#before he's down to adult bug servings

[fbwzoo]

Officially got this boy eating mustard, collard, and dandelion greens (all good daily staple greens), and spaghetti squash! 🥰🥰 I'm so pleased to have him on a decent variety of both veggies & bugs now!!

We're trying butternut squash again next. Hoping to rotate him between those two & acorn for daily squashes. Then I can start adding other "occasional" veggies to his salads for additional variety & to see what else he likes.

He has a couple new bug orders coming soon too. I think his staples are going to be dubia roaches, BSF worms, and mealworms. With silkworms & grasshoppers when I can get them, and hornworms & waxworms as treats.

[jaimeslanisters]

dominoes cascading in a line — the meeting

Aemond Targaryen x Lannister!Reader

You beam, bright and happy, and he wonders if the real treasure in the Rock wasn’t in its gold or its wealth but rather in the daughters it produced. or moments in aemond's life with a lady of house lannister

crossposted on ao3 masterlist word count: 2.1k notes: surprise! i'm starting a companion piece of oneshot moments in the pawn in every lover's game (my current ongoing fic) from aemond's pov! this will be updated sporadically so enjoy this first one (:

Aemond is ten when his mother announces that Daeron will be fostered in Oldtown by their Hightower kin. Daeron is seven.

As an adult, his memory of the incident will fade like an old picture; the colors will lose their shine, details will vanish, the pain will dull. But one thing he will never forget is how Daeron hadn’t cried.

He had trembled, his eyes had gone wide, and he had seemed so small, even smaller than he already was.

But he hadn’t cried.

Daeron didn’t cry when they had packed his things or even Mother had gotten the habit of bursting into tears at the mere sight of him. He hadn’t even cried when their father had shrugged off his leaving, merely giving his youngest son a more than awkward pat on the head and empty platitudes.

He didn’t cry.

Not until Helaena had mournfully informed them all that she couldn’t go with them to drop Daeron off since some daughter of Lord Lannister was coming to King’s Landing to keep Lord Tyland Lannister company and to be her companion. She had to stay to greet her. Mother had insisted.

Daeron had sobbed then. Big, glassy tears had poured down his face as he had gasped loudly for breath. Helaena, fighting her usual aversion to touch, had wrapped her small arms around him, awkward and stiff, but Daeron hadn’t minded, burrowing himself into her arms and wailing.

Aemond had sworn then and there that he would hate the little lady of House Lannister coming to be Helaena’s companion. She could be his sister’s friend. She couldn’t be his.

During the entire trip to Oldtown and his entire stay, Aemond had created a vision of the Lannister girl to hate. She’ll be mean. She’ll be snooty. She’ll sneer at Helaena and her bugs and mock her to the other ladies in court. She’ll laugh at him and his lack of a dragon, whisper about how he is no true Targaryen if he can’t claim his own House’s sigil.

Perhaps she’s only coming to the capitol to marry. That’s the only reason a noble girl would leave her family’s seat of power behind and travel after all. Maybe she’ll even marry Aegon and they’ll have cruel, nasty babies together and they’ll laugh at Helaena and Aemond for the rest of their lives.

By the time he returns to the Red Keep with one brother and without another, he swears that he’ll hate the daughter the Rock has sent and he always will. He repeats this in his head as he heads to Mother’s sitting room, where Helaena always spends her time, and he convinces himself that she won’t be there because she must be cruel and vapid and mean to keep Helaena away from Daeron. He tells himself that he’ll hate her.

Then he meets you.

When he slams the door open, prepared to comfort his surely heartbroken sister, he finds you. The slam of the door startles you and, with a small shriek, you nearly drop a jug of water, catching it awkwardly so that the water spills all over the front of your pretty gown, soaking it.

He stares. You don’t look at him for a moment, too busy staring down at the jug in stunned disbelief, but when he calls out to ask if you’re alright, you turn to face him.

And Aemond swears his heart skips a beat.

He’s seen pretty girls before. Of course, he has. They’re everywhere in the Red Keep. From serving girls to noblewomen, there’s beauty to spare in the capitol.

But you’re different. There’s a moment when he knows your mind hasn’t realized that he’s a Targaryen, when he’s just a boy that made her spill water on herself, and you scowl fiercely, looking as if you would bare your teeth if you could. It’s a short moment but a glorious one and Aemond feels his cheeks flare with heat against his permission.

Luckily, it looks like you’re just as caught off guard and you duck into a curtsey, calling him my prince.

The form of address has never sounded so nice.

“I think I’m at a disadvantage,” he says after a moment, feeling as if he’s failing a test he didn’t know he was supposed to take. “You know who I am but I don’t know who you are.”

“Oh!” You say, looking terribly flustered, and Aemond fights down a smile, struggling to stay focused. He swears he has control, swears he’s being absolutely normal about all of this, but then you do say your name and his mind freezes.

Lannister. Lannister. Lannister.

Your House name runs circles in his mind, mocking him, teasing him. You’re the lady he’s sworn to hate.

He barely has time to process when you continue talking and it’s only through years of etiquette training that he hears you.

“My uncle Tyland is your father’s master of ships. And… at the risk of sounding impertinent, my prince, I’m afraid you’re mistaken.”

He blinks at that, feeling that all too familiar humiliated flush creeping up his neck. The worst part is that he doesn’t even know why being wrong in front of you would embarrass him so badly. “How am I mistaken?”

Aemond has seen the Hightower in Oldtown, looming high above the port city, topped by a massive orange flame, an impossible wonder. He’s seen Sunfyre, gleaming and golden as he flies through the sky, a moving marvel rather than a ferocious beast. He’s seen the Iron Throne, the thousand swords taken from Aegon the Conqueror’s enemies, ugly but striking, the very seat of House Targaryen’s power.

And somehow none of them compare to your smile.

It’s humiliating, it’s shameful, it’s the truth. Your smile lights him up from the inside, warming him up entirely, and he wishes it wasn’t real. What if you’re cruel? What if you’re mean and selfish?

You keep smiling at him and, for just a few moments, Aemond tells himself that maybe you won’t be. He has to believe it, if only to just finish this conversation. “Now you know who I am but I don’t know who you are. I know you’re a Targaryen prince, that much is easy to tell, but there are three of those. Are you Prince Aegon? Or perhaps Prince Aemond? You could even be Prince Daeron, having decided that Oldtown isn’t to his taste.”

At least she’s not dumb.

He looks at you, looking for any sign that you’re setting him up, but, finding none, he finally smiles back. “I’m Prince Aemond. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

If he thought your smile was beautiful, it’s nothing compared to your laugh.

“Small mercies then,” you say after a moment, beaming at him. “Your sister told me that you and I would get along.”

“She did?” He asks, head spinning. “Me? And you? But you’re so…”

Well mannered. Pretty. A true lady. I’m the second son in a family where even the first son receives nothing. No one is excited to see me.

“She said you liked to read? And study?” You say, cleaning your hand with a wet rag, and Aemond notes with a start that your finger is bloody. “I’m no great scholar but I like to read the histories of the Westerlands and the other kingdoms. It’s important to know our past to be best able to predict our future.”

For a moment, Aemond hears his grandfather’s voice, lecturing as he hands him book after book about politics and the Seven Kingdoms.

You must succeed where Aegon fails, the Lord Hand says in his mind, stern and unyielding. You will be his strength where he is weak.

Aemond had taken that to mean that he must study everything.

Caught off guard, Armond can only manage out an awkward, “You like histories?”

“Of course,” you reply, wrapping your finger with a spare piece of cloth. “Perhaps you can share some of your favorite books with me? I’m about to go meet Princess Helaena in the gardens. You could join us?”

That shocks him the most out of everything.

Being smart was one thing. Being kind was another.

But asking him to spend more time with you? Knowing that he’s Aemond Targaryen, the forgotten second son? Perhaps if he were Aegon, the rightful next king, or even Daeron, sweet Daeron who hadn’t even cursed you when you had stolen Helaena away from him, but he was Aemond. Just Aemond.

He can’t help it. He blushes. He blushes more than he has ever blushed before in his life and he ducks his head, wishing he wasn’t. “I would be honored, my lady.”

You beam, bright and happy, and he wonders if the real treasure in the Rock wasn’t its gold or its wealth but rather the daughters it produced. “I’ll meet you in the gardens then! Please allow me to get changed and could you inform Princess Helaena that I’ll be late?”

“Of course,” he stammers, embarrassed at his own weakness, and you smile once more at him, giving him a curtsey as you leave in a swirl of soaked fabrics.

He doesn’t know how long he stands there, feeling as if Balerion the Black Dread has bathed him in his flame, burning him away and leaving nothing.

Eventually, he does make his way down the gardens and, when he finds Helaena, crouched in the dirt with her hands cupped around an earthworm writhing in the moist soil, he forgets that he’s been gone for several moons.

“Is your companion kind to you?” He blurts out, skipping the emotional reunion completely in his daze. She’s lying. She has to be lying.

Sweet Helaena, however, doesn’t mind, looking up at him with glazed eyes. “Beasts of the sky, beasts of the rock, feed well the land,” she says in that odd way she always does. Before he can say anything, however, she blinks hard before smiling at him. “She’s nice. She likes embroidery. Whenever I ask, she reads me my favorites. I hope she’ll be my friend and not just my companion.”

Aemond watches her, looking for any hint of a lie, but Helaena never lies. Never ever.

He drops to the ground next to her instead, shaking his head to clear his thoughts as best as he can. He talks to his sister then, about Oldtown and Daeron and her bugs in their glass enclosures. He almost forgets.

Then you come again, carrying a heavy book, one that he instantly recognizes.

Mother had given it to Helaena on her eighth nameday — a Maester’s guide to the different beetles in the deserts of Dorne.

After getting the customary greetings out of the way, you slide to the ground, uncaring when your new dress gets covered in dirt and bits of grass. Head bowed over the book, you flip through with a practiced speed, landing on a chapter about the golden scarabs that crawl in the shadows of Sunspear.

You read with a calm and steady tone, perfectly enunciating every word, never faltering or stammering. Closing his eyes, Aemond leans back and listens, the words floating away so he only focuses on the sound of your voice, the melody.

He’s warm in the sunlight.

It ends too soon with the shrill call of Helaena’s septa ordering the pair of you to your daily lessons. Quickly, you snap the heavy tome closed, rising to your feet a beat faster than Helaena.

“Oh, before I forget,” you say, spinning to smile down at him. “What’s one of your favorite books? I’d love to get to read something other than just about the Westerlands.”

The answer pops out without his permission. “The Watchers on the Wall. Some of it is legends but it’s about the Nightfort. You know, the Rat Cook. Symeon Star-Eyes. The Night’s King.”

Your eyes gleam. “My mother used to tell me and my sisters about the Rat Cook to scare us into behaving. She said it happened to King Tywell II and if we weren’t kind to people, they might make us eat our children in a pie like him too.”

“Some say it was a king of the Vale instead,” he replies. “I hope it wasn’t your ancestor.”

“Aye,” you laugh. “I hope it wasn’t him either. I’ll be sure to read the story. Maybe I’ll be able to convince myself it wasn’t him either.”

As you leave, leading Helaena down to the frowning septa assigned to teach the both of you, he prays you won’t read the book. That you’ll take your pretty smiles and your quick replies off to Aegon to charm. He has to focus. He has to be the strength of his family and there’s no room or time for any lady.

Even still, a part of him hopes that he isn’t so unlucky.

[willowedwisteria]

Summary -> Having a clumsy reader that falls down very VERY often. I don't even know if this is SAGAU or cult au but whatever!!

Featuring -> Ei, Venti, Zhongli

Genre -> Fluff

Ei

Takes a while to process that you fell down

She'd probably blink a few times, look around at other people, then actually help you up

When you question her, she'll say that she was just observing and totally didn't malfunction!! She was totally looking around to see if anyone dared giggle or laugh at your fall!

After noticing this constant pattern of walking, slipping, getting up, and repeating, she'll begin to develop a habit of helping you up naturally after a while

Definitely adores seeing you try on her heels, but is WAY too worried whenever you even try to crawl with them on. You're going to injure yourself somehow and in the most unpredictable way possible

She's awfully straightforward at the wrong times.

You wonder why she can't ever tell you that she wants that appetizing serving of Dango near you, but she'll just directly say that she can carry you

"Perhaps it would be easier if I just carry you?"

Definitely is awkward carrying you for the first time though

Where is she allowed to touch? Are you comfortable? Do you want her to bridal style carry you or piggyback?

After this first attempt, you are surprised by how naturally she can just scoop you up into her arms - making another excuse that there was a bug or a lot of dust on the floor

You've 100% fallen asleep in her arms before and she LOVES it.

Just imagine the electro archon, the woman who reigns over the whole of Inazuma, completely flustered after seeing your serene sleeping face

She'll turn her head and hear your soft snores, then completely freak out and snap her head the other way

Venti

Falls with you. No questions asked.

He'll probably laugh it off as a joke so you won't feel embarrassed, but if your cheeks continue to flush, then he'll make a mental note to not talk about it in the future and tell you that accidents happen!!

Will count how many times you fall in a day and compare it to how many bottles of wine he can drink

If you are an adult, he probably won't be able to stop cackling at how you keep falling down when you're drunk

"Are you a magnet that just attracts to the floor or something??"

But definitely worries the moment you actually get hurt, caressing your wounds and trying to watch out for when you're about to trip

He'll manipulate the wind around you and catch you just in time

He probably jokes about how you would still get hurt even if he's allowing you to float around with the help of the wind

You laughed so hard at his jokes and threw your head back, hitting it against the wall. He can't get that out of his mind

Diluc probably judges him from afar with how careless he's being with you

Venti just believes that you can still have your own fun even if you get injured easily. You're super duper strong!! Little injuries won't hurt you, right?

You've probably joked about dressing up as a mummy and the whole tavern was like... what???

"What's a mummy? Ooh, Halloween? What's that."

Once you've explained the lore and stuff, he definitely forces Diluc to make it a special event at the tavern. Sooner or later, word will spread to the Knights of Favonius and the whole of Mondstadt is suddenly dressing up for Halloween

True to what you said, you dressed up as a mummy, covered in bandages. Venti 100% doodled on the bandages.

Zhongli

Learns about your... special trait quite quickly! It's definitely... eccentric!

He's constantly worried for you, poor thing

Zhongli already made a mental note about the concerning amount of injuries and bandages that you were practically bathed in.

Catches you by the waist

"Please, watch out for anything you could trip on."

Probably kicks stones out of your way

Warns Xiao about how many times you could possibly get hurt in just ONE DAY. You didn't look where you were going, accidentally stepped onto a trolley and it somehow brought you crashing right into a store

Prays to Celestia for any solution

Probably has a whole first aid kit filled with bandages for you whenever he brings you out. When walking downstairs, he'll remind you to HOLD onto the railing.

You don't even want to remember that time when you slid down the railing.

Rubs your wounds and will check if it's getting better!!

"Sit down, please. You got hurt, do not force yourself,"

Checks you for any new injuries and asks you about them. Always sighs whenever you say something along the lines of "I don't remember"

When you actually don't trip and fall, he smiles at you and will occasionally remind you to be careful! He hates seeing you flinch in pain or get hurt :((

Doesn't flinch when seeing blood due to his archon year, but ooh boy does he have this knee-jerk reaction when blood begins to ooze out of your wounds

Is the type to clean your wounds and say, "This will only hurt for a bit, close your eyes if you need to," BUT HAS THE MOST GENTLE TOUCH EVER

Taglist -> @under-a-starry-night, @yourfaveisblack, @bardisipatos, @callmemeelah, @kithewanderingme, @pale-value, @bamboowritess/@bamboowritess, @uchihaeirin, @karmawonders, @lunavixia, @anfre109, @ly-archives, @zuyoo, @pimacolada-lulu, @bimboing, @gallantys, @swaggyb0ke, @borbsbirbs, @shizunxie, @tiffthescales, @genshin-impacts-me, @keithsaccount, @mkaella, @mentallyunpresent, @alicehasdrowned, @franc-1-s, @no-regrets-just-confusion, @christmaspickl, @lunalily19, @vvyeislazzy

Special tags -> @is-very-sad, @chocoenvy, @raidengaile/@ly-archives/@simplygaile, @saigomo, @gunterdon, @emilemovhi, @lovelyy-moraxx, @demon-bane, @i-put-the-yan-in-polyandry, @xiaophilia/@ayayaxia, @thewindstale, @creation-magician, @my-white-canvas/@pale-value, @yuzuricebun, @ventivity, @sweetstrawberrybabe, @euthym1as, @lotterymology, @mx-kamisato, @matsutake-san

[luluia]

Promise? Promise. {Part 1}

Pairing: Zoro x Reader

Rating/Content Warning: Pretty much none/the same as my first work. It is fluff so there is nothing you should be warned about besides soft kissing, cursing, and arguing

Summary: You work on the Baratie with your step brother Sanji. But you’re childhood friends and lovers with Zoro

Disclaimer(s): None that I can really think of? There is Cursing but that’s really it, stay safe!!! <3xxx

Early Writing Idea

“I TOLD YOU TO PUT AWAY YOUR LAUNDRY LIKE A RESPONSIBLE ADULT!” You say yelling at the green haired man in front of you

“I’m not going to do something someone told me to do. Especially if it’s you.” He said only making your blood boil more as your fists clenched

“STUPID- STUPID SWORDSMAN!” You said slamming the door he really got on your nerves sometimes.

Story

Flashback

“Zoro do you promise to stay by my side forever?” You said smiling and giggling as you were being sent off to live in a different town

“Of course! I’ll find you dummy! And we’re going to be the best the world has ever seen!” He said raising his bamboo sword I smiled

Back

“Wake up already” You heard the last voice you wanted to hear for the rest of the day

“Shut up” You said covering your ears with your pillow before he started dragging you. Your head banging in the process

“FUCK!” You yelled before he brought me out my room, my head throbbing

“Aren’t you a sunshine in the mornings” Your older brother Sanji said teasing his little sister

“Shut it and make me coffee” You said changing into your waitress clothes

“Just remember you’re just a baker” He teased ruffling my hair before going down to go make some coffee for everyone

Some you wish he would treat you like he treats every other female that waltz’s in. Honestly you’d think that being his step-sister would mean something to him.

You finished getting ready and headed downstairs hearing everyone slowly wake up.

“Alright boneheads get to work we got lots to do” Chef Zeff said as I yawned tying my apron around my waist as Sanji handed me my coffee

“You forgot to do a double knot” He said tying your apron into a double knot for you

“You know maybe if you did a hot and cold act you could have girls actually chase you” You said sipping your coffee

“Vinsmoke siblings get out and take orders” Chef ordered as we went out Sanji hated waiting tables but Zeff would never let him in the kitchen

Me on the other hand? I’m allowed to make our desserts but I chose to wait tables with my brother.

“I already told you I’m not a waiter. What an irresistible beauty you are” You heard Sanji say as you roll your eyes serving customers

“What is the bug doing there waiter!?” I heard a man say as I immediately looked

“Pardon me” I said to the people I was serving to walk over as Sanji humiliated him

“DONT YOU MESS WITH ME WAITERRRRR”

“That’s the fifth time this week! What am I supposed to tell-“ I was about to continue but he interrupted me going on about the importance of food and not wasting it

“Don’t you dare step on my brother!” I said kicking the man’s foot off his hand

“I don’t give a shit if you’re a paying customer no one disrespects my brother like that scum.” You said before Sanji kicked him knocking him out

“I can handle it myself” Sanji said

“Whatever.” I rolled my eyes as the chefs came doen the stairs

“Don’t ever waste food around me again. At sea you never provoke your cook you’re signing your own death warrant. Remember that.” Sanji said I scoffed

“Sorry I can’t take you seriously when you do that” You said noticing some people walked into the restaurant

“Good day to you three! Please, take a seat right over there and your order will be taken shortly” you said as they looked at you, you didn’t take a good look at them

“Not again Vinsmoke siblings!” Our pal said as you rolled my eyes as Sanji explained what he did wrong as Marine lieutenant swore he’d shut this place down

“Maybe I should just finish you off now then” Sanji said you sighed as you held him back

“It’s not worth it dumbass! You could get da- Zeff in serious trouble!” You said

Zeff and some kid came down from the ceiling

“Not again“ You sighed rubbing your temples as they started yelling

“Vinsmoke pain in the asses don’t tell me you two went on a Bothe rampage idiots” Zeff said

“Put a cork in it old man” Sanji and you said as he started talking you tapped your foot on the floor as you both earned a slap from Zeff Fullbody earned a kick

“I’m going back to serving these fools” You said as Krieg pirates entered you stole Sanji’s cigarette he went to the kitchen as you followed

“Dumbass you know if Zeff catches you you’re not only getting yourself in trouble but me as well” You said

“Eat it” Sanji said going outside with some food you decided not to get involved.

“Commotions over get back to work brats” you said looking out the window and seeing Sanji and that kid from earlier talking

“Big brother hurry up or I’m taking all the ladies for myself” You said as he stood up

“I decline your offer of being a pirate” Sanji said to the kid

“Sanji? A pirate? Please! I’d love to see him try” You scoffed as you two walked back inside

“LAST ONE TO MAKE IT IS A ROTTEN EGG” You said as you both ran

“Choreboy stop yelling at the customers and get back to work!” You chopped him in the head as you looked at the people he was talking to

“Sanji you get back to work to no swooning again!” You grabbed him by his collar and threw him

“How many times do I have to tell you? Sometimes I wonder how I ended up with someone like you” You said as you felt a pair of eyes stare at you

“What do you want moss head? Your order taken?” You asked sarcastically

“Y/n?” He said you were confused

“Y/n? I’m not sure who that is sorry. You must’ve mistaken me for someone else” You stated as you got a sudden headache

“I’m going back to serving customers” You said walking away but your headache grew

‘I promise’

Promise what? Why does he look familiar? What is going on?

“Hey sis? Are you alright you look pale” Sanji said as I felt dizzy I looked at him

“Zoro”

——————————————————————————-

Do you guys want a part 2? Also sorry for not posting at all I haven’t had motivation to write or time to.

[miasudare]

Do ya'll think I can write?

(So, I'm kinda want to try like, writing and stuff but I don't know if I write good? This like, the start of what I'm writing)

Another festival was over, a start of the new morning could be seen from the little spaces between leaves. The sound of rocks, dirt, walking and the rusty metals of the cariages clinking could be heard in the outer parts of Darkwood. The cariages had scared, wimpy sheep in them. How many were them now? Six sheep? Seven? Seven. The last seven sheep in the entire lands of the Old Faith.

‘’C’mon, move them faster you lazy boneless bugs! We need to take these cariages to Darkwood before morning!’’ one of the cultists said, he was from Anura with a clear yellow mark on his robe under the Old Faith marking. There were about five swordsmen for the two cariages, two centipedes (a.k.a vephar kins) that carried them an done leading archer. These sheep were being taken to Darkwood, so that their wool would be shaven off before being chopped to each pieces of mutton.

‘’What do ya think we’re doing?! We don’t usually clib, we slide to depths of caves! Ugh, the grass is so irritating…’’ The centipedes yelled out, tired from the warm weather they’re not used to. Oh how they missed the cold walls and sticky webs.

‘’With that many amount of legs, you have no right to moan or complain about it! You should be greatfull to serve your master Heket-‘’

‘’Shamura.’’ The centipede corrected.

‘’Yes them. You should be greatful to serve.’’ The swordsman rolled eyes under the shadow of his robe. ‘’So work your many… icky… feet! What we do is very divine mission!’’

‘’It’s just carrying a butcher shop around, Troh. You take this bullshit too serious.’’ Another swordsman, from Darkwood said.

‘’Bullshit!? You heretic! You sin mouthed! You dare to call something sacred like serving your god bullshit?!’’ Troh, the said swordsman took big offense to that.

‘’It’s just some big, mutant overlords you call gods! You’re really brainwashed with all those menticide mushrooms aren’t you? The only thing good about them is how they are a man of their words. I’m not complaining until the worm stops feeding me.’’

‘’You defiant-‘’

As the cultists argued, the sheep listened. Three in one carriage, four in the other. Some had bruises, some had cut skin from previous shavings. The sheep didn’t have a name. They never needed one if they were going to get their throats slit open for one more useless festival, one more gluttonous feast or a simple gathering. Their fear filled eyes darted around the trees, hoping to memorize each path if a miracle were to happen, if they ever had a chance to run away from this life of torture.

‘’Hey. Are you okay little one?’’ One ewe asked to the silent one. The kid wasn’t much of a talker, just turned their age to be considered ’adult’ or, to be considered ‘food’. White wool, tired eyes mixed with hopeless curiousity. They looked up to the ewe.

‘’Yeah…’’ they looked away. ‘’I’m not used to going out the gates. It’s my first time in Darkwood.’’ The lamb added, continuing to look around. Most sheep would be kept either in Anura or Darkwood because how close they were to the main lands unlike Anchor Deep or Silk Cradle, which were deep down in ocean and caves with terrible transportation.

(...)

[langefisharcade]

Snippet

Butcher smiled at the exhibit. Her long light brown curly hair flows behind her black skull mask wrapped together with spider silk with yellow lenses that leaves the back of her hair flowing. The mask obscures her bluish green eyes. The yellow lenses of her mask are durable, high-end swim goggles tinted to help filter out bright lights, with lenses from an old pair of her glasses sealed inside with silicon. The mask design features dull yellow lenses and sections of armor designed to imitate a bug’s mandibles. She wears a black-and-grey spider silk bodysuit with armor panels made out of insect shells, human bones and exoskeletons augmented with more spider silk. Each had "layers" resembling a pillbug. She wore spider silk crafted gloves with clawed fingertips which inched towards her utility belt. Her tools of choice lay in each patch alongside her material for her more… obscure power.

She knew in her very soul what each item was and what they were for. The data her mind compiled allowed her to identify each item worth her time. She activates the firefly lights to highlight to the Teeth each item she requires along with activating the invisible security. 

She inched her flashlight to the side of the wall. Within minutes, her true power activates within the flashlight. Layers of lights in the form of webs flash into life before the Cape. The rest of the Teeth stare in amazement. She nods and they put her training to work.

She smiled. Within seconds she instinctively danced through each layer like nothing. Unlike the rest of her gang, Butcher somehow obtained the experience to do that before she “trained them.” She gleefully notes, “Nothing like a task of poisonous spider webs to prepare oneself.” 

While she never did understand how she knew the training method. She gleefully enjoyed how effective it was. 

Flashback

“Just imagine the security lights as these poisonous webs.” The amnesiac pointed out to the group. The webs congested brutally in the path of the Teeth. On each web is a specialized venomous spider with orders to bite if the web is touched. Vex stared at her, “Seriously?””

“Yep. I want each of you to practice till no one is bit. Understand!” The leader of the Teeth ordered.

End Flashback

She looked at the glass. It was supposed to be a jackal-headed golden divine mask made of unknown material that temporarily released a flash of light after being put on, and it was the size of an average adult human skull with pointed ears, a half-discovered nose in the lower part, and a mustache from the level of the nose up down to the level of underbrush on either part, however, the part that covered the wearer's lips, underbrush, cheeks and ears was completely uncovered. It also possessed eyeholes with lines above them that resembled eyebrows, and a third-eye crater on its forehead where an unidentified gemstone that served as its power source was located. Unfortunately, the gem is not there. So the mask retained a more bronze look to it. She smiled thoughtfully, “Hello there, my old friend.”

But no matter, Butcher guessed where it was. She placed her hand on the case. “Do not worry, old boy. I will restore you to full power. Anubis will bless us both.”

By activating Butcher II’s power, she removes the last barrier to her goals. Within seconds she grabbed her prize. “Poor Gustav. He never did know what he had.”

She glanced over to the Teeth. Each managed to obtain the targeted items. She moved over to the Mesopotamian section. With a flick of the wrist she sprayed special Hieroglyphics she knew in her hearts proved true. Fuck Baal. With that, Butcher led her forces out the door and teleported away.

[huitzilinthebudgie3]

Un Dia Mal

Summary : In which we delve into the what if scenario with Marc and Y/n . What if Marc had waited…and asked Layla for help after the 3 months being gone. 

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆˗ˏˋ 𓅰 ˎˊ˗⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆˗ˏˋ 𓅰 ˎˊ˗⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆˗ˏˋ 𓅰 ˎˊ˗⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

Y/n had woken up slightly late (2 minutes after her normal time) , as she rushed to shower , brush her teeth , change for school and manage to consume some sustenance for the morning before school.

She rushed into the flat before tripping over one of Stevens pile of books with a thud and cringed at the dust that had been kicked up. She sneezed a few times as she rearranged the books into their previous jenga like tower before rushing into the kitchen. 

Where pda was on display….she made a face as she grabbed a mug for coffee and quickly served it as she turned back to find stern faces "Aww what's wrong little bug ?" She wrinkled her nose at the affectionate name "People are weird..between you guys , miguel and dana…this pda thing is gross" Layla chuckled at that kissing her forehead "Yeah , well you'll grow up eventually and have someone you'll want to kiss" She quirked a brow at that "Mother….i do not require affection…nor will i bend to the will of being bound to a mere-mortal" she said while drinking her coffee and eating some breakfast “You need to stop watching those supernatural dramas with her babe” Marc sighed. 

She felt a heavy gaze settle over her as she ignored the sensation focusing on her homework "How are your grades , kiddo ?" Marc asked as Y/n glanced up momentarily "Oh…uhh i have a 3 A's , 2 B's and one C" she said nonchalantly "That's good darling" her mom smiled "Oh…Ms.what's-her-face said she was gonna call you guys about an event or something" she said as both her parent gave her an expression that you could probably imagine.

"What about ? Do you have an F?" She glanced up with a quirked brow "No..something about cinnamon rolls? I dunno, this lady always talks to me , while i'm reading" she huffed in frustration. 

Her Dad chuckled "Honor Roll ? That's a good baby girl" he smiled "We're proud of you kiddo." She hummed "So you guys staying or you guys have to work again ?" She asked, trying to change the conversation and they stayed silent..which meant they would probably be gone again by the time she was home from school .

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆˗ˏˋ 𓅰 ˎˊ˗⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆˗ˏˋ 𓅰 ˎˊ˗⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆˗ˏˋ 𓅰 ˎˊ˗⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

Y/n sighed as she walked down the sidewalk to the bus , it was like 3 blocks from her house….but she had a 15 minute cushion. Anxiety was fun…especially when school was a long walk away . So she’d be 15 mins early to the bus stop , she sighed as she silently walked past a few buildings noting the new scenery.

New York was new for her , they'd be here for past 2 years..which in the span of her 16 years of life was short…they'd lived multiple places in the past…the longest being Los Angeles , where she picked up the subtle californian accent and slang.

New York was after London…which she had enjoyed slightly….but not a lot as her mom was now a hero…and around less lately …usually with her Dad…..and now she was being a baby.

They only started leaving her alone for extended periods of time. Assuring her it was temporary …which wasn't uncommon for her as her mom was an archeologist….and sometimes she was gone for a handful of days…to weeks..maybe a few months for her Dad…but Mom was usually gone for a few days at most .  Lately…well a year ago, It'd extended… they'd been gone 6 months …leaving the neighbors in charge ... .Miguel's Mother Conchata …. who invited her over for dinners and to hang out. Essentially adopting her temporarily.

And they'd just gotten back from a Month trip ... .a month ... .not that it bothered the practically adult teen…but it was an adjustment.

She was brought out of her thoughts by whimpering as she glanced down an alleyway sheepishly ….her instinct telling every hair on her body to stand and get the hell out of there.

Except she heard a whisper…her ears straining to hear the very faint whisper as she sighed walking a bit further in.

Her mind racing "This is some scary movie sh*t…ya idiot…" she huffed to herself "But theres a puppy in there or a dog…it's crying" she reasoned to herself pacing a bit as she walked away further to the bus stop before sighing "And …" she frowned turning around back to the alley and walking in and softly staring at the black dog…it's fur drenched in blood as 2 long gashes ran down from it's chest to it's ribs.

She frowned softly petting the damp fur "awww…it's okay……" she cooed "Well it's not okay cuz that looks bad…" she muttered to herself as she winced at the dogs whine …cuz it was a dog.

….it heard her as she winced "Oh it's okay , tis a flesh wound" she reassured …smiling faintly as a memory struct "You can probably walk it off" she said reassuringly petting the dog as it whined and growled softly. Before opening it's mouth in her lap and nuzzling something into her hand. She quirked a brow as she picked it up to look as the dog nuzzled her hand close before looking into her eyes and whining as if to communicate something. 

She hummed "Hey , i'll watch it and deliver it to your owner" she smiled softly  "And hey , if it's time …it's time. You won't hurt anymore and you can find peace and stuff " she reassured before adding "Unless………uhhhhhh…………….. you don't believe that or you're like some evil dog…" she hummed before chuckling "Or you have like unfinished business…then i guess you can haunt whoever did this to you" she smiled sheepishly noting that the poor thing had passed at the peace part as she sighed "I'll come back later and take you to the vet clinic" she smiled reassuringly petting it one last time before checking her watch and cursing as ran out of the alley way.

She cursed as she ran to the stop..and watched it pull away…not stopping as she sighed pinching her nose in frustration. And beginning the walk to the next bus that stopped a block away from her school

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆˗ˏˋ 𓅰 ˎˊ˗⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆˗ˏˋ 𓅰 ˎˊ˗⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆˗ˏˋ 𓅰 ˎˊ˗⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

Today was turning out shitty as she'd missed her bus for school. The dog was worth it…it sadly still died in an alley but…at least it had company. And she tried being …oh poor dog..she's talked its ear off !!! 

The good thing was that Miguel..her best-friend and neighbor held the door open as she ran into the building before it closed for the day. Miguel..ever the dorky nerd , he held his hand out as they walked.

 “C’mon where’s your math homework ? Did you ask your parents for help ?” she gave him a confused look “Homework ? Which class ?” Miguel fixed her with a drool look as they walked to stand in the line for the lockers room for P.E “The Algebra homework” Y/n hummed “Nah , i have a 20 point cushion from extra credit last week” she said nonchalantly as Miguel glared “En serio ?” he huffed in disbelief and disappointment. 

She shrugged “I can probably afford the 1 missing assignment “ Miguel sighed “Lunch , we are doing it before we have class. No way you're missing it , because we are going on the Honor Roll End of the semester trip!” he said firmly.

She snorted “You really think , my parents will let that happen ?” 

Miguel rolled his eyes “Sure , they're never home. They’d never know” that struck a nerve as she sighed "I guess…but they have to sign the permission slip" Miguel quirked a brow "They don't know you forge it ? Still think my mom sign" she glared "Dude , you forge your moms signature and you live with her full time" she countered as he held his hands up "Ay! Calmate! I was kidding"

*a few minutes later*

Y/n was in the middle of talking to miguel …waiting for roll call to begin when his girlfriend interuppted "Spector, you weirdo….hands bleeding " the older girl laughed as Y/n frowned before realizing that her hand was indeed bleeding as she tried recalling cutting herself so bad…it was actually dripping. 

Before recalling she had felt a sting when the dog had pushed the thing into her hand.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆˗ˏˋ 𓅰 ˎˊ˗⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆˗ˏˋ 𓅰 ˎˊ˗⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆˗ˏˋ 𓅰 ˎˊ˗⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

The day went normally , she went to all 6 periods…studied with miguel…, his friends and his girlfriend. Who were all upperclassmen and teased her about being 'so much' younger as she rolled her eyes…she was only 3 months younger than Miguel.

Gabriel …..Miguel's little brother also hung out with them…but he was acting different with her now. They had been close once …back when Miguel had ignored and been mean to her…but it was a good close …that…..she couldn't explain it….she had tried once and it resulted in a Jake appearance…and now he acted like this…so..yeah.

So now Y/n just avoided him out of him being awkward. And that was that.

Anyways , she was currently on her way home…walking….as she'd taken the wrong bus and ended up in the complete opposite side of town.

So she sighed , walking down the road later because her dumb ass …again took the wrong bus and them tripped over her own feet.

She sighed remembering the dog…from earlier…and deciding that it would be best …to atleast take the poor thing to the vets to be cremated..but it probably cost money ..and she had like 20 from allowance cash…on her person. Assuming her parents were gone again.  She'd buy some dinner…from the taco stand by the apartment.

However….she felt bad..and poor dog had gone through enough. So she walked down the road to the alley way. She sighed handing over the money as the receptionist smiled telling her that they would call her when it’s body was ready for pick up.

She nodded before making her way home……

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆˗ˏˋ 𓅰 ˎˊ˗⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆˗ˏˋ 𓅰 ˎˊ˗⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆˗ˏˋ 𓅰 ˎˊ˗⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

Like usual….she walked home having missed her window for the taco stand…..something that probably would’ve lightened her day. She returned home to find a set of very upset parents….she was unsure how to respond and being her fathers daughter as her mother always mentioned.

She made a issue that could’ve been easily resolved with a ‘Sorry , it won’t happen again’ , placing a ‘It wasn’t my fault , there was a bus mix-up ,after study group , and then i fell and ….wait you guys are home ?! You guys didn’t text me …how was i supposed to know ! You guys aren’t ever home’ which earned her a rebuking and sent to her room. Honestly sometimes she didn’t think things through , she had failed to notice the streamers and cake set up as they called her out after her fathers and mom lectured her about talking back and paying attention.

And then they sat down , ate dinner….pizza….

…she hated pizza….she wanted and craved the bomb ass tacos from down the road….and then her parents handed her an enveloped with a black and white blob as she quirked a brow curiously glancing up from them and the blob before reality slammed down …and guess what….

“We’ll be home more , we moved work and we’ll be around for more…and we’ll spend more time with you….”

And she wasn’t paying attention as she heard a dull ringing in her ear….she felt a rush of different types of emotions…….

….Being the only kid for 16 years…comes with issues because… she had at some point begged for another sibling and she understood then and now that it had been hard for her parents even more because of her for some reason. Her mother always told her that she was and had been a unexpected blessing..so she’d always assumed it ended there. And now…NOW after 16 years they finally decided it was time…or fate whatever higher being ?!!!!

Not only that but , her whole life they’d moved , wandered and explored ….hell after school became worrisome they’d left her in the Americas  continue her education. So they weren’t willing to stop for her…but for this tiny little thing that wasn’t even existent….

She hadn’t even realized she’d gone to her room , nor the knocking on her door until the annoying bird that was a constant in her life sat on her bed. He always gave her strangely violent advice like …Jake but…more sagely.

He was currently staring at her as she sighed deeply “I fucked up , huh big bird?” she murmured.

“It’s not set in stone , little worm. You’d be surprised…what one word can do” she sniffled at that as tears welled up in her eyes “Why can’t i do shit right” she huffed wiping her eyes angrily “Sometimes i wonder if life would be easier for them without me…” she murmured as she shuffled to lean against the old birds legs as he patted her head in a affectionate pet kind of way “I assure you it wouldn’t” she snorted “How do you know..oh great spirit guide” she huffed “I just get in the way….i bet there wasn’t even a party with me. They were probably like ‘oh shit…one escaped the condom’ “ she huffed as the bird made a distressed noise “You are -something else , little bug” she shrugged “Normals boring…tried it when i was born…didn’t like it……” she chuckled as the bird smiled “Now wake up” she jolted up in her bed half asleep as she glanced around in pain as she stared at the wound on her palm from the dogs necklace….before screaming at the giant glowing canary eyes……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆˗ˏˋ 𓅰 ˎˊ˗⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆˗ˏˋ 𓅰 ˎˊ˗⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆˗ˏˋ 𓅰 ˎˊ˗⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

Note : I hope you liked it and let me know if you want another part 🙂

Have a wonderful Day/Night !!!!!!!!! :) :)

[teecupangel]

I’m thinking about Edward and Benjamin because I miss them both dearly! 💙

Let’s say Desmond time travelled back to that era. Do you think he’ll get along with Ben just as well as his ancestor did?

Alternate scenario: Edward and Hornigold raising baby Desmond together 🥺

This is gonna end in tragedy considering Hornigold became a Templar later on.

How about we make this much more painful by making Desmond an orphan he had taken in during the time he was training Thatch. Ben hadn’t been planning to take him in but Desmond, even as a kid, served to be more agile and smarter than most of his crew members. Thatch also noted it would be a waste to let the boy stay in the port so Ben took Desmond in. Desmond really had no actual plans at that point, thinking of just waiting till he grows up a bit more and get a ship of his own.

So he goes with Ben and Thatch, not knowing that Thatch would later be known as Blackbeard while Ben was a formidable legendary pirate of his own.

This would be set before they get their own fleet. At first, it’s just a crew that sails the seas and plunder Spanish ships sailing to war.

Desmond wasn’t totally into the whole plundering business and Ben realized that he had some sort of code.

It was a flexible one though.

If someone attacks them first then he’d take them down.

‘Self defense’.

That’s what Desmond liked to call it.

When Desmond was around 15 or 16 years old, that’s when Thatch brought a newcomer on board.

Edward Kenway.

Desmond immediately recognized him.

He might not have any vivid memories of him but the name and the aching loss in his heart were all he needed to know that this was Haytham’s father.

Ratonhnhaké:ton’s grandfather.

Desmond naturally gravitated to Edward because of this and they become friends. Brothers in arms.

They were both taught by Ben and Thatch with Desmond preferring Ben’s more reserved approach while Edward was… closer to Thatch.

Later on, Ben gives one of the fleets to Desmond to sail on his own, believing he was ready.

A few months later, Desmond becomes part of the Pirate Republic "the Brethren of the Coast" in Nassau. He was there for its founding but he passed on being one of its leader, something Ben thinks is a mistake because he believes Desmond would make be able to rein in the more ‘aggressive’ of the leaders.

Desmond said no to that because… well… he didn’t want any leadership roles for pirates.

Hell, he was known as the ‘Pirate of Retribution’ because he only attack ships that attacked him first. He wasn’t cut for pirating. His ship was more or less a smuggler ship and Desmond’s ‘clients’ were those in desperate needs.

But that was the day he met ‘James Kidd’.

He only heard of the supposed child of the great Pirate Kidd, their paths have never intersected before the founding of Nassau.

And he clocked the pirate immediately.

An Assassin.

It was the movements, the footsteps, the silence…

And it seemed that James Kidd realized that he was an Assassin as well.

They spent a few months feeling each other out, trying to understand each other’s goals in terms of all these pirating business.

When they finally confront one another, that’s when Desmond realized what had been bugging him this entire time.

James Kidd had more secrets than just being an Assassin.

And, by god, it took Desmond reminding himself he was an adult to not blurt out “what is this sorcery!” just to make a joke.

He was led to the Assassins and finally got an overview of the current state of the Brotherhood around these parts.

He has no idea why they’re so hung up on all this Sage business until he realized that whoever this Sage is? He was connected to the Isus.

Which meant Desmond had a lead on a way to contact Minerva or find a POE or some shit that can help him make sense on why he’s here in this time period.

So he helps the Assassin lay in ambush when they learned of the Sage’s location, having been captured by the Templars.

And his eyes widened when he realized that Edward Kenway is with the Templars.

Unorganized Notes:

There’s a brief moment that Desmond assumed that Edward is a Templar then he remembered that Edward was mentioned to be an Assassin in Ratonhnhaké:ton’s memories so he assumed that Edward was a Templar turned Assassin. That all went out of the window when he talked to Edward (secretly) and Edward told him that he’s there for gold, not to join some weird ass posh cult.

Desmond’s closest to Edward and Mary. Ben treats him as a son and Thatch treats him like a younger brother who needs to lighten up. Desmond thinks Thatch is a good man who really needs a minder.

Desmond gets entangled with the Sage plot thanks to Edward but he’s worried about Edward’s focus on the gold.

Desmond would agree that trying to provoke the British would backfire on them but he would also agree that they do need medicine when Nassau is hit by the unknown disease. Thanks to Desmond being more of a smuggler than a pirate, he was able to do something about it.

But because the world is conspiring to keep the timeline intact, Thatch still attacked the British to get medicines a day before Desmond returns to Nassau.

In this scenario, Ben would still take the pardon and he’d beg Desmond to do the same. Desmond sees no reason why not until they order him to hunt down the other pirates. That’s where he and Ben have their falling out with Desmond not wishing to hunt down people he knew, especially the ones he knew were good men dealt with bad cards and making the best for it. His ‘insubordination’ causes the British to take his ship and imprison his crew while Ben tries to keep him out of harm’s way, ending with Desmond staging a prison break with… well… lots of Constantinople approved ‘fireworks’.

Desmond could be the reason why Ben would not become a Templar… or not. Ben believes he’s doing the right thing and he might see Desmond as a son but he’s a rebelling son who needs to be pulled away from his ‘friends’ who were influencing him.

Desmond loses his ship because of this but he and his crew commandeered a British ship and runs away, returning to Nassau to talk to the others about these new pirate hunters.

Desmond’s loyalty is the Brotherhood and that will be the source of conflict between him and Ben (and even Edward). If Ben becomes a Templar, this will end in a tragedy.

[dreaming-marchling]

I've been trying to figure out the Marked in Faith timeline - not anchored to a calendar year but internal relative timeline.

At the beginning Brian is 16 almost 17 a week before New Year's and Dom is 23. Mia is 19.

As far as I can tell Brian's birthday is early January and I think Dom's is Novemberish? (Brian's date with Dom on his birthday was just before Earl showed up at the garage and Brian ended up back in juvie for something like 6 weeks before he turned 18. So being generous on the timeline there's maybe 2 months between Dom's birthday and Brian's)

This means Dom had just recently turned six when Brian was born. Which means that it had to be very near Dom's birthday for him to have been 5 with his Dad in the car and for the mark to be clear enough to recognize the image.

I can't remember if you have given specifics, but I get the feeling that Dom was something like 14 or 15 when Teresa died? Meaning Mia was 10 or 11. Is this right?

How old was Dom when Anthony died? And how long did he spend in Lompoc? But for Dom to have served his sentence and be out of prison, with no parole restrictions by 23, and successfully running a business, I feel like timing-wise he had to still be under 18 when it happened? Like maybe 17ish - and charged as an adult. Mia would have been 13 when their aunts/uncles had to step in to be her guardian while Dom was in prison.

(Researching sentencing is super difficult because it depends on how they charged the crime and if there was any enhancement for great bodily harm and if any mitigating circumstances were considered and if he had a record etc.)

How old is Vince in comparison to Dom? Are they the same age? When was Vince's drinking-problem relative to Dom being in prison?

Sorry for going on - I like to figure out timelines and this one has been bugging me.

Feel free to correct any of my assumptions!

Hi!

I totally understand a reader's brain wanting to nail down the timeline and understand it and immerse yourself in it and I love that you want to do that for Marked in Trust!

I come at it with writer's brain though and it's slightly different for me. While I do have a rough order of events and corresponding ages that I think things happen, I don't like to pin down events if I haven't yet fully played with them, if that makes sense? For instance, I don't want to tell you oh yes Dom was 100% 16 when this or that happened because I might want to play with that section of his life later and organically the scene might not flow around these little points that I weighed the narrative down with before the event was fully fleshed out. Fixing points in stone always makes me nervous, lol, because then I can't go back. The muse needs room to groove, lol.

So I'll do my best here but I reserve the right to wiggle later.

(honorable mentions to my brain hating numbers which is annoying when you're doing adult stuff *and* when you have a nearly 1million word series that gives a lot to remember aside from numbers lol, and also some of these events came out in MiT when I never dreamed of the 800k words that would come later lol so please forgive me being annoyingly handwavy on some of this)

In MiT's start Brian is 16, nearly 17. His birthday is in early January. Dom had recently turned 23, his birthday is in November. I generally imagine that Dom's birthday is usually a little bit before Thanksgiving but I don't think anything within the series has fixed it beyond just the month. Mia is 2.5 years older than Brian. I will let your brain work out whether that means she was 19 or 20 when he arrived, lol, because mine just started playing the "but WAS SHE?" game with me when I went to write the answer for you and I don't trust myself. It's such a simple thing yet I just got a request for overtime from the department that does calculations so apparently it isn't.

Dom and Brian's Mark is fairly abstract and they just both think it looks like fog in headlights after a speeding car cuts through it so it's not something that needed to be full saturation for Dom to have thoughts about what it looked like when it was coming in. Yes though, in that story he was referencing it was right before his 6th birthday. In retrospect I probably should have just had him say 6 in that section, lol, because I've gotten questions about that before further complicated by me not remembering what I said about Marks coming in early in the story vs. how I thought about it in my head not lining up. My dream goal is someday when the series is done I want to go through and read it and smooth out those type of bits where there's a little disconnect and that would likely be something that I would fix just to make it easier for readers to reconcile.

For me, Dom was about 16 when Teresa died and about 19 when Tony died. That does mean that Mia was a minor. Dom mentions at one point that his aunts and uncles had to step up to keep their lives running and yes, that does mean that for awhile she was under an aunt's custody.

Our parental timeline and making everyone younger means, for me, that in MiT Dom wasn't in Lompoc for very long. He would have been a teenager with a recently deceased mother and a very recently deceased father trying to run their family business and raise his sister - a lawyer would have painted such a sob story for him. All of his priors at that point would have been racing related and Vince mentions at one point something along the lines of "when was the last time we were arrested for speeding? freshman year?" (if you're not American that's ~14ish years old) so it's not like there were loads of arrests for them to throw in the judge's face to make him impose a harsh sentence. What I'm saying is that Dom's sentence was more than a slap on the wrist but it also wasn't nearly what it could have been. Shorter parole/community service when he gets out. All that to say for me he was in barely a year. Less, probably.

The Market is a family business (there's actually a little section in MiT5 that discusses a bit more how they run it) and thus not something Dom started himself. I imagine the garage was opened VERY shortly after he got out. Currently Dom hasn't said much about the logistics of that so I won't either ;)

Vince is Dom's age. I imagine the drinking problem started while Dom was in and started getting out of control after he was out and they were living a little more wildly. Their intervention would have been a good year or two before Brian arrived to them. Leon and Jade are also around the same age.

I think I hit all of your questions but happy to clarify where I can or offer up any more if any spark! Again, sorry I can't be firm-firm in some of this, I hope why makes sense :)

Thank you for asking!! I'm feeling so much more energized now that I've realized that I'm over halfway through MiT5 and this kind of thing gives my brain something Brian related to chew on while I work through it with renewed determination!

[flingmetothemoon]

Tedward 'Teddy' Lobo/Marya 'Draculaura' Zaleska fanfic coming soon

Yep, I am indeed writing a modern Universal Monsters fanfic where our favorite Lobo babygirl makes friends with Dracula's daughter! 🐺💜🧛‍♀️ I wonder how many people remember Dracula had a daughter long before Monster High and Hotel Transylvania existed? 🤔 Well if you're a lore reader, I really recommend you read some articles about the very interesting lore and influence behind the 1931 film Dracula's Daughter below. ↓

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

But anyways, what is the plot of this fanfiction?

Bellafrancesca confirms that her son, Tedward Lobo will finally earn the Lobo empire inheritance and her trust and respect — Under two conditions: 1. He'll have to go to the legendary Count Dracula's almost abandoned castle (Dracula and Robert left, not the remaining servants. The family there formerly serving as Dracula's servants instead take his departing as an opportunity to become the next powerful empire) in Transylvania, Romania and find the Count's daughter preserved in her coffin in the basement to be placed under a sleeping curse for many years after her death and take her in to become the Lobo's new ultimate weapon for world domination. And 2. He'll have to marry the heir of the new rival crime lord in the same castle in order for the Lobos to become much more bigger and powerful to take over the world better. Will Teddy have what it takes to complete these seemingly simple two tasks to get what he wanted since childhood once and for all, or will his hidden humanity and sympathy towards the suffering Transylvanian Sleeping Beauty show him what matters more in life?

Contains: Teddy/Marya, elements of what makes Teddy/Marya the dark rival to Robert/Rebecca, and foresights that make Teddy's circumstances during the events of the movie more heartbreaking than it already is. Oh and some OCs. 😉

Made from Heroine Creator by AzaleasDolls (Ignore the "Best of Adult Swim" tab, I'm using FlashPoint since the program was made at the time Flash was dying XD)

In my Renfield world headcanon, since Renfield looks alot different then he used to when he started becoming Dracula's servant, Marya would've looked different in the modern day too. One of the noticeable differences is she has her hair pulled down more often and when her hair is down, it's alot longer. Like knee length, longer bangs, flows from even a slight breeze easily and as I would describe it "Has many partings like spider legs, but thin and silky as a spider web." I basically think of it like how Cati-Art beautifully draws Kikyo's hair~ ↓

Fanart by Cati-Art

I also headcanon that modern Marya often wear blues, purples and small parts of pinks. Galaxy colors basically. Like vampires are associated with bats and bat basically sky puppies after all. CX The colors contrasts well with Teddy's reds and blacks too XD My other sky aesthetic heacanon is when Marya eats a bug, her eyes glows pink. But her eyes aren't the only ones glowing, so does her royal blue dress, purple cape, reddish-pink jewelry and even her black hair glows purple with blue streaks like Starlight Glimmer. Literally glowing in the dark. Maybe a light in the darkness metaphor. (RIP CGI budget 💀 Perhaps vampires really do sparkle all along XD)

Another headcanon of mine is in the human world, she goes by her birth name Marya Zaleska. But in the monster world, she goes by Draculaura. The reason for the name isn't just for Monster High reasons, but it's because the name Laura is derived from the Roman laurel, a symbol of victory, peace, fame, success, and prosperity. Draculaura does crave for peace in her life without having to cave in to her vampirism. It's true she sadly didn't succeed in the end of the film, but if Teddy can be revived and given another chance for a better life in post-movie fanfics, so can she. She really should anyways since vampires don't stay dead no matter how they're killed. 😂 And she could use a new modern spinoff show, and so does the Lobos because they are such an entertaining crime family with potential for depth exploration of character and history, so why not I make a spinoff show for both characters in a form of a fanfiction where Draculaura works alongside Tedward and his family members since they found her coffin, awakened her from her long sleep and took her in as their new Lobo pack member who has the power to help them with world domination.

But since Marya herself doesn't like living with her vampirism curse nor wanting to take over the world with darkness and terror, and prefers to live more like a normal human like she had wanted to for a long time, she instead has him use her magical rings for his guns so they shoot pink magic bullets (And those bullets travel further, faster, don't require reloading every 10 bullets shot as it is magic, and they hit harder where hitting a person would literally explode into pieces and blood would spatter everywhere >:D), feeds him a bug to advance his powers, remove his silver amulet to reveal his true werewolf identity, (idk if you noticed, but it just occurred to me that Teddy wears a small, thin bracelet on his less tattooed wrist and it looks silverish. Perhaps that could be a werewolf curse suppressing amulet too? It could very well look like one… 🤔) or all of the above lol.

Notice the silver bracelet on the right? The detail makes me curious... 🤔

Oh yes, I'm talking about the magical ring on the left. Marya uses it to hypnotize her victims. But since this is my story, Imma have fun an utilize her ring for other purposes as it is magical. If I put that ring in a gun and shoot up to the sky, it comes out and booms like a pretty firework! :D

This not only encourages him to fight for world domination himself instead of using another sentiment being as a weapon to do the dirty work for him, but it also boosts his energy and self-esteem immensely without cocaine required, and he has a reason to come home, eat his dinner more than normal and enthusiastically brag to his family about his awesome monster hunt today, how powerful he was, how he instilled fear into even supposedly scarier supernatural monsters, how awesome his new vampire friend is at helping him be the man he had always wanted to be and maybe finally gain the strength and respect from his own family once and for all. …Right…?

Tune in to find out. 😈

Seriously though, I find it interesting that Teddy was eager to join Dracula and introduce him to his mom like he just met his longtime idol even thought the guy has the ability to drain out his blood within seconds if he decides Teddy is food. Makes me wonder if it wasn't the first time he heard of or met a vampire before and knows how to not push the wrong buttons! 😂

[indomitablespirits-muses]

Muse Bio: Mr. Centipede

Archie "Scraps" Centipede

A canon character from James & the Giant Peach. Primarily the film version, with inspiration from the book version.

Age: Adult Species: Eastern Red Centipede Height: 0'4.5" pre-magic, 5'9" post-magic Weight: N/A Birthday: June 16th

There's no telling how a bug of pure Brooklyn blood found his way all the way across the Atlantic Ocean and wound up all alone in the yard of a ramshackle house on a South England hill. He wants to go home, but it's not a practical journey for one little critter to make. The two awful human residents of the house are beasts in their own rights and despise bugs, so even venturing across the yard itself can be life-threatening.

It all drives Centipede stir-crazy to no end, and that's when his world is flipped upside-down in the course of just a few hours. While hunting for breakfast, he catches and eats what appears to be some kind of glowing green grub. Next thing he knows, he's the size of a human! He's not the only thing to encounter this strange happening, , as when he takes shelter in an (equally strange) giant peach that popped up on the yard's barren tree, he finds a whole host of bugs that went through the same growth spurt. Upon the entrance of the poor boy who lives with the two wretched aunts and the subject of better lives for all comes up, Centipede deems to take matters into his own claws. He cuts the peach loose with his pincers, sending it and his new companions rolling down the hill and right into the ocean.

New York is now the goal in sight for this party, which thrills the Brooklyn boy to no end. The journey sees him starting on rocky terrain and being an absolute curse to the group, even getting them lost through the lies of being a seasoned navigator. Centipede has pulled stuff like this before, but he's never grown close enough with those dragged into it that it weighs so heavily on his conscious. He's been touched by the motherly kindness of Miss Ladybug, the giving innocence of the human boy, James, and even the forwardness and steadfast nature of the old Grasshopper. He's even begun to fall for the terrifying beauty and caring soul of the tantalizing Miss Spider.

He ultimately risks death to get his new family friends back on course, newly inspired by each one of them to be a better man. All that to say when they finally do reach New York City, Centipede has found home in more ways than one.

Centipede has lived much of his life alone and has thus become rather tactless and self-serving in the process. When asked about his past, he never seems to give a consistent answer. Truth was not exactly a virtue instilled into him. What was instilled in him, though, was loyalty and bravery (though hard to find at times). He probably doesn't think as highly of himself as the front puts on, but you'd never know. He may take a lot of patience all-around to work with at first - but once you befriend him, you've got a loyal bodyguard of a friend for life.

[moonlite-drabbles]

Of Cats and Claws (and fathers too) - Rosaria & Diona

After finishing up one of her “jobs”, Rosaria stops by The Cat’s Tail for a drink, and ends up walking Diona home. A conversation about fathers ensues.

word count: 1,947

~

Rosaria was not thorough in her worship of the Anemo Archon. She did not know the songs, the prayers.

No, that was a lie. She knew one by heart.

Her polearm twisted in her hands, pointed edge striking true as she dashed behind the bastard.

The blades tip practically glided through their flesh, little resistance as ribs creaked and shattered as she drove it deep.

Hardly a second, and the man was run through, sputtering as his skewered hard gave out. It was then she spoke.

“Eternal rest upon the winds be granted unto him, O Archon, and let perpetual breeze carry his soul. May he rest on the wind. May the almighty archon of the wind bless us with his peace and strength. Amen.”

Rosaria leaned forward as she recited his final rights.

“Blessings of the anemo archon to you.”

She tore the polearm from his body, it thudding hard against the stone paths of Mondstadt. Next was her least favorite part. Cryo poured forward, climbing over and settling on the corpse like the frostbitten bodies of Dragonspine, staunching the bleeding before it could begin.

She couldn’t leave it in the city for its people to discover, but she also couldn’t simply dump it in the lake to bloat and rise to the surface.

She slung the stiff, frozen corpse over her shoulder. With an acrobat's ease, she vaulted up the building next to the alley. No one would spot her in the pitch black of the new moon.

Leaping over the city walls with ease, she slipped out of the city. No knight would ever look twice upon catching the ruby pendant on her chest reflected against the moon, or the favonius lance on her back, not that they often caught sight of her.

With little respect or dignity, the corpse was deposited into the lake, and Rosaria turned away, not even bothering to see where it sunk, the splash of the corpse into the water was enough confirmation for her.

She looked to the sky. Eight hours until daylight. The Cat's Tail should be almost closing. Enough time for her to grab a drink right as the little cat bartender is leaving.

She sighed. The Cat’s Tail was a good place to spend her night, under a slowly lightening sky, with a perfectly refreshing drink in her clawed fingertips.

Though, when she came to its door, she noticed the bartender was not the usual adult who took the graveyard shift. Instead, a cat eared tween stool on a stool behind the counter, wiping down a whiskey glass, a displeased knit to her eyebrows.

“Hello Diona.” Rosaria greeted, quietly easing the door closed as she walked in.

“Rosaria.” Diona lifted her chin to offer a cat-like glare. “Don’t suppose you’re here to drink, again?”

“Alcohol? Yes, preferably. One custom mix, with healing properties please.”

She had taken the landing over the walls straight to her heels. Their full ache wasn’t going away, and continuing to wear her stilettos weren’t helping in any way. Healing was a service seldom offered, and not even advertised by the tavern. Diona was one of the few in Mondstadt who’s learnt it, and she’d be swarmed otherwise. But, for the more keen of ear and reckless of hobbyists, you’d be served something to take the edge off injuries.

“That will be an upcharge. I’d suggest you get a virgin to ease up on the cost.”

Rosaria rolled her eyes. “Patrons give you a hard time this week? You’re even more catty than usual.”

Diana shot her the most disappointed cat stare she could manage, before hopping off her stool and strolling over to start making the drinks.

Diona had no tact when it came to mixing drinks, it was part of the fun, watching her toss various boozes and ambiguous ingredients into her mixer. Rosaria watched with muted amusement as Diona worked. Lizard tails, whiskey, ice… lightning bugs? She must’ve been feeling creative that night.

“Not really. Patrons haven’t been too bad overall, especially since that card game has been getting popular. People are only really ordering one or two drinks a visit, mostly coming to play against each other. Traveler was right about that. Good thing too! Less people to kick out at the end of the night. Margrit also increased drink costs. Something about better profits. Psh, so long as I don’t have to drag any boozehounds away from the bar.

“I’ve also been teaching and playing new players. Well! It’s more fun than mixing drinks.” She rambled on as she slammed the cover over her mixer and rapidly shook the poor thing upside down. “Honestly, Genius Invocation TCG might be the best thing to happen to this place.”

“I’d take it that work is more fun now?” Rosaria asked as Diona poured her drink.

“With less heavy drinkers, yeah! Course most things are better than the drunkyards. Increased prices means people looking to only drink are going to…” Diona’s hackles raised as she sneered, “Angel’s Share. Ugh. Diluc can keep ‘em.”

Rosaria huffed at the display before picking up her drink and taking a long sip. Perfect as always. Cool and soothing down her throat. She wiped her lips after downing the glass, uncaring for the lipstick smeared on her sleeve.

“Closing soon?”

Diona was ducked behind the counter, rustling through some bottles or whatnot, her voice a little muffled over the clattering and clanking of glass. “Just about! Margaret was busy tonight so I’m doing it alone.”

“Then you’ll be heading back alone I suppose.” Rosaria looked back to the door. “Springvale is a bit of a walk, and it’s dark. Are you planning on walking there on your own?”

“Oh, probably. Don’t worry, it's only ever hilichurls around there.”

“They’re more active at night. I’ll walk you.”

“Oh no, you don’t need to do that! I have my bow and my vision. Plus, I’m not a little girl anymore.”

“Things can still happen. I’m walking you.”

Diona huffed. “Well fine if you’re so worried! Ugh, adults. Aren’t you like, drunk, anyhow? “

“I think I can handle one drink of yours. Besides, you always go light on the alcohol.”

“N-no I don’t! I make it just how Margaret advertises it!”

“It’s fine, I won’t tell Margaret you’ve been skimping on the liquor.” Rosaria shot Diona a sly grin. “That is, so long as you let me walk you home.”

“I already agreed, didn't I? Ugh, you're more dramatic than Kaeya. Finish your drink then we’ll go.”

Rosaria, never one to waste time, tipped her glass up and downed the rest of her drink, clunking it back down on the counter. “Ready?”

“Yup,” Diona had grabbed her bag, walking out from behind the bar, headed straight for the door.

“Do you need to clean this before you go?” Rosaria gestured to the glass.

“Ehhh, opening is always pretty slow. Miss Margaret’s got it. No one comes in before my shift to drink anyways.” Diona was already by the door, reaching up to swing it open.

Rosaria nodded in simple understanding, before stalking after the young girl as she left The Cat’s Tail, headed down the streets of Mondstadt, and eventually, out the gates. Should be a quick walk,

Diona always walked with confidence, her head held high—so as to look others in the eye, considering she was very short—but Rosaria watched as the girl sighed heavily, shoulder’s sagging.

Rosaria wasn’t the most talkative, but something about the pure exhaustion weighing on this little girl made her pause, trying to find the right words. Perhaps it was the alcohol, making her particularly empathetic that night. Perhaps it was the fact she was coming down from the high of a kill.

Perhaps she just recognized the look in her eyes.

“Well, what’s got the weight of the world on your shoulders?”

“Heh?” Diona looked at her like she was crazy.

“You look exhausted.”

“Ugh, I am.” Diona groaned, “Long shift, and then after all that I gotta go home and make sure dads in bed, and then if he’s not I gotta come all the way back and check Angels Share and—and—ughhh.”

“Hm.” Rosaria replied. “I’m surprised he doesn’t go to The Cats Tail.”

“Ugh. He says he doesn’t cause—cause he doesn’t want me to watch him drink! Like! I already see him drink when he comes home! I don’t need to worry about him more when he’s drinking where I can’t watch him.”

“He’s not your responsibility, you know.”

“Of course he is. He’s my dad. I know you don’t have one—“

“Watch it.”

“—buuuut I do! And I love him, and he loves me! So yeah, he’s my responsibility! Just like I’m his.”

Rosaria probably should have stayed quiet, accepted that statement and simply made sure Diona got home safe that night. But maybe Rosaria was feeling pessimistic, or cruel, or tipsy, or, even, a bit… raw.

Either way she didn’t stop herself from what she said next.

“And yet, I’m the one walking you home, not him.”

Fiona took a second to process. One second, in which Rosaria watched as her hackles rose on her tail and she turned, teeth bared, to bite back;

“You don’t know anything about him! He’s my dad and I do! You're just another booze chugging adult who can’t talk right!”

“…relax.” Rosaria blinked down at the small bartender, before looking back down the path. “I know a thing or two about dads. I’ve had, like, four. They’re perfect when you’re young, but then you get older and things change. They spend less time on you, or give you hard choices, or disappear.”

“He’s not gonna disappear! And the only reason dad doesn’t spend more time with me is because of stupid stupid alcohol!”

The alcohol he chooses to drink, Rosaria wants to say, but she knows when she’s not being listened to. It’s the same mental circles sisters of the church pace themselves into when it comes to her actions and habits. The same dissonance on her targets’ faces as they excuse and try to justify themselves to their executor, as if the order wasn’t given.

It’s familiar, and it’s pathetic. As children often are. As Rosaria once was.

Still, Rosaria, despite all her cruelty, wasn’t mean. At least, not mean enough to not pity the young girl. “He goes to Angel’s Share usually, right? Just ask Diluc to cut him off early, or refuse service.”

“What! Ew no, I’m not talking to that-that—enabling boozehound! Not for a second!” Diona spat, arms crossed.

“He’d probably sympathize. He doesn’t like alcohol and his brother is a heavy drinker.”

“Kaeya? Yeah, he downs my drinks… do you really think he’d listen?”

“Probably. He’s got a soul under there, even if he’s got the resting face of someone who’s already tired of you. He’ll hear you out.”

“Psh, a soul? On someone in the wine industry? Doubt it. Still… I’ll try it.” Diona turned her face away, in discust, but still whispered out a small, “Thank you.”

Rosaria smiled, “Consider it part of your tip.”

“Hmpth. We’re almost there. Let’s hope Pops didn’t lock me out by accident… again.”

Rosaria waited at the end of the path up to her home, watching uninterestedly as Diona trotted up to her front door, shooting Rosaria a triumphant smile as it opened easily.

Diona waved goodbye, slipping inside her house in the same motion, too quick for Rosaria to wave back. Rosaria just sighed with a smile before turning back to the road back to Mondstadt City.

“Goodnight, Diona.” She said, trusting the wind to carry it to the girl.

~

Omg this has been almost finished for way too long. Sorry for not writing, haven’t been able to push anything out and now that I’m a senior with open campus I’m not attending study halls (which is when I usually write).

ANYWAYS have some character interaction/a little character study thing. Rosaria is a bit harsh but she’s trying (+ a little tipsy).

This may inevitably lead to Diluc deciding to be a father figure for Diona should she ever ask him to cut her dad off—but Diluc isn’t someone I really write for so the ideas free for anyone else! I just prob won’t write it

Personally I have zero daddy issues and have never drank so idk how well I did.

Happy Halloween!

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Super 059

Yeah, I don’t know what’s going on.  Sorry.

Having deduced that Zamasu is probably planning to kill his master, the Supreme Kai of Universe 10, Beerus and Whis have returned for a second visit to Gowasu’s palace-temple thingy.  They ask him if there’s been anything concerning about Zamasu’s behavior, and Gowasu seems mildly bothered by the question, but he insists that there’s nothing to worry about. 

Then Zamasu enters the courtyard to serve tea, and he acts much more innocent than he did the last time these U7 guys came to see him.  He kind of overplays his hand, though, since he acts much more polite to Goku, and even pretends to have trouble recalling his name. 

Beerus isn’t fooled, but he pretends to be.  He makes up a few excuses to get out of this place, saying that he only returned because Goku kept bugging him for a rematch with Zamasu.  Goku doesn’t play along, because he’s such a himbo, but Beerus beats him up until he cooperates.

Gowasu might find all of this rather strange, but Whis distracts him with a gift of Earth tea and mochi rice cakes.  And Gowasu’s blood is 95% tea at this point, so he’s too focused on the gift to wonder why they were asking questions about Zamasu’s recent behavior if all they came for was a pointless request for a rematch with Goku.

Here’s your latest pic of Gowasu sipping tea.  This guy absolutely sucks.  I wish he were evil, just because that’d be more interesting than his oblivious indifference.

In... space... I guess, the boys discuss their observations of Zamasu, and Beerus says he could sense malicious intent in Zamasu.  Goku and Shin could not however, because Destroyer Gods are uniquely attuned to that sort of thing.  And if Shin didn’t notice, then Gowasu certainly wouldn’t be expecting treachery.  So why did they leave? Because Beerus can’t destroy a Kai like Zamasu without solid proof of wrongdoing.  So they spy on Gowasu and Zamasu and wait to see what happens. 

Meanwhile, in Future Trunks’ world, we find Zamasu and Goku Black sipping tea and congratulating each other on their awesome Kill Everybody Plan. 

They live here, of all places, which... I don’t know what I expected, but this seems kind of dumb.  They’ve been at this for seventeen years.

Back on the regular Earth, Pilaf tries to give Kid Mai romantic advice, but she isn’t interested.  I haven’t been interested in anything the Pilaf Gang have said or done since 2014, but no one seems to care how I feel about it. 

Meanwhile, Kid Trunks confronts his older future self, because he’s been down in the dumps over losing so badly.  I just want to point out that this shot of Kid Trunks looks a lot like they drew Adult Trunks’s head on Kid Trunks’ body, and it’s creeping me out. 

See?  Once he turns Super Saiyan it’s like his head de-ages into what it should be.

Anyway, Kid Trunks starts attacking Future Trunks to try to shake him out of it, and it works, I guess.  

Wait, hold on, I just received an important bulletin!  Gowasu... is drinking... more tea!

Zamasu gets up from the table and walks behind him as he apologizes for his recent attitude lately.  He claims to understand what Gowasu tried to teach him before.  Sometimes evil is necessary to show beings the path to good.  And so, evil can be required to bring about justice.  Translation: It’s okay to murder Gowasu because that’s the only way to kick off Zamasu’s plan to murder everyone else.

So he fires up his energy hand thing, and you would think Gowasu could sense that, at least.   As he strikes and kills Gowasu, Goku freaks out, but then Whis uses his power to reverse time by three minutes, undoing the murder and giving them a chance to intervene.

And this time, when Zamasu lowers the boom, he finds an oven mitt on his hand, which I assume Whis put on him in order to foil his strike.  Maybe the oven mitt has special powers?  Wait, yeah, this oven mitt could be like those centipede creatures in Star Wars that can cancel out the Force.  Imagine if you stuffed Goku in a bigger version of one of these oven mitts.  He’d be powerless!

So the good guys barge in and Gowasu’s like “What’s the meaning of this?” and they pull off the oven mitt to reveal Zamasu was weilding hand energy the whole time.  Couldn’t Zamasu just... turn it off before he got caught? 

So Zamasu tries to fight his way out of this, but Beerus calmly destroys him before he can do anything.

Yeah, this is pretty nice.  Too bad it’s not going to be that easy.

So as far as Beerus is concerned, the case is closed.  By destroying Zamasu today, before he could kill Gowasu and steal the Time Ring, there’s no way for Zamasu to create Goku Black, or terrorize the Earth in Trunks’ timeline. 

But Trunks isn’t convinced.  We saw this play out in the Androids Saga, where he warned Goku about the heart virus so he could survive and fight the androids, but Trunks’ own world wasn’t affected by those changes.  If that principle holds, then Beerus’ actions in this timeline won’t have any bearing on the events unfolding in Trunks’ world. 

Beerus insists that it’s not the same at all, because he’s a god, and when he destroys someone they’re gone, no matter what alternate timelines they might be in.   Trunks wants to believe this, but he can’t be sure.  Well, more importantly, he lives in that world, so he’d need to go back anyway just to go home.  But also, he still needs to check. 

Here’s what sucks.  We already know how this is going to go.  If Beerus had actually eliminated the threat in this episode, then the story is over and it ended in the most anticlimactic way possible.  That would suck, so it’s a safe bet that Trunks will go back and find nothing has changed.  That would also suck, because it means nothing that happened in this episode made much of a difference. I mean, they saved Gowasu, but Gowasu sucks, so that doesn’t matter to me. 

So the cliffhanger of this episode is basically “The next episode is going to suck, but which way is it going to suck?  Find out next time on Dragon Ball Super!”

And that would be bad enough, except we don’t even get to wonder, because the next-episode preview gives the whole thing away.  It shows the gang going back to the future and finding Black and Zamasu there waiting for them. 

The Zamasu Saga is awful. 

[izzy-b-hands]

Silly little You/Ferguson thing for Ferguson Friday!

Based on but heavily dramatised from my own recent Bug Adventures (may the memory of the dumb stink bug that died in the floor lamp in my room be a blessing to whomever else remembers him. Probably just other stink bugs, but i digress.)

---

"You didn't seriously call me over just for this."

You shrug. "And if I did?"

"It's an insect."

"And?"

"You are a grown adult-"

"And I'm a grown adult that doesn't do well with bugs," you interject. "It wasn't just so you could get rid of the spider for me... I'll make dinner too, or have something delivered-"

"You don't need to do that," Ferguson kisses your forehead. "Where is it?"

"My bedroom, and I know that sounds like a come on, and it can be, just after the spider is gone," you reply. "God speed."

"Don't jinx me; I'm not that far off from retirement-"

You gently smack his arm. "Funny. Shall I come along to help?"

"How exactly would you help?"

"I can't pick it up or help corner it but," you think for a moment. "I can stand there and be supportive!"

"You stay here, and let me deal with it."

You turn to fumble through the refrigerator for anything that could serve as a spider slaying reward, while his footsteps head off towards your room.

They stop, the door creaks open.

Then shuts again, and the footsteps come back your way.

"That's a fucking tarantula," Ferguson says. "Why the fuck is there a fucking tarantula in your bedroom?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, considering I don't own one."

"Do any of your neighbours? Buildings are close together, if a window were left open on each side..."

Your eyes go wide. "I keep my bedroom window open all night."

"I'd maybe post something up somewhere about your new friend," he sighs, and reaches for a plastic container on the counter. "Do you mind never using this again?"

"I have more, use it if you need it."

--

Two hours later there's an angry tarantula in the container, a message hastily written and taped on the door of the building next door, and an extremely proud Ferguson.

"Never had to handle one of those before," he peers at the spider. "Shame to keep her in there for so long."

"I have a text that there is indeed an owner missing a tarantula from one of the units in the other building," you hand over your phone. "So she'll be home soon. All the better too, I can't reward your heroism with this one watching."

"You've fucked me in the office, mid-day-"

"With no one actively staring us down from their plastic container prison," you interrupt. "It's different!"

"You're ridiculous," he smiles. "But I can be patient."

"I also have food ordered and on the way."

"I can be extra patient, in that case."

He kisses you, but cuts the kiss short.

"She is watching us, isn't she? The little guy, in the-"

"I told you," you sigh. "I mean, it's not her fault, but-"

"No, it is weird," Ferguson continues. "I...shall we go sit and wait for her owner to stop by, I guess?"

"That and the food."

It's the most interesting and awkward accidental chaperone you could have, and you make one very important mental note:

To close your bedroom window.

[wolviecat]

Just keep on breathing - Wolviecat - Andor (TV) [Archive of Our Own]

Day 10 the Whumptober, "Difficulty breathing"

Never in his life had Brasso felt so small.

He was one one of those kids who'd overgrown their parents at the age of twelve and could have passed for an adult at fifteen, if the light at the liquor store was low enough and the clerk doesnt know him that well.  

Now he was eighteen, lived alone, had a job, was, legally and in the minds of the others, an adult. And he felt like a child, scared and helpless and lost.

Few days ago, everything looked just fine. The Andors had to leave Ferrix for a couple of days, leaving their son Cassian behind despite all of his arguments - Brasso had heard them when he was passing their home by, and they would be much stronger if they hadn't been interrupted by Cassians constant sniffling - and Brasso had volunteered to be his babysitter. Not completely selflessly, he had to admit. Since he'd started working at the scrap yard, he was eating either whatever the canteen was serving, or instant meals so processed it was hard to tell them apart, so the conservator packed with homemade lunches and dinners was more than enough to bribe him. After all, how hard could it be? All he had to do was to make sure Cassian wouldn't skip school, that he would come home before it's dark, keep his jacket on and finish his food. Nothing complicated or hard to remember, and the kid was still small enough that Brasso could just throw him over his shoulder and carry him wherever he wanted, would the kid decide to misbehave.

The first day and the second one, nothing that important had happened. Cassian was sulky and argued about every single thing, but still - he was twelve. It was almost cute. He kept on sniffling and coughing a little, from whatever little bug that was bothering him, and from the dense lid of smog that hung over the town in the last few weeks. 

The third day, when Brasso finished his shift and arrived back at Andor’s house, Cassian was already there. He was curled up on the couch under a patchwork blanket, Holonet tuned in on one of that endless series but it didn’t seem like he was really listening.

“Are you okay over there, kid?”

Cassian mumbled something into a pillow, a little too low to understand, and pulled the blanket higher over himself. Brasso frowned. It wasn’t like him to be this quiet. He kneeled next to the couch. Cassian looked pale, thin strands of hair plastered to his face with sweat. Air rattled slightly in his chest with every breath. 

Brasso felt the weight of anxiety growing slowly in his stomach. Maybe he should contact the Andors, but they were parsecs away, and they have enough to worry about without Brasso’s panicking. He breathed in and out, calming his frazzled nerves. It was just a cold. Nothing that a cup of tea and a bit of sleep couldn’t fix. 

Few hours later, and what started as just a cold turned into something much worse.

Cassian lied in his bed, pillows under his hips and warm compress over his back. He managed to fall asleep for maybe a couple of minutes. The rest of the time, his coughing - ugly, choking sounds that seemed to rattle his whole body - kept him awake. Brasso had already gone through the med kit dozens of times, trying to find something. Anything that would work. But even if the herbal mixes that made up the most of it, and the few different pills he’d found could help, they would need to stay inside Cassian to do so. And everything, even plain water, would come back up in seconds. If Brasso even managed to force Cassian into swallowing.

In the end, the most he could do was to sit on the bed, Cassian’s head propped on his knees, fingers running through his hair, trying to calm him down while the kid whimpered and coughed, and to hope that it would somehow sort itself out. Sometimes, he mumbled something in a language Brasso didn't know, soft syllables so different from the well known rhythm of Basic. Maybe it was Festian.

Around midnight  it became  clear there was no way he could manage it alone. The last fit left Cassian completely  limp, and it took almost a minute -  the longest minute in Brasso’s life - of shaking and pleading before he would finally take another breath. Brasso only stopped to put on his shoes before he gathered Cassian in his arms and ran out. He burned, fingers clawing at Brasso’s back as he fought for air.

The scrapyard’s infirmary had to be still open for the night shift.        

Brasso knew the medic. It was an unpleasant guy who seemed permanently pissed off that he ended up where he was, and took it out on anyone who dared to disturb him. Brasso was ready to punch him in the face when necessary. It wasn’t, and somehow, that filled him with even more dread than before. 

“We should send him to Morlana,” the medic said, face grimm: “to some bigger hospital, where they could actually help him.”

Brasso shook his head. He knew damn well Andors don't have that kind of money. No one here got them. He grabbed Cassian’s hand, small and thin and still way too warm, careful not to disturb the needle in the back of it. He swept his hair out of his face, almost completely obscured by a mask meant for someone much bigger. “He will pull through here,” he said, forcing every bit of fear out of his voice. The medic nodded, and didn’t argue with him.  

“He will pull through,” he repeated, as if it could help somehow.   

[casspurrjoybell-19]

Does it Matter? - Chapter 28 - Part 1

*Warning Adult Content*

After Maric was done talking to each of his men individually, he went back to camp and opened up a couple of bottles of wine to share with his men and they played cards and talked as a group about what the future might hold for them.

Overall, the mood of the group seemed to be one of excitement.

Every one of his men had agreed to go with him wherever he led but they weren't just doing it out of duty.

These were ambitious, skilled men and they were hungry for adventure, something they had mostly been denied in their time serving Maric.

A prince was not to be put in dangerous or unpredictable situations, after all.

As the sun went down, the cold crept in and Maric retreated to his tent where Dara was waiting for him.

Bug was there too and awake for once.

Maric offered him a nod of acknowledgement before crawling under the blanket next to Dara.

"Your hands are cold," Dara told him.

"Oh, sorry," Maric said.

Dara shook his head.

"It wasn't a complaint. Come here. I'll warm you up."

This was what Maric would rather die than ever lose.

Dara's arm around him, cuddling him close, his hand holding Maric's against his chest and rubbing it warm.

Before he'd met Dara, Maric had thought a romantic partner was little more than someone you were sexually monogamous with.

There were so many emotional layers he hadn't even been aware of.

Brayan slipped into the tent, gave Maric a nod of acknowledgement and headed straight for Bug.

Bug was already reaching his arms up for Brayan as he got close.

Brayan sat down next to him and paid little mind to Bug's awkward attempts to cling at him.

"Have you eaten?"

"Hmm," Bug said.

"Are you warm enough?"

"Well... maybe I could be warmer..." Bug said coyly.

Maric buried a huff of laughter against Dara's shoulder.

Brayan had been trying to keep things within his comfort zone, to play the role of dedicated but distant carer but he'd put himself in a corner now.

Brayan was silent for a moment and then he climbed under the blankets and lay down with Bug without comment.

Maric had been distantly aware of Dara's hands wandering while he'd been distracted by Brayan and Bug but it wasn't until Dara crawled on top of him and straddled his hips that Maric realised that he'd unbuttoned Maric's shirt.

Maric sat up just far enough to pull it all the way off and then dragged Dara in for a kiss.

When they paused to catch their breaths, Maric glanced over at Brayan and Bug.

At first he thought they were just laying side by side doing nothing but then he noticed the telling movement of Bug's hand beneath the blanket.

Maric stripped Dara of his shirt and then everything else had to wait a moment as he gave into the temptation to give the supple skin between his neck and shoulder a gentle bite.

Dara made a sound in the back of his throat as he arched his hips and then began fumbling to get his pants off.

Brayan was on top of Bug now, blankets tossed aside.

Brayan was no longer pretending to be aloof and disinterested.

Lust had taken him or... well, not entirely.

Bug made a quiet sound of discomfort and lifted his hand in a request for pause and Brayan immediately stopped and patiently readjusted their positioning until Bug nodded his approval and they kept going.

Dara was naked but he also seemed to have half an eye on Brayan and Bug as he popped open the buttons on Maric's pants, whether out of concern, curiosity or well... something else.

Maric had to admit, when he'd agreed to share a tent, agreed that doing things in the tent while the other couple was there wouldn't be an issue, he hadn't quite envisioned it this way.

In his mind, there had been a layer of subtlety, an assumption that things would be done in a dark tent under blankets that they'd all be aware of but not necessarily truly a witness to.

There was no subtlety here on any of their parts and the more things heated up, the less Maric cared.

He kicked off his pants and pulled Dara in for another kiss.

When they paused for breath, they both turned to look at Brayan and Bug.

Brayan was two fingers deep within Bug.

Maric hadn't been expecting that.

The only people Maric had ever seen Brayan fuck had been whores and they didn't expect such things and when Brayan was the one being fucked he certainly didn't want that from Maric.

Bryana slipped his fingers out and Bug let out a moan mixed with a whimper as Brayan replaced them with his cock.

Dara was openly enjoying the show.

Maric considered feeling jealous but honestly, it was quite the sight.

Maric half wondered what would happen if he went over there himself after they were done and gave Brayan a good fucking.

He wouldn't do it because there were too many hearts tied up in all of this but he couldn't help but wonder if Dara would enjoy watching that, too.

Maric tipped Dara off of himself and laid him on his side, hugging him from behind so that they could both keep watching.

Dara pulled the blankets out of the way as Maric wrapped his hand around him.

Bug's eyes were on them now, too, watching as Maric stroked his hand up and down Dara's cock.

Maric had seen Brayan fuck enough times that he could tell he was being gentle with Bug.

He was typically a man who would bend his partner over and a have quick, rough fuck and then be done with things but of the four of them, he was the one most focused on and attentive to his own partner.

Maric's cock pressed against the cleft of Dara's buttocks and he clutched Dara close against himself as he rubbed himself on him.

It would never be enough to get him over the edge but he needed the friction.

The trembling of Dara's body suggested he was close.

Bug watched them through the slits of his eyes, teeth digging into his lip as Brayan picked up the pace.

Maric matched their rhythm with his hand on Dara's cock.

It was Brayan who came first, a sharp exhale and a firm thrust forward followed by a stilling of his hips, the only indication that he'd finished.

He didn't pull out right away as he normally would have, though.

He kept one hand on Bug's hip, holding the two of them together and put the other to work on Bug's cock.

Maric needed more stimulation.

He rolled Dara over onto his back and shuffled backwards until he could get his mouth around him and then wrapped his hand around his own cock.

It didn't take Dara much longer, his hand tapping a warning on Maric's shoulders seconds before he thrust up into Maric's mouth and drew in a startled gasp as he came.

After swallowing down everything Dara had to offer, Maric straddled Dara's lap and dedicated his full attention to his own pleasure.

Dara watched him, one hand under his head and the other gently stroking Maric's hip, the hint of a smile on his face.

Maric came across Dara's stomach, his eyes on Dara's face the whole time.

Something light hit him in the shoulder and he looked down to see a wash-cloth.

Brayan gave him a nod as he crawled under the blankets next to Bug.

It looked like they had finished up with things first and were tucking in for the night now.

Maric cleaned Dara up with the wash-cloth and then they cuddled down together under the blankets.

There were a few things Maric needed to think about and maybe some they would need to talk about, too but for now Maric just wanted to be sleepy and content with the man he loved.