#i remember as kids me and my sister would sometimes see An Image on the unfiltered 2000s internet

[cuteniaarts]

@katkastrofa: *writes a single throwaway line in one chapter of Lost and Found that is never referenced again*

Me, completely randomly and with no prompting: Alright, bet–

[eggmeralda]

kind of wish my way of coping with morbid things wasn't to expose myself to them until I become desensitised lol

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Jack, Malleus: Beasts, us Both

Alright, TWST... you friggin' troll 😭 You got me good with those Jack frames... No wolf inspo reveal, I see how it is-- 😂

Because of the angle we're staring at the image from... that macaron Jack is holding looks like a massive GMO green grape… AM I JUST SEEING GRAPES EVERYWHERE BECAUSE OF R*LLO... This would mark the first Disney100 art with some notable changes (how he’s holding the macaron and the angle he’s bending at), most likely to make it look better for a card layout.

A Tale as Old as Time.

A young lion prince and his hornbill attendant were captured in a photo frame. With finger-like feathers, the bird had plucked a strand of fur from the large cat. He lacked amusement, beak poised in a manner that suggested a light telling-off. The cub, for his part, looked upset at the lecture.

That’s right, lions don’t grow their manes out until they’re older.

Jack sometimes forgot that—with his dorm leader prowling around, the most prominent image he had of a lion was that of Leona. Strong, cunning, and self-assured. Nothing like the prince in the painting.

“How cute,” a low voice drawled. “To think that Kingscholar too was once this small and helpless… Fufufu.”

Jack’s eyes cut to the tall, dark man next to him. With long limbs and regal horns protruding from his head, Malleus Draconia resembled a gazelle.

“It’s hard to imagine Leona-senpai like that,” Jack awkwardly confessed. “I met his nephew once, but that only took me more out of it. He was… energetic and bright.”

“Implying that Kingscholar is lacking in energy and a cheerful disposition?” Malleus smirked. “Ah, yes. Much change occurs between childhood and adulthood, some of it attributed to social influences. That child had best be cautious. Perhaps Kingscholar’s attitude will rub off on him, smothering that sunshine.”

“Leona-senpai has his good points too!” Jack blurted out. He didn’t catch himself in time—the words just came, a reverberating bark in the museum.

“Oh? You’re rather quick to defend him.”

The wolf beastman gasped and reeled himself back in. “Y-You don’t see it because you’re not in Savanaclaw, but I can tell… Leona-senpai cares about his students a lot. He’s looking out for us in his own way.”

“Such as when he attempted to have me trampled?” Malleus suggested, his tone quiet yet challenging. “I do so fondly remember that.”

“Urk!!” Jack’s ears flattened. “He does take it too far sometimes. I don’t agree with everything he does. The idea of doing everything you can to protect others, though… that’s something I can understand.”

"It is?”

The first year nodded firmly. “There are stories about wolves working together to chase off invaders who wandered into their snowy territory. Once, a wolf family even took in an orphaned kid. I have my own younger siblings to look after, too.”

“It appears as though you and your ancestors feel a strong sense of duty to your packs,” Malleus noted. Something akin to amusement danced in his eyes. It quickly flickered out, giving way to a deep melancholy. “Family… Hmm. I cannot say I can relate. I have no siblings to speak of. There is my grandmother, but she is my only living relative."

There was a shift—a small, imperceptible change in Jack's stoic face.

"... Sorry to hear that."

"Think nothing of it." Malleus waved a dismissive hand. "The circumstances are as they are. We cannot rewind the threads of fate, only weave new ones.

"Still, it is strange. I have not had the chance to meet my mother nor my father. They were already gone long before my hatching. I should feel no attachment to such strangers. Even so, I feel as though something is missing without them."

He gave a dark chuckle, curling fingers over his heart. "Perhaps there is a part of me that longs for that kind of a family, too."

Jack frowned. His chest throbbed with a dull pain.

“That's..."

Sad.

No brothers, no sisters. No parents, not even aunts or uncles or cousins. Just one big, empty castle, and the creature caged inside of it.

Pacing past ruined wings, furniture strewn about as if a mad beast had run through it in a frenzy. The space filled with loneliness, a hollow feeling that couldn't be fended off.

He shuffled his feet. Resolve slowly solidified. Jack reached for his voice.

"... I don't think you need to worry, Malleus-senpai. You still have people who care about you. Family isn’t all in the blood." Jack bashfully rubbed at the back of his neck, his eyes averted. "It's in the bonds too."

He gestured to the painting before them. "The lion prince lost his dad, the previous king. In grief, he ran away from home--but he still had friends that guided him when he was lost and scared. A warthog, a meerkat, a baboon, a hornbill, the lionesses in his pride. They all came together to show the prince he was loved and needed. Because of that, he was able to come home with his head held high."

Jack clenched a hand into a fist, offering a stiff smile. "Family's something that everyone has, one way or another. They're the ones who always have your back, blood or not.”

Malleus’s face momentarily lit up with surprise.

“My, I didn’t expect to hear such a motivational speech from you. I hear from Sebek that you’re quite standoffish.”

“D-Don’t get me wrong!!” he sputtered, face heating. “On any given day, I’d tackle things on my own. But doing that all the time is pointless.”

“Which is why you choose to follow Kingscholar’s leadership?” Malleus asked teasingly. “You seem to admire him a great deal and acknowledge him as the leader of your pack here at Night Raven College.”

“N-No!!” Jack snapped. “Th-There are just some things I’m not strong enough to do by myself, times when I have to team up with others for a common goal!! Until the day I have the strength to act completely on my own…!”

Malleus laughed softly, his lips lifting into a mysterious curve. "Be at ease, Howl. You needn’t be so defensive. I see your point with crystal clarity.”

“You… You do?”

“That is correct.” The dragon prince’s eyes creased. “You, who seeks strength, shall surely find it—and with that strength, you will not be daunted from protecting what is most precious to you, family and friends alike. You’ve helped me to realize the same. We are both the same kind of beast, fufu.”

Jack took one look at Malleus’s ominous smile and shuddered. It could have decimated the stars, wiping out all the light in the night sky in one fell swoop.

“I’m not so sure that’s a good thing…”

He glanced back at the painting of the lion prince and the hornbill advisor. The distress on the cub’s face suddenly resonated with him.

Jack groaned.

It looks like I still have a lot to learn.

[franki-lew-yo]

It's not just the Art: A look into why Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was scary as a kid and is so oddly charming as an adult

Found some comments hating on Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark because, despite the Stephen Gammell art, the stories themselves are "all hokey basic urban legends".

To me, that's why I loved this series and why I think it was affective childhood horror.

The "pale woman" story about the beady-eyed swollen looking lady would haunt my dreams...and yet, if you remember the story she's actually not a threat she's the one who's warning the protagonist to get out of the hotel they're in. Whatever was going on in that hotel, she wasn't the scariest part of it and that's what worked about that one- though I was still too scared to read her story in fear of looking at her as a kid.

It's what made the stories that are morbid-fun campfire jokes feel more uncanny ("Hearse Song", "The Viper"), and what made the basic-simple urban legends all the more meaningful when they let your mind fill in the blanks after the picture/using the picture as a jumping off point ("The Big Toe", "The Liver", "The Bride"). An important aspect of horror/children's horror, I think, is to ground you in the reality of how innocent things can be used for evil and also how things that look scary aren't ACTUALLY evil, like the pale lady is in her story.

This is best illustrated in Alvin Schwartz's earlier scary story collection In a Dark, Dark Room. Before he and Gammell did Scary Stories, Alvin's collection here was a good concise list of basic campfire stories, but they didn't have that extra bite to them- a bite needed and finally sold home with the literally graphic art of Gammell.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was used by my sister and I exactly as how it was advertised- and that was telling it to scare each other and our cousins on vacation and see how long we could go before we'd get the heebie jeebies on a dark ride home or at night when we were supposed to be in bed. The lasting impact of these urban legends/folklore regurgitations matters not because they are inherent classics but in how and when their told to you in that early stage of life. The uncanny, nasty but sometimes harmless monsters and creatures of Gammell's art helped bring these stories to wicked life while the stories' matter-of-fact reciting kept the images in your mind all the more. A nightmare of symmetry.

[beesmygod]

today is webcomics day. i am bea and i make "A Ghost Story" - part 1: pre-gaming

webcomic day is a yearly celebration of the art form concocted by the screentones podcast team as a way for people to see how the sausage gets made. my webcomic "a ghost story" has been running for over 10 years, and yet i still don't think i can say i am good at making a webcomic. regardless, the comic is getting made because otherwise i become very, very sick in the head. today i would like to share with you the process of making a page of "A Ghost Story" from start to finish. either this demystifies the process or will make you think im so cool and strong for doing this 2x a week. instead of reblogging this one post until it gets very long, i will be posting individual updates that i will then compile and post on my personal website. block the tags now if you HATE comics and want them to EXPLODE.

if you have any questions, even things like "what the fuck are you even talking about" feel free to ask. i want to feel confident in what i make again and i think sometimes interrogation from an outside source is really

---

that said, let's get started. wait just kidding i want a cup of coffee first, hold on.

ok now im ready. i have a big glass of water. i have coffee. i have a headset for the parts of work that don't involve typing words. i can't type words and listen to some streamer babble in my ear at the same time, so it has to be instrumental music or nothing. i just took my meds so they should kick in after about 30 mins. i woke up late today, which is weird and annoying. but maybe i can work late instead.

first off, i need to know where i'm going beyond this one page. if i dont know where im going with something, then i usually create something that sucks that i have to deal with later. hold on my internet died, i have to reset the router. ok, anyway.

what's rattling around in my brain is that not only do i have to deal with maxine's current predicament, i am also dealing with multiple plot elements i need to wrap back around to from the previous chapter. luckily, im about to put maxine down for a nap, which means i can get back to those other elements:

i need to finish the exposition from the three ankou characters for this story arc establishing their motivations as the oppositional force in the story. the "villain" is not these three specifically, but their boss. they need to have a loose understanding of what's going on in order to communicate this to the audience. god this started turning into a huge ass paragraph so i'll just keep it short there.

we've jumped back to before jack's horrible day from the first chapter of this storyline so we have to make our way back toward that and then lapping it, which means wrapping up his various open threads like:

feeding victoria and learning something new about her

finding out alice is a very exceptional employee who is getting many awards

watching valdo call lily while interrupting her during something personal to ask her for help with maxine's situation.

jack meeting with valdo and lily the day after they first met so jack can just tell them straight up that lily has 4 sisters she doesnt know about.

help that girl with her poltergeist problem. remember that. i've had jokes for this rattling in my head for like 4 years. im going insane.

and also the fucking tilberi!!! that has a point its going somewhere!!! there's a larger menace here!!!

other things to set up the climax of this storyline. sexual tensions, hints at larger emotional problems not immediately evident to the reader

lots of moving parts. and i feel like im moving in slow motion to get to them. i can see them all weaving together in my head, its the process of putting that onto paper that's proving difficult.

ok that took an hour starting and stopping. -_- let me write the next part as i keep brainstorming on how to approach this page. taking a "rubber duck" approach to this might help. heres an image from the last page i worked on (i have a 5 page buffer rn so the site does not match the finished pages) to get us semi-situated.

also because images will help people understand what skill level we're working with here. i need to be able to communicate an idea to the audience; if the art also looks good on top of that, then that's just an added bonus. but the ability to communicate my ideas is sometimes hampered by my lack of artistic skill or comics language ineptitude. like those speech bubbles kind of fucking suck but at a certain point you have to just hit print on what you're working on in order to keep your already glacial pace.

webcomics is a tightrope act where you're also spinning 4 plates at once. the trick is to keep the audience from realizing how many actually fall or how wobbly they all are. the act sucks but technically its not a failure.

[lostfirefly]

Well, I don't know why I came here tonight, I've got the feeling that something ain't right

Hey, hey, hey!! I haven't published anything for a long time. The stress of studying took all my energy. Welcome to another fun day for Catherine and Buggy! English is not my native language, errors may occur. As always, feel free to share your thoughts :)

Masterlist is here

Description: Neighbor asks Catherine and Buggy to look after the kids at their birthday party while she goes to get the cake.

Warnings: Fun, fluff, jokes. A composite image of the kids at the party. Sorry in advance for the fact that children swear, but I just thought that they often repeat everything after adults. Small references to my followers.

Words: 5344

Buggy x OC from my “You’ve Got the Same Dream as Me” series.

Taglist: @gingernut1314, @operationroots, @hey-august, @yujo-nishimura, @emmiebugz-blog, @mydearlybeloathed

The title is taken from "Stuck in the middle with you" by Stealers Wheel.

✎﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

✎﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

“How long are we going to sit like this, cotton candy?” Buggy stroked Catherine's back as she curled up in his lap. 

“It's only been fifteen minutes, stop nagging.” She took his ponytail and began to wind it around her finger. “You stayed late at the circus two nights in a row. I missed you. And now I want to spend some time with you in our chair.” 

“It’s nonsense, Cathie-pie. We're doing nothing.”

“We’re enjoying each other's company. It's so great and romantic. We're resting, you're hugging me, I feel like I'm in the safest place in the world right now.” Catherine curled up even tighter and pulled the blanket over them. “Let's sit for a little while longer, please.”

Buggy rolled his eyes. “Fine. An hour, ok?” He hugged her tighter, kissed her forehead and quickly wiped the lipstick mark with his fingers. “Why do I always give in to you?” He noticed Catherine start laughing. “What's so funny, little shit?” 

“Your nose. It's so funny, it bumps into my head, then my cheeks.” Catherine saw how sad Buggy became. “Oh, don't be upset, my silly clown. I love your nose. It also whistles funny sometimes at night. But I like it, it makes me feel like I'm home.” 

“You like mocking me, right?”

“I'm not mocking you! Remember when I went to visit my sister recently? I missed your snoring and whistling, so I had to put a chicken whistle by my pillow and I hugged the teddy bear. It all reminded me of you and our home, my little bear.” Catherine exhaled and started running her fingers around Buggy's arm. “I want you to come to my parents’ house so much. I want to show you everything. My room, photo albums, my favorite places. I was sitting in a coffee shop and thinking how great it would be to sit here with you. Maybe you'll come to Loguetown with me sometime?”

“I don't know, Catherine. We’ll see, ok? Fuck, totally forgot I have something for you.” Buggy sent his hand to the night stand and pulled some box of candies out of the drawer for her. “Here, your favorite nougat ones.”

“Yesterday, you stole blue irises for me. Today you brought me sweets. You're so cute, my Buggy Bear. You bring me candies, flowers, you even started bringing me candles. Thanks!” She kissed him on the cheek and took a couple of candies. “Yummy. Oh! Can I ask you a question?”

“First, Cathie-pie, it's still a terrible nickname. Second, you talked me into staying in this chair and covered me with a blanket with little ponies on it. Me.” Buggy pointed his finger at himself. “A grown man. Do I have a choice to say no?” 

“Asshole.” Catherine popped a candy into her mouth. “You know, we've been together for six months now, and I realized I don't know your middle name. Do you have a middle name? Let's say Buggy Eiichiro the Clown.” 

“Oh, I know what name I could have.” He grinned. “Buggy “The Best Sex of Catherine Mitchell's Life” the Clown.” He started giggling and winked at her. 

“I hate you. Why can't you answer like a normal person?” Catherine gently slapped him on the shoulder. “Now you're punished and I’ll ask another question. Have you ever dreamed of anything? Or maybe you have another dream now.”

“Why are you asking?”

“Everyone has dreams, Buggy.” Catherine ran her finger over his chest. “You talk not so much about your past, I'm wondering what you were like before you met me. So far I only know that you were in prison, hanging out with some kid and are worth a lot of money. But I still think you should cost more.”

“I didn't hang out with the kid! Well... I used to dream of you leaving my life, but as we can see,” Buggy smacked Catherine on the head, “that wasn't meant to happen, and now you piss me off every single day.” 

“I'm serious, clown. I told you about mine yesterday.”

“You mean that dream where you wanted to be queen of the gummy worms?” Buggy laughed. “I can't stop imagining this picture. I'm sorry, baby, it doesn't count.”

“I was five years old, you idiot. What could I have dreamed of when I was five? Okay, if you don't want to tell me, don't tell me.” Catherine gently slapped her palms on his chest.

“Fine. Seriously though. Well,” Buggy scratched his head, “I dreamed of being the king of… all circuses. But I had to give up on that dream. I had and have no right to dream about that.”

“Are you sure you're talking about the circus? You have the right to dream, my blue-haired love.” Catherine looked at Buggy, saw that he didn't want to continue this topic, took his hand and started to run her fingers over his palm. “I don't know. It seems to me that you are already the king. Tickets are selling out fast. Your fangirls are sighing for you.”

“I don't have fangirls! Stop mocking me, little shit!” 

“No, you have! I saw them. But I won't give you to them.” Catherine poked Buggy in the shoulder. “And I’m so proud of you. Can't wait to see the new show.” She exhaled and gently took the strand of his hair. “We're sitting so well, huh? Thank you for this, I know you don’t like, but I appreciate you suffering for me.” Catherine raised her head. “I love you so, so much, my Buggy Bear.” She gently pulled him by the ponytail closer and touched her lips to his. 

(doorbell rings) 

“Who is it? Are you waiting for someone?” Catherine raised an eyebrow. 

“No. Fuck them! Let's not open the door.” Buggy tried to kiss her back.

(knock on the door) 

“Wait!” Catherine gently pushed his head back. “Maybe it's Cabaji? He wanted to come in and ask about how to spend a perfect date with a girl.”

“Why can't he ask over the phone?” Buggy tried to kiss her neck. “Fuck him too.” 

“Stop! He wanted to write everything down.” Catherine tried to fight back and slapped him on the back. “I want to help him. He's your friend.” 

“He’ll do it later. We’re enjoying each other and to be honest, now I like sitting in the fucking chair.” Buggy tried to kiss her neck again. 

“Oh, for Christ's sake, Buggy!” Catherine had a hard time pulling his head off. “Don't touch me with your painted lips. You already pestered me in the bathroom this morning and I said no. What's gotten into you?”

“You were so sexy in the bathroom in your pants with pandas, I couldn't resist.” Buggy took her hand and kissed it. 

“I wasn't sexy, I was disheveled and was brushing my teeth.” Catherine grabbed his chin and pecked him on his nose. “Is there something else on your mind, clown?”

“Stop doing this, woman!” Buggy scrunched up his face and tried to move away from Catherine.

“I want and I kiss your nose!” She pecked him on his nose several times. “Love you, my old grumpy boy.” 

“I’m not ol-!” 

(doorbell rings) 

“I'll go open it.” Catherine quickly got up from Buggy's lap, ran to the door, but stopped abruptly at the exit from the bedroom and turned to Buggy. “Oh, no! What if it's not Cabaji. What if it's some man who came to take me away from you.” Catherine winked and quickly ran out into the hallway. 

“Hey!” Buggy rushed after her and caught up only at the front door. 

Catherine laughed when he grabbed her hand and began to pull her towards him. “You're such a fool. Look at how you're clinging to me. My blue-haired protector.” She kissed him on the cheek and opened the door. “Mrs. Emmie? What happened?”

A short, middle-aged woman with dark hair stood on the threshold. “Hello, Mr. The Clown.” She waved her hand. 

“Buggy, actually.” He rolled his eyes. 

Mrs. Emmie blushed a little. “Sorry. Mister Buggy, Miss Catherine, I need your help. My grandson is here for his birthday party, his parents haven't arrived yet and I have to pick up his cake. Could you look after him and some of his friends while I go get the cake?”

“NO!” Buggy shouted loudly, not expecting such an intonation from himself.

“Please, Mr. The Clown!”

“It's Buggy, for god's sake!! I've been living here for two years!!”

“Sorry, Mr. The Clown! Well, I went around to all the neighbors. No one is here. Grandson's parents were stuck in traffic and would be here in about two hours. The kids' parents would be arriving, but they would also be arriving in about an hour. The table was already set, with cocktails for the kids and a bar for the adults. Please! I can pay!” Mrs. Emmie looked at Catherine with tear-stained eyes. 

“How much?” Buggy crossed his arms. 

“Excuse us for a second, Mrs. Emmie.” Catherine took his hand and led him aside. “Are you crazy asking about money, clown? She's asking for help!”

“Not help, cotton candy!” Buggy glanced at Mrs. Emmie. “She's asking to babysit. I'm not going to babysit for free.”

“Perfect!” Catherine fluttered her hands. “And if I asked you to babysit our child, would you ask me for money too?”

“Oh, no, in that case I'd charge you a different fee.” Buggy giggled idiotically. 

“You're disgusting, you know that?” Catherine gently stroked his shoulder. “I know, you don't like kids. I'm not a fan of them either. But do you really want to leave me to be eaten by a bunch of children? I will never believe in my life that you would do this. You didn't leave me in that god’s cage.” Catherine hugged him around his waist, placing her chin on his chest. “Will my Buggy the Brave Knight save me again? And don't forget there's free food and free booze there. Then we'll come home, and I promise I won't even drag you out for a walk today. We'll stay home and eat chips and hot dogs like old people.”

“Fine.” Buggy groaned. 

“You're my best!” Catherine kissed him on his cheek. “Love, love, love you!” She turned back to Mrs. Emmie, who looked at Catherine with hope in her eyes. “It's okay, we agree.”

“Thank you! Thank you!” Mrs. Emmie hugged Catherine. “You know, Mr. The Clown, even though you grumble all the time, you've become a little bit nicer since that sweet sweetie came into your house.”

“See? I’m sweet.” Catherine playfully poked Buggy in his chest. “And you're nice.” 

Buggy rolled his eyes and growled, pushing Catherine towards the exit. “This means I'm changing, and you've come to love me differently.”

Mrs. Emmie led them into the back yard, explaining the rules and restrictions. Catherine memorized them attentively, jabbing Buggy with her elbow whenever he started to grumble. They walked out into the backyard, which was covered with colorful balloons and streamers that said Happy Birthday. Large tables were filled with baked goods, sandwiches, and sweets. The yard echoed with the sounds of children's laughter and whistles.

“Oh, that table over there is definitely for me!” Buggy nodded towards a closed bar with a bunch of drinks and started to walk towards it, but Catherine grabbed him by the pants as soon as he took two steps away from her. “Baby, if you want something from me, just ask.” He chuckled.

Mrs. Emmie and Catherine looked at him at the same time, puzzled. Buggy tensed slightly, looking at Catherine's “i’ll kill you” face. 

Mrs. Emmie exhaled and shook her head. “Miles, honey!” She called out as they descended a couple of steps of the large wooden staircase below. “I’m going to get your cake. Miss Catherine and Mister Buggy are going to sit with you while I go away for a while. I’ll be back in an hour. Bye.” She grabbed the keys and quickly ran out of the house. 

Catherine took Buggy's hand and led him towards the children. “Hey, guys!” She waved to them as she walked out into the backyard.

“WOOOAAAH!!!” A small, chubby boy with big cheeks, ginger hair and big dark eyes turned to face them. “Look! Guys!!” Miles poked his friends in the shoulder. “This's a real clown!!! Strange.. he's not wearing a costume, he's wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. Anyway!! RUN!!!” 

Ten kids jumped up from the grass and ran towards Buggy. 

“Hey, hey!!” Catherine stood in front of Buggy, spreading her arms. “Quiet, guys!” 

“Can you do magic?” One kid was tugging at Buggy's pants.

“Is your nose buzzing?” The other kids tried to get past Catherine.

“Woohooo!!!” One of the children squealed. “Loook, guys!! I’m flying!!” 

Catherine turned around to see Buggy picking the child up by the scruff of the neck and glaring at him. “Buggy! Put the kid down on the ground right now!” She hissed quietly through her teeth.

“He was tugging at my pants!” Buggy turned the child over in his hands. “I don't like it.” 

“I don't care, put him down!”

Buggy rolled his eyes and set the child down. 

“Alright, kiddos, everyone to the table.” Catherine nudged a few kids in the back. “Who wants cake?”

“Who needs cake when there's a clown here!!” Miles squeaked. 

Several children tried to attack Buggy again, but Catherine grabbed him by the shirt. “Na-ah! No attacks on the clown until everyone's had their cake.” She bent down, placing her hands on her knees, and looked at the children. “So. Who wants cake now?” 

“WE WANT CAKE!! WE WANT CAKE!!!” All the children, joyfully throwing up their hands, ran squealing to the table in all directions.

Catherine laughed and followed after them, making sure all the kids were seated. She turned away for just a second to pour everyone some juice when she heard a child squealing and an adult cursing. 

“I can't sit still!!!” Miles' voice came from behind Catherine. “He's so cool!!!” Catherine turned to see several kids attacking Buggy, who tried to fight off a crowd of screaming children and cursing. 

“What the fuck?” Buggy tried to throw the child who had jumped on his back.

“You're sooo funny!! Your nose looks soo real!” The kid started laughing and was about to grab Buggy's nose. 

“Hey, get off him!” Catherine rushed to pull the kids off the suffering clown's body. “You okay?” She quickly examined Buggy's face and hands.

“Fuck, no! Catherine, let's go home. They're crazy!! Let them look after themselves!” Buggy tried to take the squealing kid off yourself. 

“We can't. We promised to help. Look, they like you.” Catherine giggled as she lifted another child off Buggy. “Okay, Miles! Get off my boyfriend's back!” 

“Is he your boyfriend? Wooooaaaah!! You're so lucky!!” Miles looked at Catherine with admiration. “You probably can watch tricks all the time. Is he showing you tricks?”

“Oh, yeah, believe, dude, I show her tricks.” Buggy giggled with a proud expression on his face. “You know, adult ones.” 

“What? What do adult tricks mean?” Miles looked from Catherine to Buggy, waiting for an answer.

Buggy crossed his arms. “That means I can…” 

“Shush!!” Catherine hissed and whispered under her breath. “Shut up and wipe that smug grin off your face,” Catherine took a small step toward Buggy. “Are you crazy, saying that in front of the kid?”

“What's wrong? He's…” Buggy looked at Miles, who was fiddling with his hand. “How old are you, bro?”

“I'm six!” Miles said proudly, with a slight lisp.

“See, Cathie-pie, he's six.” 

“I don’t care. I'm not gonna ruin a little kid's life with your stories.” Catherine nudged Miles toward the table. 

“Look, they are sitting, eating cake and don't bother anyone. Let's go home.” Buggy took Catherine's hand and dragged her to the door. “Nothing will happen to them.”

“I can't leave 10 children unattended, Buggy.” She pulled her hand away and glanced towards the children.

“Come on, cotton candy! Their parents are coming in... How long have we been here?” Buggy looked at his watch. “Ten minutes? Fuck!”

“Stop grumbling, clown! Oh, my God! See? One of the kids is eating dirt!” Catherine waved her hands and ran to another chubby kid with dark hair and big brown eyes. “Hey, you! The boy! Stop doing that!” She barely lifted him off the ground. “What's your name, baby?”

“I'm Howl!” The boy, covered in mud, answered with a proud look.

“And I'm Catherine.” She knelt down and started wiping the kid's hands. “Stop eating dirt, Howl.”

“This will make me cool!” Howl shoveled another handful of dirt down his throat. 

“Cool guys don't eat that. They eat hot dogs. Do you want to be a cool boy and eat hot dogs, Howl?” Catherine stroked the boy's hair.

“Nope!” Howl grabbed the dirt in his hand and put it in his mouth.

“Dear lord!!” Catherine rolled her eyes. “Oh! I know! See that man over there?” Catherine nodded gently toward Buggy. “See? He’s strong and cool. And you know why? He likes hot dogs! Now do you want to be cool like him?” She saw Howl glance at the clown, then look at Catherine and nod. “Do you want me to get you a hot dog?”

Howl scowled. “Now I want to believe you. And as I started believing you, I want a hot dog!!” He jumped towards the table.

“Thank God!” Catherine stood up from her knees and saw Buggy walking towards her, sipping his beer. “Are you kidding me? While I'm trying to seat the kids, you’re enjoying a beer?” Catherine grabbed her head. “These kids are like ten of you, Buggy. They also sit quietly at first and then bam! They start whining and doing strange things.”

“But see? You're doing great. Maybe I should go home and support you from the couch?” Buggy shrugged and put the empty bottle on the nearest table.

“Oh, go wherever you want, Buggy.” Catherine waved at him. “I was hoping for once in my life you'd help me.”

“Sorry, Cathie-pie. I’d love to make things right but it’s time to exit stage left. Bye!” 

“How-- How can you do this to me?” Catherine's eyes widened and she yelled after Buggy, who was walking away. “What? You didn't leave me in the desert, so now you're taking revenge, huh?” She watched how he waved to her. “Go f-- screw you, clown!!!”

“Excuse me, Miss Catherine!” Someone poked Catherine in the arm with his finger several times. “You're swearing!” Miles’ voice came from behind Catherine. 

“And what?” She narrowed her eyes and looked at him. 

“When my parents argue and use bad words, they put a dollar in the jar.” He pulled out a jar of money and shook it in front of Catherine's face. “Dollar, please.”

“What? I won't pay you!” Catherine squealed, her eyes wide.

“Then I'll tell my parents that you were swearing. Guys! Repeat after me! Screw you! Screw you!!” Miles and Howl began to jump around Catherine excitedly, repeating the phrase after her. Miles stopped and glanced at Catherine. “See, lady? You’ll have problems. Dollar.” 

“Do you think you can scare me, little bastard? I jumped off a cliff and live with the clown!” Catherine shifted her gaze to the table and crossed her arms. “Let's do it like this! You sit down at the table, I'll let you have a baby cocktail and I'll tell you a funny story, what do you think the idea is?”

“I don't want the story! Let's do it this way. I'll keep quiet, and you call the clown. I want the clown! Where'd he go?” Miles started to fume. 

“He better packs his bags right now to flee to another country away from my wrath.” Catherine muttered under her breath. “What should I do with you?” She scratched her head. “Oh! If you guys don't want a story, let's hit the piñata. There's probably candy in there. Do you guys like candy? You're kids! You should love them!” Catherine looked at them pleadingly in her eyes. 

“WE WANT THE CLOWN!!!” All the kids stamped their feet. 

“Mother fuc–!” Catherine suddenly covered her mouth with her hand.

“Dollar, please!” Miles picked up the can again.

“Screw you!” Catherine heard the phone ringing. 

“Guuuuys!” Miles raised his hand. “Go!” He waved his hand, giving the command. “Mother fuc-! Mother fuc-!” The kids started kicking their feet and merrily repeating after Catherine. 

“Screw you all!!” Catherine heard the phone ringing. “Shit! Everybody stay here!” Catherine pulled her cell phone out of her pants pocket. “Mrs. Emmie? What? Are you going to be late? And kids’ parents? Also? Yeah, sure, I'll keep an eye on them. Goodbye.” Catherine put her phone in her pocket. “Yeah, she's got traffic. I bet they're all sitting at the bar drinking aperol right now. Oh my god, the kids!” She watched them all scatter again. “Everybody should freeze now!!!” She barked loudly and abruptly covered her mouth with her hand again. “For god's sake, let's beat the piñata now, eat fries, and then you eat cake, and I'll show you tricks.”

“Hooray!!!!!” All children tore out of their seats and ran toward the big pig-shaped piñata. 

They joyfully started pounding the toy until candy sprinkled out of it.

“MY SWEETS! MY SWEETS!!!!” The kids piled on top of each other and started raking up the candy. 

“Stop!! What's wrong with you? Stop climbing on each other.” Catherine grabbed her head. “This is some kind of madhouse.” She muttered to herself and looked at her watch. “I've made it through almost an hour. There's still an hour left.”

“Miss Catherine, I didn't climb on anyone and behaved well. Can I have cake now?” A thin voice of a girl was heard. “I'm Hilda.” 

“Oh, of course, dear Hilda.” Catherine stroked the girl's head and clapped her hands. “Everyone to the table! Let's have cake and fries!!”

“You promised us magic tricks, Miss Catherine!” Miles mumbled, eating candies and approaching the table. 

“Yes, magic tricks! Let me juggle.” Catherine picked up three tangerines and tried to throw them up in the air to catch them, but they all fell to the ground. “Okay! That was a practice run. Let's try again!” She tossed the tangerines again, but they also fell to the ground.

“You're a bad juggler! Why are you ruining my party?” Miles began to sob. 

“Oh, well, I'm sorry I'm such a fucking clumsy person, okay? I can't juggle!” Catherine angrily threw the balls on the ground.

Miles started whining and all the children began to repeat after him. 

“Oh, stop crying! Bunch of..” Catherine rolled her eyes. “It’s not my fault that your paren-”

“I’ll tell my mom that you spoiled my party, and you swore!” Miles wiped his nose. “I want to see you juggling!! YOU CANNOT JU-UGGLE!!”

“Because she doesn't know how to do it. Right, Miss Catherine?” 

“THE CLOWN!!!” Miles, Howl and other seven kids, except for Hilda, jumped to their feet.

Catherine turned to where the children were pointing and saw Buggy gesturing to them to calm down. Catherine tried to hold back a smile, but she wasn't very good at it. “You're back!”

“Yes, and I hate myself for that.” Buggy shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets.

“I always knew you were a good person.” Catherine started stroking his hand. 

“And for that, I hate you.” He shifted his gaze to the kids. “So. What's going on here?” 

“They're crazy, Buggy. And that kid Miles. He’s a little evil. He tried to swindle money out of me. It feels like the only calm person here is that plump blonde girl named Hilda, and only because she eats all the time.” Catherine buried her head in Buggy's shoulder. “I wanna go home. But we need to entertain them somehow, because they'll continue squealing and destroying everything when they finish the cake, because they saw you. Buggy, please! Help me!” Catherine was practically breaking down into tears.

“How about I show them a couple of chop chop tricks?” Buggy placed his hand on her back. “They're kids, right? They love it when clowns do funny things. And by the way, not only kids love that.” He giggled again in a stupid way. 

“Shut up, you pervert.” Catherine raised her eyes. “And no chop chop in front of these kids, please. I don't know who they are, or who their parents are. What if they come after you later? I don't want you to get hurt.” 

Buggy snapped his fingers. “Are there any ribbons or scarves around here?”

“I saw some. Wait.” Catherine quickly ran to the table and came running back. “Here.” She held out several colorful chiffon scarves to him. 

“Okay, kiddos. Who wants tricks?” Buggy tucked the handkerchiefs under his sleeve and headed toward the kids. 

“WE WANT TRICKS!!!!” All ten little bodies stared at Buggy in admiration. 

Questions were constantly heard from around the table. “Is your hair real? Or is it a wig?”, “And where did you buy such a natural nose? Does it honk?”. The children shouted their names randomly, trying to get Buggy's attention.

“Either you calm down now or no tricks!” Catherine barked, glared angrily at the children and plopped down on the chair. “I can't!” She drank the juice from the nearest glass in one gulp.

“Hey, Miles!” Buggy said quietly, adjusting his sleeves. “I heard it's your birthday.”

“Yeah! Yeah!” Miles started stamping his feet on the spot. “My birthday, my party!” 

“And I also heard you were picking on that beautiful girl.” Buggy pointed at Catherine and clicked his tongue. “Not cool, bro.”

“Tattletale!!” Miles whispered to Catherine and showed his tongue. “I didn't mean to, Mister the Clown.” He pouted. “Sorry, miss.”

“I guess she's not mad at you anymore.” Buggy winked at Catherine. “And I also…. What's that?” He pointed somewhere behind the kids. 

Everyone at the table, including Catherine, looked around. 

“Where? I can't see anything!” She tried to figure out where he was pointing. 

“TA-DA!” Buggy's voice was heard. 

Catherine and all the kids turned around and saw him start to take out handkerchiefs from his sleeves. The children froze for a second and then suddenly burst into laughter, squeals and applause.

“Best trick ever!” Catherine started clapping. “You're the best clown I've ever seen in my life!”

Buggy began juggling tangerines, but he was also not very good at it. Then he started showing card tricks, he was a little better at this. The children squealed, shouted and stamped their feet at his every mistake, thinking it was part of the act. 

“Now I'm going to ask my lovely assistant to help me.” Buggy held out his hand to Catherine. 

“Who? Me?” She leaned closer to him. “Will you pick one of the children?”

“Nope.” Buggy winked at her. “Will my cotton candy help me?”

Catherine blushed, giggled and squealed quietly at the same time, and extended her hand to Buggy.

“Mister the Clown, can you make us a balloon dog? I'm Arthur, by the way.” A skinny, fair-haired boy covered in cake asked from the end of the table.

“Hello, Arthur!” Catherine said and bowed slightly. “Of course he will make an inflatable dog. Give us one minute!” She ran away for a second, picked up a sausage-shaped balloon and ran back. “Please, Mr. the Clown.” Catherine bowed like a true circus assistant, handing the balloon to Buggy.

“Cotton candy, I have no fucking idea how these dogs are made!” Buggy whispered quietly. 

“Think of something. I don't think they care what the outcome is. I think they just like you.” Catherine glanced out of the corner of her eye at the excited children.

Buggy groaned and tried to bend one part of the balloon to make a tail, the other part of the balloon to make a head. He twisted something resembling a twisted sausage in his hands for a long time.

“Something like that.” He showed this balloon misunderstanding to the children.

18 eyes looked at Catherine and Buggy, with the exception of Hilda, only blinking back.

“What's going on? Why are they silent?!” Catherine looked from the children to Buggy and took a step back just in case.

“I don't know.” Buggy nudged Catherine behind him. “I don't like this. I don't like it even more that they're looking at us the way you look at me just before you start squealing and jumping on me.” He nudged her back another step.

At that very moment the children burst into squeals and jumped up from their seats, running towards Catherine and Buggy. 

“Get back! Get back!” Buggy shouted at Catherine and took two big steps back.

“Hello, kids!” Mrs. Emmie's voice was heard and the children immediately ran to her. Several parents also came into the yard. 

“Am I alive? Or were we trampled?!!!” Catherine was ready to cry with delight, hugging Buggy. “Are you ok–?” 

“Miss Catherine! Mister Buggy! Hello! We are Miles' parents. Auggie and Trevor.” A short, stocky man with dark hair and grey-blue eyes, a tall, thin middle-aged woman with blue-black hair and blue eyes came closer to Catherine and Buggy. “Emmie said you helped us out. I hope the kids didn't torture you too much. Our son can be naughty sometimes.”

“Sometimes? Are you fucking kidding me?” Buggy barked. “Your kid–!”

Catherine kicked him in the leg. “It's okay, Miss Auggie. Miles's cute.” She giggled slightly. 

“Let me thank you with a cocktail!” Auggie invited Buggy and Catherine to the bar, where she poured them each a Long Island. They were talking when Miles approached his parents and tugged at his mother's dress. 

“Mom, where's my scooter? Daddy promised me a scooter!” He looked around. 

“Honey, you don't need a scooter yet, we bought you a kick scooter.” Auggie patted Miles on the head. 

“But I wanted a real scooter!” Miles stamped his foot. 

“Hah, you don't always get what you want, kid. I dreamed of being queen of the worms, but you see, my dreams were never meant to come true.” Catherine took a swig of her drink.

“Screw you!” Miles stamped his foot and stuck out his tongue to Catherine. 

“Miles! What kind of words were you saying?!” The boy's mom's eyes widened. 

“She said that bad word!” Miles pointed at Catherine. 

“What?!" Auggie looked at Catherine blinking. “Are you out of your mind?”

“It's time to go home, cotton candy!” Buggy threw Catherine over his shoulder and was about to run towards the door. 

“Wait! Wait! Wait!” Catherine grabbed four bottles of different alcohol and managed to grab a tray of snacks. “We dese-e-eerve it!!” She screamed as Buggy raced towards the apartment with her.

Buggy reached the apartment in seconds and closed the door. 

“Lock it all up! Lock it all up!” Catherine laughed, putting the bottles on the table. “God, I hope they don't get too mad at us.”

“Fuck them!” Buggy leaned his back against the door and looked at the large bottles of alcohol. “How did you even grab all that?”

Catherine shrugged, came closer and hugged him around the waist. “You hear that?” She chuckled. “Silence!” Catherine raised her head and looked at Buggy's tired and at the same shocked face. “Thank you! I couldn't have done it without you. You see, we have proven once again that we are a strong crew.” She kissed him on his nose. “And my silly clown..”

“I’m listening, my Cathie-pie.” 

“Don't get me wrong, I love you.” Catherine started stroking his head. “But from today on, I won't let you touch me without… well.. you know. I'll tell you more, you'll put on every single.. well, you know.. in the box on your little Buggy.” 

“Hey! He's not little!” Buggy kissed the top of Catherine’s head. “But for the first time in my life, I’m not gonna argue with you, cotton candy.”

[likeaflameinthenight]

what do you guys think of your family : D ? like . . uh um siblings, parents, kids, and id say nephews and nieces if you both didn’t have well . only about . 2 . i think . . ( you don’t have to include all of them by the way, rock ! i think that’s about actually 13 characters for both dian and nyx, so you can just do one of them too if you’d like ! make sure to take care of yourself, love you < 3 )

(Hi hi hi Apri!! Sorry this'll be a bit long haha but I hope it's alright!! I love you, too <3 <3)

Nyx's Thoughts on his Family:

Haneul: Baba. He burned strong but bright like a white dwarf star. Even more stubborn than Dad and somehow more protective, too. He never quite managed to hate us, the damn bleeding heart. Faolán: Dad. Quiet and stern, the moon shining down in the night, silvery protection no matter the cost, as long as you were part of the pack. Loyal and determined, looked a lot more serious than he actually was. Castor: I never asked you to die for me. I never wanted you to die for me. Maybe, you were able to find Kyo again. I hope you don't regret throwing it all away for me, of all people. Aurien: Darling sister, I love you so much. I know I am not the best at showing it but I pray that I have done enough to demonstrate the lengths to which my affection extend. Mori: I never have quite managed to understand my littlest sister. This is my failing rather than anything she ever did. I don't know how she manages but she's so hot, that somehow she's cold. Asahi: Born as the sun crested over the horizon, you brought with you a new stage in my life and I love you so dearly. I'll never know what I did to make you hate me so but I do know that I deserve it, you are not one for emotional decisions. I'll always miss you, my beloved daughter. Yami: Just like him, you are a burning flare in the darkness. You don't hate me and somehow, that's worse, because you don't care for me at all. You want to leave me and your father behind. I wish I could do something to make you reconisder but I cannot stop you, I wouldn't dare. Natsuki: My little moon, you are so much stronger than you know. You don't remember how fiercely you fought to survive when you were born, but look at you now; You stand, facing the future without flinching. I hope that I am not a hindrance to you.

Dian's Thoughts on his Family:

Cam: Why did you have to lie to me? Why did you hide from us, in the end? I could have helped you. I would have helped you, if only you let me. Flor: My precious little fool. You were never meant to die and so, it is only fitting that you haunt my every step, my every movement. I cannot help but regret the way I failed you. Oli: The jester's other half, mirror image escaped from the warped glass. Always overlooked, yet you shine so bright when you are given the space. I am happy that you are able to blaze your own trail, now, that you stand on your own. It it better that you do not remember me, I wish you all the best. Faisal: If only I could say that I don't know why you hate me but I can't, not without lying through my teeth- I understand all too well the depths of your loathing. Someday, you will be able to escape from my shadow. All I pray is that it comes sooner rather than later. Yami: Every time I reach out to you, you jump away, as if you are burned by my touch. Every time I see you, I see a reflection of myself, a reflection of him. Do you know how painful it is, to see him in your face? Do you realize how much it hurts to see you face me, with such disgust in your eyes? All I want is to know what I did, all I want is to fix it. Qiu: You are a bitter kind of miracle. Sometimes, it seems as though you really should not have been born, with the suffering that weighs heavy on your bones, and the pain that you never meant to cause. Nonetheless, I am glad you survived. Minh: The spitting image of your parents, I wonder how you manage it, so quiet and fierce like Zhuli, so caustic and witty like Faisal. I won't get too close but I hope it is alright, if I watch you from afar.

Admittedly I only went with direct blood relations, including in the modern au, as otherwise Cas, Auri, and Qiu wouldn't be included. Nevertheless, for any characters that are in the main ALNST OC canon, that is the universe these thoughts are from (Nyx's thoughts on his children would not be so mournful, were it the modern au, also, Mori isn't his blood sibling in the modern au, and Han isn't his bio father, so).

Tagging @lookatmysillies (for Castor), @sotogalmo (for Flor!) and @pinkcocopuff-aqualoid (for Oli) but everyone else either belongs to me or to you, Apri! haha so I hope that's alright :) love you lots thank you for the ask <3 <3

[flickersprout]

hello would you be willing to say your million opinions about the mystery twins?

WHY YES

I am unwell about these people thank you so much for asking /gen (long post incoming)

I'm a little more familiar with Cellbit's character than Bagi's, so probably have more headcanons about him. I am actively trying to get more unhinged about Bagi because she is so cool and everyone should tell me their Bagi headcanons

Bagi headcanons/opinions:

She should be transfem. as a treat. her being transfem lets me make the twins identical, and anything that makes it more obvious how related they are makes them funnier

Her being transfem also adds fun layers to her relationship with Tina, as Tina is a demon pretending to be human. All I'm saying is you could do some fun parallels and contrasts about presentation and the self

Also if you make her and Jaiden and Baghera all transfem, you get the fun fed-sisters-plus transfem solidarity that exists only in my head

She can only barely cook. She never learned as a kid and then got fucking frozen, and she's tried to learn as an adult but it's not going well

When she thinks about raising Empanada, she gets kinda caught between wanting to pass on the pacifist, live-and-let-live mentality that she pretends to have and the more defensive/aggressive ideas she actually has. She does like the idea of pacifism and doesn't want Empanada to grow up bitter, but... peace isn't what's kept her safe and alive

Empanada's first death resolved a lot of those conflicts. A kinder world isn't coming, so she has to raise a fighter

Her "pretending to be an ethical vegetarian" thing is hilarious to me. girl you aren't pretending to be a vegetarian you just are one. you can lie about your reasons but girl. you don't eat meat

Cellbit headcanons/opinions:

He can't cook even a little bit. Federation pet -> child soldier -> jail-> struggling adult? yeah he never fucking learned to cook

Relatedly I think he's a picky eater but has weird tastes. Like i think he eats instant microwave/just add water foods raw and likes it because he learned to eat it like that at some point, but can't stand a lot of "real food" because he just never got used to it (this is partly based on me lsjkhd)

He owns a butterfly knife and he's good with it. He picked it up as a hobby after Fuga when he was in therapy because he needed something to fill his time and it was a socially acceptable way to carry a knife. He can do all kinds of tricks now

Just pre-purgatory (and probably still now tbh) sometimes the butterfly knife suddenly reminds him too much of a real knife or triggers some kind of intrusive thought that scares him. His reaction to this is to just let go of the knife midair. He's very lucky no one's gotten hurt yet

He 100% remembers more of his childhood with Bagi than he admits. He pretends he doesn't because even acknowledging that he was a child once undermines his image of himself as a monster (upsetting, unhealthy self-image, sure, but one that's kept him safe. monsters aren't afraid of anything. monsters can't be hurt. children, though?)

As much as I understand and will read about autistic!Cellbit headcanons, I don't agree (i am autistic, for the record). He's actually really good with social cues, like scary good, and obviously has really strong theory of mind. Like I get where people are coming from but we need to defend an allistic guy's right to just be a fucking freak (/lh /nm)

I want to call Cellbit and Baghera "hunters" instead of "chainsaw killers." again I get where people are coming from. it's funny and I'll use it. however hunters would go so hard. same genre as codebreakers and bloodhounds. do you see my vision

[burnwater13]

Peli Motto speaking with Din Djarin near his ship, where it was parked in her repair bay, in Mos Eisley, on Tatooine. Image from The Mandalorian, Season 2, Episode 2, The Passenger. Calendar by DateWorks.

Grogu didn’t really know if Peli Motto was an excellent judge of character or not. She didn’t seem to care even the least little bit that his guardian was a Mandalorian Bounty Hunter. It seemed absurd to Grogu to think that a person like Peli didn’t have at least a couple bounty fobs active, given her razor sharp business practices. Or maybe she blamed Treadwell and the Pit Droids for that? Whatever she did, Grogu was always expecting someone to bring a fob to her and say something about being warm or cold. But she was fearless.

Even when that obnoxious, wannabe bounty hunter, held her at blaster point, Peli still had sharp words for him as well as for Din Djarin when he came back and saved them both. Now she was right back at it convincing them that she knew someone who knew someone who knew someone who would help them for the right price. It sounded like a game show. Or a trick that Grogu’s friend Ian played on some of the more gullible Jedi Knights when they were on Coruscant. 

Given what both Ian and Peli were like, Grogu wouldn’t have been a bit surprised to find out that she was Ian’s long lost sister, or cousin, or aunt, or mother. They were two people who were cut from the same bulkhead. Tough as beskar and twice as useful… for a price. 

Ian would charge people chores and snacks, and sometimes, if the ‘job’ was particularly onerous, he would find a way to get a day off from lessons. Grogu wondered about that, but considering how hard it was for some of the masters to even see him in a room full of younglings, he had no cause to worry about being present or not. The few times he was with Ian on some sort of secret mission, the affected instructor just took it for granted that he/she simply failed to notice him.

He could well imagine that Peli had been the same way when she had been that age. Haggling with vendors over a black melon while she was surreptitiously filling her pockets with cava nuts. If Ian had been with her, Grogu had no doubt that the cart would get knocked over by an ‘unseen’ force and they would have both ‘helped’ that vendor put everything back in place, all the while filling their pockets with whatever thing(s) they valued most. Ian was a sucker for cava nuts and Grogu was certain that Peli would have been able to sweep up all the loose credits. That poor vendor would never know what hit them when the two of them then used those swept up credits to buy things that were too big to just walk away with. 

Knowing that they both had that streak of independence, as Ian had called it, made missing Ian a little easier, because any time Grogu saw Peli, he would immediately think of his friend and feel certain that if anyone could get away from Coruscant with all of the Emperor’s forces chasing them, Ian was that one person. Just the thought of that made Grogu laugh. 

He’d helped Ian leave the Jedi Temple because his friend had a bad feeling about something that day. He’d told Grogu not to worry. He’d be fine. 

“Listen, Kid. Those guys will confuse you for Master Yoda more times than there are planets in this galaxy. That means they’ll be twice as afraid of you as they would be of me. I gotta go now, while the odds are in my favor.”

Grogu remembered nodding his head and being sad. Ian was his best friend and if he was leaving, Grogu didn’t want to stay behind.

“Naw, you gotta stay. Master Beq will know something’s up if we’re both gone. I just need a good head start. No one here will ever let anything bad happen to you. You aren’t just special, you’re unique. Now hand me that blaster that you lifted from Master Drallig. I’ll need where I’m goin’.”

Grogu had handed Ian the blaster and then opened the roof hatch to the arboretum and closed it after Ian was racing across the roof to the  mini-air taxi that Ian had obtained somewhere, somehow. Grogu hadn’t asked because he really never thought he had enough time for the whole story. Much like Peli, Ian was always happy to spin a yarn out if he thought that would impress someone. Grogu was rarely the person that Ian cared to impress. It was usually the other way around.

He remembered going back to their room and sighing. He went over to his sleeping couch and found a flimsy covered with neat printing that laid out exactly how many credits, snacks, and chores Grogu had owed Ian with a note at the bottom of the page that said ‘Paid in Full’. A small set of dice rested in the flimsy. Grogu smiled at them. They were Ian’s favorite possession. Now they were his. He slipped them into his pocket and promised himself that the next time he saw his friend he’d give them back. He was happy that in his own case he was an excellent judge of character. Just like Peli. 

[dirtytransmasc]

Now, since you mentioned Tsu'tey adopts Spider AU I would like to revisit Tsu'tey adopts Spider + the Spellman Siblings.

What are your thoughts?

I remember we talked about him knowing them from the school, and how in a way they are sorta a connection to what he lost. they understand each other, even if they are much younger; they both lost someone that day, them a sister, him a lover.

they're naturally weary of him, as they are most people who aren't spider, and sometimes norm. but I think that they would be young enough to be somewhat easily (all considering their personalities) swayed to accept tsu'tey as some sort of guardian. it would be an evolving bond, much like it is between spider and tsu'tey, so there is a long phase, where tsu'tey isn't their dad, he was just taking care of them (he was totally their dad, they would just never admit it, even to themselves. he would die for them, they knew that, they made them feel safe, and considering their track history with people they love, terrifies them to no end). they trust him with spider pretty quickly, spider had gotten somewhat close to him before he had truly met the siblings and became aware of their bond to the boy. he does know, just by the way they look at him, that he has to be very careful of how he treats the boy, that any perceived malintent, real or imagined, can and will get him in the broiling hot waters of the siblings.

despite all my angst and anger, I totally have this, very fluffy, image in my head, of th siblings building pillow forts for spider and tsu'tey, especially when they were younger (mainly when spider and ro'eyk were younger, cause if the twins only met him when spider was 6-7 at the youngest, they would be in their early teens by the time they got truly comfortable with him) and they would force him to watch their all-time favorite, httyd. tell me tsu'tey wouldn't cry watching that for any multitude of reasons. family sleep piles, cause its sickly sweet.

he defintly pities the kids, once he finds himself in the fatherly position, not only being capable of it, but enjoying it, he wants to take care of this kids who are stuck alone in a world that will be forever foreign to them, in one way or another. he knows that they are fourth stuck in the chasm between na'vi and human; in many ways, they were raised 'human', favoring the skills taught to them in labs, over the more traditional teachings of the na'vi. pair that with their care of spider (which he hates that, that happened to them, they were too young to care for themselves, let alone spider). when he looks at them he sees lost little kids who are only pretending to be brave to survive. so even though he's still navigating *life* on its own, he does try to reach out to them, to not make them outsiders to the bond between him and spider; even if it gets him bit more times then he can count (literally and metaphorically).

[imtotallyokandnormal]

What’s ur headcannons for sally and or Lazari?

Oooo very good question! I am currently working on descriptions for some of the creeps in my au but I can definitely give some Sally headcanons since I know I'm definitely adding her.

Warnings: vague mentions of her death, brief overviews of how it effects her emotionally

Image link: howdy y'all, tell me about your favorite creepypastas!

》☆Sally headcanons!☆《

So Sally is a ghost, which means that on earth she can't manifest a physical form. But at The Manor she can freely shift from incorporeal to corporeal whenever she wants! She loves being able to use this ability to play pranks on the proxies (most pranks are cute but occasionally she does scare the shit out of somebody, she finds it funny).

Sally's a perceptive kid and understands a lot of what people say, despite people thinking otherwise. When people try to talk around certain things, like trying not to swear around her, she's able to fill in the blanks and pick up on what certain things mean. She likes to eavesdrop on conversations around the manor and gossip about the juicy stuff with Ben.

She loves using her time around the manor either learning new things or using her creativity. She likes to learn about a large number of things, but she especially likes learning more scientific things with Ben because he's very understanding with her. As for creative outputs Sally loves drawing, painting, and doing crafts like making little sock dolls. They tend to look a little creepy but she loves them and calls them her kids.

If Sally considers Ben her big brother, then Nina would be her big sister. With how joyful and sweet Nina is, she tends to make her feels safe. Plus she just thinks she's really fun, because Nina would be spontaneous with suggesting various things they could do and she always encourages Sally to pick their activities. Nina is almost the only one in the manor she can convince to dress up with her.

Speaking of, she loves dressing up! Every day you can expect her to be in a cute outfit, whether it's pjs or a whole ensemble. She's a big fan of anything with fun prints or textures, especially ruffles. Her outfits usually have a mismatched quality to them, but they also tend to have a theme, like including cat elements.

As fun loving as she is, Sally's still been through a lot of horrible things and it can be hard for her to remember the circumstances of her death. Sometimes she lashes out at people, not knowing how to handle just how big and enveloping her emotions are. She'll probably refuse to see certain people, unless it's Ben or Nina, since they're the ones she feels safest around.

Sometimes the things that give her comfort on bad days are on the darker side, which is why she especially loves her sock dolls. She gives them features she sees in the proxies, like holes for eyes or cuts in certain places. They help remind her of the people that protect and care for her, the proxies.

[fundmydeathowo]

flufftober day 1, lost Pet Meet Cute

first time posting flufftober on tumblr ToT, can be read on ao3 under fundmydeath, that's my user :D

pairing: gradient sans/angst sans

gradient wasn't exactly overjoyed at the moment, he had trusted his older sibling pj to watch over his black cat meowmers and pj lost his cat.

how did he lose it?? he left gradients bedroom window open to air out the house. and instead of just shutting the bedroom door and making sure the cat wasn't in there pj just left the door open.so gradient was putting up posters and putting things online as well to see if anyone had seen or even had his cat. it was stressing him out, his own dads couldn't even calm him down and ink could always do that, fresh not so much. error couldn't even help because he was with his spouses at a scientist thing in Germany. that didn't mean error wasn't harassing his friends to force their kids to help gradient, it was known gradient was errors favorite.

so sitting in his living room being forced to take a break by palette gradient heard his phone go off, getting up and grabbing it he saw a text from an unknown number.

unknown: hello this is angst, my mother nightmare is friends with your father error. I've come across the cat you are looking for, I will send an image shortly.

okay, nightmare, gradient wasn't very familiar with her but he knew she was dreams twin sister and was dating swap and ccino, and swap was inks best friend so. gradients phone went off again.

unknown: [image_cat]

unknown: this is your cat correct?

gradient could cry right now

me: yes! it is, thank you so much! do you want me to go over and pick her up? or would you want to come to my house?

unknown: I'll go to you

me: okay! this is my address xxxxxx

unknown: you don't live far from me, I will be there in 25 minutes

gradient quickly put his phone down and ran into the kitchen where pj and palette were. both looking up at gradient when he almost ran into the wall.

“what-”

“MEOWMERS WAS FOUND”

gradient quickly cut off whatever pj was trying to say and threw his hands up in the air. palette immediately started jumping up and down while pj made he way over to gradient and patted his back.

“that's good”

“thank God I thought I was going crazy”

palette also fell over from jumping and pj rushed over to him

“damnit pal”

“sorry sorry!! just so happy!!”

while the three of them finished up talking the doorbell was rung letting out an annoying bird squawk, causing gradients brothers to look at him.

“what the fuck is that doorbell”

“my emotional support doorbell”

gradient stood up and walked over to the door, fixing his green hoodie to look semi presentable.

he opened the door and had to stop himself from slamming it in the person's face, he was so pretty, he had dark brown skin with dyed black-purple hair that was pulled into a braid with multiple smaller braids making up the big braid. he wore a light purple silk button up shirt (who owned stuff like that??) with black slacks and black dress shoes.

the guy held a hand and gradient got the memo to shake his hand, quickly doing it and pulling his hand back.

“Uh, I'm gradient! thank you so so much for finding my cat”

the guy shook his head, angst he said his name was angst when texting you, remember that, don't be like dad.

“it was nothing, she is very well behaved”

angst held out a cat carrier and meowmers was just inside sleeping her little life away.

“didn't even put up a fuss going in the carrier”

gradient took the carrier and smiled brightly at angst

“she's a emotional support animal, plus she helps with my eyes sometimes because I deal with episodes of blurry vision!”

angst gave a nod of his head

“that explains it, it was nice meeting you gradient, I do hope you will keep in contact with me, you make for a wonderful conversation partner”

gradient felt like his face was on fire, God if you are out there strike him down!

“o-of course!”

angst gave another swift nod of his head and walked off, gradient quickly shut the door and slid to the floor.

oh my god,, that was horrible.

---------

prompt by: @flufftober

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

Wanna know about my history with soap operas? Well... I know that I’ve shared my love for Dominique Deveraux - TV’s First Black Bitch on the original Dynasty, but that wasn’t the only soap that I watched as a kid and while she was my first, here are a few more Black women in soap operas who I paid attention to (and mostly saw first on soaps).

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

Senait Ashenafi ♡ Keesha Ward, General Hospital: This is one of my favorite soap girls of all times. She was sweet and pretty, and she was in one of my first ships as a preteen? I don't recall how old I was when I was watching this, but I was obsessed. I would rewatch her scenes with Jason all the time on VHS tapes. I stopped watching some time after they broke up.

Felecia Bell ♡ Simone Hardy, General Hospital: I did not watch General Hospital during the days of earlier Simone casting. But in my soaps heyday, and I mean I set the VCR for my soaps when I wasn't home and watched them when I got home, and Felecia Bell was Simone at that time period. I thought it was interesting to see a character that I was told had a historical landmark for daytime tv.

Renee Elise Goldsberry ♡ Evangeline Williamson, One Life to Live: I had many run ins with OLTL, but the last time I watched it, I had been lured back by one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen in my life! I CRIED when she left the show. I tried to stick around to see what they'd do with her sister, but I quickly lost interest and have not seen the show since.

Rhonda Ross ♡ Toni Burrell, Another World: I wasn't extremely fond of this character, but she had the first Black rape survivor story arc that I can recall seeing and I still remember images of the court trail in my mind today. AND! She was the first Diana Ross child that I knew of. Diana Ross was so important to me in my childhood, her daughter was important by proximity.

Tracey Ross, Brook Kerr, Lena Cardwell ♡ The Russells, Passions: Sometimes... You see a show that is like a decade long fever dream. That show is Passions. Some might have called it a guilty pleasure, but I don't be guilty about my pleasures and Passions was my pleasure. NONSENSE! But very entertaining. I was not around for all them Simones, but Idk the two lightskint ones apart, so idk which one was on by the time I simply fell off this show.

Lynn Hamilton ♡ Cissie Johnson, Dangerous Women: I definitely didn't see her first in Dangerous Women, but her role in that, as Cissie Johnson was a pretty significant part of a short lived serious that I thought was amazing. It was about women who had been in prison, one fakes her death, escapes, Sqand gets plastic surgery, and there's a lot of stuff that revolves around the ex cons. Cissie was kind of a mammy character, in hindsight, but as a kid, she was a nice Black lady on a show full of snakes and liars.

She was also on Generations, a soap opera that I called, "The Black Soap Opera," because there were SO MANY Black people in the cast, and other soaps just did not do that back then.

Sidenote: Generations was the first time that I saw Vivica A. Fox, but I didn't learn her name until Patti Labelle's sitcom Out All Night. Y'all have NO IDEA how much I loved and watched any and every Black show they gave us, even though they never really lasted long. I missed Generations SO MUCH, despite it only being on for a couple of years.

Sharon Leal ♡ Dahlia Crede, Guiding Light: I thought she was the most beautiful woman ever to be on a soap opera. That was basically it. I was only sort of watching Guiding Light, so I barely remember anything about her character, but I collected every photo of her that they put into my mama's soap magazines.

Mari Morrow ♡ Rachel Gannon, One Life to Live: This character also has been recast several times, but during my consumption, it was Mari Morrow, when Rachel was in her addiction storyline.

Enuka Okuma ♡ Kelly, Fifteen: It took me a ridiculous amount of time to remember that Enuka had been Kelly on Fifteen!! I was excited to realize that, even though still to this day, nobody I speak with ever remembers this show. A Nickolodeon teen drama? Excellent, I loved it. Nick was so good in my day.

I included Arseman, even though I have not seen her since. But, she was rep too, so. There she is.

Sherri Saum ♡ Vanessa Hart, Sunset Beach: Now... this one is a little different, because I don't remember actually LIKING this character, but she's pretty and whenever I'd see people reblog that Fosters show, I'd always envision my older sister imitating her soap character's boyfriend saying her name (Because my sister hated his acting and imitated him funnily to me) First time I saw this lady and that man, but he later wound up in Shondaland.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

Garcelle Beauvais ♡ Cynthia Nicols, Models Inc.: This show was a primetime soap. A spin off of Melrose Place. (Melrose Place being a spin off of Beverly Hills 90210), and Garcelle Beauvais gabe me EVERYTHING an angsty child needed inher soaps. This character went through SO MUCH and was SO important to me! She was bulimic. She had an obsessive ex who stalked her. Who KIDNAPPED her and assaulted her in front of her tied up new boyfriend. He had been sending her Black Barbie dolls bound and blindfolded, and when she got down with her new man, he yoinked her. She wound up having to kill him and I supported every moment of her in that one season of a show it feels like only me, my mama and my older sister watched.

[crowandthefics]

Leslie’s slow decline into madness

A Toa fic

All parts!

➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶

Hi, my names Leslie papadopoulos. My favorite jolly rancher color is red, I love mythomagic, and my brothers identity was stolen by a god.

Pretty wild, right? On my 14th birthday my brother, Lester went out and didn’t come back. I remember it well:

“Be back by 3 Lester, you wouldn’t wanna miss your sisters party,” Mom says, as Lester opened the door

“don’t worry mom! I’ll be back in time.” Lester huffs as he steps out.

Lester didn’t come back that day, or any other day. I spent the whole party saying

“I’m not doing that till Lester’s back!”

It was a rather sad party as you can imagine.

My mom made me blow out my candles before all my friends left. by then I had already figured out Lester wasn’t coming back any time soon.

My wish as I blew out my candles was for Lester to come home but the next time I would see him wouldn’t be for a long time.

Well, I never actually SAW him again, but one day he was on twitter for doing something stupid. I don’t even remember what, I just remember going to my mom all excited, and very scared because my brother was alive! And all the way in the way in LA… why was he there instead of at home? Why did he leave on my birthday? I thought we were close?

I cried that night.

Chapter two

I spent the weekend after my birthday crying. But alas I had to return to school on Monday.

I hardly payed much attention in class, how could I? My brother was gone! Why am I supposed to pretend like everything’s fine?

He was declared missing and I started believing he was dead if it wasn’t for all the images of him circling the internet.

Over the weeks my friends decided that I was to much work to be friends with. I don’t blame them, but it will always hurt.

I didn’t really make any new friends per say but this senior, Percy Jackson hung out with me. He could relate to losing people so he understood my pain as well as anyone could.

We weren’t friends but he shared my lunch period and didn’t have anyone else to sit with and neither did I. sometimes he shared his cookies with me!

The months were a blur. I didn’t know what to do so I retreated into fantasy. I already liked mythomagic but now it was my sole coping mechanism. As a result I started reading about the Greek gods.

Funny ain’t it? My brother was taken by the Greek gods and what did I hyper fixate on to escape reality? The Greek gods.

I collected every card and figure and knickknack that mythomagic made. It was all I could do to not to break down.

Then I started seeing things.

Chapter three

I started seeing things. The birds were huge monsters, a dog running down the street could look like hellhounds from my mythomagic cards, I saw teenagers holding swords.

I tried to ignore it for so long, what was I supposed to say?

“Hey mom that kid over there has a sword on his belt!”

Hell no, they’d put me in a mental hospital I’m sure!

…and my parents already lost a child, I can’t make them live with a mentally unstable child.

So I pretend everything’s normal. I don’t see weird things and I’m not breaking apart. But I learned quickly, it’s hard to hide that stuff.

“Leslie! Leslie, are you listening to me?” My mom asked frantically.

I had started crying in the living room, I couldn’t handle all the stress anymore. My brother was missing, I’m failing my classes, and on top of that I’m hallucinating now!

“I want Lester back!” I say through tears.

The rest of that night is spent like that, I wouldn’t listen to reason at.

The next week my parents put me in therapy at the first place they could find. I like to say it helped, all I really did was talk about Lester though. By this point he’d been gone for four months.

It wasn’t long after I started talking about seeing things that I was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

I thought I had things figured out on that until one of the ‘hallucinations’ attacked me, like physically hurt me.

I was out for a walk, my therapist told me getting outside more might help.

I fell to the ground before I could think or react. I couldn’t see the monster so I didn’t know what it was, all I could do was scream.

Then there was just dust and an arrow. A girl with green hair walked up and retrieved her arrow. She looked at me and shook her head, muttering something to herself before telling me: “you should get as far from downtown as you can.”

I didn’t ask questions. I got up and left.

What? Did you expect that I’d stay and find out what was going on? Hell no when straight home and pretended nothing happened, I told my mom I fell to explain any injuries. Apparently the rest of everywhere did to because I saw nothing online about monsters or archers in downtown New York.

It was calm for a while. Until mid June.

Chapter 4

Mid June. They found his body near the Empire State Building.

It was red and brunt, painful brunt. My brother had burned to his death.

He wasn’t crispy the way you’d expect from someone who burned to death, no, he was bright red, red like a cherry jolly rancher.

It confused people. He evenly brunt all over, how was the burn so uniform? It was mystery. A mystery I didn’t want to think about.

My mother tried to calm me down, I was screaming and crying. She offered my what was supposed to be my favorite candy, a red jolly rancher.

“Red red red red no that’s what Lester looked like!” I had cried

Red used to be my favorite color, now I can’t look it and not cry.

I tried to stay calm, I really did! But I couldn’t, my brother, Lester, my dumbass brother who played piano and was late to everything and used to think you eat sunscreen was dead and I wanted him back.

All I could do was sob, my father pulled me away from the scene and took me home. My mom stayed to handle things.

I sat in the center of Lester’s room, just talking as if to him.

“Hey Lester did you know that though Demeter has the worst attack power she has the unrivaled defense?”

“Lester Lester will you play Mary had a little lamb?”

“I’m boreddd Lester… I miss you”

It helped calm me down in the afterwards. His funeral would be the next week but I wasn’t ready to see him again.

Until then, I talk to the walls.

Chapter 5

I stare out the car window on the way to the funeral.

It wasn’t raining, it was bright and sunny. Lester would’ve been sad to know his funeral was on a sunny day. He always wanted a funeral in the rain, for dramatic effect.

At the funeral home I saw way more people than I expected. People I never met.

I was anxious around the people but I tried not to pay attention. Instead eating strawberries. They had been Lester’s favorite snack so we had tons of them.

I ended up talking to one of the people who I didn’t know. He introduced himself as lyre.

“I’m sorry about the loss of your brother,” lyre said, he looked almost guilty. I wondered why.

“No, don’t apologize. You didn’t kill him.” I slightly laughed. Coping with dark humor.

Lyre glanced around nervously before laughing as well, he looked rather awkward.

“Well, still. I hope you’ve been holding up alright,” lyre responded.

“Does talking to walls count as alright?” I ask, to which lyre only shrugs.

The conversation ended there. I felt a bit weird about lyre but I just moved on, I felt weird about a lot of things right now.

I talked to a lot of people who I didn’t know. A set of siblings: will, Austin and Kayla. They were sweet, but Kayla looked familiar to me and I couldn’t figure it out. I ignored that weird feeling too.

I talked about the concept of death with someone named Nico. He was actually really helpful and helped me calm down even in the slightest. “Death happens eventually to everyone. I know it’s so cliche, but it’s gonna be ok eventually. I know how it feels to lose a sibling.”

He also played Mythomagic to so we talked about that for a while. It was something I understood like the back of my hand and it helped to talk about something I understood.

There was a little girl, said her name was Meg. She put a hyacinth on Lester and gave me a potted plant; “so you won’t be as lonely, it can’t replace your brother but it’s something at least!” She told me. It was also a hyacinth.

I held that plant the whole day.

I certainly watered it with my tears.

I can’t remember his service, I just know I cried the whole thing.

I had written out a poem he liked and placed it in his coffin along with my mythomagic figure of his favorite god, Hermes. He liked him because tricks and pranks and shenanigans were some of his favorite things.

At the graveyard I helped shovel the dirt over the coffin.

Staring at his grave I broke down again. Seeing his name in stone made it real.

Long after the funeral was over I sat talking to the grave. As if having a conversation.

Then lyre was there, He just appeared.

“Oh- uhm- sorry hi.” I scrambled to form coherent sentences.

Lyre just sat next to me. After a few minutes of awkward silence he started talking: “I am responsible for his death.” He said.

I blink, “what?”

“Earlier you said not to apologize because it wasn’t my fault, but it was. My name isn’t Lyre, my name is Apollo, and I am responsible for the death of lester.” He took a breath. “I don’t usually tell Mortals about the world of gods, but your life was ruined by it so you are owed an explanation.”

I stare at her. “Explain,” I say sharply.

“I am the god Apollo. I’m sure you know what that means from your little card game-“ I cut her off, “mythomagic.”

“-yes that. How do I put this… I recently went through ‘trials’ of sorts, my father, Zeus made me mortal in the body of Lester papadopoulos. Which is why he disappeared and eventually died. When I ascended to Olympus I can only assume his body couldn’t handle the amount of divine power and burnt to his death. So, young Leslie, I can do nothing but apologize to you,” lyre- Apollo explained to me.

“… with all the weird monsters I’ve been seeing I can’t even say I don’t believe you,” I say, dumbfounded.

Apollo sighs. “If I could bring Lester back, I would, but I can’t.” He takes a breath. “I must be leaving now, goodbye, Leslie papadopoulos.” And he disappears in a puff of gold.

I was mad. Horribly mad. I look at my brothers grave. “Lester. I will make sure he doesn’t just- just move on without caring about what. I swear that to you. I love you.” I hug his grave.

And thus begins my insanity.

Chapter 6

I’m tired. I don’t want to deal with this anymore. I curse the heavens but there’s nothing I can do.

I hate the sun, I hate archery, I hate music- I hate everything Apollo stands for!

I tore apart my Apollo card, I tore a lot of my Mythomagic cards. I wasn’t thinking straight. I was scared and tired and angry, so angry.

Once I came to my senses I shoved the rest of my set in a box into the closet.

I went to my brothers grave so often. One day I was just talking to him in ramblings.

“Ya know what if I summoned Satan? Maybe if I do that I can trade my soul and everything will be fixed.” I laughed, leaned on his grave.

“How hard is it to kill god, do you think?” I asked him.

Things went just like that til I met Anne. Anne was a child of Apollo as she said.

“I fought against the gods in a war a few years back. The second titan war.” She explained to me.

Most importantly about Anne, she was willing to help me make sure Apollo never forgot what happened to Lester.

Anne and I became good friends quickly. And by August we had our plan.

Then, Anne and my plans were found out by a god.

Anne was killed by the gods.

I tore up the paper plans and sunk them in the water. I deleted any digital plans.

I removed all evidence of Anne from my life. I pretended none of that ever happened.

I decided I’d move on from the mess that has happened the last 9 months of my life. I had school to finish, I could make my life a life again.

But things could never be how I wanted them anymore.

My name is Leslie papadopoulos. I hate the color red, my Mythomagic set is long forgotten in a closet and my brother was killed by the gods.

➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶

[authoralexharvey]

INTERVIEW WITH A WRITEBLR — @abalonetea

Who You Are:

Katie || She/her

I'm a disabled indie author who used to train horses for showjumping for a living before my health got the best of me. Now I ghostwrite full time, with copyediting and beta reading as a side gig. In the summers, I host the writeblr summerfest!

What You Write:

What genres do you write in? What age ranges do you write for?

Action, adventure, contemporary, drama, fantasy, horror, mystery, paranormal, poetry, psychological, romance, and thriller. Young adult, new adult, and adult.

What genre would you write in for the rest of your life, if you could? What about that genre appeals to you?

I love the horror genre. There's so much in it that can be subverted, reinvented, and twisted into something that is almost romantic. And it's very easy to cross into other genres using this as well, by focusing more on the setting, the monster, or the relationships respectively.

What genre/s will you not write unless you HAVE to? What about that genre turns you off?

Please, I'm not funny enough to write for comedies!

Who is your target audience? Do you think anyone outside of that would get anything out of your works?

My target audience is primarily myself, but also anyone that has a healthy love for devotion, complicated relationships, and genre overlaps.

What kind of themes do you tend to focus on? What kinds of tropes? What about them appeals to you?

I love the theme of devotion. How much will you do for your friends, your family, your loved one, the world? How much would you give? Are you going to be the same person at the end of this journey as you were at the start? If not, what will you be? I like the journey of the characters, rather than a specific trope.

What themes or tropes can you not stand? What about them turn you off?

I'm pretty open to all themes and tropes, honestly.

What are you currently working on? How long have you been working on it?

I've just started working on Of Wolves, a zombie story written in 2nd person, set out in the holler. I've been working on it for about a week now, but I love the very heavy vibes that are attached to it. I'm also working on Twice Bitten, the sequel to my recently published book Howl, a crime thriller called Meathook, and a contemporary romance that I'll be publishing under a pen-name.

Why do you write? What keeps you writing?

I have so many stories, and I want to share them with the world. Sharing what I write is my greatest joy. I want to know that someone is going to see them and connect with them and feel that same joy; I want to leave a mark on the world, however small, and getting as many of my books out there as possible is the way to do it.

How long have you been writing? What do you think first drew you to it?

I've been writing for as long as I can remember. I was a very lonely kid, homeschooled, and I spent a lot of time on my own. Writing started as a way to spend my time 'somewhere else', and it became an even larger part of my life when I realized that I could share even more with my sister by writing fanfiction about commonly shared interests. That thread of connecting with others still exists in my work.

Where do you get your inspiration from? Is that how you got your inspiration for your current project? If not, where did the inspiration come from?

Anything and everything. Sometimes, I'll see a concept in a movie and think, I could do it better, and other times, I'll see a singular image on Pinterest or make a singular sentence in a post, and it just goes from there! I started writing about a different way for the zombie apocalypse to start, and that's how I got the idea for Of Wolves, through a rambling thread on Tumblr! With Howl, I was frustrated over a lack of werewolf media, and I wanted something that was very family-focused.

What work of yours are you most proud of? Why?

Howl, my beloved! I worked so hard at getting it put together and published! And it's so polished and turned out really well! I also have a short story about a rabbit and a fox and how sometimes love is violent, and it's one of my absolute favorite pieces that I've ever written.

Have you published anything? Do you want to?

I have several books self published on Amazon under the name K. E. Koontz! Howl is a YA supernatural book about three brothers in a small town with a werewolf problem, Youth Sunken is a horror novel about the fountain of youth, Putrescent Poems is a collection of horror poems, and Dandelion Fluff is a fully illustrated short fantasy story!

What part of the publishing process most appeals to you? What part least appeals to you?

I love the idea of publishing because it means that I can share my work with a broader audience. Least appealing would be the fact that very few people leave reviews on indie books, which can make it seem like an isolating experience.

What part of the writing process most appeals to you? What part is least appealing?

Honestly, the same as the above! I write to share the things that bring me joy, and that's amazing. But… It can be crushing to write something that you're proud of and be unable to share it, either because reblogging and reviewing is a dying trend, or because it's for a genre or trope that you know just isn't very popular. I write for a lot of subjects that aren't mainstream, which means that even when I'm super proud of a piece, I'm also intimately aware of the fact that there's not a huge audience for it.

Do you have a writing process? Do you have an ideal setup? Do you write in pure chaos? Talk about your process a bit.

I spend most of my day working, 8am-3pm, as a ghostwriter. For my own work, I like something running audio wise in the background, in an area where I can sit for at least an hour at a time without being interrupted.

Your Thoughts on Writeblr:

How long have you been a writeblr? What inspired you to join the community?

I've been on writeblr for somewhere between eight and ten years, though I can't remember exactly. It saved my writing. I was desperate to share my work with someone, and in a position where I had no one in my life interested in it. I realized that there was a community here on writeblr that was designed just for that, and began posting and interacting here!

Shout out some of your favorite writeblrs. How did you find them and what made you want to follow them?

@quilloftheclouds, @ettawritesnstudies, @leafgreen6, @drabbleitout, and @caitwritesstuff have been my mutuals since the very start! Etta is the only one who's super active atm, but I still consider the others close friends of mine and hold their interactions near and dear to my heart. @rodentwrites, @writinginslowmotion, @peony-pearl, @pen-of-roses, and @writeblrfantasy are some others!

What is your favorite part about writeblr?

The community. I love how we're all out here, struggling through writing, which is a very lonely thing, but that it's made less lonely because we have this platform.

What do you think writeblr could improve on? How do you think we can go about doing so?

I think that the level of interaction can be very low. Often, people will reblog asks memes without sending in an ask, and art posts have a much higher reblog ratio than writing does. Comments are a dwindling thing - when I first joined writeblr, I would get ten or twelve comments on everything that was posted. Now, most of the notes on my posts are simply self-reblogs.

How do you contribute to the writeblr community? Do you think you could be doing more?

I run the writeblr summerfest every August, and the writeblr book fair in the fall! I usually host a writeblr secret santa as well (though I missed it this year, due to personal problems offline).

What kinds of posts do you most like to interact with?

Writing!

What kind of posts do you most like to make?

Short excerpts! And moodboards with writing attached to it!

Finally, anywhere else online we may be able to find you?

I have a patreon, and you can find me on twitter under kekoontz95. I use K. E. Koontz as my publishing name on Amazon, too!

Questions For Fun:

1. What is your favorite horror subgenre or trope and why?

'Slasher' is my favorite subgenre of horror. I think that there's something so fun about it! It's fallen out of trend recently as elevated horror took the stand, but old fashioned slashers will always be my favorite. It's extra interesting to me because this isn't a subgenre of horror that ever managed to get popular in written format. It took off on the silver-screen, but you pretty much never see books about straight up slashers. Creature-features are a close second!

2. Favorite POV to write in? Why?

I write primarily in 3rd person, present tense. I think it gives me a chance to get into the world in a way that other POVs don't, and I prefer present tense for the vibes it gives the writing.

3. What do you love most about ghost-writing? Any advice you would give to anyone thinking of trying it out for themselves?

It lets me work from home, which is a big deal with my disability. The biggest thing you need to be aware of is that ghostwriting isn't going to pay the bills over night. You'll need to spend several years building up your clientele before that happens, so just make sure to have patience, be prompt in your deliveries, always plan ahead during storm season!

[writteninthesewalls28]

Family

A story about a girl wanting to find out the truth

A/n: Fourth chapter is here!

Warnings: none

Milly’s POV:

I stood there, for at least 5 minutes.

"Someone home?" My heart was pounding so hard in my chest, I was scared it could eventually pound out of my body. However, I sometime started wandering around the house. Taking one step after another I looked into every single corner, taking everything in. I always had a good ability to remember random things, but I already knew, I will remember the look of this little nondescript house in the most likely darkest neighborhood in Adelaide for forever and never forget anything about its appearance. I thought the house was completely empty because every room I went through had absolutely no furniture, no drawings, no feeling of a family, of a home.

But then I entered a little room.

It wasn’t that different to the other 5 rooms I went through before, but I wouldn’t be Milly, if I didn’t notice the difference immediately.

My eyes directly swung to the 4 small pictures on the left wall. As I stepped a little closer, I could see what it was exactly. Ultrasound images.

I slowly walked over to the corner and stopped to tear one of the photos off and took a close look at it. You could definitely recognize the outline of a growing baby.

Is that me? Or do I have a sibling? The thought never went through my mind before. What if I have a sister or brother? With my huge family at home, I always thought, my biological parents definitely don’t have any other kids, but what if my thought was wrong the whole time? What if they did have other children before they gave me away?

Turning the photo in my hand around, gave me the answers to my silent questions.

Someone wrote something on there, and the text made my heart go crazy, I breathed uncontrollably.

"Welcome little Milly (10/20/1993)" Was the short but definitely meaningful text on the back. My eyes started to fill with tears. That was the proof, the proof I always hoped for, I would find someday. They loved me. They truly loved me.

Relieve and happiness flooded through my veins. The house may be empty, but their spirit still lives in here, it isn’t gone completely. I could feel it through these few pictures hanging on this wall. But why did they left the photos here when they decided to move away? Did they not care enough to take them with them?

A sudden mood change followed after the high of happiness. It changed to a slight confusion mixed up with an upcoming sadness. Yes, I indeed found a proof of my loving parents, who seem to care enough about me, to write something like that on the back of an ultrasound image, but it was bittersweet. They left them. Here, in the abandoned house in the abandoned neighborhood, as if they wanted to leave me behind too. To never even think about me again, the child they gave away. And that hurt.

Minutes later I sat in front of the house on the doorstep, looking at the 4 photos, still shocked and not able to handle the information I got today. Tears were streaming over my face and they didn’t seem to stop. I must’ve looked like a zombie with my mascara ruined and the eyes completely red from the crying. All I asked for, were answers, answers to the questions I kept in my mind for nearly 15 years now. And what did I get? Reasons, to ask even more questions. Why are they not living here anymore? Why are these ultrasound images on the wall? Why did they leave them in there? Why did they leave me? My last hope to finally get a few answers, were neighbors who eventually come home today and could maybe give me answers. So all I could do was wait. And get lost in my thoughts.

Calum’s POV:

He didn’t really focus on the admittedly romantic movie he put on the TV. His thoughts just couldn’t let go of Milly. He wondered what she was doing right now and what took her so long to get here. He wanted her here on the couch, sitting next to him, so he could wrap his arms around her tightly and tell her she can tell him everything, he won’t get angry at her. Never. But instead, he sat on the big sofa alone, not really knowing what exactly was happening as the cute couple on the screen finally kissed. Before he could press the 'replay' button on the remote, to rewatch this important scene, he got interrupted by his phone. The standard apple ringtone filled the living room with noise. Calum got his phone out of his pocket in his pants and saw Louis' caller ID. Trying not to panic too much, since this call could be about the fact that might’ve something happened to Milly, he answered the call.

"Hi Cal!" He heard a kind of anxious version of Milly’s bother’s voice at the other end.

"Hey Mate! Are you okay? You don’t sound so good…" He responded.

"Where’s Milly? And if you say, that she hasn’t talked to you, I swear I'll fly to Australia and-"

"Louis, I'm sorry, but I tried calling her about a hundred times now, she only said, she’s going to the Youth Welfare Office here in Adelaide. I have absolutely no idea when she’s gonna return." Calum tried calming down Louis on the phone.

He heard how he took deep breaths.

"If anything, do you hear me? If anything happens to her, I'm blaming it on you alright?" He sounded really angry, he's never seen him like that. "You should’ve tried stopping her from even starting to search for them, it’s only gonna hurt her." Louis continued without even giving Calum the chance to say something to that.

"Louis, I-" he tried calming him, but it didn’t work. He didn’t even notice him.

"It’s all your fault, I can’t reach out to her!" The man said. In the exact moment where Calum wanted to say something, he heard a loud crack and the telephone was taken away from Louis.

Louis' POV:

(Flackback to the time where Milly called him)

He hung up the phone and stared at it in disbelief. As nice as he was to his sister when she told him about wanting to find her parents, he was very worried. Worried, she’s not gonna be able to live with the truth. He was the oldest, he was supposed to protect them, he promised mum. He already lost Fiz, wasn’t able to protect her. He HAD to do better with Milly, he just had to. He covered his face in his hands and thought about all the different scenarios that could possibly happen when she searches for them. One worse than the other. Exactly at this moment, Louis husband Harry entered the music room, where all their guitars stood, in which Louis sat. "Oh, hey Lou…" He knew something was wrong, he always knew. Harry sat down next to him on the giant dark blue sofa and put an arm around his small waist.

"Okay, I assume something is going on with one of the sister and because you only react with being alone and staying silent when it’s about Milly, so I bet something is going wrong down there in Adelaide." He was still amazed by the way Harry could read him. No one will ever beat him in that. But Louis wasn’t ready to tell him yet, he first had to deal with it alone, Harry will understand that, he always did. But when will he be ready to talk about it?

Calum’s POV:

"Hey Cal.."

"Harry! Nice to hear your voice again!" Even though 5sos went on tour together with 1D back in 2013, they weren’t that close anymore. Only Niall sometimes visits them whenever he doesn’t have something to do.

"Listen, Lou is just kinda going crazy about this whole Milly-wants-to-find-her-parents thing, so when he saw her message this morning, he was extremely worried. When she didn’t answer as he was calling her, he just simply freaked out. I'm sorry that you had to experience that. I promise he didn’t mean any of the things he said" Talking to Harry always had something therapeutic, but this talk made Calum forget, he even had that conversation with Louis three minutes ago.

"Don’t worry. I get it, I'm very worried as well because it has been about 7 hours now without hearing anything from her and I have literally no idea where she could possibly be." He said, hoping he chose the right words to show Louis he cared about her just as much as he did. And that he was as worried as he was.

"Can you call Louis when she comes back? I'd guess, he wants to talk to her as soon as she’s with you again." Right when he wanted to respond, he heard someone unlocking the front door and opening it just seconds later. Only Milly can unlock doors this quick. It was a secret superpower of hers he noticed after 2 weeks of dating her as she broke into his dressing room 5 minutes before their London show.

"If you just stay on the phone for about 10 seconds, I guarantee you, he can talk to her." He said, eyes only located on the opening door.