#if you want to be tagged just lmk

[pickleking8]

13 - Adoption Isn't All It's Cracked Up To Be - Chapter 13

Word Count: 1258

Ao3 Link

Previous - Masterpost

●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○

Daniel Fenton was a very unlucky boy. That was an established fact. Quite frankly, Danny found himself inclined to agree with that fact, given the overall trend of his life. Or, at least, that’s likely what he would think, if he wasn’t preoccupied at the moment. 

The buzzing was quieter, now. After weeks of sitting, watching day turn into night and into day again through the gilded bars on his window, feeling the worms that were crawling behind his eyes, the rot, the decay that settled into his bones and made them brittle, the dust that settled like a fine layer of moss dotting his skin, turning his eyelashes gray with sediment. Blood bubbled and flowed, sluggish as ichor, tainted green instead of proper gold. 

They tried. Oh, they tried so hard to act as if they cared, to act as if they were concerned with the way he grew still and silent, the blankets beneath him sewn to his skin. They brought him food, and drink, and shook him and yelled at him and cried at him, calling him a falsehood all the while, all as if they had not spread the spores of the very rot that consumed him, as if they did not breathe tainted air from their putrid mouths that was too hot, too close, too warm and alive and encompassing, as if those embers didn’t fly, didn’t crawl their way under his skin and turn his insides soft and pliant, old with apathy. As if. 

All the while, as the decay found its way into every crack and crevice of his broken body, his mind sharpened, his anger grew, as did the pool of ectoplasm, that power, filling up his core bit by bit, by bit, by bit. Drops in an ocean. 

It had been weeks. His core was almost full, he was almost there. 

Tonight, I’ll be ready, he thinks, slowly, not sure whether it’s a fact, a truth said without hesitation, or something he’s trying desperately to convince himself of.  He smiled, finally, a crooked and tiny thing, and blinked, and dust trickled off his cheeks and eyelashes, to join the layers turning his lap grimy and gray. 

●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●

Jasmine Fenton was not an angry person. At least, that’s what people said. No, she was kind, and smart, and “going great places” and “not like that brother of hers”. 

In reality, Jasmine Fenton was very angry. 

See, here’s the thing about anger, that many people don’t know, because many people (luckily, luckily, how lucky they are) haven’t had the need to be angry, the need to snarl and fight and rage, the need to protect themselves, their friends, their families, from anything and everything. 

Anger boils, that’s the thing. 

In fact, it frothes, and bubbles, and goes over the pot, spilling onto the countertop and sink, making flames splutter and fizzle and pop, and making them angry too. Anger fills you up and then spills out, from tear-laden eyes and biting words from a worried mouth. Through the fingertips, often, harsh patterns wearing their way into the countertop or doors slammed shut or nails digging into palms. 

Aconite’s palms are rough now, calloused, from weeks of lit fires and swung pipes and drawn guns, weeks of fingernails, glass-edged, cutting into already-broken flesh. 

Aconite, Jazz thinks, holds the anger that spills out of her. Aconite utilizes Jazz’s anger, methodises it, makes it much more useful. Makes it a weapon, a sword, steel tipped and fire forged, and a shield as well, solid and sturdy and holding everything else at bay. 

Aconite’s anger makes her eyes sharp and cold, makes the purple in her suit glow a sickly, deadly shade, makes her fires spread far and fast.

….Her ears still rung, from the screams, the fire, or the anger, she didn’t know which. 

Whatever. 

Danny’s still gone. GIW are still standing. The pot’s still boiling over.

Aconite is made of anger, and anger makes Aconite. 

●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●

Danny stands, joints creaking as if predicting the biggest hurricane of the century, dust falling like a cape from his shoulders, different bits of decay seeping from his skin, his bones, and falling to the floor. His neck pops as he turns to look at the clock, small red numbers blinking back at him, declaring it to be just after three am. Witching hour, he’s strongest now, power surging up like high tide. 

He looks at the bars, eyes the barest hint of rust peeking through the gilding of paint. The iron would hurt to phase through.

He goes through the wall instead. It’s an odd sensation, it always is, as if he was weightless, deep in an ice-cold lake, the pressure of the water compressing him tightly from all sides. It should have been claustrophobic, but it wasn’t. Instead, it felt like an expanse, like open sky on top of a mountain, or ocean stretching for miles. Like he could go anywhere, despite how small the enormity of it made him feel.

Frankly, Danny was perfectly fine with going anywhere, as long as it wasn’t here. On the other side of the wall, now, he makes use of the bars, gripping them tightly as he prepares to fall. Ready, this time, not haplessly dangling, but with feet planted firmly against the wall, and a body tense: ready to twist and turn and deliver him safely to the ground. Concentrating, his form flickers, sputters, a candle on the verge of fading, before he winks away from sight all together.  

His feet squelch as he lands in the mud below, toes digging into the earth, and he feels tethered for the first time in weeks. For too long he was simply drifting, but now, as the soles of his feet feel twigs and dirt, and his fingertips touch over a veined and lumpy leaf, he cannot help but feel hope surge in his chest, in his core. 

No time, go, run, RUN, and his hope spurs his body into action, taking off across the lawn, perfectly trimmed grass ripped out and destroyed in his wake. He sees the wall, overgrown ivy tumbling down it, grabs the fuzzy tendrils and hauls himself over. 

Keep running. Just keep running. 

Feet pound against asphalt, bare, turning bloody as the sharp crags of Gotham’s streets take their toll. He checks his hand, and sees nothing but the grimy street below it. Invisible, still. Good.

Farther. You have to go farther. FARTHER. 

Heaving, laboured breathing, even though he doesn’t need it. Air filling his lungs too fast, too sharp, before being expelled even faster. Choking on the cold atmosphere. 

The facts, Danny, focus on the facts. That’s nitrogen, oxygen, and argon you’re suffocating on. 

He’s flickering again. Shit. Shit.

There! An alley. Inconspicuous, dark, filled with debris. He turns, quickly, hitting his shoulder on the wall and flashing into sight before pulling the wash of invisibility back over himself, ducking behind some overfilled, slimy dumpster. 

He sits against the wall, panting silently, listening. 

…Nothing. 

No shouts. No footsteps. No menacing calls. Not even a whisper carried on the light, chilly breeze. 

He did it. I did it. He’s out. I’m out!

Relief washes over him, cascading down, and he feels cleansed, the rot, debris, and decay slowly trickling away. 

Throws his head back. Sighs, just a small huff of air, before falling backwards into the space between the inner and outer wall of the brick building he had leaned against. 

He lies there, in the darkness, staring up into the void. 

Free.

●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●

Masterpost

Taglist: @tkiesai, @simplestoryteller

Hey, everyone! I know it's been a while since I updated, and I honestly don't have an excuse, it just felt like nothing I wrote was good enough, so I kind of abandoned it. I wasn't planning on updating again, sort of ever. However, several lovely people left comments on the last chapter, expressing how much they would enjoy an update, and it prompted me to go back and look at my docs. It turns out I actually really like what I'd written for this chapter, so I decided to finish it out and post it! I can honestly say that I'm feeling much more invested in the story again, so perhaps this will lead to me actually finishing it. Though I think I've said that every time I update, so ya know. We'll see.

Anyway, I hope that you guys like this chapter! I was really inspired by the book 100 Years of Solitude for the tone of the first bit of the chapter, and it was fun to try out that sort of style. The last part of the chapter intentionally was made up of shorter, choppier sentences to try and evoke Danny's stream of thought as he's running and make it a bit more immersive/real, but idk how that came across. I also tried to include a lot of callbacks to the first couple of chapters, I thought it would be a cool full circle sort of thing. Overall, I had a lot of fun writing this, and I hope you guys enjoyed it! Thank you for reading!

[wuntrum]

2025 horror pin up calendar!!

print version | digital (/print it yourself) version

a labor of love, truly <3 prepare for the new year with 12 suggestive (and silly) horror characters :) featuring characters from: american psycho, bride of re-animator, the evil dead, hannibal, jason x, frankenhooker, alien, an american werewolf in london, jennifer's body, saw, the thing, and scream! to see the full specs of the calendar, check out the pages above!

[riverc1an]

these three are so silly :D

[gyroshrike]

I know we all appreciate dominant Mel, but I live for her getting chances to be handled with softness and care

[thetisming]

amatonormativity: a romantic partner should be the most important person in EVERYONE'S life

NOT amatonormativity: MY romantic partner is the most important person in MY life, but i understand this is not the same for other people

allosexnormativity: EVERYONE should have sex and sex is something EVERYONE needs/wants/should want

NOT allosexnormativity: I PERSONALLY enjoy sex and love having sex because it makes ME feel good, but other people dont feel the same and that's okay

platonormativity: having friends is important for EVERYONE and EVERYONE needs/has/should have friends

NOT platonormativity: having friends is important to ME and I PERSONALLY love having friends, but there are people who dont and theres nothing wrong with that

faminormativity (is that the word?): family is important for EVERYONE and EVERYONE needs to have their family

NOT faminormativity: family is important to ME and I PERSONALLY need my family with me, but other people dont feel the same and i understand that

lovenormativity (again, not sure if this is a word): EVERYBODY feels love and there's something wrong wiith you if you dont

NOT lovenormativity: I PERSONALLY feel love and love people, but not everyone does and that's completely okay!

NOT amatonormativity: i dont have friends/have any desire to have friends, i am happy with other relationships/no relationships at all

NOT platonormativity: i dont have any desire to be in a romantic relationships, and i am happy with my platonic relationships

NOT allosexnormativity: i like hooking up with people and having one night stands or friends with benefits

NOT faminormativity: i care about my family deeply and am close with family members

NOT lovenormativity: i feel love for people i care about

it's not normative to personally enjoy something, so long as you respect that other people simply arent like you and aren't going to like the same things as you. taking down normativity is a two way street, allos and aspecs need to do it. support your local aros, aces, apls, afams and other aspecs today! remember to challange all normativities, and to not enforce other normativity by saying how bullshit other normativities are!

nothing is universal. romance is not universal. sex is not universal. friendship is not universal. family is not universal. love is not universal. nothing is universal.

[800db-cloud]

spare some spy hcs? 👀

OKAY. ok. so i have been putting off answering this ask because i’m admittedly very shy and very afraid of sharing my headcanons. and also because i have A LOT OF THEM.. but here we are!

here are my headcanon spies :) René works for RED and Jacques works for BLU!

where to start, where to start… i have a LOT of headcanons for them, i’ll be talking for FOREVER here. i’ll just start with story because why not! xP

René’s parents were also agents/spies, so he was always destined to be one as well. And he lives up to his parents’ legacies! He’s most notorious for destroying gangs and mobs and the like from the outside in. He was brought to America years ago to take out a dangerous mob boss, but unfortunately found himself infatuated (and involved) with the boss’ daughter. Luckily for him, the boss’ daughter wanted the guy dead, too.

René’s story is honestly a lot more fleshed out than Jacques’, but here goes anyway:

Jacques’ father was a very rich and powerful man in politics. Jacques himself was the result of an affair, and to keep it hush-hush, his father decided to raise him. Raise is a strong word, though— but he did help his father gain intelligence and blackmail on opposing political parties. Jacques proved to be a promising spy since childhood.

If anyone has any suggestions/ideas for Jacques’ story, let me know haha x) he didn’t have the greatest upbringing per se…

last thing on this section i wanna talk about is the Scouts. René is related to both of the Scouts; he’s RED Scout (Jeremy)’s biological father, and he’s BLU Scout (James)’ adoptive/step-father. Jacques has no relation to either scout, but acts as a guardian figure to BLU Scout.

anyway, this is the part where i continue talking about other miscellaneous headcanons! and these come with doodles :)

You couldn’t catch René DEAD without his mask, or his suit! He’d neeever take them off around other people (‘other people’ is mainly just Scout. For obvious reasons.) Meanwhile, Jacques is pretty lenient in letting his teammates see his face! Everyone on BLU’s seen his face at least once.

A big part of why René refuses to strip down is also due to the fact he has a LOT of tattoos. No doodle for this one because I’ve yet to decide on what tattoos to put on him (ideas are very welcome!!), but yeah! Most of the tattoos were ‘forced’ onto him/he had to get for jobs and ‘fitting in’ with bad crowds, but a good few of them were of his own accord, too.

Jacques doesn’t have tattoos, but he has a myriad of another thing: scars! Lots and lots of scars on this guy. Faded and old, sure, but they’re there. Most prominent ones are the one around his neck (from when the RED Medic beheaded him) and the ones on his forearms (those are from the LAST time he was imprisoned— looong story…)

René doesn’t cook very often for his team, but when he does, everyone’s always BLOWN AWAY by this guy’s cooking! René’s really bad at taking compliments, though— (“Cooking food that’s remotely edible isn’t a compliment, it’s basic survival.”) —but rest assured he’ll be thinking about it for the next month. Jacques, however… Do NOT let this guy into the kitchen. Ever. The BLU base has a special fire extinguisher “In Case Spy Decides To Turn On The Stove”

oooh, this one is an hc and a HALF to me. René much prefers working alone. It’s just in his nature, being isolated and whatnot. He likes to deal with things by himself– maybe he doesn’t want to burden others? On the contrary, Jacques NEVER works alone. It’s a trait he’s had even before being hired to BLU. You never know when things could go wrong, so it’s best to have someone else to fall back to… or someone else you can blame!

these hcs both have something to do with how René and Jacques show their trust in other people :) it’s a bit convoluted but it gets there:

René is, amusingly, very bad at remembering names. Almost laughably bad. There have been many-a-story of his days before RED where he’d get a target’s name wrong, even after he’d repeated it in his head dozens of times over. Names are difficult for him, so if he remembers yours, it means you mean a lot to him! He prefers using his teammates’ names rather than their titles. René is unaware of how charming this specifc trait is to his coworkers (they saw how much work and effort it took for him to memorize their names, they’re just happy with how far he’s come!)

Jacques has a… to put simply, very complicated relationship with food. But the one thing he’ll never turn down is sweets. His favorites especially being chocolate bonbons. Jacques has a hard time eating in front of others, let alone sharing his food! But if he genuinely likes and trusts you enough, he’d have half the mind to share with you. Admittedly, he hasn’t brought himself to share with most of the members of his team yet, except for a select few. Mostly BLU Medic and BLU Sniper.

—

and of course, eventually, EVENTUALLY, these two also become friends! it took a little bit but believe me, they both respect each other’s skill in their job :)

AHHg i could go sooo much longer about them— from things like their physical traits (how much teeth they have? it’s a pressing question) or different periods of their life (why did rené have to leave his family? why was jacques imprisoned for the last time?) BUT this post is so… so, so long. My fingers hurt from typing

If you’ve managed to read through this Beast, THANK YOU RAAHH!!! thanks so much for asking this, too. i hope to spare more hcs someday. hehe ^_^

[lemonlumens]

today and even tomorrow, let’s all play together

[meyerlansky]

MASTERS OF THE AIR, PART ONE ↳ curt + 📝

[homoesia]

bsd chapter 109 anime style

[daz4i]

it’s kinda funny that dazai is here too like he is very much already in jail you do know that right. i don’t think he is wanted anymore

[valtsv]

this quote about cordyceps from this article in a scientific magazine is basically how i've always imagined possession to work in horror stories. the demon/entity/whatever doesn't alter your perception, displace you, or control your mind, they just take over all your bodily processes, bypassing your brain entirely. they force your mouth and vocal cords to form the words they want you to say, force your limbs to move in the direction they want you to go, and force your lungs to keep expanding and contracting and your heart to keep beating, even through excruciating pain and horrific injury, so you can't even self-sabotage and your friends and loved ones are discouraged from trying to stop you for fear of what harm they might cause you to do to yourself to escape. you're a passenger in the driver's seat of your own car, and the hands on the wheel, though outwardly apparently the same pair you've always had, are no longer your own.

[ibblescribbles]

TRASH 🚮 Speedpaint | Alt under cut:

[entering--hyperspace]

Gw2 character template feat: my character, Leo

Get it Uncrunched [Here]

[whenthelightisrunninglow]

remembered @hehe-hoho-ohno's misfits au it's sooooo good and i love it. CHEERS AND APPLAUSE. YAY

[ahalliance]

antoine + étoiles insane moments, p.2. aka the ass saga. p1 here

transcript + context for some of the clips below

[Video Transcript:

[First clip plays.]

Rivenzi: You want to see Etoiles’ ass, of course…

Antoine: Yeah, I’m gonna stare at your ass, Etoiles…

Etoiles: Fuck, what dread, during Popcorn [a talkshow Etoiles had been invited on the previous week], when I went up to the map and you said that, and I thought ‘whoa—‘

Antoine: Sorry

[Second clip plays: the moment during Popcorn]

PA/Domingo: Antoine Daniel has posted a tweet for us: ‘I wanted to look at this map of Africa, but Etoiles’ ass in the shape of a standing bell is driving me crazy. Smiley face with eyes in the shape of hearts.’

[Third clip plays: a continuation of the first clip.]

Antoine: Sorry, bro…

Ponce: Oh but that tweet, besides

Rivenzi: A standing bell…

Antoine: What’s more is that I never tweet and when I do it’s to tweet this sort of shit

Ponce: That’s exactly what I told myself. When PA read the tweet, I thought to myself, ‘but he never tweets!’ And he tweets to talk about Etoiles’ ass

Antoine: There needs to be a good reason, you see

[Fourth clip plays: a clip from the Team du Lundi’s minecraft server.]

JDG: Someone (in chat) said, ‘I can’t tell whether the atmosphere is good tonight or—‘

Antoine: It sucks, it sucks

Florence: You don’t need to ask every time, it always sucks

Baghera: Always sucks. Especially when Etoiles talks about ass [which had been a previous topic of discussion for him that night]

Antoine: Stooop, I enjoy it

Mynthos: You enjoy it?

JDG: It’s true tonight that it’s more weird than bad

Antoine: I like it when Etoiles talks about ass….

[Fifth clip plays: a second and different clip from Popcorn.]

Etoiles: —you’re not allowed to tell me that [Xari claimed to not know much about cinema]. I know you, I studied, because you’re my rival [in pop culture]. I really enjoy what you do in life, Xari, and you’re really knowledgeable about cinema

Antoine: What do you mean he’s your rival? And I’m just shit?

Etoiles: You, you’re my lover

Antoine: Oh yeah, sorry, my bad

PA/Domingo: One of the three is gonna die soon. There’s a whole situation, there’s a whole lore

[Sixth clip plays: a clip from the QSMP.]

Antoine: Don’t you want to get married, dude?

Etoiles: Well, I don’t have the time to fuck

Antoine: What the fuck?!

Etoiles: I don’t have time to fuck, dude. I just need to kill everyone

Antoine: No but just a marriage, you see. You’ve watched Game of Thrones— you haven’t watched Game of Thrones, you can’t know how marriages work in that series

Etoiles: I’ve watched it, but I’m married to the street, dude. I can’t give out my heart that quickly

Antoine: Yeah but you can give out your ass quickly, no?

Etoiles: No, frankly, my ass—

Antoine: What the fuck?!

Etoiles: Giving out your ass takes time, dude

Antoine: What the fuck…

Etoiles: Then again, I need to think about it. I’ll give you my answer. I need to discuss, and everything

Antoine: I’m tired of getting betrayed. You get married with someone else—

Etoiles: Never in a million years!

Antoine: —it’s like yesterday. Apparently Maximus got the mic from his ass removed while I wasn’t there. I was supposed to be the one to do it

Etoiles: Oh okay, so I’m your second choice?

[Overlapping]

Antoine: No! It was just to help him—

Etoiles: No, but, okay

Antoine: He got— listen—

Etoiles: There’s no problem!

Antoine: Fuck, nevermind

Etoiles: There’s no issue! Oh, so you’re opening my chest and stealing?

Antoine: I was just looking! Out of curiosity

Etoiles: Yeah, that’s it

Antoine: I don’t even understand what’s in it

Etoiles: Yeah, out of curiosity. Dude, your opinion on my cave?

Antoine: Well frankly it’s big

end Video Transcript.]

[trashiiplant]

I don't really ever post my oc stuff here, probably in fear it wont be received that well but ah, here I go anyway.

I finally made a slugcat oc to accompany my iterator oc, Gaze Upon a Borealis HEHE.... they're very good friends

Some notes of both below the cut:

Gaze Upon a Borealis is an iterator located in the arctic region, making her even more isolated than many other iterators. Their communication network isn't all that great. I currently don't have any proper ocs that would be a part of her local group but I DO know that it's small as hell.

She is very gentle and welcoming of any small creatures that find their way to their can. They worry over every single one every time, aware of how cold it must be for them outside. She often times assists starving creatures.

Their puppet is made to be portable in case she needs to fix some outer damage to her structure by herself. (The Beacon likes helping them with this.) There's hardly ever a proper need for that though, so she simply walks around her facility and admires the view. They gaze upon the aurora borealis often. (ayy)

Borealis can even exit their can for a certain period of time with a built in lift. They like to go on walks with Beacon every now and then.

AND OH BOY.. I rambled a bit while working on The Beacon OOPS

Anyway, here's the text if that's a bit hard to read:

-The Beacon is modified by an iterator, Gaze Upon a Borealis

-Also referred to as "Assistant" by GUB

-Specifically modified to survive the harsh climate of the arctic, where Borealis' can is located.

-Very durable and larger than most slugcats. It is awfully slow but much akin to the Gourmand, it's spear throws are quite deadly.

(2,5 dmg at most, maybe. Depends on the throw)

-Tail is designed to keep it warm, along with the thick fur

-The tail acts as a lantern, it's heat and light may lure in dangerous predators in seek of warmth.

-Rather grumpy and strict in personality. It is extremely wise due to it's old age and has acted as a mentor figure to a few slugcats in it's old colony

-Borealis managed to put it's physical aging to a halt... wont die permanently unless ascended. (screw the logic)

-At night, it's colors change to resemble the northern lights. It's tail even leaves a trail akin to one. Borealis simply thought of it as a pretty feature. Beacon finds it bothersome

-◉◉◉|◉◉◉◉◉◉ Easy peasy food pip req due to the lack of food in the arctic.

The rest is just height comparisons.