#i try to not use it though

[erixyin]

Posion Running Through My Veins | Part 2

Well, here's part 2. Enjoy because it's gonna be a bumpy ride! Extra-long chapter - technically two chapters combined into one. Hope you like it

A lot is going on and I don't know how I'm gonna end things, but I don't need to think about that until the next part. Oh boi let's get angsty. This is a heavy Billy Hargrove chapter and also the reader is a singer and songwriter. Reader has written most of the original songs that Corroded Coffin play. It's a long one because I felt like rambling and spoiling you all since it will probably be a bit of a wait until the next update. I don't think three parts is going to be long enough.

I'm sorry it's so bad but I needed something to fill between the last chapter and the gig on Friday. It's not kicking off yet but it's going to. I'm so sorry for the angst.

Tag list: Please let me know if you want to be added in the future!

@sidthedollface2, @yaskna, @ancheyew, @samurai-hearts, @bucky-hydra-hoe-barnes,

Song used: This Love by Taylor Swift

Summary: Billy confronts and comforts you after your fight with Eddie. Reader puts her feelings into a song. Tensions continue to brew about who the song is about. Robin and Steve are worried.

Warnings: crying, mentions of trauma. fem!reader, reader uses she/her pronouns, possessive!eddie, eddie muson x reader, billie hargrove x reader, past relationship with billy hargrove, reader basically has a mental breakdown through her music, mentions of injury, violent and hot tempers, sorry for the long descriptive paragraphs i can't help myself, lmk if I've forgotten anything.

Words: 5003

No minors allowed please and thank you

Please do not repost anywhere. I will be posting on my AO3 account and linking it here.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

"Hi Billy."

He let go of your waist and gave you a boyish grin. It was playful and soft. Not many people saw this side to him. Especially after everything that went down.

You breathe an exhausted sigh. This really isn't what you needed right now after the fight. Your emotions still tight inside your chest. Feeling like you were about to spill over at any second.

You walked past him, hoping he'd get the hint that you wanted to be alone. No such luck. Instead, he kept up pace beside you. Eyes trained on you, your face and you saw him frown slightly at the sight of your other hand trying to cover up the bruise on your wrist that was starting to turn black and purple.

"You finally moved out, huh?" he finally asked. It was phrased as a question, but it felt more like a statement. A reflection on what he had missed while he had been under treatment. Maybe he had heard from Max that you had moved out into your own trailer. Maybe they had driven passed your uncle's house, since it was on the way to the trailer park. Or maybe Billy just knew that after everything that went down last summer, you had to get your life sorted and do what was best for you.

"I... yeah" you stumbled over your words. Exhaustion and pain on your shoulders and you were still winded by the swirl of emotions you had felt in the past few hours.

Billy held you gently by the shoulder, noticing the way you bit your lip at discomfort, before dropping his hand. He stopped in front of you. You were now far enough away from Eddie's trailer that you could start to breathe properly again. You looked back and saw the lights still on.

When you turned back to Billy, the bad boy appearance had temporarily dropped, and he pulled out a packet of cigarettes. He took one out and slotted it in his mouth, then offered you the packet. "I still don't smoke" you said, looking up at him, a twinkle in your eyes.

"I know." His smile was so goofy and friendly that the cigarette almost fell out of his mouth. Words no one else wouldeverhave the guts to describe Billy Hargrove as. His smile grew as you took one out of the packet without another word, a small smile creeping onto your face.

He reached into his back pocket for his lighter. Black covered with doodles of hot pink flames. "I cannot believe you still have it" you raised your eyebrows at him as you leant towards him to light your cigarette. He cupped his hands around the tip to ensure it was lit. He shrugged, not giving you the satisfaction of an answer as he lit his own. Chuckling, you took a long drag of the cigarette. Coughing slightly as the smoke filled your lungs. "Damn I have not done this in a while" you managed to splutter out, choosing to completely ignore the look of pure amusement on Billy's face.

Both of you sit on the table of the wooden bench just outside your trailer. You breathed deeply. The peaceful silence settling in as the stars started to wake up and take their spotlight next to the moon. This was something you had missed. You loved Eddie with everything you had but every moment with him was loud or talkative. You never had a moment where you could just sit together and be comfortable in each other's silence. But then equally, you couldn't as easily talk about things with Billy. It was always a struggle for him to reveal his true emotions. Even with Neil gone, so much had happened last summer. The things he had done, the things that had happened to him. You knew him opening up would be even rarer than before.

"Your boyfriend give you those bruises?" Billy asked, staring straight ahead of him. Of course he noticed you inwardly groaned to yourself.

"He's not usually like this. We just had a bad fight, that's all." You took another long drag, watching the embers of your cigarette butt float off into the air. Looking down at your wrist you gently smoothed over the bruise, sucking in a sharp breath when you did. It was worse than you had thought. Muttering a "fuck" under your breath, you blinked sharply trying to ignore the pain. Your hand shivering slightly as you brought the cigarette to your lips. You didn't want to even think about the bruise Eddie had, in fairness probably accidently, left on your shoulder from the parking lot.

"Was it about me?" he asked, still staring ahead. Eyes unwavering from wherever he was looking. You couldn't read his emotion from the side. If your brain hadn't been so tired, maybe you would have spotted the direction the conversation was going in. Biting your lip, you had no reason to lie to him. But at the same time the emotions you through you had calmed down, threatened to spill over once again. When you said nothing, he just nodded and let out a deep sigh. "He gets like this a lot when he gets mad?" Billy had a way of making his questions sound more like statements of fact. It made it difficult to argue with him, but it also made you face the ugly truth quicker.

"No, he's not like this usually. It's his dad he-" you cut yourself off, not wishing to tell Billy Eddie's trauma just like that. It wasn't your place. "He just lost his temper alright." Standing up you took the cigarette out of your mouth and stamped it out on the ground, ready to leave this conversation. Running away again you heard your voice inside your head, how typical. Shaking your head slightly you pushed the thoughts to the back of your mind.

"Doll" you let him take hold of your non-bruised wrist. Not with the same painful grip Eddie had had on you, but something gentler, still firm. "You and I both know that shitty fathers aren'tan excuse" he looked at you, his icy blue eyes staring into yours.

The unwavering eye contact between someone you know wasn't going to back down, made you finally crack. The first tear fell down and then then the second, and then before you knew it you were crying your eyes out in front of your ex-boyfriend Billy Hargrove. You allowed yourself to lean into his touch as he held you like he did before in the parking lot. Except this time with him sitting down on the bench still, so you could lean into his neck and let him engulf you into a tighter hug.

You stayed their crying silently. The fear from the car ride, the flashbacks of Eddie yelling at you and hitting the steering wheel, the pain on your wrist and the feeling of being trapped. It was all too much for you to keep locked away. Even after everything that had happened to you with the Upside Down, almost losing your ex-boyfriend and the fear of it all coming back again. You thought you could handle relationship drama. You certainly could handle everyone else's, even Steve who was trying to date every single girl in the state.

"I'm sorry" your muffled apology, while Billy just held you. He didn't say anything, he didn't need to. He was better at showing his emotions through actions rather than words. He shushed you gently as you kept trying to apologise as you tried to silence your sobs.

You eventually pushed against him, pulling yourself up and out of the hug. You were about to apologise again, but Billy got up from the bench and put his hand on your chin. His thumb gently grazed your lips, in a gentle attempt to stop the apology from escaping. It fucking worked because it took you a heartbeat longer than necessary for your brain to start working again.

"You need sleep, my girl" he let his hold on your chin linger for a little longer and then added, "And if he hurts you again, you let me know" this time his eyes were serious. You looked at him eyes wide, "I won't hurt him, not until he does it after the warning" he smiled at the end and so did you. Part of you thought he was joking but deep down you knew Billy would kill Eddie if things got too out of hand. He was gentler after everything that had gone down, more in control of his actions. But he still had a long way to go. You knew that more than anyone.

You wiped your eyes and smiled a goodbye as you headed into your trailer. Looking back to give him a small barely audible, "See you tomorrow" something that you usually said to Eddie if you couldn't spend the night at his. You didn't think much of it, Billy knew what you meant, and you went inside and locked up. Ready to have a long night sleep, drained from crying and the emotional rollercoaster you'd been on today.

He lit another cigarette with the black and pink lighter and blew smoke up in the air as he stared directly at the trailer you had come from, the lights still on, a figure in the window. Billy smirked and got in his severely beat up car, it roared as he drove away.

Looking out your window one last time as you heard the car speed off, the lights in Eddie's trailer now off.

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The next morning your head felt heavy, like a hangover or a migraine. The only thing pulling you into the present reminding you that the blur of events yesterday wasn't a fever dream was the smell of smoke on your clothes that you slept in, and the bruises still left on your wrist.

The fight and the words that Eddie has said. rushing back to you but you pushed them down. Not having another mental breakdown, you thought to yourself.

You decided doing the only thing you wanted to do after the fight was to write them all down and maybe turn them into a song. At first, you didn't know what to write. You wanted to do a solo gig or maybe join forces with Robin and Steve on stage, but you hadn't gotten around to figuring it all out. Plus, you didn't know how Eddie would feel about being in two bands, and you definitely didn't want to ask him about it right now.

Maybe after Friday?

Tuning your guitar, you realised you still hadn't called Eddie last night when you had gotten in, and he hadn't called you. "Well, whatever" you muttered to yourself, "he can sweat it a bit after yesterday." It's what he deserved you thought to yourself, but you didn't say it out loud. It felt too mean.

The words starting to flow onto the page and suddenly you were putting chords to paper, playing it and then reworking it with the song.

You grimaced as you looked at the time and realised that you had already missed first period. "Fuck!" You groaned shoving your notebook into your bag and your guitar into its case. This was gonna be a fucking awkward day and there was no getting around it. Looking at the sky, it was thankfully overcast which meant you could wear long sleeves, and no one would notice. Well actually...you thought to yourself before you smacked yourself into gear and shoved a fresh band t-shirt on and the jeans you were wearing yesterday. Shoving your shoes into your docs you darted out to your car.

Locking the door behind you, you heard a roar of a car engine behind you. You saw Billy in his torn up black car, with somehow a working engine. You hesitated. With his driving you could get to school and not miss too much of second period but at the same time if Eddie saw you pull up... It could get ugly. You looked behind his car and saw that Eddie's van was already gone so you couldn't have asked him for a lift even if it had crossed your mind.

But the decision had been made for you when you realised if you were late another time the school would call your folks andthatwas a situation you did not want.

Billy saw you hesitating at your door and the engine roared louder, as if an invitation to get in.

You gently put your guitar in first and then yourself, sitting your backpack on your lap. "Someone's eager to get to school, or maybe you just missed me so much since yesterday." He winked at you, and you just scowled. You were really not a morning person, and you didn't want to give hm the satisfaction of a response.

"Billy just fucking drive" you rolled your eyes and fastened your seatbelt. Billy just nodded and drove, like a fucking maniac, but you were right. You did get into school before the end of second period.

The drive was silent, you were thankful for that, after the last one didn't go so well. You didn't even ask if Max had already gotten to school, you hoped you hadn't just pinched her ride without even thinking of her.

When you got out the car you gave Billy a quick "Thanks!" Before you dashed in, really hoping that not too many people clocked that you had just gotten a lift to school by the Billy Hargrove.

Making it to second period, thankfully it was music so you, Robin and Steve could do fuck all and sit in one of the little music rooms and just chill. The teacher seemed confused that you had brought your own guitar with you but then couldn't be bothered to ask why so let you three go without a word. "I want to see you perform your creation at the end though!" Mr Bradley called after the three of you basically ran to one of the tiny music rooms.

"Can I copy your notes from Chemistry? I slept in" You asked the room, but it was for Robin. You knew Steve was going to ask the same thing because even though he had been there, he was focusing on other things.

"Only if you have a song that you can perform at the end of this class. Because I am not having Mr Bradley fucking harass me after band with 'when are you going to perform the song you've been working on for weeks' okay? I'm not going through that again." Steve walked over with his tambourine ready and your guitar on your lap and Robin being the musical genius she was able to play the everything.

Reaching into your notebook you pulled out the song you were writing. "Yeah, I have a few things" you said, flicking through the pages. A lot of the ones before the one you were writing this morning were mostly for Corroded Coffin, the one this morning was laced with pain and all the emotions you were trying to get rid of. You saw Steve trying to peak over at the words, but you held the book tighter to your chest. Giving you a confused look, since you were never too secretive with these two about what you were writing, you gave a half-hearted excuse of, "It's not completely finished yet."

"Can I tambourine to it though?" Steve here asking the important questions. You nodded before checking back to read over your rush of notes and then gave a hand gesture equivalent to 'I'm not sure?' "I'll just have to incorporate my genius another way then." He moved his hair with his hand dramatically and you chuckled. You could always trust Steve to lighten the mood.

You knew he was trying to cheer you up. Since neither of them had heard from you after you got into Eddie's van yesterday, they assumed it wasn't good. You knew Steve was trying to dance around the question. But Robin wouldn't be able to hold it in for much longer.

And like clockwork, "So what happened last night?" Robin asked. You shrugged, not really wanting to get into it now since you had only just started to feel better. The negative emotions that had finally started to escape you were now slowly burrowing their way back in.

"Hey, what happened? I know that Billy dropped Max off at the trailer park. Did he see you? What's wrong?" Robin further pressed. You knew she wasn't trying to pry; she was just worried about you. You let out a small 'ow' when she placed her hand on your wrist, attempting to comfort you. Shrinking away when she heard your small noise of pain.

"Show me" Steve said instantly, in his parent tone. You knew there was no arguing around this one. You reluctantly pulled up your sleeve to reveal the purple, green and black bruise bound around your wrist. You heard Robin gasp and Steve looked like he was ready to kill someone with the tambourine he was holding.

"Who did this to you?" Steve was standing, pacing around the small room. You shook your head. You really didn't want to talk about this right now. All of the pain and worry seeping back into your mind that you had tried to push away, to write away, it was now coming back. "Wait you said Billy was at the trailer park, right?" He looked at Robin and Robin was wide eye. You continued to shake your head, but Steve ignored it. "You can't defend him forever y/n! He's a dangerous guy! You saw what he did to all those people last summer!" Steve went for the door, and you blocked him instantly. Putting your hands up to try and calm him down. Robin looking in-between you two, clearly struggling with what she should do. "He's dangerous, and he's not going to change! Look at what he did to you!" Steve was now practically yelling, and you were trying desperately to quieten him. "The first thing he does when he gets out of hospital is to try and drive a wedge in your new relationship and physically hurts you." Steve finally put down the tambourine. "I won't stand for it. You don't deserve that." His voice lower but still firm and seething with disappointment and disgust.

He pulled out his car keys and gently tried to remove you from in front of the door. You, still shaking your head, trying to form words in your mouth but all that came out were panicked breaths. "Steve calm down, this isn't helping" Robin pushed Steve out the way and put her hands on your arms. "Look at me, tell me what's wrong. We just want to know what happened." She could see that you were physically trying to stop yourself from shaking, on the verge of a mental breakdown.

You let out a strangled sob as you looked into Robin's eyes. You looked to Steve, seeing the anger was gone he was more concerned for you. Then in a very small voice you managed to stutter out, "It was Eddie" and then you buried your face into your hands.

Robin pulled you into a hug and let you cry into her.  She looked at Steve and mouthed 'Eddie?' and Steve nodded. Both of them stunned by the fact that it had been Eddie to injure you like this, not the only guy to match and overpower Steve in a fight.

With no malice, but firmly enough you wiped your tears and your snotty nose on your sleeves, pushing away from Robin. Proceeding to sit back down on the chair you had been previously. You put your guitar on your lap and pulled out your pen and notebook. "Please, can we just focus on music right now. I don't wanna discuss this anymore."

You refused to look at them both and eyes planted on the lyrics you had written this morning, more of them coming to mind. Steve was the first one to pick up his tambourine and went, "So what am I doing again?" and let out his best warm smile. You returned it, yours a little sadder as you strummed your guitar absentmindedly.

Robin carefully sat down on the table behind you, managing to sneak a glance at the words written in your notebook whilst you weren't looking. "We got 15 minutes left and then we are gonna rock Mr Bradley's world!" she said it with a forced laugh. The negative feelings crushing under the weight of Steve and Robin's attempts to abide by your wishes and just have a good time. You loved them with all your heart.

"So, I was thinking if you harmonise with me on this note-"

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You ended up telling Mr Bradley that you would perform the song at lunch time, since you needed a little longer to rehearse and perfect it. It was really because you had a free period before lunch and Steve was making both of you laugh at his tambourine slapping hip swaying additions to his performance. Sometimes it felt good to just pretend to be regular teens at school, take a break from the reality of everything.

You knew performing at lunch time would mean that you would miss seeing Eddie, since you had no classes that overlapped today. But honestly? That's what you needed right now. A bit of space. Collect your thoughts and focus on your music.

You checked the tuning on your guitar one last time before double checking everything was fine with the instruments. Your anxiety getting the better of you and you just needed one thing to go right today. You could see the people start to gather for lunch time. You wondered if Eddie was already there waiting for you at their signature lunch table.

Shaking your head like an etch-a-sketch, pushing the only important thing to the front of your mind: Robin was on keyboard, bass guitar and backing vocals, Steve was on tambourine, backing vocals and gonna do a cheeky little razzle dazzle. Leaving you on your acoustic guitar and adjusting your mic.

"Well, I'm waiting" Mr Bradley said down below in one of the audience chairs, with a clip board. You sucked in your breath and looked at Robin and Steve. Counting yourself in. Just before you were about to start playing you saw the hellfire kids get to the table. You paused, knowing that Eddie would be on his way soon. Taking a deep exhale, you started playing and Robin and Steve followed suit.

"Clear blue water, high tides came and brought you in" you started singing, your voice wobbly at first until after a couple of beats it sounded more confident, still quiet. You pushed your nerves down. Even after performing at The Hideout so many times in front of your friends and the odd regulars, your anxiety always heated up on stage. It's just me and my friends performing a song in my bedroom was all you thought to yourself as you continued through the verse.

"Skies grew darker, currents swept you out again." you breathed a sigh, "and you were just gone and gone." It felt and sounded so therapeutic to listen to the words you had written down in your state of turmoil and have them sung back to you in a calming, melodic way.

"In silent screams and wildest dreams, I never dreamed of this" you felt the pull on your heart strings as you sang.

It was still only you on the guitar and occasionally Steve's tambourine to keep you in beat. you took a deep breath, ready for the chorus:

"This love is good; this love is bad. This love is alive back from dead, oh" Robin's keyboard joining you with the vocals and it suddenly sounded so beautiful. You never would have guessed that all of this pain could create such a beautiful song.

"These hands had to let it go free and, this love came back to me, oh"

At the exact moment you sung that line, Robin saw Eddie stroll into the cafeteria. She made no indication to you, but she glanced over to Steve, and he gave a subtle nod understanding. Thankfully you were still buried with the music, just focusing on the mic and playing, nothing else.

Then the second verse began:

"Tossing, turning. Struggling through the night with someone new" and if you had been paying attention it was that exact moment that Eddie clocked that you were performing on stage with Steve and Robin. Steve tried to keep his expression calm, but he noticed Robin almost missing her note on that line.

"In losing grip, on sinking ships. You showed up just in time." You now allowed yourself to get louder, ignoring the bustle of the cafeteria and as it got noisier. You just let yourself sing. Allowing those emotions to flow through and out of you and into this song. Unbeknownst to you, Max came and sat in one of the chairs behind your music teacher with her lunch, shortly followed by El, and then the rest of the hellfire kids. An unreadable expression on all of their faces. Finally, Dustin made his way over and sat next to Max. He looked heavily concerned and kept making sharp eye contact with Steve.

You changed up the chorus after the second verse randomly, almost catching Robin and Steve off guard.

"This love left a permanent mark. This love is glowing in the dark. These hands had to let it go free and, this love came back to me, oh."

You took a deep breath, preparing yourself for the bridge. It felt like you were confessing your feelings for the first time again. Sharing your darkest secrets. But if anyone asked you would say it was just a song and it held no meaning. Even though that wasn'tentirelythe truth.

"Your kiss. My cheek." You blushed but continued, "I watched, you leave. Your smile. My ghost. I fell to my knees." You almost faltered over that last word, but you powered on.

"When you're young, you just run. But you come back, to what you need." You sung that last note with all the power you could muster.

You continued on with the chorus, finishing on "this love came back to me, oh." Finally opening your eyes and allowing it to focus on the audience. You saw the kids all with their lunch on their laps. But your eyes landed on a fluffy haired individual who was leaning against the wall at the back. His eyes on you and you could see thoughts were ticking over in his mind.

Putting down your guitar, you noticed your music teacher looking pleased with your group. "Now that was worth the wait and all the excuses you kept throwing at me; however, I expect to see this kind of effort in every assignment I have for you three from now on." He got up and you saw on his clipboard he had given you all As for this assignment. With that he left, and you could release a breath you didn't even know you were holding.

Sliding off the stage, you were about to head over to Max. Throughout the song she was watching you as if she were listening to all the lyrics properly. As if she knew something else.

But Steve caught your arm and nodded over at Eddie who was only a few steps in front of you now. "Hey sweetheart" he smiled, his usual warm and silly smile. As if all of yesterday evening, hadn't happened. You gave him a small smile back, not yet ready to forgive him fully. Not until the bruises had at least started to heal.

You thought he was about to apologies again or pull you aside and have a talk with you. But to your surprise, instead, "Let's get my superstar singer of a girlfriend some lunch." And gently put his arm round you, carefully avoiding the place where he had gripped you only 24 hours beforehand.

"Only if you're buying." You let him lead you away from the group back towards the cafeteria, which was now bustling with people.

Steve and Robin were having a mental conversation with each other behind you whilst this exchange was going down.

The hellfire kids, all got up with the remainder of their lunches and followed Eddie back to their usual table. Adam, Gareth and Jeff were probably sat there on their own wonderingwhere the helleveryone else was.

All except Max, you said something to Lucas, and walked over to the duo. Biting the inside of her cheek she glanced back at you, laughing about something that was happening between Eddie and Dustin. The red head turned back to Steve, clearly wanting to say something but was clearly struggling to put it into words.

"C'mon kid, spill" Steve said, placing his tambourine down and sitting on the edge of the stage. Robin also crouching down, to sit next to him.

"You won't tell y/n?" She asked. It was clear whatever she was about to say, it was to be strictly kept between the three of them.

"Yeah, pinkie promise or whatever" Steve said holding out his pinkie, as to which Robin and Max rolled their eyes. Only Robin indulged him in the pinkie pact seal. He gestured to Max to spill. The pact now sealed.

After looking at her shoes and messing with her headphones a little She took another look over her shoulder, double checking whoever she was worried about definitely wasn't there or at least out of earshot. She brought her voice into almost a whisper, leaning closer to Steve and Robin's faces.

"I saw her and Billy outside her trailer last night."

[If you liked this please like, reblog, comment and follow for more!]

[butchfalin]

the funniest meltdown ive ever had was in college when i got so overstimulated that i could Not speak, including over text. one of my friends was trying to talk me through it but i was solely using emojis because they were easier than trying to come up with words so he started using primarily emojis as well just to make things feel balanced. this was not the Most effective strategy... until. he tried to ask me "you okay?" but the way he chose to do that was by sending "👉🏼👌🏼❓" and i was so shocked by suddenly being asked if i was dtf that i was like WHAT???? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?????????? and thus was verbal again

[beybuniki]

fishing trip day 2 & 3 🎣🍀

[ashoss]

this idea wont leave my brain please help me !! YIPPEE HADES BATKIDS !!!

without the bg and text under the cut :))

asdhj probably gonna post like,, two at a time because thats ,, a lot,,,, of drawing ,,,,,,, so heres tim and jason! i think i got the hang of it more with jason lol

ALSO ALSO!!!

thank you to those who helped me with the titles for the batkids!! they were all really good :D (all on insta lol)

timothy: the tenured - thomson_at

[bellsartblog]

i think that emmet and ingo can both be noisy but in different ways. emmet has sharp ears while ingo has sharp eyes.

[lazylittledragon]

DID ASTARION GET A TATTOO ON HIS RING FINGER TO MATCH DORIAN+HIS FAM?!?!?!?!?!? I'M DYING

YES OF COURSE HE DID <33

[dcxdpdabbles]

Danny: Hello, I'm here for my job interview-

Alfred: You're hired.

Danny: But I didn't even say what position I was-

Alfred: You are Danny Fenton, nineteen years old, blood type AB, Libra. You are here to apply for the personal assistant position under Timothy Drake. You have five years of experience as a receptionist and a personal planner and have been unofficially bookkeeper for your parent's company since you were twelve. You dabble in fanfiction, go clubbing at Vortex- the gay club downtown, and have been one of the few people who yelled at people online for "Countdown to Legal Age" of both Master Dick and Master Tim.

Danny: .....I'm a little scared right now.

Alfred: That's to be expected. You will fit right in. Master Tim enjoys the smell of fear on his employees.

Danny: You were in the army, weren't you?

Alfred grinning: I read that your mother's family are also veterans. Your mother grew up in bases; did she not?

Danny nods: Yes, they are. This is like visiting family.

Alfred: With the proper attitude, you may become family in due time!

Danny mentally: Is he....trying to get me to marry Mr. Drake???

[tofixtheshadows]

This is one of my favorite minor details in Dungeon Meshi, firstly because what in the femme fatale, but also because it's one of those little things that raises so many questions about worldbuilding.

The Occam's Razor defense attorney in me says that Ryoko Kui gave Kabru a boot knife because she wanted him to escape from his bonds here. And Kabru is a very competent swordsman, why wouldn't he have a boot knife, sure. He's already got a dagger, he can have this too.

And yet: the implications. Kabru, why do you have that? That is not remotely something that could be easily accessed or used in combat. Nobody is pulling out a pen knife from the heel of their boot during a fight with a monster. It's useless in the dungeon ... unless you're the type of person who isn't just worried about monsters.

I've mentioned this before, but I consider one of Kabru's functions in the narrative as being the character who fully brings the idea of human ecosystems into the story. There's a reason why he's always connected to large groups of people (Toshiro's party, the Canaries). He (along with Mr. Tansu, briefly) introduces the reader to the social and political forces working on the dungeon, showing us that none of this is happening in a monster-filled vacuum. His confrontation with the corpse retrievers, who very nearly kill Kabru's party permanently with their reckless murder-for-money scheme, reminds us that monsters are not the only things that prey on humans. Kabru understands the ways the dungeon causes people to put profit over human lives.

We only get hints of it in the story, but like any gold-rush-style economic boom, it's implied that there is a lot of crime and corruption surrounding the dungeon.

So yeah, it really makes me wonder why Kabru keeps a tiny knife in his boot, meant to be carried on him even in situations where he would otherwise be unarmed. Stored exactly in the place where it's easy to reach, even if, for some reason, your hands are tied behind your back.

[egophiliac]

C'MON TO THE THEATER!

I love these guys so much. forget NRC, I want to attend their terrible disaster school for disaster children that might actually be plastered on top of the smoking remains of an actively sinking ship. I may or may not actually learn anything, but I will have the time of my life.

[courtmartialme]

you ruin everything you touch

[chellychuu]

♡

[buboplague]

redundant zinru doodles while trying to test and learn an ipad

[dootznbootz]

Thinking about how Telemachus has heard "You are just like your father" by so many people for most of his life. How different yet refreshing it is to hear said father tell him warmly "You're so much like your mother".

[kyonshi-8610]

what if they were filipino....

(additional context since i couldnt fit it in: Ay! means "Oh!", Tito means "Uncle" and is what you usually use as a honorific for a man older than you. "po" is a polite particle used around people older than you. "Bulilit" means "small child".)

[yumedoca]

So yeah, 'Ranma 0.5' or something like that..

[soranatus]

THE SORESU STANCE — Obi-Wan Kenobi & Darth Maul

The Mandalore Plot (2010) The Lawless (2013)