#bug with one side of legs shorter than the other

[delor-art]

bug scribble

[evolutionsvoid]

While the hair fields offer valuable resources for any household or village, like any wild place, one should be wary of danger. Even in a place as luscious as this, caution should be taken. For stalking these fields are predators, with one of the most common being the Razorbacks. These large fleas are on the hunt for prey, using their thin bodies to slip through the thick hairs with ease. They are quiet and they are fast, usually traveling in packs of three to five. Usual targets are beasts like the field louse and demodon, which they sneak up on and take down in a flash. Their powerful hind limbs allow them to pounce with great speed and strength, and their modified fore limbs are like giant fangs to pierce prey. They typically try to blindside their target and attack where they cannot reach. For the likes of demodons, they try to get them from the side, targeting between the rows of legs so that these large limbs block the brunt of the spiny tail's attempts to thrash them.

Their weapons and numbers make them efficient hunters, and their packs are highly coordinated to pull off these attacks. Pack leaders are typically signified by having the largest bladed crest upon their back, usually grown due to receiving more food than the others. These same sharp growths can also serve as weapons in a pinch, particularly against predators who would threaten them. They will launch themselves at their foe and spin their bodies, turning them into a razor disc that can cleave deep into flesh. Due to the spinning and the use of their own body as a projectile, their aim is not the greatest. This is why it isn't used for hunting and more for fighting off attackers, as often the mere threat of being sawed in half by this is enough to drive away foes, which means they don't have to land the hit for it to be effective.

As predators who can down a variety of prey, Razorbacks don't hesitate to put man on the menu if there are no better options. Obviously a nice juicy demodon would feed them for far longer, but one doesn't always have the luxury to be picky. Thus, folk who go into these fields to harvest keratin or eggs need to be wary and armed. Keep an eye on the hair, and watch for any movements that don't match the natural flow. With a sharp eye, you may be able to spot the tips of their blades poking out in shorter patches. If one does suspect they are being stalked by Razorbacks: do not panic and do not run. They are counting on fear driving prey to blind escape, and they are most certainly faster than you. Instead, have your group go back to back, so that you have no blind spots. If they charge, stand your ground, as it is often a fake out that is meant to make you run. Stand tall, try to make yourself look bigger and make a ton of noise. Razorbacks rely on ambush and striking weak points to drop prey, so if this stealth and surprise is taken away from them, they are less likely to attack. And if you are by yourself in the hair field without anyone to watch your back.....well that was a mistake you shouldn't have made today.

Though Razorbacks tend to be seen as scary predators of these fields, there have been instances where they can be trained as hunting companions. Beastmasters obviously are capable of such a feat, but some more regular folk have been able to rear them from larvae and develop a partnership. With strong senses, quick speed and sharp blades, they serve well as trackers and ambushers. Some fools have suggested that trained Razorbacks are finer hunters than hyaenas, which may be true in some areas, but one must remember that these bugs are not fully domesticated like those beasts. As social creatures in need of a pack leader, there can be times where even trained Razorbacks begin to wonder about their status in this strange "pack." Running into others of their kind may awaken a need within them, or the stumbling of their owner may present an opportunity of "advancement..."

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

"Razorback"

Alright, last of the hair field denizens! For now at least. Also, this is like round two or three of me turning fleas into wolves.

[tickle-bugs]

Cool Guy

Anon: Heya! If you're still doing them, could you make a tickle fic on Luke and Han but js Han getting Luke? I love the whole Luke being like Hans lil bro 😭 An idea being maybe Luke is embarrassing Han in front of Leia and Han gets him back, Leia maybe helping Han a bit? I like your fics a lot haha! It's alr if not ofc, js have a good day! :D <3

Summary: Han is cool, suave, and absolutely irresistible. Luke vehemently disagrees.

Han knows logically that he cannot not squish the galaxy’s last hope like a bug. That would be unwise. There is, however, zero question of if he deserves it.

Luke is almost better at being a little shit than he is at being a Jedi.

“Princess!” Han leans against the wall. The Falcon’s internals hum behind it. Leia looks up at him blankly. 

“Pest.” She takes a bite of a sandwich. “What do you want?”

Nothing. Not a thing. He just loves the irritated curve of her eyebrow, the sharpness of her gaze, the curl of her lips--

“I’d love it if you’d stop taking what’s not yours.” He nods towards the sandwich. Leia regards it, then makes deep eye contact on her next bite. Han chuckles in something like disbelief, but he knows her. Knows how she likes to provoke. 

“Nice boys share their food.” She takes another bite.

“Well, I ain’t nice. Keep your thieving little hands to yourself.” Han considers wrapping up the sandwich, just to be petty, but he knows she hardly takes interest in his things unless she needs something. He could find something else to eat. 

“Or else what?” She plays with the crust of the bread. Eye contact. God, he loves this game of theirs. She leaves him breathless too often for his liking, though. As he flounders for a comeback, he hears a high-pitched noise from the other side of the room. 

Luke. Great. 

“What are you wearing?” Luke laughs incredulously. Han looks down at himself. He’d put on a fur vest today instead of his usual cargo one. It was something he’d snatched off some mook that’d tried to set him up with a dishonest deal. It’s old and it smells a little funny, but he likes it. It’s his now. 

“Wh—it’s a vest. It’s cold.” Han frowns. 

“You look like Chewie shed on you.” Luke leans his hip against the doorway as he settles in to mock. There’s a Wookiee outcry of indignation from the cockpit that goes unanswered.

“It’s a fashion statement.” Han adjusts his posture, gives them a new angle. Luke snorts. Han scowls.

“What exactly are you stating?” Leia rests her chin in her hands. She’s got a crumb on her cheek. He does not think about brushing it away. 

“You’re both terrible.” Han stomps off to change. 

“Right back atcha!” Leia calls after him. Her laughter is sweet, even at his expense. 

….

Run-ins with Empire patrols always put Han on a fine edge--he’s a well-oiled machine with Chewie at his back, but recent additions to the Falcon have proven…distracting. As he slams them into a hyperspace jump, the twins’ noise somehow drowns out the noise of the engine. Leia’s complaining that he took too many risks, Luke’s insisting he took too little, and Han’s half tempted to spin send the Falcon into a barrel roll just to hear a different sound.

Chewie won’t let him. The honorable bastard.

The moment they finish the jump, Han swivels out of his chair and goes…well, he’s not sure where he’s going, but he knows he needs to see and hear something besides Luke crunching angrily on crackers. 

Leia follows on Han’s heels, Luke follows on hers, and Han considers just ejecting himself from the airlock and being done with it. 

“If you want to die, be my guest, but don’t put us at risk for your ego.” Leia smacks his chest. Han can’t tell if he’s imagining the lingering touch of her fingers. 

“No, you’d miss me too much.” He fires back, pulling out of her grasp. He takes long strides, taking a petty sort of joy in hearing significantly shorter legs scramble after him. 

“Not a chance in hell,” Leia snarls, snatching the back of his vest. He whirls around. 

“Yes, you would, because things are boring without me. You like having me around.” He leans into her space. She stands her ground. 

“The fate of the galaxy is boring?” She conveniently ignores that last part. Han doesn’t miss it. 

“It is without me. Face it, princess. You’re attached.” He puts his hands on his hips. Leia’s face turns an interesting color.

“Ha! See? Attached!” Han points triumphantly. Leia smacks his hand away. 

“I didn’t say anything!”

“You didn’t need to. The truth’s all over your face.” He circles that pointer finger in her face. She smacks it hard enough to bruise this time. 

“The truth that I can’t stand you, more like. You’re arrogant, reckless, irresponsible—“

“And exactly your type.” Han grins. “You like having me around. Meanwhile, I’m cool, casual, and unattached.” Han clicks his tongue. Leia attempts to burn a hole through his forehead with her gaze. He worries for a moment that she might. 

“Really?” Luke crunches loudly. “I heard you telling Chewie that you like having us around. That you wouldn’t know what you’d do without us. Didn’t sound very cool and casual.” 

“I was drunk.” Han’s face burns. Leia snorts. Han scowls. 

“Drunk mind, sober thoughts.” Luke grins teasingly, waving a chip in his face. Han tries to snatch the bag, but Luke twirls effortlessly out of the way. Damn Jedi. 

“Sounds like you’re attached, laser brain.” Leia circles her finger in his face, and Han wonders if turning himself in to the Empire might be better for his ego.

…

Han’s not sure when his game with Leia stopped being a game and started being this, but he’s not complaining. He’s made out in worse storage rooms than the ones on the Falcon. They’d started with fetching a rations restock, devolved into bickering, and, well…their arguments usually end in violence or the threat of it, so Leia trying to climb him like a tree is a much-welcomed departure from form.

Normally Han’s great at keeping his emotions in a cold, dark little box where he never has to deal with them, but Leia looked so pretty yelling at him that he just…had to kiss her. He knew at that moment he’d die if he didn’t. It’s not the first time they’ve kissed and he hopes it won’t be the last, but each touch with Leia is like drifting closer to the beautiful terror of the sun. The best part, the overwhelming part, is that she wants him too. 

All of that would’ve been well and good, great even, if Luke hadn’t been standing in the doorway. 

Luke and Leia have some kind of stare-off that Han suspects involves their twinness--there’s lots of flustered, offended noises without words being uttered. Luke raises his eyebrow in a way that really seems to get to Leia, because she splutters, which she expressly does not do. 

“Don’t you start! I tolerate him!” She glares at Luke, her cheeks turning red. 

“Aww.” Han smirks. She elbows him in the ribs.

“With your mouth?” Luke’s near hysterical. 

“Among other things.” Han smirks wider. Luke’s face twists in sheer disgust. 

“Shut up,” Leia hisses, blushing and hitting him harder. He grins.

Luke levels a finger at Han, a habit he picked up from him in the first place, and then stalks off. 

“Chances he knifes me in my sleep?” 

“Lower than me doing it myself.” Leia swats his arm once more for good measure, but she’s still glowing, and Han thinks he might want to see that smile of hers for the rest of his life.

“I’ll take those odds.” 

The difference between Luke and his sister, in Han’s opinion, is that Luke’s noise goes inwards. Leia will scream at Han until she’s red in the face and then she’ll miraculously find more air. Luke gets quiet and vengeful, which is why Han starts to suspect foul play the third time he trips over thin air. 

Han really wants to fight back, but every time he opens his mouth, Leia’s lurking around some dark corner. 

On hour three of Luke’s temper tantrum, Han’s eye begins to twitch. He’s probably bruised every inch of his shins by now, he’s tired, and he thinks if he can close his eyes for an hour he might remember how to function. Just a sweet, Skywalkerless hour. 

Han drags his hand over his face as he walks off to his cabin. He finds Luke standing in the hall like an omen. He doesn’t move when Han approaches. The little furrow in his brow is probably meant to be intimidating, and maybe one day it will be, but Han can’t bring himself to care. 

The desire to lay down overcomes his rational thought, and he does to Luke what he often does to Leia: jams his hands under Luke’s arms and lifts him out of the way.

Except, unlike Leia, Luke doesn’t try to kick him. He lets out a giggle at a pitch Han didn’t know he was capable of. 

Han pauses, raising an eyebrow at the rapidly-reddening Jedi in his arms. He twitches his fingers. Luke chokes out a surprised laugh. 

Han’s suddenly not tired anymore. Funny, that. 

“Han, don’t you dare, c’mon--”

Han sets Luke down but doesn’t release him--he viciously wiggles his fingers where they’re trapped under Luke’s arms. He goes down like a sack of droid components, filling the Falcon with bright, bouncy laughter it so desperately needs. 

“You get a minute for every bruise, and my shins are looking mighty purple.” Han whistles lowly, pressing into the gaps between Luke’s ribs. Luke lets out a giggly hiccup and kicks his legs. 

“That’s not f-fair!” Luke clutches Han’s arms desperately. Han twitches his fingers and he curls up, shaking his head. Han distantly wonders when Luke last laughed like this. If he ever has. 

“Yeah? Tell me about it. Pick on someone your own size and maybe life will be fairer.” Han tries to keep his stare blank, but his mouth quirks up at the corners. Luke lets out an indignant gasp, but he quickly tumbles right back down into laughter.

“Let go,” Luke growls, his whole face scrunching around his smile. 

“Kid, I can’t let you go if you’ve got my hands.” Han gives a dramatic tug. He stops, raising his eyebrow expectantly. Luke pouts--pouts!--at him and lifts his arms at glacial pace. Han pulls away…

…and goes right for Luke’s exposed stomach. His shout of betrayal mixes beautifully with his laughter.

“Rookie mistake,” Leia tuts, snickering at Luke’s misfortune. Han jumps at her appearance--man, he should put a bell on these two--and Luke takes that as a signal to start wriggling away. Han reels him back in with a hearty laugh.

“Leia, fetch your--” Han cuts Luke off with a squeeze to the side before he can say anything embarrassing. 

“You gonna help, Your Worship? Or are you above getting your hands dirty?” Han casts a glance at Leia. 

“Never.” Leia smirks, kneeling beside Luke. They stare at each other for a long, tense while. Leia’s gaze drifts over him the same way she sifts through a plan for holes, until she stops at his knees. 

Luke’s eyes widen. Leia grins.

She latches on like a viper and Luke squeals, drumming his feet on the ground. He throws his head back and cackles himself into silence, flopping around uselessly. 

“Remind me to stay on your good side,” Han chuckles, a little nervous.

“You’re notoriously bad at it,” she smirks. Han swears he feels the ghost of her fingers on his own legs. He shudders.

Luke’s surrender is less of a cry and more of a wheeze, but they let him go quickly all the same. He tosses his arm over his glowing face with a great, heaving sigh.

“You alright over there?” Han chuckles, nudging Luke’s boot. He lifts his arm to glare.

“I hate you.”

“I know.” Han pats his ankle. Luke kicks him. Han squeezes his knee and he immediately blurts out a tired, giggly apology. 

“Stop being a little shit and trying to trip me up. It’s not gonna work. Too cool for that.” Han pats Luke’s stomach. 

Warm hands wrap around his waist and he leans back, scaring himself with how easily he fits into Leia’s arms. She hooks her chin over his shoulder.

“Are you ready?” She murmurs, brushing her fingers over the fabric of his shirt. 

“Ready for what?” His hand finds hers. He’s more than ready, if he’s reading this right. She’s rarely like this beyond closed doors, and it sends a thrill through him. Her lips brushing his ear drives him just a little crazy. He starts to stand, but she pulls him back down. 

“To be tripped up.” She smirks. He feels it. 

“Wh—“ 

Leia’s fingers dig in with deadly accuracy. Han crumples and his bravado goes with him. Loud, hearty laughter bursts from him as he slides to the floor, boneless in her arms.

“Aw, look at you cool guy.” Luke sidles up next to him with a shit eating grin. He tickles mockingly under Han’s chin and he, mortifyingly, giggles. Luke chases the sound, having way too much fun for Han’s liking. 

Han growls and tries to kick him. Leia’s fingers find his hips—cruel and unusual—and he’s toast. He resigns himself to die in her lap, which isn’t the overall worst way to go, and makes a mental note to write Luke out of his will. 

As long as Chewie thinks he’s cool, he supposes it’s still a net win. 

[demonslayedher]

Will you continue the soft au that you created? (*´∀｀)

I'm very interested in your interpretation plus, you've inspired me to create my own.

Ah yes, this one, the most popular post in my whole blog! It even beat out the Shinobu-Akaza Friendship one which has been going around for a few years. I'm glad it inspired you to make your own, because there can never be too many fix-it AUs. ^_^

Good news! Aside from this goofy follow-up to that piece, I have some older pieces of fanart which are oddly similar! This one (which I really like, except that I look at it now and dismiss it as not good because I drew Mitsuri shorter than Iguro), and this old one (which was not quite the same, since everybody is simply healthy and not beat up).

It's only half as happy, but I also got really attached to this three-part Fate-Swap one. What I did with the survivors in that one also influenced a lot of my thinking on the Softer Time AU.

So with that all out of the way, how about just some new headcanons for the AU in question?

Rengoku: As he was dying, Tanjiro tearfully asked if there was any Breath technique to stop the bleeding. Rengoku smilingly replied "no," but then Tanjiro sniffled and asked, "Can you at least try????"

So he did, and that is how he survived a punch that went straight through his solar plexus. Barely, anyway. Breath technique is amazing!! The Kakushi who soon arrived on the scene are even more amazing!!!! None the less, he has a very difficult recovery.

Oyakata-sama and family: He sure had everybody convinced he perished, huh? Joke's on you, the mansion had a trap door.

Once Muzan was defeated, the curse on his family was finally lifted, so he started making a slow recovery from his illness after that, including slowly regaining his sight little by little. Once he's in better shape, Amane wants to go on a romantic getaway.

Himejima: So that curse on the Ubuyashiki family? Turns out The Mark was likewise only a curse, and it too has been lifted! Losing a leg can't keep this man down, of course, he's just too strong.

Still, he got close enough to death that he got a nice visit from his ghost kids, and when he woke up, sure enough, that Kakushi at his side was Sayo! She aids him in his recovery.

Himejima eventually finds out about Kaigaku from Zenitsu. He is saddened and cries.

Now that he doesn't need to train, Himejima become the Crazy Cat Man. His home is a cat shelter. After a year or so his shipper heart gets antsy and he starts annoying other Hashira to hurry up and have kids.

Sanemi: Hangs out with Oyakata-sama's kids a lot. Is really annoyed with Himejima bugging him to get a girlfriend. Since this is a Softer Time, Sanemi is busy making up for lost time with his brother anyway.

Shinobu: She managed to be swallowed whole by Douma without getting seriously injured in the process. She has burns from being partially digested (an idea I picked up from @sweetreichel) and this was enough for the poison to have the desired effect. As Douma's body starts to melt, Inosuke reaches in and pulls her out, much to her surprise.

Because this is a Softer Time, we're going to say that this Shinobu-Inosuke interaction, and this Shinobu-Inosuke interaction, and especially this Shinobu-Inosuke interaction (or something like it) has occurred.

This is no longer a world in which Inosuke takes to Nezuko like she's a mother figure, noooo. Shinobu is now his mother figure whom he dotes on. Shinobu is slightly weirded out by it, but this is her dashing rescuer, after all, so she soon makes peace with Inosuke's attention and care. She doesn't feel good in her recovery anyway; it's nice to get rides on a trusty steed. All this leverage means she finally convinces him to let her (or rather, Aoi) wash that dang animal head, at least.

So is this a GiyuShino AU? I suppose it has the opportunity to be. If Giyuu indicates any interest in Shinobu, he's going to need Inosuke's approval. And Inosuke gives it easily, because Han-Han-Haori is strong. But if Shinobu shows any indication of having a crush on Giyuu, Himejima is going to squash it the moment he bugs her to hurry up and have kids.

Iguro & Mitsuri: This is pretty much a repeat of the Fate-Swap AU.

Iguro promises to marry her as he thinks they are dying, but she wakes from her coma before he does happily anticipating that he'll keep his promise in this life. It's a bit of a relief that he's probably lost his sight, because the damage to her ear and jaw is pretty ghastly; not to mention her belly was cut pretty deeply. She's accepted with disappointment that she probably would not be able to have children, which is why she has not asked for any details on that (to which question a doctor would respond, "nope, that all looks good." Likewise, being too quick to accept Iguro's blindness means no one has asked about the actual state of his eye injuries, to which a doctor would respond, "Yeah, one of them should still work once the bandages are off.")

Iguro is stunned to find himself still alive and full of tainted blood, and he tries to insist that his promise was under the understanding that they were both dying, which makes Mitsuri upset that he didn't mean it and he doesn't actually want it, which of course is not what he means at all, so he has to fully explain himself.

Mitsuri is understanding but also points out that this is very silly, and that she's not so good of a bride either, so they deserve each other fully, the good and the bad. Iguro is so eased by her words that he feels washed clean, especially for having lost so much blood in ridding the world of demons.

And then, surprise!! He can see her after all! And then, surprise!!! They can have babies after all! Himejima is also as thrilled as they are.

Giyuu: Look at him!! He smiles!!!!!! And he has so many people who talk to him!!!!!!! Which means they're finally going to hold him accountable for acting like he was better than them. Giyuu is flattened with the realization that this is what everyone thought he meant when he said he was "different" from them, and he must explain himself. If there is a hole, he wants to go into it.

But!!! They forgive him?????? They accept him?????????

Well, sure they do, but he can't stop smiling and it's starting to weird everyone out.

Uzui: As usual, he is busy being a family man. He finds it kind of funny to hide from Himejima the fact that one of his wives had a baby. Himejima is really hurt when he finds out and Uzui feels terrible. If there is a hole, he wants to disappear into a puff of smoke in it.

Muichiro: Watch out world, that mouth of his is only going to get worse in his later teen years. He and Kotetsu are going to annoy everybody.

Muichiro hangs out with a lot of different people, since the whole Corp feels like his family. When he's not being treated like Kanamori's adoptive son, he's often goes over for dinner with the Ubuyashiki family, where he winds up hanging out with Sanemi. However, because they are closer in age and have more shared experiences, he is more naturally inclined to form a friendship with Genya.

Muichiro also hangs out at the Rengoku estate, because everybody loves Rengoku, and it's still hard for him to go out much on the days when his old injuries bother him. Again, being closer in age, Muichiro winds up forming more of a friendship with Senjuro, who happens to be Kotetsu's penpal via Tanjiro's introduction. Genya also knows Kotetsu but doesn't really hang out with him until Kotetsu is a little older, and eventually the four of them are a squad. Tanjiro is sort of an honorary member of this unofficial squad, but Muichiro and Kotetsu find themselves bullying Zenitsu and Inosuke a bit.

[bitchywitchyvibes666]

Brains and books

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was Spencer's favourite time of day, when the library was at its quietest and the sun was casting a gentle glow over the old almost gothic structure. Spencer sat in the furthest corner of the old stone building, away from the few people that lingered in the space that made up the main room, his head bowed slightly to focus on the hardback book that rested against his legs that were clad in pale brown slacks. His attention was completely taken in by the inked words that sat atop pages that were stained with age, it was only when a flash of red flickered past the top of the pages that his attention was finally gifted to something other than ink and paper.

His brown eyes flicking up over the top of the spin of his book, his brows furrowing slightly when he was only face with the endless rows of dark brown that made up the wooden bookshelves that were home to more books than most people could fathom. His head finally lifting so he could take a proper look around him, his eyes traveling between shelves until he landed on a river of crimson that seemed to almost glow in the streams of morning sun that streamed in from the large windows.

The mass of blood coloured hair was attacked to a person, a woman to be more precise, a woman who stood with her head tilted as far back a she could to look at the books that lined the wooden displays. She was short, shorter than average and much shorter than Spencer, if he had to say he'd give an estimate of around 5 foot to maybe 5 one or two.

God he felt creepy as he allowed his eyes to wonder across the landscape that was this stranger, his brown eyes focused on her hair and flicker to the way her pale right hand reached up to push it away from her face every couple of minutes. From the angle he was sitting he couldn't quite see her face, only peaks her small portions of her profile whenever she pushed her hair away before stubborn strands fell back into place.

Her skin was pale, almost too pale, had Spencer wondering if maybe she was sick or had a condition such as anaemia. He could see small flickers of blacks and red on her wrist whenever she moved her hair, tattoo maybe and Spencer couldn't help but wonder of what and if it ha some significant meaning to her. He watched the glint of her ring, that adorned her middle finger with a golden band and a small green gem, as she reached her hand up towards a book on a higher shelf before she paused. Spencer's head tilting ever so slightly to the side as he waited to see why she stopped when suddenly, blue met brown.

Balloon flowers. That's what shade of blue that her eyes reminded him off, he'd seen them once in a book and had been memorised by just how blue the flower naturally was. Her eyes were large but not unsettlingly so, more like a doll rather than a bug like most people would think but her nose was small and sat perfectly straight n the centre of her face. Her cheeks were rounded and slightly chubby but it wasn't unattractive on her, her lips were plump and seemed it be stained a natural red that was shined with what looked like a sticky gloss.

She was attractive, at least to Spencer, even with her rosy cheeks and the slight acne that marked her pale face. She was cute and pretty all at the same time and oh god he was still staring at her. He cleared his throat too hide the awkwardness that filled his veins as he quickly averted his eyes back to his book, trying desperately to focus on that and not the soft foot steps coming his way.

"I'm so sorry but do you think you could help me?"

Those words were spoken in a quiet whisper by his left, the Scottish accent clinging to every word that left gloss stained lips. Spencer could hear his heart beating against his ribs as he lifted his head slowly to look at her, his eyes meeting a set of white teeth sinking into sensitive red flesh as she nervously chewed her lower lip.

"Y-you just....you're taller than me and I'm struggling a bit, I'm so sorry for bothering you"

Spencer could sense the nervous before he heard them, the slight stutter and the way she seemed so genuine in her apology just made her all the cuter in Spencer's mind. He parted his lips as he tried to think of a way to reply, Spencer had never been this distracted by the way someone looked before but if she didn't put even the divine to shame especially up close.

All he could do was nod before he was putting his book down on the oak table in front of him and pulling himself out of the old arm chair he'd found home in while he read. He could still feel her presents as she trailed behind him while he walked towards the book shelf that had been stood in front of. Cherry blossom, that was the scent of her perfume, it was faint but stuck in Spencer's nose like he wanted to suffocate in it.

He cocked his head over his shoulder, waiting for her to tell him what book she had wanted. Of course he had a faint idea due to how long he had watched her but that would be creepy and he wanted to hear her voice again. Spencer would of thought he was having a heart attack if he didn't know any better when she smiled, it lit up her entire face and made the colour of her eyes almost see lighter and god he'd do anything to see it again.

He followed the slender manicured finger a she pointed to the one she had wanted, her nails were painted a pale pink with small bows by the cuticles. She had pointed to an old first addition of Edgar Allen Poe's poems, a book that had feature more of his almost romantic style poems. He could feel the way her eyes trailed over his arm and stayed focused on his hand as he reached up and pulled the book carefully from its home.

Their hands brushed as Spencer turned to fully face her and hand over the book but Spencer kept a slight grip on it as he felt her wrapped around the hardback, his brown eyes staring into hers as her blue eyes met his with confusion.

"Spencer, my name is Spencer...."

[givemea-dam-break]

hi my love, can you do anthony lockwood x reader

possibly with prompt 17 or 24 from the angst list?!? ive been craving some lockwood angst recently and i love your fics so who else could i ask to fulfill my needs

a/n: yes yes yes i have been dying for angst it’s my favourite thing to write. i'm so glad you like my fics! feeling honoured rn. this is shorter than some of my other fics, but i hope you like it!

warnings: angst, language prompts: "You're not my friend anymore, remember?" and "You left, you left, and now you have the gall to come back like nothing happened." gn reader

Your day couldn't have gone worse.

Originally, your plans for your first day off in weeks had been to spend your time in the library nearby, listening to the rain on the tall windows as you read in your favourite seat before stopping off to grab a takeaway on your way home.

Of course, things can never go to plan in a world haunted by ghosts.

To preface, the Visitors aren't the problem, not today at least.

You've reached a particularly good chapter of your book when things start to go wrong. You're completely content just reading away, sipping on some tea in your travel mug, when a shadow looms over the pages, making it hard to read.

Looking up, slightly irritated, you say, "Hey, do you mind moving, please?"

Then you see the face, and the irritation melts into something more: fury.

Anthony Lockwood stands before you, soaked with rain and dripping all over the floor. His hair, usually neatly brushed, looks like a wet rat, and his cheeks are flushed from the November chill. From the way he smiles, they remind you a little bit of apples. You like apples considerably more than you like him.

"What do you want?" you ask.

Lockwood points at the free chair next to you. "Can I sit?"

"Absolutely not."

"Right." He stuffs his hands into the pockets of his greatcoat. "Can we talk?"

"Also, no," you say, returning your attention to the book. "Goodbye."

A sigh. "(name), please, it's important."

"Important enough to bug me on my only day off? No, I don't think so."

You hope for a moment that he'll turn and walk away, but this is Anthony bloody Lockwood, and when does he ever listen to you? He moves, sinking into the seat beside you, and crossing his legs. You make a point of ignoring him, continuing to read the last paragraph you were on.

"We need your help."

No response. You keep on reading.

"(name), please. It's a big case, and we could really use your Talent."

Again, you ignore him, silently mouthing the words as you read them. Your focus on him strays, and for a minute it's as if he's no longer there, but the scent of bitter tea and citrusy shampoo lingers, taunting you.

Swiftly, you shut your book and stand, grabbing your bag. The action seems to shock Lockwood, and his daze gives you enough time to slip the book back into its slot on the shelves and storm out of the library.

Alas, Lockwood has long legs and catches up momentarily.

"I don't want to talk to you," you grumble, pulling your hood over your hair as you step out into the rain.

"I know, and that's my fault, but, please, listen this once. We -"

"Need my help. Yeah, I got that." Squeezing through a crowd of kids heading into the library, you continue, "But, thing is, I'm not an agent anymore. And, even if I was, you're not my friend anymore, remember? You gave up that right months ago. I wouldn't help you even if my life depended on it."

That stops him short. You keep on walking, arms crossed tightly over your chest.

"You're not an agent anymore?" he asks, catching up once more.

You scoff. "Haven't been since that last case we went on, and I don't plan on becoming one again."

Judging from his expression, he hasn't taken the news lightly. He almost looks betrayed, and that makes you want to strangle him. He's got no right.

"Why not?"

"Because," you say, stopping at the side of the pavement, out of the way of other people, "you left. You left me there, Lockwood. And now you have the gall to come back like nothing happened! You don't just do that."

His frowns. "I didn't leave you."

You want to scream at him, to pull your hair out. It feels like you're about to explode from the rage you're feeling.

"Yes, you left. I was left in that goddamn maze of a mansion by myself while you and George, what? Went to go have some celebratory doughnuts? Not all of the sources were secured, Lockwood. I almost died trying to get out of there."

"I didn't -" His face blanches, and he looks like he's going to be sick. "We thought we'd secured them all."

"Well, you didn't. Want to know why I didn't go back to Portland Row for a week before getting my stuff? I was in the hospital recovering from ghost touch. Took my a month to regain full use of my right arm, you know. I almost lost my arm, in fact. But you didn't ask, you just stood and watched as I packed my stuff."

That makes him angry. "What was I meant to do? There was no stopping you."

"I wanted you to try," you say, and your voice wavers. His expression softens. "If you'd tried, I might've stayed. I might've forgiven you. But you just watched. You never asked me where I was for that week. No, you were busy revelling in your success and hiring other agents."

"We needed another agent, anyways."

"You should've checked on the one you had!" Your breathing is heavy, and your head hurts from the myriad of emotions swirling around. "I'm not - I'm not doing this right now. Today was meant to be a good day. Goodbye, Lockwood. Don't come see me again."

You start to walk away, but his hand clasps around your wrist. Scowling, you tug it from his grip, looking at him incredulously.

"I'm sorry, (name)," he says. In his defence, he's being genuine, but that doesn't mean that you're having any of it. "I am. About all of it. Please, can we talk it out?"

Thank god for the rain, because it hides the tears in your eyes. "No. I - I'm going home, and you're going to leave me alone. I don't want to see you again."

Lockwood's jaw goes slack. "Please, I'm sorry. I can't lose you."

"The minute you left me alone on that case, you lost me," you say. "I don't care how sorry you are. It does nothing. It doesn't stop me from seeing the moment I almost died every night when I sleep. It doesn't change the fact that I don't trust you anymore."

"(name) -"

"I pray that your new agent, Lucy, 'the Superstar' - that's what you called her on live TV, right? - I pray she doesn't have the same fate. I hope things work out well for you, Lockwood, truly, but that doesn't mean we'll ever be friends again. Now, I'm going home."

"Please don't go." His voice is a little shaky. It's the most emotion you've seen from him other than that fake smile he gives to the press. "Please, I'll do better."

You shake your head. Then, wordlessly, you turn and make your silent, miserable trek home.

[abugeatbugworld]

Friends in Low Places

Hey guys! My friend @theowlgoesmoo is writing this really interesting story about what would happen if Hopper kidnapped Dot after the gang's first trip to the anthill. It inspired me to write this shorter story about one of Dot's experiences during that time, featuring a new character: Hopper's nephew, Nymph.

The story is finished and I'll be adding installments to ao3 over the next week or so, but in the meantime you can read the first part of it below!

“Hey, runt!”

Dot’s spine went rigid at the sound of his voice. She clenched her fists, doing her best to ignore the goosebumps crawling along her skin.

“What do you want, Nymph?” she demanded. Her voice cracked on the last word, which sounded like an insult but was actually the name of the insect addressing her.

There was a whirring of wings, then a voice so close to her antennae it made her jump.

“Look at me when I’m talking to you, brat.”

Dot gritted her teeth. It was Offering Day at an ant colony far from the sombrero, which meant most of the gang would be gone until close to sunset. The mosquitos who usually worked the bar were taking their lunch break by the lake, which was probably a strategic move on Nymph’s part. He always found ways to get her when she was alone.

She reluctantly obeyed the order, turning until she was eye level with Hopper’s nephew.

Even though Nymph was one of the younger and therefore shorter members of the gang, he still had four seasons and at least two full inches on her. Right now he was squatting as low as his legs would allow him to, which was somehow worse than when he loomed above her. That’s because it gave Dot a clear view of his face, which was narrower than most of the other grasshoppers’ and dotted with small bumps along his chin and forehead. His exoskeleton was a mottled brown and green, which Dot assumed meant that his dad — the mate of Hopper’s dead sister — was the same sickly green color as the rest of the gang.

At first glance he wasn’t an ugly bug to look at, but the more time Dot spent around him, the more she got to know him.

The more she got to know him, the uglier he became.

Nymph’s skinny face split into a smile. “Much better!” he exclaimed, pinching her cheek painfully between his thumb and forefinger. “I just wanted to see that cute little face of yours.”

Dot shook her head free from the grasshopper’s grip and folded her arms across her chest. She could feel her heart hammering against her wrist. “What do you want? I still have a bunch of chores to do before your Uncle Hopper gets back.”

Nymph stuck his lower lip out in a pout. “Why do you never want to spend time with me, huh? You’re always hanging out with my Uncle Molt. I hear you two laughing and having a great time together. Why don’t we do that?”

“Because your Uncle Molt is nice to me,” Dot deadpanned, her wings buzzing with irritation.

“I’m not nice to you?”

Her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach. Nymph was circling her now, his eyes flashing with wicked-looking glee. She had to spin in place to keep pace with him, which only made her feel disoriented. Part of her wished he would just get whatever horrid thing he was about to do to her over with so she could get back to her work.

Then she felt hot breath on the back of her neck.

“My Uncle Molt has never shown you a cactus up close, has he?”

Cold hands closed around Dot’s torso, pinning her arms against her sides. A scream escaped her as Nymph lifted her into the air and launched into flight. Bar stools and tables whirred dizzily past them, and Dot found herself squinting against the bursts of sunlight cutting through the gaps in the woven straw of the sombrero.

Nymph landed on the other side of the sombrero, right in front of the feather cactus that served as one of the bar’s few decorations. A single pink flower, its petals bigger than Dot’s whole body, bloomed from the side of it. She found herself being held less than an inch away from it.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Nymph sneered from below, his fingers tightening around her with each word. “Doesn’t it make you want to take a closer look?”

Dot squirmed in his grasp. Molt had shown her this very plant in the early days of their friendship, warning her to keep her distance from it.

“Those dandelion-looking things around the flower may look soft and cuddly, but underneath them are thorns even sharper than Thumper’s teeth.”

Molt saw the look on Dot’s face.

“Sorry, sorry! It was the best analogy I could think of. I’m just trying to say you should stay away from the cactus. Just like you should stay away from Thumper.

I mean…ya know what I mean.”

Now Nymph was moving her closer to one of the dandelion-looking things. Dot could see one of the spines poking through, the one Molt had compared to her biggest fear. Her nose was just millimeters from its tip.

“What do you think, runt? Don’t we have cool plants here in the desert?”

Nymph was laughing now, laughing at the fear Dot was sure he could feel in her trembling body. It reminded her of the way his uncle often laughed at her — the mean uncle, the one who bossed her around and made her do his (literal) dirty work and threatened to feed her to his pet. The one who took her way from her family and brought her to this awful place just to prove a point.

It did something to her, that laugh belonging to someone she disliked who reminded her of someone she disliked even more. It didn’t make her feel afraid or helpless like it had in the past.

It made her angry. Fire ant angry.

“You want to come down now?”

Dot clamped her lips together and nodded. She could hear the grasshopper smiling when he spoke his next command.

“Say the magic word.”

Nymph waited a few seconds to turn Dot around, giving her just enough time to take a deep breath and begin gathering her ammo. She felt herself being rotated in his hands until she could see his ugly face sneering up at her.

Dot glowered down at him, then shot a fat glob of saliva right between his eyes.

She watched her spit bubbles trickle down Nymph’s forehead and along the side of his nose. His eyes were the size of blueberries, his crooked teeth visible inside his open mouth. His expression looked a lot like the one that had been on Hopper’s face for just a millisecond after Flik told the gang leader to leave Dot alone (before he regained his composure and decided to kidnap her just to teach the colony a lesson.) Both were stunned by the idea that a tiny ant would stand up to them.

Dot enjoyed about thirty seconds of triumph as Nymph processed what had just happened. His lower right hand reached up to wipe the trail of spittle that had reached his chin, then held it in front of his face as though making sure she’d really done what he thought she had.

Nymph’s eyebrows narrowed into a scowl she’d never seen him wear before. His eyes, normally yellow like the middle of a dandelion, turned into something like melting honey.

No, not melting.

Boiling.

Dot’s heart pounded hard against her ribcage as Hopper’s nephew looked up at her in fury. He still had her arms trapped against her sides, so there was nothing she could do to defend herself except wriggle and kick uselessly at the air. She half expected him to impale her on one of the cactus spikes, then sob to his uncles about how he’d witnessed her jump from the top floor of the sombrero in an attempt to test her wings and couldn’t catch her in time.

To her surprise, he lowered her back down until they were at eye level again. They stared at each other for a moment, both their chests heaving. Dot mustered up the fiercest glare she could give him. In the distance she could hear the tinny buzz of the mosquitos starting to pack up from their lunch break, and she sent a silent prayer to the Great Tree back home that one of them would come inside in time.

Nymph’s grip on Dot tightened until it felt like her lungs were being squashed. He held the spit-covered hand up to her face, palm facing her and fingers slightly bent so his sharp nails were pointed directly at her. A tiny drop of her saliva had come to rest in the dent where his palm met his wrist.

Then the grasshopper’s face split into a smile that was even more frightening than his scowl.

Dot swallowed. Her mouth was bone dry.

“Bad move, brat.”

Friends in Low Places (4320 words) by Nomadimouse Chapters: 3/? Fandom: A Bug's Life (1998) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Dot (A Bug's Life) Additional Tags: Original Character(s), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Other familiar faces whose names I won't say, Bullying Summary: In an unexpected twist of events, Ant Island's youngest princess has become a reluctant guest of Hopper and his gang for the summer. Most of the grasshoppers pay Dot little mind, but Nymph is an exception to the rule. In fact, Hopper's nephew has taken quite a bit of interest in the only other kid living in the sombrero. And he's determined to make her life a living nightmare.

[turner-strait]

this accidentally turned into a mini-fic so there's a readmore lol

Alright, peppinises I have something for consideration

Peppino enters the WAR level, fully knowing that it's going to fuck with him. like it's CLEARLY a last resort kind of deal. But he goes in, ready to take things on-- and oh god he has to speed through the whole thing. Okay, face doesn't falter, can't let your enemy show that you're weak; so he hurdles on, saving toppins and busting through walls and shooting through obstacles

He entered it relatively fine. Upon seeing the door, he knew it was supposed to fuck with him. So he decided that it wouldn't fuck with him.

Except it did. As soon as he makes it out of there, toppins and Gerome in hand, he completely breaks down. Not immediately, but gradually. Once it's all over, and everyone is saved (including the treasure), it all crashes down on him. How fucked up this was. How his experience was used against him. Weaponized against him, even. To make him weaker.

He leans against the wall next to the entrance, staring off into space, barely noticing the tears that keep falling. He blinks them away but other than that, doesn't care about it. The toppins huddle up to him like the critters they are, but are surprised that he doesn't react. Even Gerome, who's technically done this with him dozens of times by now, can't seem to get through to him. So he just sits by him, hoping that his presence (as well as the toppins') is at least some sort of distant relief

Later, some bouncy noises are heard, and for a moment Gerome fears for the worst. But it's just Brick, and Gustavo in tow. The two seem unsure for a moment, but then spot Peppino, still in a complete breakdown; Gustavo is quick to go over and plant himself in front of the man.

Gustavo, recognizing what is happening, gently takes one of Peppino's hands in his own. He doesn't pry it away from where Peppino is cowering, but takes it in any case, giving it a gentle squeeze.

At the motion, Peppino jerks and gasps, momentarily terrified of the touch. But even through his traumatized, muddled mind, he recognizes Gustavo. He gasps again for a moment, and then looks around. His mind is spinning; he was just back in the war, why is he in a corridor with his friends??

Gustavo brushes his thumb over his hand, and Peppino jerks and gasps again, shocked by the gesture. But what he sees is just Gustavo, smiling at him, gently squeezing and rubbing his hand.

Peppino is suddenly aware of something by his side, and almost jumps in terror, but recognizes Gerome's (literal) frame next to him. The janitor is looking up at him with concern, which melts away as Peppino pats his head.

Suddenly, bugs are crawling all over him, and he's terrified again. He's about to scream, but a little squeeze from Gustavo has him looking at the shorter man. "It's okay, Pino. It's the toppins. You saved them. You did a fantastic job."

At that, Peppino darts his eyes around, and sure enough, the bugs were in fact the toppins he had so desperately wanted to save. They're all resting on his legs or have climbed on his chest or shoulders, and he sees now that they all look just as concerned as Gerome did. And Gustavo. And Brick, for that matter.

With a choked sob, Peppino practically crushes Gustavo against himself. He holds onto the other man with dear life, fully allowing his formally restrained feelings to burst. Gustavo, shocked at first, accepts the embrace, and returns it with all his heart. Even going so far as to nuzzle Peppino, if it makes him feel better.

Seeing this, Gerome can't help but join in, and sits down by Peppino's side, placing a firm hand on his leg to let him know he's there and that things are alright.

As Peppino cries, the toppins merge again, now brave enough to realize that he knows who they are. So they plant themselves wherever they want to be; it doesn't matter, as long as Peppino is comforted.

And for now, he is.

[givekennyabreak]

Nightmaretown.

Bug's arrival in Fromville.

Fandom: From (2022)

Words: 1.36k (oops)

Characters: Bug (OC), Diana and Hugh (OCs), Kenny Liu, Tian-Chen Liu, Sara Myers

Warnings: attempted murder, mentions of a ritual, cursing, canon compliant violence, mentions of blood, lots of crying, the creatures trying to lure Bug out ig

they had been driving in circles since they saw that tree on the road.

bug told their friends that - they passed by the same sign at least four times before the damned stubborn couple listened to them. 

“are you sure you’ve entered the right road?” diana, the oldest of the trio, asked her boyfriend, hugh; the man nodded his head nonstop, until he got tired and opened the driver’s door.

“yeah, i told you a thousand times, we went back around after we saw the tree and followed the right road through that town at least three times.”

“four.” bug piped up, and opened their own door, tired of staying in the car for too long; the sun was past its peak in the sky, the orange glow too bright for the nearsighted, onyx colored eyes of the youngest friend, at the ripe age of twenty-five.

“this roadtrip sucks.” di groaned, and shot her boyfriend a look. they both looked at bug, standing by the open door with their pet carrier in hands - a chicken resting peacefully inside.

“my legs kinda hurt.” they said, and combed a hand over the black, tight curls on their head. “we could stay here a while and call for help or something.”

hugh went back to the car in panic, opening the glove compartment at the same time as he had a silent conversation with his girlfriend.

the woman walked up to bug, stopping by their left side. she gently took the carrier from her friend’s hand, and placed it over the car’s trunk. “you wanna rest a little?”

she put her arm around bug’s shoulder, using her other hand to mess up their hair - the movement was a little wonky, as she was at least two inches shorter than her friend. smile ever-so-present on her face, diana placed the crook of her elbow under bug’s throat and used her other arm to press their head down into a headlock.

their survival instincts kicked in instantly - years of enduring their dad’s surprise attacks at home, they guessed; bug pressed their chin down, under diana’s elbow, reached up with both arms and twisted around, throwing her on the ground by the arms.

“what the fuck!”

just as the woman groaned on the ground, reaching up to touch her throbbing head, hugh popped up out of nowhere with some kind of blade in hands. the man lashed out at bug, who barely got out of the way in time; he went zooming past their body, and they used that as advantage to kick him hard on his back.

he tumbled down violently, hitting his chin on the asphalt, and the blade slid from his grasp. bug huffed, walked up to him and kicked him hard on the head, picking up the blade.

it was made from some kind of steel, probably, with old engravings on it, and they heard their parents’ voices in their head, warning them about traveling with friends.

(“you know one kid was sacrificed on a ritual by their friends a few years ago, right?”

“that’s an urban legend, papai.”)

guess it wasn’t.

“fuck.” they held in tears as they pocketed the blade, rushing back to the car as diana sat on the asphalt with a bleeding head. they grabbed their biggest backpack - packed with few clothes, some food packets for their chicken, their giant watter bottle and lots of snacks and candy - and rushed to put it over their back, picking up the pet carrier as jellybean clucked wildly, as if sensing their owner’s distress.

“‘s fine, love. we’ll find somewhere-”

if they had the knife on them, hugh and diana would probably take more time to try and kill them - or give up completely. they could hide in the woods around, and try to find help in the morning. it was stupid to wander around at night, and they knew what kinds of dangers lurked around in nature - they were born and raised in the countryside, after all.

the sun finally went down completely, just as bug walked into the forest. they heard footsteps behind them, on the road, and diana screamed - a wet, disturbing sound, that got them running faster and faster as other footsteps sounded around the woods.

they stopped right over a hole - deep enough to get in, crouch and hide with their beloved jellybean. without making a sound, bug slipped into the hole, pulling stray leaves and sticks and dirt over their bag, the pet carrier and their own head.

diana was still screaming.

then, a masculine voice was heard - hugh.

“what the fuck are you sickos doing? why are you smiling?!”

bug closed their eyes tightly, breathing as slowly as possible.

turns out their ‘friends’ were not the most dangerous thing outside.

then, a whistle sounded. close, around and over them. jellybean went eerily silent and bug thanked god for the chicken’s compliance.

“oh, where are you, poor thing? abandoned by your friends?” a female voice sounded out, almost singing the words. “come out, we won’t hurt ya!”

‘as if.’ a single tear rolled down bug’s cheek, smudged with dirt. their glasses were speckled with all types of things, but mainly the shiny dots of their unshed tears, brushing the lens through their lashes.

more voices sounded out, and bug’s heart raced with each step that got closer to their little hole in the ground; they never got too close, though, probably couldn’t see too well in the dark - another fact bug thanked the heavens.

hours ticked by like days - in a never-ending nightmare, they stayed awake throughout the night, scared out of their wits anytime the voices called out or got too close to the hole. thankfully, like their first night in a new minecraft survival server, the sun peeked shyly in the sky and the first rays hit their face through the leaves as the footsteps left to somewhere and laughter sounded out.

“lucky little bug!”

bug felt nauseous as the woods became silent.

completely, utterly silent.

no voices, no footsteps - and they broke down. 

they cried and sobbed amidst the leaves and dirt as jellybean finally clucked again. first went the carrier, and then their backpack as bug stood back up and yelped in pain; they ignored it, gripping the edge of the hole and hoisting their body out. bag over their back again and pet carrier in hands, they walked out - in the direction of the sun peaking in the blue sky, towards where they thought was the town they saw before.

diana and hugh were dead. there was no doubt over that.

what the fuck were the voices? and the footsteps?

jellybean clucked again and bug still felt tears drip down their face and the tip of their nose; the trees thinned out, spreading as if to tell them there was something near - and then, finally, they stumbled out onto a road.

they could see a few houses in the distance, so they walked.

and walked.

and walked.

past a few broken down cars and a deep, empty pool.

by a barn.

by a girl with a forlorn expression on her face, wearing a pretty dress and an apron, walking somewhere.

by a couple opening their windows, shock in their eyes as bug walked by.

until they reached a quaint building with a big “diner” sign, where an elderly asian woman stood by the door with a young-looking man wearing a police uniform.

bug stopped then; their stomach growled, and they remembered their last meal was five hours before their roadtrip.

the man furrowed his brows as bug placed the carrier on the ground, and looked up at him; he had pretty, dark eyes, a chiseled face and his cheeks were speckled with freckles.

“oh.” they mumbled, backpack getting heavier by the second. “he’s cute.”

“hey!” the man yelled.

“fuck.” bug’s vision got spotty, and their body heated up in a fraction of seconds. “i think ‘m gonna pass out.”

“sara, get kristi here, quick!”

they felt hands on their shoulders, and an arm around their back. 

“‘s gonna be okay, you’re fine.” the pretty man said, as everything faded to black.

[catsvrsdogscatswin]

Higurashi Month 2024, Day 23: Calm

Higurashi Month prompts archive: AO3 

According to Shion and her time in that hoity-toity Catholic school, people got onto writers' cases sometimes when it came to prose and poetry and clichés, saying that something was too overused, that it was meaningless because it'd been done to death and there was no way to think that thought and actually process the phrase as anything but all one word.

Head over heels in love –who still read that and got the sense of helpless tumbling, rather than headoverheels scanning blindly across their brain?

Cold as ice –oh, couldn't the hapless author think of anything except the first word that popped into their mind to compare cold to?

Avoid at all costs –so what, then, did people sometimes avoid doing things at most costs? And what about dodging something at the very last second? Did you check?

Mion had replied that some people spent way too long nitpicking stupid ideas and thus got stupider, which had made Shion laugh through the phone.

But now –now, as her feet kicked up dry little scuffs of grit from the road –now, as grit clung lightly to her sweaty skin, filling her nose with the earthy scent of fun well-earned and hard-fought –now, as their dwindling laughter rolled among the deep green shades between the trees and stretched out long before them like their slablike shadows…

Well, sometimes you had to call something a golden afternoon, out of lack of anything more perfect to call it.

Mion grinned, tossing her head back to breathe deeply of the sweet, rich air. Mud clung to her legs and bare feet –the wetter patches cold, cool, and clingy, with the thicker and drier portions hard and crumbly, cracking and fracturing as she moved. Her hands were still smeared and sticky from the rough clay that she had the others had spent hours clawing from the ground and pressing into crude bowls and utensils with their thumbs.

What a fun day.

They’d spent the whole time, from morning until the slanting sunset of now, messing around in a gulch in the mountains where the cliff walls were clawed into runnels and channels by the rain, and the shorter side was swarmed by young aspens, leaving the ground beneath soft and silky with decayed leaf-dirt and sand.

Wallowing little caves and ditches into that part of the gulch had been fun, but the best fun was the shimmering, muddy stretch of water down the middle, exposing swathes of mud and clay for her and the others’ pleasure.

The mud had been deep as usual, sucking their feet down to the calves; Mion and the others were smart enough to ditch their shoes at the edge, but Keiichi had lost both sneakers and a sock that they’d spent a good twenty minutes digging out of the muck before he’d realized his mistake.

Ignoring also his warnings of parasites and leeches, they’d splashed in the knee-high, tepid the water, enjoying the gentler warmth in comparison to the summer heat and the bugs humming around their ears.

They’d scavenged berries from the hillside for lunch, and flung mud at each other with shrieking laughter, splattering their dusty old clothes, soaked with a thousand joyful summer days, until the westering sun drew them reluctantly, with many a sigh, away back home.

Mion basked in content as she split from Keiichi and Rena at the mill, softly whistling the song from the American cartoon as she happily trudged back home, to the pump outside the house where she’d hose herself off before coming back inside.

“You can learn a lot of things from the flowers, for especially in the month of June; there's a wealth of happiness and romance, all in the golden afternoon~” she hummed under her breath, extending a bit of her depleted energy into skipping as she trotted up the hill, sneakers dangling from her hands by their laces and socks stuffed inside.

AN: The movie Mion references is Disney’s 1951 Alice in Wonderland.

[jplupine]

Day 15: Yoruichi Shihoin ~ Genderbend

Pairing: Yoruichi Shihoin x Wynter Hughes [Nonbinary OC] Word Count: ~3.2k Date Published: October 15, 2023 WARNINGS: 18+ Minors/Ageless get blocked, Sub!Switch!Yoruichi, Genderbend, Teasing, Body Exploration, Handjob, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, Praise, Hair Pulling, Feral Behavior, Cock Riding, Creampie Note: Terms such as pussy/cock/dick/etc. get used. Wynter also uses the term 'kitten' to refer to Yoruichi. If that makes you uncomfortable, you might want to skip this fic.

Summary: Yoruichi wants to explore some new things and knows exactly who to go to for help.

You can also read it on AO3!

Kinktober 2023 Masterlist

  Curled up on the couch with a book, I was relaxing as the scent of coffee wafted from my mug sitting on the end table. Turning the page to continue reading, I only paused when I heard a tapping at my window. I glanced over my shoulder and saw a shadow through the curtain before a familiar meow came from the other side.

  I slid the bookmark between the pages before getting up. Setting the book to the side along with my glasses, I then pushed back the curtains to see a black cat with golden eyes pawing at the window. Unlocking it and sliding up the pane, Yoruichi strolled in.

  "I have some interesting news!" She said as I closed the window back. My brows furrowed, and I looked over my shoulder at the cat sitting on the arm of my couch.

  "What's wrong with your voice?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "You sound feminine. Your cat voice usually sounds masculine. Coffee?"

  "No, thank you." She sighed while tilting her head and narrowing her eyes. "I was hoping you wouldn't notice so fast." Her tail curled around her feet. "I touched something Kisuke was working on that he said not to touch." Yoruichi grinned.

  "Oh, is he making a voice modulator?" I asked while crossing my arms over my chest.

  "Something like that. It's supposed to help quickly disguise the user, but he's still tinkering to fix some of its issues." She explained, and I crouched down to get a closer look at her.

  "You gonna be okay? It didn't hurt you, did it?"

  "Aww, worried about me, are you?" Yoruichi stood up with her tail swaying. "I guess I can show you." She leapt off the arm of the couch and shape-shifted mid-air to land in front of me in human form. I expected to see Yoruichi when the smoke from her transformation cleared....not a flaccid penis less than a foot away from my face.

  Slowly blinking, I then looked up to see a proud-looking man with his hands on his hips and a big grin on his face. Leaning over, I looked at the couch to see the black cat was gone.

  "Yes, it's me!"

  "Yoruichi?!" My eyes widened as I looked at the man again.

  "I have a penis now!" She sounded so excited while looking down at her crotch as she swayed her hips from side to side, inevitably making her dick smack between her thighs.

  "Oh my-" I heavily sighed while standing up with a hand over my eyes. "Okay, so this must be your interesting news."

  "Yeah! Man, it's so weird having it just dangle between my legs like this."

  "Would you like some pants?"

  "Nah. You don't have to cover your eyes, you know? It's still me." Yoruichi said, and I lowered my hand to look her in the eye. "Hmm. Looks like I'm still shorter than you, though." She slightly pouted before smiling again. "Check me out, though." She raised her arms while flexing, and her muscles were more pronounced in this form.

  "You're not worried about getting stuck like this?"

  "Kisuke said it would take some time, but I'll be able to turn back. One of the bugs of the device is the transformation can't just be undone, it has to wear off." She then placed a hand on her chest while the other was on her hip. "It's been pretty weird so far, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. I'm so used to having a much larger chest, you know?"

  "So how long is this supposed to last then?" I went to grab my coffee and take a drink.

  "Just a day or two." Yoruichi replied as I brought my mug to my lips. "I actually came to ask something of you."

  "Hm?"

  "Will you touch me?" Her masculine voice purred near my ear, and I choked on my coffee.

  "Yoruichi! Come on!" I wiped my face and coughed a few times while setting down my coffee to keep from spilling any more.

  "I'm not joking. I'd like to explore this new body while I've got it." She rested her chin on my shoulder, and I rolled my eyes.

  "And what makes you think I'm the person to ask such a thing?"

  "Because," She walked her fingers up my arm. "you have experience and are willing to explore. I also know you're okay with casual sex."

  "Okay, but what makes you think I'd be interested?" I questioned while looking at her, and she stepped back with her arms outstretched.

  "Look at me! I'm a snack, male or female." She grinned at me, and I couldn't help but scoff. Yoruichi was amusing, I'd give her that. And, if I were being honest, she was indeed attractive. She wiggled her eyebrows at me, making me laugh. "Come ooon, Wynter. I don't even know how big this thing can get yet." She gestured at her penis, and I chuckled while running a hand through my hair.

  "I don't know, Yoruichi. This seems a bit....weird."

  "It's only weird 'cause you know me. Here's a hypothetical; If we were strangers, and I chatted you up at the bar, would you or would you not have a one-night stand with me?" Her golden eyes were locked on me as she pointed, and her eyebrows raised while waiting for an answer.

  Thinking it over, I sighed while placing my hands on my hips.

  "Probably, yeah."

  "Ha!"

  "Fine, I'll help you, but we go slow. There's no telling what might happen."

  "Aw, you're great! Bedroom?" Yoruichi pointed toward the hallway where the stairs were, and I nodded.

  "Yeah, that'll help get comfortable. So what exactly are you wanting to explore?" I led the way to the stairs with Yoruichi trailing behind me.

  "Just touching to start with. I'm pretty curious to see if my chest is still as sensitive as before, too."

  "Gotcha. And, uh....would you feel more comfortable with me dressed or-" My question was cut off by Yoruichi scoffing and grabbing the hem of my shirt.

  "Go ahead and take it all off! Might as well in case things get messy."

  "Messy?" She already had my shirt lifted over my chest as my ears burned.

  "Who knows? I might misfire this thing." Yoruichi pulled my shirt off the rest of the way when I lifted my arms, and I didn't ask her what 'thing' she was referring to. She reached for the button and zipper of my jeans without hesitation after dropping my shirt.

  Once I was also fully naked, Yoruichi gave a low whistle that made my cheeks get warmer.

  "I knew you were cute, but damn. I'm allowed to touch you, too, right?" Her golden eyes looked at me for confirmation, and I nodded.

  "Yeah. Go ahead." Her hand reached out toward my chest first, running her fingers down my sternum. I felt my nipples harden from her light touch, and her fingers traced the scars on my chest. "You know, I'm not used to my partners being shorter than me. I don't dislike it."

  "You're welcome for that discovery." Yoruichi chuckled as her hands slid down my torso. "Oh, that feels strange." Her eyebrows raised as she looked down. Following the line of her gaze, I saw that her dick was getting hard.

  "Huh. So it really can do that too?"

  "I was somewhat joking before, but if my balls work, I might literally misfire." There was a second of silence before we both laughed.

  "I guess there's only one way to find out. C'mere." I grabbed her hip to pull her closer while cupping her cheek in my other hand. I kissed her softly, and she reciprocated while moving her hands back up my stomach.

  Pulling her closer, I could feel her erection growing against my thigh. Her palms laid flat against my chest as I brushed my lips along her jaw. Kissing the curve between her jaw and neck, I heard her breath falter. Smirking, I left a trail of kisses down her neck.

  "That feels pretty good." She muttered, her voice a touch lower than it had been a few seconds ago.

  "Should I keep going then?"

  "Yes." She responded without hesitation. My hand on her cheek trailed down the other side of her neck toward her chest. She'd mentioned being curious about it specifically, so I gave it an experimental touch. Her nipple hardened against my palm, and I looked down to watch my fingers circle the pert bud. "It doesn't feel the same....but it's still nice."

  "Is there anything else you want to test specifically?" I asked before squeezing her chest in my hand. I felt her cock twitch against my thigh as she took in a sharp breath.

  "My new dick, obviously." Yoruichi popped off, and I softly laughed. Running my hands up her back before I pecked her on the lips, I then pulled away.

  "Come here, then." I sat on the edge of the bed with enough room for her to sit between my legs. She got comfortable before looking over her shoulder at me.

  "What are you gonna do?"

  "What you've asked of me." I replied while brushing her hair to the side so that I could kiss the back of her neck. She made a noise like a purr, and I didn't question it. Wrapping my arms around her, my hands were on her chest to play with her nipples while my mouth was on her neck and shoulder.

  Her back slightly arched as she softly moaned, letting me know that it felt good to her. My palms ran down her stomach, following the curves of her abs until my hands reached her pelvis. The new trail of hair under her belly button was the same color as the rest of her hair, and she was still purring.

  I touched her thighs first, feeling the muscles twitch and squish beneath my hands.

  "Still good?" I whispered before kissing the shell of her ear.

  "Yeah." Yoruichi swallowed before chuckling. "Are you usually this gentle?"

  "It varies based on my mood, honestly. But we should be careful since we don't know the limitations of your body right now." I glanced down to see her cock was fully erect and quite pretty. "Well, it seems that's how big it gets."

  "Damn. I was hoping it'd be bigger."

  "Don't tell me you're a size queen."

  "I just figured, if I had huge boobs, why not a huge dick?" Yoruichi shrugged, and I couldn't help but laugh while resting my head on her shoulder.

  "Yoruichi.... Those are two completely different things. Look," I lifted my face to look over her shoulder again while wrapping my hand around the shaft. "do you see the difference now?" I hoped having my hand to compare to would give her a better understanding of the size of her penis.

  "Your hand is so warm...." She muttered, and I smiled while trailing my fingers up the underside of her shaft with a feather-light touch. She twitched, and my fingers reached the tip.

  "Do you want me to stroke it?" I cooed in her ear, and her cheeks got darker.

  "Yes."

  "Bend over. There's a box under the bed. A bottle of lube will be at the top." Yoruichi quickly leaned over to find the box. I heard her drag it out and open it.

  "Holy shit, is that a strap?"

  "Yeah. See the lube?"

  "I see a lot." She scoffed before holding up the bottle. "See, I knew you weren't timid." Taking the bottle from her, she got comfortable again as I popped open the lid.

  "Eh, there's still some people that turn my spine to jelly."

  "Oh?" Yoruichi sounded interested while giving me a mischievous smile.

  "They just find those buttons. Now, let's see how this goes." I poured lube into my hand, and Yoruichi's attention quickly shifted away from questioning me further and to my hand getting closer to her dick.

  Rubbing the lube along the shaft, I felt her shudder. However, when I reached the head, she actually moaned. Circling my fingers around her cock, I felt the heat and weight in my hand as the lube made it easier to stroke back and forth.

  Yoruichi hummed in delight as her legs stretched out.

  "Oh, now that's good."

  "I'm surprised you didn't already try this yourself."

  "I thought about it, then I figured it'd be better with someone else." Yoruichi reached up to run her fingers through my hair and turned her face to kiss my cheek. "It's certainly more fun." She then grunted as I was stroking the head of her cock and kissing her neck.

  "Everything still okay?"

  "Fuckin' great." She licked her lips before speaking again. "No offense, but I can't stop thinking about being inside you now."

  "Like....how?" I questioned while looking at her. Yoruichi's golden eyes were glued to my hand, watching how I touched her.

  "Uh, how should I refer to...."

  "You talking about what's between my legs?"

  "Yeah."

  "Whatever's fine."

  "Okay, then I can't stop thinking about being balls deep in your pussy or you sucking on my cock." She bit her bottom lip and groaned.

  "I wouldn't mind either." I muttered, and Yoruichi jumped to her feet before turning around. She eagerly grabbed my hips to pull me closer to the edge of the bed as my back hit the mattress. My eyes widened as I looked up at her. "Oh. Okay, shit. You really meant it."

  "I can't tell if it's how you're touching me or this dick, but I do not have as much patience as I usually do." She spread my legs and looked down at me. "You're already pretty wet too." Yoruichi grinned before snatching the lube to pour some on her fingers. "Just to be on the safe side." She said before sliding her fingers into my pussy.

  I jolted from how quickly she found the spot to curl her fingers at, but considering she was used to having a vagina herself, it wasn't too shocking. She had me moaning as my hands fisted in the blanket. My back arched, and she ran her other hand over my thigh.

  "Can I ask one more thing of you?"

  "What?" My voice was breathy, and Yoruichi cocked her head to the side.

  "Could you talk to me like you do to your one-night-stands?"

  "I.... There's not a specific way."

  "When they want you to be nice." She clarified while pulling her fingers out.

  "Oh. Are you sure?"

  "I really want to keep hearing your voice." Yoruichi then licked her fingers clean while purring.

  "All right. Just let me know if you want me to stop, kitten." My tone was sultry and caught Yoruichi's attention.

  "Oh, now that felt like it went straight to my cock."

  "Don't make me wait all day." I spread myself open, and Yoruichi grabbed her dick to line up the tip. She seemed giddy and pushed inside.

  Inch by inch, she went deeper until she reached the hilt.

  "Fuck. This is what it feels like?" She muttered, and I ran my hands through my hair to push it away from my face.

  "I guess. I couldn't tell you." I chuckled while watching her hands grab my hips. Yoruichi slowly pulled out a few inches before thrusting back in. She bit her bottom lip while smiling and groaning.

  She leaned forward a little more while going a little faster, and I could feel the pleasant stretch from within. Even though Yoruichi had pouted about not having a huge dick, she seemed completely over it now. Her gaze drifted down to watch her shaft disappear inside me.

  "This is hotter than I expected." Yoruichi let go of my hips to grab my wrists and pull me closer. She dropped my hands on her shoulders before picking me up by my thighs. I patiently waited to see what she was doing, and she ended up climbing onto the bed.

  "My, aren't you a strong one, kitten?" I cooed while brushing my knuckles over her cheek. She purred and tilted her head into the touch. I kissed her as she laid me down on the mattress and got comfortable over me.

  "I want you to keep touching me." She panted, and I slid my fingers into her hair while kissing down the side of her neck. She moaned as her hips bucked, and I ran my other hand up her back.

  Yoruichi was leaning on her elbows to have her body closer to mine. Trailing my fingers down her spine, she leaned into it in a cat-like manner even as I reached her lower back. With her ass tilted up in the air as she purred, I grabbed it firmly to yank her hips closer and force her balls deep. Her moan was nearly a yowl, and I squeezed her ass.

  "Don't stop, kitten. Isn't this what you wanted?" My lips brushed against her ear.

  "Yesss." She purred while thrusting. "Mmm, you feel so good." Yoruichi ground her hips against mine.

  "Can you go a little faster?" I asked, and she obliged. My head fell back with a soft moan. "Yeah, just like that." Yoruichi's breath hit my throat before I felt her tongue. She licked from my collarbone to my jaw while pistoning her cock in and out of my pussy.

  "This feels....really fuckin' good." She panted while smiling with her eyes closed. "Especially- Ngh!- when you clench around me. Fuck, that's so good."

  I lightly tugged on Yoruichi's hair, and she snapped her hips into me. Whispering in her ear between kissing and nipping at her neck and shoulder, I only encouraged her to lose herself to the pleasure.

  She had her face buried in my neck while panting and moaning. Yoruichi slid her arms under me and dug her nails into my shoulders. She eventually stopped talking beyond barely comprehensible mutters and curses.

  My grip in her hair tightened as I moaned and rocked my hips into each thrust. I was getting close, and so was she while losing the steady rhythm from before. Yoruichi was only trying to cum now in whatever way possible.

  She was having difficulty, so I flipped her onto her back to start riding her cock. Yoruichi moaned loud and low with her head lolled back. Her spine arched off the bed, and it was as she cried out that I knew she was finally cumming.

  Her nails dug into my hips as she bucked beneath me. And when it was over and she was panting, I looked down at her and waited. Hopefully, she'd still be okay.

  "Yay! My balls work." Her voice was breathy as she raised a fist in triumph. I couldn't help but laugh, and her golden eyes looked at me. "I want you to ride my face now."

  "What?"

  "I want to see if I can make you cum. And then I want you to peg me. I've heard prostate stimulation gives one Hell of an orgasm. Oh, and-"

  "Okay, okay. One thing at a time, Yoruichi."

[pink-strawberry-kissess]

While I do agree with that last ask that Ada's outfit is truly not appropriate as a spy, I kinda wanted to put in my own little input. For one thing I totally agree with the fact that her outfit is something I could very much see a woman dressing for herself choosing. Not that women don't choose to dress super skimpy, but Ada's outfit in RE 4 Remake is, in my opinion, a pretty popular Fall/Autumn outfit among feminine presenting people (I mean people even joke on Tiktok about how Autumn is stylish black boot season lol) Other than her stilettos, her outfit is not that out there, in terms of comfort even. It's a knit dress top. Those are some of the more comfortable dresses, even if it is body con. It might be tight, but it's not modeled so tightly that it's "weird" if you get what I mean, and it's knit, and it can have some stretch, and it's moveable. (I feel like I can say that as someone who has worn a very similar dress and had to walk for several blocks in the winter) Respectfully, I really disagree that her current outfit is "less appropriate than her original outfit." If you've ever worn a maxi dress, one can know how impractical the long length/can be unless you were to like, tie it to the side or whatever. Shorter dress can be out of the way of your legs. I feel like if you removed her stilettos and gave her more practical boots, it's really not that crazy of an outfit. Frankly, just because a woman dresses femininely, doesn't mean it's a bad thing. Also honestly....? Just because someone has a cold personality doesn't mean they can't be stylish? Like....Wesker's new outfit is pretty stylish as well if we're going to be fully honest. As a female-presenting person, I don't think Ada's outfit has so much overt sex appeal. It's just something I've seen so often as an outfit for this season, and something I've seen other female presenting people reach for when it gets cold. Her boots are kind of doing all the legwork if you'll excuse the pun. I dunno! Maybe I'm just delulu, but yknow?

I also just wouldn't think it'd be Ada if her design didn't communicate some level of flair. RE 4, despite now having a more serious undertone compared to its original, I feel has always been the kind of silly and unrealistic game anyway compared to the others. I mean the Merchant throws a rave when you do well at target practice. You eat raw fish and eggs....? There were Ganados that wore Leon's jacket and Krauser's hat for some reason???? There's a request where you literally are just told to egg a portrait of Ramon Salazar. Ashley is secretly a scene/emo kid???? Me personally, I appreciate this design compared to the past of game design. Could it be better? Yeah, sure. But it's SOMETHING imo. I totally get that we want to go from point A to B, and that we shouldn't accept the bare minimum, but sometimes things also take baby steps. I've noticed the slow shift in other games as well. Mortal Kombat's female characters had people upset because they looked "too" practical and "not sexy enough." League of Legends has been slowly updating its designs (i.e. Janna and Nidalee in their recent Legends of Runeterra art) Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn is designed to look like a realistic person. I dunno!

One thing I will agree on is the game's camera with the ass shots. I can only really remember one (that scene where Ada sees Ashley being taken by one of Salazar' bug guard) but yeah, that was unnecessary. I don't think they did entirely bad by Ada in my opinion because there were several scenes where this male gazey shot did not happen.

Anyway sorry that this ask is super long. I had a lotta thoughts lol.

Respectfully, I really disagree that her current outfit is "less appropriate than her original outfit." If you've ever worn a maxi dress, one can know how impractical the long length/can be unless you were to like, tie it to the side or whatever.

yeah i think i struggle a lot with trying to understand how her original outfit is more appropriate than her remake one. it's COLD, there was no reason for her to be in that type of dress. and the long skirt of the dress is also impractical as hell. i agree that the changing of her boots to a more flatter boot would make her outfit fairly appropriate. we're also kind of assuming that her tights are fairly well fitting since she's not constantly pulling them up lol

but yeah i agree that i think her outfit isn't overtly sexual. it's provocative sure?? the heels are mostly the thing that makes it not practical.

i think that there's a bit of an interesting push for more realistic depictions of women, and the horizon zero dawn reaction was insane to me, but entirely not unexpected. in another case, people were mad that ada's heels were removed in dead by daylight lol. EVEN THOUGH her flats were more practical, people wanted her heels anyways

i feel as though the shots that they used were also not so terrible in terms of male gaze-y. we also got ✨⛓the chain scene ⛓✨ for leon which was literally on the tiktok fyp for just horny video game scene that like SO MANY MEN JUST DID NOT GET.

but the singular ass shot of ada i think was, sure a bit much. but it wasn't so much that i was like, WOW THAT'S SO SEXUALIZING HER, cause i was also like oMGGGADA ADA ADA ADA ADA ADA so maybe im no better than a man lmao

but yeah! i mostly agree with you ty!

[saltycharacters]

hello! may i ask about the dear bug corner. ive been thinking about getting a dangomushi plush but i'm sensitive to textures and worried that theyre scratchy or might feel like they draw the moisture from my hands (lol its hard 2 describe). how do you find they feel? i hope u have an excellent day.

Honestly super happy to receive an ask like this, it makes me unironically ecstatic to know that not only you remember my bug corner but also that you'd come to me for advice,,, I'll do my best to help with ur descision of whether to get one or not :]

So the dangomushi pillbug plushes can actually come in two textures, depending on which kind you get. Most are the soft, short-fur type you can expect from plushes, but there's also shiny variations that come in this smooth, stiffer fabric to give it that mettalic sheen. I've got examples of both in different sizes, here you go:

[ID: A photograph of four cartoonish pillbug plushes, all in different sizes, resting on a white, dotted blanket. The two on the left are both blue, with the smaller one stacked on the big one, and with more prominent folds along their fabric. They are facing the two on the right, which are shiny and much smoother in apperance. The small golden one is balancing on the large silver onex and the both of them are also facing the blue pair. End ID]

[ID: A close-up photo of a blue, plush pillbug pencil case. It is simplified in design, with simple black eyes, a back divided by thread, and felt cut-out legs. A zipper lines its side A light-skinned hand is holding it up to the camera, over a white and dotted blanket. End ID]

For the softer ones, I'd say the fur on the back is relativley soft and itch-free, and is pleasant to the touch. It resembles most other short-haired plushes, although there is the smallest resemblance to velvet I can detect, which might be a bit bothersome depending on how you feel about that (i personally hate the feel of velvet, like I can barely bring myself to touch it, so maybe my sensitivity to it makes me feel it in other fabrics more. Idk. Regardless, feel free to take this part of the review lightly).

As for how it interacts with moisture, that part is hard for me to say. I understand what you mean but find it difficult to judge myself, cuz I have trouble noticing the moisture levels on my own hands and also dont spend as much time handling these plushes as I could be (I mostly keep them on a shelf in the corner of my room, hence the name Bug Corner). I think you will have to make your own guesstimate based on how you feel about other toys, what their fabrics/furs do and whether that would probably be applied to this line of plushes. If you want to back-and-fourth details to me to try and help you figure it out, my dms are always open :]

[ID: Two photos side-by-side of a hand gripping a metallic, silver pillbug plush. The plush is simplified in design, with back segments seperated by lines and with simple felt legs portruding from its side. The plush is shown to be mostly smooth, with the image on the left showing the folds that appear when pressing on the fabric. End ID]

As for the shiny pillbug plushes, these are completley furless (at least the back is) and smooth to the touch. The fabric is soft enough to cuddle but stiff enough to fold dramatically when pressed, so it's a fun sensory experience but that also heavily depends on preference. They can also get a little cold if left alone so there's that too.

[ID: Two photographs showing the underbelly of pillbug plushes. The bellies are shown to be smooth with very short fur, with the left plush having a light blue belly and the right having a grey belly. Light-skinned hands are shown holding the stuffed animals in postion, balincing them on a white blanket with grey spots. End ID]

Both types DO have the same short-furred stomachs, with the fur being even shorter than on the blue pillbugs. It's pretty soft (def not itchy), but also gives me hints of velvet so i kind of find it eh. Also, last note, both use the same felt cut-outs for the feet, so if you don't like the feel of felt then you should def keep this in mind when deciding.

[ID: A close up photograph of a light-skinned hand gripping a felt cut-out sown to a grey plush. The felt is cut into a row of half-circles, stretching along the plush in a line and representing multiple feet. In the backrgound one can make out a yellow and blue plush with similar felt feet. End ID]

Hope this helps! Feel free to shoot any other questions anytime, whether via ask or dm :]

[goblin-in-the-rain]

[Image IDs: all images are close-ups of pill millipedes, which are small arthropods (bugs) with a similar appearance to roly polies. They are pill-shaped and segmented with shiny scale-like plating that goes to the ground and covers up all their lil legs.

ID1: a rusty red pill millipede with a black head and mottled black spots on its segments. It’s segments are edged with a pale, slightly translucent yellowish color. It’s photographed from the side. It’s standing on light grayish tree bark.

ID2: another photo of the same or a similar millipede. This one is photographed from a higher angle, making it easier to see black backwards-pointing triangles running down its back. In this image it’s standing on bark covered in moss.

ID3: another photo of the same or a similar millipede on a similar background. This one is photographed from directly above.

ID4: another photo of the same or a similar millipede on a similar background. This one is on its back and half-curled up so its head is right-side up. Its belly and legs are a tan-ish; and its little legs stick up like it’s reaching out.

ID5: two of the red/black millipedes completely curled up on their sides, completely hiding their heads and legs in their plates. These ones are sitting on grey granite. One is slightly smaller than the other.

ID6: a similar millipede to the others, but this one is a much darker maroon red and less shiny. This one has a bright copper stripe behind its head. It’s on leaf litter.

ID7: another darker millipede on leaf litter and coniferous twigs (fir, I think). This one is curled up, but is upright like a wheel.

ID8: a collection of four millipedes on rough grey bark. There is one to the left, two in a vertical row to the right, and one in the center. All of them are curled up except for the center one. The one on the left is orange with black mottled spots and black diamonds running down the center of its back. The one in the center is an ochre color with darker orange edges on the bottom of its segments. It is sparsely mottled with black, with a black head. Behind its head is a yellow stripe, then a black stripe, then no more stripes. It has tall backwards-facing triangles along its back that get smaller and smaller until they disappear, after which there is one big black triangle at the end of the millipede’s body. The top right millipede is a blue-green-grey, similar to the color of lichen. Its segments are edged with thick orange-grey, and it has connected black diamonds running down its back. The bottom millipede is mostly covered in black spots, with orange stripes peeking through at the edge of its segments. There are black diamonds running down its back, which are separated from most of the other mottling by grey.

ID9: a photo of a pill millipede from above and a bit further away than the others. The millipede in this one is almost entirely black, with a bit of gold peeking through. This one is on a pale-skinned person’s hand, and is just a bit shorter than the width of their fingers.

/End IDs]

Pill millipede (not an isopod/roly poly), Glomeris klugii, Glomeridae

Found in Europe and northern Africa

Photos 1-4 by ingridaltmann, 5 by vytautas_tamutis, 6-7 by amujcinovic, 8 by phtevendrews, and 9 (for scale) by bianca_t

[sosimsofmaddi]

Geroux: Kelley Intro

Reese nervously tucked her hair back behind both of her ears. She couldn't stop looking outside into the dark. The screen doors let in the sound of the bugs and the trees, but she didn't hear Gunnar arrive until he stepped into the halo of light cast by their living room.

Kelley sat chatting at the kitchen peninsula, mostly to himself, but looking back every once in awhile to make sure his mom was still there. This time, he looked back when she got up, and his eyes snagged on the man standing just outside their doors.

Kelley's eyes widened as he took him in, separated only by a screen. The man was very tall, even taller than his mom who was tall and taller than him, but he knew he'd be tall too someday. But this man stepped inside on very long legs and immediately squeezed his other's hand.

Reese offered Gunnar a nervous look, wondering how she was supposed to swap into host most and introduce the most important person in her life to the werewolf who sat by his bedside two weeks ago.

Gunnar left before Kelley became coherent enough to remember much of him. The little boy was in and out of a fever all weekend, soothed by Gunnar's voice and his own instincts. Gunnar knew as Kelley's wolf side became more dominant, he would react to Gunnar's inherent authority. While Gunnar wasn't an alpha, or even on the council for his pack, he was ranked highly, marked to become the second to the future alpha's mate. A young wolf like Kelley would feel that instinctively.

So Kelley was soothed and groggy and in pain as his bones ached and his body sweated. At only eight, this was happening quickly, leading him right up to becoming what he was meant to. Becoming what Gunnar was. Gunnar could smell the wolf on him, the same way he'd smelt anxiety and fear the day he showed up and found Reese in tears.

Kelley would be something someday, powerful. It worried Gunnar to think that a rogue wolf with no trainer and that much power would be forced to fend for himself. That Reese might carry the burden of teaching a child about lycanthropy when she didn't know much more herself.

Gunnar told her it was time to let him in to their lives, and after seeing Kelley ill and bedridden, and seeing the comfort and surety that Gunnar provided, Reese didn't argue.

Gunnar had seen Kelley before, plenty of times from a distance. He followed Reese and Kelley to the boy's bus stop on mornings he could get away from the pack, and he watched the boy race around the yard in the evenings while Reese made him dinner. Sometimes Gunnar showed up when Kelley was already asleep, and he coaxed Reese out to spend minutes with him.

But up close, Gunnar was struck by the child. No longer sick and pained, the boy was full-strength, and his presence tasted like wet dirt after a long rain. When Gunnar came during Kelley's illness, he thought his own terror was a product of Reese's, that thick, heavy sense of fear that coated him. He'd taken Reese into his arms and coaxed her to explain, and he felt all the fear she did.

He was beautiful in how he looked so much like his mother. Thick, choppy, dark blonde hair fell over his forehead. It was shorter at the sides and messy, windblown. His brows were thick and straight over angled pink eyes, the color of his mother's. A huge reddish-pink birthmark spanned the left side of his throat and shoulder. It matched Reese's and magically marked the place Kelley's grandfather was mauled and changed.

Gunnar's eyesight was good enough to see the disarming freckles that fell across Kelley's cheeks and nose.

"Kells," Reese started, putting her back to Gunnar to prioritize her son. "This is Gunnar, the one who helped us when you were sick. Do you remember him?"

The eight year old frowned, eyes narrowing and features scrunched as he tried hard to think. It was almost the same expression his mom made when she was confused, and that hit Gunnar right in the heart.

"I'm happy to see you're all better," Gunnar said, easing Reese's nerves as he comfortably walked further in. The rental house was comfortable to him, the way Reese was a comfort to him the moment he saw her. "I heard you had to go back to school and everything. That sucks."

Kelley's eyes lit up and he spared a look at his mom before covering up a conspiratorial smile. Gunnar took the stool next to him and smiled full on, unapologetic.

"At least you got to see your friends," Gunnar added, raising his brows and waiting for an answer.

The little boy climbed back onto the stool next to him. "I guess so." He shrugged. "But I only have two friends."

Gunnar gave the boy a surprised look. "No way," he denied. "I'm sure loads of people love you at school."

Kelley shrugged again. "Not really," the eight year old said, "but that's okay because I really only like Sufyan and Promise. Mommy said we can have a sleepover eventually. I've never had a sleepover before."

Gunner looked at Reese, grinning at the eight year's use of the word "eventually." He knew she used that exact term to put off the sleep over, and Kelley rolled with it.

"I got to sleep over when you weren't feeling good," Gunnar pointed out. "So technically you and I had a sleepover a couple weeks ago." He rested a palm on the boy's head for a moment.

"That doesn't count," Kelley said with a roll of his eyes. "Your mommy's friend, not mine."

Gunnar shrugged, met Reese's eye. "I want to be your friend too, but we'll have to work our way up to that, I guess." He drawled out the 'I guess' as though disappointed that Kelley disavowed their friendship so quickly. "Tonight let's just hangout. There's some stuff your mom and I want to talk to you about."

"I made dinner," Reese interjected, rounding them both to get to the stove. There were pots all over because she was too nervous about tonight to clean up. The plates clanked together when she reached up to get them from the cupboard, but Gunnar was there quick, grabbing them over her head and bringing them down.

He set them on the counter and peered over her shoulder toward the pans. "It smells so good," he said, breath ruffling her hair. He took a big step back when she froze.

He leaned against the counter, Kelley behind and to the side of him. "I haven't had a home cooked meal in a long time." Except on the nights he came after bed time and she met him in the shed with a plate.

"My mom cooks all the time," Kelley boasted, scooting a notebook out of his way, spending a sleeve of colored pencils to the ground. He hopped down after them. "It's really yummy too. She made my favorite."

Gunnar helped him gather the pencils. "What's your favorite?"

Kelley delved into a long list of food, some of which Reese had definitely never made. When Kelley got onto the topic of school lunches -- another reason he was happy to be back in school -- Reese corralled the two of them, setting Kelley's plate on the counter and inviting Gunnar to sit over on the couch with her.

There was less than twenty feet from her to her son, but it felt quiet and private when Gunnar sat down close enough to touch.

"How you doing?" he whispered, tilting his body to this. "We don't have to tell him tonight. We can just hangout."

Reese frowned, unsure of how he always knew exactly what her concerns were. She thought she was schooling her anxiety well tonight. "He likes you," she said, relieved. He was a temperamental eight-year-old who's opinions of people changed depending on what shows they liked and how good their art skills were. He made friends by asking them to choose numbers. She wasn't sure how it would go tonight, or how it would still go.

Gunnar smoothed her hair, slipping his palm to the back of her neck and giving a gentle squeeze. "I'm here for you," he murmured, pressing a light kiss to the side of her head.

He always did that, she thought. Always so close to her, a hairsbreadth away from touching her at all times. He stood close and sat close and looked at her wholeheartedly when he spoke and especially when she did. It was a wolf thing, she knew. A pack thing -- that innate physical closeness with another human being. Gunnar was raised to comfort through affection, and Reese didn't know if it comforted her or sent her haywire.

Tonight, it was both.

Kelley yapped all through dinner, telling Gunnar about his friends, his school the next town over, the bus he rode every day, the hole he was digging in the backyard, his favorite tree to climb, and the fact that he always had to do homework before dinner.

"Sweetheart," Reese said as she scooped his plate up from the counter. "Why don't you run upstairs and change."

Gunnar's head popped up when she spoke, and he brought his dish over, sidestepping around the child as he agreed and darted up the stairs. Gunnar took Kelley's plate from Reese's hand and scraped it into the garbage. He put his own and Kelley's in the sink, standing impossibly close to her.

"It'll be okay," he said, propping a hip against the counter as she rinsed the dishes. "Kids are resilient. Werewolf kids especially so."

"Kells, sweetheart, come back down!" Reese called a few minutes later, taking Gunnar's wrist and maneuvering him back to the couch. "I want to talk to you about something!"

Kelley bounded down the stairs, a little surprised to still see Gunnar.

The words died on Reese's lips when she had Kelley seated and prepped. She told him she had something serious to tell him, something that he'd need to listen and understand like a big boy. Kelley watched her with a frown, that little wrinkle behind his eye brows pulling at Gunnar's emotions.

Reese looked to Gunnar with panic in her eyes, and the lycanthrope scooted forward in his seat. "Kelley," he said firmly, drawing his attention. "Your mom is trying to tell you that the world isn't always exactly what it looks like. Do you know that?"

Kelley nodded once, but didn't say anything. He spared a hesitant look at his mother, and she nodded too.

"What I mean, kiddo, is that everyone is different right? Nobody looks the same or has the same family. We all have different skin types and eye colors and hair colors. But sometimes it's more than that."

Kelley glanced between them. "Like speaking different languages?"

Gunnar smiled at how smart he was. "Kind of," he agreed. "For me though -- for us -- it's even bigger than that. We look like everyone else, but we're very different below the surface."

"How come?"

"Because we're extra special," Gunnar said, "and we can do things that a lot of other people can't. We get to be best friends with nature - the dirt and the trees and the animals, and sometimes we get to join them in the forest. We get to become animals sometimes, wolves."

Kelley frowned uncertainly, unsure if he believed any of it. He looked at his mom to gauge her reaction, then his became more serious when he saw how focused she was.

"Like the stories, sweetheart," Reese said, taking her son's hand. "When we tell each other bed times stories about the animals, about people being able to fly, or wearing a turtle shell and taking their house everywhere."

"Or being able to breathe under water and living in the ocean!"

Reese grinned. "Exactly like that."

"We're like that too," Gunnar said.

"But wolves?" Kelley repeated.

"Yes," Gunnar and Reese said together.

Kelley eyed Gunnar then, shifting closer to his mom. "You know people who turn into wolves? You turn into a wolf with them?"

"Yeah, I do," Gunnar said gently. "Your mom and I met because she wanted to learn more so you and her are ready for when you can turn into a wolf."

"Do you know other wolves?" Kelley asked with big eyes, blowing right past the announcement that he would turn someday too.

Gunnar grinned. "Tons," he answered. "For a long time, I didn't know anybody who wasn't a wolf. I spent all my time with my pack or running in the woods."

"Did you get to go to school?"

"No," Gunnar answered. "But we learned a lot anyway."

"Oh," Kelley murmured like not being able to go to school might be a downside. "Did you have lots of friends?"

"So many," Gunnar said. "It's like having dozens of cousins all living in the same neighborhood. Family and friends everywhere. It's the best."

Kelley frowned. "I don't know," he sang. "I don't know if I want to be a wolf."

"Why not?"

"Because animals have to get rained on when it's raining because they don't have houses. I don't want to do that."

Reese and Gunnar shared a hushed chuckle, biting it back so Kelley wouldn't see. Reese was still incredibly tense, but her eight-year-old's mind was still working like an eight-year-old.

"You have a house, honey," Gunnar told Kelley gently. "You don't have to live in the woods, but it is fun to play out there."

Kelley nodded rapidly. "I know! I'm digging a fort in the backyard. Maybe I can live in there if I can't have a house anymore."

"You can have as many houses as you want," Gunn said with a shrug. "Fort included."

Kelley grinned, and when he looked at his mom, he didn't look at her any different. He slipped into her arms and leaned against her side. "I saw a wolf before," he told them both. "Well more than before. There was a black wolf at our old house, and now there's a black wolf and a whitish wolf."

Reese leaned back immediately, head snapping down. "You've seen the wolves?"

He nodded tiredly.

Reese shot a look at Gunnar, but he was trying to hide a smile. Kelley had seen the two of them likely tromping from the shed into the back woods.

"If you see any other wolves, other colors," Reese said quickly. "You make sure to tell me okay, Kelley?"

He nodded against her chest.

Reese took Kelley upstairs for bed, and Gunnar waited like he usually did for those free minutes after he fell asleep. It was a different sensation waiting inside though, in human form, compared to waiting in the woods as his wolf. He felt real. He felt warm and whole as he listened to the sounds of Reese putting Kelley to sleep.

She came downstairs in different clothes -- an oversized t'shirt and a pair of shorts, and Gunnar tried very hard not to scan the long, thick lengths of her legs. He loved that she was solidly built, heavy when he held her. It made her feel anchored and real.

She met Gunnar at the door when he got up to leave, standing barefoot on the threshold.

She leaned against the door frame. "Thank you for doing this," she said softly, almost in wonder. "Thank you for helping me."

Gunnar nodded, tilting his head back against the door frame. "It's uncanny how much he looks just like you," the lycanthrope said. "When you ignore the blonde hair."

Reese shook her head. "He looks like my sister. Like Roxana, blonde hair and all. It used to bother me that he looked like her, like a reminder of everything that was taken from me, but now with Roxie here and knowing Kelley, it's different. He looks like her, not me."

"You and your sister look alike," he said on a laugh. He pushed through the front door out onto the porch. She followed, letting the door clack shut behind her. The second floor extended over the porch, making it covered.

"He's a good kid," Gunnar said as he dropped the half step down to the grass and gravel. "He'll pull through it fine. I can smell it on him, but he's got some time."

Reese's nose crinkled at the idea of it. She'd never learned to cultivate her senses the way he did, the way most wolves did, apparently. It was something Kelley could learn, something positive he could take from this.

"I've seen so many children go through it," Gunnar said easily, taking a step backwards toward the tree line, into the darkness. "I'll keep on eye on Kelley. You let me know when you're ready for me to help train him -- train you."

Reese nodded. They were past that line. "You know I don't keep you away because I'm scared of you, right? It's stupid how much trust I have in you," she admitted, cringing, not looking at him. "I just can't put my sister in that position."

Gunnar glanced away. "I get it," he answered softly. "It's her home too and she's not a fan of what we are. I won't come by without an invitation."

Reese's eyebrows rose knowingly.

He grinned that sharp smile. "Okay," he relented. "I won't come out of the woods without an invitation."

Even though it freaked her out a few months ago to see a big white and gray wolf following her to Kelley's bus stop and back almost everyday, Gunnar's presence -- even as a wolf -- centered her now. She always felt like he was out there now, circling the property. She didn't know how often that was true.

"I'll see you tomorrow night?" he said like it was a question.

Reese nodded easily. "Roxana will be back, so I'll be able to come out for awhile after he falls asleep."

Gunnar left with the promise of tomorrow. They spent most of their nights wandering the town, finding new places to pass the time while they talked. Usually, he tried to teach her how to control her shift, but she spent most of the night watching his body contort from man to wolf over and over again. She just couldn't master it; she couldn't quite bear it.

But the nights made her intimately aware of him -- of how patient and gentle he was with her, just as he had been with her son tonight.

[sauerjim]

The Hot Dog Hike was an amazing experience. I signed up for it not sure that I could hike 5 consecutive 20 mile days over a challenging stretch of the Arizona Trail but knew I had to try. I fully supported the goal of raising money for the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona and figured I could accept the need for hot dog costumes as the cost of entry.

30 people signed up for the hike. 18 showed up the first day. Two of those had to drop out completely -- an old knee injury acting up for Eli and a few issues for Stephanie. Day One and Day Two featured a lot of rain.

At the end of Day Two I think it was about a dozen of us who had hiked up to Manning Camp at nearly 8,000' of elevation in the Rincon Mountains. The others took an alternate route that kept them at lower elevations and avoided the snow. (One of these "low altitude hot dogs" -- Dan -- did a lot of extra hiking on Day Three when he went out with cookies and Gatorade to escort some slower hikers who didn't make it in to camp until well after sunset.)

Day Three ended with a regrouping at the Molino Basin Campground at the base of the Catalina Mountains. It was a party. Live music. Beer. Pizza. It was really fun.

Day Four saw the group split again. Most people opted for a shorter and lower-altitude hike across to Hutch's Pool just above Sabino Canyon. This kept them on a well-maintained trail and out of the snow.

Three hikers (Addison, Sarah, & Eric) hiked up to the Palisades Visitor's Center using the Palisades Trail on the south side of Mt Lemmon. This trail was rumored to be overgrown, but facing south, it was expected to be largely clear of snow.

[Here I'll mention "Non-Dog", also know as "Punisher". He hiked with the Hutch's Pool group and then continued up to Romero Pass, through the Wilderness of Rocks Trail and all the way to Summerhaven. "Non-Dog" got his trail name because he was not officially signed up for the hike and did not hike in costume. "Non-Dog" is an ultra-marathon runner who will be competing in the 200+ mile "Tahoe 200" in June. "Non-Dog" was great to hike with and we were all happy to have him around for our hike.]

On Day Four I decided to try my luck with the route as originally planned. I hiked up the Bug Spring Trail to the Green Mountain Trail, also ending up at the Palisades Visitor's Center. I wore Kahtoola Exospikes for traction in the snow and carried snowshoes but didn't need them.

I made it up the hill but stopped five miles short of my goal for the day because my pace was too slow. I met up with Monica (who drove up to meet me) and we stayed at a primative cabin (no running water, no heat) for the night. On the morning of Day Five Monica drove me to meet up with the other three hikers on Mt Lemmon at Summerhaven and we hiked together until we met up with the larger group at Romero Pools. From there we hiked as a group to the final party at Catalina State Park.

In the end I hiked 95 miles of the planned 100 miles. I feel good about that effort and will go up and hike those last 5 miles as soon as my sore legs and feet are fully recovered.

I feel even better about the money we raised for the Food Bank: as of 3/23/23 we raised over $25,000. More than $3,100 came from my friends and family. Thank you to all who supported this effort!