Pomni, do you want to look for the insects together?" She asked, seeming to have gotten a hold of herself, though she still kept glancing at the floor as she walked, looking out for the 13-legged bugs. I nod, shooting her a smile back. Of course she wanted to work with me. Over the past few weeks, we had basically become a pair, always doing adventures together, me to get them over with and Ragatha out of genuine interest. Though, I was still confused on why she wanted to stick with me and not, say, Gangle. I mean, I was assuming she had started pairing up with me because of my little mental breakdowns, but I hadn't had any for about a week (at least, not where anyone could see), so why not stick with someone else?

"Pomni?" The concerned voice dragged me out of my thoughts, and I realized I hadn't answered the doll. "Yeah, of course!" I stutter, feeling my face begin to tingle, and getting a bit light headed. She smiles at me, and I look away quickly.

"^!#!!" I whisper under my breath, cringing when a loud honking noise comes out instead of the swearword. Ragatha frowns at me. "Hm?"

"Ugh, he didn't even give us the jars to catch the dumb insects with!" Zooble interrupts, saving me from having to respond to Ragatha. They cross their arms and pace a few steps, as a pile of jars appears in the air right over their head, hovering for a moment before crashing down on top of them with comedic sounds. Everyone gasps and cringes (except Jax, who laughs his ass off, and Kinger who just screams) and rushes to check on them. "I'm....fine..." The jumble of shapes insists, dragging themselves out from the pile, only to discover they were missing a leg and turning back around, digging through the now-shattered jars to find their limb and ignoring everyones offer of help. "Well... I guess we should get to finding those...bugs..." Ragatha says, voice trailing off nervously at the end. I nod and follow her, noting how tense the ragdoll was. We only walk for a few minutes before-

"ACK!" Ragatha screeches, stumbling backwards and grabbing my arm tightly. I jump, panicked at her sudden movement and scream. "Wha-" I start to ask, before spotting the source of her distress. A spider was crawling idly along the wall near her, making it's way to God knows where. I automatically punch it, smushing it into a black stain. I shudder and try to wipe the black mark off my blue glove. I freeze when I realize the doll was still clutching my arm, almost painfully tight. "S-sorry about that Pomni..." She mumbles sheepishly. "I...thought it was a centipede..." I nod absently, staring at her hand clutching my arm. She follows the direction of my gaze, quickly letting go. "Sorry, I forgot you didn't like touch." She blurts hurriedly, rubbing her own arm awkwardly. I nod and start walking again, face heating up. She was right. Normally I despised physical contact, but this time it was...different. It still felt a bit wrong, still made me feel a bit itchy, but overall it was...nice. Honestly, I would do anything for her to just hold my arm like that, would beg with my hands on the floor. I sneak a glance at the pretty doll, feeling strangely charmed by her awkward arm-rubbing, her slow swaying gait. We walk in silence, with me subtly killing a few more insects we encountered whenever I spotted one. I knew the point of the adventure was to capture them, but we didn't have anything to trap them in, and I didn't think carrying around jars filled with bugs would help with Ragatha's fear anyways. I’m just punching another one when suddenly the lights blink off. I sigh. Of course they did. Why wouldn’t they?

“You ok?’ I ask Ragatha, relaxing when I hear the ragdoll murmur that she was. We continue without a word. "H-hey Pomni..." She says quietly. "Hm?" "Can I ah....can I hold your hand?" She ducks her head a little as the words come out of her mouth. “I know you're not big on touch, but I keep feeling like there's centipedes crawling all over me.” The last words are barely audible.I glance over at her, barely able to make out her form in the dark.

“...Yeah.” I say, reaching over to her. My hand hovers uncertainty near hers for a moment, before gently gripping it. I feel her flinch, it pulling away from my grasp for a moment before relaxing again. We venture forward into the darkness, taking comfort in each other's presence.

It feels like hours before we finally reach an area of the circus where the lights are working. But on the bad side, it looked like a maze. I make a small noise of frustration in the back of my throat. “Well, at least we can see now!” The ragdoll says brightly, plastering a smile on her face. I nod as she walks forward, seeming a bit more confident now as she unintentionally drags me forward with her, still clutching my hand. I stare at her hand in mine, a bit puzzled. Why? The lights were back. She didn’t have to keep holding my hand. I just couldn’t comprehend the reason why she still wanted to hold my hand.

She glances back at me, seemingly confused on why I wasn’t walking with her. She follows my gaze, looking at our hands.

“You…don’t mind if I keep holding your hand, do you?” She asks. The words come out slowly, hesitant. “You don’t have to, I know you don’t like- sorry.” She says, slipping her hand from mine.

“No!” The word passes my lips without my consent. “I mean- no, I don’t mind. You can keep holding it.”

The doll’s eye widens in surprise, before sliding her hand back into mine. We both stare at each other before looking away, feeling my face heat up as she leads me to the beginning of the maze. Why did she want to keep holding my hand? I mean, it seemed a bit…

We were just friends.

Right?

The silence continues, though now it seemed more malevolent, pressing against me, suffocating me as I try to sort through my thoughts.

“Pomni…”

“Hm?”

The ragdoll stops, turning towards me. “Theres…” She stops, taking a deep breath. “There's something I’ve been wanting to tell you for a while- or ask, I mean.” She stumbles over her words, which was out of character for the doll.

“Since…I mean, for a while now… We…you…” She stammers, before shaking her head violently, sighing.

“...I like you.” She blurts. “What I’m trying to say is, I like you, as in more than a friend and-” She pauses, black eye studying me, trying to gauge my reaction. “...I just want to know if you feel the same way.”

I freeze up, stunned. Because her words, they just confused me with the way they made all these giddy feelings bubble up, the way she wooed me.

“But…why?” I whisper softly.

“W-what?”

I take a step back, feeling the giddy emotions being replaced with darker ones, drowning them out.

“Why do you like me? I mean, I left you with Kaufmo that first day, I-I hurt you. You were in pain, and I just left you there.” My breathing quickens as panic fills me, confusion and misery, worthlessness and shame join in the fun, taunting me, drowning me as my voice gets louder, tears clogging my throat. Ragatha watches me with a wide eye, taking a step toward me with an arm outstretched, ready to give comfort I didn’t deserve.

“I mean, why should you even bother? I’m just a lamb left to the slaughter!” I laugh hysterically, hands rising up and tearing at the dumb hat on my head, yanking on the ends. “I’m the most fragile, the one who’s going to end up abstracting soon, SO WHY EVEN BOTHER CARING ABOUT ME?!” The last words rip themselves out of me as a scream. I pant, trying to catch my breath. “I just…don’t know why.” My legs tremble as exhaustion suddenly overwhelms me. “Could you please tell me why?” I close my eyes, letting myself slump to the floor on my knees. Tears leak from my eyes as there's a long beat of silence, broken by the sound of soft plush feet making their way towards me. I hear the sound of cloth rubbing against fabric as she sits down in front of me.

“Just…why?” I whisper. Why would this amazing, kind, beautiful girl want me of all people? Why would she want me to be hers? The quiet stretches on, any hope I had being diminished by it. Then, suddenly, I feel plush hands on my shoulders. I open my teary eyes, lifting my head to look at this beautiful, sweet girl. She opens her mouth, but for once she doesn’t seem to know what to say. Wet pinwheel pupils stare into a wide black eye as he hands trail up from my shoulders to my face, cradling it. She wipes a tear from my cheek as she leans in slowly, hesitantly, pausing with her face just a centimeter away from mine. She hovers there for a moment, before seeming to gather every last scrap of her courage and pressing her lips to mine.

My eyes widen in shock as soft, sweet lips make contact with mine. For a moment I’m just completely confused, all the emotions in me warring with each other. But slowly, the good feelings win, pushing out the darker, deadlier ones as I close my eyes and lean into the kiss, raising a hand to press the dolls more firmly against my cheek. I trace idle circles on the back of her hand as the kiss deepens. All too soon, it ends, both of us pulling away, breathing hard as my pulse jumps and skitters nervously. We stare at each other with shell-shocked eyes. I was already craving another kiss even though I know I don’t deserve this, as I try to shove this feeling below surface.

“That was…” We both murmur at the same time, giggling nervously at how our voices blended together. We glance away from each other, cheeks red as I feel the need creep over me, the need for another hit of this.

“C-couldn’t I get another kiss?” I murmur, pinwheel pupils flicking towards the doll. She just smiles and leans towards me, pulling me into her as our lips meet each other again.

Oh, how she pestered the jester,

She pestered the jester,

Pestered the jester with this.

#ragapom #buttomblossom #pomnixragatha #ragathaxpomni #tadc

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