#i haven't reread it in like 2 years

[super-who-locked-me-in-here]

I was unfortunately made aware today that a large part of my ability to recreate Hannibal Lecter's vaguely flirty, entirely serious, absolutely pretentious and philosophical manner of speaking in my writing now in my 20s is due in large part to a 44k Ouran High School Host Club fanfic I wrote in my teens where Benio Amakusa was a recurring character with a lot of dialogue

[whatudottu]

Hello Ben 10 fans, it's been a hot second hasn't it, it's time for another round of Whatudottu Rambles and it's been a long time coming! Not just because of the gaps between posts but because this original idea comes straight from 2023 notes yay!

Today, we'll be talking about vulpimancers, but specifically their history and the politics of Vulpin! Because! For some reason! Whenever I think about vulpimancers, Vulpin, and vulpinic tortugans I think about their relation to the rest of the universe at large and frankly I want to elaborate what has been years of note taking!

God it's gonna be LONG!

So! One of the caveats when dealing with societal structure and the politics therein with significantly more animalistic appearing species, especially vulpimancers who do not have the actual physical structure to speak Earth languages, is that trying to base them off of a real human culture is a SIGNIFICANT FAUX PAS let alone taking inspiration from more traditional and indigenous cultures from around the world. It's part of the reason my obviously-armadillo ant bio talpaedans have their cultural influence taken from historial Europe more specifically during the time of their royal blood swapping since that's the basis of the tradie marriages.

What this means for vulpimancers is that I won't be taking from any modern world culture and hopefully harkening their lives and otherwise timeline to be kind of the present day equivalent of early human communities. Vulpimancers don't exactly have hard borders on territory beyond their stable hunting grounds and are nomadic, sticking together in communities, working within packs, then bundling for rest with families. This will persist until the 'modern era' which consists of a lot more than just the last 25 so years 'today' means, and that territory ends up becoming a whole country, a few communities per country with their relevant amount of working packs and individual families within.

Communities are 'run' by family elders and pack leaders, being a combination of 'the eldest takes care of the youth' parent style but also of those in charge of resource gathering being the... I suppose statistical analysts of the community who take stock of the resources they have, the mouths they need to feed, the seasons of their country, and how well one resource is actually growing (in the case of plants) or breeding (in the case of animals). It's not completely flawless sure, but it's certainly a system that works in a deadly pitch black environment filled with predators galore. Each country has a basic sense of politics even without a so called 'government head' or unified governing body, and historically their international politics extend to the access foreign vulpimancers have to the lands and resources of their country. Often smelling like a region none of the communities have traveled through (and countrymancers would have had interactions with the other communities and familiarised themselves with their scents), the allowance of foreign travel are limited in small numbers to only a few members of a family and only one or two members of a worker pack just outside (never within) the border; a whole community is expected to remain well away from the border unless the border happens to be at the centre of a river or by a dense cave system.

This system would have gone uninterrupted were it not for the fact that early tortugan settlers, an old species already at space fairing technology well beyond many of the civilisations we know were what they are today, landed on Vulpin during their mission to colonise their star system. One argues that the tortugan got to their level of technology from having a lack of predators and thus more proposed 'free time' to dedicate to advanced sciences, another says that they were simply haughty and underprepared for an environment that they had no ability to even understand beyond the atmosphere let alone the conditions on the ground. What inarguably happened though was in some way the settlers were stranded, their ships corroding and decaying from the harsh chemicals of the air, fighting for their damn lives in the pitch black of Vulpin. Forced to adapt or die, the settlers faced the wild threats of Vulpin fighting tooth and nail to live, running into what would and will continue to be the apex predator vulpimancers reacting in fear to their initial 'foreigners in our territory' related hostilities. It was a reluctant few vulpimancers who saw the fear of the settlers and tried to, realising they both shared the same sapience (or at least an intelligence that was not well adapted to the daily stress of Vulpin), allowing their kindness to inform the tortugans of their own intelligence in turn.

However over time, evolving not only themselves but the environment around them in small yet incredibly noticeable ways, the nations of vulpimancers (particularly near the original region/s of the settler landing zones) were quick to notice and many quick to anger in reaction to the distortion of THEIR land - their COUNTRY - some even quick to forgo what kindness they had extended to the quivering death fodder. Hodgepodging together shelter from their ship scraps, warped metal and corroded rust making for an ironic newly created collection of beaten up shanty towns, the torugans (on their way to becoming the vulpinic tortugans of the modern era) were either left to fend for themselves as communities of vulpimancers dropped their support or had to rebuild again and again as some ran them out, furious at the junk obstructing their riverways, digging up their plants, and diverting the natural and long studied hunting grounds of their prey. The very rare few communities - or rather, specific individuals - leave the attempts at expansion to run it's course and to meet it's maker at the hands of the weather and wilds seeking to erase the settlers' old technology, truly predating on anything the tortugans have build up whether it be the walls of their home or the flesh beneath their skin.

Unlike the nomadic vulpimancers, the tortugans are sedentary in their housing and are densely packed into small Minitowns so to say, their population never particularly comparable to the large number of vulpimancers. Minitowns are only ever really found in countries that have notable 'places of evil' that the communities of the region avoid like the literal plague, especially areas that not a lot of wildlife disturb, which technically makes for shit city planning since it means prey species and plants aren't nearby in the area, but the tortugans would take anything to get predators off their backs even if it means they need to have their own versions of worker packs. Some Minitowns have actually consulted with a few communities about where best to place a sedentary 'camp' so to speak, which varies given the relationship a specific group or nation of vulpimancers have towards the settlers whether they'd rather hide them away near a cave system that could provide good shelter and cave-dwelling prey, or in specific colder locations where the tortugan-vulpimancer relationship is actually neutral to positive, they might suggest a Minitown to be built adjacent to a winter site to help during what might usually be a deadly chill.

Tortugans however can still be 'on the run' however if they've wondered into regions where vulpimancers hate them, but unfortunately the early settlers who have not yet adapted to the conditions of the planet are run off to die instead. This and the former paragraph would be referred to in modern times as the New Settler policy, more of a general reaction the general vulpimancer had to the tortugans rather than an official decree, but a generalised trend that can all be connected under a retroactive title.

With a somewhat stable environment, the remaining survivors and the descendants of the settlers would have adapted and become the vulpinic tortugans, now able to sustain themselves and not be as entirely reliant on their historical Minitowns; they still aren't an apex predator by any means, nor too far removed from being a prey species, but their poison spines and defense curl allows them not to be completely food. Due to the inherent limitations of even the recommended locations of Minitowns, a fair many tortugans become nomadic out of necessity, the growing number of mouth unable to be filled with the lack of resources. Tortugan and vulpimancer relations are still heavily varied between regions, but with the new nomadic tortugan groups - tending towards groups of friends or small families - there may yet be more opportunity for the two species to bond in the best case scenario. In a neutral but positive case, some countries that had been very hostile to the tortugans may view the up-and-coming nomads to not be as much of a threat to their land and allow them transit, though nothing more and in the most untrusting of cases they'll be escorted to the next border with haste or even only allowing passage if the path to an adjacent nation is otherwise hard to cross over.

Throughout their entire time trying to survive Vulpin, the tortugans previously didn't have enough time to consider anything as formal as politics. With their physical adaptations, now they can enter the world of more unspoken politics that the vulpimancers were already scent deep into, splitting into the primary two demographics of settler and nomad tortugans. Settler tortugans typically stay within the country, even if some may have nomadic tendencies to travel between known Minitowns of the region, often having a specialised class of the worker pack to rely on food and materials; they still cling onto every scrap that their ancestor came with, though they have long forgotten a lot of what they specifically meant to them. Nomadic tortugans can but often don't travel exclusively within their country - a contrast to their neighbouring communities - needing to avoid countries that actively hate them and only occasionally daring to step within countries that tolerate them at BEST but would rather not have to interact with them; they often sympathise with the original vulpimancer communities affected by their coloniser ancestors, those who ultimately failed in their goal regardless, travelling around the world that they know would have had attempts made to terraform it into something unrecognisable should the colonists have had 'better' circumstances to do so.

It was sometime in the modern era that Vulpin began to become an intergalactic dumping ground fueled by the tortugan colonies, or rather the United Tortugan Market - a trade colony built up of several planets within the same system, except for Vulpin - who are filling up with excess waste, recalled that one of their ancestral colony ships failed to produce any results on Vuplin and thus considered it the trash they they dumped onto it. Ignorant not only because the settlers failed to report back about a sapient species, they also wholeheartedly believe that the passengers sent to the planet on that initial voyage died before they could populate, they emptied out their waste bins and tossed them down onto the planet at ranges that would not allow corrosion to interfere with their ships flight. And now, where both the vulpimancer communities - disgruntled about repeated history - and the newly adapted vulpinic tortugans - newly afraid to taste their own ancestors' medicine - have to deal with their lands and homes being ruined and overrun by scraps and busted machines, the UTM begins selling a service to local customers for their new planet sized dump, dubbing it Vulpin: the Market Junkyard.

With the intergalactic trash piling up, destroying the ecosystem, damaging ancient lands and displacing many communities and even whole fucking countries of vulpimancers, new political ideologies start to form. There are the 'fuck aliens' crowds who - despite reluctance - allow for vulpimancer refugees of neighbouring countries, beginning to revert to (or worsing their already bad relationship to the tortugans) xenophobia towards both settler tortugans and nomadic tortugans, some countries turning to the ones cohabiting with them to 'go back to where [they] came from' and leave their planet alone. Others have put their foot down and - essentially - form the political ideology of 'learn to fucking cope' where communities specifically refuse to share their unmarred land to even their fellow countrymancers, splitting off into the 'okay LET'S fucking cope' ideology where the otherwise displaced community in reaction would essentially sever that community's nomadic path from the rest of the country by actively posturing against any movement into what is now deemed their own new country.

The last two ideologies, loosely titled 'maybe we need help' and 'there's too much shit to ignore', mirror the initial settler/nomad tortugan political split that spawned initially from vulpimancer influence. The first ideology works in stark contrast to the 'fuck aliens' ideology where displaced communities find refugee within tortugan settlements, between small families making homes in Minitowns or whole communities and even countries depending helping tortugans with Junkyard Cities - cities that are still only technically about the equivalent for maybe suburbs at most, Vulpin countries aren't particularly large but they are numerous - making use of the intergalactic trash to build homes and (unfortunately) having a steady supply able to repair and maintain them; it is however more common to have Minitowns with a partial nomadic life, even if it's only for the purpose of resources which still stem from their initial hurdles in town construction. The 'too much shit to ignore' ideology mirrors the international tortugan nomads where an entire country's worth of land is filled with rubbish that not even the native wildlife can make use of it's resources buried beneath the scrap, making the region an undeniable dead zone that may bring many species into extinction, if not simply endanger them; international travel would probably only be for family sized groups, probably only families given that, and only if they have experienced enough worker pack members.

Vulpinic tortugans, in contrast to the disgusted and resentful opinions that the vulpimancers hold for the trash piles, generally speaking simultaneously view the growing junkyards as horrendous yet rife with opportunity as the lands they were forced to call home fill with materials they can use to build their homes and potentially enter the stars their ancestors had dreams of one day returning to. Nomadic tortugans are revolted as though this may not have been the terraforming they feared their ancestors could have fallen into doing, they are still affecting the planet as if they were dominating the land with technology and greed, and settler tortugans specifically in areas not yet prone to junkfall do not much benefit from the opportunity they'd provide in order for their opinion to differ from the nomads, unless their worker packs reach further into the the junkyards for 'treasures'. As mentioned in the afforementioned 'we need help' vulpimancer ideology, settler tortugans in junkfall regions would gather around junkyards and build cities from the scraps, using the fact that the wildlife would steer clear of the cluttered regions as a deterrent to the risks of expansion to make larger settlements than they could have otherwise on an untainted Vulpin, especially with the wealth of materials able to maintain the structures of the city. But even the Junkyard Cities require an ample source of food and other resources not found in the trash, so overrun countries and the deep centre of the junkyards forming around the planet cannot support a city of needy people, displaced or otherwise, and thus even the settler tortugans of Junkyard Nations must leave to find greener-but-not-literally pastures; depending on the population of the displaced settler town, they may resettle at the edge of the junkyard to create a city, move even further away to recreate a Minitown just for them, or even become nomads and set a course away from their ruined homes.

With all these broadstroke political ideologies, there is the fundamental truth that within these junkyards houses 'useless garbage' from societies with much higher tech levels sitting in scraps of themselves, the levels ranging from interplanetary to even intergalactic levels of technology that may be broken to the point of being garbage, but their structure still exists and the stray opportunist to take the time to reverse engineer the scraps can do so with lots of trial and error. The tortugans have to learn by this exact trial and error having long forgotten the sciences their ancestors used to strand themselves on Vulpin, and ever watchful the vulpimancers (especially those displaced, especially those cohabiting with the tortugans) keep an open ear (gill?) to the goings on in the junkyards, enough so that a handful of individuals take the same route as their junkyard neighbours to trial and error their own tech.

Leaving a planet and it's inhabitants to rot under the piles of trash and metal you litter it with leaves for bitter peoples who scrap themselves their own frankensteinian machines of your and all your customers' technologies, influencing a rising tide of Vulpin spacefarers that offer no fealty or kindness to the United Tortugan Market your own peoples find respect in. Junker Pirates, you call them, rising from the pitch black of the corrosive atmosphere you first lost a colony fleet to, and how interesting. The settlers DID survive. And they've made pets- or so the tortugans and the rest of the intergalactic community believe.

Pirates are treated like pirates, of course; arrested like the criminals they are. Unfortunately this is one of the first instances of not recognising vulpimancers for the sapient beings that they are, where the vulpinic tortugans - revealed to be the closest cousin species hereditarily to the arburian pelarota, and thus obviously capable of sapience even if 'more feral' 'more savage' 'more undeveloped' - are sentenced to whatever punishment suits the declaration that they are indeed guilty of piracy, the vulpimancer crew on the other hand are treated like trained dogs and sent into the null void where a large population begins to form and a new brand of hostility begins to brew. Given that the vulpimancers with tortugan crew have to actually tolerate the tortugan enough to be isolated on a ship with them, the null void pirates do not generally resent the vulpinic tortugans of the crew, rather they may despise specifically the tortugan cousins or even the UTM, if they do not generalise and grow to hate everyone not from Vulpin. If the tortugan pirate are sent back to their planet - deported so to speak to Vulpin - and carry back the news that the vulpimancer members of their crew were sent to the null void without due processing, new hostilities spark on homeground. Communities that grow to despise the pirates for giving Vulpin and it's newly discovered people an even worse reputation that it already has, those that once again circle back into hating the tortugans - now their reasoning being that they 'keep getting away' from karma and still hurting their vulpimancer kin - and then there are those that grow to hate the intergalactive governments for stealing their family away and locking them between the folds of the dimensions. The pirates are still going to pirate, regardless of if they are breaking their terms by leaving the planet again, and those who have lost crew to the null void seek to find (and steal if necessary) null void technology and in a worst-case scenario memorise the construction of the projectors so they may smuggle back those illegitimately 'processed' back on Vulpin.

Other pirates that are either set free or are bound to fulfill the conditions of community service (which if word ever got back to Vulpin, the returning pirates being the key here, those that resent the intergalactic governments would resent the community service in turn) more often than not find themselves in the long term not returning to Vulpin. The pirate whom were set free may return full force into piracy once again, though this time without their vulpimancer crew - at least those that do not follow through with finding null void tech - and may begin to accrue members of other species into their Junker Ship, if they were open to such ideas. Those that were given community service may learn more about the intergalactic governments and try to find a way to fix their perceptions of vulpinic tortugans, vulpimancers, and Vulpin in it's entirety by eventually settling somewhere where they can begin getting into the far more structured and far more... loophole ridden poiltics of written law and relations. Those in the political field will begin to realise that Vulpin is legally speaking a part of the United Tortugan Market, that it's official name in the colony is Vulpin: the Market Junkyard, and that very distinctly is NOT UNDER THE 'OWNERSHIP' VULPIN'S OWN PEOPLES. The ex-pirates that happen to return home, learning a little of the politics if they are not politicians themselves, spread the news back home inciting others (including the very fucking understandably furious vulpimancers) to potentially engage in interplanetary and intergalactic politics of their own, especially vulpimancers who are tired of others - which includes the vulpinic tortugans who have been the most vocal not necessarily by choice, mind - speaking over them.

The introduction of interplanetary and intergalactic communications, even if it is limited to visitations as the environment in Vulpin (especially with Junkfalls now present as an element worry about) makes setting up a communications array for the height required to transmit and receive signals rather difficult on a good day, let alone a day shared with very... opinionated communities, has allowed for the ability to access foreign language and common symbols that can help with interspecies relations. Or hinder them, if you teach a very well used universal 'fuck you' sign to a very understandably pissed vulpimancer forced to be treated like an animal deaf to all the words being spoken around them. The access to language also helps form the first technologies allowing for Vulpin languages to be added to translators. However, with a lot of the languages in the intergalactic community having their own writing system (with Vulpin languages not needing a writing system for the longest time), the previously unwritten Vulpin languages are given one by the vulpinic tortugans who use a carved variety of and Old Tortugan writing system and transliterate many of the sounds, especially vulpimancer languages as unlike Vulpin tortugan languages, the sounds did not already have close equivalents. Writing it planetside is often done with sheets of metal rather than wasting plant material, but intergalactically with sighted individuals it is written on the average data screen.

With it's basis in Old Tortugan, modern tortugan languages with the same root language such as Arburian languages, not only can tortugans begin to read Vulpin languages, but anyone who has knowledge on tortugan languages can engage with Vulpin languages more thoroughly than they were able to previously. Which considering they considered the vulpinic tortugans as the 'most' sapient of the Vulpin species despite them both speaking in what essentially amounts to growls and yamper, is quite significant of a development, even as it is functionally once again removing the voice of vulpimancers in favour of the tortugan voice. Sometimes vulpimancer politicians are willing to let that slide in favour of being understood, walking around with tortugan liasons who have the mouth structure in other to reciprocate more common intergalactic languages. Other vulpimancer politicians refuse to rely on their fellow Vulpin national to speak for them and instead insist on using some newly created translators fitted with their relevant Vulpinic language pack, speaking for themselves with a voice technically not theirs but one that they can assuredly say voices their own personal experiences.

On Vulpin, there is a growing community of junkers, a variety of members not exactly connected like the communities of vulpimancers and their own ideologies made up of tortugans and vulpimancers (often called weirdos mostly because of their more nontraditional tortugan-like behaviour and interests), who spend most of their time in the junkyards scrapping together all the tech tossed homeward bound into their lands to develop distinctly Vulpinic technology. Unlike the pirates - which if questioned, they'll say they 'heeded the warnings' from the pirates and elect not to fall into the same trap - Junkers often remain on ground zero and don't actively seek out revenge, not like they are suddenly so much kinder than the Junker Pirates, but rather they use their pretty fucking justified anger to fuel their projects and scavenger hunts; it's also not like they're push overs with hearts of gold either, especially since some a working on building pretty powerful machines that could be considered weapons, they WILL defend themselves and they have quite a bit of faith in their abilities. And remaining on the planet is quite the majority of the vulpimancer communities, and not just the xenophobic ones, as they have unlike the politically motivated interplanetary travelers they choose to remain in their home territories (or as close as they can if they are one of the displaced communities). They are the communities and countries that try to maintain the general political interactions between each other that had been present for a long time within their evolutionary history, which does mean they do not explicitly care about the interplanetary affairs beyond hoping that the Vulpin politicians can get them to stop using the planet as a dumping ground. They - unless otherwise stated in their individual political ideologies - do not care to pay much attention to the weirdo vulpimancers and the alien tortugan who are a very clear example of how no other alien is likely to decide to live on Vulpin willingly ever.

One of the first interplanetary organisations that Vulpin and it's peoples were introduced to were the Plumbers, and given that their first interaction was with the Junker Pirates and their very severe sentences, Vulpin and Vulpin officials stationed even in government bodies are rather typically ACAB (or I suppose APAB, All Plumbers are Bastards), and many of the politicians are moving to get legally defined rights not just for the recently reintroduced vulpinic tortugans but also the very hard to fight for, very tooth and nail political clambering, establishment of rights for vulpimancers as well. Regardless of how well the pirates are breaking out the members of their crew from the null void, getting the official rights to trial and thus the ability to call the illegitimate processing of vulpimancer pirates as a violation of a vulpimancer's sapient rights and thus hopeful (doubtfully) garner some consequences for the hasty arrest of the early pirates. Politicians were also attempting to get the rights for Vulpin into the legal 'ownership' of the people of Vulpin, specifically recognising the vulpimancers as the original custodians of the land and respecting the national land of the vulpinic totugans that have evolved to live on Vulpin, but in order to do so they would need to actively find the current root owner of Vulpin within the United Tortugan Market. As much as the pirates and all those resentful of the intergalactic governments and the UTM would have liked to tear at the throats of the trade colony, the Vulpin representatives are in a tentative situation trying to prove not only the species' sapience, securing the rights in which that is allotted with, but also that the peoples are of... sound sociability in order to gain any semblance of recognition of being even a national people.

It is with the arrival of the tick on Arburia that presented an... ample opportunity to try and... convince the United Tortugan Market of that 'sound sociability' and potentially... a bargaining chip to their own planet's ownership. As much as the potential of damning an entire planet to suffer in ways similar to how they have suffered was very appealing, it would have been significantly detrimental to the work the politicians and the future of Vulpin against the tide of Junkfalls if they left the innocents of Arburia to die or to in fact use them as hostages to outweigh the biases to give them their legal ownership. Instead, at the begging of Vulpin representatives - with the help of the onboard communications of Junker Ships and the pirates that drove them - the members and species of Vulpin gambled on kindness and sought to rescue and save the arburian pelarota and their families like the early vulpimancers once did with the early tortugan settlers, ships lined full of fleeing families even as the government heads of the UTM began to panic upon seeing the pirate ships, especially when infamous crews and ships began to be sighted. Arburian pelarota's, being exposed in their time of need to the act of kindness from both vulpinic tortugans (which they believed to be more violent cousins) AND vulpimancers (where they had been wrongly informed where simple trained animals) had allowed them to understand their mutual sapience, regardless of the roughened and angry exterior of the peoples of Vulpin in addition to their nature as pirates. Fully willing to deliver the inhabitants of Arburia (which, they were not the only ship fleet, but they were the ones willing to keep searching even as the planet was in it's death marches) onto solid ground within the UTM colonies, they seek to enter the atmosphere of any of the requested planets. Hesitantly, not willing to let pirates into their planets, it was at the behest of their Aburian inhabitants that they allow the Junker Ships entry. It is with the evacuation of Arburia that Vulpin gained it's first ally.

It does not mean they suddenly have all the goals they have set out to do, but it means there is someone who is not themselves who have a ball in their court.

[zoebelladona]

gonna be rewatching bbc hdm to remind myself what a good tv book adaptation looks like

[prosebushpatch]

Love the feeling of going back to a draft after a legit year and laughing out loud at shenanigans you forgot writing.

[humanmorph]

hey are you okay? you posted 'life is just too long...' eunyung again : (

[hellsbellssinclub]

I am tossing up if I write out this new AU in full and then post it or if I post chapter by chapter.

Pros to writing out in full:

Regular chapter updating once finished

Not worrying or guilt feeling that I have not updated story

No forgetting plot and not knowing how to write the rest of the story

(a problem i have with some of my older fics D:)

Dedicating time to one story without getting upset that this chapter or that chapter didnt get enough precieved attention

A finished story! one to share with everyone in full!

Pros to posting chapter by chapter:

Getting to share the story with others as I write

feedback from comments

I am an attention whore and like to see kudos and comments as I work

I might loose interest writing out the story long

-

Either way, I am 2k into a new AU that I know I have a start middle and end for, even without proper plan. (there is plan for this story but it mostly comes in vibes and spotify playlists and day dreams but it is there!)

I am going to write out a couple of chapters and see how I go I think for now.

(if you wanna hear about the AU please come and shout at me in my ask box I like to scream)

[silvernatural26]

I FINALLY WATCHED MP100 SEASON 3

[miley1442111]

thank god for dr. spencer reid

a/n: this was written with a fem!reader in mind but imagine what you want, reader has a period (same girl) :) spencer us such a cutie in this :)))))))

summary: your shitty family is in town and spencer is away, what will you do?

pairing: spencerreid x reader

warnings: heavy family issues, mentions of stress and sickness, very brief mention of abuse (litch not talked about just referenced dw), kinda cursing (just realised i've never warned this before... opps) and i might've missed some!

My eyes are glued to the screen with a perpetual frown playing on my lips. It’s hard to try to care about my job when I have this looming feeling of dread hanging over me like a cloud. Spencer has been MIA for days now. He left in a hurry on Monday night for a case. It’s Saturday now and he hasn’t been responding to my calls. On top of that, I have dinner with my mother and father. Both of them make it abundantly clear that they’re disappointed in my career choice, which is ridiculous because I’m a lawyer. Not the right kind of lawyer they constantly say. I’m an environmental lawyer and I make good money. The only way to satiate their insufferable whining is with Spencer. They love him. They probably love him more than me at this point. Alas, I will just have to deal with them alone tonight. And today has already been one hell of a day. First, Morgan called me,asking where Spencer was, telling me that they finished and that they should be home soon. He had not come home yet. Secondly, I feel like shit, an allergic reaction, my period and some random nausea all add up to making me feel itchy, gross, and practically vile all over. Thirdly, a huge pimple has decided to pop up on my face and  just know my mother will comment on it. My mother is one of those women who look effortlessly put-together 24/7. I am not one of those women. She does not like women who don’t look effortlessly put together. Aka, she barely tolerates me. 

I sigh and close my laptop screen, unable to reread the same few sentences again and again, hoping that they would get into my brain. I’m defending a client, one of my firm's biggest clients, in court next week. They were accused of illegal dumping (dumping they did not commit) and now they’re being sued for 2 million dollars. I slump out of my desk chair and out of my home office, locking it behind me for the weekend ahead. If I have court next week and Spencer is coming home after a difficult case, then we’ll need a day or rest and relaxation together. That is, if he even bothers to come home. I busy myself with getting ready and try to push those thoughts out of my head. 

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The last hour of my life has been 60 minutes of absolute misery. Why did I ever accept this invite? My mother excuses herself to the bathroom and my father excuses himself for a cigarette, I nod along. Then it hits me… my dad doesn’t smoke anymore. I stare at the door and before I can stop myself my face contorts into a frown once again. Amelia, my sister. The sister that I haven't seen in years. The sister that bullied and abused me throughout our teenage years. Fuck. 

“Amelia?” I question, looking at the blonde woman who looks… different. She’s obviously older than I remember, and a bit more… I don’t know how to put it. Her blonde hair surpasses her waist and she seems to be pregnant? Her blue eyes seem dull and lack a certain vividness they used to sparkle with. She’s the typical peaking in high-school mean girl who became a nurse girl. I honestly can’t believe I used to look up to her. 

“It’s so good to see you!” She smiles, one of her fake-bitchy smiles and I grimace as she tries to hug me. “I just wanted to know how you’re doing, especially with the baby on the way, I’ll need all the help I can get!”

My heart drops. “Oh!” Is all I can manage. She sits in the seat beside me and I instinctively move further away. Just as I think this stupid dinner can’t get any worse, her pervy fiancé, Johnny, walks in.

“No Spencer?” He smirks. “What? Did you two break up? He was always too vanilla for you, you need a real man-” 

“No, sorry. I was just late. I had to come straight from the jet,” Spencer smiles from behind him. My parents' eyes light up, as Amelia and Johnny’s faces fall. I smile appreciatively at him as he hands the flowers he brought over to my parents and sits beside me, a comforting hand on my thigh. 

“How’s work, Spencer?” My father asks, his undivided attention on Spencer.

“It’s good, strenuous but good. Our cases recently haven’t been too difficult- though there was one that had a puzzle I thought you might enjoy…”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I walk inside our house behind him, a million thoughts at once flowing through my head. We walk to the kitchen, he sits me down and takes off my shoes for me, a true gentleman. 

He presses a kiss to my cheek and smiles. “You look beautiful.”

I just nod back, a small smile on my lips. 

“Is everything alright?” He asks, turning to me, his hands resting on my waist. 

“Fine,” I tiredly smile. “Just… you know, it’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

“You know, saying that makes me worry more, right?:” He smiles softly, though we both know he’s serious. 

“I just… I can’t believe she just showed up, like 7 years  of not seeing her and she just shows up? Like it’s casual? And then asks for our help with her baby? Like she did nothing to me? Like she-” I stop myself, determined not to cry right now. 

“Angel, it’s ok, let it out,” he soothes, a hand on my back, rubbing comforting circles. 

“I don’t want to cry though, they’re not worth crying over.”

“Then how about we get ready for bed, yeah angel?” He offers, a tired look in his eyes. I nod and press a soft to his perfect lips. He smiles against my mouth, his hands finding the sides of my face. I run a hand through his hair. He pulls away softly, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” I smile. “Thank you for coming, my knight in shining armour.” 

“I enjoyed it. Watching your father fail to solve a simple puzzle was amusing.” He smirks, a mischievous glint in his eye as I roll my eyes. 

“We’re not all geniuses,” I remind him. 

“You are.”

“And how am I a genius?” I chuckle.

“You’re dating me, you clearly have superior taste and intelligence,” he says matter-of-factly. I gigle at his antics and kiss him again. He pulls away and grabs my hand, leading me into our room. We both opt out of brushing our teeth and washing our faces, a makeup wipe sufficing for removing my makeup. He pulls me into bed with him, and finally, after a long week, I finally lie down in bed with him, his arms around me in a bear-hug of sorts. This is heaven. He’s my knight in shining armour. Thank God for Dr. Spencer Reid. 

[lawsbbygirl]

LAWLULAW FIC RECS PART 2

Link to part 1: here I finally got around to making a part two. I've read many fics since, and down below I'll link some of my favorites. There's a massive amount of incredibly talented writers in this fandom, and every day I feel so grateful to be a part of it, so please, don't take my recs as gospel, and look for fics yourself too. There are many amazing works that I've definitely missed adding, or that I haven't even read yet. I trust you all to shower the authors in kudos and positive comments! As a side note, I also write fics for this ship, so if you want to read my works, you can do that here!

Completed works:

Sating Hunger by xairylle 5,336 words, M "At the end of the day, even with all the major blunders that almost cost him his life, Law decided that this alliance had been worth it. Until he fucked it up by not being able to hold himself back from kissing Monkey D. Luffy." i will follow you into the dark by koudai 14,822 words, T "In the aftermath of Luffy’s and Blackbeard’s fight at Laugh Tale, Law dies as he performs the Perennial Youth Operation, to save Luffy’s life.

we've got blood and honey (getting high and getting some) by Trashgalore 11,158 words, E LawLu. Wound fucking, blood play, masochism... need I say more? Absolutely delicious. Easy Come, Easy Go by traszka 3,312 words, Gen "So, not-ally," Straw Hat strikes up again, "are you gonna kiss me, or what?" i’m a saint living in sin by corasonrie 4,340 words, M Human!Law, vampire!Luffy. Beautiful prose in this one.

Broken Hearts by Dragon_Falls 33,943 words, M Canon spoilers. "After retreating from Blackbeard, Bepo takes Law to the Thousand Sunny for help. Law is so broken that he doesn't even realize that the virus from the battle has returned. He now has to deal with his grief and a new body that he hates." Here Cums Peter Cottontail by Alte 13,802 words, E LuLaw. Ridiculously horny encounter between bunny hybrid Law and a hungry Luffy. Read the tags! Ice Ice Baby by killyhawk 9,265 words, E Hockey AU of my dreams. Fireflies by Martilla 63,531 words, E LuLaw. Old man yaoi AU. Absolutely adore this one. on every candle (i wish for you) by Minniaa 6,941 words, E LawLu. Luffy makes Law's birthday a million times better. So hot! Fog by Oh_Whoa 9,244 words, E LawLu. "Zoology professor Law hitches a ride on the Thousand Sunny." This one is so effortlessly hilarious and delicious. Obsessed with it! hanabi by quackquackcey 4,840 words, E LuLaw. "A lazy sunset at the beach, a stroll through the summer festival, a dash amidst hanabi—their feelings finally connect." Beautifully written omegaverse. Pirates Don't Have Love Stories by Kyrathel 19,617 words, E LawLu. Mpreg. "Luffy gathers a crew and battles with his gender identity." I love this fic so much and have reread it several times. Read the tags! We Should Get Rid of our Innocence Together by vomsa 44,109 words, E Switch. This one is such a fun story of our boys losing their virginities to each other. Humor, delicious smut, and just a great read! ᚴᚱᚢᛘᛘᛁ by MisuAnonimasu 10,589 words, E LawLu. Viking!AU of my dreams! The whole series is a fantastic read. like sunshine and marigolds by fallflowers 42,182 words, E LawLu. The perfect childhood friends to lovers fic. you're not just a human being (you are art) by orphan_account 3,127 words, E LuLaw. Law grows his hair out and Luffy has a crisis. So cute! The Doctor is Snowed In by Anonymous 35,867 words, E LawLu. "Wherein Luffy learns a little more about his anatomy and tests the patience and bond of his newly formed alliance while stuck in a cave on Punk Hazard." I love this fic SO much. and we'll have a spring wedding by Killyhawk 4,895 words, M "A 40-year-old Luffy appears on the Thousand Sunny with unexpected news." AMAZING READ. One of my faves for sure. Logistics by ST_Osmanthus 4,241 words, E LawLu. "The alliance succeeded. The mission is over. It’s time to go." This one is so fun! A Good Man Is Hard To Find by Masked Deuce 29,566, E DEAD DOVE: DO NOT EAT. Serial killer!Law and cannibal!Luffy. Read the tags. Love this one so much. Tea'sing All The Way Through by Camafeu 274,600 words, E Modern AU. One of those fics that left a mark on me. It made me cry, laugh, scream, and I'll never forget it EVER. Definitely in my top five of all time. Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response by DidntThinkofAName 9,302 words, E LawLu. "Luffy sees Nami fiddling with a pair of tiny transponder snails and begs her to let him try them out. Things get out of hand.

Or, the one where Law does ASMR." I'm so obsessed with this fic, I could read it a thousand times. I shine only with the light you gave me by bokkuroo 5,766 words, E LawLu. God of Death Law and God of the Sun Luffy. Very sweet and spicy. Treats by Rainy_atw 6,124 words, E LawLu. "Luffy gets golden-retrieverd." This is so fun and hot, OBSESSED.

Ongoing works:

After the Fall by Minniaa 4/? chapters, E LuLaw. Beautiful AU based on the Icarus myth. Sun King by Newmoondust 1/? chapters, E Roman empire AU where Luffy is a gladiator, and Law is a priest. Gorgeously written and I'm so invested only one chapter in! a scripted empathy by lances 2/8 chapters, E Law is a serial killer and Luffy is an underground fighter, but that's not enough to explain how riveting this fic is. Unique and captivating! Hold My Heart, it's Beating for You Anyway by 7raffy_law 5/? chapters, E LawLu. My absolute favorite vampire fic. Beautifully written with an engrossing plot, and fantastic characterization. shadow rises (and you are here) by shishiswordsman 8/11 chapters, E This author is one of my absolute favorites, and this fic makes you feel despair, sorrow, pain, but also flickers of hope masterfully weaved inbetween. The angst is spectacular, and the bond between Law and Luffy and how it's written takes my breath away. Of fans and filmstars by N_Moonbreeze 6/? chapters, E Switch. Pornstar!AU that hits the spot. Love this author's writing style and this fic in particular has me in a chokehold.

Don't Assume by Kyrathel 14/? chapters, E LuLaw. Fem!Law. This fic is so much fun to read, with delicious smut as well. "Luffy meets Law online playing a game. He isn't really what he thought she was..." Curiosity Killed The Cat... But The Hot Wolf Doctor Brought Him Back by vomsa 15/? chapters, E Such a fun and yummy omegaverse fic. Absolutely adore it!

[azulbestpeacock]

THANK YOU FOR THE TAG MY LOVE

1. three ships: also max brinly/laura kearney, yui hirasawa/azusa nakano, komi shouko/tadano hitohito

2. first ever ship: probably either pinkie pie/cheese sandwich or discord/fluttershy

3. last song: shinkiro by houshou marine and gawr gura

4. last film: puppy love

5. currently reading: the new jim crow: mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness by michelle alexander

6. currently watching: komi-san can't communicate

7. currently consuming: mountain dew voodew zero sugar

8. currently craving: dairy queen frosted sugar cookie blizzard

tag nine ppl - @xxgh0stxt33thxx @princehugo @moodlevoodle @agodsdamnednerd @clowncrumbs @bimyheel @the-magicalpotato @victorian-lad @infinitemacaroni

9 ppl to get to know better

aaaa okay thank you @cloudycaffeinatedcryptid for the tag 💜💜 I haven't done a tag game in A While so I kinda forgot they were still around lmao

1. three ships: max brinly/laura kearney, natsuki subaru/emilia, and akane kurashiki/junpei tenmyouji/carlos (for vastly different reasons than the other two), and now that I'm typing that gotta say I'm noticing a bit of a Theme there

2. first ever ship: I think it genuinely might have been danny fenton and sam manson from danny phantom

3. last song: idol by yoasobi. no I have not watched oshi no ko it's just a banger

4. last film: the fnaf movie 😔

5. currently reading: uhhh beyond The Fanfics I've been trying to reread the importance of being earnest. Emphasis on trying because I always find something else to do

6. currently watching: aimsey playing little nightmares <3<3 LN you will always be famous

7. currently consuming: nothing

8. currently craving: curry istg it's always curry

tag nine ppl - (sorry in advance if anyone doesn't want to 👍)

@sethopophobia @khattikeri @raspberrycherry @newra181 @ihateyukanda @daisysmartheart @having-a-harp-time @blu-roux @azulbestpeacock

[wickerfemme]

1. Current read, or last thing you read?

2. Most outgrown article of clothing you still wear?

3. A fun activity you're looking forward to doing soon?

1: I'm in a big "rereading" phase right now, because I'm trying to carve out more time for reading but also my anxiety etc. have been through the roof lately and making it hard to tackle new stuff (even though I'd like to move on!). Last fiction I read was Christopher Priest's The Prestige.

2. Probably this tanktop:

(which, to be honest, I haven't put on since probably last May, so who knows if I can still count it as something I "still wear". We're fast approaching that "what of last year's summer wardobe still fits me" season)

3. I don't know if this really counts as fun, but I have an appointment for a long-overdue haircut next weekend that I'm very excited for.

[xjulixred45x]

Yandere! Demon King! Rin Okumura x reader

BIG SPOILERS FROM THE MANGA!!! DONT READ THIS IF YOURE NOT UPDATE!!

Keep reading under Your own risk!!

Now, a little background because this idea came to my head when I was rereading the manga for the third season of Blue Exorcist.

Remember the alternate reality if the Maga had leaked and many of the protagonists had died? When we have the two-year Time Skip, Rin is something like a terrorist on the side of the demons(along with other Things, but this is the Main Focus).

Can you imagine what it would be like to have this Rin as a Yandere?

Obviously he's not as harmless or innocent as the canon one, not at all, if he can already kill humans without blinking on a normal day, being a Yandere for someone definitely triggers all these aggressive impulses TO THE MAX.

I like to think that the object of this Rin's obsession/adoration would probably be his partner before the whole Maga incident happened, and that he just started to develop yandere tendencies as an early response to the trauma.

reader in this case really didn't see anything wrong with this precisely because they was also traumatized by the incident (and potentially orphaned, like many, so Rin is the ONLY person they have left. Codependency).

although I don't rule out the possibility that Rin could become obsessed with someone after the Maga incident!

I see more likely an obsession with someone or 1- that is very innocent and correct, just wanting to isolate them from the world and protect them from the Cross. or 2- someone very competent and who has morals clearly contrary to the cross, precisely because they would understand each other better in this universe.

although it doesn't matter how Rin meets his partner, he is definitely much more brutal when it comes to protecting them 💀 you already saw what he did to the girl of the Cross (Michael), if someone tried to do something to his partner he would definitely set them on fire. or decapitate them. whatever comes first through his mind.

he is VERY overprotective, probably reader is isolated in some hideout that Rin has out of the reach of the Order, and they are constantly guarded by demons, so escaping is a big NO NO.

If by chance, reader, managed to get out of hiding, I highly doubt they would get far, Rin would find them with the giant snake and take them back to the hiding place.

Ironically, the little demons can be both allies and enemies. Some are mischievous and like to play matchmaker between Reader and Rin (tangling them together, pushing them into hugs) and others genuinely don't think much of what they do.

Rin can control them to take care of Reader when he's not around, doing things like bringing them comics to entertain themself, bringing them food, even acting like house cats and asking for cuddles.

There are demons that even show favoritism towards Reader and have helped them out of hiding several times (sometimes the other demons have given them away, sometimes they haven't).

...but at this point it's just to get some fresh air. Even waiting for Rin to arrive on the porch.

The first time it happened, Rin was pretty freaked out. Then he cried with happiness and hugged Reader for an hour.

Unlike the original Rin, Demon King Rin is not as delusional and is much more aware of the situation and how bad it is, he falls more into the category of a repentant yandere but who would not let go of his obsession. He simply cannot risk it. He has lost so much already. Let him have this.

Despite everything, he treats his partner very well! He constantly brings them gifts, he cooks for them himself (he even remembers how to cook thanks to them), and from time to time they even read books/manga together!!

It is one of the few moments where he does not have to remember the kind of world they live in, and in what situation it all started.

(This Rin would definitely be more than capable of causing a Blue Night if his partner is taken away from him, do not try it).

I don't think Rin (not even this one) is capable of hurting his partner, but he's definitely more than capable of scaring them, whether it's coming home with blood on his clothes or even taking them on one of his escapades. It's not nice to hear him burn people alive.

DK! Rin has a lot of nightmares, so maybe the only thing he really forces his partner to do (aside from living and hiding with him) is sleeping in the same bed. It's almost...sad. Listening to him talk to people in his dreams and wake up crying.

Ironically he's a lot calmer when he and reader are in fields or abandoned places, he can even be convinced to get the demons out of the area and play with them.

And they probably do this quite often, when everything is too much, or when Rin finds someone from the past in the city. He NEEDS this. A moment of disconnection and comfort. A moment of tranquility...and love.

seeing the reader smile and play, having fun, smiling at him... is enough.

If you make slimes with your eyes . It is eerily domestic...

Shares, reblogs and comments are very welcome!

@trancylovecraft i think You might like this 👀

[bansheeoftheforest]

Still refusing to reread PJO/TKC but it is still infesting my brain so woe crossover au be upon yall

Au where Anubis casually gets assigned to be Bianca's and Nico's older brother, anyone?

(messy points below, mostly from Anubis' pov coz he is my pookie, and keep an eye out in the reblogs section for add-ons/updates!)

Like, once the other Egyptian gods start dropping like flies because the magicians are imprisoning them, assuming they may also go after Anubis, he turns to Hades as a very very very last resort because, well, he would like to not be imprisoned for all eternity, thank you very much. Hades agrees on the condition that Anubis looks after his demigods, since he otherwise really isn't to any use of him, which Anubis accepts. So, Anubis is basically the Hades/Pluto demigods' divine babysitter in exchange for some protection from the magicians who may or may not also want to imprison him.

I shall say that this either works bc A) Hades kids radiate enough death so that he can be around them without a host or B) it is all just bureaucracy so when the rest of the Egyptian gods are gone those rules simply do not really apply.

Anyways, once the Big Three ProphecyTM rolls around and Maria Di Angelo kicks the bucket, Anubis is left in charge of making sure the Di Angelo siblings survive, taking them to and staying with them at the Lotus Casino and the different schools that Hades moves them around to, either as their "older brother"/guardian or as their pet dog that the authorities simply don't bat an eye at.

The siblings, with their memories absolutely fucked up, simply accepts that they either have a brother, a dog, an older brother who is occasionally a dog, or a dog that only conveniently shows up when their brother isn't there and vice versa.

And since I haven't read any RR books since I was 12 and I never read the HOO series, I can't really talk much about the logistics from here on out but. I have some thoughts in general.

Anubis makes sure that he takes the majority of the responsibilities, so that Bianca can be a little more happy and a little less stressed than she would have been if she was alone looking after her little brother.

He also happily distracts Nico when Bianca needs a break, he can genuinely listen to Nico ramble about whatever for hours, remembers it quite well and can return the conversation, which Bianca rarely has energy for.

(He was the exact same when he was young and wants to make sure Nico has someone that listens to him)

Genuinely cannot rest until he makes sure the siblings are fine and safe, which becomes a bit of a problem when Bianca goes on her first and last quest, and even more of a problem when he is more stuck in the Brooklyn House and he has to keep contacting Nico before he allows himself or Walt to rest as a result of that.

He is so so so so SO protective of the siblings. He is absolutely ready to die or kill for them. He is not a fighter, more often than not a pacifist, but when it comes to them he is the first to throw hands.

Also him absolutely being ready to kill the demigods that find the siblings at the military school coz he is so used to the "any demigod or magician is here to kill one of us and I have to protect them at all costs" mode that he has been kinda stuck in for the last 70 or so years, minimum.

He is merely an older sibling running on the equivalent of 3 hours of sleep and 2 strong coffees, which really doesn't help the situation once shit starts going down in Brooklyn/the Egyptian pantheon.

Speaking of the Brooklyn House. After being a Divine BabysitterTM for like 2000 years he genuinely cannot get rid of those base instincts, which ends up with him fussing over the Kanes/Walt/Zia and the rest of the initiates because those are CHILDREN and they need to REST and be SAFE and EAT PROPERLY and TAKE YOUR DAMN VITAMINES, WALT.

Because of those 2000 years of babysitting, Anubis is genuinely amazing with kids. You'd think they'd be scared by him, but no. He is the first one they run to when they scraped their knee and need a band aid and a hug.

He also 100% stares right into Percy's and Will's souls the moment he finds out Nico has/had crushes on them. Despite being raised in an entirely different time he definitely is a "no dating until you are at least 25 otherwise I might have a heart attack" sibling and he is not letting some random demigod break his lil brother's heart. He accepts Will well enough though coz he makes Nico laugh which in the end is the most important thing.

Will might actually be more intimidated by Anubis than Hades but that doesn't stop him. Nico is his babygirl and he knows Anubis is (probably) more bark than bite (most of the time).

No matter if Hades allows him to like. stop being a babysitter once the gods are restored and Ma'at is balanced and all, Anubis still sticks around and checks in on Nico (and eventually Hazel). He gets antsy if he hasn't heard from them at least once a day.

He probably has a good base relationship with Jason and Reyna (bc both are protective older siblings when it comes to Nico) but he keeps Percy at a distance ever since Bianca's death (not that he blames him). But he isn't particularly close to any of them, as his priorities lay with Nico, Hazel, and the Brooklyn House.

Assuming Anubis doesn't like. Introduce himself to the greeks as "Anubis" and instead says he is someone else, I have absolutely no idea when or if he would ever tell any of the greek demigods what he truly is. But I suppose Nico would eventually find out that his older brother actually isn't related to him at all, or even from the greek pantheon, and instead only happened to become his older brother as a favour to Hades. Depending on how he finds out he definitely could get upset but I like to believe he sorta figures eventually, and is just happy Anubis genuinely cares for him.

I also like to think that the greek gods they meet when the demigods take the siblings from the school to camp half-blood, just gives Anubis A LookTM. Either they are fully aware he is protecting the Hades kids or they think an Egyptian god is just casually hanging out with some random demigods. Which must certainly be a sight to behold.

Can yall for a moment imagine being the Kane siblings, trying to get the feather of truth from the god of death to avoid the impending apocalypse, who then says "sorry I am mostly on babysitting duty so I can't really help yall more than this, good luck tho."

Walt who meets Nico and is so conflicted because in one way he is slightly weirded out by this tiny depressed gremlin, but in another way the Anubis PartTM of him is just going "protect protect protect protect", which is a weird first impression.

One of the Kane siblings would be interested in Mythomagic, I just know it. Either Sadie coz it is funky or Carter bc it is nerdy. Either way, Nico has at least one Kane to bond with bc of it.

Nico just has the ultimate diplomatic immunity because he can go between Camp Half-blood, Camp Jupiter, and the Brooklyn House basically as he pleases.

On a completely different topic, the majority of Nico's wardrobe is just shit he has stolen from Anubis, he just lets it happen, in part because it is not like he as a god has a limited wardrobe, and in part bc Nico is absolutely adorable when he drowns in Anubis' jackets bc they are too big for him.

Also, Anubis helping Nico train his death magic, and teaching him the easiest ways to build endurance while using it.

Frankly the thought of the rest of the gods being banished, imprisoned, in exile or attempting to free themselves while Anubis is playing babysitter is very funny to me in general. Imagine being Isis or Osiris and attempting to ask your nephew/son what he did during the 2000 years yall were imprisoned and he goes "I took a side job as a babysitter to pay the bills".

Honestly I might reblog this with more thoughts eventually. They are all just so pookie.

[violetwhisperswolfstar]

The Evolution Of A Wolfstar Girlie

(with my fic recommendations)

me aged 10-23: there will never be a book I like more than Harry Potter. I love books and read all the time but Harry Potter is above anything. Reread HP everytime I am feeling down.

me aged 24-30: I lost the ability to read for pleasure. Just read to my kids and A LOT for work.

me at 31: *after a random tiktok video* Sirius and Remus were TOGETHER together?! Never even crossed my mind!!!

But... I get it.

But like... JKR didn't write it. Fanfic is just amateurs writing, right? I have enough of reading as is, I have to read for my job (I'm a translator).

But... They promised it's a HP experience. And I do have an eReader... It costs nothing to try it.

But... What the hell is ao3? What is smut??? Fluff??? HEA? MCD??? Cannon?? AU? Excuse me, is this English?!

The following then happend over 2 months time:

📖 Reading All the Young Dudes

OK, this is really very much like HP. I am getting hooked. This is ACTUALLY what happend, right? Like this is amazingly written. How is this not a real book? (What IS a real book and how do I not know this being a book translator?!) Are Sirius and Remus getting together in this one?

Oh my!

Actually, I've not been this obsessed with a book in like 10+ years.

Reading all through the night (with three kids, mind you, so a very stupid idea)

🎶Love this music!!! Have always loved rock, Queen, Beatles, Bowie, led Zeppelin… You name it. But this makes it better!!!

Finishing ATYD: OMG! OMG! I AM OBSESSED. They need to be together forever. I need to re-read it.

A SEX SCENE in Harry Potter?! EXCUSE YOU! Like… Didn't know I needed that. Thank you.

Of course they had teenage sex at that school. Yes to a giant snake killing people with its sight and no to some friendly petting? Yeah, sure, JKR! Be for real! Never thought about it like that before. And of course they had parties. And smoked (weed) and did drugs. Like… It's a boarding school for heaven's sake! this is much more realistic. Finally know what smut is and I am here for it.

I want a cigarette SO BAD right now (haven't smoked for YEARS)

googling specifics of gay sex because I never thought about it (and I live in a very conservative country) (and like I had QUESTIONS, excuse you, like can you just do butt stuff without prep?!)

finding 📖 explicit one-shots from ATYD

📖 Reading ATYD sirius's POV:

This is ALSO good. So... fanfics on the internet can just... be amazing, right? How has this existed for years and I did not know about it?? Sirius is obsessed LOL. He fell first and he fell harder, the poor boy.

My husband is SO MUCH like Remus. (personality-wise). Guess I know my type, lol.

These fanfics are written better than majority of books I've read. I'm utterly amazed.

📖 Reading Out of the Blue and Bootleg Tapes:

OK, I needed some healing. Happy for Grant and all. But I need wolfstar more.

📖 We could be heroes (finding out what a "fix-it fic" is)

Yes! Wolfstar endgame! A happy ending! Yes!!

Intrusive thoughts: Is ATYD wolfstar like… toxic?

Are they ever happy?

Don't go there, brain!!

Trying to heal with 📖Manacled, then DMATMOOBIL.

Like Dramione. But wolfstar is far superior.

Also have to note that Draco is amazing in bed.

Not a sentence I've ever thought I utter or think. Ever.

Finding 📖 Cadence Of Part-time Poets

sceptical.

How can muggle AU be good? Don't I like all this because of the magic?

Reading it, re-reading it.

Buying an e-cigarette (cause I have to DEAL ffuck's sake and they smoke in like every second scene and ecigarrete is the least of all evil)

Obsessing.

Cannot get enough.

Best. Thing. Ever. Written.

Somehow more magic than magic U.

DOES REGULUS LIKE JAMES?

Seeing the possibilities of Jegulus (is everyone gay in the end? Excuse me, Am I GAY at this point ?)

THE MUSIC OMG THE MUSIC IS MUSICING!!! I am in love with the music! How are Marauders not a band in cannon?! Like that's obviously what they were always supposed to be! Lottie, Simon, Tonya, Tomny… They ARE cannon for me lol. They were there and you cannot convince me otherwise.

Cannot read more, afraid I will lose this Cadence feeling. Just re-reading the best scenes over and over. Stalking motswolo's tumblr. Consuming all there is about Cadence out there. Trying to talk to people about it but noone reads fanfics here!

Can we like start a gofund me for them to get therapy??? I want to see them diagnosed, aware of their traumas and forever together.

Also, why is Remadora a thing? Thank god it wasn't in Cadence (yet) but sometimes i remember it exists and like… vomit internally. Gosh, I rly hate JKR. She just did it to discourage Wolfstar.

getting to read 📖 Black Mass Over Highway 90:

Very sceptical at first.

It's American… and Marauders are essentially English. Remus somewhere in Texas… of all places? Afraid this won't be my cup of tea... Cowboy Remus?! wtf

OMG.

OMG.

This scene basically porn… right? Why do I LOVE THIS?!

Remus is DADDY! Officer Moons!!! He can get it. Like omg. Cowboy Lupin FTW!!

THIS IS the SMUT, RIGHT?! Like do I even want to watch porn at this point? How am I - a cis female in a hetero relationship of 14 years with 3 kids - finding this SO HOT?!

📖 Reading Blends

Also very sceptical.

But... it's so sweet! Is this fluff? Am I discovering fluffy fics? Now, this is comfort reading! Coffe-shop AU? Like, this is where I want to die, my friends! This is so sweet, so incredibly sweet, and I DO NOT miss Voldy and his stupid war one bit, like to hell with him, he can order an Americano and Remus will decaf him at this point!

I am in LOVE!

📖 Reading Names (Blends sequel) because can you do anything else at this point?

Now this is... a whole other thing. It is fluffy, yes. But it goes deeper. And... wider somehow?

It's the first WIP I give a chance.

Cluster headaches are an AMAZING parallel to lycantrophy.

HOW exactly are people this talented just out there publishing fanfics?!

And this "slice of life" thing IS doing it for me. Like really.

📖 Reading Crimson Rivers

Is there anything else besides angst in this?

Wait, James likes... Regulus?!

discovering Jegulus -

wow. I am utterly amazed... cannot put this down at any point of the day. Reading while breastfeeding, reading all through the night. Reading all through the day. Learning how to read and braid my hair at the same time.

I keep thinking - why DO I love gay man/boys stories? How did it come to this? How is this FREE? How do I GIVE BACK to these AMAZING authors that are just doing incredible things for me? Like this is everything I've ever wanted from a book... and they're not even getting paid for this?!

📖 Reading a bunch of short fics inbetween (honorable mentions: Like Real People Do, That's the Art of Getting by, Led by Light of a Star Sweetly Gleaming, Pages of You - discovering Drarry, thinking Drarry is less angst because there's less homophobia in the 90s,

📖 Reading Only the Brave

OK, it's Jegulus, let's give it a chance...

OMG

OMG

OMG

I feel like ever since getting into this fandom, I'm just falling and falling and falling. Falling... In love.

This is so good, you guys. I love JEGULUS!

But as long as WOLFSTAR are together, I can deal (took them half a fic to get together, so please don't do anything stupid!)

I. CANNOT. STOP. READING. WOLFSTAR.

In every universe.

Wolfstar & fanfic taught me not to have any prejudice. And I also discovered that I was quite prejudiced without being aware of it!

I can read anything with those two... just don't break my heart and just let them be together.

Wolfstar made me read again and actually enjoy it. It's been several thousands of pages in a couple of months and I don't regret the lack of sleep…

They are soulmates. In every universe. I don't know what this fetish is called but I need them to be together, see them together, read them together. Love them both. Just need them to be happy.

I am completely amazed at the sheer power the internet has, that an online community has. This is my new obsession and I am utterly devoted to it. It taught me and gave me SO MUCH. I will forever be learning how to give anything back.

Thank you.

[queenburd]

The use of color in The Stanley Parable: HD and Ultra Deluxe (with honorable mentions to the Demo)

dedicated to @squuote who needs more TSP analysis to rotate

A little over a year ago, I (only somewhat jokingly) lay out the argument that while The Stanley Parable is notorious in its use of yellow, the color yellow is not actually associated to the Narrator. The color most associated with him, I argued, was red. [1, 2]

I've had plenty of thoughts regarding color and TSP in the interim and I want to go over those thoughts today in as much depth as I can manage. You know, for fun. None of this is to argue about creator intent, but it's a fun way to stretch the critical thinking and literary analysis portions of my brain. It's also super cool if you don't agree with my readings, since the point is to get you thinking about these things and studying them to interpret for yourself.

Anyway let's gooooooo

(note: all images are embedded with a link to the source page I pulled them from. For those on mobile, be careful with your scrolling and tapping!)

Yellow

Okay let's start with the “obvious” one. Yellow is seen as one of the main colors in the game, it's the color of the main office and the primary assets associated with the Parable. We see yellow PRIMARILY in the beginning of the office, before the two doors room. It lines the cubicles and the walls are often interpreted as yellow (eh, they're more of an off-white. They're actually absorbing color from the brown-yellow carpet, and they do the same in the lounge).

It's the color of the Line(TM), it's the color of the cargo lift in the warehouse, and, most strikingly, it's the color of the SKIP Button.

We'll get to you.

Okay, so yellow is a color with conflicting interpretations, which is par for the course for all of them, we're not going TOO insane on color theory and color psychology we will be here ALL DAY and I was an ART student. So let's just look at the most basic reading. Bright, oversaturated yellow is a color that can exhaust the eyes easily. It grabs our attention like a highlighter and burns our retinas.

It can be a color of excitement, but it can also be a color of sickness. I've been thinking about the short story The Yellow Wallpaper the past couple days. Or maybe I've been thinking about it for longer. It's just that I haven't reread it in actual years, but every time I saw someone talk about the wallpaper in TSP, I thought about the story. Here's some passing thoughts on the short story in comparison to TSP. [3]

Sickness, and madness, and beginnings, and infinity. In the end, yellow, to me, is the color of the Parable grabbing the player (and by extension the Narrator) by the nose and saying “let's get moving. We have a story to play. Play the game, and keep playing.” Notable to me is how the SKIP button is almost scathingly yellow in contrast to the room it's in, and as the room gets darker the glow gets more foreboding. The Parable did this. The Narrator might think he made it, but he doesn't control it. Yellow isn't his color, and it never was.

Red

“Stanley walked through the RED. DOOR.”

The use of red in TSP is probably the most interesting and fun to analyze for me. It's used extremely intentionally and it's commonly associated with power, anger, and passion. We see red in the Boss's Office, in the Countdown ending, as the door to the Starry Dome, and a TON in the TSP2 Expo. There's red doors and signs in the Escape Pod Bay.

So I've joked that the color red is the Narrator's color, and while it's still a fun interpretation, it's not one I'm married to. I think it's more accurate to say red symbolizes control. The Zending Door is you letting him control the story. The Countdown screens are him taking control from you. And TSP2 is the Narrator trying to exert control over what the developers have made. It's a response to New Content and to the SKIP button. I have a million trillion thoughts about the TSP2 Expo but I won't get into them here.

Anyway, red feels very obviously to me associated with the Narrator trying to take control, or things only being possible when he has control. I'm thinking about the signs in the Escape Pod Bay telling you that it won't work without him. (I'm thinking about how the same door asset for the Zending is used in the Escape Pod Bay. No. shhh. Staying on topic.) So I don't have much more to say on the matter because I feel like I've tread this ground before. Red is about control, and it is held in direct contrast with blue.

Blue

Oh, blue. Soothing blue, sweet relaxing lounge and ocean paintings and boss's bathroom and blue door that leads to broken textures and an irritable Voice.

If red is the color of control, then blue is the color of rebellion. Small rebellion, sure. Rebellion that means nothing in the scheme of things. Blue is the stepping stone to bigger deviations from the path. I mean, the lounge is only the first step to the right, and you can still get on the “correct” path. The blue door you have to go through repeatedly, you have to make the choice multiple times, for it to lead to the Games ending. The boss's bathroom doesn't GO anywhere until after the epilogue. These are “rebellious choices” in a game where you don't really have a choice, and it's the closest you get to defiance.

I like to make it Stanley's favorite color for obvious reasons.

(Hey, fandom, why you keep associating it with the Curator? The only blue in the Museum is in a couple assets on display.)

Green

I gotta admit, while there's definitely something to green and its use in TSP, a clear meaning for it is eluding me, and I've been thinking about it on and off for a couple days now. It's a fairly infrequent color in TSP as a whole, but it does make an appearance. Besides being the color of plants (such as the ever important fern, the potted plants scattered through the office and the ones in the TSP2 expo, and of course the growth in the SKIP button room), it's also the wallpaper in the Demo, and the same wallpaper is used in the Boss's Office in the Real Person Ending. Thinking further, it also appears in the small room before the stage in the Press Conference Ending, and it's the color of the carpet in the HL2 Office that is found under the Games ending. (It was also brought up by my pal glitch that green is the color of the cursor on Stanley's screen, the first thing you see before gameplay begins. Good catch!)

Thinking about it, it's hard to find a throughline. There's something familiar about the green. Not necessarily safe, but it usually comes before something much bigger. Maybe this is a bit of a stretch, though. Let's say for now green is associated with the familiar in the face of the unfamiliar.

(There's possibly a thesis here about green being associated with gifts and surprises. The Narrator makes the Press Conference ending something that teases but also praises Stanley, the Green Room in the Demo is the space where the Demo is meant to be revealed to you, and that alternate Boss's Office is supposed to, in the Narrator's mind, be the first step to a wonderful story made just for you.)

White

Most people, when they think of white in The Stanley Parable, immediately think of the Museum. And they're right to! It's one of the most prominent environments that uses white. With that in mind, we can't forget the other places it appears, since it's best to keep everything in mind when trying to formulate a meaning for it.

So, other places where white is prominent: We have the out-of-bounds ending, and the Art ending (aka play that Baby game for four hours). We also have a massive part of the TSP2 expo.

Honestly, there is a lot of white in the rest of the office, but it tends to be absorbing the colors of the environment in ways that make it less noticeable. White's really good at that, which means the times where it's by itself as the outstanding color are outliers and feel intentional. So what do these things have in common?

Well, they kind of show the seams of the game? Take this with a grain of salt, but the Museum is designed to show you some of the design process for the game, effectively taking you out of the setting to give you a top-down perspective (hehe, literally in the case of the diorama of the office up to the two doors), and the out-of-bounds ending is a joke about breaking the map, falling out of the world , which can break immersion in other games. The TSP2 Expo is the Narrator showing off all the features for his sequel idea, giving a “sneak peek” of what will be included.

The Art ending doesn't fit with this thesis, but it does involve the... revelation, I suppose, of the “character” of the Essence of Divine Art. What I'm trying to get to is that white is a color of revelation and display.

Gray

Gray is not a color that tends to stand on its own merit in The Stanley Parable, and that in itself is intentional. Gray is used as a texture of “unfinished” things, things the Narrator doesn't want you to look closely at, and would prefer you move past Right Now Right This Second Please.

It's the walls of the Broom Closet, as well as the walls of the maintenance room. It's also the walls of the room right outside the Starry Dome—the hall that leads right to the stairs. (Honorable mention, @chirpbudgie brought up that the desks in the office are gray, which is also an implication of the way Stanley's coworkers seemed to disappear with work unfinished. There is a sense of “wrongness” in how they've all vanished. Nice eye, bud.)

You're not supposed to dwell in these places. Go back to the story, please!

Black

“Blackness, and a rising chill of uncertainty. Was it over?”

Last and least is black, less used as a color in its own right and more a use of shadow. It really stars primarily in the Mind Control Facility, dark rooms with a sense of foreboding. Honestly, what is there to say about black?

Only, I tell a lie. You see quite a lot of black in this game, don't you? After all:

It's the Loading screen.

Blackness is uncertainty, and mystery, like the game tells us, because anything could be hiding in the darkness, and anything could happen when that screen is finished loading. It's white's opposite not just in value but in meaning. You don't know what's going on, you just have to wait and see. Any time you might have an answer, or an ending, here comes that loading screen to wipe the slate clean and say “hey, what haven't you found yet? What haven't you tried? What tricks does this game still have up its sleeve?”

(And now I'm thinking about the Figurines ending, and how the Narrator shouts to stop the loading screen, to go back and stay in the familiar please!! Because the fellow hates uncertainty, really he does. But that's a thesis for another day.)

(We also can't forget that Ultra Deluxe's Setting the Time is also set on a black background, and there's always, to me, a sense of foreboding and uncertainty there too. What happens after this is the game, right? Is this for something? Is this doing anything? Is it changing anything?)

Silver

It's a bucket :)

Okay that's the end of this post. There's probably plenty more to say about this subject, this isn't exhaustive by any means. Color is an incredible tool, and visual storytelling and color interpretation is not in any way a science. As I posted bits of this in my server for extra feedback and examples of color, other folks brought up an entirely different interpretation of the color green. And I didn't even bring up Mariella being dressed in full green!

Anyway I didn't bring up orange because there's only a couple instances of it in the game but its always about unfinished things/assets (Baby game, just a lot of Games ending things) but it also shows up in the TSP2 Expo (Button That Says The Name of the Player Playing The Game (Jim)) for features that uuuuuh. Aren't done. So that's funny.

Like I said, there's almost certainly more to say about color theory and the game, but this thing is hitting 4 pages long and that's not including images oops.

I hope this was a fun read! Some of this stuff has been percolating in my brain for a while and it's good to finally get it on the page. Talk to me about TSP I love this game.

[solar-sparky]

Surprise!

You guys finally get a little bit of my character's lore/story!

I wanted to do something simple to start, just how my Neo 3 meets their roommate.

(I haven't written something in like 2 years, so my apologies if anything is amiss. I reread multiple times and sometimes I still do not catch stuff :')

Another grueling shift at Grizzco, it’s really nothing new for Harper. At such a high EVP rank they are tasked with handling the most dangerous sightings of Salmonids. It's not a job a person would willingly take, but sometimes you need to do whatever you can to get by.

“Nice work today Harper!” It was one of their coworkers from today's shift calling from across the locker room, waving with a grin on their face. They were just about finished with changing out of their uniform.

“Thanks.” Harper sighed as they took off their boots to hang up on the drying rack. They weren't one for talking, especially not with anyone at Grizzco. It's not that they don’t like anyone, it's just a shady business and people go missing all the time. Your next shift might be your last, it's best not to get close to anyone.

“Never expected to see Grillers today. Man those little guys were everywhere, huh?” Harper let out a small grunt in acknowledgement. The coworker approaches them, “Hey man if you want, me and the others are gonna go out tonight, you want to tag along?” They were neatly folding up all the chords that hook up to the harness of their suit.

Harper was busy wiping off their hardhat, they quickly glanced up at the inkling standing in front of them, “Ah… I’ve got stuff to do tonight, thanks though.” Their speech falling into a mumble.

“Alright, if you need anything or want to do anything I’m always down too!” The Inkling headed back towards their open locker to finish up and head out. They seem kind but it’s hard to tell if they understand the dangers of what they are doing. “‘Cya!”

Harper sent them off with a single wave of their hand.

~~

Trading in the capsules was always interesting. The slight bit of randomness of bonuses made it fun, but the guaranteed pay was always there. This time it was decent, enough for rent and the usual groceries, plus a couple of concession stand tickets to sell off for a small bit of extra cash. Harper hopes to find a better job soon, maybe even move out of their cramped apartment. Anything extra will go a long way.

As they exit the building, the light from the setting sun hits Harper's eyes. The dim lighting of the Grizzco building is always a stark contrast to the outside no matter what time of sunlight it is. You know, at least the city air was much better than the stench of the Salmonid zones. Before they head back to their place, they have to stop by the community bulletin board to see if any tabs have been ripped off their roommate vacancy poster. It has only been a few days since posting it, but not a single bite.

Walking closer to the board, they notice an Octoling, tall and well-built, standing at the board, squinting at each posting, using their finger to follow along.

I’ve never seen this guy around before… As Harper draws closer, they can see them mouthing some of the words on the posters.

“Hey,” Harper speaks up,  “do you need somethin’?”

Parts of their tentacles spike up at Harper's voice, the stranger swiftly turns around towards them, staring wide-eyed like a startled creature. Harper asks again, “Hey if you’re done here, I need to check my… paper?” Before they could squeeze by, the blue Octoling grabs Harper’s paper off the board and starts reading it out.

“Looking for... roommate…” Their pronunciation was not good to put it lightly, definitely someone from out of town. They slowly lower the paper down, their yellow eyes looking from over the poster back down at Harper.

“Well?” Harper shrugged with an annoyed expression on their face, they don't really have the time for this, “I need to know if you are interested or not cause I~” Another set of yellow eyes, this time much bigger, appear from behind the Octolings legs, grabbing Harper's attention. It was a smallfry of a Stinger class Salmonid, peering up at them. 

“~I think we should go. We’ll talk about it, okay?” Harper frantically grabs the Octoling by the arm and starts pulling them away quickly, the smallfry following behind jumps up onto the Octoling.

~~

I think I have a pretty good idea at what this guys deal is; Not fluent in Inklish, followed by a salmon? They're probably from that area near Spawning Grounds. Harper and this strange Octoling had been walking down the streets in silence for a couple of minutes. The Octoling was looking at almost everything, they were in awe at the city's tall buildings, busy streets, and the amount of residents that live here in Splatsville. Each place that caught their eye, they would stop and look at for a bit before rushing to catch back up to Harper. Maybe the sounds of chatter, cars, planes and the above head monorail were a bit much for them, but nonetheless they seemed to be enjoying themselves on this walk. 

“Uhmm… Nice. Uhh, s-sky today?” Breaking the silence between the two, the Octoling stutters, fidgeting with their hands and eyes wandering. Seems like they only know a few words in Inklish but not even close to enough for a proper sentence. “You uhmm, like…” Their sentence trails off as they begin to mutter in a different language.

Salmonid! Well that makes it much easier. From their time at Grizzco they’ve heard and learned how to speak Salmonid. It isn't required at all to work but you can listen to conversations to know what plan of action to expect next, giving you and your teammates the advantage. The Octoling begins to open their mouth, but before they can say anything, Harper clears their throat and cuts them off, “You don’t need to do that.”

“You speak Salmonid?” Once again surprised, the Octoling this time slowly turns their head to face Harper.

“‘Picked it up, yeah.” Harper says with a shrug and a roll of their eyes. Salmonid was extremely different in comparison to Inklish, if it's not your first language then it is very hard to learn.

The Octoling breathes a deep sigh of relief, they didn't have to fumble around with their words. “Oh thank Coho, no one else around here can understand let alone speak my language!” Their voice is rough and loud but shows a lot of emotion. They seem very excited at Harper’s ability to speak Salmonid. “Your pronunciation seems great but I can tell it's not your first language.”

“So, why are you here?” Harper asks as the two continue their walk down the street.

“Ah my mother told me that I must find people like myself, so I was curious. We spotted this city on the horizon and crossed part of the desert to get here. We got here 2 days ago?” They look over at their Salmonid companion who nods in agreement. “Yeah, 2 days ago. Haven't been in this part of town though.”

Crossing the desert from the sea to the city is no easy feat, and this Octoling did it in nothing but the wraps on their feet. A bit taken aback by this fact Harper asks another question, “How did you end up near that orange building?”

“Smelt like home! Soap here darted straight for it.” The Salmonid smiles and bows their head in shyness.

Harper pauses their walk and shakes their head, “‘Smelt like home-’? Just don't go near that building, okay?” their ears point backwards in anxiousness.

The Octoling looks puzzled, “Why not?”

I don't think they’ve seen any Grizzco workers before, otherwise they might’ve known. “Ehhh you wouldn't like it, especially them, Soap or whatever.” Harper gestures towards the small Salmonid sitting on the Octolings shoulder, it waves in response. They continue onward through a thin alleyway and the Octoling jogs to catch up with them.

“Oh my apologies, do you want my name?” The Octoling says from behind.

“Shoot.”

“My name is ‘The Octopus Who Listens to Crickets Chirp’, but you can just call me Cricket.” Cricket holds out their hand with a grin on their face, the fangs of their beak sticking over their lips on either side, one pointing up, the other pointing down.

Not from around Spawning Grounds, they're actually from a school… Harper slowly reaches out their hand almost hesitantly and shakes Crickets hand. “... Harper.”

“Well Cricket, I don't know if you understood anything I said before but I am looking for a roommate. Do you need a place to stay or…” Harper tilts their head towards the apartment building from across a courtyard filled with grass patches and walkways.

“Ahh that's what that sign was for!” Cricket laughs a bit, “I haven't been under a roof in a couple days so sure!”

About a 15 minute walk from the Grizzco building, the apartment that Harper lives in is found in a more quiet part of Splatsville, away from the main hub at least. The building itself isn't new but it's not too old either, it's well kept. Walking up the stairwell, Cricket was still looking around with curiosity even though it's just a room with light grey walls and stairs. Harper’s room is on the 4th floor, not the top floor but fairly close. Harper pulls out their lanyard with their keys and unlocks the door.

“Here we are, it's not much but- Oh watch for Crumb.” A small yellow blob making a noise sounding like a mix of chirping and purring approaches the front door. It was Harper's sea slug, who was always excited when Harper returned home. Cricket picks up the creature, holding it out in front of them. It squirms out of its grip and runs up their arm to their shoulder and presses its face against Crickets. 

“Yeah, uhmm, it's not much but it's enough.” Harper takes off their hat and shoves it into the sleeve of their jacket. “If you can wait for a bit, I can get dinner ready.” Harper flicks on the light switch revealing a small apartment room.

Crumb was still rubbing its face on Crickets, “That would be handy.” 

They finally pick up Crumb and place it on the ground where it continues to brush up against Cricket's legs. Harper looks down at it with a somber smile. It follows Cricket as they walk out of the entryway.

“You can just- Yeah.” Not having much in terms of outside wear, Cricket begins to explore the apartment; A living space to the right of the entry hall with a very shallow balcony outside, a large L-shaped couch takes up a lot of space and is used as a sort of barrier to create a room. A small flat screen TV stands on a unit containing cases for DVDs and a few older looking electronics with one fairly new looking game console placed right underneath the TV. The kitchen was across the way from the living space with the usual amenities and a small bar-like seating area. From there, there is a hallway leading to 3 other rooms, one of which, Cricket watched Harper disappear into.

Cricket could get used to this, they didn’t really have this kind of living space before. While it was much smaller than their families living quarters due in part to not having to share with huge fish, this one felt cozy and well lived in.

~~

A couple minutes later, Harper begins to make dinner. “Anything to drink?” They ask Cricket who was sitting on the other side of the counter, messing around with a bowl and some packets.

“Water is fine for me.” Without another word Harper begins to fill two glasses with water from their water filter. It was quiet, aside from the sound of a bubbling kettle. With a click, the rumbling starts to fade. 

“I’ve noticed that your storage cabinet is full of these strange bowls, you don't eat these every day do you?” Cricket asks with a concerned frown on their face as Harper starts to pour in the hot water into the bowl of dried noodles and powder. They place a plate upside down to cover the top of the bowl.

“Well they are quick and easy, and I like them so yeah, most days.” Harper begins to do the same with their own bowl of noodles, packets, then water, then cover.

Cricket slams their fist on the counter top and snaps their fingers, “That must be why you look sickly!” Harper does a near spit take, instead choking on their water due to Cricket’s sudden connection. “Where are your essential food groups? Any vegetables and meats?”

Very caught off guard, Harper is still coughing, “Uhm-” they finally clear their throat but still speak in a wince, “Excuse me, it’s expensive.”

“Huh, can you not just grow it?” Cricket asks as they watch Harper take another drink from their glass to try and clear their throat more.

“That would be even more expensive and take time and I don't really have that.”

“I see...” Cricket sounded a bit defeated. Food was important, almost sacred to them and the first person they can talk to has a problem with acquiring healthy ingredients? They had to do something about it. Harper looks over at them, Cricket was clearly thinking about something by the look on their face.

When the noodles were ready, the two ate in relative silence, Cricket occasionally chiming in with something to say. It was different for Harper, their past roommate didn't talk much, as such they grew accustomed to the silence. It was nice to hear someone else's voice though and Cricket seemed like the kinda guy you find at a bar and have a really nice conversation with then never see again, but they’d be seeing them everyday now. Despite their comment earlier, they are very polite and well-mannered. It was a nice change of pace for Harper and they could definitely get used to it.

~~

The next morning, around 8am, Harper woke up early to an unusually pleasant smell. Perhaps it was just from some food shop down the street but, no, it doesn't smell this good unless there’s splatfest prep going on. Harper rolls over to see that the bed across the room was empty, Cricket was nowhere to be seen. It didn’t concern them too much however, they probably just got up earlier than them. As Harper sat up, Crumb crawled on over to greet Harper good morning as they stretched.

Stepping out of the bedroom the smell was even stronger. Harper stumbled over to the kitchen as at this point it was the only place for the source of this smell. 

Well there was Cricket, humming to themselves as they stood over the stove. Soap was on the counter bringing over an egg to Cricket.

Harper stood across from the counter flabbergasted, they rubbed their eyes both in tiredness and to check if they were seeing correctly. “What are you doing?! Did you use my stuff?”

Cricket turned around still holding the pan over the burner. “Not at all! You barely had anything anyways.” They teased while waving a spatula around, their voice was too loud and energetic for the morning.

Harper looked around the kitchen a bit more, there were three bowls filled with rice, one being smaller. On top of the rice that was already sprinkled with seaweed and sesame seeds, each serving had some perfectly fried canned meat slices. Harper started rubbing their face in shock, “Then where did you- How.”

“Ah! I woke up much earlier than you so I went for a walk. I noticed that some old folks at a market down the street needed some help with some crates,” Cricket continued as they walked over to put a fried egg in each bowl, “so I offered to help them and they gave me some stuff!”

Putting the pan into the sink to wash later, Cricket grabs the bowls and places them on the bar counter which was already set with condiments and other toppings that Soap presumably set up. 

“Well, do you want some or not?” Cricket points the spatula at Harper before placing it in the sink.

Harper stood there speechless, their mouth open. They sat down on one of the bar stools and brought a bowl and pair of chopsticks closer to them. Cricket gives them a smile before walking around to the other side to join Harper in breakfast. Cricket gives their thanks before eating. Harper breaks the egg’s yolk and lets it seep into the rice, they take a piece of the egg, some rice and some of the meat.

“It's… Good.” Harper's eyes widen, it's really good in fact everything is cooked and seasoned perfectly, that and Harper hasn't had a good home cooked meal in a while. Their usual breakfast just consists of either toast or cereal.

“Mmm, I’m glad! Learned from only the best!” Cricket grins, their mouth partially full of food, they weren’t expecting Harper to say anything.

Of course this tastes good, this guy was raised by Salmonids. Harper thought. It was nice to share a genuine meal with someone again after a while. They’ve only known Cricket for less than a day, but they’ve already grown to really appreciate them. Even though Harper is also a stranger to them, Cricket just treats them like a friend they’ve known for years.

Harper pulls out their phone from their pocket to check the time. “Oh I’ll take the leftovers with me to work,” Harper stands up and brings the bowl over to the other side of the counter, “Thanks.” Cricket was still eating their bowl, so was Soap. Harper would love to stay around to finish but it was getting closer to their clock-in time.

“Don’t worry, I’ll clean up when we’re done.” Cricket says. Harper puts their extras into a container, and quickly feeds Crumb before they leave.

As they finished packing up their stuff for the day and while putting on their jacket, Harper asks Cricket one more thing, “Do you want to make dinner?” They sound shy in their request.

Once again caught off guard by Harper’s question, “Of course!” Cricket excitedly says.

Harper smiles at them before they shut the front door and head off to work.