#i know a lot of people were HERE for the amazing animation but guys please

[lunar-wandering]

anyways even if the animation quality drops for season 5 i am BEGGING you guys to still watch the show. protest about the animation quality publicly if you want but still watch the show. there is a full entire chance that the next season could go back to being animated how it was before if they see enough interest in it. please still watch the show.

[shadesofmauve]

I want to step away from the art-vs-artist side of the Gaiman issue for a bit, and talk about, well, the rest of it. Because those emotions you're feeling would be the same without the art; the art just adds another layer.

Source: I worked with a guy who turned out to be heavily involved in an international, multi-state sex-slavery/trafficking ring.

He was really nice.

Yeah.

It hits like a dumptruck of shit. You don't feel stable in your world anymore. How could someone you interacted with, liked, also be a truly horrible person? How could your judgement be that bad? How can real people, not stylized cartoon bogeymen, be actually doing this shit?

You have to sit with the fact that you couldn't, or probably couldn't, have known. You should have no guilt as part of this horror — but guilt is almost certainly part of that mess you're feeling, because our brains do this associative thing, and somehow "I liked [the version of] the guy [that I knew]", or his creations, becomes "I made a horrible mistake and should feel guilty."

You didn't, loves, you didn't.

We're human, and we can only go by the information we have. And the information we have is only the smallest glimpse into someone else's life.

I didn't work closely with the guy I knew at work, but we chatted. He wasn't just nice; he was one of the only people outside my tiny department who seemed genuinely nice in a workplace that was rapidly becoming incredibly toxic. He loaned me a bike trainer. Occasionally he'd see me at the bus stop and give me a lift home.

Yup. I was a young woman in my twenties and rode in this guy's car. More than once.

When I tell this story that part usually makes people gasp. "You must feel so scared about what could have happened to you!" "You're so lucky nothing happened!"

No, that's not how it worked. I was never in danger. This guy targeted Korean women with little-to-no English who were coerced and powerless. A white, fluent, US citizen coworker wasn't a potential victim. I got to be a person, not prey.

Y'know that little warning bell that goes off, when you're around someone who might be a danger to you? That animal sense that says "Something is off here, watch out"?

Yeah, that doesn't ping if the preferred prey isn't around.

That's what rattled me the most about this. I liked to think of myself as willing to stand up for people with less power than me. I worked with Japanese exchange students in college and put myself bodily between them and creeps, and I sure as hell got that little alarm when some asian-schoolgirl fetishist schmoozed on them. But we were all there.

I had to learn that the alarm won't go off when the hunter isn't hunting. That it's not the solid indicator I might've thought it was. That sometimes this is what the privilege of not being prey does; it completely masks your ability to detect the horrors that are going on.

A lot of people point out that 'people like that' have amazing charisma and ability to lie and manipulate, and that's true. Anyone who's gotten away with this shit for decades is going to be way smoother than the pathetic little hangers-on I dealt with in university. But it's not just that. I seriously, deeply believe that he saw me as a person, and he did not extend personhood to his victims. We didn't have a fake coworker relationship. We had a real one. And just like I don't know the ins-and-outs of most of my coworkers lives, I had no idea that what he did on his down time was perpetrate horrors.

I know this is getting off the topic, but it's so very important. Especially as a message to cis guys: please understand that you won't recognize a creep the way you might think you will. If you're not the preferred prey, the hind-brain alarm won't go off. You have to listen to victims, not your gut feeling that the person seems perfectly nice and normal. It doesn't mean there's never a false accusation, but face the fact that it's usually real, and you don't have enough information to say otherwise.

So, yeah. It fucking sucks. Writing about this twists my insides into tense knots, and it was almost a decade ago. I was never in danger. No one I knew was hurt!

Just countless, powerless women, horrifically abused by someone who was nice to me.

You don't trust your own judgement quite the same way, after. And as utterly shitty as it is, as twisted up and unstead-in-the-world as I felt the day I found out — I don't actually think that's a bad thing.

I think we all need to question our own judgement. It makes us better people.

I don't see villains around every corner just because I knew one, once. But I do own the fact that I can't know, really know, about anyone except those closest to me. They have their own full lives. They'll go from the pinnacles of kindness to the depths of depravity — and I won't know.

It's not a failing. It's just being human. Something to remember before you slap labels on people, before you condemn them or idolize them. Think about how much you can't know, and how flawed our judgement always is.

Grieve for victims, and the feeling of betrayal. But maybe let yourself off the hook, and be a bit slower to skewer others on it.

[majestyeverlasting]

Hello lovely <3

Can I please request a Joel miller x reader oneshot where the reader had a really bad run in with infected on a patrol and then when Joel comes home to find her all panicked he comforts her, gets her cleaned up and into bed .etc. ??

Thank you🥰

𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 | 𝐣𝐨𝐞���� 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫

contains non-explicit nudity

Pairing Joel Miller x Female Reader

Summary After a brush with death while on patrol, Joel assures you and himself that you're still here as you wind down for the night [outbreak, fluff, 3.3k]

A/N Thank you so much for this amazing request, anon! This is my first fic of 2025, and I appreciate your patience as I took a little break to transition into the new year. I’ve decided to make this fic a part of the From Here on Out universe. I hope you guys enjoy! 

∘°∘♡∘°∘

Chatter and swells of laughter rest at a minimum amid the Tipsy Bison. Only half the usual Friday night patrons have trickled in so far, peppered around the establishment with drinks in hand. The air is thick with the scent of sharp spirits and stale beer. String lights cast everything in a dim, warm glow. 

Beneath the clunk of Joel’s booted footsteps, the floor is sticky. A few nods are directed his way as he saunters towards the bar, which he returns with a tip of his cowboy hat. In the ten months since he arrived in Jackson, he’d built up a reputation for himself. One that was revered and feared all the same. Fading into the background wasn’t an option anymore. 

If folks still didn’t know his name, they undoubtedly recognized him when he walked into the room. That easy, measured stride. Those brows oftentimes furrowed in thought. Those dark, knowing eyes that were humble enough to know he had a lot more to learn. 

The older man wiping down the counter tosses the rag over his shoulder as Joel approaches. Old stains are splotched down the front of his white shirt. But he’s happy to see Joel. A quiet, jazzy piano melody flows from the billiard room. 

“Howdy Clyde,” Joel drawls as he sits. A few barstools down, a pair of friends talk over beer. “You hiding Duke Ellington back there?” 

The man snorts with a shake of his head. “Good ol’ Dennis. Does this a few times a year,” he says. “Comes in, drinks, plays like it’s paying.” 

Joel gazes through the archway to where a couple people shoot pool. Dennis and the piano are just within sight.

“He ain’t too shabby,” Joel says. 

“Not at all,” Clyde agrees. “‘scuse me for a second.” 

Joel listens to the piano as Clyde goes to refill beers. 

He knows you’d appreciate Dennis’ playing. You were drawn to live music like a moth to a flame. Joel realizes then that he misses you. It’s a peculiar feeling that always seems to compound by the end of the day after being apart. You patrolled together when you could, but he’d been on the roster to volunteer at the community stables today. 

It was good, honest work. Peaceful too. There was no need to be on guard, and he didn’t have to talk to anyone unless someone was particularly keen on striking up a conversation. Being with the animals did a lot more for him than he’d ever expressed out loud. 

Back in front of Joel, Clyde braces his thick weathered hands on the counter, “So how’s Alamo? Came bearing good news for me, I hope.” An attentive furrow has formed between his bushy brows. 

Alamo, Cldye’s Stallion, was recovering from what the veterinarians diagnosed as a mild case of the flu. 

“He’s doing much better,” Joel assures. “Got him to eat and drink more than yesterday. He let me lead him around the corral for a couple laps.” 

Clyde’s eyes are grateful. “Thank God. I don’t know how you do it, man.” Joel smiles at the man’s relief.  “What can I get you?” He quirks his thumb to the wall of bottles behind himself. 

There’s a decent selection. Moonshine, applejack, mead—whiskey, which always sounds particularly good these days. 

Joel purses his lips in brief consideration before saying, “I’m okay tonight. Gotta get home to my lady.” 

Clyde hums in understanding. “Smart man,” he says. “I’ll catch you later.”

Outside, it’s cold enough for Joel to see the frost of his breath. People bundled in coats, hats, and scarves mill around because, despite the chill, it’s just another evening in Jackson. Snow still covers the ground from last week’s snowfall, and more is due any day now. The sky is white with promise as the last of the sun’s light lingers near the horizon amid dustings of pink. 

The community center buzzes with life as he passes by. A few people talk outside, and multiple heads can be seen through the windows. Just as he’s about to avert his gaze and continue on his way, his brother bursts through the doors. 

Tommy lifts his hand to signal him to wait even though Joel doesn’t intend to keep walking away. Relief is etched all across his face. 

“There you are,” he claps his gloved hand onto Joel’s shoulder. “You’re a hard man to find when you wanna be.” The slightly frazzled tone of his voice contrasts the casualness of his words. 

Worry stirs within Joel as he meets his brother’s gaze. “Hey. What going on?” 

Tommy wets his lips as he considers how to phrase the news. “Before you freak out, everybody’s alright,” he starts. “Just a bit shaken up.” 

Joel swallows the lump in his throat. He already knows it’s about you. He wishes he were wrong, but wishing never changed what his gut already knew was cemented in time. 

“Your girl and her patrol partner had a run in with some Clickers earlier this evening while they were out,” Tommy continues, and Joel’s jaw tricks. “No bites, thank God. And they managed to take ‘em all down.” 

An avalanche of guilty, frustrated, and relieved thoughts crash onto Joel all at once. Tommy loosely follows after him as he takes a few composing steps away to run a hand down his beard. Heat has risen in his face to the point where it almost doesn’t feel cold anymore. He can hear his heart in his ears.

“Where is she?” Joel finally asks. It almost sounds like there’s a small ball of cotton stuck in his throat. 

“At your place with Ellie. Her uncle Nate dropped by too,” he says. “She was askin’ for you, and I told ‘em you were on the way.”

It’s days like this that make Joel wish you hadn’t rejoined the patrolling rotation. With or without him. 

He’s is about to walk away, when Tommy adds, “She handled herself mighty fine out there. Both of  ‘em did.” 

•••

Death was no stranger to anyone in Jackson, but you’d never stared so directly into the face of a being that embodied such a definite, unyielding sense of finality. Never seen fungal decay so intimately that it made your skin crawl from the inside out. 

There had been four Clickers earlier that evening. Three taken out by your partner, Langdon, and the final one by you after tumbling to the ground. 

In your struggle, chunks of snow had crept into your jacket and dusted across your face. The bitter chill hardly registered from the moment your back hit the ground. Neither did the sound of your pistol firing as the hulking, distorted figure begin to crawl overtop of you. All you could hear was the sound of your own heartbeat like a heavy tribal drum in your ears. Endure, survive, endure, survive. 

Only after Langdon drug you from beneath the limp Clicker, and hauled you to your feet, did you realize you were releasing frantic sob-like whines with every exhale. 

The entire scene won’t stop playing in your head. Electricity still hums beneath your skin. 

“Joel should be here soon,” Ellie assures again, in part for herself. 

He was always better in situations like these. Always knew what to say because he’d lived these same horrors himself, not a handful of times like she had, but countless since 2003. When it came to providing comfort, she always felt as though she was blindly grasping for the next right thing to say or do. 

But you were grateful to have her here all the same. If nothing else, she knew how to sit and be present. And after being asked to share an account of what happened by countless members of the patrol board, being with her as you wait for Joel is the peace you need. 

When you notice the worried way she’s chewing on her lower lip, you reach out for the glass of water she’d sat on the coffee table for you. You take one shaky sip and realize you’re a lot thirstier than you though you were. You drain it in a few big gulps. Ellie straightens up with a sense of having something right. 

“I’ll go get some more,” she says, taking the cup from you. 

Creaks arise on the porch soon after she heads to the kitchen. Then comes the faint jingling of keys. Joel pushes through the front door with a concerned furrow between his brows. It smooths when his eyes fall on you sitting in the living room. 

You look as small as you feel.

Aside from the absence of the sparkle that usually shone in your eyes, you seem as alright as you can be. Which is a much better than the image he’d conjured up in his head, despite Tommy insisting you’d made it back in one piece. 

“Hey,” he greets, carefully, like he’s talking to animal seconds away from curling in on itself. Like that’s all the bass he can muster into his voice.

“Hi,” you murmur, eyes tracking him as he shrugs off his leather jacket and hangs it up. His hair is curled at his ears and a little disheveled when he takes his hat off. 

The floor creaks under his footsteps as he walks to occupy Ellie’s former place. Without uttering a single word, he wraps his strong arms around you and pulls you into his chest.

You press your nose into his shirt like there’s no other place it belongs. He smells faintly of sweat, but mostly of the outdoors. Like air and earth. Breath and constance. Life. So warm, you forget all about the chill that has crept into the room. 

Ellie’s relieved to walk back in to the sight of Joel sitting with you. Your eyes have fluttered closed, so you only hear the sound of the refilled glass being set on the table. Joel meets the girl’s gaze with an appreciative nod. Thanks, kid. You did good. 

“I’m supposed to volunteer at craft night, but I can stay,” she offers. 

You peek up from Joel’s chest. “It’s okay.” 

“Are you sure?” She asks, and you nod. 

“Thank you,” you say honestly. 

“I’ll make you something cool,” she promises. 

When the door clicks shut behind her, silence settles between you and Joel as you rest in his arms. You focus on the rise and fall of his chest, the faint, steady beating of his heart. It says he’s here, you’re here. 

Even with your body cradled in his arms, the thought of losing you haunts his consciousness. Makes tension root through his shoulders, until he takes one long inhale and lets it out. As if shedding the remnants of fear, and dispelling it from his being. 

You can feel him letting his anxiety go, only for it to manifest as guilt within your own chest. 

“We were being careful,” you say, then swallow because the next words are harder to get out,  “They—they came out of nowhere.” 

Apology plagues your tone, and he knows he’s the reason why.  

On more than one occasion, perhaps to his own fault, Joel expressed that he’d rather you not patrol. There were countless volunteer opportunities around the commune, but after meeting him, you expressed your desire to start going out again. 

For the first couple months, you were only ever partnered with Joel because he insisted. It became something you did together, getting to protect the people you love and absorb the beauty of Jackson beyond the commune limits. 

Slowly, he came around to the idea of you being partnered with different people as he picked up other volunteer work.  

Now that you’d had your first close call, you can’t help but consider the possibility that Joel had seen a certain weakness within you all along. Maybe you aren't as vigilant as you thought, or a skilled shooter, or truly capable of holding your own. If it had been Joel, the Clickers probably wouldn’t even of made it within a thirty yard radius before they were shot down—

“Sweetheart? Hey, look at me,” he pulls away so he knows he has your attention. Except, he hasn’t exactly pieced together what he wants to say. 

After releasing a breath, he meets your gaze with an apologetic look of his own. 

“I know you were careful.” His tone is warm with sincerity. “You ain’t gotta justify anything to me.” When you don’t say anything, he keeps talking, “I’m sorry if I made you feel that way.” His dark eyes are earnest, hopeful as they flit across your face. 

You nod, and he wants to believe you’ve let his words sink in. 

“There ain’t a single person in this commune who knows what’s gonna happen when they step outside those gates,” he says. “Best thing anyone can be is prepared, and that’s exactly what you were out there today.”

Joel’s not expecting a response, but he can tell he’s finally gotten through. 

He takes your hand in his and presses soft kisses over your knuckles. After letting go, he eases off the couch to kneel at your feet. You admire the slight hunch of his shoulders as he moves to untie your boots, the delicate way he handles the laces as if they’re somehow a fragile extension of you. 

When he’s done, you angle your feet to make it easier for him to pull the boots off. Even then, he doesn’t stand up. He stays on his knees so you’re eye to eye. 

“How’s a shower sound?” He gently squeezes your knee and waits to follow your lead. 

It’s an illusion of control he’s offering for your sake. Really, it’s all him. After everything today, all you want to do is let go. Follow someone you know you can trust. Someone who always knows how to lead the way.

•••

Joel gets the shower started and, before long, both of you have stripped to your undergarments. He watches as you begin to pull your sports bra over your head, and helps you on the tail end because the strong elastic won’t set you free. 

You don’t meet his gaze again until after you’ve stepped out of your panties. Joel’s eyes rove over you with a quiet, fond attentiveness, and you realize he’s looking for bruises or any sign you’re in pain. 

“I’m okay,” you manage a small smile. 

“Okay,” he says, then runs a hand through his hair as if he still hasn’t quite accepted that you are. His bicep flexes as he does. The expanse of his chest is broad, dusted with dark hair. 

“I promise.” 

Finally, he nods like he believes you. “Go ahead and get in. See you shivering.” The bathroom hasn’t quite warmed up yet, and the window is drafty. Joel makes a mental note to get it resealed. 

You waist no time doing just that. A deep hum escapes you as the water meets your skin. 

From behind the curtain, you can make out the outline of Joel’s figure as he pushes his boxers down his legs. Over the sound of the running water, you can just barely hear him gathering your clothes to go put them in the hamper. 

When he joins you, there’s a gentleness to the way he lathers your body with soap. A diligence. The steam lifting around you carries the light, earthy scent of lemon balm. You let him run the bath sponge along your arms as the warm spray of the shower patters onto your back. 

When he’s done, you wrap your arms around him so the front of your bodies are pressed together. Without pause, he graces the sponge across your shoulderblades before gliding it down your back. He continues all the way down the curve of your backside. You pucker your lips against the front of his shoulder in a pert kiss. He kisses your forehead in return. 

It’s a miracle your legs have held you up thus far. If you were to let yourself go limp, a small part of you likes to believe you’d somehow float. That’s how relaxed you feel. But you have half a mind not to test the theory. The thought makes you chuckle, and Joel peeks down at you with a budding smile of his own. 

“What?” he asks lightly, but you shake your head and close your eyes. “Don’t fall asleep on me.” 

“‘M’not,” you murmur. 

Joel hums in feigned disbelief.  “That doesn’t sound very convincing.” He puts a hand on your hip in a silent request for you to turn around. 

When you do, he snakes an arm around your waist. Behind you, he’s a promise. All muscle, warmth, and wet skin. He runs the sponge over your breasts before dipping down to gently run along the undersides.

Your eyes flutter closed again, just as he presses his soft lips to the pulse beating beneath your ear. The shiver that tumbles down your spine makes you lean back into him, and he’s right there holding you up, getting you clean, weaving you so surely into the fabric of the present. 

He lets you do the same for him. Allows himself to relish the gentleness of your touch. 

Touching his forehead to yours, his voice is thick as he whispers, “Glad you’re okay.” 

The two of you stay in the shower long after you’re clean. 

Until the water runs cold. 

•••

The mattress dips as Joel crawls into his side of the bed. Per your request, candles burn on both of your nightstands, bright enough to provide a glow to see each other’s faces. His warmth is behind you before long, chest to your back as he drapes an arm over your waist. It’s a reminder that he’ll never let go. 

The room is quiet aside from your breaths and the occasional creaks of the walls. You rest a hand over Joel’s to run your thumb over his skin and along the bumps of his knuckles. 

“I’m terrible,” you say all of a sudden. Joel shifts behind you, prepared to counter even without the full context, but you continue, “I never asked about your day.”

Joel gives you a squeeze. “Probably would’ve bored you to half to death anyways.” 

A small smile buds on your face. “Half alive is better than nothing,” you say. 

A chuckle rumbles through his chest, vibrating straight into you. You’d wage wars to hear that sound. Cross oceans to reach it again. Joel feels you shake with a small laugh of your own, and it further solidifies that you’re going to be alright. 

“Let’s see,” he decides to humor you after a brief moment of silence. You turn around in his arms and touch your feet to his beneath the sheets.

“Everything went well at the stables,” he says. “Alamo's doing a lot better. Stopped by the Tipsy Bison to tell Clyde on my way home.” You can hear the tiredness in his voice, making it gruffer. 

“Aww, really?” 

Joel hums and places a hand on your hip. He draws smalls circles with his thumb. 

“He’s such a beautiful horse,” you think aloud. His coat is as black as the night. 

“I’m starting to notice a pattern,” you slip your hand beneath the hem of Joel’s shirt to splay over his side.

“What might that be?” he asks. 

“You making everything better. People, animals...” 

Joel huffs an amused breath through his nose, but doesn’t say anything. Maybe not everything, but he sure as hell knows he’ll never stop showing up. 

You scoot closer to him and allow your lips to find his amid the candlelight. Slow and steady like you’ve got forever. 

-

Thank you so much for reading! All likes, comments, and reblogs are always appreciated. I promise I see them all. 

Check out the From Here on Out Masterlist for more of this reader and Joel.

GENERAL MASTERLIST

[bloomingwisterias]

Ok so I was thinking about this the other day. You know how Dick is usually a detective or a cop? Imagine Jason as a firefighter.

Mans will lift you like you’re nothing and I bet he’s in one of those firemen calendars.

I honestly think he would be amazing as a firefighter.

IM SCREAMING!! Here are some firefighter!Jason headcanons, I hope you like them!

- firefighter!Jason has a sleeve, his tattoos are all over the place, but they’re cohesive and very aesthetically pleasing

- he has a small calcifer (the little fire demon from howls moving castle) tattoo hidden somewhere on his arm

- he adores his job because he loves helping and protecting people

- he’s kinda cringey and he makes fire/heat puns and jokes when he’s on duty

- children LOVE him because he’s so kind

- he always volunteers to do tours of the fire station with kindergarten and middle school kids

- he hands out lollipops and stickers at the end of each tour

- he’s really strong and can lift anyone (regardless of their weight or height), he spends a lot of time training his body and is very proud of it

- he is low key a SLUT!!! let me elaborate: yk when firefighters wear their uniform only around their waist and legs, and the top half is like a normal shirt…? yeah so imagine that with Jason.

- he walks around the fire station wearing a black compression shirt and it’s hugging his body so deliciously. you can see bits of his silver chain sticking out and his tattoos are on display… he looks so HOT (noo im turning into cringey fire pun Jason…)

- when he first joined the force, he thought that saving cats and animals from trees wouldn’t be a common occurrence

- it was. and he took home two strays.

- he named them arson and sparks (shout out to the two cats i saw at the pet store)

- as much as Jason is a silly little guy, he also takes his job very seriously

- he spends time comforting victims and trying his best to make sure that they’re safe

- if there’s a house fire, he tries to save everything but definitely does prioritize items that could be sentimental or of value

- he never leaves candles burning for too long, same with irons and stoves

- he is very careful and constantly warning people about potential fires and the consequences of not being careful around hot objects

- okay let’s go back to silly

- this one time the guys at the station made a bet and the loser had to take pictures for a “hot firefighter” calendar… yeah… Jason lost…

- his shirtless pictures were plastered all over the station the next day and he wasn’t even embarrassed

- he’d just smile when people mentioned it

[stubz]

late shift

Shuttle for Mars is departing now. Please keep hands, feet, tails, and other appendages clear of the yellow line.

‘Nice, finally get off work on time for once! Man is it empty, way less busy than the 5:45 one…

Are they sleeping? Please tell me they’re sleeping…’

“Snnrk…”

‘Oh good they are, oooh lots of empty seats next to them! Nice.’

The young human sits across the large figure and looks around.

‘Wonder why everyone else is sitting so far away from this guy? He’s not that much scarier than a Alteauh…OH! He’s an Orc! An actual Orc, oh this is so cool! Wait. Calm down, control yourself. Orc’s are people too, not some exotic animal in a zoo….he’s sooo cool looking tho!’

The human smiles and takes out their headphones and listens to some music and take in the view they see through the shuttle’s windows. From time to time they peek at the orc, can’t helping themselves from people-watching him.

Like what most humans imagined, he was huge. Easily more than 7 feet tall, with large calloused hands bigger than their head. He had large tusks but unlike the stereotypes he was well trimmed with well relatively kept hair. It would have neater had there not been dust in it. The orc wore dirty cloths and work boots. Beside them what looked like a tool box and bag.

‘Must be a construction worker or works in a trade’ they mused

‘Poor guy, he’s gotta be exhausted to sleep here. At least he gets to go home now.’

The shuttle shakes and with it so does the sleeping giant. Rocking side to side.

'That's not good.' They nervously slide off their headphones.

The turbulence increases until the sleeping orc leans too far and starts fall face first off his seat.

“OH SHIT!” Diving to their knees they manage to catch his head and shoulders.

“Mm?”

“You okay?” Damn he's heavy!

“Mmm…sorry.” Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he slowly got back into his seat, the turbulence now gone.

“No worries, I just didn’t want you to hit your head.”

“Heh, wouldn't be the first time I’ve done it.”

after rubbing his eyes a bit more and a crack of the neck he looks at them, brain finally working to some degree.

“…wait. You caught me?”

“Uh-huh”

“But you’re so small! Are you hurt?”

“You're not the first sleeping giant I’ve caught. I’m alright.”

“I am so sorry for that. I just finished working a 12 hour shift fixing the 1st and 3rd engine rooms and couldn’t help myself from dozing off.”

They whistle. “12 hours? No wonder you’re tired! If I were you I’d be in a coma.”

“Ah but surely you have a difficult job yourself. How else would you be able to catch me?”

“No, nothing like yours! I just work at a youngling centre.”

“The one on the ship?”

“That’s the one.”

“...YOUR ONE OF THE BRAVE WARRIORS WHO RISKED THEIR LIVES TO PROTECT THE CHILDREN??!”

“…you’ve heard of us?”

“Every orc and warrior worth their blade knows of your valiant deeds!! Tell me, what is your name??”

“Kim, uh and you are?”

“Fenrir. It is truly an honor to meet someone of your bravery and intelligence."

"Likewise! I've heard that the orc species are a true warrior race."

For the rest of the trip the two talked. Kim sharing how her and Max built such a safe room in the centre, which lead to the two realizing how similar each other's planets are.

"You have wind whirlpools as well? I thought they only existed on Bantor!"

"Well we call them hurricanes and tornadoes but yeah. Do you guys have hail?"

"Not where I grew up but nearby farther up they get a week or two of light hail showers during the fall. What about animals? Do you have reptiles bigger than an adult with large teeth and live in rivers? We call them darthrang."

"Oh we call them crocodiles!"

"Amazing! To think that your species live in a world much like mine!"

When the shuttle finally reached it's destination the two went their separate ways. A few days later they meet again, this time on the later shuttle. They sit and talk and create a routine of sorts where they became each others travelling companion for the trip to Mars.

One day however, Fenrir stopped coming. The human was saddened as she enjoyed his company but was soon surprised when seeing him at the centre.

"Kim! I've been transferred to stay on the ship so I won't be taking the shuttle to Mars anymore."

"Oh...well, as you know I only go home at the end of the week so maybe we can hang out now. Like eat lunch together or have a drink after work...or something like that!"

"Actually we'll be seeing each other everyday now. But if you don't get sick of me then yes, lets each lunch together."

"Great! But why will I be seeing you everyday?"

"Because after telling my family about you and the centre they've enrolled my nieces and nephews and younger siblings here...and I offered to drop them off and pick them up."

It was then that Kim noticed the dozen of orc children hiding behind Fenrir. The tallest and what looked the eldest of them stepped forward.

"Hello, I am Athea, uncle Fenrir said your one of the ones who saved the centre."

"Yes, my name is Kim. It's great to meet you AtheaaAA!" The orc girl pulled the human into a tight hug, lifting the adult woman off of her feet.

"Thank you for saving Nova." she mumbled into her chest.

'Ah, the Captain's daughter' Kim thought. "I was just doing what any teacher would do."

After a moment the human was put down and lead the children into the centre. The day went well. Fenrir's young family members were quickly won over by the humans, first with the saving of the centre, then with how they understood how wonderful their planet was rather than terrifying or deadly.

They were also greatly intrigued by how such a small species could survive in a planet that was thought to only be habitable to orcs.

"How can you carry us?" asked Thor, one of Fenrir's youngest brothers. "We're much bigger than a human child."

"Yeah but your not bigger than my cousins who are teenagers. Also just last month I had like 10 kids climbing on me. Two were tighalaxes."

"Your joking!"

...

"It that tumpon?!"

"Hm? We call it maafe, but it's also known as peanut stew, do you want some? It doesn't have any meat in it though."

"Guys Max has tumpon!! Can you tell Fenrir where we can buy the ingredients?"

"Of course. Finally I'll finish what gran gave me without having to gain 10 pounds."

And thus the first day ended on a high note! Now if only Kim could figure out why the children looked at her and nodded while talking to Fenrir...

So this based off of a post by @llamagoddessofficial about humans meeting actual space orcs. Sadly I can't find the actual post. but yeah, here u go, space orc and human meet cute

[darylbae]

hiii! could you write something fluff with daryl and a Latina reader? they are in a established relationship and she always rumble things or talk to herself in her language and daryl really wanna know more about what she saying and also wanna know more her culture but is really shy to ask plss🥺💕

spanish for dummies — daryl dixon 🩰

in which daryl wants to learn more of your language, but he is far too shy to admit it

note: i made it a lil drabble because i don't know a lot of spanish, if i got anything wrong please correct me!

You and Daryl had made it exclusive very recently, so it was all very new to you. But the two of you were so infatuated with one another, that it made everyone sick. He'd always have an arm around you, or coming to find you at random points in the day. People would even see you whispering to each other and laughing. It was all very sweet. You'd been at Hilltop for a few days, helping Maggie with running things day to day, and beginning to build a few things. Of course, Daryl had accompanied you from Alexandria to Hilltop, and promised to stay with you.

“Y/N!” One of the Hilltop residents called out, and you’d turned to spot them waving you over. You had quickly separated from Daryl, who had his arm around your waist as you spoke about potentially making shields. Although he had followed you over.

You’d run over to see the new water system installed. You’d selected a group of people to start making an easier way to get water into the community, and to see the large basins of water finally come to life, you were amazed.

“Es asombrosa,” you whispered, mainly to yourself in bewilderment that the plan you’d made together worked. Things were really starting to come together now, and you couldn’t be happier. “Well done, guys.”

As you’d started to walk off, Daryl had caught up to you and smoothed his hand over his jaw. You’d come to notice it was a nervous tick of his. “What does that mean?”

“What does what mean?”

“Whatever you just said.”

“Oh, es asombrosa? It means it’s amazing. It’s a good thing.” You smiled, only now realising you’d have to translate some things that were natural to you.

Daryl just nodded, still curious about all your little phrases you’d come out with daily. You don’t really notice yourself doing it, but Daryl does.

Staying at Hilltop, you’d made some progress, you’d spent the whole of today tending to the crop just outside the walls. Whilst a small group had gone out on a run, Daryl included.

It wasn’t until you heard the roar of a motorcycle that you’d looked up to see your gorgeous man riding in, slowing as he approached the road next to you. His tough, brooding exterior shortly disappeared with a sweet smile, and you couldn’t help but throw your arms around his neck.

“Te extraño,” you sighed into his ear, breathing in the smell of his musk. You quickly translated for him, “I missed you.”

“Missed you too, sweetheart. Now let me take you home.” He cooed, taking your hand and helping you onto the back of his bike. To ride the extra few meters back into the gates.

That night, you and Daryl had settled into one of the rooms Maggie had allowed you to stay in whilst you were here. You’d crawled into bed long before Daryl did, as he was sitting through his backpack secretly.

“What you hiding in there?” You questioned, putting your book down and folding your arms. It was a playful prod but you weren’t expecting him to be so secretive.

“Nothin’.”

You huffed. “Come on, Dar. No secrets.”

“Just somethin’ I found today.” He admitted, throwing his backpack next to the bed.

“Ooh. Is it condoms?”

“No.”

“A stuffed animal?”

“Absolutely not.”

“A Halloween costume?”

“What? No.”

“Come on! Tell me!”

Daryl sat down next to you, an arm around you as you settled on his chest. “Fine”.

He reached into the backpack and pulled out a small book, and turned the title page towards you. Spanish for Dummies.

“Stop! Really? I think that’s the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me.” You squealed, pressing kisses all over his cheek and jaw.

“Just wanna understand ya more.” Daryl reasoned, brushing hair from your face, “so ya don’t have to translate everythin’.”

[braxlrose]

silly and weird tom hcs

a/n: the last ones got deleted for some reason so I'm making a new one!

• this mf steals your food all the time. hes always munchin on something so if you have something that looks good, he's taking it. especially if it's watermelon. he loves watermelon 🍉

• he doesn't tell anybody, but he gets his nails done. he gets pedicures and manicures and loves it so much. you found out one day when he kept going off and not telling anybody where he was going. so you followed him and saw his finger and feet soaking in water 💀

• when you walked in you were trying so hard to hold in a laugh and he was so fucking embarrassed when he saw you. you thought it was extremely ironic because he always called mani-pedis "girly"

• now you two go all the time, and you're way better at making excuses than he was.

• he got high on edibles and thought his feet weren't attached to his body anymore so he started screaming 💀

• over indulges on gushers when he's high

• you guys know those Chinese finger traps? Idk if that's what they're called but you put two fingers in them and they're like really hard to get out of. he LOVES them for some reason, he thinks they're so much fun

• he loves the snow so much, and especially loves snowball fights. it's so much fun, and he also gets to wear extra layers of clothing because of the cold

• during the winter, he gets a bunch of different kinds of hot chocolates and when anybody asks what he's drinking he swears by it that it's black coffee 💀

• he loves watching futurama and says that he strives to be bender 💀 (have yall seen the new episode? I actually really liked it, ik a lot of people said they didn't but I did.)

• gets on his knees while begging (not sexually 🤨) and will even fake cry. he's a master manipulator 💀

• when you guys go to the beach he's always asking you to come play in the water with him

• for any reason if you guys happen to be at a hospital, he goes and looks at all the little newborn babies. they're so cute and he gets all smiley just looking at them.

• he loves romance movies. mf will deny it till the day he dies when anybody asks but you've seen his collection of vhs tapes and dvds. plus bill even admitted tom cried during The Notebook.

• he tries to balance random objects on his head while walking to see it he can do it. he'll add on a object every time he does it.

• he's weirdly amazing at solving Rubix cubes?

• he loves making balloons animals and he always makes the sword ones. he will literallt sword fight with anybody.

• he eats bowls and bowls of cereal so he can get to the prize at the bottom of the box. (I full-heartedly believe he's a little kid at heart)

• he tries to make home-made pizza but ends up burning it 90% of the time.

• he's extremely ticklish on his armpits, stomach and feet and will literally die laughing if you tickle him

• he also loves kids cartoon movies like fox and the hound, Anastasia, Mulan, James and the Giant Peach, etc.

• he loves slap bracelets and has an entire collection of them.

• it wouldn't be the first time you've caught him dancing and singing to Britney spears.

• tom loves everything bathes. on camera he says he prefers showers but in reality he likes bathes better. With candles, dimmed lights, bath salts, face masks, etc.

• do you guys know that episode of Friends where Monica convinces Chandler to take a bath and he ends up loving it and shit? he's just like that. if you don't know what I'm talking about here's some clips.

clip 1

clip 2

• he tried on one of your thongs one time because you dared him to wear it the whole day.

• you also dared him to get his legs waxed and he ended up doing it and he was crying the whole time

• he loves those little stories where you add in words to them. I can't remember what they're called but it asked you for like an adjective, plural noun, verb ending in ing, etc. etc. (I hope yall know what I'm talking about, I think it starts like a m or something someone tell me please 😭)

taglist: @hearts4kaulitz @burntb4bydoll @spelaelamela @bored0writer @fishinaband @billsleftnutt @tokiiohot @bluepoptartwithsprinkles @saumspam @5hyslv7 @killed-kiss @memog1rl @80s-tingz @billybabeskaulitz @victryzvv9 @banshailey

[constellation-archive]

Percy Jackson x daughter of Nyx hcs unedited cas i couldnt bother💀

Asa child of Nyx goddess of night, and the fact she lives in tartures  people tend to be scared of you at frist some still are, not to mention Zeus is afraid of her power your atlest as powerful a sPercy maybe not in physical strength but in Demi-God power stuff

Which makes you guys such a power couple by the way.

Hes also scared of you at first slightly is still scared, you just have this mysterious air around you and your both socially akward sooooooo

Hes mesmerized by you either way though, thinks you’re the prettiest mysterious amazing awsome person which you are by the way, he loves sneaking out and watching your practice or even practicing with you, he is still scared of your half siblings though, he also thinks your darkness powers are awsome

Speaking of whicchhhhh your very powerfull you don’t have full control of your powers and some of which make you evry tired also they enhance at night and your just more agile and stronger

You can control the darkness though making it darker is easer then ligjter and its always darker closer to you apart of why people are afraid of you, you can somewhat manipulate shadows but your not super practiced st that you can make darkness somewhat tangible and use as a sheild but the longer it is takes a lot more power and any of this controling of darkness takes out of you durring day but less at night, percy thinks this is so fucking cool how the darkness floats around with you, your always the darkest part of the room

With training Prophecies will be easier understoode and your older siblings can predict prohices by reading the stars

Also you can fuck with illusions bit not make them, and the mist so you have a slightly better police record compared to the others

 SHADOW TRAVELLLLLLL

You can communicate with nocturnal animals and they listen to you, you are the rat king! And you and your half sibilings have sneakd multipe animals before

You can also go to tarturus easily using shadow travel which percy gets nervous every time you go, usally for quests

You don’t need sleep and tend to train at night

Nyx is a maternal godess that translates over so most of her kids worry about eachother and there fee close friends of course you always ovet work yourself by helping out apollo kids why wouldn’t you

Speaking of that uhm well your pretty well rounded when on strength, you didn’t get claimed for a year and a few months so you trained and trained and trained everything you could, basic first aid, bow n arrow, dagger, spear, sword, fist fights, agility, upper and lower body strength, even got a couple gardening lessons from children of demeter which did not stick at all. You arent like super strong in all of these because you only have so much time to train but you have atlest a little  skills in all cas your badass

Okay but really its because you we're prepared for your mother to be anyone and you wanted her to know you were worthy of her, you deserved her love you were trying hsrd for her gave you a lot of self esteem issues after not being worthy before camp.

Even then youll be overly affectionate even if its not something your completely comfortable with, or youll overwork yourself helping him to prove your worthy of him which concerns him a lot like your the best thing in his livr and here you are no idea.

That effects your relationships, sepecificly eith percy you think you need to be useful to deserve his company you jave to prove yourself and often need reassurance that you don’t need to prove yourself and you are worthy of his company if anyone hes the unworthy one he fucking like worships you he loves you so much.

He also get so genuinely worried when you overwork yourself

Like please don’t pass out infront of him he'll cru after getting you to the infermery

And gods forbid its while the two of you are training he'll be fully convinced he was the one who made you pass out

Pinky promise him he did nothing wrong pleaseee

he'll cry if you don’t.

Also id like to deep dive into the mother thing. That’s right you have mommy issues(not me projecting onto you at all nope I would never have Mommy issues) so like remember I said you didn’t get claimed for like a year, so Nyx is like one of the strongest Gods to the point Zues is scared of her, so her children naturally powerful and she does love her children want whats best for them but like, what she thinks is best got them is for her children to be perfect.

your trying your best? Not good enough you have to be better.

Your either a perfect Child of Nyx or your mo child of Nyx.

Its whats best for you ofcourse and she has a reputation to keep. She does love you guys though which often throws you and your few sibilings off.

And remember whrn I said if your not a perfect child of Nyx your no Child of nyx. I ment that you don’t get claimed unless your good enough, why it took so long.

And okay back to the whole percy part of this got a lil carried away.

Percy knows this all to well, your mother is easily the root of your self esteem problems, hes heard all about this on your first quest, you went along with the three despite the rule of three, maybe it was foolish but when would you get another chance gor a quest, you werent about to get one, any quest your sibilings got were to be done alone, and everyone in camp avoided you and your half sibilings like the plague.

So what if percy and Annabeth were annoyed with you for a while or even hated you, it was essential you proved your mother wrong that you were worth a quest, you were just as perfect as the rest of your sibilings.

You see Annabeth went to prove herself to her mother, you went to prove your mother wrong. Nyx saw you knew you were powerful but thought you were immature not ready, your dream was to go on a quest alone for her, the dream of any Nyx child was to meet her and help her.

Ofcourse your need to get your mother to believe in you is how you and Annabeth bonded, she wanted her mothers attention and you had yours but not positively

Percy didn’t quite understand you or annabeth for your guys obsession over impressing your mothers but he was there to remind you that’s not all you were, thT you don’t need her aproval and you were perfect already.

Like he littarly loves you so much you wake up still nlinking sleep out of your eyes and youll barly notice him staring at you as he mutters how perfect you are and how you’re his amaizjng star girl

By the way him calling you his Star or constilation

I could like cry

Youll giggle and try to push him off of you with his head burried in the crook of your neck peppering kisses and compliments and be wont let go until you admit hes right snd your amazing and his best girl

[iamespecter]

I LOVE that FNAF SB art you did with Vanny, Monty, and Roxy capturing Chica!

Please please tell me where I can read your Glamrock Chica analysis! I'm a long-time FNAF fan and I LOOOOOVE hearing people's analyses and theories! 🤩

The connections people make amaze me all the time and I love when someone connects some dots and is tapping the paper going "See?! Look at these! Isn't that odd?!" and I'm on the edge of my seat going "OMG that is so odd! Please tell me more my brainy friend!"

Thanks!! Tbh, I wanna remake these again sometime because these were made back in 2023 and I wanna see how far my skills have gone now lol

Also I would LOVE to give you the link to my Glamrock Chica analysis, but that's on twitter.... and the thought of going back to twitter..... /neg

So instead I will put the google docs version here! Btw, this analysis was done way before Ruin (specifically, this was back in 2022), which means there could be some outdated information in it.

Also, I don't trust word by mouth, and by extension, Ruin. With Scott's history of retconning, and the very obvious lack of regard towards Chica.... yeah. This means this is an analysis that only applies to Security Breach entirely.

WARNING FOR LONG READ!

So, about Chica.

It's been thrown around that she barely has any personality to go with based on in-game when I digress about that fact. I've actually been studying Chica's movements to the best I can, casually looking up every canon footage on yt and going to the wiki for recorded audio proofs. The only thing I wish is that people would dig up a datamine about each animatronic animations so I can see them in clearer light.

But setting aside that for now, let's talk about something Chica audio-related.

So I've been thinking. Chica's speech pattern is definitely peculiar, especially if you compare it to the rest of the Glamrocks. Her speech is definitely reminiscent of that a pre-programmed voiceline, and perhaps, it is at some point. However, going further than that even, what makes Chica stand out amongst the rest is one thing: Her calling out for GREGORY BY NAME.

Freddy knowing Gregory's name is obvious, Gregory introduced himself to him. But why does Chica know, when Gregory has never talked, nor introduced himself to Chica once?

Is it the Fazwatch? Yes, but indirectly.

Did she overhear it? Impossible, her green room is the farthest away from Freddy.

My answer: Vanessa. Or more accurately, Vanny. She knows Gregory's name because of the Fazwatch.

But this.... this doesn't make sense! If Chica says it, how come Roxy and Monty don't? They never call Gregory by his name, not even once! I truly believe that they DON'T KNOW GREGORY'S NAME. You can argue that perhaps, it's just their method of speaking. i.e, "kid" and "little guy", and it's a bit that but I really think otherwise.

Why? it's because they're not under influence like Chica is. More on that later. (elaborated further on "About Roxy and Monty.... and why Chica is odder in terms of hunting methods than the two.")

Something I wanna bring to the table as well: Chica may be selectively mute. Or to be more precise, is going through traumatic mutism.

I've talked about this a bit with my friends on discord, this is something that I've found. We know for a fact that Chica's voice is pretty damn powerful. Enough to make Freddy's voice more gravelly than it is, and to produce high frequencies that disable voice-activated locks. A blessing for players, but a curse for the chicken.

Therefore, what if Chica doesn't want to speak at all outside of the hack?

Some evidences to back this up:

The biggest clue of them all, The duffelbags.

A report about her upgrade shows that her experimental voicebox caused impairment to bot navigations, and a lot of chaos + lawsuits from party attenders. This voicebox was never replaced despite advisement saying (which makes me wonder what the hell happened to her old voicebox-), so I think Glamrock Chica developed a fear of raising her tone, or speaking entirely.

(- MAINT LOG: CHICA - Don't let her sing! Messes with the navigation of the other bots. Horrible results when she sang during live performance. S.T.A.F.F. bots dropping serving trays, chaos, guest injuries, 12 lawsuits. Experimental voice box test failed. Replacement advised. -)

The vents scene. Out of everyone, Glamrock Chica NEVER spoke in the vents section.

We never hear a sound from her, not even a squeak, a grunt, a sigh or a sound of acknowledgement. She just... plays her guitar. We hear Monty raging in his room, Roxy complementing herself, And Freddy, well, being Freddy. In fact, we never get to hear ANYTHING from her verbal-wise, that is until she begins chasing down Gregory. You know, when she's already hacked.

Staying around Chica's vicinity.

After a round or two of her voicelines, Chica starts sobbing. What's weird is that this "crying" is almost silent. Like, she doesn't wanna allow anyone to hear it. She's holding it back but at the same time, she just can't. Here's a yt video that a poster explains how they got this line: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK7cQphVgZw

Lastly, her voiceline's tone.

She speaks in a sing-song manner, yet sometimes it sounds almost like a whisper. Reminiscent of Vanny's tone as well. What does help back this last evidence is the fact that Freddy has a scrapped voiceline in the Burntrap fight with the SAME DAMN SING-SONG TONE.

Also, can we please talk about Chica's behavioral pattern?

Not enough people point this out, but like damn. Does she look SO uninterested when chasing you down. Her shoulders are slumped, she's tilting her head lazily, and she slowly jogs towards you. Not to mention, that when she spawns behind you and when she's idle/stops in her patrol route to look around, she will momentarily stop to twitch, making various clicking servos noises as if the programming is glitching back and forth... or she's actively being hacked.

And what's up with her green room while we're on the topic of her behavior?

An easy answer would be that she's of course, a starter antagonist. An enemy designed to introduce you to the game's mechanics, a base foe that's a little bit easier to evade and/or fight than others. (they kinda failed lol)

However, a lore-wise answer would be that she's being forced against her will to do so. She doesn't wanna chase down Gregory and hurt him, but unfortunately Vanny's overriding her programming completely, so she can't do anything but watch as her body does the hunting for her.

Aside from that, I think the glitching out must be a result of Chica's original programming (unsuccessfully) trying to fight off the control, hence the momentary idle when she spawns in after being alerted unlike the two who immediately rushes in to attack.

Most people in the fandom believe that Chica's glitch and twitchiness comes from the fact that her insides are being messed up by her eating trash.

I can see where they're coming from, but I kind of... don't believe this? Mostly because one, Fazbear Entertainment is absolutely aware of Chica's habit to eat, therefore this "eating" thing was never intended to be a glitch but rather a feature (I'm definitely certain it's to promote their food since that's the most obvious answer), which means she definitely has a pouch for the food she eats somewhere in her torso. And two, she throws up the trash she eats (if you watch her closely in the cameras), so it doesn't stay there long enough to mess with her insides.

Chica's mannerisms of eating trash is definitely a result of stress eating, though.

Oh, and before I forget, what about Chica's Green Room? Why is it that compared to others, hers is the messiest (excluding the damage Monty did to his, of course) ? I'm talking pizza boxes scattered everywhere on the floor, desserts, trashbags and junk food all around, like a depression room, almost. My friend Nexus once again, assumes this to be because Chica is programmed to have ADHD to be "relatable", and this much I believe.

Chica is shown in the intro to do "dino arms". Dino/T-Rex arms are a common symptom for neurodivergency (and I tend to do this as well), often done subconsciously. Also, I think it's pretty funny considering Chica is a chicken, and chickens are said to be the closest relative to Dinosaurs.

Her being the easiest to lose once Gregory makes enough distance and goes around enough corners may also be something intentionally programmed into her. Neurodivergent people tend to lose track of things easily, and get distracted by something that piques their interest (something I relate way too well)

It's also possible that dancing may be a way to let extra energy loose for Chica. I think it's safe to assume that Chica can canonically dance, if Mazercise is taken into account for this. People with ADHD have too much energy in them should it be something they love to do, and they need an outlet for these kinds of things.

her "bawking" is possibly verbal stimming, as no other Glamrocks produce animalistic sounds like her when they are hit with the fazerblaster/flashed by the fazcam.

The difficulty of her maintaining her room as clean as the others could also be seen as part of her neurodivergent programming.

I can't help but see these evidences to be a part of a neurodivergent programming, possibly coded to be like this in favor of relatability. Knowing Fazbear Entertainment, coding one of their robots to have ADHD makes absolute sense if it meant raking in more money towards the teens.

Dumpster Diving: Trying to explain why Chica eats trash

Ah, yes. Stress eating. What seems to be a minor problem, but is quite prominent amongst people. Stress eating is a result of finding comfort in putting food in your mouth for temporary relief. Emotional eating is eating as a way to suppress or soothe negative emotions, such as stress, anger, fear, boredom, sadness and loneliness. Major life events or, more commonly, the hassles of daily life can trigger negative emotions that lead to emotional eating.

So, we know Chica is a compulsive eater. It seems that at every opportunity she can, she'd try to stuff her face with garbage. But why specifically garbage?

It's a literal take for "junk food", basically. Unhealthy foods are often called to be garbage food that provides temporary satisfaction, but can definitely mess you up in the long run depending on how much you eat. (thanks to my friend Nexus on this theory)

Her systems may have confused trash for pizza, however this may also be unlikely but I just wanna throw this out there.

This is an unhealthy coping mechanism. With the stress of losing Bonnie as her bandmate, and the addition of her body moving on it's own, I think she's trying to cope by eating the closest thing to food as kitchen supplies are kept away from her, which are leftovers thrown away.

About Roxy and Monty.... and why Chica is odder in terms of hunting methods than the two.

I'm definitely gonna be scrutinized by the community with this, but.... I don't think Roxy and Monty are under control. And I get it, a lot of y'all favor the others over Chica.

I just want you all to hear me out for a second, though. I've been doing my own fair share of researching the other two.

...Not as much as I did with Chica, but just enough to know that they're not hacked like she is.

it could be:

Monty is doing this hunting thing all on his own, full-stop. He didn't need to get Aftoned, since he and Vanny could have established a deal with each other. Vanny gets kids to gather remnant from, and Monty is promised the lead role. Something that we know he DESPERATELY WANTS, if you've seen the Monty Golf Arcade stage. (Which I think gives us something new to think about why Freddy isn't hacked in the first place)

Roxy is not hacked, but she's not doing this hunting thing out of free will either. I think she was peer pressured (or coerced even), manipulated to hunt down children for remnant experiments. She's pretty easy to break as seen by how she's immediately crying, convincing herself that she's not a loser, which implies Vanessa called her one when she went through the wolf's room. Perhaps she too, was promised an audience that would adore her if she did it successfully.

Chica is absolutely hacked. Aside from Moon, she's definitely under the influence of Afton/Vanny. She doesn't seem to be ego-driven like the two, therefore she drives a hard bargain. I believe she wasn't swayed with Vanny's manipulation, and this costed her her free will. A rather unfortunate trade.

It's really weird how people seem to dismiss the fact that Roxy and Monty walks and talks normally, chases Gregory like this hunt is all part of the gig, when Chica doesn't. Because I'm over here thinking that's a huge indication that, yeah, Chica might be hacked, and the other two aren't. (or at least, not to the extent that Chica is)

And about the scrapped possessed Freddy voicelines, too. I swear, Chica's voiceline tones and his match way too close for comfort, and I think that's the biggest clue for Chica being hacked yet.

I do think that Chica was also hacked with the intention of manipulating Gregory to trust and follow her like that one "nice" stranger, since she's basically like Freddy normally (if it's Roxy and Monty that's cool and ego-driven for audiences, then it'd make sense for Freddy and Chica to be the "Papa Bear" and "Mother Hen" to kids attending the pizzaplex). She definitely gives off bubbly girl vibes if we just... ignore Valley Chica and push her to the side.

I don't think I'll be making a Mazercise analysis because jesus christ Chica I love you but goddamn does your venue suck so much ass

Vanessa and Chica: Parallels between a bunny-costumed killer, and a guitarist animatronic performer

Now this is something I've never seen nor heard to be talked about with in the community other than my friend who's really good at observations and theories, and that's the parallel between the white woman jumpscare and the funny haha trash eater --and I'm not sure if that's because Chica is obscure compared to others, or not enough people like Chica to the point of theorizing about this.

Or I just live under a rock, that's all.

But, I think there's some lines to draw with Vanessa and Chica. How they're both under the influence of a higher being, reluctantly following. Taken over, even. A human and an psuedo-sentient AI, going through the same horrible thing.

Where one has submitted herself to the control, while the other is actively fighting back against it and refuses (although fails). Unfortunately there's not much to say here yet due to the fact that we don't have all the details just yet, but this is where the Ruin DLC kicks down my door and punches me square in the stomach then proceeds to spit on my face as I lay on the floor sobbing. (Future me saying yes it has done this to me but it made me go "WHAT THE FUCK MAN." in a /neg way)

I do hope that Steel Wool explores this concept even further, and maybe even a showdown between the two. That'd be pretty badass. Will an AI win against a force where a human couldn't?

Time will tell.

So, what's the summary for Chica?

I think it's really tragic that all this speculation gives out the idea that Chica is dealing with a lot of stress caused by keeping to herself, and even a depression state.

An experimental voicebox going haywire, causing trauma to her evolving psuedo-sentience code and refraining her from speaking most of the time. The start of an unhealthy food obsession as coping mechanism. And then after that, mourning the sudden loss of someone called a friend, coupled by a virus corrupting her systems, further strengthening the desire of emotional consumption. A robot programmed to be quirky and relatable, going through so much, and what makes this even worse is the fact that I don't think ANYONE in the Glamrocks ever know about what she's dealing with.

She only eats trash when she's alone and separated from the rest of the hunters, and weeps silently, keeping her sobs of grief to herself only. A kind-hearted figure, ruined by serial killer's doing. She cares SO MUCH as evidenced by the intro, yet the care she receives back is little to none.

A character thrown to the side all because her story isn't out there, like Freddy acting as a father-figure fill-in for a homeless orphan, Roxy with her low self-esteem hidden underneath a fragile sense of narcissism, or even Monty with his strong desire to be the one underneath the spotlight and willing to do whatever it takes just to make that come true. Hell, there's more Bonnie fans than Chica and the guy doesn't even make a single appearance.

Instead, she's disregarded by the community to be the bland one all because of misunderstandings and lack of evidences presented onto the table.

I think, out of all of them, she deserved her brutal fate THE LEAST if not at all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for reading if you've reached this far! I believe I wrote this analysis with some passive aggressiveness because I was so frustrated that I could barely get my voice out to talk to the fandom about Chica, but I tried my best to make it more... polite lol

Hopefully, tumblr is nicer than twitter when it comes to theories.

Also, I actually wanted to make my own version of Chica's venue! Please someone ask me about it please please please please please Mazercise physically hurts me to the core

[ecargmura]

Wind Breaker Episode 13 Review + Final Thoughts - Second Season Announced For 2025!

With the way this episode ended, there’s definitely no way they wouldn’t announce a season 2 and they did—it’ll come out in 2025! It’s to be expected because this was one of Spring 2024’s biggest hits. I certainly enjoyed this and it’s high up on my midyear anime list that I’ll be posting  next week!

Meeting with the Four Kings of Bofurin is going to help Sakura open up a lot more, even though he’s still taking baby steps. The Four Kings have such cool designs. We all know Hiiragi, but there’s also Tsubakino (he’s male), Mizuki and Momose who are very cool on their own! None of them speak, unfortunately. The purpose of the meeting with the Kings and the Grade Captains to let them know that they will always have people supporting them so it’s fine to let them rely on their senpais. Umemiya always knows how to ease someone’s spirits!

Sakura’s taking baby steps as leader of his class! He actually decides to take on Anzai’s matters into his own hands and the rest of the class tags along too because they’re a team. It’s so nice to see Sakura, who was super distrustful, slowly grow into someone who can be relied on! I really liked the scene with him talking with Anzai’s childhood friend Tsuchiya. He normally doesn’t try to start a conversation towards others, so for him to initiate talk is such a novel but welcome feeling! I even liked how Sakura was thinking about Kotoha’s advice on leaving the matter to him. If you look at Sakura at the beginning to the finale of the first season, there’s some solid growth there.

Anzai may be a bit of an obscure classmate in Sakura’s class, but It’s obvious that, while he’s a nice guy, he’s trying too much to take things by himself. He’s also a bad liar to the point that the gullible Sakura can see right through him.You know you’re a terrible liar when Sakura knows you’re lying. His story with Nagato was really sad. It’d break my heart if I learned my childhood friend was hanging out with the wrong crowd. I hope that things can patch up between him and Nagato once Furin goes to beat Keel’s ass. This might be a bit of rambling, but I just learned that his voice actor is Shogo Sakata, who’s known for voicing Aki Hayakawa from Chainsaw Man. I didn’t know he can produce such a childish voice.

Speaking of Keel, the gang is so creepy. Even when I was reading the manga, they gave me cult-like vibes. The member that Sakura meets on patrol is voiced by Junya Enoki. I’m as shocked as you are! I always familiarize Enoki with heroic roles like Totomaru Isshiki from Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective that it’s sort of hard to imagine him as a villain, but he’s here in Wind Breaker as a villain. This will seriously be a treat to watch because this is probably one of the rare times he’ll voice a villain and I can’t wait to hear it! Rambling aside, Keel is very cult-like because they have such a terrible method of discipling their members. If someone failed to do something, they get hit. It’s seriously awful. I do wonder how Nagato got entangled in all of this.

Even in the finale, the animation still is amazing. The way Anzai was fighting off Keel members and even the part where he was catching the purse thief, who turned out to be Nagato, were so good. My favorite part was when Sakura was chasing after Anzai and the camera pans to him going down the stairs and then jumps down to cut him off. Cloverworks really likes showing off why they’re so good with animation.

I seriously cannot wait for next year. It’s crazy how Wind Breaker is getting a second season already! If you’re curious about what happens next and want to read about, please start from Chapter 42, which is the beginning of Volume 6! Season 1 covered the first 5 volumes! I wonder how many volumes the next season will cover. What are your thoughts on the finale?

Final Thoughts

To be very honest, Wind Breaker was one of those animes that I wanted to watch primarily because of the stellar voice cast and that I had a very sour experience watching Bucchigiri, which was also about gang fighting. However, it slowly became one of the most exciting anime watching experiences I had. It’s because of Wind Breaker that I got a lot more online friends! It’s always nice to meet new people who watch the same things as you! While the anime is fun, I think what I gained these past three months feels as precious. Seriously, it’s such an amazing feeling.

Wind Breaker may be a straightforward story about gang fights and action, but the writing is a lot more heartwarming than you expect. It’s more about seeing the characters, specifically the MC Sakura, learn and grow. We learn why Sakura is the way he is and how being around people is beneficial for him. The concept of him going to a delinquent high school, but it’s also a place where the delinquents also have double duty as police officers of sorts. I also love that the fighting is just pure action and not crazy magic stuff. I love that it’s a little different from the usual delinquent stories in that it focuses more on characters and not fighting all the time.

The characters are the highlight of the show. Each of them have their own unique design and personality. It’s just so nice to see how well they mesh together. Not only does Furin have intricate designs, but Shishitoren does too! My favorite part of the characters is learning that their names have a theme! Bofurin characters’ names all revolve around plants. Shishitoren’s names revolve around animals. I can tell the author took so much time and effort to name these characters. As a writer myself, naming characters is both the funnest and the most tiresome aspect of the writing process.

Cloverworks did an amazing job with the anime adaptation. From the memorable first episode where Sakura goes all out against a gang by himself to animating the Shishitoren fights were so great. Though, my favorite part of the animation was seeing the studio elevate some of the characters’ backstories. I really loved how they animated Togame and Choji’s backstory! Togame got a backstory extension and Choji had such quality detail in his! Let’s just hope they keep that quality next season and not turn it into a mess like The Promised Neverland Season 2. Don’t f*** this up, please. The music was also really nice! The OP and ED songs were catchy and the OST were good! I especially loved the song Stronger! I love how there’s a piano remix of it too whenever something emotional happens.

The voice actors are seriously amazing. They legit casted extremely star-studded voice actors for this anime. We’ve got Yuma Uchida as Sakura, Nobunaga Shimazaki as Suo, Koki Uchiyama as Sugishita, and even Yuichi Nakamura as Umemiya. Look at those names! Shishitoren got some big names too like Yuichiro Umehara as Togame and Chiaki Kobayashi as Sako. If they’re going all out for this season, I can’t wait to see who’d they cast for the Keel characters because having Junya Enoki as one of the members is INSANE!

Like I said before, if you want to start reading the manga, start from Chapter 42 because Episode 13 ends on Chapter 41. I hope that you all had a wonderful experience with this manga! I hope that energy returns next year!

[nkirukaj]

The Radio Demon & the Billboard Doe (10)

Pairing: Alastor x Fem! OC

Warnings: Swearing; Sexual implications?

Genre: Angst/Fluff (& Humor!)

Word Count: 8.1K

<Chapter 9

10. Mother

“I have a question!” Voe runs into the parlor, shouting

They look towards her “What is it Voe?” Charlie asks

“What month is it? Please tell me what month it is!”

Charlie strokes her chin and thinks, not knowing the names of months

“You died in March right? So that would make it….September?” Vaggie chimed up

“Holy fuck!” Voe falls face-first on the couch

“What?” Angel leaned over her with his lean frame

She lifts her head up from the couch “It’s almost time,”

“For what?”

“For…the rut”

The others are quite confused “The what?” Charlie asks

Voe sits up “The rut. It’s the name for mating season.”

“Okay,” Angel says “What’s the problem?”

“This is my first year here, my first year as an animal, I don’t know how I’m going to to react to the unending biological desire/need to breed.”

“It’s not really that bad,” Angel plops down on the couch “I mostly take it in stride.”

Voe sits on the arm of the couch “You don’t get it. I’m a horny degenerate on the regs. Imagine that, plus animalistic desire or need.”

“What do you mean you’re a ‘horny degenerate’?” Charlie questions

Voe blinks at her “I mean I’m horny like all the time.”

“Are ya horny now?” Angel raises his brow. Voe looks away not answering the question. “Oh you little slut,” he grins 

“Just a little, just a little!” she dips her head in her hands “I don’t know what I’m going to do next month.”

Angel puts his hand on her shoulder “Why do you just, I don’t know. Fuck somebody?”

“This will be an uncontrollable rampage, Angel.”

“Then fuck a lot of somebody’s. Isn’t that what you did when you were alive? Just do it now.”

Voe looks up and thinks “Where am I finding people down?”

“It’s Hell toots. I guarantee that if you went on live and asked ya, little followers, if they wanna fuck you, they’d all say yes. Or at least half of ‘em. Or…..” He raises his eyebrow

“What?”

“Ya don’t really have to go that far to find somebody to fuck toots.”

She tilts her head in confusion “What do you mean?”

“There’s someone you could fuck the floor right above you,” he teases

She scoffs “Oh don’t waste my time,” Angel laughs

“What?” Charlie questions

“Ugh, he’s talking about Alastor.” Voe rolls her eyes

Charlie gets excited “Ooooh, that sounds interesting tell me about that. You like Alastor?”

“I don’t think anyone likes Alastor,” Vaggie says under her breath

“Yup she does,” Angel answers for her

“No!”

“Yeah, she does!” Husker calls from the bar 

“Until you make me a fruity drink I don’t wanna hear a word from you!” She points at the cat, who winks at Angel “And can you guys lower your voices, because I don’t want him to hear you.”

Angel puts his arm around her “Why, because you’re scared he’ll reject you?”

“Yeah, why?” Charlie asks

“Because if that cocky bastard thinks I have a crush on him, he will never let me hear the end of it!” she whispers

“But don’t you?” 

“No!” she puts her head in her hands again

Angel and Husk both nod silently at Charlie while Voe isn’t looking

“Well Voe, I think that if you do like him. Not saying that you do, but if you do then-“

“What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Vaggie!” Charlie glares at her girlfriend “If you like him,” Voe glares at her “Or anyone! Then just be yourself and tell them. Anyone would be foolish not to like you! Cuz you’re so amazing!” Charlie ends the pep talk with a bright smile

“Thanks, Charlie, but I don’t need that advice. I know that already. Ugh, I’m going to my room. Fuck you guys.” she flips the men off and exits the parlor.

_________________________________________________________

When Voe comes down to the parlor at night to raid the fridge, she’s wearing her pajamas. A big shirt that just barely covers her tail, shouldn’t be an issue because no one was down here at this time. She opens the fridge. She loved having it be the only light on the entire floor. Sometimes she stood in the fridge and ate, other times she took the food to her room.

After taking about another cold pan of jambalaya from the fridge and placing some on a plate, Voe’s ears twitched at the quiet sound of floorboards creaking. She stops her movement instantly, searching the darkness to find nothing. She relaxes her shoulders only to be startled into screaming when she turns to close the fridge and sees the tall red demon standing on the other side of the door, just barely bathed in light.

“Ahh, what the fuck!” she jumps backward, fists bared

Alastor only chuckles at her shock and fear “Don’t mind me, continue on with your plans.”

Voe turns on a lamp, which only covers a small area, but it is enough to see him at least. “This is the second time I’ve seen you down here. Why are you always down here in the dark?”

“These are my nighttime activities. It seems you were the only one unaware of that.”

“You don’t sleep?”

“Not if I can help it. But the real question is, why are you always down here?”

“What?”

“You come down here every night at this exact time to take food from the fridge and eat, why?”

She blushes “How do you know that?”

“I hear you,” is what he said, but the truth was that he smelled her “Now do tell me why. I was beginning to get offended at your aversion to my cooking.”

“Your cooking is fine.” he raises his eyebrow “It’s good. Great I guess, whatever.” Alastor smiles and waits, expecting more. Voe inhales “I just don’t like eating in front of people okay, geez.”

“Why not?”

She rolls her eyes “Is that really even your business?”

“Fair enough, I’ll mind my business. But I did approach you for a reason.”

“Yes?” She asks getting increasingly irritated

“This afternoon I will be taking a walk around the city, would you like to accompany me?”

Voe widens her eyes in confusion “Is that a joke?”

Alastor seems playfully offended “I think that it is very clear when I’m joking.”

“You want me to go on a walk with you, why?”

“Sometimes it’s nice to have company,”

“Yeah, but me?”

“Yes,”

“Why me?”

“Why not you?”

“I thought you didn’t like me.”

Alastor shrugs “I told you my opinion of you has changed,”

“So you do like me?”

“Would you like to come or not?’

“Sure.”

“Lovely,”

Voe stands up straight “But you do like me then?”

“I’ll see you at noon. Goodnight, my dear.” Alastor once again dissipates into shadows

When noon arrived Alastor stood at the door, dusting off his sleeves, waiting for Voe to come downstairs.

“Ooooh Alastor, what are you getting into today?” Charlie bounces over to the Overlord

“Just going on a walk, my dear.”

“Nice! Get some fresh air! What are you waiting for?”

“I’m waiting for my walking buddy, of course!”

Charlie is confused “Your walking buddy?”

Voe comes rushing down the stairs with her super speed, causing papers and anything not nailed down to get blown back by the wind she created. When she stops in front of Alastor and Charlie she lays down her flowing sundress and fixes her hair, which is down today.

“I’m not late!” She says to Alastor

“Right. Okay, we should be going now!” as they both exit the doors

“Wait, you two are-?” the Princess’s voice is cut off by the sound of the door slamming

They are walking in silence, their heels clicking on the pavement. The sounds of crackling fire and screaming sinners fill the air for them. Voe looks around at the sky and notices all the demons that jump away or light themselves on fire when she passes with Alastor. She looks up at him and he sports a closed-lipped smile as he looks straight ahead. They pass the area that she fell into when she first arrived, still remembering how her face hurt when she landed on it.

“Ooh that’s where I melted those guys’ faces,” she says to herself looking off the path

“Hmm?” Alastor questioned, looking down

“No, I just said that’s where I melted those guys faces,’”

“Look at you, coming into Hell and starting chaos” He looks back up ahead

“I didn’t really start anything. If anything, I just added to it.”

“And finished it?”

She looks up in thought “I suppose,”

They continue on in silence until reaching ‘Cannibal Town’, which Voe reads off the sign. She notes how all the residents have creepy smiles like Alastor’s and pitch-black eyes. He leads her into a building filled to the brim with sinners and once inside he says

“Excuse me for a moment, I have to go say hi to a friend,” and disappeared into the crowd instantly

Voe didn’t like being left alone in situations where she only knew one person. Now she was hoping nobody else noticed her because she was not prepared to talk to anyone else at this time. She made herself busy by looking at the displays of fingers and hands. Do they not take the nails off when they eat them? Wait. Do they eat these…raw? She mulled over the thought of eating raw meat, and it sent a disgusting shiver down her spine. 

Alastor returned with a tall lady, dressed in old-fashioned clothes and a rather large and ostentatious hat, black eyes, and the same grin as everyone else, although on her it wasn’t so creepy. Voe was slightly intimidated by her stature and presence, she radiated confidence, joy, and respect.

“Alastor I do enjoy your visits, but you know I’m very busy. You can’t just keep showing up here unannounced,” she said to him

“I love stopping by to see you! And I wanted to introduce you to someone new in Hell. I believe you’d like her,”

He leads the woman over to Voe, who waves shyly. “She’s one of the hotel residents and I invited her to come on a walk with me. A darling doe named Voe.”  He gestures toward her

“Hi,” she says

“Well hello! Look at you, so pretty!”

“So I’ve been told,” she flips her hair, flattered at the compliment. She laughs at the doe’s brazenness 

“And Voe, this is my good friend Rosie, one of the few Overlords more dangerous than me,”

“This new generation of sinners is something else. Alastor, what are you doing with this pretty young thing?”

“Calm down, we’re just going for a walk! I wanted to come see my friend!”

Rosie puts her hands on her hips “And you brought her? Why?”

“She’s one of the least annoying friends I have.”

“Friends? Haven’t heard you use that word in a while!”

Voe is also shocked by his use of the word ‘friend’. She wasn’t aware that that was the kind of relationship they had at this point. Shocked, but pleased.

“I just wanted you to meet the newcomer. She’s pretty famous, she goes by ‘Voe the Beau’.”

“Alastor you know I don’t frequent the interwebs!” She laughs and turns to Voe “Very nice to meet you ‘Voe the Beau’,” she bends down to be eye-level with the doe.

“I’m sorry, but you are literally Mother right now,” Voe says to Rosie

Rosie is shocked and confused by her statement. She looks to Alastor who is just as, if not more confused than she. Voe is smiling giddily so Rosie shrugs it off “I suppose I’ll take that as a compliment,” Voe nods profusely

“I do have a question,”

“What’s that?”

“Do you eat this stuff raw?”

“Well of course! It’s the only way to eat it!” 

Voe looks around “But why?’ she asks “Like, if you cook the flesh you’d still be cannibals. So why eat it raw?”

Rosie glances toward Alastor and rolls her eyes “I started getting this question nonstop nowadays. This new generation!” Rosie waves her off “Now Missy, we’ve all got our own tastes, we can eat however we want,” She leans down to her again

“Okay,” Voe blushes “Yes Mother,” she says under her breath

Voe feels a yank on her tail, she turns around to see a young child behind her. A warmth in her chest arises and her heart swells. She loves children.

“Hey! You have a tail!” the child says

“I do have a tail indeed,”

“Can I pull it?”

“Well, no. But I can play with you and your friends if you like.”

She’s dragged away by the child to sit on the floor in a circle of cannibal children, tossing around the bone of a leg they had all just shared

“Guys!! We didn’t save the lady any leg!”

Voe smiles “Oh no, I’m perfectly fine, you don’t have to share with me!”

“I have a finger I can share!” spoke a different child

“My mommy gave me a toe!”

“I’ve got a whole foot!”

Voe was grinning at her absolute limit, trying to convince these kids that she was satisfied as they tried to get her to eat one of the limbs they had spared. Alastor stood in the same spot watching as she got lost in the crowd of children, his smile softening slightly as he inhaled and exhaled deeply.

“What do you think of her?” he says to Rosie

“She seems like a nice girl. What do you think of her?”

“She’s quite tolerable to be around, yes?” he says without looking at her

Rosie pursed her lips “Now Alastor, why’d you really bring her to me?” she spoke from behind him

He snaps out of his little trance “Whatever do you mean, Rosie?”

Rosie looks as though he’s trying to play her for a fool “I thought for sure I had you pegged, and there you are, surprising me again!”

“What are you talking about, my dear?”

“Nothing,” she surrenders, holding up her hands “It’s just,” she whispers in his ear “You’re starin’ a little more than usual.”

“Something about her, I just can’t put my finger on it.” 

Rosie nods next to him, knowing exactly what he means before he does

On their walk back, Alastor pointed out a tea shop “Would you like some tea?” He asked her

Voe wasn’t exactly paying attention when she heard his request “What?”

“Would you like some tea?”

“Uh sure,” They walk into the tea shop and he orders one for her “Oh right, you don’t like tea.”

“Oh, you noticed?”

She looks up at him “Oh, well yeah.”

“Mhmm.” He looks up again taking the tea when it’s handed to him. They walk out and he passes it to her, grazing her fingers as he does. She can feel the sharpness of his claws on her knuckles

She holds the tea with both hands and looks up “You’re being nice,”

“I suppose I am,”

“Why?”

“Why not?”

They keep walking “You’re not normally nice,”

“Would you rather me be mean?”

She smirks, “I’m not sure,” she sips the tea “Holy fuck that’s good as shit!”

Alastor chuckles at this reaction, his pupils lowering to view her gulping down the hot tea. They continue walking in silence as Voe plays with her wrist, and tugs on her ear, growing restless.

“Why did you want me to come on this walk?” she finally burst

“I do believe I already told you why,”

“But we just walked there and now we’re just walking back. Like, we’re not even talking!” she drinks more of the tea, her brows furrowed

His pupils are on her as he continues to walk forward “That is what I invited you to. A walk.”

Voe pouts as she finishes her tea, holding the cup until she can find a trash can “That’s boring as hell,”

Alastor shrugs as they continue to walk

“Are you a cannibal?”

Alastor rolls his eyes, knowing she wouldn’t be able to stay silent for long “Yes,”

She widens her eyes “So you eat other people?”

“That is the definition, darling.”

She stares straight ahead, in shock for a moment “So did you get something from where we were?”

“No, today I’m in the mood for venison.”

She looks around in confusion “Isn’t that deer?”

“Mhmm,”

Voe starts snickering somewhat randomly, and Alastor stops to look at her, wondering what was so funny. When she sees him staring, she says “Of all the meats you could prefer, you found a way to be a cannibal, twice!” Alastor smirks at the somewhat amusing coincidence

“I suppose that is funny,”

“So like, were you that tall in real life or…”

“Why?”

“Because everyone is like a giant or a tree. I’m trying to figure out what the fuck happened to me.”

“Perhaps that is part of your punishment,”

“I think my punishment is growing fur on my legs, and having my ears on top of my head now. How am I supposed to listen to music like this??”

“Don’t think about that, think about how adorable it makes you look, little doe.” He pinches her cheek 

“Yeah, I know.” There’s a beat of silence before Voe chirps up again “You know you’re cute too.”

He does not respond to this. It has been quite a while since someone has dared to call him ‘cute’, especially to his face. 

“Do you think you’re attractive?” Voe piped up again. 

“I believe that I am wonderful.”

“That’s not what I asked you,” she scoffs 

He takes a moment to think “I suppose I do find myself attractive.”

“Hmm.” She smiles, humming to herself

Alastor looks down, pleased by the interaction.

When they arrive back at the hotel, Alastor stops her before she enters the doors.

“I’d like to discuss something with you, my dear.”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“I require something from you.” Voe raises her brow “This will benefit both of us,”

“Mhmm?” she responds “What is it?”

He approaches, standing as close as he possibly can “Give me, your soul.” Voe widens her eyes “And I will teach you to control your powers, and I will protect you. It’s quite a good deal really.” He bends down to meet her eyes.

Vera sticks her hip out, thinking “No.”

“No?” Alastor is shocked “What do you mean ‘no’?”

“I mean no. I am not giving you my soul.” 

“Why not??” He questions, growing annoyed “I’m offering you protection and power.”

“A soul isn’t something that you can put a price on. I plan to own mine for eternity. Alastor’s eye starts to twitch “Why do you want to own me anyway?”

He looks away, not wanting to confront her gaze. “It’s really nothing my dear. It’s just a soul. You’re not using it.”

“If it’s nothing, why do you want it?”

“Because I’m willing to protect you.”

“But I didn’t ask you to.”

“I know, but we are becoming friends now, at least that’s what I thought you wanted, so I’d like to protect you.”

She smiles sarcastically “Ah, yes the age-old rule of friendship, one has to own the other.”

“Now now, I think you are misunderstanding the lack of value that your soul has, right now, it’s just a burden. Let me take that burden from you.”

“Of course, and you’re being so altruistic by helping me out.”

“Well, what’s the big deal? Angel gave his soul away and he’s doing just fine,”

Voe scoffs “Yeah, right. He is clearly miserable, no matter how much he lies to me about it.”

“Ah yes, being the most famous adult film star in Pentagram City is misery.”

“Oh don’t be dense! You know Valentino is weird. And not in a good way!”

“He is a bit feminine-“

“That is not what I meant!”

“What do you mean, my dear?” Alastor’s eyes pierced into her

Voe closes her eyes “What I am saying is that my soul is important to me, and I need to know why you want it.”

“To help you! Isn’t that what I said?” He tilts his head

“Okay, then give me yours.”

“You’re not powerful enough to take it,”

“That shouldn’t matter if you give it to me.”

“Why would you want my soul?”

“Why not? It’s just a soul. It’s a burden, I’m helping you out!”

“But, I gave you a reason. You haven’t given me one.”

“You didn’t give me one.”

“I did! I want to protect you. You’re not powerful enough to protect me. Or even yourself!”

Voe looks irritated “I can protect myself.”

“But what about Angel?”

“What about Angel?”

“You can’t protect him.”

Voe doesn’t respond to this. She purses her lips, looking away from the taller demon. 

“Like I said, give me your soul and I can help you…” his tone was sticky sweet and she started to consider it.

She shakes her head vigorously “No. If we’re going to be friends, we’re going to be equal.”

“Who said we wouldn’t be?”

“You own Husk, right?”

“Mhmm”

“You two are not equal.”

“Oh, Husker’s different. He’s just a sad old drunken gambler. He needs me.”

“And I don’t want to get to that point.”

His smile stretches up to his hairline “Oh, I would never do that to you. You’re much too smart.”

“I bet you said that to him!”

He rolls his eyes “You might be the only sinner this stubborn.”

She snickers “Of course not. You’re here too.”

“You really want to keep your soul?”

“Why are you asking me that, as if it’s unreasonable?!”

“I suppose you’re right..” he says looking quite annoyed

“Hey….” she leans forward 

“What?” he glares down at her

“Are you upset?”

He scoffs and enters the hotel doors, closing them behind him.

“Wow,” Voe steps back “Someone’s upset,” she said under her breath before entering the hotel doors herself.

_________________________________________________________

Voe had been summoned to work in the middle of an afternoon, very unusual behavior from her boss, but of course she came. When she arrived, however, she did not find Velvette immediately. She saw Valentino smoking a cigarette and Vox pacing around hyped up on rage. Velvette approached her from the side.

“Hey love, you’re gonna want to sit down. Vox is not happy.”

Vox throws a table across the studio, sending papers flying

“Hey! Stop destroying my studio! It’s literally always me!” She goes to pick up the papers that he dropped, as he kicks in a door.

“YOU!!!!” he points at Voe, storming towards her “You said that he would be talking about me!!! Were you trying to make me look foolish?? Do you think this is a game???”

“Hey! HEY! No! Use your words!” Velvette yelled back at him 

Vox calms himself down and repeats the question “You said, he would be talking about me. But he ended up talking about you. Why??” he asked, riling himself up again

“That’s just what he told me!”

“Right, and then he goes on his broadcast to talk about you. And that’s just a coincidence?”

“I suppose..” she looks away

“Are you working with him?? Against us??”

“No!”

“Then what the fuck was that?”

“I don’t know, I guess he just thought it was funny!”

Vox laughs full of insanity “Well here’s a joke, you’re fired!”

Voe’s stomach drops and she starts to sweat. Her mouth drops open, and she tries to keep the tears in her eyes from falling.

“Now hold on Vox, this is my employee, and I think there’s a better course of action that we can take.” Velvette claps her hands and the contract from earlier reappears. She turns to Voe “It’s been 5 months sweets. It’s time.”

Vox pushes her out of the way “Sign the contract or get the FUCK out!”

Valentino starts to laugh evilly. “Perfecto,” Valentino purrs, blowing smoke in her face again

“It’s time,” Vox stood in front of her, one of his eyes growing large

Voe is apprehensive “Uhh, this is my soul.”

“Do you want to be on billboards or not?” Velvette lifts her chin with her index finger. She manifests a quill and slides it into Voe’s hand.

‘Voe the Beau’ she signs, and it disappears. She looks to Velvette as Vox starts throwing a tantrum “Are you FUCKING kidding me?!”

“Oh calm down Vox,” she turns back to Voe “Is that your real name?” Voe shakes her head “Well write your real name,”

The three Vees all lean in cackling maniacally as she drags the quill over the contract. V-E-R-A

“Excellent,” Vox’s voice lowers in pitch “Now you’re going to help us destroy that Old Timey Prick, understand, my dear?”

Voe stares up at the man, nodding “Yes,”

_______________________________________________________

The gang had started setting up for the party a few days ago, but Voe had just begun to notice.

“Hey, Voe!” Charlie waves “Do you wanna help set things up?”

She taps her chin “Not really,”

“Are you serious? This was your idea, and you’ve literally been nowhere to be found since we started working on this.” Vaggie scolded

“Vaggie! She just started working, give her a break!”

“Angel works, and he’s helping.”

“Angel has six arms,” Voe refutes

“No one said you had to do anything big. You could literally put up some posters or decorations. You don’t even participate in Charlie’s activities! Are you even trying to be redeemed??” Vaggie scoffs while Voe has no response “Ugh, whatever.” She walks off

“Vaggie!” she turns to Voe “Sorry Voe I know you’re doing your best.” she follows Vaggie out of the room

Voe didn’t know what to do at that moment. She didn’t want to start helping now and it would feel like everyone was staring at her, but she didn’t want to go to her room and prove them all right. She enters the kitchen and takes a seat. Niffty is sweeping the table furiously and muttering to herself. Voe sits and watches her clean. 

“Mommy, what are you doing?!”

“Hmm? What?”

Niffty pokes her with the broom “You’re in my way! I need to clean!” she moves her out of the kitchen with the broom “Make it clean, make it clean!” she keeps muttering as Voe leaves.

No one wants you here. 

She makes her way to Lucifer’s tower, with nothing to do and feeling very superfluous. It seemed like everyone was mad at her. She knocks on the door.

Lucifer opens the door “Can I help you-oh! Hey Voe! You can tell Charlie I’ll be down in a minute to help. I’m working on my Ducky ducks.”

“Um, hi. I was wondering if I could hang out in here?” She looks sheepish

“Oh yeah, of course.” He opens the door and lets her in as she goes to his wardrobe.

When Voe enters the room, she notices the King’s bare back. She watches him drape his shirt over his body. She closes the door. She continues to stare as he turns around to face her.

“Welcome back Ducky,” he widens his arms

“You don’t have to button up if you don’t want to. I mean, it’s…your lair, right?” a blush creeps up her neck “I mean, it’s your body, do what you want. I-“ she shakes her head

He tilts his says “You alright? You seem a bit on edge.”

She doesn’t answer but makes a few confusing gestures in response.

“Aww, what’s wrong with my Ducky? Is it Alastor again?” He pats the seat next to him and she sits in it

“Um, no. I just feel really out of place right now.”

“Would you like to stay in here for the rest of the day?”

She nods and he opens his arms. She lays on his still-exposed chest, feeling his warmth, and before she knows it, falls right to sleep.

She woke up to Lucifer shaking her “Hey,” he whispered in her ear “You wanna get ready for the party or do you wanna stay up here?”

“Hmm? Party?”

“You can stay up here if you’re not feeling up to it,”

Her eyes flutter open “Party? Oh shit, my party! They need me!” She stands up instantly “Sorry,” she says to the King  “I’d love to see you down there,” she tells him as she leaves the room.

She couldn’t host a party dressed like this. She made a beeline to her bedroom, throwing out a mountain of clothes to find the slim party dress she got from Velvette. (Hot pink of course). She removes her glasses and puts her hair up in a high pony, with some pieces falling in the front. She checks out her makeup, decides that it will suffice for the night, and heads her little tushy downstairs.

Once she heads downstairs she’s greeted by a very high Angel Dust “Hey! You finally made it!”

“Yeah, of course, it was my idea!”

“I thought you were gonna flake on us! Come here, sit down. Have some of Angel Dust!” he grins 

“Do you mean you or crack?”

Angel gestures toward the table, picking up a baggie to show her 

“How long have you been high today?”

“Not long, like 48 hours? I think?” 

“Okay, you should do that…less.”

He crosses two of his arms “I’ll stop doing crack when you admit you’re either fucking Alastor or Lucifer!”

“I’m not fucking either of them!”

“And I’m not gonna stop doing crack!”

“You weren’t gonna stop anyway.”

“You damn right!” He laughs and pulls her into a side hug “I love our relationship!” She laughs and hugs him back “Have a great time toots!”

Voe goes to the front of the parlor and puts her phone on a stand. She goes live on Sinstagram and speaks to the camera.

“This is Voe the Beau speaking. Coming to you live from the littest party this side of the Pentagram! Anybody who’s anybody is here and is staying here. Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel bitches!”

oh shit they have parties over there??

ain’t nobody going to that shitty ass hotel

you look GOOD girl

“Thank you, thank you. Now that I’m here, parties are what’s on the agenda. We know that drinking and drugs do NOT make you a bad person. They’re just activities you can take part in to have fun. And we know that having fun is an essential part of redemption. Am I right?” she turns to Angel and calls him over “Angel! Angel! ANGEL!!” 

“What?” he comes over

“Talk to the live!”

“Wassup bitches!!! Come hit up the hotel. Free drinks, free drugs, and free SEX. In any room you like!”

Voe enters the camera “Not mine,”

“Definitely hers!”

“Nope! Not mine! The only one having sex in there is ME!”

i would totally come jus to have sex in her room

do we get to fuck u angel????

are u free 2night angel???

“Nope! I’m never free!” He cackles and walks back over to the table with the crack

“I’m technically free. You don’t pay with money, but you do pay.” She sticks out her tongue “Charlie! Charlie! Come here!” the Princess walks over “Talk to your people!”

“Hi?” She says with a drink in her hand

lol look it’s the bitch that leaves everyone starving and homeless

nobody gives a fuck about that bitch

can we cum fuck the princess of hell 2night?

“She is in a committed relationship, you guys.

can we kill the princess of hell???

“If y’all touch my bitch, Charlie, I’m ripping your fucking legs off, and that’s on period!”

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

“Maybe I should go?” she looks slightly uncomfortable and walks away

“Look what y’all did! Being mad fucking rude! Now y’all on timeout!” She walks away from the phone and over to the bar. “Hey Husker, are you still not willing to make me a good drink,”

“I would make you a good drink, but you keep asking for trash!”

“You’re telling me everyone here is fine with the hard stuff?”

“People wanna get drunk, they don’t care how. Nobody else is picky like you!”

She rolls her eyes “And no one else is as stubborn as you.” She pushes herself off the bar chair and waltzes to the middle of the dance floor. 

The great thing about the lights being dimmed for this party was that Alastor was able to blend in with the shadows, able to watch the residents and other employees at this party without having to engage in it himself. In the shadows, he stood and observed, the effeminate spider snorting lines of snow, the princess and her partner standing off to the side only interacting with each other, Husker behind the bar looking miserable and Niffty running under people’s feet cleaning things they’ve dropped. Yes, from this spot he could see them all.

Including her. He watched as she flitted about going from person to person, watching as she moved, as she danced. He watched as she put her hands on her hips, threw them in the air, and tucked strands of scarlet curls behind her ear. She was not wearing her glasses tonight, and without the frames, he was able to lay his eyes on the freckles that adorned her cheeks. A darker brown than her skin, perfectly framing and contrasting her red irises. The dress she wore hugged her frame and accentuated parts of her body that were hidden in her more modest choices of dresses. All this he noticed from the shadows.

Alastor had not spoken to her since she had declined to give him her soul. He would admit that the ask was a bit impromptu and his pitch wasn’t as airtight as it would usually be, but he thought of it as a good investment on the walk back from Rosie’s emporium. All in all, it still seemed like a good deal in his eyes. But when she told him no, it lit him on fire internally. He was disgusted, enraged, and- not that he would ever admit it -embarrassed. Surprisingly not embarrassed at the rejection, but at what came after. Why do you want to own me anyway? She’d asked. He’d been asked that many times, as a deal maker, and he always made it clear that what he wanted it for was his business, but this was the first time he’d dodged the question, not because he didn’t have an answer, but because his answer frightened him. For the first time, it was an answer that he didn’t even want to admit to himself, let alone to the person he sought to make a deal with. No matter, he would inevitably win her soul, maybe not today, but he had all of eternity to find a game she’d be willing to play.

Voe slinks away from the parlor and enters the kitchen, just to sit. She leans back against the wall, closing her eyes and inhaling deeply before exhaling a long breath. She remains there with her eyes closed before hearing

“Unfortunately I have to eat my own words, my dear.” Voe turns to find Alastor standing beside her “This was in fact, a good idea.”

Voe smirks “I know.”

“I saw you…dancing” He said 

She smiles up at him “I love to dance. Not like I’m a dancer or anything but, I took classes” She shrugs “I don’t know what I’m saying.” She laughs at herself

“It makes sense. I’m not a dancer either, but I can do a mean jitterbug,” he sits down

Voe laughs, and when she’s done a small smile is left “Are you still upset?”

“I have taken the time to think on it, and I have forgiven you,”

She scoffs “Forgiven me?? I did nothing wrong. Might I remind you, that you were upset with me just for wanting to know why you wanted my soul.” She leans back  in her chair

“I remember,” he says, his tone bordering on acidic

Voe glances back at him “If anything, I should be mad at you,”

“And why is that?”

“Because it’s just like a man to demand that he gets to own you,”

“Except I offered something in return,”

The doe turns to face him “They always do! But they never deliver.”

“I assure you that has never been an issue for me.”

“And how am I supposed to know? There’s too many that lie. And even when they aren’t lying, they do deliver and you find out it wasn’t worth it”

“Excuse me for my gentlemanly instincts to protect and help a lady”

“You use that word so loosely and unfoundedly. ‘Gentlemanly’. What even is that? There are no gentle men. Men are aggressive and manipulative. They demand control of you and make you suffer for it. You wanna know why I’m so stubborn? Maybe because I’ve dealt with too many ‘gentlemen’ who weren’t really ‘gentlemen’. If men could be ‘gentle men’, then maybe I’d be free to be a lady!” She spits back at the Overlord

“And I am telling you that I take that descriptor quite seriously. I may be a fearsome demon, but I was raised correctly by the strongest of women. I know of the struggles you refer to and even in death I work every. Single. Day. To be the solution to the problem that you’re afraid of.” The pitch of his voice lowers as he gets more serious “I may be capable of unspeakable things, but I am a demon of my word, so if I say that I am a gentleman, believe it. I am a gentleman and you are a lady, and I not only desire but crave to help and protect you.”

When he finishes speaking he looks down to realize that he is towering over her. She is looking at him with dilated pupils and her two-tone lips are slightly parted as she breathes heavily through them. Her chest rises and falls as she turns her head up to look him in the eye. The distance between them was shorter than a pinky finger, he could feel her breath on his neck, and see the flush rising up hers. 

He had never been this close to her, and the only thing he was aware of at this point was her. All he could see was her face, all he could hear was her breath, and all he could smell was her scent. There it was yet again, that burning, unfamiliar to him, somewhere inside his chest.

They sit in silence for a beat. 

He whispers “Why are you in here? This is your party after all.”

“Yeah,” she responds, her eyes darting around his face and chest “Sometimes I just need a break you know? A lot of music, a lot of people. I need to take a breather for my own sanity.” She laughs dryly “I’m surprised that’s one thing that followed me from life”

“I take it you’re not drinking.”

She nods “Correct,”

“Why not? Everyone else is,”

“Well, because Husker refuses to make me the kinds of drinks I like.”

“Which are?”

“Any kind of fruity or sweet drink. Preferably the kind where you can’t actually taste the alcohol.” she chuckles

“Oh my, that’s quite the request,” he squints his eyes

“Whatever, it’s what I like,” she shrugs shakily

“Husker my good friend!” Alastor calls to the cat over the music, when the bartender looks, Alastor says “Make the darling doe what she requests!”

Voe looks at the cat, sticking out her tongue and holding up her middle fingers as he sneers back at her. When he finally brings her the drink, she’s very excited. Alastor stares as she lifts the glass, wraps her lips around the rim, and empties it within seconds. “More rounds for the lady here!” he calls back to the cat and watches as she grins. After about 3 glasses, Voe began to feel the warmth overtake her. She shakes her head as Alastor watches her close her eyes and tilt her head back.

“Are you done?” he whispers to her

She shakes her head “One more,” she whispers back “I just want one more, and then I’ll be done,” she says and turns to look at the tall demon’s face, not being able to stop herself from grinning. He grins back at her and they start laughing. A constrained giggle is the best way to describe what came from their mouths. Husker brings the last glass for her along with a bottle and shot glass for Alastor.

“Ah you know me well, my good man.” He fills up his own glass, reaching over Voe and she stares at his arm, her eyes widening 

“You have really long arms,” she turns back to him with wide eyes

He downs his shot and looks at her “I suppose so,”

Voe opens her mouth to say something when Angel calls for her “Voe! Come over here toots! Cherri and Sugar are here!”

She turns to Alastor, “I’ll be back,” she reaches out to touch him, but then simply pats the air around him

“Ohh, hey it’s you,” Cherri rolls her eye

“Hey, sexy…” she wiggles her fingers

Cherri glances at Angel “Oh she is pissed” She grins “Maybe now she’ll be less weird!” 

Voe looks at Sugar “Hey girlie… I haven’t seen you in forever. You look so pretty.”

“Um thanks,” Sugar says, feeling uncomfy

“How are those pills not working yet?” Cherri asks Sugar

Sugar is holding her arm “‘Cuz I didn’t take them?”

“What the fu- take ‘em!”

Sugar rolls her eyes and throws her head back ingesting the mystery pills

“Oooh, what are we doing?” Voe does a shoulder shimmy

“LSD and X?”

Voe frog blinks “Like…like…like…ecstasy?” 

“Yeah,”

“I’ve never done that before,”

“Here,” Cherri opens her palm and has two of the pills in her hand

Her eyes are wide looking at Cherri’s hand

“Thought you didn’t do hard drugs toots,” He leans all over the girls

“It’s the only drug to do,” She pops one into her mouth

“I’ll smoke weeeeed. DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY WEED?”

Cherri “I’ve got marijuana tablets,” she pulls some out of her pocket

Angel gasps looking offended “You had marijuana tablets and didn’t tell me?”

Voe takes a tablet and ingests it “And now we wait,” she grins 

Voe stands on the table in the parlor and starts to dance, her body swaying to the music. Alastor crosses his legs in the kitchen, downing another shot he sees her as she’s perched up on the table. Her curls wildly whipped back and forth with her head. The traceable curve of the arch in her back as she bends, and everything moves in slow motion as he watches her. He blinks and she is in front of him, leaning over to look into his face.

“Hi,” she’s very smiley and she hasn’t stopped moving, still somewhat dancing to the music. She wiggles her fingers at him

“Hello,” he speaks calmly and evenly

“You look so pretty sitting there,” she steps closer to him

He widens his eyes, “I take it that you’re now ossified?”

She squints “Are you asking me if I’m drunk?” she points at him

“Yes,” he nods

“Well…” she wiggles her finger, pointing at him “Yes,” she grins widely “But I know what I’m saying!”

“Mhmm”

“Yeah,”

“Be careful,”

She nods, her eyes wide and innocent “Okay,”

“Good girl,” he said, cupping her chin and dragging each claw over her skin. She felt her core twitch at his words but ignored it.

She bats her lashes “I want to touch your hair! Can I please? Just for one second. One second!” she begged

He sighs “Proceed,”

She giggles excitedly and her fingers quickly and lightly caress his strands, her mouth is agape “It’s so fluffy!”

He chuckles “I suppose,”

“Would you like to touch my hair?” 

Alastor shrugs “Sure,”

Voe hangs her head down in front of him, he grabs her ponytail with sufficient force and lets the strands run through his fingers.

“Oh my, it’s quite thick.” 

Voe puts her head back up and giggles “Just like me,”

“Exactly,” he winks 

“Your voice is so…” she does a chef’s kiss 

“Thank you?” he raises his brow

“No, thank you.”

“For?”

She puts her finger on her lips and just giggles “I’ll be back,” she says again, heading back to the parlor

She returns to the dance floor and Alastor’s smile settles, until seeing that turkey they call the King of Hell approach her. He taps her on the shoulder and she turns around and is quite excited, her grin going from ear to ear. She pulls him into a tight hug and the tighter the hug gets the tighter Alastor’s chest feels. She says something to him and it causes a sly grin to form on his face.

“Do you wanna dance with me?”

“I’d be delighted to,”

“Okay, but you have to drink too”

“Oh, I’m not much of a drinker..”

She holds a shot in front of him “Oh come on..”

He takes the glass “Well, maybe a few,” he downs the shot quickly and reaches for the other shot in Voe’s hand, downing that as well. Voe wraps her arms around the King’s neck and pulls him closer to her

“How do you feel?” she whispers to him

“Pretty relaxed actually,”

She bites her lip “That’s good,” she takes his hat off and places it on her head, smirking at him. When the song changes, Voe turns herself so her back is touching Lucifer’s chest. She takes an arm and pulls him to press against her, Lucifer holding her hips in place, his face pressed into her neck. Alastor watches as she grinds her body against Lucifer, he squints and every moment where his front connects with her back is another inch that Alastor can feel vomit creeping up his throat. What on earth is he doing to her? Defiling her and in public! Lucifer spins her around by her hips, she looks shocked, but when he pulls her in with her chest touching his, he leans down toward her lips with his own and she leans in as well, almost closing the space between them. Alastor’s eyes widen and the air is caught in his throat.

“Voe,” he speaks sternly. The doe’s ears twitch in response and she turns her head toward him she smiles

“Everyone wants a piece of me tonight!” she whispers something in Lucifer’s ear and he whispers back, making her giggle, she comes over to Alastor “At your service Sir Bucky,” she bends down once more and giggles

“I was just wondering, you said you have taken dance classes, and I have yet to see you dance.”

She blinks in confusion “I was just dancing,”

“That was dancing?” he raises his eyebrow smirking

“Yeah!”

“Hmm, could’ve fooled me,” he taps his temple

Voe huffs and stands up straight “Are you saying I can’t dance?”

“If the tap shoe fits…” with a close-lipped smirk

She furrows her brow “I can dance!”

“Then, by all means, prove it.”

She looks around “How?” she pouts

“Is this not a party?” He stands and outstretches his hand “Show me what you’ve got”

She looks at his outstretched hand and back up at his face with awe. She places her hand inside his. His hand was cold and smooth, he placed his other on her waist and squeezed it slightly. He pulls her closer to him and her eyes are wide, her lips slightly parted and her head looking up at him. They start to dance, classic style, the music smooth and slow, not exactly Alastor’s preference, but better than the vulgar nonsense that was being played before. He led her, dancing her around in circles, twirling her, and pulling her close in what felt like a beautiful eternity. He ended with a gentlemanly dip, giving a light flick to Lucifer’s hat on her head, making it fall off. She stares at him in shock, while he stares at her like she is a delicious snack.

“You know what I just realized?” She asked with her chest heaving at every breath 

“Hmm?” He questioned with a grin on his face

“You sly buck, you just wanted me to dance with you” A smile creeps on her face. His grin turns evil and mischievous, his hand still firmly pressed on her back “You could have just asked.” Voe pressed her palms on Alastor’s hard chest, then brought them up to his shoulders, staring at him all the while. He had sweat on his forehead and some in his hair. 

“Where’s the fun in that?”

Chapter 11>

[beanghostprincess]

No offense to anyone but genuinly the Babby Shuggy moments not only made me ship it but also make me not understand people who feel like their dynamic in canon isn’t „all that interesting“ after they split. „They haven’t seen each other in years. They are different people now. They aren’t thinking and regretting their splitting 24/7!“ okay, but also like…. You don’t want them to have more screentime after the flashback that can just really flesh out how they changed? You don’t think Buggy fucking up upwards coupled with Shanks actual epicness while still being the type of guy to be chill with Buggy and congratulate him for fucking up upwards would be fun? You don’t even want them to have that cool anime shonen type thing where they work together for a while and get into a fight and get a full page panel of them ready to kick ass while standing back to back? (The „What? You’re fighting too?“ scene from Kingdom Hearts may be overused but it comes to my mind immediatly because sometimes things are overused for a REASON and it fits them in a weird way) Like…. Okay. Your loss. But even beyond shipping I am still a bit flabbergasted at some people being like „Yeah but there’s nothing THERE.“ like, COME ON THERE COULD BE SO MUCH.

Okay, anon, sometimes you need to understand that people have no taste and sometimes we are more intelligent than others and we have to carry the burden of liking and understanding an amazing ship that a lot of people find boring in canon because they don't know how to read the characters. (I'm half joking here, by the way)

Like!!! I started shipping them from the first second they mentioned they were together when they were young. The first flashback of them has the biggest most beautiful "young, teenage best friends to lovers angsty with a lot of pining and not actually unrequited love" I've ever seen. And not only that, even their fucking past is a slow burn. They make you wait to know about the resentment and what happened between them (I've only watched that flashback in wano, if more things are shown in the arc or the manga I don't know about them so don't spoil me in the comments pleaseplease) and it's so so so beautiful. Like- They make me want to lay on the floor all day and cry WHAT'S NOT INTERESTING ABOUT THEIR DYNAMIC????

You know what happens, anon? A lot of people don't like the childhood best friends to lovers trope because they find it boring (for some reason I still don't understand because it's literally my favorite trope) and so they decide to focus on the rivalry and angst that comes later but, y'know, that's when the fanon thing comes up and they focus more on that than on their actual canon past where they're best friends.

And tbh the fact that they reduce their characters only to their relationship instead of to their actual personalities and goals is a shame because Buggy and Shanks have to be two of the most charismatic and interesting anime characters I've ever seen. They're fun and extremely cool to watch even when they aren't thinking about each other 24/7. People, please stop only thinking about ships for a moment?? And if you do, please at least think about how cool it's going to be once they get together again after so much time being apart.

This reminds me a lot of Soukoku and Satosugu ngl. The whole BFFs until there was this big betrayal thing and also the fact that people only like them because of their relationship and are always mad their characters aren't only about the ship.

Honestly, I'm so excited to see more of them and every time they talk/show up on screen I immediately start sobbing. How could people not find them interesting in canon? Buggy is literally one of the best characters wdym?? Also he'd be extremely angry at people reducing him to his relationship with Shanks, dude already is tired of that man let him rest!! Imagine people always talking about you to talk about the ex you still love like damn please he's an awesome character too. And Shanks, too, but like the dude is a simp and he would love this whole thing so-

[jovrien]

Yo yo so I went over my drafts and found a post I’ve written last April but idk why I didn’t post this.

⚠️⚠️⚠️ yapping alert! It’s all nonsense. I’m just posting this for my future self lol

••••••••••••••••••

Something bothers me and the Holy Spirit is pestering me to write this shit on tumblr for my peace of mind so here goes.. (Oh btw this post is nonsense and quite lengthy but I just wanna shit it outta my mind so I could finally let go of whatever this is. And oh I’m kinda drunk lol)

But first lemme confess something lol I have a crush on the guy on this photo. I took a screenshot of this pic last March 26, I stare at it every morning and damn I still feel the same to this day lol am I.. am I.. still okay? 🤭

Damn this bro is too fine I wanna look exactly like him on my next edition reincarnation 🙂‍↕️

Moving on..

So I’m just new to this whole Astrology shit and as a Capricorn Sun/Virgo Rising, I can say it’s pretty accurate how they described me as having a straight nose, good forehead, and a person who is neat freak lmaooo 😆 crazy 🤭 so yeah I never really gave a flying fuck about Astrology because I thought it was a bit ‘girly’ or something only girls do, but it all changed when last December 30, 2023, I saw a Tiktok about the Cardinal Signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn) finally ending their 16-year struggle since 2008. I mean, the last 16 years truly made me realize a lot of shit, and I lost A LOT. The last one taken away from me was my dog (Gisele Heart Particles Nougat Shamcey Chamyto Chimmy 2010-2023). So yeah, it was quite a relief knowing that the cycle is coming to an end and that the next 20 years is gonna be rosy for the Cardinal Signs. But there’s one more boss fight before Pluto finally leaves us Cardinal Signs for good as it’s going to retrograde back for a just a few months (September-November) and then GONE FOREVER.

Btw, astrologers are saying that the Fixed Signs are gonna go through shit in the next 20 years, but please don’t be afraid if you’re a Fixed Sign (especially if you’re a nice person).

So yeah, I found myself crotch-deep into astrology and found out that my ruling planet is Saturn 🪐 and that meant instant karma in both directions. And this is what bothers me because it means I have to be a good guy all the time! I mean, I’m actually a good guy because I’m kind to animals and the needy, and my secret Spotify Progressive House playlist is just 💯 👌🏼 sorry I digress lol

What bothers me is that they are saying that I shouldn’t do bad things because karma would bite me in the ass. And I have been losing sleep because of that. You see, I’m addicted to doing bad things (no, not the criminal bad things fyi. I’m a very lawful person). The things I do are too extreme that it causes panic in heaven 😝 jk

Okay while writing this post I found this comment on a Tiktok vid that made all my worries disappear

Bing Bong! Amazing how the Universe answers my questions right away. 😈 Now that I don’t have to worry about guilt (On so MANY occasions I made people do the unthinkable. I fucked my friend’s partner during a threesome) So yeah.. now that the fear of being karma’d is out of the way, lemme tell you (yeah you sleuthing relative who haunts my blog!) the best thing about being a Capricorn ruled by Saturn - we are divinely protected by Karma. It’s like having a Doberman on a night walk around the block.

I have thought of the times when people were mean and really really bad to me even if I only showed them kindness so Imma list the karma they got. (btw I’m gonna have to change some details about them so it isn’t too obvi who they are)

1. This person humiliated me in front of people (worst thing that was ever done to me), then two days later bammmm the most devastating thing happened to his wife and kids which left him in extreme pain and distress for a few months.

2. This woman hated me for no reason, talked shit about me, then a few days later she was diagnosed with cancer.

3. An evil person who did me super dirty was humiliated on a national level lmao imagine being in the news for the wrong things you did.

4. I was never bullied when I was a kid, but there was this classmate in grade school (24 years ago) who was so jealous of my Nokia 3210. She intentionally sat on my backpack, broke the screen, and even though I was fuming, I didn’t hit her ultra wide face with my hand. A few days later I heard from a classmate that she was going through shit at home because her mom found out that her dad was having an affair lmao 🤣 I stalked her IG just now and found out she’s battling with extreme obesity. Oh nooo karma is a cat purring on my lap cherryt 😝

I could go on writing (20 or more) about how people who did me wrong got bitten by karma but that would make me seem immature, childish and vindictive so imma just end this nonsense here. Ciao 🍻

[bberetd]

Hey there! Since you also reblogged the post saying you want people to send you asks (actually I even reblogged it from you), here I am to ask you a question. A potentially very tough one. Ready?

If you had to pick only one (1!) favorite Mario character who would it be and why?

I'm just trying to get to know my mutuals a little better, y'know?

But most people seem to be using that 'send me asks' post as another opportunity to say mushy stuff to each other, so let me also do that! I'd like to remind you that I'm very glad that I'm following your blog. You're certainly a fun and kind person, and must say I like you very much 😀❤️ Thanks for always supporting my art, it really means a lot to me.

Also please teach me your ways to draw so fast, I just finally finished sketching my latest fanart today (yeah, that ambitious one) and it took embarrassingly long. And this one is supposed to have a proper lineart too💀

Oh, that reminds me: I'm really excited for your animations! Once I'm done with my current fanart, the next bigger fan project on my list is also one animation I've been thinking of, so I hope we'll be able to motivate each other a bit 😁👊

OH just oneeee? 😩

Whew, okay, well... while Daisy has a huge place in my heart (especially lately, as you can tell 😹), my all-time favorite will always be Luigi.

See, the funny thing is that I hardly cared for him before the movie, and even a little after I watched the movie. My first favorite Mario character was actually Rosalina when SMG came out, because I was SO obsessed with space when I was younger (and still kinda am), and blue was and is my favorite color (such a deep reason, right? :P)

I always tend to lean towards the underdogs of a franchise, yet I don't remember the exact moment that drew me to him. There were just a bunch of edits and videos of him flooding all of my social media pages when the movie hype was still fresh, and I guess one day I decided, "yup. that's my guy."

I think the moment that really solidified my love for him was when I replayed Luigi's Mansion (I kiiinda played it before, but I was 4 and just pressing buttons lol... it's strangely a core memory for me). His bravery throughout the game despite his evident fears and anxieties is just... so inspiring and real to me, genuinely. And a little bit of him shone through his commentary of some of the objects throughout the mansion, which was also endearing 😆 The game gets creepier the deeper I think about it, and I just can't help but give him more flowers for going through it three different times!

plus, he's just so happy and awkward and silly. how could you not love him?!

But in short, he's my favorite because he's relatable to me, and I find his little quirks adorable and endearing.

yet despite all that, he knows when to lock tf IN. that's my hero <3

anywhoooo...

Mugi!!! I couldn't be any happier that we're friends and moots! You've blessed my timeline with your gorgeously detailed art and commentary, and I'm so grateful you support my art just as much ♥️♥️ I admire and like you very much as well, you're amazing <3

as for quick art, basically-

and thank you!! the animation might take longer because classes start tomorrow for me, and year 3 of uni is definitely gonna be more challenging and, er, expensive. 🫠 Hopefully I'll learn to manage my time better so I can make decent progress every day, but I do know where I want to go with the animation. Big yes to motivating each other!! I know that ambitious art will be PHENOMENAL when it's dropped, and I can't wait to see your style in motion! :))

[wouldntyou-liketoknow]

Day 4: Burst Vessels

(Disclaimer: two of the characters in this story belong to me. For more information on Garret, go here. For more information on The Newcomer, go here. For my personal headcanons on Murdock, who belongs to the Markiplier Cinematic Universe, go here. And if you’d like to learn more about the mob these guys all work for, go here.)

(As usual, I got tons of help developing the main character of this story from the amazing @sammys-magical-au ! Please go check out their blog and stories!)

(Trigger Warnings:  blood/gore, murder/death, strangulation, descriptions of illegal business, mentions of animal cruelty, mentions of gambling, mentions of alcohol, superstition/paranoia, strong language. Please let me know if I missed anything.)

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7

___

As usual, the alleyway was dark. It was kept in the casino’s shadow during the day, and by night, the towering lights built in the parking lot simply couldn’t reach all the way back here. 

The only technical source of illumination was the thin glow that outlined the back door that led to the storage room, and even that was dim and flickering. 

Nothing at all like the radiance of the playing floor, where wide pendant lamps hung over tables to cast the dealers in a sort halo. 

Where the rows of slot machines on one side of the joint all practically thrummed with vibrant colors that blinked in programmed patterns.

Even so, the shadows weren’t too much of a problem. Garret’s schedule was nocturnal more than half of the time, after all. 

A staticey, prickly sensation began to flicker in-between Garret’s fingers as he applied more pressure. It didn’t take very long for the feeling to become somewhat similar to how a Charlie Horse felt in the leg muscles, but it wasn’t going to stop him. 

He simply ground his jaw and pushed the pain aside, squeezing at his impromptu target’s neck even tighter than before. 

The other man’s skin no longer felt pliable, the way human flesh should feel. Instead, it now reminded him of leather. Oddly warm leather that was wracked with an obvious, struggling pulse. 

So long as you were strong enough, choking could knock out the average person in as little as ten seconds. And, in a way, that had already happened here.

But Garret refused to let the unconsciousness truly take hold.

That was why he kept making ever-so-slight adjustments to his grip. 

He wanted to force the target’s eyelids to keep desperately fluttering, to make him keep writhing in his clutch, to make keep trying and ultimately failing to get enough oxygen. 

This target was a fucking scumbag, and Garret wanted to see when he died.

___

“So.” The deep, questioning tone of Garret’s voice all but drowned out the little chorus of clink-clink-clinks shuffling through the yarn in his hands. The knitting needles gently swayed to and fro as he made the finishing touches to the small, human-esque figure that lay on his desk. 

Unless you counted the pale green tint of its material, the doll was completely featureless. Blank. 

…Of course, it certainly wouldn’t stay that way. Voodoo dolls needed to resemble certain people, after all. As of right now, Garret wasn’t aware of anyone nearby who needed a little dose of that kind of misfortune, but it never hurt to have a template ready to go. 

“You want to start out for the night? Or do you want a little extra practice?” He asked, looking over at the figure who sat on the opposite side of his desk.

The same one who he’d been instructing on the rules of certain games, how to properly deal, how to properly play…as well as how to cheat at those same games without getting caught. 

Despite this, it’d been impossible for Garret to not get up and pace just for an excuse to look over his guest’s shoulder each time they wrote. For at least the sixty-nine-thousandth time, an itch had manifested somewhere in the back of Garret’s mind. An itch strong enough to be reminiscent of a brainiac tick who’d discovered that a blend of salt and poison ivy could be to bugs what crack-cocaine was to humans. 

That itch was the reason he’d survived so long in the underground business, had been welcomed into The Pentas  Family, had discovered more than a few wannabe moles before they could cause trouble…

So far, however, The Newcomer really had been jotting down notes, just like they said they would. They’d dedicated a few blank pages to gambling etiquette, sets of rules, varying card values for games, obvious tells and how to avoid them, etc. 

With a nod, The Newcomer closed their journal with a small snap! and slid it into the backpack they’d brought along (the fabric was which was white and black, boasted a print that portrayed a hodge-podge of newspapers).

There was a flicker of anxiety in their gray eyes, but that still mixed well with their curious energy. “I think I’m ready.”

“Alright, then.” Garret nodded, pushing the half-finished voodoo doll into a drawer, where it would patiently wait for the day someone fucked around and found out enough. He stood up from his chair, cracking his knuckles as he strode over to the door, holding it open for The Pentas Family’s freshest member. 

Technically speaking, Murdock was responsible for mentoring The Newcomer…but then, part of that mentoring did involve introducing them to his accomplices, having them learn all the mob’s various ways of business. It wouldn’t hurt anyone for him to leave them with a colleague while he focused on something else. 

Besides, the social-anxiety-incarnate mask he wore to hide his true self in public wouldn’t exactly fit in with the atmosphere of a place like Itchy Palms.

(Sure, casinos were kinda-sorta infamous for having customers stumble out in a cold seat, filled the air with panicked muttering about how they’re going to pay for a mortgage or whatever, but still.)

The cacophony of whooping and hollering, electronic jingling and buzzing, even the smallest dice plunking down on tables seemed to drown out footsteps against the marble floor.

Garret led The Newcomer down the corridor, moving further and further away from his office until the two of them turned a corner, facing the wide, crowded space that seemed to stretch on and on. 

Employees, all dressed in uniforms that were almost similar to Garret’s typical attire (a white vest over a silvery button-down and black slacks. The main difference was that, where they had bowties, Garret had his hand-made, maroon-dyed scarf.), flitted about the chaos. Some were manning the tables, others were carrying trays full of drinks to the gamblers at said tables. 

Watching a random customer carrying a few handfuls of chips close to their chest as they weaved through the crowd, Garret remembered to reach into his own pocket, tracing his fingertips along the edges of the glass Evil Eye charm he never left the house without. He kept walking, and The Newcomer kept pace beside him.

“Which game do you want to try first?” He wondered aloud, glancing at his charge and gesturing to all the options. 

The Newcomer pursed their lips, carefully glancing about. They folded their arms across their chest and drummed their scarlet-gloved nails against one bicep. “…How about Poker?”

Garret hummed. “Good choice.” Having memorized the layout of the floor, he hooked a left to guide them over to the table in question.

…Or, what they could see of the table, at least. A crowd of customers had gathered around it to watch the current game. It was already occupied by a batch of six players, all shifting in their seats and watching as the dealer shuffled the deck. 

Once he was close enough, Garret opted to lean against the wall, careful not to touch any of the decorative paintings and photographs that were displayed on it. “Let’s wait a minute. When the session is over, I’ll give that dealer an early break and run it myself.” 

The Newcomer nodded. “And once the current players leave, I should sit on the far-right, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Garret replied with a smirk. 

When it came to poker, the rules could vary from location to location. But the cards were almost always dealt in a counter-clockwise fashion. The person on the right would get some extra time to, say, subtly watch the other players. Wait for a card they wanted. Pretend to drop something on the floor so they could hide a good card under their leg until they were ready to use it. That kind of stuff.  

The Newcomer rocked back and forth on their heels. “So, uh…you want to play Pool while we’re waiting? Or maybe darts? They both look fun, and I’ve been hoping to practice at either, but I just haven’t gotten a chance until now.” 

Garret tilted his head. Part of the way he squinted at them was appraisal, since it seemed they  weren’t much better with awkwardness than he was. (Which was WAY more of a relief that he cared to admit.)

Another part, meanwhile, wondered if they’d suggested darts because they’d just cooked up some harebrained scheme to earn an extra stripe via giving him an extremely unconventional nipple-piercing. 

Just before he could respond to their idea (whatever it truly was), however, he felt a quick, small tap against his shoulder.

After flinching, he looked over to discover that one of his younger employees—she was part a group of college students who’d coming looking for summer jobs, and therefore NOT one of his in-the-know workers—had come to hover a couple feet away. 

“Ah, Mr. Wyre? Sir?” She asked. “I really hope I’m not interrupting anything, but…I think we’ve got a situation going on outside.” 

Garret had been about to reassure her, but that made him give pause. As everyone needed to somewhat raise their voice to be heard in here, it took no time at all to hear the generous dose of nervousness lacing her tone. “...What kind of situation?”

“Attempted trespassing, I think? Maybe loitering and vandalism, too?” The employee then heaved a sigh. “...He’s back. I managed to keep him out while I was working the door, but he clearly hasn’t left yet. His car’s still in the lot, and I’m pretty sure he’s somewhere out back…”

Garret’s lip curled into a slight snarl as he realized exactly who she meant by that. 

A huffy, greasy man who was definitely the subject of many online stories courtesy of the dealers who were subjected to him. While he wasn’t the first person ever placed on Itchy Palms’ blacklist, that still wasn’t saying much. 

In the span of one evening, he’d made sure to A. nearly damage one of the chip-machines beyond repair in an effort to claim he hadn’t been given the correct amount, B. spew all sorts of filth toward several dealers until he had an opportunity to throw a couple drinks on one, C. pissing himself all over the seat, and D. try to outrun the consequences of his actions, only to end up getting himself caught because he apparently just couldn’t resist grabbing a shoe that had happened to fall off of one woman’s foot during a game of Blackjack, then ducking into the men’s restroom to huddle in a corner and lick the inside of said shoe like a popsicle. 

All that wasn’t even his first rode; that was just the night he’d gotten the third strike, AKA an excuse to literally kick him through the main entrance and onto the pavement outside. 

…And yet, Garret could never remember his name. So, to compensate, he called him Blister Ass, because the only way to accurately describe the guy’s personality and mannerisms was to simply think of a sentient hemorrhoid. 

With a sigh of his own, Garret corrected his posture and nodded. “Alright, then. I’ll take care of this.” 

“Thank you,” the employee murmured before scurrying off back to their shift. 

(Now, most people might think poorly of her for not asking to call the police. But then, those people should remind themselves what kind of business she’s working for. Gambling was legal in the Cove Port Inlets, which meant that the cops hardly ever bothered with the place. Or several other places, for that matter. Besides, even if the entrance to Garret’s abandoned-subway-tunnel-den well-hidden, having to deal with cops definitely wouldn’t do his nerves any favors.)

Rolling his shoulders, Garret started walking yet again. He crossed the playing floor, strolling up a light ramp that led into a practical field of slot machines.

All the while, The Newcomer followed him a bit like a puppy, because...well, they'd been sent here to learn some tricks from Garret. Where else were they supposed to go at the moment?

After maneuvering through the rows of glowing, buzzing money-devourers, the two of them found themselves sidling behind the cocktail bar and into the storage room behind it.

Sure enough, as they drew closer to the back door, as the choir of chaos that no casino could really exist without got more and more muffled, Garret's ears picked up on shuffling and crashing that seemed to echo through the alleyway outside.

But that wasn't what made him quicken his pace and use a bit more force than strictly necessary to fidget with his scarf.

No, that honor went to the sick, wheezing, perverted-sounding laughter that he caught alongside the din...as well as a bout of yowling.

A high-pitched, non-human cry of pain and fear that was gut-wrenchingly unmistakable...

___

Finally, Garret felt Blister Ass’ throat collapse. 

He felt tendons tearing loose, felt the thyroid cave in on itself with a uniquely soft combination of pop and crunch. To anyone else, the sound would have been nauseating. But to him, it was just business as usual. 

Even if this particular hit had been neither assigned to him by The Boss nor ordered a client who was willing to agree to one of The Pentas Family’s contracts. Still, Garret knew this would be profitable in the end. Although Caliban and his organ-trafficking skills were out of town at the moment, that didn’t mean his other peers couldn’t help take care of such things…well, except for anything inside Blister Ass’ neck, that is.

Blister Ass’ head partially lolled to the side, his mouth gaped open as pulpy blood came pouring out. More dark, metallic fluid—Garret knew by instinct that it was crimson, but it looked black in the darkness—started to pour from his nostrils and ears. 

It all dribbled down the target’s skin and clothes, eventually trickling over Garret’s hands.

 It felt hot and slimy and awful, but he barely noticed. He wasn’t going to release his grasp just yet.

Not…until…

Garret leaned closer to his target, forcing him to maintain eye-contact. It was this closeness that allowed him to hear how some tiny, fleshy structure went snap! just behind Blister Ass’ bulging eyes. 

One by one, the vessels inside those horrified, watery orbs burst. The sclera white tissues were quickly clouded over as red spots seeped through from the inside, growing and spreading until they were both completely red. 

As if on their own accord, droplets of blood squeezed their way through Blister Ass’ tear-ducts, soon forming a pair of thin, glistening rivers to slide down his face and join the rest of the mess. Barely a second later, the man’s eyes finally, finally rolled back up into his skull. 

There. 

That was it.

Garret loosened his aching fingers, drawing his hands back. The corpse slide down against the old concrete wall he’d been pinned against. He crumpled into a heap, still gurgling, but not twitching.

The odd sense of calm he typically felt when carrying out jobs was already beginning to fade, slowly-but-surely letting his usual paranoia to spread its roots through his system.

He spent a second or two scowling at the stains on his hands…only to stiffen as he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. 

The Newcomer sidled closer, lowering their head to signal cautious respect as they held out one hand toward it. Upon closer examination, he realized that a clean handkerchief waiting in their scarlet-gloved grasp. 

“Oh, thanks,” Garret murmured, plucking the cloth by one corner before scrubbing at the mess on his knuckles. 

“No problem,” The Newcomer replied, a small smile creeping across their face.

That smile crumpled, however, as a low, soft mrrowhh seeped into the air. They readjusted both hands, keeping their movement slow and gentle as they looked down at the shape Garret now realized was being cradled to their chest.

A little black cat huddled just below The Newcomer’s collar, shivering badly, its ears flat, its yellow eyes wide and frightened and hurt.

A hollow ache sear through Garret’s stomach. He took a careful step closer, leaning down to examine the feline. “...Do you think anything is broken?”

The Newcomer shrugged, swallowing a visible lump in their throat. “It doesn’t feel like anything is out of place, but I can’t be sure.” They hesitated, then slowly extended their arms, offering the tiny bundle of dark fur to Garret. 

Garret didn’t question this. Didn’t even think about questioning this, or about how surprising this act was for him, considering his typical superstitions. 

But then, he’d never believed in the stigma surrounding black cats. As far as he was concerned, black cats were just as innocent as any other domestic animal. 

Black cats didn’t deserve to be pinned against cold concrete with a grimey boot pressing down on their tails while the sick son of a bitch attached to said boot slapped at their little faces… 

The cat’s fur was warm against his (now clean, thankfully) palms. He carefully titled it—uh, her to and fro, checking to see if he could find any lacerations, or if any legs looked to be at an unnatural angle. 

After a moment, he sighed and untied the knot of his scarf, carefully adjusting it to make a sort of blanket-cocoon for the feline. 

Trying to keep his breathing under control, Garret watched as The Newcomer quietly slid their backpack off their shoulders, rummaging through own of its pockets until they fished out a spare body-bag. 

They must’ve heard the approving hum on Garret’s part, as they mentioned, “I texted the cleanup-crew when you were starting on him. They should be here in about ten minutes or so.”

“Damn,” Garret said, unable to help but grin; even if they still had a lot to learn, it was clear that Murdock had been training them well.

He then cleared his throat. “Well, we’re gonna have to keep watch until they arrive.”

“I figured.” The Newcomer made a lame-gesture. 

There was silence for the next couple minutes. 

“So…” Garret chewed his lip, glancing back down at the black kitten. “Would you mind if we picked up on your game-practice another day?” 

The Newcomer blinked, but an air of understanding soon flickered through their features. The local veterinary clinic was just a few blocks away, after all. 

(Plus, Garret could never just go directly home after a job. That would just be asking for something to go wrong along the way.)

“Yeah, I’ve got no problem with that.” They reached over to carefully stroke one finger along the kitten’s head. “...Are you gonna keep her?”

“Ah—I’m not sure,” Garret answered, shifting in place. That statement was a lie; he already knew that he didn’t want to let go of her. Not for a long, long time. Not until he knew that she was in a place that was nice and secure…

The Newcomer seemed to almost read his mind, because they offered a playful smirk. “Well, if you do, Snare might have an occasional playmate. Wouldn’t that be adorable?” 

A rare chuckle fluttered through Garret’s teeth. 

“...Yeah, it would,” he admitted.

“Plus, I’ve always heard that rabbit's feet are pretty lucky,” The Newcomer went on. 

“Even if Snare’s a hare?” Garret asked, raising an eyebrow. “Even if Cal would eviscerate anyone who tried using him to test that theory out?”

“Hey, whoa, I never implied anything like that.” The Newcomer held out their hands in a defensive gesture. “No-one ever said that notion can’t work when the foot is still attached to the lapin. I feel like they would be even better for warding off bad juju.”

Something ticklish manifested in Garret’s mind, only to creep down his neck and settle on top of his heart. 

“Juju…” He echoed, looking back down at the kitten, who kept cuddling closer to him, her shivers finally seeming to slow down a bit. 

@sammys-magical-au @flaming-dolph16

[billygoat26]

ABOUT ME!!

NOTE: Anything I say that has to do with politics or shit like that is likely to not be entirely true, so if you see that I have said something that is incorrect, PLEASE TELL ME! (Preferably in a nice way? If it’s in a rude way chances are I’ll not accept it as easily.)

ASKS ARE CLOSED UNTIL SOMETIME IN JANUARY DUE TO THE RAID THAT I’VE BEEN INFORMED WILL BE HAPPENING TO RUIN CHRISTMAS. I ADVISE YOU DO THE SAME. SUCH ASKS THAT WILL BE SENT (AS I’VE HEARD) FEATURE (TW) ANIMAL GORE AND POSSIBLY CHILD GORE. PLEASE, IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO SEE THAT, TURN OFF YOUR ASKS. IF YOU DON’T, I ASK THAT YOU EXPOSE THE PEOPLE AND GET THEM PERMA-BANNED BY ANY MEANS POSSIBLE! ANONYMOUS ASKS WITH PICTURES, AS FAR AS I KNOW, ARE NOT POSSIBLE. STAY SAFE EVERYONE.

Also I have a discord server for mah anime dumbasses! If you guys wanna join just let me know!

Helloooo everybody and welcome back to my Youtu-

Just kiddiiiiing!

As I’m sure you’ve gathered, I am a person who likes to joke around a lot. I also tend to type/write a lot, so instead of making you guys suffer with a whole essay about me, let’s break it all down!

Name/Nickname: BillyGOAT (Elsewhere you might see me as CallMeToes or StillToes. The nickname originated from auto correct, to put it shortly)

Other Accounts: @horrorrrrrrr @vox-does-shit @the-short-king-of-hell-himself

Birthday: February 26th

Fandoms I’m in: Undertale/Underverse, Gravity Falls, TOH (The Owl House), anything to do with Marvel is awesome, Spiderverse (does that count as Marvel anymore?) Honkai: Star Rail, Helluva boss, Hazbin Hotel, The Amazing Digital Circus, Eddsworld, South Park, Sherlock (BBC version), Wuthering Waves, MHA, Ramshackle, SMG4 stuff (mostly Puzzlevision/anything to do with Mr Puzzles), JJK… (This list CAN and probably WILL grow as I either join more or think of more)

What do I do here: Art. Plain and simple. Though there may be some random things I post that have nothing to do with art, I’ll mostly be posting art stuff (Edit: Oh past me, how silly you were... Now I mostly reblog stuff and sometimes rant)

More about me: Jokester, I play the viola, singing is fun when I’m alone lol, I have two cats (Maui and Loki)

I'm currently working on an AU of my own for Undertale called Ambertale. Character designs are a WIP, and once I figure all that out then I’ll work on an official comic! Just… don’t expect it too soon, life is being life and free time is on vacation lately. (Edit: So the comic has just been sitting in my iPad for ages now and I don't wanna continue it right now- might continue it when school decides to not school or when it's summer break. For now, no comic.)

With that, have fun staring at all my random posts!

Tags:

#ambertale reblogs

#ambertale lore

#ambertale side comic

#ambertale asks

#ambertale holidays

#ambertale sans lore

(anything that has to do with amber sans [example: #ambertale sans, #amber!sans, etc.])

#amber sans guide

#Billygoat talks

#ambertale fanart

#antics of billygoat and killer

#incorrect quotes / #incorrect utmv quotes

#politics

(Eventually there will be a comic tag that will be #ambertale comic)

Ambertale Character Designs:

Ambertale Papyrus by rurunyaa

Ambertale Sans by me

Asher reference sheet in progress (I think- updated version anyways)

Ambertale: A Day in the Life of Sans:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3 (coming soon)