#i wrote this originally on discord

[our-sin]

Stiles is a wildlife biologist and one day stumbles upon a wolf pack during a hike through the national forest he works for. They weren’t gray wolves so at first he figures another species has finally made its was back to california but after an hour or so of studying them from a far he realizes they aren’t typical wolves and appear to follow many of the theorized versions of dire wolves.

Thinking he might have discovered a new species and a possible descendant of dire wolves he stays for the rest of the day and studies them further. He only leaves when the sun starts to set and keeps coming back to study them. He grows rather attached to the pack, especially when a particularly curious wolf comes up and introduces itself and eventually drags him by his sleeve over to meet the rest of the pack. He talks to them, tells them about how important they are and how lucky he is to be the one to have found them.

He keeps trying to publish his findings but no one else seems to be able to find them and whenever he brings a photographer out they’re always hiding. One day he brings his own camera, thinking the wolves are used to him and just scared of everyone else and he finds one of the pack dead. He doesn’t take a picture of course, feels it would be disrespectful to the creatures that so readily welcomed him. Instead he goes back to his jeep grabs a shovel and a knife before coming back to dig the poor thing a proper grave and putting down a marker with a big rock and doing his best to add an engraving. While placing the wolf in its grave he notices bullet wounds and cuts on the body and figures out someone had killed one of HIS wolves.

The next week he spends looking for a tracker that can help him find who hurt his pack -figures if they went after one they might have been going after the others too and are still possibly camped out somewhere. That leads him to Derek who agrees oddly quick considering Stiles can’t offer him much in the way of payment.

Day one Stiles leads Derek to the grave and where he found the wolf. The man does his tracker thing and starts leading them even deeper into the forest. It takes a couple of days before they find the hunter’s now deserted camp that has some bullets and gear left behind, even a gun. Derek seems even angrier than Stiles that they had only missed them by a day or so given the remains of a campfire. They stay there for the night before moving on first thing in the morning. Takes another few days before they find an active campsite with several hunters.

They try to lay low but at some point Derek loses his cool and gets them caught and subsequently captured (he had heard them talking about the pack mate they killed, not that Stiles knows that). The hunters tie them up and do their typical hunter thing which is how Stiles not only finds out about werewolves but that the dire wolf descendants he thought he discovered were really the pack fully shifted.

Anyway turns out the pack had been following their entire journey from a far and the night after Stiles and Derek are captured they attack the hunters camp. Both Stiles and Derek are seriously injured but Stiles being human is the more pressing issue. Stiles wakes up like days later in a super fancy house next to a wall of heat. The wolf that had introduced him to the pack initially which is, of course, Derek. The man had refused to leave his side since they left the camp. And once everyone is sure Stiles is alive and mostly well the pack introduce themselves as humans.

Then happily ever after and all that jazz.

[abstract-moth]

Ballister: hey Nimona, you know how Ambrosius and I are getting married right? Nimona: against my better judgment Ballister: well… I know you're not much of a traditionalist… and you don't have to do it makes you uncomfortable… but how do you feel about being a part of the wedding party? Nimona: Nimona: I want to throw the flowers Bal, surprised: okay? Nimona: and be the ring bear Bal, smiling: okay! Nimona: and what are you plans so far? have you picked a date? a venue? a color scheme? you cannot just act like it's any other day, it's your wedding-

[thecolourpurple123]

Fourier Lugunica ramble (with excerpts from Ex 1)

Fourier is, much like all the members of the Lugunican royal family, somewhat airheaded but charming in nature. The Lugunican royals are all genuine and good people, but not particularly skilled stewards―which is pretty much the exact description the LN uses across all the side content I've read recently including Ex 1, 2, and 3.

In his normal state, he's prone to being incredibly impulsive and needy. He rolls up to the Karsten estate at random to bother them with whatever he's fixated on at any given moment and is very good-natured about the teasing he is subject to―not being particularly aware of the depths of Ferris's wit, but always rolling with whatever punches he does see. Fourier's obviously a bit pampered considering how he whines about the cold to the degree that he never goes anywhere without his fancy red coat, but he's not totally adverse to hardship or pain seeing how readily and regularly he challenges Crusch to duels for years of their youth despite never really standing a chance.

Generally, he does not concern himself with his own status, and readily waves it off in pursuit of whatever he's fixated on because he's just that kinda silly goofy guy. At the same time though, he's keenly aware of his status as the fourth prince, and while he does know the kind of effect he can have on people―as seen in how he stalls for time when Crusch is fighting the rabbits by distracting the people at her party with improvised songs and sword demonstrations―Fourier is not one to care for the fact that he's royalty in any ambitious or grand sense. However, as seen in Ferris's unusual appointment as a royal knight, he does know when it can be used to get what he wants/thinks is right and necessary.

Further, Fourier is very much one for bravado and putting on a brave face. He wants to be strong and look cool, especially for Crusch, and in all matters Fourier is one to throw himself headfirst into situations with a high degree of overconfidence. It's actually noted as being part of his charm, the fact that he so readily pretends that he's better than he is and is princely, while also not really caring for being seen as princely and competent, which ends up making those times where he's princely and competent all the more impactful to the people he interacts with.

(here we see Fourier and Ferris discussing after the duel with Crusch to make her wear a dress, for a more relaxed example of Fourier being both overconfident and not caring for how he appears which Ferris takes advantage of to tease him)

(this one is of Crusch talking to Fourier about Ferris's family history that he pretends to already know about and lies to Crusch about blatantly to save face, only to prove himself unknowingly in her eyes in the next breath)

(and this one is Julius talking to him later in Ex 1 for a more serious example of how Fourier views other's views of him)

Ultimately, Fourier is a bit of a walking contradiction. He's oh! so jolly yet still respectable and competent when the need arises. He doesn't care for status yet walks around with overconfidence. He's keenly aware of social dynamics at times when it counts, yet often blunders his way through conversations in a way that's disarmingly absent-minded.

It's a contradiction explained by the fact that Fourier is one of a rare few of his family to be a "master of the blood" as Miklotov puts it, or the Lion King's Blessing as the fandom has come to call it. He's able to just… intuit things, a lot of the time. He knows what moves to play to win at games, knows answers to obscure questions his tutor asks without knowing why, is able to only ever show up to the Karsten estate when Crusch and Ferris aren't too busy to see and hang out with him, and of course is able to coordinate several royal knights to rescue Crusch from Ferris's dad while also setting Reinhard as insurance for stopping Miles (a spy he doesn't know exists, just has a hunch exists based on pretty much no evidence at all) from escaping back to Vollachia all without ever knowing the full scope of his own machinations.

I think the most iconic moment of Fourier is this:

In one move, Fourier pushes Crusch to accept her dual roles of being a Lady and being the martial heir to house Karsten, thrusts Ferris into knightship in a way that doesn't leave him insecure or gives him any room for doubt, and saves Crusch's dad's life from the rabbits―only to after Crusch and Ferris leave, tell a servant Crusch tied up that he has no idea what's going on and that they should probably figure that out.

Fourier is effortlessly foundational to Crusch and Ferris's entire worldviews, and he doesn't even know how or why he just follows his instincts and garners their total respect and admiration. He's humble in an unspoken way that leaves his dramatic overconfidence as endearing instead of irritating. He's a royal with once in a generation blood, yet all he cares for is to see the buds in the garden that are those he holds dear in his life bloom into their own.

The only time he ever really cares for his station, is because Crusch is a little obsessed with the legacy of the Lion King, and Fourier wants that attention on himself (all the while not knowing that he already has it). He makes giving his everything feel like nothing yet still everything―which is all the more tragic, all the more foundational for Crusch going forward, because that very essence of Fourier is exemplified in his death where his very memory is but a footnote in a wider chapter of the nation's history. Everything to Crusch and Ferris, but nothing to a nation in mourning.

This is why, after finishing Ex 1, I have gained an appreciation for Crusch who I'd thought as a very boring character having only experienced her presence in the main series. For years now, I've always looked down upon that short-sighted selfish goal of hers to break the covenant with the dragon, just because she can't get over Fourier's death. But it's deeply understandable if you come to know Fourier, and see it from Crusch's perspective.

Crusch started with this chip on her shoulder regarding needing to be worthy of inheriting this mantle of the lion, and then by the end of the novel she inherits this impossible dream of Fourier's too―where he pictures this future together with Ferris and Crusch as he dies in her arms, not even able to finish telling her that he loves her before he goes.

Fourier was her Lion King, he always was, and in his absence, given this singular opportunity through her candidacy and in the context of the seemingly callous attitude of the Sage Council and the gathered nobles… to me, it just feels so earned that she would despise the Dragon, whose mere promise of protection overshadows the deaths of so many royals who were amazing in their own rights. Ultimately, Crusch's ire does come from misplaced grief, but it's one I can't help but respect now. The path Ferris and Crusch walk is not one that is kind to either of them, but it is one that is quite fitting. One that is lonely by necessity, because even though Fourier told Ferris to rely on his friend Julius, he was unable to finish telling Crusch his full feelings for her, leaving Crusch with an impossible dream and shoes she can't fill even with Ferris at her side.

So basically, all of this is to say that my favorite ferret man Ferrier Lugunica haunts the narrative and after reading Ex 1 he lives in my head as rent free as he does in Crusch and Ferris's.

[lurafita]

Going Commando

Izzy: "Ugh! This is so frustrating!"

Alec: "What?"

Izzy: "I'm want to know why not wearing underwear is called 'going commando', but the internet has about 8 different origins for it and none of them have a definitive verification."

Clary: "… Maybe it's more comfortable? For soldiers? I mean, it does stem from military usage, right?"

Izzy, turning to the guys: "So? Is it more comfortable, or does it just swing around down there and chafe more?"

Alec, Jace and Simon, red in the face and stuttering: "Y-y-you can't just ask stuff like that!"

Magnus: "Barring any strenuous activity, you don't really notice the swinging. It depends on what you are wearing, mostly. Tracksuits and other softer material pants are fine. Jeans can get a little chafy. And then there are some pants where you just don't want to have any underwear lines showing through. Like silk pants."

Alec: "… You are wearing silk pants right now."

Magnus, smirking: "I am."

[batsylikeme]

so here’s my silly little rant/opinions on the new doctor who season

if what i say pisses you off just keep scrolling mary i don’t have the energy to deal with negativity rn

so firstly i don't wanna talk abt how the new doctor regenerated okay that made absolutely no sense to me. idk why even 10 came back as well like ig donna's story was left "untold" ….but so is every other companion’s?

and idk how they split??? i really don't understand how they can do that but it’s aliens so whatever.

im also not gonna go into the christmas episode or the baby episode i...dont wanna relive that.

so!! i love the doctor i think he’s so fun and hip and his style is amazing.

personally i think the fact that he doesn’t have a set outfit is bc he’s trying to figure out who he is, which is always so exciting as the viewer going on this journey with him.

and ruby is awesome as hell!! low key fuck you writers for not making her a lesbian ( i mean she has the eyebrow slit and everything you should be ashamed).

also cool background story i love that she's interesting and a mystery. plus when villains are like "who...are you" that's always so dope.

i think that the "family" of the different "gods" is really cheesy but GOD i loved jinx they did so fucking amazing their performance was everything. i want them to act in every show ever honestly.

with that being said.. that episode specifically wasn’t my favorite, it was a cool concept but idgaf abt the beetles so 😭

and in that episode when the doctor ran away and hid?? that was new to the doctor that we know and i was like “yeah let’s go we’re gonna watch his character develop!”

so you would think it would build up to some sort of solution bc the doctor is tryna figure out who he is and that's gnarly love it

….then they DIDNT?

they didn't do anything with that?!?? at least that i was able to notice?

okay but after the jinx episode the rest of the episodes were actually fierce!

the landmine one had some really cool dialogue moments especially with the bickering like love i'm obsessed. ruby was also really cool and i love how much she cares about the doctor and how she wasn’t scared. i think that says a lot about her character. not to mention i think having her so in awe of the planets was a really good choice bc that reaction is so human and i love it.

buttttt the other characters were like mad infuriating which may have been the point? and throughout the episode it was so tense and nerve racking but the end was so anticlimactic. i loved the idea, and i loved that the dad was able to save the day (even tho i wanted the doctor to save the day but whatever) but i wanted MORE. i wanted the doctor and ruby to go into town, or to see the government and face them and call them out on the war! the fact that it was in one area the entire episode was just not it, me no likey.

the ruby centered episode was AWESOME.

that one was so unsettling (in a good way) and it was sooooo cool to see her like basically save the world and then she dies but BOOM they're back when the episode first started. i loved it, so peak doctor who timey wimey stuff

even tho i'm still a little confused as to if the lady was ruby? but whatever i still really enjoyed it i honestly have no cons on this episode it displayed what kind of person she is perfectly.

next, the bridgerton episode was fun! love the gayness they even kissed and they flirted it was so fierce. and ugh ruby’s character just keeps getting better and better honestly shes so fun and it’s so easy to root for her.

…but… the dialogue wasn’t good in this episode….at all. especially having the aliens say the word ‘cosplay’ took me out of the fantasy completely

also side note but not really-

what always impressed me growing up watching doctor who was that even back in 2005 the alien makeup was always so FIERCE like cunty boots down house houston bc it's makeup centric!

it also allows talented people to show off their skills and add really personal features to the actors who are playing the aliens. but nowadays they rely on the cgi so much that it just doesn’t seem believable and honestly it doesn't look good anymore. like mentioned before with makeup you can use the actor’s features to your advantage which creates the perfect illusion.

makeup + a LITTLE bit of cgi is the way to go and i don't get a fuck if it's more expensive ur a fucking successful ass company you have the money now USE IT

the episode itself was good until the very end when rouge sacrificed himself and then the doctor was like "i move on that's what happens" like bruh

by having him say that, it honestly makes you think that all of the losses the doctor has endured is just moments of his past, and that he’s moved on

like no i want the doctor to be angry, to be motivated!!

and that's what i think this doctor lacked.

there was no motivation or drive for him, which is so fucking stupid bc the actor is amazing.

the episode that ended with the doctor experiencing racism for the first time…you can tell that the actor put his whole heart and soul into his performance (especially the scream). he was unleashing a whole new part of his doctor and it was absolutely perfect.

so why not use that to give the doctor more motivation, more anger? seeing the doctor not being able to move on, to be selfish at times bc that makes him feel human. which would make sense BC!! he has spent so much times with humans and earth is important to him.

moving on; one of the biggest things that made this season an issue was that they cried every. single. episode.

when you only get something every once and a while it makes that thing so much more precious. the doctor only cries like once a season, and when he does it's like actually thrilling bc you don't get that side of him a lot.

and usually it's with a lot of anger bc the doctor is angry!! we've been through how many seasons of the doctor suffering?? i mean the man literally blew up his own planet. he's been thru the ringer.

there are so many episodes of the doctor not having the best morals, of him letting the villain die bc of his own selfish intentions. he's not supposed to be a hero, and i think that’s also what makes the doctor so compelling.

another con was the dialogue. one of my biggest tv / movie turn offs is when they say what they’re doing. and not in the super impressive like monologue way but in the simple way of being like "i'm cooking" like mary yeah i see you doing that??

and this season used that a lot. and again NOT in the cool monologue saving the day way speaking of that, no cool monologues? none? nada?

the best part of doctor who is when the doctor goes against all odds and saves the day with that sexy smirk and has the coolest monologue with the kick ass music in the back and during it gives you goosebumps! it also allowed the actor to put forth a lot of emotion into their performance and allowed them to build who their doctor is.

despite all of that, i did really enjoy the episode with ruby growing old and the racism episode. the fact that they didn’t have to say it was perfect and i think was a really good choice bc it was a surprise factor, especially with the doctor’s reaction. when they brought in a random character to save the day and him be so unlike the rest of his race and then kill him is always gonna be classic trope, bc my sister and i were GAGGED. perfect, absolutely perfect.

however. the season finale can go fuck itself.

UNIT is so cheesy now, and it feels so unreal and silly which i think is stupid. they’ve had this facility for so long so the fact that it is unserious now is lame. it feels really fake whenever they're trying to be serious and sciency, which is not the way to go when ur a literal army based facility.

anyways back to the season finale-yeah it was cool to have a throwback especially with the fact it was “the one who waits” that was gnarly! however,,, when sutukh whatever his name was literally kills the entire universe…it didn't feel like it??? it happened so quickly it didn't have that shock value it was supposed to and i was actually confused.

i did love the throwback to the ruby episode so it made you feel like it was tying that together which is nice!! give them some recognition yay!!

now let’s talk abt the whole plot with Ruby’s birth mother.

the build up of her real mother i mean it's been every episode when they mentioned it. in the first part where they were in the time window, that was giving me the creeps! i loved that it was scary and confusing and i couldn’t wait to figure it out!

so when the birth mother of ruby, the woman that even the god of death was infatuated with, the woman that the doctor couldn't figure out, the woman that was stuck in some sort of time thingy…………..is just a regular woman? its just some teenager who got knocked up and gave away her kid? that's it?

i've been getting edged this entire fucking season just for this?

if you enjoyed that it was a regular person i get it! it’s a throwback to whenever the doctor made his speech about how no one is ever just unimportant, which i do love and appreciate.

the whole reason she's important is bc the unknown is the most powerful thing which honestly i agree. my biggest fears are always the unknown. so yes absolutely i get it….but….are you...are you kidding me?

and then ruby leaves? ruby is done traveling with the doctor? i just. ugh.

there was so much potential and i’m just so empty now.

yes it had its cool moments, but im honestly so heartbroken and disappointed with how it turned out like, some bitch on tumblr could have written this season better than this.

i really really really hope the next season is better, at this point it’s just the writing. so get it together writers!! Ncuti is a phenomenal actor he is so fun and his range is so raw and captivating. not to mention Ruby! i’m really sad she’s leaving so soon, she was really fun and complimented the doctor well.

i can’t wait to see what’s next, and honestly no matter what i’m gonna watch doctor who bc it’s so special to me <3

[ladyofthenoodle]

What do you mean Snake Noir was Cat Noir’s mental health peak?

ok so this question is in response to some tags i left a while ago and i’ve been putting off answering it so sorry it’s so late!!! part of the reason i put it off is i can’t remember whose meta i read originally discussing chat noir’s season 3 development and how snake noir represented him growing from his struggles and insecurities earlier in the season. so sorry to uncredited person that made me think about this initially and whose points i’m about to attempt to summarize.

in season 3, we start to see a greater imbalance between ladybug and chat noir‘s partnership. ladybug isn’t guardian yet, but she’s the one handing out the miraculous and allowed to work closely with fu. even as early as season 2, with syren, we see this affecting him and him becoming more unsure of his place on the team. then, in season 3, two more things happen to really exacerbate this: desperada and reflekdoll. in reflekdoll, he isn’t able to be mister bug without lady noire’s help, while she mostly does fine with his miraculous. in desperada, he fails to use the snake miraculous and hears ladybug say she doesn’t need chat noir. so he’s at a pretty low point.

but then, things start to get a little better. adrien gets his bro team up episode. he tries to move on romantically. he’s not basing his whole self worth on ladybug so much anymore. honestly i need to do a rewatch of season 3 to properly explain this because a lot of this development is subtle but it’s there. things are looking up!

and then, in the finale, ladybug needs him. she’s a mess.

and he gets it together. he picks up all her slack in that battle and he gets his second chance with the snake and he absolutely rocks it once he combines it with the cat! and it’s very symbolic that this battle he does so well in is while he’s wielding a miraculous he failed with before. and honestly after the season 3 finale, he rocks it every time he combines miraculous and he rocks the kwami swap too, so that level up in skill lasts… but as we all know, season 4 pretty much cratered his emotional health. hence snake noir being the peak 😭 shoutout to bunny noir and passion era mister bug though!

[logicpng]

doodled this in between breaks of working on the dang ukagaka

im finally getting to vega's part... goddamn still so much dialogue to write

[Image ID:

Rough digital drawing. Rigel, a red and white colored humanoid in a suit and a starry head, is sitting on a messily drawn landscape image from within an image viewing program window, blushing in a green hue.

End Image ID]

[inksandpensblog]

Don’t wanna take over someone else’s thread but this is the kind of stuff I mean when I say that noogai’s relationship with Chosen has meta layers. Featuring snippets from a backburner project of mine that hasn’t debuted yet and may not ever but I had to offer.

[yakool-foolio]

All that Phantom talk yesterday got me obsessing even more over Hitman Zilch, so I'll serve y'all one of my finest grim dishes on the house!

Hitman Zilch dons the personas of his victims partly in hopes that combining bits and pieces of these identities will grant him all the attention n love from Yomi he desires, destroying all that barely remains of his original self to become an amalgam of people he's killed but believes would suit Yomi's wants in a partner. Maybe he even believes that adding Yomi's own identity to his collection is the highest form of love, showing that he is willing to become one with him by metaphorically wearing his skin, loving him inside and out.

[chaoslynx]

just got a comment on my first fic with the reader saying they didn't know what to do now that Love Letters ended and decided to read all my fics chronologically

[abstract-moth]

Ballister has begun to understand Nimona no matter which animal she is

Meanwhile with Ambrosius it's like

Ambrosius: what do you want for breakfast?

Nimona: meow

Ambrosius: …can you repeat that?

Nimona: Meeeeeoooow

Ambrosius:

Ambrosius: why do you do this to me?

[sylveriasarcana]

my drafts are so much funnier than my real posts

[stalkedbyplanes]

Would You Like to Buy a Vacuum From Beyond the Realm of Human Comprehension?

It was almost 6 in the evening. This late in the summer, the sun would be going down in the next hour or so. Paula was going to have to lock up and double check her wards soon. Without the sun, things would get bad, she just had the feeling.

Like always, she started at the back of the house, checking the witching jars hidden among the double row of sunflowers that ringed her house. The witching jars had confirmed utility against the Wet Things, but the sunflower was merely a superstition that Paula inherited from her mother and her mother’s mother. The story was that devils and other dark things wouldn’t cross the flowers of the sun.

There was no empirical, scientific measurement to prove that was true when salt and silver worked so much better. But the comfort that the flowers brought to Paula was immeasurable.

The sunflowers follow the sun with their bright yellow and black faces, and for a moment Paula swears that they turn towards the front of her house, much lower than the actual sun approaching it’s inevitable daily end.

Then there was a loud, but not impolite, knock at her front door.

It wasn’t too late for visitors, but an uncommon time for one to be sure.

Paula quickly goes back inside, locking her door with brass lock and salt on the ground. She moved quickly through her small home to the front door. Through the looking glass she tried to spy who it was, for a brief second all she could see was a wide smile and an errant ray of sunshine temporarily blinded her before resolving into a charming looking woman in a brown leather hat, radiant smile, and wavy yellow hair that reminded Paula of the comforting feeling of her long ago lost first great love.

“Hello ma’am, I was wondering if you were interested in buying a vacuum. I can promise you that you’ll never see another opportunity like this again in your life,” the woman says, her voice like spring, refreshingly warm.

Vacuums, old world tech, from the world before the Shift, before the Slip, and well before the Fall. She’s heard stories of a seller of vacuums wandering the wastes beyond the Dust Desert just outside of town, but Paula never believed them.

“Who are you?” Paula asks cautiously, one hand on the door knob, the other on a worn and dusty sickle, kept near the door for protection.

The seller speaks a name that slips from Paula’s mind in a way that should have concerned her but resolved a moment later into “Eloise”.

Paula takes a pinch of the salt from the floor around the threshold, and opening the mailbox she flicks some out, hitting the woman in the worn traveling boots. Nothing sparked or bled smoke.

The saleswoman didn’t flinch.

“I shall submit to a test of silver or a trial of riddles if you so choose.” 

Paula cracks open the door and slips out the edge of her sickle, not pure silver, but enough to damage anything that would darken her doorstep. The saleswoman, still smiling, extends a hand and pricks her finger against the blade.

“Satisfied or shall I recite a limerick for you to prove-”

Paula undoes a rune and a lock and opens the door. “What do you want? The sun is going to be going down soon, and I have wards to check.”

“I shall take only a few moments of your time, I shall be gone long before the sun will set, and you have my utmost promise that you shall be entirely safe while I’m on your doorstep,” the woman says in response.

The seller was pretty. At first, Paula thought, in an ordinary way, but as she kept looking the woman grew prettier among the details.

She smiled at Paula. “Would you be interested in a vacuum cleaner, ma’am? I can promise you, you’ve never seen one like this before. May I come in?”

The smile was so warm and disarming, that Paula found herself wanting to say yes. She knew she shouldn’t, there had to be a trick to it, but there was something safe about this woman named Eloise.

Paula let her inside. “Fine. But make it quick.”

Another charming smile, or perhaps the same one never left her face since she first knocked at the door.

The saleswoman swept into the house, her wheeled case barely making a sound.

Paula locked the door behind her and turned expecting to see the saleswoman opening her big case to reveal the product. Instead, Eloise was already facing her, vacuum already out and ready to be shown off.

It wasn’t a pretty thing, if Paula was perfectly honest. A pale yellow and red contraption, that was actually a little garish if she looked too long at it. As best as she could tell it appeared to be some kind of… molded plastic bags hung with some stainless steel acting as a base or foundation. Paula was positive there were no more factories, at least within 500 miles of the Dust Belt that she lived on the ever encroaching edge of, that could manufacture molded plastic like they used to in the Old Old World.

“There you have it, the last vacuum you will ever need,” Eloise said with a bright smile.

Now that the salesperson was within Paula’s house it was easier to get a good look at her. Well worn traveling boots that went up to her knee. Sensible pants. A long, brown leather duster. A wide brim hat. All of it sensible, all of it a bit dusty from the world outside the door. But she seemingly lacked the things that every traveler of the Dust Belt needed: a mask, eye protection, a weapon. Eloise was either foolish, or… completely unafraid of the fate that comes with testing the creatures of dust and shadow that haunt the nights and spaces between.

Paula was going to ask a question but Eloise continued with her speech before she could put a voice to the thought.

“Of course it is solar powered, so if you simply leave it in a sunny spot for 6 hours or so it will fully charge up. A battery will last at least 3 days of hard use, which I’m sure you’ll find plenty of out here. And I know how important solar power is out here with your… faulty electric grid. Things haven’t been the same since the fall of Niagara.”

Niagara. An old name, from before even the first Fall. A name that none would recognize, save possibly Paula, who was a researcher of the Before, trying to save or reconstruct the history and technology of that bygone world.

“You know of Niagara?” Paula asked.

Eloise smiled, this time a knowing smile. “I do. It was a sight. The way the sun would cause rainbows in the water spray.” The salesperson went quiet for a moment, as if remembering something from long ago.

“I shall not bore you with the technical details but this unit has one of the greatest filters you’ll likely ever see. It captures dirt and dust and collects it here in the back.” Eloise taps the back of the unit, the bulkiest part but one that still fit the relatively slim design. “You’ll only need to change it out once every solar year. And I see that you are a woman who is a firm believer in the power of salt circles. If you flip this switch here, you active a special mode unique to this model that will divert and purify any salt you collect and put it here in this little detachable container. This will allow you to clean your whole house and reuse any salt you collect in a new circle.”

“That’s very impressive,” Paula had to admit.

“And if you need to get into those hard to reach nooks and crannies, well we have this extension,” Eloise says as she pulls out a plastic tube that bends and folds while making strange little noises that ends in a foot and a half long silver metal… nozzle for lack of a better word. The extension was strange and didn’t seem to belong to the rest of the vacuum.

“It has a little hole at the tip and it allows you to really get into those corners and clean up any dust mites trying to break in and undo your home’s safety. And it is made with consecrated siderite so in a pinch it will function as a fairly lethal weapon.”

“Surely this cannot work as well as you are selling it.” Paula was suspicious and growing more so by the second. “I’m afraid this isn’t for me.”

“May I do a demonstration? To prove to you my product’s efficacy?”

Paula sighed. There was something about Eloise that she couldn’t just outright refuse. If all else fails she’s going to have a clean carpet. “Fine.”

“When you purchase this model it comes with a manual that tells you how to clean and take care of the unit, but it also gives helpful tips on how to vacuum, and certain patterns for bestowing certain benefits of having a clean room. I’ll do a very basic anti- clockwise pattern for metamorphosis and a feeling of bountiful energy.”

Eloise turned on the vacuum, which wasn’t as loud as Paula thought it would be. She stood in place near the threshold of the room that lead towards the front door and the stairs up to her bedroom. No matter how Eloise turned and moved in strange circular patterns pointing out how things are working and the beauty of a clean and open space, Paula never saw her turn her back. This bright and chipper woman seemed to be exceedingly careful, perhaps more so than Paula gave her credit for. But even knowing that Eloise wouldn’t ever turn her back on her, Paula tried to look for the movements, to catch her turning in a strange way to move around her living room, but she never caught it. She was just always looking at Paula or in a slight profile. It was exceedingly odd.

In the demonstration, Eloise pointed out a few rogue dust devils that Paula had missed in her earlier cleaning. They were strong enough to do anything yet, but if they were clever, in a few days they could start undoing wards overnight and invite something truly nasty inside or become something nasty themselves. Eloise and the vacuum destroyed them with minimal effort or fuss, which is more than Paula could have done.

After collecting some of the salt that was picked up in the demonstration and reapplying it to the circles and wards the demonstration ended.

“It is a very impressive machine you have there,” Paula admitted. “What’s the catch? What payment do you want for it?”

Eloise smiled, wide, bright, and a touch predatory. “I want very little. I like knowing that I can help keep people safe and warm. Just on days that you can see the sun, I’d like you to go outside and stand in its brilliance and say a word of thanks. No more than 10 minutes of quiet contemplation in the sun, on sunny days.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

Paula felt the hair on the back of her arms stand up. Her skin felt tingly and warm. The room bristled with energy and she felt more awake and alert. Maybe that’s why she only now noticed that Eloise had the most brilliant yellow-gold eyes. A color not natural to humans.

“You promise that’s it?”

Eloise took one of Paula’s hands in her own tanned, warm, worn hands and held them there for a moment. “I swear it.”

Paula had heard stories of deals made with devils and Saints, genies, and the Wet Things. None of them went well. But those were stories, legends. Weren’t they? This pretty woman behind her was offering a simple tool to help her maintain her small home and stay safe. And she only asked for thanks in the sun on sunny days. This close to the Dust Belt, there were only so many days she could see the sun when it wasn’t covered by swirling dust storms.

“Very well,” Paula said, taking the deal.

“Wonderful!” Eloise beamed at her. “You can take this model right now. Or I can put in an order for you for a different color scheme or an advanced model with more luxury features that I don’t think you’ll need.”

“If you’re willing to part with this one, I can take this one right now.”

“That is agreeable.”

The bargain was struck and the deal made, and Eloise made to leave. She walked backwards telling Paula to study her new owner’s manual, and Paula swore that the sunflower heads followed the mystery salesperson as she walked up the sidewalk and then away into the approaching evening where Paula just suddenly lost sight of her.

[cloversupernover]

k so i've been getting increasingly more unhinged about my own ocs and i cannot stand having only two people know about them so feast.

The overall story is called Scarlet Ghosts and it's about a 16-17 year old boy named Lewis geting himself and all his closest friends killed after trying to protect them from what he suspects are paranormal forces. After that, he finds himself all alone in the Realm of the Dead, and doesn't deem himself worthy enough to try and find the people whose lives he mistakenly took.

What happened beforehand, however, is that Lewis's father had passed just a few months before him. He was his entire world. So Lewis embarks on a trek across the entire Realm of the Dead to find him, whilst simultaneously giving a great effort in hiding his identity due to his fear of his friends getting their well deserved revenge.

This journey makes him stumble across stories and legends he never thought to be true, including one he wished wasn't....

(if you'd like to know more let me know! i have one oc in particular i enjoy blowing up in my head that i'd love to yap about :))

[vixxdaemon]

Scared animal but not in a prey about to be eaten way. Scared animal in the starved predator that just wants to survive way.

[aclanby-anyothername]

a clan by any other name is an extremely serious story full of heartbreak and turmoil. also cats saying swear words.

(you can learn more here.)