#friend's writing

[wr1ghtw0rth]

First bunch of my illustrations for @topazestrella and my narumitsu big bang project from the @narumitsuserver 💚

Their fanfic is here!!! And there's so much more ahead of us! x3

[operative-arrow]

WIP Wednesday (On Tuesday)

Thanks for the tag @introvertedfangrl

I'm just going to say I tag anyone who wants to do it!

This comes from a bit of @muqington's and my 2 Rooks au where both Nico and Radas are recruited by Varric pre-game. The aftermath of the City Choice, wherein Radas (who had the dagger this time) went to Minrathous, while Nico did his best to help his home.

You can read a little more here~

Radas follows Nico across the roof and places a palm against his back. He knows it's unlikely he could feel the warmth through all the layers of clothing and armor, but maybe the pressure would offer some level of comfort.  

“Nico… I’m sorry.” Looking around Nico at the tendrils rising from the canals, Radas isn’t entirely sure what all he was apologizing for, though the guilt of their situation weighs heavy on him. He thinks to himself; I did this.

Fingers curl into the Crow’s cape as he works up the courage to ask the question on his mind. Nico, in response, lowers his head, closing his eyes and drowning out the blight for maybe the first real moment since he’d returned to the casino.

“Are you staying…?” The weight of the day and its regrets add a weariness to Radas’ voice. He takes his own eyes off the blight and stares at Nico’s caped back. “Like Lucanis, I mean, until things are more stable.”

Another choked up laugh escapes from Nico as he shakes his head. There’s a lot for him to process. Lucanis staying behind to help the city he couldn’t protect, Viago livid that he didn’t try, and Teia, doing her best to focus on the here and now. Nico threads his fingers in with each other, ever so slowly working his thumbs across the joints. Idle hands can always be grounds for his exercises. And with the way he’s aching now, it’s as good a time as any.

“You don’t really think I have a choice in that, do you?” Nico turns his head just enough to give Radas a side eye through one cracked eyelid. He’s just as hoarse now as he was before, but his anger has at least begun to subside.

“I mean it's your home… I would definitely understand if you wanted to. Why wouldn't they give you that choice?” Radas studies his friend with a concerned eye, running through a mental list. Elfroot powder for abrasions and small cuts, fire salve for his hands, bandages…

“I have a contract to finish. One that’s been delayed again.” Nico’s last word sounds forced, all his previous malice poured into it. “I fucking had her, Radas. She was right in front of me and she turned into a cloud of fucking smoke.” He unweaves his hands as if ready to grab something. When all he can grip onto is air, he makes a frustrated grunt and reaches to scratch below his ear. 

“She's a God, Nico.” Radas starts.

But Nico interrupts with a scoff, “She’s not a God.”

“Well, whatever else that does or doesn't mean, she's powerful in ways we don't understand yet.” Radas moves his hand from Nico’s back to the top of a shoulder, smoothing a few out of place feathers. His friend always liked his plumage to look its best. “You'll get her next time. We'll all be there too.” His hand rests on the collar of his armor, just shy of his neck. “I’ll be there.”

“The next time I see my chance, I’m taking it. With or without you.” There’s a drop in Nico’s voice. He doesn’t want to go at any of this alone. Having Radas there to make decisions, to be that beacon of trust. Or Lucanis, a double tap measure; There will be a crow to fall onto should Nico be unable to finish his contract. There’s no way he can do this alone, and there’s an inkling of dawning on him that he may not even be able to do this with help. He ever so slightly leans his cheek against Radas’ hand and lets out an exhausted sigh. “You know that, right?”

Radas offers a worn out smile and carefully sits down on the roof behind Nico. “I know. I wouldn't expect you not to.”

[piliiiiconfusionf]

Have more fanart from Imagi-cation Getaway because I physically cannot stop with them. This is from Patton's trip

@fandombead you gotta stop possessing me with your talent I can't keep doing this 😭 YES I CAN I'M GOING NUTS

I WON'T STOP THANKING YOU FOR WRITING THIS THING AND THE OTHERS THEY ARE SO DANG GOOD SGGS

Heavily recommend this, is so unique and she managed to, through ONLY descriptions, say too much I can't, sthap.

[wisteriasymphony]

frothing at the mouth at this poetry @dahliasanddaisies4 wrote. you should follow her she's my wifey and i forced her to make a tumblr account just for this

[canyouhearthelight]

Nihilus Rex: Hiatus

We at Afterverse Studios recognize that due to current events, there is very little appetite for a story like Nihilus Rex. Similarly, due to the subject matter of said story, it has grown increasingly difficult over the last several months for us to continue writing it at the level of quality we expect from ourselves.

Our extremely active lives and schedules, combined with the challenges of our first truly co-written project have only compounded the issue, and we’ve increasingly come to suspect that Nihilus Rex may not be well suited to our usual episodic format to begin with. As such, we are stepping back from the project and placing it on indefinite hiatus.

[aheavenscorner]

Duet of Time - chapter 3

While the Hero’s Shade and Princess Zelda make their way to the old temple, another ghost awakens…

@linktheacehero and I have finally conspired together to bring to you the third chapter of Link and Zelda’s misadventures! You can find it in the link above. It’s been long overdue and we are sorry.

[mana-sputachu]

Local bi gremlins discovers they both love cats✨ (A little thing I did for something @illyrilex asked me to co-write with her💜 you can read it here or here)

Pinned post (with commission infos and where you can find me)!

[utopia-and-broken-cynics]

BEHOLD

Hell yeah, Nonnie!!!

Can’t wait to see how Rosabella and Blondie keep from getting found out!!

[baelpenrose]

Nihilus Rex 33: Evasions and Reversals

This chapter has a couple things: first off, it was my chance to do something I have always wanted to do and play with the idea of secret identities from the villain end, especially when you can use conspiracy theory gaslighting as part of your cover. It also sets up an ongoing gag with Nils and Lash being...well, you'll see. CW for a very long chain of kink jokes.

Co written as always by the brilliant @canyouhearthelight I apologize for the late posting, I was very busy last night and didn't get to posting this.

No stone left uncovered

Out by the light of the moon

Hell will be coming soon

Yeah hell will be coming soon

Toby Lightman, “Long, Hard Day”

Nils

The local chatter was more and more frantic about an FBI agent with a whole lot of warrants showing up. Fortunately a bunch of the men had already been signaled to destroy their hard drives and utilize intelligent VPNs to prevent detection - thank God I’d thought ahead. Still, it was a stalling tactic, because that level of organization would make her take the problem more seriously, not less, meaning we’d eventually have a bigger problem on our hands with the Feds. I was eventually going to need to give her a patsy of some kind, and ideally find a way of convincing her it tied up cleanly.

Weasel, maybe. 

No, for all that he was a pasty little bitch, I didn’t know that anyone would buy he was a…hm. Actually. Hang on, that was a thought. The key though, was that if he was alive when discovered he might roll over on me and Lash and that would be a problem. Dead, he couldn’t talk, and making sure he died first -  ideally by suicide so that it looked like he’d aced himself when the jig was up - would be a trick.  

Convincing her that there was in fact an angry incel who was furious that all the hot girls were going out with nonwhite guys because feminism had given them standards, or whatever, might do it, but that required that it be believable he’d orchestrated the attack - and maybe, maybe it was believable for him to have hacked the banks but not for him to have gotten other guys to go shoot the place. Unless he was using a fake….No, wait. I wasn’t going to let him be fake-me. Not even to get the fibbies off my trail. Instantly I saw another problem. If the Feds arrested anyone for this, there would be a percentage of the population I needed to win over that would see that person as the actual actor in the situation, meaning that I - or my more dramatic persona, Nihilus Rex - would lose credibility, which in turn killed my momentum. 

Fuck. 

I remembered, ruefully, when I thought any part of this would be simple. 

I finally stood up from my desk, glancing at the clock and realized that I’d been setting up proxy networks and trying to figure my way out of this for the better part of four hours. I glanced at my phone, realized Bishop had texted, and called him back. 

“Goddamnit, Creampuff, what’d I say about calling me?”

“Good morning to you too, Bishop.”

“It’s afternoon.”

“Good afternoon to you too, Bishop. What did you text me about?”

“Your psychopath.”

“Yeah, what about him?”

“Check what he did on the boards.”

“Oh…” Resigning myself to a truly miserable day, I hung up and looked at whatever the hell Gray had gotten up to, and found, to my surprise, that it actually wasn’t…that bad? Or well, it was bad but in a useful way instead of the kind of bad that I was going to have to fix. There were now indicators of radicalization happening somewhere else, flaring up, using terminology that didn’t mirror ours.

“Ruckus in the east, war in the west…” I muttered. Could have done it a bit differently, but if the FBI was going to look one way or another…might as well split up their focus. Now, to see what we could do about starting a few more fires, since the stochastic terrorism on a few other fronts was getting just a little too obnoxious for my tastes.  Or, at least a little too one-sided.

Westboro Baptist Church - famously homophobic, famously hateful to veterans and their families, famously hateful to gays, famously just awful. That was something to deal with - I put a pin in the idea of building a botnet for SWATTING a target. 

Then I left the room, still trying to think of what I’d do with the FBI agent. Honestly, the Weasel thing was probably the best solution, I just had to make sure I knew a way of foreshadowing it to the crowd - maybe by proxy, ensuring everyone knew or memetically believed, that Nihilus Rex wasn’t an incel, thus when someone was arrested with connections (even fabricated ones) to that network, no one who I needed to win over or maintain credibility with would believe it.

The issue of course was that doing THAT required, frankly, sexualizing my persona more than I wanted to and in ways that did not appeal to me. Even more precisely, it required some ability to publicly link that persona with sexual…

Goddamnit. 

Here I was trying to avoid going public before I was ready, but…wait. Another option was slithering its way through my mind already. A whole lot of people were already linking the “heroes of the hour” from as the potential badasses behind a whole lot more - but no one, definitely not the FBI, were considering that as anything more than rumor - and I was being excruciatingly careful to keep it that way, push the narrative that it was just a conspiracy in a way that made a lot of people convinced it was our cover story and would keep law enforcement away.

Meanwhile, we could…

Okay. Okay. Me and Lash could definitely afford to go out walking publicly, being obviously into each other, being visible, but maybe - crank up the obvious. Lean into some of the activist look. Make it less subtle what scenes we were playing in. Signal to those who were paying attention and slide under the radar for those who weren’t.

Then hand over Winston as a patsy and make sure he was dead by the time the FBI actually got him. That would work. 

I picked up the phone and dialed Lash.

“Hey. There’s supposedly a party on campus in a few days. How do you feel about going with me?”

“Depends,” she answered, slightly distracted. “LAN party, college party, rave…?”  Suddenly she whisper-shouted “Yes, it’s Nils. Yes, I’ll tell him you said hello. Yes, he’s eating.” A sound like a door closing abruptly clicked. “Mama says hello.”

“Your mom’s great.” I said, then paused. “It’s more of a college party than anything. And it’s a ‘work-opportunities' party. A ‘you-and-I-there-on-a-date-party,’  An ‘us being there publicly in this capacity is beneficial to our plans in ways we ought to discuss in person’ party.’”

“Sounds like a great idea.  Just let me know when so I can have Fatima come by while I’m gone.” 

“This Friday night. I only just got the invitation.” Please, love, get the hint that this idea just happened. 

“That’s plenty of time,” she laughed. “I was worried it was in, like, an hour.  Anyone I know going to be there?”

Yep, she got the message.  “A few of our classmates from Econ, a bunch from Polisci. A bunch of the college webshow people, at a guess, which means we’re gonna wind up on camera again, given our status as local celebrities.” Signal, signal. 

“I’ll be sure to have my face on, then.” She paused and hummed for a minute. “Sexy-demure, or straight up slutty? Probably demure, can’t look like I’m milking the spotlight.”

“Whatever makes you feel beautiful and powerful at the same time, Lash. We’re going for that look.” You know the one. 

“Gotcha. Those boots kill my feet, but god do they look good.  Gonna have to invest in something with flatter soles if you keep taking me out like this,” she teased.

“Fair enough. I’m excited for this. You’re gonna look amazing, whatever you’re in.” I said, grinning. I could imagine the smirk on her face as she talked. “Plus, we can go somewhere fun after, away from the cameras…”

Another click that sounded suspiciously like a door. “Don’t tempt me to wear a skirt with those boots.  I know you’re going for a certain look, and there is nowhere near as much leather in my wardrobe as there is in yours.  I will torture you all night if you keep it up.”

“That is very much the goal, and depending on what kind of torture you mean, I might be open to experiments…” 

There was that laugh I loved hearing. “Let’s start with being obviously a couple, and work our way up to exhibitionism, okay?”

I blinked, wondering where my kinky implication had been misread. “That was not in fact…” Gift horses, Nils. “Never mind, you know what? Working our way up is totally good with me.” 

“What time Friday?” she asked, pulling me back to the actual topic at hand.

“Starts at 8. The humanities building, apparently, though it’s likely to spill into the plaza.” I said, confidently. “Plenty of room.” 

“Oooo, on campus.  Super visible and public, you weren’t kidding.”

“Eyeah. We’re going public together.” With all that entails. “At the very least, I’m sure Weasel won’t be there.” 

I could practically hear her shudder at that.  “Gods, I hope not.”

“Oh, I think we can mellow on him just a little. We’ve finally found a use.” There was that little edge of amusement in my voice that indicated I was planning something. 

“Sure….” She sounded suspicious, but it was somewhat understandable. It wasn’t like I had told her what I was planning, although I was pretty sure she would be on board.  She’d practically suggested something similar previously, after all.

“How’s your dad doing?” I said, changing the topic. Better to leave the plans for later. 

“Surprisingly cooperative.  I think the one time he pushed himself too hard with the temporary prosthetic, he learned his lesson.  He won’t be waltzing anytime soon, but I don’t think I ever saw him dance before, so….”

“Fair enough. And your mom? I should be coming over more often to visit and check in, I suppose.” 

“For the love of all that you hold dear, don’t do that.  They barely let Fatima take care of them, and that’s only because the girls distract them.  If you came by, they would insist on being good hosts, and Mama is still not up to standing for the amount of time it takes to cook.  Baba goes back to work soon, so he’ll probably be easier to deal with after that. They’re both just so bored.”

“Gotcha. Would they be more okay with it if I came over with food and then just sat and talked with them? I’d be open to doing that. Or if we both just sat and talked with them?” 

“Maybe,” she confessed hesitantly. “But you would have to be very insistent that they let me get drinks, plates, all that.  It’s okay to scold me into doing it, I know you don’t mean it and it will make them more likely to listen so I don’t quote ‘anger you’ end quote.”

“Okay nope.” I said, feeling a flash of exasperation. “Yeah, okay, Lash. At some point we’re gonna talk about the gendered courtship expectations within your culture and the willingness I have to play along with them, because doing anything to avoid ‘angering me’ or scolding you into doing domestic stuff isn’t really my thing -”

“Calm down,” she interrupted, laughing. “I mean ‘anger you’ as in ‘dumping me or maybe we have a disagreement’.  Nothing more than that.  It will literally just guilt trip them into actually just sitting and visiting.  I didn’t mean anything beyond that.  And I only suggested it because do you know where the glasses are in my apartment? The plates?”

“Oh.” I felt stupid. “Ah. Okay yeah that makes more sense.” Not that the pressure to marry on her, and the weird approval process I’d undergone hadn’t given me ample reason to suspect that gender roles were at least a little bit cracked there, but now was not the time. When we ruled the world though, we were going to abolish courtship by democracy.

“How does Sunday sound? Go to the party Friday night, recovery Saturday, and then you can stop by with dinner on Sunday?”

“Sounds amazing.” Gave me plenty of time to start laying groundwork, then on Saturday, I’d start getting shit actually rolling. Then Sunday, spend the day with my gorgeous girlfriend and her family, mop up the next week. 

“Awesome. Meet you on campus Friday, 7:30ish so we can scope out everything before it kicks off?”

“Sounds perfect. Love you.”

“Love you, too… MAMA! Don’t you dare - “

[cljordan-imperium]

Arthur & Kate (Art & Kay)

Peakys Write A Letter

SUMMARY: While at war, Arthur receives a letter from his wife Kate. He had been home weeks before for a visit and she has not heard from him since, but she has some news to tell him, along with that she misses him dearly. Her letter gives him the fire he needs, and his letter indicates such in return. A/N = I received the amazing letter from @runnning-outof-time from her OC Katherine Shelby (Kate). My apologies for the great delay in responding but I was having trouble channeling Arthur...then one of my OC's took control and said that he identified with Arthur...so I hope that he is right and this is an adequate response. (I'm nervous y'all) I hope I did your wonderful letter justice!

TW = BLOOD/WAR/DEATH

(@runnning-outof-time)

Dearest Arthur,

I hope all is well with you. I hate that I have not heard from you in such a long while, but I understand that these sorts of things will happen when you're out on the front.

Being able to see you last month was like a dream come true. The girls are still reeling from it, and Lottie insists that you need to come home every other week now. I tried to tell her that it doesn't work like that, but she doesn't listen. She won't let me read another bedtime story because 'I don't do it like daddy does'.

Elsie wanted me to tell you that she lost a tooth, her very first tooth, and that she didn't even cry when it fell out. Of course, we couldn't find said tooth because it fell out when she was playing in the garden with Mr. Whiskers. By the way, we have a cat now...Mr. Whiskers kept showing up at our doorstep, so the girls convinced me to take him in. He's a very sweet addition to our household, one that I hope you will take to warmly when you return.

The girls are growing so much each day, so much so that I'm afraid you may not recognize them when you return. And they ask for you at the hardest times; at the times where I also am missing you. They wonder why you can't come back like you did, and why they can't talk to you. I tried to explain it, but I'm afraid that it goes over their heads. Children shouldn't have to understand war. They shouldn't have to worry if their family members will come back or not. It's been so hard to try to keep things positive around them, but with how bleak things have been looking, I'm afraid that my positivity may not last for much longer. Oh Arthur, you don’t know how hard it is for me to keep up the front that all is fine in front of them while I worry for your safety every second of every day.

Anyway, I won't fill the majority of this letter with my sad thoughts. Let me share some good news instead. Polly has managed to take total control of the shop, and she's running things in a way that has allowed us to continue making profits even though many men are out on the frontlines. She actually wanted me to ask you: how would you feel if she and I continued with our idea of hosting a special for women on certain race days? I know Tommy has his ideas of how the family business should be run, but you're the oldest and therefore have the power to make this decision. I feel as though this would continue to help Small Heath as a whole.

The nights are much quieter now with you and the boys being gone. Although at times quieter is better, I do miss the nights where we'd all stay up and share stories, and the nights we'd go out and camp under the stars. Oh, how much simpler those times were compared to the life we're living now.

I don't have much room left on the page, so I'll wrap this up with a few more, quick things. First, Elsie and Lottie have asked me to enclose some of their 'most favorite' drawings in this letter for you. It excites me to think that they're taking after you with their artistic talents. Second, I'm thinking of changing my hairstyle up...you may not even recognize me when you come home again. Lastly, along with Mr. Whiskers (who will not be leaving no matter what), how would you feel about us raising chickens?

I hope to hear from you soon, Art. Please be safe.

Sending all of my love until I can see you again,

Yours Always,

Kate Shelby

**************************************************

(me)

My Dearest and Darling Kay,

How the pictures from the children did make me long to feel the warmth of your arms and to hear the sound of their laughter as they played in the yard.  Such comforts are far from where they boys and I are though.  While we are presently safe, the nights are cold and the sounds are never as melodious as your voice or the rhymes the children make to entertain themselves.  

Do not fret, for this shall end and the life we once knew will return.  I can feel it in my bones as surely as I know that Tommy will always find trouble no matter where he shall be and Polly will be the strongest person any of us know.  As I said Tommy makes trouble and Polly is strong, but she is also smart.  If she is making a profit, I see no reason to change things when we return.  My darling, I am proud of you, so proud my heart swells that you two have done so well. I cannot wait to stand beside you and back you. I hope you can feel my love surround you as you work.  Tell Polly that I’ll deal with Tommy if he has something to say, and we all know the bastard will.

Of course Elsie could find her tooth.  The Tooth Fairie already captured it and brought it over to me here on the frontlines.  She wanted me to have something so special since I can’t be there to see it.  And she wanted me to send this coin for it, it was too heavy for her to carry all the way back over here from France.  You see, during war, sometimes the Tooth Fairie has to make special trips and have couriers.  But she can’t tell anyone, it’s a secret. The Tooth Faerie is a spy for the British to bring me home sooner.

I am sorry I have not written sooner, since my visit my heart has ached so.  I have seen the you and the girls when my eyes have closed, your voices seeming to call to me in my dreams, but I awake afresh in this hell around me.  The mud and blood causing my thoughts to be dark and I did not want to burden your bright and beautiful soul with the thoughts of this tortured man that loves you more than my own life.  I would start to put thoughts to paper and I could not put upon you the darkness I have felt, I could not dim you in that way, my bright and shining Northern Star that guides me through this dark time as we fight. I will come home to you, we can raise cats and chickens, goat and cows if you want.  I do not care how you do your hair, if you even do it at all.  As long as that smile that you had when I was last home, that one that graced your angelic face when I surprised you, that one of utter adoration; if that one is upon your lips, then I do not care if the rest of the Earth falls to ruin, Kay, as long as there is you.  

So you tell those girls that John, Tommy, and I will be home soon.  You get with Penny and you make sure you are all ready.  Because we will win this war, Kay, we will.  We have to.  We’ve lost too many to give up and come home like dogs with our tails between our legs.  I have to believe this to keep the darkness that haunts my heart at bay.  We will come home and when we do we will have a party like Small Heath has never seen, we can stay up till dawn and not give a fuck who cares.  I will come home to you Kay, if I have to kill the devil himself to do it.

So, you do up that hair how you want.  You buy a nice dress.  And you know I am coming.

Art

@runnning-outof-time @call-sign-shark @shelbydelrey @look-at-the-soul @raincoffeeandfandoms @there-goes-thefighter @dandelionprints @zablife

[thana-topsy]

#46

Oblivion Sheogorath/Teldryn Sero

There was a bit of debate over what qualified Oblivion Sheogorath versus Just Sheogorath, but overall "out of envy/jealousy" seemed to be the more challenging part of this prompt. But I'm getting very good at outsourcing these things. Maybe that's cheating? But there were just SO many good ones that deserved at least someone writing it. We've once again got the amazing @mareenavee on board for this one! She managed to make it work, and I'm in awe. Here's a snip, plus a link to the full on thing on AO3. As a warning, it did make me very emotional and I may or may not have shed a tear.

---

Sheogorath x Teldryn Sero "A kiss out of envy or jealousy."

When the Dunmer wandered into Mania with questions held in his hands like ropes, Sheogorath didn’t know what to do about it. Or what to say. Or think. They rarely ever bothered to order Their thoughts. That was for…well. You know.

With a wave of a hand, They set up a fine mahogany table in the long grass among the strange flora that sprung up from the ground here, overbright as it was and how it clashed horribly with Their outfit. Well, that could be changed, too, at the end of the day. Or the beginning. It didn’t matter. Dunmer. Guest. Did he like cheese? It was difficult to say.

“Mortal!” Sheogorath said, wide grin on a face that did not quite say ‘Daedric Prince,’ because it had, in fact, just said ‘Mortal!’ and it would not have been the first time such a face would have said that, now would it? Dunmer. Guest. Better to focus.

“What is the proper way to greet…the Prince of Fools?” the Dunmer asked. His voice drawled. Too much ash. A little on the annoying side. Nice tattoos, though. Must’ve hurt. And all that chitin! Well. Fashion was never really a requirement to find the Shivering Isles, after all. Most of the time, they found you, as it happened. They smoothed Their fine purple suit jacket and stood up a bit straighter.

“Well,” Sheogorath said with a laugh. “Perhaps don’t call me a fool, all things considered.” They paused. They’d been leaning on the table before then, absently picking at the rind of a cheese wheel. “It’s…rude? Oh, whatever. Prince of Fools is fine.” They turned their face to the Dunmer and grinned both maliciously and enviously, for reasons still swirling about in the chaos. “And which of your myriad titles should I call you?” They waited through a bout of indigestion. Cleared Their throat and tapped Their chest. Wouldn’t do to have the Nymic fall out again. “Nerevarine? Hortator? Teldryn? Or perhaps simply… Sero?”

“Sero is fine,” he said.

“You ought to thank Neloth again for that one. He’s around here somewhere. Can’t quite get him to leave. Never could!” Sheogorath waved Their hand dismissively with a bark of a laugh. Sero sighed. Melancholy, grief, exhaustion – perfect, plenty to pick at. “So what brings you here?”

Sheogorath, of course, knew exactly what brought the great Nerevarine to Their doorstep. Or table. Or meadow. You know. The thoughts were written on his face, almost literally. In ink! This one who gained immortality without asking for it and yet could wander Nirn without the weight of responsibility. They knew there had been no choice all those years ago for either of them. That Sero hadn’t already succumbed to madness was in and of itself madness. And quite unfair, if They were being honest with themselves. They weren’t, per usual. Not in the traditional sense. Madness had come far too easily for them.

“I want to forget. Azura knows I’ve tried.”

Read the rest on AO3

[ratwhowrites]

why are you gay

Because

[agoobersretreat]

Stomp, stomp. Fubuki was generally pretty active for a girl so utterly ginormous, waddling with speed and excitement. The happiest little mountain of flab one would ever see. Best to bring that energy to her first lunch, after a-

Whoop! CRASH!

"Ough... Mmmmphm..." Fubuki lay collapsed on the floor in a humongous heap, spread out over her side and her face hugging the ground. Did she trip?

"Mmmnngh... Hhhngh, oh, my..." The hefty bunnygirl wobbled and kicked her legs as she tried to right herself, failing to flop either onto her back or right both of her hands on the ground; too much of her own fat was in the way, complicating things, and she was feeling significantly heavier than usual. "Huff.... A hand, please?"

Someone willing to brave pulling her up volunteered. Fubuki grabbed onto their arms, straining. "MMMMnghhh!" Almost barely pulling them down into the softness currently bogging her down, she successfully got on her feet and slowly rose, sighing hard with relief.

"My apologies... perhaps I ought to walk slower..." Fubuki slowly stood up, still panting. She rubbed her belly, which had taken the brunt of the force from her fall. Somehow, it felt more distended than usual. Well, anyways, onto lunch!

Hmmm? Where was Miq, one might ask? Nowhere special.

Just inside her stomach.

A day out while the weather was beautiful was just what the doctor ordered, so to say! Nice and sunny, the cool breeze and no rain! No humidity, either! It's perfect!

Miq was walking along the path just taking it all in, enjoying all the nature and people out and about. It made such a wonderful time out even more special! Though, she definitely wondered why she felt a sort of rumbling coming her way. She soon sees the source, albeit a little too late! They crash together and Miq is knocked back...but not far enough.

Before she knows it, her sunny day is plunged into darkness. It sort of happened so fast that she couldn't figure out what had taken place, at first. As soon as she could hear and feel a heartbeat all around her, the other sounds and feelings of being inside someone's body like she's used to and how dark it was? She knew exactly what had happened.

She had been accidentally shoved into that giant cutie's stomach somehow and now here she is. An accidental meal for the poor girl who also fell face-first onto her, which means being squashed and jostled around good as the poor woman is struggling to get up on her own. Thankfully, someone comes to help and they're soon both upright enough.

The poor goober is stunlocked into embarrassment and flusterations, unable to really start fighting or pushing around to get the larger woman's attention. Hopefully she will, eventually, but for now? She is unwillingly joining Fubuki for a lunch date, even if the mountainous cutie also doesn't realize she's there.

[piliiiiconfusionf]

OK SO

So I have been completely normal about @fandombead 's Sphere For You story, that's all I have to say ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ you don't understand how dear they are to me I have drawn all of these in 2 days 💀 and Extra doodles- going nuts and crazy about this Au just go read it 😭 please/nf obviously but- FEGEGE

[canyouhearthelight]

Nihilus Rex Ch. 26: Hunt and Chase

Scheduling this ahead of time since I've had time issues with getting posts up on Fridays.... This chapter is definitely one of my favorite examples of what happens when @baelpenrose and I are really working in a cohesive way. Tech stuff happens, plot moves forward, but people stuff happens as well.

Interested to see who can spot the most easter eggs in the online handles...

Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I stifled a groan at the stiffness in my shoulder as I scooted to the edge of Nils’ bed.  Fingers clumsily fumbled down my back, forcing me to stand up before he tried to yank me back down in his sleep.  I grabbed the first shirt that I found on the floor and padded out into the living room, opening my laptop to scratch the itch in my brain that was keeping me awake - we knew one person who was looking for us, time to find the other.

Ever since the interview with Agent Watson - and ever since I had royally screwed up - I had been trying to track down the person who was working to seduce Nils’ minions away for their own nefarious purposes.  For the past four days, I had been practically living off antacids to keep from vomiting at the amount of absolute trash that filled the message boards these people frequented, but something told me I was getting close.  I just didn’t know what.

There was no telling how much time had passed when I felt a chunk of my hair being lifted and played with - at some point it had started raining again, so for all I knew the sun had been up for hours. “How are you not cold?” Nils yawned while twisting the lock between his fingers.

“Fat deposits,” I muttered. “Besides, your bed is rock hard, so cold and soft wins.”  Drumming my nails on the screen, I finally turned toward him only to be momentarily distracted by his bare chest.  I blinked rapidly to get my brain back on track. “They’re here.  I know it.  I found them in two other boards, under different names, but I know it has to be them.”

Nils continued playing with my hair, slowly braiding it. “How do you know it’s them, Elakshi?” His voice was probing, but there was an odd cheer to it. “You’ve made progress?” 

I nodded, changing tabs. “Right now, this one in particular.” Highlighting one user, than another, I pointed to the names. “VassilisaAura and CasparsNERVE. They’re arguing, but look at the way they talk… They’re either very good friends in real life, or the same person.”

He gave an interested grunt.. “Same style of pseudonym…that’s interesting. Certainly I’ve run that trick when I want to get people talking about the same thing, regardless of where they go with it, so I can steer them with account number 3. So…we seeing anyone else who is steering them? Ideally with the same name?” 

“Even better,” I confirmed, switching tabs again. “EcoDekorashion. There’s some sub-tagging, but it’s like whoever this is decided to pick AI names from whatever anime they had on the shelf.  I’m not even going to start on their taste, honestly.” I tapped my chin before digging his hand out of my hair so I wouldn’t be distracted. “Then again, these are so obscure that they honestly don’t clock unless you know what you’re looking at.”

“Which we do, because we’re nerds. So, next step. How do we know this is our guy?” 

“We’ll have to trace the accounts, which is going to be a righteous pain in the ass,” I yawned. “But I know it has to be the right person… All three accounts I’ve found aren’t arguing if we are right or wrong, they’re arguing over why it could have been done better.” Tipping my head over, I dropped it onto his shoulder before looking up at him. “And, just so you’re aware, there is a not-insignificant amount of mockery over the names of your factions, mister clever.”

Nils gave a light smirk. “I’d love to say I gave a shit, but it was clearly clever enough. I don’t have to be a genius, just smarter than the mark. And as long as he’s not fucking that up, rather than…” 

He looked at it, where it was obvious that the three accounts were pushing the idea that whoever was doing it was making up names for real stuff because he thought people were too stupid to understand codenames. One of them was arguing that Nothing had made the whole thing up, and getting shouted down by idiots - Nils pointed out that one was also arguing that Q was bullshit to begin with and that the new guy was clearly just digging deeper - and the third one was simply mocking the names of these “pretentious assholes” who thought the world was their playground. 

All in all, I had to admit it was pretty clever, given the crowd we were playing. Mock while drawing attention to power that these idiots claimed. Make denial unpopular. Make it okay to believe in it while mocking it because everyone on these boards was irony-poisoned half to death. That was perfect - almost exactly what we needed. “This person doesn’t want to deescalate. They either want to usurp us…or want in.” I gave Nils a sleepy grin. “So, let’s bring them in.”  He looked like he was going to argue, so I sat up and clicked over to one of the dozen or so tabs I had going. “Here.  VassilisaAura again, basically calling out whoever hit the banks and called for the people behind the fire to be taken care of.  Claiming that, if we meant it, we would be recruiting, not dividing.  And, right on schedule, EcoDekorashion pointing out that, as pretentious as we sound, more people benefitted from our ‘sloppy’ work than from just sitting around and bitching.”

Nils rubbed my shoulders. “Alright. You were right, babe. This is a good idea. We’ll get him on our side.” He took a step. “So, do we want to trace him and get a meeting?”

“Hmmm.” I considered it. “This is more your court than mine.  Would it be better to track them down and set up something, or to give them a challenge to find us?”

His eyebrows raised. “Depends on how serious he is. My issue is that if we dangle ‘find me’ in front of them and piss them off, we’re looking at a person fluent on a board famous for hosting dox who will have found out where we are. If they can meet the challenge. Plus, seeking them out for a meeting indicates we know what’s happening and we’re able to probe - but he’s strong enough to attract our attention. Issuing a challenge means we aren’t worried - but also puts power in his hands if he can meet it, and that he doesn’t get that power if we ping him through enough proxies. And that’s assuming he can find us, because if he can’t he may just fuck off and then we lose the option. Which matters more here, real power or perceived power?” He clearly had an opinion on it. “I’d edge towards perceived power since we’re trying to prove that the government isn’t as strong as they say, and we need to let them think we’re stronger than we actually are to do that. But we are at risk if someone pushes and we actually can’t shove them back.” 

I was hesitant, but made the decision to trust his judgment. “Like I said, your court, so it’s your call.  Do we want to set up contingencies if this person is halfway across the country? Like, a neutral ground situation?  Because I know, I know you aren’t about to ask me to fly out to some other state to meet someone face to face while we’re under FBI scrutiny.”

“No, I was talking about an end-to-end encrypted Usenet Chatroom that we scrub the minute we’re done with it, actually. Horrible system, lots of absolutely awful shit gets moved across the bones of the original internet. But it is amazing for privacy.” He sounded distracted. “No, I think perceived power is better, but there’s practical reasons as well. If we reach out to him as a response to what he’s already said, and he’s a mole, we’re fucked. If we say ‘come find us’ then that’s much easier to fake like he made a mistake, or claim we were trolling online if caught. Challenge is better. So…let’s give him a challenge.” 

At this point my brain was spinning trying to trace what had just spewed forth from Nils’ mouth.  Challenge was dangerous, but perceived power was advantageous, no challenge, yes challenge… “So, yes challenge,” I finally worked out, feeling on more firm ground. “How does ‘could be mistaken for viral marketing in the wrong hands’ sound? I can definitely whip up some images with links and shit contrasted into them, some flash cartoons with binary or hex glitches, that kind of stuff.”

“That’s brilliant. I’ll frame it, you make the links and shit? We stick in some code and dog-whistles that these idiots will recognize that most people won’t and we draw smart boy to come to us?” He was sounding more coherent now. 

“Double order of dog-whistles with cheese, coming up,” I agreed, yawning again, this time hard enough to pop my jaw. “What time is it, anyway?”

“Uh…” He glanced at the clock. “10. We slept in.” 

I craned my neck around to scowl at him. “We who? You and the mouse in your pocket?  I’ve been awake for hours, at least.”

“Mattress shopping so you can sleep better at my apartment? Is that where we’re going next?” 

“Orrr,” I teased, “we can just sleep on your couch when I stay the night?”

“Or, and hear me out, we get a mattress my amazing girlfriend doesn’t hate. So that she wants to come over more often.” 

My nerves spiked outrageously, and I fought not to show it. “That sounds like a pretty major step.  I don’t even have a toothbrush over here.”

“Yes, my bathroom and its famous black hole that makes toothbrushes of yours just. Vanish.” He said, quietly. “Lash, it’s okay if you aren’t comfortable coming over here more often but I still want to get a bed that’s comfortable for you when you do.” 

I started squirming when he called me out. “I like being over here, especially with Mori and the kids staying in the apartment while my parents are still in the hospital.  But you bought that bed - which, I’m not stupid, was a few grand easy - because it’s what you prefer, and you live here.”  I fidgeted with the hem of my shirt before looking back up. “Can we compromise on a mattress topper for half of it?”

“We can get a mattress topper with a lot of memory foam or something to make it more comfy for you. Does that work?” 

I nodded, biting my lip to hide my residual anxiety. “And I’ll figure out what’s causing the black hole and stop the vanishing toothbrushes.” And we are totally going to pretend I haven’t been throwing them away. “With that decided… do we have time for me to take a nap before our regularly scheduled shenanigans, or am I running on coffee and the promise of an early night?”

“Class starts in half an hour, so coffee, unfortunately. Not even that if you don’t get dressed.”

I looked down at myself and realized several things: I had no pants on, not even shorts; I was wearing Nils’ shirt from yesterday, backwards and inside out, and at no point had I thought to grab - “Oh my god,” I bolted to my feet. “Shower, dressed, give me five minutes and we’ll be out the door.”