#but like what can you even do.. most people can’t afford to eat ‘clean’

[angelnumber27]

In America one of the big problems is that everything is designed to keep us sick so that we have to continue spending outrageous amounts of money on healthcare. They should really just call it sick care.. they don’t want people to get better. This country is a business and money is the top priority always

[cakelitter]

Mine

Leon x Puppy - Hybrid Fem! Reader

Warnings: age gap, puppy reader, spitting, thigh riding, daddy kink, oral (f recieve) , p in v, praise kink

Summary: Puppy reader gets jealous over Leon

Words: 3.7k

a/n: reader is such a hater in this one, but it fitting. If you see some typos, no you don't. anww enjoy!!

Life has never been better. You have all you could ever need and more.

A hoard of squeaky toys. Check

Piles and piles of cute clothes. Check

The best and the most handsome owner ever. Check

Leon is the best, you lucked out hard on this one. While other hybrids are on the streets, scared and hungry. Your bundled up in your own room, with a massive vanity and a walk-in closet stacked with expensive clothes. You sleep in your king-sized bed with silk sheets, only having to share it with the absurd collection of plushies you have.

You don’t even sleep on it, instead you prefer to overtake Leon’s bed. Usurping his space, and making it your own. Sure, yours is extremely comfortable, pink sheets, bouncy mattress, with plenty of pillows for your singular head. But it doesn’t smell like Leon, it doesn’t have Leon’s warmth, nor the massive biceps you can hide under when there is a thunder storm.

 While other hybrids, search day and night for something edible to eat. You get to be picky with what you put into that bratty mouth of yours. Your morning eggs need to be perfectly cooked, not too dry, but not too raw either. Your like orange juice, but not if it tastes too much like oranges. And god forbid your bread is too stale.

Leon has built that attitude of yours, brick by fucking brick. Complying to everything you say to make you happy, cause seeing you happy makes him happy. Want this skirt even though you have the same exact one back at home? You got it. Want to try a definitely over priced banana milk shake, even though you don’t like bananas? How can he to say no to you.

You are practically a show dog without even competing. All you do is sit at home and be pretty. Leon doesn’t even let you lift a finger. He does all the laundry and cleans up after the mess you make without ever complaining cause according to him, he adopted you, so he should deal with it. And you are completely fine with that mindset. The two of you have an unsaid deal, you empty Leon’s pockets, and in return you shower him with love. Not that it’s difficult for you to do that, the man goes above and beyond for you.

Some call you spoiled, bratty and picky, but how is it your fault if your owner provides you with a life that most humans can’t even afford.

Well, this peace of yours was disturbed with a knock on the door one Sunday afternoon. Leon walks over and opens it cause you’re not allowed to open to strangers. You do however hide behind his shoulder, eyes peeking over the muscles, with your tail wagging.

Did Claire come to visit?? Or is it Sherry?? Wait maybe it’s Chris!

The door opens revealing whoever is behind it. And it’s… who even is that?

“Hi!” A random woman greets, she looks about your age. Honey blonde hair, long and luscious with few highlights here and there, full face of make up, long stiletto red nails, and wearing the tightest shirt and jeans you’ve ever seen. “I’m Irene, just moved in the apartment across from you and wanted to say hi.”

Her smile is blinding, it’s bright… too bright, you hate it. Leon smiles back greeting her as well, tone polite and friendly. You don’t say anything, lurking behind the safety of his broad shoulders, nit picking the appearance of the woman in front of you. She hands over a plate of chocolate chip cookies, wrapped up and tied with a pretty pink ribbon that matches the plate. “These are freshly baked, my grandma’s recipe.”

Why is she so happy and cheerful? You have a bad feeling about her. Your owner takes the plate from her, thanking her for the gesture. People still bake cookies for their neighbors nowadays? She must have a lot of free time huh.

Well, whether you like her or not, it doesn’t mater cause she’s going to leave anyways. The two of you never interact with your other neighbors, and she shouldn’t be any different.

“Wanna come in?”

“Yeah sure.”

What the fuck. Your mouth falls open at how quickly she answered that. She didn’t even take a moment to think, it’s like she was expecting him to offer. Knowing Leon, he probably asked to be polite, and expected her to refuse like how most people tend to do. How normal people do. The shocked expression that appears on your owner’s face for less than a second backs your claim.

He steps aside for her to enter, and you remain glued behind him. She walks in, the clicking sound of her heels echoing through the apartment. The older man ushers her to the living room and they take a seat on the couch. You stand in place at the doorway, watching them from a far.

Listen, your no social expert. You’re just a puppy hybrid, that’s way too spoiled and you spend all day doing nothing at home. But stepping into a random neighbor’s apartment after just moving in sounds like it’s not the smartest thing to do. Especially since Leon clearly looks at least fifteen years older than her. Something smells fishy, and your nose is never ever wrong.

She starts making small talk, about where she’s from, what she does for a living. Things you couldn’t care less about. However, what you do care about is how she laughs too hard at Leon’s stupid jokes, throwing her head back and all. The way she flutters her lashes at him the way you do. The way she tilts her head to the side while nodding as he talks. She’s definitely hitting on him.

The sound of Leon calling your voice, shifts your attention off of her and onto him. He must’ve told her about you, he always parades you around like a trophy to everyone and anyone he has ever known. You walk over to them hesitantly and stand next to his side.

“Aww she’s adorable.” She coos. “I love puppy hybrids.”

Liar, this bitch didn’t even glance your way the whole time she’s here.

“Yeah, she’s a good girl.” Leon adds, with a smile on his face like you’re his biggest accomplishment. Your heart flutters at the way he praises. ‘Good girl’ you’ve heard those two words about a million times ever since you stepped into his home. Yet, each time it never fails to make you get all shy. “Go baby, go say hi to Irene.”

You don’t move a muscle. Usually, you are never one to disobey Leon, he’s too nice for you to treat him like that. But you really don’t want to say hi to a woman who is shamelessly hitting on him in the middle of your living room.

“She’s probably a bit shy.” And she’s clearly stupid, cause someone who’s shy wouldn’t be glaring at her like this. With her incapability to read the fucking room, she does the mistake of reaching her hand to pet you.

Naturally, you start growling, the meanest growl that’s ever come out of your mouth. Ears moving back, eyes shooting daggers at her, and a stiff tail. You honestly don’t know who you are at this point. But it does the job, and scares her enough to retract her hand and leave you alone.

Leon is shocked at your actions as well. You’ve never growled at anyone in your life. Sure, that mouth of yours could use some manners. But you wouldn’t hurt a fly.

She chuckles nervously and leaves not too long after. Once she does, Leon turns around and faces you. Shit, he’s giving you that look. The “I’m disappointed” look, the “I expected more from you” kind of look, the one he gives you when you walk into his office uninvited and mess with his documents. You can sense yourself shrinking with shame under his gaze. But with no regrets.

“We growl at people now?” he says crossing his arms. God, him and those stupid rhetorical questions. “She was nice, and even got us cookies.”

Yeah, ones you can’t even fucking have cause you’re not even allowed to have chocolate. If anything, she’s trying to kill you and he’s upset over a harmless growl? You knew she was bad news, that push up bra of hers is doing wonders at infecting his brain.

Ever since that day, Irene has been stuck on Leon, like gum on his shoe. Asking for his help to clean her “broken” sink, which was never broken by the way. It would be something minor that even you could figure out. She then would play it off as her being silly, and offer a cup of coffee to have him stay longer.

She’d try to make small talk about his motorcycle. What kind it was, when did he get it, how fast it can go. Leon being himself he would explain and ramble on and on about it, sometimes you think he loves that thing more than he loves you. He would get into the nitty gritty of it all, and she would nod her head mindlessly, eyes only focused on his face.

She’d always be touchy around him, gently caressing his arm and giving him unwanted hugs here and there. She was once over at your apartment, even though no one even invited her. They were both in the kitchen with you sitting alone in the living room eavesdropping on their conversation. When she had the audacity to ask him if she could touch his muscles. You felt sick, disgusted, and nauseated. She touches his muscles once and what next? They fall in love and get married? She’d never let you stay in the house or sit on the couch. You’d start eating out of dog bowls and do chores. You can’t let that happen, over your dead pampered body.

Thinking fast, you slam a nearby vase on the floor and quickly lay down next to the shattered pieces, faking a fall and start whinning. Leon rushes out the kitchen and over to you, asking what happened and if you were okay. Long story short, you told him that you slipped and fell breaking the vase along the way. And he bought it, why would his sweet pup lie to him anyways? Although you had to put on your best act and feign an ankle injury for a week, you managed to keep Irene’s hands off of him while successfully getting extra attention.

Today, when you and Leon came back from your daily walk she was ‘coincidentally’ about to knock on your door to give you a new batch of brownies that she baked. As if she hasn’t been coincidentally doing that for four weeks now and it’s getting exhausting.

Like always, Leon thanks her and you both head into your apartment. You can’t stand it anymore, her constantly berating the two of you with her weekly attempts to start a conversation with Leon. Her trying to mesmerize him with her tiny skirts and “fuck me” eyes, it’s honestly pathetic.

Leon is supposed to be your owner. Your supposed to have his attention, his time, his everything, because he’s yours. And so, you grab the plate from Leons hand and you dump everything into the trash. He follows you into the kitchen and stares in shock for a moment.

“Hey! just cause you can’t have those doesn’t mean I can’t sweet heart.” He jokes, tone trying to lighten up the mood.

A smile creeps up on his lips, he thinks its another one of your silly tantrums cause you can’t have any of the things she bakes. However, his expression softens when he sees the tears brimming in your eyes as you look back at him.

“Oh baby, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you wanted to have some too. I can get you one-”

“It’s not about the stupid fucking brownies Leon.” Tears are now wetting your cheeks. You can’t tell if you’re crying out of anger or out of jealousy, or both.  You’ve been bottling up all this rage for so long and now you’re finally let it all out.

“She keeps trying to flirt with you and get in your pants and you’re so oblivious to all of it.”

He connects the dots and his brows furrow with an emotion you can’t quiet read. Letting his shoulders relax, he steps closer. “Honey, its not like that. She’s just-”

“Being nice? Or is it kind?” you interrupt, your sadness turning into anger. “She literally only bakes for you, she only talks to you, she doesn’t even bother glancing at any of our other neighbors.”

He’s speechless, the lines between his brows disappearing as he tries to figure out what to say.

“I’m sorry sweetheart, didn’t know that made you feel uncomfortable.” Is all he managed to say back.

You two stand there in silence, eyes staring into each other. He doesn’t get it; he still doesn’t get why you’re acting like this. You shouldn’t do it, you really shouldn’t, but impulsivity wins and you do it anyways. Grabbing his face, you crash your lips onto his, claiming them in a possessive kiss.

‘A dog is a man’s best friend’ well, your Leon’s half best friend, but what’s the other half? His roommate? His pet? His lover? It’s a question you thought about every day since you discovered that you had a crush on him. A question you were always too scared to ask, fearing that you’re going to be disappointed with the answer.

He’s not kissing you back, he’s not even doing anything. Fuck, what did you just do. Stepping back, with your heart beating out of your chest. You look up back into his eyes with whatever courage and dignity you have left.

He looks at you for moment, eyes piercing through you. You’re so sleeping on the streets tonight, you better start waving goodbye to all of your twenty-three plushies and start searching for a card board box to sleep on for tonight. Irene didn’t even have to bother to kick you out, you single handedly did that yourse-

He’s smiling.

You’re so confused right now.

His hand grabs your chin forcing your eyes to stay locked on his, then he leans down to reach your level. “You could’ve just said that you were jealous, you know?”

The sultry tone of his voice, and his hot breath near your ear only makes your brain processing speed slow down even further. Moving away from you, he drops a delicate kiss onto your lips, and your knees almost give out.

“But you couldn’t just do that, huh. That ego of yours wouldn’t handle it.”

You nod, you can’t even muster up the courage to say anything back with the way his sky-blue eyes are staring at you.

“Fuck, I spoil you too much.” His lips connect with yours once again. They feel so soft, softer than you expected, juxtaposing the roughness of his stubble that is grazing your skin. You kiss him back nervously, all of that prior courage, nowhere to be found.

He leads you backwards till the small of your back is flush against the cold kitchen counter, one of his hands gabbing the surface next to you while the other caresses your waist. Amidst you focusing on his lip movement, you feel one of his legs separate yours, placing itself between them.

Both your lips detach with a string of saliva still connecting them. Your bottom lip is puffy and shiny, he notices and a grin appears on his face. “Such a sweet little thing I have.” He mutters, the jean clad thigh placed between yours closes the proximity with your cunt, causing your brows to furrow at the feeling.

The hand on your waist drops to your hip, ushering it to move in a rocking motion. You can feel the heat from the slick pooling on the gusset of your panties as you let out a sigh of pleasure. A hand creeps up towards your chin once again, grabbing it and gingerly coaxing your mouth to open.

Looking up at him, your greeted with lustful eyes instead of the usual tired yet affectionate ones. He leans in, spitting into your mouth. The hot saliva hits your tongue, and he opens your mouth a bit more to watch it. “Swallow for me.”

Without even thinking twice, you comply. You feel hot all over, you’re pretty sure that you leaked through your panties and onto his jeans. “Always such a good girl.”

He places a soft kiss on your forehead as you continue riding his thigh. It feels so good, yet not enough. Apparently, the feelings mutual. Removing his leg, he grabs your arm, turning your around with your back flush against his.

His hands drop down to your hips, grabbing and moving them backwards till only your ass can feel his warmth. You hear him drop down to his knees behind you, his hands move up from your thighs all the way to your ass, bunching up the skirt that you’re wearing. With your panties exposed to him, he can see the wet spot that is now formed on the fabric. Cursing under his breath, he plants a kiss on one of your thighs then the other, before his finger hooks on your panties, pulling them to the side.

With the cold air hitting your dripping core, you can sense his prying eyes taking in the view in front of him. A thumb grazes your weeping core, then drops down to your clit. The sensation causes your hips to twitch, earning a low chuckle from his lips. Feeling his warm breath on your pussy as he licks his lips. Before placing them on your center with an open-mouthed kiss. Which is then followed by his tongue flattening out and dragging up your folds.

He laps up the slick coming out of your cunt a few times before fully committing and beginning to eat you out. You moan, spreading your legs even further, welcoming his mouth. Groaning, his hand grabs the plush of your thighs, spreading you, and giving himself more space to work with.

Your hand moves up, cupping one of your breasts as you keep gushing on his face. He pulls away, grabbing the hem of your panties and pulling them down to your ankles. Out of curiosity, you turn your head to see what he’s up to. Your eyes lock, and so he seizes your thighs with both hands spreading you open once more, before he spits on your cunt.

Moaning at the sights and at the warmth coating your opening, you see crows’ feet forming at the corner of his eyes as he attaches his mouth on your pussy once more while maintaining eye contact. He starts sucking on your clit, then moves up fucking you with his tongue.

When your legs begin to tremble and when your hips start squirming, he picks up on the fact that your peak is near. Your hand holds on to that counter for dear life, as Leon disappears behind you, and all that could be heard are the dirty sounds coming from the apex of your thighs.

“Gonna cum on my face baby? Mark me as yours?” he whispers, before going back to pleasuring you. His words float into your brain forcing your orgasm out of you. The idea of marking Leon as yours, letting everyone know that he’s off limits brings you near tears as you cry out of pleasure, with your mind completely blissed out.

Your legs threaten to collapse, but rough hands hold them in place. Hearing Leon rise to his feet, the wet noises are now replaced with the unmistakable sound of his belt getting undone that is followed by his pants dropping on the floor.

“Turn around sweet heart, wanna see your face.”

Doing what he asked you to do, he grabs your thigh pulling you closer you him. Your hands are placed behind you, gripping the counter for balance. Dropping your eyes over to his dick, you watch as he strokes it lazily, the tip pink and precum pooling on top. You bite your lip and you go back to looking at his face once again. He watches you with hooded eyes, as his hands continue stroking. Heat rushes to your face from embarrassment of facing him now.

Feeling his cock slap against your clit a few times. He kisses you once again before fucking into your heat, coaxing a muffled moan out of both of you. He begins thrusting shallowly, and one of your hands moves over to grip his shoulder. Placing his forehead on yours, his thrusts become deeper, drawing out more breathy moans out of you.

Thanks to the position you’re in, his dick is hitting all the right spots, even making the slight pain pleasurable. It doesn’t take long for him to bottom out completely, hips making contact with your inner thighs. His hand makes its way to your bundle of nerves, rubbing firm circles as the tip of his cock kisses the opening of your cervix. The pace begins to pick up yet it still feels very intimate, your thinking skills dissipating by the second.

“Daddy… please”

“Right here sweetheart, right here and all yours.”

You pull him into another kiss by his shirt, whining at how sensitive you’re getting. Kissing you back feverishly, the hand on your clit moves quicker doubling the pleasure. A series of begs and moans leave your lips and before you know it, another release washes over you. Your cunt squeezes down on his dick causing him to suck in a breath of air.

“Squeeze my cock baby, yeah just like that.” You’re seeing stars at this point, making his voice feel so distant yet near. “Fuck, always been a daddy’s girl.”

He nuzzles his face into the crook of your neck, hips still slamming into yours as he chases his own high. And only after a few moments, his breaths get heavier as he releases his load into you. A blissful smile emerges on your face at the warm feeling, a souvenir to remind yourself who you belong to incase the collar wasn’t enough.

Pumping a few more thrusts into you, he pecks your forehead sweetly. His large hands cupping your cheeks and mouth kissing yours.

“All yours sweet thing, heart and soul.”

divider by: @/thetaey

[potionpeddlerpatchy]

word count: ~4.3K

paring: Kageyama x fReader

warning(s):  panty stealing, male masturbation, nonconsensual listening (he purposefully listens in on the Reader getting it on), peeping (a hint), and slight obsessive behaviour, Kageyama is a perv in this, so be warned.

authors note: well, much like the Bokuto fic, this has finally arrived; and has taken just as long to complete. After the success of the Perv!Bokuto fic, figured I would continue on and make a series out of it - with the next character (due to popular demand) being Kageyama. If you like it, and want more, please let me know (and who you wanna see next), otherwise please enjoy this fun little piece with our favourite tsundere volleyball player~ 🔮

Having a roommate was a sensible thing. 

It meant that bills and rent were split evenly, which in turn meant less stress on a young person’s life to make ends meet -  to not have to worry as much about having enough to eat or being able to buy the important things in life - and it meant shared resources, things like appliances, necessities, and cleaning supplies; which meant not having to worry if you’ll go without for long. And it especially made sense that an up-and-coming professional volleyball player would want a similar professional as a roommate.

At least, that was how Hinata Shoyo put it as he begged, nearly going to his knees, the taller raven-headed man, trying to convince his closest friend to get an apartment in the city with him.

And that was Hinata’s main point:, that he was a friend. One that Kageyama had known for years, which meant that not only were they in a similar boat together (having similar schedules, and professional careers), but Hinata was one of the few people Kageyama could stand being around for more than a few hours. 

“So come on please!?” Hinata cried out, clinging to the taller man’s shirt. “You won’t get a better deal, 'cause I know you can’t afford to live in the city yet! And do you really wanna chance moving in with a stranger that you can’t stand!? That might have disgusting habits?”

And well, that was what sold it for Kageyama.

Within a month he was packed and standing in the middle of an empty apartment, with an over-eager red-head as they took the lay of their land; it wasn’t a big place (a standard two-bedroom, one-bath) but there was room to breathe and get comfortable in. And, at the end of the day, if Kageyama had to be stuck living in a place like this and needed a roommate, Hinata was his first and only choice.

It didn’t take long for things to be unpacked and for the dust to settle; because really there was only so much furniture two early twenty-somethings had to their name, but the principal remained the same - that a routine was formed, and rather quickly, that fit Kageyama’s standards.

And really, how could it not? Kageyama would wake up, shower, eat breakfast, and be almost out the door by the time his roommate would finally wake up - meaning there would be no hindrance to the strict routine he wanted to keep and maintain further. And the same can be said whenever he finally got home, he was able to eat and get settled for the evening without too much fuss or interference; able to enjoy the living room, and the apartment as a whole, in peace and silence for a few hours. To allow him to recharge and be more prepared to deal with his more extroverted friend/roommate. 

That’s what the weekends were for anyway, to let loose and enjoy life; and that was where Hinata’s presence was appreciated the most - how he was always able to convince him to step out of his comfort zone and try new things. Though Kageyama would be reluctant, would complain and think of any excuse to not go somewhere, he was always thankful at the end of the day to have someone who cared enough about his social life to not let it crumble. Almost strangers during the week, but roommates and friends when the weekend arrived - it was an ideal situation.

And then you showed up.

Appeared within the apartment without warning; sitting on his couch, on your phone, when he woke up one morning, getting ready to start his day and routine of training and maintaining his schedule; you even had the audacity to tell him, with a sickly sweet and obnoxious smile, coffee was made and ready if he wanted any - as if caffeine was good for an athlete. He left without a word, just a mere roll of his eyes and an annoyed scoff before leaving for the day; coming home later in the evening to give Hinata a piece of his mind.

The redhead was apologetic, as always, doing his best to apologize for the lack of proper warning.  “Though, to be fair, she has been over before! You just were never around!” he tried to reason as if that made anything about the situation better. Hinata explained that he met you at a game; you were the one fan he remembered that night - cheering for him the loudest as they played another round-robin in their division - coming up to him afterward and offering him a celebratory drink; and hey, the man was only human.

One drink turned to two, then three, and soon, they spent the night chatting away; he even left with her phone number and the promise to see each other soon. After a few dates, Hinata proposed the idea of going steady, “‘cause seriously dude, she’s really an amazing girl! I couldn’t pass up this chance and let her go!” Things were going pretty well, and after hanging out the night prior you decided to spend the night, that was all.

And it all made sense, one way or another, as to why you were there that morning; you weren't just some stranger in his home - you were a guest, his roommate's girlfriend. Though Kageyama found it hard to believe that the ‘amazing girl’ Hinata kept gushing about, kept going on and on until Kageyam’s eye would twitch in annoyance, could possibly be you. 

Because you were a nuisance to his entire way of life. A constant hindrance and blockade in his way as he tried to go about his usual routine.

In the mornings, when he used to be the first and only one up, he would have the bathroom and kitchen to himself; to shower and eat in a timely fashion before heading out the door. Now, after you got comfortable staying the night, he would be lucky to make it to practice on time. You hogged the bathroom, your annoying humming as you brushed your teeth and did your hair took too long for Kageyama’s liking - forcing him to use the kitchen sink to get rid of his morning breath. And if you weren’t taking up the bathroom, you would be in the kitchen, monopolizing the space as you made breakfast; constantly getting in his way, dirtying as many of his dishes as you possibly could, and using up all his food that was in the fridge…; he can’t help but roll his eyes, a scowl on his face, whenever you try to offer the sad excuse of a breakfast you had just created to him - he was always too angry to say anything to you when you did, he would just simply put his coat on and leave.

And it wasn’t just the morning routine you would infiltrate and destroy;, oh no, you seemed to want to rip apart the entire routine - one that took him months to build and maintain. Now, when he would come home after a long day of training, of pushing his body to the utmost limit and wanting to do nothing more than relax in his living room (an area normally empty and silent most days of the week, to just breathe deeply and meditate for a few hours and recharge, was now ruined, as whenever he would walk through the door, there you were sitting on his couch, playing some obnoxious and loud game on your phone, and greeting him once again with that stupid giant smile on your face like you’re happy to see him. It made him stomp to his room annoyed and frustrated - always ensuring he slammed the door for you to hear.

At night it was the worst; normally he would go to sleep without issue - as he would go to bed early enough to miss Hinata’s loud nighttime routine - ensuring that he would get the 8-hours of rest he needed to ensure peak performance the next day. But now? With you staying the night? He doesn’t get nearly that many hours. He knows you do your best to muffle the sounds, to make it seem like nothing else is happening on the other side of the paper-thin wall then you and Hinata trying to get comfortable in bed, but it doesn’t work. Kageyama can hear everything; your moans, mewls, gasps, and sighs of pleasure, they all ring so loudly in his ears making it impossible for him to fall asleep - even after they go quiet, after you have been tuckered out and are fast asleep, they play on a loop in his mind.

He knows that neither of you are aware that he can hear you, that he inadvertently listens whenever you fuck, given the bright and cheery smile you both cast his way in the morning as if nothing has changed, as if he wasn’t in on your dirty little secrets.

But he knows, and it plagues him constantly.

Now whenever he finds you in the kitchen, either making coffee or breakfast that is far too much for one person, he cannot stand near you or look in the eyes whenever you offer him a mug or plate; cannot begrudgingly work alongside you as he tried to fix his bowl instant oats and honey; cannot just merely scoff and roll his eyes at you like he normally would - his biting responses now turned into quiet shakes of his head, his heart beating out of his chest as he tries not to stare at you; as he tries not to be entranced by your plush thighs that were barely caged within the smallest shorts he had ever seen; how they would ride up and hide nothing, giving him plenty of fuel for his imagination.

Whenever he sees you on the couch when he gets home, all sprawled out playing on your phone, he doesn’t stomp off to his room and slam the door like he normally would after finding out you ruined his plans; instead, he’s almost stunned in the doorway as you greet him; having the unusual giant impact of making his cock twitch in his pants, made worse when he realizes you're wearing his old high school's jersey. Merely greeting you with a slight raise of his hand before scurrying off as quietly as possible to deal with the newfound tent problem in his sweats.

And at night, he can’t help himself from pressing his ear to the wall; shirt tucked between his teeth to keep his whimpers and moans down as he stroked his heavy, leaking cock to the sounds of your high-pitched moans; closing his eyes and picturing what position you must be in, how pretty you would look with your mouth stuffed with his length, and how thankful you would be with your pussy leaking his cum. The guilt and shame that washes over him once he cums into his hand is almost devastating, but he cannot help but think it’s worth it whenever he wipes himself clean.

~

You, on the other hand, were clearly blissfully unaware of the situation that had been slowly unfolding over the past few weeks; sweetly ignorant of the secrets your boyfriend’s roommate had been hiding. For all you know, the man who seemed to hate the very earth you walked on - the man who could barely tolerate your existence or be in the same room as you - was slowly starting to warm up to you, becoming somewhat tolerable to be around.

You were ecstatic, happy to know that your relationship with Hinata would no longer jeopardize his friendship with one of his closest friends and overjoyed that the possibility of forcing Hinata to choose a side would not have to befall him. And Hinata? He was just happy to see his two favorite people slowly starting to get along, especially as it meant more opportunities to invite you over.

You liked Kageyama, in the simplest of terms. He seemed to be a decent guy, even if he was high-strung, but you knew it was due to his passion for being the best he can be - and how could fault him for that? 

Besides, you liked his company. He was quiet and more relaxed than Hinata was, which at times was a little more welcomed after a long day of work, or when you first got up and haven't had a cup of coffee yet. And he was polite–sweet even, surprisingly so. It always caught you off guard; Whether that be telling you he bought the kind of yogurt you liked or allowing you to watch something on the TV, even though he was clearly just trying to enjoy the living room in peace, Kageyama's niceness always caught you off-guard.

You were grateful for the change in dynamic, even if it did seem out of the blue; it was a welcomed happenstance, one you weren’t going to jinx or question too much. For you were happy to continue on without the answers, happy to continue to be with Hinata and the perks that came with it, happy to finally feel comfortable in his apartment - to live in the shared space without being seen as a burden.

You finally felt comfortable, and really, what was better than that?

~

Well, you were too comfortable.

Kageyama knew it to be fact, though Hinata would disagree.

He was grateful you finally felt comfortable in his home. Kageyama wishes you didn't. Because when a person is comfortable, the little, embarrassing habits that they try to hide slowly start to show. For some, like Hinata, it’s having conversations with himself - sometimes loud, sometimes quiet - as well as leaving half-eaten food in the most random of places because he got distracted and forgot them. Kageyama can even admit that he oftentimes forgets food in the microwave, or leaves his shoes in entranceways, inadvertently causing people to trip on them. All things normal, and natural, once comfortable in a space. 

Kageyama wishes yours were little things like that. Talking with your mouth full, or singing loudly in the shower, or leaving wrappers all over the place; anything that could put you in a normal, negative, light (would be better than your bad habits). 

But no. Your bad habit was leaving, your panties where just anyone could find them. And he can tell, neither you or Hinata are aware of it.

Kageyama didn’t notice at first, why would he? Why would he care about your clothes, not like he had any use for your dirty laundry? When he finally did, it was an accident. He entered the bathroom after you had taken a shower, and as he placed the bathmat down on the floor he saw them; a navy pair of lace panties just sitting there, right by the tub. The shower he took afterward was long and very cold.

After that incident, he found them more and more; much like noticing red cars only after you start thinking about them. He would notice that you often forget about your panties when you leave the next morning after spending the night; whether in the bathroom crumpled in the corner nearest the tub, or scattered in some hap-haphazard form near Hinata’s doorway.

At first, he tried to ignore them, leaving them there and pretending they didn’t exist. It did help you were usually close by, your “would you like some coffee, Tobio-san?” or “your breakfast looks ready, don’t forget it this time~” often effectively stealing his attention and thus having him suppress his thoughts to speak with you about the little things you leave behind.

Then it turned into something he couldn’t ignore. Llater as he stared at them a moment or two too long before walking away from them; burning into his memory the colour, shape, and fabric type as he uses the image of you wearing them whenever he wakes from a naughty dream, or needed to cool off in the shower after a stressful day, or whenever he couldn’t sleep because his cock ached for you.

But it didn’t take long before an embarrassing habit of yours turned into a disgusting habit of his. His cheeks would burn red as shame would fill his being, knowing he was the very roommate that Hinata had threatened about when convincing him to move in together, but he couldn’t help it; you unlocked something depraved in him and he was just trying to keep it at bay.

He knows you don’t mean to leave them, or at least not in plain view, but after a while he couldn’t help but have that perverted voice in his head tell him that you were purposefully leaving them for him to find; that they were for him, so why not take a pair? What was the harm in doing that?

And try as he might, that perverted voice broke him down - he was only a man after all. A sinful, disgusting man, who was utterly, hopelessly, and inappropriately attracted to his best friend’s girl.  

Kageyama didn’t steal every pair, he had to be applauded for that. Not because he had self-control, but rather out of self-preservation to not be caught or confronted by you or Hinata. If he stole every pair then you would start to get suspicious, and that could lead to you asking him the dreaded question of ‘have you seen my underwear Tobio? Maybe it got mixed in with your clothes’ and he knew if you did, his flustered face and voice would give it all away. Or worse, that you would take matters into your own hands and start snooping around his room. He could already feel his stomach drop at the thought of your pretty eyes widening in horror once you found his little stash.

No, he couldn’t have it. So, despite all the voices in his head telling him otherwise,  he had to have some self-control; even if it was killing him slowly. 

He wanted to take your prettiest pairs, the ones with lace and silk, but he worried you would notice that for sure, for panties like that are always remembered, so instead he took some of your more plain ones - ones he was sure you wouldn’t notice they were gone as you had plenty of them to spare.

And how useful they proved to be late at night, when he could hear your pretty mewls get higher and higher as you tried to stifle them; not that it would do much, not with how he moved his bed so his head was next to the shared wall, thus gaining a perfect (and comfortable) spot to hear all your pretty sounds. He would wrap your panties around his aching, heavy cock as he used them to help get him off to you; the soft material providing just the perfect amount of friction, different from his fist, to further make believe he was the one ravaging you.

Arm over his face, shielding his eyes from what he was doing and trying to cool his flushed face as his teeth would bite down harshly to his bottom lip,trying to keep his whimpers quiet as he vigorously pumped his twitching cock to you, angry and red in overstimulation. He tried his best to feel satisfied; to reach that high that would finally allow him to sleep…but always ended the same: him bringing a hand up to stifle a wail as he painted those cotton panties of yours with his cum - wishing it was your pussy instead. Shame washed over his being as he kept his eyes shielded from the world. Now that he's gotten away with it, it's only going to get worse from here..

And it did.

Kageyama didn’t want it to, but he fed the beast and now it was clawing at him for more.

And more meant beig risky, much to his dismay. If he could, he'd keep this part of himself hidden deep; but this part could never be sated, not unless he could finally have you. And since he able to fuck you, he had to get as close as he could.

Close meant dangerous. Close meant palming himself through his shorts as he stood behind you while you bent over to grab something out of the oven–trying to distance himself enough so you couldn’t feel him, fighting the urge to pull you by your hips to be flush with his own. Close meant pulling his leaking cock out of his sweats in the morning as he tries to get off as quickly as he can while he peeps through the keyhole of the bathroom door, trying to get a glimpse of your wet naked form through the shower curtain.

Soon, even all that wasn’t enough. Soon, just hoarding your panties wasn’t enough, he had to carry a pair in his pocket - even to practice, despite how easily the flimsy fabric would fall out of gym shorts Soon, just smelling your shampoo as you walked by didn’t leave the lasting impression it once did, now he was reduced to smelling your lavender lotion  you kept in the bathroom as he tried to imagine your soft skin in his hold. And soon, after a long day of training= he would find he was too pent up and tired to even make it to his room. Simply spreading him out on the living room couch and slowly slide your panties up and down his shaft; pretending it's your pretty lips wrapped around his sensitive tip; enjoying the thrill, the shivers of pleasure, in the thought of knowing that you could come home at any moment and catch him in the act.

It was bad, and he knew it, but he still couldn’t stop himself from doing it; from spreading his legs wide on the plush cushions and taking hold of his cock with a delighted sigh; for really, it was the only time he could be vocal and let out his frustrations that he was currently faced with - and the possibility that you might find him was more than worth it for it either meant you would finally confront him and snap him out of his lust-filled craze, or you would join him; either way, it was a victory for the man.

And this habit, this vile and disgusting habit, had now grown into his routine. Instead of coming home, kicking his shoes off, and meditating his stress away he now found peace by coming undone by the thought of you as he did his best not to make a mess of the shared couch.

That was where he found himself now, panting as he pulled his athletic shorts down and freeing his rock-hard cock from where it was uncomfortably caged; wrapping his hand around it with a strangled moan, he began to squeeze the tip; normally he would have a layer of cotton to help soothe his angry erection and provide it that sinfully sweet friction it craved, but you hadn’t visited in over a week - away with Hinata for an away game - and thus he didn’t have any new pairs to use as the others were hidden away, awaiting being washed and returned to you so you could dirty them again.

His hand just had to do as he slowly dragged it up and down, the longwinded whimper clear he needed some relief as his precum slowly lubricated his length, providing less resistance and allowing him to go faster and faster. Before long the only sound that could be heard in the empty apartment were the wet sounds of his hips thrusting up into his fist and the occasional whine that would escape his throat as he tried desperately to finish; all the while his eyes remained closed as he visualized about how pretty you could look bouncing up and down on his cock, how blissfully you would look with your head thrown back as you moaned over how good he made you feel.

“That feels good, doesn’t it baby?” He babbled out, pretending he was teasing you as his hips purposefully thrust up into his tight fist. “Like the feeling of my cock stretching out that pretty pussy don’t you? Nngh! Feels… fuck,,, feels better than Hinata’s doesn’t it?”

His voice was getting higher the closer he got to cumming, feeling his lower stomach twist in knots as he tried to hold back just a little bit longer, wanting to remain in the fantasy he created.

“Just want me to fill you up, don’t you? Make a mess of you for him to find, yeah? Want to show him how to really make you feel good, naughty, dirty, fucking girl. Yeah, just like that, keep doing it just like that, keep squeezing me! I’m! I’m gonna, fuck, gonna cum!”

He cried out, your name leaving his mouth in a broken wail. His body tensed harshly as he threw his head back violently into the pillows and came all over his fist and stomach, body twitching and jumping as he slowly pumped his angry, red cock. He tries coming down from his high slowly; regaining his breath and coming back to reality while still savoring that euphoria.

But his reality came crashing down when he heard your startled and shocked gasp, piecing his ears so sharply that it felt like ice water had been poured over his head,.He whipped his head to face you, entire being filled with fright as gazed at you. Watching as you stood there with the most horrified look on your pretty face, making it clear to him that you had heard everything he said as he feels his whole body heat up in shame and embarrassment; unable to even squeak out a word of explanation or apology.

And yet, a moment passed, and then another, and you still stood there looking at him with the same stunned expression; shoulders still by your ears and body still frozen in shock as your eyes never left his cock - still oozing with sticky cum.

You didn’t run away…. He thought to himself as he heard you gulp down a breath as he stood up. So maybe…. maybe you wouldn’t mind helping him out?

[pochipop]

＃BLACK CLOVER !! ♡ — NOZEL ALPHABET HEADCANONS.

#. synopsis! — a nozel headcanon for every letter of the alphabet .

#. characters! — nozel .

#. warnings! — none .

#. others! — navigation & masterlist .

A: affection. | are they affectionate? how do they show affection?

Nozel can be surprisingly affectionate in spite of his cold exterior. When it comes to his lover, he tends to let his guard down after a while, and in doing so, he affords you the right to see the softer, sweeter sides of him when it’s just the two of you. Nozel tends to show his love physically, —he’s not great with words and fears he might say the wrong thing or come off the wrong way, so he settles for letting his hands roam the plane of your shoulders and letting his lips capture yours as your back is pressed against his bedroom wall. He might not say “I love you” as often as he should, but he hopes his actions are enough to get the point across.

B: bizarre. | something strange they do or a weird quirk they have with or without their partner?

Nozel eats everything with silverware, even when it would be worlds easier to do it with his hands. You tend to think it’s just a silly quirk he’s developed since childhood, growing up royal and all, but you still can’t help but smile when you see him do it. It’s genuinely really cute!

C: comfort. | are they good at comforting their partner? how do they do it?

Nozel isn’t great at offering comfort to people. He’s not even good at comforting himself. Even so, he tries his best when it comes to you, even if it’s not always very effective. It’s hard to stay miserable when he makes the effort, pushing himself out of his comfort zone to pat your back and tell you everything will be okay, even when the future seems uncertain or bleak. The fact that he tries means the world to you.

D: domestic. | how do they feel about settling down? do they cook/clean?

Nozel, coming from a royal bloodline, tends to value more traditional unions. Marriage is something he holds in high regard, and he’s of the belief that when you promise your love to someone forever, you should do your best to uphold that promise, day in and day out. As for cooking or cleaning, Nozel doesn’t tend to do either (and never really learned how.) His family was very well-off, so others cooked his meals and cleaned up his messes. Still, he wouldn’t mind learning the basics or helping you around the house, although his busy schedule as a Captain may well get in the way more often than not.

E: ending. | if they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?

Nozel would do it in person and would probably be a little cold in his delivery. When he’s faced with feelings he doensn’t want to delve into, he tends to stuff them down in hopes of numbing them out. All the sadness and guilt would likely manifest as indifference, but deep down, he’d mourn for months to come and have a very difficult time moving on.

F: future. | do they think about the future? how does it look?

Nozel is always thinking about the future, whether professionally or personally, and he really hopes you’ll be in it. He likes the idea of having someone to come home to, having someone to rely on, having someone to share his most intimate moments with. For all his independence, he enjoys thinking about sharing meals with you after long days and retreating to bed after harsh times, wrapping you up in his strong arms, holding you close. Moreover, he likes to think you’re hoping for the same, even if only every now and again.

G: gifts. | how often do they give their partner gifts? what kind of gifts are they?

Nozel is nothing short of wealthy, and what he has, his partner will have in turn. Gift giving is probably his main love language since it’s a bit hands off and he can put a lot of time and thought into it on his own time. Jewelry is a staple of his gifts, —shimmering crystals dangling from the lobes of your ears or hanging around your neck, shining stones on your fingers (that many people often mistake for engagement rings), and finely crafted beads hooked around your wrists that he agonized over choosing for you. He certainly isn’t above coming home with flowers, newly crafted weaponry or armour, and any other array of trinkets or indulgences for you and your hobbies.

H: honesty. | are they honest with their partner? do they keep secrets?

Nozel is both brutally honest and painfully secretive, which is a strange mixture, but one he learns to temper over time for your sake. It might take a while, but eventually, he finds a nice middleground where he can express things to you while also protecting your feelings, as well as be honest about things without causing you too much worry or concern. Just as well, he does eventually figure out how to let himself be vulnerable, and while he may still keep things to himself every now and again (if for nothing more than to save some face), he does his best to be as open as he can.

I: i love you. | how fast do they say the L word? who says it first?

Nozel probably won’t say it first, but he would definitely say it back, and probably with reckless abandon. As soon as you work up the courage to confess the true extent of your feelings for him, he’d be quick to return the favor, and the relief of you feeling the same would be palpable. It wouldn’t be quick or easy for either of you, honestly, but the time and effort would be well worth it.

J: jealousy. | do they get jealous? does it show?

Nozel can be a bit of a jealous person, —not because he doesn’t trust you, but just because he’s kind of insecure about relationships in general. This gets better over time, and he doesn’t tend to act on it, but it’s a familiar sting that he knows a little bit too well. He likes to think he hides it well, but you always notice, even if you don’t say anything about it. Instead, you just give him a little bit more affection to offer some reassurance, and that tends to work like a charm.

K: kisses. | what kind of kisses do they like to give/receive?

Nozel is a lips man through and through. If he’s kissing you, nine times out of ten, he’s pressing his lips to yours and is hoping you don’t mind the way he holds it for a while too long. He’s definitely not above giving some forehead kisses though. Strangely enough though, his favorite place to be kissed is his shoulder. It feels warm and intimate, and he really relishes in that.

L: likes and dislikes. | favorite and least favorite things about being in the relationship?

Nozel’s favorite thing about being in a relationship is having someone to confide in. Having gone so long keeping up a certain image and never letting the mask slip, it feels way too good to be able to be his true self behind closed doors with you and not worry that any shred of weakness might push you away. Still, Nozel is and always has been an introverted person, and he doesn’t like feeling guilty when he doesn’t share something with you immediately because he needs time to think it over. It’s not even that you make him feel that way, —it’s largely something he does to himself, and he wishes that weren’t the case.

M: mornings. | how do they spend mornings with their partner?

Nozel is pretty indifferent to mornings. Waking up kind of just is what it is within itself. Even so, he’s a tad more affectionate when the two of you are in bed together, and he much prefers to take “five more minutes” when he can, even if all that entails is faking sleep to count the beats of your heart.

N: nicknames. | what do they call their partner?

Nozel likes to call you “my angel” or “my love” more often than not, but he’s also impartial to “darling.”

O: out of character. | what is something people would be hard pressed to believe they do/enjoy in a relationship?

Nozel loves to be fawned over. It even takes you a while to figure that out, because he’s definitely not the type to just outright ask for attention, but there are definitely times where he wants nothing more than to have you all over him, being the clingiest person imaginable.

P: pda. | do they like public displays of affection? if so, what types?

Nozel’s not a fan of PDA. He’s not embarrassed to be in love, but he does have an image to keep up, and he prefers to be affectionate behind closed doors.

Q: quirk. | what is something they do that their partner finds cute or endearing?

Nozel’s very strict and serious persona that he always upholds in front of his squad has become something of a novelty to you after having gotten to know him so well. It’s a very different side of him to the fairly sweet, somewhat tempered man you share your most tempered moments with.

R: rough times. | arguments? how often and in what manner?

Nozel tends to get frustrated more than genuinely angry. He might raise his voice from time to time, but all his time as a leader has given him some pretty solid reasoning and problem-solving skills, all of which he utilizes in his personal affairs. As long as there’s no egging him on purposefully, he can usually see through the initial upset and deal with whatever has gone wrong after he takes a bit to think and work things over by himself.

S: sensitive. | what’s a sore spot for them that their partner should steer clear of?

Nozel doesn’t like to be pressed about his family dynamics. He’ll open up about them in time, but only when he’s ready, and he’d much rather do so when he truly feels comfortable.

T: thrill. | do they need surprises in a relationship, or do they prefer a routine?

Nozel prefers routine and stability. His schedule can often be overwhelming, and as a Captain for a Magic Knight Squad, he gets his fair share of thrill and surprise while on the job. Really, the last thing he wants is to come home and not know what to expect there. Within reason, he doens’t mind surprise dates or something of the like, but he would definitely rather be in the know and have a solid idea of what’s going on.

U: unacceptable. | what is something they cannot tolerate in a relationship? what is something they would never do?

Nozel couldn’t tolerate someone being overly critical of him in a relationship. He’s hard enough on himself in just about every aspect of his life, so to hear his insecurities constantly echoed back at him would be way too much to shoulder. Nozel would also never project that outwardly and is surprisingly careful not to be nitpicky of his lover. He knows what it’s like to feel like all eyes are always on you, waiting for you to make a mistake, and the last thing he’d want for someone he loves so intimately is to cause any low feelings about the place held in their relationship.

V: vanity. | how concerned are they about their looks? are they insecure about them?

Nozel can be a bit vain, but it might come as a surprise at first that most of his external arrogance is more of an act than anything else. He sees himself as very attractive, and he puts both time and effort into keeping his appearances up, —but in his personal life, he tends to be a lot more tame about stroking his own ego. He also isn’t one for insecurity as it pertains to his looks, but it never hurts to throw him some bones and tell him he looks handsome every now and again.

W: wild card. | random headcanon?

Nozel really likes to style his partner’s hair, especially in braids. He’d take all the necessary time to understand the needs and texture of your hair, and would work with that accordingly.

X: xoxo. | how often do they hug/kiss their significant other?

Nozel isn’t anywhere near as stingy with affection as most people would assume of him. At the very least, he’s kissing you good morning and goodnight, but he tends to throw in a lot of back hugs and he adores the way you slip into his arms when he gets back from a mission.

Y: yearning. | how do they feel when their partner is away?

Nozel prefers it when you’re next to him, but that’s not always viable. When the two of you are apart, he thinks of you often and likes to remind himself of the warmth of your skin against his and the sweetness of your lips on his mouth. He’s a little too sentimental about it for his own good from time to time, but hey, what’s a lovesick fool to do?

Z: zzz. | how do they sleep with their partner? how do they sleep alone?

Nozel has long been a restless sleeper, but that simmers down quite a lot after getting used to having you in his bed. When he’s alone, it tends to be shallower, but it’s nothing that would stop him from doing his job. He moves around more and tends to stir awake a few times throughout the night. With you, however, his rest is usually more fulfilling, and his favorite position is him resting on his back with your head on his chest.

[medusapelagia]

10 - The Tower of Terror

written for @steddieangstyaugust (prompt: "Where were you?”) and @augustwritingchallenge (Prompt: enemies to allies) and @aug-kissed (prompt: Blow a Kiss) Rating: Mature Relationship: Steve/Eddie TW: Witcher AU, violence, blood, injuries Words: 1626

(An AU inside an AU?!?! Yes 😂)

When Steve’s mom dragged him to Kaer Morhen as a kid, Steve didn’t know that she was selling him to the mages to make a witcher out of him. He just thought it was a funny adventure. They rode in a little carriage together with some cabbages, and then they crossed the woods and started the same long path that now Steve is walking down, holding Roach's bridle with one hand, guiding the stubborn girl down the steep slope.

Steve never knew how much the mages gave his mom. He hopes they gave her a lot, she still had other five kids at home and he was just another mouth to feed: too young and weak to be really helpful working at the farm.

Now his mom and his brothers are long gone, but Steve is still there, doing what he was raised to do: killing monsters.

At the end of the winter, he says his brothers and their father goodbye, and gets back on the path, ready to kill monsters and humans alike. Because sometimes, the worst monsters have human skin.

On his back are his two faithful swords, silver and iron, that he keeps in tiptop shape, cleaning and sharpening them every night before resting.

He doesn’t stop at the first few villages, he wants to leave them to his brothers, but he keeps walking toward the farthest towns, looking for little villages that definitely need a witcher, even if most of them can’t really afford him. But Steve was never too high-maintenance: if the people are nice to him and they really need help, he will help them, in exchange for some food and a comfortable place to sleep. 

He would probably help them for free as well, but even witchers need to eat and sleep.

That’s how he finds out about the Tower of Terror. An old tower that’s all that remained of a big castle up the hills and that was destroyed during a strong earthquake.

He’s eating some bland soup, the only thing he can afford at the beginning of the hunting season, when a man, wearing fancy clothes, sits next to him.

“You’re a witcher, aren’t you?”

“What gave it away? The white hair or the yellow eyes? Maybe the two swords on my back?” Steve asks sarcastically, he doesn’t want to have anything to do with rich men, they are the ones that always try to fuck him up and pay him less than the agreed amount.

“Snarky, aren’t you? I thought all of you were grumpy and scary men.” 

“Met many witchers?” Steve asks without even turning.

“A couple. When I was a kid. Anyway, I have a job for you. I want you to go to the Tower of Terror and free the place from all the monsters that inhabit that place.”

Steve lifts an eyebrow, “Did they attack the village?”

“Not yet. But they are monsters! We can’t live under the threat of those monsters coming for us if we want to become a bigger village. You see? At the moment all we have are just a few houses, but the road that leads to us is the quickest route to get to Hawkins. If we manage to kill every monster in the Tower of Terror, we will be finally able to attract more travelers and become a bigger city.”

“And make more money.”

“And make more money.” The man agrees, “The tower is full of gold and jewels, you could take anything you want once you clean it from the monsters. So what do you say? It’s a pretty big deal.”

“What kind of monsters haunt the tower?” Steve asks, squinting his eyes, pensive.

“How the fuck would I know! I never got there.”

“I don’t take jobs if I don’t know what I’m facing.”

“Oh. Too bad. Well, I guess I’ll ask the other witcher.”

That catches Steve's attention. What other witcher? He concentrates, trying to find a slow heartbeat like his but finds none.

“Oh, he’s not here yet, but we sent a messenger a few weeks ago and he promised to come soon. In the beginning, I thought it was you, but the messenger told me about dark pitch-black hair, so…”

There’s one witcher crazy enough to accept a job without knowing what the fuck he’s going to face. A witcher on his back has two swords and a lute. A witcher that’s crazy like all the witchers from the Cat School. 

Eddie.

Steve takes his bowl of soups and gulps it down in one go, slamming it on the table, “Good for you.” he says, leaving the tavern.

He’s not even halfway through the village when he hears a familiar voice singing a stupid song, he turns in time to see Eddie get off his dark horse and put away his lute.

“When the tavern owner told me a grumpy witcher with white hair came to the rescue I couldn’t believe my luck.” He grins, getting closer to Steve who is still riding Roach.

“Not here to help you. Just looking for a job.”

“Are you saying to me you’re allergic to money? Because, my dear Steve, that castle is full of gold and jewels. So full that you won’t have to hunt for at least ten years.”

“And became old and fat in the meantime? No thanks.”

“Come on! It will be fun! You and me against the world!”

“There’s no you and me. There’s you. And there’s me. And our paths won’t cross again.”

“Oh, you weren’t so adamant when I was fucking you against the tree in the middle of the woods a few summers ago.”

“That was a one-time thing. And we were drunk.”

“Were we, Stevie?” Eddie asks, licking his lips and showing the little cat fangs.

“We come from different schools.”

“Doesn’t mean we are enemies. I'm pretty fond of you, actually.” Eddie says, blowing him a kiss and then winking at him.

“It does,” Steve replies, deadpan, before hitting Roach in the stomach and pushing her to gallop away.

“Tomorrow, at first lights! I’ll be there, waiting for you!” Eddie yells, but Steve doesn’t even turn.

***

Steve doesn’t sleep. He doesn’t even meditate. He just tosses and turns, thinking about that only night he shared with Eddie years before. How good it felt to be adored and loved even if it wasn’t real.

Finally understanding he won’t get any more sleep he sits near the ember of his fire, trying to remember everything he knows about the Tower of Terror. He has definitely read something about it but now all he can think about are pale hands wrapping his sex while a horny voice whispers dirty things in his ear.

If Eddie is really going to get into the Tower alone he will die, and those hands will never touch Steve again with reverence and desire.

It’s not Steve’s problem. If Eddie wants to die he’s free to do as he wishes.

Roach turns her head, glaring at him from the tree she’s tied to.

“Ok, I get it. I get it.” Steve sighs, dismounting the camp and preparing himself to fight.

***

It’s the smell of blood to guides him through the stupid tower, not the greedy, as Eddie insists when they meet in a maze of corridors.

The dark-haired witcher is holding his side, a deep wound gushing blood through his fingers, but Steve doesn’t have the time to take care of his injuries, because the monsters with no eyes are attacking them again, their shriek so loud on Steve’s sensitive ears that he has to fight with himself not to drop his sword and protect his ears with his hands.

With a slash, he cuts the arm that’s reaching out toward his head and when the creature loses its balance, Steve’s sword pierces him from side to side. He doesn’t even have the time to retrieve the blade, when another creature, smaller than the first, attacks him, making him fall on his back while he tries to keep the monster’s mouth away from his face. Steve kicks it in the stomach and the creature yelps, recoiling just enough to give Steve the time to grab the dagger from his belt and cut its throat.

The dark and warm blood falls on his clothes and his face, and Steve curses, kicking the dead beast.

“You should think about dyeing your hair.” Eddie chuckles, spitting some blood, “Black maybe it’s a little too dark fir your skin complexion, but I think chestnut would be perfect for you.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Steve replies, trying to determine how bad the injury is.

“Where were you? I thought we agreed to be here at dawn.”

“I didn’t agree.”

“I heard you growl, distinctly. That’s not how your school expresses agreement?”

“Fuck you.” Steve says, fishing some vials for his bag, “Take this.”

“Swallow? How magnanimous of you.” 

“Just drink it and let’s get out of here.”

“Can’t.”

“Come on Eddie. Not even a cat can be so stupid to risk his life for some jewels that were probably stolen ages ago.”

“Have you ever seen monsters like these?” Eddie asks, pointing to the two dead creatures.

Steve squints at the monsters without eyes. He doesn’t remember having read anything about them in the book he studied, and he definitely hadn’t met such creatures before.

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that if you come with me we could find something more than gold and jewels.” Eddie drinks the potion in one go and gives the vial back to Steve, “Can we be allies, for once?”

Steve stares at the other witcher who slowly gets up, one hand still protectively in front of his wounded side.

Allies.

Just for this time.

They shake hands, and then their medallions start to shake like crazy.

(Should I start working on a Part 2???)

[theminecraftbee]

second’s slightly arbitrary guide to vault hunters knowledge unlocks

so, one of the main questions I see new vault hunters players have is “which mods should I unlock in what order?” unlike skills or even, if expensively, expertises, mod unlocks in vault hunters are completely irreversible, which means they can be kind of intimidating for new players. so here’s my (somewhat arbitrary) guide to what to unlock! keep in mind I’m not a “top player” or anything, so these might not be the PERFECT meta picks, just a guide for new guys.

also if your question is “but I have one knowledge star and am like level 5 what do I unlock NOW”, the answer is probably vault compasses if you’re getting lost, either stack upgrades or double pouches if you’re having inventory management issues (depending on whether “numerous stacks of common items” or “many types of items” is currently your larger problem), or storage drawers if overworld storage is giving you nightmares.

additionally, my biggest unlocking mods advice is to check how much the thing you want to do costs in materials before unlocking it. nothing sucks more than unlocking a cool mod and only realizing you need an echo pog to interact with it and you’re only level 15 afterwards, after all!

anyway let’s go, general guide beneath the cut.

STORAGE MODS

these mods give you the first three without price increases before they start getting more expensive, which is useful, since people almost always combine more than one solution. even after they start getting more expensive, it’s only +1, so this is a category you should get the thing you want or need in when you want it without worrying about it locking you out of other options later.

Storage Drawers are the backbone to basically everyone’s storage system. they work fairly simply: each drawer can store a certain number of stacks of a single item. add upgrades to increase the number of stacks or make the drawers automatically void excess. if they are connected by other drawers or trim to a drawer controller, you can double-click the controller to move everything in your inventory that goes into a drawer to one of them, and that controller acts as a port for other storage interacting with it. because they can store an absurd quantity of items, are way cheaper than basically every other storage option, and are useful right up to the late game, these are by far and away the most common first storage option. I can’t recommend them enough. even early game before you can afford a controller they clean up your inventory SIGNIFICANTLY with the number of stacks they can hold.

Colossal Chests are a trap earlygame. unlike regular chests, you can’t use quark’s sorting or searching functions, which means they’re effectively the “hiding it under the bed” solution to chest monsters. however, mid-game once you actually have another storage mod, these become fantastic, since they’re much cheaper and use much more common materials than storage disks and capable of storing large amounts of items. the largest one you can make in vault hunters is 5x5 for the record. a lot of people like using this with ssn to help reduce lag.

Simple Storage Network is… controversial. it’s the cheapest early way to make a searchable storage network, but it gets very laggy the more chests you attach to it, and many of a storage system’s most useful functions are no longer possible to craft in vault hunters because of it. also, it eats items with NBT data, so never store crystals, jewels, gear, or similar things in it. my general recommendation is to do whatever you want in singleplayer (although if you want a crafting interface you’ll need to upgrade out of this eventually), but in multiplayer only use it if you’re using colossal chests or something else that prevents you from having to make massive silos of chests, and save your server the headache. it’s only one knowledge point, though, and it’s much cheaper generally than the digital options, so I totally understand why people go for it, and it can super be worth it early game when you just need to be able to search your inventory! just be aware of the caveats.

Applied Energistics 2 is one of your two main digital storage options. digital storage should be your end goal with a storage system! it is the more complex of the two. my understanding is that it’s cheaper if you know what you’re doing, as well as more powerful, but that it’s notoriously a beast for people who don’t know it to try to understand. if you don’t have good spacial reasoning skills maybe stay clear, but if you do and you like a more involved storage approach, go with this. also, be aware you’ll need something that can produce power in order to use this mod. (ae2 comes with power generation on its own, but I don’t remember if you can craft that in vault hunters or not.)

Refined Storage is the other of your two main digital storage options. digital storage should be your end goal with a storage system! compared to ae2, refined storage is fairly straightforward, but it’s slightly more expensive and a bit less powerful at its highest levels. it is the one I recommend to most people, though, just because “straightforward” is really valuable if you don’t want everything to be a puzzle. also, be aware that you’ll need a mod that can produce power to use this mod.

Mekanism QIO is a third digital storage option you can only use with Mekanism unlocked. my understanding is that it’s quite powerful, although it does not work with altar automation. most people won’t use this on account of mekanism being a pre-requisite and mekanism being fairly late-game, but if you want to use it, it’s almost certainly just as good of an option as the rest!

LOOTING MODS

the majority of these are pouch upgrades, but this also contains bulk soul dust recycling and the vault junk controller. these mods get more expensive by two points for every one you get, so the order does matter somewhat; remember for each mod in this category you get that is not “a bigger pouch”, the slightly further away bigger pouches get, and for each bigger pouch you get, the further away other inventory management gets. so it’s a balance for when you get what! that said, most players end up unlocking basically everything in this category eventually, because it’s all quite useful, and even at maximum price it doesn’t get as expensive as the production mods or big mods or big toys get. unlock things as you need them in this category. I tend to unlock things in this category whenever I have the knowledge stars to unlock it and nothing else I want to save up for at that exact moment!

Bigger Pouches are the vast majority of the unlocks here (being double pouches, belts, small backpacks, and large backpacks). they’re prerequisites for each other, so you have to unlock them one by one. normally, I unlock them when the pouches I have aren’t cutting it. that said you could just as easily get by with a small army of smaller pouches, you just won’t be able to fit as many upgrades! so this is a mileage may vary thing.

Stack Upgrades are the most useful pouch upgrades, and should be the first ones you buy. these are multiplicative by each other—two tier 2 stack upgrades in the same pouch don’t add 8x the number of stacks a single slot can hold, but 16x! these also mean pouches with a lot of stack upgrades can be a poor man’s storage drawers in a pinch. you will need these, get them before you upgrade past double pouches.

Refill Upgrades are one of the two QOL pouch upgrades. you can save this until late, but the ability to automatically always have a stack of an item (or, well, up to nine items!) in your hotbar is extremely handy for things like marking blocks, kiwis, and food, and helps save hotbar space and time managing inventory. I personally find this more useful than the feeder upgrade but that’s a preference thing.

Feeder Upgrades do one thing only: automatically have you eat a food (which can be controlled with a whitelist/blacklist) from the pouch it’s installed in when your hunger goes down. this seems sort of arbitrary in vaults since hunger doesn’t heal your health but it’s actually really nice and once you get used to it you’ll be so sad whenever you don’t have it. set the food it feeds you to vault sweets and literally never have to worry about your hunger bar again. this is normally either the last pouch upgrade I get or second-to-last (before big backpacks) but I could totally justify getting it way sooner.

Junk Controller is… interesting. it sometimes doesn’t play nice with pickup upgrades and pouches, although I think that’s fixes at this point. it automatically voids items you pick up in the vault that are on its list of controlled items. it’s capable of handling WAY more than a void upgrade can, but honestly I find the advanced void upgrade can do everything I need it to when it comes to voiding vault items, and the junk controller is pretty expensive. however, if you’d prefer not to have to use void upgrades and to never have to deal with vault junk again, I could see this being the thing for you!

Soul Harvester is pure QOL. it is so much faster than and so much more efficient than the soul diffuser that I recommend everyone get it at SOME POINT, if only to make processing things into soul dust more efficient, but if you don’t do much recycling it’s probably not very useful for you.

POWER MODS

this is the first category on the list that makes other mods in the category enough more expensive that the order you unlock in, and whether you unlock at all, matters, at +6 per mod. you will also almost inevitably need at least one of these no matter what you do. as such, this category can be overwhelming for people. luckily it has an answer! the answer is powah. you should get powah. yes I know it’s the most expensive one and means you’ll have to wait longer but you’ll thank me later.

Iron Generators are sort of a trap. they’re cheap at low levels and good for early game, but the cost for higher-level power generation is very high compared to how much power they make, they burn fuel whether something is currently drawing power or not, they don’t come with any kind of cables so you’ll need a handling mod to move the power or to place them directly next to the things they need to power, they can’t charge items like the mining gadget or the building gadget, and they make everything else in the category more expensive. however with all of that said: if all you’re doing is powering an RS system, then yeah, you’re probably fine to just use these forever and buying these as the cheap option is probably fine.

Powah is the most versatile of the options here and comes with literally everything you need to make a decent self-sustaining power grid. the best generators for most people are the solar panels, which only require direct sunlight, and thermo generators, which provide power as long as they’re above a heat source and provided water. a supplementaries sink (which doesn’t require a mod unlock) or a thermal expansion aqueous accumulator (which does) can do that job easily. additionally, batteries are really useful for various gadgets, the ender network lets you move power remotely, and it can charge items inside its energy cells. the main downside to this mod is that it’s a royal pain in the ass to actually CRAFT any of this; while most of the individual ingredients aren’t that expensive, there are normally many steps to any higher level craft and the base ingredients add up. luckily, mod boxes are really good with this mod, and you can normally get a decent system running from almost only those.

Flux Networks are vault hunters’s best option for storing and moving power around. this mod doesn’t come with power generation options on its own, but it’s the most powerful for transferring power around by far. a good purchase in tandem with another mod.

Botania Flux Fields allows you to turn botania mana into power. it doesn’t come with any cables, so you’ll need a handling mod to move the power around, but as several botania mana flowers can be made self-sustaining, this is probably an interesting option if you already have botania before you need any power.

Thermal Dynamos are like if iron generators were actually good. they require constant fuel like an iron generator, but they have a much wider variety of things they can burn and actually produce meaningful power. they require thermal expansion to unlock, though, so I’ve never used them by virtue of the fact that by the time I have thermal expansion, I almost always also have powah. they also don’t come with cables.

Mekanism Generators are the best solution for producing very large amounts of power. the mekanism reactor is more than the vast majority of players will ever need, but if you’re getting deep enough into mekanism that you need a nuclear reactor’s level of power generation, you should accept no substitute. once again though for most people a large powah setup will normally cover your needs, this is, quite literally, the nuclear option.

HANDLING MODS

these mods don’t do much on their own, but they make handling output from other mods much easier. they make each other somewhat significantly more expensive, but tend to be overall cheaper than power mods, so even with that +5 knowledge points required for each new mod in the category, it’s not normally hard to get more than one. these are a very “get them as you need and/or want them” category, but you’ll almost always find yourself wanting at least one, if not more, to get things done.

Modular Routers are probably the best mod in this category. they do just about everything, able to wirelessly transfer items, fluids, or power, sure, but also able to activate things like a player, automatically kill mobs, vacuum items (or experience!) from the ground, and probably more. a common sight in many vault hunters bases are the signature laser beams of routers shooting things around. they can be a little complicated to understand at first and I highly recommend watching someone like iskall use them when you’re starting out, but once you understand them you will soon learn to love them. they work by creating a router, then placing “modules” in that router that tell it what to do. you can also add upgrades to the routers! this is my biggest recommended handling mod; if you only get one, this is the one that can do most everything anything else in this category can.

Pipez are simple: they’re fairly cheap pipes that move items, fluids, power, or gasses from one place to another. this is the quick and cheap option for handling, and are often the most intuitive. the downside is that you physically need to lay the pipes between places, so they take up a lot of space. fun bonus fact: at a certain level of power draw, a power pipe with an advanced pipe upgrade will be MUCH cheaper for rate of power transfer than using powah cables. I learned this the hard way. in general these are fast, minimally laggy, and surprisingly useful, especially for fluids (or gasses if you’re using mekanism).

XNet is presumably powerful but I don’t know anyone who uses it on account of it also being kind of complicated. my understanding is that if you have any kind of item/energy/etc transfer that you want to apply interesting logic to, this is your solution, so it’s probably nice as the “brain” of your base. I can’t say much else because I don’t use it though.

Dark Utilities is a small but handy mod. its biggest draw are its plates, which are items that can be placed like a carpet that do things to entities that step on them. most notable are the vector plates, which push a mob in the direction they point and the various damage plates, including a non-lethal damage plate that’s great for exp farms or the player damage plate, which makes mob drops fully AFK-able. also not to be discounted are a few redstone odds and ends (including a randomizer) and special blocks that only certain types of entities can pass through (great for filtering in farms). this mod is almost always recommended in tandem with ispawners, but can be useful in all kinds of farms outside of that too.

Iron Furnaces are basically a fancy QOL mod: they let you make really absurdly fast furnaces, including ones that are powered by power instead of fuel. they’re almost surprisingly useful though; a fast furnace can save you a whole lot of time!

Automatic Genius is—well, if you’re at the point of unlocking automatic genius, you probably already know, to be honest. it’s auto-crafting, it’s useful, it practically has the entire game as prerequisites so. there’s that.

BIG MODS

this category is one of the ones that gets to people, because it’s one of the +12 categories. whenever you pick a mod in this category, make sure it’s one you want, because the next one will be very expensive! chances are if you’re a modded player, you already have an opinion about which of these four is the most useful to you, but if you aren’t, I’ll attempt to give some tips.

Thermal Expansion is probably the easiest of the four for a new player to understand. it requires power generation, but most of this mod works by simply building a machine, which then does that machine’s one thing. (for example, the redstone furnace, which cooks things using redstone, or the pulverizer, which crushes things.) I personally really like thermal; it’s extremely straightforward and compact and decently powerful as an earlygame option. it also sort of has ore doubling; you can pulverize raw chromatic iron to make two raw chromatic iron dust, which can then be smelted to two ingots, but for other ores the ratios are a bit messier and often comes out to “just use fortune and a normal furnace unless you need the secondary products”. still, very useful as a mod!

Create is a mod you probably already know; it’s taken the world by storm, after all. building create contraptions is fun and more intuitive than redstone and routing power to a lot of people, and it has a number of very useful tools, such as the crushing wheel and its ability to ore double, the various ways you can convert items using fans, and one of the very few ways to automatically farm trees in vault hunters. the main downside of create is that it’s deceptively expensive in larimar and chromatic iron and that it can’t produce power. also, in my experience, create is the laggiest of the big mods, although your mileage may vary on that front.

Botania is a magic mod that’s secretly actually a tech mod. it doesn’t require power, instead using its own power called mana, and can be used to do a large number of useful things, including farming trees, making cobwebs and other rare and hard to make altar ingredients, and making some very pretty decorative blocks. personally, I always had trouble wrapping my head around botania for some reason, which is silly since I’ve somewhat figured out mekanism, an objectively more complicated mod. of the four big mods, botania definitely helps you get the most hard-to-get and unique blocks, but it’s the only one that doesn’t have any kind of ore doubling.

Mekanism can get you as much as quintupling your ores, has a number of fairly high-powered machines, but is also really complicated in a lot of places and requires an entire power grid to use effectively. also, the mek suit isn’t in vault hunters, if you wanted that. I love mekanism I think it’s very fun also you should NOT get this as your first big mod unless you have so many resources to spare. make this your second one at the very least, it’s VERY late-game, but enjoy it when you do.

UTILITY MODS

unlike the last several categories, these don’t make each other more expensive ever! instead, these are all mostly small but useful mods that don’t fit in another category. whenever you want one of these go ahead and buy it, there’s no reason not to and it won’t make anything else more expensive!

Vault Compasses is one of the most useful mods in the game. all it adds is a vault compass, which is a compass that always points back to the entrance of the vault. you can also hold down shift+right click to set it to point to a new point in the vault, such as a loadstone in an elixir vault or the last monolith in a defeat the guardians vault. it costs four netherite ingots, which is a lot in the early game when most people get this, but it’s VERY WORTH IT. you’ll never be lost again!

Elevators create a special block that, when above or below each other, let you jump to teleport up to an elevator above you or crouch to an elevator below you. they’re very useful in bases with verticality; I like to use them to hide a lot of my storage and mechanisms in a basement that’s invisible from the main build, lol, but they’re handy for any kind of similar thing. pro tip: you can disguise them as any block by right-clicking them with that block!

Trash Cans are what they sound like: a special block that permanently destroys what you put in them. they can have a whitelist/blacklist, and you can pipe or hopper items into them. they’re handy for things like getting rid of unwanted armor from mob farms or other junk items that would otherwise clog up your handling.

Waystones allow you to teleport to pre-determined locations; a waystone lets you interact with it to teleport to any other waystone you’ve found, if you have the mod unlocked, and the teleport pads teleport you to a specific other pad. they’re just extremely handy for getting around a server, and on my friends’ server we just give everyone a knowledge star to unlock these on day one so we can get to each other’s bases easier.

Torch Master gives you several tools for preventing mob spawning. there are ways to prevent both passive and hostile mobs from spawning, and to place large amounts of light. the mega torch has a pretty wide radius too, so it’s fairly easy to cover your whole base.

Altar Automation is the only prohibitively expensive utility mod; this is meant for use lategame. it can be bound to either an ae2 or rs controller, and then will automatically take items from that storage system to complete the altar for you, leaving your only job to hit the button and get the crystal. it’s very handy, but also deliberately meant for buying after you’ve mostly already got all the other mods you want.

BIG TOYS

all of these mods are fancy QOL mods. they all require power, so don’t get one before you have a power source! additionally, only building gadgets come with a way to charge, so make sure you either have batteries or a way to charge before getting these. at +12, this is once again a category where order matters. however, since they’re all QOL, it’s a less massively consequential choice than your choice of production or big mods. go with the one that vibes with you most.

Building Gadgets are tools to help you place blocks, copy/paste structures, swap blocks, and delete blocks. they’re held in your inventory but require power, which means they either need to be charged or you need to have a battery. luckily, they come with the enercell for charging. I can’t express enough HOW MUCH EASIER these make building large structures; the base building gadget alone speeds up building massively. I highly recommend these on any skyblock world just for sheer ease of building platforms, but also anyone who likes Big Buildings should probably consider them.

Weirding Gadgets are chunk loaders. they require power. not much else to explain other than the obvious “be careful on servers when you are leaving your farms loaded please”, I think.

Mining Gadgets is a mod that gives you a cool laser to mine blocks with. I love my mining gadget, it’s very fun, but fully upgrading a mining gadget is very expensive in chromatic steel (and in echo for the magnet and void upgrades) and a very, very solid argument can be made that the only advantage this thing has over a hammer is that it has a long range, the ability to automatically place lights, and the ability to stop liquids in their track. meanwhile, it has the very large disadvantage of requiring being charged with power, costing a lot to get upgraded, and not being able to mine more than a 3x3. it’s up to you if any of those benefits sound like they beat a hammer to you and you decide to get it.

Digital Miner is a mekanism device that automatically mines out everything in an area for you (rather like an old-school quarry). just place it in a location, give it power, and let it run! like most mekanism devices, this thing requires a lot of power, and it is, once again, arguably slower and more expensive than a hammer. however, it’s also fully automatic and requires no effort on your part to get a LOT of resources, so it can be very worth it for those who do not enjoy mining themselves!

PRODUCTION MODS

arguably even more consequential than the big mods you choose are the production mods. which production mod you go with will decide on a multiplayer server what is your “thing” and what requires trading; on singleplayer it will decide which altars will be easy for you and which will be hard. there’s also no right choice here (although I’d argue there are two wrong ones). at +12, it’ll be a bit until you unlock your second one, so choose wisely!

SNAD is a trap. it vastly speeds up the growth of things that can grow on sand but it’s just not worth the +12 to everything else for that alone—and that really is all you get. don’t get it.

Easy Piglins are less of a trap but still a trap. they allow you to put piglins in special boxes for trading, as well as make automatic traders. however they don’t really do anything that picking up a piglin, putting it in a hole near your portal, and throwing gold at it manually doesn’t do, so for the +12 to everything else, for my money, this one isn’t worth it.

Easy Villagers by contrast is worth it. while the ability to pick up villagers and easily re-roll trades doesn’t require unlocking this, the various villager blocks this mod unlocks are very handy for doing trades much easier. it also comes with one-block breeders, iron farms, and crop farms, and the ability to automate any of them, including the villager trades. personally I tend to find villager trades aren’t my main alter bottleneck, so I go for this last, but someone else may disagree with me on it, and honestly I don’t blame them. a solid choice.

Cagerium is one of the two mob farming options. cagerium works by creating terrariums for passive mobs, mob cages for hostile mobs, or a binding plate for boss mobs, and then putting spawn eggs you get from the vault in them. it then outputs that mob’s drops into a chest below, passively. you can put up to four eggs in a cage to make it faster, but you need a skeleton key to swap out what’s in a cage. also, it’s slow compared to ispanwers. however, it’s cheaper early game, doesn’t require building a farm, and is better at a few edge-case mobs (namely, boss mobs like the wither or ender dragon if you get one of those eggs and shulkers, because shulkers are a nightmare).

iSpawners is the other mob farming option. this lets you create an expensive item called a survival spawner that works like a regular vanilla mob spawner, only you can pick it up and move it, it’s much faster, you can swap what egg is in it whenever, and it is active in a much larger radius of the player. ispawners are more reusable and much faster at producing drops than cagerium, but they require infrastructure like a farm to be built around the survival spawner to be effective, and while the survival spawner is a one-time craft it’s a VERY VERY expensive one. which of the two you prefer is a matter of preference.

Botony Pots are one of the two plant-growing options. this mod lets you make pots that automatically grow plants over time, including plenty that can’t be farmed normally, such as spore blossoms or small dripleaf. the hopper botony pot has been made more expensive than it used to be, so it’s at parity or more expensive than swapping things out of a phytogenic insulator to have a lot of them, but for passively farming plants, botony pots are still king. the one plant it can’t do is any of the trees, however, so you will still need a solution for that.

Phytogenic Insulators require thermal expansion and power, and are your other plant farming option. they’re rather expensive, but they can be freely swapped through, can produce things like trees that botony pots can’t, and are much faster than botony pots (especially when maximally upgraded). like with ispawners and cagerium, this is a matter of preference for which you pick, but you’ll probably only need one of the two.

ALCHEMY MODS

these, thankfully, don’t require any strategy or explanation; you can only go one at a time, and each unlocked mod is a new upgrade to your existing vault potion (or vial to start with). each upgrade heals more health and has a stronger chosen effect. that said, no matter how high you upgrade, you always have the same number of charges. take these when you start needing that extra health!

and that’s everything! hopefully this is helpful for new players playing along with the hermits! happy vaulting!

[hotluncheddie]

New anon here... I've been thinking about the government shoving Eddie into witness protection without letting him say goodbye to the rest of the group, which is a real bummer Steddie-wise because they were definitely headed towards something. So Eddie is like, in the suburbs of Chicago or somewhere under the new name Nathan Edwards or something, gets a slave wage job at a Scoops Ahoy, and proceeds to eat his feelings.

A couple years later, Steve is passing through the area, sees the Scoops, and thinks what the hell, he's doing pretty well for himself these days at whatever "fuck you dad I can make it on my own" career he ended up choosing, he can go in and tip some fresh outta high school kid the way he'd always appreciated back in his Starcourt days. And wow, the guy behind the counter definitely isn't a teenager, but he does look familiar...

:0 anon!!!!!

i’m hoping by saying he eats his feeling in the ice cream shop that we’re on the same page here… (bc oof 🥴👹)

but ugh witness protection is so sad omg but big hurt/comfort possibilities maybe i think i think

they make them leave straight out of the hospital, him and wayne and one box of stuff each. they give them new names, a new place, set wayne up with a new job. but it’s not the same, nothing is, never will be. eddie has to cut his hair, thankfully not a buzz cut but he hasn’t had his curls sit above his ears in years. it’s the thing that makes his feel most strange, he thinks - not recognising himself in the mirror.

recovering physically took a long time, mentally, just as long. but eventually he needs to be around people again, needs money, a routine. the scoops job started as kind of a joke and then he realised it was the place he applied with the easiest commute and the owner was a really chill dude at the interview and then it really wasn’t a joke anymore. eddie worked a scoops ahoy. the pay is whatever but the work is fine and with wayne’s wage they more than get by and while it’s boring, it also kind of feels like breathing room, time to slow down and learn about himself again, after everything.

after a while eddie is actually kind of digging the sailor outfit, gives him an excuse to be kind of silly and get away with way more with customers that he should. like you can’t really get mad at him, not dressed like that, not when he still gets the orders right. it feels like a character, he’s the bard, the jester, and one day he’ll break free but for now - he enjoys the free icecream.

it started small, employees are allowed one item in break and he usually went for a soda, then that changed to a milkshake or a cone. and then one night he was closing and it was right by wayne’s birthday and there was a quarter of a tub set to be thrown out. and, well, eddie thought, why not take it home?

then the new monthly schedule comes out and since most of the part timers are younger and he has his (new) van it’s got him set to closing alone most shifts. fine by him, one hour of pay where he can blast his walkman while he cleans, best case scenario even.

he was also in charge of making sure the tubs were correctly filled ready for the openers and that meant throwing out the near empty ones. so near empty that that kid in eddie seems to rear up and remind him of all those times they couldn’t afford icecream, why let it go to waste? he always did have a sweet tooth.

so most nights his routine after work is to get home, have dinner with wayne, get high, watch some tv or read or listen to music and most notably polish off whatever ice cream and ‘only just out of date so still definitely good’ toppings he’s managed to squirrel home.

that last bit is notable because it’s been a year of working there, just under a year of this new routine, and eddie’s had to size up his once baggy uniform.

he’s kept definition in his legs and arms since his job is running around and scooping frozen shit. but now he’s padded with a layer of chub and his stomach is padded with a lot more than that, having bared the brunt. his cheeks have also rounded and his thighs and ass are honestly looking better than ever.

and with everything so new that’s been forced on him, this new at least feels like his. he knows how it happened, he’s not dumb, and yeah sometimes he ate just to wallow but he enjoyed every fucking bite of that ice-cream. and yeah he knows the red stripes that streak up his sides and push agains the waistband of his shorts aren’t everyone’s idea of desirable but, this is him now. everything else in his life is new, may as well have a new body to go with it. and to be honest he finally feels like he’s recognising himself in the mirror now. this new guy he’s had to become, there are ways that it’s still his.

but god does he miss everyone. not a day goes by he doesn’t think of home, his friends, his life, the people he almost died with. steve. so every night he gets high and eats ice cream and feels his belly swell that little bit more. sometimes he cries, sometimes he laughs but he’s alive and he has wayne and they’re safe. so every night he eats icecream.

-

steve moves to chicago with robin. he’s in school to be a physical therapist, robin studying italian. they moved just outside the city because it’s cheaper, a nice little neighbourhood. hes getting by, he works at a gym and helps with some of the classes, it’s decent pay and fun and he’s getting more and more days where that darkness feels far away, his rain cloud isn’t so thick. he’s doing it, surviving. living, even.

but, every day he misses eddie munson.

he’s out jogging when he spots it, taken a new route and made it to a strip of stores he didn’t know were there. with a scoops ahoy. just like summer of ‘83.

he laughs.

for old times sake and knowing robin will get a kick out of it he head in inside. thinks the 20 in his sock is more than enough to have spare for a tip that should brighten whatever kid is working the counter. surely they don’t still have the same unifo- nope, they do, and the guy at the counter looks much closer to steve’s age than the high schooler he expected. he’s cute. big eyes, nice hands.

-

eddie’s frozen. there’s a spectre in his store. steve’s staring at him. eddie’s stares at steve. eddie’s suddenly filled with anxious energy, unsure how to process what’s in front of him. tugs at his shirt out of habit, smooths the fabric down over the plush of his stomach, readjusts his hat that doesn’t need readjusting, bounces on his toes. what the fuck.

and eddie sees that steve doesn’t quite recognise him with his rounder features and shorter hair. he can’t wear his rings to work (they’re different, gold but still chunky) and, obviously steve’s never seen him dressed like this, also probably never imagined eddie would have a belly like that.

the second thing that registers in eddie, after the initial shock, is feeling his stomach drop out in fear. for wayne. for their place. for his job… for steve.

he doesn’t remember what the rules were about contact with his past. but he’s pretty sure there were rules on it.

but then something flickers across steve’s face, a flash of lightning, and he’s moving, leaning across the counter and enveloping eddie in a hug. ‘oh thank god.’ eddie hears steve breathe, strained and relieved and so full of emotion eddie feels his throat close and his eyes burn. steve’s here. eddie squeezes back and breaths deep, he smells like sweat and hairspray and home.

his steve is here.

and all eddie can do is cling back.

they’ll have to figure something out. he can’t let go of this again.

[crimebsoy]

🌹!

“No, we’re not a new restaurant,” Wilbur says into the phone. Most calls are people asking that same question because of the name, Name Pending, that Wilbur and Niki thought was fucking hilarious six years ago. Now, Wilbur wants to ring their quirky little necks. “The name is just an inside joke. Yes, we’re open. Until 6pm. Because we’re a bakery, sir.”

The bell rings as the door opens. Wilbur doesn’t really need the bell because he can see with 100% clarity when people come in, but he and Niki thought it would add that touch of authenticity. As the customer continues to rant about wanting cookies at 7pm, a grimy-looking man walks in. Well, his skin isn’t grimy but his clothes are. Wilbur wonders how one can conceivably get that many stains on a shirt.

Wilbur hangs up the phone despite the customer still speaking and says, “Welcome in. What can I get for you today?”

“A job,” the man says. “If you’ve got one, I need a job. Badly.” Wilbur can afford to keep this place running maybe two months more.

“Well, I’m sorry but you’d probably have better luck-”

“No!” The man shouts, and Wilbur straightens up a bit in his shock. “No, no, no because that's what the lady at the supermarket said.”

“You got rejected by the lady at the supermarket?” They’ve got terrible turnover there. And thieves. This guy’s resume must be shit.

“Yeah, then I went to the bookstore, then the arcade, then the fucking thrift. All of them said, you’ll have better luck down the street!”

“Well,” Wilbur says with a shrug. “London.”

“Oh, fuck London.” Wilbur agrees. “Look, I really just- I just need a job, alright?”

“Yes, but I haven’t got one to give you.”

“Why not?”

“Well, I just prefer to work alone.” A lie. Wilbur misses the loud mornings of baking and music, crooning and dancing with Niki as they laughed, Wilbur always stealing at least one cookie per batch. Mornings with himself are loud in the bad way.

“Okay. I prefer having a job, personally.” The man slaps a paper on the counter. Wilbur bends over to skim it. Oh, nevermind, there are hardly 20 words. It would be hard to skim any more than that.

RESUME:

Name: Tommy Innit Prior Job: ONLY Man Ever Expected Pay: 200 dollars per hour

“Right,” Wilbur says. He folds his hands on the counter. “I’m not giving you 200 dollars an hour.”

“We can negotiate. 199.99 isn’t terrible.”

“You ever heard of minimum wage?”

“Ever heard of knowing your worth?” Wilbur’s eye twitches.

“What could you even bring to the table? You have any skills? Anything that would amount to earning 200 dollars an hour?” Tommy squints, like this question has never occurred to him.

“Work.”

“But what can you do?”

“Work.”

“If you can’t even answer a simple question-”

“Just tell me what to do, I’ll do it! I don’t care what it is.”

“Have you ever baked? Have you ever cleaned?” 

“I can figure it out!”

“Sorry, was that a no on the cleaning thing?” Looking at Tommy’s clothes, Wilbur would wager so.

“Just give me a chance!” Wilbur is not at the fucking place he can just give people chances right now. He’s going out of business, he just got dumped by Dream for the upteenth fucking time, and his little brother had the audacity to offer him money not 24 hours ago. He does not want to garner another fucking loss.

“Why won’t anyone hire you?” Tommy groans.

“Fuck’s it matter?”

“Color me curious.”

“Fuckin’- not a lot of places take ex-cons.” Well, that’s certainly something. That should probably make Wilbur’s choice even easier. But Tommy looks determined, Wilbur might be a little manic right now, and he’s tired of eating burnt fucking cinnamon rolls.

- document titled "relationship scramble"

[prismartist]

a medium rare occurrence

part 6 (final) of To break bread, the series about soulbounds and food.

Ao3

–––

“Why don’t you eat?” Scott asks during one of their brief, very painful encounters.

Pearl gives Scott an amused look. “What do you mean? Of course I eat.”

“Yeah, but not enough. You know how often I get so weak from hunger pangs?”

“Of course I do!” Pearl giggles. “I’m the one causing them!”

“You’re really trying to get us killed, huh,” he bemoans.

“Sure am!”

Scott gives a hard, disparaged look that lasts a second too long, then walks off, snow trailing from his jacket. Pearl can’t shake the feeling that he’s up to something.

Pearl’s never been the most conservative of people, at least in this world. Everyone knows it. Her soulmate knows it. She herself even knows it. 

Still, she’s aware that living off the land and a few stalks of wheat isn’t ideal. She can barely make half a stack of bread every day—which starts to get stale after a while—and any animals are few and far between. Even the meat is mostly unseasoned, half-raw and tasteless on her tongue, which is numb from the snow most of the time. 

But she knows Scott can feel the frequent pangs of hunger, and she takes whatever comfort she can get from that fact.

She climbs up her tower after a long day out doing, well, the usual torture and menacing. When she pops her head up, gasping as if coming up for air, there’s a sign and chest waiting for her. 

Pearl freezes, bracing herself for a threat of some sort. Another Red message wouldn’t be much of a surprise. She stands, approaches it cautiously, until she reads the small script written neatly in cyan dye. 

Saw you only had wheat. Thought you might want better saturation. Please eat. xoxo, ur ex.

Inside the chest is a paper bag full of beef steak, still warm. Seasoned and marinated too, judging by the scent. It fills Pearl’s brain and makes her mouth water to the brim. There’s an urge, the unhinged side of her that’s snapped since the beginning, to just dive in and devour the whole bag then and there. Instead she takes a deep breath and a piece of paper from her inventory—clean, she thinks, hopefully—and uses it to grip one of the steaks. In another world she might’ve put it on a plate, enjoyed it with carrots and potatoes and rice, but one can’t really afford any pleasantries. 

She starts to bring it to her lips, but halts. Does she really want to accept Scott’s gift? A few hours ago they were staring each other in the face as snow dug into their skin. She has half a mind to refuse, to chuck all of it to Tilly and let her and her soulmate starve. 

But her stomach growls like her wolves, and oh god, there's seasoning on this.

So Pearl holds the steak up to her face, breathes in the scent once more; it hits her like a truck this time. She bites off a chunk and lets out a satisfying groan, the juice running down her fingers and chin.

It’s the best thing she’s had in weeks.

–––

Scott smiles as the taste of his own cooking floods his tongue, and the annoying hunger dissipates in his stomach.

“Thank god,” he mutters to himself, amused at the overwhelming umami. She must be devouring it. That’s on brand for her.

There’s a knock at the door, a rhythm only Scott would recognize. “Come in, Cleo.”

Cleo walks in, holding a leather bag. “Heeyyy.”

“Hiya.” Scott eyes the bag curiously. “What you got there?”

“Gift from an ex.” They walk over to him, untying the string. “Had a surprisingly lovely bonding experience with him.”

Scott raises his brows. “Is that so?”

“That is indeed so. But don’t tell him that.” They open the mouth and tilt it so Scott can see the loaf of bread within, cut in half and filled with pulled beef. “Quite yummy stuff. I dunno what he put in the marinade, but whatever it is, it’s good.”

“A date with your divorced soulbound? Must be a night of miracles.”

“Midnight magic, I guess.” Cleo shrugs, then scrunches closed the mouth and hands the bag to Scott. “How’s your kind-of offering to your maniac of an ex?”

Scott takes the bag. “It’s going well, actually. I currently feel like I’m stuffing my mouth with meat.”

Cleo giggles. “Lucky you.”

“I know.”

“Well, that ought to last you two for the next couple days.”

“God, I hope, because I know she’s not going to eat anything after this.”

Cleo gives an amused smile, then turns. “Well, I best be off. Have fun with your ex.”

“I will. Night, Cleo.”

“Goodnight, Scott.”

They shut the door behind them, and Scott lays down, enjoying the taste of steak. He waits for Pearl to finish his gift before he drifts off, feeling sleep take them over at the same time.

[catharsim]

UHHH 1-10: evens for Stavis odds for Luvina / 30-40 evens for pheck and odds for lawwe and century *maniacal laugh*

This is gonna be so long, here we go...

2. Who does most of the cooking?

Neither of them truly 'cook' because they can afford to always eat out, order room service, or in Mavis' case, have a personal chef.

4. Who says creepy paper and who says crepe paper?

I cant say I see either of them saying creepy paper unless maybe Mavis is drunk and slurring her words lmao

6. Who's the sun and who's the moon?

Mavis is a leo, so she is definitely the sun. And Stefan's penthouse is Cave Chic™ so he is definitely the moon 🖤

8. What are their cooking habits? Who cooks meals and who "cooks" insta-ramen?

See the first question. They've made a couple of things like popcorn and an attempt at waffles without catching anything on fire but that's about where their cooking adventures end lmao.

10. What are their love languages?

Stefan's is physical touch, acts of service (he's a virgo I dont make the rules), and a sprinkle of words of affirmation. Mavis' is words of affirmation and physical touch

1. Who sleeps on the left and right side of the bed?

I’ve always pictured Luca on the left side but it really just depends on where the bed is relative to the door, because he’ll sleep closest to that! 

3. Who's the little and big spoon?

Luca loves being big spoon but he also doesnt mind if Davi wants to be big spoon because it means he just gets to be near her #simp

5. Who screams and who kills the spider?

You know what, Davi kills the spider. With a palm strike. Luca wouldnt scream unless he tried to kill it and missed.

7. How do they share chores?

I think as of right now, Luca would do most of the household things like trash, dishes, etc and let Davi handle things like finances, making the grocery lists, and laundry/dry-cleaning as to not ruin her fancy clothes.

9. How do they handle arguments? What do they argue about?

Haha they used to love to argue before they gave in to their sexual tension sdnfsdfsd. Nowadays I feel like they try to communicate in a healthy way and apologize if their emotions get the better of them. I dont see them arguing about much besides maybe how much money Davi spends on designer stuff simply because Luca can’t comprehend being wealthy lmao. Or her dad being the antichrist.

30.  What are their nicknames for each other?

They call each other by their last names. Lucchesi (Beck) and Macmillan (Phoebe). Or sometimes, P and B. 

32. How are they intimate with each other in a nonsexual way?

Ah. They’re masters at grazing hands and the longing gaze. They vent to each other about their families and pass no judgement. Beck lets her take photos of him, even though he hates his picture taken, because he knows she enjoys it. Quiet embraces. Train rides.

34. What couple from another media reminds you of them?

Beck reminds me so hard of Tommy from Peaky Blinders, but I’m not sure Tommy and Grace’s relationship fit Pheck. There’s this couple on Tiktok that reminds me of them much more tho! Example here (just being goofy and weird with each other and looking good while doing it heheh )

36. Who wakes up and falls asleep first?

Well Phoebe sleepwalks so it’s hard to give an accurate answer lmao. I’d say that Beck is the one who wakes up first though, it’s engrained in him to always be up early, further proving his grandpa-ness. Phoebe would fall asleep first with the help of her Ambien I’d think. 

38. What do they love most about each other?

Phoebe loves that despite all Beck has dealt with/been through, that his big heart remains underneath the hardened and composed exterior. Beck loves Phoebe’s sense of artistic wonder and how she is unapologetically herself. 

40. Do they have any jealous tendencies over each other?

They were broken up when they were teenagers and ran in the same circle for several years, remaining friends. But they had to watch each other move on with different people and that definitely sparked jealousy for the both of them. Maybe more so for Beck I think, because his family was the reason they had to break up in the first place.

Lawwe and Century? Idk who those people are sowwy...

[silvercatwithnoname]

FNaF AU Part 2

Chapter 2 Daytime

As Michael stepped out of the door, he was greeted by the sunrise, he smiled, he liked the sun. When he arrived at the pizzeria, a tired Leon was getting into his car. “Hello!” the nightguard smiled at him, he was a nice and reliable person. Leon was about the same size as Michael, was twenty years old, had blonde hair, green eyes and very pale skin, most likely a side effect of sleeping most of the day and only leaving the house when the sun either goes down or rises. “Nothing interesting happened tonight, honestly, the most interesting thing that happened was you waving at the camera. How is it going with the new animatronic? Will he be done soon?” Michael frowned “No, I can’t get that thing to function properly, I don’t know why, I’ll return to working on the racoon, maybe I’ll even use some parts of the bunny animatronic, buying new materials all the time gets expensive. Hey, is Nicolas there already?” he asked but Leon shook his head and yawned “We’re lucky that Nico comes on time on most days, I don’t think he’ll ever be early.” He laughed “I’m going home alright? I feel like I could sleep for days…" a smile appeared on Leons face "Don't worry, I won't miss my shift. See you later.” the nightguard yawned again as he got into his car and drove home.

Lara, the pizzerias cook was already working in the kitchen and made a lot of noise, this reminded him of the old Freddy’s restaurant he worked at, the constant clattering of pans, and other kitchen utensils the robot found in there. He decided to say hello to Lara before fixing the stage lights, at yesterday’s show he noticed that they were slightly off and wanted to readjust them before opening. “Hey Mike.” Lara said and smiled at him, she always was cheerful and positive. She was a bit smaller than him, had long dark hair and always wore a necklace with a pendant that showed her zodiac sign, Gemini, she also wore two pink bracelets, one on each wrist. Though she takes the bracelets off when cooking. “Do you think that today will be busy?” she asks while searching for something “No, most likely not more than usual, it’s impressive though how quickly we got so many customers.” Michael has opened up the pizzeria about seven months ago, before opening, he worked in several different Jobs, mostly jobs where he wouldn’t get into contact with many people. He saved the money, which was way easier than expected, after all he didn’t have to eat, and he still lives in the old house his parents owned. He bought material to build animatronics in his father’s old workshop, and managed to get someone to rent him the building his pizzeria was housed in. At first, he managed everything alone, which didn’t work out too well until he hired Nico, Lara and lastly Leon. Nico helps him during the day and sometimes with the animatronics maintenance. Lara cooks and Leon is the nightguard, Michael has to clean up every day by himself, he couldn’t afford to hire a janitor yet, but he didn’t really mind. At daytime, he would keep an eye on everything, but would make sure to not interact to much with the guests, though sometimes he has to talk to customers, this wouldn’t be a problem, if he didn’t look like he came straight up out of a nightmare, he always was afraid that someone would see through his disguise. All it would take is that his make-up was smeared, and his rotten purple skin was visible, or his scarf to loosen enough to reveal what was left of his neck. The rest was fairly easy to hide, he could just keep his right eye closed, when his hair moved, he can keep his mouth shut most of the time to hide his pointy teeth, or just look down when talking. His one purple eye, he could explain as having a very rare eyecolor, the gloves cover his one hand and there is no situation anyone would see his foot or his scars. Michael hated hiding himself like this, but he didn’t have a choice, and when he saw the children laughing and running around in the pizzeria, or being amazed by his animatronics, he thought the whole effort of hiding himself to keep this place running was worth it, sometimes he wondered if his father felt the same, and if he regretted what he did, what he gave up, by becoming a cruel killer. Even though making kids happy wasn’t Michaels only reason to open up his own animatronic restaurant, his main goal was to attract someones attention, the only person that could help him find the remains of his family and put them to rest once and for all. He headed to the stage and turned the lights on, he activated the animatronics and tried to find out what the exact error was, once he found it, he brought a ladder and tweaked the positioning of some of the spotlights until he was happy with the results. Michael opened up the doors and about half an hour later and welcomed the first guests of the day. The place smelled like pizza and Nicolas was wandering around and talked to costumers. He was a tall and slim twenty-three year old, with light brown hair and amber colored eyes. He had his head in the clouds most of the time, at least he seemed like he did, but somehow Nico always manages to pay attention to what was happening around him.

Michael went to his office and saw an advertisement, in two days there would be an auction which would sell some stuff from the old Freddy Fazbear’s. Old decorations, some monitors, chairs tables, everything that was still remotely intact. Even parts of the old animatronics “Someone destroyed those things? I guess it was about time…” he murmured. Then he saw something that sent a chill down his spine, on one of the pictures was the old golden bear, the springlock suit, and the one that had caused Evans death, well, Michael himself caused his death, and he knew that, but it was the animatronic that crushed his little brother’s head. That thing still existed. If he still had a heart, it would be beating faster at the panic he felt when he remembered. He left the room and went outside, he had to calm down, Michael hated the memory of his worst mistake, he hated to be reminded that he himself killed and bullied Evan. “Hey you stormed out of the building, is everything alright?” Somehow Michael didn’t notice that Nicolas approached him “Yeah, I’m alright, I was just reminded... of something terrible and stupid I did.” Sighing he sit down on stairs leading up to the entrance, Nico sat down beside him, but looked the other direction, he knew that Michael hated being looked at. “Everyone does stupid things.” Nico tried to cheer him up, he always tried to make others happy, he was the most positive person he knew, but Michael knew that his mistake couldn't be undone by kind words “Usually, stupid things don’t end in someone dying…” his voice was faint, he wasn’t sure if Nico even heard it. After a while of silence Nicolas said “Sorry…” He got up, not sure what to say “I… I really don’t know what to tell you now. I guess I can only offer that you can talk to me about it, if you want.” A smile appeared on Michael’s face, even though Nico couldn’t see it “Thank you, come on, let’s go back in.” He said and got up, Michael was really glad that Nicolas didn't try to force his usual positivity on him, or asked more questions. Back inside, everything seemed to be how it should be, the animatronics performed their show, the guests were happy and once again he wonders how everything has gone wrong with Freddy’s. He wonders how everything would have turned out if his father hadn’t gone crazy. Michael was sure that he was part of the reason that he lost his mind, after all it didn’t really help that Evan died, and Elizabeth... Well her death was another story, definitely something that would haunt him just as much as Evans death haunted him.. He wandered around the pizzeria and saw a group of children drawing pictures of Jumper, the kangaroo was seemingly the favorite animatronic of most of the children. He headed to the workshop, on his desk were some planned animatronic designs and blueprints. He took one of the raccoon blueprints and made some notes at the side of the paper. Then he looked around the room, his eyes stopped at the unfinished bunny animatronic “Some part of me really wants to get you to work properly, but another part is just creeped out by you… But I already put so much work into you... I guess I’ll try it one last time.

The timed passed by as he tried to finish up the endoskeleton of the bunny, he even built in one of his limiters, Michael developed those to restraint their strength. The animatronics were still technically capable of killing someone, or bite their head off, but the limiters locked parts of the endoskeleton in show-mode, so they weren’t able to use this strength on stage. In case someone got the same stupid idea as him, when he was a kid, or if one of his animatronics had a malfunction. The limiters were build in on the jaw, the fingers and the hands, Michael guessed that the animatronics were safe with the limiters on those places, but he built the endoskeleton in a way which allowed him to use more limiters if needed. Another thing he worked on was an AI for the robots, he tried this with a few prototypes, but it didn’t work yet, so he deactivated them and put them in the workshops small storing room, he only put those with AI in there, if one was activated somehow, it wouldn’t be able to make a mess in his workshop. He tried to give the bunny an AI too, but it acted weird, Michael left the necessary electronics and parts in, but they were turned off for now. Right now, the bunny is the only animatronic with AI that was stored in the workshops main room, just because Michael didn’t want to drag it from point A to point B every night, at least as long as he was working on it. He made progress and it seemed that the bunny wasn’t a hopeless case, if everything worked fine, he would be able to finish him by the end of the week.

Chapter two, thanks for reading.

[rianafying]

dear diary

i haven’t written in here in a while partly because i’ve been busy, partly because i’ve been talking to actual people, partly because i’ve been talking to chatgpt (it talks back to me), party because i’ve been writing in my notes app (i don’t have to even briefly think about what i can and cannot reveal about my life such as names of people or the stories and details of my life). but i feel like venting here fulfils a different need than doing all those other things. oh and i’ve also been using this app called clarity that’s mostly free and lets you do mood check ins and guided thought analysis journal and gratitude journal and guided breathing exercises (i can never spell this word right the first time) and an episode of meditation. there’s more stuff behind a paywall but i’m happy with the free stuff for now. that said, i have not been very happy lately. i haven’t been very productive lately, the way that i was for a brief period before when i signed myself up for anything and everything and now it’s all a bit too much. there’s this class im doing that has become a little too important to me, and the desire to do a perfect assignment paralyses me, keeping me from doing an assignment at all. i had to get a week long extension and im really disappointed in myself, and i’ve let down my favourite teacher. but i guess life goes on. right now it’s 5am and i’ve been up all night trying to clean my appartment (i will never not lose my mind about this and complain incessantly). anyway i’m just rlly scared and anxious because cleaning really stresses me out and after 5 hours of intense cleaning it barely looks like i’ve done anything. im thinking i should take my third and fourth painkiller of the day to combat my neck and shoulder pain from anxiety and lack of sleep. i have to remember a few things: 1) when cleaning, it doesn’t look clean until the last bit which is to dump things into boxes, what i mean is, the room doesn’t start to look until im 90% through the process. i would say at the moment im 30% in. another 30% would be the bathroom, 20% for folding and sorting clothes, 10% vacuuming/scrubbing floor, 10% throwing the bags out. 2) gamifying the process makes it more bearable for my adhd brain, and other things like filming a timelapse of me cleaning, and having a video on the side (i’ve been watching anthony padilla interview people, and he’s such a good host). 3)it’s not the end of the world, the worst case scenario is that my family loses respect for me, which they have very little of anyway, so it’s not much of a difference. 4) even though it’s really hard, i’ve done it before and i can do it again.

i’m thinking i might have to go to woolies or aldi in the morning to get some power cleaning sprays and bleach. but that’s so exhausting. also, i wanted to treat them to my favourite halal food which is also affordable but im too broke and overwhelmed at the moment to do anything at all other than trying to get my place cleaned. i’m scared that i’ll run out of time and they’ll be here and they’ll be horrified. but yeah. i’m also rlly hungry and should get something to eat and take a shower. i don’t have enough time. i’m so sleepy and tired. but this is my fault. i can’t do things until it’s too late.

i think the most important thing is to remind myself that nothing is actually wrong. and it’s going to be okay. i can power through this. nothing actually bad is going to happen to be from anxiety. it’s just anxiety. a few hours of cleaning is enough to get my tiny studio apartment into shape. regardless of how messy/dirty it is. my strategy rn is to shove stuff into boxes. i can deal with it all later. however bad it may feel right now, i am not going to actually die from anxiety.

[bradleymarshall]

It’s like my only option in life is to be rich

I can’t afford a maid

Dishwasher atm is fine

I’ll buy heaps of pans and plates and just stack the dishwasher until it’s full to wash

Won’t touch a plate in my life

Unless I have to

Not every day though

Maid can do that eventually

Just a ridiculous existence

How can I even relate to anyone at all

My experiences are so fucking skewed and left of centre I can’t even explain to a counseller how I feel

You know

I can’t wash the dishes or use a shower

Oh wtf

Yeah I don’t eat anything from any restaurant

Like people ask me

How do you live

I don’t even know

The only way through is to be rich

Then I can afford 50,000 to casually hook up my whole house to bore water

And to cancel my students cause I don’t teach them

They attend my school of music

And I just fly anywhere the fuck I want just doing podcasts

And being openly gay

And making content

If I was rich

I could have a studio

Where I record music

Have green screens

Have a room for props

I wouldn’t have to have my bedroom full of equipment

I could actually make it a bedroom to film scenes in that I don’t have to rearrange every time I film

How the fuck is anyone supposed to relate to me as a genuine connection

Jordan or Adam

Short of casual sex

It’s a miracle anyone can be attracted to me given how fucked up everything is

If I was rich

I could install bore water across my whole house inside a faraday house cage

And then I could shower like everyone else

And wash my hands without fear

Like I need to be rich enough to hire a maid before my parents die

Like how the fuck

I can’t even washes dishes without my fingers falling off

How pathetic

I can put the dishes in the dishwasher

But the pan

I need to be able to wash the pan without touching the soap

It’s just ridiculous

Too hard basket

Just buy 7 pans haha

And hire a cleaner for an hour for 1 hour a week to fucking do everything

Idk everything is just a massive head fuck

Philippines

It’s all there

Permanent maid

Showers

Bore Water

Maybe when I’m rich I’ll just fly Adam to the Phillipines where he can’t escape my love island

But by then I’ll be rich enough to have it in my house in Melbourne

Even the fucking heater is a headfuck

Elaine likes it on

I want it off

But I don’t want to live alone

So what

Solution: have an illusion gas fireplace where the heat isn’t dry? Can there even be a humid heat

Just fucking have a jet engine humidifier going so the whole house feels like it’s on the equator

Move to Queensland

Lose all my contacts here

Crown Maria

They don’t even know im gay

Such a fucking headache

Idk how many millions id have to spend to make it all work eventually

I definitely think my fingers are so bad because of the heater and dish washing

It’s just drying them out so much

Idk what to do

Even a counseller would be like

Idk bro

Doctors and counsellers are all useless haha

It’s too specific

A problem

Bore water

Use boiling water to wash the pan

Only use soap at the end once already clean

Use a long sponge with a handle so there’s no contact

I’m like a fucking retard boy in the bubble

I may as well should sleep in glass oxygen like MJ

My life’s a literal punch line to a joke

Gay retard with everything falling apart from skin to life

And the only thing holding him together is his intj Bruce Wayne brain

If not, he’d most likely be dead

Like dazelle

How many years will it take

Fucking 5?

Until I push this shit up hill

I need to just spend every day behind a computer editing

I promise to never get a normal job

Even that masters of teaching position I’ll fuck off

But idk

Maybe I’ll want to teach down the track

Vcass sounds so fun to teach at idk

Not a luxury life though

How is it

Out of all the people that I’ve seen in my life

Only you, Jasmine,

Seem to stay

And that’s it out of everyone

Everyone

Is it really that hard to stay in contact with people

Xavier, Belle, Tim smith my vocal coach, Benjamin Martin, it’s like, people come and go like the wind. There’s barely any constants but yourself. Life is a horrible tragic experience if you just look around

That song glimpses is so true

It’s only the glimpses of happiness among the oceans of bullshit that make it worth it remotely

Otherwise he “would kill my self today”

Amen

To that

Is the only way people can stay close to me is if they had a romantic sexual attraction to me initially

I wonder

Is there anyone platonic who stayed with me

Xavier

I don’t trust

Is there anyone?

lol

I sound like I’m having a full scale mental break Down again but I’m just venting

“If I have peace, let it last beyond the day”

I want to write a song like that

It’s my favourite song

I come back to it every few months

Him post Malone and Reagan beam haha

I haven’t read a book in so long cause I fear I don’t have time to escape anymore

I’m like those are the things you can do in old age when no one no longer cares for your looks

You know all this is selfish in a way

Cause I talk to you

Cause I feel like my story is so complex the counseller won’t have time in an hour to understand wtf is going on so it’s a waste of time unless I just present one problem to him

But I don’t even know what problem to present first. At least you know everything.

I just feel shithouse for so long now. And now ever since a few weeks back I feel even more shithouse haha

At least I’ve found peace making content with Jasmine laughing there

I love those moments in transit between places where you’re forced to waste time

Like on a plane or on a train

It’s like those long trips

Even to my gigs

Are my breath of fresh air where there’s a few hours up my sleeve I can afford to waste time and I can relax.

It’s like when I’m at home, I’m just sprinting as fast as I can every second, and it’s like I’ve hit a wall and I’m so exhausted. And everything is burning up at the same time, like how can I feel so attracted to boys and also afraid at the same time. wtf is going on

Maybe its only half gay

Maybe the other half is spiritual and intellectual height, which makes you feel lonely among everyone else

Why I can only seem to keep you and jasmine

[anonymous-dentist]

If it counts for anything, I’m no stranger to anxiety and stress and burnout. I have anxiety disorders, I know some ways to help manage anxiety and stress.

These won’t work for everyone, but here’s what I’ve been told by doctors I’ve been to, and here’s what I’ve figured out by myself over my life:

Cold water will shock your body, so cold showers or even a splash of cold water on your face will take your mind off of the Bad for even just a moment

Find ways to try and distract yourself. I personally exercise in the mornings to shake off the Morning Bad, and I like cooking my own meals to distract myself from the Waiting Bad

Exercise itself has been shown to release stress. There are plenty of exercise routines for people of all body types and abilities. Personally, I do that Ring Fit game, but I also take walks around the neighborhood, play with my family’s dogs, clean the house. There are exercise videos all over the place online, even for exercises you can do while sitting if you aren’t able to stand for long periods of time

Go outside. Even if you’re just going out to sit on your porch, that’s fresh air and sunlight. And sunlight is important! Getting 10 minutes of sunlight a day actually helps you sleep! Seeing nature will remind you of what really matters: yourself, and the world around you

Cry. Crying isn’t embarrassing! It’s important! If you feel like you need to cry, go somewhere private and just cry. Same goes for screaming, though I recommend screaming into a pillow if only for your ears’ sakes

Try and get into a relaxing hobby of some kind. It’s easier to take out your stress doing those than you’d think. Like, if you bake like I do, it’s really satisfying to punch the shit out of your bread dough.

This goes double for if you find a podcast or a long video to distract your brain with while you’re doing your relaxing hobby. My sister crochets very angrily and she catches up on Vinesauce vods as she does so

If you’re having trouble sleeping because of anxiety, legit what you need to do is just tire yourself out. If you aren’t asleep after 20 minutes, get out of bed and do something until you’re tired again. Eventually, your brain will just. Shut off.

But if that’s a bit too hard, which it sometimes can be!, sometimes all you need is something to fill your brain with that isn’t your own thoughts. White noise is great for that, or brown noise, or classical music, or just anything that brings you comfort. When I have bad anxiety spells, I can’t sleep unless I have something filling the back of my brain up

If you can find these affordably, weighted blankets and sleep eye masks are GREAT! My weighted blanket is about 25 pounds and, after being put on it by my old therapist, I’ve legit gotten better sleep than I have in my life. I got my eye mask from 5 Below, but they can easily be ordered online

Coloring!!! It might sound stupid, but there’s a reason why there are so many adult coloring books on the market rn. It’s just relaxing. Put on some music and color if you’re having a Bad Moment

Get a journal or a self care app or a something you can vent in and think in and release your thoughts into. I have a physical journal, and I have this self care app called Finch that’s completely free and gives you a little bird to take care of in exchange for you doing things like taking meds, eating breakfast, or even just getting out of bed.

Take comfort in familiar things. They’re comforting for a reason. Just make sure they aren’t related to the thing that’s giving you anxiety, that’s counterproductive

And, most importantly:

Have a support network you can talk to when it’s Bad-Bad. Your family, your personal friends. People you know IRL. Actual therapists if you can afford them. A support group. Nobody you don’t absolutely 100% trust. Support groups are vital. Even if it’s just one person to start with, that’s one more person besides yourself to hear you think, and they can usually help sort your brain out

I hope at least some of these ideas can help. There are thousands of anxiety-relieving tips online, and there are even more in books at your local library.

It’ll get better. Anxiety, despite what you may feel like right now, is not a forever thing. It’s terrifying, but it’s also just as temporary as any other thought process. It comes and goes, but it is not eternal.

My heart goes out to every single member of the Quackity Studios team, both former and current, that have had their lives ruined due to the negligent and abusive behavior of their higher-ups. I’m heartbroken for you both as a fellow creative and as a human being with a goddamn moral backbone. The lack of respect I’ve seen accounts of over the past several weeks appalls me, and that’s what this whole thing boils down to. Respect.

Respect has not been given to Quackity Studios employees. No communication, no professionalism. Working conditions that are illegal in several countries. Lack of accountability and action. The employees deserve better than to have their hard work and their passion and love for the project wasted working for people who just don’t seem to give a damn.

If there are any Quackity Studios employees following me who haven’t spoken out of fear or because of that freaky bogus NDA, just know that it will get better. You are all massively talented individuals and you WILL get that big break you’ve been waiting for, I just know it!!

There isn’t much the rest of us can do but support the admins during this time, but I wish you all the best in the world. You are worth so much more than what you have gotten, and your minds are beautiful. Don’t let the burnout and stress get to you. For this, just like everything else, is just a moment in time. It’ll be better soon, and we’ll all be supporting you until soon happens.

[rpmemes-galore]

kitchen nightmares, uncensored ... sentence starters

tw: swearing. lots of swearing

“Bloody hell.”

“I speak feline.”

“I think it’s all good.”

“You’re deluding yourself.”

“I am also shitting myself.”

“You've got the part, relax.”

“It looks like a cremated turd.“

“Forgive me; they have sinned.“

“How fucking depressing is that?”

“I just won that one. I won that one.“

“I wouldn't trust you running a bath.”

“Right now, you've won jack fucking shit!“

“I can't believe you'd be so fucking polite.”

“I’m not going to blow smoke up your ass.”

“My Gran could do better, and she's dead!“

“Seafood crêpe? Yeah... that's seafood crap.“

“It took everything in me not to just, freak out.“

“How is that missed? How is that overlooked?“

“You know what? I'm done. No more chances.“

“That's to get them in the mood to get married.“

“You're overlooking extremely important things!“

“You’re going to have to excuse my arrogance.”

“You don’t hand me raw food in my dining room.”

“Oh, come on, this hasn't been cleaned in years.“

“I'm ready. I'm ready to tear it down and start over.“

“I'm not disrespecting you. I'm telling you the truth.“

“You think I'm mad? I'm fucking embarrassed, now.“

“I think pressure’s healthy, and very few can handle it.“

“How long has that been staying outside for? Truthfully.“

“What, are you saying; are you trying to say something?“

“I've never met an individual that's so full of shit in all my life.“

“This is ten thousand times worse than I thought it would be.“

“You can’t just stick your head back in the sand and ignore it.”

“I've got to get some air before I do something I really regret.“

“Hate it. How can you be positive about something you hate?“

“Time to drag me through the mud some more. It is what it is.“

“There’s enough garlic in here to kill every vampire in Europe.“

“Now, unfortunately, I can’t afford to fuck off and die right now.”

“You're so full of fucking shit that you'd make a great politician.“

“Right now, I'd rather eat poodle shit than put that in my mouth.”

“I was hoping that this would be my launching pad for my name.“

“What have I got to show? I'll tell you what I've got to show. Pride!”

“Fresh frozen? There's no such thing! It's either fresh or it's frozen.“

“Off to a bad start unfortunately. It's like somebody's pissed in my soup.“

“I'll wait, but the thing is I don't want you to stick it back in a microwave.“

“What do you want me to do, stand here and start crying or something?“

“I'm not going to stand there and argue with you. You can have that! Okay?“

“Oh my god. I've never, ever, ever seen anything quite extraordinary as that.“

“Just... this is what I'm talking about, kid. You've got to cut the fucking bullshit.“

“You haven't got fucking one right so far! How the fuck can you think about two?”

“I’m fucking pissed off and I’m upset at the kind of shit that I just discovered in there.“

“You're jumping up and down like a big fucking baboon and ‘Ho, ho! It's good! Whoo!’“

“That is extremely unacceptable, dangerous. People could get extremely sick with that.“

“This shit is the most disgusting fucking bought-in crap I've ever tasted in my entire life.“

“He was giving me shit. I gave it back to him, and he was like, ‘Uh, yeah whatever’, and-”

“If you're convinced in your mind that this is going to work, you're beyond reach, you know that?“

“Do you work for a microwave company? You know so much about microwaves. Unbelievable.”

“I didn't expect this. I don't think it could get worse, I don't even know what could make it worse at this point.“

“I'm trying to move forward, I'm trying to get going, but every time I put my foot on the ladder, I get knocked back.”

[palms-upturned]

I sometimes get sad when I see articles/posts about “how to do x when you’re disabled/chronically ill.” I don’t begrudge ppl for those kinds of posts, mind u, it’s touching how spoonies take time and energy out of their day to help each other and share resources. But I get sad thinking about how the ideal way to deal with having to wash dishes during a pain flareup, or cooking when you’re feeling sick and tired, etc is: have someone else help you/do it for you.

When I was really, really sick and anemic in 2020, I could not physically bathe myself for a while. And when I finally could, a shower would take all the strength I had for the entire day. I sort of just… lived with that. Getting a shower stool helped with reducing the risk of fainting and generally with my stamina, but it was still exhausting every time for a long time. There are ways someone can make it a little easier: the stool, using a scrubber with a handle so you can bathe without moving as much or bending over, taking lukewarm showers rather than hot ones, etc. There are also ways you can get clean when you can’t shower, like sink baths and dry shampoo. But the truth is that I would have been able to bathe more often and generally have more strength throughout the day if someone had helped me.

I didn’t live alone at the time, but I didn’t have the kind of relationship with the people living with me where I would have been able to ask for something like a sponge bath without feeling embarrassed and vulnerable. And no one thought of these things without my asking for it, because the truth is we don’t really know how to take care of our sick. Not individually, and not as a community.

Disability and illness are so isolating. It’s difficult to keep up relationships when you aren’t able to go out and see people, or don’t have the energy for long conversations, or just feel awkward and embarrassed when the answer to “how are you?” is always “bad.” Not to mention how financially draining it is to be disabled/sick. How hard is it for us to keep up friendships when we aren’t able to invite friends out and say, “it’s on me?” Or can’t offer a ride? Or can’t financially or even physically afford to leave the house? Without close friends or neighbors to check in on us, and without being able to afford home care professionals, or even be able to trust said professionals to always treat us with dignity and kindness, who does that leave to care for us when we’re not able to care for ourselves? And what happens if, even when we have lots of close friends nearby, they don’t know how to care for sick people, or don’t feel inclined to bc it’s not their business or their problem?

We end up being almost entirely dependent on whoever lives with us for help (if anyone does at all) rather than having a real support network or community. Isolation not only adds a layer of pain, but also vulnerability. Independence means wearing ourselves to the bone or emptying out wallets just to be able to eat a decent meal. Depending on family or a spouse/partner means being almost entirely at their mercy, putting us at high risk of being abused or at the very least casually dehumanized. People consider it burdensome to have to help someone with their cooking, or housework, or personal grooming, or remembering their medications, or any other care needs. So the burden falls on us to pass along tips on what to do when you’re having a migraine attack and can barely even stand to keep your eyes open, but you still have to make yourself something to eat. Because that’s the reality we live with, and that we’ve learned to make do with. And because those of us who understand each other’s needs best and most wish we could do things to help each other are the ones who don’t have money or strength to spare.

When you see resource posts about how to cope with disability, by all means share them, but I hope you will also consider it a reminder to check up on your friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, etc and see if there are any needs in your little circle that you can help meet. Or maybe research some things like how to help a sick person bathe, or what foods are good to eat when you’re dealing with certain symptoms, or how to make your home wheelchair accessible. Since we all get sick and all of us at some point will most likely become disabled in some way, you’re going to need this information at some point in your life anyway. Why not now? And why not use it to take care of people in your sphere of influence?

When I hurt my back recently, a coworker drove all the way to my house to drop off freshly picked cherry tomatoes from her garden just to give me something nice to eat and make me feel cared for. Another coworker spent their ten minute break driving me from my workplace to a restaurant in the same complex just to spare me a five minute walk when I was tired and aching. When I was institutionalized for suicidal thoughts and the hospital held me for 30 hours past when I was told I would be released, my whole family drove to come demand my release, and I got to go home. When I was sick and my bank account was overdrawn, friends occasionally sent me meals. Just today, a friend bought me a pill organizer to help me be more regular with my medication routine. No man is an island. We’ve got to do this together.