#had a blast listening to a bunch of these and figuring out what I could potentially make

[twistedroseytoesy]

Riddle- Queen of Broken Hearts by blackbear

Trey- Candyman by Christina Aguilera

Cater- What else can I do? from Encanto or Happy Face by Jagwar Twin

Ace- Troublemaker by Olly Murs

Deuce- Best of Me by Neffex

Leona- Be prepared from The Lion King

Ruggie- Last Surprise from Persona 5

Jack- Wolf by Siames

Azul- Deal with the Devil by Tia

Jade- Tangled Up by Caro Emerald

Floyd- I can't decide by Scissor Sisters

Kalim- Sunshine, Lollipops, Rainbows by Lesley Gore or Prince Ali from Aladdin

Jamil- Darkside by Neoni or Arabian Nights from Aladdin

Vil- Lucky by Britney Spears

Rook- Le Festin from Ratatouille

Epel- Try Everything from Zootopia

Idia- Blame by BB Cooper

Ortho- Hey Brother by Avicii

Malleus- No Friends by Cadmium

Silver- Once Upon A Dream from Sleeping Beauty

Sebek- Never Smile At A Crocodile From Peter Pan

Lilia- Life Is A Highway from Cars

Not sure if you agree with these because I just thought of which ones matches certain traits the characters have

first off thank you so much for so many ideas! After listening to the songs I’ve got a few things to say about how well it may or may not fit, I’m honestly happy to try any of these. Might take a while, but I’ll defenetly get quite a few of these done!

Riddle- I really do like the lyrics for this one, can envision overblot riddle singing it as he is overcome with the blot. the beat is pretty cool and I can already see some sort of nightmare that he may have, or I could try and write out an animatic base for the song with him. Very good song and I really like it! perfect first suggestion!

Trey- Would need to change a few lyrics here and there, fun jazzy song though! could have it so the MC is trying to ask him out by singing this. or another story with some other singing. Love the energy, just not into the innuendos in the song.

Cater- The song from Encanto is so, so, so good. Love that song and how it shows how crushing expectations can affect one's life. This definitely fits well with Cater's personality, having the mask of always being cheerful and bright, when in reality he's a bit cynical and hard on his true semi-introverted self.

The second song was deep, it has a wonderful beat and rhythm to it. The lyrics work super well to the deeper side that Cater has to his character, how he "puts on a happy face" despite his inner turmoil. could see this as an animatic writing piece, or the MC gets some sort of potion to get a look at the character's inner music. If I had to choose between the two songs, it would be this one first. Then maybe the Encanto song to help him realize he can be more than the face online.

Ace- Really fun song, with a good beat, and very fitting lyrics for the dumbass that is ace. Can definitely see MC singing this to him when he's pranked them. The energy is great! would change some lyrics here and there to fit him better.

Deuce- A very good song for deuce! very inspirational and shows how he wants to become better than he once was. "I've made mistakes but mistakes make you strong" had me really thinking about Deuce, and how he's become strong-willed due to his past. Despite the world against him, he's still here to become his best self. Another animatic-like thing that I could write. him talking with others and growing over the course of the story sharing what he knows with Epel, supporting the MC and the others, leading up to him getting his unique magic and proving he's better than he has ever been.

Leona- This one is pretty obvious, very fitting for Leona to sing Scars song. Very good idea for him to sing it too, using others to do the dirty work so he can be on top. Could have him sing this as he's scheming with the savanaclaw dorm to take out malleus and the other spelldrive leaders in book 2.

Ruggie- right off the bat the song sounds like something from mission impossible. interesting song, but not really feeling the Ruggie vibes for this one. seems too planned, Ruggie does plan but isn't cocky about how smart he is. I can see a few things in the lyrics but not enough to rewrite it. good suggestion but didn't vibe quite right.

Jack- Really nice beat and rhythm. nice vocals, and the lyrics are pretty good, but not quite the Jack I know. This version seems more obsessive, not really fitting for the standoffish wolf. Also, the first result for the song is a really intence and cool video.

Azul- The lyrics are very fitting for Azuls mindset and the way he does things with his contracts. The only downside is that the song is in another language... I can't really work with that as I'm american and only know english. Really cool song! im just incompitent when it comes to other languages 😭.

Jade- somewhat dark jazz kind of song, the lyrics aren't very fitting for Jade, The tangled-up main section of the song doesn't give his kind of vibe. It's a good song, just not quite Jade.

Floyd- Holy heck, this song definitely has Floyd vibes, with unnerving lyrics and crazed talking, with a jazzy upbeat song. But it's so good just on its own, I wouldn't know what to add or write for this! the only way I could possibly try and write this is by making some horrific dream sequence for him doing all kinds of horrific things to other students to get MC all to himself. amazing choice!

Kalim- Another perfect fit!! could absolutely write Kalim singing this as he and MC are dancing, could make it where he has a crush as he's singing this. Fun short and sweet song for the boy of sunshine!

Listened to both versions of the song, super fun and extravagant parade that Kalim 100% would do if he is able to. But it would be a bit too difficult to change up the words to be fitting to the ray of sunshine, super fun song, and happy to have the suggestion!

Jamil- very deep and booming low pop song. the vibe and lyrics are fitting for Jamil's inner turmoil as being under someone he knows he could be above. Being forced to hide his true better self because of his servitude to someone he hates. A very good and fitting song I could absolutely work with. maybe the potion of one's inner song could come for this one.

Another really good suggestion is Jamil introducing the dorm or the MC going over what happened in book 4. A perfect animatic-like sequence I could write out. The original song is fairly short so I would most likely go with the 2019 version of the song. Perfect suggestion!

Vil- Pretty good song for Vil! Shows how he is super popular and has just about everything a celebrity could want, yet he doubts something, he checks Mira so much and despises the results he gets to his question. Could do this song, but its already so perfect theres not much to adjust. and I cant really think up a scenario where this could be sung.

Rook- I love this song, so much, I just can't do much with it since I have no way to adjust a french song. I'm unable to use songs that use another language, but I can definitely see rook humming or singing this to himself as he watches his friends from afar. The lyrics when translated are pretty lonely and also about food cause of course. good suggestion, I just cant write it out.

Epel- I love this song, and the upbeat feeling it has. Not really an epel vibe though, he's very stubborn and brash at times. As good as this song is, it doesn't quite fit epel, or even someone else trying to help Epel. Good song, but not quite right for him though.

Idia- Really cool base-heavy song with electronic undertones that are very fitting to Idia. The lyrics are fairly fitting for him too, I just don't want to get stuff wrong about his backstory, but I'm trying to wait for the Ignihyde story to come out for us English players. Very good suggestion and song, I just don't know Idia well enough to do it justice.

Ortho- interesting choice but the country song doesn't seem very Ortho-like. The family vibes are good but It just doesn't fit him. sorry.

Malleus- First off and foremost is the title and giving it to malleus is a bit mean, if not fitting. The lyrics are very fitting to our lonely dragon boy... It hurts to say that this song is really him, just the pop rhythm doesn't really fit, but that's okay. Just wow.

Silver- Another character singing their inspirations song. Silver singing this would be very sweet as he probably is with his woodland friends. Maybe the Mc interrupts him similar to how the prince did with Arora all that time ago.

Sebek- HILARIOUS song, could be the first year's smack talking a bit about sebek. really good song, not very fitting of sebek himself but funny making fun of his croc like tendencies and attributes.

Lilia- Loving the meme song being one of Lilias. It's a good rock song that Lilia would love. Very fitting for Lilia's worldwide traveling and the adventures he's been on. The lyrics are fitting for his way of life and how he's happy to go have fun and make friends, helping others and his family. Perfect song for him to sing when he's practicing on his bass.

[importantstudentbusinessspy-blog]

Reunion

Masterlist

Pairing: Dick Grayson x (f)reader

Tags: NSFW, future angst, toxic, you cant fix him, smut, grad school, halloween, Dick is the reader's friend's ex's best friend, reunion, oral, penetration, praise, heartbreak, heartbroken reader,

The last time you'd been at a party like this was in freshman year. Now, in your twenties and in grad school, you were surprised to be at a Halloween house party - on Greek row, no less.

What was the harm? You were dressed in a Men in Black costume with your best friend, Jo, which made you look like a duo rather than a lone target for the inevitable creeps. Plus, you knew a bunch of people here, so it could actually turn out to be a fun night. In your black leather skirt and white button-up, you had chosen an outfit that was both fun and flattering. The fitted blazer - which you borrowed from your sister - accentuated your figure well. Your outfit had been recognized on the walk over by people calling out, "Men in Black!" From across the street.

As you stood with Jo on the front porch while people amoked around you and music blasted from inside, you were waiting for the host to reply with the text containing the entry code. Suddenly, Jo called out, "Dicky!" before being pulled into a hug by someone. You looked up just as "Dicky" turned toward you, and in a heartbeat, you found yourself pulled into an unexpectedly warm embrace. Lean muscles pressed against you through the thin fabric of a black button-up, undone just enough to reveal a glimpse of toned chest.

A low, teasing voice laughed in your ear, "Bet you don’t remember me."

Your voice was small as you murmured, "No…" but then you caught sight of his face - and your heart skipped. Athletic build, sharp jawline, flawless blue eyes, and a smile that could probably melt glass. Oh, you remembered him.

"It’s Robert’s friend," Jo grinned at you, helpfully filling in the details.

Right. Robert’s friend, Dicky. Dick Grayson. The eldest Wayne brother. That Dick Grayson.

In your periphery, you caught eyes of party goers following your exchange. A mix of intrigue and excitement shown in them. A few people nudged each other, whispering, but Dick didn't seem to notice. Holding himself with indifference, as if used to it.

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Three years ago.

You’d just finished celebrating a friend’s 20th birthday, and as the night wound down, the pub your friend group frequented started emptying as people were heading out for the night. Your group gathered their coats and stumbled into the crisp night air, chattering and laughing.

Your friend, along with her boyfriend, Robert, stopped you at the door. "Hey, girl, you got a ride?"

"I’ll catch the bus," you reassured them, gesturing at the stop down the block.

"Don’t take the bus," a new voice interjected. "I’ll drive you."

"Oh-" You turned toward Dick as he flashed his keys. The sound of his Subaru unlocking accompanied his offer. "You don’t have to."

"C’mon, you don’t live that far from me anyway."

And that’s how you ended up in a car with him.

You’d asked, just to be sure, "You didn’t drink, right?" caught for a moment by the way his eyes turned to catch your gaze. You tried to keep your cool, but your blush gave you away. You blamed the booze.

A glint sparked in his eye. "What, you don’t trust me?"

Your fingers fidgeted nervously. "If you drank… then, no."

He smirked, showing perfect teeth. "I can be dangerous when I’m sober, too." With a mischievous look, he sped up just slightly, the engine roaring. "Do you trust me?"

Your breath hitched, but this time, not with fear - with excitement. You tried to tell yourself, 'Pull your dumbass head out', especially since he had a girlfriend. Or... a friend he was making out with. Who didnt leave with him...

Still, your body didn't listen, as the thrill of his speeding up made you grip the seat belt tighter.

"Maybe you shouldn’t…" you whispered.

"I think I should." His grin widened, and the car sped up even more.

You couldn’t help laughing to yourself. There was something irresistibly reckless about him, and he obviously knew it worked in his favor. Something that made your pulse race. Your backward, illogical pulse.

You hadn’t noticed your thighs pressing together. But he had.

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You blinked, bringing yourself back to the party, back to the present. You smiled up at him. "Yeah, I remember you."

“Good." He grinned, slipping his hands casually into his pockets. Those blue eyes, with their signature teasing glint, roamed over you as if he were taking mental notes and enjoying every reaction you made. "Men in black?"

"Y/n's idea!" Jo grinned at him. "Costume took us all of five minutes to put together... something like that, right?" He turned to you for confirmation.

"Yeah," you said absentmindedly.

"And what are you?" Jo turned back to Dick. A dark angel?"

You took in his outfit. Black button up, undone at the top, black feather wings on the back, and a black halo held by a headband around his head.

"Lucifer," Dick corrected.

"Ah, nice!" Jo gave a slow clap.

Dick smiled a cocky smile, and then his gaze shifted to yours. "It's good to see you."

There was a new air about him. He was taller, his frame still lean but solid with muscle. He looked every bit the man you once knew, now more rugged. Hed changed, but so had you. Back then, you’d been easily impressed by boys. Now, after a serious relationship resulting in awful hearbreak followed by a handful of flings, you knew the game better. Experience had a way of tempering those old thrills.

"Nice to see you too," you said, trying to play it cool, though a flicker of heat crossed your cheeks.

"Waiting on your friend?" Dick asked, noticing you glancing at your phone.

"Yeah," you muttered, a little annoyed. "My friend Penelope’s one of the hosts, but she’s not answering my texts."

He didn’t hesitate, stepping away and speaking briefly to the guy at the door. A moment later, he came back. "Give him the cover, and you’re in."

"Thanks." You smiled up at him, grateful.

"Anytime."

Before you could say more, a voice cooed from the side, "Oh, Lucifer…" A girl in a Hogwarts costume sauntered over, pressing herself against Dick's side with her hands running up his torso. "Come corrupt me."

You offered a polite, close lipped smile as she gave you a once-over. Yep. This was the Dick you remembered. Never alone. Always surrounded by admirers.

"See you inside?" he asked, eyes already on her, a grin on his face.

"Yeah," you nodded, hurrying past them.

Inside, the party was in full swing. The house was packed, music thumping, and you wove through the crowd, recognizing friends and catching up with the occasional shouting match over the blaring speakers. Finally, a hand grabbed your shoulder, and you turned to see Penelope in an American Psycho costume with the plastic raincoat covered in blood. "Girl, you made it!"

"Yep!" You hugged her, laughing. "Cool party! How’s it going?"

"Chaos," she rolled her eyes. "People have been sneaking in without RSVPs, and we’ve been chasing them out all night-"

Suddenly a ring came from her phone and she brought it up to read the screen, then offered you an apologetic look. "Someone just broke the fridge door, I gotta go-"

You waved off her apology, pulling her toward the dance floor. "Let someone else deal with it. Lets enjoy your party, bitch!"

She gave up fighting and pocketed her phone, then began to dance to the music. The two of you fell into the rhythm of the crowd, and as the drinks started kicking in, you let yourself melt into the music, eyes closed, the bass pulsing through you.

A low voice murmured behind you. "Didn’t know you could move like that."

You turned to see Dick, grinning as he joined you on the floor. "I used to do ballet."

His brows rose. "How did I never know that?"

You shrugged. "Guess it never came up."

His hands settled lightly on your waist, pulling you toward him. "Well, I have to say," a mischievous smirk played on his lips as he leaned in close, his voice soft and warm in your ear. "It did wonders. You’re damn sexy when you dance."

You felt your cheeks heat. "Where's your girlfriend?"

Dick laughed to himself. There was a thrill in making you flustered, a satisfaction that came from knowing he could draw out that blush. He shook his head, amused. "I don’t have a girlfriend."

"What about Miss Gryffindor?" You raised an eyebrow.

He laughed, nodding in realization you meant the girl from earlier. "Ah, yeah. I just met her here. Don’t even know her name."

"Oh?" You felt the tension ease only slightly, though a quick look around made you oddly self-conscious. The music, the people packed around, the way he was looking at you-all of it made it feel like you two were too close.

Dick caught sight of a phone camera aiming his way, likely hoping for a candid. He turned slightly, hiding your face without you noticing and giving them a polite but distant nod. He was used to this game.

There were too many people here, he dicided. He leaned close to your ear. "Wanna go somewhere a little quieter?"

Your brow quirked, your rational side already on alert. Of course. Dick Grayson might look like a dream, but he was still a guy. "And do what?"

He smiled, something mischievous glinting in his eyes. "And have some fun." He grinned, undeterred by your unimpressed expression.

Part of you longed to lean into the proposition. But another part screamed at to be cautious, to remember that opening your heart again could lead to more pain. You had decided a while ago that, at least for now, you weren't ready to commit your time and energy into a relationship. "Look, I appreciate the offer. But I'm not really looking to get tied up in something -"

"I'm not offering to get you tied up in something." He smirked. "I'm offering we fuck. Just one night. Between two grown ups who know what they want."

You blinked, and suddenly, the proposal became appealing. One night? No strings attached and, more importantly, no heartbreak? And as far as guys at this party went, you could do a lot worse than Dick Grayson.

"No strings attached?" You looked up at him

"You have my word." He make a show of putting his hand on his heart.

Fuck it, You thought. Let him show you what everyone was gushing about. Timidly, you nodded up at him. "I'll just tell my friends know where I'm going."

"Let them wonder." He waves off, careless. Truth be told, you realize you don't really know how to deal with your friends' reactions to you leaving the party with a him. Instead, you pull your phone out and send your group chat a quick text.

Ditching. Going home with someone )) see y'all tomorrow.

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"You still drive the same Subaru?" You said, making yourself comfortable on his leather seat. He even had the same seashell decoration on his rearview mirror. Your hand rose to touch it.

"You remember Morticia?" Dick asked from behind the wheel, turning the engine on.

You couldn't help the snort that ripped out of your mouth. "Right, Morticia. I forgot."

"Yeah, how could I trade off my baby? She's seen me through thick and thin." His fingers tapped at the wheel as he pulled up out of the party.

You nodded, rolling your eyes at how predictable men were. Boys and their toys, or however the saying went. "So, what are you up to? School? Work?"

"Police academy." He flashed you a signature charming smile.

You blinked, and your brows rose in surprise. "Oh wow, just like you wanted."

"I had a plan." His gaze was on the road ahead. His voice took on a serious tone.

"Thats great, Di-" you began to say.

"What about you? How's law school going?"

It was your turn to face the road. "It's... okay."

He hummed. "Doesn't sound like it,"

You huffed. "I dint know. I guess I idealized it too much. Turns out studying the law has a lot to do with getting away with crime rather than preventing it."

He didn't respond at first and you turned to see him grasp at the wheel, knuckles white. "Yeah... Tell me about it."

You swallowed, wondering what his reaction was about. "Is it like that at the academy, too?"

"There's corruption everywhere in this city." He said with a tone of disappointment. "And anyone can be bought."

You were surprised at this new side of him which you've never seen before.

You cleared your throat, then, in an attempt to lift the mood, said. "Well, here's to hoping idealistic dreamers manage to stay on the good guy's side. Hmm?"

He grinned at tyat, blue eyes still studying the road. "I like the sound of that."

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Dick still lived in the same apartment building you once visited two years ago. He pulled into the familiar parking lot and shifted into the park. As you walked into the unit of his medium-sized livingroom, taking in the humble decor, comfortable furniture, matte colored wallpaper. What stood out the most was the sheer mess of books tossed and scattered around the place. You remembered Dick to be pretty messy. You didn't remember him being so studious.

You walked over to his coffee table and picked up an open book, flipping it to read the cover.

Forensic Pathology Throughout the 21st Century by-

You nearly dropped the book when you felt his lips on the back of your neck. Dick's frame was so much bigger compared to yours, his arms easily framed you from the back as you felt his body heat on your back. You sighed softly as his lips trailed down your neck, his hand coming up to brush your hair aside.

"Wanna know something?" He whispered in your ear, the warmth of his cooler scented breath tickling your sensitive skin.

"Yeah," your voice was just above a whisper.

"I had a bit of a crush on you when we first met." His voice lowered with the confession.

You smiled a melancholy smile to yourself. You had trouble believing that. In your experience, guys always said what they knew would get them into bed. "Really?"

He turned you to face him. His eyes studying you with amusement. "You don't believe me."

You grimaced at being caught. "You realize that I'm already at your place, right? You don't need to say anything to get in my pants."

He made a show of looking down at your outfit. "You're not wearing pant-"

"Dick," You smacked him lightly on the shoulder.

He caught your wrist and lowered his face to meet your eye to eye. "We were at Richmond's pub. You, me, Robert, Laura, and I think... yeah, a couple more people. Your friend came over to visit you from another state, and you invited her to join."

Your eyes switched between his as he spoke, remembering exactly that night you talked about.

"And we all had a bit to drink. And everyone was talking so fucking much. And laughing. And shouting. There wasn't a moments peace that night. Except," he said, cupping your chin. "Except for your corner of the table."

You raised a brow, prompting him to continue.

"You just sat there." He went on. "Quietly, and observed. But every time someone said something , you gazed at them as if it was the most interesting thing on earth. There was wonder in your eyes that I just..."

"You just...?"

He shrugged, then lowered his lips and met yours in a heated kiss. You sighed into the kiss, and he deepened it, his tongue swiping past yours. You stood this close for a long time. When you pulled apart, Dick looked like he physically yearned for more. "I just wanted to kiss you so. Damned. Bad."

Your breath sped up by that time, catching up on the breath you'd lost to the kiss, your mouth dropped slightly in astonishment. "You still remember that?"

He nodded, pulling you back into the kiss. As you leaned into him, he unbuttoned your blazer, followed by your blouse, then loosened your tie, trailing kisses down your collar and breasts until he reached the hem of your skirt, asking. "Take a step back for me,"

"Okay," you nodded, obeying until your back hit the wall of his living room.

The scenario was so random. You never thought you'd end up liek this tonight. Backed up against the wall of Dick Grayson's apartment, clothes disheveled, strands of hair falling on your face as the eldest son of gothams, the wealthiest dynasty kneeling at your feet. You'd be amazed, but in truth, you were still processing what he told you earlier. He remembered a very specific moment. That even you didn't think of as significant. And yet... it had meant something to him. You suddenly felt your heart warm.

You risked a glance down, seeing him lift up your skirt, pulling down your panties.

His blue eyes focused on yours as his tongue slipped past his lips, and he leaned closer, swiping it through your folds. Unable to handle the intensity of the view, you bit your lip, wanting to shift your gaze away, but... you couldn't. It was like his gaze physically locked yours in. His lips wrapped around your core, tongue quickly finding your clit with enthusiastic licks.

"Oh," your hand shot to cover your mouth as your head rolled back against the wall. Shaking fingers combed the black locks of his hair as you moaned his name, begging for more.

His hands wrapped around the back of your thighs, and he pulled them further apart, opening you up for better access. His tongue dipped into you, licking that sensitive nerve inside, making your back arch against the wall.

"Please," you keened as your core began to spread a warm, exciting sensation, making your body shake against him. "Please, please, please,"

Your knees buckled, nearly giving out. He stood up, catching you around your waist, pressing your foreheads together. "Hey," he gasped, grinning at you.

"H-hi" you panted against him.

"Not quitting on me, are you?" He winked at you.

You laughed. "No."

"Brilliant," he smiled, pulling you into a kiss that was eagerly returned.

You don't remember exactly how, but you were picked up one moment and then lowered onto his bed the next. This was a part of his room you were seeing for the first time, but you barely gave a fuck to look around as you were too busy getting up off the bed, surprising a stripping Dick.

He eyed you questioningly until you brought your hands up to where he was in the middle of unbuttoning his shirt and replacing his. Carefully you discarded his shirt, kissing your way down his impressively chiseled chest and torso. You were surprised to see a mapping of scars and marks along his skin, but refrained from asking. The less you two knew about each other, the better. You kissed your way down, reveling in the sounds he released as you did, and the way his hand came up to cradle your head.

At last, you reached the top of his jeans, sitting comfortably on his narrow waist. You undid his belt and lowered the layer of pants and underwear until his hardness was in front of you. You tried to hold back your wide-eyed reaction, but holy... Dick's Dick was big. We'll, it was bigger than any you've ever seen. All three.

"Like what you see?" He asked above you with a knowing smile.

You realized you were staring, then you looked up at him and nodded eagerly before taking him in your mouth. You watched his brow furrow in pleasure as he gasped, hand still cradling your head. He drawled, "Oh baby, yes. Just like that. Good girl."

You moaned around him at the praise, eager for more. Licking and sucking, you thought to yourself, this was the most eager you've ever been to give someone a blow job, not sure why - I guess the right ones just have that effect.

"Baby," He moaned. "If you want me to fuck you, you should stop."

Reluctantly you pulled away, watching his face, studying his expressions. You got up slowly on wobbly legs and fell back onto the soft, cushion of the bed, backing up to give him room.

Dick tisksed, shaking his head. You wondered what that was about, but then he grabbed you by your ankle and pulled you towards himself. It barely took any effort for him to do that. Your breath hitched, more so when you two were now met torso to torso as he leaned over you, lining himself up. He grabbed one of the pillows on his bed head, lifted you by the small of your back, and placed the pillow under it. Then, he rolled on the condom. You were surprised, usually having to do both those actions yourself.

When he thrust into you, the two of you gasped in unison. His pupils were wide as he gazed down at you before drawing you against him. You clung onto him as he trusted into you again and again. "Ah, ah, Dick-"

"So tight." He bit his lip. "God, baby. You're so perfect."

"Dick, I'm - oh," you stuttered. "Please, more, please,"

He sped up his rhythm, brushing your sensitive spot with each thrust, moaning as he did. "So, fucking tight. Feels so good, baby."

"Yeah," you gazed up at him with those glassy eyes, and Dick felt like he won. He hadn't lied when he said he wanted to kiss you. We'll. He did lie. In truth, he wanted to do so much more. But having you beneath him, moaning his name, and gazing up at him like he was all that mattered made something spark within him. Something powerful. Possessive. He wanted every guy who you've ever been with to see you this way. His. For all intents and purposes, in this perfect moment, you were his.

Dick pressed his hand to your lower belly, feeling himself slide in and out of you. The action resulted in a sweet pressure inside you, building up and making you write under him.

God, did he know what he was doing. It was refreshing. Truly.

Your nails scratched down his back to grasp as his hips needing him closer, as close as possible. Your orgasm hit like a wave, making you cry out as your whole body shuddered.

Your shaking hands cradled his face. He shuddered and leaned into your touch, making each eager thrust count.

"Come for me," you wispered, eyes pleading. "I wanna see you come."

Oh god, yes. He grunted, pressing against you. He would do anything, everything. All you had to do was ask in that breathy, cute voice. Please.

As if obeying an order, his orgasm shot through his entire body. Your arms snaked around him, pulling him down to you for a kiss, and he lowered himself to indulge you.

You were so sweet, so vulnerable in his arms. So different from the composed, confident girl he'd remembered. He held you as close as he possibly could, nearly crushing you. But you didn't mind. Welcoming his warm embrace.

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You had class early the next day, a weekend course that was unfortunately mandatory. So you dressed quickly, hoping not to wake him. Thoggh, you realized you failed when you heard stirring from the bed just as you picked up your discarded shoes. You turned to see him blinking away sleep. He looked cute with his hair still messy, bare torso and arms covered by a messily draped bed sheet.

And you enjoyed waking up in his embrace too. His arm resting as a pillow under your head as you slept on your side, as his other arm was draped around your waist.

"Going somewhere?" His voice was a low rasp, rough with sleep.

You managed a small, apologetic smile. "I’ve got a nine a.m. lecture every Saturday."

Dick’s gaze narrowed slightly, the hint of a frown on his lips. "It’s six."

"I know," you murmured, glancing down at your clothes—a crumpled, half-worn version of last night’s outfit. "But I’ve got to go home first. I can’t exactly show up like this."

He pushed himself up, revealing the full view of him in the early light, looking both effortless and undeniably inviting. "I’ll drive you."

"You don’t have to," you said, shaking your head quickly. "I already called an Uber-"

"Cancel it."

"It’s...already here," you replied, lifting your phone. "ETA one minute."

A flicker of something - was that disappointment? - crossed his blue eyes, but he only shrugged. "Alright."

The silence that followed felt heavy, pressing against you as you avoided his gaze. "Thank you for yesterday," you said finally, your voice quieter. "It was... fun."

His lips twisted into a teasing smirk. "You know, you could’ve woken me up for another round."

You let out a soft, half-sarcastic laugh. "You looked peaceful. I didn’t want to ruin that."

He snorted, leaning back, the look in his eyes lingering as he watched you slip on your shoes.

"See you around," you murmured, already halfway out of the bedroom, the words feeling less like a promise and more like a polite exit.

《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》《》

Twice in one week. You hesitated the moment you stepped into the bar with your fellow interns, their laughter and voices fading as they moved toward a round table further in.

You knew better than this. You were an adult, and when you’d agreed to that night with him, you both understood it was just that - one night. But try as you might, logic hadn’t stopped your body from betraying you. Your breath hitched, and an ache tightened in your chest as your gaze fell on a too-familiar face.

There he was, leaning casually against the wall, lips pressed to someone else’s in a way that was both effortless and intimate. His hands traced her back with the same warmth you’d felt only nights ago.

And suddenly, that story he told you about the pub became just that, a story. Just like any other man had told you to get in your pants. A means to an end. You mentally admonished yourself, disbelief at falling for yet another one.

You swallowed hard, feeling the sting of something you couldn't quite name. You’d told yourself it didn’t mean anything. But here, watching him so easily entwined with someone else, you couldn't help but feel discarded. Hurt.

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[g1rld1ary]

lamest place in the world - trevor spengler x reader

wc: 835

cw: smoking, drinking, swearing kissing, trevor and r are implied slightly aged up because i want them to be but has no impact on plot, please don't get in the car with a boy you've just met xx

Summerville, despite the name's associations, was the lamest place in the world. Certainly not the endless summer paradise that was suggested on the tin. There wasn't much to do over the summer except go to work, sleep, or fuck around in one of the many dumb fields around. It wasn't even a farming town anymore, why were there still so many goddamn fields?

You were in Walmart, preparing for a quiet night in. A pint of ice cream, a face mask, some new nail polish; you were all set.

"No way, I, um, love that stuff," A voice said from next to you. You chanced a glance at the boy next to you, towering over the shelf and all gangly limbs.

"You love nail polish?" You asked, raising an eyebrow. The boy cringed, caught in his own ruse and exposed by his obviously untouched nails.

"I just mean, uh--"

"You just wanted a reason to talk to me?" The boy nodded, seemingly resigned to his awful failure. To his surprise, you introduced yourself instead. You figured he was new to the town, and couldn't be any worse than the people you already knew. "What are you doing tonight?"

An hour later Trevor was in your car, driving you both out to the outskirts of town. He'd begged you to let him drive, apparently he'd never been allowed or something where he lived, and you figured your ancient piece-of-shit car could handle one more reckless driver.

You turned the speaker all the way up, blasting whatever tape you'd last put into it. You hung out the passenger window, singing along as Trevor raced down the empty dirt roads.

The car was parked in the middle of another field. Far off in the distance, you could see a few artificial lights, but other than that you were alone.

"Why'd you come to Summerville?" You asked Trevor once you'd shifted positions so you were both on the hood of your car, staring up at the dark night sky.

"My mom's broke," He replied, "We got evicted from our apartment and all we've got left is that stupid horror movie house and a bunch of old dusty shit inside."

"Shit," You agreed, coming up with an idea, "You want one?" You offered him a cigarette from the packet inside your jacket.

"I, uh, haven't smoked before," He said sheepishly.

"Neither have I. Cigarettes are stupid hard to come by here, they're only sold at one place and he's tough on kids. These're my brothers from college." You brandished a lighter, hot pink that you assured your mom was just for candles, and got to work.

You counted down together, inhaling in sync. You both choked out coughs and splutters, laughing at each other's embarrassing moments. You stumbled through the process, giving each other advice on how to do it properly despite both of you making it up on the spot.

You figured it out soon enough, and fell into a peaceful quiet, listening to the cicadas and rustling grass.

"Do you hate it here?" Trevor asked to break the silence and you looked at him, considering the question.

"I used to a lot more, I think. I used to be so fucking angry that this was the lot I was given. I've grown up a lot now, make my own fun, and it's not so bad anymore. Now I only hate it every other day," You joked, uncomfortable with the serious conversation. Thankfully Trevor laughed and you were back to more playful conversation.

You'd been out there for hours, burning through a few cigarettes and whatever booze you had stashed in the trunk.

"It's not funny, Trev, we were in deep shit--"

"What'd you call me?"

"Trev? Is that not alright--"

"No, no I liked it. Really liked it." You look over at him, were you always this close? You could feel his breath on your face, hot even in the summer air.

You think you were the one to kiss him first, but it honestly could've been either of you. Something in the air between you was electric, pushing you towards the boy you'd only just met.

The kiss was kind of awkward at first, both of you craning your necks from your position on your backs. Trevor was the one to move, pulling himself on top of you and framing your face with his forearms. He tasted like a bizarre mix of cigarettes and beer but it didn't repel you, rather encouraging you to open your mouth for him, the two of you getting even closer. You explored his mouth, bringing your hands up to tangle in his curls, pulling on them slightly and giggling into his open mouth when he moaned.

Maybe Summerville wasn't all boring, and you were pretty sure you'd just sorted out your summer plans.

[dogs2shouldvote]

in contrast with my last post, in my latest relisten of taz balance i also recorded a bunch of quotes that felt like a punch to the gut (with zero context mostly). here’s some that made me a) cry or b) freak out because foreshadowing

MAJOR taz balance spoilers ahead; if you haven’t already listened to this amazing show, you should!

- “you can’t kill robbie, i have some big franchise plans for robbie”

- “you found her?“

- “one of you isn’t a lich, are you?”

- “tell julia i said i love her”

- “your staff, you lost control of it, and you blasted the letters L U P into the wall”

- “you look familiar too. have we met?” (this one i did put context for, it’s ren speaking to magnus in the eleventh hour during one of the early loops)

- “is there anything else you can edit in our past?” (this one also had context, magnus to istus i believe)

- “you’re going to be amazing”

- “there’s a long span of time that’s just not there” … “while you’re looking through these memories… there is something about the memory is a little bit off. there’s parts of it that are a little bit staticky.”

- “i named my fish after him”

- “he didn’t want to be a hero. it wasn’t his desire.”

- “Do you remember the last thing you said?”

“I said ‘I love you, Jules.’”

- “lup. they don’t trust me. i cant do it anymore, lup. i’m sorry”

- “the hunger is almost here. and when it arrives, the world will be lost.”

- “and it’s an incredibly familiar face, because it’s your face, magnus. this figure in the red robe is you.”

- “why are you doing this, taako?”

“because i’m worried no one else will have me”

- “you see this red robe put a single skeletal finger to its nonexistent lips”

- ”i’ll be having my body back you undead fuck”

- “trust barry. love barry. taako… it’s me… it’s *static*”

- “when there was trouble, you took the big hit. didn’t you, bud?”

- “and taako you remember lup now. how could you forget lup?”

- “are we just gonna burn every world that we can’t save just to keep the hunger from getting its hands on them? how does that make us any better than them?”

- “this is where we get to decide who we are”

- “show them the duck. it’s a good duck. i think they’ll like it!”

- “your journey could have ended anywhere… but it ended here. and you’re so grateful for that.”

- “sometimes there aren’t right decisions. sometimes there’s just decisions.”

- “back soon”

- “as his body falls further and further down, you realize you don’t know who that is.”

- “magnus. i’m going to find a place for you to be happy. it’ll just be for a little bit. i can do this. i love you magnus. i love all of you *fading into static*”

- “you *fucking took everything. from me*.”

- “i needed to say goodbye to someone

- “i don’t expect you all to forgive me…”

“i run over and hug her”

- “there’s magic in a bards song. they call it is inspiration and it tells the listener what they need to hear when they need to hear it… and you hear johann’s voice and it says: ‘you’re gonna have to fight… and *you’re gonna win!*’”

- “how does magnus die?”

- “and thus ends adventure zone balance. the story of four idiots who played dnd so hard they made themselves cry.”

[dullgecko]

Hallo again!! I was the one who sent in a lot of those Riz in backpack headcanons! Here are some more.

Places Riz had woken up in because he fell asleep in someone’s backpack

- Zelda’s room, I’d like to imagine it’d just pan back and forth we between slowly getting closer to the back and Riz slowly unzipping, when he confusedly peeked his head out of the backpack, Zelda and him screamed out of utter surprise. Once the two of them calmed down, Zelda offered to call Gorgug to come pick up his backpack with Riz in it.

- Sam Nightingale’s car, very similar to the last one, Gorgug left his backpack at Zelda, and Sam was already gonna take the maidens out tonight. So they were just gonna drop the backpack off on the way, Riz wakes up to blasting pop music, pokes his head out to look up at Zelda. All the seven maidens really like Riz (he was the one started looking for them in the first place) and they offered to drop off the backpack and take him with him as a thank you.

- Backstage at a concert, he was passed out the whole time. He could faintly hear the sound of Fig welcoming people and introducing Gorgug, but he didn’t really recognize where he was until he heard the speakers blasting. When he poked his head out, security try to kick him out. Fig heard this, came back stage and fired the security guard for not recognizing one of her best friends. (There’s now a list of everyone that’s allowed backstage)

- Hell, Fig accidentally left her backpack in her domain, there was no cell service so he was kinda stuck there with Baby until it Fig came back. He didn’t enjoy a second of it, Baby kept trying to get Riz to kill him. Eventually when Fig found him she was freaking out because apparently no one knew where he was.

- Compass point’s library, Fig or Adaine left forgot Riz was in there. Ayda was going to promptly return the bag as soon as she was finished with whatever she was doing. Until she heard Riz groaned, she opened it and saw Riz sleeping with a bunch of Adaine’s books. She took a picture because she knew this was something that would be considered cute and put the backpack back down.

- On Baxter, Sandralynn, in a hurry, accidentally picking up Kristen’s back and flying off on Baxter, not know that Riz was in there. He woke up at least a hundred feet above ground and he scared the shit out of Baxter, almost sending them falling.

Zeldas room:

Riz woke up and he was... not where he was supposed to be, but he recognised the smell of Zeldas deodorant and soap so he figured he was probably in her house. This posed a bit of a problem because if he was in her house, Gorgug was probably there.... and they were dating..... and she was a satyr... who worshiped Faunus.... and her boyfriend was there.... and they probably thought they were alone.... The rogue covered his face, ears flicking as he tried to listen to what was going on outside the confines of the bag. Thanking all that was holy when he heard nothing gross and carefully unzipping the backpack to peak out. Quickly ducking back down when Zelda spotted him and screamed. Riz yelping when the bag was impacted by a textbook thrown at full force from the startled girl. "Ow! Fuck, sorry!" he waited a moment before peeking back out again, Zelda still looking a little startled but calming down when she finally recognised him. "Oh! Riz I'm sorry you frightened me." She put down the lamp she was about to throw next and crouched to inspect the goblin. Riz rubbing the side of his head from where the textbook had nailed him through the padding of the bag. "I didn't realise Gorgug forgot his bag. I'll get him to come get you."

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

Really Gorgug? Again? At least it felt like he was in a moving car this time, so there was less of a chance of him seeing something he shouldn't. It also felt like someone had buckled the bag into the seat so there was a good chance they knew he was there.

The goblin shuffled around inside the bag, using his claws to try and find the end of the zipper. It wasn't needed though, someone on the outside was opening it for him so he popped his head out. Laughing and ducking back down as several different peoples hands tried to ruffle his hair all at once (he didn't duck away too quickly from Penny though, she had first friend head pat privileges).

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

He must have been more tired than he realised, Riz thought, when he checked his watch and realised school had finished /hours/ ago. The rogue scrubbing his hands over his face as he tried to wake up the rest of the way as he listened to his surroundings to work out where he was.

He could make a fairly educated guess, given that he could hear Fig giving her usual pre-show introductions, that they were at The Black Pit. She still did little shows like this when she wasn't on tour and he vaguely remembered her mentioning there was one coming up. It was too far away for him to walk home so he'd have to wait around for them to finish which was fine. He enjoyed Figs shows as long as he didn't have to stand in the audience, he was too likely to get stepped on in big crowds.

Riz fished his glasses out of his breast pocket, putting on the light filtering lenses before unzipping the bag from the inside. Clambering out to stretch and check out his surroundings as the music started blaring from the stage. He could only just see Fig from here, The Black Pit wasn't big enough of a venue to have green-rooms for the performers meant she'd left her things in a pile with Gorgugs in the wings.

He crouched back down next to the bags after watching for a while, finding himself thirsty and rummaging through Gorgugs bag looking for the unopened bottle of water he knew was stashed in there. Riz wasn't trying to be stealthy so he wasn't surprised when one of the security staff noticed him, he /was/ surprised that they didn't seem to recognise him though.

"You theivin little rat! What the hell d'you think you're doing?" The orc in a 'security' emblazoned t-shirt stomped towards him, Riz giving him a confused look and standing up as they didn't seem intent on slowing their approach.

"Oh. Hi? I'm in Fig and Gorgugs par-" he didn't get to finish his sentence, the security officer swiping for him which the rogue tried to dodge. Riz didn't quite get far enough away though, the orc managing to grab him by the tail and yank him into the air in one smooth motion.

Riz wasn't quite sure exactly what happened next but he vaguely remembered screaming as his vision whited out from the pain. His tail was part of his spine, wasn't strong enough to support his weight and when he was yanked into the air he felt something /snap/.

The next moment he could form a coherent thought he was somehow back on his feet, gentle and familiar hands keeping him upright as healing magic dulled the pain to a distant ache. The music had stopped and the air now smelled of burning fabric so he could make an educated guess as to what happened. He couldn't see Gorgug anywhere, or the security orc, which probably didn't bode well for the staff member.

"You okay?" Fig let him go when he moved to stand up straighter from his pained hunch, the bard frowning and using her sleeve to wipe his face dry since the pain had made his eyes water. "Oh that fucker is /so/ fired once Gorgug finishes with him."

----------

"Why not? It'll be fun!" Baby cackled, Riz hissing like a feral cat and trying to kick him away as Baby scaled the bookshelf the rogue had perched himself on. The goblins foot landing with a squelch and making the Imp fall back to the floor with another peel of insane laughter. They really needed to work out how to get cell service down here.

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

Riz had been hanging out with them for a while but there was only so much girl talk he could handle before checking out of the situation. Plus, his head was killing him. Even he had to admit sometimes there was a limit on how long you could go without a nap and, rather than lying down in the open, had flopped down partially concealed inside the duffle bag Adaine had brought with her. Riz shuffling around the contents in order to use one of her textbooks as a pillow before passing out.

He'd apparently done TOO good of a job hiding himself though, because Fig and Adaine had completely forgotten about the bag when they left. He'd woken up back at Mordred hours later and only found out about the abandonment when he spotted a photo printed out and taped to Adaines mirror at their next sleepover.

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

Riz was usually fine with heights. What he was NOT fine with was SUDDEN UNEXPECTED HEIGHTS WHILE NOT FULLY AWAKE. There was a lot of screaming involved, and claws (not just his) and it took forever for his heart to stop trying to beat out of his chest once his feet were finally on the ground. Baxter got a lot of treats from the goblin over the following weeks in apology.

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Super manga ch.84-86

“Hey, honey, I got the crap beat out of me.”

“Well don’t just stand there!  Go show the baby!”

“Oh yeah, good call.  Hey, son.  I got worked over pretty good.”

Currently, Goku and Vegeta are trying to stop Gas, who became nearly invincible thanks to a wish on the Dragon Balls.  Their only chance is that Bardock once fought Gas before, and as Goku listens to the audio recordings on Bardock’s old scouter, he suddenly has a recollection of his infancy on Planet Vegeta, up to and including the moment when his parents shot him into space. 

That scene is shown in here as well, but I think I like the above page the best, where baby Kakarot was just watching his mom putter around the house throughout the day.  He didn’t see much of his family while he was in the incubation tank, but he saw some, and now he finally remembers it. 

You might think the Bardock audio would be useless, since it didn’t provide any special insights into how to defeat Gas, past or present.  Bardock just hung in there and kept sluggin’ away until he won.  But that’s actually exactly what Goku needed to hear.  As Whis tried to explain to Goku earlier, the key to mastering Ultra Instinct is not to devise some cool new transformation, or to imitate Whis’ angelic calm.  Goku has to be himself so he can find his own path to Ultra Instinct mastery.  Hearing his father’s voice, talking about victory and survival above all else, that reminds Goku of who he is, and who he’s always been. 

And Vegeta needed to hear it too.  He had been trying to use Destruction energy like Beerus, who had advised Vegeta to cast aside his guilt over the sins of the Saiyan people.  Now he’s finally figured out how to do that properly.  Before, he was just acting like he no longer cared about the Saiyans’ crimes.  Now, he finally accepts that their crimes are not his responsibility. 

So when Gas finally returns to Planet Cereal to settle things, he finds Goku and Vegeta are ready for him.  This time, they fight him together, and their Ultra Instinct and Ultra Ego forms are much more focused than before.

Elec tells the Heeters that he expected something like this, and it doesn’t matter that these two power-ups gave Granolah some trouble, since Gas is stronger than Granolah.  But Goku and Vegeta don’t give a fuck.  Screw the odds, they just want to kick some ass. 

Let me skip a bunch of this fight.  I feel bad about doing that, since the action sequences are probably the best feature of Toyotaro’s art.  But I’m here to talk about the plot first and foremost.  Basically, Vegeta sets up a beam struggle with a big Hakai blast, and while Goku pushes it, Vegeta tries to flummox Gas at the same time.  It doesn’t quite work, but Vegeta still manages to hang in there, because Ultra Ego feeds on the damage Gas dishes out.  So it becomes a question of whether Gas can take down Vegeta before he surpasses Gas in power. 

Gas tries to solve that dilemma by killing him all at once, but good luck one-shotting Vegeta.  Of course, eventually Vegeta does fall, because Gas hits like a speeding truck, and Vegeta can only take so much punishment.  But while he’s fighting Gas, it gives Goku a chance to figure out how to optimize his UI.

I should really write about this in a separate post, but it seems like Goku is just sort of inventing a new form specifically for the way he plans to use Ultra Instinct here.  With the silver-haired form, he could use it well, but it only lasted so long, and he had to keep his emotions in check.  Now, he’s using this other version that looks pretty close to his base form, but he can use his turbulent emotions and Ultra Instinct at the same time.  And this freaks Gas out, not because of Goku’s methodology, but because the result has him looking a lot like Bardock did right before he kicked Gas’ ass forty years ago.

To be clear, Goku always looks like Bardock all the time.  The resemblance isn’t what got in Gas’ head.  It’s the confidence Goku found in this moment, where he’s totally in synch with who he is and what he’s trying to do. 

By contrast, Gas had some pride in himself as a warrior, but all he ever does is what Elec tells him to do, in the name of some grander agenda for the Heeters, which I doubt Elec has ever deigned to explain to him.  And that plan involved Gas surrendering his warrior pride to get a boost from the Dragon Balls, so his morale is shot, even if he won’t admit it. 

Sure, Gas may be stronger than Goku... no, wait, maybe he’s not.  As Goku fights, he seems to get just a teeny edge over Gas.  It’s not much, and it won’t last long, but it’s just like Vegeta warned Granolah earlier.  The rankings don’t mean much in the long run.  Strongest, second strongest, it all changes with the weather. 

But then Elec gives Gas another scolding/pep talk, and that reawakens Gas and he starts to fight even harder.  Also his body looks messed up.  Macki and Oil begin to get concerned, even as Gas seems to have Goku on the ropes.

But then Granolah shows up to make the save.  So somehow, Monaito managed to heal all three of them up during the 20 minutes while Gas was away.  That’s not hard to believe, except Monaito kept complaining about how he could heal people very fast, and now he seems to be improving. 

Anyway, Goku agrees to keep Gas busy while Granolah charges up his full power for a single attack.  You know the drill.

Goku has trouble, but fortunately, Vegeta gets a second win and helps buy more time.  Then Oil and Macki try to jump in but Monaito stops them... with the power of hypnotism!  Well, whatever works. 

But it still isn’t quite enough, so then Goku activates his Stand, or whatever that giant Goku thoughtform is supposed to be.  It’s the same thing he used against Moro, so I guess it makes sense.  Anyway, he grabs Gas and chucks him into the sky so Granolah can get a clear shot, and Oatmeel helps him aim, since his eyes are still hurt from before.  The power of teamwork!

Granolah fires, and it looks like one of those classic anime blasts where the bad guy disintegrates into nothing, but instead Gas falls back to the ground, and Granolah explains that he didn’t kill him, because he’s decided to forsake revenge.  Then he apologizes to Goku and Vegeta for the trouble he’s caused them, and it looks like that just about wraps things up....

... or does it?

[inkydiamonds]

THANK YOU FOR PUTTING SULLY ON YOUR ARTFIGHT I CAN NOW DRAW HER YAYYYYY

also any updates bout the fate of tirazia !!!! I am invested

YAYAY NP!!! I'm so excited to see your art! (Edit: I took so long to answer this that I have seen it!!!!!)

I also really gotta add more characters to my art fight- including more FOT NPCs maybe ?? Maybe ??? I have one in particular I wanna do but I'm not sure how to do it bc I don't want Blue to see him bc he hasn't shown up in the campaign yet lol

For the actual campaign itself! I'm not sure where I left off lol. [Looks at that one long post] Ah! Session 7 it seems, then Blue sent some memes about session 8.

We haven't done any over the summer bc now we're 8 people total and also. Timezones. But! We ended on session 9, and holy shit were these some crazy last two sessions.

Brief session 7 recap:

Sadly, Hans's player couldn't come, so he canonically spends the entire session digging holes in the ground (... long story) and inspecting the mysterious magical skull he got after we raided the Order of the Five castle (where Sully buried that one person alive). However! For the first time, we have a new player who takes over playing Paul. Through this, the rest of the party goes on a wild goose chase to get a magical artifact with him except Anawrete, who visits her parents' place, and we get lore there. At the end of the session, Alloces goes off to investigate mysterious smuggler's den with ties to Anawrete at the Order of the Five castle and Silen follows him. It ends up having a tunnel leading off into the Underdark, and Silen loses sight of Alloces and starts walking down there.

That's session 7!

Now, session 8:

Sully, Paul, Mal, and after a minute Alloces go and reunite with Hans. Hans is outside the Shipbuilder's Guild, having dug a bunch of holes without finding what he wanted to (a lead brick we buried in like session 4ish) This is very concerning, bc it was supposed to be a message to a demon to kill this one guy (we were trying to solve a mystery and didn't know what else to do..... so we did that. Then we tried to unearth it bc we finished the mystery). Also, it wasn't supposed to disappear, even if it did work! So. Um?

However, the party decides that it's not that important, bc we're preoccupied with something else: the skull. Turns out Hans figured out that it's "locked" and that he can brute force unlock whatever magic it has inside it by blasting it with all four types of elemental magic at once. We figure out that between Hans, Alloces, Paul, and Sully, we have the needed elemental magic to do this. Unfortunately, Sully has suddenly become very up-in-arms, saying that combining elemental magic is against everything she believes in, and that she could never help with this. Hans refuses to listen, however, but he's stuck bc Sully is the only one with Earth magic in the party (and Earth magic is hard to obtain as a spell lol). Therefore, he decides to do something... not the greatest. He whispers to Alloces to use Suggest on her, and bc Alloces likes chaos, he complies. (Fun fact: ooc, I was actually the one to propose the Suggest idea. I thought it would be silly. <3) It works, and Sully now has to participate in this ritual against her will.

Meanwhile, Mal is watching all of this go down. She sees Sully rapidly change character, and realizes that something is up. She pulls Sully aside, asking if Sully is okay. Sully, unable to say otherwise, says yes, she's okay, she's just decided to do the ritual now. Mal fails her insight check, and decides that Sully must be okay if she says she is. Mal's player then does something which makes me go CRAZY insane and makes me want to chew on glass (/pos) and decides that NOW is the time to do a scene which she's been thinking about for a while. The Context: back in session 6 during our big fight, Sully got Mal out of death saves with a healing potion. Healing potions are a bit expensive, and Mal had her own which she didn't use before she got downed (overestimating her abilities), but Sully probs didn't even think twice and used her own on Mal. However, Mal obviously has been thinking about it, because she gives Sully that potion, then. Mal, very obviously very nervous, apologizes for "letting Sully down" and for being a burden during the fight, and not being strong enough to stay up herself. AND SULLY CAN'T EVEN SAY ANYTHING BC SHE'S PREOCCUPIED WORRYING ABOUT THE RITUAL + BEING UNDER SUGGESTION. Mal then leaves very quickly, and Sully is left there, speechless.

Then the fucking ritual happens and we all unlock the Skull, and Sully snaps out of her Suggestion. The Skull has some kind of spirit inside it, and is filled with Aetheric energy (which......... happens to be something Sully ALSO is very against). Sully then starts yelling at Hans, telling him to drop the Skull and berating him for getting Alloces to possess her (she also hates Alloces but like. She's always hated Alloces. She really liked Hans. This is a betrayal of literally everything she believes in). The spirit of the skull starts speaking and reveals himself to be Logan Mortem, the original founder of the Order of the Five, and with that name Paul freezes as well. Apparently Paul somehow knows him- and is horrified. Then we fight bc Hans still refuses to drop it: Hans and Alloces versus Sully and Paul. Sully and Paul lose as we both roll very low lol (also Sully was mostly trying to knock the skull out of Hans's hand), and Sully, fuming, injured and panicking, decides to leave. Hans and Alloces have a conversation with the skull where it reveals some of its goals. Alloces apparently knows Logan, and Logan is maybe his dad/creator (????). Hans has been chosen to be the next heir of the Order of the Five apparently. Logan wants to "bring order to chaos". Hans is like. "hm. btw, you're not evil, right?" and Logan is like "........no." Hans is like "seems legit 👍". Paul tries to attack Hans one more time, this time with his moon staff (the artifact we were looking for session 7), but it backfires and hurts him somehow. After Alloces and Hans leave, its revealed that when it backfired, Paul got some of his memories taken from him and forgot what he was doing and where he was. He also leaves for the Shipbuilder's hall.

MEANWHILE. Silen is in the fuckin UHHHH Underdark.

When he's walking down, he hears a thunk behind him and ends up running further in. He keeps going down, and down, and down, until he ends up in the Underdark. Honestly, nothing really happens here except him hearing some Drow or Duergar and realizing that he's in the Underdark, and heading back up the way he came. However, when he comes back up, he hears voices in Common (rather than Undercommon). The group of people hear/see him, and they're wearing colorful robes of some kind and have a huge piece of stone in the shape of a body with them. He's like "haha hiiiii". The people, ofc, ask wtf he's doing here, and with his very poorly made excuses, they decide to take him with them. He tries to escape, and they stop him- and when they use elemental magic to stop him, he finally realizes that their robes look quite similar to Sully's.

They take Silen and the rock with them underwater with water magic, and they go into a cliff face opened to show another tunnel in the earth.

Switching over to Sully's perspective, she decides to head over to the Monastery, for the first time as shown in this campaign (tho I think somewhere she goes there and leaves a note about Ansa after session 6 before session 7 for continuity). The party knows nothing about it other than it existing. Even though she's shaken about the fight, she was planning to go here anyways, and talks to Jenevra, a water-aligned monk, saying she's here about the "Anatheme". Jenevra leads her to a secret passageway she's never been in before, and there, she sees, against all odds- fucking Silen.

Adreyão, the lead figure in the party of monks, says that Silen claims to know Sully. Sully, ofc, confirms it, but asks wtf Silen was up to. He really doesn't have a good reason, but Sully takes it as Silen being Silen (which it is), and she says that they can let him go. But before they do, she explains what happened with the fight, and warns Silen not to trust Hans or Alloces, saying that they've been corrupted and don't have his interests at heart. (Kind of unreliable narrator- Sully is very very biased, close-minded, and is actively working to split the party against the two of them). Silen... kind of believes her, but ofc refuses to acknowledge that Alloces is bad bc bro is head over heals in love (why).

Silen is led out by Jenevra, and Adreyão guides Sully through a ritual of their own. She drinks a mysterious liquid, and is suddenly able to change the stone into orange-tinted quartz, revealing what was inside the rock that they transported- Ansa. Chained and cast in crystal, Ansa is transported into a larger room, where many many others like her sit. Surrounded by countless Anathemes cast in ice or crystal, Sully feels much more calm than before.

For the rest of the session, it's a lot of character interactions as we all try to deal with all the shit which just went down (and PAUL LORE). Unfortunately, Anawrete missed all of it (sorry Blue :((( ) so a lot of it is catching her up as she's like I WAS GONE FOR TWO MINUTES.....

When we take a long rest, some people hear weird rustling and chaos coming from Paul's room, and Sully (+unbeknownst to her, Alloces's shadow) investigate and find papers everywhere and a weird blue stone, which the shadow takes.

Meanwhile, Paul sees Anawrete on his morning walk, and tells her a bit about his moon rod, then about the fight and shit which happened the other day. Then he tells her to go touch the rock up in his room, saying he's "not been quite honest".

All the party starts meeting up and chatting in the common room. Mal is chatting with Anawrete about her new fit, Silen is trying to dissuade Hans from the skull (telling him about it possessing him earlier and saying "abomination") (end of session 6 idk if I mentioned this lol), Sully walks in and tries to talk to Mal, but is distracted by the conversation of what the skull is where Alloces says some ominous shit. It's very tense, but Paul walks in, interrupting the conversation by saying "who wants scoOOOOnes :D" (LMFAO)

We briefly talk about the stone, which Alloces gives up. Apparently Paul is losing his memories and says that we can access them through the stone- but that he doesn't want to be there for it. Sully take the stone, and says she'll do it in a bit, then takes Mal to talk to her. (Honestly even tho it was in character I felt bad about being like NO LORE NOW but I'm glad we saved it for the next session bc it was a long sequence of events lol).

Sully and Mal have a conversation, where Sully first says the same thing she did to Silen- explaining the fight, saying that Hans and Alloces don't have their interests at heart, etc. She says that Mal was correct that Sully was not herself at the time, and thanks her for being there, and also says that... Mal never let her down. But Mal has been slowly getting more panicked as Sully has been talking, and says "but now I've let you down twice now! Because I didn't even realize you were influenced by them!!" and Sully doesn't even know what to say to that. She tries to reassure Mal, but it doesn't really work, and they. AUGH THEMMM PIX I'M SO UNWELL ABOUT THEM...... THEY DON'T KNOW HOW TO COMMUNICATE FOR SHIT..................

Anyways, Silen and Anawrete talk, because she figured out that he was at the smuggler's den (tbh I forget how lol, maybs Alloces said it or just Silen himself). She interrogates him, and although he was VERY scared of her, he somehow doesn't mention that Sully's people were there, but he definitely throws Alloces under the bus. He then immediately runs to Sully and says that Anawrete lives there at the den (???) (she does not. bro was confused and scared out of his mind). Anawrete sees him talking to Sully (who mostly ignores him) and I think guesses that Sully was somehow related to all this.

However, at that moment Paul decides he wants to talk to Sully. They go off on their own, and have a very interesting conversation, where it's revealed that Paul definitely has a (negative) history with Logan and he's on her side. He says a lot of other ominous things ("you might have to become a demon to fight one" and "if I start feeling the effects of the skull, finish me off" are notable), and it's pretty obvious that they're against the skull for different reasons, but that they're on the same team.

Anawrete, with so much new info, goes back to her family complex briefly and talks to her mom about it. Her family has been tracking the Order of the Five and their movements, and found that the remaining troops have been heading up to Nortepont (a northern dwarf city), which is very interesting.

Finally, Alloces and Silen have a hilarious talk where Alloces tries to do a deal with him (favor for crossbow Alloces found in the den bc Silen is a ranger) and Silen's like "sure :D. As long as you take me to lunch again" and Alloces, done with this shit, decides against it.

AND THAT'S SESSION 8! SO MUCH SHIT WENT DOWN !!

But uhhhhh we've gone up to session 9. So. There's still more to talk about, though sadly I do not have the time rn. I will get to it later, and I hope you like this very long update!!!!

(I also got a lot of analyses and theories and art AND a whole ass cipher puzzle thing I gave to my campaign so there's. That too)

Also @blue-rhapsody feel free to add on anything! (Or even summarize session 9 I would be so happy if you did that lol)

[goddesspharo]

For the Fanfiction Writing Asks: 35, 36, 40, 46, 56, and 75. A lot, but you’re a fave and I’m so curious!

[fic writing asks!]

Thanks for asking!

35. What's your favorite fic you've posted?

Definitely can't fake what you can't break up with, which I will finish soon. (I think I'm so slow about writing-not writing the last chapter because there's a part of me that doesn't want it to end because it has been so much fun to write! It's been a ton of fun to take a very trope-y soapy concept (drunk married in Vegas, continued marriage For Reasons) and spin it out into all the things. It's also ridiculously long so this year when NaNoWriMo rolls around and I say that I can't do it because I can't possibly meet that type of word count in a month, it'll be a bold-faced lie.

36. What fic are you proudest of?

Probably not every conversation is a new grenade, a post-The Batman fic that was, up until then, the longest fic I'd ever written at like 16k (I wish I could keep things that short these days!) after like a five year gap of not writing any fic. There would be a point during the writing process in the past when I'd just get tired of writing a thing and finish it while leaving a bunch of things I wanted to incorporate on the cutting room floor, but I really saw this one through. I'd only watched The Batman once (maybe twice?) before sitting down to write this - it was pretty early into the theatrical release so WB hadn't kicked it onto Max yet - so I'm particularly pleased with how on point the voices were. I also love nearly every iteration of Bruce/Selina and therefore don't write them as much (it's the old Austenian "If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more") because I cannot be objective about how they should just be together, why won't you just let them be together, DC so probably the biggest accomplishment of all is that I even wrote this. It was also just a blast to do and gave me an excuse to bust out the 90s grunge playlist at the very beginning and then just listen to so much BANKS that I could not stop for weeks afterwards.

40. What is your favorite world that you've created for a fic?

The Bear as a band AU in put in in a zip-lock bag. Interestingly, a very natural stretch to transplant people from a chaotic kitchen setting to a chaotic, dysfunctional band setting. Mikey as a Kurt Cobain figure practically writes itself. Years of Behind the Music made this possible! I loved the experience of writing that fic and I loved that world! Everyone could be quietly devastated without burning down the kitchen (no promises about the Lollapalooza stage though).

46. If you could only write one type of AU for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I was going to say Enemies-to-Lovers, hands down, but that's not an AU, I guess. It would be boring to write one type of AU forever, but if I had to choose I'd go with the tried and true spy AU. (...she says as she still has her current spy!AU remains in WIP hell.) As Sydney Bristow has taught us, Spy!Barbie can be anything so you could theoretically have an AU within your one AU and game the system. Also spies are the best! All popped collars and dead drops and so much guilt about the things they've done and the people they've let down. God, we need Alias back and by that I mean put the original show on streaming with the original music since every replacement track they used because they couldn't get licensing for streaming is terrible.

56. Are there any fics that you would change or rewrite if given the chance?

That is one spiral I refuse to go down! Once it's out there, it is what it is. I've never wanted to go back and change any fics in a big way (I have gone back and fixed a grammatical error here and there that escaped notice during the editing process) because I wouldn't post it if I wasn't happy with it at the time. There are fics that I wish I had maybe finished before posting (ah, TGM!spy!AU, why are you so elusive?) because now they are albatrosses that I want to finish, know exactly how to finish, and yet can't finish.

75. Is there a particular fic that readers gravitated towards that you didn't expect?

I never know how anything will be received so I don't even try to guess. I operate on a "don't time the market" philosophy except about fic - it is beyond my control so why perseverate over it? I guess I was surprised by how much traction deflect and absorb got. I don't know why, but I think we were all riding the high of a new Jurassic Park movie after like fifteen years (longer if you ignore Jurassic Park III) and had yet to experience "The Worst Chris" burnout (ugh, he really is the worst though) when Jurassic World came out. It was definitely my big dumb blockbuster that summer! In 2015, it wasn't automatically guaranteed that everything would get a handful of shitty sequels so you could live in the space of just enjoying a movie for what it was without thinking about how they were going to mess it up by stretching it out past the expiration date.

[tinyinvadr]

The final chapter is here! Oof, Dr. Loboto’s backstory hurts, man. Very excited to start the Psychonauts 2 storyline next! Have a lot of interesting ideas for Flint going forward!

Psychoborrower in the Rhombus of Ruin

Chapter 3

Dr. Loboto’s mind was nothing like I expected. I was picturing a lot more teeth. Thank god I was wrong.

We were on a ship, out at sea, and Raz was tied to the mast.

“Wow, you really can’t catch a break today, huh?”

He sighed. “Could you please just untie me?”

I started to climb down his arm to get to the rope, but a big wave made the boat rock, forcing me to cling to his sleeve.

“Ah, ah, ah! I wouldn’t try to move, little fellow! There’s a monster in these waters!”

Down on the deck was Loboto, dressed as a first mate. Right. Of course. His other primary interest was fish monsters. Ugh…

“Shouldn’t we sail away, then?” Raz asked.

“You think I haven’t thought of that? The ship’s compass is missing! We’re stuck out here without it!”

The boat started to rock again, so I quickly scrambled back up to Raz’s shoulder so I could support myself better. Then, on the right side of the boat, an unbelievably massive monster rose from beneath the waves. I braced myself, preparing for the worst.

What I saw was horrifying, but not what I expected.

The monster was also Dr. Loboto. And naked.

“RUB A DUB DUB, WHO’S IN MY TUB?”

It was then that I noticed the ocean wasn’t an ocean at all. It was a giant bathtub. Yep. Definitely gonna have nightmares about this.

First Mate Loboto ran over to the ship’s cuckoo clock and turned the hands back, causing time to slow down for Monstroboto. Raz took that opportunity to set his head on fire.

Monstroboto ducked under the water for a minute, but came back up and started throwing bath toys at us. Working together with First Mate, we blasted the toys back at him while the cuckoo clock slowed him down.

Eventually, we burned through his shower cap, leaving his brains exposed. I wasn’t sure if that was our doing, but it looked like it had to have hurt.

We knocked him out, and out of his brain tumbled a Memory Vault. First Mate opened it up and took out the stereoscope to look through it. This was our chance to get some insight on Loboto and figure out how to stop him.

Raz and I both used Clairvoyance so we could see the memory. This memory was unlike any I’d ever seen before. Usually, a memory plays out like a slideshow of still images. This was vivid. It looked real. Like we were living in it.

The first thing we saw was a house. Two plush dolls that represented Dr. Loboto’s parents appeared on the porch, waving goodbye to him as they sent him off to the hospital for a procedure of some sort.

Maybe it was the fact that I find dolls in general disturbing (me-sized playthings for humans, it’s just creepy), but there was something very wrong with his parents. The way they talked to him felt fake, and I heard them muttering to each other about how he’s a monster and a devil child.

I could feel a sense of impending dread. I had no idea what we were about to see, but I knew it had to be something truly terrible.

We shifted around to get inside the dollhouse, and found a young Loboto hiding inside a closet to listen in on his parents.

“Oh, I just can’t take it anymore! That boy is a monster!”

“Don’t worry, dear. I’ve spoken to my colleagues at the hospital. The procedure should fix him right up!”

“Will it… hurt him?”

“The ice pick is long, but very thin. In the hands of a professional, I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

“Oh… I don’t care anymore. I just want this to be over and done with.”

Ice pick? What the hell did they do to him?

In the kitchen, little Loboto was hiding under the table, watching as his mother angrily tossed a bunch of bent spoons on the floor.

“He did it! I saw him!”

“Now, calm down, dear. I’ll take him with me to the hospital tomorrow and have a doctor look at him. We have to be sure. He is our son, after all.”

His mother scoffed.

“Is he?”

Every memory I saw of these people made me feel sick. How could they treat their child like that?

There was one last place to look: the nursery. This had to be Loboto’s earliest memory. He was just a baby in this one.

His parents acted completely different in this one. They called him a little angel, and talked about their hopes for his future. Though, his father mocked the idea of him becoming a dentist.

Before they left the room, they noticed a teddy bear in the crib that they had been keeping away from him due to the eyes being a choking hazard, so they put it on the other side of the room, shrugging it off.

Then, once they were gone, we got the missing piece of the story. They key motivation for his parents’ hatred and cruelty. I already had my suspicions, but to see it confirmed sent shivers down my spine.

Dr. Loboto was psychic.

He used Telekinesis to return the teddy bear to the crib, then retrieved the ship’s missing compass from the mobile above him.

I was at a loss for words, and Raz wasn’t doing much better.

“Just because you were psychic… Did they really-?”

Answering for him, baby Loboto ripped open the heads of his stuffed animals, right where their frontal lobes would be.

At that point, I felt sick. I had to get out of Loboto’s head and back into my own.

The intense emotional distress was enough to boot me from his mental world entirely. Raz was still in there, leaving him and Loboto both locked in a trance. Even though I was back in my body, I felt like I was in a trance of my own. I couldn’t think about what I saw. I couldn’t think about anything. I just stared off into oblivion as that horrible, cold feeling overtook me.

The most I could do was repeat the same phrase over and over in my head.

How could they? How could they?

I snapped out of it when a siren started blaring. Ashamed of the horrible experiments he subjected people to in the past, Dr. Loboto activated the base’s self destruct function. He let everyone go, but didn’t think to let us leave the base first before initiating the countdown.

I still wasn’t in the right headspace to be of much help. Raz used Clairvoyance to look for an escape route, Milla held back the flooding, Lili tried to wake her dad up, and Sasha fought with a fish guard over a record for some reason.

Once Raz found the jet and got it up and running again, Sasha and Milla dropped what they were doing to pick up Truman and Coach with their TK. Raz was still out of his body, so Milla picked us both up as well. Then, just before the base exploded, we all made our escape.

Milla buckled Raz into his seat, and it was then that she noticed the remaining despair in my eyes from what I’d just seen in Loboto’s mind.

“Is everything alright, darling?”

I couldn’t respond. It was like my voice was caught in my throat. So I just shook my head.

She picked me up, clutching me to her chest as she brought me to her seat at the front. Sasha was already seated next to her, prepping the jet for takeoff. He glanced to the side and noticed me, and immediately stopped to ask what happened.

After a moment, I told them everything. While they also looked saddened about what happened to him, they didn’t seem surprised. And that only made me feel worse.

“How… How often does this happen?”

Sasha sighed, taking a second to think of how to respond.

“Lobotomies aren’t common anymore. They’re illegal in most places now. But… some non-psychic parents of psychic children do still try to ‘cure’ them.”

I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. “Why? Why do they do it?”

Milla stroked the back of my head with her thumb, holding me close to her heart.

“People are afraid of things that they don’t understand. And sometimes, they use their fear to justify doing terrible things. Instead of trying to learn and grow from their fears, they let it turn into hatred.”

This way of thinking felt all too familiar. Borrowers are afraid of humans. It’s an understandable fear, considering the seemingly endless number of ways they could potentially hurt or kill us. But my parents weren’t just afraid of them. They actively hated them. They refused to even consider the possibility that not all humans are inherently evil or that some of them might even be willing to help us. Ironically, they dehumanized humanity as a whole, viewing all of them as monsters instead of complex beings.

And they hated psychics even more, if such a thing was possible. Super-humans outfitted with powers that enabled them to hunt us down. Or at least, that was what they always told me.

A disturbing thought came to my mind.

“If my parents had the same resources that humans do, would they… would they have tried to…?”

I couldn’t finish that sentence.

“Flint… you don’t need to worry about what could have been. What matters is that under the circumstances you’re in now, that will never happen. And even if it could, you’re under the protection of the Psychonauts now. Anyone who wishes to harm you will have to answer to us.”

Sasha smirked, adjusting his glasses. God, he’s so cool.

“That’s right! We never leave a soldier behind! You’re one of us now, kid!”

I looked back to see Coach in the back, still wearing his All Paul tail. It suits him.

I then glanced over at Lili, who was sitting next to a still unconscious Truman. She smiled at me.

“The Psychonauts isn’t just an agency. We’re like a family. And we all protect each other. Right, Dad?”

Truman was still out of it, but she held his hand and nodded.

“Well, if he was awake right now, he’d agree.”

After a few more minutes, Raz and Truman both woke up. Which meant we were ready for the next task at hand.

Dr. Loboto mentioned that someone hired him to kidnap Truman, but he refused to give us a name. Our next mission was to find him and try and get him to tell us the name of his client. After restoring his moral compass, we hoped he would be willing to cooperate. And I hoped we could give him the help he needed.

After all, psychics stick together.

[donnetellotheturtle]

Chapter 2

The fire kingdom

Elio was about a weeks ride away on donkey. The one thing Varian hadn’t expected was that it was so lonely. There were travelers and merchants on the road sure but no conversation lasted more than a couple minutes and being from Corona, he was unused to not being able to speak to the nearest person for at least an hour or two. It made him feel more isolated than he expected.

On the evening before he made it to Elio, he sat by a small fire, eating. Ruddinger munched on a piece of bread besides him as he fingered through his moms journal. Her research was enticing and it felt as if he was getting to know her through it. She had a way of describing things that made it sound so exciting.

“so apparently the first totem is in a volcano! But Elio has a bunch of them….which one would it be...”

He pulled out his own journal, making his own notes and theories on the totems.

~

“Hes going to look for the library.” Hugo reported as soon as he got into the tent.

“Hm…that means he’ll be heading to Elio first. Follow him, and get the relic first.”

Hugo nodded. “Yes ma’am.”

~

Varian woke up early to get to the kingdoms gates as soon as possible. It was very hot here. He guessed that was because of the volcanoes decorating the mountain peaks.

The gates were lavish and gigantic, the middle decorated with the symbol of Elio. As he came upon it his eyes drifted to the blown glass and obvious blacksmithery in the gate and in the walls.

“woah…”

“State your business.” On of the guards said.

Varian smiled. “Just here to see the city!”

The guard looked at him, then nodded at the other guard. “You from Corona?”

“Yes sirs. How could you tell?”

“Your bag…can we take a look at your caravan? Have to make sure you’re not smuggling anything.”

Varian nodded, and the process ended fairly quickly. He was let into the city. It was beautiful. The ground was covered with red rocks, there were houses with sliding doors, most of them were open and he saw kids some running around with ribbons and playing with toys that looked like dragons, foxes, tigers, qs well as kites. He saw a person playing a Huluqin. He listened to the music and heard people yelling out from stalls about the fresh food that was there.

“First things first guys…find a place to stay…”

He hopped off Prometheus and led him to a stable, paying the keeper a few coins for the night. He grabbed his bag from the caravan and walked out into the street. He looked through his moms journal, trying to figure out where to start.

Then there was a yell, screaming, and something whizzed behind him. He yelled out in surprise, turning quickly to where he heard the crash.

Sitting in the wreckage of what used to be a cabbage stand, was a small boy, around the age of 14, with almond eyes, black hair, and he was a bit chubby. But the most important thing he noticed was the fact that part of the kids shirt was still on fire.

“Holy…” He ran and started patting out the fire. “kid, you okay?”

He gave a weak thumbs up, clearly dazed by the impact.

He looked to the side where he saw what looked like a dragon puppet. Only it had pyrotechnics and a seat inside.

“What were you doing?”

The kid shook his head and stood up. “I was trying to make a flying dragon!”

Varian blinked. “uh huh”

“But instead of blasting off, it just blasted me…off of it.”

Varian sighed softly, rubbing his forehead. “kid you could have killed yourself!”

“you sound like my mom!”

“Well maybe shes….right.” Varian was having serious Daja Vu from this. “Huh…”

The kid was already over the dragon again. “Hm what went wrong…”

Varian then saw that there was still a fire. And it was going to hit the kid straight in the face.

“Hey get away from there!” Varian opened a corked bottle from his belt and threw it just as the explosion was about to go off. He pulled the kid out of the way as a bubble quickly encased it. A small crowd gathered to see the commotion.

The kid looked at him with wonder. “Wow…that was cool.”

Varian chuckled.

“MY CABBAGES!”

The kid chuckled nervously.

After everything was sorted out, Varian and him walked along the street.

“So, that was Alchemy?” He asked.

“Uh yeah. Look kid-“

“that’s awesome. I can’t make stuff, I’m usually just the kid who blows everything up…litteraly.”

“I don’t-“

“where did you learn to do that?”

“I taught myself. Now ki-“

“Wow! You’re so good at it I also taught myself.”

Varian sighed, looking at him.

“I’m Yong.” He said cheerfully, holding out a hand.

“….Varian.” He shook the boys hand. “You can’t be so reckless. Somebody could get hurt.”

“But you were here!” Yong said. “So maybe you could teach me not to make things blow up?”

Varian looked at Yong, then sighed. “I don’t know how long I’ll be here. I just have to find what I’m looking for and get going.”

“Ooh! What are you looking for?”

“None of your business, kid.”

“But I can help! No one knows Elio better than me.”

Varian paused, then sighed. “Alright. On one condition.”

“anything.”

“No explosives.”

Yong looked at the pack of fireworks on his hip, and sighed sadly.

A couple minutes later, the two sat on Yongs porch. Explosives carefully put away under the boys bed. Varian opened his moms book.

“So the place I’m looking for is in a volcano…but there’s three around here. Where to start?”

Yong looked at the book. “that’s the northern one. Id recognize it anywhere…it’s been dormant for years though.”

“Dormant?”

“All the lava is so far below the surface that no one’s concerned that it’s going to erupt any time soon. We learn about them in school. We even take field trips up to the top sometimes.”

Varian thought to himself. “hm. Can you take me there?”

“Yeah! I’ll pack some lunch!”

Varian chuckled. As Yong ran off, he couldn’t help but think of how much the kid reminded him of himself. For better or worse. He followed Yong inside.

He stood in the kitchen as Yong packed some food for them both.

“Hey where’s your parents?”

“Oh they’re at work! They wont be home until waaay after we get back.”

Varian nodded. “Okay…would they be okay with you being gone?”

“they won’t even know!”

“that doesn’t feel great.”

Yong shrugged and wrapped up the food, putting them into bags and putting them in his backpack. “Come on let’s go!”

Varian sighed, hoping he wouldn’t regret bringing Yong along.

It was 3 when they finally reached the volcano. They were loosing daylight faster that Varian would have liked.

“So, how do we get in?”

“Oh that’s easy! There’s a man made entrance!”

He followed Yong to the entrance where there was a person at a stand, fast asleep on their hand. There was a gate that he could easily leap over, but he figured the easiest way was paying the way in. Even with his few coin.

“Uh…excuse me?”

The person snored awake, nearly falling over. Then they looked at Varian, and sighed. “What?”

“Um…me and my friend would like to enter?”

The person nodded, pulling out two rather large paper tickets. “Two silver.”

Varian fished it out of his pockets and handed them over. They gave the tickets to the both of them and settled back down, seemingly ready to get back to their nap.

The two of them went through the gate and looked around at the main volcano. There was no body here. Which meant, they had no one that would disturb them. Varian turned to the journal as they walked deeper.

“So, the trial is towards the bottom of the volcano, but I can’t read this…it’s not in coronan.”

Yong gently pulled down Varians arm to see, then cocked his head to the side. “Oh! Elian!” He grinned. “give it here?”

“wait you can speak this?”

“Duh. Its my first language.”

“But everyone uses Coronan here?”

“Better to talk to tourists but all of us know Elian. It would be stupid if we didn’t.” He grinned as if he didn’t just say the thing that made Varian reexamine his biases.

Yong took the book and started reading. “So it says to find the first piece of the puzzle.”

“First piece?”

Yong shrugged. “Then it says, Down the swirling embers and jagged rocks, you’ll find your prize just awaiting a spark.”

“That doesn’t even rhyme!” Varian pouted. He loved a good rhyme. Yong chuckled.

“I’m not sure where that is…we don’t go that deep during the field trips.”

“Well, we’ve got time, I guess.”

“And lunch!”

Varian chuckled, and followed Yong deeper into the cave systems.

~

It took hours.

And Varian was very sure they were very lost.

He wasn’t even sure this was a path that people were allowed to take.

“Wanna take a break?” Yong asked.

Varian stopped walking, and sighed, sitting down. “Yeah…yeah that lunch sounds good right about now.”

Yong sat and pulled off his bag, grabbing out the two lunches, giving one to Varian. “I hope you don’t mind. It’s some leftovers from a big party my family had the other night.”

Varian opened the small box that the food was contained in. It was still steaming. Inside he saw food unlike the kind in corona.

Dumplings, chicken drenched in orange sauce, and some lo mein. He had heard about them of course, read about this food even. But he has never actually tasted it. All the Elian food in Corona burned his nostrils so bad he never actually had the want to try.

This didn’t seem spicy though.

Varian took a careful bite. His mouth exploded with flavor. He couldn’t help the happy noises that came out of his mouth, despite Yong giggling.

“This is delicious.”

Yong grinned. “my moms specialty. Im glad you like it!”

Varian ate his food with that same happy grin. He swore he’d be a little bit happier for the rest of his life.

“So, ive been meaning to ask you…” Yong started. Varian gave him his attention through a mouthful of noodles.

“Whats with the teal streak?”

Varian swallowed his food. “oh that? I don’t know. Something I’ve had since I was born…Maybe it’s cause I was close to the moonstone when I was a baby? Before my dad brought me to Corona, I mean. It’s just a theory though…not that it really matters anymore.”

Yong shrugged. “It still looks cool.”

Varian smiled. No one had really mentioned his streak before, much less think it was cool.

The two finished their food and Yong packed it back up. The two got back on their feet.

“So swirling embers. What do you think it means?” Yong asked.

Varian thought for a second. “could be a tunnel of fire?”

“Howd we get through?”

Varian just shrugged.

They traveled for a bit before passing by a glowing tunnel. Bright with glowing jewels. Varian paused, then backtracked. That had to be what they were looking for.

Slowly the two went down the tunnel. It was getting hotter as they went, which was not the greatest sign.

“Yong you said this place was dormant right?”

“Yeah…”

Varian winced at the boys tone but they couldn’t stop now. They were so close. “…Stay close to me.”

Yong did as he was told and they made it to the bottom. It was sweltering. All around were veins. Looking to carry gold. Varian bent down to look at them. They seemed to be in a rod shape , though they varied in sizes.

“huh…Volcanoes don’t usually make this stuff…it’s almost like someone put them here…maybe this is the prize the book was talking about.”

“First piece of the puzzle…what does that mean? What’s with these symbols? Give me a hint mom…”

Varian started messing with the veins, and saw as the pages shifted, as if someone were turning it. The staff of clarity.

He sat and read, seeing that with the formulas his mom had written, the staff of clarity could be formed from the gold. He smiled and started working.

It took a couple minutes, but in the test tube Varian had brought along, he had created them very formula he needed. All that was left to do was put it on the vein.

He took a deep breath, hoped the calculations were right, and poured it on.

Part of the vein fell open, dropping pieces of a large staff. Varian started putting them together as Yong looked at Varian strangely.

“So we got a staff?”

“The staff of clarity. I think it’ll help us with finding the fire totem.”

He finished, grinning. “all…” He stood. No one was there. “Done? Yong?”

The world had suddenly turned red. It reminded him all too much of the red rocks. “Yong where-“

“Varian!” His dad’s voice was loud in his ears.

“Dad!?”

He turned and he saw his father, being in amber again, reaching for him. “Dad!” He didn’t think about how his father could be there, much less encased in amber. He ran and nearly got to him, only to be just too late. Quirin was once again encased in amber. “No…no not again! Not again no!” The tears in his eyes sprung and he felt like he was 14 again.

Then he turned around, and he saw something almost worse. All of his loved ones choked in amber. He stepped back. “no…no, no.”

“This Is all your fault.”

He turned, seeing no one but himself, hands behind his back, dressed like he was when he teamed up with the saporians. He had this red glint in his eye.

“I…how did…”

“If you had just been a little more careful.”

-

Yong was panicking. As soon as Varian put together that staff, he’d gone catatonic, staring at the wall with this scary red glow in his eyes, sobbing and mumbling incoherently. He’d tried everything. Shaking him, smacking him, even asking him nicely to come out of his trance. But Varian didn’t budge.

Then he saw the book. He picked it up and the wind whipped it to the next page. There was another piece. And then it said to review the fire trials.

Yong processed this information. “your prize just awaiting a spark…” He looked around and saw something glittering. Running over he saw it was the final piece. A golden orb encased in stone. Yong had an idea how to get it out. Varian would kill him if he knew he’d stowed away a stick of fireworks in his sock just in case of emergencies.

He pulled it out, then swiped it against the ground to create the spark. “Hope this works!”

He threw it at the orb.

-

“You were the one who joined up with dangerous criminals.”

“Stop it.” Varian was on his hands and knees now, begging for his red tinted self to stop talking.

“Oh and erased the royals memories. Who’s to say you’re not just as bad. As stupid. As dangerous as you were back then.”

“Shut up.” Varian looked up at himself. His head cleared a bit as he took a deep breath. The illusion wavered for just a moment, not that he really noticed.

“Don’t like hearing the truth?”

Varian looked to the side, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment. For once, the other him stopped talking.

“I was a grieving kid.” Varians voice shook as he spoke. “I was hurting. I’m still hurting. I didn’t make good choices.”

“understatement.”

“I’m not done.” Varian glared, slowly coming to his feet. “But I will never stop trying. So hit me with all you got. Nothings going to stop me from getting to that library.”

The other him looked to the side, seeing something Varian didn’t. Then, it turned blue and smiled. His genuine smile. “Good job kid.” The visage of himself disappeared.

Varian took a deep breath, blinking. He was back in reality, and Yong had just finished putting a piece of the staff in. He looked at Yong, taking a shaky breath.

“how did you…?”

“there was a final piece!” Yong said. “the clarity jade. It needed a spark to get out of the stone and lucky for us, I brought an extra firework.”

Varian paused, then grinned. “Yong you’re a genius!” he ruffled the kids hair. “Ill never tell you to leave your fireworks at home again!”

Yong laughed.

Varian looked down to the staff. “Was it…testing me?”

“Maybe that was the trial!” Yong said, then the two looked over at the sound of rocks moving, scratching against each other. The totem, the relic, was revealed. The two looked at each other.

Varian moved forward to grab it. He walked under the glowing stones and reached for it.

Another hand settled on his as he wrapped his hand around it.

In front of him was a boy with green eyes, an undercut and big round glasses. The two stared at each other.

“let go!” The boy started, tugging.

Varian didn’t, of course. “No you let go!”

The tug of war went back and forth and Yong watched confused.

“Finders keepers!” The blonde said sticking out his tongue before finally using his other hand to push Varian off. He moved quickly.

“Hey! We did the trial! Its ours!” Varian said as the boy was already making his exit up another tunnel.

He just laughed. “Thanks for doing the dirty work!”

He threw a smoke bomb, and both the boy and the relic were gone.

~

It must have been midnight when the two finally found their way out of the dormant volcano. Varian had thought about searching for the boy but Yong had a point about getting lost. They’d have to hunt that guy down for the relic after a good night’s rest.

“I’m sorry about the relic, Varian.” Yong said.

Varian sighed. “Its okay…we’ll find him again. I’m exhausted though, and I need to find a place to sleep tonight.”

“you can stay at my house!”

Varian raised an eyebrow. “wouldn’t your parents be concerned about a strange boy in your house?”

“Nah. I have a lot of siblings. They wouldn’t notice another kid!”

With boundless energy, Yong led Varian back to town.

~

Hugo grinned at his success as he walked back into camp. “Dooooonnnnnnniiieee!” he crowed.

Donella herself was sitting by a campfire next to her right hand Cyrus, eating dinner. She grinned. “You actually did it.”

Hugo thought about tossing it, but decided its a bad idea, moving and handing it off instead. “yeah. Thanks to that varian guy.”

“What?”

Hugo nodded. “Yeah, he was already there. But not quick enough to get the relic before me.”

Donella frowned, thinking. “so he is searching.”

A long pause and Donella had a plan cooked up. She handed the relic back to him. “Taje this back, join his party. Help him find the relics.”

“…okay? Why?”

She sighed, all but rolling her eyes. “Makes the work easier on us, plus, easier to keep track of what he does and doesn’t know. You’ll report to me anything you find out. Understood?”

Hugo paused, looking at the totem, then nodded. “Yeah. I won’t let you down.”

~

Yong wasn’t lying when he said his parents wouldn’t notice another kid. There were at least 7 younger kids running around Yongs small house when they got back, both the parents trying to put them to sleep.

“Who’s this?” his mother asked after she and his father fretted over him for being gone so long with no warning or anything. “he looks like a panda with those eye bags.”

“This is my new friend Varian! We went to the volcano together today!”

She looked Varian up and down, examining him. It made varian feel self conscious.

“You hungry?” she finally asked.

Varian nodded shyly. She smiled and pulled him into the kitchen as her husband finally succeeded on putting yongs younger siblings to sleep.

Yong himself, fell asleep at the table while his mother was cooking. Varian smiled as he took the small boy to bed, being reminded of his own dad carrying him when he was little.

“Now I want you to eat and go to bed young man. You look like you smudged your makeup.”

Varian chuckled. “yes ma’am.”

It wasn’t long until Varian had happy taste buds and a full stomach. He was led to the only available sleeping area which was a couch. It was better then a floor.

He was asleep within minutes.

<

Find this on A03!

[gazetotheabyss]

Mr. Prickles

-Me and Mr. Prickles- 

        -Courtney, Age 6, Mrs. Rathbone's Art Class 

    Courtney enamored herself on the idea of magic. Running around the backyard, swinging her arm around with sticks firm in grasp, casting spells upon whatever object caught her eye. Blasting forth any magic words that struck her mind. Mother and father perhaps not as attentive as they should have been, but their yard was fenced in, they were friends with all their neighbors. In their mind there was no wrong that could have been had from playing pretend all by herself for hours on end after a long day in the First Grade. 

    And those beautiful sapphire eyes saw little problem in taking advantage either. Sparkling at the worlds of fantasy she made in her little head. Creatures of fantastical origin, lands of mystical colors and shape, all manner of thing she hadn't the words yet to express in totality. But it didn't matter, it was just her. And she had known exactly what she pictured, saw it crystal clear as the day before her. 

    Maybe that's why it gave her pause. Stopped her mid-prance amid the taller grass, dead in her tracks. 

"Hello." She called out politely. By all stretches she knew she didn't think that up, but it still was here. Standing well and far above her, a blackened shape even on such a bright day. He-- though it was amorphous she had arbitrarily assigned it a title-- was funny looking. "I'm Courtney." She enthusiastically called out. 

    "Honey who are you talking to?" Her mother curiously balked from the patio door, peaking her head out just to be sure. Catching sight of her daughter, and only that across the whole stretch of the yard. 

    "New friend." Courtney said so calmly, staring so happily at the shape that stood at the rear of the yard, back to her mother, she should have been able to see, right? 

    But she didn't. 

    "Oh yeah, a new friend?" The dulcet tones of a mother who was just as readily taking as much stock as if she were listening to her child proclaim they lifted a million billion tons of rock. 

    "Yeah!" At least she thought so. She wasn't afraid, should she have been? If so, why? There he had stood! Majestic as any other! Grazing among the fields in both her imagination and the reality of the yard that her eyes were still beholden to. While the figure had started as a blurry figure, out of focus in a world of sharpness slowly took its shape from her mind. The outline of what it should be. Long gangly limbs with extended fingers, body thin as a rail, head sharp and narrow. 

    "Okay, honey, but remember to keep your shirt clean, you go back to school tomorrow." 

    "Okay." But she wasn't listening anymore, she was approaching the thing that stood. Observing her. "You're the king aren't you? You gotta be. I'm the sauceress. If you're a king, you need a crown. But not a normal crown, somethin' cool." As she thinks and processes what it could be, the gaps are filled in for her. Spiraling out of its skull and ending in points, the horns form. Cheerfully she beams! "Yes! Like that. But I don't like that you don't got eyes." How was she supposed to know where he was looking? A king should be able to look upon his kingdom and see it thrive proudly. And as the thought struck her, two white pinpricks form accordingly. Set at the base of its pointed gaunt snout. 

    "No! Somethin' with color. Red-- No-- Green!-- No..." It compromises her thought, giving both, but neither. Ever shifting between the two. A mesmerizing ethereal dance of her favorite colors that delights the young girl. And still yet, in her mind, this figure was missing something. Something distinct, to set it aside even further as regal! She recalls all the kings she saw in her storybooks, their broad cloaks of fur bunched at the neck, puffing up-- But-- If he was gonna be different, he needed to be different. She liked hedgehogs and their little prickles, what about instead of a collar of fur, tufted up it was-- 

    On cue to please the active imagination, it gave her what she imagined. Large quills sprouted and flourished from his throat, and she practically dances with excitement. 

    "Yes, just like that! How'd you know?" Forgetting for a moment that she had all but completely made this figure herself. That it had started as nothing but a blurry shape that she had brought to life. "Now you need a name. So I got something to call you when we play." Fearlessly, she stands within a foot of it, staring up at those mystifying eyes that gazed right back at her. Lost in thought, myriads of shapes and letters fill her mind. Names she'd never thought of or heard before, ones she would undoubtedly even have had trouble pronouncing-- Even with her incredible power as a 'sauceress', some things were beyond her reach, especially as teeth continued to come and go. 

    "How do ya feel about Mr. Prickles?" But it didn't react, just continued to stare back into her beads of proud sparkling sapphire. "Then it's settled! Mr. Prickles! King of the Dreamdom!" With her new regent coronated, and her so dutifully at his service, she continued her game. Casting spells and dancing across the whole of the yard, as both the sun in her mind and of reality began to set, and she was called in for dinner. 

    At the dinner table, she sat, dangling her feet from her chair proudly. Prodding at her food with fork in hand, telling her tired mother and father all about her new friend. One who had arisen some level of concern in their mind until she told them he was sitting beside her. Oh, an imaginary friend. Easing of blood pressure, sighs of relief. But would that feeling still be there if they could see this creature that had laid claim to her fantasies? Twice as tall as her protective father, sat in the empty chair beside the much smaller thing it had enthralled, knees bent as it sat but still raised from how large it was in a chair so small. Eyes transfixed upon father first, boring into his mind, clawing into his soul bit by bit. 

    "Daddy, he likes you." The hairs on the back of his neck stiffened. Like primordial warning against some terrible danger was near. 

    "Oh yeah? That's great honey." 

    "He likes looking at you. Think he's inch rested in what you think about his Dreamdom." 

    "Maybe you should draw me a picture and then I can tell him." It suddenly was a fantasy he wasn't particularly interested in indulging with her anymore. Something of a sinking feeling sat in the pit of his gut. 

    "I wanted to, but he says it's incomp--" It doesn't truly speak to her, not really, merely sat beside her. Filling her imagination with all sorts of delights, coaching her silently. "Incomp--" She struggles, but it breaks it down for her. Syllable by syllable to sound out. "In-Comp-read-hens-able." 

    "Where'd you hear that word?" Said with a forced laugh, one punctuated with a shovel of food poured into his mouth. 

    "Mr. Prickles!" A story he doesn't quite buy. Had to have heard it in a cartoon or something, children didn't teach themselves new words. Smiles were had, politely the conversation diverted, reminding the young girl of her return to school tomorrow. Which she silently thought with glee of how Mr. Prickles would come with her. Join her in her favorite classes, especially on Monday! Monday was Art Class. She wanted to draw her new friend, show him just how much she had appreciated him being the only friend she had. 

    As she lays herself down to sleep, her imaginary friend sits itself dutifully by the bed. Those small fingers of hers reached out, claiming his long thin bony digit for herself, holding his hand as she drifted off to sleep. Gifted was she with pleasant and wonderful dreams that night, every night had always been a new adventure, but now, the kingdom she had dreamt up had so much more. Magic had manifested itself in ways she couldn't understand thanks to Mr. Prickles. 

    What had usually been an anxiety for her, in going to school, had become a journey she looked forward to making. With her new friend by her side, she felt a vigor in those little steps that she honestly couldn't fully grasp. Happiness in knowing she had her friend with her. The king was mighty, her head barely reached to its knee when standing, its hands had been the size of her entire upper body. Who would harm or bully her with such a friend? If the ones who were mean to her were lucky, maybe they would get to be servants or clowns in the king's court. 

    For a time, things are normal, the only change to the day beyond the added presence was the beaming smile of the child's face. Art class rolls around, and with crayons in hand, she crafts masterpieces in her head that could scantly be understood by even the most disciplined of critics! They would never understand the portrait of a king and his trusted and dutiful sauceress. Still, she wished others could see him. 

    At recess, her disappointment had become palpable. Sat alone with her friend on the bench, while the other kids played and ran. This wasn't his kingdom; this wasn't the fun she wanted. These weren't the subjects that he'd wanted. Breaking away, she sneaks to a quiet corner out of the sun, a peaceful place to color more fine pieces of art for the king to decorate his glorious halls. 

    But she's followed. By more than just her imaginary friend. 

    One of the boys who had targeted her with his ire had found particular amusement in the freakish nature of her new obsession. The only thing she'd talked to anyone about the entirety of the day. Her little imaginary friend. Her attention hyperfocused was when he felt the perfect time to strike. Pulling from her lap her newest drawing of the tall black figure. 

    "You know, only babies have imaginary friends." 

    "He's not imaginary." She doesn't get belligerent, does not raise her voice or head, just stares at her knees where her paper had once been. "He's real, and he's a king. And he's cooler than you Sam." 

    "Nuh uh, there's no such thing as magic. And only one who's king is you, of being weird." 

    "I'm not weird, and magic is real." She asserts quietly. The year almost over, she laments that at the very least she needn't endure this miserable suffering too much longer. She had learned rather quickly that fighting it had been of little help. If she just kept her head down, and kept her tears quiet, he'd leave her alone eventually. 

    "Little weirdo crybaby, and her stupid devil friend." Like the jester she'd envisioned, he dances with her picture. 

    "I'm not a weirdo, and he's not a devil, he's a king!" She breaks her own rule, the childish fury far too powerful for her to have ignored, and insulting her only friend had broken a boundary she hadn't known she'd had. 

    "Can't be a king if he's not real. Just a stupid drawing." He stuck his tongue out, mocking her as he shook about, until in a sudden moment, ripping her drawing down the center, and throwing the crumpled pieces to the ground. Courtney felt a twinge of sadness and pain overtake her in that moment, the work and monument to her dearest friend treated with such disrespect. All that effort had gone to waste, because he wouldn't leave her alone. Jumping to her feet in her own instant motion, she points her crayon to him as though it were her mighty wand. 

    "Leave me alone!" She called through a defiant scowl, shouting immediately in it following a brash measure of magic words. Of which, nothing immediate comes. 

    Stopped still in his tracks at her sudden outburst, Sam can do little but laugh after she tried to cast a spell at him. "See! Magic's not real stupid!" With a pointed finger, mocking her obviously ridiculous stance. He laughed so hard he thought he was going to cry. Something that needn't be thought much longer. 

    Shock lights up both their faces when a force, invisible in totality to them both, snaps his finger downward in a harsh break. Silence falls over both of them for a short second, until the shock wears away for Sam, making way for only pain. Agonizing terrible pain. Blubbering snotty crying filled the full breadth of the playground, but no one came... It was like no one was listening. Then she looks over at the king, regal as he was. Still merely standing there. Was he doing this? 

    The girl smiles, a devious little wretched thing that stretched wide from ear to ear. 

    "Who's the crybaby now?" He deserved to suffer a year's worth of torture and humiliation. She hadn't thought so before, but now that it was happening it was all she wanted. It was why when she points her utensil at him again, she utters more distinct magic words, and screams are silenced. Replaced by the wretched sound of flesh splitting from bone, meat and sinew tearing itself apart fragment by fragment as the young boy unraveled himself. Terror alight in his eyes for the fleeting seconds there were still eyes to display them. And in mere moments? There wasn't even the blood or mess of gore that had made itself of her classmate. Only ash and dust that had blown itself away on the call of the wind. 

    The whistle blows to signal the end of recess, and Courtney walks herself back to class with a beaming smile. The enemy of her kingdom vanquished, the honor of her king restored. When panic starts to arise in her classmates and the faculty, she knows to do so when she's instructed to keep silent about her magic from the wordless commands of Mr. Prickles. 

    And she got to go home early too. Mr. Prickles had made this the best day of school she'd ever had. 

    Dinner was quiet. 

    Mom and dad had asked her questions about her 'friend'-- They called him that, not her. She told him she didn't know, insisted in fact. 

    "I was playing with Mr. Prickles, I don't know where he went."' 

    "I think you shouldn't play this Mr. Prickles game anymore, honey." Her father chided, sliding away the drawing she'd proudly brought to the table. "I think you should find some real friends." 

    "He is real." 

    "Maybe talk to some of the other kids at school." 

    "I don't like the other kids at school." 

    "They're going to think you're weird if all you do is play with and talk about your imaginary friend." 

    "He's not imaginary." She feels that fire in her belly again, burning with hatred. "He's real! I told you, I told you he's real! And you don't believe me!" 

    "Goddammit, Courtney he's not real! There's no one else in the room but me, you and your mother! Stop this delusional--" 

    "He's real he's real he's real!" The screams are shrill, angry, and just as she had with Sam before, she jumps to her feet. She didn't want to kill her father, but he had to see. See that magic was real, Mr. Prickles was real, and all these adventures she was having were not just her imagination. Courtney had a duty as the king's sidekick. So she utters the magic words. 

    Unlike with Sam, the effect is not delayed, but the intent to not kill is kept in mind. The large from of her father is sent bursting into the cabinets behind him. Splintered wood and shattered glass and porcelain fill the kitchen floor. When he rose back to his feet, terror burning in those eyes as he looked at his daughter, she assaulted him again. Her fork pointed as her mighty weapon, she sent him out of the dining room, through the patio door and into their backyard. For a few moments he lay there, silently groaning. Her mother shocked as she stood without a word, broke from her planted position to run and check on her injured husband. 

    While they are distracted, their daughter left through the front. Losing herself away in the night, joined at her side by her imaginary friend. 

    "You're real. I know you are." 

    And it merely stared back as they walked. 

    "I don't wanna be in this world anymore." 

    And still it just stared. 

    "Take me to have real adventures." 

And so, it did. 

[mlobsters]

supernatural s12e7 rock never dies (w. robert berens)

still kind of boggling that they went with rick springfield for this recurring incarnation of lucifer. funny getting closer to current times - like hey 2016/7 wasn't all that long ago. trying to shift brain to tech and references and such.

SAM So I've been trying to dig up info on the British Men of Letters, keeping an eye out for cases, and you've been goofing off with a game that went out of style five years ago?

LOL see i thought words with friends was popular then, but i never played it. guess we're just ignoring the very obvious lucifer letters in dean's letter tray thingy

DEAN You still living out an '80s buddy comedy with Crowley? CASTIEL Unfortunately.

that horrifying forced smile made me laugh so hard i choked

dear lord the cheesy 80s-esque sitcom music and the cliche montage of LA-ish things i am not optimistic about this -_- dean's ranting about LA but he had fun when they were there 10 years ago? he enjoyed being a PA, he banged the actress he liked on the way out. apparently grumpy old man now

also rolling my eyes per always about insisting dean has this really narrow taste in music with the added annoyance of him being an asshole about sam liking something else. they had the one episode (10x12) where dean admitted to liking taylor swift's shake it off after being de-aged and hearing it. i thought he had a little personal growth moment 😔

i'm glad they had sam push back on dean being an ass and in a way where it's not a fight, sammy just figures out a way to force dean to bend the knee and listen to the vince music with the unimpeachable logic that it's research. and he's so pleased with himself

DEAN Hey. You consider switching up your duds there? Bit stiff for this town. SAM He could be an agent or something. DEAN Yeah, maybe a third-tier agent. CASTIEL At least I don't look like a lumberjack.

okay that made me laugh. they're both so grumpy and cas really went in with a good snarky tone. and dean, doing the harsh but fair face

admire crowley's ability to find a way to have a good time regardless of the circumstances

s12e7 / a different world (1987-1993) kadeem hardison as dwayne wayne

my god another blast from the past, so many good actors on that show!

i'm making a slightly more distressed version of sam's face right now

well hey dean's drinking the vegetable water, maybe he'll be enjoying the vince music by the end too. you can do it, dean

CASTIEL Well, the only way you'll clear that crowd without drawing fire is if he's otherwise engaged. DEAN Engaged in what, Cass? Killing you? SAM Cass, you'll last...three minutes tops. CASTIEL Then I'll buy you three minutes. CROWLEY Make it four. What? I help.

wonder what he's up to

funny how the v-neck makes an otherwise not that far outside the realm of what dean might wear outfit very much outside the realm

LUCIFER!VINCE Because it's fun. Because I can. And because being Lucifer? So much Judeo-Christian baggage. But Vince? He's famous. Everybody loves him.

look at our sam being apparently stronger than lucifer's telekenesis on the doors which doesn't make much sense but it's a striking vaguely jesus-y visual so let's go i guess

DEAN Why are you doing this? LUCIFER!VINCE Why? SAM You and God made up. You forgave him. What would he think? LUCIFER!VINCE I'm not especially interested in his opinion. Dear old Dad, he finally apologized for abandoning me. And what's the very next thing he does? [Voice breaks] He ditches me. [Laughs] And you, too, by the way. And rides off into the sunset with Auntie Amara. He needed my help, and he'd say anything to get it. His words, your words, they mean nothing. Don't you get it? This is all meaningless. Heaven, Hell, this world. If it ever meant anything, that moment is past. Nothing down here but a bunch of hopeless distraction addicts, so filled with emptiness, so desperate to fill up the void… they don't mind being served another stale rerun of a rerun of a rerun. You know what my plan is? I don't have one. I'm just gonna keep on smashing Daddy's already broken toys and make you watch.

i am so confused. lucifer's upset over god abandoning him, and he's hurt by... sam and dean? what. have i already forgotten how they left things with him? there was never any chumminess, was there? i don't think this is the lucifer that i know

sam looks pretty with this backdrop but i started laughing when these horns came in to be some i dunno, rousing of spirits, call to arms on the lucifer hunt! "and we will stop him! we will. it's what we do, man" *sam stares off mournfully in the distance* cue the sad cellos

in the wiki

When Castiel calls Dean, his name appears on Dean's phone spelled as "Cass," thus re-igniting the age-old argument: is it Cas or Cass?.

i mean, in the script it's cass. when metatron was typing, it was cass. the captions say cass. the only people who use cas are fandom?? if we're talking english, cas would be pronounced more like kaz. anyway. i don't see how this is an argument. my personal (probably unpopular) opinion is fandom preference of not using the more feminine spelling (shortened cassandra etc)

well now that i read the linked cas or cass, looks like my points stand

(on twitter) Robbie Thompson: why is Castiel’s nickname spelled Cass not Cas? again: for science Eric Kripke: I think “Cass” just looks cooler on the page. And “Cas” might sound like “Caz.” But that’s just my opinion. Now get back to work.

thank you, eric, for the pronunciation note. somewhat vindicated 🤪

[colderdrafts]

4: The Race

The Great Assembly, gender neutral reader x monster (male naga). Sfw. Previous Next

The morning alarm hits you like a truck, and you moan in protest, pulling your pillow over your head.

"Nooo, on god," comes an equally unhappy groan from Irwin in the other bed. "Eugh, everything hurts. Why is the light so goddamn loud?" he whines, followed by the sound of ruffling fabric as he hides under the covers.

You can't help but snicker at him, your voice muffled through the fluff of your pillow. "Hungover, my weak-livered little friend?"

Irwin groans again and throws his pillow at you. "Boss man deliberately told you to keep an eye on me. It's your fault I got so drunk."

"You're a grown ass adult. Don't blame me for your own short comings,” you throw his pillow back at him.

Irwin whines.

“’Sides,” you continue, “I could have been glued to your side all evening and it wouldn't have made any difference. Would you honestly have listened to me if I'd told you to stop?"

He peeks out from under the covers and blows raspberries at you, but leans back, relenting. "Fair."

You both take a few seconds to adjust to the horrendous ordeal of being awake.

"Ugh. Okay. Yes, okay, obligations. Responsibility. Right. What time is it?" Irwin asks, sitting up and rubbing his eyes with the heel of his palms.

"7am," you reply grimly, rolling out of bed.

"Ew," Irwin says.

7am gives you plenty of time for a morning routine consisting of a shower, putting on some outdoor wear for today's activity, and drinking any caffeine you can come in contact with. Irwin pops a bunch of painkillers to nurse his tremendous headache, though it seems he's not alone. Most people seem either extremely tired or hungover, and the 8am sharp breakfast has done no one any favors.

Mrs. Hansen, in all her fae glory, seems nonetheless completely unaffected as she takes the stand in the common room to address her subordinates.

"Goood-absolutely great morning everyone! Thank you for last night, I had an absolute blast. And thank you all for being here bright and early and ready to tackle the day!"

She gets a few unhappy groans in response, and chuckles.

"Don't worry, some fresh mountain air and you'll all be better. Now, for the main event of today, it is time to figure out who your partner will be for the last and arduous journey on this conference. As such;"

Mrs. Hansen takes off her hat, and open a paper bag full of what looks like small crumpled pieces of paper. She dumps them into the hat.

"One person from each department will draw one name from my hat. Whoever they get will trade places with them, ensuring cross-department partners. If you draw your own name or someone from a department that has already been picked, you redraw. Capisce?"

An acknowledging murmur goes through the crowd, and Mrs. Hansen beams. "Very well. Let the drawing begin!"

A few people start lining up, one from each department. Irwin quickly volunteers to be the one to draw from your department, meaning he will trade places with whoever he gets.

"It's a workaround way to say that your fate lies in my hands," he grins. "Don't worry, I'll get you a good one," he winks, and goes to draw.

You look around again at the people already picked, and find Mira peeking from the kitchen door. You wave slightly, and she smiles. You feel kinda bad for her, she must be feeling left out at this point.

"Aah, my favorite master of poker is here!" Mrs. Hansen says, and Irwin looks at her puzzled.

"Poker?" he muses. "I have no idea how to play poker."

She laughs warmly. "Well you sure showed us last night! Now, go ahead and draw."

Irwin looks at her quizzically as it dawns on him he hasn’t the foggiest idea of what happened last night, but he reaches into her hat and fumbles around for a bit regardless. You're on the edge of your seat when he picks up a small crumpled piece of paper and unfolds it.

"Oh," he says, and smiles. "That's me. Whoops. Can't pick myself. Unless there's another one here with the extremely handsome name, Irwin?"

He earns some chuckles from the crowd, and Mrs. Hansen smiles. "I'm afraid you're our one and only."

"Good!" Irwin grins, and goes to draw again.

He picks out another piece, and unfolds it dramatically slowly. His smile, however, fades quickly as he reads, and his eyes promptly settles on you.

You feel a pit in your stomach.

"Irwin will be trading places with Amren, it seems!" Mrs. Hansen announces, reading over his shoulder. "Good on you for getting security on your team, eh?"

"Yeah, hah. Lucky us!" Irwin gives a strained smile.

You glance around and quickly spot Amren next to Elise, who looks back at you. His expression is completely unreadable. You try a small smile, which he slightly tilts his head at, but doesn't return.

You groan internally. Whoever writes your fate has a cliché sense of humor to pair you with the one guy here who actively dislikes you. Somehow, you feel like you should have seen it coming.

Irwin returns to his seat next to you, somewhat pensively. "Whoops. But, hey, no boarbeasts will come at you with Mr. Scary Naga around, right?"

He elbows you playfully.

You shrug at him. It’s most definitely not ideal, but who knows. You could choose to hold hope that maybe you just got off on the wrong foot with Amren. It has, after all, only been two days.

“It'll be fine. And Elise will most definitely enjoy having to keep an eye on your messy ass."

You haven't known Elise for long, but you figure anyone new to Irwin will clash dramatically with the never-ending tornado that makes up his personality.

He scoffs at you. "My ass is extremely well rounded and nice looking, and she should be grateful to look at it, thank you very much!"

After the division, everyone is herded to the front lawn, and given supplies for the trip. People are provided with a tent relative to their size, food, emergency kits and water. You clip your sleeping bag to the backpack, and haul it all up – though frown when you find your warm beanie is missing. Drat. You quickly duck back to your room to see if you can’t sniff it out, though to no avail. It’s gone. Guess you’ll have to make do with the hood on your jacket.

Returning to the front lawn, you see Mrs. Hansen has organized a makeshift starting line to really seal the deal it's a race. She’s been creative with a bunch of white and black plastic bags and a bunch of tape. How they’re not immediately being whisked away by the breeze is beyond you, but you cross it off as fae miracles.

‘Racing’, however, might be a bit generous. Looking at the still hungover and tired expressions of most people gathered here, your guess is 'running' is not first on their list of priorities.

Irwin and Elise has already met up and are ready at the starting line. Elise laughs at something Irwin said, so it seems he's already working his extravagant social magic.

You feel an immense amount of betrayal.

Turning around, you almost bump face-first into someone's buttoned up shirt, and look up to find that Amren has somehow managed to sneak up behind you. You take a step backwards.

"It would be a lot easier to watch where I'm going if you didn't sneak up on me like that," you deadpan at him.

He shrugs. “You should learn to watch your surroundings better.”

“Kinda difficult with you all the way up there.”

“Climb a tree, then. Make up for your short comings.”

“What an exceptionally wonderful idea, Amren.”

“You’re welcome, Tiny.”

You roll your eyes at obnoxious nickname he’s apparently given you, decide now’s not the time for his bull, and nod toward the starting line. You’ve got some clovers to win. “Let’s get going.”

[boyakishantriage]

Picking her nose, I merely stared at her while the class 6 explosives remained strapped to her body.

"All of y'all are insane." she decided, she looked at him.

"Eh?"

We'd been assigned to stop pirates from taking over this outpost and stopping this galaxy spanning operation. Three posts were gained to this woman, but as she'd failed basic training, refused to get dirty if she didn't have to, spent a lot of time on making sure she was safe. I refused to believe the claims. This woman, this woman who so far was proving to be more of a civil-

The sound of a weapon discharging as the woman's weapons till smoked, a revolver, aimed at the tree above her.

"WHAT-"

Saying nothing, she put her finger to her lips. That cheery demeanor vanished as-

BOOM

Something exploded soon after the firing of her weapon.

THUMP.

A Galcon, pirate no doubt fell from the tree above, bullet ingrained in his skull as she twirled a cylinder to the end of the revolver.

"More. Back later."

She stated simply, yanking the pack she'd refused to carry until now effortlessly onto her back. Not only was she capable, but she could do it with ease.

Nobody could say anything however as she vanished into the jungle.

Night had fallen as the sounds of feet stomping to the ground, the loud call of. "LEFT. RIGHT. LEFT RIGHT LEFT." More Galcons marched behind the woman, explosives strapped to her chest as the she called out. "ATTEN HUT. HALT!!" The soldiers stopped, holding attention as she held a trigger in hand. The trigger.

"CORPORAL. I HAVE POWS. WHAT THE FUCK DO I DO?" She shouted near the amidst the group, hand firmly on the trigger still not letting go. "WHAT??" Shouted the man, slipping night vision goggles on as she forced Galcons to sit into the firelight.

"I have a bunch of soldiers prisoner and I'm using myself to keep them in line." She said, her finger on the trigger to the explosives strapped to her chest. In her other hand, a revolver.

"We're pinned down!" Shouted a soldier, the outpost was right there. Right there, scouts, guards. Camps surrounding the outpost near the choke point to the capital's air defence all removed, and now they had to re-

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Shouted the corporal to the human as another human unstrapped the explosives off her. "I don't know?" She said, throwing the explosive blocks into the air. As far as she could, shouting.

"I really hope this works. GET DOWN!" She could barely figure out what her pan was, managing to shout the order as she let go of the trigger.

The battlefield quietened down very quickly after that, or would if the woman jumped out tossing a grenade, revolver in her other hand..

"CHARGE!!!" She shouted, running forward, dropping to the ground before running forward into the smoke cloud. More grenades thrown into the field, "ATTACK!" Shouted the woman, the other human beside him sighing. "Ah fuck it."

"LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOO" She shouted, leaping into the smoke gun in hand as an explosion lit the smoke up. More grenades tossed, we charged after her.

Somehow that'd worked, guns shooting down the front guards, C4 the gate and holding the gate down as my friend reached behind me.

"Are ya fuckin' crazy??" She shouted, shoving me as I rolled my eyes.

"Ah. Right. you're a fuckin' cunt tho. Ya know that 'ight?" She snapped, cocking her Ak as we charged in.

The aliens had managed to secure a perimeter as the rest of the humans just charged in, C4 would blast holes through the bedrock walls, humans firing into the gap as they charged intot he building. Calls of "CLEAR!" "MOVE!" "FUCK!" and "STING!" Continued for about an hour, before the humans stepped out the building.

"Ok. So building's clear."

"How did you know what you did would work??"

"I didn't. I just guessed that y'all are pansies and went with it."

"But why? What humans-"

"Listen ate, I'm Australian."

"..."

She seemed at a loss for words, but to be fair. Most aussies weren't as mad as I was, nor did they condone using as many explosives as I like. But then again...

The sound of an engine revving it's way over to the group came to, they'd held the fort for a while now. So far nothing had happened for ages.

She managed to mutter under her breath.

"Humans are crazy."

[tenebraevesper]

Sonic Cyber Revolution, Entry 28: The Kitsune’s Deception

''When all alone in my chair, I just go about wishing. Wanna be strong, really wanna be trusted, ahh. When all alone in my bed, I just go about yearning. Wanna be cool, I also wanna be like him. But that's not something I can do so easily. This is not simply my way, my own style. Gotta get a hold of my life! I wanna fly high, so I can reach the highest of all the heavens! Somebody will be waiting for me so I've got to fly higher!''

– Believe In Myself by Sonic Adventure 2

xXxXxXx

Tails hummed as he finished working on his newest disk-like device, smiling in satisfaction as he got off his swivel chair and placed it on the ground, pressing the button on it, with a strange wave pulsing from it consistently. He placed his hands on his hips, ''Looks like the anti-gravity disk works just as intended.''

''Wait a moment before you make any judgement. Last time we tested it, it nearly blasted off the door,'' Warren replied, holding up a scewdriver and Touka's hoverboard. She had asked him a day ago to add an accelerator similar to the one Lucas had, since she too was the partner of a speedster and wanted for her hoverboard to be a little faster. Tails grabbed a wrench and threw it at the anti-gravity field, with the wrench hovering above the disk.

''I think it works just fine,'' Tails responded, picking up the disk and turning it off, ears twitching as he and Warren listened to the news, which they turned on as background noise.

''…reporting live from the Kita Inari Shrine.'' Midorikawa and Kero were on the screen, standing on a path towards an old shrine with a red torii gate structure in front of it and fox statues next to the altar. Tails stepped in front of the screen, watching the news report curiously. ''Currently, a video one of the visitors of the shrine had taken is circulating social media, showing a haunting image of some kind of strange creature or spirit wandering these grounds.''

''Huh? What's going on there?'' Warren joined Tails as they watched the video footage of a bunch of teenagers and ARNavs visiting the shrine during nighttime, only for the group to freak out when they saw dark creature or a spirit approaching them, wailing and crying, only to quickly run away. Once the footage ended, the screen turned back to Midorikawa and Kero, the latter shivering.

''Now, that's quite bone-chilling,'' Kero commented. Tails just frowned, with Warren noting his change of expression.

''What's the matter, Tails?'' he asked. The fox's tails flicked as he turned to Warren.

''I don't think that the shrine is actually haunted,'' Tails replied, crossing his arms on his chest. ''Someone is just playing a mean prank.''

''How would you know that?'' Warren asked. Tails fell silent for a moment, before turning to Warren.

''That's because I used to hang out there before I met you,'' he explained.

''Really?'' Warren was genuinely surprised. Admittedly, aside from what Tails told him about why he kept coming back to the workshop, he didn't really know much about the fox's past. Tails rubbed the back of his head, his tails flicking. It was clear that he was remembering something rather unpleasant.

''Yeah. Remember how I told you about those bully kitsune ARNavs I used to tag along with? They had been tasked to guard the Kita Inari Shrine and guide people who visit it. While they would usually behave nicely whenever in human presence, they're not above playing pranks on people with their strong illusion powers,'' Tails explained.

''I see,'' Warren muttered. ''So, you think it's just them playing pranks on innocent people?''

''Yeah, I do,'' Tails responded in a firm tone.

Warren was silent for a moment as he thought about it, then asked, ''Do you want to go and visit it?''

''Huh?'' Tails was caught off-guard by his question. ''Visit the shrine? Why?''

''You sound really upset by what had happened, so I had figured that you'd want to investigate what is going on. Maybe we could even call Lucas and Sonic to join us,'' Warren suggested. Tails hummed as he thought about Warren's suggestion.

''I'm not sure…'' Tails glanced at the screen. He wasn't too thrilled to revisit a place which gave him a lot of bad memories, but he was interested in investigating what had happened. After all, Sonic would do that. Sonic would tell him to not dwell in the past an encourage him to go on his own adventure, and Tails had to admit, he had to agree with him. He turned to Warren, grinning. ''Okay, but I want it to be just the two of us going on our own adventure.''

''If that's what you want, I'm all for it. I done with Touka's hoverboard anyways, so we can drop it off at her place and go to Kita,'' Warren replied.

''Then I'll prepare everything for the trip,'' Tails responded, his twin-tails spinning as he flew off to where his orange backpack was and started packing. While he wasn't too keen on the idea of confronting his bullies, he felt confident that things would be fine with Warren by his side.

xXx

''So, how much further are we from the Kita Inari Shrine?'' Warren asked, holding his hoverboard under his arm. After dropping off Touka's hoverboard at the Kageura residence, he and Tails went to Kita, arriving at the wooded area before the shrine and deciding to go there on foot. While Warren was several times in the northern part of Neos City, he never went to this area.

''I'd say we have around 5 more minutes,'' Tails responded, walking next to Warren and adjusting his backpack. The path they were on was surrounded by trees and going slightly uphill, and even though it was easy to talk on it, he felt a churning sensation in his stomach. He had to admit that, while he was determined to figure out what was going on, he was still nervous about this whole thing.

''You don't belong here, you freak!''

Tails winced at the memory, shaking his head as his mind was filled with dread. He hated being called a freak just because he was different from the other kitsune, and he did his best to gain their approval by using his intelligence and creating all kinds of devices, but it never worked. That was why he left his place to find a better home. Fortunately, he found one and he was quite happy with Warren, so why again did he agreed to visit this place?

''Tails?'' The twin-tailed fox looked up to see the look of concern on Warren's expression. ''Are you okay?''

''Yeah, I'm just not looking forwards to meeting the other kitsune again. Last time we saw each other, they broke one of my inventions and called me a freak just because I was different from them,'' Tails replied, his ears drooping and his tails flicked anxiously. ''Only because I had two tails and couldn't create any illusions like them…''

''Maybe you're not like them, but that doesn't matter. You're unique, you're my friend and you have people who care about you because of who you are,'' Warren responded. Tails smiled in response, cheering up a little, only for his ears to twitch when they finally arrived at the Kita Inari Shrine. Surprisingly, the area around the shrine was empty, which made Tails immediately suspicious. Warren, however, walked up to the shrine, admiring the fox statues. ''You did say that the kitsune are here to watch over the shrine, right?''

''Yeah…'' Tails murmured, only for the whole area to suddenly light up in blueish-green flames, the fire completely encircling them. Warren gasped, quickly backing away, but Tails walked up to it, his eyes narrowing.

''Tails, what are you doing?'' Warren asked worriedly as Tails put his hand into the fire, but didn't get burned by it.

''As I suspected… This is foxfire – an illusion created by a kitsune ARNav,'' Tails explained, pulling his gloved hand back and then looking up at the top of the shrine. A blue kitsune ARNav with a white tuft of fur on his chest and white gloves that had red markings on them, as well as red shoes that had paw-like toes, was standing on the top of it. ''So, this was your doing, Ao.''

The nine-tailed kitsune ARNav leap from the roof, doing a frontflip and landing in front of the two, with the foxfire illusion suddenly vanishing. ''I thought we chased out of this place.'' He smirked, arms folded across his chest as he observed Tails. ''I see you're still a two-tailed freak. Bet you can't even do any illusions either.''

Tails felt a sting in his chest as he heard his old bully telling him this. He wasn't here even for a minute and the latter immediately started to insult him. Tails took a step back, but then gathered the courage to talk back. ''I see you're still the same bully as you were before.''

''It's not my fault that you cannot handle the truth,'' Ao responded, then glanced at Warren. ''Is this your friend?''

''Yes. His name is Warren,'' Tails responded, glaring at Ao.

Ao then turned to Warren, saying, ''I have a piece of advice for you – don't be friends with weirdos.''

''I also have a piece of advice for you – stop being so rude,'' Warren responded in a deadpan tone.

Ao's eyes narrowed as he stared at Warren for a moment, then turned back to Tails. ''Why have you returned?''

''I heard on the news report that people are seeing monsters at this place, and I assumed that this might be your doing. You and the other kitsune are the only ones able to do something like this,'' Tails responded.

''Tch, so what? It was just a little prank,'' Ao responded in a mocking tone. ''What are you going to do about it, Freak? Snitch on us? It certainly wouldn't be anything groundbreaking.''

Tails glared at Ao for a tense moment, then lowered his head, turning on his heel and walking away. ''Let's go back.''

Warren gave Tails a confused look, wondering what had changed the fox's mind, and followed him down the path. Ao stared at the two as they vanished from his sight, only for his ear to twitch when he heard someone walking up behind him. It was a white kitsune ARNav with a grey tuft of fur on her chest, red-tipped ears and tails, barefoot and wearing a white kimono with red spider lily markings on it, with a red flower tsumami kanzashi adorning her head fur. She held herself in a quite regal and graceful manner.

''Now, now, Ao. That is not how we treat our guests,'' Shiro, the white kitsune ARNav, said. Ao huffed.

''I'm just doing what you had told me to do,'' he responded. ''You said it yourself that you wanted to present yourself only if there is one person there.''

''True…'' Shiro agreed. ''However, I do not believe that this young fox will trouble me. While he certainly has the potential to stand up to people, I do not believe he has the courage to follow through with it.''

''I suppose you want me to fetch them for you,'' Ao said in a snarky tone. Shiro shot him a glare.

''What are you waiting for then?'' she asked, with the blue kitsune groaning and going after Tails and Warren. Shiro observed him as he left, then licked her lips, her purple eyes glinting. A sense of hunger was creeping up again and she needed to satiate it.

xXx

''I feel like coming back to this place was a mistake,'' Tails grumbled as he and Warren walked down the path. ''I thought that Ao may have changed over time, but he's still the same bully he always used to be. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up. I'm just glad he didn't call any of the other kitsune to support him. They can all be really vicious when they want to be.''

''I'm so sorry you had to go through all that,'' Warren said, feeling sympathy for Tails. ''I suppose that some people don't want to change because they couldn't be bothered with actually reflecting on their behavior.''

''I guess you're right,'' Tails sighed. ''Some people just don't realize how much words can hurt.''

Warren was silent for a moment, then put up a smile, ''You know, their words shouldn't matter. Only you know your own worth, and let me tell you something, you are way better than any of them.''

''Well, if you put it like that…'' Tails said bashfully, rubbing the back of his head, with Warren continuing to hype him up.

''Oh, com'n, you're a genius who can easily build a bunch of amazing gadgets. You are a brave hero who had the courage to stand up to opponents like Dr. Eggman and his army of Badniks. You are my closest friend, partner and confidant, someone who has pulled me up when I was at my lowest, when I believed that I couldn't live up to…'' Warren trailed off for a moment, shaking his head. ''Well, you know what I mean. I know that some people operate by the saying about how a stick standing out from the crowd will be struck but lightning, but in this case, you should be true to yourself.''

Tails grinned widely, and his twin-tails flicked, with him taking off and hovering next to Warren. ''You're right, I should be true to myself, and you know what else – I don't really stand out that much when I'm with my friends,'' he said proudly. ''Just look at Sonic – he has super speed and he lives his life just the way he wants. Or Knuckles! He's very good at combat and doesn't let anyone boss him around. Or Amy, who is very kind and very scary with her hammer. Or Silver, who has psychic powers and comes form the future and wants to protect it even if he's stuck in a time he's unfamiliar with. Or Shadow, who is really powerful and aloof and distant, but is a good friend once you get to know him better. All of them are so different, yet we're all good friends – a team!''

''Exactly, but you forgot one person,'' Warren told him, with Tails giving him a confused look.

''Who?''

''Yourself, of course! I don't believe that we would be able to achieve half of anything we've done without your help,'' Warren replied. Tails grinned pridefully, even chuckling.

''Thank you so much for the encouragement. I can't believe that it took me for so long to realize that. It feels like a switch had flipped,'' Tails replied.

''Considering how long you had been bullied, I'm not surprised. It takes a lot of time and support to heal, and some mental scars never fade,'' Warren responded.

''You're right. All I can do is keep on moving,'' Tails said, fist-pumping. Warren smirked, folding his arms across his chest.

''I bet you got that one from Sonic,'' he said. Tails just chuckled in response.

''Yeah, I sort of did. I really look up to him a lot,'' he replied, remembering fondly Sonic's amazed look when Tails had showed him his inventions.

''I think we're close to it…''

''What do you think we'll find?''

Tails and Warren suddenly stopped, hearing familiar voices and then spotting two figures coming up the path. To their surprise, it were Minami and Amy.

''Hey, guys!'' Tails greeted him, drawing their attention.

''Tails, Warren, hey! What are you doing here?'' Amy asked, looking happy to see them, with Tails landing in front of her.

''We could ask you two the same question,'' Warren replied.

''Oh, you know me – if there is some kind of mystery and/or conspiracy, I'll investigate it,'' Minami replied.

''As well as drag me along,'' Amy quipped, giving Minami a knowing look, who just smiled back sheepishly in response.

''In any case, we've heard about the rumors of there being monsters around the Kita Inari Shrine, so we decided to check it out,'' Minami explained. ''I guess you two were here for the same reason.''

''Yeah, and we can confirm that those monsters are an illusion created by the kitsune who are supposed to guard the shrine as a prank,'' Tails explained.

''Huh, I guess at least one part of the mystery was solved,'' Amy said, turning to Minami, who nodded in response.

''Wait, do you want to say that there's more to it?'' Warren asked.

''Well, it depends… Amy and I did some research and we learned that people who had suffered from an Irregular attack were found in this area,'' Minami explained.

''Really?'' Tails asked, surprised.

''They were found comatose with their BioEnergy drained. That's a textbook Irregular attack,'' Amy replied. ''They're lucky they had been found. It doesn't look like a lot of people pass through this area.''

''I see,'' Tails replied, frowning. He was a little worried that Ao and the other kitsune had something to do with the attacks, even though none of them were Irregulars. ''Maybe we should go back to the shrine and ask Ao and the others about that.''

''Good idea. Maybe they know something about the Irregular attacks,'' Warren agreed.

''Tails, are you familiar with this place?'' Amy asked.

''Yeah, I sort of used to live here, but left,'' Tails replied, flying up. ''Follow me!''

Warren, Minami and Amy immediately went after Tails. Unknown to either of them, there were observed by someone else; a certain blue hedgehog hiding in the bushes.

''I wonder what's going on,'' Sonic muttered under his breath as he observed them leaving. He was on one of his usual runs through the neighborhood when he saw Tails and Warren leaving the Kageura home (he still had to get used to the fact that he and Shadow were living in the same neighborhood), so he decided to just follow them around for a bit. He also overheard Tails' conversation with Ao, and was debating whether he should show himself when Amy and Minami appeared. ''I could go help them out, but maybe I should leave this one to Tails. He knows more than I do and I can easily keep an eye on them. This should be his adventure.''

Having made his decision, Sonic then fist-pumped and quickly rushed towards the shrine.

xXx

Arriving at the Kita Inari Shrine, Tails, Warren, Amy and Minami started looking around for Ao or any of the other kitsune. ''Ao? Aka? Momo? Haiiro? Kuro? Anyone here? We need to talk to you!'' Tails called out the names of the other kitsune, but no one responded. ''Hello? Guys?'' He was confused when no one responded. ''I don't get it. Usually, someone would appear by now…''

''Why are you back?'' Ao suddenly appeared on the top of the shrine, his nine tails flicking and swishing as he glared down at them, specificially at Tails.

''My friends want to talk to you and the rest of the kitsune,'' Tails explained as Ao leapt down in front of him, pointing at Amy and Minami.

''The name is Minami and this is Amy,'' Minami introduced them to Ao, who gave the two a scrutinizing look.

''So, you're the losers who are hanging out with the weirdo?'' Ao asked, pointing at Tails. Minami and Amy glared at the kitsune, with Amy stepping up angrily.

''What's up with the sudden name calling? Why are you being so rude?'' she asked. Ao just rolled his eyes, folding his arms across his chest.

''Let's get to the point. What do you want to know?'' he asked, clearly annoyed.

''We have heard that people have been found comatose and drained of their BioEnergy in this area. Have you seen any Irregulars here?'' Minami asked, direct as usual. Ao's eyes widened in shock, a reaction all four of them have noticed. Minami clicked her tongue. ''Aha, so you do know something!''

''Y-You're wrong,'' Ao grumbled, his bravado quickly fading. ''I-I don't know anything about any Irregulars…''

''You are so bad at being a kitsune, Ao.'' Everyone looked towards the shrine, with Shiro walking around it and revealing herself to everyone. ''A kitsune should be deceptive, cunning, always keeping their opponents in the dark in regards to their true nature. You have failed at being who you are supposed to be. Such a disgrace.''

''Who are you? I haven't seen you here before,'' Tails asked the white and red kitsune, feeling tense.

''Oh, where are my manners…'' Shiro suddenly snapped her fingers, with rings of blue fire appearing around Tails, Warren, Amy and Minami, restraining them. ''My name is Shiro the Kyuubi no Kitsune.'' She started to walk towards Tails, who shot her a glare. She started circling around him, in a dance-like fashion, as if she was performing a nihon-buyō, elegant, precise and ethereal. ''I have heard about you from the former Kita Inari Shrine guardians, young Miles Prower, but I never had the delight to meet you in person. All I know is that you have a genius intellect, but you lack the powers of a true kitsune, and that was one of the many reasons why you had abandoned this place.''

''You're right, but that still doesn't explain… Wait, former?'' Tails rose an eyebrow, staring at Shiro in confusion, who smiled in response. He then turned to Ao for an explanation, but the blue kitsune just looked away, unable to look him in the eyes.

''Indeed,'' Shiro rose her hand, hiding her smile with the sleeve of her kimono. ''No matter their number or their strength, they were no match for me. It is quite tragic to see such raw passion be extinguished, but it had to be done. They were in my way, and Ao was the only one to recognize that he was no match for my power, so he surrendered. Smart move.''

Tails' eyes widened and he stared at Ao in shock. ''S-So, everyone is…''

''Dead. Deleted.'' Shiro's purple eyes glowed as she was reminded of her victory. ''They were no match for my skills. However, I had decided to be merciful and spare Ao as he begged for his life. I had assumed that I might need a servant in the future, and Ao has been fulfilling his role as expected.''

''So, you're the Irregular that had been draining people of their BioEnergy!'' Minami accused her. Shiro just exhaled, as if irked by Minami's loudness, giving the teenager a bored look.

''You are correct in your assumption. Ao had been using his illusion powers to separate my victims by creating monsters from the depths of their nightmares, giving me the opportunity to feed on them one by one. Of course, I could not show myself when there were multiple people, as they might have been able to deduce that I am not a regular ARNav, so I stayed in the shadows,'' Shiro responded.

''Okay, so what has changed? Why have you shown yourself to us?'' Warren asked.

''Is it not obvious?'' Shiro smirked. ''I will not let any of you leave alive.''

Warren, Minami  and Amy exchanged looks of concern, while Tails was glaring daggers at Ao. ''How could you?! You put people in danger because you were too much of a coward to fight back!''

''I was trying to survive!'' Ao screamed back, his eyes wide as he was shaking viciously. ''Lady Shiro had annihilated everyone, a-and I had no choice- I had to do this! I couldn't-''

''All that time, I was thinking about what you had told me, Ao. You and the others called me a freak, destroyed my inventions, and eventually forced me to leave because you claimed that I didn't belong here,… and now I understand that I really don't belong with you, with any of you,'' Tails said, using his twin-tails to reach for his backpack and grab his boomerang, using it to cut through the blue flame-like restraint, much to Ao and Shiro's surprise. ''Because unlike you, I'm not a coward who runs away from battles!''

He threw his boomerang, which homed right into Warren, Amy and Minami, cutting through their restrains as well, freeing them. Tails, who was still glaring daggers at Ao, caught it without looking and pointed it at him and Shiro. ''I don't care if you managed to defeat the other kitsune, you will never beat me!''

''Tch, so you decided to fight back?'' Shiro's eyes narrowed, before turning to a stunned Ao. ''What are you waiting for? This is your moment to redeem yourself!''

''Ah, right…'' Ao nodded. Tails glanced towards Amy as she summoned her hammer.

''Amy, you and Minami go after Shiro, since you were after the Irregular in the first place,'' he said, turning his gaze towards Ao. ''I have unfinished business with Ao.''

''Got it!'' Amy nodded and charged right towards Shiro. Meanwhile, Tails turned to Ao, who summoned a wall of foxfire flames, sending them towards the twin-tailed fox.

''That won't work!'' Tails threw the boomerang at the flames, slashing through them and flew towards Ao while grabbing his laser gun from his backpack. ''I know all of your tricks, but you don't know any of mine!''

He fired at Ao, who rolled to the side, shocked to see a small crater in the dirt where the laser blast hit it. His pupils shrunk as he looked up, seeing a livid Tails hovering above him, catching the boomerang and pointing his laser gun at him. Ao's eyes glowed and suddenly, a monstrous black and red fox-like beast appeared, pouncing at Tails and opening its jaws, saliva dripping from its sharp teeth. Tails wasn't afraid of the beast, simply pointing his gun at the beast and blasting its head off, the illusion breaking apart. He then threw the boomerang again, hitting Ao in the head and knocking him over. Ao only had the time to recover from the pain in his head before being confronted with a laser gun to his face and a furious Tails.

''You are no match for me, so stay out of this fight,'' Tails told him angrily, with Ao just staring at him in shock. He never knew that his victim was even able to fight like this. He certainly never did when he and the other kitsune confronted him.

''Tails!'' The twin-tailed fox looked towards Amy, who was blocking a crescent blue flame with her hammer, Shiro standing further away from her, laughing under the fan she had summoned. She then turned towards Tails, chuckling as she rose her fan.

''Dance of the Foxflame!'' She waved her fan down, sending more of fiery crescents towards Tails, who quickly flew to the side, watching in shock as the crescent blades tore through the branches, leaving quite a damage.

''That is not regular foxfire,'' Tails muttered to himself, sweatdropping and gritting his teeth as he turned to Shiro. Amy was charging towards the kyubi no kitsune, holding up her hammer high and bringing it down towards Shiro. However, the nine-tailed fox vanished, revealing herself to be an illusion, with the real deal appearing right behind her. Before Amy could even react, Shiro sent more of the crescent blades towards Amy, tearing into her back and sending her flying face-first into a tree.

''Amy!''

Minami screamed, running up to her partner, who was lying down on the ground, motionless. Amy cried out in pain as Minami cradled her, while Shiro, looking quite satisfied, turned her attention towards Tails. ''I suppose this is a better match up. However, to make sure that nobody interferes…'' Shiro's purple eyes started to glow, a pair of demonic fox spirits, even more ferocious than the ones Ao had summoned, appeared. One turned towards Minami and Amy, while the other focused on Warren. ''While I have serious doubts in regards to your precious technology holding up against my illusions, I am still looking forward to seeing you in action.''

Tails turned to Warren, noting the desperate look on his expression. According to their earlier conversation, it was clear that Shiro had been empowered by the BioEnergy she had absorbed and that they would need Chaos Surge if they wanted to match her power. So, Tails flew towards Warren, much to Shiro's chagrin.

''Stay and face me!'' she shouted, sending another barrage of fiery crescent blades towards Tails, cutting off his path and forcing him to fly up. Tails threw his boomerang at her, with Shiro easily swatting it away with her fan. Tails pointed his laser gun at her, firing several times, but Shiro was much faster than anticipated, dodging every of his attacks.

Due to Tails being kept busy by Shiro, Warren knew that it was up to him to get to his partner, but his path was blocked by the fox demon that Shiro had summoned. Warren had to leap to the side to avoid the demon clawing at him, and as he looked up, his eyes widened in realization when the fox demon was about to bite off his head. He closed his eyes, aware than he couldn't dodge this one, only to suddenly hear a thunk and a whine, and when he looked up again, the fox demon was nowhere to be seen.

Unknown to Warren, Sonic had actually spin dashed into the fox demon, dragging it into the nearby bushes with a rather angry look on his expression as he faced it. ''I did tell myself to leave this to Tails, but that doesn't mean that I'm not going to defend my friends.''

Meanwhile, Minami managed to help Amy up, the latter still being shaky on her legs. ''Are you okay?''

''I-I just got caught off guard,'' Amy responded, her back aching. She grabbed her hammer, facing the fox demon in front of them. She and Minami exchanged glances, then nodded wordlessly.

''Chaos Surge!''

With Amy recovering from her injuries and Minami gaining an energy hammer in return, both faced the fox demon as it charged towards them, opening his jaws. Both sides clashed, but Minami and Amy managed to overpower the fox demon, sending it flying into a tree. However, it recovered moments later, turning towards them again.

As for Tails, he was weaving between the crescent blades, trying to figure out a plan in order to counter Shiro. He spotted Warren running towards him, then smirked as he reached for his backpack, grabbing the anti-gravity disk, turning it on and throwing it at Shiro. The kyubi no kitsune stared at it for a split second, only for her to be launched into the air screaming.

''Nice!'' Warren almost laughed when he saw Shiro flailing her arms as she was kept floating in the air. She looked all but graceful as she tried to break out of the anti-gravity field, only to fall hard on the ground once it vanished. Tails chuckled as he saw this, while Shiro tried to get up, furious.

''You- You will pay for this!'' she screamed, looking disheveled. In response, Tails and Warren just reached out for each other.

''Chaos Surge!''

Empowered by Warren's BioEnergy, Tails held up his hand, releasing a blue EMP field that covered all of his surroundings. To everyone's surprise, the fox demon beasts whimpered and suddenly disappeared, as if the EMP field had somehow affected them despite being illusions. Furious, Shiro waved with her fan and sent another barrage of fiery crescent blades, only for Tails to quickly fly around them and releasing another wave of EMP which cancelled them out. He smiled, looking amazed by what he had just done. ''Fascinating!''

Shiro trembled, realizing that she was at a disadvantage. She had no clue what was going on or how Tails was even countering her powers, and given how Warren, Amy and Minami approached her, as well as Ao being completely useless, she knew that the only thing that was left was for her to retreat.

''This is not the last time you've seen me!''

Shiro created a wave of blue flames, which turned into a vortex, and then disappeared. Tails and Amy de-powered, not too happy about Shiro just vanishing, but they were still glad that she was gone.

''I think we should call the Hunters to search around the area. I doubt they'll find her, but at least an official report will keep people alerted,'' Amy said, turning to Minami, who nodded in response.

''At least one mystery was solved,'' Minami said, agreeing with her.

Meanwhile, Tails approached Ao, who was shocked by what had just happened. ''H-How did you- I thought…''

''I may not have illusion powers, but that doesn't mean that I'm powerless,'' Tails replied. Ao still just stared at him. ''It all can be explained by science.''

''Oh, right…'' Ao muttered.

''So, what are you going to do now?'' Tails asked him. Ao was silent, not answering. Tails shook her head, his eyes narrowing. ''Why haven't you told anyone about Shiro? I'm sure the Irregular Hunters could've handled her.''

''Stop acting like you know better!'' Ao snarled at Tails. ''You are still just a little freak and I want nothing to do with you!''

Tails winced, stepping back as he saw Ao completely breaking down. He was approached by Amy, who placed her hand on his shoulder. ''Are you okay?''

''I am,'' Tails replied in a quiet tone. He wasn't sure how to feel about Ao's breakdown over what had happened, and he knew that he couldn't help the kitsune anymore. He had no idea what might happen to him when the Hunters learn what had had done, but despite this being someone who bullied him for a long time, he still felt pity for him. He and Amy walked away, joining Warren and Minami.

''You were awesome out there,'' Warren said. Tails smiled in response.

''Thanks! I can't wait to tell Sonic about this,'' he said excitedly, his eyes lighting up. His gaze then lowered for a moment. ''Although, I wonder where Shiro went. What if she hurts more people?''

''Then we'll find her and stop her!'' Minami said in a determined tone. ''I don't think she'll be returning to the Kita Inari Shrine so soon.''

''I hope you're right,'' Tails said, smiling back. Unknown to the group, Sonic was sitting on a branch in a tree high above them, gazing happily Tails.

''I'm really proud of you, little bro.''

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[what-gs-watching]

“Sunlight over me, no matter what I do.”

This week on what G’s watching - what G’s listening to. 

This is exciting!

Gang, I told you content is how I apparently digest my feelings, and a big ol’ part of that is music. Always has been, my dad has this crazy extensive collection of albums. When I was a kid he always had something on in the car, or playing from the old stereo in our living room. One of my favorite memories is listening to the Beatles’ White Album with him on long afternoons. He’d let me dance around on his feet, and we’d sing every single one, I was the eight year old who knew the entire thing by heart.

Music is a core fucking memory for me, it’s my dad in a nutshell. I remember one year for Christmas, he gave me a bunch of burned cd’s - all of the Beatles broken up by time period, Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell,  a set of discs that included the top songs broken out by month between 1964 and 1968, six in total. The tracks, he told me eventually, perfectly encapsulated the way those different seasons felt to him - The March/April disc really feels like springtime.

If you knew my dad, you’d know that the effort he put into it was much  more than his usual Christmas attempts, which were: my mother buying the gifts and then writing his name on the tag. 

So the point is: music can be an incredible thing and it’s a large part of who I am. I could write an entire post about all of that (and one about the Beatles, and one about Paul McCartney specifically, and one about Adele, and one about Bo Burham…see, I’m nuanced)  but I won’t. Right now, at least. 

Because I want to talk about Fleet Foxes. Specifically, Helplessness Blues.

This album came into my life at a weird time, I’d moved to a new city and was working my first ever real tech job and I was living with my sister, trying to figure my shit out. Which involved coworker-turned-friend drama because at the time I was absolutely not the best person, and it was very early 20’s of me. You know, when everything feels frenetic and you aren’t sure what the fuck you’re supposed to be doing with your life, so you’re just…doing random things, all the things. 

Which made me extremely susceptible to the creeping kind of darkness infused with hope the album has. I have a penchant for indie folk bands. I can’t help it. I fucking love guitar and thrumming drums with violins and shit. It just feels real to me. Authentic. Organic.

So it’s no wonder Fleet Foxes pulled me. I had a couple of their other songs on random playlists but had never attempted to listen to their first release. And then one day I was getting my oil changed, sitting in the waiting room and I read a review of Helplessness Blues in a magazine, probably Rolling Stone. I immediately bought it, which wasn’t really like me at the time - I was deep into stitching together random lists on my ipod, pulling tracks from all over the place, but I felt like I had to.  Thankfully.

I don’t know what it is about this album, but it’s the perfect mix of mauldin, shiny, twisted, uneasy, exciting, overwhelming. It feels like there’s a story to it, it’s cohesive and purposeful, but I couldn’t tell you what the narrative actually is. And that’s probably the point. It’s whatever the story is to you, and man this album for me is angst and questioning and accepting. It’s become one of those perfect albums you can listen to, never skipping a track, because they’re always a little different depending on the mood you’re in.

And right now, I'm in a weird mood. I’m lost in my life again, and angst sounds about right, so I put the album  on this afternoon after I’d finished my unemployment application and tried to harass the pharmacy for my husband, did some laundry, some dishes, random life things. I decided all I wanted to do with my Friday was chill the fuck out, blast Helplessness Blues through my airpods, and just, be with myself, and  something familiar. Inside my own brain, but with something comforting, lulling me in the background. 

I wanted to wrap myself up in something, and this was the perfect choice. Apparently one of my coping mechanisms is to just put some music on and let it overwhelm me, turning the volume up as high as I can tolerate, and singing along as needed at the top of my lungs. It’s honestly therapeutic. 

That’s what Helplessness Blues is good for. Because it’s quite a production. You can get lost in the story and it’ll morph into whatever you need at the time. Today it’s a squirming  sense of unease, but also triumph. It’s so good.

I could probably talk about all of the tracks, I’m not going to lie, but that sounds exhausting; they’re still lulling my brain right now and I don’t feel like I could pick out each one well enough, they flow together too well. 

However, The Shrine / The Argument is fucking ambitious. It’s so many different things all at once and it’s almost confusing as one song but eventually it’s really, really not. It’s weird and it ends with a horrible cacophony but then delivers really soft and agonizing violins. It has some of my favorite lyrics from the entire album:

In the morning waking up to terrible sunlight / All diffuse like skin abuse the sun is half its size

When you talk you hardly even look in my eyes

In the doorway holding every letter that I wrote / In the driveway pulling away putting on your coat

In the ocean washing off my name from your throat

Because, who hasn’t felt like that? It’s a really specific loss. How else can you say something like that? 

This is clearly getting away from me, but that’s okay. This is what I wanted to do today. I don’t do this very often, Helplessness Blues isn’t in my regular rotation, because it deserves to be listened to and I don’t always have that kind of time. I’m thankful that I do today though, I’m almost through my second rotation, and it's helping. I’m updating the story that it is, for me. Next time I listen to it, it’ll remind me of this stupid thing I’m going through and all that I am right now, a little bit. 

For example: listening to Blue Spotted Tail was very Crowley and Aziraphale today.  That’s apparently where I am, so now it’s part of the story. 

Why in the night sky are the lights hung? Why is the earth movin’ around the sun? Floating in the vacuum with no purpose not a one…

Poor little Antony J.

 Why is life made only for to end? Why do I do all this waiting then? Why this frightened part of me that's fated to pretend?

So. If you need to feel ways about things (we all do, now and again, right) this album will do it for you. And this is a terrible love letter to it, but just…trust me.