#but skully dude sure is

[onbearfeet]

March Patreon Flash Story!

This month's story is a quick one based on a prompt I found while googling desperately: "The funeral was at noon." I hadn't planned on having anyone attend any funerals, but Maggie has her reasons, and I suddenly found myself wondering whatever happened to the Jimmy Olsens of my universe after the capes all disappeared.

Since I ended up not using the one prompt I got, I decided I'm entitled to post the story here without consulting anyone. MWAHAHAHA.

For more context on this 'verse, see my AO3 (onethingconstant) or the tag "Untitled Superhero Project" on this blog.

For the Living

The funeral was at noon, in a quiet little church in Indiana. There had been no announcement—well, no public announcement.

Snap Anderson had been old-school—the oldest school, he would have said. He’d been wearing Jetfighter’s signal watch since 1961, and even after the mirror-helmeted alien had gone down in flames in 1982, Snap had kept wearing the watch, deactivated and silent, as a memorial to his best friend. He’d been a lot of people’s best friend, actually—half of Vanguard’s ever-changing lineup had counted Snap as an ally or a sidekick at one point or another, and there were as many clips of Snap attending heroes’ funerals as there were of him saying outlandish things on talk shows.

Now, Snap’s own funeral had barely a dozen people huddled in the pews.

Maggie slipped in through the back of the church after the organ started up, feeling the tag on her stolen black dress itch between her shoulder blades. Coming here had been a risk, she knew; most of Snap’s social circle had vanished in white light three years ago, and she was in serious danger of standing out in a crowd that would surely all know whoever was left. Being the only likely attendee under fifty wouldn’t help, either.

But it had been on her way to New York, and she couldn’t resist.

She scurried down the aisle in her stolen kitten heels, trying to look like she’d been caught in midday traffic, and slid into the first open seat in the frontmost empty pew. Everyone was singing, droning along to a song she hadn’t heard growing up in St. Joseph’s, so she stared at the floor and mumbled watermelon watermelon watermelon until it was time to stop.

The eulogy was bland, from what she could tell, and seemed to have copied several sentences verbatim from Snap’s Wikipedia page. That didn’t stop the occasional sob or sniffle from the gathered mourners. She wasn’t sure they were listening either.

One of the nuns had told her once that funerals are for the living, not the dead. Maybe the words didn’t matter as long as someone said them. As long as someone said something.

She wondered whether anyone would say anything when she died. Probably not, except for whoever had to clean up the mess.

The eulogy ended, and the organ started up again, and as the creaky mourners levered themselves out of their pews for a final round of what sounded like “Oh God Triumphant And Invisible”, Maggie craned her neck and saw it.

Standing by the head of the casket, just for an instant, was a tall figure in black body armor, half-swathed in a long black cloak, with a gleaming white mask carved to look like a grinning skull. It wasn’t a friendly skull, or even a particularly scary one. Not a Día de los Muertos calavera or a grinning rubber Halloween mask from a party store. It looked like someone had simply taken an ordinary human skull off a pile of them somewhere, sliced off the front of it, and glued it to the front of an otherwise formless black void.

Got you, you bastard, Maggie snarled to herself. The obituary had said Snap had died a natural death, but she knew better now.

Skullfaced freak never could resist a good chance to gloat.

The figure vanished again before she could so much as twitch out of her seat, and no one else in the little congregation reacted, but that was all right. She knew what she’d seen.

When the service ended, she retrieved her pack from behind the dumpster where she’d stashed it and wrote another name in her notebook. The dress and shoes went into the trash, her jeans and sneakers went back on, and she was walking toward the bus station before Snap Anderson’s casket was back in the hearse.

[vampirewalterskinner]

hiiii for the poly fluff ask

mulder x skully x skinner (have they even got a ship name?)

b, e , p please

The ot3 🥰 Thank you so much for asking! I’m not sure they have a ship name, but my tag for them is “#ot3: never beating those favoritism allegations” because Skinner is never beating those favoritism allegations lmao

I think they’re all snugglers. Fox and Dana have proven time and time again throughout the show that they like curling up together and Walter, in my opinion, is HELLA touch starved. They like to sleep in the same bed as often as they can. As for regular sleeping arrangements, I think they would shake it up but I love to write Walter as the monkey in the middle 🥰 as a treat 💖 I don’t think they like to sleep alone but sometimes it’s necessary when Walter (or any of them, really) has PTSD induced nightmares.

Canonly, this is definitely a Dana thing. She loves bringing them to family stuff and the family adores the boys as much as she does. (I actually think Bill would genuinely like Walter while hating Fox lmao.) BUT I love the idea of Walter having a big family that’s constantly holding events and gatherings but Walter is the stick in the mud 😂 He’s grumpy and everyone else is walking sunshine—and naturally they adore Fox and Dana.

Fox and Dana do NOT give a fuck when it comes to pda. The entirety of the FBI, Dana’s mama, and God could be watching them and those two would not care. They’ll do as they please and that generally means comforting and showing each other love. Walter, on the other hand, is not a pda man 😂 Dude kept all his relationships a secret. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t love them, he’s just very uncomfortable with people knowing his private business. He also uses it as a weapon. If Fox misbehaves and puts his life at risk, then Walter isn’t kissing that fool again until he learns not to give him and Dana a heart attack. Fox is the kisser. On the lips. On the forehead. On the neck or wrist or shoulder. Anything he can reach. He likes to pair it with holding their hands, one or both. He wants them to know how much he adores them. Dana likes to hold them and touch them. Her fingers combing through Fox’s hair. Her fingers rubbing Walter’s shoulders and roaming down his back. Touching their faces. Pulling them into her arms 🥰 Walter is the word guy. He’s pledged his heart and soul to them too many times on the show for me to disregard it 😵‍💫 (Season 11 “Kitten” episode, you mean everything to me.) He’s such a quiet guy that half the time he surprises them with sweet words from his deep voice. It’s always praise and awe he shares with them, genuine thoughts that make Fox and Dana burn bright red. He doesn’t really think about what his words do to them. He tells them because it’s the truth. Doesn’t realize it makes them want to jump his bones lmao

[theaviskullguy]

What if i asked for all of the above for that ask meme on aviskull? Besides what was already asked/ is not comfy for you to respond to ofc >:3c

wait literally everything????

oH MAN HERE WE GOOOOOOOO

-What do they think of each other's family? And how does the family feel?

Avi's family- other than his dads- are homophobic. So they don't know about Skull and he'd like to keep it that way. However, Skull's moms are very accepting and supportive of the two. Hell- Aviskull had their wedding on their farm.

-Do they like each other's friends? Do their friends like them?

they have the same friend group

-How do they compare to each other's exes? Are they the same "type" or an upgrade/something different?

Skull dated Vintage for a hot second before they broke up as that relationship was shitty (they're friends now and want to keep it that way) and he can for sure say Avi is an upgrade

-Do they have pet names for each other? Do they like them?

dude so many -in addition to the normal babe, baby, love, ect. Avi has a lot more though

Skull's petnames: Dragon, sugar, cupid, wifey, Skully

Avi's petnames: All the classic ones but in old Norse, cupcake, puppy, hubby, my hoard, Aves, Vi-vi,

-What's their most and least favorite thing about each other?

For Skull- Avi adores his hands the most. They're so soft and sensitive... adorable. He doesn't have a least favorite thing but if he had to chose, Skull has asymmetrical fingernails- one hand's grows faster than the other's- and its a little annoying for Avi purely because his hands are so perfect other than that one tiny detail

For Avi- Skull adores his tummy. It's so soft and PERFECT to use as a pillow. His least favorite is his teeth. Avi has VERY sharp teeth and while Skull doesn't mind that on some occasions, other times he accidentally pokes skull with them when kissing and. its painful

-What do they find physically sexiest about each other?

For Skull- technically this is physical but Avi's voice- it does something to him. It's so sweet and kind but also pretty deep and just. yeah

For Avi- He can't name one single thing but if he had to chose. Skull's thighs. so soft, so squishy...

-Are they a "we" couple?

Absolutely. No explanation needed

-What little things remind them of each other?

For Skull, the beach itself reminds him of Avi- who smells strongly of the sea. For Avi, anything sweet is very good at making him go "Skull would like this!"

-What habits or characteristics have they picked up from each other?

Avi now has a habit of swearing in Norse and reading old Greek classics and Skull bakes to relieve stress and watches trashy romcoms while doing chores

-How do they react when the other is upset? How do they try to help?

Skull often will try to identify the problem and solve it, offering comfort afterwards. While Avi goes worried puppy mode and gives cuddles to try and calm Skull down before offering help when they're ready

-Do they believe in marriage?

Aviskull are indeed married. Of course they do

-Would they have kids together?

What do you think the S4 is to them?

-What values do they not share? How do they reconcile those differences?

The only big one is Skull being religious (Norse Pagan) and Avi is not. However, Avi is more than willing to help Skull obtain offerings to the gods, help him set up offerings, and even participates in his traditions- such as their wedding being on a Friday

-If they disagree, who's usually the one to compromise?

Any and most disagreements are small, but for the bigger ones it just depends on the exact situation- but, normally it's Avi

-If they live together, how do they split household responsibilities?

Avi does the baking, and the laundry. Skull does cooking and gardening, and both clean (though Skull does it more, he finds it relaxing)

-What's different about their backgrounds? Do those differences affect the relationship?

Avi grew up with two dads and an estranged connection with his extended family while in the city, Skull was raised by two moms and a big family on a farm- though he did go to school in the city. The only big thing that effects is they never visit Avi's extended family and almost always visit Skull's.

-What was their first impression of each other?

So they met as preschoolers, and adored each other even then- having one of those fake weddings when they were seven. Fun fact, for their actual wedding, though he wore a suit, Skull had a veil and bouquet pretty much identical to the one he had back then, albeit scaled up for an adult.

-How did they fall for eachother?

When they were kids they were boyfriend and girlfriend purely because they thought that's what friends did- people teased Avi for being friends with a girl (at least back then) and said he had a girlfriend and avi and skull rolled with it. When they got older, romantic feelings set in slowly- and then, all at once. For the longest time they wished for it to go back to being so easy. And, when they confessed, it did.

-Who said "I love you" first?

Avi!! Skull was too flustered and nervous to say it verbally so Avi did, and that sort of calmed Skull down enough to say "i love you too"

-How are they with PDA?

They're not too crazy about it. But there's plenty of hand-holding, forehead kisses... affectionate headbutting. the works

-What interests do they share? For interests they don't share, do they ever participate anyway?

Outside of Turf, ranked/anarchy, salmon run, cooking, and trashy romcoms, they don't really have any.

Avi's interests are mainly poetry, psychology, and also painting. Skull's are archery, soccer, and classical literature. Regardless, they are more than happy to hear their partner ramble on about their interests, or watch them do what they like. Avi in particular loves to watch Skull practice archery

-How are they with money? Does one do more of the financial supporting?

Avi technically does more, mainly because he has an actual job as a therapist. So he has more persistent income. Skull competes in archery tournaments and places first more often than not and comes home with prize money. Those, plus turf war, and they're pretty set

-Where is their relationship lacking? What could they do to improve it?

It's not really lacking in anything. If I had to say, it'd might be a lack of shared interests but they get along just fine.

-Where is their relationship the strongest?

The trust. They're friends first, lovers second. They know when there's a problem with their friendship or their romance and can fix it pretty quickly. They trust each other SO MUCH it's amazing. goals.

[bat-in-the-machine]

Diaries of a Space Janitor

Presented for your approval (or lack thereof), my diary entries from my ongoing run of Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor. It's so fun to get into character as the Alaensee girlbeast, and I hope you enjoy the read

Aggraday - Got cursed. Ate stuff off the ground. Today was a pretty good day.

Havalana - Scraping the bottom here, but I have faith. Skull Curse is a little loud but I kind of like them.

Theday - Wet and miserable. Hungry. I need about sixty MC to get the slimy porn for that one being. Skully doesn't like the weather either.

Onday - Florb. I eat as much as I make, I'll never get that flarbing fragment at this rate, will I, Skully?

Sprenday - Feeling good today. Managed to get lucky! I mean. I raised my luck by praying and making offerings. Not the, uh… what most people mean when they say "get lucky" flarp why am I so bad at this goddesses I am such a failure.

Delviday - Got a good feeling about tomorrow. Got dirt, an Eye of Beb, a spring in my step, and Skully for company!

Valday - Ugh. Gender is old and stale. Can't focus. Can't fuckus. Fuck. fuck. fuck bleh. How AbOut YOu, SkULlY?

Bebday - Today I ate something I got from the lotto. That was a mistake. But I at least got a fresh gender going, right Skully?

Lausterday - It's going pretty good I think. What about you, Skully? {BWAGH} Yeah thought so.

Aggraday - My personal shrine is looking pretty nice. Just need three more goddess fetishes. I might lose this curse after all! Sorry, Skully! {BWARG}

Havalana - Still need those goddess fetishes.

Theday - Thinking I need to get some of these fetishes from some locals and I won't fin--WAIT THE SPENSE ONE IS FOR SALE SHTI

Onday - Getting closer! Almost there!

Sprenday - Feeling pretty good about this. I'm sure I've seen the fetishes I need for sale. And then I will have all the fetishes and they will call me the Fetish Queen! …. wait.

Delviday - Today for sure!

Valday - Only one more fetish to find! We're almost done, Skully! … oh wait then Skully will… NO. Gotta stay strong.

Bebday - so hungry fuck

Lausterday - Ate a Xenome-S heart. Got the superpower of puking everywhere. At least there was a lot of cleaning to do!

Aggraday - Still no luck. I'll get that last fetish yet or die trying, right, Skully?

Havalana - I love the festival atmosphere every day here. It makes the realization that I'll never scrape up enough to get off this rock almost tolerable. Right, Skully?

Theday - I have all my goddess fetishes! Can't find the fortuneteller but that's fine, isn't it, Skully? We'll find her eventually.

Onday - gOTstA GneNDeRShiFT

Sprenday - Looks like Skully and I need to find an adventurer to take on a Quest for us! I've always wanted to meet a REAL adventurer, not the wannabes you usually see around the Spaceport

Delviday - 600 Municipal Credits. SIX. HUNDRED. MUNICREDS. SIX. HUN. DRED. FLARK IT WE'LL DO IT LIVE

Bebday - I honestly worry about that Qreyd dude. They're constantly asking for containers. No idea what they want with the things, but they don't care if there's anything in the container or not. Weird, huh, Skully?

Lausterday - It's taking a long time to make the six hundred MC. I found another adventurer who wants a mythic spellswatch, and another who wants five megabatteries. I think I have a better chance of hiring one of them.

Aggraday - The batteries are too expensive. Found a dude who sold them for like 800, so I came and got mine only to realize I couldn't find the fucker. Fuck it, just doing this the slow way. One MC at a time, right Skully?

Havalana - The batteries are too expensive. Found a dude who sold them for like 800, so I came and got mine only to realize I couldn't find the fucker. Fuck it, just doing this the slow way. One MC at a time, right Skully?

Theday - so fucktring tyerd gona slep untl next aggraday

Onday - I don't know what to do other than keep working until I can hire that pilot. Nothing else seems feasible.

Sprenday - Workin' for a leavin'

Delviday - Flippin' redscarves, always poking their noses in innocent beings' stuff. Don't they have real smugglers to find?

[redhairedwolfwitch]

Doctor Y/n - Intern Year - 11 (FINAL) - Grey's Anatomy x Fem!Reader

Cristina Yang raised an eyebrow, unphased as she ate handfuls of cereal from the box, staring down at the interns, all sleep on the floor of Alex's house.

She surpressed a smirk as she acknowledged how you were snuggled into Jo's chest, with the two of you so tangled together that she couldn't tell where you began and Jo ended.

She just rolled her eyes instead, sighing and continuing to eat her cereal before heading upstairs to bother Alex.

"I have a girlfriend." Karev grumbled into his pillow, leaving Cristina to smirk into her cereal.

"Are you sure? She's passed out with her friends but she's also awfully cuddly with Skully. Again. Does she ever sleep with you? Or only Skully? Did you guys have sex and was it awful? Was she awful? Were you awful, and now you're so ashamed you can't even look at her?" Cristina questioned, leaving Alex to huff several 'no's' into his pillow.

"Are you sure you're actually dating her? Like, what if you're just her beard and she and Skully are together? They're really cuddly downstairs, y'know. You know, it's been like a week and you haven't... what have you done to evil spawn?" Cristina laughed, a grin on her face at Alex's suffering.

"Oh good, I knew you'd cheer me up!" She smiled, reaching for her cereal again.

"Jo hit me- dude, pants!" Steph exclaimed as she realised Jo was standing in her underwear in the middle of the locker room.

"Crap. Sorry. I'm stuck on a question." Jo retorted, grabbing some scrub trousers to change into.

"What's with the underwear. Totally not work appropriate." Leah remarked before she spotted you laughing into your hand.

"Stop laughing Braces. I'm waiting for Alex to make a move, so I'm prepared all the time." Jo explained as she pulled the trouser legs on.

"What about grooming?" Leah voiced, raising an eyebrow at Jo's response.

"All the time."

"Sounds exhausting." Steph remarked, "Why don't you make the first move?" she asked, watching you snort in response.

"'cause i'm not the slut who jumps into bed with someone after her friend died." Jo retorted, directing her response at Leah.

"Joey." You warned as Steph pinched Jo in the hip.

"Well, I'm not gonna advertise it. Braces, are you going to be at home tonight or-"

"I'm not going to be jumping into bed with someone after Brooks died, Joey. I will be studying for the intern exam. Besides, I'm being paged, stop overthinking hetero sex and get dressed." You replied, messing Jo's hair up slightly before walking out of the locker room.

///

"S/n, how's the studying for the intern exam going?" Doctor Robbins enquired as she found you leaning against the wall with cue cards in hand.

"It's going." You explained, avoiding Arizona's eyes as she frowned.

"Are you judging me-"

"I don't condone cheating. Personally, I've never cheated on anyone, but I've also never had a relationship last longer than two weeks because I have issues, so, I don't know what you want from me... I'm a good listener though, if you'll help me with this card that I think Jo wrote?" You asked, passing Doctor Robbins the card.

"Uh well..."

"It's leukemia, right?" You asked, acknowledging Doctor Robbins' face at the symptoms.

"Yeah, uh, if you already knew that-"

"The card was to distract you." You explained, leaving Doctor Robbins to raise an eyebrow.

"How sneaky of you."

"One of my good qualities, to balance out my issues." You replied, leaving Arizona to pause.

"S/n, have you considered therapy?"

"I couldn't afford it, being a foster child who worked two jobs and got guilt money from relatives who didn't want me... I paid my friend Mac in kettle corn to listen to me ramble during college." You explained before moving onto the next cue card.

"You're going to be at home right? You're not studying at Alex's-" Jo asked, running over as Arizona raised an eyebrow.

"Jo, I can take a hint, you want your hetero sex. Besides, there's leftover pizza in the fridge I plan on eating tonight." You replied, noticing Jo raising an eyebrow, "What?"

"You're not going out to get-"

"No, I am not! Doctor Robbins, do you happen to own a drill?" You asked, turning to Arizona who looked amused at the entire conversation.

"Why do you need a drill?" Jo asked, leaving you to quirk an eyebrow at Doctor Robbins.

"Well, I had a conversation yesterday about coping mechanisms for being alone and I have decided to take on a project, and it requires a drill." You explained, leaving Doctor Robbins to nod as Jo looked even more confused.

"You're going lumberjack on me instead of getting laid-"

"I'll find you a drill, S/n." Doctor Robbins cut Jo off before walking away.

"Why do you need a drill?!" Jo exclaimed but you had already walked away after swapping cue cards with her.

///

Cue cards and screws were scattered all over the floor as you stared at the picture of what had inspired your project.

Steph, Leah and Shane were studying together. Jo was pre-occupied with Karev.

You were alone with a pile of wooden fruit crates you were planning to repurpose.

///

The night of the fundraising gala for the hospital meant you were running around the pit with Steph and Shane. Leah had tried begging you to swap and be on peds but you refused since you'd been on peds last shift.

So you were standing in and putting splints on limbs like Doctor Torres had taught you.

"Where's Wilson?"

"She's Karev's date to the gala, I helped her pick out the dress for it." You explained as Steph frowned.

"Are you frowning because Avery didn't ask you-"

"I'm frowning because I can't work out when you and Jo broke up, you know, so she could be getting with Doctor Karev-"

"Why does everyone think Jo and I were ever more than friends? She's my best friend, my person and basically my baby sister." You retorted before another major trauma began to come in.

///

You were running around the ER like a chicken on a mission whilst Steph was trying to stop Shane from doing a pericardial window on a patient in the middle of the ER.

"S/n, how's everything on your end?"

"I have splinted several limbs, removed a marble from a child's nose, a child who reminded me of Brooks, may I add. But I had a really interesting skull fracture case, I sent them up to CT with a neuro consult." You explained before your pager went off.

"Damn, incoming trauma, later!" You exclaimed, turning on your heel to sprint down to the ER.

///

"Your big project was a bookshelf made out of fruit crates?" Jo asked, raising an eyebrow as she spotted your masterpiece against the wall near the bed.

"It was cheaper than buying a bookcase and more fun." You retorted, opening one eye to acknowledge her before you locked onto the bookcase.

"Screw it."

"What are you- are you organising the bookshelf instead of sleeping?" Jo pointed out, pulling the oversized shirt over her head.

"Brooks gave me a list of books, I've been going to second-hand stores, garage sales and thrift stores to slowly find them all, which is why I decided to build a bookshelf." You explained, pulling the piles of books you'd scattered across the apartment together on your side of the bed.

Jo watched from her side of the bed as you stacked the bookshelves, chuckling when you muttered to yourself or re-arranged something again.

"What did Brooks' mother end up giving you?" Brooks asked, gesturing to the box you'd placed on the bed.

"Uh..." You replied, not saying a word as you opened the box and began to unwrap the contents.

"You should put it all on the shelf!" Jo exclaimed, yawning before she realised you were putting the contents of the box on the shelf.

///

Jo was preparing breakfast with a laugh as she heard you singing in the shower whilst wrestling duct tape around the showerhead.

It was only when she turned around to the fridge to grab the milk carton that she spotted the photos you'd stuck to the fridge with some cheap magnets.

One photo showed an eighteen year old you along with a seventeen year old Jo. You had sneakily taken a photo whilst the two of you were studying in the school library. You were grinning so much your braces were on show. You'd only just gotten them at eighteen so you grinning was a rarity back then.

Another photo was the strip of four from the photo booth that you'd taken with Brooks. The strip went from you and Brooks being awkward, to the two of you laughing, until the final photo showed the two of you almost falling out of the booth.

You'd also printed out a photo you and Brooks had taken at the arcade with the Pac-Man machine, leaving Jo to smile before she opened the fridge, finally grabbing the milk as you exited the bathroom in your towel.

"Which set are you borrowing from me today?" Jo asked, grabbing the box of cereal as you got dressed.

"Oh, the purple number, I see." Jo teased as you pulled one of her shirts over your head.

"Give me a break. You've got the black lace one- oooh, cereal!" You retorted, spotting the bowls of cereal Jo had paused.

"Hey, put some jeans on or something or no cereal for you! Also I was right, in the store, the purple set is cute." Jo exclaimed whilst you tugged on a pair of jeans and grabbed the cereal and milk.

"We've got rounds in an forty-five." You stated as you glanced at your phone, eyes flicking up to where Jo was eating cereal out of the box.

///

"S/n, with me, hang glider trauma incoming." Doctor Torres called you over from the ER reception.

"What we got?" Chief Hunt asked as he walked over, followed by you and Doctor Torres.

"Her name is Reese Woods, 22, hang gliding over Tiger Mountain, BP is 100 over 70, open tibia fracture and complains of abdominal pain." Doctor Kepner explained whilst you and Doctor Torres looked at the tibia fracture.

"Okay, this isn't bone, this is a rod, when did you have this rod put in?" Doctor Torres asked whilst you took a closer look.

"This March. She broke it heli-skiing in New Zealand. She's also broken, uh, both forearms, lost a kidney, dislocated her shoulder." The patient's sister, Donna, rattled off.

"Wow, you do have a death wish, huh?" Doctor Torres remarked before Chief Hunt stated the patient needed to go up for a CT scan.

///

"This rod caused a lot of bleeding, we're going to be here a while. I hope you don't have plans with your girlfriend, Hunt." Doctor Torres remarked as she worked on the open tibia rod fracture of the hang glider patient.

"She is not my girlfriend."

"She baked you banana bread and brought it to you while you were at work, you're practically engaged!" Doctor Torres laughed.

"Matthew brought me breakfast burritos and now we're getting married," Doctor Kepner added, pausing at Chief Hunt's glare "just saying."

You had zoned out as soon as the relationships talks began, focussing purely on the tibia rod instead.

///

Jo found you by the coffee cart, downing a cup of something after getting out of surgery with Doctor Torres.

"Are you still bothering Karev about that patient he wants nothing to do with?" You asked after finishing the coffee, passing Jo the cup in your other hand.

"I just don't get-"

"Joey, would you be doing this if it were my parents?" You asked, watching Jo pause as you raised your eyebrows.

"Would you want to?" Jo asked you back, watching as you zoned out for a moment.

"No, I wouldn't. I don't need some crappy excuse for why they abandoned their 10 year old on the side of the road in mid-winter." You grumbled, glancing at your pager before walking away from Jo after squeezing her forearm gently.

///

Getting your intern results after the days that you and Jo had had meant that you'd both forgotten when the results were supposed to come in.

Jo was at Karev's whilst you were sat on the couch with leftover pasta salad and an old Disney movie that Brooks had put on the list.

"Oh thank god, no more being the bottom of the food chain!" You smiled, eating a mouthful of salad as you texted Jo.

You and Jo were now second year residents, but the journey continues.

///

@nnightskiess

[lilbit-of-kizzy]

Got bored

Drew a sad drippy boy (click him, he has tiny details I'm sure Tumblr quality is gonna destroy)

He's an OC of mine from a very vivid dream I had a few months back (yes it's stuck with me this long lol)

Went way too hard on the skull and had no detail spoons left for the clothes lol maybe I'll mess with them a bit later 😆 (his shoulders are killing me help...though I do like my droopy skull)

Anyways he and (we find out much later) his lady love were cursed to be apart. A wizard (?) dude cursed skully man here to sleep for [insert long enough time for bone-ification in the desert] half in and half out of the water, so his face/brain/memories would be gone when he woke up, but his lower half would remain intact under the water (where he now draws his life force from, he can't be out long) so he could move around and speak but be otherwise miserable!...horray!

The one hole in his shirt shows off some mummified muscle still stuck to the bone, he had one arm out of the water so it's gone (he can barley use it) and you can see barnacles and sucker fish bites on the skin his decaying clothes exposed to the water

He and this mermaid have a beef cause he creepily hangs out under the water, just holding still while he recharges, and is just generally in the way.

Yes the mermaid is his cursed lady love

Yes she figures it out eventually

Yes it was a horribly sad dream and it will not leave my brain

Mightdrawmoreeventuallyokbye

[escargoon-sandwich]

marx attempts to ruin a chatfic - scrapped chapter

there is a reason why this isn’t going on ao3. simply put, i’m not satisfied with it.

11:50 pm

Zan Parthenon: @everyone

Zan Parthenon: HELP

Zan Parthenon: MARX JUST RAN BACK TO CAMP WITH A BUNCH OF THE SKULL GANG FOLLOWING HIM

Big D: I’m already on my way.

Zan Parthenon:  please tell me you’re bringing kirby

Gryll: AAAAAA

Gryll pressed their back to Zan’s, sucking their breath in. “Man, this sucks! Big time!” 

“Understatement of the year, my friend.” Zan stated flatly as she charged her drums. Gryll had managed to build up a small wall to hide behind, but the blocks they’d made crumbled easily - it wouldn’t hold off the Skull Gang forever. 

Something glittering hovered above their heads, and Gryll glanced up to see Marx barely clearing the wall. “Yo Zan! Mind lighting me up?”

“Sure. Just stand in front of me.” Zan ordered as she jumped up to the top.

“Oh come on, that’s gonna suck…” Marx whined.

“Think of it as payback for when you sprayed me with febreeze earlier.”

“Okay but you asked for that-”

“BECAUSE I THOUGHT YOU WERE DRINKING KOOL-AID!”

“WHY WOULD I DRINK KOOL-AID OUT OF A FEBREEZE BOTTLE-”

The inane argument was interrupted by a particularly large skully barreling through the wall, showering Gryll in brick fragments. Gryll cried out and swung their broom forward, borrowing some techniques they’d seen some Broom Hatters do. The skully tumbled away, just in time for Marx to body slam it. “Hey, Gryll!” he shouted, twirling on his toetip. “Go find Dedede and Kirby!”

“I - okay!” Gryll hopped on their broom and booked it out of there, weaving through the trees. Beneath them, they felt the broom sort of sputter - which was to be expected. The enchantment was beginning to wear thin - they probably should have refreshed it before coming to the islands.

As the sound of battle faded behind them, Gryll bit their lip. They really, really wanted to help, but they were more of a hedgewitch - someone who did spells meant for everyday life, not for the battlefield. 

Whatever. Finding Kirby was helping too.

The broom fell suddenly, about five feet - it couldn’t last much longer. Gryll groaned, knowing they’d have to continue their search on foot. Quietly, they landed and leaned against a large tree, trying to listen to their surroundings…

Okay, there was the fight going on, and that kind of drowned things out. Oh, how Gryll longed to have nice big ears like Daroach, then maybe they would have better hearing! Above them, the branches rustled, and then something dropped on them - Oh, Lord.

They swung their broom wildly, batting at whatever had chomped down onto their face. They sucked in air, choking on the downright rancid breath, then filled their lungs again. “LET! GO!” they howled at the top of their lungs. “I’LL TASTE AWFUL, SO LET -”

Suddenly they were free, and they gasped for air. The thing was now howling in pain, and Gryll cautiously looked over to see something brown and furry mauling their attacker - a skull gang member. They’d been followed! “Shit…” they breathed. “I gotta find the others quick…”

“Wait!” The furry thing turned, and - oh lord, if that wasn’t the cutest thing Gryll had ever seen! Kirby was wearing some sort of animal costume - it was probably a copy ability! “Gryll, it’s me!”

“Yeah, I can see that now. Sorry, I thought you were like… some sort of raccoon…” they muttered. “Where’s Dedede?”

“Over here!” The king crashed through a bush and faceplanted in the dirt. He scrambled to his feet quickly, just in time for Escargoon to slam into his back, with Gooey close behind him. He stumbled forward, but caught himself before he could body-slam Kirby. “Okay. Okay, I’m good. Um.” He smiled sheepishly at Gryll. “Where’s the circus?”

“The circus? Oh, you mean Marx!” A crack of thunder roared through the forest, and Gryll pointed in that direction. “I’d say they’re over there.”

“Thanks.” Without missing a beat, Dedede charged forward. “Escargoon, you stay with Gryll!”

“But Sire -”

“No buts! I don’t want those freaks anywhere near you!” Dedede turned away and disappeared through the brush, and Kirby and Gooey soon vanished after him.

“No, wait!” Gryll cried, only to be drowned out by another crack of thunder. “... Damn. Okay.” They turned to Escargoon, who was tugging at his beard. “We can’t stay here. I don’t care what Dedede said, it’s not safe. There might be more of those guys around.”

“Are you kidding me? Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Escargoon growled, waving his arms in the air.

“I would have, but they ran off before I could - wait.” Gryll’s eyes narrowed as they heard more rustling in the branches above. “... Hey. Weird question. If you were surrounded by, say… five or six dudes who wanted you dead, how likely do you think you’d be able to survive?”

Escargoon was peering at the canopy now, quivering. “H-honestly? I’d give it like, a twenty percent chance?”

“Okay then. Let’s run.” 

----

12:39 AM

Kirby: you know i’m glad those guys don’t get stronger at midnight

Big D: @Marx did you find Gryll and Escargoon yet? Or DMK?

Marx: i found the first two and got a broom shaped bruise on my face

Kirby: ouch, did gryll get you? they hit pretty hard sometimes…

Marx: no it was escargoon lol

Marx: gryll got one of those tears to the face, so i think goonie grabbed the broom to defend himself

Big D: Shit, are they hurt?

Marx: nah, they’re in pretty good shape

Marx: gryll is now under a bunch of leaves, we made them a little blanket so they could stay worm

Marx: … i meant to say warm but you know

Marx: i guess that fits too? since they’re under some leaves

Marx: anyway dedede come get yo mans

Big D: I have absolutely no idea what that means, Marx.

Marx: oh, you know

Marx: ;dauhnjffff

Kirby: MARX????

Marx: You know that massive downed tree? We’re near that.

Kirby: yeah i do know it, but what happened?

Marx: A stupid clown nearly played a nasty prank.

Zan Parthenon: Who is this?

Marx: This is Escargoon. I grabbed Marx’s phone before he could do something dumb.

Zan Parthenon: He was going to send the winky face, wasn’t he?

Gryll: nooo, that’s our inside jooooke

Kirby: oh hey, welcome back gryll!

Gryll: right i need to debrief everyone, maybe in the morning? i need access to my dream journal even though this wasn’t really a dream it’s a good idea to write it down

Zan Parthenon: I got it, and I’ll bring it over.

Gryll: thanks

----

8:14 AM

Gryll: alright, i wrote down what i saw in the doc you guys have going for that sort of thing

Daddyroach: Alright, I’ll take a look.

Gryll: the good news is that i did find a good tree, finally, while i was writing everything down

Gryll: so i’ll be re-enchanting my broom and making a new one

Gryll: … actually, wait

Gryll: @Escargoon do you want to borrow one?

Big D: He’s still sleeping.

Gryll: oh, okay

Gryll: i’ll try later then

Big D: Any reason why you want to give him one?

Gryll: because last night, i lent him it

Gryll: well, he took it from me actually, and he was like, “if you want to get rid of a pest you sweep like THIS” and then did the windy thing

Big D: The windy thing?

Gryll: kirby knows the windy thing! the thing the broom hatters do

Big D: ooooh, i get it

Gryll: but he seemed to like it, he was cackling

Daddyroach: Okay so, uh.

Daddyroach: My dad got sacrificed to Necrodeus. 

Gryll: the guy who was PROBABLY your dad

Daddyroach: Most likely my dad.

Daddyroach: Considering that you said my mom confessed to being pregnant at the time.

Gryll: well no necrodouche kind of forced the confession out of her because he grabbed her and…

Gryll: uhm.

Gryll: he tried ripping you and your siblings out of her

Gryll: i think he wanted to eat you

Daddyroach: … thank god dedede’s dad was there.

Gryll: yeah

Kirby: we still haven’t found any sign of DMK anywhere…

Taranza: Come back to the hotel, Kirby. Ribbon, Adeleine and I are gonna go look next.

Kirby: okay

Borb: Do you need me there?

Big D: You know, not to sound rude, but I’d rather you be at the castle right now.

Big D: If we have a group of people back at the castle, it’s… something. 

Big D: In case something bad happens.

Borb: … I see.

B. Dee: I’ll do my best, your majesty!

Big D: Thank you.

Tiff: something happened

Big D: Tiff? Are you okay?

Tiff: no

Tiff: dmk came back here and took my mom

Tiff: she went out to the balcony and he grabbed her

Gryll: oh shit, oh SHIT

Daddyroach: This lines up too well.

Daddyroach:  I’m going to try to find her.

Tiff: she’s where you guys are?

Daddyroach: Yeah, and she’s in immediate danger.

---

Normally, Daroach would be happy to have a target that broadcast its location. When that target was a woman who was five months pregnant, though, things got intense.

Lady Like was kicking up one hell of a fuss, though, and it made tracking her down easy. "Yo! Marx!"

The jester crashed out of the canopy, faceplanting into a puddle. He coughed out some mud and grinned at Daroach. "I meant to do that."

"Sure you did. Now listen." Daroach pointed in the direction of the screaming. "Go up ahead for me, okay? We'll try a pincer attack."

"Oh, good idea!" Marx took to the air, then visually screeched to a halt. "Did you tell Kirby and Adeline too?"

"Yeah." Daroach readied the Triple Star, listening for the sounds of struggle. "We're close. Just a little farther…"

"Right. See ya!" Marx flew off, and Daroach zoned in on where he heard the fighting. He soon found himself in a small clearing, where he caught Dark Meta Knight getting a square kick to the face, delivered by one Lady Like.

Daroach couldn't help it. He laughed and clapped as he made his presence known. "Good job, idiot, you're getting your ass handed to you by a pregnant woman."

"A woman with a black belt," Lady Like corrected, pouting.

 Dark Meta whirled and drew his sword, brandishing it towards his poor victim. "Listen here, both of you!" he growled. "I don't have time for this horseshit, nor the patience." He was shaking slightly. "All I want is for one thing to go right for me!"

"Yeah, and I'd like some goddamn peace and quiet. But life isn't fair and we don't always get what we want." Daroach shrugged. "You'd think you'd have learned that by now."

"Bold words from a thief." Dark Meta hissed, prodding Lady Like's belly with the tip of his sword. "Now. I have a gift to deliver to my master, and I'm willing to rip it out of her if need be."

Daroach felt like his stomach was turning to ice, and he lowered the brim of his hat to hide his panic. "... Master, huh? You rebounded kinda fast, huh?" 

Dark Meta's wings twitched, as Daroach heard rustling in the nearby undergrowth. "What do you mean, rebound?"

"I'm just saying… you hopped on the Necrodeus train pretty damn quick." Out of the corner of his eye, Daroach saw Kirby peek out of some tall grass. He wished he had a way to signal to him to wait. "You got a thing for toxic men, don't you?"

Oooh, the sword tip was wavering now, and it was quickly pointed in Daroach's direction. "I hope you realize what you are implying."

"'Course I do." Daroach flicked the brim of his hat up and grinned. "You, my friend, are a slut."

Dark Meta Knight roared and flung himself towards Daroach, who gasped as he felt the serrated blade sink into his gut. Lady Like stumbled away from the two, and Daroach saw a waiting Adeline reach for her hand and drag her out of the area. “You do not get to impose that judgement on me!”

Daroach smirked, then coughed up blood. “Well. At least I set out what I meant to do here,” he muttered as he pressed the Triple Star against Dark Meta’s mask, and blasted him away. “Go and run back to your new sugar daddy!”

There, he fell to the ground, where he wrapped his cloak around himself as his opponent scanned the treeline. One of Daroach’s ears twitched as he heard Marx yelling hysterically - he must have found the two escapees. 

“Hmph. The child’s not worth getting in a fight with the jester over.” Dark Meta sheathed his sword and turned, leaving Daroach in the dirt. “My master will be back soon anyway.” With that, the sound of shattering glass filled the air as he teleported away, and Kirby darted out from the bushes. 

“Are you okay?” Kirby squealed, while pressing a few leaves into Daroach’s wound. Daroach yelled in pain, and Kirby almost looked a little sick. “Ooh, guess not…”

---

12:12 pm

Daddyroach: Alright, so maybe calling him a slut wasn’t the best idea.

Kirby: !!!! you’re up!!!

Tiff: is my mom okay?

Kirby: yeah!!! she kicked him a lot!!!

Adeleine: I’m pretty sure I saw some dents in that mask, your mom’s a straight-up badass. 

Adeleine: Are you okay though, dad?

Daddyroach: No.

Daddyroach: He got me bad, but Doc’s taking care of the stab wound.

Adeleine: i should have stayed?

Daddyroach: Absolutely not. You could have gotten stabbed.

Adeleine: … yeah, you’re right.

Gooey: tiiiiiiiiff

Gooey: yourmoooomisssniccccce

Marx: so uh daroach

Marx: why’d you call him a slut?

Tiff: what’s that word mean?

Marx: you’ll find out when you’re older.

Tiff: what if i want to know now, marx?

Marx: i’d have to say too bad because your mom would probably kill me

Tiff: oh it’s a swear word?

Marx: yeah lol

Escargoon: Speaking of your mom, Tiff…

Escargoon: Should I go talk to her?

Tiff: is there a reason why you think you shouldn’t?

Escargoon: We weren’t always on good terms.

Escargoon: Scratch that, we were never on good terms, up until I left.

Tiff: i think she knows you’re trying to change for the better

Tiff: i don’t think it’ll hurt to see her

Dedede: Can you like, keep her company while I’m out dealing with some shenanigans?

Dedede: There’s something going on to the north, and I’m going to go investigate.

Escargoon: I can do that.

----

Escargoon stared at the door handle way longer then he probably should have. One of the Waddle Dees that worked for the hotel was giving him a curious look. He knew the worst things Lady Like could do - he’d seen her beat the shit out of those guys who’d stalked her daughter. If she didn’t want to see him, well… he probably deserved whatever she dished out.

He finally decided to just knock. “Oh, who is it?” Lady Like’s voice rang out loud and clear, and Escargoon swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat.

“It’s, um. It’s me.” There was a brief pause, and he added. “Can I come in?”

“Yes. Yes you may.” Oh boy, that response was rather terse...

Escargoon took a deep breath and entered the room. Technically, it was the one in his name, but with the… thing with Dedede, that was up in the air. Lady Like was here, now, nestled in a pile of pillows, one hand resting on her belly while the other one picked at a piece of bread. She looked like she’d been woken up in the middle of the night - in fact, she probably had been. “So! I’d ask you how things have been, but. Yeah.”

Like gave him a look so sour it could curdle milk. " I have had one of the worst mornings of my life. Are you certain you are happier here?"

"Huh?" Escargoon blinked in confusion. "Of course I am! Why, instead of getting hit all the time, I get hit on -" Lady Like had instantly raised an eyebrow. "Oops."

Well, her mood seemed to have improved. "Escargoon," she said with a conspiratorial smirk, "I have the inkling that you have a thing with the king!"

Escargoon felt his cheeks heat up, and he turned away. "What gave you that idea?" 

“Well…” Like tilted her head and winked. “I heard you were sleeping with him...”

“T-that was only last night!” he spluttered. “A-and it was platonic, okay. No shenanigans happened!”

“Yes, and I only married my husband platonically.”

“Look, he hasn’t even kissed me yet, okay?” Escargoon crossed his arms. “And I doubt it counts as a thing if he hasn’t even asked me out yet.”

“But there is a potential of a thing, yes?” Like smirked at him. “I’m sure your mother will be happy to know her little snail has a sweetie!”

“Oh, no, no, you are NOT telling her before I do!” He began to pace a bit. “Great, now I forgot what I even came here for in the first -”

Escargoon was interrupted by a wet “thump” on the balcony, and he jumped and whirled to face the sliding glass door, now plastered with Gooey’s face. He sighed in relief as he went to open it, but as Gooey rolled in, he realized that the little slimeball did not seem happy at all. “Hey little guy, what’s up?” Gooey wiggled around, a look of distress on his face. “Listen, Gooey, I know you’re upset, but you’re going to have to use your words, okay?”

Gooey paused for a moment, then opened his mouth and shouted one word. “FUCK!”

Lady Like gasped in horror. "Was this where Tiff learned that word?"

"Nah, that was probably Marx." After a look of confusion from Like, he continued. "Y'know, little jester guy, kicked Dedede in the junk?"

"Ah, him." She rose from the bed, smoothing her hand over her stomach. "Oh, my! Escargoon, look!"

"Huh?" A massive thundercloud was beginning to form on the horizon, but something was off. Mainly, it seemed like it was pouring out of the ocean. "That's not good..."

Gooey was beginning to buzz loudly. "Is he supposed to be doing that?" Lady Like asked, then cringed in disgust as Gooey spat out his phone. "Oh…"

Escargoon, however, noticed something else. Something that looked like a shockwave of sorts… and it was heading towards them, fast. He shoved Lady Like aside, away from the glass door, then grabbed Gooey and ducked into his shell.

[sparticus2000art]

So i dont know anything about sailor moon but what are you hc for the au

Oh dude, that’s fair, a lot of my friends haven’t seen it either, but it was the first anime I ever watched (other than Pokémon of course).

But basically this au is a crossover between the first season of sailor moon and marble hornets, but it’s supposed to have a more lighthearted/comedic approach than either of the original stories. I’ll list a couple of basic ideas about the characters:

Tim/masky:

-the first to receive his magical boy form/outfit

-he’s extremely reluctant to be in this situation in general, he was doing fine, he was normal... now he has to deal with this bullshit

-got his mask from seths dog, and was very confused about the outfit change

-ultimately decided it was easier to run in a skirt than jeans anyway

-wanted to keep his friends out of the situation, but it seems they got dragged in anyway (press f to pay respects)

Brian/hoodie:

-Tim’s best friend, the first to join the group after Tim

-noticed something was bothering Tim and ended up stumbling upon his magical boy shenanigans, ended up repeatedly following him to make sure he didn’t get hurt too badly

-the only one whose outfit doesn’t have a skirt, will occasionally bring one along so he can match the others

-generally a good guy, helps everyone keep calm, regularly breaks up fights or lifts the others spirits

-fights with either that one pipe he found or by yeeting his failed nature tapes at people

Jay/skully:

-has severe dumb bitch syndrome

-gets lost a lot

-turns invisible when stressed and in his sailor send hi outfit

-joined the group after they stopped the operator from tormenting him

-good friends with Jessica and Alex

Alex:

-angry boi

-has the most violent approach to problems out of all of them, as well as the shortest fuse

-he absolutely owned the mini skirt since day one

-got dragged in shortly after Brian, but had a lot less choice in the matter

-doesn’t hate all dogs, just seths dog for getting him involved

Jessica

-she’s just doing her best

-one of the brightest in the group, also the last to get involved

-like jay, she joined after being tormented by the operator

-generally gets along with everyone but isn’t great at mediating

Seths dog:

-has more involvement in this story than Seth does

-is responsible for everyone getting their magical boy/girl items

-communicates through barks. The cast somehow understand him when no one else does.

-weirdly wise for a dog, but also says super concerning shit on occasion

-he doesn’t like Alex very much...

The operator:

-plays the part of queen beryl, also wears a dress.

-the ends of the dress act as extra limbs

-seems to understand English but can only communicate through buzzing noises

-torments the main cast a lot

-sends out a lot of ... strange ...creatures after the lads, their behaviour is hard to read, but seems kinda playful..?

- it turns out they just wanted friends but are extraordinarily bad at communication

-at the end they all learn sign language together to make communication easier

Those are some of the basics I can think of off the top of my head!

[vindogy]

Part 4 of the Skully ask that turned into a whole AU

(A little somethin extra at the end too)

After a concerning amount of time, Brian finally began regaining consciousness. Opening his eyes and letting out a few groans of pain, wincing at the soreness of his body, he looked down and instantly realized he was bound to the chair he was so familiar with. No longer having his vision obscured as he was so used to having, he realized his mask was off. He set his sights on Jay, giving him a knowing glare. He stayed silent, his gaze burning into Jay, but didn’t struggle from his position. All he had was an intimidating expression on his face that Jay wished was aimed at someone else. Mustering up some courage, Jay decided to break the silence at long last. But to his surprise, it was Brian who spoke first.

“Y’know, there were better ways to do this.”

Jay gasped in surprise. He assumed that one-word answers were all Brian could manage at this point, but it looked like that wasn’t the case. Brian continued speaking, a sly grin beginning to spread across his face, despite the several bruises and bloodstains.

“For starters, this chair is barely being held together after Tim nearly broke it. Metal’s bent, and I could struggle out pretty easily. Second of all, you can’t tie knots for shit. I already got a little wiggle room and I didn’t even move yet. Third…”

Brian turned his gaze to Tim, who was still crouched down and silent.

“… have you forgotten? We’re a team. I know how to control him, you don’t. Hell, I could tell him to kill you right now and you’d be none the wiser.”

Jay looked down in shame. He really didn’t think this through, and Brian was making sure he knew that.

“Seriously, what were you thinking? I don’t blame you though. I’ve seen how you act. You can be pretty damn stupid sometimes.”

Jay wanted to respond to the insult, but he couldn’t think of an adequate response. Brian let out a laugh and looked down at the blood dripping onto his jeans. He looked back up and flashed a crimson smile at Jay.

“But let’s say you weren’t a dumbass. Let’s say you took me far into the forest, Tim nowhere in sight. You tied me tight enough to make my limbs numb, and you have a jagged knife in your hand, ready to cut me up and bleed me like a pig if I don’t answer your questions. Let’s say you’ve absolutely broken me, and I’m sitting here crying in pain, begging you not to tear into me anymore. My eyes are gouged out, my clothes have been torn off, and you’re there making sure I feel as much pain as possible. Even then, I wouldn’t tell you jack shit. Let’s say you’ve trained Tim and you’re making him crush every bone in my body into fine dust. Hell, let’s say you’ve buddied up with Alex and he’s siccing The Operator on me, making me live through a thousand years of pain in one minute. Even then, I won’t tell you shit!”

Brian let out another laugh, taking sick pleasure in describing his own brutal torture.

“But none of that’s happening. You’re here, having me tied onto a flimsy chair, right next to one of my most vicious partners, and you didn’t even have the brains to gag me! You’re a real riot, Jay, I’ll give you that.”

In an instant, his tone shifted drastically, now looking at Jay with a stone-cold expression.

“But this is all so, so, so useless. Curiosity killed the cat, Jay, and right now you’re looking like a nice defenseless cat caught in a bear trap, surrounded by nature’s top apex predators. Why don’t you give me a reason to not kill you where you stand?”

Sweat was running down Jay’s back. He was terrified. Brian was not like this at all. Not the Brian he knew. Jay stuttered, trying to think of a valid reason that wouldn’t get him killed.

“W-well… you uh… y-you need me!”

Brian raised an eyebrow and smirked. Jay knew exactly what Alex was feeling when he told him to wipe that stupid smile off his face.

“I do?”

Jay tried his best to hide his fear. The shuddering overtaking his body was on obvious tell that he was very bad at hiding it.

“Y-yeah. You and T-Tim can’t take on Alex. Y-you’ve tried before! You need me!”

Brian looked to the side and nodded.

“Alright. Fair point. You can live for now, but if you t-”

“Wait!”

Jay made a sudden and brave interruption. He wanted answers, not another reason to fear the hooded man. Brian seemed surprised by the sudden courage as well.

“Whoa. Didn’t know you had the guts to interrupt me when I’m talking. What do you want?”

Jay stopped shuddering. He had to find out at least one thing.

“Why does the mask calm Tim down? Why does the mask turn him into that?”

Brian gave Jay a pained smile, looking like he’d been wanting to answer this for a long time.

“Aw well, that’s easy. See, when Timmy boy doesn’t get his meds, he gets real, real angry. It was always a slight problem. Back in college, the worst that would happen is that he’d lash out and maybe yell, but that’s about it.”

Brian paused for a moment, and Jay swore he saw a look of guilt in Brian’s eyes.

“But then enter Alex and The Operator. Yeah, that thing had latched onto Tim, but he did a pretty good job at not letting it get to him. Alex, on the other hand, oh boy. One encounter, and he’s out here killing people left and right, unknowingly feeding that thing. The Operator is a pretty messed up thing, y’know? If it doesn’t swallow you up in its dimension to keep your hopeless corpse in for god knows how long, it’ll instead chew you up and spit you out, breaking your mind in the process. Happened to me, happened to Tim, and now it’s happened to you.”

Brian’s eyes began to water, yet his voice didn’t waver.

“And man, let me tell you, it fucking sucks! Tim got even more violent before I was even there to intervene. He’d go on rampages late at night, running around the forest and tearing up all those poor innocent animals he saw. Dude was strong enough to take down a deer with his bare hands. That’s pretty impressive, ain’t it? Too bad I didn’t get any superpowers. All I got was a nasty cough and the worst trauma of my life!”

Brian’s voice was now breaking. He was beginning to lose his composure.

“You know how it feels to wake up one morning with no memory of what happened last night, and suddenly realizing that you don’t care about anyone anymore? I could cut up my own parents with a rusty razor, hear them cry my name and beg for mercy, and I wouldn’t feel a damn thing! Not even a drop of remorse, nope! And believe me, I wish I could. I wanted to care so much. But now, I couldn’t give a damn about what happens to anyone! Not even myself! I can’t live a normal life anymore. Society would lock me up and let me rot. I can’t have friends, I can’t have a family, I can’t have anything a normal person can have! And you know what? I’d prefer being dead!”

Brian let out a shaky laugh, several tears dropping onto his hoodie. He was vulnerable right now. Going against his morals, Jay decided to take advantage of this.

“Is that why you want to go to the ark?”

Brian immediately stopped. He looked up, his intimidating glare having returned. But just as soon as it came, it left. Tears welled up as Brian burst into tears, finally letting out years of pent up trauma and grief.

“Yes! Yes goddammit. I saw it! I saw the ark and by god, it was the worst experience of my life, but it has SOMETHING. I don’t know if I’ll ever go back to how I used to be. I want to. I want that life back so bad. I want all those lost years back. I want to have hope in the future, but right now I’m feeling that the only thing the future has for me is my lifeless corpse in the middle of nowhere.”

Brian took a moment to compose himself. Despite easily being able to free himself from Jay’s restraint, he chose not to do so. Jay wondered if this was a sign of submission.

“You though. After all those years, you began watching those tapes. You learned everything. And all of the sudden, I wasn’t alone anymore. I had a little sliver of hope in my life once more.”

Brian gritted his teeth and shook his head, regaining his anger.

“But you weren’t doing ANYTHING helpful. You just walked around like a headless chicken, getting yourself in spats with Tim. And then one day you team up with Alex despite knowing damn well something was up with him, and together you fucking broke Tim’s leg. No Jay, you weren’t just not doing anything. You were actively HURTING my efforts. You made it all worse getting all inflammatory with Tim. And I went back to being alone. Even more alone than before, since you took Tim along with you only to traumatize him even more.”

Jay immediately snapped back, shocked at Brian’s lack of self-awareness.

“I’m the one who traumatized him? Don’t you think treating him like your personal attack dog would have a worse impact on his psyche?”

Brian lashed out at the accusation, though Jay could see his facade beginning to break.

“Doesn’t matter what I do to him when he’s like that. He doesn’t remember any of it anyways. Unless of course, two lanky idiots decided to break his leg. That would matter quite a bit.”

Jay was getting heated as well. He knew that he wasn’t the most responsible decision maker, but Brian had a lot to be blamed for as well.

“You kept stealing his meds. You forced him into that state, robbing him of the normal life he tried so hard to have. He can’t hold steady work, and his mind is getting worse and worse every time you use him like that. Does that not matter to you?”

Another flash of guilt appeared in Brian’s eyes. He tried to deflect it once more.

“What matters is getting rid of The Operator. One casualty is nothing compared to the damage it d-”

“You never answered my question.”

Brian paused.

“Huh?”

“I asked you why the mask calms Tim down. Answer me.”

Brian’s face got red.

“Well, it’s because uh. . . it reminds him of the old days. I did my research. Back when he was being hospitalized, they’d always place a mask over his face to administer anesthetic to get him to calm down. Tim was too violent, though, so a normal mask wouldn’t work. They had to lock up his entire face into a heavy-duty one, made so that it couldn’t be ripped off or broken. Any time he wears that mask, it reminds him of those times. By instinct, it makes him calm and obedient.”

Jay shook his head as he glared at Brian.

“You’re fucked up. Don’t you feel any pity for him?”

Brian stayed silent.

“Well, do you? Tim was your best friend. Surely you feel at least SOMETHING for him?”

Brian bit his lip as he tried to stop the tears from flowing once more. He remained silent but pensive.

“What even is the ark, Brian? What is this thing you deem so important that you’re willing to ruin your best friend's life to even get a chance of seeing it?”

Brian looked up. His violent spirit had also been calmed, replaced with a softer tone that Jay could tell had a lot of fear behind it.

“The ark is where The Operator keeps all its victims. I saw it when Alex fed me to that thing. An ever-growing empty landscape filled with bodies. Some still conscious, but their minds gone. Some rotted, some freshly killed. Some still crying for help. The Operator feeds off of their despair. It prefers people on the brink of death, so it can suck out as much despair from them as possible. It keeps the corpses to induce even more despair into those who go into it.”

Brian’s gaze went off into the horizon, empty and unblinking, as he remembered everything.

“You’re a religious guy, aren’t you Jay?”

Jay nodded.

“You know the story of Noah’s Ark? Of course you do. There’s a reason why I call this place The Ark.”

Brian grinned for a moment before returning to his somber expression.

“There’s two of each.”

“What does that mean?”

Brian bit his lip once more, this time drawing blood.

“Every person in the world you can think of. A shy lonely man with social anxiety and a knack of bringing danger to his friends. A troubled man running from his past. A cheerful girl who dated the wrong man. Any person you can think of, any combination of traits or personality, anything. Absolutely any and all people you can think up of, no matter how specific, The Operator wants two of. Doesn’t matter how unique you think you are. In there, at some point, you’ll eventually find someone just like you. And that’s when you lose all hope. That’s when you realize that if someone just like you never escaped, you’ll never escape as well. How you’re just a bag of flesh with no purpose. And that’s when The Operator digs in, having the biggest feast of a lifetime.”

Brian took a deep breath, having to compose himself yet again. The stoic personality he kept in his hooded form had shattered thanks to Jay’s conversation.

“The Operator loves taunting us. Sometimes it’ll toss you into the ark without a second thought, wanting you to feel nothing but despair. But I want to go there. I know better. I can go in there with hope and help people escape. The more I help, the more people that can help others. It only takes one hole to sink a boat, after all. Once the ark is empty, The Operator has nothing left to feed on. From there, it’ll starve. And that’s one less horror the world has to deal with.”

Brian’s gaze suddenly turned hopeful.

“And that’s where my plan comes in. If I can get into the ark without being on the brink of death, I can save someone. Just one person. That alone would be enough to hurt The Operator and leave it from attacking us ever again. But that’s not what I want. I want it dead.”

Brian looked up at Jay, his eyes now kindled with a familiar warmth behind them.

“Catch my drift?”

Jay nodded. Brian had completely changed from the psychopathic sadist he was before this. Was a good conversation all he needed? Jay’s internal questioning was interrupted by Tim shuffling in front of Jay. This reminded Jay of another point he wanted to address.

“Wait! What about Tim? Do you really want to keep him like this?”

Brian nodded, then paused, shook his head, then nodded again.

“I uh. . . I don’t know. He’s more useful this way for sure but. . . if you take that mask off him and give him his meds again, he’ll be fine. But is that what you want? How do you think he’ll react to seeing you, not only still alive, but in cahoots with his presumed dead best friend who ended up being his stalker all along. How do you think he’ll react knowing that two of his closest friends brutally attacked him and broke his mind? Do you think he’ll be cooperative?”

Jay was stuck. Brian had a good point. Turning Tim back to normal would cause a lot more problems, and chances are it would traumatize him more than anything. But keeping him as an obedient, unthinking bodyguard felt wrong, and would only worsen his mental state. Meanwhile, Brian had already freed himself and was standing next to Tim, a bottle of pills in hand. He could tell Jay was having a rough time deciding. 

“Well, what’ll it be Jay? Free him, or keep him masked up for a while longer?”

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

(Surprise! I don’t know how to follow this up so I’m just gonna say fuck it and let whoever cares enough about this to choose. Of course, if I get requests for both I’ll write em both, but I’m interested to see where people's hearts lie in this situation.)

[bobbystompy]

68 Quotes I Enjoyed From 2019

Below are my favorite quotes from 2019. Though most occurred throughout the year, some took place before but were encountered during.

1) “I don’t bitch about Millenials.

John Entwistle once complained that he didn’t understand rap. Pete Townsend said, ‘It’s not our job to understand it. It’s our job to get the fuck out of the way.’

New generations come of age. The older generation’s job is to shut up and adapt.” - @danagould

2) “I can’t do drugs with you until we kiss.”

3) “If you pay me $50 I'll show up to your funeral but stand really far away, holding a black umbrella regardless of the weather, so that people think you died with a dark and interesting secret.” - @DanaSchwartzzz

4) “A human being is a dangerous thing to let loose in a room with itself, when it cannot think.” - Roger Ebert

5) “There are no bad bourbons, only better bourbons.” - Dave Hernandez

6) “You can’t put a dollar in a kimono.”

7) “This is how it was.” - rampant takeaway from watching ‘Superbad’ several years after its release

8) “What if I had been born fifty years before you in a house on the street where you lived / Maybe I’d be outside as you passed on your bike / Would I know? / And in a wide sea of eyes, I see one pair that I recognize” - Ben Folds, ‘The Luckiest’

9) “Learn the rules so you can break them.”

10) “Nobody makes chili for two.” - Stacy Massey

11) “‘Best city in the world,’ I mutter to myself, as i adjust my ‘driving blanket’.” - Chicago resident Deanna Belos, during the 2019 Polar Vortex

12) “Dude, no one’s ever got arrested for listening to Counting Crows.” - Ricky O’Donnell, justifying late night music volume at his party

13) Bill Belichick: We’re going to have fun tonight. Rob Gronkowski: Yes we are. We deserve it. Belichick: You’re damn right. Gronk: I haven’t stepped out in like eight months. I gotta step out tonight. Belichick: I’m with you, man. I’m even going to step out. Gronk: Oh, I like it!

A Super Bowl winning exchange.

14) Center David Andrews thanked Bill Belichick for giving him "a shot".

Belichick disagreed with it.

Andrews: Thank you for giving me a shot. Belichick: A shot? I didn't give you shit. You earned it! I don't give anything.

Another Super Bowl winning exchange.

15) “We elected one of the very worst living human beings to be President, and it's exhausting. Each and every day, it's an exhausting slog, just to exist in a world where that's true.” - Michael Schur

16) “Some of y’all always picked Odd Job when you played Goldeneye and it shows” - @thedad

17) “Any app is a dating app if you try hard enough.” - Z.W. Martin (though he says it’s lifted)

18) "Once you're as woke as I am, you learn to feel bad all the time.”

19) “Everything’s a balance beam when you’re 90.” - John Dingell

20) [I wake up in a world where The Beatles never existed]

Me: Check out this song I just wrote

[I begin playing “Ob La Di Ob La Da” without having first built up years of goodwill]

Crowd of people: Wow, this sucks ass

-- @seanoneal

21) “People change people.” - Corey Matthews, Girl Meets World

22) “The easiest thing to do on earth is not write.” - William Goldman

23) “Dan could be like a difficult uncle. I didn’t love his fire-breathing conservative politics. I didn’t love the transformation that came over his novels. In Semi-Tough, he created two benighted Texas jocks and laid their prejudices bare. He was declaring himself a member of the Mark Twain coaching tree. In later books, Dan seemed to be trying to prove he could still tell a racist joke. He insisted that his memoir—the last truly immaculate piece of writing he delivered—include a tirade against political correctness. When his editor said people might be offended, Dan said, ‘Fuck people.’

There are certain writers whose style you pilfer. Certain writers whose moral fiber you try to inherit. For me, Dan represented a third category: a writer whose aura you replicate—or, failing that, try to stand in for a while.” - Bryan Curtis, on Dan Jenkins

24) “Never marry anything. Never choose. Even in love, it's better to be chosen.” - La Dolce Vita

25) “An uncluttered, uncomplicated happy ending might sound wonderful, but it’s hardly ever satisfying. Because the value of great stories lies in the tension between desire and need, between the yearning for the ideal, and the unshakable conviction that ideals don’t really exist, at least not the way we want them to. A great story should hurt a little when it leaves us. There should be some hope, but that hope should remain somewhere just an inch beyond our fingers, because that’s the truth. Even if you had all the perfect moments in the world, you’d still be reaching.” - Zach Handlen, on the Futurama series finale

26) “You can’t see him because he has sunglasses on.” - Alissa Levy

27) “The cinema is the greatest art form ever conceived for generating emotions in its audience. That's what it does best. (If you argue instead for dance or music, drama or painting, I will reply that the cinema incorporates all of these arts).” - Roger Ebert

28) “‘Are you gonna let politics ruin a friendship?’ 

Yes tf I am

People talk about politics as if it’s this isolated, abstract concept that only matters at election time. Somebody’s politics is their world view. It’s whether they think certain human beings deserve rights. It’s how they think the world should be. And if somebody thinks that the world should be colder, meaner, less accepting and downright hostile to people that are different to them, then sure as fuck is the friendship over.”

29) “Can the Supreme Court get me mushrooms?” - J-Papp

30) “Any song under two minutes already has a head start on its way into my heart. Just scream at me and then leave me.” - Drew Magary

31) “Long neck cold beers never broke my heart.” - Clemson Tom

32) “I’d just like to point out that the last spoken words of Game of Thrones were: 

‘I once brought a jackass and a honeycomb into a brothel.’”

- @Authoroux

33) “Just once before I die, I want to toss my keys to someone and tell them ‘Bring the car around’.” - Mike Skully

34) “For all the weight they're given, last words are usually as significant as first words.” - Grand Maester Pycelle, Game of Thrones

35) “The best remedy for unrequited love is a trip around the world.” - Cheers

36) [on switching from a hotel to a motel]

Manny: I don't like the sound of that. A lot of amenities disappear when an H turns into an M. Jay: Hey when I met you, you were eating cereal out of a bucket.

-- Modern Family

37) “You and Lindsey don’t want to be ‘estranged’. Estranged is the relationship we want to have with our mothers.” - MegFil

38) “Cigarettes are undefeated.”

39) “My toes are like my fingers on my feet. I can pick stuff up with them.” - Tracy Cunningham

40) “Republicans govern without shame, Democrats shame without governing.” - Bill Maher

41) Sam: I don’t understand the vagaries of the Internet Josiah: Post often, without thought, and you’ll either get cancelled or cancel someone else.

-- Blink-155

42) “Hang a lantern on your problems.”

43) “What a weird web we weave.” - The Situation, The Jersey Shore: Family Vacation

44) “Let the ocean worry about being blue.” - Alabama Shakes, ‘Hang Loose’

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45) “Honesty without tact is cruelty.” - Shelley Rokos

46) “My whole life is the wrong porn link.”

47) “One parent can take care of 10 kids, but 10 kids cannot take care of one parent.” - Joe Gestetner, via “an old Yiddish saying”

48) “There are no heroes in the room.” - Classics of Love, ‘Gun Show’

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49) “If I am a little dismissive, it's only because of my harrowing backstory.” - Mitchell, Modern Family (on why he doesn't like sports)

50) “Every time I’m wearing black, I meet a dog.” - Tracy Cunningham

51) “Shower sex? Why would I fuck in my crying chamber” - @chridollarsign

52) “My theory about quarterbacks, having written about some of them, is you either have to believe in god or think you are a god.” - Mina Kimes

53) “The contradictions of capitalism always manifest in our lyrics if you look deeply.” - Blake Schwarzenbach of Jawbreaker, Riot Fest 2019

54) “Got a ‘hang loose’ from the weakside bartender.”

55) “It’s Jennifer’s birthday always.” - Eric Hutchinson 

56) “I can’t think of a less relevant artist in 2019 than Kanye West. A Jesus freak in a MAGA hat. Yeah, congrats dude -- you’re every grandma who watches ‘Young Sheldon’ and mails checks to Joel Osteen now.” - Dan Ozzi

57) “The past and future are in the mind. I’m in the now.” - Tom Brady, via someone else

58) “Sometimes you walk around boring places and you feel like the most exciting thing in it.” - Drew Magary

59) “Sitting is the new smoking.” - Modern Family

60) “I'll straight up fight folks at a book club and discuss books at a fight club I really don't give a shit anymore.” - George Wallace

61) “Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.” - Rose Garvey via wine country

62) “It’s all ‘ok boomer’ until you need someone who can drive stick shift.” - @OrdinaryAlso

63) “He likes the result of the math.” - Dad, talking about my worst subject frustrating during the process but satisfying in the end

64) Stepmom: Do you want a Bears urn or Alabama urn? Dad: Ask me after they play Auburn.

65) “A cold body carries a warm heart.” - Stefanos Tsitsipas’ Instagram, after his Iceland sabbatical

66) [preparing a dish called the Sandwich of Justice with his friend’s recipe]

"The fun thing about it is when you give it to someone, you can say 'Justice is served.’ That's, uh, Ryan's line. I built my whole life on the backs of my friends." - You Suck At Cooking

67) “Usually three people can keep a secret only when two of them are dead.” - The Irishman

68) “An artist can't control who consumes their content any more than a chemist can control how their chemicals are used once they're created.” - Brian Crooks

[vampyaloha]

Protective of you

Basically a new au I thought of; Vampires, Weresquids and the normals oh my! 

“Can I at least move, Skull?”

That’s the question Aloha had to ask every night of a full moon. It wasn’t Skull’s fault, Aloha knew that, but there was one small problem. Skull was way too protective of Aloha. Maybe it was because the other two leaders were vampires or because Aloha was a normal inkling, he couldn’t figure it why.

A small whine broke Aloha out of his thoughts as he turned his head to face the weresquid who was resting his head on Aloha’s lap. “I’ll come back Skull. Don’t worry! I just need to check on my teammates to see how they’re holding up.” Aloha reassured Skull, getting a small gruff from him. Aloha let out a small sigh, rolling his eyes as he petted Skull’s head softly. “Alright fine. Do you want to come with me?” That seem to win in Aloha’s favor, as he saw Skull getting up. “I’ll meet you outside, okay? The other two aren’t back from the store so I have to lock up.” Aloha said, opening the window.

Again, it wasn’t Skull’s fault that he was bigger and taller than a normal weresquid. Getting a small nuzzle from Skull, Aloha watched as Skull jump from the window, landing softly on the ground on all four paws, looking up to him. “I’ll be down” Aloha said, closing the window and making sure to lock it. He remembered getting scolded by Army for leaving windows open before as he grabbed his keys, hurrying down the stairs and out the front door, locking it.

The moment Aloha locked the door, he went face to face with Skull. “Geez Skull, don't scare me like that~” Aloha joked, as the two started making their walk to Snorkel’s place. Skull was on guard, Aloha understanding as other vampires and weresquids did the same thing with their normal inkling friends. Even Army and Mask did the same thing whenever they leave during the night with him. After a few minutes they made it to Snorkel’s house, Aloha was tackled down. “Hello to you too, Octoglasses~” Aloha smiled at the pink weresquid on him, before glancing towards Straw. “Hey Straw~ See you still have your form under control.” Straw nodded, twirling a bit. “Yep~ Still got it~!” She replied before jumping on him too. “Hey, leave some room for me too~!” Another voice broke out, Aloha knowing who it was. “Yo Snorkel~!” Aloha waved, getting up once the two got off him. “Heey Aloha~ What is up” Snorkel asked helping Aloha up from the ground. “Not much man~ I came to see ya three~” Aloha replied, his arm wrapping around Snorkel’s waist.

Aloha and Snorkel started talking, laughing with each other as Skull let a watchful eye. Even with the other two bothering him, he kept his gaze on Aloha. “C’moooon Skully~ Let’s play!” Straw said and Octoglasses agreed with a small noise, pushing him with her snout. Aloha noticed this, before sighing looking up to the night sky. “Maaaan. I wonder why Skull acts like this during these nights.”

“Hmm maybe he’s just worried bout you man! I get that way seeing you out super late at night, especially since some vampire inklings and weresquids aren’t the nicest!” Snorkel suggested, patting Aloha’s back. “Yeah? That actually makes a lot sense!” Aloha replied, humming a bit. Aloha turned his head, seeing both Straw and Octoglasses play around Skull, or at least trying to make him join them. After a while of talking,  Snorkel’s stomach growled a bit, Aloha giving him a look. “Really dude? Did you miss it that much?” Aloha laughed, with Snorkel joining in. “It has been a while man! Plus you do smell good~!” He replied, turning to look at Skull.

“Yo Skull! You wouldn’t mind if I-“ Snorkel couldn’t finish his sentence as Skull growled a bit. “Yo chill Skully. Unlike those losers, I don’t take much.” Snorkel replied with a small frown. Skull still growled, before Aloha cupped his face giving him a reassuring smile. “It’s fine Skull~ You can trust Snorkel!” Aloha petted him, as Straw and Octoglasses came over with smiles. “That’s right Skull! Snorkel would never hurt Aloha at all!” Straw said with a smile, “he has done this a lot before too! So there’s no need to worry if it’s about hurting Aloha.” She added as Octoglasses let out a small noise in agreement. After a while, Skull made a noise, Straw translating he agreed, as Aloha gave a small kiss on his head. “I’ll be fine” Aloha said before going by Snorkel. Skull watched the two, Snorkel seemingly to do something before biting down on Aloha’s neck. He noticed Aloha didn’t flinch at all, the bite only lasting a few seconds before Snorkel pulled away, cleaning the wound. “Yo~ Thanks again man!”

“Anytime buddy~” Aloha smiled before his phone went off, getting a message that Army and Mask will be home soon with groceries. “Oof, we have to leave but it was great seeing you guys again~! We’ll have to do a battle together soon~” Aloha said, first giving Snorkel a hug before giving Octoglasses and Straw one. “See ya soon Aloha~!” Straw waved as Aloha and Skull turned to leave, walking back to the house.

The walk back home was quiet, Aloha knew Skull is probably mad after he let Snorkel drink from him. “Don’t be angry at him Skull. Snorkel is one of  my best friends. Even my parents trusted him, y’know” Aloha spoke, trying to bring Skull’s mood back up. He frowned when it didn’t .

“Is it because what Rider did? You know he can’t really control his form like you and Octoglasses.” This stopped Skull in his tracks, Aloha softly petting him. “It’s neither yours or his fault Skull. No one got hurt either~” Aloha added, as they continued walking. While it wasn’t a lie, Skull did remember everything. Rider had lost control of his weresquid form and it took almost everyone to subdue him. That is until Stealth bit him, knocking him out from sucking too much blood from Rider. It was the fact even Aloha and Goggles were trying to stop him as well, Glasses fearing for Goggles life, and Skull really couldn’t do much of anything without accidentally harming someone else.

After a few minutes, they made it back to the house, where all four of the S4 leaders shared, Aloha quickly unlocking it and hurrying to Skull’s room so he could open the window again. “You ready?” Aloha asked as he moved back, surprised on how fast Skull jumped back in. “Alrighty~” Aloha said, leaning over to close the window, “I’ll see you tomorrow morning~” Aloha said, about to leave the room before being stopped by Skull’s paw. “Skull? What is it now?” Aloha asked, hearing a small huff coming from the other. “Do you want me to stay with you instead?” Aloha sighed, seeing Skull nodded a bit, “Alright.” Aloha took a look outside, before taking off his shoes, getting in Skull’s bed. Skull soon joined after, curling around him with a small noise. “Geez Skull~ I’ll see you in the morning~ Goodnight~” Aloha said, giving him one last pet before sleep took over, Skull falling asleep soon after.

Morning came as Skull rubbed his eyes, glad he was back in his inkling form. Looking to his side he saw Aloha curled up asleep, his tentacles down. The first thing he noticed was the bite mark that was on Aloha’s neck was gone. ‘Snorkel was telling the truth..’  Skull said, remembering the times Army and Mask had bit Aloha. Their bite marks didn’t disappear as quickly as Snorkel’s did, which told him Snorkel didn’t take much as promised. He decided to get out of bed, stretching, and left the room for the other to continue sleeping. Going to the kitchen, he saw Army already up and cooking breakfast. “Morning” Skull said, catching Army’s attention as he turned away from the stove. “Good morning Skull. You’re up early” Army said, turning his attention back to the stove, “Aloha isn’t up yet? I understand Mask, seeing he was playing video games all night long.”

“No, he’s still-“

“I’m up” a voice spoke from behind them. Aloha walked into the kitchen, “I woke up with you got off the bed, Skull.” Army raised his eyebrows, looking between the two. “Being overprotective again Skull?” Army asked, getting a small huff. He understood as he remembered the first time hearing Aloha was neither a vampire or a weresquid but a normal inkling, with speed that could almost match theirs. He was stronger than Army himself, which did surprise him. “Yep~ Took up most of the bed though to the point where it got too hot” Aloha teased, chuckling when he saw Skull’s expression. “It’s alright Skull~ I’m just joking! You didn’t even take up that much space providing that it’s your bed you let me sleep on. Now excuse me while I get Mask up, since he’ll complain again about everyone else getting the better breakfast again~” Aloha said, leaving the kitchen and to the hallway. Voices were soon heard before yelling, as Army sighed. “And now they’re fighting. Great.” Army put down his ladle before turning to Skull. “It’s understandable to be overprotected Skull, though Aloha knows how to take care of himself. For now, do help set up” Army added, getting the plates ready.

Skull silently agreed, grabbing the dishes with food on them, setting them down on the table. He thought about what Army said. It’s true Aloha could take care of himself, though deep down he gets a feeling that won’t last long.

And he hoped his thoughts won’t become a reality.

[peculiarbob]

Desolate Souls and Broken Minds

Chapter 4: Nice to Meet You

Chapter 3: Good as Dead

Chapter 2: The Dream

Chapter 1: New Beginnings

Word count: 2164

Summary: Tim and Jessica leave the bunker in hopes of distracting the monster from harassing Jack. But, without a real plan things quickly start to go south. But look on the bright side, at least they get to come face to face with “Skully”.

When the tow guy arrived we had to go a mile back the way we came from. Convenient. They decided to look at the rest of the car as well as the tires. I guess it’s a good thing that they did, they found a tracking device on the engine. The guy working on our car told us that a couple days ago a local store was broken into and robbed. Who ever broke into the store stole a thousand dollars in cash, a couple tracking devices, and some tools from the back room. No one could make out the face because the footage was corrupted, they couldn’t even see their clothes. They told us that since the tracking device was stolen property and in our possession they’d “have to” call the police for further investigation.

“What if we pay you?” Jessica says while pulling out her wallet.

“Depends on how much.”

She didn’t have much so I scramble to the open car door and look inside the glove compartment. I pull out the twenty bucks I always keep there just in case, but I notice something that I know I didn’t put there. I cautiously take out the large stack of money, it ranged from one dollar bills to twenties. It takes us a while to successfully count all the money out, but after we do, we stare confused at the stack of money worth eight hundred dollars. Why did we have this? How did we get this? They guy working on our car, Dan, walked over to us and stared wide eyed at the large amount of money.

“Here.” he said to me, “This was in one of the tires. Don’t know what it was doing there, but I thought you might want to have it.” It was an unopened pack of cigarettes. I decided to not light one right now because me and Jessica need to get out of here and I don’t think she’d want to inhale that much smoke on our long journey.

We pay the guy seven hundred and went on our way. I may have pocketed a hundred when no one was looking, I didn’t want this money, but I need to pay for food and gas. I drive so long it’s dark out before I realize I don’t know where I’m going. We don’t have a real plan, should I get Jessica back to her home? Where do I go then? Is she safe if she goes home?

“So.” I say in a quiet voice, “Where to?”

“I-” she pauses, contemplating her words, “I’m not sure. Not home though, I feel like someone’s watching us. It doesn’t feel right going back. But, to be honest, it really doesn’t feel right going anywhere right now.”

I pull over to the side of the road and rest my head on the steering wheel. Jessica starts to apologize as if she said something wrong. I can tell from her voice that she felt that way, but it wasn’t her. In this moment I feel…. Not empty, no. More like all of the sadness that I pushed down is finally coming back in the form of crashing waves. I try to appear emotionless at all times, but this facade is starting to erode. The tsunami of emotions were starting to beat me senseless. Despite having someone in the seat next to me, I felt so alone, so helpless. I can’t even take Jessica back home because she doesn’t even feel safe there. I have nowhere to go, no home to rest in, no friends to run back to, and my own will to go on was starting to fade. Only now I feel how tired I’ve been recently.

What is wrong with me? I’m being so emotional. I can’t be doing this in front of her, she’s been so strong since the beginning. I need my medications. At this point, I’m shaking as I put the pills in my mouth. Jessica tries her best to comfort me, I can sort of hear her telling me everything’s going to be alright, but all noises around me are being muffled by the crashing in my head. Great, now there’s talking, the voice is echoey and loud. So loud. It’s too much, I can’t help but start to cry.

I press my forehead with more force into the steering wheel while my hands start to clutch it harder. I can feel large, hot tears start to run down my face. I can feel my body tremble as I cry harder. I can’t even think straight, I’m getting awful flashbacks. My head is throbbing with pain and pressure. I can’t hear anything outside of my own head, but I can feel myself start to scream. I don’t even know what I’m screaming, but I’m scared. I need someone, anyone! Please, HELP!

Jessica tries to calm me down but I violently hit her hand away. I start to scream at her, she looked terrified. I start to feel a seizure coming on. My head was spinning and everything was blurry. The last thing I remember before blacking out was Jessica shouting at someone on the other side of the window next to me. She grabs the pocket knife in the cup holder and runs after whoever that was.

I wake up the next day still in my seat with sweat dripping from my face. For a minute I couldn’t remember where I was. I looked around then at myself. My shoes had a fresh coat of mud on them, I then turn to my, still trembling, hands. Blood and scratches. I can’t bring myself to get up and find Jessica. I’ve been sitting here for about an hour, the only sounds were the occasional passing car and the faint sounds of the birds singing.

“Tim!” Called that echoey voice, “Tim! You have to find her!”

I sit there looking around, where did that voice come from?

“Dude, what are you waiting for?!?! She needs help! Do you need me come over there and force you outta that car?”

For now I’m gonna assume that the voice is my conscience or something. I slowly get out of the car and look into the woods. I take a pill then start walking completely weaponless. I’m trying to be as quiet as possible, just in case that person is still around. There’s a pointy stick on the ground, if I need to use it, this could work.

I’m pretty deep into the woods now, no sign of Jessica yet. My surroundings are nearly silent, just the soft singing of birds, the whistling wind, and crunching leaves? It was almost inaudible but there was definitely someone following me. I try not to give any visible signs that I know they’re there. After about five more minutes of walking I see Jessica. She’s leaned up against a tree, but she’s bleeding from the forehead and nose. I rush to her and, a bit too violently, shake her awake.

She’s in a daze and is weak from blood loss. I have to help her stand and walk. But we only get about a step in the direction of the car before someone knocks me down. Jessica whimpers when she hits the ground, I have to get her to a hospital. I look up at the culprit’s face, more like mask. I can now see that it’s a male, not that tall and not that big. He wore a brown buttoned down jacket over a blue hoodie, his gray gloves had blood on the fingertips, and his whole outfit was dirty, as if he was caught in a struggle. The mask itself was white with large black eye holes, it sort of resembled a skull.

The man, who I presume is “Skully”, picks me up by my shirt’s collar, pulls out his own pocket knife, and puts it to my throat. He starts pushing the knife and slicing me a little until…. BANG! A loud gunshot fired a couple yards away from us. Skully lets out a small, but audible, cry and drops the knife. He drops me to the ground and now I can hear loud, muffled breathing. It sounded like hyperventilating. A moment later he runs off into the woods leaving me and Jessica with whoever shot the gun. I stretch across the grass to grab the knife which glistened with my blood. Jessica shuffles towards me while holding her, which I only now see, broken arm. To my surprise, no one ever steps into view. After a while we get up and head as fast as we can to the car.

It takes us a while to get to the road but me make it. The car is about a hundred yards to the left of us. But there’s someone looking into the passenger side window, I don’t know who though. I rush over while calling out to the stranger. As I get closer I now see that they’re average height, wearing a leather jacket, jeans, and converse shoes.

“Hey, is there a reason why you’re looking into our car?” I say while turning the person so I can see their face.

She’s startled and pulls off her headphones, “Oh, sorry. I thought someone abandoned it, I was just checking it out. Do you know she’s bleeding…. a lot?!?!”

She was blonde haired, wore dark makeup, had light eyes, and looked like a teenager. She had to be around eighteen. We’re in the middle of nowhere, is this safe for her to do?

“Yeah, I know. Uh, do you know where the nearest hospital is? I need to get my friend there quickly.” She gives me directions but I don’t know any of the places she tells me. I end up having to follow her as she drives there. She drives alarmingly fast.

I don’t even remember any of the roads we go down. We get to the hospital and at this point Jessica is so weak that I’m practically dragging her through the doors. Apparently this girl, I don’t even know her name, knows one of the assistants that works here.

“Alex, this woman is bleeding out. You need to get her help.”

“Okay, right away.” Alex calls some people over who take Jessica away. They disappear down the long cold corridor. Alex starts whispering to the girl, “So, Claire, are these people from a hunt or-”

“Shut up.” Claire hisses while starting to whisper, “I found these people on the side of the road.”

“Uhhhh.”

“At the edge of the woods. The woods where the others were found.”

Alex walks over to me and assure me that Jessica will be fine, I don’t think they knew I could hear them. She had medium length black hair, professional looking makeup, and even lighter eyes than Claire. She looked around Claire’s age, maybe a little younger.

After maybe an hour I get to see Jessica. There’s already a visitor when I get there, this honestly surprises me. He has curly black hair and is wearing blue jeans, a black jacket, and hiking boots. One hand was in his pants pocket and the other was inside his backpack which he was holding to his chest. After about a minute, he turns around and walks out of the room. I find it strange that his hair covered his entire face. I go into the room and sit on the chair beside Jessica. About ten minutes later she wakes up.

“You’re up! D-don’t worry you’re safe.”

“W-where are we? What happened?”

“Well, what do you remember?”

“Y-you had a seizure, someone was at the window so I cased after them with the knife. We both ran deep into the woods, I lost sight of the man and ended up having to sit next to a tree. I didn’t know where I was and it was so cold….” her eyes saddened and she took a deep breath before continuing, “I know it was stupid to do that, but I didn’t know what else to do. I was scared. I thought I saw things moving between the trees. I got flashbacks that I don’t remember happening.”

“Then how do you kno-”

“Because I saw Alex! And Jay and the hooded guy! I held a GUN up to Alex, I was gonna shoot him! What is wrong with me?” I tell her to try and keep it down and that it wasn’t her fault, it was in self defense.

“He was gonna shoot you first, you were gonna do what you had to.”

She looks me directly into my eyes, her gaze pierced my soul, and said, “How’d you know what happened?”

“Jessica I-”

“Tim! I’ve had enough of everyone's shit. Jay lied to me, Alex lied to me, I’ve had my memory erased so many times, and now you’re keeping secrets. You’re gonna tell me everything. Now!”

I have so much to tell her.

[robbie-tessellate-illustration]

Deer Skully spirit done today for @roryellertontattoo @theabbeytattoo! Check out his work @roryellertontattoo for sure! He’s looking for apprenticeships so check out his work!! Thanks so much dude! - - - For all booking enquiries email me on skullytattoo14@gmail.com ✌️ - - #artist #artwork #blackwork #blackworkers #tattooist #tattooartist #blackworktattoos #darkart #darkartists #uktta #skullytattoos #tattoodesign #customtattoo #southamptontattoo #thecrowquill #skull #rose #onlythedarkest #flashworkers #theabbeytattoo #chertsey #deerskull #spirit #dotwork (at The Abbey Tattoo)

[damnedbones]

➳

10. A kiss before leaving

At some point Skully ended up face to face with G, sitting on the docks over a fat blunt and sharing chill ass tunes between phones. Though they’re a little unnerved since they���re not entirely sure how they got there, it’s mostly fine... mostly because it’s G, and G seems pretty chill.

The hours go by easily between passes, the occasional smack at a mosquito, and slightly tinny music. Just two dudes with nice hair painted up burning down to a roach. 

Eventually Skully notices the time and sighs through their nose at the phone, “Well bro, hate doin this but I gotta ditch. Got a shift comin up soon but I wouldn’t mind doin this again. Bueno an all a that.”

The troll easily swoops in from practiced habit, bidding G a properly official goodbye with a light, quick press of their cheeks on both sides, grazing G with the corner of their mouth. As easily as they swoop in, Skully stands and says a quick thanks, before walking off.

[skinks]

Pure Moments i want to remember about my conversation with nothing,nowhere the other night that will be of no importance to anyone else, but where else am i gonna put them huh, it’s my blog:

he had a fractured, or maybe it was a broken ankle? he broke it running and while on bedrest watched all of stranger things in two days. they made him take his cast off at customs lmao

likes synthwave. likes kavinsky!!!

i can’t get over this but he’s smol, like 5′5′’ or 6" maybe

when he first came over and hugged me he was like “aaaah you got the hoodie!” and i told him i had my reaper shirt on too and he said “oh you’re doubled up!!” skdfkjlskdj

it was a GOOD HUG MY DUDES no one arm dealio, no sir, he came at me with his arms out and we HUGGED. i probably said “hi, oh my god”

i think i managed to stutter about how amazing the set was and how much i loved the huge drums, and he was like “oh thanks yeah, we tried to make it-” and that’s when the others came over

one of them asked where the tour was headed next and he couldn’t remember so he went RUMMAGING down the front of his multiple huge layers til he found his lanyard, peered at it, and said “…. birming-ham?????” cute™

said “harry potter is sick” and then got really excited when we told him about the studio tour in london

has cute lil pointy TEETH

im p sure he’s vegan, and he’s big into nature and outdoorsy ecofriendly living, and talked about wanting to start a kind of sustainable community. said he’s rly interested in, and wants to teach bushcraft “and like…. chopping wood” but he said it so lamely after all the passion, it was funny as fuck. someone said he should visit the isle of skye and he was like “that sounds like something from skyrim!”

he said he saw us in the crowd cause we were being… Fairly enthusiastic

said his family are really supportive; i asked if his parents like his music and he got this really shy look and nodded, then told us he went home recently and opened the door to find them playing his album and he was like “mom you’re embarrassing me”

i mentioned this in my other post but i can’t believe we like the same fucking philosopher, how goddamn wanky is that

the other girl had done her own n,n print on her shirt and he took photos and when we were on the train home she got notifications saying he liked the posts on ig…. a sweetheart…

when we were talking about other soundcloud musicians i mentioned loving his collab with yung jza and he said “oh yeah, that dude is super underrated”

he told us his old rap name in like 2006 was “average joe” lmfhgkshfsk

he went to film school, and i saw an opportunity to ask him something i’d always wondered about. on this collab album he made with a producer called oilcolor, there’s a song that uses a sample from a movie, so i said “of all the movies, i was not expecting The Vow” and he started laughing and said “that was oilcolor! he was like ‘i think this’d be tight’ and i was like ‘hmmmmmmmmmm’ and he was like ‘nah trust me, this’ll be tight’ and i was like ‘…….yeah, this is tight’”

it was rly fuckin funny how he said it. saddest emotrap boy n,n thinks the vow starring channing tatum and rachel mcadams is tight

he’s made mountain dew commercials, but now he gets to make music full time which is awesome

i asked if he listened to metal and he said sometimes he skates to older stuff, like iron maiden, and he asked what i’m into and i promptly FORGOT EVERY METAL BAND I’VE EVER HEARD and i said “uhhh, like, more modern stuff” and he went “like gojira?” and i agreed and he said something else but i couldn’t hear

he likes the movies the revenant and captain fantastic

at one point we were talking about the merch (when i bought my hoodie the merch guy asked which shirt i had and i showed him, and he was like “aw man, i’m his friend and i don’t even have that one!” lmao) and i said that i liked the shirt his merch guy was wearing, and we were all peering over at the dude when he looked up, and n,n was like “we’re just making fun of you, don’t worry” jghskdgllhgfhafd

he used to do muay thai!!! i meant to ask if he liked martial arts movies but i forgot :’( next time fer sure

told us Xclusives about upcoming music, shhh

we talked about music a ton obviously and i mentioned this soundcloud rapper collective called disaster club cause i’ve been listening to both their songs all summer and he was like “disaster club? i’m in disaster club” and i thought i misheard him so i was like “wh-what? no fuckin way!”. he said something like, he’s on the producing side but he should try and get on a track and it blew my mind a little

he’s learning the piano, we were talking about making music and i said i played it and he was like “that’s so cool! i’m trying to learn”

he was just… so open about his life, for someone whose persona surrounding the music is so anonymous and defensive, it was really wonderful. plus he was super patient about photos and other ppl coming up to our little convo

one dude came up and was like “you’re welcome back any time, any venue, small venue, my house, my bedroom……… uh- my spare bedroom” and he just laughed and thanked him the dude was actually tungle user suppressyourdemons and in fact said: “ "You're welcome back to the uk at any time, your band can stay in my bedroom (then thought that sounded sketchy) so said spare bedroom" “ sorry i misquoted you my dude, joe was appreciative regardless

shdjjfjckfjsg I forgot that at one point my new pal cammy told him that he listens to his stuff at the gym and n,n was laughing cause his stuff is Sad and totally not workout music, and I was like "so people think you're sweating but it's actually tears?" and he laughed more. I stole that joke from a post about drake but whatever, it made him laugh 

OH YEAH i didn’t realise at the time but he signed my album by underlining his name with a lil reaper scythe… cause skully/reaper motif… idk that’s super goddamn adorable to me. i’m hugging it to my chest rn because two days later i’m still an emotional wreck

he gave my pen back and was like “that is a dope fuckin pen by the way” or something to that effect, then i DROPPED IT and he went to pick it up but he had a broked up foot so i did instead

i know this is all mundane as fuck to you if you’re reading this but i don’t waNT TO FORGET ANYTHING! nothing fuckin nowhere was gonna get my pen for me cause i’m a doofus! he hugged me twice lads! fuck!!

i asked what his favourite video was to make and we joked about the hearse in skully and he was like “yeah that’s just my regular car”

we were all talking at once about our favourite songs of his and i said “bedhead always makes me cry” and he was like “aw man, bedhead? that’s old school” and he looked pleased ;u; 

said he basically wears Hiking Dad clothes all the time

he was great at listening to everything we had to say, he would look and focus on each of us, just as interested in us as we were in him and i’m so so so soosososoo happy i got to experience all of this

fhskjglsgkj while we were talking about disaster club, for some tangential reason i mentioned kpop because one of the verses in a disaster club track starts by quoting exo’s kokobop, and before the word “kpop” was barely even out of my mouth he was like “shimmy shimmy kokobop?”

nothing,nowhere, who i think by now you know means a great deal to me, quoted exo lyrics at me. there’s a reason the whole night feels like a surreal hallucination and that’s why i’m writing all of this down

i mentioned how, when he still had a tumblr i’d written a post and he’d reblogged and replied to it AND HE REMEMBERED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he was like “oh yeah, that was a long time ago!”

I KNEW IT WAS HIM WHEN THEY CAME ONSTAGE AT FIRST FOR TWO REASONS! (u gotta remember i’d never seen his face before except for his skullface in the skully video) he was wearing a misogi hoodie, who’s another great soundcloud producer, but the font was like a black metal band lmao. the second reason was his nose. a good nose

the boi’s got Incredible cheekbones. he’s cute as hell but then i’m biased

put his arm right round my shoulder for the photo so i did the same ahhhhhhhhh

i told him how, when i first started listening to his music my main thought was always “is this dude ok?!” and he told us he’s doing better and putting it all into the music and tbh it’s a relief, like. listening to his music has always been cathartic for me,but at the same time i’ve worried about whoever was behind all that pain, for him to be able to write so clearly about depression. but he’s doing well! he said so! i’m extremely glad!

we were talking about the next time he’d be back in the uk and i said hopefully i’d have an n,n tattoo by then and he laughed and said “i don’t even have one yet, and it’s my band! i need to get one”

then we were all joking about something and i said “when you get even bigger, don’t forget about us” meaning the three of us there and he was like “i won’t!”

then he thanked us so goddamn gratefully for coming and said he had to get his cast boot back on his ankle, and i know, i know i am AWARE of how juvenile this sounds but when he hugged us goodbye he hugged me first. i know i was to his immediate left, but it still left me warm and fuzzy

LIKE!!! if that’s how nice it feels to be hugged by someone you’re a fan of, someone to whom you’re, well, just a fan - hugging a s/o must be magical

i’ve hugged so many friends this year. and troy baker. AND NOTHING,NOWHERE! TWICE! 

ok bye

[caughtinthetwistedvines]

November Concert #2

On Sunday, I went to the Shapeshifter Tour in Columbus at Skully’s Music Diner. I’d never been to this venue before, but I really liked it. A little tight, but that makes the performances more intimate. Knuckle Puck headlined with Movements, Homesafe, and Jetty Bones opening. Jetty Bones is a band that needs to be recognized more. I don’t usually like bands with female vocalists as much (not really sure why), but Jetty Bones is worth your time. The singer has a great stage presence and personality, and a killer voice. 

Before I got into the venue, I walked to a Chipotle down the street with my friend. On the way, we walked by 3 guys. I made eye contact with one and recognized him as Ryan from Knuckle Puck. We walked by so fast, all I could do was mouth “what the..” as we passed them. 

I spent part of Homesafe’s set confused because a guy that looked just like Ryan from Knuckle Puck was in this band. I was convinced he had a doppelganger. It wasn’t until Joe had said Ryan was also in Homesafe during Knuckle Puck’s set did I realize that they were the same person. I felt pretty stupid then. I’m clearly not far enough up their butts to know he was in another band. I thought that was pretty cool, and props to him for playing two sets every night on this tour. Homesafe’s performance was pretty cool. I enjoyed the sound, and the crowd was extremely passionate. I got shoved every which way. 

I was really excited for Movements because their music is really emotional and gripping. Their lyrical content is A+++++ . It was my third time seeing them, but the first time getting to see them play more than just the 7 songs they had released thus far. Their new album Feel Something is so amazing that it’s astonishing. Every song is strong and relatable. I could talk about Movements all day, but we’ll save that for another post. They played “Full Circle” which was a nice surprise since I had looked up their setlist and they didn’t play it very often. 

Hearing “Deadly Dull” live was an emotional moment for me. They played it on Warped Tour when I saw them in July, but it was my first time hearing it. It was harder to soak in all of the words. If you’ve read my previous posts, you’ll know this song means a lot to me because it’s a song about watching a loved one go through Alzheimers or Dementia and my grandmother just passed away in June while going through Dementia and lung cancer. I’ll admit that I did cry a little bit during this song. I ended up essentially sob-singing the words because hearing it from the person who wrote it made it hit a lot harder.  The song makes me feel understood–almost like I’m being cared for. It’s a reassurance that I don’t have to grieve alone. Other people out there know exactly what I’m going through. 

Knuckle Puck’s set was really awesome! It’s a bummer that they had to rush their set toward the end because they had to packed up by 9:30 for another event to start at 10:30. I’m just happy that they played “Untitled” and “Fences.” They’re two of my favorites, and when I’ve seen them open other tours, they sometimes leave those two out. For their set, I was sort of side stage around a bunch of people as short as me. This was nice because I could actually see! There was also a bar for me to grab onto so I could jump higher and stay in one place. Patrick from Movements came up to sing part of “Stateside” with Joe, which was pretty awesome since I love both of them. I’m also glad I got to hear “Double Helix” live now that I know what the song is about, I feel a lot more connected to it. 

I had a wonderful time and got to talk to Patrick afterwards (which I will discuss further in a separate post). I will say that he is a well spoken dude and very kindhearted.