#i couldn’t actually draw it until i get my computer tho

[teddylou]

I’m like a horse, with blinders on, so I don’t have to see the horrors of the world

[lightblueminecraftorchid]

HI THERE SRY IF THIS IS WEIRD BUT I SAW UR TAGS AND I LOVE TALKING ABOUT MINIDISCS SO—

they were kinda like floppy discs! you’re not supposed to take them out of their casing, tho you occasionally can get stuff in there and need to clean it out but that’s generally pretty rare. they were made by sony to compete with cassette tapes, but the timing was. not great and the players could cost a pretty penny so. they did actually do really well in japan though, just not the states!

they’re a purely audio format, and basically the draws were a) really good quality, like cd type quality, which is quite a step above the previous cassette tapes, b) they were more portable than cds, and c) at the time, you couldn’t really record cds all too easily. but minidiscs were always meant to be recordable, that was their whole thing. similar to cds, you can’t record on a pre-recorded minidisc (like one from a label company. if just like your brother recorded something on a disc you absolutely can re-record it), but unlike cds you will never find prerecorded minidiscs anywhere so it’s not really an issue lol

the recorders also use a thing called a magneto-optical drive, which is where a laser makes the disc REAL DANG HOT before the magnet writes the data in it, so you don’t have to worry about leaving your discs by magnets the way you might with cassettes!

at first you could only record through a recording line, so if you had a fifty minute album guess who couldn’t use their player for fifty minutes until it was done recording! later though some of the recorders had a thing called netmd, which lets you use files on your computer to record much quicker, without waiting for the whole thing to play out. the discs had a recording time of either 60, 74, or 80 minutes, tho you almost never see 60s around these days. if you wanted to record for longer tho, you could, it really just depends on whether or not you can play it lol. basically later on a bunch of the players were able to use a thing called long play, but some players can’t so your disc will be unreadable to them. but! the discs themselves are always able to record long play no matter when they were made, and you can pretty much endlessly re-record minidiscs without them wearing out. so if your hypothetical brother gives you his old minidiscs and he has crappy taste in music and you have a recorder that can’t play long play, no worries, just re-record them as regular discs and you’ll be good to go! there are two types of long play, lp2 and lp4, and any player that can play long play can play either. as u might guess they double or quadruple your discs recording time respectively, at the loss of some sound quality. it’s not terrible, but also discs aren’t super expensive so the only time i’ve ever really used lp4 is to record several podcast episodes on one disc.

they’re all very pretty like the one in the picture tho!! these are a few of my favorites that i own:

i wish i had a picture of my dad’s one with miffy on it because that one’s very cute too heh. i really like the ones where the disc itself is coloured too! the clear neige at the bottom is one of the most common ones you’ll find, especially if you buy them new you’ll get something similar to it. they don’t actually make the fun coloured ones anymore, :( but you can get boxes of used ones that generally come in all sorts of random fun colours! the players themselves are also pretty cool looking! pls ignore gollum’s reflection there haha!

they do not all look like that lol, but generally the players are nicer looking than the ones that can play and record. (the one in the picture up there can’t record, tho this one can. pretty much all the recorders look something similar to this. the ones that can only play look very neat though)

all the recorders have screens, most of the players don’t, but oftentimes they’ll have remotes that you plug into the player and then plug your headphones into the remote, and those often have screens on them.

when they were first released they could cost you up to like 800 dollars lol, nowadays depending on the player they’ll only set you back around 40 bucks. probably a good quality mp3 player might be more practical, but i like the fun clacky plastic discs lol. plus the recordings almost never get corrupted, which is a plus!

uh anyway i’m so sorry for the tiny essay!! i just really like minidiscs! :)

Op i am holding u by the hand. This is exactly what I wanted. Thank you so much!!!!!!

[miekasa]

random boyfriend eren hcs (modern/college au)

↯ pairing: eren jaeger x (fem) reader

↯ genres and warnings: modern/college au, himbo eren supremacy as per usual, but can you imagine eren, armin, and jean living together in one house bye

↯ notes: this is me once again trying out this headcanon format, also because i have lots of thoughts about eren (being normal) and going to college lmao

↯ more notes: sorry i have to repost this again tumblr is being dumb ://

Not a frat boy, but definitely lives by the mantra “work hard, party harder.”

Likes going out to frat parties and keggers first year, but calms down as time goes on. Sophomore year is more house parties and occasionally going downtown to clubs. By the time junior year rolls around tho, he and Jean are thee party hosts. Homecoming, Halloween, Pre-Thanksgiving break, you name it, those two have a reason to throw a party for it

But party doesn’t always mean absolute rager. Sometimes it’s just drinking with your friends, playing pong, and absolutely crushing Jean at uno. 

At parties with lots of other people, Eren really doesn’t let people fuck around with you, or any of his friends really. Once almost got into a fight because he watched a guy out his hands on yours and Mikasa’s waists to “move around you.” As if. 

Wears his key necklace around all the time, obviously. So he gives you a necklace with a lock on it, with both of your initials engraved on the back. 

Nobody really notices it at first, since the chains are long and the necklaces are you usually tucked inside your shirts. But one day, ever the observant one, Armin catches a glimpse of yours resting on top of your shirt. Cue squinted eyes looking back and forth between you and Eren before—eureka! “You and Eren have matching necklaces!!!”

Plays sports, not for a scholarship but just for fun. Gets very pouty when you can’t make it to his games; and gets extra pouty if you show up, but you’re not wearing his jersey.

On the flip side, gets very giddy when he sees you in the stands with his jersey on and very ostentatiously scoops you up into a hug after the game is over.

Literally does not know where the library is until you show it to him. Any of them. Help him.

The worst person to study with if he doesn’t have any actual work to do. Will bother you and prefer to gossip than to let you do your work in peace. If you need an actual study buddy, you should try Mikasa.

Drunkenly hits on you a lot. Scratch that, he hits on you regardless, drunk or sober, despite the fact that you’re literally dating him already.

Literally reserves at least two nights of the week to have dinner with Armin bye and you couldn’t even interrupt them if you tried.

Waits for you outside of your classroom if you’ve had an important presentation or something. Not always with anything cheesy or loud, but just to be able to cheer you on and congratulate you after.

Hates the act of going grocery shopping, but loves going with you. Also because you force him to buy things other than Anytizers and Kraft Mac and Cheese.

Steals your hair ties and scrunchies to put his hair up. Does not fucking give them back, and denies having them, even if they’re piling up on his wrist.

Will drive you anywhere and everywhere. He is your personal Uber. Even if you don’t want him to be, he would rather die than let you get into an actual Uber—and if it’s late at night? Forget it, Eren doesn’t care if you’re 45 mins away, he’ll come get you.

After you stabbed him with your pen for drawing in your notebook (with your very pristine notes), he started leaving sticky notes inside of them instead.

They’re all super random, usually incoherent, and sometimes just drawings, and you’d never tell him, but you keep every single one.

Cuts class a lot, but not to the point where he’s failing. Just when he feels like it’s deserved, you know? Like, if he attended lecture for a class all week, he deserved to skip Friday’s lecture. As a treat.

He’s embarrassing. Endearing, but so embarrassing. Like, singing in the middle of the street embarrassing. Asking you to do a TikTok in public embarrassing. Why do you even love him.

Moves off-campus during junior year and rooms with Jean and Armin in three-bedroom house. So, he’s never actually lonely, but he’s a little crybaby and will whine to get to you to come over.

LOVES sleeping over at your place, though. Because you live with Annie and Mikasa, so your place is always clean and always smells good. Plus Mikasa and Annie are usually busy, which means you get more privacy at your place.

Mikasa honestly just starts making breakfast for Eren in the mornings when he does sleep over, and Annie is so unfazed by his presence.

Jumps at the opportunity to join in on your girls wine-night or skincare-routine night. So what if it’s him and three other girls drinking red wine with face masks on and talking about Anne Hathaway movies while playing Monopoly Deal? It leaves him pleasantly buzzed and his skin is absolutely glowing, suck his dick, Connie.

Likely doesn’t understand a thing about your major/program but listens enthusiastically when you talk about it anyways.

His lock screen is the only selfie he’s ever convinced you to take with him. (That’s okay because he has many screenshots of your snaps for safekeeping and blackmailing).

Tries to get you to exercise with him. If you’re into that, then great. If you’re not, it’s okay, he always has time to stop and take a mid-workout thirst trap to send your way. Because he’s annoying like that.

Once accidentally replied to the whole class instead of just the professor on an email asking him to be a g and bump his 89.9 to a 90. Embarrassing. (The prof did raise in the end tho, so maybe he really does have some charm to him).

Has to wear reading glasses when studying for a long time/or at his computer for a long time, and even though he doesn’t like them, you think he looks super cute in them; so he wears them more often than usual. 

Calls you asking for the most obscure school supplies/stationary. “Babe, hey, you wouldn’t happen to have a spare 4x8 poster board laying around now would you?” 

Mind you this is at, like, 3am, 12 hours before the poster board in question is due. 

Speaking of stationary, is an absolute little shit and steals your good pens. He’s partial to the sparkly ones, if he’s being honest. They make his notes look better, fuck you, Jean. 

“Eren, give me back my purple 0.4mm pen.” “I don’t know what that is, sorry.” “Eren, I can see it in your hand!” 

Brings you snacks while you’re studying. If you’re really trying to crack down and be serious, he won’t even bother you. Just bring the snacks, bring you water and boba, kiss your little forehead and be on his way.

Has a polaroid camera he got as a birthday gift, and uses it to sneak pictures of you whenever you’re not looking. He keeps the good ones hung up on a sponge board in his room.

He has a few.... riskier ones too, but those are for his eyes only.

Loves to pick out your nail color when you get your nails done. Honestly gets a little pouty when you don’t ask him lmaoo

Purposely leaves his clothes around so you can wear them. Isn’t subtle about it in the slightest. Sometimes leaves them with a note: “Please wear this, you’d look cute as fuck. Thank you. —Management.”

(slightly nsfw below)

Is not too proud to ask you for risqué snaps. Not necessarily full nudes, thought he doesn’t object to those.

Will literally give you hickeys out of boredom. Will pull you onto his lap and start kissing your neck because he has nothing better to do. Also because it leads to sex 7/10 times. The other 3 times, it’s because he falls asleep with his head in your neck lmaoo

Might have once fucked you with one of his lectures playing in the background, but you’ll never tell.

He really likes phone sex. He’s shit at being quiet, so he can only really do it when Jean and Armin are out of the house, but there’s something about only being able to hear your moans to get off that really does it for him.

He’s kind of goofy and absentminded sometimes, so sometimes you’ll be mid-sex and he’ll look at you like “Hey, did you finish your assignment, it’s due tomorrow right?”

And honestly, you kinda wanna be upset, but then you start thinking—“Did I finish my assignment?” And then you realize you did and nod and he’s like “Ok, cool,” kisses your forehead and resumes where you left off.

[thr-333]

Drastic Measures- Part 2

@daminette-december2019-2020

~Swordplay~

To summarise: I will have the love square one way or another!

Ao3

First >Next 

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

As far as homes go it’s pretty good” Adrien stretches out, Plagg curls up next to him.

“Don't get too comfortable we’re going to be on the move,” Marinette types furiously at her computer.

“I will try my hardest,” Adrien stares blankly at her, sat atop a pile of grubby blankets next to a broken window. Marinette loses connection to her computer and slams it shut with a huff.

“Get some sleep I’m going to find an internet cafe,” Marinette stuffs the cheap laptop into her bag, amazing how something she bought at a hole in the wall place for thirty bucks didn’t work well.

“Who needs sleep when you can have coffee,” Adrian stands up, ready to follow her.

“Sleep Chat,” She pushes him down by the shoulders, “I need my partner fully operational,”

“Yeah kid, take a break, we worked hard,” Plagg yawns, turning over.

“You also worked hard Bug,” Adrien lets himself be pushed back onto the blankets.

“I won't be able to sleep until I know how everything is in Paris,”

“Neither can I,” Adrien protests, already half asleep.

“Sure you can, night Chat,”

“Night M’lady,”

Marinette leaves the same way they came in, though the window. She has to slide down the gutter to get on the street, Tikki hiding away in her bag. She has to go pretty far in town to find a suitable cafe, too far from Adrien to be comfortable. Marinette pops in her earbuds before opening her computer to let her talk to Tikki freely.

She doesn't immediately search up missing person cases. Looking instead at Paris tourist destinations and guides. Switching to the dangers of traveling to Paris; the only mention of Akuma being on obscure question and answer sites. She looks at kidnapping potential and then moves onto missing person cases. Adrien's is the first to come up, obviously. 

There was lots of outcry among his fans. Many were throwing around accusations of foul play on Gabriel's part from abuse to locking Adrien away from the world. However, Gabriel was also fiercely looking for his son. Adrien hadn’t left behind any sort of note. Well only to Nino, which Adrien had told Marinette was asked not to mention to anyone.

Marinette then feels safe enough to look up her own case. It was smaller, although was gaining attention as Jagged proclaimed it to high heavens; more so asking what they did wrong and how they could fix it and asking for any sightings of her. That could be a problem if her picture was already around. Marinette pulls her hood up higher. They might have to get haircuts and wear disguises… on second thought wearing suspicious disguises in Gotham might cause more problems.

“Tikki they seem really worried,” Marinette watches the videos Jagged posted, her parents in the background running around talking with police.

“Of course they are Mari,” Marinette feels a light tap on her side, “But you're doing the right thing,”

“No I’m not,” not when she’s watching a video of her parents crying,  “I’m doing what needs to be done, this is my responsibility, no matter what a certain someone thinks,”

She spits with venom. Maybe Adriens rant last night rubbed off on her.

“He’s the hero here,” Tiki says non accusingly, “Imagine if another hero came to Paris without asking you… remember Volpina?”

“Ah now that was an actual villain,” Marinette hadn’t trusted her from the start,  “Plus she was akumatized,”

“Marinette,” Marinette can’t bring herself to feel guilty, even under tikis scolding.

“Right but that still doesn't give him the right,” Marinette huffs, “After all would he attack Marinette? No!”

“Are you implying you would attack Lila?”

“......... no,”

“Marinette,”

Marinetti smirks to herself instinctively looking around for Adrien to share her joke. Then Marinette froze. The cafe was empty, not even a barista. How had she not noticed!?

“Wait,” Marinetti says out loud before Tiki could talk, “I’m going to have to call you back, something just came up,”

Something was watching her from the kitchen door as if she couldn’t see them. Marinette tries to act normal going for the pepper on the table and putting it on her food. They move at the same time. The attacker runs towards her, Marinette throws the shaker at- Robin?! It hits him square in the forehead, with a curse he touches his bleeding forehead.

“I am so sorry!” Marinette panics, “That was meant to explode in your face!”

“How is that better?!” Robin runs forward, sword drawn. Marinette ducks behind the table grabbing her plate and frisbeeing it towards him, he manages to dodge this one, “Draw your weapon coward!"

“I don’t have a weapon!” She grabs the table cloth ready to take the vigilante down, “What is wrong with you?!”

He doesn't answer lunging at her again with the sword. Marinette kicks up the table then kicks it towards him in one swift movement. With the impact of the table he drops the sword, Marinette jumps up landing on the table which pins Robin down to the ground with its weight and hers, with the legs sticking up.

“I knew it,” Robin spits and she presses her weight into the table to keep him pinned.

“Excuse you,” Marinette catches his wrist as he tries to pull a dagger on her using the table cloth to tie it to the legs of the table, then does the same with the other, “You attacked me,”

“-Robin!” she hears a faint call, no one is around so it must be from his communicator, “-Robin report back to the cave!”

“I’ll take that~” Marinette sings songs ignoring how he growls at her. She rolls her eyes stepping off the table she needed to get out of here now.

She steps out of the cafe throwing the communicator and likely a tracking device too on the roof of a passing car then sprints in the opposite direction. She heads for the alleys looking for an area with no cameras as she runs. When she finds a spot Marinette transforms running back to their base with record timing.

“Adrien wake up!” Ladybug jumps through the window, barely avoiding landing on him, “Batman’s after us,”

“What?!” He sits bolt upright, Ladybug pulls him onto his feet.

“Move! Now!” She grabs their bags, Adrien transforms and they take off over the rooftops.

“What happened?!” Chat shouts as the runaway, “Is Batman chasing us?”

“Yes, well kinda-- Robin tried to kill me,”

“He what?!”

“As Marinette,” She adds, slowing down as they should have put enough distance between them.

“Did they figure us out already?” Chat Noir slows down into a walk then collapses on the rooftop,

"Probably,"

“This is the worst wake up call ever!”

“Well, it's about to get worse,” Ladybug cringes feeling the distinct trace of magic she was all too familiar with.

“Akuma?”

“Akuma,”

“Great, perfect,” Chat complains standing back up.

“At least we’re not at school,” Ladybug shrugs, launching herself over a roof.

“No you’re right being chased by a masked vigilante is a massive improvement,”

---

Wow

“Robin! Get your head out of the clouds and get over here!”

Damian breaks out of his trance, regrettably tearing his gaze away from Ladybug to the much less awe inspiring sight of Batman trapped under a car. They shouldn’t be wasting their time worrying about these established amazing hero’s and worry about that assassin on the loose. Who knows who she was after. She could be planning Batman’s demise at this very moment; if she was close with his mother then surely she knew their identities which was far far more dangerous.

Ladybug could handle herself as evidence by her going toe to toe with the newest villain. In a matter of minutes, the villain was down for the count with no help on their part. 

“Ladybug!” He calls before she leaves again, maybe she could help him convince his father that he was being an absolute buffoon.

“Oh it’s you,” She says surprisingly coldly, “What do you want now?”

“Now?”

“Are, you here to attack me again?”

“... I didn’t attack you?” He had spent all morning tracking down a dangerous assassin.

“... Oh! Of course, you did- haha I just ummmm-- there must have been an… Akuma! Yes! There must have been an Akuma earlier that looked like you,”

“An Akuma was impersonating me?” Robin growls.

“Yeah, they do that sometimes,” Chat Noir pipes up, “It’s annoying,”

“Yes and if you’re here, that uh… that means the Akuma is still out there so we gotta go deal with that so-bye!” Ladybug swings off closely followed by Chat Nor; off to go save his name and reputation.

---

“So you really think that was an Akuma?” Adrien asks as they transform back.

“Maybe- I don’t know it was just an excuse so he wouldn't figure out my identity,”

“Well at least he doesn't know it,” Adrien shrugs as they walk through the alleys in search of a new place to rest that night.

“If he doesn't know then why would he attack Marinette?” She asks, “And if it was an Akuma that means Hawkmoth knows my identity which is so much worse!”

“Is it tho?”

“Chat,”

“I mean back in Paris it would have been bad,” They both cringe, “But here we have no home, no family, no friends! He cant use any of that against us now!”

Adrien beams his contagious smile.

“You always manage to find a bright side,” Marinette smirks punching him in the shoulder.

“So that's why,” They both turn around, staring in shock.

“Batman?!” Turning back their way out is already blocked by mister boy wonder. Who, by the way he is glaring at her, was not an Akuma this morning.

“I can't believe Talia called me because some teenagers were eloping,”

I know that name- WAIT!

“Eloping?!” Marinette chokes, “We are not eloping!”

“As in not at all,” Adrien blanches, “And I mean no offense Marinette you are literally the sweetest person but I can’t imagine anything more horrific!”

“Oh god, same!” At least now, “I mean once when we were younger…-- it was a silly crush!”

“Wait you had a crush on me?!”

“Yeah, well, you had a crush on me!”

“... oh god… I did, didn’t I?!”

While Adrien is dealing with that little revelation Marinette looks around for an escape. There isn’t much opportunity since both have their eyes on them, partly out of morbid curiosity at their little freakout. Well if you don't have a distraction homemade is fine.

“AKUMA!” They both look, predictably. 

Marinette grabs Adrien and runs. She goes for the side Robins guarding, sweeping his legs sending him crashing to the ground.

“I’m not sorry!” Marinette calls as they sprint down the alley.

Marinette heads for the main street, enough of a crowd to camouflage. As they are walking through as casually as possible Marinette sweeps them both for bugs putting any she finds on random passerbys. They walk sometimes ducking into busy shops in hopes of losing their trail. They come across the mall which works perfectly for them. They stay until it starts to approach closing time, it’s easy enough to avoid security and so they get locked in for the night.

“So what do you want to do?!” They walk through the empty halls Adrien skipping along and looking at each display. Marinette stops outside an electronics store, the tv’s still on and displaying the news.

“Make a plan for a way to deal with that,” On-screen are the two of them, a video of Ladybug throwing a car at Batman, “This is taken completely out of context!”

“What’s the context?” 

“Batman was being a little bitch!”

“I’m sure that will hold up in court,” Adrien laughs taking a seat in one of those massage chairs, “Besides what's the problem?”

“The problem?!” Marinette yells, “The problem is that now all of Gotham is going to hate us!”

“So? Do we really need them to like us?” Adrien gets up to stand by her, rubbing her shoulder.

“They did in Paris,”

“We’re not in Paris anymore,” Adrien says quietly, leading her towards the seats, “We have a chance to start new again, everyday something we haven't done before, a couple of pals living day to day on the edge, isn’t that exciting?”

“I just--” want to go home, “I’m tired,”

“Take a break,” Adrien sits her down in the massage chair with a kind smile, “I’ll keep watch,”

“.. ok,” Marinette curls up in the chair Tikki coming to lie beside her. With not much strength to fight it, Marinette falls asleep while she can.

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

Taglist? nope don’t have one, horrible at keeping track of them sorry~

[zambie-trashart]

Evillustrator Rewritten Series

Read the whole series

Summary: Nathaniel has a crush on Marinette and Damian isn’t having any of that. Superboy and Chat Noir become friends and bond over their annoyance with Chloe’s attitude.

.................................

Nathaniel stopped Lady Wifi and Stormy Weather who were hurting Marinette. She was grateful that he saved her and fell into his arms obviously in love.

Nathaniel snapped out of his delusions when Jon nudged him looking at the teacher. He we sent to the office and Jon gave him a look from the back of the class as if saying sorry.

“And the next group is Adrien, Nino, and Alya. And then Chloe, Sabrina, and Marinette,” Marinette slammed her head into the table groaning. Jon was already in a group with Nathaniel and Kim so there was no trading with him and Alya wouldn’t want to switch either.

They met up in the library later after Marinette told Sabrina that she shouldn’t let Chloe bully her. 

That was when a bunch of hats started falling on Chloe which looked really suspicious, then a giant hairdryer.

The heroes decided to go back to Chloe’s place to keep an eye on her.

“Any idea why this Evillustrator would attack you particular Chloe?”

“No, everyone adores me,” Chloe said flipping her hair.

“Right cause you’re just so adorable,” Ladybug said sarcastically. She was so out of there. 

“I can’t believe her!” Ladybug said going through her window and Jon was sitting down in her computer chair. 

“Your thingy is flashing,” Jon pointed to her yoyo.

“What Chat?” she asked exasperated.

“Could you possibly send in Superboy fro backup if you’re not going to be there, I would ask for Robin but I know you and SB are close,” Chat said into his baton.

“Yeah, but don’t you like someone else?” Marinette teased making Jon’s eyes light up and look at her asking for more information. 

“Ha ha really funny.”

“He’ll be over in a bit,” Marinette said hanging up. “Go on, why is it always blondes with you though?” Jon stood there eyes wide mouth open.

“IT’S NOT ALWAYS BLONDES MARI!” Jon yelled after a few second. “GOD YOU AND DAMIAN HAVE WAY TOO MUCH IN COMMON!”

“Really, you think so?” Marinette asked. Jon flew out of the house furiously trying to get as far away from his teasing cousin as possible. 

.................................

It was twenty minutes later that Marinette called Jon on the superphone.

“JON HELP!” she yelled.

“OK, breathe in then out what’s going on,” Superboy said excusing himself from Chloe and Chat. 

(Two C’s and two blondes God if Jon was bi, he’s not tho)

“Evillustrator just came to my house, I don’t want to interrupt you but could you call Robin, I’m sure he could handle it,” Marinette said not wanting to drag the dark brooding bird into her business but she didn’t really have another choice.

“Yeah, I’ll text him,” Jon said hanging up and texting Damian.

Jon: Marinette needs help, I’m caught up in something. Help her but as the bird not the brat.

Damian: screw you Kent

Jon: you wish

.................................

Chloe was freaking out, Superboy was in her house but he seemed to be more interested in Chat Noir.

“So, Superboy, how long have you been in Paris?” Chloe asked grabbing onto his arm.

“Ladybug has my phone number, she calls me every time something goes really wrong or if she just wants me to visit,” Superboy said making Chloe gasp.

“Maybe you could give me your number too, we could be the cutest couple in Paris!” Chloe said jumping on Superboy’s back making him fall over shocked.

“Yeah, maybe not, not really interested in you that way,” Superboy said taking Chat’s offered hand as Chat laughed.

“Not really interested huh?” Chat asked smiling. Jon let out the most manly eep ever before letting go of Chat’s hand.

“Yeah, not really interested. I heard from Ladybug that you like someone though,” Superboy said fluttering his eyelashes.

“Alright I’ll answer that if you tell me if you and Ladybug are dating or not,” Chat countered.

“Nope, hell no, I would never date Ladybug, she’s like a sister to me. Your turn.”

.................................

Robin stood on top of the boat with his sword out watching intently as Marinette flirted with the villain, she was a great actress unless... no, she couldn’t actually have a crush on Nathan or whatever Jon’s friend’s name was. He... he was a villain, Damian got his breathing back to normal and continued watching feeling something red hot, not jealousy, burning up inside him as she gave the signal.

Robin blushed and watched Marinette grab the pen and soon they were in an enclosure together. Damian took his sword and pushed up before grabbing her and grappling back to shore.

“I hope I didn’t make you think that I don’t know how to do my job, Ladybug and Chat Noir are normally the ones to handle this sort of thing. I’m going to find Superboy,” Robin said smiling at Marinette.

“He’s still a little grumpy, I have no idea how Jon works with Robin,” Marinette said before transforming.

.................................

“Where the hell have you two been?” Robin asked going through the window of Chloe’s hotel room.

“Just chatting,” Superboy said before they both laughed.

“God, it’s like they’re the same person,” Damian said filing that away for later. Ladybug swung in through the window. 

“Aww, the whole gang is here, Jesus Christ Supes, you look awful,” Ladybug said looking and poor Jon who’s cape was slightly torn and had lipstick on his cheek.

“It’s been a long day, can you just finish this up,” Superboy said.

“Chloe has a little crush on Supey here, said he’s not interested. Chloe doesn’t really take no for an answer,” Chat said sheepishly. Damian felt like an idiot for not noticing sooner but filed that Chat had an understanding of Chloe’s behavior.

When Evillustrator did come around, he was taken down rather quickly. All the teens went their separate ways. 

.................................

Chat was sitting outside of the Dupain-Cheng residence watching Jon through his window when he felt a tap on his shoulder. 

“I know who you are, I know that you care about Jon... Adrien Agreste, you care for him deeply but he is one of Superbaby’s friends so that means that you have to leave him alone until you at least have the strength to not jump when I tap you on the shoulder,” Robin said mask eyes in slits. 

“I guess I can work with that but you can’t tell anyone who I am,” Chat said holding out his hand.

“Wasn’t planning on it.” Damian was going to have a lot of fun with this information.

.................................

It was the next day at school and Nathaniel was in the back and Jon sat down next to him. He was drawing again but it was someone different this time. It was Superboy and Ladybug fist bumping.

“Cool drawing, you should start a comic book,” Jon said smiling at Nathaniel and Adrien eyed Jon from the front of the room lovesick. Good thing Valentine’s Day was right around the corner.

.................................

Wifi and I talked about that for around twenty minutes trying to put certain character in certain places. Hope it paid off. I think I’m about done writing these for today but I’ll be posting three or four more tomorrow.

Peace out ya’ll

@mochegato @loveswifi @ash-amg @wannajointhecrabcult

[patchwork-panda]

If A Moment Is All We Are (Ch.1)

This is the Dazai x OC/”reader” with bits of Kunikida x OC/”reader” fic I created.

I’m just gonna post the entire text of first chapter below the cut bc even tho it’s at zero hits, I still feel there’s people out there who might want to read it...

OC is based off “The Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang, the basis for the movie “Arrival” w Amy Adams.

Shout-out to @discoten for Beta-ing this first part :)

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

Pale gold. Rose red. Dusky purple.

My eyes traveled from one brightly colored glass panel to the next, finally landing upon the deep azure blue of the Virgin Mary’s veil. I kept my eyes trained on her face, trying to stay focused on the massive stained-glass windows, the beautiful art shining all around me, anything to pretend I was at this gallery under different circumstances. Shafts of colored light as bright as shattered gemstones danced across the floor in the late afternoon sun, flitting over the black-clad bodies of the two men who lay prone nearby, their silent forms looking unnaturally still against the vibrant carpet.

I swallowed uneasily, a familiar sort of nausea creeping up from the pit of my stomach as I watched the dark pool of liquid around them grow wider and wider, the smell of iron heavy in the air...

Squeezing my eyes shut momentarily, I wrenched my attention away from them, trying to go back to staring at the windows but found myself looking once again into a pair of steel-gray eyes. There, at the entrance of the gallery, standing so still he may was well be a statue himself, was the young man who’d slain the two security guards lying on the floor nearby. With his pale face, stark-white cravat, and torn black overcoat, he reminded me of a vampire, or maybe even a god of death—his very image called to mind a painting of the Grim Reaper I’d passed on my way into this room. If only I had heeded the warning...

If I had, then maybe I wouldn’t be staring into a pair of piercing red eyes right now—the eyes of a shadowy monster attached to the back of this man’s cloak. As if sensing my thoughts, the demonic creature bared its dagger-like fangs and growled, its bloody, gaping maw stretching wide.

I kept my hands in the air. My cold, sweaty palms trembled on either side of my face as I returned my attention to the stained-glass windows around me. I’d had my hands in the air for so long that my arms were getting tired but I couldn’t drop them—I didn’t want to think about what would happen next if I did. Then the headlines tomorrow would read: “Attack at the South Pier Art Gallery. Three dead: two curators and one visitor.” In perhaps a day or two, they’d identify my corpse as “Kusunoki Kyou, aged twenty, a college drop-out and local shut-in.” They wouldn’t be able to get a hold of my parents; they were overseas and I hadn’t seen the rest of my family in so long, I wasn’t even sure if they were still in Chiba any more. Maybe the reporters would interview one or two of my former classmates... But would they even be able to find anybody who still wanted to talk about me after I shut myself away so abruptly?

“Hey, how have you been? Akutagawa-kun?” the man behind me called out brightly, the lilting tenor of his voice jarring, given our current situation.

I kind of figured he was crazy from the moment we met, but not this crazy.

What kind of man tries to play catch up with a friend (acquaintance? I honestly had no idea how they knew each other) while holding a gun to somebody’s head—my head? Even though I couldn’t turn around to see his face, I could picture his cheerful smile, the twinkle in his intelligent brown eyes, the layers of bandages wrapped around his neck. I could practically hear the gears in his head turning behind me as he watched Akutagawa and calculated his next move, the tone of his voice giving absolutely nothing away.

There was a tiny click—the sound of the safety being shut off—and I grimaced as I felt the metallic chill of the handgun’s muzzle pressing more firmly against the back of my head. Akutagawa immediately shot a dirty glance over my head at the person holding me hostage. He spat out a single name:

“Dazai-san.”

I went back to staring at the windows.

I really shouldn’t have left my apartment this morning.

***

Ramen.

Instant ramen was the reason I decided to venture out of my glorified broom closet for the first time in probably weeks. Had I known that the craving for convenience store food would lead to my being shot to death in six hours’ time, I would’ve ignored the growling of my stomach and taken my chances with starving at home instead.

Maybe.

I’d stayed up far too late the night before binge-watching the latest season of a new anime I’d picked up and my best guess for when I’d finally fallen asleep at my computer was probably around three in the morning. When I finally woke up (sometime around noon), I had Pocky crumbs in my hair, my pajamas were sticking unpleasantly to my skin and my stomach was grumbling from the lack of real food in who knows how long. Unfortunately, my pantry was empty, so I did what any normal person in my situation would do: put off going outside for another couple hours by picking another anime to watch. I only realized I really needed to get going when I finally reached into my giant bag of snacks and found it empty.

Dread building in the pit of my stomach at the mere thought of going outside, I threw off the pink bunny pajamas that I hadn’t changed out of in a while and tossed them on the growing pile of clothes on the floor. I hadn’t done the laundry in weeks and it was anyone’s guess which pile was “clean” and which was “dirty” (I’d lost track of which was which days ago). However, I didn’t have a real need to distinguish between the two until today... I stepped into the bathroom, walking right past the tiny cracked mirror above the sink without really looking into it and pulled the shower curtain closed. I knew what I would see: a greasy, dead-eyed otaku version of the creepy girl from The Ring, with long black hair and reddish-brown eyes, only instead of a haunted child, I’d see an adult who failed to get her life together after just two years of moving out of her relatives’ house.

Half an hour later, I’d dressed myself in an old pair of jeans and a large sweatshirt emblazoned with the logo of a magical girl anime and was desperately fishing around in my kitchen drawer for the thing I needed most: a pair of gloves. I hadn’t needed to go outside in so long that I’d forgotten to stock up on nitrile gloves and it was with an enormous amount of relief that I finally retrieved an old pair at the bottom of the drawer.

I was too tired and hungry to notice the small hole in one of the gloves when I pulled them on, nor did I notice when I put on my face mask and tied up my hair. Honestly, I was just lucky the torn one didn’t rip completely away from my hand when I was putting on my shoes but maybe it would’ve been better if it did. Maybe then I wouldn’t have ended up at the art gallery...

But I wasn’t thinking about my gloves when I prepared for my short trip; I was thinking about food. After all, it was supposed to be a quick trip, just a short walk through the hallway and down the street to the nearest convenience store, then back. It honestly might not have been so bad if everything that happened after hadn’t gone so horribly wrong.

The first thing that went wrong happened the moment I stepped out of the building. Blinded by the sudden appearance of sunlight, I smacked right into an old lady walking in front of my building and immediately fell on my butt.

“Oh my, Kyou-chan!”

I groaned as I slowly got back to my feet.

“Is that you, Kyou-chan? Nobody’s seen you in weeks; it’s been so quiet on your end of the floor that we thought maybe you moved out!”

“No, I’m still here, Yamazaki-san,” I replied, recognizing the woman’s face before her voice.

Mrs. Yamazaki lived on the same floor as me and was kind of a busybody, but a caring one. The evening I’d first moved into the building, she’d knocked on my door around dinner time and asked if I knew how to play Mah-Jong. One of her friends had canceled on their group last minute and they’d needed a fourth. I’d declined as politely as I could but was still somehow dragged out of my room by the boisterous old woman and forcibly socialized over a cup of hot genmai-cha. I’d meant to return the favor by dropping by with some kind of snack in hand but never got around to it.

I could feel the guilt curling in the pit of my stomach as I took in her tiny form, her smiling face but all I could do was smile weakly as she remarked on how malnourished I looked and how long my hair had grown since she’d last seen me. Then she spotted the tote bag in my hand.

“Kyou-chan! Are you going shopping?”

“Not really, just getting some ramen at the convenience store.”

Mrs. Yamazaki’s eyes widened.

“Is that all you’ve been eating these days?” she asked, sounding concerned.

“N-no. I’ve had...”

I thought back to my box of strawberry Pocky.

“...Other things.”

She frowned.

“That won’t do,” she declared.

Without waiting for me to respond, she grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the nearest crosswalk.

“Yamazaki-san!” I tried to wrench my arm out of her grip but she was surprisingly strong for her age. Or maybe—I cringed—maybe I’d just become extremely weak after months of being a shut-in and not getting any proper exercise. Drawing commissions hardly worked the arms.

“This isn’t the way to the convenience store! Yamazaki-san!!”

Before long, we were inside an actual grocery, Mrs. Yamazaki chatting away merrily as she pulled vegetables off the shelves and tucked them away into her own basket (I’d run into her just as she was about to go anyway). Occasionally, she’d grab something green and leafy and stick it into the basket she’d forced into my hands, and she kept doing it until she’d buried the thick layer of ramen and junk food that lay at the bottom of the bag. When she was satisfied with the composition of my groceries, she nodded approvingly and hurried me towards the cash registers.

“There now,” she laughed once we were outside and I was carrying a very heavy bag of things I hadn’t actually intended to buy. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

She stepped off the sidewalk and two things happened very quickly: one, a truck ran a red light, barreling towards her as she attempted to cross the street, and two, as I dropped my groceries and rushed forward to save her, my right glove caught on something sticking out of my bag and finally ripped.

“Yamazaki-san!”

I reached out—my fingers stretched towards her.

“Look out!!”

Several onlookers screamed as I seized Mrs. Yamazaki by the back of her jacket and yanked her back. We fell to the ground, crashing down onto the sidewalk just as the truck sped through the intersection, honking madly as it flew by. Somebody behind us was yelling for the cops, several people had taken out their cell phones and as one of the grocery store employees rushed over to help us up, I felt an odd stinging sensation in my right hand.

I looked down and saw that my right glove had been completely shredded. Though I still had coverage on most of my fingers, much of the pale blue nitrile was hanging off my right hand in thin, ragged tatters and there were several long scratches on the palm of my hand from where I’d scraped it against the sidewalk when I fell.

The store employee, a stout, middle-aged man with bulky arms, helped a very shaken Mrs. Yamazaki to her feet, and though I could feel her trembling as she clung to me, I tried to shift my posture as she leaned on me. I couldn’t let her touch any part of my bare hand.

“Are you alright, ma’am?” the man from the store asked.

“Y-yes, I’m fine,” Mrs. Yamazaki answered, her voice quavering as she looked up at the man and then at me.

Tears sprang to her eyes and before I could stop her, she got down on her knees and bowed deeply, touching her forehead to the ground in gratitude.

“Y-Yamazaki-san?”

“Thank you!” she whispered, her voice cracking. “You saved my life, Kyou-chan!”

“Yamazaki-san, please,” I dropped to my knees as well and tried to help her up. “You don’t need to do that. Please, get up.”

As the store employee and I raised Mrs. Yamazaki to her feet, she chuckled, her eyes wide with wonder as she looked at me.

“And to think, if I hadn’t met you on your way out this morning, I might be...”

She shook her head slowly and I exchanged a worried glance with the man who’d come to help.

“I don’t know where I would be if you weren’t here, Kyou-chan,” Mrs. Yamazaki breathed. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you.”

Though she seemed to be completely fine, with no broken bones or serious injuries, she continued to cling to me, and I felt her grip on my arm tighten as the employee informed her the police were on their way and we may want to stay to give a statement. Panic slowly rose in my chest as I felt my uncovered wrist coming out of my sleeve but as I carefully began to extricate myself from Mrs. Yamazaki’s grip, she suddenly turned to me and looked me up and down. She gasped.

“Oh, Kyou-chan!”

Her eyes had fallen upon my scratched palm.

“You’re bleeding!”

I yanked my hand away.

“I’m fine, ma’am.”

“Let me see it,” she demanded, grabbing my wrist. “I insist.”

As the store employee ran inside to get some band-aids, Mrs. Yamazaki gently picked up the edges of the ripped nitrile, pulling it away from my bloody, scratched-up palm, oblivious to my attempts to get away. As the glove gradually peeled away from my hand, I felt the warmth of her wrinkled skin brush against my fingers.

And then it happened.

The sound of canned laughter echoes throughout the room. Flickering green and white light casts odd shadows upon the walls. The cat-shaped clock above the television reads half past eleven in the middle of the night but there is another sound that is audible over the muffled noises from the TV. It beats in time with the clock and it sounds like something dripping, something liquid and warm.

Tick.

Tick.

T i ck.

The clock cat’s eyes shine with unnatural green light— light reflected from the television screen. They are blank , open, and staring, just like the eyes of the woman draped oddly over the side of the television set, her eyes wide with fear and shock.

Mrs. Yamazaki clutches at her chest. Blood dribbles thickly from between her fingers, her breath comes in wheezes and gurgled gasps as she slumps further and further down the side of her TV set. She leaves a bloody hand print on the side panel and falls to the ground.

Someone is laughing.

I am laughing.

The sound is deep, unfamiliar. There is a large, bloody kitchen knife held fast in my fingers, which are thick and hairy. I move my arm to check the wound Mrs. Yamazaki had inflicted on me and I see the vivid tattoo of a monstrous green snake, its fangs sinking deeply into a cracked human skull.

The television returns to its regularly scheduled programming. A time stamp appears in the upper right hand corner...

I came to, to the sound of somebody calling my name and immediately let out a sharp hiss of pain. While I was out, I had dropped to my knees, scuffing my jeans, and I could feel the thin skin over my kneecaps bruising horribly against the concrete sidewalk. Thankfully, that was all but my hands were shaking and I had a massive headache. Looking alarmed, Mrs. Yamazaki, not a single knife wound visible on her body, held my hand in both of hers with a troubled expression on her face. She had been the one calling me.

“Oh my goodness! Are you alright, Kyou-chan? You’re as white as a sheet.”

I immediately ripped my hand away and stuffed it into my pocket, just as the store employee returned with bandages. As he stuck out his hand to give me the bandages, I took a step back, shrinking away from the two of them.

“I’m fine.”

I stuffed my hand deeper into my pocket, ignoring the stickiness of the drying blood.

“Are you sure?” Mrs. Yamazaki asked, worry clouding her voice.

“I SAID I’M FINE!!”

That came out way louder than I’d meant it to. The people around me looked startled. I could hear the whispers. My Ability, “The Story of Your Life,” the curse of seeing visions of the future of those I touched, had manifested at the worst possible moment. I picked my bag off the sidewalk and ran.

[planetbass]

toons?? Toons?????? Pls tell me about ur toons

heads up,, this boutta be long as fuck!

well,,, if you insist. first of all yes it is a kin thing and no i shan’t elaborate (unless you specifically want me to, then i shall).

so! i have 3. first up… mayhem mania!

mania is a toon that loves mischief and causing problems on purpose. just pure chaotic bastard. but they are very valid and have a big heart which they use to love their friends/found family so goddam much. until some shit happens later on, for a loooong time they don’t realize that like. they forgot an entire portion of their life. to their knowledge, they n the bros have existed for as long as they can remember. but actually ! there’s like. at Least a couple years of their life in toontown prior to that that they forgot about. basically they were pulled through a tv (by swing), dropped into toontown, and forgot their entire life prior to toonification and couldn’t properly retain memories, so they ended up forgetting a lot of their life without realizing it. whoopsie! they end up remembering, tho, after some series of events.

can’t forget the emotional angst, tho! their entire self worth relies on the approval/acceptance/love of others, so on their own they have no idea how to be happy. mania be like feels unwanted all the time! mania the funny talkative jokester not allowed to be sad so will stay in house for days when sad and mute! mania be like i will invite myself into situations and then feel bad about doing so but no it will not stop me from continuing to do that bc i have a desperate need to feel included so it is just a never ending cycle ! coinciding w some events previously mentioned, they get better tho :’)

but they love gags, tend to break the fourth wall a lot, gives everyone nicknames (ex. shortstop, buzzer, pinball, etc), and loves to be as irritating as possible. anvils are their favorite, and their trademark. arson’s also quite fun. think… spencer shay energy. 

well, that’s enough of that. now onto heartie! this one requires a lot of lore for context, so it’s gonna be long.

heartie is an artie. artie stands for uh *goes to look* “artificial replaceable toon-adjacent intelligent entity.” basically “artificial” toons that’re made for specific tasks and filler pieces (testing (possibly life threatening) gags, musical performances, janitor, selling stuff at disney kiosks, personal butler, etc) that have roles based on a poker chip in their neck! (kind of like a computer chip). they are all numbered and referred to only by “artie” or their numbers, unless given a nickname by their owner. they all have the same general appearance, but are slightly different depending on their roles and can be customized for specific look if wanted. arties are made in factories - and that’s where my heartie comes in! heartie is ARTIE#010, the Head Artie of the main artie factory. he runs the place! his nickname is originally hartie, bc h.artie (for head artie). he’s a little bigger than regular arties (who are in general quite small) bc 1. he’s Head Artie, and 2. he’s an earlier model, which are bigger in general. 

arties generally don’t have a lot of freedom. depending on who they’re ‘owned’ by, they have varying levels. heartie didn’t belong to any particular person, more that he belonged To The State. or the company itself, that is. so he had a lot of freedom - when the factory closed, he had his own house that he went home to (v unusual!). however, arties were starting to defect - as you. imagine they would eventually being what they are. this kind of Freaked Out the powerful toons, so what they did was limit them more! so arties couldn’t leave their required workspace. so heartie was stuck in the factory. eventually, when arties were still defecting en masse, they kicked heartie out. can’t trust one of ‘em to be making ‘em, can ya? since he didn’t actually do anything wrong they didn’t recycle him (which is a Whole Other Can Of Worms), but just. fired him? they didn’t really care what he did as long as he wasn’t in charge of the factory. so heartie was left without a purpose/job. eventually he became acquainted with other defected/abandoned arties and became the artie/toon repairman! and his name was changed to Heartie bc he was no longer head artie. someone also gifted him a heart patch that he put over the old company logo on his overalls. 

*exhale* OKAY. so for his ACTUAL PERSONALITY LMAO. he’s a very caring and lovely guy. he knows a lot about arties and is a great handyman! he’s friendly n charismatic but also just like A Normal Guy. he also sounds like fix it felix but with less of a southern twang. after being forcibly defected he becomes more impulsive/off the rails, but not in a bad way. just in a ‘no one can tell me what not to do anymore’ type of thing.

mkay. Finally we get to dawn. if the artie thing wasnt weird enough for ya, well, now we’re gonna talk about Gods. 

basically for some reason toontown has Gods. dawn is one of em, some sort of goddess of the sky. she has a light pink, rose-gold hair, long and wavy. she has freckles of stars across her face. and!! wings!! big white wings. i don’t have a drawing of her yet unfortunately. i tried to yesterday but was about to lose my mind bc it was hard lkdjfjd

i don’t really know yet what it was she Did (i’m thinking of like. similar to the role of Victory/Nike?) but i know for sure that she was Gay. her parter is iris, god of the rainbow. iris created the concepts for the toonbros and most of the toons i think, and also eventually gave color to toontown! 

but basically a. whole slew of things happened and dawn ended up sacrificing herself to save/heal iris, who was basically the god equivalent of bedridden and dying. another god (pinny, who took care of the garden, where each flower represented a soul in toontown and all the alternate universes), took what was Left of dawn after healing iris and put her into a flower and planted it. dawn was reincarnated as a mortal in toontown! her name is summer and i don’t remember much of what happens with her. but eventually iris found her and reminded her of everything, and iris gave up being a god to live as a mortal with summer/dawn. they get married and live out a wonderful gay life as toons.

i made that complicated as shit!!! so if u have any specific questions…………. feel free to ask jdfljdkf tho! probably send em to @mayhem-mania!! that’s m toon blog

[jet-bluee]

Sharing this one before disappearing for a while...again. 

I don’t know if someone is worried about me while I was inactive, but I guess I have some explaining to do. Just in case. 

This last couple of months have been a train wreck.

*At the end of June, someone just broke into my house to steal while we were inside at night (nobody got hurt and nothing important was stolen so I consider it a victory, it’s actually a really fun story).

*Buuuuut my phone was one of the things that got stolen, and since college is more important than that I haven´t been able to buy a new one. All my savings went to books and school things. I can’t check all my social accounts as much as I want, just Facebook because I need that to talk with my classmates. 

*My vision problem got worst. Like, the migraines are now very frequent, I lose vision for a worrying amount of time, and it's a pain in the butt to have to deal with it until it passes. I have already gone to the doctor, but since there is a very large waiting list, my day for medical exams is until October 14 (yikes); and that is counting that this one is a vision exam, this year I had at least 3 blood exams.  

*Thanks to this I can’t spend a lot of time on the family computer.

*On top of that, I got sick lol. Nothing bad, just strong flu, but with my already weak health this is really irritating. 

*College started and this semester is giving me a hard time. It has only been three weeks and this is a nightmare, it’s a good thing that I like my career so much hahaha

*My family is having economic problems, there is that. 

*I wanted to enter a writing contest from my college, the prize was a little bit of money, but with everything happening, I just couldn’t. Plus, I haven’t been able to finish my Lansei one-shot and with my eyes problem, I can’t draw as much as I want. It’s stressing me. 

Good things have happened tho, and my friends and family are ok and helping each other so I’m good for now. I just hope everything gets better in the long run, I’m sure it will. I just need to be a little patient <3 <3 

Oh! And I hope that everyone is fine! Thanks for reading all of that, it makes me happy. 

As soon as I can get a cellphone (or a better camera, because this one is awful) I will take a better photo of this drawing!! 

Take care of your self, guys!! <3 <3 

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

glasses

Really quick and messy Fae AU ficlet with Phoenix and Ema, written in about an hour and a half, trying to get myself back into the swing of the AU.

On the sixteenth of April, a box arrives at the Wright & Co. Law Offices.

Phoenix is suspicious of it, because Phoenix is suspicious of most things. It makes life in Los Angeles easier to trust nothing and no one, a conclusion Phoenix came to the hard way and has remained true to since. He examines the box on the doorstep without touching it; seeing no enchantments or curses and a European return address, he gingerly carries it inside and sets it on the coffee table.

(He would be much more suspicious if it came from anywhere in the LA area, because this is the hotbed and haven of the Court, and Phoenix inextricably tied to its royal family, Maya with her rows of sharks’ teeth and Pearl’s opalescent shiny skin, Iris insubstantial like ash and Mia and Dahlia who Phoenix does not know what they looked like beneath glamour. There’s a second Court, Maya says, one that her family once split from, somewhere in the Himalayas, but she doesn’t know more about it or worry more about it than that, so Phoenix filed the information away in the back of his mind to remember if he ever meets someone or receives something strange from that part of Asia. But Europe does not fall in the area of his suspicious -- Europe was home to Miles Edgeworth and Franziska von Karma, the two most solidly grounded people in Phoenix’s life, the two who look the same no matter what set of eyes he looks at them through.)

He cuts open the box and finds on top a letter, and beneath that, four Swiss chocolate bars that do not necessitate this box that is half again their length and deeper than them all stacked. The letter is written on lined paper torn from a notebook, the curly torn edge still attached.

Mr. Wright, it reads, and he almost recognizes the handwriting, a messy, loopy, child’s scrawl, and a quick run-down of his tiny circle of acquaintances and who among them are based in Europe lands him on the identity of the sender.

I lost the password for and got locked out of the email that I gave you back when, and I’d lost yours, so I had to snail mail but thought maybe it’s better for me to give you a box to start.

Phoenix sits down on the couch. There’s a few pages folded together.

Anyway I was home for vacation/as a translator for one of my professors - I get a scholarship for it! Sorry I didn’t get to see you. Didn’t have time, but I got to investigate a bit with Mr. Edgeworth. He seems to be doing good. I don’t know how much you talk. I helped him and his assistant on a couple cases and saw Detective Gumshoe too. It’s really helped my resolve to be a forensics investigator. (Sorry that I’ll be going up against you someday, but I’ve got to be on the prosecution’s side. I expect you to defend on all the cases I work on! It can be like a reunion.) Talking w Mr. Edgeworth’s assistant got me thinking, because she

Wait, his assistant? He has an assistant? It must be a new development -- in the past two months, since Phoenix last saw him. Ema can’t mean Franziska -- there’s no way Franziska would ever let a misconception like that take shape.

(Phoenix hasn’t spoken to Edgeworth since February. It’s probably time to reach back out.)

because she was talking about difficulties of what if there’s magic in the case that needs to be investigated. So I got an idea when we were talking about Luminol, and I was thinking about you and your magatama.

Phoenix does not like where this is going.

If it’s not too much trouble, can you get two magatama and mail them to me? I looked at mail rules and stuff and there’s no regulations about sending magical objects in the mail, I couldn’t find. You told me they weren’t particularly hard to make and the price shouldn’t be too steep, but you’re a lawyer and good with deals and contracts and I’m not so much. I didn’t think I should risk contacting anyone myself. I didn’t think you’d be happy about that. I need these to further the cause of science. You’ll be a great help. I can site cite you as my research assistant if I publish any papers on it. (The chocolate is not a bribe. I thought you might like it.) Sincerely, Ema Skye PS I have a new email

In spite of it, Phoenix laughs. “Oh, Ema,” he sighs, shaking his head, and then he glances quickly behind himself, because he feels like something or someone is at his shoulder. The office is empty, because of course it is, but he knows Mia would be interested, and definitely once she heard Ema’s name. 

He does admire Ema’s tenacity, and her enthusiasm, and that she’s at least mindful enough to know that she shouldn’t go out-of-the-blue trying to summon one of the fae to get a stash of magatama. (And that apparently part of her litmus is whether Phoenix would be disappointed in her.)

Taking the last page of the letter with him, he goes over to Mia’s desk and boots up the computer. It’s slow, but he has no inclination to get a new one. He’ll use it until it explodes. His money can be better put to other things, like groceries. He doesn’t use it enough to make a new one a worthwhile investment.

He pulls up a new email window and plugs in Ema’s address.

Ema, What exactly do you want two magatama for? I’m not going to consider anything without knowing what your plan is and advising you on whether it’s dangerous. -Phoenix

He waters Charley and picks a few pens up off the floor -- he doesn’t remember dropping them and not picking them back up and wonders if Maya appears in the night to scatter things -- and when he gets back to the desk he already has a response.

Mr. Wright. I think I have an ingenius solution for most investigators not having the sight. I’m going to mount hte magatama on a glasses frame for hands free investigating. I also want to see if I can use sandpaper/shop tools to cut open the hole in the center so it’s easier to see thru. I want to know if the exact shape of the magatama is important for its magical prowess and if it loses its power if parts of it are cut off. I think four might actually be a better number for the first batch. It gives me room to mess up. Thanks, Ema

Phoenix rubs his eyes and feels a headache approaching.

If you were going to try modifying it I wouldn’t recommend using anything metal, even if it’s not iron. Sandpaper would take longer but less risk of a bad reaction. But also, no.

It’s a really interesting question, actually, and Phoenix suddenly, badly, wants to know the answer, but he can’t condone the risk. Ema might draw attention to herself with the magatama, by altering them, or worse, attention from someone that wasn’t Maya or Pearl (because they are the only ones Phoenix would ask for a magatama) by her closer proximity to the Himalayas than Kurain. Or worse, she might succeed in making the glasses, wear them, and See things she shouldn’t and acquire bad attention that way. It’s rude to stare at the fae through a magatama -- the one rule for trying is don’t get caught which is difficult when it’s such an obvious and blatant motion -- and he fears that while there are no rules for a subtle magatama, one that doesn’t look it, the result might be even worse. Not only would she be staring, but Ema would also be trying to hide it, to get away with something she shouldn’t.

(It’s just scientific curiosity, he knows, nothing she means to be harmful, but They might not see it that way.)

Please, Mr Wright, it’s science! It’s important! Don’t you want to know? I’ll just take one to start with. It could really help our justice system and make sure that even magic isn’t above the law and isn’t getting away with crime.

He puts his head in his hands. God, Ema’s probably eighteen, now, isn’t she? She’s probably too old for him to petition to legally adopt her and bring her back to LA to keep an eye on her. Her extended family probably wouldn’t stand for it, anyway. He wonders what Lana would think.

I think it’s a clever idea, but too risky for you. I don’t want to see you getting hurt or locked in a bad deal or ending up like me. Promise me you won’t try and get any magatama yourself.

Mia likes to bind promises made in this office, make them stay true, and Phoenix wonders if that will work when one of them isn’t here, when Ema is on another continent, when Phoenix asks for the promise in electronic words. This isn’t honest of him, to try and lock her with magic into a promise, and for your own good is a slippery slope where naught but ash and bones lie at the bottom.

But Phoenix also spent a year living with my fault a mantra beating in his head, telling him that chosen death was my fault, and he was the one to introduce Ema to magic, to magatamas, to Sighted eyes, and if in investigating that she gets in over her head —

My fault.

He reads over his email again, after sending it, after he can’t take back the words, and it surprised him how much of his heart he laid out. I don’t want to see you ending up like me. He’s thought that, at Ema and Edgeworth and Franziska, but never said it. It’s easier for that sentiment to escape through his fingers than from his lips.

(He should try emailing Edgeworth but is afraid of what he might find himself able to say.)

Okay, okay, geez. You’re really serious on this. I like my soul where it is, tho, you don’t need to worry about that. I’m not gonna give it up for a science experiment but once I’m home and a real forensic scientist I’m coming to your office and hitting you up for this experiment because I still think it’s really important even if you’re gonna be an old fuddy about it.

No one’s ever accused him of being old before, though admittedly he thinks that being old is a blessing he won’t actually ever be afforded.

Good, good. So how’s school going? What were the cases you investigated with Edgeworth about? I didn’t know he had an assistant.

She probably knows this is a clumsy redirect, something to distract her, and she doesn’t respond until the next day — he thinks she’s mad at her until she sends back a novel-length response detailing the specifics of the crime scenes, evidence discovered, culprits, and methods.

In the next few days it’s suddenly much, much harder to keep a normal conversation going, to avail himself of anything but puzzling out the indistinct pieces of the Gramarye case that has left him unmoored and adrift, but the sporadic times he does manage to keep responding to Ema, he doesn’t mention it.

She probably knows the Gramarye name — everyone in LA does, the local coven like cryptids who appear when desperately needed to cut little dangerous deals. And if he mentions Gramarye she’s probably going to think magic crime and she’s going to return to the thought of the glasses —

Safer to keep her separate from that. Safer to keep everyone separate from that.

He only learns from Apollo and Trucy that she’s returned to the States, is working down at the precinct and on crime scenes now.

She doesn’t appear on his doorstep to bug him for a magatama.

[zicosmullet]

Bathing with Taeil

- Part 4/7 of my Bathing with Block B Imagines.

- Warnings: NSFW implications.

- Notes: Sorry for the delay in posting something new!! My computer has been acting wonky so it has been difficult for me to type. I hope this is enjoyable tho!!

It starts because you force him to take a bath.

He comes back from the gym all gross and sweaty AND HE KNOWS IT yet he STILL sneaks up behind you to give you a surprise hug that's extremely tight.

And you’re just like “asDFGHJKAAGHDS” because he scares you at first but then you recognize it’s him after a moment and relax.

But then you’re like “Oh hey babe, how was the- eWWWW YOU’RE ALL GROSS AND SWEATY!! LEMME GO!!”

And you try to weasel your way out of his grip but he is too STRONG.

So he’s like “Aww come on I’m not that sweaty.”

“YES you are, you’re literally soaking my shirt. I can FEEL the sweat seeping through!!”

“I can’t help that I couldn’t resist hugging you as soon as I got home, I just had to show you my workout progress~”

,,,And yeAH his arms do feel GOOD around you like that,,,bUT IT’S STILL GROSS so you just say “okay, but show me after. Here, follow me.”

And he looks confused but he lets you lead him into the bathroom where you start prepping a bath for him.

Then he gets even more confused and kinda pouty like “Wouldn't a shower be faster?”

But you’re like “No, trust me you need to soak.”

So he obliges and gets in the tub and you go over to the mirror to look at the stains/places where his sweat got on your shirt.

And it’s not that big of a deal but you probably should change your shirt.

And as you're looking at yourself in the mirror, Taeil is kinda dangling his arms over the edge of the tub (you have a tub that's a bit more on the tall side) and watching you instead of bothering to wash himself.

You take off your shirt, throw it to the floor, and are about to walk out of the room to get a new one when Taeil says something like “Wahh, wait!! Don’t goooo.”

And you're like “But I need to get a shirt.”

“No you don't.”

“??????????”

He kinda stretches his arms out to you and what tHE HECK IT’S REALLY CUTE.

So you shuffle your way back over to him a little confused and he grabs at the bottom half of your clothes, since your shirt is already off, and tries to pull that off too so you’re like “hEY??”

But Taeil doesn’t say anything, he just gives you another pouty look and now that you’re closer to him you can see how sleepy he looks and when he gets sleepy he gets nEEDY and a little childish.

Without having to say anything, you know exactly what he wants.

So you sigh and pat his head a bit before reaching down to remove his glasses because apparently he forgot to take them off earlier which is surprising because they seemed a little fogged up.

After putting them on the counter, you finish undressing and then join him in the tub.

And he flashes a small victory smile since he got you to do what he wanted.

You just roll your eyes like “You’re so childish.”

And this makes him laugh, showing his gummy smile as he draws you a bit closer to him.

You're both just sitting cross legged in the middle of the tub, but he wanted you to be closer so he could show off his progress at the gym.

So you feel his arm muscles as he flexes and tbh he was already buff so any change is difficult to pick up on, but it still feels nice,,,,

Not that you haven't felt his muscle before, but he just wanted this excuse for extra skinship.

There's something even nicer about feeling his arm muscles when they're all slippery and glistening like this,,,,

And also,,,his tattoos,,,

You always thought his tattoos were sexy, but seeing them almost shimmer from the wetness makes them look even hotter.

Eventually, you end up leaning back on one end of the tub with Taeil basically laying on top of you. Instead of doing the typical thing where one person sits in front of the other between their legs, he faces you and rests on your chest. It's a little annoying because he's heavy and he’s crushing your chest a bit, but it's also a comforting weight.

You have a habit of patting his hair but that's okay because he LOVES it, so you rest in this position doing that for a while.

You also lose yourself for a second while looking him over.

Your eyes trace the outlines of his tattoos that your fingers have followed many times as well. This makes you feel a little giddy because he just has this gorgeous artwork all over his body, but you're one of the only people who get the pleasure of looking at it all. Most of the time he wears long clothes to cover them up in public, so seeing them all before you like this feels so special and intimate.

And you want to say something but as you're about to you notice that Taeil seems to have drifted off to sleep.

Which is cuTE but you're also like “Hey, don't fall asleep! You still need to wash up.”

And he just whines a bit without even opening his eyes like “hmmmm, do it for meeeeeeee?”

!?!?!?!?!?

WHY is he like this???? It's too cute and it’s making your heart race AND HE CAN PROBABLY FEEL IT since ya know, he's lying right there on your chest like that. So he KNOWS what he's doing and you can't tell if he's actually sleepy or just being lazy and trying to get you to do stuff for him BUT TBH you kinda like babying him because it makes you feel needed.

So you playfully pretend to be a little annoyed but you still reach for the shampoo so you can start lathering his hair with it and he smiles as soon as the soap comes in contact with his scalp.

He just has a thing for your fingers in his hair,,,,

You might have accidentally gotten too much soap so his hair is a little too sudsy. So you end up using it to twist his hair into weird shapes and spikes and stuff for your own amusement.

BUT you're EXTRA careful not to get any in his eyes.

You basically spend the rest of the bath coddling him.

At one point you end up giving him a bit of a massage to ease his sore muscles.

And it's absolutely necessary for you to help wrap him up in a towel as well afterwards.

After that first bath together, you like to try to make him take baths more frequently, especially when he comes back from the gym.

You both find out that you really like the idea of bubble baths so those happen sometimes.

Taeil is pretty spacey and baths make him sleepy so he rarely tries to initiate sex in the tub. He’d be more into shower sex than bath sex.

Baths with him are typically soft and full of cuddles.

He’s pretty playful with you on a daily basis, not obnoxiously so, but still apparent. So baths get him to simmer down a bit.  

bUT there’s always exceptions with this man,,,,

On days when you’re the tired one, he really likes to tease you.

He stares at you a lot no matter what which even just that can get you to blush sometimes.

Sometimes he uses his fingers to repeatedly draw little shapes on various places on your body while saying “It’d look really good if you got a tattoo here~” and he makes sure you’re listening by adding things like “Don’t you think so too?”

And this might seem tame at first but he just won’t stop doing it. The movement of his fingers sliding across your skin becomes tantalizing. Especially when he does it on places like your chest or inner thigh. It’s even more effective if he kisses the spot afterwards. Although, this usually only happens with the areas that aren’t underwater. Unless he purposefully decides to be annoying and tries to lift your leg out of the water or something.

Fingering is also a thing and he’s a tease about that too.

He likes to get you worked up only to abruptly stop until you’re annoyed, desperate, and practically begging. It’ll annoy you even more when he says stuff like “But I thought you were tired~?”

And you can’t always think of a witty comeback so you tend to just grab his hand and force it back down.

But it's all good, because you get back at him when you suddenly stop while jacking him off and say “Oh Taeil, I guess I shouldn’t be doing this right now since you’re too tired right~?”

And desperate Taeil is even worse than desperate you lmaoooo.

So most of the time you’ll just tease each other or pleasure each other like this, but on occasion you will go further. But taking it out of the bath and back to the bedroom is more common. ;)

[uniquecreations]

“Workplace Lover” Pt. 1

I was working for this inventory company for a few months when I was promoted to inventory manager. I was assigned to certain stores and pretty much had my team together when they decided to hire a bunch of people. The downside to having new people on my team was the pace slowed down due to me training them. No matter in what company you may work for when you get promoted there are going to be haters and people just downright salty because they didn’t get the position. Either way, I was happy but my love life sucked monkey balls, I couldn’t find a man to save my life. I take part to blame in that because of the insecurities that I dealt with at the time.

  I got up for work this particular morning feeling awful, I went out the night before, got in at around 2:30 am and had to get up at 6 am for work. (Wasn’t one of my best choices.) When I made it to the pick-up spot my team was looking defeated as well, so I knew this was going to be a long day. I went and got all the equipment together and loaded it into one of the vans to leave. The new people showed up shortly afterward and we were ready to hit the road. I had this one friend Ron (straight guy) that I always shot the shit with every day. He would always seem to make the day easy for me by doing stupid shit that just hyped up all of us.

  We made to the job site and began working, I had about 5 out of the 8 new people that no matter what I did, they just couldn’t seem to catch on to add and subtract. In the ones that I was going to definitely keep, there was this one guy named Alton, he was brown skin, had dreads, a deep voice, and a gorgeous smile. He was the most impressive, not just because he was sexy but because he actually took direction well. Once I showed him what to do, it was only a few times he came to me for something after that.

  On our lunch break, I was eating at a nearby food joint with my homie Ron when Alton and a few other people walked in. I was so engulfed in Alton’s looks and the way he walked that I was totally ignoring Ron.

  “Nigga, did you hear me?” He said throwing a fry at me.

  “No, my bad what did you say?” I said embarrassed.

  “I said that since we off tomorrow we should go to the Daquiri Café and get fucked up.”

  “I don’t know about that, I had enough to drink last night to last me the rest of the year.” I said laughing.

  “Punk ass, come on man join ya boy and live a little.” He said pleading, and after a lil back and forth I finally agreed. He was right tho, he would ask me to go out with him and his girl all the time, but I always found an excuse not to go.

  “Aye, can I join yall?” Alton said approaching us with his food on his tray.

  “Sure,” I said looking at the food on his tray. “You sure you can eat all that before it’s time to go back?”

  “Probably but if I can’t then I will just pack this shit up and take it home.” He said after sitting down, we all shared a laugh together and spent the rest of our break getting to know our new team member.

  We finally got thru the day, to say I was beyond tired was an understatement. I already sent a van full of people home and the only people left was the audit team. We made sure all the counts were accounted for as well as correct any mistakes that were made. This process could take anywhere from 30 mins to 4 hours depending on the corrections that needed to be made. Ron and Alton stayed back to help with this process and that made it easier for me because they kept me laughing.

  “So, Alton since you apart of our team now, and since we all have the same schedule…... I was thinking that you should join Jaye and me at the Daquiri Café tonight for some drinks and bitches.” Ron said.

  “I don’t know about the bitches’ part because as you and I both know yo girl will kick both of us in the dick if she finds out.” I said laughing.

  “I’m game, I wasn’t doing shit tonight anyway.” Alton said. I wasn’t too sure about this because even though Ron knew I was gay, I didn’t like to hang around new people who didn’t know about my lifestyle. That could turn out really bad or just make it awkward while working.

  “Cool, they have two we can choose from but since Jaye is technically our boss I vote he choose which one we go to,” Ron said smirking.

  “I can’t fucking stand you and I’m not your boss, I’m only your supervisor while we work in the stores, I can’t fire or hire nobody just write you up and make a recommendation for your termination that’s it.” I said laughing.

  “Stop lying nigga, I looked at your computer earlier and I saw that you got rid of some of the people that came today.”

  “Shut up, that’s private information and while in training and since I’m still the lead trainer I do get to say who stays and who goes but I had to get rid of them because they just…… I don’t know maybe someone else can help them, but I can’t anymore.”

  “So, was I on that list of people? I mean just keep it real.” Alton said with a nervous look on his face and I smirked.

  “No, you weren’t if that was the case you wouldn’t be here right now…… enough of all this bullshit talk I need yall to go look for these sections that haven’t come in yet.” I said hanging them the list of things I needed to be checked.

  After making it home I was beyond tired, all I wanted to do was lay down in my bed and sleep until the following week. That was short lived because just when the sleep was getting good my phone started ringing. I grabbed it to see it was my boos calling.

  “Hey, I need some information about the people you switched and the ones you wanna keep.” She said after I picked up the phone.

  “The ones I wanna keep had absolutely no problem catching on to the work but the other five were just horrible at taking direction. I didn’t suggest that they should be fired I just wanted them to go to Bobbi or Angie team because they work in smaller stores and they can focus more on them than I could.”

  “Ok, we can do that but just for future references…... don’t involve me in your crap, you have every right to assign whomever you want to any team if you feel like they would be an asset to that team. Oh, and you did an amazing job today, I got nothing but good reports from the district manager.”

  “Tell me something new but I will talk to you later I have some things to take care of.”

  “Ok see you on Monday.” She said hanging up the phone. I looked at the time and realized that it was almost time to go meet up with Ron and Alton down the street at the Daquiri Café. I went took a shower and pulled out some clothes, no sooner than I got dressed Ron called my phone.

  “Damn can I put some draws on before you get to rushing me out the house?” I said laughing.

  “Nigga you should have been had yo shit on……. I’m outside so bring yo ass and open the door.” He said hanging up, I threw on some socks and went to open the door before I had to kick his ass. “You never on time for nothing nigga, you were late for work this morning, and now you just now getting dressed.”

  “If you going to be bitching all night then you can beat ya feet motherfucker.” I said walking back to my room, while walking I got hit in the back with a pillow off the couch. “You better stop before I whoop yo ass and put my shit back in the right spot too.”

  I walked into my room tempted to just say fuck it and call it a night, but I made a promise and I was going to keep it. I walked out the room to find that this nigga took all my pillows off my couch and tossed them on the floor. This nigga always doing stupid shit when he come over here, like the last time he came over here he put dish soap in my fish tank which killed all my damn fish. He did buy me some more but it’s stupid shit like that that works my nerves with him. I didn’t say nothing to him, I just walked into the kitchen and filled up a pot with hot water and walked back into the living room.

  “Yo you better not throw that shit on me.” He said holding up one of the pillows.

  “You got 30 seconds to fix my couch you jackass.” I said still holding the pot, he quickly put all the pillows back on my couch and I started laughing.

  “You never play fair tho Jaye, why would you wanna throw hot ass water on me before we go out that shit foul man.” He said laughing.

  “Because you always doing stupid shit, that’s why I’ma stop you from coming over here.” I said walking to the door.

  “Whatever let’s go that nigga probably already waiting on us.”

  “Ok but you driving because I’m still tired.”

  We made our way to the Daquiri Café in no time at all because as I said earlier it was literally down the street from my house. When we walked in I spotted Alton sitting at the bar, I thought he was sexy earlier but now that I see him in regular clothes…… this nigga is drop dead gorgeous. I had no idea how I was going to get thru this evening without staring at him the whole night. We walked up to the bar where he was sitting and sat down, Alton turned his head and looked in our direction.

  “About time yall showed up, I thought yall flaked out on me.” He said laughing.

  “No, but there is something you should know about our boss here……. His ass always late to everything. I got over to his house and his ass wasn’t even dressed yet.” Ron said laughing.

  “Well unlike you two bastards I had more work to do when I got home and plus I was still tired from last night. Yall lucky I’m even here right now.” I said flagging down the bartender. We all placed our order and sat there just talking like we had been friends for ever.

  “So how long you been doing Inventory?” Alton asked me.

  “For about a year now, it wasn’t my first choice but when I was offered the job, they gave me an offer that I couldn’t refuse.” I said sipping from my cup. “Overall, it’s been good, but I don’t think I wanna make a career out of it like Doris and Linda, but it pays the bills and leave me with extra in my pocket.”

  “Cool, this is new to me I’m used to working fast food or doing lil odd jobs from temp services.”

  “You have great work ethics, unlike some people I know.” I said looking at Ron.

  “Aye fuck you nigga I’m the best person you have on your team so miss me with the bullshit or I’ma have to beat yo ass.”

  “The only thing you can beat is yo meat nigga, don’t start your bullshit.” I said and we all bust out laughing.

  “How long yall been cool? It seems like yall brothers or something.” Alton asked and the way he said ‘something’ didn’t sit right with me but I wasn’t going to think on it too much.

  “Before my promotion we worked a few jobs together, he has been a thorn in my side ever since.”

  “Yea right nigga, but Jaye is a down right cool as dude, he will do whatever he can to help anyone just as long as they trying to do shit for themselves.”

  “That’s what’s up, but let’s go get a game of pool in and get this shit crunk.”

  We played pool, got some food, had more drinks than I wanted to have, and had a damn good time just shooting the shit. The night was going good until Ron got a call from his girl and what ever they talked about had him in a sour mood for a bit.

  “What’s going on Ron?” I asked him.

  “She pissed off at me because in her words she never gets to see me until I’m horny or whenever I make time but that’s a lie because I was with her before I came to get you and she knew that we were hanging tonight.”

  “Ok well let’s cut this night short and you go fix things with your girl because I don’t have time for her kicking both our ass.”

  “Man fuck that, she will be just fine, I’m not about to keep catering to her bullshit every time she gets in one her moods.” He said ordering another round of drinks.

  “You not gone learn until that girl murder yo ass but its your shot.” I said picking up my pool cue.

  The night went on and we cut the drinks off because Alton looked drunk as hell and Ron was getting there. I had an extra room at my house, but I wasn’t to sure about letting either one of them sleep over. Ron wasn’t going to stay any way if push came to shove, he was going to call his girl to come get him and I take his car home, but Alton I knew nothing about so that was a definite no on his part.

  “If this bitch sends me one more text, I’ma go over there and throw her phone in the middle of the street.” Ron said showing me all the text messages between him and her. I scrolled up reading the messages, but I went to far up and saw some pictures they sent each other. Let’s just say I see why she so paranoid because Ron had some serious meat down there.

  “Umm…... just drop me off at the house and you go be with your girl bruh.” I said reluctantly giving him his phone back.

  “I’m not ready to go and if you don’t wanna leave right now I can bring you home and let this nigga go get his shit together.” Alton said catching me off guard.

  “Jaye don’t like people knowing where he stays so we can just do this some other time.” Ron said drinking the last of his drink.

  “Nah it’s cool bruh, you go take care of that and call me later.” I said dapping him up.

  Ron left us at the Café while he went to go make sure his girl was good, no matter what I did I couldn’t shake the image of his dick out my head. It was the prettiest dick I had seen in a very long time, I know I shouldn’t have kept thinking about it, but I couldn’t help it.

  “You ready to go.” Alton said bringing me out of my thoughts.

  “Umm yea…... but can you drive because I don’t wanna spend the rest of my night laid up in a hospital room.” I said laughing.

  “Yea I got you, I aint that messed up.” He said laughing.

  We left out and made it to my house in one piece, I thought about it and there was no way I was going to let this dude drive home drunk. I told him that he could crash on the couch and leave in the morning when he woke up. I went into my room to get him an extra cover and some shorts to sleep in, when I went back into the living room this nigga had kicked off his shoes and was laying on the couch watching tv.

  “I got you a cover and some shorts to sleep in, there is food and drinks in the fridge as well, just don’t touch my cokes.” I said placing the stuff on the couch.

  “Or you can go get comfortable as well and pour us some more drinks, I know you got liquor in here.” He said smirking, against my better judgement I went and threw on some night clothes and walked back into the living room. He had changed into the shorts I gave him, but he didn’t have a shirt on, his body was on point and I was stuck in one spot staring at him. “What you looking at nigga?” he said laughing, I hung my down in embarrassment and walked into the kitchen. I poured us some drinks and walked in the living room.

  “Umm you need a shirt to put on?” I asked after handing him his drink.

  “Nah, I don’t like sleeping in shirts I feel like I’m being suffocated.” He said laughing.

  We started drinking and watching tv for a while, I looked at the time and it was now 3 in the morning. I stood up and staggered a lil bit from the drinks I consumed. I shook off the feelings, looked at his body one last time and started to walk to my room before he stopped me.

  “If you wanna look you don’t have sneak just look.” He said smiling. I was taken back by his comment, it caught me off guard to the point where I ran right into the wall.

  “You aint all that nigga but goodnight I’m going to bed.”

  “I guess weakling.” He said laughing.

  “Unlike you, I didn’t get much rest last night or when I got off so excuse me if I’m tired, now go to bed before I punch you in the face.” I said laughing.

  “Don’t get fucked up, but I hear ya take yo tired ass to bed.” I didn’t bother saying nothing back I just went to my room and laid across my bed.

  The thoughts of Ron’s dick flashed back to my mind as well as the comment that Alton made. Maybe I was drunk and overthinking things, but it sounded like he was flirting with me. the more I thought about it the more I had to find out what he meant by that comment. I got up and walked back into the living room where he was still finishing off the last of his drink.

  “What did you mean by the comment you made a few minutes ago?” I asked him standing in the door way.

  “Man, what yo drunk ass talking about?” He said laughing.

  “About me staring at your body.”

  “Oh, I meant that I noticed you staring at me a few times but when you saw me you tried to act like you wasn’t, so I said that if you wanted to look at me then just do it.” He said still laughing.

  “Whatever, I look at what I want and who I want so what’s it to you?”

  “It’s nothing to me, but I thought you was going to bed?”

  “I am why you wanna join me?” I said and almost slapped the hell out myself for saying that shit.

  “You probably would like that wouldn’t you?” He said laughing.

  “Whatever, goodnight Alton.” I said walking back to my room.

  I turned on my tv and laid under the covers, I couldn’t believe that I actually said that stupid shit to this dude. He didn’t go off on me but still I never said nothing like that to a straight guy before so that alone made me feel dumb as hell. I closed my eyes and began to fall asleep, a few seconds afterwards I heard my door open. When I opened my eyes, Alton was walking towards me, he didn’t say anything, he just walked to my bed and climbed in. before I could ask him what the hell he was doing he pressed his lips to mine and all rationality went out the window. Was this really happening? What am I thinking right now? How would this affect us at work? All these things went thru my mind, but my body had another mind of it’s on.

©unique creations 2018

[virmillion]

Exoskeleton

the honors zoology-inspired fic that no one asked for

Warnings: OCD, heavily described food, fighting, unhappy ending, derealization, let me know if there’s any more

Words: 3850 (22000 characters tho which is 10/10)

Exoskeleton - ek’sō-skel’ə-tən - (Gr. exō, outside, + skeletos, hard) - A supporting structure secreted by ectoderm or epidermis; external, not enveloped by living tissue, as opposed to endoskeleton.

    Exoskeletons were one of the major turning points in evolution, following the development of annelid cuticles and allowing an external shell to protect the animal from harm. The Cambrian Explosion, some 550 million odd years ago, gave rise to arthropods with such a feature. Ever since, smaller advancements have been made, varying from one species to another.

    “Hey, Logan? You want some food?” Patton interjects at Logan’s door, tearing his focus away from the laptop.

    “You know as well as I do that we do not require food,” Logan replies. Nevertheless, he puts the screen to sleep, rises from his desk chair, and follows Patton to the kitchen. It really doesn’t make any sense for the sides to have a kitchen in the mind palace, yet here it was, as Roman couldn’t deny Patton any last request. Ridiculous in every sense of the word. Logan straightens his tie in the hall, watching Patton disappear around the corner. Just as ridiculous to have a kitchen in the first place as it was to think that the sides, figments of Thomas’ imagination, required any real sustenance. Of course, he’d been online before. He’d seen the jokes, about him eating books, about Patton eating candy hearts, all of that manner of intelligence. But that’s all they were, really, just jokes from people he didn’t know.

    “Okay, so I know Thomas was gonna take a vegetarian cooking class to surprise Talyn, so I thought I’d do a little structural support from the inside to get him going,” Patton says. Logan slides into his little wooden chair at the little wooden table, not looking at the little wooden smile on Virgil’s little wooden face. “Ta-da!” Patton twirls around from the stove with a flourish of his free arm, the other raising a platter of fake meat things in the air. As the tray is set in the middle of the table with the air of a famous chef in front of a king, Patton takes his seat one spot counterclockwise of Logan, across from Virgil.

    “Pat, I never even conjured any ingredients for this,” Roman says, furrowing his brow at the mountain of food in front of him.

    “I know!” Patton bounces excitedly in his seat. “I found this recipe for using vegetables and stuff that we already had from last time I made dinner, and I got to use them to make something different! Isn’t that so cool?”

    “It’s great, Pat,” Virgil concedes, stretching a sleeve-covered hand out to grab something vaguely burger-like.

    “That it is, Panic at the Dork-sco,” Roman smiles.

    “Not your best. Four out of ten,” Virgil says, tearing off a piece of his not-burger. Logan reaches a hesitant hand out for one of the nugget-things, wrinkling a disgusted nose at the crumbly texture, the bread sticking to his fingers.

    “Oh, the veggie nuggets! I had one of these when I was making them, they’re so good!” Patton gushes, popping one in his mouth. Logan steels himself, swallowing a gag reflex, and takes a hesitant bite. Disgust washes over his soul as he holds the piece under his tongue, desperate to avoid tasting it. He needs to eat it, just swallow the darn thing and move on like everyone else, but he can’t. Just moving the chunk to his molars, he feels the artificial taste squelching out through his mouth. The ghost of a wince crosses his face as he forces the thing down his throat, every impulse fighting it.

    “Tasty, right?” Patton asks cheerfully, eating two pieces at once. Logan offers a nearly imperceptible nod, trying not to look at the remain two thirds of nugget in his hand. He can still taste the last bite on his teeth, the ghost of the crumbs sticking to his gums. The next bite is supposed to go faster, be easier, but no, two thirds of a nugget at once is terrible, latching onto would-be cavities and in his throat and to his stomach, where it sits like a stone.

    “You know what? I’m not hungry,” Logan says, drawing the cloth napkin from his lap and wiping it over his lips. “I’m going back to my room.”

    “Lo, you say that every night,” Roman whines. “We know that we don’t eat food, but this is the fun part of being part of Thomas! We get to do human things!”

    “Yeah, no thanks.” Logan pushes his chair back and heads for his room, still feeling the horrible substance forcing its way through his system. He downs one of some fifty water bottles in his room, trying to wash the remainder of the food away. In his haste to calm down, he didn’t close his door on time, which is never a good thing.

    “Why doesn’t he just pretend he enjoys it?” Roman’s voice drifts down the hall, garbled through whatever non-meat thing he happens to be eating. “Pretend like he actually likes us for once, I don’t know.”

    “Roman, it’s fine. Food just isn’t his thing,” Patton responds. Logan licks his lips, feeling the residing taste there. Even a forceful wiping of his bare hands isn’t enough to get rid of it.

    “He’s just so weird sometimes. Why can’t he just be normal or something?” Roman again. No input from Virgil. Not even a word, let alone one to defend him. Logan shuts the door softly, furrowing his eyebrows. They aren’t human, their words shouldn’t hurt him. If he just rebuilds the walls around the heart he doesn’t have, he’ll be fine. Not like his feelings are real, anyway.

————–

Exoskeleton - ek’sō-skel’ə-tən - (Gr. exō, outside, + skeletos, hard) - Derived from the annelid cuticle but hardened by addition of chitin and sometimes calcium to be tough, chemically resistant, and waterproof, with proteins for flexibility and chitin for strength.

    Logan scowls at the bright screen of his laptop as he hunches over it on the couch. Just a few more paragraphs, a little more research, and he can have this project finished for Thomas before it becomes a problem. As long as no one else has to lose sleep over it, Logan doesn’t mind the rapidly forming bags of exhaustion under his eyes. Thomas is happy, and that’s all that matters. That’s the only reason the sides exist, is to help him.

    “What’re you still doing up?” Virgil asks, shifting from under a blanket on the other couch. To tell the truth, he’d been there the entire night, shivering away when Logan had come in, laptop in one hand, stacks of notebook paper and pens in the other. Rather than wake the hoodie-clad side, Logan tossed a blanket over him before sitting on the adjacent couch and getting to work. Sure, he could’ve done just as much in his room, but with the sounds of Roman living out his dreams in his sleep across the hall? Not so much.

    “Working.” Logan continues maneuvering his fingers over the trackpad with one hand, scribbling furiously on lined paper with the other.

    “On what? There’s nothing big due yet, Thomas said so himself when we were setting up the last video.” Virgil’s voice is slow as he struggles to pick it up, sleep trying to pull him back down into oblivion. Logan doesn’t let his eyes drift to the hair poking out of the blanket, or to the tired eyes illuminated by the glow of the computer screen.

    “Getting ahead. Project’s due in a few weeks, but he wants to do another three videos in that time frame, too. Need to be prepared.” Logan fights the rising yawn in his chest, determined not to show how much of a toll the work has taken on him. He isn’t real, anyway, so the physical and mental effects aren’t real, either.

    “You should’ve told us, we would’ve helped you,” Virgil mumbles. His phone screen lights up the room a little more as he thumbs his way through tumblr.

    “It’s fine. You three need sleep anyway.” Virgil’s protests die out as sleep takes him once more, his phone dropping to the carpet. Vindicated, Logan returns to his work with a vengeance. He had hoped at the beginning that a few paragraphs would be easy, but then paragraphs turned to pages, and pages turned to sleep he wouldn’t get back. He didn’t need it.

    “Logan, you need to go to bed,” Patton announces, parading into the living room an hour or so later. Logan jolts awake, his eyes dry and his vision blurry. Glasses gone, computer dead, and a pretty line scribbled through his last page of notes. Awesome. “I have your glasses and your computer charger, now go get some sleep or you don’t get them back.” Logan scowls in the general direction of Patton’s voice, trying to glean some semblance of coherence from his writing. Nothing.

    “Patton, just give me the glasses back.”

    “Not until you get rest.”

    “Patton. Now.”

    “No! I’m not going to, and you can’t make me!”

    “Hey, what’s going on here?” Roman’s voice interjects. “Logan, where are your glasses?”

    “He took them.” Logan points roughly where he thinks Patton is standing. Everything is just a blob of color.

    “Virgil took your glasses?”

    “No, Patton did. Make him give them back, please.” A minor scuffle sounds, made all the more infuriating in that Logan can’t see what’s going on, before Roman speaks again.

    “Patton, why don’t you explain why you confiscated Logan’s glasses?”

    “Because he refuses to take care of himself! I’m just trying to look out for him.”

    “There’s nothing to look out for!” Logan shoots back, letting his temper flare up. “I’m perfectly fine, and none of you seem any worse for it, so why can’t you leave it alone?” When none of the others respond, Logan huffs out a sigh, ignoring the papers that scatter as he stands. “Fine. Whatever. I don’t care.” He heads for his room, shouldering past the featureless blobs standing in his way as he goes.

    The door slams shut behind him, an echoing bang that consumes his mind, but not before he can hear the last little comment from a voice he can’t distinguish. “We’re just trying to help. Why is he being such a freak about it?” Logan sets about rebuilding the imaginary walls surrounding his imaginary heart. Each brick shatters as soon as it’s laid.

————–

Exoskeleton - ek’sō-skel’ə-tən - (Gr. exō, outside, + skeletos, hard) - A protective outer shell that can withstand more force than the human skeleton.

    “This is gonna be great!” Thomas squeals as he shuts off the camera. “This video is gonna be so awesome, I can’t wait to post it! Just gotta edit it a little and we’ll be good to go!”

    “Thomas, you need ample rest before you can set about working on this project,” Logan informs him. A collective groan rises around the room.

    “Can’t you let him do what he wants? Killjoy,” Roman mutters, sinking out to wherever it is he goes to sulk about Logan.

    “Really, Logan, you’re the last person to be ragging on Thomas about sleep,” Patton tuts, shaking his head. He sinks out, quickly followed by a silent Virgil, leaving Logan alone with a baffled Thomas.

    “What was that about?”

    “You know that big research project?”

    “Yeah, I knocked that out really fast. It was so easy!”

    “That’s because I stayed up for a long night doing the harder work beforehand, so you’d know what you were doing when the time came for you to finish it.”

    “So that’s how your work impacts mine.” Thomas nods thoughtfully. “I guess it makes sense why they were telling you to get sleep, though. That can’t be healthy for you, staying up so much.”

    “It doesn’t matter. I’m not real, anyway.” Logan takes a long breath, forcing back a yawn as Thomas looks on in concern.

    “What do you mean by that?”

    “What is this, an interrogation?” Logan pinches his nose. “You imagined us. Me, Roman, Virgil, Patton. You made us up. We aren’t real. We’re figments of your imagination that you keep around because you feel bad about your own miserable life. If you would get over yourself and your never ending parade of problems, none of us would have a reason to exist. As it stands, we only remain to groom your ego. Figure out your own life, and we’ll be gone. If our existence depends on someone else’s state of mind, then we. Are. Not. Real.” Ignoring the look of shock and hurt on Thomas’ face, Logan sinks out. The yawn on his face looks like a scream.

————–

Exoskeleton - ek’sō-skel’ə-tən - (Gr. exō, outside, + skeletos, hard) - the external skeleton that supports and protects an animal’s body, in contrast to the internal skeleton (endoskeleton) of, for example, a human.

    “You really didn’t need to hurt Thomas like that,” Roman accuses the next morning, barging in on Logan as he sips at his coffee, scrolling through his computer. “Patton’s in his room and he won’t come out, and it’s all your fault. He’s Thomas’ heart, you should know that. Logical side, remember?”

    “So you, being the creative side, should be able to think of a reason for what I said, yes?” Logan clunks his cup on the table, not flinching at the arc of stray drops that scald his hand. “Or maybe you could craft some magical world in which I do what everyone wants me to, but here I am, the only side that bothers to give any thought to my actions. Patton can stay by himself, but he knows that it’s better to be with others. It’s not my fault he’s locked himself away.”

    “For someone who’s supposed to be smart, you’re really stupid.” Roman scowls, folding his arms. “You need to consider how others feel.”

    “I’ve said it before, I will say it again. I’m not going to protect the nonexistent feelings of nonexistent people. If you would just listen to me for once, maybe you’d know that.”

    “Don’t you care that what you say hurts the rest of us?” Roman’s face crumples as Logan glares back. “Don’t you feel bad?”

    “I don’t feel anything, Creativity. So you can go tell Morality and Anxiety as much, because I do not care.” Logan slams his laptop shut, not caring about the danger to the screen, and rams his shoulder into Roman’s as he passes him.

    “Fine! Run to your room again, see if I care!” Roman drops himself into a chair, shouting at Logan’s retreating back. “Actually, you know what? I do care! Because I’m a good person who knows that other people have feelings!”

    “Is that so?” Logan asks, stopping in his tracks. A cruel smile spreads across his face as he turns his head back to sneer at Roman. “Then would you care to explain why you were so cruel to Virgil before? Or was he just not a person until it was convenient for you?” A sharp gasp is what makes Logan lose his composure, turning back toward his bedroom door. Virgil steps out of the shadows from down the hall, his face expressionless.

    “Maybe you should take some alone time.” His voice wavers between octaves, contrasting the utter lack of emotion in the rest of his face. Logan feels the imaginary walls around his imaginary heart threatening to shatter.

    “I’m sure you’d know so much about that, wouldn’t you?” Logan cocks his head to the side, considering Virgil’s still form. “Given how alone you were before Thomas decided you were worth listening to. Too bad it took getting rid of you a second time for you to stick around.” Virgil’s jaw twitches, water threatening to leak from his eyes, Roman running to his side, but Logan doesn’t see any of it, slamming his door shut behind him.

    The imaginary walls go back up, busily rebuilding themselves harder, stronger, better. Steeled against the soft sobs in the hall. The walls stand taller than before.

————–

Exoskeleton - ek’sō-skel’ə-tən - (Gr. exō, outside, + skeletos, hard) - Exoskeletons contain rigid and resistant components that fulfill a set of functional roles including protection, excretion, sensing, support, feeding and acting as a barrier against desiccation in terrestrial organisms.

    It’s been weeks. Nothing has changed, except for Logan’s habits involving the other three. Hide out in his room, sneak to the kitchen for food, and ignore any calls for help or interaction. Basically what Virgil does, but productive. Granted, his eye bags of sleeplessness are far more pronounced than the anxious side’s, and his fingers tremble when he writes, but he’s fine. He’s getting things done. He’s making himself useful, when his opinions are what put the others off from him. He’s just being realistic. He’s just telling the truth. It isn’t his fault that they can’t accept their own nonexistent mortality.

    “Hiding away from us won’t fix your problems,” Roman calls through the door. A daily occurrence at this point, and one Logan has learned to ignore. Just like always. The computer screen swims before his eyes, letters dripping into incoherent nonsense, towers of paragraphs wobbling back and forth, ready to fall off into the white oblivion of the internet. He glances at his fingers, can’t make his eyes focus, blinking too much, can’t see anything. He doesn’t remember putting his hand over there. He doesn’t remember crashing off of his chair. He doesn’t hear the shouts of concern from the hall. He doesn’t hear the replies to ignore him.

    His fingers twitch over the carpet, scratching the fibers. Can’t feel anything. Shouldn’t have expected to, anyway. Not real, can’t feel, no big deal. His mind feels like an overturned bucket in a rainstorm, pounded by a million thoughts it can’t retain. He wants to scream, but he’s not real, so why bother trying? He lets his eyes bounce across the floor, at the coffee cup on the ground. He doesn’t remember knocking it over. He doesn’t remember its burning contents pouring over his bare feet. He watches with morbid fascination as his skin roasts, turning bright pink. He feels nothing.

    “Logan, you really should come out,” Patton says with a knock. Cotton stuff itself in Logan’s mouth, preventing any words from escaping. Can’t respond. Why bother, anyway, if this interaction isn’t real? Nothing is real. He can’t feel anything, so why bother? “If you don’t give me a verbal answer, I’m going to come in.” Honey sludges through Logan’s head, mucking up the gears and blocking any sense of reason. He watches the coffee drip, drip, drip over his foot. The door clicks open.

    “Logan, are you—Lo, what happened?” Patton darts to Logan’s side, grabbing his hand. Logan doesn’t feel it. Patton pulls at his hair, looking at the rugburns on Logan’s cheek. He doesn’t feel them. “Lo, your coffee’s everywhere. Why didn’t you ask for help?” Logan can’t even muster the energy to blink. “Roman! Get in here!” The sound of trudging feet screams in Logan’s ears, the sound of an unwilling prince, ready to assist. “Get his arm, he’s not moving.” Through some form of teamwork that Logan doesn’t move his head to watch, his arms are raised and he’s dragged down the hall to the common area, where his limp body is deposited on the couch. He doesn’t feel the way his ankle twists under him, ready to snap.

    “Is he okay?” Virgil asks from the other couch, pocketing his phone.

    “A little brain dead, but what else is new?” Roman scoffs. Logan doesn’t care enough to think of a witty response. He doesn’t care at all.

    “Roman!” Patton hisses. “He needs food or water or something, I don’t know. We can’t leave him alone anymore, that’s for sure.” A whispered scream escapes Logan. No food, please God no. The others don’t hear it, busying themselves finding sustenance for someone who would rather wither away in solitude. Logan finds some kernel of energy deep down, whipping himself off the couch and onto the floor. His head smacks the edge of the coffee table on the way down, the world spiraling into dark. Better than this artificial hellscape the others think is reality. Why can’t they just listen to reason?

————–

Exoskeleton - ek’sō-skel’ə-tən - (Gr. exō, outside, + skeletos, hard) - Since exoskeletons are rigid, they present some limits to growth.

    He wakes up back on the couch, covered with a weighted blanket, glasses at an angle on his face. The other three are squeezed onto the smaller couch, watching the television. Roman is the first to notice Logan shift, nudging the other two.

    “Lo, are you okay?” Patton asks, leaping up from the couch. “We came back with food and you were on the ground and—”

    “I’m fine.” Logan waves a hand flippantly. “Not real, therefore don’t get hurt.” He rises on unsteady feet, ignoring the way his sight goes fuzzy. Patton runs to block Logan before he can get past the staircase, a hand held up to emphasize it.

    “Regardless of how imaginary you may think we are, we still care about you. We want you to be safe.” When Logan doesn’t respond, instead staring at the ground, Patton advances, arms outstretched for a hug. Wrong move, as Logan notices a split second before impact.

    “Get off me!” Logan shouts, shoving Patton away. The latter stumbles backwards, his back slamming into the guards around the stairs, the railing digging into his back as he sinks to the ground, a look of hurt in his eyes.

    “Logan, we just wanted to help. If you would just listen—”

    “I don’t want to hear it, okay? I have work to do, and you three keep interrupting it with your nonsense!”

    “Logan, I think you need to calm down.” Roman moves to kneel by Patton, a hand raised in defense.

    “Calm down? I need to calm down? That’s rich, Roman, really. I, the logical side to Thomas, as well as a non-corporeal being, need to calm down. But wait, I don’t, do I? Because I’m not real.” Logan can see the emotions racing through the three in front of him, Virgil’s terror, Patton’s disappointment, Roman’s flaring hatred.

    “Not real, huh?” Roman rises, leaving Virgil with Patton. “What we’re feeling right now isn’t real. Okay. Sure. Makes sense.”

    “Just stop it, stop it both of you. Please.” Patton wavers his focus between the two, desperate to keep the situation from escalating.

    “None of it’s real.” Logan crosses his arms, not backing down.

    “You may not think it’s real, but what you’re feeling is,” Patton insists. “Let us help. Please.”

    “Your help isn’t real, either, Morality.”

    “How about this?” Roman punches Logan square in the nose, sending him crashing to the floor. “Was that real enough for you?” Roman takes Patton’s wrist in one hand, Virgil’s in the other, and marches down the hall, leaving Logan alone to rebuild his imaginary walls by his imaginary self.

    The imaginary walls are not made of chitin or cartilage or calcium carbonate this time.

    The imaginary walls are made of steel and diamond and graphene.

    They do not break this time.

Tag List:

@sakurahayasaki @erlenmeyertrash @lemonpepperpizza @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch @milomeepit @leesacrakon @virgilmood @pantasticpanini

[spacegate]

TRUST CH 12

An Undertale Fanfiction

Chapters: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / AO3 LINK / TV TROPES Characters: Sans, Grillby, Papyrus, Royal Doggies, Gaster, Asgore, OCs Setting: Baby Blaster AU Contains: SAD CHILDREN. Mentions of child abuse. SOME REALLY MESSED UP THINGS, BODY HORROR.  Synopsis: Gaster readies for his final experiment, while everyone else in the underground is out for his dust. We are close to the end!

Machinery hummed and the sound of metal hitting metal rang out through the CORE. A recent invention for the past few decades, the CORE is a monstrously huge machine located in Hotland. By drawing in the magically saturated lava below, it is able to convert the energy into power. Before, monster-kind had to huddle in the dark and cold, with only a few candles to guide them. But now. There was light.

And it was all thanks to the Royal Scientist.

The workers inside toiled about, checking gauges and lights as they kept the machinery running smoothly. Once in a while, an ice-block from Snowdin would fall into the lava below, hissing and causing the heat and humidity within to spike. The lava below the core glowed a fierce harsh light, casting dark shadows on the catwalks above. It was a little unnerving, but people got used to it quickly.

Somewhere, a bell rang, and the grateful workers laid down their tools and headed out of the doors. Time for lunch in air conditioned rooms! Soon, the CORE was barren, with only the computer systems left behind to monitor everything.

In the quiet, a sudden rip tore it's way open above one of the catwalks. The rift shifted and rippled, before tiny bone beast fell out roughly to the floor. SMACK! 1-S shivered and twitched as it struggled to get feeling back to its limbs. It gasped for air as a slender figure stepped out of the rip. The horrible noise of the void folded in itself over and over, before the rip vanished completely.

Gaster winced, his eye lights glowing as he used his coat like a makeshift sling for his broken hands and arms. Magic hand constructs flashed blue as they meandered on to the computer and began typing. It was his plans and calculations that built this place, one of his crowning achievements. He had build several backdoor codes into this place, so in the end, it would obey it's master. Always a multitasker, another hand streaked out to the first aide station. As he worked, the construct grabbed several vials of concentrated healing magic and bringing it back to himself.

One set of hands continued typing while others spawned around the vials. One plucked the sealed caps of the tops, one vial floated to his mouth while the others began pouring over his broken bones. He winced as the magic flowed down his throat and his broken bones began to pull back together. The pain faded, but the deep cracks in his face remained.

It would most likely take more magic than this to heal the terrible damage tho himself, but for now he was grateful that he felt stronger. More aware. The pain had faded to a manageable dull ache that he could easily ignore. When he attempted to flex his bone hands he found that they could barely move at all. The bartender's vow of him never being able to use his hands again seemed to have become truth.

No matter. He won't need his actual hands anymore, not when his constructs can perform a better job. He'll worry about his broken bones later. His priorities were in order. He wasn't a stupid person, he knew they would be looking for him soon. He just needed to finish one last thing....and then they can do whatever they wanted to him.

1-S shivered, but finally was becoming warmer, and tried to silently drag itself away. Pitiful. He brought down as a constructed hand pinned 1-S down firmly to the metal catwalk. The creature still struggled, clawing the metal and hissing.

{ “Stay” } Gaster didn't even look at his creation, his focus was on the main computer. 1-S snarled as it still insisted on struggling. Biting the constructs did nothing and it couldn't wiggle away from the iron clad grasp. One thing Gaster could say, is that 1-S is quite tenacious. It was coded into it, after all. It would need such tenacity to fight humanity.

Gaster typed one last string of code, and the doors leading to the core shut down with a sharp CLANG and bolted into place. A red light began to flash and emergency lights lit up along the catwalk.  A metallic artificial voice began to rattle off from the computer.

[ Emergency Containment Level 2 Procedure Initiated. Admin Level 1 Code Accepted. Lock-down Successful. ]

The lights above flickered before dimming.

[ Emergency Auxiliary Power Engaged. CORE output 25%. ]

Gaster hummed as he drew his constructs away from the terminal. There, now nobody will bother him. He'll have the time to set up his final experiment. For the good of all. Eventually, they may be able to break in past the blast doors, but by the time they did, he would be finished. Already he could hear muffled protests and banging on the other side of the blast doors. No doubt the workers were now aware that they were locked out of the CORE. He would need to work quickly and efficiently.

1-S continued to snarl and hiss. Gaster drew up the construct to eye level to face his creation. 1-S took a chance and began to build up a hum of energy in the back of  its throat. Perhaps 1-S forgot its place while away from his care? That would be quite easy to fix. Suddenly, Gaster slammed the tiny bone beast against on of the flat panels of the CORE, knocking both the breath and magic out of it. Stunned, the creature could only lie there and pant.

{ “All this time. All this sacrifice. All this death...” } Gaster once again brought up his bruised and shaking creation to eye level. { “An artificial construct blended by human and monster traits, and this is the result?” }

1-S gave him a defiant growl in return.

{ “For King and Monster Kind.” } Gaster hissed and squeezed 1-S a little too tightly. It was always amusing when using the trigger on his creation. How it struggled to remain in control, as that very control drained away.

1-S gave one quiet, strangled gasp...and then just hung limp in the blue hands, eye sockets completely black.

{ “You had better be worth it, 1-S.” } He carried the limp pup over to one side of the core, summoning new hands to pry off some paneling and exposing the wires and machinery is in. { “This is my last chance to free everyone.  They will see, that I was right!“ }

He set 1-S down next to the machinery, where it lay obediently. Good.  He glanced down at the area around the paneling..

There was a handheld power drill and a few needle nose pliers resting near the terminal. Good. This will make things much easier. He reached into his inventory to pull out a needle, and a few vials of red glowing liquid.

Much easier indeed.

With that, Gaster got to work.

Grillby is no stranger to loss.

As far back as he could remember, there was nothing BUT loss. Summoned during the war against the humans, he had no choice but to accept it. Friends would be alive one minute, but gone the next. He had seen whole platoons wiped out in a blink in an eye. He had seen fellow monsters beg for their mothers as they lay dusting on the battlefield. He had seen it, and he had accepted it.

But this?

This he couldn't accept. He couldn't.

His flames whirled blue and teal as he roared at the space where Gaster previously stood. He had taken his son! His child! It was one thing to lose fellow soldiers...but children! It was too much! Too horrible!

(“Grillby!”) “Grillby!” The Dogi wanted to do something, perhaps restrain him, but he burned so hot they couldn't get close. The entire Canine unit was witness to the bartender's pain.

Grillby would have torn the whole bar apart if it wasn't for a small cry.

“Papyrus!” The bartender's rage snuffed out like water on a campfire and he was immediately searching. “PAPYRUS!”

“Lesser! Get a healer! Greater! Help search!” Dogamy barked out orders as his wife called the Captain. All the dogs were injured to a degree, and there was only so much healing one could get from food alone. Not only were they injured, but now a child could be possibly hurt as well.  Lesser saluted and took off on all fours, heading towards Waterfall.

Greater barked and headed to the backroom. The couch where the children had often napped was trapped under thick wooden beams from the partially collapsed room.

The crying was coming from underneath the ruined couch, muffled under the layers of fabric and wood. Grillby and Greater went right to work, heaving the beams and debris away until there was only the couch. Greater simply lifted the couch straight up in the air as Grillby pushed away the last of the crumbled charred bits of wood..

Under the couch, wrapped up in blankets, was a tiny little skeleton. Papyrus. He looked up with his eye sockets full of tears and sniffled.

Grillby immediately reined in his flames back to their gentle, campfire-like features, and quickly picked up his little child. Papyrus bawled loudly and clutched the fabric of Grillby's shirt, refusing to let go. Grillby held him close and sank down to the floor to sit. He began to rock the little skeleton gently, sh-hing him in an attempt to comfort him.

“Shh shh...it's alright Papyrus...I'm here...I'm here...” Grillby was also crying, but could barely feel it next to Papyrus's powerful wails. They were both hurting in such terrible ways.

Dogaressa put a paw on Grillby's shoulder. ( “We'll find him. We'll get him back.”)

True, he trusted the guard to find his son again, but he was worried. What state would Sans be in when they recovered him? It took such a long time to work with Sans to get him in a somewhat comfortable state. It was all going to be undone, he was sure of it. Sans would needlessly suffer again when he was just becoming a child. Grillby seethed under his flames and clutched Papyrus tighter.  

(“The underground is small, turn over a few rocks and we'll find him. Then he will pay for his crimes.”) Her hackles raised and she pinned her ears back.

“I'm coming with you.” Grillby spoke softly over Papyrus's little cries.

(“You can't! What about Papyrus? Who is g-”)

She was interrupted by shouts of protest in the distance, growing closer. Both the Dogi and Grillby turned to gaze at the large hole in the side of the bar to see an approaching figure. As the figure drew closer, they could see it was Lesser Dog, carrying a surprised Frank bridal style. The salamander monster wiggled and struggled.

“Hey! I can walk!” The doctor protested, but Lesser is a Good Dog, and carried him right through the blown out hole in the side of the restaurant. Lesser borked and set the doctor down nicely once he was carried through.

Frank was rendered to speechlessness as he took in the ruined bar. All the dogs were covered in cuts and bruises, the worst being Doggo. There was a skeleton child wailing in distress. The bartender was tired and burning lower than what he should be. Everything was......ruined!

“...what happened here?” Frank gasped as he set his bag down.

(“Gaster happened”) Dogaressa growled. (“He attacked the bar and abducted one of the children.”)

Frank frowned and began looking after the dogs, hiding pills in pieces of cheese and giving it to them to eat. His claws glowed green as he began magically stitching them up. “Judging by the crying, I can assume he took Sans.”

The dogs sagged with relief as their wounds mended and their pain faded. Hiding the pills in cheese also lifted their spirits, as the magic within boosted their strength and health. Good dogs don't stay down for long.

“That is right.” Grillby just held Papyrus close and took him over to Frank. He had to raise his voice over the skeleton's wailing.

Frank took a look at Papyrus, weaving a diagnostic spell over the child. “He's unhurt physically, but mentally I can't be sure.”

“Gaster took his brother. Those two are never separated.” Grillby couldn't imagine what this would do to this little child. Sans and Papyrus were never more than a few feet away from each other at any given time. Being separated could be akin to torture to the youths, both Sans and Papyrus. Papyrus was more dependent on Sans, but both of them would be suffering.

“That's true.” Frank took to Grillby next, looking over him for injuries. Strangely enough, there was none. Grillby did his best to try and comfort Papyrus, but nothing seemed to soothe him. The dogs were however, feeling much better, and were beginning to check over their armor and weapons. They were more than eager for round two.

“...have faith, Grillby. Evil doesn't go unpunished for long.” The salamander packed up his supplies and looked one last time over the dogs.

Grillby said nothing but continued to rock the toddler in his arms, thinking. Gaster's labs have been routed already. The royal labs were still in lock-down. Gaster had nowhere to go, why would he even take Sans if he had no refuge left? Gaster was clearly insane, but even so...it made no sense!

As if to answer his question, the remaining lights in the bar flickered, and then dimmed down. Grillby found himself to be the only light source in the bar as the dogs looked about in confusion. Dogamy peeked his head out of hole in the wall.

“The whole street is dark!” He exclaimed. Already monsters were leaving their home to gaggle at the dimmed lights....before everything went dark with an electric ZAP. A strange buzzing noise crackled in the electrical sockets. Something was....wrong.

Dogaressa, who was still on the phone, listened closely to her captain. She suddenly widened her eyes and gasped.

(“....WHAT?”) She barked in surprise, drawing the attention to everyone in the bar.

“ Dogaressa, what is happening?” Grillby asked quietly, having now finally gotten Papyrus to calm down into soft burbles. Papyrus was still clearly not happy, but has tired himself out enough that he was  more interested in being rocked than screaming.

(“Captain Gnash said that the CORE workers have been locked out! Something strange is going on there!”)

“Angel above, what if it explodes! We have to evacuate Hotland immediately!” Dogamy was already thinking ahead, gripping his ax tightly.

(“Exactly, he wants us all there to help.”) She closed her phone with a click. (“Come on, we gotta hurry.”)

Suddenly, realization flashed across Grillby's mind.

“...he's there.”

“Who?” Frank tilted his head, unsure if he should leave or go.

“Gaster. He BUILT the CORE...remember? It was....a major celebration...some years ago...”

The dogs looked at each other, dawning realizations on their faces.

“Of course! But what is he doing! He could dust us all!” Dogamy was confused as well as pissed.

“I am not sure, but I am coming with all of you.” Grillby held onto Papyrus and went to step out of the hole in the bar...when a paw stopped him.

(“Grillby, you can't. Papyrus would be a target if you took him with us.”) Dogaressa was sympathetic, but firm. (“I know you can fight...but what will you do with him?”)

“I'll take him.” Frank stepped forward. “My home is home my husband, the Captain of the Guard. It's well warded and protected. Plus....Gaster would have no idea who I am.”

Grillby held unto Papyrus a little tighter. Both of them were right, he couldn't take a toddler into battle, and he trusted Frank with his life. But...he....didn't want to hand over his son. Not after what just happened. A real fear blossomed from within that if he handed Papyrus over...there's a chance he would never see his child again. He took a deep, rattling sigh...and then carefully handed over the skeleton after giving him one last kiss to the skull.

Frank took Papyrus in his arms and bounced him a little. The skeleton just blinked his little eye sockets and stared, confused about what is going on.

“...I will call you later...when this is over.”

“Of course. I'm sure Undyne would like to meet Papyrus. They'll have a good time, I promise.” The Salamander nodded and adjusted his grip on the skeleton. “...come back safe...alright?”

“I will. I have to. With Sans too” Grillby made it a statement. He WILL come back with his son. There was no alternative.  

“The fastest way to Hotland is via boat.” Dogamy pointed out. “We'll have to hurry!”  The other dogs gathered around, awaiting orders.

“Then by all means, let's not keep Gaster waiting.” Grillby narrowed his eyes.

Usually people learn their lesson after the first time, but Grillby is more than happy to teach it again to a certain scientist.

Some time later, Frank grumbled to himself as he carried his precious cargo back to his house. Being the husband of the Captain of the guard meant that his house is well protected. Gnash always valued preventative measures, so he had taken to hiding runic wards all around the property. If someone had ill intention for the people inside the house, they would essentially run into an invisible wall. Only someone powerful, like the King of Monsters, could hope to tear down the wards.

It was a safety measure that helped him sleep at night. With this whole Gaster situation, he found himself worrying more about his husband and child. He knew all to well, that sometimes trouble will follow you home.

Papyrus continued to sniffle, exhausted and weary from the terrifying events of the day. Physically, he was alright, but mentally is a different story. Frank used a clawed hand to shield the child from the constant water drips and cold of Waterfall. Even though he was bundled up in a blanket, Waterfall was still rather chilly.

“It'll be alright, your dad and brother will be back soon.” Frank ran a warm hand down the child's skull, knowing that he likes to be pet. Papyrus gurgled softly and closed his eyes, simply too young and tired to truly understand what was happening. All he knows is that he feels safe, and that is good enough for him.

Wanting to be extra careful, Frank retraced his steps and back tracked a few times, just to confuse anyone that may be following them. Satisfied nobody was going to ambush him in the dark, he made it to a nice corner in the cavern. There, next to some ponds and the river was his home. A simple house for sure, with a garden of herbs and fungi and toys in the front yard. At some point they were going to put up a swing but needed to find space for it. If only they could get a tree to grow in Waterfall...

Stepping past the mail box, he could feel the ambient magic race along both him and Papyrus. The wards checked the two over, and finding no issue, Frank was able to step within his property. He fumbled with his keys, but with practiced ease unlocked the front door while juggling a toddler.

“Pops!” A loud brash voice erupted from the stair way, and a ball of energy and fins came flying at the older monster!

“Undyne! Careful!” He braced himself as his daughter ran right into his belly. “Oof!” Thank goodness he has extra padding there!

His daughter resembled Gnash to a T, a humanoid fish monster with lots of teeth, she even had Gnash's yellow eyes! However, she inherited his colors, a soft blue gray with some red here and there. He thought she was a wonderful mix of the two. She is still fairly small, being eight years old, but he could see her towering over both her parents one day.

Papyrus wiggled at the sudden movement and made a soft warble, which attracted Undyne's attention.

“Whatcha got there Pops?” She wiggled her fins and reached up.

“Careful.” Frank knelt down so Undyne could see the little skeleton. “This is Papyrus, he's going to be staying here for a little bit. Say hello!”

Undyne stared at the toddler, and the toddler stared right back. She sniffed and crinkled her brow as she examined him. “Wow, he's really shrimpy, isn't he?”

“Undyne, that's not very nice.” Frank scolded quietly. “He's a baby, he's suppose to be little.”

“Nuh-uh, I was a baby and I wasn't THAT small.” She frowned and reached out to poke the skeleton on the head, much to poor Papyrus's confusion.

“Yes, you were very small when you were a baby.” He started to move Papyrus away to rescue him from the pokes, but Undyne is quite persistent.

“He looks weird! Where's his skin!?” She continues to poke.

Seemingly having enough of it, Papyrus growled and bit the next finger that got too close to his mouth. “Nyeh!”

Frank was very worried that his daughter had gotten hurt, but to his surprise, she started laughing!

“Ow! Heeheehee wow he's got guts for a weird no skin shrimpy baby!” She seems almost pleased about it, her bright yellow eyes sparkling.

“Undyne, please stop bothering him. He had a rough time.” Frank tried his best to calm his daughter down enough to stop harassing the poor baby.

“Okay.” She tried to withdraw her hand, but Papyrus was still holding on to the finger and growling. “....I LIKE him!”

Frank sighed and gently extracted his daughter's finger from Papyrus's tiny little jaws. “It's good that you like him, but please dear...be gentle. He isn't toy or a plaything, he's a little one who is still recovering from some...bad things.”

She blinked a few times. “Ohhhh....he's your patient?”

He nodded. “Yes, and he will be staying here for a little bit. Lets do our best to welcome him, eh?”

“Yeah! I'll go get my swords and action figures!” She raced back up the stairs, two steps at a time. Thankfully, the swords are made of soft foam. She wasn't quite ready for a wooden one yet, perhaps once she stops breaking lamps with the foam one.

He carried the bundle of skeleton to the kitchen, setting Papyrus in the crook of his arm as he started to mix up some milk along with his medicine.  He could hear his daughter in the floor above tossing toys and what may be boxes around, looking for the best thing to play with.

Well, it looks like they may have started a beautiful friendship! He'll see later if Papyrus would be willing to leave his blanket cocoon and play a little. After being sufficiently harassed by his daughter and the events of the day, he wouldn't be surprised if it took a little time.

He bottled up the milk and gave it to the hungry skeleton, anything to really distract him from what was really going on. Papyrus perked up, holding the bottle in his hands and he drank it down quickly. He seemed much 'brighter' and alert once he had something to eat.

“POPS! POPS! WHERE'S MY BATTLE ARMOR?!?” Undyne could be heard yelling from upstairs, along with a few crashes.

Frank sighed. At least, there were plenty of distractions.

All the way to Hotland, the dogs and Grillby were lost in thought. The boat would rock in the water as the River Person pushed it to speeds it usually doesn't go. River was a strange person before, but they could sense urgency. They only had one thing to say.

“Tra la la ! Beware the man who speaks in hands! Tra la la!”

After that, they were quiet. The last dog was barely on the boat before it began to move, skipping over the water. They sat quietly as Waterfall whizzed by, steadily getting brighter and hotter as they entered the red landscape of Hotland. Constantly lit by pools of lava, it gave an unsettling glow to those preferring cooler climate.

To their surprise, there was a group of residents waiting on the shore as they pulled up, all fire types. Obviously they would not survive the walk through Waterfall's rain unscathed.  Waiting among them was Captain Gnash.

“Bout time you all got here!” He helped the dogs climb out of the boat, which were being replaced with residents. “The evacuation has started. We need some men out sniffing out any stragglers. Can I count on you all to be Good Dogs!?”

The dog guard saluted and barked, beginning to fall into place. The Dogi remained in command, and began distributing orders. Grillby at once felt out of place. It has been years since he had followed or lead a command. He wasn't quite too sure where to go besides straight to the CORE.

He was startled when Gnash laid a hand on his shoulder. “Major General.” He said, giving the bartender a look. “Ya know, Gerson warned me you wouldn't be able to keep out of this for long.”

“I cannot. Gaster took my son.” Grillby narrowed his eyes. “I mean to get him back.” He knew that if Gnash told him to remain here, that he wouldn't. Nobody would be able to stop him.

“I'm not going to stop you.” Gnash put his fears at ease. “Hell, you're more experienced than all of us really. Gerson said you have a strong sense of justice so he said not to try and stop you. Instead, you'll be coming with us. The dogs and Gerson will handle the evac.”

“Who is 'we'?” The flame glanced around at the stream of people heading to the docks.

“It will be the three of us.” A deep voice answered to the left. Grillby turned, and was greeted by the sight of his sovereign ruler, King Asgore. Gone was his robes and his humorous t-shirts. Instead the king was dressed for battle. His dark armor looked as strong as it was during the war, and the trident of red magic was gripped in his paw. The king did not look pleased at all.

Instinctively, Grillby went to kneel, but was stopped by a soft paw on his shoulder. “There is no need, nor time for such things.” King Asgore looked Grillby in the eyes. “Today, we are equals looking to uphold justice.  After all...this could not have happened if it wasn't for me, I aim to fix that, with your help.”

There was rage behind those eyes. Ever since the King lost his two children, he has lived with a pain nobody else can really understand unless it happens to them. The King loved children. To see what Gaster has done has undermined everything the king has sought to build. Even with the law with the fallen humans, it still destroys the king, each and every time a soul is taken.

To be a king is a terrible burden, and Grillby had no envy for the position.

“My king, you are not to blame for what Gaster has done.”

“Oh, but it is. I gave him permission to build weapons, to aid in the upcoming war with humanity. He requested privacy, and time. Both what I have given him. I should have checked on him, demanded updates...demanded demonstrations. But I had trusted him since he built the CORE. I saw no reason to bother him before....and now my ignorance has resulted in the deaths of countless children.”

Gnash and Grillby had nothing to say to that.

“He will be brought to justice, and I will make sure nothing like this shall ever happen again.”

“Then lets not waste anymore time.” Gnash gripped his sword and then glanced to Grillby. “Do you have weapons? Armor? We might have time to stop by HQ to get some.”

“I need neither.” Grillby rolled up his sleeves. “Let's be off.”

The king and captain nodded their heads, and together they strode on past the fleeing population, towards the CORE.

By the time they reached the CORE, the area was deserted. No doubt, Gnash and Gerson have cleared out everyone. The only thing left was the unsettling emergency lights and the remnants left behind by the fleeing monsters. They could see lunches left forgotten on tables, hardhats , and work boxes left behind as if the owners suddenly vanished.  Lit up ahead, where the actual doors to the inner CORE. They were shut firmly and the key slot next to it lit up with warning signs.

Grillby was about to ask how they were going to get into the room, when the King's eyes began to glow. The doors began to shimmer with a chilly blue and creaked with some invisible strain. With a thrust of his trident, the doors folded up on each other like wet cardboard and were ripped from the hinges. The room suddenly became brighter from the ambient lava below, and the door sailed backwards to crash into the break room wall.

Gnash and Grillby could scarcely believe it. Of course, their king is strong...but THIS strong???

Asgore strode forward and then stopped, shocked. A sudden feeling of dread overcame Grillby as he peaked around the corner.

His flames dimmed in horror.

Far ahead in the main console, he could see Sans. His shirt and pants have been discarded, most likely to the lava below them. His right eye socket is full of various wires, going down deep enough to perhaps reach the brain case. He was bolted to the console with metal rings, which he would not be able to escape. The poor pup's head was popped up, jaws held open with metal as a tube was stuffed inside.

He hung still and lifeless, looking by all means ready to crumble to dust at any second. The most disturbing thing was how silent he is, simply staring out into the distance. If he could actually see or not was unknown to the flame.

“SANS!” Grillby roared and went to fly forward to rescue him, LOVE burning deep in his soul, when a sudden wall of blue bones slammed down to block his path.

{ “Idiots!” } Gaster hissed  and emerged from behind the console. Grillby was pleased to note that both of his arms were in slings. Seems like the beating from earlier had caused the scientist permanent damage. Excellent. Gaster now had to rely now on magic to pick up and manipulate objects. {“Do you know what you are trying to interrupt!?” }

“Gaster.” Asgore stepped in front of Grillby. “You have one last chance to stop this madness. Return the child to his father and surrender, or you will die where you stand.”

Gaster made a show of thinking about it, even manifesting a constructed hand to stroke his chin.

{ “I will not. I WILL break the barrier and save us all. It is my duty. It is my legacy. If you don't desire freedom.....then I suppose, you will have to take S-1 by force.” }

Asgore shook his head sadly.

“You were once my friend, but today...you have become a greater threat than the humans. A rot from within us that must be cut away.” Asgore readied his trident. Gnash drew his sword and Grillby ignited into angry, teal flames.

“I am truly sorry that it has come to this.”

Gaster sneered, clearly taking great offense to being considered WORSE than humans. { “I as well. If only you weren't so sentimental.” }

Bones suddenly appeared, angled down at the three. There were so many, the blocked some of the emergency lights from above. There was a great, terrible ripping noise, and two large childish beast heads flanked their creator. They swayed from side to side and stared out at the King and his companions with white circular eyes. They seemed to almost make giggling noises as they gnashed their teeth, staring straight ahead.

Then, the bones rained down.

[ FIGHT. ]

[ardate]

I got tagged:

I was tagged by my dear @thoughts-of-an-x-factor! Thanks for the tag! Answers are under “read more” cuz it’s a bit long.

What’s your favourite song(s) to sing/hum? I don’t know that many, so it’s often “Song of the Lonely Mountain” from the Hobbit (even though I despise those movies lmao), or “La Complainte du Partisan” that for some reason I know by heart.. (and if I hear ONE person trying to tell me it’s a song by Leonard Cohen I’ll physically materialize in your house to bury you under your porch). What are your favourite flower/tree/plant (all 3 or whatever you have an answer to) In general I like sturdy trees that you can easily climb into, though I couldn’t tell you about what kind of trees they are given my limited knowledge. Other than that I can tell you that I really really love weeping willows. Used to play under one when I was young, and running through its branches so long it touched the ground was wonderful. Favourite colour(s)? Uuuh I don’t really know.. I guess I’m going to sound stereotypical but red and black? Red because it’s vibrant, black because it’s infinitely classy under all circumstances. What do you always doodle (if you ever do) Took to drawing again rather recently, so for now it’s mainly fanarts and OCs from TF2. It’s usually OC stuff though, most of the time. How do you take your coffee/tea? If you don’t like those what’s your fav warm drink? Coffee is impossible for me, too bitter. I drink a lot of tea though, with milk and sugar. Way too much sugar. I’ve been told my heart problems were probably coming from my terrifying sugar consumption and that makes sense, so I’m trying to reduce. I used to put 8 sugar cubes in a mug, then 6, and I’m at 4 now. Slowly using less and less! Favourite candle scent? I actually never used any scented candles before I’ve been gifted some this Christmas, and they’re coconut scented, it’s nice. Can’t wait to get my hands on the legendary Mountain Lodge candle one day though... Sunrise or sunset? Definitely sunset. The sunrise, usually, is pale and not very exciting. Sunset however often showers us with incredible colours... Plus, it’s easier to witness the sunset than rise early af to watch a disappointing sunrise. No doubts about this one lmao What perfume do you wear if any? Uuuh I’ve never used perfume until someone got me a giftcard for a perfume shop last Christmas (people make me try stuff at this period apparently lmao), so I bought one just to say I used my card. It’s “Live Irrésistible” by Givenchy. I always forget to use it, but I do sometimes! What’s your go to dance move when you’re alone? I don’t know how to dance, and I don’t know anything about dance moves. So huh, sometimes I’m gonna move my body when there’s good music and I feel in a good enough mood? Dunno Favourite quote? I know I like a few but of course when you ask I can’t remember any. Favourite self care thing(s) or routine(s)? Hot chocolate with whipped cream and caramel coulis, in my dinosaur kigurumi, in my plaid, in front of my computer, or reading, or watching a feel-good movie. Fuzzy socks or house slippers? Socks. I like good slippers, but I don’t have any. Sad. What colour are your eyes? Green most of the time, sometimes blue, with brown central heterochromia. My eyes are the thing I like best about my physical appearance. What’s your favourite eye colour on others? It depends on the person, on the hue (some greens are beautiful and others look meh), etc. So huh.. Lame answer but, yeah. Depends. Favourite season? why? The beginning of Autumn. When the heat waves disappear making it the perfect time to be outside, with the changing colors of trees, everything is beautiful. The end of Autumn is a bit depressing once the humidity and bad weather sets in tho. Cheek, neck or nose kisses Depends on the person but I guess you mean like a boyfriend? In that case it’s probably neck kisses. It’s so intimate and soft, to me it’s something that happens when you’re really close and trust the other. What does your happy place look like? I’m not sure what that means? You mean like where your home is? In that case, depressing answer ahead (skip if you don’t wanna roll your eyes too hard): Don’t have one! I don’t feel at home at my parents’, I don’t feel at home where I am now, I am not settled anywhere. My home was my boyfriend (home is where the heart is, basically) but now that we broke up I don’t have that anchor anymore. So I’m just drifting. Favourite breed of dog? I love dogs. Like, I really love dogs. All dogs. I have a preference for big dogs though. The day I settle somewhere with a house and everything, I think I’ll adopt a Leonberg. I’ve been researching breeds for years but I think this one is the one. Do you ever want to be married? If so what colours would you pick for your wedding theme? I’m not too sure about that. Marriage is both convenient and terribly burdensome. If I do marry though, I... have no idea what colours I’d pick. I never imagined my wedding or anything so I don’t even have the beginning of an idea, sorry lmao Silk or lace? uh... Silk? I don’t know it seems comfier. Favourite weather? Depends. If I have to be outside, sunny without a doubt. If I can stay inside on my couch, rain. ...I’ve been talking quite a bit again didn’t I? Sorry about that. I’m tagging: @keegsrawrats @gabibakos @owmyeyeballs @aseriouscomedian @kessavel @shylaustuff @funnyscared But that’s only if you feel like it!! I’d be interested in seeing your answers tho. I also tag whoever wants to do it. Want to do it? Go ahead, and write that I tagged you so I can stumble upon your post!

[shvdxs]

but you know that this is useless

1. Do you ever doubt the existence of others than you? yeah but we do be workin on that

2. On a scale of 1-5, how afraid of the dark are you? not really only when im woken up in the middle of the night fearing for my life

3. The person you would never want to meet? oh you know

4. What is your favorite word? peruse deadass

5. If you were a type of tree, what would you be? womping willow i want mfs to nap under me

6. When you looked in the mirror this morning what was the first thing you thought? yike!

7. What shirt are you wearing? black noodie

8. What do you label yourself as? tired

9. Bright room or dark room? dark

10. What were you doing at midnight last night? i couldn’t sleep because of the thunder so i went on my home computer and went through the pictures from my mom’s camera and came across some pictures i didn’t know existed bc i’d been looking for pictures from my 2016 twirp bc k8 and i looked hot as shit but i only had 2 pictures??? 

11. Favorite age you’ve been so far? i think 16 i “glowed up” whatever the fuck that means from being emo but 17-18 was absolutely the happiest years of my life until everything went down hill my sophomore year of college and then shit got better the beginning of my senior year and then it went DOWNHILL FAST but then my roommate and i became best friends and i got close with my homies from work and everything was getting great right before i turned 22 and then bam shit got bad because RONA

12. Who told you they loved you last? my mama like 2 minutes ago

13. Your worst enemy? trump, i think the only person that’s fucked up my life is my grandmother, however there’s a couple of people i know that deserve a hexin

14. What is your current desktop picture? its changing kitten pictures

15. Do you like someone? nah

16. The last song you listened to? the song that was last played on my spotify was boy bye

17. You can press a button that will make any one person explode. Who would you blow up? trump fUCK him UP im SO SICK and TIRED

18. Who would you really like to just punch in the face? ^^^^^ + (null) and maybe (null)

19. If anyone could be your slave for a day, who would it be and what would they have to do? anyone i’ve absolutely babied and slaved over in my life out of pure love that fed off that and left

20. What is your best physical attribute? (showing said attribute is optional) height and legs fucking duh, unfortunately ive got wide ribs and no snatched waist but im model status at this point

21. If you were the opposite sex for one day, what would you look like and what would you do? i genuinely cannot answer that

22. Do you have a secret talent? If yes, what is it? uh my hands are doubled jointed and im oddly flexible

23. What is one unique thing you’re afraid of? facial tattoos

24. You can only have one kind of sandwich. Every sandwich ingredient known to humankind is at your disposal. i hate sandwiches but say i had to eat one................ subway BMT w provolone with every vegetable on white

25. You just found $100! How are you going to spend it? fuckin rent bc Mizz Rona

26. You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere in the world, but you have to leave immediately. Where are you going to go? i mean AFTER mizz rona i’d like to go to fucking europe, specifically greece or norway. or just straight to australia fuck it

27. An angel appears out of Heaven and offers you a lifetime supply of the alcoholic beverage of your choice. “Be brand-specific” it says. Man! What are you gonna say about that? Even if you don’t drink booze there’s something you can figure out… so what’s it gonna be? i read heaven and said i gotta go then saw alcohol. the switch i made was incredible. mojito. i want a blueberry mojito.

28. You discover a beautiful island upon which you may build your own society. You make the rules. What is the first rule you put into place? animal crossing????? my rule is no uglies

29. What is your favorite expletive? excuse me

30. Your house is on fire, holy shit! You have just enough time to run in there and grab ONE inanimate object. Don’t worry, your loved ones and pets have already made it out safely. So what’s the one thing you’re going to save from that blazing inferno? if it’s my apartment im grabbing my laptop because i have homework due assuming my phone is in my pants

31. You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be? WOW! PLEASE! i beg of you

32. You got kicked out of the country for being a time-traveling heathen who sleeps with celebrities and has super-powers. But check out this cool shit… you can move to anywhere else in the world! norway bye

33. The Celestial Gates Of Beyond have opened, much to your surprise because you didn’t think such a thing existed. Death appears. As it turns out, Death is actually a pretty cool entity, and happens to be in a fantastic mood. Death offers to return the friend/family-member/person/etc. of your choice to the living world. Who will you bring back? we been knew death is a homie, however i’d bring back (out of all of my favorite artists) epstein for the tea

34. What was your last dream about? uh i took a nap which usually leads to lucid dreams so i started dreaming that i was vomiting and then it switched to a lucid dream so i was like gross imma spit it out and then i realized i was in my dorm so i was like wait let me do some rad shit but then i woke up drooling

35. Are you a good….[insert anything you’d like here]? no. im not good at anything.

36. Have you ever been admitted to the hospital? yeE

37. Have you ever built a snowman? of course

38. What is the color of your socks? grey rn

39. What type of music do you like? i like emo shit

40. Do you prefer sunrises or sunsets? sunset

41. What is your favorite milkshake flavor? mint chocolate baby

42. What football team do you support? (I will answer in terms of American football as well as soccer) i dont watch football but bears bc im from chi

43. Do you have any scars? on god

44. What do you want to be when you graduate? i wanna go to grad school but MIZZ RONA

45. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? my brain, i know id be successful in so many realms with my interests and goals but i have so many setbacks and fears and mental illnesses that it keeps me back but i do be pushin thru

46. Are you reliable? i try to be

47. If you could ask your future self one question, what would it be? how far into the future tho

48. Do you hold grudges? unfortunately noooo but that’s because im passive and fear loosing people

49. If you could breed two animals together to defy the laws of nature, what new animal would you create? cat and owl lemme see her

50. What is the most unusual conversation you’ve ever had? dont even know where to start

51. Are you a good liar? lmao yeah my mom turned me into a straight faced liar

52. How long could you go without talking? i’ve gone days

53. What has been you worst haircut/style? rn. fucking rn. they cut my hair so short i want to die.

54. Have you ever baked your own cake? so many times

55. Can you do any accents other than your own? of course

56. What do you like on your toast? butter and cinnamon sugar yall know what i mean

57. What is the last thing you drew a picture of? i miss drawing, but i played telestrations after dark and im p sure it was “spermicide” and i ended up having to draw someone shooting a dick with a gun

58. What would be you dream car? ooooo, okay i’d die for a mercedes SLS or a jaguar F-type 

59. Do you sing in the shower? Or do anything unusual in the shower? Explain. i vibe

60. Do you believe in aliens? of course

61. Do you often read your horoscope? its funny tho so a lot

62. What is your favorite letter of the alphabet? X

63. Which is cooler: dinosaurs or dragons? dragons bc they aren’t real

64. What do you think about babies? NO. i cannot with the noise. the clean up. disgusting. yall sacrificing too much to wipe shit and silence children.

[randombitsofthisnthat]

London and Spain 2019

Yes, for the 2nd time on this blog, i’m writing something about travelling lol

This summer, i visited London (after leaving for 10 months... i know...), Barcelona and Pamplona with one of my besties. This journey, man, i tell you, was one of the most unforgettable and interesting ones i’ve had so far. You’ll see why as you keep reading.

The trip was, in fact, fairly short and rush to be honest. We left Hong Kong on the 1st July, arrived London on the 2nd and we were back to HK on the 11th July.

It was my friend’s first time travelling to Europe (and with such a crazy and tiring itinerary lol) so we did a bit of sightseeing together. As always, you can never get bored with London. There are so many things and places you can do and visit. So, as tourists, my friend and i went to the famous Duck and Waffle for brekkie (it was my 1st time too!). With the beautiful view overlooking London city and their iconic duck and waffle on your marble top dining table, that was literally one of the most delicious and enjoyable breakfasts i’ve ever had.

Within the real short 3-day stay in London, i’m glad that i was able to squeeze in some time to meet with some of my London friends and former colleagues. It was always lovely to see and chat with them!

Leaving London, we off to Barcelona and Pamplona, the main destinations of this trip. We stayed there for 5 days (including 1 night in Pamplona) where all the silly things happened.

Our first day in Barcelona was actually nice. We visited the Mount Tibidabo after settling ourselves at the airbnb. Mount Tibiado is the tallest mountain in Barcelona, and it’s not just a mountain, but one with an amusement park and a cathedral (we went there for the view and the latter one tho). We took metro L7 line to Av. Tibidabo, got on the bus which took us to the plaza where we took the tram to the top of the mountain. Apart from a bit of detour in finding our way to the bus station near the metro, the view from the mountain was not bad at all.

The tram to Mount Tibidabo

Overview of Barcelona city

Tibidabo Cathedral del Sagrat Cor

Speaking of the detour, as we asked for directions to the bus station, we accidentally came across an elegant old lady whom aunt was a saint of that cathedral as we chatted. My friend and i were quite amazed by that :O We finished the visit by having a GIANT glass of Sangria at one of the peak restaurants.

On the second day, we visited Mercat de la Boqueria and Mercat de Sant Antoni, two of the famous markets in the city centre in the morning. Mercat de la Boqueria is famous for its great varieties of food. Tapas, seafood, ham, cheese, fruits, you name it, were all there.

We tried some of the oysters and unis. fresh and yum.

While Mercat de Sant Antoni, first opened in 1882, is known for its vintage goods/ books stalls set outside the market on Urgell street on Sundays. The market reopened in May 2018 after undergoing a major renovation. Again, the food there was amazing. Compare with Mercat de la Boqueria, we found this one more local and less touristy.

After the markets, we walked around the Sinagoga Major de Barcelona, The Ancient Synagogue of Barcelona. We didn’t join any walking tour but just wandering around by ourselves. If you would like to know more about its history and have someone explains to you properly, there are loads you can join as we could see. 

Sinagoga Major de Barcelona, The Ancient Synagogue of Barcelona

We then spent the rest of the day visiting Gaudí’s architecture. First off was the Park Güell. Under the crazily hot and almost-too-sunny weather, we strolled around from 3-ish pm until 7-ish in the evening. After that, we had a tasty seafood paella as dinner in a restaurant in the L'Eixample district.

Park Güell

Seafood paella at Bodega Joan, an authentic Spanish pub and restaurant.

After having such a big portion of paella (we tried very hard to finish the whole thing but couldn’t...), we decided to walk back to the bnb by stopping by another two iconic Gaudí buildings, Casa Batlló and Casa Milà aka La Pedrera.

On our way to these two spots, we saw a big recycle bins (you can see these bins everywhere in Barcelona) on fire, was literally burning from the inside. We immediately asked a lady who walked by and phoned the police. Seeing the smoke and the strong smell, another man walked past and asked us what happened, “The trash bin is on fire”, said my friend. ‘Oh, that’s better.”, the man replied with a relieved expression. My friend and I couldn’t quite believe what we heard. We guess he meant it was good that the fire wasn’t come from a building nearby LOL

Casa Batlló 

Casa Milà, also known as La Pedrera

The 3rd day in Spain, instead of staying in Barcelona, we travelled to Pamplona for the Fiesta de San Fermín (Running of the Bulls as you may heard of), one of the oldest and traditional festivals in Spain. This annual 9-day event takes place on 6 - 14 July.

But who knew we would almost missed the train to Pamplona (yes, what a ‘great’ start to the trip). We literally were late for ONE minute and were told by the station staff that our train was GONE. We then headed to the ticket counter to see if there were any chance that we can take the next train. “It’s very difficult to get tickets to Pamplona today”, said the lady, shaking her head. BUT, after a bit of searching on her computer, we were so grateful that we were able to get another indirect train there (knowing that we weren’t suppose to exchange the tickets for FREE and my friend saw on the computer screen that those two tix originally costed something like €142......). 

Because of the festival, nearly 99% of the hostels and hotels were booked up way ahead the festival began, even our airbnb costed us HKD two thousands something for just one night. So my advice is to book at least 10 months or a year ahead if you are planning to go. Yet, the host and the apartment were outstanding. We had a very nice chat with the retired psychology teacher/ artist and she even gave us a lift to the train station when we left.

And little did we know that the dress code for the festival was all white (from top to bottom i meant, and people were all so ready and dressed for the festival as they got on the train from different stations), we only had a white tee shirt. Luckily, we got a souvenir pack which includes a small red scarf, a foldable red fan and a festival guide by finishing a survey right outside the train station. Although we missed the opening ceremony (which started at 12noon at the City Hall), we were very excited that we got to see a spectacular fireworks display at night! 

How lucky we were!

Our outfits were SO TOTALLY not matching with the people behind us...

The fireworks was SURREAL.

Apart from drinks and parties, family with kids can also joined the fun by buying some sort of lucky-draw tickets to redeem gifts ranging from stationery to groceries. My friend and I bought 4 tickets at €3.2, got nothing but were told that we might be able to win €2500 at the finale draw when the festival ends.

Of course, the major event of the festival was the running of the bulls (i’d like to clarify that we DO NOT support they treated the cows that way). The very first bulls run kicked off at 8am on the second day of the festival. We got there at around 7:30am but was already very crowded that we had to stand on a table to watch.

Strongly suggest early arrival at like 7am if you want to get a good spot. 

Another major event took place after the bulls running was the Giants and Big-heads Parade. There were four pairs of four meters high giants, each pair came out as a king and queen, representing Europe, Africa, Asia, and America, with some smaller giants accompanied behind. 

After the Giants and big-heads, the statue of San Fermin came out, accompanied by the clergy. They prayed and sang in the middle of street, the crowd was in absolute silent when this took place. 

The statue of San Fermin

People stood at their balconies to watch the parade

Bands and music all around

People went crazy with the cows statues

Despite an awful lot of drunk people and smokers, both my friend and I were glad that we eventually made it to Pamplona and enjoyed the festival a lot. Not only because it was something new and interested us, but also we were able to get to know more about their culture and history, celebrate together with the locals. (Click here if you would like to learn more about the festival)

After two long day in Pamplona, we returned to Barcelona for one last day in Spain. Yet again, who would have guessed that another ‘amazing’ incident happened when we visited the infamous Sagrada Família. 

Right, here’s what happened. 

We bought the ticket via its official website when we first arrived Barcelona, my friend and I actually read through the details together and confirmed all are fine. So we set off from the bnb and arrived at the Cathedral at 9am on the 8th of July. When we were about to go through the first ticket check, the staff suddenly said to us, “Wait, wait, your ticket is for the 9th, TOMORROW.” My friend and I were like, WHATTTTTT?! Are you joking?! We booked the right tickets. Then we looked at the tickets again, OH MAN, it writes 9 JULY 2019. We couldn’t believe our eyes and wanted to cry out loud... We told the Cathedral and the customer service hotline staff that we were leaving in the evening and asked if there are tickets that we can buy on the spot, but the answers were no no no. All the tickets were sold out for the day, all they could do is give us the refund. 

So my friend and I sat outside the Cathedral, feeling and looking helpless, thinking how the heck we booked the wrong date... Suddenly, my friend said, “hey we got the tickets from the official website, does it mean that there are non-official sites that we can get the tickets?”. I was like, “YES YES YES!”. We then started searching on our phones like rushing to finish an exam paper before the teacher says ‘pens down’. 

After 5 minutes of searching, we MANAGED to get 2 tickets at 3pm in the afternoon. My friend and I triple checked the date and time, we even ran to ask the Cathedral staff that is that we can get in with those tickets. And when we heard the staff answered, “Yes, I think so. You even have an English speaking guide to explain you everything about the Cathedral.”, we almost wanted to cry. We were SO happy that we could get in to see this masterpiece after this silly incident.

Sagrada Família. The rest to be finished by 2026. 

Aren’t those stunning? We were amazed. 

After calming ourselves down, we went back to the Mercat de la Boqueria for lunch. We queued at the El Quim and that was one of the best decisions we’ve made in the trip. We ordered their house special: fried eggs with baby squids, razor calms and slow-cooked beef plus two glasses of wine. All of them were really delicious and fresh. If you were there, this is the tapas bar that you could not miss!

And that’s it, with all those silly incidents, we back to Hong Kong with a joyful soul (and a tiring body lol). Thank you our heavenly Father for all the amazing provisions and arrangements during the trip. We couldn’t be more thankful for that!