#i need more information i will start frothing at the mouth

[birdb1tch]

i wish we knew more about how magic worked in dmc because aside from a lot of the cool lore shit and world building, the scene of trish making her clothes reappear is so fucking cool to me but also brings up so many questions. is it because she’s a demon? can she make anything appear or are there specific limitations? does it work similar to devil arms where they can be summoned and dismissed at will or is she literally creating something new?

[my-castles-crumbling]

There it is....

An excerpt from my longer fic, Long Story Short (rated M, Wolfstar, Dorlene, and Jegulus)

James’s face was unreadable. “Pads…what did you do?” He asked, pulling away from Sirius a bit.

Sirius opened and shut his mouth, trying to form words to explain everything that had happened. He decided to just rip off the band-aid. “I walked in on Moony kissing Fabian Prewett last night,” he started.

James, however, reacted quite more like he’d wanted Marlene to. “WHAT?” He yelled loudly, his mouth falling open.

Sirius would’ve smiled, if the situation wasn’t so out-of-control. Trust James to react exactly like he needed him to. He sighed and responded, “Yup.”

“Our Moony?” James confirmed, still looking shocked.

“Mhm.”

“Remus Lupin?”

“Do you know any others?”

“No, I just–well, okay, then.”

Sirius heaved a breath, trying to calm himself and organize his brain, which felt like some sort of large system of river rapids, swirling and frothing and bubbling uncontrollably. “Yeah, so I told Marlene. Just now.”

But James was again having big emotions. “You told McKinnon before me? Padfoot, what the hell!” He looked murderous.

“I–I figured it was Moony’s place to tell you and Marlene obviously gets it,” Sirius explained, though he wasn’t exactly sure why he was compelled to tell Marlene first.

James calmed a bit. “Okay, fine, I guess that’s forgivable, but why is she pissed, then?”

Sirius hesitated. How to explain? “I…I told her, but I was…I was upset, when I told her. Because, it’s Moony, yeah? K–kissing someone.” His hands clenched again at the thought of Remus kissing someone.

James nodded, but didn’t look like he understood at all. He stayed quiet, however. Sirius really loved him for that.

“So…she said something…something ridiculous, Prongs. Something…like, fucking mad.” Sirius took a breath.

James looked at him, eyebrows raised, waiting.

Sirius said nothing, hardly able to voice the absurdity of Marlene’s idea. She was so far off-base, so irrational, so…

“What’d she say, Sirius?” James asked, looking both curious and nervous.

“She said…she said I was upset because I liked Remus.”

After Sirius said this, he expected James to laugh. He expected James to smile and maybe poke a bit of fun at Marlene and talk about how she had no idea what he was talking about. He expected James to react somewhat rationally.

So, when James just wrinkled his forehead a bit, as if Sirius had been a Professor sharing some new, but thought-provoking, information to him during a lecture, Sirius wanted to punch him, as well.

“I do not like Remus!” Sirius exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air, thoroughly annoyed. Had everyone gone crazy today?

“Padfoot, you…you sleep in his bed,” James whispered softly.

Remus’s bed was warm. And safe and comfortable. A nice place to sleep. And when Remus accidentally spooned him while they were sleeping, it stopped him from having nightmares. So what?

“I sleep in your bed, too, doesn’t mean I want to–” Sirius started, angrily.

“You insist on staying with him in the Hospital,” James continued, voice a bit stronger now.

“I–I care about his safety! Forgive me for being a good friend!” Sirius argued, heat rising to his face.

“You…pouted for hours that one time he wouldn’t play with your hair. You steal his shirts to sleep in. You–”

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Sirius yelled, face bright red, now. It wasn’t his fault, after all, that Remus was the best at playing with his hair, or that his shirts had a calming effect on him. It was just…close friendship.

“D’you get upset when you think about me kissing someone?” James retorted. “Or Pete?”

“Urgh, no,” Sirius responded quickly, before thinking about it. “As long as it isn’t in my bed, that would be–”

“And Remus? What if he was kissing someone? Even a girl? How would you feel?”

Sirius’s insides heated up unpleasantly. No, Remus kissing someone was not a great thought. “That’s…that’s different because…because I’m more protective of him…because of his…his problem! Yes, that’s it!” Relief washed through Sirius. It made sense, after all. “I want to make sure he’s treated right, is all.”

James gave Sirius a maddeningly patronizing look. “Mhm,” he nodded sarcastically.

Sirius clenched his fists. “I’m not—you’re not—this is—this is stupid, Prongs. I don’t–”

“What if he was kissing you, Padfoot? What then?” James asked, eyebrows raised.

“That’s ridiculous! Why would he–?” Sirius objected, throwing his hands in the air again.

James interrupted, “It doesn’t matter! Just think about it! How would you feel?”

It was the first time Sirius had allowed himself to indulge in the thought. He pushed his mother’s screaming out of his head and pondered for a moment. What if he and Remus kissed? Remus’s strong hands in his hair, Remus’s lips moving against his own, his body pressed against him…possibly pinning him to a wall, pushing him against it roughly, both of them groaning as their hands moved lower–

Fuck.

That did not make him angry.

“Fuck,” Sirius whispered softly, hand covering his mouth. Suddenly, all he wanted to do was kiss Remus. He wanted to know what it would feel like, to have Remus’s lips on his, to trace his fingertips along the planes of his chest, to be so close to him that he could breathe him in. “Oh, fuck,” he repeated.

“There it is,” James whispered softly, eyes sparking with amusement.

Oh fuck, Sirius liked Remus.

Sirius liked Remus.

Sirius liked Remus.

“Oh, kill me,” Sirius murmured desperately. He couldn’t do this.

Read the whole thing here!

[redbelles]

5, 18, 69, and 76 for the fic writer meme!

5. how many wips do you have? what fandoms/pairings are they for?

yeah i've got wips

kidding! (mostly! not really. but only kind of. it's fine!)

i have just. so many fucking wips. don't wanna talk about how many i have because it's embarrassing, actually! this is absolutely because i consider anything i've written words for/thought about for more than a hot minute a """wip""" but that's a me problem, so here, have semi-comprehensive list of wips i'm determined to finish this year:

the chimneys hardly ever fall down masters of the air; post-war john/gale/marge

gonna stand here in the ache the punisher; post-season one frank/karen

our hands are cold, the moon sets low asoiaf/got; post-season eight jon/sansa

butchered tongue still singing berserk; post-canon guts/casca

something in the night gilmore girls; keg max!au jess/rory

don't you hear me howling, babe? shadow & bone; season one canon divergence darklina au

the second hand unwinds (time after time) stranger things; post-season four hellcheer au

and then, for fun, some wips that aren't top priority atm:

prophetic perfect tense dune; always a girl!paul atreides au

i've walked for miles top gun; post-canon icemav road trip au

more than kin and less than kind hotd; rhaenys flambés the greens at aegon's coronation au

the knife i turn inside myself dune; irulan/feyd post-kanly hatefucking + marriage of convenience au

18. do you enjoy research? which fic of yours required the most research?

yeah! i'm a nerd at heart and also i have a burning need to be canon-compliant with both canon and reality, so i love getting into the research weeds when i'm all in on a fic!

the most """research""" i've done for a fic was, astonishingly, for the fucking,,,,, robert baratheon story (that started life as, and i cannot stress this enough, a joke). i spent so many hours on a wiki of ice and fire i'm pretty sure i made up at least 40% of the site's traffic during the calendar year time it took me to write the damn thing. extremely normal behavior!

anyway! i'm actually in the opposite situation with chimneys, which is super weird. i know a staggering amount of information about the post-wwii usaaf/usaf, and i have to actively stop myself from a) infodumping about things like the development of the american bomber fleet and b) trying to make the timeline accurate, because the entire premise of the fic relies on me Ignoring what was actually going on. anti-research. insane! everyone pour one out for @sluttyhenley— she's spent the last two months taking one for the team and letting me rant at her about curtis lemay so i can get it out of my system and spare everyone who's there for porn instead of a dissertation on strategic bombing doctrine <3

69. what are your favorite fics at the moment?

first of all: nice 😏

second: i feel like i've blathered enough about my own fic today that i'm gonna take this as a question about what i've been enjoying as a reader, so! some recs!

moon's low (can't say no) by @meyerlansky delicious introspective curt pov that nuances an already insanely interesting scene! love this for me! in related news, i am barking and frothing at the mouth as i wait patiently for the follow up to dancing cheek to cheek (to cheek)! tumblr user meyerlansky comin' in hot with THEE definitive curt biddick voice!

never saw the sun shining so bright by @sluttyhenley absolutely shrieking about this series! marge deserves the world! and also both of the buck(y)s! good for her.jpeg! i'm lucky enough to be getting snippets of this as m writes it, and i cannot wait for the next few installments to go live

careful fear and dead devotion by @everyangel another john/gale/marge series i'm currently losing my mind over! the marge voice is so delicious, and i love the pre-war angle that underpins the first fic! cannot wait for more!

enter night by @rhaegang monsterfuckers and barry keoghan enthusiasts rejoice! the writing is top notch, the sex is blisteringly hot, and the tension and pacing are superb. rhaegang truly never misses

nothing safe is worth the drive (follow you home) by @yoursummerfrost i never really had a buffy phase, but i came across this fic the other day and boy howdy does it have me by the throat. deeply emotional, very sexy, and written with so much love it's got me thinking about giving the series more than a cursory "well, it was on when i was home sick from school way back when" watch. also! i've devoured every buffy fic they've written since i found this one and i'm happy to report that they're all incredible!

76. how do you deal with writing pressure, whether internal or external?

mature answer: i try to take a step back and remind myself that this is a hobby i am doing for fun and for free and i should calm the fuck down about it

follow up answer: and if that doesn't work, i whine ceaselessly at my writing buddies until i'm over it

send me some fic writing asks!

[piracytheorist]

Someone shared this here before but I forgot to reblog it, but since it's a very interesting explanation I'll share it again.

So considering what "chichi" and "haha" are actually used for in Japanese, it's actually a wrong translation to make them "papa" and "mama" because in an official setting, like the video describes, you wouldn't refer to your parents with those words.

Like, that had bothered me from the start. Loid tells Anya to address him as "father", the most formal version of that word in English, and Anya goes with "papa", a super informal, casual, and affectionate word - one that a lot of native English speakers don't even use, depending on where they come from (flashbacks to being in the OUAT fandom during the seventh season where certain shippers were frothing at the mouth at a not-yet-existing character possibly using that word...). And Loid's like "That'll do" and I was like what???!

While in fact, in Japanese, Loid asks her to use not even "otou-san", but "otou-sama", and if I understand the honorifics correctly, the latter is even more formal and shows more respect.

And then Anya goes with "chichi", which by the video, she wouldn't normally address him with that word, but it's formal enough to not make her sound disrespectful and lower-class if she mentions him to someone else.

I understand that English doesn't have an equivalent of "chichi" - both that one and "otou-sama" would pretty much translate to "father" - but having her say "papa"... kind of creates a wholly different dynamic between the two of them. Same with calling Yor "haha" and then translating that to "mama". The person in the video says that having Anya call them "chichi" and "haha" makes her sound cute, but she's still using formal words, and it makes sense for Twilight to not correct her on those. "Papa" and "mama" also make her sound cute, but they're the exact opposite in their formality, and it doesn't make sense for Twilight to not correct her.

I don't know, it kinda bothers me. Maybe a more fitting alternative could've been a mispronounced "father" and "mother"... like "hather" or "mothel" or something... it's still the formal words, they still sound cute coming from her, and it's enough for Twilight to be like "It needs some work but it's good enough for now"... and then they just roll with it forever lol. Fathel and mothel awe fliwting.

[bonefall]

Bones, I am the sleep-concerned Anon.

In a futile effort to get you TO GO TO SLEEP (I'm begging you-)

I WILL ASK QUESTIONS! (And then will you get sleep-)

Where will Frostfur's scars be?

Ideas:

"Frostfur has scars littering her frost-white pelt. Once arcs over the bridge of her nose while another nicks her ear. The scars are deep and while her pelt is considered dull, her scars are not."

2. Is Thistleclaw considered Gender none-conforming? Because he seems to show a lot of Molly-coded behaviours: aggression, protection etc.

3. If the Mi of the litter was slacking on their duties how would the Clan react?

4. Is it obvious if a kit is Meewa?

There's a lot in here so I'm going to gloss over the Frostfur stuff, I have a bunch of other asks here asking about her

But "Is Thistleclaw considered gender-nonconforming?"

No, he's a pretty good example of what aggression looks like for toms. Thistleclaw is notoriously passive-aggressive towards his Clanmates, but frothing-at-the-mouth contemptuous of outsiders. That's what's wanted of Ssuf-gender cats-- that they're 'good' clanmates, and 'uphold' the duties needed of a good border-patroller.

(Of course, we know that Thistle Law, an ideology named after him, is so destructive that it's why Frostfur ended up getting killed, and would have plunged the Clan into endless bloodshed. But that's political ideology-- not completely unrelated, but distinctly different concepts.)

"Ssuf" gender could be easier to understand if you keep in mind that the role is to encourage tom-assigned kits to serve the Clan in a specific role. They're the first defense, cats who keep borders secure and inform the camp of what is, and what isn't. They 'should' be 'passive' to their clanmates the same way a red stag is 'passive' to a doe, or a lion is 'passive' towards its own pride.

None of the three genders are directly analogous to our idea of "masculine" and "feminine," none of them are meant to be "demiure." It is a Battle Culture, everyone is a Warrior in some way. The roles also aren't nearly as 'rigid' as some people seem to think they're supposed to be, no one is a perfect stereotype of their gender in any society and you don't have to perfectly display every single specific trait of it.

Tigerstar is also a good example of what a Tom should look like in clan culture, as is Whitestorm.

Is it obvious if a kitten is Meewa?

At birth? Usually no, unless they were born with extra toes or were a suspected fading kit.

It typically becomes obvious in childhood, when they display natural leadership traits (typically being the ones to come up with new games), connection to StarClan, and wisdom. That was how Poppyfrost's Meewa-gender was discovered.

How does a Clan react if a Mi starts to slack in their duties?

How do you respond to any situation of child neglect? A Mi is a primary parent.

If there is a Ba, they're typically encouraged to step up and parent the kittens. Rainflower as an example-- she was condemned immediately by BB!RiverClan and it was expected that Shellheart needed to do what Rainflower wasn't. Fallowtail, another queen in the nursery at the time, also stepped in to make sure Stormkit was fed.

A situation like Sparkpelt, who was only the Mi because her mate Hollylark died, is met with a lot more sympathy. Duststripe jumped in to help care for the kittens immediately, Squirrelflight fought against death itself to come back and comfort her apprentice. Situations of grief and depression are not condemned like situations of abuse.

[nerd-cat-rambles]

Ramble of V3 Ending:

I'm very upset that the ending of drv3 was so good but not executed correctly. Which is ironic because a big part of danganronpa are the executions ahaha.

But what I mean is, Smoogs (my beloved) showed us the OTHER franchise characters, and said it was the 53RD SEASON OF DANGANRONPA (!!!) and that the whole universe was fake.

BUT!!! Never did she show us: contestants of other seasons (from s3 to s52 - even if they were unnamed it would have made her lies more believable), ANY udg characters (I would be frothing at the mouth if Takaaki or Taichi somehow were shown on screen /j.) she didn't give us Daiya or Takemichi content either. AND THE WARRIORS OF HOPE?? She should have shown us the Warriors of Hope, I need more Masaru Daimon content, and Tsumugi was the perfect person to supply that at the end of a franchise.

The main thing I think what this trial was MISSING was the V3 characters themselves.

I wish WISH WISH!!! That Tsumugi (as Kaito) made Maki lose hope, that Tenko made HIMIKO lose hope! I wish that Tsumugi explained her plan to frame Kaede... as Rantaro and Kaede! I WISH!!! That she dressed up as Miu, I wanted her to be Korekiyo! But because she didn't this only leads us to believe that she too believes that she is a fictional character in this franchise, and that the only power she holds in the V3 universe is the knowledge that she just granted Shuichi, Keebo, Himiko and Maki to.

Another thing I noticed was that Tsumugi noted "in the promo video at the start, everything is fake" or something along those lines, but never did she turn into Chisa Yukizome, or Future Foundation Kyoko, or any of the characters from DR3, nor did she use Mukuro/Fake Junko sprites.

This particularly annoys me because, you know when you first play UDG and you get excited because it switches styles? It goes from animation to anime to the standard visual novel style. This makes the game more fun and easy to enjoy. AND THEY COULD'VE DONE IT IN V3!

They used real faces as the sprites in the back for the audience (on the TV/Cameras), so they totally could've mixed the styles and have Shuichi react to "my reality is just a different anime style... why are these people 3d wtf?!" which would really hammer in the "fiction" thing. Imagine an anime sprite of Chisa or something (< hasn't seen DR3)

Like I know this is a big stupid ramble and there are holes in my story, but I just want to know it's fiction, I want Tsumugi's existence to be fiction, I want a more closed ended ending AND THEN we get the pan shot of the survivors. It's literally The Truman Show but Tsumugi is the only "actor" in it.

And if Tsumugi ISN'T fiction.... she just devoted her whole fucking life to a ficitonal anime girl, who died in her anime show...

---

FYI I know alot of this information, tbh I don't really understand the V3 ending... and I just want answers to it, I need a danganronpa timeline that includes years and stuff.

[swordofsuns]

Dnd arc 4: FINALE! (part 1 ig)

And so our party departs into the tunnels connecting the former city of Axum on the surface to the City of Mirrors in the underdark. The path down is long and winding, and takes us several fairly uneventful days to reach the bottom. along the way we run into some people travelers heading up who fill us in on whats going on in the underdark while we inform them that Axum doesnt exactly exist anymore. As we learn from them, aparently after Ira ran away, her sister, Adhera took the throne from their aging mother, who had stepped down. Adhera made a deal with the Flesh Prince of mutual protection and started a few wars to conquer neighboring territories. Do to this, she ended up getting pretty unpopular with everybody, from nobles to commoners alike, and there is a small rebellion group called The Sparrows who are trying to overthrow her and replace her with Ira. Ira is not thrilled about the prospect of becoming queen, but we agree that we should probably try and get some support from The Sparrows against a common enemy, but maybe try to make sure Ira doesnt have to become queen, as it would mean giving up her art and witchcraft. Later that night Ira has a dream where she meets the Bird who informs her that after Paro died last time, they wont be revived until Ira does something for her in the City of Mirrors, probably relating to the sparrows though this is communicated entirely through charades and interpretive dance so its kinda unclear.

When we arrive at the city, we do some exploring and eventualy run into some of the Sparrows. They are mostly members of the aristocracy who use magic masks to hide their identities and voice from each other, and all have bird codenames (ie Lady Hummingbird, Lord Crow). The two people in charge of the opperation are Lady Nightingale and Lord Hawk. Nightingale is in charge of PR basicaly, and how they convince the people that Ira is the better choice by "crafting a story", while Hawk is a powerful sorcerer (who we deduct is the court mage) who supplies all the magic and technical planning.

They inform us that the only way to get Adhera off of the throne, which we would need to get access to the Well of Creation and save some more of our kidnapped friends, would be to challenge Adhera for the throne in a traditional duel. In addition, it can only be done by an heir to the throne, and the only person in the line of succession at the moment is Ira. Ira very reluctantly agrees, but decides that after becoming queen she can find some way to step down or get rid of the crown, first she just has to take down Adhera.

In the end in the middle of a parade with Adhera in the rear, we all show up on top of a bridge, and challenge her to a duel, and, as we are in puplic, she is forced to agree. also Val notices that the mount that she is riding is a wierd demon monster who probably used to be his sibling.

We all meet up in the main castle, and the fight begins between Ira and Adhera. Though Ira has both her Broom of Flight and literaly Excalibur (I dont think I mentioned that actualy)(Ira found excalibur way back in the fey arc)(it was broken though but Prometheus fixed it on the way down here), she is honestly not really a physical match for Adhera, and is about to lose when suddenly Ira and Adheras mother walks into the room. Adhera, for seemingly no reason (back before Ira left her mother and her sister got along well) begins going balistic, throwing a javelin at her unarmed, unarmored mother, though misses, before collapsing on the ground and begining to froth at the mouth from poison, and screaming about how "SHE DID IT TO ME AND SHELL DO IT TO YOU TOO! SHE WILL DO IT TO YOU TOO!"

Max manages to stop the poison from killing her, but significant mental damage was caused by the poison and adhera is seemingly incoherant. from what Max can tell the poison was a slow acting poison that had probably been fed to her at breakfast. Ira wins the duel by default, and immediately as her first order as queen arrests Lady Nightshade (her mother) for poisoning Adhera, as well as the fact that Ira had deducted that Lady Nightshade was also Lady Nightingale, and thats treason. Lord Hawk/ the court magician is arested as well.

Also Actaeon is getting really old by now, and, when Max does a check up on him he notices that his blood is made of ice and that there seems to be something wrong with his heart.

Also while the fight was going on Val found that their sibling had been turned into a full demon monster, and was being kept as a pet by Adhera, and snuck away to free them, and in return their sibling gave them their parents severed but still beating heart before flying away.

We all go down to the dungeons and try to interogate Lady Nightshade, who admits to having poisoned her own daughter, but what we realize quickly is that she was queen for so long that at this point the only thing she cares about is her kingdom, and how she will do anything to make her people and her kingdom prosper, no matter the cost. When she realized that Adhera was taking the kingdom in a bad direction she led a coup to replace her, but knowing that Adhera would probably beat Ira she poisoned and attempted to kill Adhera so that Ira would be garenteed victory. altogether she is pretty abusive towards Ira the entire conversation. also Ira refuses to wear the crown and instead has it looped on her belt. We try to ask her about the Well of Creation but she refuses to answer other than to say that it will be the death of us. We do discover that she was romanticaly involved with the court mage though

We try interogating the court mage next, who at first refuses to answer any of our questions about the well of creation, but eventualy makes us a deal that if we promise to let Lady Nighshade out of the dungeon and simply banish her forever he'll tell us what we need to know. we dont like letting Nightshade go free but admit that she wont really be an issue if shes banished so we accept, and sent her off with a bodygaurd with orders to keep her safe but also ensure she never returns. After this the court mage agrees to tell us how to get to the Well of Creation, but immeadiately begins laughing because its impossible. first of all, though there is a path to the well of creation beneath the castle, the location of the path is not known to him, and it is locked with the only key being a secret known only to Lady Nightingale, who we cant ask as she is gone now. the only clue we have is that she claimed that it was something only the queen would have access to. Even more than that, though, once we got to the end of the tunnel, the Well of Creation is locked behind a massive set of stone doors that no matter how many adventuring crews they sent, could not be opened. To make things worse, before you get past the door, inscribed in the stone is a poem, and all those who read it were changed forever, simply walking away, selling all their things, and charting a boat off of the continent (oh btw quick worldbuilding thing: there is only one known continent, surrounded by a massive ocean, with only the parts near land charted. nobody knows whats out there of if there is other land masses. Any ships who travel out there either never return, or the people return... different, never speaking about what they saw). Red punches him in the face. Ira also punches him in the face.

Also it turns out that that night as we are discussing our options 1) actaeon begins hearing the drums of the Wild Hunt, calling him towards a battle, though he resists the call, 2) All the priest in the local church of the gravetender suddenly begin screaming about how they were being called for a final battle against an ancient evil and all sudenly and inexplicably turned into moss covered statues, and 3) fires could be seen all over the city as well as screams and sounds of violence.

we realize that were a out of time, and begin arguing over whether to help the Beast end this world in hopes of creating a better one, or help the Gods of the Tower (the current gods) preserve the world in fear of the new one being worse. Red is basicaly the only one on team "dont start the apocalypse" mainly because she is terrified of what would happen if the Leech got any semblance of power, though everybody else is team "whoo yay apocalypse" reasoning that their gods are pretty chill and this world sucks and has been terrible to them. Actaeon also supports the apocalypse because he believes it will allow Red to get her happy ending back. A full on physical fight breaks out between Red and the rest of the party for a bit as she tries to restrain them from ending the world, arguing that we should avoid the Well at all costs. In the end, Ira sneaks off to pay her respects to her dead lover who betrayed her years ago, but is contacted by the Bird, who leads her to a spring in the middle of the couryard, and implied that by dropping the crown in she will lose her title of queen and Paro will be returned. She holds the crown out to the water, feels the weight of her sister, her mother, her ancestors and her expectations, and drops it into the clear water. It drifts down a ways, before the water is filled with a jet black ink, and a the largest bird Ira has ever seen emerges. It is still Paro, though no longer a tiny mockingbird, but a 6 food jet black bird, with 6 eyes and 4 wings. it lands on her shoulder, colosal in size yet light as a feather. She sees the ink of the water drain away, and the liquid dries away, revealing a hidden path deep below to the Well of Creation.

Eventualy, Max convinces Red that even if we dont have to do anything in the well of creation, its probably best to head down there, just to look inside. Red reluctantly agrees and we all head down. At the bottom, we find the massive stone doors we were promissed, and we read the writing on it, though we are not driven mad. I forget how the writing went but it was something like "This is not a place of honor...(insert like 4 stanzas on the existential nature of reality here)...Come follow me into eternity". The poem implies that it was writen by the Drifter (god of peace and safe travel who disapeered 1000 years ago), and seems to be almost a suicide note of him losing faith in reality and deciding to jump into the well in order to stop existing.

Also at the bottom we find the two headed snake man from all the way back in that one random side session after the fae arc (I told you he would be important). turns out hes just been chilling down here for a while and fills us in on some more exposition: inside the door is the well of creation and the pillars of reality. using the pillars of reality we can determine who will win in the coming battle between the Tower(term for the human/modern gods) and the Wyrm(term for the beasts/old gods). also in order to open the door you need the power of each of the 5 elements. together Red, Snake boi, Braxton, Ira, and Kit all manage to push open the door using their respective powers, revealing the room inside. the second we step in, however, the door slams shut and we are locked inside. We start debating on whether or not we should end the world again, though Max is distracted by a message in his and bennys shared message book: "unclamp the eye on the front cover"(the book has a eye in the front). when he does, the eye suddenly open up, revealing a silver pocketwatch inside, which floats up above the well, and begins forming bone and flesh and monocrome suit and goat horns, until standing in the center of the room, fully in the flesh, stands benny. He smiles at us, and thanks us for doing the 1 part of his plan he couldn't do himself: smuggling his phylactery into the Well of Creation.

and this is actualy getting kinda long and im not even halfway done so im pull a hunger games and split the finale into 2 parts. (also all of this and the second part was 1 session. it took 11 hours)

ONE SESSION???????

ELEVEN HOURS????

[phoenix-before-the-flame]

Scar anon again I'm so sorry for sending consecutive asks but mashima really made the coolest dude + team ever (laxus n the raijinshuu in case it wasn't obvious) and then refused to elaborate like???good sir I would have paid for a full series of Them?? The raijinshuu are so criminally underutilised like I want to know their backstories!! I want to know how they came to join fairy tail!!! I start frothing at the mouth everytime I think about how mashima did the raijinshuu so dirty esp during the Tartarus arc ;- ; anyways sorry for the rant it's like 4 am and I'm having many Thoughts ok that's all from me for real this time 👍🏼 peace!

Everything after Tartarus is my villain origin story lol, not even joking. It's so messy.

Im not singing praises for everything before it ofc there was some jank from beginning to gmg but after tartarus' end the story and characterization really seemed to start coming apart at the seams and it really tanked everything even though at that stage mashima's art was 10/10. Which is a shame bcus tartarus really was a step in the right direction tonally but it just stopped right there. Copped a massive W then tossed it out for consecutive L's.

But yea man! Laxus and his squad! Laxus will forever be a sorta sore spot for me because of the dropped Dreyar family plot thread. The whole dealio with Ivan, Makarov sending Gajeel to spy on him, Laxus' lone adventures. It really could've culminated in either a small side arc or a B-plot of an already existing arc

(I personally would add it into Tenrou. Take Gajeel off tenrou to have him doin his spy gig, accidentally meet up with Laxus during that, plot details regarding the dreyar family happen all while the events of tenrou go down. The duo gets wind of Grimoire Heart heading to tenrou from Raven Tail due to all dark guilds sharing info. The duo head over to tenrou post haste and allowing gajeel to carry out the iconic gajevy moment where he saves her and justifying why Laxus ended up on Tenrou instead of just randomly showing up at the nick of time. But alas, details lol)

Thunder Legion's always been interesting to me though. I'll admit i dont think about them often but they are a pretty unique squad with varying personalities across the board that, on paper, you probs wouldn't expect em to be friends, let alone friends that close and loyal to one another.

Their magics are also a main point of interest because it really is so out there. Freed in essence has an upgraded solid script (plus those unused transformations the beast lookin one from fantasia and the more streamlined one from tenrou), Evergreen has the petrification magic (alongside her main magic with the energy attacks) and Bickslow? Soul manipulation? That can't be legal man. The magic system in FT is really underexplained and has a anything goes sorta deal (hello summoning gods) but man, i would've loved something there for these 3- power limits or drawbacks, how it works, whether its magic they naturally manifested or learned or both. Something along those lines.

And while i don't think a backstory would've been necessary for them per se, because at the end of the day they still are side characters so relevancy of the information learned throughout the story dictates how much is really needed to be known and this extends to learning about how they joined the guild as well (i personally think they all joined as adults tbh. I know a lotta peeps like to think of em as a teen friendship squad but i really prefer it they were an adult friend group. Having a friendship that strong forming in their 20s feels right to me), but i think even a one line or 2 regarding their pasts could come up in conversation for that information to come up naturally.

Like for eg. Freed gives off rich kid energy, so perhaps he's a runaway rich kid like herself but not from Fiore, that could be revealed in a convo with Lucy at some point to strike common ground between the two. Evergreen feels like an orphaned soul turned away (i personally think she gives off Jessie from pokemon vibes) by others a lot so why not a kinship with her and Juvia or even Mirajane? Bickslow the wild card could spout jokes about his acrobatic skills he learned from being a street performer, just something. They're not perfect concepts no, but they're little ways the characters could've been given even a scrap of info to help learn more about em.

Also uhhhh, it always threw me off that they weren't all S-class wizards so i think it would've been cooler if they were a whole squad of s class wizards who attempted a guild coup instead of just 1 s class and his homies. Aight byeeeeee.

[beanstalk-nicholas]

[IMAGE ID: Two anonymous asks.

The first reads, "Oh I know NOTHING about supernatural, so maybe a summary of what happens in this au? Or the roles the characters fulfill?

The second reads, "ROTTMNT SPN AU WHAT ARE,, THEIR ROLES LIKE HOW DO THEY PLAY IN I don't even know where to BEGIN this has my frothing at the mouth infodump please I am begging you"

END ID]

(thank you @cherrycreamsicle for making the image id!)

I’m glad people are interested in this au! Because these are similar questions I’m answering both in a giant infodump under the cut

(also I started thinking of this idea less than 48 hours ago so things may change/there’s still a lot I haven’t figured out yet!)

For people who don’t know much about the tv show supernatural that’s okay! I’m borrowing a lot of loose elements from the earlier seasons (mainly the aesthetics and angst haha). All you need to know is that Dean is the older brother and Sam is the younger, and they grew up on the road hunting monsters with their shitty dad while wearing lots of flannel.

In a way this au is also a half separated au lol. This is because Leo and Donnie were raised together by Draxum (with Donnie being the “Dean” and Leo being the “Sam”), and Raph and Mikey were raised together by Splinter (with Raph being “Dean” and Mikey being “Sam).

Draxum raised Leo and Donnie to be fighters and were constantly pitted against each other. This made them very competitive (and kinda violent) as they constantly tried to “win over” Draxum’s affection. (Leo began to realize that they would never be good enough and eventually ran out, but Donnie was more desperate for Draxum’s approval, and thus, more loyal to him)

Like in rise, splinter is very distant (especially emotionally) so Raph was basically raising Mikey by himself. I also think it would be interesting if they grew up at/near the Roadhouse, where April also works (fulfilling a similar role as Jo. In supernatural, the roadhouse is basically a bar where hunters pass through, hang out, share information, etc. in this au it would function similarly for hunters/maybe yokai instead?). Because Raph was very doting on Mikey, as they got older Mikey got tired of it and wanted to be independent, so he fucked off to art school (sorry Mikey I’m not diagnosing you with lawboy <3)

Draxum still created all the brothers in an attempt to create the perfect “warrior”. How Raph and Mikey got separated and how all four of them reunited as adults are questions I haven’t figured out yet LOL. Just know that they grew up thinking “I only have one brother” and then BOOM more brothers. Im definitely much more interested in exploring all the new brothers dynamics/angst this au entails! I already have drawing ideas for that so instead of writing more y’all will have to wait a bit ;)

If people have more questions please send me more asks! (Also if anyone makes any art for this au PLEASE tag me I will CRY from joy)

Also teenage mutant flannel turtles was a joke name but I think it might be sticking oops

[everlastingfable]

(sorry if ive asked this before but) who exactly is smeaton? what do you like so much abt him?

omg thank you spoon I will go nuts 💖

so I briefly talked about who mark smeaton is here but basically he was a bard in 1530s england who confessed to adultery with the queen and got himself, the queen, and four other lords executed

as for why I like him, it's probably mostly because I'm not able to get enough information to satisfy my curiosity. he's an enigma. mark smeaton was a real living being. there's real facts about him, things he said, done, made, etc. but also he was a commoner so there's also so much about him that isn't known and probably will never be known because he wasn't important enough to make note of. like, aside from he's a "very handsome young man" and "one of the prettiest monochord players" I legitimately cannot find any description of what he looked like. not even his hair color

he's a bard. he could dance, play the lute, monochord, and many other medieval instruments I don't remember the name of. but while we have king henry viii's songs and poetry, we have absolutely nothing of mark's. well actually that's not entirely true, there is this sheet music that might've been mark's that he wrote for anne boleyn. the handwriting matches apparently? but it's not for certain

what was he like? the information we do have about him is from comments made by the lords etc that didn't like him. he was said to be arrogant which makes sense if he was getting a lot of attention from the royals, but how much is that actual arrogance and how much of it is lords and ladies getting pissed that he's trying to act like he's one of them and speak to them as equals? paper was expensive so it's very likely he never wrote down prose or poetry where we can know what he thought. we have nothing about what he thought everything we have is from other people's writings

there are times where I learn things about him and it makes me doubt if mark was ever a real person at all. how could someone so influential be so forgotten? he rarely gets mentioned in tudor history and when he does it's as one of the five men who were executed. the biggest mystery about him is how he was spending like two or three times his yearly salary. where was he getting the money? was he really receiving that much in bonuses from the king and queen? was he doing "favors" and getting extra money that way? we don't know! the accounting books for the five year time period he was employed at court were destroyed/lost (I am frothing at the mouth)

did you know queen mary (henry's first daughter) tried to start a rumor that queen elizabeth (yes that queen elizabeth and henry's second daughter) was actually the daughter of anne boleyn and mark smeaton? the way how he is both so involved and yet nonexistent drives me insane. I have so many questions about him and when I try to find answers I just end up with so many more questions. I know I could probably just make headcanons like I do with my fav fictional characters but mark was a real person. there's actually right and wrong answers but I don't know what they are! I need to time travel so I can study him like a bug I'm not kidding

and there's also the chance that my obsession with joey batey projected onto mark smeaton (he played him in the wolf hall/bring up the bodies stage play) who is depicted as such a little shit and sopping wet kitten in the books there's no way I wouldn't love him. like

(the cut off word was "tears") he's so pathetic I love him so much. he's the ultimate side character who I wish was in the story more because he'd actually be a really really good foil to thomas cromwell. they're both commoners who tried to social climb in henry's court, and cromwell was the one who basically set everything up and used mark to bring down anne boleyn and her circle. I didn't get a screenshot of this but in bring up the bodies someone asked cromwell why mark and he responded "I didn't like the way he looked at me" just that sentence and how well it shows that cromwell thinks of mark like he's a pesky fly I am so

there's also the fact that I cannot for the life of me find a recording of wolf hall and I know it's really unlikely that I'll ever find one because it's not a musical so this itch will never get satisfied. why don't you just watch the tv shows? because 1) it's not joey playing mark and 2) based on the gifs I've seen he's not pathetic enough he's too suave and charming

it's honestly just this inability to find enough information to satisfy me that's riling me up all the time. did you know in the wolf hall/bring up the bodies script book joey is the first one credited? I know it's because he's first alphabetically but man does it feel like salt in a wound when photos I can find of him in the play are like this

[1bringthesun]

(2/2)

And since Ayatsuji's still being haunted by Kyougoku, maybe he has some insider information on the mechanics of the Book, which only gives more incentive to the Special Division to keep him around. This is a spontaneous thing I literally just came up with but oughhhhh it makes so much sense to me already. What if he had contact with Fyodor too? They seem like they'd get along. I don't know if you've read the Mayoi original story (Prologue: Happy Birthday), but that one seems to be set ~2 years before the start of Gaiden (assuming that when Tsujimura says in Gaiden that she's been "on this job" for 2 years she's referring to the Ayatsuji case, not her time in the Special Division as a whole, because the latter doesn't seem like nearly enough time to fit in training and stuff, and also it would make perfect sense for her to get recruited shortly after her mother's "death" at age 19 and then start the Ayatsuji case around 3 years later, when she's 21 and about to turn 22), and in it Kyougoku is working with the Architect to set an elaborate trap. And the Architect was a terrorist that was deemed a global threat because he figured out how to destroy just about any structure through sound waves, and he seems like someone who'd make a perfect DOA member. He even has an androgynous appearance (I thought he was a girl at first) and long white-ish hair in a braid, that's like perfect for the DOA's whole schtick. But the Architect is dead (if I remember correctly, Kyougoku killed him or something like that), so what if the DOA then made Kyougoku create Sigma as a replacement? But Kyougoku is really extra so he wrote something absurdly elaborate to force Sigma to develop in a completely unexpected direction before "stumbling" across Fyodor? God the whole symbolism of Sigma's birth is just so specific, it seems perfect for Kyougoku's brand. This is a crack theory I'm coming up with as I write this, but please tell me it makes sense, because it makes sense To Me. Oh also Kyougoku's thing was turning people evil, and the DOA are omens and love symbolism, and they're also almost all younger than Kyougoku, so maybe he turned them evil? Maybe they were his original familiars or something? But then he decided to be more subtle with his meme plans but it was too late and they got out of his control, but he decided to just let them be because he's just Like That and doesn't mind witnessing global terrorism in his retirement age. I don't know

So anyway uh. What if in the next few chapters, Tsujimura appears at the airport to retrieve Bram, Tsujimura's mother is mentioned as being the acting director, Dazai is also somehow retrieved and brought in to nullify Bram's ability, and Ayatsuji appears as the Special Division's captive detective to ruin the DOA's plans, except uh oh! Kyougoku wouldn't reveal information THAT easily (and he also loves seeing the world burn), so he has to go on some side quest to get that out of him. And then maybe like 50 chapters later Ayatsuji finally solves the case, but the DOA just. Doesn't die. Maybe there's a special clause in the Page about not letting Ayatsuji's 100% accurate ability activate, and then there's singularity tomfoolery and 50 more chapters of who knows what. And I'd be there for the entire ride because I'm desperate for Gaiden content

--Gaiden Anon (if you've ever seen Tumblr user spixi respond to asks from a certain Gaiden Anon, that was me. Hi. Gaiden is genuinely a brain parasite for me at this point and I think about it a little Too much, and am always frothing at the mouth to ramble to someone about it)

oh ok so the architect is in fact dead yes, and the first time i saw Gogol i genuinely thought that he and Architect were related, and then when i saw Architect again like a year later, i was like, god he looks like the nikosig lovechild..

would be interesting for sure, also i need more Architect content PLEASE you’re more obscure than Ayatsuji :(((

oh also in the japanese of the gaiden event (not the prologue, the one where Architect’s ghost invites Tsuji x2 to the manor to have some sort of intellectual battle), i’m pretty sure they enforced the androgynous Architect thing by never using gendered pronouns to talk about ‘em, but then the english came and was like “yes this is a he this is a him” THATS IRRELEVANT i just wanted to talk about it um moving on

honestly, it would be really funny if Sigma’s father were some gay old man with dimples who stalks detectives and based on that alone i love your theory, and it’s also totally a convoluted thing i could see Kyougoku doing. the whole thing with memories too; he’s already screwed with Kubo’s sense of self so badly Kubo genuinely thought he was Asukai, so making Sigma unable to remember anything with the book should be a piece of cake.

that begs the question, though, why? why support the DOA when part of their plan hinged on making other people the ‘terrorists’ and operating instead in silence, when his whole deal is wanting to become a known yokai? although the “DOA are his familiars” is interesting, i’m still more convinced they have something to do with an unmentioned Mishima Yukio. i also haven’t done enough research about Kyougoku’s novels to come to any theories about how they could be woven into the bsdverse.

iirc there were a few mentioned loopholes to Ayatsuji’s ability, like how it couldn’t recognize murder even even it was obviously someone’s fault as long as their actions were to save people (like how Kyougoku told the couple if they killed each other he’d pay for their other daughter’s surgery and Ayatsuji got pissed because his ability wouldn’t work on that) or something of the s-

damn it now i’m imagining Fyodor paying for a little girl’s surgery

anyway you’re so cool thanks for brainrotting with me

[mayra-quijotescx]

'go do the thing' won, and precisely three hours later, I arrived back home with the reassurance that at least I'd gotten that particular side trip out of my system.

The place was lovely. It was. but I am an expert at talking myself out of cool stuff I could buy, and Cool Stuff You Can Buy is the main purview of the place I went. They also had a tarot reader, but I'm quite aware of what's missing from my life, and with no disrespect to people who practice and put stock in divination, the answers and guidance I need aren't going to come from a deck of cards in the hands of a stranger.

The second bus on the 'get there' trip having gotten hung up in traffic and delayed nearly 40 minutes from its original time, my trip to the place took about an hour and thirty minutes, and when an awkward check of my phone showed the first return trip bus was about to land at the 'nearby' transit center, I hastily thanked the shopkeeps for letting me look around and bailed. I'd seen everything in there at least twice at that point, and, this being Houston and not a city worth the title, there was nothing else around for me to spend an additional 30 minutes at. And I was going to need to pee at some point. As a side note, alongside all the other reasons that the 'trans people using public bathrooms' panic is ridiculous, it should perhaps be brought up more that public bathrooms don't even exist around here. Might as well froth at the mouth about us filthy transes destroying the sanctity of the local unicorn pens or teleportation hubs.

For most of the return trip, everyone on the first bus was treated to the noise of another of God's Most Important Adult Children Who Must Be The Loudest Person In Any Situation* (to the point that the bus driver told him off, which shut him up for seven minutes before he decided to see how serious the driver was about throwing him out), I finished the book I was halfway through at the start of this entire 'going outside' ordeal, got off the first bus two streets early and walked the rest of the way to the transit center so I could be alone for a bit and clear my head, but I was rewarded with a most surprising treat on the second bus: seeing someone actually using headphones! I was beginning to fear that what's left of society had entirely abandoned such a basic courtesy.

*my standards for an okay time outside have dropped so desperately low that I wouldn't have even had a problem with this if the music he'd been tonelessly trying to accompany had been any good. Please let your interpretation of that sentence be informed by the fact that I am somewhat renowned for my own lack of musical discretion. His choices were just that disappointingly basic.

Oh, and you know, it was 49F and windy the whole way to and from. Which was actually nice, because that's the kind of fucking weather you're supposed to get here in February, and we've hardly had any.

[creativecourse]

Sales Copy Simplified Information CREATE PROFIT-PULLING SALES COPY IN JUST 10 DAYS! If you’re a business owner or marketer who's been struggling to generate an effective sales message for your products or services, I want to share some amazing news... You Don't Have to Be a Great Writer! Writing profit-pulling sales copy isn’t about stringing together choice words and grammatically correct sentences. If it was that easy, your high school English teacher would be a million-dollar copywriter. Nope, good copy is about way more than good English. Good copy is about knowing your prospect. It’s about persuading. It’s about storyselling. Writing a convincing sales letter is more than just hanging out your shingle to announce you're there... it's about setting up your prospects to consider nothing else but to buy what you're offering on the page. Nothing about effective sales copy has anything to do with grammar, and absolutely everything to do with the art and science of really connecting with your prospect. I understand this all too well. I’ve been crafting sales messages for more than two decades. Letters that have generated multiple millions in sales for my employers and clients. Because I've been doing this a while, I know how important it is to create a good sales letter. You can create the best product in the world, but if your sales letter doesn’t do its job, then you’re gonna find yourself twiddling your thumbs wondering why nobody's beating down your doors desperate to buy your stuff. The good news is you’re going to find out how to avoid that sort of disappointment right now... Here's what you'll get: Module 1: Pre, Primary, and Post Headline The headline is the most important part of your sales letter – if it doesn’t get attention, then your whole letter is an epic fail. Inside this module you’ll find out how to craft headlines that deliver high conversions and great results! Module 2: Present the Problem If your headline did a good job, then your prospects are going to start reading your letter. Now you need to create an opener that rocks your prospects to their core – and that’s exactly what you’ll find out how to do in this module! Module 3: Product Introduction You just reminded your prospects of their pain in the previous step. Now in this step you’ll introduce them to the joy of the solution. They’ll find out what your product can do for them. Module 4: Proof At this point you’ve made some mighty big claims in your sales letter. This is where you prove your claims, build your credibility, and really get your prospects to fall in love with your product! Module 5: Points This is the part of your letter where you take your prospect from mildly interested to absolutely frothing-at-the-mouth and frantic to get their hands on your product! Module 6: Pull At this point you’ve whipped your prospect into a frenzy, so now it’s time to pull them to your order form. That’s what you’ll find out how to do in this module. Module 7: Promise In this module you’ll find out how to overcome objections and boost your response rates by offering a strong guarantee. Module 8: Process This is the part of your letter where you take the order. Get this part wrong, and you’ll sink your sales! This module shows you how to avoid that. Module 9: Postscript The P.S. is the second-most read part of your sales letter, which makes it a key to getting the sale! That’s why you’ll want to pay close attention to this module, where you’ll find out how to create a postscript that closes the sale. Module 10: Putting it all Together In this module you’ll find out how to snap into place each piece of your sales letter to create a sales machine that produces great results. More courses from the same author: David Baer

[bacon-sandwich-of-dionysus]

Baying Dogs (Rewrite); Chapter Five: Diagnosis

Hello! Sorry for the delay in uploading this, exams are well under way which I've been prioritising. I've also had a freak accident with boiling water and now I have a huge second-degree burn covering one of my arms... that's probably going to take some time to heal.

In the meantime, because I know there's going to be more delays in writing and uploading chapters, lol, have a cheeky lil reread :P. See if you need to rethink your suspects :).

Warnings for: Strong language, gore, body horror (only slight), mentions of violence and menstruation (this isn't me stigmatising, but I know it can still be a sensitive topic for some people so I am giving a heads' up)

Word count: 4, 972

He was horrified. He wanted to gag.

Eyes were wide, bulging.

All he could do was stare.

Price thought he was accustomed to violence and brutality, having been in this line of work for a while now. Even he himself had committed a few atrocities of his own. And yet, here he stood, at a loss for words, like he had just seen death for the first time.

The gore was almost… gratuitous.

“Gaz…” He finally managed to croak out, his voice barely above a whisper.

Dougs hadn’t uttered anything. She couldn’t. All she did was cover her mouth in shock as she knelt before the corpse, hoping if she stared long enough… his eyes would stare back.

Flies hovered above the body, occasionally swooping down to take fresh pickings of drying blood.

There wasn’t any heat to him anymore, guts no longer steaming.

Price drew in a shaky breath. He swallowed hard. The horror was subsiding and replacing it was grief, grief which bubbled just under the surface, just waiting to boil over into a froth of anger. The captain could feel it. He was inconsolable. Any mutterings of assurances, any condolences given in goodwill, would only piss him off. Whoever did this... because he damn well knew it was ‘who’. He had known it was a ‘who’ from the start. Only now, as he fell before Gaz’s eviscerated corpse, did he truly care.

This proved that the man hadn’t been hardened at all, nor had he grown numb.

Inside him was a heart which pounded in his chest and a stomach which growled for blood.

They would pay. The murderer would pay.

Slowly, he turned to Dougs.

“You found him like this?”

That wasn’t a question, that sounded like a demand.

His teeth were clenched, lips peeled back in a snarl.

“Yes, sir.”

“Just now?”

“I screamed when I saw him.”

“You better be telling the truth.”

She gulped.

“I am.”

Price exhaled and looked behind to the others.

“Who did this?”

“Sir, we need to report-”

“WHO DID THIS?!”

They straightened up, remaining silent.

Price looked back at the body. Protocol would demand he report to Shepherd and inform him of the death but… God! He needed time. Time to think. He had already acknowledged the reality of the situation but what to do about this information which sat before him, red and raked with gaping wounds.... had yet to be seen.

Gaz had been through a lot with him. Gaz had been his righthand man. Price had kicked off his career in this line of work, mentoring him from the very beginning. This wasn’t how things were supposed to end. Price should be in his place, with his guts out, bathing in the morning sun as it warmed his pallid skin. Gaz was the one who should be living.

The captain had had his heyday, his adventures, his progression.

Gaz hadn’t.

Graves knelt by him.

“Price, we need to report to Shepherd, now.”

Price was paralysed.

Graves shook him a little.

“Shepherd needs to know. Stat.”

Price nodded and got up.

He made to address all of them.

“Whoever’s done this. I’ll fucking find out either way so one of you better start thinking about fessing up. And when you do,” his voice was pretty much a growl, guttural with barely contained rage, “I’ll kill you.”

With that, he took his leave, letting Graves walk him back to the barracks.

And then, there were three.

Dougs could see something white amidst the red once more.

Another tooth?

She looked back to the two men standing behind her.

Soap met her eyes and quickly moved to avert her gaze. Eventually, he decided to head back into the dilapidated base.

Ghost lingered for a few moments longer, staring at the body… like he was in some sort of trance.

He was probably having a rude awakening, much like Price.

Soon, he too left.

I hope you stay put, Gaz.

The medic scurried off but came back in a flash. On both her hands were a pair of gloves, and in her dominant hand, a pair of tweezers. She did what she had done with Weir.

A little bit of twisting, some tugging, the occasional wrenching and hey presto!

In the pinch of her metal grip was another tooth.

Dougs sat by Gaz, cross-legged as the sun was beginning to sit high in the sky.

“I’m sorry, Gaz…” She sniffled, “I’ll find who did this. They’ll be sorry.”

The woman got up, tucking the tooth away into her breast pocket.

“And if I don’t. Make sure you haunt them for me, yeah?”

Dougs headed for the medical room, hoping she could compare the teeth and maybe sneak in some time to begin copying those files into her notebook. She needed to compile all the evidence she could get, because now she was certain this had been a set up.

And she had a feeling Weir did too.

Everyone around the woman was saying men had attacked, or figures of men at least, but Gaz had given Weir a different account. 

“You know, it’s odd you two are saying men struck you because Sergeant Garrick over there said it was animals.”

Price had looked over to Gaz, who now had his head in his hands, leg jigging up and down. 

“Animals?”

“Aye.”

Soap lowered his voice. 

“Gaz is saying animals hit us?”

Weir shifted uncomfortably, rising to her full height from her previous position squatting by the bedside. 

“He was the first of you to come to, all of you completely crashed when your bodies hit the beds.” Weir gave a small laugh, shaking her head before continuing, “When I asked about what happened and what I should build my report to General Shepherd on, Garrick said that Task Force 141 had been struck by a pack of animals.”

Price sighed, running a hand over his moustache. 

“I think Gaz is pretty shaken up.” He proposed, “I think we all are. None of us were expecting this.”

“If I’m honest,” Weir ran a hand through her hair, “I think this whole thing is a botched job. Clearly, something’s off because we were told one thing and you were told-”

Once she was out of here, maybe Dougs could build a case? Get someone to look, get the right people to look at this.

She sighed.

All she could do was hope.

***

“This is Gold Eagle Actual.”

“Sir, Sergeant…” He took a deep breath, “Sergeant Kyle Garrick has been murdered.”

“Murdered?”

“Yes. Sergeant Garrick has been murdered. Don’t know exact time of death, but we found him in the morning just outside the base, Sergeant Burman-Douglas was the first to spot his body.”

“Garrick’s dead?”

“Yes, sir.”

Shepherd paused for thought.

“Garrick will be noted as K.I.A just as Weir is. Any questions?”

Price sighed. A silence fell between them.

“Status on transport?” He finally asked.

“Can’t say for sure. Northolt have been notified but we haven’t got confirmation on whether we can move into Ashdown Forest or not.” Shepherd was awfully blunt, “No transport has been officially scheduled.”

“But-”

“I’m sorry, Bravo 6. There’s not much I can do.”

Captain Price felt a pit in his stomach form.

Shepherd rubbed his temple, looking back to the beautiful view of the night sky behind him. The man was miles away from the crime scene and yet, he could imagine Price beginning to narrow his eyes.

“Do you suspect foul play?” The general decided to take the plunge and ask the question, his voice crackling a little on the radio.

Graves and Price looked at each other.

“Yes.” Price said, “I do.”

He only got a hum in reply. Whether it was of agreement or acknowledgement could not be determined.

“I’m sorry for your loss, Captain. Keep surviving and keep me posted.

As Price chucked the radio out of his hand, letting it land on the rucksack by his bed, something caught his eye.

Across from him, on the other side of the aisle, the bedframe was off. The metal looked a little bent, there were strange marks on the floor. Marks, which upon closer inspection, revealed themselves to be claw marks.

His eyebrows raised.

Graves watched him get up from his seat and head over to the other side, squatting before the odd one out. The man had shrugged off this sudden bout of curiosity from the captain, just glad that Shepherd had said he’d make sure Northolt would start hauling ass to get someone to them soon.

Price looked about the bed for more clues.

There were claw marks on the floor, along with scratches on the wall behind the headboard.

And whose bed was this?

Well, according to the bag and if memory served well, this was none other than… MacTavish’s.

His breaths grew a little unsteady.

He would wait until the evening, give the murderer a little time to feed his ego, to think he had gotten away with it but, once they were having dinner, Price knew what he’d do.

Graves did too.

Phillip decided he’d use the time Price had given Soap to deliberate on whether he should let John do what he was about to do.

***

A small knock sounded on the doorframe of the medical room.

“Come in!” Dougs called, as she finished packing away her notebook.

Footsteps tentatively crept in, and she turned around to see Soap. However, he wasn’t looking too great. All the colour had drained from the man’s face and he seemed skittery, eyes darting about. She rose up from her squatted position by her bag, not entirely facing him, almost in a combat-ready stance.

“Soap… what’s wrong?”

He seemed almost reluctant to tell, his face twisting a little as an internal debate ensued.

She noticed he kept his right arm close to his chest, hidden with his left sitting on top of it.

“Soap?” She asked, softening her voice a little.

With tears welling in his eyes, he made to meet her gaze.

“I think it’s me, doc.”

He revealed what he had been hiding.

Dougs’ mouth was held agape.

Be professional. Don’t gawk. Don’t gawk.

Alarm bells were going off in her head, though.

His nails were beyond recognisable, blood crusting the edges where keratin met skin. His hand shook as he raised it up for her to get a better look. As she examined more closely, she realised that his nails had in fact been virtually destroyed, split apart by the rupturing of blackened claws.

“Holy shit…”

What she also spotted was strange black veins which spread from his newly emerged claws. They were faint, almost looking like they had been painted on by a thin makeup brush. Except there was a warmth to them, like they were organic structures, with blood flowing through them… a stark contrast to the paling skin they sat under.

“Sit on the bed, Soap.”

He nodded and hopped up.

Dougs sanitised her hands and slapped on the third-to-last remaining pair of gloves. She gestured for him to rest his hand in hers as she eyed them closely, getting a feel for the claws.

“Does it hurt when I press them like this?”

Gently, she applied some pressure to the skin around one of the talons. Soap winced.

“Yep.”

“Okay…” Dougs chewed on her lip, “Could you tell me when this happened?”

“Just now. I… I was in the bathroom, washing my hands when I felt this itching. I gave in, scratched at the back of my hand, around my knuckles when…”

“When what?”

“My hand just locked up, like it was spasming. And then, these pop out.”

“Did it hurt?”

“Yeah, but only for a moment. Now, they just sting.”

She really wasn’t sure what to do, nor was she sure what he wanted her to do.

Dougs sighed, though, in her exasperation and indecision, it came out more like a snort. Had she not have her gloves on, she would have scratched her head or stroked her chin. Instead, she resorted to spinning on the wheeled stool she sat on by Soap as a way of fidgeting as she thought.

MacTavish watched her slowly spin side to side, face making an array of ponderous expressions as she considered each and every action she could and couldn’t take.

Dougs definitely couldn’t remove the claws, they looked fixed in place, like his nails would have been. Alsos, removing them could cause more trouble anyway: more pain, increased risk of infection and so on. That was an abysmal idea. She could clean them up a little, though, which might help with the stinging in the long term and prevent infection from getting into the little open wounds from which those talon-like protrusions sprouted from. It was also the easiest thing to do.

Let’s go with the manicure.

“Okay, so, I can’t remove them, but I can clean them.”

Soap didn’t really look satisfied with that.

“Is… Is that it?”

“There’s not really much else. Plus, it might help with seeing what exactly is going on. That dried blood could be obscuring some information.” She suggested.

He shrugged but seemed to agree.

Dougs smiled and swivelled round before scooting over to the kit to grab a few alcohol wipes, some cotton balls, TCP, should it be required, and a bag to dispose them in.

Soap held out his hand. It quivered, which put Dougs at unease. As she tore open a wipe, she noticed the hand beginning to shake more.

Oh no… Don’t do this to me again.

She had to see it through, though! She had gotten everything out now, and she was also a tad bit curious to see what was under the blood. At this point, Dougs was ready to do just about anything if it would shed some light on this absolute disaster of a situation. Her hand hovered above Soap’s.

It was really shaking now.

“Soap, can you try and steady your hand?”

“I can’t.”

He was going to break her wrist, wasn’t he?

Was this a trap?

Was she taking the bait?

“Soap, do you want me to steady it? I can hold your hand still if need be.”

At least then she’d have some control over his arm.

And she was prepared to leap out of the way if he struck out with the other.

Dougs looked calm on the outside, taking steady breaths as she gestured for him to lay his wrist on her open palm, but make no mistake, outward appearances can be deceiving. Inside, she was screeching, a voice repeating in her head over and over for her to not do this. However, like with a wild animal, if you make a sudden move, they’ll respond. Dougs hoped if she gave out a calm aura, Soap wouldn’t freak out.

“Okay, so I’m just going to lightly dab-”

CRAAAACK!

“AHHHH!”

“AHHH!”

Both her and Soap jolted backwards.

His hand had steadied a little, before locking up, fingers tensing, then releasing and with that release… a new length of claws extended upwards. They pushed out with this awful sound, like some bones deep within Soap’s hand were snapping. With that, small tears had also formed on the back of his hand and on his forearm. Tears which bled a little, and also had… hair sprouting from the gashes.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” He shrieked, scrambling backwards, almost falling off the edge of the bed, “WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!”

Dougs tried to shush him, not wanting to alert the barracks.

“Soap, let’s not panic, panicking will make this worse-”

“Dougs, look at my hand!”

He shoved it in her face.

“Look at it!”

Okay, yeah… looking.

Dougs gently moved his hand aside and rested it on his lap.

“We can’t lose our heads. You can’t lose your head, understood?”

His eyes were reddening with brewing tears, lip quivering. Blue eyes stared right into her soul, pleadingly.

“It’s me. I killed them, didn’t I?”

His voice was hoarse, whistling out his throat.

“What have I done, doc? What’s happening to me?”

Dougs paused for thought, wanting to avoid his eyes but they just followed her wherever she went. It was clear he had come to her for a diagnosis, for an answer, whether that confirmed his fears or not. She was his key. And yet, Soap found himself grinding his teeth, impatient, as she cursed him with unbearable silence. Dougs kept her eyes on the ground, once again swivelling side to side on her chair slowly, trying to think. It would be wrong to just regurgitate some falsehood and send him on his merry way but on the other hand, she hated to be the bearer of bad news which was ironic seeing as she was a doctor and that was part of the job.

She had to admit, if it was him, it was strange he had come to her. Sure, maybe telling everyone, especially Price would be a death sentence given his current state but… her?

Well, she supposed maybe the beast knew she had been snooping around. Actually, she didn’t suppose. She met him. Last night, down the hall.

This admission of guilt… Slowly, Dougs’ gaze rose to meet Soap.

He looked almost like a lost pup, eyebrows raised, peaking in the middle, while his eyes remained big and alert. A small flush was building on his face, distress and no doubt illness contributing to the slightly ruddy complexion.

She sighed and looked away briefly.

“It was me, wasnae it?”

“Are you asking, or telling me?” Dougs tilted her head to one side.

“I-”

“Honestly.”

He hung his head low.

“I don’t know.”

She leaned in, looking him in the eye, closely.

Soap held his breath, unsure of what to do as the medic just stared right into his soul. He backed up a little, as Dougs inched a little closer, eyes narrowing.

“It’s not you. It can’t be you.”

He was taken aback.

“What?”

She sighed and got on with cleaning up his bloodied hand.

“Dougs, what?”

The woman simply shrugged.

“It’s not you.”

He scoffed, letting out a small, hysterical giggle.

“What do you mean by that? It could be me. Dougs, A’ve got bloody claws!”

To his surprise, she shook her head.

“Just making sure, this is the first time this has happened?” Dougs queried, gesturing with an alcohol swab in hand.

Soap nodded.

“Yeah,” she chuckled, “I don’t think it’s you.”

What the…?

“Do you know something?”

Oooh, that was a good question. Dougs’ lips were pulled tightly into a thin line as she deliberated. She didn’t take Soap as the kind of guy to keep his mouth shut, especially when it came to something like this. He could very well oust her to the whole group if he thought that was the right thing to do, or perhaps share it with a confidante and who would then pass it along. There weren’t many of them left, if someone told someone and then that someone told someone else, it wouldn’t take long for the word to circulate.

A pang of guilt tugged at her heartstrings. He was scared, she could see that clearly.

Well, let’s see if he’s one for confidentiality.

“Can you keep a secret?”

He nodded, raising an eyebrow.

Dougs turned around and, to his surprise, took out the files like there was nothing to them.

“Uh… Dougs?!”

“Shh!”

The way she just brazenly put them on his lap, bold as brass.

She then walked up to the door, checked the hallways for any spies, before closing it.

“Open them.” She pointed to them.

Soap did so.

His eyes widened.

This… this was him. All these symptoms were him now and him to come.

Like an oracle telling the dreaded truths to come, the files bore details that filled his gut with dismay. His throat grew dry as he swallowed hard. Panic fluttered in his stomach.

Gently, he turned the page, only to be met with graphic images of bloodied jaws and… clawed hands.

“Oh my God…”

Dougs sat in front of him, tucking a lose braid behind her ear.

“Shepherd burned us.” Her face was serious, “More specifically, he’s burned you lot.”

“I… I’m going to…”

Soap’s grip on the files tightened a little.

“Hey! Don’t damage ‘em!” She quickly took the manila case from him, “Last thing we need is sticklers realising we’ve been meddling with them!”

His breaths had grown a little ragged. He clutched the sides of his head.

Dougs looked back to see he was beginning to freak out. Really freak out.

“Hey… Hey…” She knelt before him, gently removing his hands before he could hurt himself, “We’re going to survive this.”

“What if they take me away?! Do shit to me?! You’re fine! You’re immune!”

She ran her tongue over her teeth, letting out a small sigh of resignation.

“Soap, I’m on the menu.” That took a lot for her to say, “My fate isn’t either I live to be infected or die. Mine is just death.”

A lump formed in her throat.

Her worst fears were coming true.

This was a whole other level.

Hungry eyes were going to have a whole new meaning.

She stood up, trying to compose herself so she could comfort him properly. As Dougs was about to turn around, to briefly take her mind away from the present, Soap seized her. Her body gave a small jolt backwards at the sudden movement and consequent entrapment. His arms tightened around her waist.

That’s when she heard it: quiet sobs.

MacTavish had finally cracked.

He cried into her, sniffling, voices circulating around his head telling him he was doomed, telling him he was a disgusting animal.

Even if nothing happened… he’d still kill innocents either way.

That was his diagnosis: cursed.

Her hands hovered over him. She was still taken aback.

Only, to realise, as the sobs became more intense, she should probably be kind.

Dougs hushed him, letting him weep into her uniform. Despite feeling the sensation of cold as his tears soaked through, Dougs could also feel heat.

“I’m sorry…” he mumbled, gulping for air, his breath trying to catch up.

Softly, she placed her hands on his shoulders, rubbing circles with her thumbs as she looked to the door, staring idly off into the distance.

***

Ghost watched Soap hurriedly leave the medical room, wiping his face. He followed the man with his eyes, only for his attention to be diverted by new movement from his periphery.

Dougs leaned out of the doorway, looking drained.

He saw her drop her shoulders as she held the frame of the entrance.

Then, she stretched her arms out, deciding to head for the barracks.

Ghost spotted red.

A light tap was felt on Dougs’ shoulder. She turned around to see Riley looming over her.

He seemed awkward though, robotic almost, as he did his best to meet her gaze.

“Uh… Dougs,” he cleared his throat, “Dougs, you’re… bleeding.”

She looked up at him quizzically. Then, she looked down at herself and realised.

“Oh… fuck.” The woman groaned, “Rhaatid!”

She shouldn’t have ignored the cramping in her legs yesterday and this morning. She was also feeling fairly bloated, but she had just chalked that up to the shitty camping food. A sharp wave hit her, pinching right at her navel. And what followed was cold.

Toilet! Toilet! Toilet, now!

She began heading straight ahead, for the latrine, only to then change direction sharply for the barracks.

Spare trousers! Get spare trousers! No, toilet! Toilet after!

With that change of plan, Ghost watched the medic stop waddling ahead to then spinning on her heel to make for the barracks. Only she stopped, stood by the wall adjacent to the entrance.

She had no shame regarding this but… well, she sort of did, and the not-so-distant chatter between Price and Graves in the room punched a pit n her stomach. She didn’t want them to see. Didn’t want them to ask questions. They probably would pay no attention but… she didn’t know for sure.

This wasn’t supposed to be complicated. Dougs was overthinking it. A twinge of guilt flicked at her chest.

Her heart began to beat a little faster.

Dougs counted herself down. This was going to be quick. In and out. Get her spare clothes and whatever sanitary product was stashed in the depths of her rucksack and run away.

3… 2…

As she was about to go in, Ghost stopped her.

“Go to the bathroom.” He said, “I’ll get your shit. What do you need?”

Well… I mean… Okay!

“Spare trousers, underwear and see if there’s like a tampon or pad somewhere. I can’t remember if there’s a pack stashed or not but… yeah.”

“Copy. Go clean yourself up, Dougs.”

She smiled.

“Affirmative.”

Dougs found herself sitting on the toilet of the ramshackle bathroom just feeling grateful that they had running water. This place was a shithole, yes, but at least it was a functioning shithole.

There are worse shitholes.

She jigged her leg up and down, filling her cheeks with air and then blowing it out as she waited. The room was cold, and she felt that on her bare skin. Across from her sat her soiled garments, glimpse of red appearing between the folds as they sat sadly slumped in a pile.

She knew this would happen, seeing as the documents did say being in the presence of someone infected would cause menstrual bleeding for whatever reason; but she thought her birth control would save her from that.

Apparently not.

It would seem that lycanthropy trumps birth control.

A small knock sounded on the door. Then, it creaked slightly open, just wide enough for Ghost to get his arm through.

“Got your things.” He stated, waving the items in the air.

“Thanks.”

She leaned forward to grab them off of him.

***

“So,” Graves sighed, looking over his cards, “you still don’t want to open those files?”

Price shifted uncomfortably in his seat, not bothering to make eye contact.

“Shepherd will find out someone’s looked at them and that’ll cause us even more trouble.”

Graves sighed, poking his cheek with his tongue.

“I think we should. Something’s not right here.”

“Something’s not been right from the beginning.” The captain replied, stroking his moustache, just above his upper lip.

With a growl, Graves chucked the playing cards onto the ground and got up, marching to the medical room.

“Graves!” Price called after him.

He began to follow the man, occasionally reaching out to try and grab his arm, only to sorely miss.

Soon enough, he had been led to the dreaded room. Graves grabbed the waterproof bag and set in on the table. Then, like the implications and possible consequences of this action would mean nothing, he pulled out the manila files and spread them on the examination bed.

“We’re fucked.” Price shook his head.

“Ah, we were fucked from the start. Besides, it’s not like I wasn’t gonna get my hands on these files anyway.”

The captain cocked his head to one side.

“What do you mean?”

“I suppose a confession is in order, Captain.”

Price’s stomach twisted itself into knots as his muscles began to tense.

“I was going to steal these files off of y’all. Now, don’t do anything rash. I can explain. Shepherd hired my Shadows and I to get them off of y’all should things go wrong. My company is to be granted some of the spoils either way, whether you survived or not. Of course, we all know what happened to the Shadow team…”

Yep, they did all know. Graves was the sole survivor, getting dragged in by Dougs and Weir, howling at the top of his lungs in agony. His team had gotten it good, and the poor man would have most likely died if he hadn’t been found.

There were no more Shadows, but there was still Graves. He’d still get his prize if he lived.

“This is all a set up?”

“What do you think?”

Price paced back and forth. He should have known. No, he did know. He knew damn fucking well. He just didn’t want to admit it because he was scared. Weir’s remarks and her subsequent death had made it clear, but Price didn’t want to pay attention to it until the truth smacked him in the face.

“Fuck it. Open those files. If I’m dying, I’m dying in the know.”

He pulled up Dougs’ wheeled stool and took a seat.

The two men scanned over the pages, making all sorts of faces as they tried to miss the images that came along with the text. Price had never been good with graphic visuals; he would much rather have those things left to his imagination.

As Graves flicked over to the next page, Price grabbed his hand.

“Wait, go back.”

Phillip did so.

“The female participants instead experienced altered menstrual cycles… which resumed to their normal cycles once women were taken out of the experiment and away from the infected.” He read aloud.

Graves looked up to meet him, eyebrows raised.

“We can figure out who it is.” Price declared, a little glee glinting in his eye.

“How?”

“Whoever was in Dougs’ company when she started bleeding.”

“Are you sure that’ll do it?”

“Worth a try, ain’t it?”

Graves shrugged, scrunching his face up a little.

“How do we even know if she’s gotten her period?”

“We can ask.”

Graves burst out laughing.

“Ask?” He chuckled, “You think you can ask that and get an answer?”

“Why wouldn’t you?”

The captain looked genuinely confused.

“Please!” Graves did his best to catch his breath, “You can’t ask. We got no time to ask.”

“Graves, what are you suggesting?”

[queenofnohr]

Describing Asha and Aias’ relationship to anyone always feels like I’m a rabid dog trying desperately to notify someone that little Timmy is in the well u_u

[babyjakes]

〈 disclaimer: this blog posts content not suitable for individuals under the age of 18. minors are strictly prohibited from viewing, sharing, or interacting with this blog. for more information on this blog's commitment to protecting minors, read our full statement here. 〉

event | whumptember 2022

prompt | holding hands

pairing | boyfriend!ari levinson x shy!reader

warnings | mentions of crowded space/mild social anxiety, ari is basically daddy here (as he is all the time)/ddlg vibes tbh, i love ari i need ari *frothing at the mouth*

word count | 311

so with a really shy reader, ari is so patient and gentle 🥺he is a gentle giant fr. he definitely understands that him being so much bigger and stronger than him maybe makes reader a little nervous so he’s always bending down and trying to match her height and size 🥺🥺

maybe they’re on one of their first dates and it’s somewhere in public, and things start to get a little hectic as more and more people become present

he senses her growing a little anxious and bends down to speak to her, his voice so soft and soothing 🥺 “you wanna find somewhere a little quieter, sweetheart? i think there are some benches over there, past that group of people” she nods but he can tell she’s hesitant, she looks like she wants to say something “what’s up, honey?”

her voice is so little 🤧 he has to lean in even further to listen. “can.. could i… is it okay if…”

his face softening even more as she stumbles over her words, nodding encouragingly as she struggles to ask for what she wants. “can.. can i hold your hand?”

he’s absolutely melting over her, affection shining in his eyes as he smiles lovingly at her. “of course you can; here you go, baby” maybe that’s the first time he calls her baby 🥺

(okayyyy this is giving daddy!ari vibes which wasn’t the plan but here we are, i’m not mad about it 🥰)

he holds her hand gently and securely, rubbing the back of it with his thumb 🥺 his hands are so big they dwarf hers, ohhhh maybe eventually in the relationship she’s the kind of girl who holds one of his fingers with her whole hand 🥹💖

listen, idk how people manage to write ari without making him daddy. he just.. he is daddy. it’s canon okay ???