#i would also accept skillet monster for this.

[tahthetrickster]

if it was about 15 years ago i’d already have seen 12 different AMVs of chimera falin set to three days grace animal i have become on my feed but that just doesn’t happen anymore. because of woke

[depravity-n-savagery]

「 Inside The Black 」 Part 2

Part 1

☾ Pairing: Billy Hargrove x (Fem)Reader

☾ Summary: Flayed!Billy attempts to bring you to the Mind Flayer, but is stopped by non other than our favorite group of danger prone kiddos.

☾ CW: LOTS of violence (and it gets pretty descriptive), angst, choking, lewd memories, is tragic fluff a thing? I'm making it a thing, regular fluff, crying, if I miss anything let me know ♡

🛑 18+ MINORS DNI 🛑

☾ Word Count: 2.9k

☾ A/N: It's finally here! I didn't expect so many people to actually want a part two. ♡ I promised Reader & Billy would be saved... I never said it was gonna be easy. 😏 Enjoy! ~ ✨️

Your subconscious was a lot darker than you expected. At first it was a haze of dreamy events - some that have happened in the past, and some that you've fantasized. Faded out in sepia tint like an old photograph. A happy couple, far away from the hidden turmoil of mind controlling monsters and lab experiments. It was pleasant while it lasted. So pleasant, you were willing to accept this as the afterlife.

Then it all went black. Empty. Not a sound or anything around aside from a sort of watery liquid covering the 'floor' in a thin layer. That was where you sat, naked, rocking with your knees tucked to your chest.

"Y/N?"

The voice was so soft and feminine, clouded with concern. Your head shot up, turning to look for where it was coming from. To your right, slowly approaching you was a young girl. Familiar. A face you faintly remember seeing alongside Billy's little sister when she hung around at the mall. What was she doing here?

Slowly, step by step, she made her way closer to you. She wouldn't speak again until she was an arm's length away, trying not to look directly at you in your birthday suit. "Can you- can you hear me?"

"More than that, kid. I can see you." Flames licked at the inside of your throat, hoarse from the events you tried to deny. Billy… or something in Billy's body.. strangled you. A sob choked its way up to your lips. "Am I dead?"

She shook her head, kneeling down beside you. "We saw you. Saw when Billy…" The girl raised her hands to her throat, cringing while she demonstrated a squeezing motion. We? An endless stream of questions swirled around in your head, waiting for you to vomit them out. Like, how the hell is she here? Wherever here was. How did she see what happened? How much did she see?? Questions that would go unanswered for the moment. "Not much time. Billy is taking you to the pool. When you see Max, follow her. Run."

"Wait!" You yelled. Your arm shot out to reach for her, grasping onto nothing as her form vanished into swirling smoke. Within seconds you began to do the same. Watching in horror as your hands dispersed into smokey particles. The space around felt distant and floaty until-

Thud!

The world around you tilts and jolts. Five heavy footsteps later a latch opens, bathing you in moonlight and humid summer air. Billy's stern face stared down into your eyes. "Sorry to cut your nap short, sweetheart." There was so much spite and disdain in his tone, it nearly broke you. To put it honestly, he was no saint. There have been plenty of heated words thrown your way during a disagreement. Still, there were lines he refused to cross. Things even he wouldn't say/do. Attempting to kill you, for an example.

Surprisingly you weren't bound by anything. No ropes, no cuffs, nothing of the sort. The only thing on you was the blanket from your bedroom, haphazardly wrapped around your naked form. It made sense. You didn't feel like much of a threat at the moment. Just weak and sore in some very embarrassing places, given the situation. He fucked you into oblivion, and now you had to wonder if that was also a part of weakening you.

"Where am I?" You croaked, barely above a whisper. Your only response was being grabbed by the throat and lifted out of the trunk of his car. No air left in you to cry out from the pain - white hot and unbearably intense. His fingers squeezed and dug into the bruised skin, only relenting when tears sprung up in the corners of your eyes.

"No more questions. I'm just here to pick up the little shit." The trunk was slammed shut, making you flinch and pull the blanket up to cover your dignity. You didn't want it - whatever it was inside him - to see you like this.

The encounter in your mind lingered, seeming like a dream. Was that girl really there? Everything she said so far was true. As Billy pulled you along by your arm, you recognized the entrance to the community pool where he worked. His steel grip was sure to cause another bruise, the way he yanked you so hard you could hardly keep the blanket snug around you.

The place looked closed down for the day. Dark and void of any human life. Until you catch a peek of red hair, sticking out from the entrance to the showers.

"When you see Max, follow her. Run."

Fuck it. Only thing left to lose was your life, and you had already avoided death once tonight. So you took the chance. Springing up the remaining bits of energy in your body, you brought your face down to the hand he had wrapped around your forearm and bit it. You bite him. Sinking your teeth into the flesh like it was your last meal. It didn't appear to hurt him as much as it caught him off guard. All the same, he ripped his arm away and set you free with a hiss. "Bitch!"

You don't stick around to find out how he'd retaliate. Bare feet sore from landing repeatedly on the harsh concrete, but you didn't slow. Only pure adrenaline propelled you forward, still clutching that damn blanket to your chest. The showers, get to the showers. It was all so dark, but you found your way. Choosing to tune out the distant pattering of Billy's steps chasing after you. He was far enough for you to be hidden by the darkness.

"Pssst! Y/N!" Someone whispered from deep into the area, beyond where the shower stalls ended. That long red hair was impossible to miss. The child you had only interacted with in passing was now your saving grace. Rounding that corner, you found more than what you expected. Less than what you hoped. Max wasn't standing with a police officer, or even a goddamn priest. It was just her ragtag group of friends. A bunch of kids. Including the one that approached you in that dark place.

"Oh my god, she's naked." One of them gasped, speaking with a slight lisp. Max thwacked him on the arm, furrowing her brows at him before taking your wrist in her hand. Thankfully a lot more gentle than her brother. "Come on, he'll be here any second now. I'll fill you in along the way." As if there was any way you'd retain this information in the midst of all this.

If they had told you something like this any day before today, you would've laughed it off. Maybe chucked it up to being a part of that D&D game the kids played - although Max wasn't really interested in it. It all seemed like something out of a Stephen King novel. To 'dumb it down for you' she only explained that your boyfriend was being possesed, mind controlled by a smokey spider monster from an Upside Down dimension. A spider monster that was expelled from their friend Will's body by extreme heat exposure, like a fiery exorcism. Simple. Reeeal simple.

The redhead peeled the creaky door open, guiding you into a sauna that was about the size of a walk-in closet. "Just keep him in here as long as you can. We don't know if it might've gotten into you too, so uh… we need you to get in too. Precautions and all that. Besides, he-" She looked away, shoving some sort of emotion down that you couldn't place. "-he cares about you. If anyone could help, it'd be you."

"Incoming!" The young boy who commented on your lack of clothing whispered, stepping back into the shadows with the others. You nodded and stepped into the sauna, bracing yourself. If this could work… if there was a way to get your Billy back, it was worth it.

Billy came barreling around the corner, stomping so hard it echoed throughout the room. His eyes searched the darkness until he found you, hugging yourself and trembling. A feline approaching a mouse in a trap. He strutted toward you, basking in the terror that filled your eyes the closer he got. The door swung open as he caught up to you, staring you down with a look that could devour you. Just what the monster wants.

A loud bang bounced off the walls of the enclosed space, ringing in your ears. Billy was even forced to stumble forward, almost falling into you as the door slammed behind him. That girl. The one from the darkness in your mind. She stood in view of the small window, holding up her right hand towards the door. Her left hand reached back toward the showers, straining and knitting her eyebrows until a metallic snap was heard. A metal rod flew in her direction, navigated by her movements to wedge itself into the sauna's door handle and under the pipe beside it.

For a second or two, he seemed calm. Maybe a little confused, and it lit a small bit of hope in you. That even for a second you might get a glimpse of your Billy. The heat started to seep in and immediately his first reaction was to turn and bang on the door. Pressing his face into the window, already beginning to bead with sweat. "Let me out!! Max, open this fucking door!" He screamed until he sounded hoarse, throwing himself around every surface in a blind rage. "YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME IN HEAR!!!"

You reminded him of your presence, risking yourself with a shaky whisper. "Billy… Billy, calm down."

His head whipped over his shoulder, looking like he genuinely forgot you were in the room. "Y/n?" What was first said as a question, repeated as a confirmation. "Y/n.. What did I do? WhatdidIdo-" His knees met the tiled floor, collapsing at your bare feet. A peek into the light, where the crushing guilt was waiting to hit him like a ton of bricks.

My Billy. Kneeling beside him, still cautious, you outstretched your hand for him to hold. How do you comfort someone in a moment like this? He wasn't all there yet - that thing was still inside him - but he has floated to the surface. Breaking down into heaving sobs that had his whole body trembling. "I didn't mean it, Y/n. I didn't wanna do it! I couldn't stop-"

"I know, baby. I know." Caution could wait. You wrapped your arm around him, palming the back of his sweat-soaked hair to bring your foreheads together. His skin was clammy and glistening under the orange-tinted overhead lights. The other hand was still holding the blanket, that was honestly heating you up more than the steam. "I'm here.. I love you. I didn't get to say it back, but I love you Billy. Stay with me."

Whatever clarity Billy was allowed for the time being, he cherished it - and loathed it at the same time. His actions. The one person he had already doomed to the Mind Flayer's sacrificial conquest, before he wound up at your window. The pain he inflicted on you. Stripped away and vulnerable, exposing what he always felt like on the inside. A babbling, crying, wounded child waiting for mommy to save him.

The air was suffocating, steadily rising in temperature. He's not going to like this. He sniffled, reducing his sobs to a hiccup. "You have to get out of here."

You shook your head, still holding onto his shoulder but putting a little distance between you, just to look at his face. The action of wiping away the tears raining from those precious blues, so familiar that it's muscle memory. Your hand rested there, at his cheek, stroking small circles. "I'm not going anywhere. If it gets me, then it gets me."

So be it.

Billy folded into himself, writhing and letting out a gut-wrenching scream. Shades of black inked into his veins, spreading over his body. It's working! Either that thing was getting ready to come out, or you had just seriously pissed it off. Probably both. He thrashed around, punching into the floor so hard that bits of tile broke off in splinters.

"Turn it up!" Max's voice commanded from the other side of the door. Her hand pressed to the glass, peering in at her brother. His knuckles were bloodied and raw. Hair disheveled, and black liquid staining the corner of his mouth. She gasped, unable to tear herself away from the sight.

Unfortunately, it likes an audience.

In your eyes, it all happened in slow motion. Seeing him stand there with his body facing the door. You couldn't see it dead on, but you caught it in the fog-resistant window's reflection. A sickening grin spreading across his face, before he captured your throat in his hand. It wanted Max and her friends to watch. Make the choice to watch you die, or interfere and ultimately set him free. Maybe this was meant to be.

You escaped it once. Maybe twice was asking too much.

Your feet lifted off the ground, toes curling and searching for a surface to stand on. All the while, he wouldn't even look at you. He looked at them. Raising a brow as you began to choke and whine. The blanket finally fell free from your body, taking a backseat to your frenzied flailing. To hell with modesty!

You would dig your nails into his arm until they chipped and bled. To no avail. You would kick at his side, and whatever part of him you could reach. Still to no avail. The battery was depleting, and somewhere - beyond the pounding rhythm of your heart - you heard your name. It sounded like home. It sounded like the rumble of your boyfriend's car. It sounded like his laugh, and the way he sighed when he wraps his arms around you after a long day. It was warm, welcoming and white.

"Do something! He's killing her!"

"No! Look at him!"

So you did just that. Hoping to at least die with the vision of him as your last. The lights flickered, but you could see him through the strobes. Head thrown back with an animalistic roar. The thing, a mixture of black ooze and particles forced its way out through Billy's mouth.

The window shattered, allowing the creature to exit the sauna and escape into the night. Leaving you both spent, and hitting the tile in unison. Red blotches discolored your vision as you still tried to get a look at him - the result of a burst blood vessel.

"Hold on, Y/n! Help is-"

We did it… You could die happy with that thought alone.

◇ - ☆ - ◇ - ☆ - ◇ - ☆ - ◇ - ☆ - ◇

Beep… beep… beep…

The world lit up beyond your eyelids, making you squint and turn away from the source. Everything ached. Not as much as you thought it would, but the annoying prick you felt in the crook of your arm might have something to do with that. You've been hooked up to IV's enough to recognize the feeling.

"Billy?" Your lips moved, but not much came out. A delicate squeak at the most.

"Easy, darlin'. Don't strain yourself."

The sound was unmistakable, but you had to see for yourself. You opened your eyes, thankful that your eyesight had been spared. Nothing could have been more rewarding than seeing this man smiling at you again. A weak smile with a busted lip, but you were still more than willing to kiss him again. And again. And again.

He brought his hand up to your face, meaning to stroke your cheek but he pulled back. Not before you could notice the bandages wrapped around it. It was the blink of an eye for you, but for Billy it had been three days. Three days of being bothered by scientists, signing nondisclosure agreements, lying to everyone (outside of those in the know) about what happened, and watching his stepmother mourn the death of his father - the one person he successfully gave to the Mind Flayer.

All those things were nothing compared to watching you lay in that hospital bed. Listening to the doctors list off every way he damaged you. Ankle fractures, damage to the windpipe, mild concussion, a burst blood vessel in the left eye, various cuts and bruises… It made sense, telling everyone that the two of you got into a terrible car crash. He had to sacrifice his precious car to make it believable. Still, that wasn't enough punishment. Now he has to face you, and see you giving him that loving smile. Beaming at him like he was your favorite person in the world. He was. That's what made it hurt.

"I did this…" He said, afraid to even touch you in case he managed to somehow fuck up the machine you were hooked up to. "I-"

You shook your head, crooking your bandaged fingertip to call his attention. You didn't need him to hear you. Just watch as you mouthed the words 'I love you', sealing it with a blown kiss in his direction.

We can survive this.

Billy took your hand, carefully locking your fingers with his. Ignoring the small pain it caused him. He may not deserve you right now, but if you let him, he would spend everyday making it up to you. Maybe it took almost losing you to see how much you meant to him.

"I love you too."

♡

☾ A/N: Part 2 has been delivered! My emo playlist got a reeeal workout while I was writing this one. 🤣 Comments and reblogs are always welcome. Feel free to drop some ideas in my Ask. ♡

Ao3, Masterlist ☆

Taglist: @and-claudia @eddieussy @amialesbianorindenial @gracethieved @loadivine @robunny127 @simpforcarlislecullen @dilf-loverxo @rosemarycupcake42

[irwinkitten]

feel like a monster | a.i

notes: told y’all i was writing again. i got inspired by ‘monster’ by skillet and it’s not the typical demon!ash we have seen previously. enjoy. Also I picture Lucifer being Tom Ellis’ from the tv series ‘Lucifer’. pairing: demon!ashton x witch!reader (genderless self-insert!)  warnings: violence, swearing word count: 3.2k

donate to my ko-fi? 

-

The first time you had met Ashton, he was fully unaware of your presence. 

Eyes as black as night had roamed the small haunt that the local supernaturals frequented, free of any kind of glamour to appeal to the human prey. Most of the locals knew better than to step out without the glamour on, especially demons, but Ashton had kept his on when he stepped through the door, even with the wash of protective magic you had placed on the building.

“What’ll it be, sugar?” You finally asked him, his eyes unseeing as he muttered the word ‘whiskey’. You never took offence, because sometimes the creatures you encountered needed the time to come to terms with something that happened. 

“On the house, don’t drown.” You commented, not even inciting a verbal response as you returned your attention back to one of your regular vampires, a charming smile on your lips as you carried on, the despondent demon lurking in the back of your mind.

The night had been a steady one for the bar, and the demon hardly moved. He wasn't interested when a fight broke out, he ignored the other demons that seemed to sidle up to him and then abandon him once they realised he wasn’t going to pander to their whims.

It hit three am when you finally sat in front of him having a stool behind the bar for this exact reason.

“How about you give me a name, and I’ll go knock on Hades’ door to see if he’s got your soul locked up.” This pulled him from the funk he’d fallen into, his eyes finally focusing and finding yours.

“No need. How long has it been?” 

“You’ve been sittin’ there for at least seven hours, sugar. You sure you’re alright?” And it seemed to flip a switch in him, dark tousled hair finally coming to life as he groaned and let his head rest on the bar. 

Like with all of your other creature patrons, you didn’t hesitate, ruffling his hair gently which had him pulling back in shock, making you smirk as his own fingers ran through the jet black locks before sighing.

“I really need to stop falling out of my skin.” He muttered and you laughed.

“It’s been a long time since I had a skinwalking demon inside of these walls.” You commented casually, feeling his eyes study you as you moved to clean part of the bar.

“There are others?” The curiosity in his tone seemed desperate, which surprised you.

“There were, then good old Lucifer decided that the creation was an abomination. How’d you escape the culling?” 

“I didn’t know there was one? How long ago was it?” This had you confused. You’d heard through the grapevines before Lucifer himself had walked into your establishment. You’d been lucky to escape with your life that night.

“Merde, honey we’re talkin’ about five centuries ago. I’ve had this bar running for the last eight.” His face fell at your words, dismay crossing his features before his eyes closed and a sigh escaped him

“I’m barely four centuries old. How on earth did that freak mutation happen?” His words were all snark but you saw the way his shoulders slumped, how he seemed resigned to the defeat. But you frowned, chucking the rag at him, making him look up. 

“None of that in this bar. If good ‘ole Lucy is up to his tricks again, then you’re around for a reason honey. Now, what’s your name, my lovely skinwalker?” And for the first time that night, he smiled.

“Ashton. My name’s Ashton.” 

He became a regular from that day on. Unlike other demons who had assignments to take souls and cash in on debts, he never really did much. 

The only thing you gleaned from Ashton was that he was only ever called for when there seemed to be something that was too good to be true. And more often than not, they were, which left him to do the dispatching.

On those days, he was sullen and silent, unwilling to even share the possible horrors he may have witnessed, even with your experienced eyes, the way his were haunted, part of you wished to never see it.

He became steady at your bar, a fixture that kept your own morale up when things were rough. He was always there to kick someone too rowdy out, and eventually he started staying til you’d locked up and apparated home.

“Hey Ash. New suit?” You’d called out in greeting as he arrived. You’d noticed that he’d started to experiment with his wardrobe more now that he started to gain confidence in his own skills. 

“You ask me every time I’m wearing something different.” He grumbled, making you laugh as he took his spot at the bar, tugging off the suit jacket and resting it over the back of the stool. 

“Because you’re finally showing an artistic flair with your clothes, sue me for noticing and pointing out they make you look good.” You fired back easily, continuing to set up for the rest of the day. 

“Are we still swapping stories today then?” He asked, ignoring your previous comment as you slid his usual glass in front of him. You smiled in return.

“I love how you consider swapping stories of my relatively normal life something exciting.” He laughed at that.

“Hearing stories of domesticity is much more preferable to the ones of death. Let me have this one thing.” His plea with wide eyes was met with unimpressed ones, only for you to give way and crack a smile.

“It’s a good job that I like you then, not many people can get stories outta me. At least, not the ones of where I’m making a new spell in my own home surrounded by the green ferns and my familiar.” This brought a grin to his face.

“Like I said, hearing something so normal and simple, it makes me hopeful that there’s gonna be a day when I don’t get called in to death and destruction.” You felt your heart break for him a little bit. 

Most of the demons who crossed your safe haven had long since settled into the death and destruction that surrounded them. A lot of them even welcomed it with open arms and gleeful smiles. 

But not Ashton. 

He’d practically rejected that side of him. It was only when he’d met you that he worked ways to accept it but not sink into it. He hung onto you like a lifeline and you gave him those stories of normality, if only to keep him grounded, especially on the worst days. 

“I heard old Lucy has put out rumours of a skinwalker. What’s up with that?” You queried once you’d finished setting up the bar. His face took on a pinched look before sighing.

“I’m a skinwalker with control. I’ve seen the other demons, read the transcripts of the old skinwalkers. They, they lost their sanity towards the end. They sunk into themselves and had nothing to pull them back, nothing to keep them in the world we roam. It’s why I can’t lose control. So far I’ve kept it under lock and key, and yes it’s there, but as long as I don’t lose myself like they did, he won’t have a reason to wipe me out.” 

“Good old Lucifer doesn’t need a reason, sugar. But I’m proud of you.” His posture changed ever so slightly, but the smile he gave you in return was one of the more honest smiles you’d ever seen on his face.

“I guess it’s gonna be me keeping my head down?” He finally muttered and you laughed, patting his cheek gently.

“That and some luck, but you got me on your side, so you’ve got enough to see you through my favourite skinwalking demon.” 

But like many things, the luck had run out for both of you. 

Lucifer was sat on the lounge sofa you’d had moved into the VIP section, his casual demeanour betraying the crackling energy that you could feel.

“Most demons give me the time to open the damn bar, your highness.” Even though your age had nothing on Lucifer, you were one of the braver souls who knocked him down, reminding him that you were never one to bend over backwards.

“Unfortunately for you, witch, the bar won’t be opening today. See, there’s been a rumour. A rumour that you’ve been harbouring a skinwalker.” Ice ran through your veins as your stomach dropped.

But you kept yourself as calm as you could, a game you’d played far too many times before.

“Tell me, Lucifer. Why would you be interested in a skinwalker when you destroyed them over five centuries ago. I don’t need to remind you that you came to gloat that day.” The anger was easy to display, the bitterness in your voice telling him exactly what you thought of his choice.

“Ah, but this skinwalker is going rogue.”

“And so I’m harbouring them? Tell me, Lucy, do demons get to die like humans do, or do you just turn into ash?” You felt the burning of the chains before you even had time to react, your breath being stolen as the burning metal wrapped around your body.

Chains draped across your face, and apart from the low hiss of pain, you did nothing more.

“You’re lucky I don’t do what would be considered normal, witch.” 

“Trust me, your demons will turn on you quicker when they find out exactly who is threatening their safe haven. How will you cope when every demon is on my side?” You could see the way he twitched at the possible threat, the chains getting tighter in response.

“Then if I kill you and blame it on the skinwalker, they’ll go after them.” The taunt was enough as you felt the wards shift and you realised it was Ashton.

Part of you wanted to scream, to warn him. But your voice was trapped, barely able to take in a breath as Lucifer stood from his spot, curling his finger so that the chains yanked forward, bringing you to your knees.

“I must confess that I feel like a monster doing this. But let it be a lesson for generations who try to meddle in affairs that aren’t theirs to touch.” You could only close your eyes as he raised his hand, the shift having already started as the fingers elongated and the nails grew into claws. 

“Your confession will never erase what you’ll do. May the creatures of the darkness know who tried this day, to strip my life and make me pay. May they rebel and cast out, those souls so sure and cast out this monster forever more.” It wasn’t a full spell, but the intent behind the words were enough as a raging roar ripped through the building.

But it wasn’t in front of you like you’d anticipated. 

Your eyes snapped open to see something hit Lucifer and throw him across the room.

“Unbind them now.” To your shock, it was Ashton, his skin practically glowing as he towered over you, his stance in a crouch. 

“For what, skinwalker? You’re only going to die before them.” 

You watched in awe as Ashton seemed to shift, almost like his mind had sunk into base instincts and for the first time in your life, you felt a sliver of fear. But surprisingly enough, it wasn’t towards Ashton. No, it was towards Lucifer who had shifted forms with a look of fury on his face.

“You won’t touch them.” There was a laugh that rooted him to the spot, and you couldn’t stop the yell of agony as you felt yourself hoisted up, desperately trying to cut the feeling of pain off, the agony searing and exhausting. 

“Want a bet, skinwalker?” The deep cadence of Lucifer’s voice sent the thrill of fear, but Ashton didn’t hesitate as he launched at the self proclaimed king of hell, no words being spoken but guttural snarls instead. 

You tried to watch, but you could see the black dots in your vision. But you struggled for each breath, watching as Lucifer seemed to toss him like a rag doll.

You were dimly aware of a sound that shook the walls as you blacked out, a silent prayer that if you were to be sent on to the afterlife, that Ashton would be granted one mercy to be with you at least.

-

“Fuck, why is it when I need a witch, the one I want isn’t available.” Your head was fuzzy, pain rocketing around your body as you heard chains clink together.

You couldn’t pull any energy to speak even a single word before the fuzziness swept you under, drowning you from the pain that you were in.

-

“I can sense you.” A different voice startled you and your head shot up from where you were lay, shock colouring your features. “Death looks good on you.” 

You turned to the voice and felt your insides drop at the sight of Hades. Unlike Lucifer, those who knew, knew that Hades ruled the underworld.

“Are you playing as Hades or your alter?” You finally asked and he laughed, stepping from the shadow that had hidden his features. 

Pale skin with vibrant green eyes. He gave you the kind of smile that he only gave Persephone. 

“It’s my alter form today. Figured you’d seen enough already.” He countered with ease, holding his hand out to you. You took it willingly, allowing him to pull you up. In his alter form, he’d named himself Michael. He had soft features that looked welcoming ‘to not scare the children sent his way’, was his excuse. But it was nice to see familiarity.

“How dead am I?” 

“Not as dead as you should be. Since Lucifer used the death chains on you, I have more leeway than he thought, the little upstart.” You blanched at his words.

“He used the death chains? But, that-”

“Should’ve sent you to my realm almost immediately, or at least indefinitely when you lost consciousness.. But your little spell blocked the chains from doing what they do best. Not to mention my skinwalker nearly taking his own life getting those things off you.” Michael explained as he guided you around the forested area. You realised this must have been his wife’s work.

“Wait, your skinwalker? Is that-” Michael cut you off.

“Is that why Lucifer wiped them to extinction? No. His first batch had never found their grounding. Never succeeded in tying their humanity down. But Ashton was different. So I created him.” 

“What happens now?” His smirk bore the arrogance of a god and it took everything to stop yourself from punching him. You’d learned the hard way not to punch a god, they never bruised and never took well to being hit by what they considered a mortal. 

“Take care of my skinwalker. And tell him that he holds the crown in title for now. I’ll be along to make it official in the next day or so. Gotta make sure his royal partner kick-starts their recovery.” 

Before you could fully process the information, you felt the world spin around you once more, going black. 

The blissful pain free state you had been in slowly morphed as the pain seemed to wrap you tightly until you couldn’t breathe, only for your lungs to pull in the much needed air.

“Oh thank fuck.” Was heard above you, but your eyes were too heavy to try and open, your body lethargic and almost lead like to try and reassure the person above you.

When you next came around, the pain was dulled. There was a slow and steady beep that had you turning your head and you stopped yourself from groaning. 

“Please tell me I’m not in a standard hospital.” The mutter was scratchy and quiet. 

“You forget what we’ve been building this hospital for a few years now. This is one for all kinds of creatures. No regular humans in sight.” The voice made you jump, turning to see Ashton sat next to you, his hair dishevelled and eyes tired as he took you in.

“You’re alive.” His lips curved into a small smile at your whispered words.

“More like we’re alive.” He corrected and you could feel a tear fall from the corner of your eye, lifting a hand up to his face. He was quick to scoot closer, your fingertips feeling his skin and you felt the dam burst.

You were both alive.

He didn’t hesitate to rest his hand over yours, keeping it against his face as you cried, but there was understanding in his eyes as you processed everything, Michael’s words finally ringing back to you as you slowly calmed down.

He was here with you, and even though you’d been toying with the idea, you’d never been so sure of telling him how you felt. Once you’d gathered your bearings, before he could start talking, you cut him off quickly.

“So, king of hell, fancy going on a date with me when I’m out of here?” As much as you wanted to be sentimental with Ashton, your emotions were frayed enough as it was. This was the last thing you needed to add to it. And watching Ashton’s face as he processed your words was certainly worth it.

“A date, with me?” He clarified, tone mystified and dumbfounded. You grinned.

“Of course. Give me a week before I get to the sentimentalities, but I’m almost certain I’ve been in love with you for the last year. Hades was nice enough to point that out, since you can’t lie to a god.” 

“Hades? What?” You took pity on Ashton in that moment.

“Instead of dying immediately, I was trapped, but in Hades’ part of the underworld. He explained that you were his skinwalker, connected to your humanity. He could see my feelings for you as clear as daylight. I might as well try to-” Your words were cut off with his lips on yours, the feeling of them causing you to smile against his lips, breaking the kiss.

“I’m not about to get hexed, am I?” He breathed and you laughed, his lips moving to your forehead before he sat back.

“Not in a million years. So you think about actually coming with me now when I get out of here?” His smile spoke the thousands of words he wanted to say, but simply settled for squeezing your hand gently.

“I think it’s about time I moved in, huh?” 

One of the healers seemed to come in for that moment and you allowed her to fuss over you as Ashton settled back in the chair, a peaceful silence sweeping over the two of you. Compared to your last memory of the loud beast-like roars, the peace was welcomed and enjoyed, Ashton’s slow breathing accompanying the steady beep of your monitor that you knew would be gone by the end of the day.

The peace was something you appreciated as you felt Ashton take your hand once the healer had left, his thumb rubbing gentle circles into your skin. It was only when he jolted upright his face a picture of alarm as he stared at you before breathing,

“What do you mean ‘king of hell’?”

-

taglist:  @sexgodashton​, @goth5sos​, @malumsmermaid​, @empathycth​, @wildflowergrae​, @calpops​, @rosecolouredash​, @cakesunflower​, @loveroflrh​, @clockwork124​, @cal-puddies​, @stellar5sosrecs​, @ashtoniwir​ , @cthwldflwr​, @cthla​, @calmlftv​, @spicycal​, @liketheydidwithyou​, @sc0ttish-wildfl0wer​, @bluehairedtracii​, @drummerboy794​, @feliznavidaddycal​, @ukulelecal​​, @thecurlsofgod​​, @converse-luke​​, @madbomb​​, @ccnicole02​​, @youngblood199456​​, @megz1985​​, @lukesidentitycrisis​​, @snapback-irwie​​, @neonweeknds​​, @666yourwitchyfriend666​​, @cashtonasfuck​​, @ashtaway​​, @conquerwhatliesahead92​​, @itjustkindahappenedreally​​, @kchillout​​, @damselindistressanu​​, @colormekaykay​​, @findingliam-o​​, @sublimehood​​, @singledadharrington​​, @sugarcoated-pain​​, @singt0mecalum​​, @calumspeachy​​, @colourfulcalum​​, @lostincalum​​, @burncrashbromance​​, @asht0ns-world​​, @flusteredcliffo​​, @ixcantxdecidexwhosxmyxfave​​, @fangirl-everythang​​, @lashtonswildflower​​, @lashtondaddies​​, @calumssunshine​​, @ambskiwi​​, @abundant-stars​​, @myescapefromthislife​​, @lmao5sosimagines​​, @beyoncesdragon​​, @jae-writes-fanfiction​​, @cxddlyash​​, @tresfandom​​, @niallisworld​​, @lietomevalntyn​​, @babylon-corgis​​, @monochrome44​, @behind-my-hazeleyes27​​, @lyllibug​​, @bloodmoonashton​​, @ghostofmashton​​, @summerellaz​​, @a-little-less-sixteen​​, @cashworthy​​, @smokeinherlungs​​, @longlastingdaydream​​, @h0tsos​​, @sadistmichael​​, @sugar-nico​​, @sunnysidesblog​​, @angel-cal​​, @samros95​​, @maluminspace​​, @lukeinblue​​, @britnicole11​​, @gigglyirwin​​, @everyscarisahealingplace​​, @loverofcashton​​, @iovehemmings​​, @g-l-pierce​​, @jannimoeller3​​, @wildmichaelflower​​, @lukeskisses​​, @youngbloodchild​​, @abb-lan-5sos​​, @calumsbub​​, @flameraine​​, @here-for-the-uproars, @mateisit-balsamic​​, @ilovelukey​​, @castaway-cashton​​, @musiclover1263​​, @alloutofcashton​​, @tobefalling​​, @sarahshepherdblog​​, @cassie-sos​​, @possesedperson​​, @treatallwithkindness​​, @wonderlandiswhereitsatyo​​, @pinkbubbles-and-bigtroubles​​, @ashtonlrwin​​, 

if u wanna be added to my taglist just hmu! 

[winterxisxcomingx]

O-oh? I’m genuinely surprised that two people tag me in that! I mean, it’s nice feeling, but I didn’t expect this 😵

Firstly thank u my dear @hannaswritingblog for tagging me 💜 I’ll always gladly accept your tags ahahah

Also, thank u @randomfandomimagine! Honestly I didn’t expect this. And I don’t want to sound self-conscious or something, but I genuinely didn’t expect that u even know my nick! More, even tag me 😵 It’s nice~

But okay, that’s it. Questions timeee!

Name/nickname: When I’m chatting/writing in English I’m using “Renemy” as my name/nickname. 🌸

Gender: Female

Star sign: Sagittarius ✨

Height: about 172 cm

Time: it’s 18:53/ 6:53 pm right now

Birthday: My birthday are on 23 November ❄

Favorite bands: Pentatonix, Skillet, Three Days Grace, Bring Me The Horizon

Favorite solo artists: Melanie Martinez,  Jonathan Young (he mostly do covers tho), Lana Del Rey

Song stuck in my head:  Marie – “Zero Calorie Cookie” (it’s a Polish song) and Lil Nas X - MONTERO 😅

Last show: WandaVision

Last movie: “Call my by your name��

When did i create this blog: Nov 2nd, 2019 (probably, at least this is when I first reblog something on this blog)

What do I post: Mostly edits and things for Futuristic four fandom, but honestly I’m doing everything on this blog lol. And I also reblog here things I like or I did enjoy. 

Last thing googled: “benny's video cda”

Other blogs: I have one more. But I’m just reblogging things there. Also ships that are not really... hm.. acceptable (no pedo tho) I mean, they are super rare or don’t have sense to mostly people. Also people get hate for shipping them cuz “it’s wrong” or “they have somebody/they didn’t even share a scene/age gape”. Duh

Do I get asks: rarely. Which is sad. I just want to let u know that I’m really happy every time I get ask from you guys! 

Why I chose my url: Oh, when I create that account I had that obssesion with Game of Thrones. And well “Winter is coming” is known quote from that series. So that’s it. I regret nothing tho.

Following: 123

Followers: 143 (!!!)

Average hours of sleep: 5/6/7 hours. I like staying up late at night.... 

Lucky number: 9

Instruments: None

What am I wearing: t-shirt and sweatpants and socks 

Dream trip: Dunno... Japan maybe? 

Favorite food: Spaghetti and Pierogi haha

Nationality: Polish

Favorite song: I can’t answer such questions!!! I have a lot fav songs! So *one of my fav songs* is Monster by Skillet 🖤

Top three fictional universes I’d like to live in: uwa, only three??? Well- Maybe Akatsuki no Yona (its a manga), Descendants and Arroverse 😁

I forgot about tagging thing hahahahah omg sorry 

Oh, okay, well I don’t know who would want to do this, but I would love to know more about @ssadumba55 and @daily-tropes-provider (I guess it’s not your main account, but still hehe) and @swanimagines. Of course, no pressure. You don’t have to, if u don’t want to. 

Also everyone who wants to do it <3

[screamxqueenx94]

Wolf Moon Part 3/ Teen Wolf Series

A/N: This if the final part for Wolf Moon! I'm excited to be moving onto the next one! I hope you guys enjoy it :) also, I'm sorry for this being so short!!!

Warnings: There's like 1 f-bomb lol and fluff

Pairing: Stiles Stilinski x OC! Charli Vérszívó

Part 1, Part 2

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

The Sun starts rising and I can see Scott headed for the road. I start the car, back out and follow him, stopping for him. He gets in and I reach in the backseat and grab a hoodie and lay it over him. We ride quietly for awhile until he finally speaks up.

“What are you doing out here?” He asks, holding his injured arm.

“Figured you'd be out here looking for Derek.” I answer, keeping my eyes on the road.

“Where's Stiles?”

“At home, waiting for you to call him and let him know you're okay.”

It's quiet between us again. The only noise is coming from the engine of the beetle and the radio playing “Monster” by Skillet at a low volume. Scott looks at the radio, then out the window.

“Can you turn that off, please?” He asks. I turn it off and keep driving. God, I hate awkward silences.

“You know what actually worries me the most?” Scott asks with a tinge of sadness in his voice.

“If you say Allison… I'm gonna puke.” I reply as I continue to look straight ahead.

“She probably hates me now…” he sighs

“I seriously doubt that, but it might help if you come up with a pretty damn good apology. No excuses for it, just an apology…” I inform him. “Just don't do what Stiles would suggest.” I continue.

“Which is?”

“Tell her the truth and revel in the awesomeness of being a werewolf!” I say, poorly impersonating Stiles, making Scott slightly chuckle.

“You're gonna get through this, even if Stiles and I have to chain you up on a Full Moon night and feed you live mice.” I say, trying to comfort him.

“Can I ask you something?” He asks after a minute.

“Sure.”

“Why are you helping me?” I look at him for a second, then back to the road.

“Scott… when I moved here, you and Stiles were the first people to talk to me. You accepted me early on and were nice to me and included me in stuff… I consider you my friend…” I answer back kindly. “Which is why if I tell you a secret, you have to promise that you won't tell Stiles.” I continue.

“Why?” He asks, turning his body towards me.

“Because if I even have a molecule of a chance with him, I want to tell him myself.” I answer.

“Fair enough…” he shrugs. “So… what's the secret?” He asks.

I sigh, preparing myself for what I'm about to say. “You and Derek aren't the only supernatural creatures…” I trail off.

“Charli are-- are you a werewolf too?” He asks with pure shock in his voice.

I sigh. “No, but I have had a lot of movies made about what I am.”

“A witch?” He asks.

“No… I'm something more… bloodthirsty.” I try to hint.

He sits for a minute looking away, thinking. He finally has his ‘a-ha’ moment and whips his head towards me.

“You're a vampire?” He questions loudly.

“Yep.” I reply as I make a turn. He just stares at me in complete surprise. Great… more awkward silence.

“I assume you have a lot questions.” I mention. He slowly nods his head.

“Well I can answer one for you right now: I don't fucking sparkle in the sunlight.” I answer bitterly. “Fuck you, Stephanie Meyers…” I curse under my breath.

I pull up outside of Scott's house and put the car in park. I sigh and lean back so my head is on the headrest. Scott does the same. We then look at each other.

“Well, I gotta get home and do some damage control with my dad…” I tell him. “If you need anything, shoot me a text and I'll do what I can, okay?” I finish.

“Same to you, especially if you wanna talk about… well, y'know.” He sympathized.

“You promise you won't tell Stiles, right?” I insist.

“I promise.” He assures. I nod and half smile. He gets out and I watch him walk into the house. Once he's inside, I shift the gear into drive and go home.

On the drive home, I start to cry. Why, I'm not exactly sure. Maybe from being tired. Maybe from the fact that I made Scott promise to lie to his best friend. Or maybe the fact that Scott has turned into the one creature that I swore I'd never trust… but it's not his fault. I think it was a combination of all three.

He didn't ask to be bitten. He wasn't born that way either. Poor kid was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. I decided to just help him. At least until I see him as a threat to me, to my father, or to Stiles…

~

I pull into my driveway and take off my boots to quietly enter my house incase my dad is still sleeping. When I turn around, he's standing in the middle of the foyer, still in his pajamas with his arms crossed over his chest and giving me a stern look.

“You were out all night… wanna explain what you were doing before I strangle the life out of you?” He grumbles.

I set my boots next to the door then straighten back up to face him.

“Scott got sick and his mom couldn't leave work, so Stiles and I stayed with him to make sure he was okay.” I lie. Now how can I lie so easily to my dad and even come up with a good one, but yet I can't lie to Stiles?

“Really? Cuz I noticed you came home in the middle of the night and got your car… what was the reason for that?” He interrogates.

“Stiles’ jeep breaks down a lot, so incase we needed to take Scott to the hospital we needed a reliable car.” I lie again.

He steps closer. “You're picking at your nails.” He points out.

I look down at my hand and put it behind my back and don't make eye contact with him. “So? It's a bad habit I have…”

“Yeah, a habit you have when you lie.” he argues. “Look, I don't care if you go out with your friends, but I don't appreciate the lying.” He continues.

I look down at my feet and chew on the corner of my bottom lip. “I'm sorry…” I whisper.

“Yeah, well, you can apologize as you wash and wax my car.” He orders as he tosses me his keys.

I catch them and let out a long, exaggerated sigh. I head upstairs and change into a pair black running shorts and a tank top. I take everything I need outside and pull my dad's car out of the garage. I put my headphones in and start listening to music as I fill up a bucket with soap and water.

I put my hair up in a messy bun and start washing the car. After a little while of washing his car, ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ by Wheatus starts playing. I hum to the music, then start singing and even get to the point of playing guitar with the sponge. I get so into it that I don't even notice the old lady from across the street staring at me like I'm a nutcase. I just keep going, not even washing the car anymore and just having a public jam session. When the beat slows down, I turn back around to get back to work, only to see Stiles standing there with his hands in his hoodie pockets, smirking and chuckling at me, making me drop the sponge. My cheeks become hot and rosey as I take out my earbuds. Well this is fucking embarrassing. I'm gonna go crawl in a hole and die now.

“How long have you been standing there?” I squeak.

“Long enough to know that you play air guitar with a sponge.” He teases. I try to hide my face, then he continues. “It's cute.”

I look up and give him a shy smile. He smiles back. “Did you even get to sleep yet?” He asks.

“No, my dad caught me sneaking back in and as punishment, he's making me wash and wax his car.” I inform him.

“Well that sucks.” He comments. I nod in agreement, then pick the sponge back up and get back to washing the car.

He walks into my garage. I'm about to say something when he comes back out with another sponge and puts it in the bucket. He takes off his hoodie and tosses it in the garage.

“What are you doing?” I ask him.

“Part of this was my fault, so I'm helping you.” He states.

“Are you kidding? If my dad comes out here and sees you, he's gonna kill us both!” I warn.

“He's gonna have to catch me first…” he smirks and wiggles his eyebrows, making me laugh.

He picks up the second sponge and starts helping me. He's so fucking pretty!

I go pick up the hose to rinse off all the suds on the car when I notice that Stiles isn't paying attention and is ringing out the sponges. I get an evil genius idea.

“Hey Stiles?” I question innocently to get his attention.

He looks at me and I press the trigger on the hose and spray him. He put his hands up and turns his head away. When I stop, he puts his hands on his hips and and shakes his head down as he's looking down. He looks up at me through his lashes and presses his lips on a straight line and starts nodding.

“Okay, you wanna play that game?” he remarks, picking up the bucket of soapy water next to him.  

A mischievous smile spreads across his mole covered face and starts walking towards me. I take off running and he runs after me, both of us laughing. He catches up to me and dumps a bunch of water behind me all going down my back and my hair. I turn around and start spraying him again, he's trying to dodge the hose as I try to dodge him with the bucket. I eventually drop the hose and hide behind my dad's car. He comes over to me and is about to dump the rest of water in the bucket on me when I quickly look over at his house, then back to him.

“Hey I think your dad's calling for you.” I point towards his house.

He looks over and I flip the bucket and it lands on his head, soaking him. I burst into laughter and he lifts it up halfway, enough so his honey colored eyes are showing. Once I get myself together, I take it off his head and set it on the ground.

“I can't believe I fell for that.” He confesses shyly with rosey cheeks, smiling. We chuckle.

“Honestly? Neither can I sense you're dad's not even home.” I admit.

He looks over at his house again and starts laughing as he facepalms. He looks back at me and tucks some loose strands that were sticking to my cheek behind my ear, his long fingers grazing my cheek. Oh God, there's that weird butterfly feeling again!

We just look into each other's eyes for awhile. He steps closer to me, his look intensifies. Am I about to get my first kiss? Oh God, what if I suck? What if my breath stinks? Are my lips chapped? My mouth feels really dry…

We get so close that there's barely any distance between us. I close my eyes and suddenly I'm being hit with water. I put my hands up to protect my face and see that Stiles has done the same thing. I look in the direction of the stream and it's my father… spraying Stiles and I with the hose with a deadpan look on his face.

“Go home, Stiles.” He commands after he stops spraying us.

“Yes sir.” Stiles replies quietly. He grabs his hoodie out of the garage and instead of putting it on himself, he puts on me.

I look up at him confused. “I don't want you to get sick.” He answers my unasked question. He puts his hands in his drenched jeans pockets and heads to his house.

I can't help but watch him walk away. I like his butt. It's cute.

I look at my father with dagger eyes, then clean up and go change my clothes and go to lay in my bed, thinking about what was about to happen.

Was I really about to have my first kiss? Was he actually gonna kiss me? Was I just daydreaming? God! I can't believe my dad ruined the moment for me!

I let my thoughts race until I fell asleep. Who knew crushing hard on a guy could make on so exhausted?

~

I'm sitting cross legged on a bench outside of the school Monday, reading, and Scott sits next to me.

"I have some questions..." He declares

I look over at him and close my book. "Shoot." I tell him.

"Why aren't you affected by sunlight?" He asks, tilting his head like a puppy.

"My mom was half human, so I'm like... one third human." I answer.

"Do you drink human blood?"

"Nope. Strictly animal blood."

"Are you affected by garlic or holy water?"

"No, but my dad is..." I acknowledge.

"Is he a full blooded vampire?" He asks.

"Yep." I answer.

"So... can you turn into a bat?" He asks.

I roll my eyes and groan. "No, that's not an actual thing... I literally have no idea where that even came from." I inform him.

"How old are you really?" He nudges me with his elbow and wiggled his eyebrows.

"16... just like you and Stiles..." I grumble. "My dad, however, is 2,000 years old." I continue.

Scott's eyes nearly bug out of his head. I chuckle. I look behind him and see Allison coming. I tap him and point in her direction. When he turns around I get up and leave, seeing Stiles and walking over to him.

"Hey." I greet.

He looks at me and smiles. "Hey!" He greets back, slinging his backpack over his shoulder.

"I-uh, I want to apologize for my dad the other day--" he cuts me off.

"Hey, don't even worry about it. I get it... you're his daughter and I'm a teenage boy... dads with daughters hate teenage boys!" He explains, making me laugh.

"I know, but sometimes he can be a little overprotective." I acknowledge.

"Trust me, I'd be worried if he wasn't." He stops and faces me as he speaks.

I smile at him, then I notice something... Allison gets into a car with one of the hunters from last night. Stiles must've noticed because he looks in the direction I was looking, then back to me.

"What is it?" He asks concerned.

"I recognize him..." I trail off as the hunter closes Allison's door and walks to the driver side.

"How?" Stiles asks.

"He tried to kill Scott and Derek last night..."

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

@mummybear @ficus-fig @music-magic-mayhem @zenawa @stiles-o-dylan24 @cry-btch @maaariiiooo13 @thekingofselfloathing @sporadiccookiebagel @bewarethebees @inschi @awesomeandromedablack @wil2space @bansheeintuition @mrs-mitch-rapp93 @nicole-lynne

[ask-spider]

Songs for the Sides

Patton

Perfect - Ed Sheeran

While I don’t really know if Patton is in love, I take this song, for him, as about the other sides, talking about how amazing and special they are, how wonderful they are, that sort of thing. He tries to see the best in everyone, and that to me is amazing.

Roman

Photograph - Ed Sheeran

Photograph talks about a past love, and a bit of the feeling of loneliness that comes when it ends. I think this fits Roman, Sweet when in love, destroyed when it ends. It talks about coming home so they don’t have to be alone, and I think this matches Roman pretty well, honestly.

Logan

Be wherever you are - Steven Universe

Ah Logan, my favorite of the sides. Which, is surprising, since usually my heart leads me. But, I chose this song because it talks about being happy where you are in life, and I think that’s something Logan needs. While pushing yourself to be better is important, its also important to be happy where you are, and feel good.

Virgil

Nightmare - Set it Off

Nightmare is about a person who needs to be saved. I think that description alone describes Virgil pretty well, because I feel as though the other sides have sort of saved him, made him feel wanted, and accepted him even when he thought they wouldn’t.

Deceit

Monster - Skillet

Monster is a song about disliking who you have to be, and trying to trap yourself inside, at least, in my opinion. This one really took me a while, I went through a ton of ideas, such as ‘Peace and Love’ from Steven Universe, ‘Nightmare’ by Set it Off, etc. I wanted something that showed the harsh reality that Deceit is trying to point out to everyone, but at the same time, I want something a bit happy for him. He deserves a lot of love, I feel like he’s really trying to do the best he can for Thomas, but his role gets in the way. I mean, would you listen to someone named ‘Liar’ or someone named ‘Truthful’? Just at a first glance, I would usually go with ‘Truthful’, because there must be a reason they are named that, but Deceit is a part of our lives, whether we like it or not, and we need to accept, and sometimes take it into account, because while lying is bad, sometimes it can help us learn what to do, even if its by doing the opposite of what is said. Ontop of that, lying has saved millions of lives in the past, such as Deceit pointed out, World War II, I believe it was, we lied about when attacks would be so that we could get a surprise advantage. So, Deceit can be good in certain cases, just not all the time.

Sorry to bug you, but I wanted to know your thoughts! I might be completely off, I don’t know- I love your content, and you are doing much more than you probably believe. Thank you for all you do, and keep being amazing! I had to retype this, so its not as great as I wanted, but ah well.

@thatsthat24

[ladykf-writes]

4 and 13 for To Be Human?

Reblog if you are a fanfiction author and would like your readers to put one of your fic titles in your ask + questions about it - accepting!

Aaah an ask about my baby! TY NONNY!

4: What’s your favorite line of dialogue?

Oh man... I really have no idea, it’s 230K+ and I haven’t reread it whole for a while. I don’t know that there was any one line that sticks out to me after all this time, but there were some exchanges that I thought were especially well done. Angeal and Sephiroth discussing things, when Angeal comes back to Midgar. Zack making Sephiroth realize there is literally nothing ShinRa can actually do to stop him. Hojo period was just fun to write in this fic, and Genesis had a lot of really great lines. Oh! And Veld and Vincent, their reunions were great.

13: What music did you listen to, if any, to get in the mood for writing this story? Or if you didn’t listen to anything, what do you think readers should listen to to accompany us while reading?

Oh man, nonny, this one I’ve got. There are three answers for this! When I needed to get in the mood for it, period, and I didn’t feel like playing CC itself, I’d listen to the CC soundtrack. BUT, I also had a whole playlist, plus a specific subset for tense/high action/fight scenes!

For fight scenes, I played The World’s Enemy (Sephiroth’s theme) from CC, Requiem for a Dream (Lux Aeterna), and Star Wars’ Duel of the Fates (John Williams) on loop.

Now, the main list was not actually my longest playlist, but still pretty long. Sometimes I’d listen to them all in one go and loop the whole playlist, but now and then I’d just put one of them on repeat, if one fit a particular mood. It’s under a cut because it’s long. XD (Also I linked to a bunch of great fanvids on YouTube!)

This is War - 30 Seconds to Mars

In the End - Linkin Park

You’re Gonna Go Far Kid - The Offspring

Perfect Enemy - t.A.T.u.

Monster - Skillet

Warrior - Paradise Fears

All About Us - t.A.T.u.

Battle Scars - Paradise Fears

I Will Not Bow - Breaking Benjamin

Demons - Imagine Dragons

Had Enough - Breaking Benjamin

Angel With A Shotgun - The Cab

Evil Angel - Breaking Benjamin

Dance with the Devil - Breaking Benjamin

Hurricane - 30 Seconds to Mars w/Kanye West

See You Again - Wiz Khalifa

Also the following FF7 fanvids:

A Dreamer and a Drifter (Incinerated Studios)

Sephiroth’s Lullaby (acidragdoll)

It’s My Life (majjamis)

If Today Was Your Last Day (DesertAnubis)

Breaking the Habit (Talon Rue)

Numb (LyanAvalin)

You Raise Me Up (charlesoliver98)

Lie To Me (SilverThorneIris)

Angeal’s Dream (Gr3iM)

[vertigoambrosia]

it is disgustingly hot out let’s watch fan day 1

v. sad there will be no sexy starr (jack sexsmith apparently had a ‘family emergency’ so hope everything is ok...) cause i really wanted to see ringkampf react to the boyfriends

i was gonn asay there’s no reason fro this match, but actually i realized jay fk had a title shot - they’ve been in 3 ways but never actually had a 2 on 2 cause monster consuilting had to go to a wedding

why are the champs coming out first? because it wouldn’t be a sneak attack otherwise, i guess

wow the commentary is really low compared to the chanting

i know my tv sucks and my AC is on but still

is it the same way on the german feed?

i guess i have to listen to this on headphones later but i’m pretty sure someone fucked up the sound mixing

full disclosure i have been fussy and in a not so great mood for the last two days so i’m not really into things like usual 

jay doing the loser L is so lame but he makes it so entertainingly obnoxious

it’s totally cliche when women do it b/c it’s just more ~mean girls~ thing, but he has real zeal in it

also i like stupid white boi as a heel gimmick a lot more than mean girl

oh robert has new gear

HAHAHAHA that crossbody fail

u tried, francis

damn if tas didn’t go to the mat for the count he might have gotten kicked in the face

i actually thought it was a ref bump for a sec

rip jay skillet.  he was a nice young man until he became a fuckboy

this match should be interesting

IS FRED GONNA YELL THE THING

i actually haven’t seen him since he left evolve so idk if he still does what i’m thinking of

also wtf that mask is weird i don’t like it

well he’s definitely not using the same announcement as he did before - they’d call him ‘angry, pissed off, and short’

side note i do not approve of the title ‘the savage’ for any black person fred wtf

yess he still does the stomps

it’s interesting that wxw will have complete newcomers show up at a marquee event first sintead of like, appearing on shotgun so people get to know them a bit

i guess it depends on how well known they are, obviously, but for yehi it seems odd

then again yehi’s not doing much of the character stuff i know him for, so i guess you don’t beend much prior introduction to ‘esteemed grappleguy’

honestly watching this is very weird for me because he obviously wrestles the same but his demeanor is so like...regular that it’s confusing for me

i am glad people (or at least one person) are chanting for him...even if they’re pronouncing him name wrong

lol too busy typing i almost msised that finish - it was nice though

yeah i guess yehi’s got a new character now and i have to accept that

he would point at the dude he’s fighting and be like HE’S IN BIIIIIIG TROUBBBLLLLLLLLE (and of course we’d all yell along)

also i have to find this one promo he did that i loved

here comes a problematic boy

wait doesn’t hamburg still hate him? kinda weird to have the rematch from when he was wronged

i remember christian saying in, i think the carat press conference, that bobby isn’t really a heel or a face...and i think they need to pay a bit more attention to that dynamic

oh here’s mr. orientalism

this theme song is annoying - so 2000s

i have no idea what the germans are yelling

marius has new gear too...unfortunately still with the terrible fake kanji font

ok crowd is behind bobby as they should be

are bobby’s trunks new too? the shoes obviously are (and look great)

commentary sound mixing is less bad now - i guess they may have just had issues for the first match

the ‘health nut vs lifelong smoker’ angle is actually kinda fun - rico also just related bobby’s smoking to his don’t give a fuck attitude, and i like the idea that it’s an extension of some sort of nihilism

i hate that i’m attracted to bubby gunns but it’s not as bad now that he’s a face

who the fuck is cheering for marius

man the biting the rope spot is so good it makes you forget that it’s also gross

who knows where that rope has been

..that suplex onto the stage spot was weird

there’s something weird about this match going outside of the ring

bobby no!

boo this boy! pulling a kim ray

i/m getting used to veit’s not having hair

is the “soft” v the ffff or the vuh

doug williams’ robe looks like a long skirt

wtf the video keeps like, cutting out

i know it’s not my tv cause the hashtag is still on screen

audio is still intact too so i guess there was some issue with video?

weird

i am so not in the mood for hardcore catch grapplefuck rn

ok that’s not true i’m sure i’ll be into zack and timo’s matches

but point is i am not in a mindspace to really like this match

boys what are you doing

you’re just running

is this supposed to be a comedy match

THE VIDEO

like seriously it’s really obvious and uncharacteristic of them

yeah rico i uhh wouldn’t call that a ‘running’ knee

have i mentioned how much i hate the winter wonderland songchant? because i abhor it

oh veit is wearing trunks instead of the nip slip singlet

if the rest of the show has these cuts in video i’m going to be really annoyed

it had to be an error in editing or exporting - they have too many cameras for them all to have fucked up in these moments

ok actually they have like 3 but my point stands

wow this match feels like it’s going on forever

ok that rollthrough and the suplex for the win was real sick

i probably should rewatch this match sometime when i’m less.....blechhhhh

at the risk of spoilers i’m gonna look at wxw’s twitter to see if they’ve said anything about the video shit

nope

i guess i’ll see on my computer if it’s happening there cause uhhh i know they’d want to know

if it was a problem with recording hopefully they solved it during this intermission

ummm wxw i appreciate you showing me this interview but i...don’t speak german. i don’t know what he’s saying without subtitles.

...maybe they should have taken an extra day to bring this out since they worked the entire weekend

anyway here’s a 3 way

i only know of kris wolf via video of her being crazy so i am excited

MADE IN YOUR MOM OMG

omg she’s tiny

also a furry, but we all already knew that

isn’t it weird that aj and kelly are dating?

more importantly, do they have furries in portugal?

...do they have furries in germany?

i cannot explain why i imagine furries as a mostly american thing

....are there european otherkin

wow it got smoky in there...

*kelly voice* i can’t believe i’m fighting a wolf and a witch when tf did i walk into a fairy tale

this match is odd

haha ok i do like rico selling the tail spot as if melanie committed animal abuse

i like kelly’s new gear - so many people got new gear!

aw mella

hahaha kelly’s just like ...oh well bitch

is this jazzy’s music or just a different dub track? i kinda like it (not the wub wub part)

TIMO

walter is here too

<3 these boys <3

david shaved! but he’s got enough scruff that it’s not alarming

he spin

hahaha i somehow forgot the friction between walter and david (and therefore between tim and david)

:D

really this should have been obvious, right? i don’t remember ilja having a match on this day

ringkampf vs team emotion

i’ve been meaning to ask ilja on twitter or insta if the sick new shirt he has is gonna be sold online but apparently you can be shy even on the internet

(i already knew that but i guess didn’t think i’d get nervous about asking a basic q)

you can tell my brain isn;t operating because i just got up to play that phone game i’m addicted to so this post is continued in part two where i attempt to hae an attention span

[renecdote]

I feel it deep within, it's just beneath the skin

A little drabble that wouldn’t leave me alone after reading Detective Comics #966. Under the cut because spoilers...

For mood music I would recommend 'Monster' by Skillet (also where the title is from).

“Drake is avoiding me. I have tried to be… nicer. Better. But my attempts have been ignored. I do not understand why. Does he really hate me that much?”

There is an edge of hurt beneath the calmly delivered words that feels like a knife being twisted in Tim’s chest. He and Damian never got along, never spent much time together, never bothered to even try to be anything but antagonistic toward each other. But somehow, those words, admitted to Dick in the privacy of Damian’s bedroom, with the expectation that no one passing would stop to eavesdrop… Those quiet, unbelievably childlike words make Tim feel incredibly guilty.

He wants to reveal himself, take those two or three steps that will place him in the room, apologise for being a complete aresehole. Because Damian had actually been polite to him after his return, had even sought out his company once or twice, had asked to spar with no ill intentions. Had all but admitted he missed him. And once upon a time Tim would have been hesitant but accepting of the attempts to forge some kind of positive sibling relationship, even if it was only to secure another ally. But that was before. Before he knew what he would become. What he would do to this prickly child who was forced to grow up too fast.

“I’m toxic!” he wants to scream. “You don’t want to be brothers or friends or even allies with me because I’m going to destroy you! I’m going to-”

I’m going to kill you.

I’m going to murder you.

He always chokes on that final admission, even though the words are only in his mind. He can’t bear to say then aloud, not even whispered to himself in the darkness of a Gotham night. As though giving voice to what his future self had blatantly alluded to will make it real. As though as long as he shoves the words to the back of his mind, doesn’t think about the nightmares that don’t let him sleep, it won’t come true.

“Some points in the timeline are fixed, Tim. Some choices are made for you.”

“Tim doesn’t hate you,” Dick tells Damian, soft and reassuring. The kind of tone Tim had wished to hear while he was locked in Mr Oz’s prison, the kind of tone that is so very Dick it makes his heart ache. “He’s just having a hard time adjusting to being back. Just give him some time, he’ll come around.”

And Tim remembers: “Dick Grayson’s story doesn’t end in Gotham.” Dick is going to move away, settle down, start a family. And Jason will already be gone by that point, battling assassins across the globe, so it will just be Tim and Damian in Gotham. There’ll be no big brother to mediate their arguments, to force them to spend time together, to teach them how to get along. Tim will be the big brother.

It’s a frightening thought. Almost as frightening as what he does with that power. Because Tim knows how his brain works, future self or otherwise; he knows that he’ll play the sibling card, reach out, say he wants them to get along better because Gotham is their responsibility now and they can’t take care of her if they can’t take care of each other. Damian will be missing Dick, missing family, he’ll show up for a joint patrol. And then-

Tim pushes the thought away with a vicious shake of his head. It makes him feel sick but he can’t stop thinking about it. Can’t stop seeing scenarios playing out every time he closes his eyes.

“I win my fights because I plan for every possible outcome.”

Damian wouldn’t be prepared for it, wouldn’t have a chance to counteract any of the hundred ways it could go down. He wouldn’t be expecting the betrayal, not from Tim. Especially not if he and Tim had repaired their relationship, had learnt how to be family.

So if Tim doesn’t think about the possible outcomes, doesn’t repair his relationship with Damian, doesn’t give him a reason not to expect betrayal… Maybe everything can be okay. Maybe he can save Damian from his future self. Maybe.

(Maybe not.)

He hears the sound of muffled footsteps from Damian’s bedroom but doesn’t move. He’s not sure he could push away from the wall and make himself act normal, like he wasn’t unashamedly eavesdropping, even if he cared to.

Dick steps into the hallway, closes the door behind him and meets Tim’s eyes. There are strained lines across his forehead and a sad twist to his lips. He looks so much older and more weary than he had in the memories Tim dredged up to keep him company in his cell.

I put those lines there, Tim thinks, I put that twist there. I etched that age and weariness and sadness into his skin.

I ruin everyone.

I’m toxic.

Dick opens his mouth and Tim turns away. He doesn’t want to hear the rebuke or reassurance or concern or whatever it is Dick has to say. He doesn’t deserve the breath Dick would be wasting on him.

“I did what I always do, Tim. I did what was necessary.”

He’s just doing what is necessary. They don’t have to like it, they don’t have to understand it, but it has to be done. Tim has to save everyone from himself.

Even if he loses everyone in the process.

[pxrtgasdace]

▼

It was not even that late but everyone had already retired to bed save for Ace, Sanji and Zoro. Since the swordman was on watching duties, though, Luffy’s brother and cook were alone in the kitchen.

Seeing the insane pile of dishes waiting to be washed, dried and put away, and being polite, Ace offered the cook his help. Sanji dismissed it, not finding it fair that the guest should clean for the residents while they had a nice rest or post-dinner leisure in the rooms of their choice. With an exhausted and brave face, he tied his apron around the waist once again and lit a motvational cigarette.

“C’mon, we’ll be done faster if I help”

There was no way to argue against that fact. Sanji let down his guard and with a tired but grateful smile muttered ‘thank you’ between his teeth. The pair of them divided chores, Sanji doing the washing, Ace the drying and both storing the wares away according to the instructions of the master of the kitchen.

Like Ace had very wisely said, they got the work done in half the time it would take Sanji to do everything all by himself. They were free now and the night was still young.

Sanji wanted to thank Ace with more than two barely audible words, though, and considered getting a skillet out to make sweet crêpes with ice cream before a better idea occurred to him.

“Not even the Marimo knows of this” he said while opening a cupboard and rummaging inside for something that must be rather well hidden and alcoholic in nature, if a reference to Zoro was needed.

“You don’t have to keep the act around me, you know?”

“Hmm?” Sanji didn’t really get it at first but it didn’t take him long to understand what Ace was suggesting. “It’s my autopilot.”

Finally he found what he wanted and grabbed a bottle of wine out of the cupboard. There was a fancy label glued to it and its name was also fancy-sounding when Sanji said it out loud, not without a dreamy quality to his voice: this one bottle must be properly savoured by those whose taste buds could manage, which was why it was crucial for Zoro not to know of its existence - the bastard would rather drink it right out of the glass mouth than have it served on a  glass in celebration of a special moment like it deserved.

“From the South Blue” The bottle was given to Ace for him to analyse the label while Sanji fetched them a couple of red wine glasses.

From the South Blue… Not from Baterilla but from some other island where vineyards were of economic importance. It still made Ace wonder… how close or how far could this island be from Baterilla? And that, of course, made him think of his birthplace and feel bad about not having yet paid it a visit.

“You don’t like wine?” The glasses clinked when Sanji placed them down on the table in front of them but it was the polite worry of someone who knows something’s wrong and doesn’t wish to put a toe out of line in Sanji’s voice that got Ace’s attention. The cook was smart and sensitive - two traits that made it very hard for lies to go unnoticed.

“Yeah, I do” It was not Ace’s favourite thing but if that meant having a good time with the cook, why not?

The two of them consumed the wine as it mainly should be, slowly and accompanied by a nice talk, though it probably deserved a cheese board for the tête-à-tête as well. It didn’t make much sense now and, the chef figured, it wasn’t that important. Unlike Ace, he already had to divide his mouth between the two pleasures, drinking and smoking.

Ace had always understood the cook to be a good listener and overall a pleasant person to chat with but he was surprised at how easy it was to talk to Sanji, the wine that loosened the tongue as it slipped inside the mouth and down the throat having nothing to do with it.

After a good while punctuated by more than a glass and more than a cigarette, Ace confessed to Sanji the thoughts seeing that bottle of wine had stirred in him, though there was much about the childhood he’d had and the one that life had taken from him he did not want to reveal to anyone, not even to the attractive and pleasant cook.

Sanji probably felt something similar about Ace, for he returned the other’s memories with some of his own while keeping himself protected in the same fashion, not blurting everything out. Though nothing too revealing, too spoiling was spoken out loud, the two men silently agreed they understood each other.

Fortunately, there were happier topics to talk about. Sanji wanted to know if Luffy had always been ‘like this’, as he knew him, and that caused Ace to tell him of some ridiculous stories of their pre-teenage years, as going even further back in time might prove a painful matter if Ace had to explain the present company all about Sabo.

He did not know whether Luffy had ever talked to his crew about Sabo but, judging from the fact no one knew of his fiery brother before meeting him in Alabasta, he figured not. Even if Luffy had dropped Sabo’s name here or there, he wouldn’t have told the story properly and quickly moved to whatever thing was currently stimulating his brain.

Sanji laughed so hard he had to hold his belly in place and Ace smiled at how lovely the cook was. Sanji really was a special guy and Ace already admired him a lot for surviving a troubled past - even without the cook being too transparent about it, Whitebeard’s Commander just knew better than what the other didn’t say. It was that kind of understanding two children of misfortune have, even if they can’t say how or why.

“Shit” The cook complained at his lighter refusing to perform its sole task. 

“Allow me”, said the only man on board who could easily fix this.

Rubbing his thumb against his index finger as though in possession of a lighter, the skin acting as the spark wheel, a flame flickered above Ace’s index’s knuckle.

Sanji leaned in, his face closer to Ace’s than it had ever been even if the angle was far from ideal, and in that moment Ace saw how handsome the cook truly was as though he hadn’t realized it before, which indeed he had.

His coal eyes quickly searched for those lips, made prominent thanks to the cigarette between them and his cheeks found themselves a bit more saturated as he wondered how they would feel on his own.

More words and more wine. Now they really were misusing the drink, as the bottle was pretty much empty when it shouldn’t have served more than two glasses each. This was not how civilized people should consume such an exquisite beverage, yet Sanji didn’t seem to mind - his cheeks were pink like Ace’s but, though his speech was coherent and not slurry, his reason must be of a different nature. Ace figured the cook was not too used to alcohol or guessed he was but not in this quantity.

When Sanji needed help from his human lighter again, Ace provided him with fire all the same but, this time, the cook didn’t return to his initial position, seated with crossed legs and an arm over the back of the sofa, wining and lounging. This time, he kept himself close.

“Damn, those are some nice lips you’ve got there”

To Ace’s surprise, the comment came not from the voice in his head but from a voice that was not his own, though those were more or less the precise words going on in his head.

It had been Sanji. It was Sanji, looking a mix of inebriated with hot and bothered. So much it was hard to tell to what point he was in control of his tongue - or of his mind. Did he really mean what he said?

It was with great titillation that Ace saw Sanji scoot closer, support both hands on either side of him, lean himself over Ace and straddling him at last, his weight too close to Ace’s groin, not enough to hurt him but enough for him to feel a bit more aroused even if no external sign showed it.

Answering Ace’s silence, the cook added another nerve-wrecking remark. “I’d sure like to try them”

Then do. Ace half-expected Sanji to kiss him and fully wanted him to do so. Hell, any minute now and he might be taking the chance himself, and should things escalate even more, then let them. No regrets.

There were two strong smells about Sanji’s breath, none of them particularly pleasant. But while Ace would have ignored the everyday one, he could not do the same with that heavy alcoholic scent.

Sanji’s conscience was clouded and Ace, who in the lonely nights would have the word ‘monster’ whispered at himself, was still above taking advantage of anyone not in possession of themselves.

“I think you should go to bed now”

The clouded Sanji must have thought his words meant something else, a ‘we’ rather than a ‘you’ because he smiled and got closer, decided to kiss Ace as he’d threatened. Thankfully for both, that was when Sanji blacked out, head hitting against Ace’s chest and the butt of his cigarette uncapable of hurting a man made of fire.

With a sigh that was as loaded with relief as with the frustration of Sanji’s actions not being sincere as he would have liked, Ace embraced Sanji so as to get up and hoist the poor cook over his shoulder, a bit like he were a bag of flour.

The plan was to put Sanji in his cot and pretend nothing had happened, Sanji’s gentlemanly honour not needing to be soiled by an episode of being drunk and horny that had ended very harmlessly.

As such, he had not expected to find Zoro out and about, maybe on his way to the bathroom or the bedroom if his watch was done. The swordsman didn’t say a word but eyed both men - the standing one and the idle one - with suspicion. 

To his horror, Ace joked about how tired the cook was and transferred him to Zoro’s arms. The swordsman panicked and told Ace to go do a nasty thing with himself but still didn’t let Sanji fall to the floor.

Ace just ignored the string of profanity from Zoro’s mouth. “You take good care of him”

Watching Ace walk away, Zoro had the feeling Luffy’s brother’s words were not limited to this night and not too friendly, either.

send me the sitting/straddling meme // quick answers or drabbles // accepting

[dancer4813]

Processional

Written for @straight-with-a-gay-agenda‘s prompt in this post, but also posted as a semi-Mother’s Day thing, since Kimallura is the best gay mom ship in the Critical Role fandom. ^_^ <3 

Rating: G, bordering on T for heavy flirting ;) Characters: Kima of Vord, Allura Vysoren Words: 2k Summary:  Kima sighed, not wanting to state it outright. ... “Tell me- what would be the odds of a dragon or beholder showing up at our wedding if Vox Machina were in attendance?”

Spoilers for Episode 97 [AO3]

“Allie,” Kima sighed, rubbing her face with a hand as they rehashed the argument that had come up for the third time, this time before she’d even had her first cup of coffee. “We are not inviting all of Tal’dorei to our wedding.”

“Well I certainly don’t want all of Tal’dorei there,” Allura scoffed, flipping the eggs in the skillet to cook them evenly. “There wouldn’t be enough room in the temple.”

Kima dropped her head onto her forearms and groaned. “Allie!”

“Kima?” Allura replied, the epitome of grace and poise.

Head still on her arms, Kima turned her face to glare at the back of Allura’s head. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

“I do,” she said stiffly, and Kima sighed, dropping her gaze back to the floor.

There was a long pause, where the only sounds echoing through the kitchen were the sizzle of eggs and the drip of coffee and tea into mugs.

“I just-“

Kima couldn’t find the words, couldn’t find exactly what she wanted to express. Here they were, engaged for not even a week, and this, their second biggest fight in the history of knowing each other, came down to who they would invite to their wedding.

Bahamut, give me strength, she found herself praying, and she chuckled even as the words passed through her mind.

“What’s so amusing?” Allura asked, her tone sharp.

“We’re arguing like an old married couple about how we’re going to get married,” Kima snickered, thinking about just how ridiculous it was. “And I just prayed to the Platinum Dragon. Can you imagine what he’s thinking right now?”

All at once the whole debacle seemed absurd, and Kima actually snorted as she tried to hold back her laughter. Perhaps they should start going to bed earlier if they needed to habitually get up for council meetings in the mornings. Either that, or they needed to hire someone for the sole purpose of having their coffee and tea ready before the two of them got out of bed.

Allura, who had just turned around with two plates of eggs and toast in her hands, gave Kima a bemused look, but Kima couldn’t stop laughing, the look on Allura’s face making the situation even more amusing.

The Arcanist bit her lip, chuckled, and, after another moment, also started laughing, the sour mood washed away in moments.

“It’s just-,” Kima said, accepting the plate from Allura and grinning stupidly up at her fiancé, even as she tried to catch her breath, “Thank you. It’s just, that, the last time I pleaded for Bahamut’s strength was, oh I can’t even remember-“

“That was hardly a week ago,” Allura cut in, still smiling, as she came back with two cups, one full of Kima’s coffee, black, and the other with the strong tea she preferred in the morning.

Kima finally caught her breath, sighing, but confusion filled her as she realized she wasn’t entirely sure what Allura was referencing.

Allura’s smile narrowed to a smirk. “Do you really need a refresher? If I recall, we were up in our bedroom, taking an early consummation of our vows and you were spread out across the bed, oh so sweetly while I-“

“Oh, that!” Kima cut her off as a warm rush ran through her whole body and her chest tightened at the memory. Now that had been one hell of a night. Even thinking about it was making her skin tingle and her core clench.

She knew that if she let herself follow that particular train of thought, they would be late to yet another meeting, and based on the looks they’d been getting from Topher and Asum the last few times they’d been late….

While Allura might be able to prestidigitate herself into immaculate order, Kima was not about to walk into the newly-built Meeting House with her hair a mess and a flush on her cheeks, looking like some lovesick teenage maiden.

She took a deep swig of her coffee, hoping the mug would hide some of the redness on her cheeks.

Allura chuckled and reached over to ruffle Kima’s hair – something the paladin only allowed her to do when they were at home, alone. Kima huffed at the touch despite how good it felt, and raised two fingers to rub the bridge of her nose as Allura pulled her hand away.

“At least I can confirm that Bahamut is faithful,” she sighed, raising her eyes to the ceiling.

I’m sure you’re very confidential, she thought, trying to project her thoughts up to the heavens, but maybe don’t let Vord know what I’ve been up to, yeah? Thanks.

“For richer and poorer, in sickness and health?” Allura joked, kicking Kima’s foot below the table.

“Are we giving our vows right now? I’m not ready for that yet,” Kima said, sticking her tongue out, then grinning as she shoved a forkful of eggs, into her mouth.

Allura smiled as well, and Kima felt her heart soar, even as she took another sip of her coffee.

She realized it hardly mattered if they were going to have sex that morning or not – she’d probably look like a lovesick maiden regardless.

They both ate and drank in silence for a few moments, before Allura cleared her throat.

“I’m sorry if I upset you earlier,” she began, catching Kima’s gaze before dropping her own to her plate, where she carefully loaded up some eggs onto her toast. “But I would like our wedding to be more than just an elopement on a whim.”

The feeling in her voice was genuine, and Kima bit her lip, understanding where she was coming from.

“This is something… important,” Allura said, rocking her toast between her fingers and still not looking at Kima. “It’s something special… and I want to be able to share it. You understand that, right?”

Kima shook her head fondly at her fiancé. “To an extent, sure. It’s just- when you started trying to make a guest list, naming off anyone and everyone we’ve ever met, well…”

She trailed off, and Allura looked up at her, unsure, and Kima couldn’t help but marvel at the woman she was so privileged to see behind the façade of Arcanist Vysoren. The mask she wore around the Council and the authority it demanded were set aside when they walked through the doors of their home together.

How had she gotten so lucky?

“Well?” Allura prompted after a moment of silence, her toast still held tenuously a couple inches above her plate.

“We know quite a few people,” Kima said, choosing her words carefully. “And while I’m sure most of them would love to share our big day with us, I think some of them could bring some trouble with them.”

Allura looked, to put it simply, confused. “I highly doubt anyone would intentionally-“

“Oh, I’m not talking intentional,” Kima said quickly, “But some of our friends, our acquaintances…”

She trailed off again, and pointedly met Allura’s eyes, trying to get her meaning across.

“Someone would unintentionally start trouble at our wedding?”

Kima sighed, not wanting to state it outright. Sometimes she was sure that they had some curse associated with them – that they would turn up where something untoward was happening, or at the simple mention of their name. But even if there wasn’t any magic going on there was certainly something to be said about the mayhem that tended to follow them around.

“Who were you thinking of inviting again?”

Allura furrowed her eyebrows at the question. “Drake, naturally, as well as Topher and Asum. Salda and Eskil, and maybe Gilmore and Sherri. I was wondering if it would be impolite to invite Gilmore without her, though perhaps it’s fine. Vox Machina would certainly merit seats, and I had asked you if High Bearer Vord might want- What’s that look for?”

Kima, who had raised her eyebrows, even sticking out her chin for emphasis, nodded, encouraging her to figure it out for herself.

“Kima, if you don’t want High Bearer Vord to be invited, you could just-“

“It’s not him!” Kima exclaimed with exasperation, lifting her face to the heavens for a moment. “Is there no one else on that list who might cause some trouble?”

“Well, perhaps if Salda brought her children, though they’re usually quite well behave-“

“Anyone else?” Kima asked, on the verge of just giving into fate and potentially jinxing the rest of their lives.

Allura shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, even as she fell silent, taking a bite of her toast and eggs.

She chewed and swallowed as Kima watched.

“I suppose Trinket wouldn’t be the best guest at a wedding,” she said finally. “Though Vex’ahlia usually keeps him in her necklace-“

“And the rest of them?”

“What, Vox Machina?”

Kima groaned and nodded, rubbing her face with her hands. “Yes, Vox Machina.”

“You think they would sabotage our wedding?”

“Not as such, no,” Kima said with a sigh, resigning herself to the fact that she would need to spell it out for Allura. “But they do have a certain mode of operation, don’t they?”

“What are you getting at?”                                                                  

“The trouble they always get into?” Kima suggested, feeling slightly exasperated at her girlfriend’s inability to see the potential risks. “The fact that they not only go out to fight monsters, but that the monsters come looking for them?”

“Keyleth assured me on her first visit for the Crisis Orbs that Hotis had been thoroughly dealt with. I doubt they’ll have a rakshasa coming after them any time soon.”

“It’s not the rakshasa,” Kima assured her. “But I just can’t help thinking that by inviting them we’d be inviting the worst to happen.”

“I thought you weren’t superstitious.”

Kima opened her mouth, closed it, then sighed. She decided to try switching tactics.

“Tell me. what would be the odds of a dragon showing up at our wedding, or a beholder?”

Allura looked dumbfounded. “Where would a dragon come from? Why? And a beholder? Almost less likely, with their usual habitat-”

“So pretty low, right?”

“Yes,” Allura agreed, though she looked even more confused than she had been. “But I don’t see-“

“And what would be the odds of some creature showing up at our wedding if Vox Machina were in attendance?”

Allura furrowed her eyebrows again. “I get the feeling I know what you want my answer to be.”

“You can’t deny that things are more likely to get worse if they’re going to be there.”

“I don’t think that’s how probability works.”

“Try to deny it.”

Allura sighed, and thought about it for a moment. “I suppose that if we did invite them I would want to be more armed than I otherwise would at a wedding, yes.”

“See!”

“But that doesn’t mean that they’re going to conjure up monsters in the chapel!”

“There’s also the fact that by telling them we basically tell the rest of the country, based on how well they can keep secrets.”

Allura did pause at that, and Kima felt a small surge of something shoot through her chest – not exactly triumphant, but thankful, and a little possessive.  

It really wasn’t that she had anything against Vox Machina, but with the vibe they tended to exude, with the situations they constantly got into, it almost felt like tempting fate. And the last few months had been so quiet, so restful in comparison to when she’d started poking around the Underdark, which had led to aberrations and the undead and fucking dragons…

“I can see your point,” Allura admitted, pulling Kima out of her thoughts. “But what if they realize we didn’t invite them?”

“We tell them it was small and private, which it’s going to be anyway,” Kima said, shrugging. “Like I said before, I don’t necessarily want it proclaimed via skywriting to the world that we’re getting hitched.”

Allura rolled her eyes, but seemed to appreciate the sentiment.

“We don’t need to invite anyone you don’t want to,” she said, reaching over to take Kima’s hand and squeezing it gently.

“I’m just saying that if you do decide to invite them we should save enough seats for at least one beholder,” Kima said, squeezing Allura’s hand back as she smiled. “And maybe a dragon.”

Allura scoffed, rolling her eyes. “I’ll keep that in mind when I put in our reservation.”

“See that you do.”

[missingmorethanmyskull-arch-blog]

Tox’s (and part of Arum’s) Life Story, and music

This gon’ be long so I’ll put it under a readmore

(a bit of comparison to Red and Boss too so I think I’ll reblob this to them)

This is me rambling to my dear @r0astet0aste but I took out everything that’s not actual rambling to shorten it if only a little

I've got to get up an info page for Tox

-slams hands down-

LISTEN I'M GONNA DUMP ALL HIS SONGS ON YOU

OK SO

ARUM NEVER PAID ATTENTION TO HIM. EVER. EVER EVER. NOT UNTIL THE WAR

HE WAS FAR TOO FOCUSED ON BEING GASTER'S ASSISTANT, AND THEN TRYING TO GET HIM BACK

THE SCIENCE DAD AND SON IGNORED THEIR 'UNINTELLIGENT' SON/BRO

TOX GREW UP FEELING INFERIOR AND NEGLECTED AND STUPID

SO HE THREW EVERYTHING HE HAD INTO PHYSICAL ABILITY IN THE HOPES IT WOULD GARNER HIS BROTHER'S ATTENTION

AND EVENTUALLY STARTED TAKING OUT HIS FRUSTRATION BY ABUSING ARUM

BUT ARUM DIDN'T GIVE A FUCK

HE TOOK THE PUNCHES AND KICKS LIKE "are you done throwing a tantrum, bitch? yes? good bye i'm going back downstairs"

Basically he was enamored with his dear old daddy and considered Tox a waste of space

So getting beaten up had the same effect as Tox wailing annoyingly as a small child. That "ugh stop" effect

Meanwhile poor Tox just

Wanted attention

Yes he beat up his big bro but all he wanted was attention

So there's this song for his feelings on Arum pre-war

Diary of Jane - Breaking Benjamin

Keep in mind he doesn't remember G

So all he knows is Arum ignored him for science for no reason

And so he was desperate for attention

He got it in the royal guard

He was good. He was powerful. He was Undyne's favorite

He fell for her of course

So they got together

(Arum has been with his Grillz, his Alphys, and the shopkeep bun in terms of real relationships I just need to figure out the order. Alphys first I'm p sure)

Then

The human fell

Arum fell for her gradually, put his trust in her, believed she'd break them free, etc

That didn't happen

King died. Six souls were destroyed

Toriel returned to the throne

Undyne didn't like that

Because Toriel instilled a mercy policy to fallen humans

But Frisk had told Arum that the human population had grown immensely in the last several centuries

Breaking free and initiating war - Undyne's plan, just like Asgore's - would result in monsters being eradicated

Arum was always on Toriel's side

When Undyne challenged her, the civil war broke out

Tox felt loyalty to his lover, ofc, but he also realized Arum and Toriel were right. War was a bad idea

Besides, the last thing they needed was their ruler to be another Asgore

Who was ruthless and made the underground hell

So he was torn

He eventually settled on a side - Toriel's

There's this song for when he had to fight Undyne

Headstrong - Trapt

Then

then

well, keep in mind

none of this was actually Frisk's fault

Everyone thinks it was but

In reality, she was trapped in the void by Flowey during his omega battle

Flowey felt horribly guilty for fucking it all up

He started rewinding time, again and again

Arum was the only one aware of this

He experienced the resets and reloads

So the Civil War, which stretched for idk a few decades probably

was actually much longer

Tox died

When he was killed the first time

Arum had a meltdown

He realized then that

despite everything

Tox was the only family he'd had left

And none of their fighting mattered, did it?

He'd wasted his brotherhood. He'd ignored the only person he had that was family

First mental break

This song

Not Gonna Die - Skillet

ISN'T IT GREAT?

the last thing i heard was you whispering goodbye... and then i heard you flatline

Arum was an absolute mess

Then time rewound again

He tried to warn Tox not to fight in that battle

Tox didn't listen to him ofc

so he died several times in the war

So I've got a few songs about that

Soldier Side - System of a Down

Battle Cry - Skillet

Not Afraid to Die - Written By Wolves

And my favorite for the Civil War time (aside from Not Gonna Die)

IS THIS ONE

Rise - Skillet

(by the way, yes, in every Skillet song on his playlist, Arum is the girl singing)

I mean

technically Undyne is the one revolting from Toriel's rule but

Toriel's rule is basically a revolution from Asgore's reign of terror

They're fighting on Toriel's side for a semi-peaceful life

They can't wage war on the humans

They obviously won't be breaking the barrier any time soon, back at 0 souls

All Toriel and her followers want is for the death to stop

So the last 40 seconds of this song?

With the phone call and the news reports and all that

They're all things that would've happened in Asgore's reign

Monsters breaking into each others's houses and dusting them for EXP

People being left on the streets to die

etc

AND THAT LAST MALE VOICE?

"You're such a failure!"

"What is wrong with you?"

"You're worthless!"

"You can't do anything right!"

"I wish you had never been born!"

All things Arum has snapped at him throughout his life

So he's got shit like that playing in his head

But he's still fighting to protect

and by this point

Arum has lost him so many times

He just

He wants to take it all back

He synthesizes a carefully measured solution of determination

Aware of his and Alphys's failures with the amalgamates, he realizes pure determination would only make Tox melt

(Alphys has committed suicide by now btw)

So he works desperately to find a working determination amount, mixed with other chemicals, so he can stop Tox from dying without making him melt

Not much time to test it but he does his best

Keep in mind Tox can't remember any of his deaths

All he knows is his brother has flipped his fucking lid ever since the human left

And keeps talking about time shit that he doesn't understand

Arum forces the determination mixture into him

It works

Tox survives the battle he kept dying in

Drawback: Tox's body distorted

It didn't melt but

It had to shift and change to account for the DT

this is why he's nine feet tall

The civil war continues

Inevitably, Toriel loses and steps down

She returns to the ruins

Undyne takes the throne

Tox is one of the only survivors on Toriel's side

The brothers return to Snowdin and Arum attempts to explain the whole time shit

(He pointedly does not attempt to explain Gaster or what he was always working on)

But he apologizes for everything

So ok Tox doesn't really get it all

He's still just... not very bright

But he realizes that Arum has lost everything and is trying to change

So things for sure aren't perfect, but they at least stop hitting each other and attempt to communicate more

Arum's first mental break and the endless resets within the war has left him not enitrely stable

Arum was a mess

He put his faith and trust in Frisk and look where it got him

Look where it got the whole underground

He returned to working desperately to try and get his dad back

He somehow convinced himself if Gaster was back, everything would be okay again

Honestly he put G on such a high pedestal, it's crazy

He consistently believes he could never measure up to him in terms of scientific ability, though he's been monitoring and repairing the core personally ever since G was cast into the void

He's probably surpassed G by this point but he can't believe it

he's got Red's failure complex honestly

He just shows it far less

Oh I should mention his HP was never 1

He always had over 200

Physically, he was always stronger than Red

He just didn't use it

Bigger, stronger, he didn't have the defects that Red was created with basically

anyway after that, whenever a human fell, they'd kill the human and purposefully crush their soul into little bits

so Undyne couldn't take the soul for herself

a few slipped through the cracks, tho

current time, Undyne has 3

Flowey kept occasionally fucking with time

The magic in the underground soured

Crops began to fail

Soon, food became very scarce

the monster population had basically halved due to the war but still

Hunger began to take control over everything

Tox came up with the clever idea (for once) of slowly conditioning himself and Arum to be resistant to most poisons

They started to poison their own food stores to deter people from stealing their food

But the fact is they started to starve slowly

Another human fell

In a fit of hunger, having lost himself, Arum killed and ate the human

well he set half aside for Tox but

yeah he tasted meat for the first time that day

Cue another mental break afterwards, when he realized the brutal, horrifying act he'd just committed

He'd killed only a few times in his life, and only in self-defense

Tox had dusted many in the war, but that was war

This was him murdering and eating someone in cold blood

and he really loved the taste, too

He was sickened by himself

Tox, too

But they didn't really have a choice anymore

Tox had long since accepted that the world was fucked up

Arum was new to the idea, having locked himself away in labs for most of his life, he was far more sensitive to this shit

This was around the time that Arum first became suicidal

So here's another Tox song as he started to realize Arum was in even worse mental shape than he thought

Never Too Late - Three Days Grace

Arum is growing ever more desperate about getting his father back

On a very bad day, he attempted to use the machine he was building, before he had finished it and properly tested it

Oh boy did that backfire

He reached into the void with a flawed machine and the void yanked payment

You've seen Fullmetal Alchemist, right?

Them boys reached into the void asking for the impossible

Arum reached into the void asking for something very possible, but he did it in a flawed way

He didn't have enough power or control in the machine

So first of all it exploded and took a chunk out of his skull manually

Now that could be healed with green magic provided you have all of the bone material with you

But what the void took wasn't all physical

It took chunks of his mind

Not only that, it soured and rotted his soul

His soul reached 0/0 HP but he did not die

His soul was permanently rotted and changed. He's already at 0, but still there, so he can't die

His magic soured too

You recall his dark, dark red magic color? Almost brownish black?

Wasn't originally that color

The hole in his skull destroyed one eye but the other began to glow permanently

He can't teleport, he can't die, he can't conceive a child, he can't even soulbond

He's essentially a zombie

And he looked the part for a while, too

Tox heard the explosion and rushed down there to find Arum unconscious with a chunk missing, tendrils of voidy shit being battered back by vines

Flowey probably saved them all from more damage

Tox attempted to heal the wound in Arum's skull but it didn't work

His body no longer accepted green magic

The basis of green magic is healing HP and at 0/0, there is nothing to be healed

Green magic hurts Arum about as much as being attacked does

Both make his soul glitch the fuck out like an amalgamate's

Anyway, Arum was unconscious for a damn long time

Days

But finally, he woke up... And he couldn't remember anything. He couldn't focus his gaze on anything. He couldn't speak and could hardly move

He was completely catatonic and only vaguely conscious

Tox had to take care of him the same way you might take care of a baby or doll, minus the crying

He fed Arum by hand, carried him around the house, manually moved his joints so Arum's body didn't entropy

Attempted to communicate in any way

Eventually Arum started to be able to recognize sign language again, and at least nod or shake his head in response to simple questions

He slowly regained control of his body, then speech, and at last, his memories began to come back hazily

He's still missing chunks of his life but he made a pretty miraculous recovery over a period of several years

He remembers, vaguely, the feeling of time resetting

But he can no longer experience resets properly

He doesn't remember them and they give him intense migraines

He never remembered the events of the day the machine exploded, and seeing as Tox has no clue what happened, he still doesn't know

He's just sort of... Assumed the machine is fine

And hes always like "oh yeah i should get back to building it some day" but hasn't gone to the basement since and he doesn't know why

Flowey ain't around

I mean they were never friends

Arum and Flowey fought over resets before, though Arum's mostly forgotten it

And they've talked about Alphys or about science briefly but

Theyre acquaintances at best

But Flowey, guilt ridden yet again, hasn't been around and won't tell him what happened

Anyway

The period of several years where Arum was 100% dependent on Tox stuck with them

Their shaky bond has evolved into a full on dependency on each other

Arum needs Tox desperately because he's a fucking mess mentally, and often he'll have bad days where he can't remember anything and goes semi-catatonic again

During which days Tox babies him and ensures his safety and comfort

Tox needs Arum because now he has a purpose

He's not only wanted but needed

It's like they never fought

They're as close as brothers can get

(Without being incestuous lmao)

They rely on each other 100%

Arum is there for Tox when he has war-induced PTSD flashbacks and needs comfort. Arum feeds them both with humans and other food he can steal.

Tox mans puzzles, patrols, keeps them safe from Undyne and is there for when Arum's mental health deteriorates

They split food evenly down the middle

Arum would give Tox more of his share since he can't starve to death, but Tox refuses

Arum is still often suicidal

He's honestly tried every method in the book to die

Overdose on poison he's trained himself to survive. Bullet to the head (ow). Trying to crush his own soul. Starving on purpose. Drowning. Freezing. Setting himself on fire. Hell. There's a Reapertale Sans rp blog ( @jokingdeath ) that Arum went up to and was like "touch my hand and kill me"

He literally shook hands with death and it didn't kill him

And nights when he's attempted or wants to attempt, and knows it's all useless, and is just a sobbing mess

Tox is there for him 

Here's the last two songs lol

Also both Skillet

Fire and Fury - Skillet (I realize this is a love song but platonically okay)

The Last Night - Skillet (not all of the lyrics fit but you get the gist of it)

Oh i fORGOT MY OTHER FAVE!

why isn't it on the youtube playlist how dare

wait there it is lol

Ok so this one, The Last Night, Rise, and Not Gonna Die are my top 4 for Tox

honestly I can't rank them they're just my top four

Fix You - The Offspring

She sees a million stars like holes in the sky

Arum has a far more bitter take on the surface world than Red does

all God's tears for her they cry, and I am in her rain

Arum is just

you think Red is in bad shape depression wise?

hAH

The difference is Arum puts up a far better "i don't give a fuck" front than Red

Arum laughs at his own pain far more. He makes death jokes and dead baby jokes

(His laugh is not sane anyway)

He kills mercilessly, without hesitation

With a smile on his face

(His smile is not sane either)

Gore makes Red vomit

it makes Arum grin

Red has at least a modicum of faith that they'll get out some day

Arum knows damn well he's never going to be free

Honestly they're both Underfell!Sans but they are vastly different

They were vastly different long before Frisk fell

And they had vastly different lives from the beginning

Arum's Gaster was a good man

Yes, he neglected Tox terribly, they both did

But Dros created them to be his children

As the last skeleton alive, and not interested in a romantic relationship, he created Arum and Tox in a similar fashion as how Erebus created Red and Boss, bot for the opposite reason

He also didn't fuck up with Arum

Red's physical body came out wrong

He formed too small, too frail

He always had 1 HP

Yes, it was in part due to his pessimism, but physically, his body can't hold much HP in the first place

If Red's HP were to rise (and it will) I think I'd cap him at 50

My 5 foot smol was born with the short end of the stick

slaps knee

short end

Boss was born with the long end slaps knee again

Boss's body was always too big

He couldn't control his magic properly and his body was pushed too far

which made him a very sickly child

but as an adult he evened it out with endless training

They're both on one end of an extreme

Whereas Arum and Tox were both quite average. They were evenly leveled, physically

Arum is 5'6", he's completely normal

He just happened to have inherited Dros's extreme intelligence

a fairly common thing in humans, genius can be hereditary

Meanwhile Tox... didn't

Boss was born with strength that he had to hone. Tox was born average and created his own extreme strength through willpower and desperation

Red was born with a too-strong mind that was further distended with experimentation, and had to hone and focus his intelligence once they escaped. It left him with so many emotional issues

Arum's inherited intelligence was carefully guided by his father and he was an average genius, also made extreme through willpower

All of his emotional issues are because of his fucked-up timeline 8,D

Ahhh I love designing characters

Red and Arum as as different from each other as they're both different from Chaos

who is also an Underfell!Sans

Who just happens to be female

and just happened to go insane and kill her entire timeline due to a certain brat :3c

BUT THAT'S RAMBLING FOR ANOTHER DAY

[heirs-of-prythian]

Hey it's me again. I think I'm gonna call myself Vi here, until I forget to turn on anonymous. Today started exam marathon so I need something to help not going crazy from stress. Do you have a playlist of songs that inspired all these characters? Next what did Lav made for Artemas when she accepted the bond? Did they celebrated it somehow? And how does Art handles stress? Lastly the question is for you: what court would you chose and what position or job would you have? — Vi

HI Vi! you can call me Katy (or any variation of that nickname i don’t really care) if you want!

First i wish you lots of luck for your exams and i hope you get through them just fine! i’d love to be your distraction!

Second, Nope i don’t have playlists that inspired characters! i don’t really do that, i just use the song i’m obsessed with for background noise that all. tho i do have some songs that fit some characters or they would like themselves  like:

Artemas “character songs”:

”I don’t wanna live forever” by ZYAN and Taylor Swift

Immortals by Fall out boy

Stressed out by twenty-one pilots

high hopes by panic! at the disco

songs art would like:

Lovebug by jonas brothers

little talks by of monsters and men

like me better by lauv

whispers in the dark by Skillet

like skillet in general

Arianna character songs:

Sucker for pain by Lil Wayne, Logic, Imagine Dragons, Ty Dolla $ign, Wiz Khalifa

 side to side by ariana grande

sorry not sorry by demi lovato

girls just want to have fun by cyndi lauper

songs ari would like:

Arianna grande in general

rihanna in general

sexyback by justin timberlake

Asteria character songs (somehow i have like one lol)

Dark horse by katy perry

Songs Asta would like:

Ed sheeran in general

maroon 5 in genral

moving along by 5 seconds of summer

(also i don’t have that for every character tho)

third well in a move that screams Lav, she just put a whole as cake in front of Art and than looked at him expectantly to eat all of it, while Art just sighed and muttered: why did i expect anyhing different? and then he jast ate the whole cake and the cake looked like this.

fourth, Art handles stress like hge handles his fear of pain, which means he doesn’t handle it, he avoids it. Art will go through great lengths to not get stressed, so he prepares for it, so when shits hit the fan, he can take a deep breath and be completely calm and collected while everyone else is stressing! otherwise when he is actually minorly stressed, he is like everyone else, just stressed, (also a little close the hyperventilating)

fifth, i would probably like to in either the night court or the autumn court (fave time of the day and fave season lol) day would be nice too because of the libraries (i forgot how to spell that) but too much sun, same with summer (too hot) but what would i be ... idk maybe something with books, like in a bookstore or like and editor .. idk

what about you which court would you join?

[ethanalter]

Saturday morning scares: Animation writer Buzz Dixon on the art of creeping out kiddos

(GIF: Youtube)

It’s a scene that’s been rattling around in my head since I was 6 years old. Two colorfully-garbed youthful warriors are standing in front of a mirror when they rapidly, and unnervingly, start changing: One ages into a withered crone, while the other shrinks to the size of a mewling infant. For years, I couldn’t tell you the episode or even the show that sequence appeared in; it just existed in the recesses of my brain as context-free childhood nightmare fuel. Now it can be told: as a kid, I was scared beyond all logical reason by… an episode of Dungeons & Dragons, the short-lived Saturday morning cartoon based on the eternally popular role-playing game.

Specifically, I was frightened by the ninth episode of the show’s first season, “Quest for the Skeleton Warrior,” which had its first airing in November 1983, though I saw it a few months later on a scratchy taped-off-TV VHS dub. While not technically a Halloween episode, “Quest” had plenty of scary moments since the episode’s premise involved the characters — a sextet of kids transported from Earth to the magical D&D realm — confronting their greatest fears while navigating a mystical tower at the behest of the titular Skeleton Warrior. While the group’s stalwart leader, Hank, literally saw his world crumble around him, the brash Eric had the humbling experience of his face suddenly acquiring donkey characteristics, and shy Sheila was left completely and utterly alone. And then there were Diana and Eric, the confident tomboy and baby of the group respectively. Separated from their friends, they wound up in a room filled with mirrors, where they saw their reflections age in opposite directions: as Diana grew old and weathered, Eric reverted to infancy. And then that process repeated itself on their actual flesh as well, in a scene that warped my fragile little mind.

That transformation sequence also guaranteed that “Quest for the Skeleton Warrior” became the only episode of D&D I ever watched, which explains why the show title never came readily to mind until I recently tracked it down on YouTube again. Happily, seeing it again as an adult helped exorcise that particular childhood boogeyman, and it also provided me with the name of the writer responsible for those decades-old nightmares: Buzz Dixon, a veritable auteur in the world of Saturday morning animation, and one who cheerfully admits to trying to push the envelope what that now-vanished industry would allow during his decade-long tenure.

From the late ’70s to the late ’80s, Dixon either freelanced or served on the writing staffs for such shows as Thundarr the Barbarian, G.I. Joe, InHumanoids and Bionic Six. And as with D&D, he wrote some of the scarier or more mature episodes of each of those shows, often navigating strictly outlined parameters about what could or could not be shown to impressionable young viewers — like myself — on Saturday mornings. As my personal experience proves, he found ways to overcome those limitations. When I sheepishly confess that the de-aging scene from “Quest of the Skeleton Warrior” haunted me for years, he’s entirely sympathetic. “I can understand that. When I was growing up, I would see things that people would not necessarily think of today as being scary, but it left an impression on me.” In this wide-ranging discussion, Dixon lifts the curtain on the creation of his Dungeons & Dragons episode, as well as the Saturday morning do’s and don’ts when it came to horror and violence.

How did you initially get involved with writing Saturday morning cartoons? I was looking for a job as a driver, and I ended up becoming a writer! Just to briefly recap, I had been in the army, and as I was being discharged in 1978, I applied to USC’s film school and was accepted. But school didn’t start until October, and I was discharged in February. My wife and I moved to Los Angeles, and I started knocking on studio doors to get a job as a driver or in the mail room, just to get my feet wet. One of the doors I knocked on was Filmation Associates, five minutes after producer Lou Scheimer said, “We need to find another staff writer, and fast!” I had been a newspaper editor and a military journalist, and had a stack of short stories that I had written, but not yet sold. So it was one of those cases of being in the right place at the right time. By the time October rolled around, I was making a living writing animation and said, “I can put off going to USC for a year or two.” That year or two became a decade or two.

What were the general standards for the depiction of violence and horror in the world of Saturday morning cartoons? When I started in the late ’70s, there were already severe restrictions in place in terms of the violence. The networks could not and would not draw a distinction between cartoon violence — which would be Tweety hitting Sylvester with a mallet — and a Scooby-Doo episode where someone gets bonked on the head and knocked out with a frying pan. There is a qualitative difference, because Scooby-Doo at least has the suggestion that it’s occurring in the real world, not in the cartoon world. Parakeets and cats do not pick up skillets and smash one another with them.

In terms of horror, giant monsters were a lot more acceptable than human-sized monsters. And they tended to look goofy because they didn’t want to scare the kids too much. With Thundarr, for example, we were allowed to destroy any non-living thing we could throw at Thundarr. We could send robots after him; we could send a rock monster; we could send clay zombies! We did an episode called “The Brotherhood of Night,” which was about a tribe of werewolves. That was a line we had to walk carefully, because Thundarr could not do anything that would physically harm a werewolf. Conan the Barbarian would have waded into them and there’d be werewolf parts all over the place. But Thundarr had to fight them in a way that meant no permanent harm.

Thundarr wields his sun sword in ‘Thundarr the Barbarian,’ one of many Saturday morning cartoons that Buzz Dixon worked on. (Photo: Ruby-Spears / Courtesy: Everett Collection)

What were some of the do’s and don’ts for writing scarier episodes in particular? You couldn’t have an overt death threat. For example, it was considered pretty scary to lock somebody in a room. If you did that, there had to be a window they could look out of so that they weren’t trapped in the dark and that there would be some indication that they could get out eventually. If I remember correctly, we also weren’t allowed to tie people up, or if they were tied up in some fashion, it had to be some ridiculous sci-fi device that caught them. Real weapons of any kind were a no-no, and to be honest, I can understand that. You don’t want to have an episode where some guy is slashing away with a real sword, and then some kid goes in the kitchen and gets a carving knife. Then it became a question of, “What is something that kids are anxious about? That would resonate emotionally with them at that level?”

Was “Quest of the Skeleton Warrior” an episode that was assigned to you or did you pitch this particular story? I pitched it, if I remember correctly. I’d been asked to contribute to the show, and they said, “Anything that appears in the Dungeons & Dragons game, you can use.” In many cases, that meant that it had to be toned way down, but if it was a monster or an entity or something like that you could use it. I looked at the game, saw the Skeleton Warrior and I liked that look.

(GIF: Youtube)

I had also been dissatisfied with the type of Saturday morning cartoon with a bad guy who just acts bad for no rational reason. My favorite example is Super Friends; I know people love Super Friends, but say the Joker steals the Eiffel Tower. Who cares? Outside of the tourist industry, who is that going to impact? The Skeleton Warrior, to me, was a chance to do a character who was a villainous character, but you could understand the reason behind his villainy and what was motivating him. That’s actually a little more scary than the Joker or Lex Luthor being bad. Even kids at that young age understand there’s a right thing to do and a wrong thing to do, and can understand wanting something so badly they might consider doing the wrong thing.

The episode is centered around the characters facing their greatest fears. How did you decide what those fears would be? There were certain things I knew we couldn’t do. We couldn’t do fire, obviously, because that’s a very traumatic thing for a lot of people. Anything involving death or mutilation you also couldn’t do on the networks at that time. So it was trying to find something that kids could relate to and, conversely, nobody at standards and practices would go, “Oh, no, you can’t do that.”

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The disappearing staircase is a great idea that falls in those parameters, for example. Yeah, and that’s something that you can symbolize easily in animation. That was the other thing. It’s pretty hard to explain to a young audience what it’s like to wake up at three in the morning with a sense of existentialist dread. That’s a little difficult to animate! [Laughs] On the other hand, literally seeing your world falling apart around you is something that you can animate, and something that they can grasp fairly easily.

It was Diana and Bobby’s transformation that got to me. Something about seeing them age in opposite directions really unnerved my child brain. I tried to think of the kind of things that a child looking at it may not be able to verbalize, but would think, “Oh, yeah, I would hate to be even younger and smaller.” The little boy who was the barbarian always wanted to be grown up, and he always felt self-conscious about being the smallest and youngest in the group. So his fear would be to become even smaller, younger and more helpless.

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The girl who was getting older was aware of the fact that she was approaching maturity and whatnot. We didn’t want to get too psychological about this, but she wasn’t rushing forward to embrace that, if you follow me. She was kind of happy where she was and a little bit anxious about the responsibilities of growing up even though she did act maturely. So we pushed it in that direction.

The Pleasure Island transformation scene in Pinocchio always scared me for some of the same reasons; I still have trouble watching it today, to be honest. And this episode has a Pinocchio reference in it when Eric sprouts donkey ears. Was that intentional? Yeah. You’ve got to understand: my mother was Italian. I saw Pinocchio as a kid, and she said, “You don’t know half the story.” She drags out the real thing, and I was like “Oh my God!” What’s done in the Disney movie is really lightweight stuff compared to the original Italian illustrations. They had Dante to refer to! The Disney version is disturbing, but it’s cartoony disturbing. The Italian illustrations are going to mess with your mind.

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You mentioned earlier that weapons were an issue with many studios, but the D&D kids are each armed with a specific weapon. How did you navigate that with Standards and Practices? As I recall, the little boy has a club and he wasn’t allowed to use the club on a living thing. Now, he could hit the ground and cause an earthquake that knocked people over! Or if a boulder was rolling at him, he could swat it out of the way. But he couldn’t use it as an actual weapon, because, again, you don’t want somebody taking a baseball bat to their kid sister. There was also an archer, and that was a very, very tender issue, because they wanted to make absolutely certain those things were never used as real weapons against living things. Generally, the more magical or fantastic a weapon was, the safer it was to use in a story. Thundarr had a sun sword that’s just a hilt when its inert and when he turns it on, it’s like a lightsaber. You can’t find a weapon like that in your home, so that’s okay for Thundarr to use. Even then, though, he couldn’t use it against a living thing.

Did you intend for “Quest” to be scarier than the average D&D episode? I was certainly aiming for that. It was a little less action adventure-y and a little more scary. Obviously, when your main antagonist in the story is a skeleton warrior, you’ve got a horrific image right there. You either play into it or you play completely against it. You could do a story about a really nice, sweet skeleton warrior who realizes, “Oh, man, I’m scaring the crap out of everybody.” But that would not be this story obviously. With this story, I went, “He’s virtually a symbol of death. He looks like Death. Get as close to that as standards and practices will allow.”

How much of the episode were you able to see as it was animated? It varied from studio to studio, and it varied whether you were a staff writer or a freelancer. With Dungeons & Dragons, I was pretty much a freelancer and as a result, I wrote the script and handed it in. I don’t believe I ever saw anything until it actually aired. On other hand, when I was at a studio like Ruby-Spears, I’d spend quite a lot of time with the artists, because I wanted to make sure they understood what I was trying to do. And they appreciated the fact that I’d come down and listen to them. They would say, “It’s really difficult to stage something like this,” and I would go back and try to figure out a way of re-staging it that would be easier for them.

Were you happy with the finished episode when you saw it? Does it achieve what you set out to do? For what that show was, I was very happy with the outcome. I thought it worked well, and I think it still works well to this day. If you asked, “In the context of the entire Dungeons & Dragons oeuvre, could you have done something with this basic idea?” Well, yeah, but then it’s an R-rated movie. [Laughs]

As you moved through the industry and worked on different shows, did you always find yourself drawn to pushing the envelope and finding ways to make things scarier? You wrote an episode of InHumanoids that’s pretty intense. I’ve always been an envelope pusher, but I haven’t always pushed in the direction of horror because there are a variety of things that interest me and a variety of stories I’d like to tell. Interesting story about InHumanoids: Hasbro cancelled the toy line halfway through production on the series. They told us: “We have to complete the series and put it on the air. Basically, we don’t care what you do as long as we don’t get a complaint from the FCC.” We went, “Oh, really?” And we went completely nuts! I did a story where there’s a bunch of teenagers who had been turned into zombies and they’re walking through the streets chanting, “Kill, kill, kill.” The voice actors got to that part and went, “Whoa, wait. Are we allowed to do this?” We said, “Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry, don’t worry. By the time this comes to anybody’s attention, your checks will have cleared. Don’t worry.”

The monsters that populate episodes of ‘InHumanoids’ (Photo: Claster Television/courtesy Everett Collection)

Mind you, at the same time we’re doing InHumanoids, we’re also working on My Little Pony! At that time, we were all what I would call utility infielders. Each of us had a show assigned to us, but we helped one another all had input from some degree on every show that was being done by that studio. That fostered a good sense of competition in so far as everybody was striving to top what the other person had done. It reflected in the shows, I think; they stand up better than many other shows that were done at that time.

Were you at all worried thinking about kids at home watching zombies rampaging through the streets saying, “Kill, kill, kill”? To be very honest with you, no, I wasn’t worried. And the reason I wasn’t worried is that I had been a longtime fan of Japanese animation, so I knew they had been doing far more emotionally intense shows than we had been doing in the United States. By emotionally intense, I mean the stories involved the feelings and the relationships of the characters. What happened in the story had meaning and weight to the characters beyond just the action. That’s in contrast to something like Scooby-Doo where the kids were never personally at risk from whatever mystery was going on. They just stepped in to help. The Japanese would get the characters involved personally and emotionally in the story, and that actually scared off American networks because they were going, “We don’t want the kids to get worried or anxious.” As a result, all of these cartoons involved the characters coming at a situation from the outside, solving it from the outside, and moving on. It never personally affected them.

Saturday morning cartoons are long gone now. Were you sad to see that era draw to a close? Looking back on it, we didn’t realize what we were doing at the time with syndication. We thought syndication was just an additional market, and that there would always be Saturday morning. With traditional Saturday morning animation, you created a show, you showed the show to advertisers, and the advertisers decided if they want to advertise or not. Even in the ’70s, networks could run any kind of sports programming and get more ad revenue than they could with Saturday morning cartoons. However, the FCC required a certain amount of children’s programming from the networks and from the local stations, and it was just easier to block out Saturday morning. Once the syndicated market came along, stations that were network affiliates would run G.I. Joe and Transformers in their afternoon blocks. Then they’d say, “We’ve shown our prerequisite children’s programming. We don’t need Saturday morning. You can run sports, and we can all make more money that way.”

To be brutally honest, the majority of people were doing this stuff just to collect a paycheck. Very few people were doing it with the thought of, “I want to do something that will matter five, ten, 15 years from now.” Because it was all viewed as very ephemeral. You do it, you put it out there, and they’re going to forget it. Nobody in the late ’70s and early ’80s could anticipate that VHS and then other forms were going to completely revolutionize the way we consume media. If you’re willing to go on YouTube and poke around for 15-20 minutes, I don’t think there’s a TV show from the past that you can’t find.

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Could you do an episode like “Quest for the Skeleton Warrior” in today’s landscape for TV animation? I haven’t been involved in animation hands on wise for a couple of decades now, and primarily by choice. I’ve found other mediums more rewarding and more satisfying. I would say this: I have grandchildren, and I’ve seen some of the crap that’s on the Disney Channel. They get away with it because they’ve got a Disney logo on it, but I could not imagine that stuff flying if it wasn’t a Disney program. I mean that just in the sense of rudeness, and the snark level. What I have seen on Disney has not been exceptionally frightening. It’s like the people who are writing these specific shows are all aspiring sitcom writers and every script they write is an attempt to show somebody, “Hey, I could write a sitcom.” How about you write a script for a nine-to-ten year old audience that they can appreciate? With Saturday morning cartoons, it was referred to as a ghetto, but the fact was there was a set of boundaries and rules. You may have chafed against those boundaries and rules, but you knew what they were. If you could find a way of working within them, you could do quite a few episodes that would just be good, solid storytelling.

Dungeons & Dragons can be found on YouTube.

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[uncleasriel]

via @tahthetrickster

#i would also accept skillet monster for this.#dungeon meshi#they don’t even call them AMVs anymore. they call them fancams now. because of w#hall of fame

AMVs have been replaced by fancams IIRC. As a 30-something on the internet, I must Harrpumph. KIDS THESE DAYS!

if it was about 15 years ago i’d already have seen 12 different AMVs of chimera falin set to three days grace animal i have become on my feed but that just doesn’t happen anymore. because of woke