#gotta pollute the dash

[the-mocking-robin]

In a stupid AU that's mine and mine alone, Jason makes amateur (high quality, because he's a perfectionist) music videos. Though Jason isn't always the subject, he always makes a cameo just to say he's in it.

His first one Of Notice was with a duet with Superboy (Jon) as a confession to his crush that he liked him. It was a sweet, anime nerd music video. They had fun throwing around old shojou effects and taking advantage of Jon's flight and Jason's tight walking.

It's a hit, but causes Superboy a little trouble when he doesn't reveal who his crush is.

More heroes ask for him to make videos with them on their off time (what little they have) and Jason (still being a fan of most heroes) agrees as long as he has creative control of the project.

His favorite videos include "Feather" (Sabrina Carpenter) featuring Wonder Woman and "Sorry" (Demi Lovato) featuring Haley Quinn after she received her egg from Clown College. She's only donned her official clown persona for the music video. Wonder Woman invited some amazons from Themascara to join in on her video.

Both made Jason incredibly happy.

Jason hasn't released a video with just him as the subject and dodges every question about it. He's got a few songs in mind but they're kind of deeply personal comfort songs.

[pleb-the-original]

Day 12: Trinity Alps Giant Salamander

(Again, another one I had no idea existed until now. Couldn't figure out what do with basically misplaced hellbenders. So after a bit I wondered if maybe you could eat a hellbender. I couldn't find anything on that but why not bring back Gob anyways? Please do not eat a hellbender to prove if its edible or not) Howdy y’all! Welcome back to Gob’s Delights! I sure am glad that y’all appreciated my little experiment last episode. Y’all had me smilin’ like a jackass eatin’ briars! So today I got something extra for y’all today. This dish focuses on the demonic taste buds and will really bring out that succinctly toxic taste. I’ll be making Trinity Alps Salamander stew! Now then, I know what y’all are gonna say. “But Gob, ain’t those little buggers a currently living cryptid and thus wouldn’t they be fully sapient?” Well they are and quite frankly that hasn’t stopped me before. But I’ve done a little research myself. Those salamanders are what we call species cryptids. Instead of the belief of those humans being expressed as a singular entity, these little buggers instead are basically animals. They exist as a stable population of multiple individuals that can even procreate but still rely on belief in order to be sustained. So cooking up one or two ain’t gonna hurt anyone. We do only need one for the stew however. Since these guys were based on sightings of released hellbenders, they taste much like hellbenders themselves. Fishy and tough with a chewy texture. That may not sound too tasty but these buggers have meat that absorbs a lot of flavor. That therefore extends to the Alps salamanders. So what you gotta do is cube them like this. Now for this stew you put the meat in first. Then you pour in a fish oil roux. I tend to make mine with Night Mare milk due to the potency of the poison but you can substitute for other liquids if you so choose. Once the roux is added, stir to let the meat absorb the flavors. This next part is the fun one. This is when you get to pick your poisons. But be careful, certain ones tend to not work as well with these conditions. My tried and true formula works the best for me so far but you can experiment if you want. So I add a dash of mercury first, then hemlock wine, a nice heaping helpin’ of California salamander poison, polluted water preferably with crude oil, and finally a smidge of fertilizer for texture. Stir slowly as you heat the pot. If you’re the one heating up the pot, then keep stirring until you can feel the meat become tender. If you are not the one heating the pot, stir until the meat has reached a nice golden brown. Then garnish with whatever you want. Personally, despite the irony, I like to add an Angel's Trumpet flower floating on top. It adds both a splash of color and an extra punch of poison to the batch. There y’all have it. A perfect stew for any gatherin’. Just don’t grab yourselves too many salamanders. 

[jennsmischievousmind]

Fucks not Found

Florence

Ch1 Ghosts | Ch2 Florence | Ch3 A Matter of Seconds | Ch4 I need a Backdoor | Ch5 Die Hard | Ch6 White Flag | Ch7 Haunt the Living | Ch8 One, but not done [end]

Who had this fucking idea?

One had refused that you got out the truck since Italy was were you lived. Apparently for Six it was okay, since he was in the car moving at 160per hour. That’s how you ended up in that stupid espresso truck Three had rented. Feet on the dash, trying to concentrate on your laptop, unfortunately Three was trying to learn Italian next to you.

“I’m gonna kill him!” You said through greeted teeth, he was shamelessly butchering your mother tongue.

“Be nice Eight.” Five chuckled over the comm. The mission was going smoothly at first, exchanging jokes with Six, Four sending pictures on the group chat from his view up there. 

Eventually everything went south real quick. It distracted you from the urge to shoot at Three.

“You hit one more person and I’m walking?” you heard Five in the comm link, your eyes widened.

“You’ve hit someone?!” you yelled at Six. 

“Grazed him really ..” he tried to convince you

“Totally smashed him, One added, 10/10!”

“Imbecille!” your Italian resurfacing when in stress.

Four scoffed in the comm link "How come she can speak Italian and you cannot?

"She's always been the better twin" Six hissed avoiding another walker

“Definitely.” Four answered in a hushed tone.  

Brushing away Four’s comment you got impatient "One, I need access to that phone!"

One growled  "Bossy, ever so bossy!"

“What did you guys do in there? Why are you covered in blood?” Six inquired, you could hear the disgust in his voice, between cursed and screeching tires, as obviously they were chased by the lawyer’s own TAC team. 

“ The head, neck, and face are very, very vascular. So it’s a lot of blood.” One vaguely tried to explain.

“Oh Eight I think they kill a mafia guy in Italy! You pressed your temples at your brother’s words. 

The lawyer’s phone needed facial recognition more specifically retina recognition… so naturally Two scooped his eye out. What a first mission!

“One for Four?”

“Yeah, go for Four.”

“ We need you.”

“ Of course you need me. I’m here.”

“Remind me, where the fuck is here?” 

“ Here here. Like, here?” Four continued, his evasive answers made you grin.

“Specificity.” One added

“ Here. Right effing here! Top of the Duomo, like we talked about. Look up. Where you going?”

“In the wrong direction. Please help them.” You sighed, Three spun his revolver your way.

“Get that thing away from my face Three!” he grimaced returning to his book

“Oh shit, coming down! Four announced… Coming up North, down on Via de ..via de ..there’s so many fucking vias in Italy!  

“Via De Cerretani.” you cleared

“Yeah, yeah” he sighed annoyed

At some point you momentarily removed your earpiece since your brother was screaming and cursing. Mammà would disapprove.

“You gotta lose that police chopper!” Four was perched on the Sagrestia Vecchia following the Alpha Romeo through Florence’s alleys.

You hacked the chopper on board cam “I have eyes, I’ll tell you when they lose you.”

“dov'è il bagno? …. dov'è il baaagno?..” Three repeated 3 TIMES, you glanced at him really annoyed, fingers itching to unsheathed.

“Buongiorno Uno” he answered at the sizzling talkie.

“Shit’s gone, we’re supper fucked, Four needs an Uber!”

“Way ahead of you, papi!” a loud bang coming from above the truck startled you.

“Buongiorno Quattro” Three started the truck.

His accent really made you cringe. Removing your feet from the dash you dip your head catching a glimpse of Four on the top on the truck.

After a few seconds, he got down and squeezed himself by the passenger window, you scout next to Three with a huff.

Gunshots, and cussing resonated in the comm link.Unconsciously biting your thumbnail, you kew your brother was a good driver but it was stressful. Four leaned in watching the chopper cam on your laptop. His blond hair falling into his eyes, you spotted brown flakes in the emerald green of his eyes. He was so close you thought your heartbeat had sync with his because you felt like adrenaline had rush in.

For a second you locked eyes, he smirked at you, immediately self aware of your agape state you nudge him away from your laptop. One was screaming at everyone in the car, Two was screaming back at him, her French accent even more pronounced. Five lost it in Spanish against Six and One. 

“Ok, the chopper lost sight on you, make the best of it little bro.”

All of sudden “Wannabe” blasted into your ear, you chuckled at your brother’s music taste, until Three announced two black suburban were tailing the green Guila Quadrifoglio. Four reloaded the grenade launcher, you eyed him apprehensive, he just smiled at you like a kid on Christmas day.

“Six fake ‘em out mate, I’m coming to you!” reaching for his skateboard behind you.

Few explosions later you urged them to make in on time at the rendez-vous point.

“You got a superhero on the squad!!” your brother praised Four, these two really got along real quick.

Focused on your next escape route aka arguing in Italian on the phone with the docker you didn’t hear the commotion in the car, the tires screeching, shattering glass.

“Whoa, shit!” Six screamed.

You gasped, feeling something was wrong, a deep pain in your chest you couldn’t explain, furrowing your brows you breathe in trying to chase it away, thinking it was the adrenaline rushing out.

Three stopped the truck at the construction site where you had to meet, him and Four got out gun’s at point.

You got out the truck a second later, your own gun in hand, still feeling weird “Ok let’s get the fuck out of my mother land bef..” you freezed, your eyes landing on the green car.

A deafening silence invaded your ears, the sound of you gun hitting the concrete resonating until your brain caught up, you understood the sudden unknown feeling. 

“NOOOOOO” you cried out running to him, feet skidding on the debris. “Come on baby brother, no, no, no, no” you cradled his face in your shaking hands, your vision blurry with tears, you pushed your forehead onto his, hands bloodied. “please, please” you begged sobbing, murmuring prayers.

 He was gone. You were unable to feel his presence, unable to feel his emotions through that unique bond twins have, you felt lost, incomplete.

 The harbor was the final way out, no one said a word as Four and One put Six in a transparent body bag.

The boat drifting away, Three came out with a bottle of booze and some pizzas, like, the fuck man pizzas right now? You denied the drink, if you were to drink you knew you were not going to stop until you black out. You sat on the edge of the stern, eyes glossy a blank expression on your face. One stood by your side, his behavior cold but uneasy.

“Here’s a toast to a kid I liked.” Three lift his glass

“Are you crying?” Two mocked him

“We didn’t even know his name.”

“We don’t know any names.”

“What was his name?” You didn’t want to say his name, you didn’t want to burst in tears just by saying his name. 

“It doesn’t matter. He was a good man.”

You didn’t expect One to say that, yes he was but in the end what did he knew about your brother.

“I thought I managed the risk. I’m sorry.” One softly concluded not looking at you

“Did you guys had anyone else...family?”

“I think you’re looking at it.” Two told her nodded your way cautiously

They all look at you gravely, please stop you screamed internally; I don’t need your pity, I need my brother.

“Risposa in Pace Fratellino” you whispered as they toss his body into the unforgiving Adriatic Sea. Here you were, the only one left of the Y/L/N family.

After giving One the last update on the phone they’d got, you went to the cabin, to steal a moment alone, cry without a bunch of strangers around. But you bumped into Four.

“Hey ..” he hesitate, searching his pocket he lifted his hand, showing the Cross necklace Six had attached to his stir.

Four didn’t know how much this cross meant to your family, and that did it, bawling you let all your sorrow out clutching at the cross.

Tears you hadn’t shed for your parents, as you try to be tough for your mother when papà disappeared, and then for your brother when mammà died. And now for him.

Carefully Four wraps his arm around your frame, offering some warmth and comfort. Something you thought you had definitely lost an hour ago. Muffling your cries in his white sweater, he held you tighter as he too felt his pain, you heard him exhale and breathe in trying to contain his own tears.

After that it was not the same with Four. Two said once that you did what she called a “transfer”. Meaning you were treating Four as your little brother, but it was definitely not like that, it was something else. Something One had prohibit.

Back at the Haunted House in the California desert, you hadn’t slept all the way ‘home’, you busied yourself packing Six stuff and bring them back in your trailer.

One was standing in the cargo plane, in front of the metal storage cabinet, in which each one of us had to store personal effects, will, things like that, if you happened to die.

He handed you Six’s key.

“Hold on to it, will you? he furrowed his eyebrows retrieving his hand, When that mission is over, I’ll open it. Well if I’m still here.”

He nodded understanding.

“I brought him into this, ...”

“… He said there was nothing he’d rather be doing with his life. That prick.” One was oddly compassionate

You shook your head trying to hold back tears, if you hadn’t hack that asshole back in your hometown, your brother wouldn’t be dead. Two’s French saying was in loop in your head, “Avec des si, on mettrait Paris en bouteille” “With Ifs, we could put Paris in a bottle.” but your guilt was still there, hanging tight.  

 Wally’s head on your thighs you couldn’t care less about his drool staining your jean, watching the nightfall on the California desert, the scolding sun giving place to the starry night, the sky virgin of light pollution you could see so much of the vault. Wally barked scaring you and made his way inside. “Ok big guy, good night.”

Passing by the empty pool you sat on one of the old lounge chairs, when you arrived it became your hangout with your brother and Four, even though it was mostly Four’s area. 

Sometimes Five would pass by on her way to the “gym cargo” as they called it. Four would settle on the edge of the bowl, while you lean on a lounge chair, your brother in the bowl tossing a tennis ball to each of you, tonight was the exception, your brother was not here, tears were, only Four didn’t stay on his side. 

He didn’t ask anything, he squished himself between you and the armrest. Wrapping his arms around your shoulders, face again his chest you sobbed. Being held by him was foreign at first, only used to your brother’s hugs since you’d left your hometown. As he brushed away your hair from your wet face, you looked at him, his mouth slightly opened, brows furrowed slightly, your hand reached for the crease between it, easing it with the pad of your index, his gaze locking with yours at your gesture. His hand brushed a last strand away, burying itself in your hair. He kissed the same spot on you, lingering, nose nudging his sharp jaw, his breath grazed your cheek. Lips hovering each other’s, there was a flash of hesitation that crossed his features, your lips closed on his before you could think. He tightened his grip on your waist, bringing you closer, your cold fingers brushing his cheek. Suddenly shame struck you.

Jerking away from him, stumbling on your two feet, you pressed the heel of your hands into your eyes. Kissing Four while mourning for your brother felt so wrong.  

“Eight..wh ?”

You cut him “If this is coming out of some misplaced sense of guilt, don’t bother.”

He opened and closed his mouth “What the.., you kissed me Eight ..!”

“I .., your voice wavered, I’m not myself right now… “ You had kissed him first, what were you trying to say, yeah he kissed back but argh the fuck was happening in your head. Avoiding his pained look you turned around, fleeing the situation.

“It’s not, just so you know, some misplaced guilt.” he watched you disappear into the night, your trailer alight few meters away.

Third chapter - A Matter of Seconds 

A/N: don’t forget to double tap if you liked it. 🙏

[floridensis]

a wasp appreciation post

it looks like lots of people are submitting their wasp pics to @onenicebugperday​ and i decided i wanted to just make a massive wasp photo dump!

i am a recovered wasp-phobe. i used to run in the opposite direction if i saw a wasp. now i go towards them (i do not recommend that. but ive got observations to make). every one of these photos is a testament to how theyve grown on me. shoutout to the nice paper wasps that didnt care about me and just wanted to do their business and ignored me as i attempted to face my fears and photograph them. the pics were garbage but i got better.

so, first, have some of the most majestic wasps ive ever seen:

this incredible creature was probably the biggest wasp ive ever seen. i ran around following it FOREVER to capture a photo, but it was really good at getting away from me. [inat link]

this beautiful thing was probably the second biggest wasp ive ever seen. i detected it because i heard the sound of its massive buzzing wings! it didnt seem to want to go far, i could have sat watching it forever. [inat link]

the rest is going to be under a cut so not to pollute your dashes :)

so lets look at some other funky wasps

heres some beautiful wasps, incredibly tiny with incredibly thick thighs. i think the top one is a male and the bottom one is a female, by looking at the shape of the butt. these little guys dont sting, and the top one let me hold it briefly (it was cold...) [inat link] [inat link]

but im going to be honest, as much as i love those little things, i think that its kinda cheating to showcase non-stinging wasps when defending them against people who hate wasps for stinging. so.....

STING!!!!! look, its just what nature is. theyre not mean, theyre just doing what they gotta do. funny enough, between the two wasps here, im pretty sure most people would be more scared of the victim than the aggressor if they were to see them individually. [inat link] [inat link]

i observe so many wasps in the patch where i witnessed this attack, and honestly i have to say, normally they mind their own business. in fact, this patch is what got me over my own fear of wasps! 

like, look at this cutie in the patch, just sleeping there :) [inat link]

theres so many different kinds of wasps there, and in surprising places, too!

heres some parasitic wasps that i hatched when trying to hatch stink bugs. gotta say, even if they werent what i was looking for, it was fascinating all the same. people often hear “parasitic wasp” and go GHGHHGGGUGH HELL NO!!!!!! and im not sure what theyre thinking. parasitic wasps cannot sting, and they hatch out of the eggs or bodies of other bugs and stuff. they dont hurt people at all. (those beautiful thick thighed orange ones earlier on are also parasitic) [inat link]

i want to show off two other wasps but i dont really know a smooth transition for it. so heres a yellowjacket nest.

it was really fascinating. they had built this nest in the exposed dirt of an uprooted tree! we sat and watched the traffic for a while. i dont really see yellowjackets where i live, so it was cool seeing them up in gainseville, especially because of how cool their nest was. [inat link]

none of them wanted to sting me. there were so many awesome wasps in gainesville and only one wanted to sting me.

isnt it just beautiful?? it didnt sting me, but i could tell i was agitating it the more i tried to get pictures. so i left. simple. but i was willing to take a bit of risk because it was one of the most beautiful paper wasps ive ever seen. but if i didnt leave it that would be my fault.

i could go on. i have a lot more i want to show off, but i dont want to type anymore or look up any more of my inat observations.

know what, im just dumping some pretty ones without context

so.... thats wasps for you. i love them. if you wanna reblog and maybe show off some wasps too, youre welcome to.

[mynameisdreartblog]

Structural Isomers 2

Leo: 2,3-Dimethylheptane. It’s just… my life is so average that I gotta force myself into others’ situations; how else am I gonna get a thrill? Do you feel me, Viz? <The amusement park ride begins to take off, revealing the mildly broad view of the Guatemalan cityscape. The smell of barbeque holds back the tears Oro was ready to shed because ferris wheels strike a particular emotional nerve for him.> «Uh… my advice is that what you’re doing isn’t necessarily a bad thing. To be philosophical, nothing anyone does is bad.» Even murder and like, murdering children? «Yeah, not even that can constitute you as a bad person. And that’s true ‘cause everyone alive now has come here with a purpose, and those purposes can manifest in many ways in our lives.» <The carriage buckles a bit, enough to make noticeable the snot on Oro’s hand> ...You sound like you’re heading into some wacky territory, but I’ll bite. <Viz takes another bite into the corndog that seemingly materialized from his pocket> «So, because of this highly encoded model of fate, that means that even the worst shit that happens to you happens for a reason.» Even cancer and like, terminal cancer? «Redundant, but yes.» Hmm… <Oro takes a small bite of Viz’s corn dog while he’s distracted> I think there’s some moral holes in that, Viz. «It’s funny ‘cause that isn’t real either!» Okay, you’re just fucking with me now; may Jesus find your lost soul. «Sounds like you can’t see past yourself!» <The carriage buckles again but harder, knocking the corn dog out of Viz’s hand and revealing the loogie Oro was hiding.> So you’re saying that it’s commendable for me to put myself where I don’t belong? «Hold on, I never said that, but… actually, you should just be proud for who you are. Take yourself as you are, and you can then begin to do the same to others. Forget about the idea of souls and deeper selves entirely.» Whatever you say, homie.

Taurus: 3,3-Diethylpentane. «Gresham.» <He peeks his head from washing the dishes to divert attention to the voice that called him> What is it, Sanjay? «Hmm, I was gonna ask you questions about how nonsensical this world is, but my mind immediately shifted to asking you how you got to this point.» This point? Like, the quality of life I possess currently? «What else?» I would’ve preferred to point out the ridiculousness of this whole ordeal, but I understand your shift. Shoot! «Do you think the ways you’ve gotten to where you are now were… unethical?» There’s a lot you’re holding in your mouth when you ask a question like that. As a lover of difficult questions, I won’t answer that until the day’s done. «Uh-» No complaining, or I’ll cut your pay by 30%. <Sanjay thinks to himself> That’s exactly what I wanted to talk to him about: He has to be aware, right? There’s no way his skull is that dense, and his jokes are too clever! <Gresham finishes washing the last remaining plate and slides it atop the rack. Afterwards, he walks back to his usual position in the restaurant and waits for any new service.> [...] <Sanjay flicks his used cigarette from his mouth and onto the elaborate ashtray outdoors. In impatience, he goes back inside and demands the accountability he thinks he deserves> «It’s been three hours and nobody has shown up; you want to start removing that answer’s date back?» <Gresham breaks his inhuman concentration to make a firm statement> Clean up your ashtray first. «Are you teaching me an ecological lesson? Is this some lesson of your Tantra?» No, I’m just conscious about any numbers of fires that could emerge from cigarettes. «Fine.» <As Sanjay begins to go back outside, Gresham speaks again> Trust me, I wish I could escape the clutches of this cast we thrive and suffer under. However, no matter where I go, the world still refers back to where I came from. Is there value in not persisting forwards but backwards? <Sanjay looks back with hesitation, thinks briefly “the Manusmriti?” but scoffs at his datedness> Also, If you walk out, I’ll assume you’re doing terrible things, so don’t. «What about the-» The ashes will know where to go. «Why do you put on this faux mystic attitude? You’re a restaurant owner!»

Aquarius: 2,6-Dimethylheptane. <Aukai finds herself awake in her unsheeted bed, further disorganized beyond possibility. She forcefully motions her lips and breathes words of lucid wisdom through her dry chords.> There’s an anxiety that grips me sometimes, and it’s that every passing second I don’t recognize the artistic potential of something, it gets lost to time. What I fear the most is my head getting cracked wide open, losing consciousness, and awakening to a future that robbed me of beautiful scenes for new pieces. «This anxiety seems… unlike you.» <Aukai is surprised by the fact that her client is awake. Fear would gain control of her if it weren’t for him snoring afterwards, indicating it’s sleep-talking> Men are more beneficially judgmental when they’re asleep, huh? Whelp, I can leave while the night’s still middle-age. <Aukai gets dressed, particularly struggling to get her galoshes back on to weather the incoming rain. Once outside, she dashes through the rain almost oafishly, betraying the expectation of feminine grace. She thinks to herself> Even beyond how ridiculous it sounds, the life of an artist is a religious one: One where we’re conflicting our reality with the one produced on canvas. Well, that’d make the process more like the foundations of a religion than the application of it. The completeness isn’t there yet, but hopefully I can figure it out by the time I’m home. <The moonlight becomes secondary as the artificial lights create new scenes at every corner, torturing Aukai’s poor, traumatized eyes. She simply looks into her hands to avoid all these temptations.> [,] <There’s now tears mixing in with the raindrops, and on the way home, Aukai is stopped by an obstacle she couldn’t see coming. Facedown in the asphalt, she looks up to see a beautiful scene, etching itself into her eyes to haunt her next gig.> G-goddamn you <Aukai pounds her fist into the ground.>

Pisces: 2,2,4,4,-Tetramethylpentane. <Maghazi is walking down the crowded afternoon streets of Dakar, gleefully filling his lungs with the smell of pollution and fried fish. Here, he feels at one with the natural world, leaving no space for false misconceptions of the monism he lives and, well, breathes. Here, there’s people he can both condescend and praise, leaving ample room to leave a web of both shrinkage and growth. His baggy pants are scruffed from the leftover paint of the bricks he vaulted and leapt over for the style of the action: Something to move the body he believes serves no purpose other than preserving the valuable brain.> Hmm, my ears are pointing me somewhere ambiguous: 20 meters away. <It appears he’s detecting something his senses designated as important to him. Despite this, he was never really the opportunistic personality, at least never one that took what was in front of them. Maghazi takes more determined steps, inching closer to the source> If I had to guess, it’s likely a drone chip. They don’t exactly make their existence a secret <He rubs a special knob on his glasses, enabling a process we can’t witness or understand> …Found them. <Maghazi stumbles upon the source, which is a group of teenage boys in an alleyway kicking around a hacky sack, which he believes to be the source of the signal. Wondering how to approach, Maghazi comes to only the most optimal method> Oh, it looks like I’m substituting today. «Man, who are you talking to?» You guys: Who else? ²«Nobody agreed on that.» I never said it was democratic. All I need now is to be in this space and access to that hacky sack. «Get your own.» What if I told you it was an explosive device ready to go off and I was the only one who knew how to disarm it? «We’d die happy then.» <Maghazi is irked as there’s no other plans of approach left. In defeat, he walks away with a hunched demeanor. He thinks to himself how humorous it’d be if the hacky sack blew up like in his absurd hypothetical, but he’s quickly disappointed by the unpoetic reality> Nothing’s gonna happen.

[supernatural-squadd]

Baby of Death

Winchester Sister Imagine

Warnings: Blood, angst, Death (literal Death, as in the Horseman)

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After all the hard work and care Dean had put into the Impala, after all the scolding John had spewed into his oldest sons mind about taking care of the family's longtime car, here she sat, many a time after the first when she crashed. Only now she was flipped the wrong way on the cruel  pavement. Dean was trapped inside, still unconscious from the crash, but you? You had been thrown at least ten feet through the windshield.

Glass stuck unkindly in shattered shards throughout pieces of your body. Some embedded into your arm, and scratches now offended your once flawless skin with a few larger pieces still deep in your cheeks and road rash marking alongside such cuts and gashes. Other straggling much thicker shards of glass stuck to and fro on your body, your arms, legs, yet there was only one particular chunk had landed into one deadly area and pierced it heavily: your liver.

Every bone in your bleeding body wished to get up and check on Dean, knowing that this wound in particular was fatal and the chances of you surviving it were highly unlikely.

"Dean?" You croaked, voice hoarse and coated with blood.

Moments passed with no movement and no response from your brother. In the cold night you could see your ragged breath creating a cluster of steam forcefully showing itself as did the stream of tears rushing down your cheek to kiss the bloodied pavement. It was now you felt the urge to get up and run over to him more than ever, only you couldn't feel anything below your waist, which only pained you more and added to the flow of tears.

"Dammit Dean…" you grunted out in pain, still looking upon his unconscious body as you called out to him, knowing that the feeling of tiredness still swept throughout you and only continued to grow.

Adrenaline overtook the true feeling of pain and fear, not your own pain or your own fear from wounds, but the fear you would die not knowing if your brother was to live or not. The pain that you couldn't tell how much pain he was in, and that you couldn't take his pain as your own to ease his suffering.

With adrenaline running like a wild horse through your veins and weak shaking hands, you clutched the base of the glass stuck through your body, well aware that removing it created an even shorter time in the land of the living for you. Regardless of this, you still gripped it, cutting into your bleeding hands even more as a painful deep cry of pain pierced the silence in the world around you.

Taking but a few seconds to catch your breath, you turned back up to the stars and began to crawl as fast as injuries and pain would allow you to.

"You do not get to leave me," you cried on your journey, never stopping or breaking the gaze you had upon your brother. "not like this, not ever."  A cough wrapped in blood came hurdling from your chapped bleeding lips, but you continued to drag your half dead body towards your brother.

It seems it took miles than feet to reach him. He was lying half on the roof in the inside of his once beautiful baby, still in a sitting position only his head crookedly pressed to the roof, legs half crushed by the weight of the dash pushing downward upon him and one of his hands broken and smothered. His face too was cut by shards of unruly glass just as yours was, only his cuts and scrapes weren’t nearly as bad or serious as yours.

"Big brother," you began, speaking with tears and sniffles, still coughing slightly with blood. "please open your annoying green eyes, and answer your baby sister, please." Even though you wept and pleaded for your brother to open his eyes, show any sign he was alive, you still got no response.

The trouble with death is you think you have time, all the time in the world. Yet it's the exact opposite. Time is against you, in every sense of the matter. People assume death to be cold, but it's just the body that feels that way. The soul is content near the end, warm and peaceful. It was so odd, when your body finally grows so weak you act as though you are to fall asleep, you look for anything in humanity to cling to, something to drag you into that final sleep. Sometimes you never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory, until it becomes a final moment.

So there you lay, head on the cool ground that only brought you comfort as your eyes studied your brother. For a moment you thought him dead, until his chest rose just a little. In this breath of his, in that deep breath that showed you he still lived, did you finally relax and take your last.

Dean's eyes opened as he gasped for air, instantly coughing at the smell that clogged the air and polluted it. The first thing he did was look to his right, seeing if you were in the car, but you watched as his eyes followed to where your body was thrown from the car, and the trail of blood that led to the driver side door where he found you turned on your back, eyes ghosted in his direction in a peaceful way.

"Hey! Wake up, you've gotta get up." He shouted in a raspy tone, trying to move towards you but couldn't find himself able to reach your body, just like you were unable to reach out to his.

He could see your attempt where you had tried to grab his hand, trying to hold it, but you were too short armed without him extending his reach also. So easily did he reach out, grunting once in pain from his side and then ignoring it as he took your hand in his.

"Hold on, okay? Cas will patch you up, you've just got to hold on." His words became more desperate, as though he knew he was talking to a corpse but refused to believe it.

"All I wanted was to make sure you'd make it." A painful half smile crossed your lips, accompanied by a single tear to guide your words as you softly spoke.

"And so you have." One familiar voice came up from behind you. "Forgive me, but when I heard it was you, I would consider it an honor to be the one to reap your soul." Death spoke calmly.

"Dean," you started, knowing he couldn't hear you but not paying mind to that. "This wasn't your fault, I swear that to you." Finally you turned to Death. "If I go with you, will you make sure this is it? No redo's on life. No coming back. No demon deals. I want to be gone for good. This is my first time dying, I intend for it to be my only and my last."

Death took no time in replying swiftly. "I can promise you that." He watched you look one last time upon your brother who was mourning for you. "Are you ready?"

"I just have one condition before I go off into the sunset." While your request wasn't one that required more time, or one final goodbye, it was one that he had no problem accommodating. All you wanted were three notes, three notes for three brave brothers.

A fallen angel, a nerdy giant, and the boy who would always carry some form of guilt in his heart.

[silvermuffins]

Pokemon Scarlet Liveblog!!! Part 3

Listen. I had a very good reason to delay this. The best reason even (you know who you are <3)

where were we? oh right, we were lost.

i have no memory of this place

aaaaaa there's a crab following me

battles an artist who can't finish a sentence

!!! GIMMIGHOUL hello my new pal Boxly. It's up on top of this tower, which seems to just be a lookout tower.... I can see Artzon from here, and also Light Pollution. And also a really giant butte? can't wait to go up there! Oh, neat, you can fly to the watchtowers once you've been to them.

oooh i see where the titan klawf is now, hello down there

small blue...that's not a rookidee. What are you? What are you??? Get back here! Nymble? bug i think...cricket but it almost looks like a like. fidget spinner. oh goddammit poison point, killed it.

Found another, finally, while wandering. If they wanted me to accomplish anything they shouldn't have given me an open worl. Anyway I still think Nymble looks like a fidget spinner folded up so her name is Fidget. !!! Look, a Growlithe! get over here Fai Do!

i wonder what's with these ruined buildings? don't like how they seem to be where i find Drowzee.

AAAA WHAT'S THAT PINK THING Tinkatink? You're gonna be Pebbles.

I think the signs pointing to Artazon are starting to get desperate about my adamant exploration. They keep yelling at me like I'm not deliberately going the opposite direction of what they say.

New Headcanon: enough kids got hopelessly lost in these cliffs that they just put signs goddamn everywhere.

lmao the signs like "okay if you're down here you MUST be lost"

AAAAA CRAB LANDED ON ME

sorta hate that i can only jump while riding koraidon

"Caught 63 battled 81" damn, my dex is at a phenomenal start

well now. I have 45 minutes until i need to get ready for work, and I'm right about at the crabby paddy. jfc these fuckin Klawf have this like....creepyass moan of an activation noise, they're at the intersection of no thoughts head empty and nightmare fuel.

now wait i tick i SAW the big klawf on this wall earlier, where is ti? ....oooh, i found him. exploring, tho--

well, that was easy. I could go down the long way....but it's more IC for Fani to just leap off the cliff after it. Whee!

Awww Arven uses a Shellder! And I am massively overleveled.

Heyyyy, Teach is evolving! Clodsire??? Oh, it's fully evolved now, I can grab something else from my box.

Also, looking for more Herba Mistica! In a caaave. Oh, it's just more cutscene. This one's sweet. That's the flavor associated with speed...

ARVEN IS GONNA FEED ME. He makes kung fu movie noises while he cooks, what the fuck. Aaaaa this is so cute.

Arven why do you hate koraidon

oh....i don't get to eat sandwich. gotta feed it to Koraidon... just goes hungry ig

aww Arven sharing OH I GET TO DASH NOW NEAT

what is your deal my guy

Sada how do you know that

Swap Teach out for Sotero...we'll be doing a grass gym next I think? But we have Scoots for that.....i just. it's ten more levels until Scoots evolves, do I want a half-bird team that long? Not really. Ah well, sort it out later.

oh more places to explore Oh dunsparce with Tera Poison. Might as well try and catch thaaaaaat was a critical capture, okay then

how does headbutt work with a nacli just it just yeet its wholeass self. anyway the new Dunsparce is now Dunviped.

damn wild pokemon just keep running into me LEAVE ME ALONE FOR TWO SECONDS SO I CAN FIGURE OUT WHERE I AM

uhhhh how'd i even get to this part of the map.....

okay i am going to get ready for and go to work we will figure this out Later

and now it is later! I am still lost! I think i jumped off one too many cliffs,,,,,,

let's just. fly back to the watchtower.

okay where the fuck am i NOW

for those wondering: no, my sense of where i am is also this bad in reality i just almost never leave the neighborhood i've lived in my entire life

ohhh this cliff looks out on a team star base....damn they're big

back on track! keep forgetting to heal up,,,

finished an accidental battle and immediately slid down a cliff.... Fani is battered and bruised.

Finally on the Artazon outskirts! And I found...twin mice? Tandemaus. How....do you name a Pokemon that is two Pokemon??? fuck it. You're Beep & Boop now.

Okay I think I'm done dicking around, time to actually enter town. NOPE there's more Pokemon to catch here! Tish the Shuppet, Nimbus the Drifloon, and FINALLY found a Squawkabilly to name Elvis.

Okay NOW i'm in town, oh look the same food shops I found in Mesagoza.

Man I get nothing for reaching the center of the maze??? you'd think there'd be a little prize, like a person saying congrats and giving me a pokeball or something.

"what a nice breeze" this little girl says, in the middle of a thunderstorm....

wait does Koraidon already have surfing capabilities, just in case i fall in some water?

love this giantass playground, would be better with interactible elements!

man i miss unique gym designs why do they all need to look the same on the outside...anyway, time to beat up Hubert von Vestra. Can't believe they made his shiny colors green. Well. After I rip up his garden or whatever.

....no time limit or anything, this will be a cakewalk. oh, this one flees- oh, it wants to FIGHT. bitch I have a Shroodle. damn the maze one isn't even at the center and three more were right at start, what a wimpy test.

just noticed there's a Surrendering Sunflora on top of the Pokemon Center....

OH MY GOD WHAT A FUCKING EDGELORD oh jesus fuck that smile is terrifying don't do that. especially while soggy.

What is that at his hip anyway is that a garden hoseoh Nebula you right this music is incredible

WAIT I MISCALCULATED Chomper's tera type is normal not Poison! Augh! I still win, but damn.

Brassius is so fucking intense. Fani is a little....scared.

I see another excalibur thingy....up on a cliff where i can't reach...

Anyway, Falmenco is another Oricorio.

I am approaching the fire Star Base, and Cassiopeia calls in-- who in the FUCK is this?!

wai

wait a second

oh no is that who i think it is

it....it has to be.....

oh NO im gonna die this is hilarious

hELP

Clive and Cassiopeia both like "fuck i can't press you while also concealing my own bullshit"

BAHAHAHAHAHA

ah crap got rammed from behind by a Tauros- JUST STAY IN THE BALL. Finally. Your name is Noctober. OH, CYCLIZAR. Definitely need a you. Ah fuck accidentally killed it. there's another one! Fuck, killed that one too. But at least Sirea is evolving! Time to swap her out for Jupe.

cutscene took me down the cliff so now i gotta catch up on some explorin'

trying to find another Cyclizar, or a Toedcool since the map says they're here, but I'll take this Venonat. Sana. Ooh! Teddiursa! Crit captured, even, you'll be Renange. I have no Flabebe yet but this grass tera Floette will do... Banchata. ! Sotero evolving into....Naclstack. I was going to say that's pretty cool but honestly it's pretty minecraft. Komala! I'm calling you Ponchi. Pineco, you're Gonzo. Finally found a Toedcool! dammit I killed it. Found an Applin! You're Froot. CYCLIZAR. You'll be Zips.

i am Tired and Slightly Ill, so I do believe I will be calling it here for the moment!!!!

[cutegirlmayra]

I'm actually a little curious of what would happen if Amy DID loose herself on that one prompt where it's explained if something happens to the past self, the present ones would feel bruises, or something like that. Good luck! Not that you need it anyway since you're writing is just... I can't even describe it. What a better word for phenomenal?

Lol, how about ‘I love you?’ *wn* thank you so much!

WARNING: For the faint of the precious heart feels, plz read with some caution.

Original: (x)

                    ALTERNATIVE “DARK” ENDING

Prompt:

“Stooopp!!!”

“L-leave this to us…”

“We don’t want you to change! You’ll only hurt yourself by being something you’re not! But we will fight with you!”

“Please! Listen to us!”

In a moment of true weakness, her heart feeling heavy and her hammer held tightly as if she was a rabid animal, Classic Amy breathed heavily and looked down.

She didn’t see their faces.

She barely saw through the blur of her eyes, her hands shaking and her vision going in and out of focus.

Her mind barely grasped their words… till she felt a strong hand upon her own, which was gripping her hammer.

She lightly shifted her gaze her to it, but never looked up into the keeper’s eyes.

Her mind was wild, it wasn’t stable.

Modern Amy tried to run to help the others but fell as her head started to throb, her grip on herself slowly disintegrating as she gripped her head.

“W..what’s going on? I can’t… I can’t think straight… I’m.. I’m…”

Classic Amy shook her head, “N-…Nooo!!!” she flailed and fought. Her sudden movement shocked her friends as they were tossed around and flung away from her.

She looked up with unchecked rage at the robot, and swung her hammer out towards it, readying for battle.

“Very well, foolish girl.” Classic Eggman fired the machine gun.

She skillfully arched and swerved her way through it, before smashing the robot’s footing and getting it off center.

Thanks to her practice, she found some weak points and targeted its balance, before the cannon charged and fired her back and away from them.

“No!” The Modern Sonic Team cried out, trying to desperately get up, before succeeding. Racing against time, Knuckles reached out and gripped Classic Amy’s limp body, grinding his shoulder against the rock of the broken earth and rolling along with the bumps and ramps in it.

Out of sheer power, he dug his knuckles into the earth, and stopped them before they both went tumbling into a gorge of glowing lava…

He breathed in his own sweat and the smoke suck to the inside of his mouth. But he didn’t care much, looking down at the precious jewel in his arms.

She was out cold. Her color faded. Her quills still spiked in aggression and tension.

“Ah, kid…” He breathed out, seeing as she really took a blow.

He let his head fall just above hers, trying to catch some air, but nothing was cleaning his lungs from the smoke and heatstroke he was experiencing so close to the edge.

Tails flew over and helped them up, before realizing…

Modern Sonic fought with the Classic Team, it was clear his quills had risen somewhat in his distress at seeing Classic Amy blasted away like that.

Taking down the main threat after seeing she would be alright was his first priority, then he could check on her later.

“Amy!” Tails turned to look out into the distance, squinting his eyes before his panic threw him into a loop.

The two dimensions were almost fully one… when more than just 7 Chaos Emeralds flickered into existence near Amy.

Modern Amy’s body was collapsed on the ground… but her color was faded as well, as the emeralds started spiraling around her, glowing as if getting some form of a power source around her.

With Modern’s universes Master Emerald obliterated by the Eggmans, having the Classic era’s Master Emerald and destroying any further way to charge the emeralds, it was almost a complete victory…

But Tails quickly pulled Knuckles and Classic Amy from the edge even further and then flew out to meet her.

“Amy! What’s going on!?” he cried out, seeing the emeralds flicker out of existence after touching her back, turning her even darker.

“Amy..?” he slowed down, his voice growing faint, before backing up a little bit… his arm over his head as if to shield him from something…

Sonic and the Classic Sonic Team finally took down the robot, getting ready to capture the Eggmans when they turned around at a shadow moving swiftly over the land…

The fires dimmed… but made the only light possible.

“Oh no… are the universes one?” Tails looked at the darkened sky and quickly back to Amy.

Something was going on… but he didn’t know what.

What he didn’t know… was that because the two dimensions were now polluted with uncharacteristic potential reactions… that the universe was being changed constantly.

He didn’t even realize it happening to him, but could certainly see Amy’s body burst out into a darkness power.

The reverse of Super Form was because of the corruption of time and space, and instead of a controlled power…

Modern Amy slowly got up to her knees.

At first, Tails smiled, “Amy!” he moved a little forward, being knocked back a moment but was unsure of the dark aura…

His smile faded when she stood with a blank expression, her eyes empty except for a void of white, and the darkness whisking around her in desperate need of stability.

In fear and exhaustion, the team were forced to dodge and even fight back against her bursts of power, attacking anything that moved, and seeming unable to recognize them.

“I don’t think that’s Amy!” Tails cried out, dodging another dark energy pulse that came from her, laying down from the impact. “I… urk… I think it’s the essence of the universe! It’s just as distressed, and with all the pressure of the two dimensions being painfully merged together… I think it’s just using her as an outlet!”

“That shouldn’t make sense!” Knuckles, still holding onto Classic Amy’s dangling body, jumped to the side to avoid a power blast.

“…” Modern Sonic clenched his teeth, unable to speak.

He sped up and burst out into a spin dash towards her.

However, Modern Amy turned her ghostly head and blasted a motionless pulse that spun him off his course.

He landed on his knees and braced with his hands, hitting the ground. “No..! This wasn’t.. suppose to happen… Amy! I know you’re in there!” he whipped himself around, “You gotta remember yourself… control yourself!” he was more aggressive as well, everyone being altered through the pollution of the two shredded and torn realities.

“Who are you!?”

She didn’t move again, as a pulse pushed him back but he remained able to withstand through the placement of his feet, skidding against the ground some in resistance.

“Grr… You said you felt weird… but you never said you were turning against yourself!” he cried out, shielding with squinted eyes against the furry of hot air and dark pressure trying to push him away.

“Amy! Say something!”

Nothing… just staring in his direction… the darkness building more unimaginable rage and even less comprehension…

But she broke.

Her face suddenly gave way to strained pain, stretching her face back before she swiped her hand out and her eyes turned a darkness with a shadow as it’s pupil.

“You care about us… we’re your friends… you may be the first to morph because of all this.. but if we don’t do something… you won’t be the last!”

A painful cry rang out as the gang turned to see Classic Tails gripped his head, staggering backwards as multiple colored emeralds appeared around him before flickering away when they touched his struggling body. He tried to smack them away but they suddenly, violently thrust themselves and their power into him.

“N…no..” Modern Tails watched in horror, before looking at his hands and seeing the color fade.

He looked up… but without much warning… his eyes widened as he immediately felt swallowed up at the same time as his Classic self burst into a dark silhouette and fainted.

Modern Tails’s entire body was consumed in dark flames, as they formed into some figure of a mythological fox spirit, residing on all fours and having sharp, jagged teeth. The darkness flared up but returned to his normal size, as Modern Tails began to savagely attack Classic Sonic with his new found form. Running on all fours, he slashed through to injury him, leaving Modern Sonic to reel back and watch as a slow-moving scar began to be created on the side of his chest, moving across and just stopping before the center of his body.

He breathed in fear, feeling scared, and not understanding why he couldn’t push past it like he used too.

Immediately grabbed his Classic self, Knuckles took both kids in hand and started racing away from the Classic double-ganger of Modern Tails.

The Eggmans had already begun to cringe with mouths open on the ground, feeling great pain as more emeralds swarmed them from the other dimension. As if time and space were fighting against the merger, and also going insane…

“We… Argh! Have to get to the AUUUHH…. Master Emerald.” Modern Eggman put an arm over his Classic Self, trying to help him up as he looked as though he were painfully dying, but hoisted him over his shoulder as the pain also replicated to him, causing him to fall once again to the ground.

“The Master Emerald?” Knuckles looked into the fallen robot, seeing the gem start to dangle over the fire crevice… “Oh no!” he quickly looked to the kids…

Judging what would be better, he put the kids down beside each other, seeing his Classic self take off his head, and hold it to his chest.

“We’re in deep… aren’t we, buddy?” His Classic self held a solemn look as if trying to resist accepting his fate just yet.

“…Hmm. We’ll make it.” Knuckles gave him a thumbs up, a confident smile, before booking it to rescue what could be their only hope…

Classic Sonic fought off Modern Tails, but only keeping him back with rapid spin-dashes, having marks everywhere from battle damage.

Modern Sonic could feel every attack, and gripped his arm as his body mimed taking injury… walking towards Modern Amy.

“You… have to fight it… both of you… all of us…”

The Eggmans shifted, turning into spider-like robots in dark form, and charging after Knuckles to stop him- the emeralds combining the Eggmans with parts of the fallen robot they, themselves, had invented…

Amy started to laugh.

A darkness rose behind her, a pillar to be feared, as she began to step back into it. “You think… that was… love?”

The fire engulfed her, morphing her fully into a shadowed beast, raising her up to loom over Sonic at the top of the pillar.

He could barely stand up any longer… feeling the effects of the universe… but he wasn’t going to fall so easily…

He rose his head to watch her form and then listened to her shriek out her next line-

“Now you’ll feel the pain!!!”

“…Funny.” He straightened out his back.

The universe closed in all around him, Modern Knuckles throwing the Master Emerald before the dark, mutated Eggmans got to him, and Classic Knuckles rushing to grab it and abandoning the fallen Classic Amy as she stirred to start forming into a dark creature as well.

He passed it to Classic Sonic, “Go long!” he cried out, his hat flying off into the wind.

Classic Sonic stumbled but caught it, holding it up before an attacking shadow beast, not even seeing it as his friend anymore.

“For something that wasn’t real… it still brings you lasting pain?” he gave himself a smile… before an Emerald jabbed into his shoulder, being absorbed by him. “AH!”

Like a gunshot, Sonic fell to his knees again…

But Modern Amy twitched back at his words, before shaking her head.

“You ruined the cosmos! You destroyed me!”

“…Amy did care…” Sonic gasped out, fighting with quakes against the pain in his shoulder, seeing another Emerald flicker into existence, he turned his head in reflex and dodged it as it lunged towards him.

Classic Sonic stumbled and dropped the Master Emerald, having it roll through the broken earth’s ramps and peaks before falling near Modern Sonic…

“Amy doesn’t exist!”

Sonic rose his head, “So you are the universe!”

The dark formed creature leaned its head back in surprise, realizing Sonic knew that darkness was invading the world through pollution. They weren’t his friends anymore… it was possession.

He dashed to the Master Emerald in one last attempt for freedom, Knuckles shifting, his Classic self fading, and Sonic seeing the darkness start to quickly consume him.

Suddenly… everything was black… all Sonic could see through it was his white, gloved hand… reaching for a faint emerald color…

Then the light shone before he was fully taken over.

Chaos emerged and was released from the emerald, encircling Sonic in a brilliant glow.

He was purified and turned super, immediately using Chaos’s abilities to cover the world and split the dimensions back into their proper place.

Classic Amy woke up under a tree. The sun shining, the air clean.

She looked around before she saw a patch of flowers swaying by her, freshly picked.

She smiled and happily smelled them before a figure walked up behind her.

A few… actually.

“What are you doing way out here, Rosy?” Tails leaned over to smile at her, as Sonic and Knuckles looked to one another and then smiled down at her too.

“Need a lift?” Knuckles offered, as he held out a hand for her.

Happy, content, and not even wondering why everything was so peaceful, Amy had no idea the adventure that had happened in another pocket of time and space; and with the healed universe, took Knuckles’s hand, and leaped into Sonic’s arms.

[stindleswords-blog]

Ep 1

“Um, hello.” The mic began ringing through the room as he adjusted it. “My name is—”

“No names!” the host yelled from the bar.

“What?”

“Do you not understand the concept of a blind reading?”

“Oh, I thought it meant you just had do the reading blind! … Cause the lights are so bright. Haha.” No one else laughed. “They’re so bright and in your eyes, you can’t even… you might as well be blind, right? Ha... ha…”

He started wishing he was blind, that way he wouldn’t have had to look down at all the unamused scowls staring up at him. It was his fault really. He should have recognized this stage was a death trap from the moment he entered the building. As sweat began trickling down his skull, his mind began retracing every nervous step he took to get here, and suddenly he began drowning in a flash flood of regret

As soon as he swung that vandalized door open his lungs became poisoned by the pollution of coffee and hookah in the air. The small café/bar hybrid was dimly lit to create an illusion of poetic ambiance, but this was just a mask to the truth. The choice of lighting was actually there to aid in cloaking the piercing judgement of the local consumers. They would sit there, shaded in the dark, drinking their Kombucha’s and taking petite bites out of their gluten free scones, as they shot penetrating stabs of disapproval with their culturally charged laser-beam eyes. Navigating his way to the stage of that café was like walking through a minefield. With every step he could feel his millennial authenticity leaking out of the bullet holes of his soul. Was the catchphrase on his shirt politically correct yet still ironic enough for their taste? Should he have ordered an espresso from the café bar instead of bringing a frap from Starbucks? And there was no way his piercing free face was earning him any street cred. Soon they would discover he was a fraud, and all his deepest fears would come to life.

“Um, I’m going to read for you today, my short story. It’s called The Light Under, uh.” He held his notebook up to his nose and tried squinting hoping his eye lids would block out the bright light beaming down on him. “Under Hilda’s Nose.”

“What?” someone in the audience asked.

“Rose. The Light under Hilda’s Rose!” He looked up, proud of his creative yet classy title and smiled into the abyss of the crowd.

“Are you going to read or what? Ole gap-toothed-ass motha fucka.”

“Oh.” His smile shrunk and he looked down as if he were trying to observe his own mouth. He shut his lips and even considered covering it with his hand while he read, but realized that would only make him look dumber. “Um. She, she was soft like Austin—ah! Soft like autumn. And I was the, the breeze of wient-winter. I spring to meet h—no, crap, I mean. In spring I met-bleh. Shit, lost my place. I’ll just start…”

“Oh my gosh, did he even rehearse before coming?” “What an amateur.”

“Found it!” He shouted after fumbling through the page with his finger. “There. Her rash hid the, uh… her rosh—ross—roseee, hid the-the light of my soiled pants. No. No. I meant, spoiled passion.”

“Ugh, stop trying to be so pretentious.” “Why is he even here?” “Do you even know what real art is?”

“I’m sorry, I can do this. Just give me a second.” He began scrolling through the lines on his notebook in a hurry.

“Boo!” “Go home.” “Boy, that gap spreading wider than Kim Kardashian’s thighs at the BET awards”

“Ok, well that’s just rude,” he spoke back up. Unfortunately, he had lost all control of the crowd.

“Get a real artist up there!” “You suck.” “Ole goofy-ass-looking motha fucka” “I’m vegan!”

“That’s not even relevant ma’am. Can I just finish my—” He looked over to see the manager waving him off the stage. “If you just let me finish, I swear I got it now.”

The manager was all out of patience, he looked over at a burly lumberjack of a man and signaled him over to the stage. The man had a thick dark beard with a luscious man bun to match, he had on a cotton flannel with nothing under it but his curling chest hair, and a pair of DIY Casey Neistat sunglasses. The buffed out trender barreled his way up to the stage.

“Jesus Christ, where did you find 21st century Paul Bunyan?” The bouncer remained unfazed by the joke and continued marching forward. “Www.lumberbros.com? Or do they have a page on twitter? Ok-ok! I’m leaving.”

The crowd snapped their fingers and starting cheering as the boy fled the stage and made his exit from the café. The manager rushed on stage to try to soothe the crowd.

“I think we’re going to cut the blind readings short today and skip right to meditative documentary hour. Tonight we have a student film called Society’s Shackle on the Areola of my Soul. Jeff, you got the projector?” 

-----------------------------------Scene 1 cuts-----------------------------------------------------

                                           Working Title

                                  Ep1: Let’s Just call it the pilot

“No Mom, it just didn’t go well. I wasn’t drunk this time Mom. I’ve never even heard of that drug Mom. Yeah, no, I’m still searching but you know how it is; companies are just really selective these days. Don’t worry I’m still sending out resumes. Ma, I gotta go now. Yeah I’ll keep you updated. Love you. Bye.”

He pulled into the parking spot and took the keys out of the ignition. He laid his head back on the seat and looked up into the reflection of his eyes in the mirror. There wasn’t much inspiration in the image, but inspiration wasn’t exactly something Aaron was glowing with these days. He mustered what motivation he could then grabbed his backpack and exited the car.

Outside, in the parking spot next to his, sat an old Buick blasting aggressively loud rock music. The blue time capsule of a car had rusted door handles and two of the windows were either made out of tape or cardboard, the other two were completely rolled down—or completely missing. The inside of the car was filled with clothes, blankets, trash, and bags of untouched hamburger buns. Nobody appeared to be inside though, but as Aaron began walking by, a naked banshee came shooting up from the backseat like a horrifying popup book.

“Ahhhhyiii!!!” The dreadlocked rock star screamed as he rocked out on his invisible guitar. Aaron almost shit his pants when the bum appeared out of nowhere. But the man paid no attention to Aaron, he was in the middle of an intense jam session and channeling the ghost of mosh-pit’s past. Nothing could break this rockbum out of his intense trance. For Aaron, it was just horrifying to see that much exposed skin making the much motion. The homeless guitarist kept jamming on, screaming and squirming like he was in the middle of an ACDC exorcism. Aaron made sure to triple lock his car as he continued along his way.

The shady nature of the parking lot only continued as he traveled further through it. He passed by two more cars that seemed to be doubling as homes for the residents. In one car, a man laid passed out on the steering wheel with about twelve different brands of empty beer cans on the dash. His tire still had a tire clamp on it that belonged to the city, and his front door had a bike lock on the handle. The other car had an entire bon fire burning inside it with about five other glaring homeless men huddled around it.

“What the hell… does this parking lot double as a trailer park?” he asked himself.

He felt calmer as he reached the safety of his destination. Nothing bad ever happens in the public library right?

“Sir, we’re going to need you to take the other entrance.” Immediately upon pushing through the glass doors, Aaron was met by a stubby police officer blocking the metal detectors that led into the thick of the library.

“What?” Aaron peaked around the officer to notice a section of the library blocked off by rolls of caution tape. Behind the tape were blood stains and broken needles with books and torn up papers scattered everywhere.

“We’re in the middle of an investigation here kid.”

“Jesus, did this happen last night?” he asked.

“No, of course not. This happened a week ago, can’t you smell the feces beginning to ferment?”

“Where is there feces?” Aaron’s curiosity was turning into concern.

“Just take in a whiff,” the officer began scooping the air under his nose with his hands, “C’mon kid, do it with me.”

“Can’t I just go around the tape, I really don’t want to have to walk to the back.”

“No kid! We can’t have no one messing up the crime scene, alright??”  

“But there’s a homeless guy taking a piss on the copier machine right now?”

The cop turned around and there it was, a hairy man covered in dirty sweaters and blankets whistling to the tune of Rihanna’s Bitch Better Have my Money, as he took a wiz on the copier machine placed in the corner of the crime scene.

“Oh shit,” the cop gasped and ran into the crime scene reaching for his weapon, “Jim! another one came back to life.”

“He wasn’t even breathing a couple of minutes ago!” Jim yelled in response.

“He’s got a weapon!” the chubby officer screamed.

Aaron stood there and watched for a moment. The weapon the officer was referring to was the homeless man’s exposed pecker just flopped out of his open fly. He thought about speaking up, but then the fermenting feces finally hit his nostrils, and was doing so with a flaming rage. So he decided the fresh air of the backway would be healthy for him. A flurry of gunshots and screams sounded off as he returned to the parking lot.

After trekking back through the deadlands of the parking lot, only having been offered drugs twice, he was finally in the library again, crime-scene free--or at least caution tape free. The surrounding settings were still just as grisly as before. All of the books looked like they were donated by pyromaniacs after losing their house to a mysteriously caused wildfire. Aaron took his finger and ran it down the lines of books, watching as ashes and debris scraped off of them. He tried picking up a few, mostly because he just wanted to know what section he was in. In one aisle he saw Fear in Loathing in Las Vegas, by Hunter S. Thompson, pressed against a 19th century edition of the Bible, authored by “Cheesus H. Chrisp.” The Bible was the one book still in decent condition so he decided to pick it up. A bag of weed fell out. When it hit the ground a crusty old hand reached out from under the shelf and pulled the bag of weed back with it. Perhaps exploring the bookshelves wasn’t the best idea.

“Excuse me, could you direct me to a section with open outlets?”

“Sir, you can’t come into the library to charge your phone.” He could have been charging his phone right on her desk, she wouldn’t have known. Her eyes didn’t even consider looking up at him, they remained planted on her cosmopolitan magazine as she took two seconds to scroll through all the pictures before flipping to the next page.

“Oh no, it’s just my laptop needs to be charging while I’m using it so…”

“We have computers in the children’s section.” Without shifting her gaze, she took her index finger and pointed behind him. In the children’s section were two raccoons chewing on stuffed animals and one bug eyed man sitting in the computer section, aggressively playing a game of whacking-the-mole-off in his pants.

“I think that guy’s masturbating?”

“If you have a complaint, put it in the complaint box.”

At first he assumed she was joking, but her unbreakable case of bitch-face told him otherwise. He decided writing a complaint was the right thing to do, thinking he should try to be a part of the solution and be a facilitator of justice, as many Yelp users might also describe themselves. But upon further observation he realized the complaint box didn’t exist anywhere close by, and though he was scared to probe onward, he kept on reaching his foot into the mouth of the dragon.

“Well… where’s the complaint box?”

“It was stolen like a month ago, someone thought it was the tip jar.”

“Right, of course. Well you’ve been a great help thank you.”

“The soup kitchen opens at 9 on Thursday’s sir.” She would remain lost in the wonders of her literature as Aaron walked away.

Somewhere in a flickering corner of the library, Aaron was able to find his beloved open outlet—the sweet nectar of any library setting. But he quickly became disappointed in himself for actually thinking that something would go right in this desolate junk yard posing as a library. The outlet was dangling about six inches out of the wall, wires exposed and ripped, with sparks shooting out every now and then to the cadence of the flickering lights. Sitting on the desk above, or more so laid out on the desk above, was an inebriated man planted face first into a book titled 7 Weeks to Safe Social Drinking (by Donna J. Cornett (and available for 1.99 at Barnes & Noble). Sprawled out along the desk next to him were about 6 half-empty beers pouring out down the edge of the desk and dripping onto the exposed wires of the outlet. An optimists might have looked at this scene and said “Looks, like we’re about 3 beers into a good time.” A pessimists would have said “Grab a fork and let’s play ‘Shank-the-Power-Outlet.” Aaron just wanted to get some work done, and was forced to make the best out of his situation.

It was hard to focus on the work in front of him. Perhaps it was his lack of motivation; or maybe it was the notion that nothing he wrote seemed to be as magnificent as it sounded in his head; it could have been due to his persistent hobby of shredding apart any and all ounces of self-confidence; or it could have just been his laptop repeatedly dying every time the power flickered off. After taking five minutes to get his laptop up and running again he would only be able to get in but just a few words before it died out—and that’s if he really focused. Maybe it was a sign, or a metaphor telling him that no matter how hard he tried, his dreams would always die out in the end. Or maybe he should have just let Geek Squad take his computer for a week to figure out the issue with the charger port.

But in all that dark hopeless struggle to get his life together, something peculiar happened, something that suddenly breathed life into the room.

It was a series of sounds that all came one after the other in a rapid furry. Just three quick claps of air. A drum solo of fumes. An orchestra of asscoustics. A pattering parade of poots. The not so silent, but deadly chemical warfare fired out of a machine gun of a sphincter. And there were no questions about where the rumpus originated from. At the very next table, across from Aaron, sat the only other (conscious) resident in this section of the library. Slowly, Aaron turned his head in disgust, almost in disbelief, at what he had just heard--and was now beginning to smell. When he had finished turning his head his eyes met with the petrified gaze of the assailant. This man appeared as if he knew nothing about the world other than fear, and with the two sets of eyes locked, the mortified gas leaker stoop up--

“And just walked away.”

“You’re joking…”

“I shit you not.”

“What lovely phrasing.”

“He let it out like a bomb and just got up, looked me in my eyes, and walked away. As if we had just made a silent oath to secrecy of the horrific event that had just taken place.”

“But like, why?” She laughed.

“I was too busy cherishing the remaining moments I had left with non-polluted air to get up and ask him.”

“Uhg!” She groaned in sarcasm.

“Sorry, I forgot you’re writing that novella on why people fart in public places.”

“How could you?”

“I’m sorry, I know I failed you.”

A sneaky smile slowly slurred onto their faces and neither of the two could continue their serious fronts. They backed down and returned to their laughter.

“I seriously can’t believe that happened” she added.

“Really? After telling you ALLL of that, the one thing you can’t believe is some dude farting like he had pop rocks stuck up his ass?”

“Well yeah,” she chuckled as she continued reading through her textbook. “I don’t know what you expected, that’s why you don’t go to public libraries in south city.”

“I just wanted somewhere quiet to write.”

“I don’t know why you’re so against this library all of a sudden. It’s like the second nicest library in the whole city. And its homeless person free,” she paused for a moment, “well… except for that Moroccan lady who comes in here with those five kids at midnight. I don’t know what her deal is. And why are the kids always different?”

“I’m just tired of this place. It’s been four months since I graduated, I’m tired of having to look at this school and fight some freshmen for a parking spot, just to come back and find my car window bashed in.”

“Actually the window bashing has died down since you graduated. Hmm, wonder if that’s a coincidence?”

“With the way my life’s going, window bashing would be a step up.”

“Maybe you just need to get out of your own head and stop whining like a little bitch all the time.”

“Maybe the problem is my most supportive friend calls me a whiney bitch all the time.”

“Not all the time, just on Monday’s, and Tuesdays after 1:30, and occasionally Thursday through Sunday… oh. And anytime you start whining like a little bitch.”

“Such a great support system…”

“Well if you don’t like it, why don’t you go make some other friends?”

“I think you’re supposed to make all your friends while you’re in college. I kind of missed that deadline.”

“Well I’m so sorry for your loss, but some of us still have time to try get the best out of our college experience. So I’m going to finish studying somewhere that I can actually focus, that way I can go to that Frat party tonight, ok?”

“Oh, like the Frat with all the guys in it?” She laughed at his response, but it felt more like she was laughing at him.

“You’re cute when you get jealous. But only Sometimes… I’ll talk to you later.” She scooted out of her seat and began to get up but not before Aaron puckered his lips and tried pressing them on her’s. Evie responded with the classic face of disgust fully equipped with a one-way ticket back to the Friend Zone. “Ew! What are you doing?”

“It’s just a kiss? We’ve done more than that?”

“Not in public. Ugh.”

“Sorry I just thought…”

“Come pick me up at like 2am ok? And bring a condom, I forgot to take the pill like all weekend.”

“Ok, yeah, sure.”

“And look,” suddenly her voice evolved into a rare tone of concern, “don’t be so down on yourself. You’re just in one of those identity slumps right now, but that’s all it is: a slump. Ok? You just need a hobby or something to do. You should go check that student bulletin board in the basement.”

“Student bulletin board?”

“Yeah, didn’t you go here for like four years? You should know about the bulletin board.”

“I never went in the basement, there was always too much studying going on to focus.”

“Well it’s just a place for students to place fliers for their clubs and other social events. And I really think you need some socializing.”

“I mean I guess we can talk about me like I’m some rescue dog with a shady past.” She giggled at him again.

“Don’t take things so personally, just go check it out. You never know what opportunity may present itself, right? I’ll text you. Byiiiiii.”

“Byiii” he mocked her squeaky voice. She threw her middle finger in the air as she walked away.

---------------------------------------Scene 2 cuts-------------------------------------------------

His migration down to the basement felt like the walk of shame. With every flight of stairs he descended upon he could hear Evelyn calling him a whining bitch, although there was a chance he was mistaking the voice for that of his 7th grade gym teacher—who also taught arts & crafts to the 1st graders. F***ing Ms. Heinbaugh. His mind continued playing tricks on him and preying on his doubts. He thought that actually going over to the bulletin board would be an admittance of defeat, like he was conceding to the fact that he needed to socialize more. It felt as if she was just going to be waiting there with a big sign that read: WHAT A LOSER. He wouldn’t put it past her.

“Socialize…” his thoughts began groaning, “I don’t need to socialize. Everyone else just needs to stop being so damn annoying. ... Dammit. I do sound like a whiny bitch.”

But at the end of the dimly lit hallway would be no humiliating ‘gotcha’ poster or moment of ridicule. At the very end of the hall, one light shined brighter than all the rest, and right beneath it, hung the infamous bulletin board. He walked up to it for further examination where he was instantly overwhelmed by a burst of colorful papers. It was like a fireworks show made from dead trees.

Each flier pertained to some kind of club that sounded just as colorful as the paper it was on.

GFSTAA: Gender Fluid Sex Toy Advocates of America—important, but not up Aaron’s alley. Vegan Baking Club—Aaron wasn’t aware they allowed torture tactics to be practiced on campus. Sonic the Hedgehog Fanfiction Book Club—not quite Aaron’s taste of literature. How to Draw Sonic the Hedgehog Fanfiction—not quite Aaron’s taste of hentai either.

But, buried beneath all the madness, was one flier barely reaching out beyond the layers of tabloids, like a hand reaching out from its grave. All he could see was the corner of a white paper with the image of a feathered pen on it. He plucked the paper from its flamboyant grave and began reading.

“Calling all creatives! Do you consider yourself a creative person? Do you feel like your vision and voice have more to offer the world? Then why not put your talents to use and come join a small startup digital media company that can help you fulfill your truest potential! We need people at every position, we need fellow filmmakers, editors, actors, crew members, and we’re always on the lookout for brilliant wordsmiths!”

The flier had images of camera lenses, quills, and stars sprinkled all over it. It was like Aaron was staring into the eye of an oracle. He had never considered himself a filmmaker, but he didn’t mind the sound of it. The meet date posted on the flier hadn’t passed yet either, so he still had time to get in on the action. Aaron had heard the call, and he was ready to answer.

“Yes!” he began to himself. “I’m ready to fulfill my truest po—” Someone came marching down the hall and Aaron went dead silent like a possum. The student walked straight up to the bulletin board so he tried playing it cool like he was still analyzing all the fliers. The student pulled out a flier of their own and aggressively stapled it to the board, and then they stomped away in frustration. The flier read:

“PETITION TO END ALL SPIDERMAN REBOOTS!”

Aaron signed his name under the first slot and walked away.

----------------------------------------------FIN--------------------------------------------------------

[superfreakerz]

FT 3

"Fairy Tail"

Rated M for eventual smut.

Summary: Lucy Ashley was nothing more than a twenty year old living in the slums of Seattle until she was teleported into another world by a book of fairy tales. Or what she thought were just fairy tales. Now she's traveling with a dragon slayer and a flying cat to return everyone's happy endings in order to return home. But by the end of their journey, would she want to?

Read chapters 1-75 on FF.net

A Pinkette and a Blue Cat

When Lucy gained consciousness again in the early morning, she sat up quickly and clutched her head, which was still aching from whatever happened earlier. Her body felt heavy like lead, so instead of standing up, the blonde decided to take in her surroundings. To her surprise, she was no longer in her bedroom. Now, she was in a forest thick with trees.

Trees were all Lucy could see. Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, the blonde realized that the polluted air of Seattle was replaced with air so fresh, she felt as though the world had restarted.

"W-Where am I?" Lucy asked aloud, tears gathering in her eyes. "This isn't possible. I've gotta be dreaming or something because I was just in my bed!"

All she had with her was her blanket, her keys, and the book she was reading when the strange hot flashes began. What exactly happened to her? Did somebody take her from her room and leave her out here? That would explain why she was suddenly in the forest. But who would take her? And what were those strange hot flashes?

Suddenly, there was a snap of a twig and Lucy clasped her hand over her mouth in order to suppress a scream. What if it was a murderer? With a newfound swiftness, the girl grabbed her things and dashed behind a tree to hide. Sure enough, the faint sound of footsteps grew louder.

"Sheesh, I'm hungry," a voice whined. It was a boy.

"Me too," someone else replied.

Despite Lucy only hearing one pair of footsteps, there were two people. Perhaps one was carrying the other?

"We should stay here tonight and get some food."

"Aye! As long as they have fish!"

The other boy chuckled before their footsteps stopped. Lucy held back a whimper, feeling like they knew she was there. Why else would they randomly stop just a few feet away from her?`

"What is this, Happy?" the first man asked.

"I don't know," the other answered.

"Whoa, it opens. Is this a lacrima or something?"

"Who cares, I want fish!"

Lucy breathed a sigh of relief as she heard the footsteps begin again as the two left. When she opened her eyes again, onyx eyes were staring into her chocolate brown orbs. A bloodcurdling scream escaped the blonde's throat as she pushed the person away and tried to sink into the tree she was sitting against.

"Oww! What the hell was that for!?" the man asked irately.

"Leave me alone!" she cried. "I-If you're trying to kill me, you got another thing coming! I know karate!"

"Sheesh, I was just gonna see if this lacrima thing was yours."

Lucy opened her eyes to see what exactly a lacrima was to find a man sitting in front of her with cherry-blossom pink hair. His eyes were dark, slanted and big while his skin was tanned. He wore baggy white pants and a strange opened coat with only one sleeve. He wore nothing underneath, revealing his toned abs. Around his neck was a scaly scarf, reminding her of her blanket.

"W-Who are you?" Lucy asked.

The boy grinned, revealing that he had some rather sharp teeth, and answered, "Natsu Dragneel! And this is Happy!"

"Happy?" Lucy repeated, following his pointed finger to find a blue cat with wings flying at her side. She released another scream and shoved the mutated cat away from her. "W-Why the hell can he fly!? Is he mutated from pollution or something!?"

Scientists must have been experimenting on cats. That was the only explanation for a blue flying cat.

"Hey, that was rude!" the cat cried. "I'm not mutated, I'm an exceed!"

"YOU CAN TALK!?"

"Aye!"

Lucy stared at the two strangers with wide eyes and covered her mouth with her hands. Part of her wanted to run. She was so frightened of the two in front of her, she felt like they were going to eat her for breakfast. And she still had no idea where she was.

"This can't be happening," she said to herself. "I must be dreaming because there is no way in hell a talking cat exists." Pinching herself, the girl frowned. "Shit. This is real!? Where the hell am I!?"

Natsu covered his ears and glared at the strange girl. "You sure are loud. Anyways, what is this thing?"

Lucy arched a brow as Natsu held up her cell phone. "You mean my phone?"

"Phone?" the boy repeated. "What's that?"

"You're messing with me, aren't you!"

"Why would I be messing with you? You are weird though."

Lucy smacked the guy upside the head and shouted, "That's rude! And how do you not know what a phone is?"

Natsu rubbed the soon to be bruised spot and answered, "I've seen all kinds of lacrimas, but not this one before. Did you make it?"

"No… Whatever, this doesn't matter. Where are we exactly?"

"We're on the outskirts of Shirotsume."

"Shirotsume? I've never heard of that town before."

"You haven't? It's a pretty small town but most people know it. Are you not from Fiore?"

"Fiore?" Lucy repeated, feeling even more panicked than before. "Where's that?"

Natsu raised a brow and answered, "The country we're in right now."

Lucy's breath hitched in her throat. "C-Country? We aren't in America!?"

"America?" Happy repeated. "Never heard of it!"

"B-But it's one of the most well-known countries on Earth!"

"Earth? You mean Earthland?"

"No, Earth!"

Natsu and Happy shared a confused look.

"This is Earthland," Natsu stated. "We're in the country of Fiore, outside the town of Shirotsume. We don't know where America or Earth is."

"There's a hotel in Shirotsume," Happy told the shaking girl. "You should stay there and get some sleep!"

"I-I don't need sleep, I need to go home," Lucy whimpered. "W-What are you guys doing here?"

Natsu perked up and answered, "I'm looking for my dad, Igneel! I traced his smell all the way here! I haven't smelled him in so long and now I found it! Have you seen him?"

"No, I haven't. Sorry. Wait, you traced his smell here? How is that even possible?"

Natsu cocked his head to the side as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I'm a dragon slayer," he stated with a hint of cockiness.

Lucy scoffed. "Now I know you're messing with me. Dragons aren't real."

The boy glowered at her, his cheery expression now gone, and replied, "Yes they are. Don't tell me they ain't real when Igneel raised me!"

"You're telling me that your dad was a dragon? C'mon, if you're going to lie to me you could at least come up with a good lie."

"It's the truth! Igneel is a dragon and I'm a dragon slayer! That's how I knew you were here, I smelled you!"

Lucy crossed her arms and shouted, "Dragons aren't real!" She needed to at least have some control in her rather hopeless situation. Besides, she wasn't fond of some stranger belittling her, telling her dragons exist.

"Yes they are!" Natsu shot back, his body engulfed in flames.

Lucy screamed and tried to back away, only to remember she was leaning on a tree. Soon enough, the flames died down, revealing a scowling but unscathed Natsu.

"H-How did you do that?" the blonde questioned with significantly wide eyes. She felt like her head was going to explode.

"Like I said, I'm a dragon slayer," he answered. "Let's go, Happy! We've gotta find Igneel! I can still smell him, he's close!"

"Aye!" the cat replied, flying to follow his friend.

Natsu stood up and sniffed the air. His brows shot up and he turned to face Lucy with wide eyes. Then he glared at her.

"You lied to me," he said.

"W-What?" Lucy questioned.

"You said you've never met Igneel before but you're covered in his scent! Where is he!?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" the blonde cried, tears falling from her eyes once again. "I don't know any of this! I just woke up in a country I've never heard of, saw a flying cat, and now saw a guy light himself on fire without getting burned!"

Natsu reeled back from the girl's sudden volume before his eyes landed on the blanket next to her.

"Where did you get that blanket?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"The blanket. Where did you get it?"

"I-I don't know, it was apparently wrapped around me when I was found in the forest when I was a baby."

"You were found in the forest as a baby?" Happy questioned. "Is that your thing? Waking up in forests?"

"Shut up, cat. Anyways, why are you so curious about my blanket?" Lucy asked Natsu, who was staring at it with hard eyes.

"It was made with Igneel's scales," Natsu replied. "Like my scarf. That must be why you smell like Igneel. How did you know him?"

"I didn't. And I'm sorry, but there's no way that this blanket was made from a dragon's scales. Your little fire act was impressive, but that doesn't mean dragons exist."

Natsu smirked before releasing a breath of fire to engulf the blonde, who waved her arms frantically around.

"Don't worry, I made it so it won't hurt you," he said, cackling after. "That's your punishment for saying dragons aren't real."

"I take it back, now put it out!" Lucy squealed. Once Natsu obliged, she released a sigh of relief. "Okay, since I'm not dreaming, I am in Earthland, correct?" The two nodded. "And Earthland is this world?"

"Yep!" the two answered in unison.

"And that fire trick you did, what was that?" Lucy asked.

"Magic!" Natsu answered with a wide grin.

"M-Magic? No way… Okay, so I'm in a new world that has no technology, has magic, and apparently dragons. So how the hell did I end up here?"

"What happened before you got here?" Happy asked.

"I was reading this book I got and-"

Lucy's words stopped as her breath hitched in her throat and her eyes widened. "Wait a second… The book I'm reading is about fairy tales and there is magic there… Is it possible I'm…"

Frantically grabbing the book, the blonde flipped through the pages, looking for any possible clues. Then, she got to the last page.

"What is it?" Natsu asked, confused by the strange girl's random behavior.

Happy snatched the book, seeing that Lucy was too stunned to speak, and read the page aloud.

"One day, the savior will create a portal," he began, "and teleport back into this world. It is her job to break the curse, bringing back everyone's happy ever afters one by one. In order to return to the world she came from, the savior will first need to go through each story and bring back the characters' happiness."

"Wait a second," Natsu started, "is it talking about the curse King Heartfilia put on the kingdom?"

"Sounds like it!" Happy replied with wide eyes. They then looked to Lucy. "Then that means…"

"You're the savior," Natsu finished for the exceed, staring at the blonde girl who had yet to speak.

Lucy stayed silent, staring at her hands in confusion and shock. She was a savior? All the Disney movies were actually real and were part of another world? And now she was a part of it?

"The only way I can get home is to go through each story, isn't it?" she asked in a low whisper.

"Looks that way," Natsu answered. He grinned at the distraught girl and continued, "We'll help you!"

"You will?" Lucy asked, staring into his eyes with hope.

"Yeah! You're the savior, so helping you would be a good thing! Besides, I've gotta figure out where you got that blanket from, so the three of us are going to be traveling together for a while!"

"Aye! We'll stay here today so that you can rest!" Happy added.

Lucy's bottom lip quivered as she stared at the two in front of her, grateful that she would have some companions to help her out. Standing up, the blonde dusted off her skirt and smiled at her new friends.

"Well, let's go!"

[depizan]

I’m not sure this doesn’t have some wild tone swing issues, but, eh, I’m tired of poking at it. Have another ficlet post Kyrian’s rescue. Though this one ended up kind of long.

(Oh, yes, and note for mentions of healed hand injury.)

Kyrian nearly cleared the targets before letting Corso into the hold, but the prospect of explaining – or trying to explain – why had stopped him and the results of the afternoon’s practice remained. His accuracy wasn’t that great by Imperial Intelligence standards, but it was passable. Even good, at least for the bit of time between when he adjusted to the unfamiliar blaster and his hand had started to hurt.

He couldn’t decide if he should have been relieved or disappointed.

“Feels good, don’t it!” Corso clapped him cheerfully on the shoulder. “Hey, next time we’re planetside, we gotta get you a blaster. Don’t mind lending you Sparky, but a man should have his own, you know. Somethin’ right for you.”

Kyrian nodded. He would have to figure out how to fight with his damaged hand as well. He’d put both off for too long already. It wasn’t fair to Jezari, or to the rest of the crew.

“Thought about what you want?” Corso bent to unclamp the nearest target. “A pistol? A rifle? What was that you had? Imperial model? Man, you shoot like this now, you must’ve been amazing.” His face froze. “You’ll be again soon! Just gotta have practice, and the right blaster. Back to normal in no time. Be nice to have somebody to practice with. Nothin’ like a little friendly competition.” His smile looked like it hurt.

“You don’t practice with Risha?”

“Uh, well, yeah. But, uh… more competition and…stuff.”

Kyrian released the magnetic clamp on the next target. The effort did nothing for his aching hand. “Where do you store these?”

“Crate in the corner.” Corso waved at a large crate shoved up against the back wall of the hold. “The Captain thinks people might get the wrong idea if they saw ‘em.”

“I can imagine.” The target was just heavy and awkward enough he had to use both hands to carry it. I should have quit after the first twinge. Continuing had proven nothing, except his own foolishness.

“I bet Risha could get ahold of a rifle like you had. She’s got all kinds of connections. Course if you want a pistol, the ALT-25 is about the best there is. Like Torchy. Has a stiffer trigger, though. Something like Sparky there might be better. Or the SoroSuub line for diplomats. But you probably want somethin’ bigger.”

Kyrian leaned on the crate. The target seemed heavier than when he’d first picked it up, as if his strength had drained away while he was carrying it across the hold. It was the stale air, probably. Or his recent lack of exercise.

“Captain’s got a pair of M-300s. I know she’d let you try ‘em. Bet even Risha’d let you give her rifle a try. Custom made job she picked up somewhere, but that don’t mean you can’t get one. The Galactic Arms Annual has some great reviews and rankings. Bet we could find just what you- ”

“I’ll think about it.” The words came out sharper than he’d intended. “I’m sorry, Corso. My hand hurts and…” He didn’t want to think about it. He didn’t want to think about any of it.

“Oh, hey, I can clean this up. You leave that.” Corso waved at the target. “Go take something. ‘N don’t worry. It’ll get better.”

“Right.” Kyrian forced a smile. “Thank you.” He escaped into the corridor.

The air seemed clearer, less stifling than in the cargo bay. That was impossible, of course; the entire ship used the same air circulating system. He longed irrationally for a meadow, a park, sunlight, fresh air. Even with Kaliyo’s constant need for attention, he didn’t remember feeling so confined on the X-70.

Then again, he hadn’t spent most of his time in his cabin then. Much less a cabin little larger than that ship’s ‘fresher.

What am I doing? Corso was right. He could shoot just fine, be an active member of the crew. Nothing had really changed.

I expect too much. There were no miracles, no easy answers. It was long past time he accepted that.

He found himself in the auxiliary cargo bay more by process of elimination than design. He hadn’t wanted to face his tiny cabin, or more of Corso’s enthusiasm for assorted weaponry. Or perhaps he’d hoped to find Bowdaar there. The Wookiee was good company, even if Kyrian still didn’t understand enough Shyriiwook to properly talk with him.

The small exercise area was unoccupied, the room quiet except for the distant hum of the Luck’s hyperdrive. He’d meant to ask where they were going at lunch – or was it breakfast? – but he’d forgotten. Another job, he supposed. Some illicit good to be transported from one neutral planet to another. They’d been avoiding the Republic nearly as thoroughly as the Empire, for much the same reason.

Fine addition to the crew I am.

Empty shelving ran along three of the irregularly shaped room’s walls. A stack of assorted shipping crates and pallets stood in the corner opposite the exercise area, reaching roughly halfway to the ceiling. The pile was strapped securely to the wall, preventing it from shifting if the gravity emulators failed. The top was perhaps half a meter above Kyrian’s head.

He scrambled awkwardly up the pile, using his right elbow instead of his hand for leverage. There was more than enough room on top to lie down. It was dusty, but peaceful. He was being ridiculous, of course. His own bunk was more comfortable, and just as quiet. He had no more privacy there than he would have had in his own cabin.

The ceiling was a dull gray, faint darker outlines indicating where something had once been attached to it, and where he suspected a wall had been removed. A smear of rust or dried grease stained the ceiling at one corner of the vanished object.

He closed his eyes and imagined a sky above him, deep blue purpling to evening, or dark with roiling clouds, stained a sickly yellow with pollution, a clear and deceptively pretty blue above endless sands. None had held any more truth than the ceiling above him now. He’d made so many mistakes, so many poor choices, all because he was too stubborn, too arrogant to listen to anyone.

He missed the soft whiff of the door opening, but not the approaching footsteps. He sat up. His perch wasn’t tall enough for him to pass unnoticed.

Jezari looked up at him, eyebrows raised. “Can I come up?” She asked.

“I… Yes?”

She grabbed the taut retaining strap and climbed up beside him. “Yik.” She wiped her hands on her knees, leaving dusty smears. “So,” she looked at him, “I guess it didn’t go so good.”

“It? Oh. No, no, it went fine. Quite well, really.” He held up his hand, hoping the stiffness didn’t show. “I should even be of some use to you.”

“Is that what’s bothering you? Your hand? Being useful?”

“I’m sorry. I’ve been… I don’t know what I’ve been doing. I owe you so much, and all I’ve done is take advantage of-”

“Kyrian.” She gripped his shoulder. “Hey. You don’t owe me anything. Okay? Don’t worry about that.”

“I do owe you.”

“No, you don’t.” She shook him gently. “Seriously. You’re my friend. Nothing owed. Ever.”

He looked down at his hands. He’d folded them left over right, unconsciously protective. A bad habit he’d have to unlearn. Funny he still remembered the lessons of his training, when he’d practiced them so rarely. He laced his fingers together.

“You really don’t owe me. Kyrian? Hey.” She brushed his hair back from his face. “Talk to me.”

“I never seem to learn.” He absently rubbed the scar near the base of his thumb. “You saved my life. More than that. I should… I… I’m still not very good at facing reality.”

“What reality?”

He looked away. “Did I ever tell you I wanted to be an Imperial Intelligence agent? I thought it would be exciting – travel the galaxy, help people, stop evil plots.” He sighed. “I’d seen too many holothrillers. Dashing secret agent saves the galaxy. Even when I knew better, I still tried… wanted…” He shook his head. “I thought if I just kept trying, I could make everything right.”

She put an arm around him, her hand warm on his shoulder.

“I never learned to focus on the mission. On what mattered. I still haven’t. I still find myself wanting to ask the wrong questions. I’m not sure I’ll be of any more use to you than I was to Keeper.”

“Oh.”

“I’m sorry. I… I know I’d make the same decisions. I’m not defending the Empire. Or Intelligence. I just…” …haven’t learned.

“What are the wrong questions?”

“Ah. Who are we working for? What are we transporting? What happens if customs discovers it?”

“Yeah, those aren’t really…” She scratched at the dust on one knee. “Well… Hutts are lousy, but it’s hard to avoid them. The rest of the crime syndicates aren’t any better. I won’t haul slaves. Or anything alive. I mostly don’t haul spice. I’ve outflown customs ships. Left a few inspectors stuffed in closets. Not recently. We probably won’t run into them.”

He looked at her.

“I mean, it’s different when I’m running blockades and stuff. But we’ve been sticking to the safe jobs. Nobody’s going to get that excited about some Corellian brandy or ‘rancor’ ribs.”

“And when we take unsafe jobs?”

“I’m hoping you’ll help pick them.”

“My judgement is somewhat questionable,” he reminded her. “I don’t know that much about smuggling.”

“You know what you want to do.”

“Yes.” He wasn’t sure how much overlap there was. Blockade running, perhaps. Planets unwillingly under Imperial control. He swallowed. Perhaps not yet.

“You okay?”

“Yes.” He tried to will the tension away. “I would prefer to avoid the Empire.”

“Nobody’s gonna argue that.” Jezari bit her lip. “You know, the SIS does some internal stuff. It’s not all tangling with the Empire. I don’t know how you feel about the Republic…”

He’d never asked exactly what her relationship with the SIS was. They trusted her with missions, paid her for her efforts – reasonably well, as far as he could tell. But she wasn’t an SIS agent. He wasn’t sure she was even a Republic citizen; there was more than a little of Hutt Space in her speech.

Yet they hired her – and her crew – as if she were an agent.

It was a terrible idea. Even considering it was absurd. He’d never spent time in the Republic, never been briefed on the sort of specifics he would have needed for a mission there. The SIS surely had a file on him. Likely with nearly as much detail as Imperial Intelligence’s.

“Wouldn’t I make that a risk?” He asked at last.

“I wasn’t planning on telling them. They’ve never asked about my crew. They’ve never really asked about me.” She shrugged. “I mean, it’d be riskier than what we’ve been doing. The gangs and syndicates can get nasty. And some of ‘em are probably supplied by the Empire. But Risha keeps muttering about credits, and it wouldn’t be worse than taking better smuggling jobs. It’s up to you.”

His hand still ached. It would take months – at least – to relearn how to fight, especially if he wanted to avoid revealing that weakness. Assuming that was possible. Any lengthy firefight, piloting certain types of speeders, even something as simple as climbing would hurt. It was sensible to make the safest choices, to avoid anything that might rely on him for some time to come.

“I haven’t learned a thing.”

“Pff,” Jezari said. “You’re doing fine. Come on, let’s see what they’ve got for us.”

[wordydelights]

Poisoned Well

Ocean comfortably strolled through the inner cities’ dark, uninviting alleys as though he were taking his routinely jog through the suburbs. The graffiti walls, reverberations of police sirens dashing by and the polluted scent in the air brought him back to his childhood. A scruffy, unshaven man with a dazed, faraway look in his eye approached Ocean from the shadows, asking for money. Ocean, slowly backing away, shook his head and continued walking as he raised the hood on his oversized jacket, his long hair still peeking out from the sides. Nearby, a car alarm started blaring, adding uneasiness to the already precarious environment. He conspicuously kept looking behind him to validate he wasn’t being followed and to subliminally send a message to anyone watching that he was conscious of his surroundings. He wasn’t the least bit afraid but he had common sense and was aware of the danger lurking in the area. The light hit his face as he emerged from the alleyway’s obscure clutches, making brief eye contact with a suspicious officer whose hand was already was reaching for a weapon as he passed. Ocean kept walking, this time considerably picking up the pace for two more blocks. He climbed the shaky steps of a rusted, filthy apartment building, reeking of the mixed stench of cigarettes and cannabis. Once he reached the third floor he stopped and knocked on apartment number 141. Footsteps echoed throughout the walls as they grew near. Ocean faced directly into the peephole to alert the occupant of his arrival. There was hesitation, but the rapid sound of locks being dismantled was quickly heard and the door swung open. “Oh Ocean, baby!” His mother cried as she wrapped her gentle arms around him. Her nicotine breath clinging to his clothes. Ocean never realized how much he missed the warmth of her embrace until being reunited with it once again. She released her tight grasp, her eyes watering. “Come inside.”

Empty bottles of alcohol were scattered around the messy studio. The sofa-bed, tacky and tethered looked as if it was picked up from the side of the road or fished from a dumpster. On the small coffee table between the sofa and mini TV lied a silver ashtray, flooded with dirty cigarette butts. The bare walls, covered with holes and peeling paint, shook with the rest of the building as someone outside descended the staircase. Ocean sighed at the sight of prescription pill bottles stacked together on the kitchen counter.

“It’s been so long since you last visited me, I was worried,” she smiled reassuringly. Her premature wrinkles now more noticeable than ever. You could tell that beneath the drug induced facial lines and aging lied a once beautiful young woman. The woman Ocean remembered her as.

“They assigned me to a new family so I was stuck in a group home for a while,” he replied, trying to avoid looking his mother in the eyes, knowing that if he did she’d might see the bitterness within.

“Oh,” she nodded, trying to mask her guilt as she sat on the ratty couch, adjusting her body to a comfortable position. “Well, how do you like the new family?”

Ocean shrugged, “I don’t know. They’re all the same. Nice at first but soon enough get sick of you and want you gone.”

“You just gotta be positive baby,” she soothed, stroking the side of his face, then placed her hand on the cushion beside her and made a patting motion. Ocean, understanding the meaning, plopped down next to her, his grey hoodie falling to the back of his neck. “In only a year, not even, you’ll be able to come live with me,” she grinned with excitement. “Won’t that be nice?”

Not wanting to disappoint his mother, he smiled, but internally he was screaming. All his life, Ocean had been the one to care for his mother when she didn’t care for herself. He was the one who would carry her to bed and change her clothes when she would come home completely and utterly wasted. The one who rushed to her rescue when she had men beating their fists against the fragile door as she cowered in a corner with her head in her hands. The one who would come up with a little bit of cash, just trying to make ends meet, but watched as it inevitably was blown on pills and booze. His mother’s life was summed up from addiction to eviction letters. He had hated to admit that a part of him was glad when child protective services finally got involved.

He replayed that fateful afternoon every evening as he lay in bed. Her pleas as she struggled to break free from two officer’s grasp haunted him in his nightmares. He remembered one of the worker’s faces once he was seated in the black van, the definition of pity burned within her eyes as she cracked an encouraging half smile, then lied as she said everything was going to be ok. He bowed his head, not saying a single word for the rest of the day, the salty taste of his teardrops staining his taste buds’ memory. Ocean loved his mom more than anything or anyone else in the world, but no matter how much he tried to help her, even he knew, despite telling himself otherwise, that she was a lost cause.  A poisoned water well, once pure, full of everlasting life and wellness, now contaminated with toxicity, a cesspool of despondency and regret.  

“This is for food or rent.” Ocean sighed as he reluctantly pulled out a month’s pay from his jacket pocket. She snatched the wad of bills without a second thought or any form of hesitation, holding it in the palm of her hands as if it were gold.

“I should be the one taking care of you.” She laughed as she pocketed the money. But you didn’t, that’s why we’re in this mess, he wanted to say but bit his tongue. “What’s going to happen if I can’t Ma? What then?”

Taken back a little by surprise, she looked at the floor in shame. “I’m trying baby, I really am. I-“ she paused but didn’t continue, knowing that was a lie. Ocean, raising his arm over her boney shoulders in comfort, responded with a simple, “Please,” as he choked back the tears.

[revolvingdxxrs-blog]

hey, i was wondering if you could do a headcanon/imagine of 2D having nightmares/flashbacks regarding the trauma he underwent during plastic beach (or maybe even the events before then) and noodle overhearing and trying to console him? i am not sure what kinds of imagines you like to do so i hope this is okay!

omg you don’t know how excited I am to write this

Nightmares weren’t uncommon occurrences for 2-D, as he usually found himself writhing uncomfortably in bed, reliving the haunting memories of his time spent on Plastic Beach. They always started the same way: an unsettling, quiet void of darkness, akin to that he felt in his drugged state due to the gas he was sprayed with by the Boogieman–and then comes the stench. It’s mild at first, stealthily burrowing itself into 2-D’s unconsciousness once more, and nestling itself there; a sick reminder of how a tiny puff of gas rendered him immobile, rendered him useless to defend himself against the journey towards his own personal prison. After what seemed like hours of being stuck in a black abyss, 2-D’s lovely nightmare decided to progress even further, and finally he’s able to knock the feeling of paralysis away as he opens his eyes slowly, taking in his current scenery. The dreaded basement prison brings a pang of stabbing nostalgia with it, and 2-D can feel his heartbeat race at an immeasurably fast rate as he turned his head to face the window, only to be greeted with the menacing grimace of a whale–no, a humongous, gigantic, enormous whale with billions of sharp teeth that look like they could tear his flesh apart in seconds and–

2-D shook his head and looked away, goosebumps skittering about his skin. He knows the whale didn��t actually have billions of sharp teeth, but his dream didn’t. Ignoring the looming mammal behind him, 2-D went to the other side of the room, trailing his fingers against the wall. Even the texture was so precise, so undeniably real. Sudden flashbacks lurched into his mind, throwing up a chaotic mess of old, heinous memories, such as: Being trapped down here like a prisoner, like some animal and being forced to record songs by the man he once looked up to, without any compensation aside from an occasional meal and, if 2-D was exceptionally good that week, maybe a short trip out of the basement for some fresh air. Maybe. Visibly, 2-D flinched at the memories, pressing his back against the wall and sliding down it in utter defeat, eyes brimming with frustrated tears. He hated these dreams because there was no way out. Because he was trapped. 

But in life outside of dream world, 2-D was causing quite a racket with his insufferable tossing and calling out. Of course, no one did anything–Murdoc couldn’t care less about what his token front man was feeling, Russel was a pretty heavy sleeper and Noodle? Well, actually, she did care. How couldn’t she? 2-D was basically her older brother, and if there’s anything Noodle had learned, it was that family is the most important thing in your entire life, so you should try your hardest to keep said family around.  Quietly, she made her way to 2-D’s room, opening the door and walking in. Lo and behold, there he was, tangled in a mess of blankets, pillows strewn, face caked with snot and dried tears as he groaned out in fear, with just a dash of defeat. “Hey,” Noodle sat on the bed besides him, wary of his kicking feet lurking below the covers. “Toochie, wake up. It’s a nightmare.” To top it off, she gave him a little shake, hoping that would ease him into consciousness.

Back in dream land, 2-D was not doing so well. As the sound of footsteps approached, he scooted even further into the wall he was propped up against, grabbing his mask in an attempt to hide some part of him from the man who caused this madness: Murdoc Niccals, and his little faux Noodle. And there they were, both iridescent and colossal, sickening grins masking their true intentions. 2-D whimpered to himself, taking note that the walls of the basement were also growing increasingly closer to each other, causing the window guarded by the terror inducing whale to crack ever so slightly, and now the already small, dark space was growing more cramped by the second, leaving the illuminated, fantasy Murdoc the only light source. 2-D’s observances were interrupted by the giant Murdoc taking off one of his shoes and holding it up, hovering by 2-D, reading himself to pummel the poor boy with it for no good reason (as he often did). “C’mere, faceache” 2-D watched in horror as the dream Murdoc spoke, his mouth spastic and his words not matching up with anything he was saying. “Please, Mudz, I didn’t– I didn’t do nothin’, you don’t gotta–” The walls were beginning to close at a faster pace now, and the cracked window had started to leak, which was followed by the deafening thumping of whale against glass. Quickly, the room filled up with the disgusting, polluted water Plastic Beach was known for, and 2-D pressed against the top of the ceiling, trying to push it up, trying to make it stop shoving him down into the sickening deep abyss of cold, dark water–but it was no use. The back of his head was shoved against the ceiling and he was forced to look down, only to be greeted with the open mouth from the whale he feared most, ready to devour him whole as Murdoc’s sickening, distorted laugh bustled through the terrifying unknown and–

“Toochie!” Noodle was growing panicked at 2-D’s sudden rapid breathing and frantic heartbeat, so she shook him again, this time patting his cheek also. That seemed to do the trick, though, because 2-D’s eyes bolted open, his body shaking in a cold sweat as he wiped the trail of drool, snot and tears that combined into one mucus-y mixture off of his face. Noodle stared at him, and 2-D stared back at her, his breathing finally steadying, but his heart still going a thousand miles per minute. He stuck his hand out, cupping Noodle’s cheek and then laughing, before pulling her into a shaky embrace. “Ah, ‘m so glad you’re real, you know.” Noodle sighed, returning his hug and rubbing his back, trying to comfort him again. “Was it about that Plastic Beach this time?” 2-D didn’t respond, but Noodle knew the answer. She knew what had happened to him, what Murdoc had done, and what her friend had to go through. Noodle nodded, not wanting to push 2-D to talk about something like this. “Okay,” she whispered, breaking the hug and standing up, guiding 2-D with her. “Go get yourself some water and splash it on your face, you feel hot.” He nodded, and left the room with a dazed walk, almost hitting the door on his way out. She smiled, and made his bed for him, before plugging in a little nightlight right besides his dresser. 

[btsinwonderland]

Love Me Better - Ch. 34

A Monsta X Story...

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Full Chapter List

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

The stale walls whined underneath flaking paint. The integrity of the building depreciated with each passing second. Her hands began to shake at the sound of silence after what was said.

You killed my brother….

She had to dive deep into her memory to access those files. So much had happened since that day that she felt as though it happened several years ago. In reality it happened only months ago and that was the first person she had killed. Her head hung in guilt. A small lawyer inside her screamed that it was only in self defence but she doubted these people would see reason. A surprise visit with a bulldozer took out most reasoning.

“He tried to kill us, we had no choice,” Vy said. She felt out of breath after speaking.

The glass below her feet crackled as she walked towards the phone Wonho held. Lana and Jooheon stood off to the side where she stared at Vy with a look of worry on her face. A raspy chuckle rang through the phone.

“Sweetheart, none of us got a choice, but we always gotta answer to the consequences,” he said. There was a long pause and short whistle on the other side of the line. “I don’t think you want all your friends to get stuck under this building, which is what will happen if you don’t march out here right now.”

Vy looked around at the others. Wonho looked distant while Jooheon and Lana both shook their heads at her.

Jooheon mouthed silently, “don’t do it.”

She smiled warmly at him and felt her heartbeat slow. From the cracking pressure of the building around them to the shattered glass spilled like teardrops on the floor. It all felt final. In that moment she got up and faced the window. A broken blur of the yellow bulldozer loomed ahead of her. She was about to take a step towards the door when she heard Wonho begin to laugh behind her.

“What a fucking joke, you’re Eric right? Phil was a shithead and got what he deserved. I killed him, slit his throat like a pig,” Wonho said.

There was a moment of silence where only the odd glitch of the audio signal would occur.

“They told me not to touch you, but that I can have her,” the man on the phone said.  

Wonho laughed once again. “So your brother dies and you still can’t man up? No wonder Phil got the gang, you just don’t have it in you.”

The phone was cut immediately and the floor began to shake as the bull dozer raised its arm and was forced through the wall. Brick and dust flew everywhere as chaos ensued. The window shattered completely and jagged pieces of glass let them view a team of approximately ten begin to swarm their compound.

“Jooheon grab the files! Vy and Lana get the car!” Wonho said.

Wonho's voice broke them all out of a hypnotic trance and they leapt into action. Vy took Lana's hand in hers and started to run when she looked back and noticed Wonho standing still as the walls were breaking around him.

"Wonho! What are you doing!" She said.

He turned to her looking dazed. His lips parted like petals falling off a rose as he sighed. His fists were balled and for a split second he looked like a lost child.

He put one hand on the wall and gazed at it longingly. She realized that this was the end for their little home and felt his sadness drudge through the polluted air around them.

The spark in his eyes lit up as he yelled at her to go and that he would follow. Vy led Lana around the corner and quickly ran to the armoury. She put as many guns as she could stuff into a duffle bag and threw Lana a pair of keys.

"Run towards the hall, make a left, and go down the wooden steps. That will lead you to the garage, we'll take the SUV. I'll meet you there in two minutes," she said.

Lana nodded and ran out. She paused midway through the hall, "be careful Vy."

Vy grabbed two handguns and as many refills as she could fit in her pockets. There was a large tremor that violently shook the whole building. She could feel the structure breaking. Her heart fell at the thought of it being destroyed.

She ran down the hall and met Jooheon on the way. They both got to the garage and saw Lana standing beside a black SUV. It was dusty and it's dark paint gleamed in a dull way.

Vy jumped into the front as Jooheon and Lana got in. From the corner of her eye she saw a streak of blonde rush past her. Wonho was ahead of her and got into his black four door vehicle.

She opened the door and yelled at him. "Wonho, what are you doing?"

He looked back at her with a smirk. "Trust me jagi," he said and then his eyes narrowed with a murderous glare, "I'll lead them away."

"We can do it together," Vy said.

"No! Get the fuck out of here and go evacuate the people at the construction site!"

Before Vy could say anything shots fired in the garage. She ducked with a curse and shut the door. Jooheon looked at her with a grim expression from the passenger’s seat.

She started the car and it lurched forward. She drove past Wonho and he gave a casual wave from his car. His lip piercing glinted at her as he smiled widely. His eyes looked dark and angry despite his nonchalant smile. He had his leather jacket on and Vy could not help but feel the warm tightness in her chest when she looked at him. Though this time it was twisted into a knot of anxiety.

She accelerated before the bullets gained too much volume. Daring not to look back, she pressed her foot onto the pedal and rushed out of the driveway. The gravel crunched beneath the tires and the uneven road made the car shake. It was pitch black outside save for light streaming from a few dim streetlamps. She could hear the Chain crew behind them as they ran after the car. The stream of bullets broke through the back window and suddenly she feared if they would make it out.

Then Wonho's car burst from the garage at a dangerous speed. He held the steering wheel in one hand and an automatic in the other. He swerved towards the ones firing at their SUV and shot at them. That window was enough for them to drive a safe distance away. Her and Jooheon were on the edge of their seats when they drove along the main road away from the scene.

Vy turned into a road that circled outwards towards their building to see if Wonho was leaving as well. They saw his car swerve around the building and stop in front of the bulldozer.

"What is he doing?" She said.

Jooheon leaned on the dash to get a better look from the distance. "I have no idea. Its so hard to see anything..."

Then they saw pieces of the building start to fall as if it were a slow motion film. Vy's eyes widened as she saw Wonho get out of the vehicle.

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

Wonho coughed out the powdered brick and spat on the ground as he stepped out of his car. The air around him was filled with a cloud of crushed sediment. He took out his gun and shot at the bull dozer. He knew he hit his mark once the arm ceased to move.

Piles of brick and cement laid around him with metal bars coming out of some pieces.

"Hey asshole!" Wonho said aloud.

A man emerged from the cloud of sediment. He wore loose fitting cargo pants and an olive shirt. His shades remained shiny as ever as he approached Wonho.

"I just wanted the girl Wonho, now look at what you've done," Eric said.

"No, look at what you've done," Wonho said. His voice dropped low as he dived towards Phil’s brother.

Wonho knocked the sunglasses off of his face. Eric attempted to kick Wonho after rolling him off. Wonho caught his foot and pulled it sharply. He then twisted Eric’s leg and heard a cry of pain. He smiled at the sound.

The earth cracked around them and he began to feel piles of brick fall to the ground. The building was coming down. He was hit in the face and immediately felt blood in his mouth. Eric was up and holding a metal bar.

Wonho ducked when the bar was swung at him and then he charged towards Eric. He tackled him to the ground. He then crouched over Eric and punched him. He kept punching until there was little to no resistance.

The building crumbled loudly as larger pieces fell around them.

Eric spat out blood along with a tooth and started laughing. "They say when you're out for revenge, dig two graves, looks like this is where we both go."

Wonho's jumped off of him as the structure gave way and began to fall. Within seconds a large piece of cement fell on his body.

Wonho started running as the entire building fell around him.

[itstimetodrew]

I wish there was a big contestshipping celebration here today so I could pollute everyone’s dashes with cute art but ALAS

gotta go find something else to spam 

[kirbychan234]

Maybe a cute, short Drabble of merarthur being rescued from rocks by Vivi and Lewis? He doesn't know or trust these humans yet, so he's highly defensive and scared at first.

I’m basing Mer!Arthur’s design off of @ectoimp‘s and @arthur-tristan-kingsmen‘s design of him. 

The vicious wind and rain howled around the car, making itshake. Vivi was almost afraid that they’d be blown off the road, and on amountainside road such as this, that would mean certain death.

“Wow…” Lewis couldn’t lie and say he wasn’t a little nervoushimself. “I knew Florida weather could be bad but I didn’t think it would belike this.” It wasn’t raining very hard, but the wind was making the drops landhard on the windshield. Lewis could see all the trees nearly coming loose fromthe ground.

“Just our luck that we came here during a hellish storm,huh?” Vivi grinned a little, and Lewis had to laugh.

“Yeah, sounds about right. I wish the client would havementioned that little tidbit.” But at least it all worked out with helping thespirit of their client’s uncle move on, and the pay was nice too. Lewis wouldforgive the little miscommunication this time.

They turned a corner and Vivi smiled as she leaned againstthe passenger side door. The ocean was wild with waves and even here it wasreally cool to watch them. She had seen the ocean only a few times in her lifeand it always astounded her. She had always talked to Lewis about going scubadiving at one point when they had the chance.

Not in this weather though. She was glad there weren’t anyboats out there either. Nobody would be crazy enough to go out there in thisweathe-

Vivi’s eyes widened and she quickly sat up in her seat.“Lewis stop the car!”

“What-?”

“Quickly!”

Lewis practically slammed on the breaks and it was a miraclethe two of them didn’t get whiplash. “Geez Vivi! You’re lucky nobody was behindus! What the heck are you-?” He was cut off when Vivi grabbed the front of hisshirt to pull him closer to her window.

“Tell me I’m seeing what I think I’m seeing.”

She was pointing at the beach. There, right where the rocksmet the water, was a shock of orange, tan, and gold.

And it wasn’t moving. “Is that…a person?”

“I think so.” They were lying face down on the rocks fromwhat little the two of them could see from this distance. “Lewis, we gotta getdown there! We gotta help them!”

Lewis didn’t need to be told twice. He took a quick lookbehind him before pressing on the gas pedal. The tire screeched and slid butthey took off towards the beach.

They made it there in record time. Even with the windthrashing against them once the doors opened, Vivi practically vaulted out ofthe car and made a dash towards the rocky side, Lewis right behind her.

They made it there in record time. But when Vivi saw whatthey were up against, she stopped dead in her tracks. “What’s wrong?” Lewisyelled over the wind and rain. “Why’d you stop? Are they oka-?” And then hefroze as well.

It looked like a young man had gotten wedged under therocks, probably washed up here with a large wave. He wasn’t moving, and thelower half of his body was completely covered by the rocks. There was a trickleof blood trailing down on the back of his head, and even when the rain washedit away, more took its place.

That was the only thing they could see was “normal”. Acrossthe man’s bare arms and back were beautifully colored orange and gold scales. Alarge fin was also on each arm, splayed out onto the rocks, and the man’s earstook on a similar appearance. Even if his lower half was obscured by the rock,the scales on the man’s back continued down to…something that didn’t look likelegs of any sort.

“Wh…what the…?”

“A m-merman?!” Vivi’s eyes lit up like Christmas had comeearly. “Oh my gosh!! I’ve never seen a merman before! I can’t believe-!”

The roaring crash of a large wave brought Vivi back realityas Lewis had to pull her back so she didn’t get swept away. “Maybe…hold off onthe excitement until we help him, Vi?”

“…R-right. Sorry.”

A groan caught their attention and they quickly looked overto the trapped creature. The wave seemed to have woken him up, and he weaklytried to pull himself out from under the boulders. Lewis swallowed nervously. “H-here,let us help you.”

The merman’s ears flipped up immediately at his voice and hewinced as soon as he saw the both of them. “It’s okay!” Vivi continued asgently as she could. “We saw you were in trouble. We’re not going to hurt you…”As she attempted to take a step forward, that only seemed to make things worse.He pushed back against the boulder as much as he could, as fruitless as it wasto try to get away.

But they couldn’t just leave him here, even if he was afraidof them. “We’ll get you out of here, promise.” She waved for Lewis to followand he complied. The closer they got, the more frightened the trapped creature beganto get. He had completely scrunched his eyes shut by the time they were closeenough.

“C-Careful, Vivi…” Lewis said nervously. “It’s reallyslippery around here.”

“You too.” She nodded. “Ready to do this, Lewlew?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Okay, then on three. One…two…three!”

--

This was it then. It would be just his luck to get caught ina storm and then trapped on the shores. To make matters worse, humans had seenhim. All merpeople knew the horror stories surrounding those bipedal creatures.The girl didn’t look so bad, but the male…

He was gigantic! The stories didn’t say anything about howhuge humans could be! And they were way too close now. They’d take him away andput him in some sort of zoo and-!

“Three!”

His eyes opened when he felt the boulder start to lift offof him. The humans looked like they were struggling but they finally managed totoss it over the edge and back into the water. “Whew. We did it, Lewis!”

He stared at them, completely mute. Had they just…saved him?He waggled his tail to access the damage, and tried to ignore their stares. Itached and there were a number of scratches to be healed, but it wasn’t nearlyas bad as it could have been.

“Quick!” His ears perked up again when he heard the girlspeak. “Get back in the water!”

…What?

“Can you move?” The giant asked him this time. “Do you needsome help getting back in?”

Shaking his head, he turned and dove head first into theraging waters. They could try to watch him, but he did not resurface.

That wasn’t how he was told humans acted at all…

--

“Do you think he’s okay?”

Lewis didn’t answer Vivi right away. It had been three dayssince that terrible storm and saving the merman. He had almost convincedhimself it was a dream, except for the fact that Vivi knew about it as well. “Whoknows?” He finally answered, looking over the now calm ocean on the docks. Hesat down next to Vivi, who had removed her shoes and was hanging her legs offthe side. “We can only hope so.”

Vivi sighed. “I still can’t get over how scared of us hewas. That was genuine fear there, Lewlew.”

“Merpeople probably aren’t fond of humans…” He could thinkof a few reasons why.

“I guess…” Vivi swung her legs a little. “I wish he wouldhave stuck around a little longer.”

“Well, to be fair, I’d probably want to get the heck out ofthere after something like that too.”

The two of them laughed before turning back to the gentlewaves. It was such a huge contrast to how vicious it was a few days ago.

After a few more minutes, Lewis sighed and stood up. “Comeon, Vi. We probably should get going.”

“Yeah…” She took Lewis’ outstretched hand and let him pullher up to stand.

They didn’t get very far, however, when an unfamiliar voicewafted through the sounds of the waves. “You came back.”

Both turned around, and Vivi lit up as soon as she saw thesource. “Hey! It’s you!”

The merman had returned, floating in the water at the end ofthe docks, and looking much better than he had before. Any cuts he had on hisupper body were completely gone, and they could only hope the same could besaid for his tail. “…”

This time he didn’t wince when they walked a little closerto him. “H-how are you feeling?” Lewis asked a tad nervously. “It looks likeyour scratches have healed for the most part.”

“Y-yeah…” The merman seemed just as nervous as them, whichwas a slight comfort. “I’m alright. A little sore but otherwise fine.”

An awkward silence fell between them. The merman shuffled alittle in the water before finally finding the courage to speak up again. “Why…whydid you help me?”

The two humans looked confused. “What do you mean “why”?”Vivi asked.

“You needed help,” Lewis continued for her. “And we were inthe right place at the right time. We couldn’t just leave you there.”

“But…” The merman wrung his hands together. “You’re humans,”he said as if that explained everything.

From the looks on their faces, it didn’t. “Humans don’t helpus,” he continued. “They capture us and sell us away. They pollute our oceansand kill the wildlife. They…they’re cruel and only care about themselves…”

Lewis and Vivi shared a look. Well no wonder he was soscared of them. “Who told you that?”

He winced. “Other merpeople from my school…”

“They make us sound like we’re monsters!”

Lewis put a hand on Vivi’s shoulder. “Well…to be fair, someof that is true to an extent.” He offered the merman a smile, hoping it wouldhelp. “But not all humans are like that. Some are cruel, but there are beingslike that in any species, right?”

There was no answer, and Lewis took that as a win. The mermanseemed torn, and Vivi walked a little closer to kneel in front of him. Herheart skipped a beat when he didn’t shy away and looked up at her. “What’s yourname?” She asked sweetly. “Mine’s Vivi, and that’s Lewis.”

“…” Vivi was almost afraid he wouldn’t answer her at first. “…Arthur.”

They weren’t expecting such a…normal name. But they werepleased anyway. “That’s a wonderful name.”

“Th-thanks.” The merman, Arthur, actually smiled. “I, uh,l-like yours too.” He wrung his hands together once more. “A-and, um…thank youfor saving me.”

“It was our pleasure,” Lewis replied. “And it was great tomeet you, Arthur.”

The sun was starting to set, and Lewis sighed. “But…wereally should be going.” Once more he helped Vivi up to her feet. “Take care ofyourself out there, okay?”

“W-wait-!” Arthur outstretched his hand. “Will I…will I seeyou again?”

At their confused faces, Arthur lowered his arm. “Y-you guysare the first humans I’ve ever…a-and…uh…”

Lewis and Vivi grinned at each other. “We’ll come backtomorrow, if you want,” Vivi offered, holding out her hand. “Same time, sameplace?”

Arthur seemed confused at first but eventually gave a tinysmile and clasped onto her hand gently. “S-sure. Sounds great.”

“Awesome! We’ll see you then!~”