#just gotta get those last two frogs!

[victorluvsalice]

-->While Victor was wrapping up with Shadow, Alice woke from her nap – I sent her to also get pumpkin spice waffles for breakfast (as they were the thing most likely to go bad in the fridge). Which she fetched from the minifridge in the greenhouse. Because why wouldn’t she. *shakehead* Sim autonomy sometimes... Anyway, I decided this meant she could help Victor in the greenhouse (as you could see, there was plenty to do), so once she was done eating and had put her dish away in the new dishwasher (and petted Surprise), I had her go help Victor with the weeding –

Which, uh, didn’t last long, both because Victor kept pre-empting her attempts to weed by hand with his vacuum, and because this is the point where the game started getting really laggy (just when it started raining in-game too, so I am mildly suspicious this had something to do with the weather. But I’ve had it rain in-game without tremendous amounts of lag before…). Oh, and because Alice suddenly got really tense because her werewolf instincts were demanding she go outside. *sigh* Werewolf instincts sometimes... I thus had her instead go clear a twisted tendril from Moory’s pen, then chat with the cow while Smiler took a break from Servo-ing to feed the chickens and clean their coop. Around this time, I managed to remember that Victor had a bunch of animal treats in his inventory and had Alice take a chocolate treat to give to Moory (resulting in her getting a bottle of chocolate milk along with the regular milk), and Smiler a pumpkin treat to give to white hen Leghorna so she’d lay an orange egg later. I always forget to use those damn things, so – here we are! Me using them!

-->And then, immediately afterward, Alice started showering in the rain. *grumble* Erratic Sims sometimes... I let her get on with it, as she WAS starting to trend downward hygiene-wise, and instead had Smiler try joking around with the rooster to give the chickens some attention. The rooster was not interested in their human humor today, though, so Smiler retreated to the greenhouse to chat with Victor – a decision made much more difficult by the fact that Victor was moving around a lot as he tended his plants (lot needed to be done in there today), and by the massive lag. *heavy sigh* I eventually gave up and had Smiler harvest their plasma fruit, poison fireleaves, and noxious elderberries before sending them back to the chicken coop to get the eggs (two hatchable – immediately sold – and three normal, which I ended up forgetting to put in the fridge, whoops). They then fed Toothy, and bred the Whirlyflower and Spotted Dirt frogs in their inventory in hopes of getting the Dirtwhirl frog they needed for their collection –

And to my delight, they did indeed get one! I quickly sent them upstairs to plop it into the right spot in their collection. :D They now just need a plain Heart frog and a plain Eggplant frog, and they will be DONE, yay!

-->While all this was going on, Alice finished her literal rain shower, so I had her collect her Delicate negative-moodlet-reducing bracelet from the charging grid and complete her Raw “find extra Simoleons doing chores” bracelet. Looks pretty good, huh? :) She then shooed Phantom the fox away from the chickens before chatting with the hens so they wouldn’t feel lonely – fortunately they were much more receptive to her today then Smiler! I then had her go and start repairing all the broken wind turbines in the wind farm (because, as usual, most of them were busted) while Smiler flew down and joined Victor in the greenhouse to start super-selling all the produce as Victor finally finished his tending and did a little evolving. And then knee-walked his way into the house for a desperately-needed pee, poor guy. XD Sorry, Victor – I didn’t realize it was going to take so long to tend all the plants today!

-->Around this time, I had to stop Alice from running in and lighting the fireplace again (seriously, shouldn’t YOU of all people not want to do that?), which alerted me to the fact that we had a visitor – Felipe Sisson, hanging out on the front porch taking photos of Shadow after being sprinkled by one of the local specters. :p While I wasn’t originally planning on greeting any visitors today, Smiler WAS feeling a bit thirsty, so I had them go out and say hi while I had Alice do some painting in the study and Victor (after having a bit of forbidden candy to boost his energy) work a bit more on the piano song that’s been sitting in his inventory for ages. Smiler and Felipe had a nice chat, with Smiler learning that Felipe dislikes yellow but likes blue and works as a Waterperson for The Other Sports Team. *nods* Good info! This exchange and a bit of enthusing about humanity was enough to get Felipe to agree to give Smiler a drink, and they happily chomped down on his wrist for a nice glug before sending him on his way. If only all human interaction were that simple. :p

[thegrimreaper-probably]

plz more of gravity falls x plant monster user, maybe include some weird cult that worships user like a god? a name for user like "Venus" from the venus flytrap, or Primula, it comes from the Latin word for Daisy, or straight up Audrey the second, lil reference to the little shop of horrors, and it makes reference for how mabel placed a sticker on their pot? user getting accidentally sold to a random kid (guess who sold them) and maybe...user learning to swear by (guess who again) but PLEASE, I NEED MOREEEEEEEEE

Gravity falls x plant monster reader part three

Mainly your relationship with Stanley

(Don’t need to read all of them to understand) Gender is once again not a concept for alien plant. It/they/she/he

Imma be so honest I wrote an entire thing, hated it and everything I tried made it worse. So I scrapped it and now it’s late, my bad.

This is set in the past, so before the twins. During and after the portal.

A lot and I mean a lot has happened in the last month. First Ford and FiddleFord, broke up. As lab partners, not as boyfriends. I may be an evil plant from outer space but cheating is wrong, eating people isn’t. Those two were as queer as Orin Scrivello D.D.S. was addicted to laughing gas.

Now Ford is going crazy, or Bill is? It’s rather complicated. Ford shut down the portal, something about how Bill wanted world domination. I could’ve told you that, I mean why else would I be here if world domination wasn’t possible with these two? Anyways currently Bill or more accurately Bill possessing Ford is punching the door to the basement.

“Does he remember any of this?” Bill stops and turns to me.

“Not a single memory, why? You got something Twoey?” Where did Twoey come from? Bill refuses to use the name Ford gave me.

“You let me in on world domination, I let you in downstairs.” He blinks, similar to a frog.

“Just gotta feed me so I can slip under the gap.” My vine points to the bottom of the door.

“I got plans for you, Sixer will give up soon.” And that was the second to last time I saw him. After that he possessed Ford and brought me along. I’m deeply traumatized seeing a shirtless Ford rolling around and eating spiders. I didn’t need to see any of that or be apart of a tramp stamp tattoo session.

Ford had gone crazy and I was well, mainly hungry but I guess…lonely. There was no FiddleFord to scare, no more experiment to see what I could do, no more music around, and no Ford to learn from. Bill wasn’t any better, that man was acting like a teenager going through a break up.

And eventually things happened, Stanley, Ford’s twin brother, had came to the house. You know the rest, and I ain’t gonna talk about it.

“Mullet!” Stan drops his beer on the ground, it shatters on the floor. He looks up at me and pauses.

“You- you can talk?”

“You see anyone else here? No? Then yes I can talk, do much more then talkin’ tell ya that much. This?” I move my vine to point at the window. “Sunlight, it ain’t enough, I need food. So either you feed me or I feed on you.”

“How much did I drink?”

“If I didn’t need ya I’d drain ya dry. Go grab that book got the number 1 on it. Got it or do I gotta dumb it down for you mullet boy?” He nods and turns to leave then pauses.

“I’m doing this for Ford, not you.” Stan leaves and that was the start of mullet boy’s identity theft of Stanford Pines. It was mainly just him questioning his own or his brother’s life choices, coupled with drinking, smoking, and crime.

There were moments where he’d bring me downstairs and it wasn’t so lonely.

“None of this makes senses, what is wrong with-.”

“It stands for e.” I point to the symbol.

“You know the rest?”

“You find e you find the rest easy.”

Or

“I just got him back, I can’t lose him again.”

I don’t answer for a bit I move my vines, like how Ford would fidget with his own. “He was already lost, a long time ago.“

“I could’ve help him if he just-.”

“You couldn’t.”

“Why didn’t he just call me before this?”

“You know the answer, you just refuse to accept that, that’s the answer. It’s not satisfying, human rarely are.”

Others where I learned more about English, one of the many human languages.

“Son of a bitch, what the hell?!” Stan yelled when I first nipped him.

“These shitheads don’t know anything about marriage, it’s a scam.” Stan says as the tv plays some awful movie.

“Where the fuck is it?” Stans asks as he looks for a wrench. And much more as life went on, with many other stories to go along with them.

Was a few times where he’d fall asleep and I could easily drain him. I didn’t though, as stupid as it was, Stan was my key to opening that portal again…for world domination of course. Over the years he became more of a con man and the house became a tourist trap. While he would still work on the portal, the basement wasn’t a room I could survive in. So I got put upstairs in the window.

Where I met little tiny Soos, now my hatred for kids and human kind was very much strong. This kid was cute enough to eat, not that I’m picky. Soos had soon started to work at the shack, where I tried to eat him.

“Mr. Pines? I fixed the-.” I go to eat him and Stan throws his cane at me.

“There was a- uh- bug. Go back to work I ain’t paying ya to talk.”

“Okay Mr. Pines!” Soos walks off and Stan looks back at me. I smile and a customer walks in.

“Can I buy that?” The man points to me, Stan smirks and hands me over.

“$500. New species, called Spatium Praereptor.” 500?! What am I? A Monstera Deliciosa?

“Fine.” He hands Stan the money and Stan gives him me. I move my vines around to look like I’m sticking a middle finger up. He does it back and the guy puts me in his car.

Come to find out I was joining a cult. Cult? Religion? Who cares? Only downside was I was not being praised but killed by some stupid blind eyes meatheads. Sometime between eating people and throwing them Stan somehow found me and brought me back. Stan was reckless, irresponsible, a con man, gross, and a loser.

Though he was my friend, and I will still have world domination even if I care for two humans. Just cause I like two people doesn’t mean I’m soft. Shut up.

[s-4pphics]

its christmas morning! (e.w)

omg y’all it’s fucking 4/20 aka my thanksgiving christmas and valentine’s day😳 

wanted to write for my fav pothead for my fav holiday :O ellie ripping bongs has been imprinted on my brain since that scene in the game yall know which one i’m talking about i don't even gotta say it🙄 i am very high rn so if there’s a typo or mistake no!! there’s!! not!! love y’all bye 

wc;cw: 2.7k, oc n ellie r both in college, WEED!!! WEED WEED WEED!!!, 21 savage :p catch it, sexual tension y’all know how i get down, descriptions of sex MDNIIII, dubcon(they’re very high), ellie’s so cute but also a lil mean, hair pulling ;D

“c’moooon dude, just one hit!” ellie said with a wide grin while softly nudging your shoulder with hers, her packed and filled miniature glass bong and lighter sitting on the coffee table in front of the two of you. 

ellie had sent you a text message after you got out of your last class saying it was her favorite fucking holiday so get ur ass over here! you knew she would hate it if you—her main smoking buddy—missed out on the new bud she got from someone on campus, so you packed an overnight bag with four of your own blunts that you rolled for her(you learned that tropical breeze was her favorite flavored wrap during one of your seshes!), and made your way over to her off-campus apartment complex. you knew there was no way you were going to be able to walk home tonight since you planned to get as fried as humanly possible. 

you’d arrived inside her building and scaled the stairs to the third floor before you banged on her door. fuck, you were winded! what’s up with the elevators not working—

a muffled what’s the password?! had come from the other side of the door as you gasped for air. 

“stop playing games, i’m tired!” 

you’d heard her laugh as the door swung open, revealing an already high, smiling ellie: you were immediately hit with the smell of the weed she’d apparently already smoked. she looked so cozy, her black hoodie and gray sweatpants littered her body, her hair in a loose ponytail. you looked down at her giant frog slippers before she broke the silence between you two. 

“it’s christmas morning! welcome to my trap house!” she’d excitedly squealed out, gesturing for you to come in. 

she guided you to her and her roommate’s living room couch as she lit one of the blunts you rolled (and then another one) for you both to share. you felt relaxed after smoking them down, but you told her you needed more, and she was more than willing to give you that. she’d ran to her bedroom and grabbed her trusted friend, as she called the smoking utensil. 

“i’ve never used one of those before.” 

“…are you fuckin’ serious?” ellie asked with wide, red tinted eyes. 

“um, yeah. why would i lie?” you asked blankly.

“that’s not what i meant, you smoke pretty often so i assumed. my bad.” she put her hands up in defense at your tone. 

“you don’t need to apologize,” you said before pausing to look at the bong. it was pretty: it was clear, but there were hints of blue further down the base. it reminds you of the ocean. you stared at it before breaking the silence. 

“what does it feel like?” 

“what? hitting it?” she asked as she nodded towards the bong on the table. 

you nodded at her, and she shrugged before sarcastically answering. 

“it feels like you're smoking,” she said with dramatic jazz hands. 

you pushed her as she laughed, “obviously, bitch! i mean when you're high. people always talk about it hitting way harder than any other pipe.” 

“because it does! you choke hard as fuck if the rip is big but it feels good afterwards. you smoke, you know what i’m talking about. it’s… the peak is just more… intense with bongs? i guess, i don’t know. i can only take like…three or four good hits, not gonna lie.”

you nodded as you listened to her rambles. ellie’s tolerance was definitely higher than yours, but you could hang—which was one of the main reasons she liked to smoke with you. you always felt nervous to hit from a bong because of all of your friends' horror stories. you heard so many variations of how hard they greened out the first couple of times they did it, and though you’d never admit it to anyone, their experiences freaked you out. you always smoked weed to relax and sleep, not see god. 

“…hm.” 

“what?” ellie smirked at you when she heard your acknowledgement. 

you were looking at the bong intensely as you imagined what your high would be like if you were to smoke out of one: you’d be so embarrassed if ellie was forced to talk you down from a bad trip because you didn’t know your limits. but the mention of its intensity intrigued you. how intense would it be? would you be able to move? think? 

“you wanna hit it and see what happens?” 

her quiet voice caught your attention. you looked to your right and… oh. she was really close to you. when did she get so close? 

“…yeah.” 

you were now sitting criss crossed on the couch as ellie faced you, packed, water-filled bong and lighter in hand. 

“hitting is pretty easy, but your throat burns like crazy. this is my smallest one, but… yeah, it might choke you.” 

“‘s fine.” 

she hummed in acknowledgment before she said, “i’ll go first just so you can see.” 

you nodded as you watched her put her lips at the opening of the tube. she lit her lighter and circled her flame around the bud-stocked bowl, igniting the flower as smoke slowly began to fill the base of the bong. 

when she was satisfied with the rip, she detached the bowl from the stem and sucked in the smoke, exhaling a large cloud away from your face. she cleared her throat as she passed it to you, “see? easy.” 

you took the bong and lighter from her hands and inspected it. you heard her snort from in front of you, meeting her eyes as you looked up. “it’s not gonna bite you, dude.” 

“i fucking know that,” you said with a soft glare, making her laugh harder. 

she reached over towards the coffee table and grabbed the small baggie of your rolled blunts. she took one out and grabbed another lighter out of her hoodie pocket, lighting the end and puffed on it to ignite the weed. she hadn’t noticed that you’d been watching her the whole time with an intense gaze. 

she finally looked up at you and nodded at your occupied hands. “you gonna hit it?” 

fuck. yeah, you were. you were. you nodded hard. she mumbled out a soft you don’t have to, but you shook your head at her, yes, you do! 

you brought the opening towards your lips and looked at her for approval, earning a small nod as she exhaled her own smoke and smiling, “carry on, young pupil.” 

you lightly kicked your knee against hers, earning a soft laugh. you took a deep breath before igniting the bowl and watched smoke fill the base. you weren’t sure how long you should wait before you took a rip, so you met her eyes again, awaiting instruction. 

“you don’t need to smoke all of that. ‘s a lot.” she advised, slurring slightly, smoke pooling out of her nose as she spoke. you didn’t listen, though. 

you removed the bowl as she did, and sucked in all of it. you breathed out and instantly started coughing up both of your lungs as she laughed, grabbing you a water from the table, opening it, and passing it to you. you dropped the lighter and exchanged the large pipe for the water in her hand. “fuckin’ idiot, i told you not to.” 

you choked harder as tears flooded your eyes, but even in your time of weakness, you flipped her off. she giggled before pretending to bite it off. 

as your coughing eased, you slowly sipped from your bottle and wiped the tears off your cheeks. “bro, what the fuck.” you said dryly, sipping more water. 

she laughed hard at you as she lit and ripped from the bong again. 

some time passed and you were starting to feel… something different as you came up. you knew you were going to peak soon, but the lift was coming in much harder. much faster. it was making you a bit antsy. 

ellie must’ve noticed your unfocused looks around her living room because she aligned her eyes with yours and whispered out a hey. 

“hi… i think i feel… feel it,” you whispered back, a slight shakiness to your voice. 

“okay. want me to turn some music on?” and you nodded before she could even finish her gentle proposal. you watched her every move as she got up and swiftly made her way over to the kitchen, turning on her speaker. “what you wanna listen to?” 

“g-glock in my lap.” 

“everywhere i’m strapped,” she said as she mimed jerking off with her tongue out. she's so gross… why was it getting you hot? 

she busted out laughing at her own joke before she played it, queueing her own list of songs before returning back to the couch to get in her previous position. 

“what’s your craziest weed story?” you asked the minute she sat down, cutting mumbling of the lyrics off. 

“craziest weed story?” she asked softly as she reignited her stubbed out blunt. 

“bong story. craziest bong story,” you corrected yourself slurrily. oh, this shit was hitting. 

she huffed out a laugh before talking. “…i don’t know if you wanna hear that right now.” 

“why? was it that bad?” 

“it was the exact opposite actually.” she corrected softly. had she leaned a bit closer to you? you couldn’t tell. 

“one of the best highs of my life, to be honest. wish i could go back to that day and just to feel it again.” 

“what happened?” 

she was silent for a moment, looking into your eyes with an intense gaze. 

“i… i met this girl on hinge— don’t fucking laugh!” she said as she smiled. 

it made you laugh harder. “i’m not—i’m not trying to, i promise!” 

she rolled her eyes as she continued. “anyway, we linked up after talking for a bit, and she told me she wanted to match. i drove hours to see her, she was so fuckin’ hot.” 

you hummed as she continued, giggles completely forgotten as your vision tunneled in on her. “so, we meet and we go up to her room. i think… her roommate had company over or something, it was really noisy when i walked in. anyway, we spark up, we’re smoking, and she’s just like hit my bong with me!, and i said sure.” 

you’d been watching her lips move the entire time she was talking. she’d been biting and licking them as she reminisced while hitting the blunt, and it was making your body hot. 

“she hit it first and passed it to me, and i’m like… what the fuck do i do with this contraption? like, you have to understand that it wasn’t a bong like mine. it was wide and long as fuck and the rips were huge. anyway, she showed me but… she was so close to me. like this.”

she leaned closer to you, your noses almost touching. your breathing picked up. “she was just talking me through the first hit, light this, pull that, y’know.” 

to be frank, you didn’t give a shit about this story at all, but you would listen to it over and over again if it meant she’d be this close to your face—

“and sex while high feels so fucking good—“

“huh?” 

“what?” 

“who had sex while high?” 

“… me‘n my hinge date.” 

she squinted her eyes at you before she grinned. “were you listening?” 

“yup.” 

“right.” she said as she cheesed. 

there was silence as you both looked at each other, but she inched a little closer to you and whispered. “wanna know a secret?” 

you nodded instantly. anything anything—

“she made me cum really hard after i hit her bong, like i went completely brain dead.” 

and you sucked in a sharp breath at her little secret before saying, “i’m sure…” 

“you’re sure?” 

“yeah.” 

she nodded at you, passing you the blunt she'd been nursing before she scooted back to reach for her bong and lighter off the table. she hit it again and you watched. you watched her so closely. 

“what’d she do?” you asked as you took a bold hit before stubbing it out on the ashtray on the table.

“who? m’date?” she asked as she blew another cloud away from you. 

you nodded much harder than you should’ve, but you were so curious. 

she smiled at you before elaborating, “so… i hit it, i’m choking hard as fuck, but she’s handing me water and rubbing my back and all of that shit.” 

“i finally calmed down, and we both laid down on her bed, we’re like… facing each other,” she explained, trying to demonstrate their movements through her occupied hands. 

remember when you said you didn’t give a shit about this story? you did. you really did. 

“she just starts… rubbing on my arm and stuff. like barely, but i feel it, and i start relaxing. like… it feels like i’m sinking into her bed. she starts telling me how cute i am and whatever and then… she just kisses me. it’s real cute at first,” she said with a gentle grin. 

“but she… she grabs my hips and pulls me closer… i can’t even remember what happened but i end up on my back and she’s eating me out and fingering me,” she’d been looking off into the distance throughout the whole story, but reconnects her eyes with yours, and they slowly drift down to your lips and you want to kiss her so fucking bad—

“when i came, i kinda just… blacked out, i felt like my brain was gonna come out my ears…like, in a puddle or somethin’ crazy,” she had the audacity to giggle at her statement. she didn’t even care about how wet her story just made you, how rude! 

“…but yeah,” she mumbled and nodded, suddenly averting her gaze from your mouth. she leaned towards the bong in her hand, lighting and ripping from it again.

instead of politely blowing the smoke away from your face like she’d been doing, she held eye contact and blew the cloud towards you, and you breathed it in like you wished to breathe her in. she reached to the side to place the pipe and lighter back on her table and looked down at your twitching hands before she asked, “you okay?” 

you nodded slowly and dazed, slowly blinking at her, and she smirked as she leaned closer to you again. this was the closest she’s been to your face, and all you could do was study her. memorize every detail on her face. she's so, so pretty. 

“ellie.” 

“yeah?” she breathed out and you barely heard it. 

“kiss me.” you replied just as quietly. 

she licked her lips again as she looked down at yours. you were nearly panting like a dog and you could tell she was getting off to your desperation by the smirk on her face. 

you leaned closer to her in attempts to close the distance, but ellie moved away before you could. 

so you tried again. 

and she moved away again. and then she leaned back onto her propped elbows, one of her knees bent up. 

“c’mere.” 

you moved before you could think, shifting onto your wobbly knees to crawl on top of her, your hands on either side of her head as she straightened her legs out so you could straddle her waist.

you felt her warm hands grab your hips to squeeze them. you placed your weight on both your elbows and leaned down so you could finally kiss her. you want a kiss! you want a kiss now! 

your head was yanked back before you could connect your lips to hers, and you let out a shocked, wet gasp as you grinded down on her impulsively. you want more more more—

she snorted at your reaction before bringing her mouth up to your ear to whisper, “i want another hit.” 

her hand loosened in your hair as you watched her laugh at you with her head thrown back, a shocked expression on your face. no way she just played you like that!

“fuck you,” you said with an embarrassed pout as you sat up and moved off her lap, sitting the farthest away from her as you could. 

“i know you want to, hand me that lighter,” she said, nodding her head towards the table while giggling. 

you grabbed and threw it at her chest, making her laugh louder. 

hahaaaa i gotchu yall thought they were gonna fuck? SIKE but omg yall make sure to get high byeee

[itsmebytch001]

I’m so happy you would write for arcane!! I love the fanfic that you write! So I can’t wait to read this!! ❤️❤️❤️ (I’m shaking, help me)

Can you right a platonic yandere Silco and jinx, with a similar reader to the “Smoking it away” reader?

-🥄

Sure, Spoon person. I LOVE Arcane SM So thank you for this!

Jinx and Silco had taken you in when you were young, maybe nine. Jinx had lived with Silco for not long now and hadn't settled but found you, a street kids precence soothing, she would seek you out to play together and bring you back to Silcos home to eat and sleep. And at some point you simply didn't really leave, Silco accepted you though you were never as close to him as he and Jinx were. And you weren't really as extrodanary as Jinx was, you didn't have any extensive skill in explosives, or war and though it was never said, you did feel useless, like dead weight. so you fought you'd find a way around it, a way sourced to you in the city, a constant prescene and a unstopping force in Zaun that turned average men in to beats and rage and later deform them and shrivel them up into only skin and bone, so you sourced it out, behind Silco and Jinx back of course.

So you started Micro dosing, just a few drops at any given time where you wanted to feel that pep of energy, you would find some where private, like your room that wasn't really private since Jinx would enter whenever she liked, or sometimes would sleep in your bed without you knowing and take out that one vile in your left pocket that you had been working on for the last few weeks, press the top of the vile on your finer, and then take that drop or purple liquid and press it on your tongue to feel that rush, that feeling of elecitricty running down from your mouth and across your spine setting you free from your uselessness.

And though Jinx may not have noticed, Sevika did.

She noticed the shakes, the paranoid looks around the room and massive weight loss, and she thought to tell Jinx, not to be kind, but to be a bit cruel. So she entered Jinx's lair, a extremely unusual occaronace, Jinx didn't notice her until she sat down next to her.

Jinx: "...Sevika?"

Sevika: "Hey"

Jinx: "...Hey? What brings you to by humble abode huh?"

Sevika: "I see Y/n's not here, you know where she is?"

Jinx: "No, but she's probably in her room or just hanging round Silco, Y'know, why?"

Sevika: "You notice anything...different about her recently?"

Jinx: "Youre being reeaally criptic Sevika, I don't like that" She said leaning away from her with her frog goggles.

Sevika: "She's always cold, always shaking, acting strangely don't ya think"

Jinx: "What are you getting at?"

Sevika: "I think she's using, Jinx"

Jinx: "Using, like shimmer?"

Sevika: "She's got all the signs of microdosing"

Jinx: "HA! You gotta be kidding, she would never do something like that with out telling me!"

Sevika: "Well maybe you two aren't as close as you think

Jinx: "Excuse me?" She said standing up, and stepping up to Sevika.

Sevika: "I'm just saying, if you paid attention you would see she's falling off, and you two were as close as you think, she would tell you that she's using"

Jinx: "Get the fuck out"

And so she did, she left without another word as Jinx stood motionless in her lair, glaring out into the darkness over analizing every single recent interaction.

Jinx: "She's not using, she' s just saying that to be cruel" but what if she is

Jinx: "No, NO! I would notice! I know what using shimmer looks like, I WOULD KNOW" so why is she avoiding you?

Jinx: "Avoding me? She's not avoiding me she's just busy! Why would she be using any ways, she has everything she could ever need, she has me! and she would never do that to me, and definetley not behind my back! hahah, No no no that's silly" What if she ends up like those bums down in the gutter

Jinx: "No, No that's not gonna happen baecuse she's NOT using!" What if she ends up like vander

Jinx: "NO!" She screamed pulling at her braids.

Maybe she's lying to you, maybe she's using to escape you maybe she wants to leave, she probably rather be high than with you

Jinx: "SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" She shriked into the void.

She'll be one of those scroungers begging for food shrivled and dying, covered in filth and all baecuse of you.

Jinx: "NO NO NO! No NO NO" She pulled herself into the fetal position rocking back and fourth so sooth the terrible thoughts again and again, she had to talk to Silco about it.

And so, later that day she bursted into his office, sitting on his desk while his chair faced her, looking out the window.

Jinx: " Sevika came to see me today"

Silco:"...At your lair? odd, Why?"

Jinx: "She said...She said Y/n was...microdosing"

Silco: "Shimmer?"

Jinx: "Yeah shimmer what else?! And I was like She's not using that's silly and she was like 'maybe your not as close as you think you are' You know all Sevika like so I-"

Silco: "Jinx, your starting one of your ramblings again"

Jinx: "Oh Yeah yeah sorry" She giggled to herself

Jinx: "Have you noticed anything off about her recently?"

Silco: "Well, she is spending less time with us than usual, I suppose it is possible"

Jinx: "But she wouldn't...She wouldn't!"

Silco: "Jinx, Instead of spinning yourself into a frenzie, go check her room for anything susbicious, anything strange"

Jinx: "But...What if I find something?" She whispered.

Silco: "we'll figure it out"

So Jinx found herself in your room scanning over how messy it was, how much dust had collected and how the windows where musted over, as she began to go through your wardrobe, throwing out you clothes onto the bed until it was bare, going through all your draws and vanity until she had basically destroyed the place with all your things stroon about the room. She huffed to herself wondering where, if not here it could be, until she was the glint in the corner of her eye, she swivled around to the air vent where something shined in the reflection of the sun. Jinx, being for to short to simply grab it pushed your vanity to step on inorder to open the vent to find a small metal lock box, standing back down onto the floor the took a hair pin out and jimmied the lock only to reveal what she despratley wanted not be there.

Two Vials of shimmer, she felt herself shake with rage and frustration, why would you do this, for how long were you doing this? In a flip act of rage she threw the box at the wall, casusing it to dent, holding the two vials in one hand so tightly they might shatter in her hand.

Now what are you going to do?

Hours later Jinx had found you back in the back room of that Last Drop like you often were, she heard you shuffling about as she slowly turned the handle to the room, with your back facing her as she entered silently as she watched silently while you again as so many times before took your half used vial, unscrewed the vial pressed the end onto your finger to rub the resedue onto your togue, but not before she stalked you from behind and placed a hand on your shoulder.

Jinx: "What are you doing?" She asked in her childishly calm voice.

Y/n: "I- I I'm Just, Jinx I-"

Jinx: "Oh Y/n" She sighed before whacking you over the head with her rifle, knocking you out.

Eventually when you woke, you found yourself in your bed, but not in your room...

You sat up to realise you were in Jinx's lair with your bed laying on one of the giant fan panneles, looking over at Jinx welding something with the sparks flying out in all directions.

Y/n: "Jinx?"

Jinx swiveled round in her stool smiling at you.

Jinx: "Your awake! I was worried maybe I hit you a bit to hard haha"

Y/n: "I- How did you"

Jinx: "So I found your stash"

Y/n: "Oh"

Jinx: "You thought you could hide that from me?"

Y/n: "Jinx I"

Jinx: "Ssssshh" She angrily shushed you, skipping over to your bed that had misteroulsy moved from your bed to here, flopping onto the covers climbing over you to trap you between the bed and her, staring you down.

Jinx: "How long have you been lying to me?"

Y/n: "Jinx please I"

Jinx: "nu uh, No No no" She placed her her finger over your lips.

Jinx: "No More talking, all you've done is lie to me" You winced ash she said it so aggressivly spit was coming onto your face.

Jinx: "Why would you do this? Why would you do this to me?! This is so selfish, I should have known, I don't know why I didn't see it, you were acting all sketch and going all quite and odd, I should have seen"

Y/n: "Jinx, I-I was only using so I could be..."

Jinx: "So you could what?"

Y/n: "I just wanted to feel strong, you know, like you"

...

Jinx: "HA! That's funny toots" She held your face squishing your cheeks together into a kissy face.

Jinx: "It's beacuse you want to leave me, you would rather get high than spend time with me!"

She wants to leave you

Jinx: "Shut UP!" she screamed to the left of her.

Y/n: "Jinx, I want to go back to my room"

Jinx: "This is your room now, why do ya think I had Sevika move your bed here, Silco will get his cronies to bring the rest of your stuff soon enough"

Y/n: "What?"

Jinx: "I can't be having you alone if I can't trust you, can I?"

GIVE ME MOOOOORE SUGGESTIONS NEOOOOOWWWW!"

[salty-croissants]

IK YOU'RE REQUESTS ARE CLOSED, BUT PLEASE I BEG OF YOU, NEW YEAR'S KISS. RAYMAN, RAMON, BULLFROG PLESSEEEEE

Thank you for the request ! Sorry it took so long -

I had the idea of doing this prompt right here for the New Year but ended up getting busy with other things and couldn’t do it in time , so I’m very happy I get to write for it now :D 

Hope it turned out okay ! 

Details : use of gender neutral reader ; 

established relationships ; 

no warnings needed 

Bullfrog 💚

< Can you believe it … ? A whole year just went by , don’t you feel like it didn’t last long enough ? > 

< Oui … 

Though time does tend to fly by a lot faster whenever I’m with you , mon amour ~ > 

You couldn’t help but smile in front of Bullfrog’s comment , wrapping one arm around him as the two of you sat on the rooftop , waiting for the fireworks to sign the end of that very chaotic , very crazy year :

so much had happened , you had made so many memories fighting with the Ghosts … both good and bad … but all of them with your beloved frog by your side .

You laughed together … you suffered together … you fought against so many dangers and deadly times , and yet the bond between you never faltered . 

You sighed , lost in your thoughts for some time , before Bullfrog excitedly pointed up … 

< y/n , look ! > 

And there they were : 

colorful fireworks filled the night sky , some of them big enough to cover the entire city in a sudden , bright burst …

As much as you hated Eden , you had to admit that they had prepared quite a spectacle .

< Wow … ! 

I gotta say , they really do look beautiful ! > 

< Mhm … c'est vrai ~ > 

You turned around to look at your boyfriend , only to find him staring at you with those adoring eyes you loved so much …

< Pfft - I meant the fireworks , not me ! ~ > 

< Heh , well I still stand by what I said : you have such lovely eyes , they shine way brighter than the fireworks tonight ~ > 

Bullfrog had a smug smile on his face , as always more than happy to see you blush in front of his compliments , but before he could add anything more you suddenly leaned forward to meet his lips with yours for an unexpected , loving kiss .

< … happy New Year , Bullfrog ~ > 

, you quietly whispered to him while pulling away to catch your breath .

The assassin stared back at you in awe , holding your face with both of his hands as the lights from above illuminated you both …

< Happy New Year … je t'aime tellement y/n , and I will love you always ~ > 

Rayman 🧡

< Woah - Ray , did you see that one ? 

It looked so cool ! > 

Rayman’s reaction to your adorable enthusiasm was a soft chuckle , the fireworks shining outside the windows of his lounge …

Since it was located at the very top of the Rayman Estate , you both agreed that it was going to be a nice spot to observe the sky and get a good view of the New Year’s celebration , and it had definitely been a good choice . 

You sighed , looking down at him with a smile while placing your hand on top of his …

< I’m so happy we get to watch this together , you know … ? 

Being able to spend time with you is always amazing ~ > 

You could see a faint blush appear on your boyfriend’s face , his free hand traveling up to tenderly caress your cheek .

< y/n , I … 

Heh , I honestly can’t even begin to describe just how grateful I am to be here with you . You’ve really changed my life my love , for the better .

I couldn’t ask for a better partner . > 

You leaned into his touch , and before you could even think of a response Rayman’s lips had already met yours , the colorful lights shining outside the only spectators to that sweet little moment of intimacy …

You were the only one who had never once judged him for who he was … the only one who had been by his side even in his worst moments , and to Rayman ? 

It meant absolutely everything . 

It didn’t matter if there were people out there who still saw him as a freakish monster despite of his fame , or if the Board of Directors overworked him almost constantly :

as long as he knew you would be there , he would be able to push through it all .

< I love you … I can’t wait to make more wonderful memories with you this year , my beautiful darling ~ > 

Ramon 🖤

While your view of the New Year’s fireworks wasn’t exactly the best , given that you and Ramon couldn’t exactly go outside freely with Eden’s watchful eyes patrolling every corner of the city , that didn’t stop you from enjoying it …

< Oh - I think one flew by pretty close to the window ! 

Man , they’re really giving their all tonight … > 

< Mhm … > 

You turned to look at your boyfriend , who was sitting on the living room couch with a … less than festive expression , and your gaze softened .

< Are you still feeling bad because I can’t watch the fireworks tonight to stay with you ? > 

He didn’t respond … he just released a long sigh while avoiding your eyes . 

< It’s … not just that , y/n . You know that . 

I hate the fact that you’re missing the chance to have a normal , happier life for … this . > 

He pointed at himself . 

< I just - you don’t deserve to suffer because of me , because of what I decided to do … it’s not fair , and I hate it . > 

While he was talking , Ramon didn’t even notice that you had approached him , sitting next to him before immediately locking him in a tight embrace …

You could feel his body momentarily tense under your touch , before slowly becoming more relaxed the more you held him .

< Ram , sweetie …

If I’m here right now it’s because I’m making the choice to stay , and trust me when I say that there hasn’t been a single time in which I’ve regretted it . > 

He slowly lifted his head to look up at you , each and every one of your sweet and caring words making their way into his heart …

He knew that you really meant what you were saying , and that was enough to make those worries he had go away , at least for a moment .

< I promise you this : this new year is going to go well for the both of us , I’ll make sure of th - >

Your sentence stopped the second you felt Ramon’s lips on yours , and as you kissed him back you felt as if the booms of the fireworks outside were becoming more and more distant …

He had you , and you had him , and that was all that really mattered in the end : 

no matter how hard they were going to try , Eden would never be able to make your endless love for your boyfriend go away . 

< Thanks , y/n … god , I really don’t know where I’d be without you …

Oh , and happy New Year my love ~ > 

[humbledragon669]

S1E4 – Saturday Morning Funtime Write Up P3 - Saturday (The last day of the World) from "You're better off without him." to "You bad angels!"

As upsetting as it is to not have a photo banner for this chunk of the episode write up, I’m going to launch straight in. The timeline for this episode gets important here, so let me just refresh your memory:

So at the point in the episode where we see Crowley preparing to ambush Hell’s minions, the streetside argument has already happened. Aziraphale has also been attacked by archangels and he has tried to talk to God about the whole situation, but we as the audience are not aware of these two events at this point in the episode. Got it? Because I still can’t get that all straight in my head, I really have no idea why I have such a mental block about it.

Harping back to something I mentioned in the previous part of this episode write up, Crowley looks pretty purposeful during this scene. He’s not gathering his things, he’s not desperately looking for a location to run to. He knows exactly what his plan of action entails. I honestly don’t think he has any intention of running anywhere if he has to do it without Aziraphale – now he’s all about surviving as long as he can, and causing as much damage as he can in the process.

Side note: credit to the set design guys, who gave Crowley a doorbell in the shape of a snake. Pretty sure I need to get one of those for my own front door now.

Also gotta love the costume department, having Hastur’s wig thrown on top of his frog/toad in the most careless way imaginable. Goes to show how much he cares about whether any humans notice anything weird about him by this point.

I don’t know why, but I find Hastur’s reaction to Ligur’s demise snort-laughingly funny. It gets me every. Single. Time. Maybe because it’s just so over the top. Maybe I’m just a bit twisted. Maybe a bit of both. Probably like almost everyone else in this fandom to be fair. I’m not going to feel too bad about it, he seems to gather himself pretty quickly afterwards. And hey, you remember all the stuff I highlighted about the noise that we hear when Crowley or Aziraphale do a miracle? Well we’re about to be introduced to the noise that happens when Hastur does one.

You can ignore the little “ow” at the end of the clip, that’s just Crowley. It’s the noise just before that – the weird “flexing” noise with a bell. It’s very different to the noise we hear for miracles from Aziraphale and Crowley. I don’t think it will come to be as important as the noise associated with our hero pair, but it’s worth noting that it is fundamentally different. It does make me wonder why the miracle noise for Crowley isn’t closer to the one for Hastur. Perhaps it’s to do with intent rather than the caster’s nature.

I think I’ve seen this discussed before, but did we all notice how Aziraphale assumed that when the call connected he was actually talking to Crowley? He doesn’t wait to see if the answerphone kicks in, or if Crowley offers a greeting. I suspect it’s because he has never actually had to talk and listen to the answerphone before because Crowley answers every single time he calls. Which at the very least implies that Aziraphale always knows exactly where Crowley is, but further suggests that as a general rule, Crowley is with the angel whenever he isn’t in his apartment. Food for thought.

This phone call and its placement in the episode contrasted with its placement in the chronology is one of the reasons why I get so confused about the timeline. Aziraphale’s tone when the call is answered is a far cry from the terrified bleating of his hurtful rejection on the street corner, which is the last time that he spoke to Crowley. It’s only when you take into consideration that he has actually been threatened by archangels and told that the war is going ahead regardless that the phone call starts to make sense. At this point he tells Crowley that he knows where the Antichrist is – something he swore that he wouldn’t do less than 24 hours prior. What’s interesting about this about-turn is that he doesn’t really have any new information at this point – it’s his take on the situation that’s changed. He’s (finally) realised that the only way they can fix the situation is together.

I *think* Crowley’s stroke of genius bullshitting speech is the first time we are given some insight into the hierarchy of Hell – he calls Hastur a “Duke of Hell”. Crowley has previously been referred as “the demon Crowley” when named specifically by other Hell residents, so despite his very casual greeting in the first episode (“Hi guys”), this would suggest that he is below Hastur in the organisational food chain of Downstairs.

Clearly the people conducting the theological debate into how many angels can dance on the head of a pin became very frustrated with this ridiculous question, because the research notes become more and more incredulous. The one on the far right is my personal favourite:

Side note: the line is “angels don’t dance”. Not can’t or won’t. Got that? Stash it away somewhere so we can pull it, and the information about Aziraphale being the exception to the rule, back out when we get to the ball in season 2.

I have to say, the amount of work that has gone into the sequence of footage coming up blows me away slightly. The photography effect applied to the footage of the dancing men, the honky-tonk orchestration of the music, the underlying ticking sound of an old movie projector, the costumes, the choreography – it’s incredible how much attention to detail has been exercised to produce less than a minute of film. Did I mention all the work Michael Sheen’s face is putting in? It’s quite ridiculous.

I’m not sure I had come across the gavotte as a dance previous to watching Omens – it’s not exactly up there with the popular ones like the waltz or the tango, is it? Wikipedia describes it as a “lively peasants kissing dance”. Probably not all that surprising that Aziraphale took to this particular dance style when you have that piece of information, which is completely the opposite to how I feel about seeing Crowley (and Hastur and Ligur) doing a bit of carefree disco boogie (which he does to the same piece of music as Aziraphale’s gavotte but with a different musical setting). I actually didn’t even realise it was him until my 3rd rewatch.

Quick question about the journey through the phone system – why does Crowley count down to the exit? Surely that just tells Hastur what the plan is? His plan works regardless, it just strikes me as odd that he does it.

Poor old Hastur, the idea of being stuck in an endless loop of Aziraphale’s voice seems to have him quite frightened. He’s even lost his wig on his entry into the phone system. His final choice of word to use as an insult against Crowley is interesting though; I would have thought that calling the demon a snake was something of a compliment. Importantly, Crowley leaves the apartment with nothing more than his phone – Alpha Centauri definitely looking off the cards at this point.

Aaaaaand there it is. The little piece of the puzzle that we didn’t even know we were missing – a placard that tells us we were missing a window of time. So if we just refer back to my timeline from earlier, we’ve moved from step 8 backwards to step 3:

It looks like Aziraphale is nervous again – he’s wringing his hands in that distracted way that he does. And if he didn’t look troubled enough before the little gang of archangels show up, he certainly looks that way now. There are two things about this scene I want to point out, and the first has to do with the sound. As soon as we’re aware of the presence of other Heavenly beings (Michael’s greeting), all of the speech has some reverb applied to it and the background noise fades out. The result is that we feel like these characters have been isolated from everything around them, and given that nobody pays them any attention at all, I think it’s pretty obvious that that’s the intention. It’s a really clever little device, and once the (slightly menacing) music kicks in, it’s virtually unnoticeable. The second of the things I wanted to point out is that we see Aziraphale panicking in this scene. Not trying to hide something or divert attention, but actually panicking. He stammers, there are unexplained pauses in his speech, his eyes are wide, and he gestures a lot with his head (and later, his hands too). He even backs up when the other three advance on him. I think it will become, in later episodes, very important for us to be able to recognise what a panicking Aziraphale looks like, and this is it.

He has every reason to panic – he’s just been told that Heaven knows that he’s been meeting with someone from the other side. More than that, they describe his companion pretty accurately, and for the second time in a matter of minutes somebody describes the true nature of the relationship (according to my head canon anyway) between Aziraphale and Crowley, which, rather importantly, he makes no attempt to rebut. There’s a tiny beat where the realisation that Crowley is in trouble with Hell hits home and he looks as if he wants to ask Uriel for more detail but Michael moves on too quickly for him.

The fact that this seems like news to him at this point goes to show how little Aziraphale and Crowley actually listen to one another. Crowley has already told him that he’s in trouble with Hell, so this shouldn’t be new information for the angel. Quick side note: it turns out that the word Heaven choose to use for his interactions with Crowley is “consorting”, rather than “fraternising”.

Aziraphale makes an interesting point as he tries to argue his point about the role that he believes angels should play in their administration of Earthly affairs – that being human is fundamentally about having the ability to make choices. Which adversely implies that actually working for Heaven or Hell has the consequence of not being able to make choices at all. He may even be implying that without the human race, angels themselves have no purpose:

Our job, as angels, should be to keep all this working, so they can make choices.

It’s a direct contradiction between the desire for a war that will only result in the rendering of angels as beings futile. I think he’s onto something, but the archangels do not look moved in the slightest.

You can see the moment in Aziraphale’s waffling when he starts to think he’s got a handle on the situation because he stops stammering so much. Once you see it, it’s pretty glaringly obvious. These three thugs archangels aren’t about to let him think he’s getting control though, and we see the second instance of Aziraphale being slammed against a wall in the season. There is a pretty huge difference between this one and the one at Tadfield Manor though. Let’s just remind ourselves of Aziraphale’s facial expression when Crowley “threateningly” pinned him against a wall in episode 2:

And now when Uriel does it in an actual threatening way:

The second of those faces, the one that’s positioned a full foot away from the aggressor instead of an inch, is actually scared. And it doesn’t change the whole time he’s pinned against the wall. He even tries to tell Uriel that they shouldn’t be doing whatever it is they’re about to do to him – he’s genuinely frightened. I’d like to think the whole point of Uriel’s wall slam is really only to provide the audience with a point of reference for the audience to see Aziraphale’s scared face. I wittered on about it in the episode 2 write up a lot so I’m not going to bang on about it too much here, but Aziraphale’s reaction to Uriel’s real threat in this scene proves that Crowley’s wall slam was never a genuine threat – it was just a bit of sexy role play.

Aziraphale also tries to remember the archangels of their true nature during his frightened spluttering– that they’re “the good guys”. What I find particularly telling about the response he gets is that there’s no disputing or correcting of his assumptions, merely an assertion that he has been out of Heaven for too long, suggesting that Heavenly beings maybe don’t consider “goodness” as one of their defining characteristics anymore. Being called “ridiculous” must have been pretty hurtful for Aziraphale here too, seeing as that’s the word he and Crowley threw around between each other just the night before at the bandstand, and when this interaction (as Aziraphale chose to call it) is over, there’s a split second where we can see the fear and dawning realisation that he has lost this particular battle and is well on the way to losing the war. No pun intended.

And just to prove how pure of heart Aziraphale truly is, he can’t even call the archangels a nasty word. He really is the dearest thing, isn’t he? He’s just been threatened and punched in the stomach, been called ridiculous and had his relationship sneered at, and he can’t even manage to throw an expletive at them as they vanish. It’s probably a good thing Crowley wasn’t around to see the whole thing, otherwise I think he would be torn between protective-boyfriend mode and just pointing and laughing at the angel.

Side note: remember all the background noise that faded away when Michael and their cronies showed up? It fades back in immediately as soon as they leave the scene, although it’s very difficult to hear as we have musical soundtrack that continues underneath Aziraphale’s parting blow.

Seeing as we’re about to leave London and return to Tadfield for a short while, I feel like that’s a good place to wrap this part of the write up for this episode. As always, questions, comments, discussion, all welcome! See you next time 😊

[no-see-um-incorrect]

Concept #R1 “my favorite kind of beauty” Sam/Darlin ⚠️insecure Darlin⚠️ Sam being sappy. ya know the good shit (this takes place directly after the summit)

TAG: @frog-0n-a-l0g @weepingredwillow @everything-redacted-and-others @evansotherthoughts @cyc-chilla (if I forgot anyone please  tell me  and I’ll Tag you on the next)

When the two got home they threw themselves on the couch. exhausted from the nights events. they laid there for about 10 minutes until Sam hears a strange noise coming from his partner.

“either my hearings going or that’s your stomach Darlin” darlin looked at him with an exhausted scowl ”Darlin~ when’s the last time you had anything to eat?” They drop their head into the couch armrest ”I had a donut hole and a Red Bull this morning”

Sam sighs and gets up from the couch pulling his partner’s arm with him “NoOooOOoo- sAm DoNT! If I walk anymore, I’ll claps!” Sam adjusts his grip, and lifts them up by their torso ”if you can answer the door while you’re bleeding out  you can stand up after a party. Come on get up”

They finally stood up, looking at their mate as if he killed their dog. Sam laughed at the expression and  softly kissed their Forehead. “you gotta eat Darlin. I’ll fix you up something quick while you go get changed” Darlin starts walking backwards into the hallway “I hate you, your evil and mean, and your moms a hoe” Sam laughs to himself, and walks towards the kitchen. About halfway there he hears Darlin yell ”I LOVE YOU!” he stops for sec trying to compose himself  he’d be busting a gut at the comment, but he was too exhausted for that right now ”I love you too darlin!”

They walked into the bedroom. Took off almost all their clothes (just underwear or underwear and bra u pick) and place them into the hamper. They grab their pajamas out of the drawer and stand in front of the mirror.

“…..” they remembered the events that occurred just hours prior ”…… Alexis” they spend a few minutes in the mirror, analyzing themselves. Tracing every bump, scar and bruise.  a mental image of Alexis, flashing in their brain.  they had not thought about it. not until this moment, at least, the whole night, they were so focused on making sure Sam and their pack members had a good time they didn’t focus on anything else.

But now they’re left with their thoughts. Going through in their head, every action every touch every little thing  said. They remember seeing Alexis talking to Porter. There was lots of hustle and bustle and noise, but they remember hearing her say one thing one thing that they had stored in the back of their brain since they heard it.

What is the compartmentalizing purposeful?  or was there just so much happening at once  they couldn’t focus on it. But now, in the quiet of their own house with the distant noise of their mate in the kitchen

 they hear it

it’s getting louder 

“Downgraded”

Porter didn’t look too pleased, but then again, he never looked too pleased 

“Downgraded”

Bruises, bumps, cuts, dents.

Alexis didn’t have any of that. Alexis was smooth.  she looks like a Victoria’s Secret model. Every curve in every right place.  she had no scars no bumps, no bruises or dents. she looked beautiful.

She looked beautiful

They didn’t feel beautiful

they didn’t look beautiful

“i’m not beau-DARLIN! FOODS READY!”

They were so occupied by their thoughts they completely forgot they were getting changed. they quickly get changed, and head to the kitchen. Their thoughts not totally leaving them. 

They walking to the kitchen as Sam is putting their food on the table “I told you I’d make something quick, so I made those goddamn Ramen noodles that you like so much” they sit down and take a whiff of the food in front of them “thanks Sam” they sounded occupied like their brain was somewhere else. And it was. 

 Despite how hungry They were their brain was to occupied to eat “does it taste OK darlin? Usually you would’ve inhaled it by now” they try to speak but the lump in their throat prevents it. All they can muster is a quiet “no, it’s good Sam….” That’s it he knew there was something wrong. Of course he can tell. he’s always been able to tell.

“everything all right darlin? you look like somethings weighing on you”

Their bottom lip quivered  as they held back tears. Hearing the concern in his voice felt like it was gonna tip the bucket. They know what they’re thinking is irrational, they know it’s stupid. They don’t want Sam to get upset or mad at the thought but  in the midst of trying to communicate  all they can make out is.

“I can’t tell you..it hurts” well shit now they have to tell him. “hey, what’s going on? you can tell me…I can’t promise that I can help, but something is better than nothing….if somethings bothering you I wanna know. I know there are some things you don’t wanna talk about and that’s completely fine but  I can tell that whatever you’re thinking about is putting a strain on you”

Yep there’s the bucket tipper. They rest their elbows on the table and cover their face with their hands. A few seconds past before they let out a quiet sob, they start trying to explain. Everything words melting together in between sobs at an almost incomprehensible speed. 

“Hey hey hey slow down. Shhh shhh. Take a deep breath darlin’ it’s OK” they managed to compose themselves “she’s so pretty Sam. Alexis…… she’s so pretty and so smooth and so perfect looking….. she looks like honey and glass…she’s so soft and she smells good….she’s beautiful……” they look down at their hands covered in calluses and cuts. “…..and I’m not…” Sam couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Just hearing them talk about them selves like that brought tears to his eyes. 

“Darlin…you see the world through your eyes, your perspective, and that’s all well and good, but when it comes to looking at yourself, it’s about as good as being blind”  he softly reaches his hands up and holds their face looking them in their eyes 

(heads up, Sam is about to gush hard)

“when I see you and her next to each other it’s uncomparable…. i’m not just talking about personality wise. I’m talking about how every time I see your face I feel my face getting hotter. I’m talking about how I see you dancing I see you smile and I see you laugh and my heart stops… i’m talking about how under that moonlight the night we Met. My heart told me how much it loved you in a language I couldn’t speak yet. And it ain’t never felt like that with her….never. Not once” he pulled them closer making their foreheads touch.  “hell tonight you made me feel like a school boy on prom night…. I was waiting for you to get ready I felt all nervous…fuck Milo and Asher we’re making fun of me because I couldn’t stop staring…..I heard about what Alexis said Vinson’s partner told me….and I am so sorry that you had to hear that….I would’ve started a fight right then and there if Vincent didn’t advise against it”

He softly wiped their tears away. “ I know how you feel. because I felt it to…..and I know my words can’t fix everything. But I can be here whenever you need me even if you just text me even just a call and I’ll tell you how beautiful you are….Hell it’s embarrassing How long I could go on for about you….you’re my favorite kind of beauty….The kind of beauty With texture..kind of beauty with feeling, the kind of beauty that looks like they were carved from natures, favorite tree, the kind of beauty that gets even more perfect with every imperfection…” That smile. Shit that smile. they bury their face in his shoulder  “fuck Sammy!” they wrap their arms around his neck and pull him into a kiss. Both of their cheeks so red they’re almost glowing.  “shit you’re about to  make me cry for different reasons dammit!” he pulls them into his lap. And hold them tight, planting soft kisses up the shoulder to their jaw. “my darlin, my sweetie pie, my baby~” darlin giggles at the name  “sweetie pie! damn, you really are southern” they laugh with a small sniffle following.

“I think it’s time for us to put this day to rest… hold on tight darlin” he gently lifts them up by their thighs. As they wrap their arms around his neck. ”Sam I can walk” “just because you can doesn’t mean I want you to” he speeds to their room and lays on the bed. Still holding onto them as they lay their head on his chest. ”….hey Sam?” “yeah darlin?”  they hesitate for a moment. “can you do the thing?” he chuckles. “you’re gonna need to be a little more descriptive than that Darlin” they let out a sigh  “remember when I had that panic attack a little while back…and nothing was working, so you did the thing” he mouth and a quick oh OK and starts running his fingers through their hair slowly and methodically 

He starts to quietly hum a tune.

“🎶you are my sunshine🎶 my only sunshine🎶 you make me happy when skies are gray🎶 you’ll never know dear how much I love you🎶 please don’t take my sunshine away🎶 the other night dear🎶as I lay sleeping🎶  I dreamed I held  you in my arms🎶  when I awoke dear, I was mistaken, so I hung my head and cried🎶 you are my sunshine~ my only sunshine~ You make me happy~ when skies are gray🎶 you’ll never know dear how much I love you please don’t take my darlin away~🎶”  he looks down at his partner, snoring softly on his chest. Sleeping peacefully. his favorite site to see. He squeezes them a little tighter.  and kisses the top of their head.  “sweet dreams sleeping beauty. you deserve them”

Soon after Sam fell asleep. Holding his partner close. 

Oh wow. oh damn. (i’m not crying you are) moral of the story. Y’all are fucking gorgeous, Alexis is a Cunt and Sam is wifey, any questions……didn’t think so. Credits to @weepingredwillow for suggesting the song Sam sings (thank you mama) and yea hope you like it. Sorry if there’s any typos. 

 

[doyouremem8erme]

Heyy this is @agalychnisspranneusroseus I saw your tags on that storyboard of the sashanne divorce swordfight and YES it's striking how Sasha doesn't attack ONCE. At least during those first shots, iirc she did swing her sword once or twice later but that fight as a whole is Anne attacking and Sasha always on the defense trying to stop her without hurting her. See how she grabs both her swords with one hand and uses the other to grab Anne, keeping the weapons away from her face. WHICH REMINDS ME -> Anne has always been much more brutal with Sasha than Sasha's been with her in their swordfights. Like in both cases it's understandable lmao but I still can't stop thinking about how Anne left Sasha with a very noticeable scar on her face and Sasha deliberately kept her swords away from her face as to not hurt her. Because she loves her. Because she doesn't want to scar her 😭 Anne is trying to actually kill her out of pure rage and she's just thinking about how to stop her without hurting her.

honestly tho theres such a difference between their two swordfights bc in reunion anne is really on the defensive almost the whole time

sasha makes the first move and anne only raises her sword to protect sprig

like especially in the first parts of it sure shes pissed off as hell at sasha but shes mostly like. hold on are we seriously doing this gladiator style.

like look at her face when grime annouces the trial by combat. she doesnt want to fight her!

and meanwhile sasha is the one who makes the first move and runs at her and anne is like oh SHIT i gotta not get stabbed to death that isnt supposed happen to anyone until next season finale!

like you can tell just from their stances here. anne is just trying to defend herself and the frogs but sasha has been living this toad life for months now and has gotten wayyy into the warlord teen lifestyle. even tho shes super pissed in some of these scenes every time sasha tries to land an actual hit shes super shocked and betrayed looking.

this is her bestie who she was so excited to reunite with! how did things go so wrong?

but sasha being so so willing to resort to violence against anne and the plantars is too much for anne and shes like ok fine. were doing this. and she pushes sasha back and disarms her but scars her in doing so.

i wouldnt say anne is more brutal overall in this fight because like. sasha was the one trying to kill her frog family and actively trying to win this literal battle with literal swords this whole time! and sasha almost won but anne stood up to her at that last moment.

honestly they shouldve both been hurt in this fight but a disney show isnt gonna show cuts and scars unless theyre plot relevant. matt braly had to FIGHT for darcy to get the cut on its face in all in and made the blood green as a compromise. i see it as more symbolic than anything i guess? like any of those other moves couldve left scars--annes aiming for sashas weapons anyways and slashes her face at the same time bc of the angle--and it serves as a reminder of who sasha is now and what happened between them.

true colors though. true colors is where things are different.

anne has finally given up on sasha being her friend. she gave her a second chance and she still betrayed her. just like last time shes been put in a situation of sashas making where the only way out seems to be violence. theres something to be said abt what happens when you put these kids in a war environment and give them swords and then tell them to work out their feelings. the soldiers surround you and you both have sharp deadly weapons...what choice do you have? every sign is pointing towards doing what you need to survive.

and so sasha tries to talk things out and anne just wont hear any of it. the toad army is already on their way! sasha betrayed her sasha is causing all of this she cannot let sasha get in her way

and for once! sasha is actually in the RIGHT! before sasha was doing some really terrible things and anne absolutely needed to stand up to her. but sasha wants to talk things out peacefully so they can work together to take down the king! she loves anne but also she doesnt NEED violence to win this. at least she SHOULDNT. she wants anne to be on her side! on the RIGHT side! she doesnt need her swords to do that!

but anne is in a place where she will not listen to anything sasha has to say because what reason does she have to trust her? shes proven time and again that shes a ruthlessly manipulative backstabber and will use that to get what she wants. shes put this entire kingdom at risk--full of newts she met and befriended and her own friends and allies in the castle--and she needs to be stopped at any cost.

man i dont even know where to finish all this with partly bc i cant fully get into anne and sashas heads there and also because i cant get true colors to load to get screenshots lol. its just such a moment from that episode that often gets overlooked for the calamity powers and stab scenes during the battle in the castle but... yeah i believe the storyboard artist actually confirmed that anne was intended to be actively going for sashas vitals there like damn

[aurorawest]

Twenty Fanfic Writer Questions

Tagged by @lowkeyed1 - thank you and sorry it took me so long to do it!

Tagging @bereft-of-frogs, @rosieposiepuddingnpie, and @nostalgia-tblr

1. How many works do you have on Ao3?

An even 150!

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count?

2,230,050

3. What fandoms do you write for?

At this point my fanfiction output is pretty sparse, but in the last two years, I've written primarily MCU. I've also written for Captive Prince, Six of Crows, The Daevabad Trilogy, The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, Some Desperate Glory, and The Watchmaker of Filigree Street. Over the years I've written in tons of fandoms.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

The Real Asgardians of the Galaxy (MCU, Loki & Thor)

The General Mess and Imprecision of Feeling (MCU, Loki/Stephen Strange)

Sleight of Hand (MCU, Loki & Stephen Strange)

You Come to Me Wild and Wired (MCU, unrelated ficlets, Loki/Stephen Strange)

They Change Their Sky, Not Their Soul, Who Rush Across the Sea (MCU, Loki & Thor)

The first three are all part of my 10 fic Loki series, it's not going to matter if we fall down twice.

5. Do you respond to comments?

Goddddd I've become so bad at it. I used to respond to every single one. One of my projects/goals is to go back and respond to people, but of course, my AO3 inbox is totally overwhelming at this point, and every time I see the number of comments I haven't responded to, I become paralyzed. I need to man up and just start chipping away.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? 

Do No Harm (MCU, Loki/Stephen Strange) and Anamnesis (Weyoun, Star Trek: Deep Space 9) are probably tied on this one.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? 

I primarily write happy endings so...most of them, haha. But I guess The General Mess and Imprecision of Feeling, since it's the HEA at the end of 10 fics. It's a seriously hard-won HEA haha.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I have! I've been called a pedo on some Wreck-It Ralph fic (that was my introduction to purity culture, btw). Idk if I'd call this hate, but I once had a reader get pretty upset that an OFC in A Full and Factual Account of Asgard didn't turn out to be a love interest for Loki.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Sure do! Honestly writing smut might be my favorite thing to write, haha. Whenever I get to a Big Sex Scene in my original stuff, I sigh in relief that I'm finally going to have an easy writing night. I've written m/f and m/m, but I have way more m/m, and an occasional m/m/m. It's mostly sappy, vanilla, OTP stuff, but I love me some dub and noncon, so there are a few of those amidst the gooey soulmate smut.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Not really, though I did in my youth. Honestly they're...all kind of crazy. When I was in my early teens I wrote a 4 fic series that was a crossover between The Enchanted Forest Chronicles (the books by Patricia C Wrede), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (the Disney movie), and Newsies (the movie). It had time travel. And dragons, obviously. I also at one point was writing a crossover between Newsies (yes, I had a Newsies phase) and Doctor Mordrid, an obscure fantasy B-movie from the 90s starring Jeffrey Combs. Fun fact! It was actually supposed to be Dr. Strange, but they lost the rights before they made the movie.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yep. It was a Harry Potter fic. I threatened legal action (lol) and they took it down.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

People have definitely asked me if they can translate my fics, so I think so!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yeah, I had a friend I wrote a Loki & Thor fic with. I also used to collab on fics with my sister when we were kids.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

I guess it's gotta be Loki/Stephen Strange.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have a DS9 fic about Eris, a Vorta who was only in one episode, where she's an agent who's infiltrated a rebel Vorta/Jem'Hadar cell. I LOVE that fic, but I just...don't see myself ever finishing it. Maybe someday I'll file the serial numbers off and turn it into an original work. It probably wouldn't be that hard because it's set hundreds of years before DS9 takes place, and I did a lot of original worldbuilding.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, character, romance, sexual tension, pretty polished first drafts. I don't know if I'd consider it a strength yet, but I feel like I've really improved my pacing over the past year.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Probably visual scene setting, haha. I'm pretty thin on describing what the physical location LOOKS like. I'm better at describing sounds and smells, because honestly that's what sticks with me personally from a place, not how it looks.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I've definitely done it. I took many years of Spanish so I'm pretty confident that when I write in Spanish, it makes sense. I can tell when google translate is wrong, haha. One of my novels (coming out next year!) has some Afrikaans, and a South African sensitivity reader didn't say any of it was wrong. Though that reminds me, I really should message my friend/former safari guide to see if she has any complaints about the Afrikaans in it, haha.

IMO when you write dialogue in another language in a fic, you have to assume the reader doesn't speak that language, so you need to let them know what that dialogue says through context. I read a book recently where there was quite a bit of Quebecois French, and there were end notes with the translation, and...eh, it was a pain to flip back and forth to the end of the book.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

The first time I sat down with the intention of writing a story with a beginning, middle, and end (I didn't finish it), it was an Enchanted Forest Chronicles fic. This was before I'd ever heard of the internet, so I didn't even know that what I was doing was called fanfiction.

Though, my mom made me a scrapbook of a bunch of childhood stuff for my 40th birthday, and it included what I can only call a Lion King AU where the characters from The Lion King go to Camp Snoopy in the Mall of America. So idk, maybe that.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? 

I think in some ways Anamnesis is the most ambitious single fic I've ever written, in that it's a difficult story. But I probably have to give the nod to it's not going to matter if we fall down twice. I'm totally cheating because it's a series, but I'm going to be really proud of it for my whole life so I'm going to take every opportunity to plug it, haha.

Thank you again for the tag!

[blogofloathing]

Parts 1 of 1, Gillian B And The Unruly Interviewee

After a less than polished bus ride we arrived to the equally less than polished slums of Porkham,

I'd say it looked better in my day, except I wouldn't know, I grew up in a more respectable area.

Adjusting my trusty driving cap, spiffy bow tie, and affirming these good looks with my crew.

we set off, according to my media guy fishing is popular this time of year, so why not cash in?

Being careful to avoid nails and trash (human or otherwise) on our meandering way to the bridge,

wherein todays interviewee was apparently living.

In my opinion he should just get a job and maybe contribute to society? But that's not "kind" or "empathetic" according to my trusty cameramen.

Stepping into the clearing we see exactly what I had feared, I was hoping we had bad intel.

Yet lo and behold, a stubble ridden homeless sat adjacent to us, probably high out of his mind.

"Mm.. oh! Hey! Yall are here for the interview?" He shouted over to us, well, to say he raised his voice would be a lie, but that was certainly the intent.

Our cameras focused shakily on the dirty hobo we have unfortunately decided to question today.

My mic man stood just a bit too close, so that every word spoken slightly blasted the audio.

I'm sure someone can make it sound good later,

"we are go in 3, 2.." holding up one finger for the last call, before miming an inaudible "go".

And giving our cameras the signal to proceed, they ask him the first of many questions.

"Mm'well when you're fishing in sketchy spots ya gotta specialize" he mumbled, gesturing to the tackle box, though it's more of a tackle lunch box

The camera zooms in as he pulls out a wriggling gummy worm, sugar dusting its exterior.

Christ how on earth is that thing moving, "mm them gummy worms grow near rivers"

"Makes em self supplyin" he walks us through, as our whole team takes a step or two back.

"Mm I think somea them barbecue fellas put somethin in the water over there.."

Glancing over to the stream, which looked more like a pot of soup full of garbage than a river.

Maybe interviewing this gross hobo was a mistake. Certainly I'll be taking a bath after this,

But for the sake of journalism, we let him go on

"Makes so they're good for catchin them colorful fishies, f'miliar sight for em" indeed the worm was bedazzled in a rainbow of striped colors

Enough to make my head hurt just looking at it.

Though none of my crew has ever heard of any kinda rainbow fish, probably some new drug the homeless are taking, and we wonder why the city is trying to stamp out these kinds of people!

"Mm'infact I got onea them on my line right now,"

our cameraman panning quickly over to the hobos fishing pole, propped up against some rocks.

The line was limp for the time being, that is to say if it would ever actually be pulled by something other than garbage, (excluding the man himself.)

Christ thank god we're not live right now, we can have whatever-his-name-is edit that out later

"Mm, oh! An' here's some more from my stash" he pipes up with subdued surprise, a fuzzy worm covered in spines was crawling up his arm, "they're s'posed to be poisonous but I f'gure you let em do what they do, they go fine"

"These are good for catchin them walkin fishies, mm'paralyzes their muscles," he explained, flexing his fingers loosely before constricting them tightly

Then sighing with a noticeably disappointed tone, "people are way too hesitant 'bout fish legs, I tell em they're just like frog legs, but I guess they don't much like those neither.."

Personally I can't see a world where I or anyone on my team eats that, but of course let's remember they're not like you and me.

"ahh here's one'a my favorites," he grunts, pulling out a large bag full of sickly bright red worms.

"Onea them groups of chemical guys dyed some kids hair in the river and plumb contaminated this whole bag," shaking them in our face

And sure enough there could be faint spots of pink vaguely seen under the thick scarlet glaze.

"Mm'but whatever's in em makes the fishies go all crazy," he explains, shaking his hands wildly in the air to demonstrate this apparent frenzy.

"They dye your tongue red for a good while when ya eat em though, mm'sooo if that ain't your style I can't sell ya on em" placing it back down where it immediately stained the ground scarlet.

I'm forced at this point to give my team a glare of disapproval, some of them seeming far too genuinely interested in what this hobo had to say.

They look sheepish for a moment at my face, but then continue looking past me at him.

Really I don't see what use there is in listening to stuff like this, I'm only here for content.

"Mm'I don't know how I hook thesen's but I do an' they fetch pretty good" he mumbles tacitly.

Holding up what appeared to be a pile of loose integers in vaguely the shape of a squiggly line.

Wriggling and moving in a way that didn't account for any sort of connections or reason.

My whole team taken aback at once says "what on earth??" quietly in united confusion. Before then looking at each other in mirrored disbelief.

despite having no possible way to crawl the way it does, making a gentle journey along his arm.

Coming to a rest at his shoulder where he picks it up, somehow, "mm'I expect this's due to runoff from the math guys dumpin their old equations in the water" expecting us to understand any of that.

"But them educated fishies really love em, maybe they're tryna solve em or somethin" he says with a reverent little chuckle, though it's more of a cough.

The unsightly man continues excitedly showing us various worms, giving exaggerated and showy gestures for each presentation.

As if his hands are the actual ones being asked.

"Don't even get me started on them spider worms! Haha, mm'just kiddin, please do"

I'm positively sick with boredom but I have been forced by my team not to leave.

Until thankfully, salvation arrives at last when he appears to reach the end of his last show & tell.

Putting various worms(?) Back into containers, and a quick check to the continuously light line.

"Well thank yall kindly for- Vic! Vic get on over here I'm gonna be on the television!" He shouted suddenly, eyeing an unseen figure behind us.

My heart sank sickeningly, he was right about to bid us a good day, we were so damn close! And..

A possibly even dustier hobo, girl? Waltzes over to us, Jesus Christ it just keeps getting worse.

"Yo! Walt! You're famous eh? Gettin the big bucks?" the two laugh heartily, "see I told ya you're fishin would take off you old sot" she teased loudly.

They chit chat for a beat, with me continuing to shuffle backwards, much to my crews chagrin.

I'm silently begging my cameras to let me leave with my wallet intact before it catches sight of me

The urgent tugs at my boom operators sleeve going unnoticed save for a bemused look.

"Hey! Wanna ask me some stuff! Give me some free stuff?" She bursts into my world unwelcome.

Seemingly moved on from the dirty man, onto me.

For a moment I try to pretend as if not having noticed her, but fate did not hold the cards for me.

"Cmonnnn I know you're one of them big shots you got cash" her bushy eyebrows turned at an almost impossible angle, no wonder she looked mannish.

Signing didn't seem to work, as expected with the uneducated, but even my perfectly clear refusal to answer was left disregarded by this girl.

"Psh, figures you uppercrusts think you're too good to talk to me" she sneered derisively.

I tentatively waved to one of my crewman, whom seemed wholly preoccupied with the fisherman,

The shows over! What is there to talk about? My pleas yielded no results, I was fully on my own.

"What's with ya? You talk?" Her intense eyes bore holes into my own, attempting to take a look behind them in a quite uninvited intrusion.

Ugh these types are always so pushy, I swear I don't know why I agreed to do this.

As she pressed her face more closely to mine I could feel her gross, warm breath

Like the smog of a smokestack, clinging to my skin and hair in a sickeningly sticky way

"Hellooooo is anybody home Mr Rich?" Her words poked, knocking the glass of a terrarium to make me dance, managing only to startle me further

My discomfort is reaching its peak and I'm nearly made to give the emergency sign to my crew,

When the hobo girl reaches her hand out to touch me again, my skin prickling in irid anticipation.

And Inexplicable even to myself, a tear sparkled dully in my eyes, which were presently pressed together, as if I'd disappear if I couldn't see her.

This would surely be the end of my career, she would know.. I could feel everyone's eyes on me

And indeed the look on her face told me the gears were turning, some remnant of social awareness ticked around echoey in her hollow dome.

Gillian Barlows A Sissy surely what the headline would read, they'd be right, and that would be it.

These newspaper ghosts flapped hauntingly in my head like a flock of my worst anxieties.

Of circling vultures primed to take a strike at me any moment, the wilting journey of my egos end.

Before my cameraman, who must have finally noticed my situation, stepped between us.

Reforming the barrier I had been trying to keep hold of, that this girl had ripped it up.

"I'm sorry ma'am but you're gonna have to step back" a stern but not unkind order, his voice soothingly final, as if he was just stating the facts.

Equally putting to rest my growing discontent, "eh? Awww cmon you interviewed Wal-" she started, wildly gesturing In the other hobos direction.

"Ma'am we have a very concise schedule, and please refrain from touching our host." He retorted firmly, the rest of my crew standing nearby as well.

His hand nested on my shoulder as he said it

The lot of them were towers of men, acting as body guard and camera crew in unison

Pillars of my kingdom who kept the gates guarded

Standing (in no uncertain terms) a harsh contrast to my otherwise quite stubby figure.

We shared a quick look, his half smirk telling me don't worry, I've got you, as he continued the contentious chat with this random girl.

"Well- ugh fine! Take your chintzy camera cats somewhere else!" She expleted, giving our cameras a rude hand gesture before storming off.

"I'm too good for your lil TV shit anyway, hacks!"

Kicking a can into the lake that had been in her way, though I didn't hear the sound it made.

My ears were still plugged shut by the awful dripping fear that enveloped me at the ordeal,

I couldn't let someone see me like that, least of all someone like her, this was a mistake.

Breathing growing heavier, and knees weaker, the weight of this pressure primed to knock me over.

This is stupid, getting so worked up over someone like her, but despite all principles, the gnawing feeling in my gut was unwilling to accept reality.

I felt floaty and tingly, like I was on the brink of a faint, of losing my balance completely and falling..

Right into the strong arms of my cameraman, who had already set the camera down a ways away.

"Were you still rolling? Did you get it?" I whispered in a strained voice, almost inaudibly.

He shushed me, carrying me over to the rest of my crew, setting me down easy next to them.

I felt so comfortable being held by him, like he always knew exactly where he was going.

"Hey boss! We's were talking to the fisherman, and he gave us some fish on the house!"

My mic operator excitedly informed me, holding up a shockingly good looking salmon.

The man had been teaching us how to identify a real good salmon and well, there it is

Its tail fins were pronounced without being floppy, and the scales shone like glass or crystal.

My expression evidently spoke volumes how did he catch that "guess he had some right ideas"

Smirked my mic man, inviting an exaggerated eye roll from me, though I couldn't help but agree.

"Anywho! Let's get a move on Gill!" he sprang matter o factly, also springing me onto my feet.

"here G" my other cameraman said, his chill demeanor contrasting so that it made me giggle.

Waving to the whole crew, who all took me up into their arms in turn, lifting me almost effortlessly.

Linking together to create a proper seat for me to rest in, even if I did feel a little silly.

A mobile throne of sorts, to lead the charge.

"What say we all go for drinks?" My mic man suggested, looking around at the rest of us.

Who all nodded in approval "then let us go!" My cameraman said resolutely,

I signed a clumsy "but what about the interview?"

"we can edit the footage later" he spoke directly to me "let's go have some fun"

These affirmations, bringing back to life a smile, informing my unending confidence around them.

I didn't say anything, but I pointed forward in a mock gesture of commencement.

Each member of my crew pointing in turn, as I lead the group, captain at the helm.

Maybe they were right, I could use a bit of a wind down more often to cool the nerves.

As long as it means more time spent with these idiots, I could see.. some time off.

"To TV! To Drinks! To Gillian!!" The whole gaggle chanted, yelling my name with especial vigor.

[eloquentornot]

At first, it had seemed clear exactly how long they would be in this world. 24 hours, meaning 72 days. Then they discovered the losses and gains of death and killing. And then, after nine days, the timers froze. The quickest to panic soon lashed out, trying to test whether or not the stopped clocks would still change after a kill, only to find that it was no longer possible to deal or take any damage at all. This only lasted one day, and it soon became clear that every tenth day was a day of rest, after which another Boogeyman would be chosen. So, a total of 80 days, if only there could have been no deaths.

It was during one such day of rest that BigB found Pearl, unmoving, eyes wide, laying sprawled flat on her bed, muttering over and over:

"Always watching always watching always watching…"

"Pearl? Are you okay?"

But she did not answer, nor seem to notice him at all. She continued muttering, and as he cautiously approached her, he saw a glint of purple in her eyes. Closer, and he saw shining shapes in the purple. Closer, and the shapes were rectangular, arranged in such a way that-

He recognised that symbol. It had been so long, but… Flashes of more recent memories came to him, and he pushed them away on instinct.

"Nah, you know what? Forget it, I don't wanna know. You do what you gotta do, Pearl, just… wake up by tomorrow morning. Please?"

Shaking his head nervously, he ran away, spending the rest of the day at his old frog base. He didn't tell them what he'd seen. He was already forgetting it.

~~~~~

Coincidentally, on that same day of rest, Cleo found herself staring at the mirror, unable to read her own expression. She knew she felt a deep, boiling rage, but her face seemed more like one of… longing? She was not yet red, and Scar had seemed perfectly amiable at breakfast, his own bloodlust seemingly stayed along with the march of time. The march of time. Stopped. She scoffed. It should have felt like a blessing, and yet… there were no days she found herself more on edge than those in which nothing at all happened. That clock, the ever ticking, looming threat, somehow judging her more harshly than ever when it paused, it had no need to pause for breath, it resented them for these periods, she was sure of it. The days that didn't matter, the days unspoken of in the tales to come, the days all too necessary for the wellbeing of the very warriors who were here to entertain…

She clenched the cobblestone sink harder, leaned closer into the mirror. The blood she'd applied as makeup weeks ago was still fresh. She begged wordlessly for something. A reminder, perhaps. Of what? It didn't matter, as soon as she thought about the concept of memory itself she remembered Etho's smug face, Bdubs taking his side, their family doomed to fall apart before it was even established! She snarled, but then flinched back at the sight of her own ferocious reflection, then was ashamed. All too good at threats, no good at following up. She needed help. She needed help.

~~~~~

Code name: Lady Shadow Location: hiding spot 2348 Mission: Stay hidden no matter what! (I mean it, Lizzie. Even if you hear his voice. If it's really him, he'll know the password. We'll get him out as soon as possible, I promise.)

~~~~~

The Time Witch closed her eyes in frustration. Technically she wasn't the only one aware of the multiverse, but she was the only one who was never, ever allowed to completely forget. The others could discover and/or remember the truth whenever they wanted, or rather, whenever she realised they would want to. Someone had to at least mostly keep track of it all, didn't they? A link was sent out for two of them. Not full awareness, just… enough information that they would work out what to do. Or something. Technically she was in control of the entire exchange. But if she never said anything… One of them saw her, and sent appropriately formal thanks. The other was already grasping at straws anyway. It didn't matter. This was something they'd done enough times already. Shh.

~~~~~

"Do-dodo-dodoooo… always watching, teehee!" Pearl skipped around without a care, dreamlike and wonderful. Her old friends had asked her to help them find someone, someone who had gone missing! "Lizzie, where aare youu?" she called loudly.

"Pearl?" said a distant, familiar voice. "Oops," it continued, and then was silent.

"Oh, there you are!" By moonlight, she saw, and as fast as a blink, she was there. "Hey, Lizzie, how's it going?"

"Erm… nothing! Nobody's here! I'm… throwing my voice, haha!"

"Okay, so you don't mind if I just boop down into this bush here… Found you!"

Lizzie screamed as she was dragged from her hiding spot by countless shimmering hands, forced to stare into alien eyes…

"You're not Pearl!"

"What do you mean, Lizzie? Of course I am! Where have you been lately, huh? We're having so much fun this season, don't you want to come back?"

"No!! Listen to yourself, Pearl, this isn't like you! That place is awful, they're just using you! Please, let me go! I just want to see my husband again!"

"Aw, well he's still there, isn't he? I'll take you right to him, come on!"

"NO!!!" As Lizzie shouted it, so did another. A white shadow snaked across the soundscape, and the dream very nearly shattered, giving Pearl a headache!

"Oi! What was that for?!" As her vision cleared, she realised she had lost her grip on Lizzie, who was now racing away, holding the hand of something unseen…

She gave chase, reaching out further with every blink even as reality itself seemed to melt away, and at the last second grabbed something…

There was a terrible tearing sound, and there was a scream of agony as all perception was numbed by a force that overwhelmed every sense!

The dream was stable, the world restored. LDShadowLady stood unmoving, alone, her eyes blank, her ears twitching. Pearl and Lizzie stared, confused.

"You have a choice," said LDShadowLady, in another voice. "This body will not return to the games. Either restore your friend's soul to it and allow her freedom, or she will take your place, and you will see from the outside what you have become."

"Oh, you mean I get to go full Watcher for a session? See if Lizzie can pretend to be me? That sounds like a blast, thanks!"

"Wait, what?" Lizzie and her body both said independently. "I didn't agree to this!" Lizzie added as the sight of her panicking face faded away…

"Now, Lizzie, there's nothing to worry about…" Pearl's voice gradually got more and more dreamlike… "I'm not leaving, so we'll both be back to normal in about ten days. But while you're in there, you might get to see Joel! Probably shouldn't get your hopes up though, he can't know it's you, after all…"

"B-but! What do I do!? I have to… pretend to be you?!"

And then,

She

Woke

Up.

~~~~~

The sunlight shimmered and glittered over the elven palace, but its inhabitant was nowhere to be seen from the surface. Gem was deep underground, though not as deep as her dwarven neighbour, cheerfully arranging her freshest hermit heads in the dungeon! She honestly wasn't quite sure what to do with all the Etho heads.

Then, she heard stiff footsteps, and a subtle hiss, and without turning to face them, greeted her visitor.

"Your highness."

"Lady Gem," replied King Cleo, her crown's tiny emerald glinting in the light of soul flames. "I'm glad I found you here. I have a… certain request… to make of you. I think you'll enjoy it."

"Oh yeah?" Gem turned. Cleo held up a clock, and it seemed almost to be shining with enchantments…

"But we'll need to go somewhere special for this…"

At the remains of the Rift, the two redheads stood as the sun began to set. It was impossible to tell whether the Grumbot on the opposite wall was paying attention to them, but neither of them minded very much at that moment.

"Oh, this is so exciting!" Gem bounced around. "So, I'll be in your body? And all I have to do to make sure I come back is kill Etho?"

"Yes. And remember, Bdubs and Scar are my sons, and-"

"Scar is your favourite, yeah, you said. Oh, let me practice copying your accent… Hello, my name is Cleo..."

"Okay, looks like it's about time!"

The special clock floated upon the residual dimensional energies in the air and dissolved, and rings of gold, purple and green floated around Cleo's hand. Grinning, Gem took it, and in a flash of light…

She

Woke

Up.

[bearmemesreviews]

FotW: SDMI - The Shrieking Madness

As you can tell by our episode's title, today Mystery Incorporated tackles the Chthulu mythos! Gotta love those weird ugly squid gods, and the fact that their writer chickened out when it came to describing them only adds to their charm. Everyone loves designing creatures that can "break" the mind of anyone who looks at it directly.

Scooby-Doo was neither the first nor the last children's show to tackle this topic, but MI is our first real representation of it for the franchise. Let's talk about it and the gang's first college tour.

Backstory: The gang are all driven to the Darrow University by their parents whose motives are far different from their children's. Meanwhile, the college is playing host to two popular writers who couldn't be any more different. Harlan Ellison is a no-nonsense tightwad whose work is more "respectable" than the cosmic horror tales written by H.P. Hatecraft - this universe's version of our H.P.

One of Ellison's fans disparages the works of Hatecraft, and is swiftly attacked and kidnapped by the main villain of those stories. The gang mostly stumbles into this mystery by accident, preoccupied by their early brushes with college life. Daphne becomes a communist, Fred is put through homoerotic hazing, and Shaggy points out that he's no longer voiced by a vegetarian in a very unsubtle way.

Velma is the one who actually came to meet Ellison at a book signing, and the gang soon cross each other's paths before finding Ellison being terrorized by green Squidward.

The gang still have their hang-ups, much more strained thanks to everyone's love troubles. They even get distracted from the mystery thanks to their previous college antics, until Char Gar Gothakon attacks Shag and Scoob directly. When the gang confronts Hatecraft, he first gives them the "whispers from another world that I translate into the best-selling written word" spiel. However, to dispel the beast he decides to reveal to an entire class of people the truth.

He made it all up, there is no dark force from an alternate dimension giving him material to write. This upsets his number one fan, but that pales in comparison to how badly Charizard Gengar Gothita takes the news. The Gangrene Illithid kidnaps his creator and takes him back to Hateman's house, which is also where the Ellison fan was being kept prisoner in.

Chary Gary becomes another attempted murderer, deciding that Hatecraft deserved an appointment with the ground after a trip to the roof. The gang distracts the monster long enough to save both Hatecraft, and Char Gar Gothakon, when they nearly fall off the roof. They finally muzzled his tentacles, a trick Fred learned from his college buddies, solving the mystery you already did several minutes ago.

Design: Char Gar Gothakon is a humanoid octopus-human hybrid wearing cultish robes, obviously based on Chthulu and Illithids from D&D. Octopus-faced monsters are just awesome, with the sea creature they're based on already being some of the coolest things on our planet. Did you know all of them are venomous, and some of the best hunter-killers in the sea? They're like wolves in that way, creatures we can both hype up as supernatural omens of death and real-life predators you don't mess with.

Char Gar Gothakon: The Beast with no name, is rather lanky despite how stocky its wearer is. It has diamond-shaped eyes with orange irises and yellow sclera and pupils. It has a globular smooth head and wriggling tentacles encompassing most of its lower face. It's body, especially its "forehead", is covered in skin patterns resembling green splotches like the markings of a frog. It also has small siphons, two on each side of its head, in place of ears. Another easy to miss detail are the gillman-like fins on its forearms.

Its outfit is rather flamboyant, resembling a priest's dressing with a turned-up high collar that's too large for its already giant head. Its shoulder pads are gigantic and connected to the rest of the outfit by the belt. It's belt and bicep bracelets are all gold.

It doesn't even wear a shirt, the middle piece of its outfit being mostly made-up of intersecting strips that expose its shoulders, ribs, and V-line.

Honestly, it's a pretty slutty costume. Besides it's vertical striped long skirt it also wears fingerless elbow-length gloves that also have gaps to expose MORE of its skin.

For powers, it uses a sonic screech that's powerful enough to Launch a grown man onto a car's hood. Its face tentacles can also stretch out, revealing a large circular maw full of sharp teeth underneath, to entangle a victim. The tentacles also stretch and contort in a way that shouldn't even be physically possible since they were taken from a real dead octopus.

Reveal: The true culprit turns out to be Hatecraft's own superfan and student assistant, Howard E. Roberts (named after Robert E. Howard). He decided to bring Hatecraft's monster to life to get back at the haters. However, when Hatecraft declared himself a fraud the superfan decided that the author needed to be destroyed. He made his sonic death blast technology with the help of his college courses by the way.

It is actually through deriding their fans that Ellison and Hatecraft actual find companionship, leaving the gang to discover the archived documents stolen by Mr. E left in the Mystery Machine.

The plot thickens.

5/5, Western Media needs more Mindflayer rep. Nice Gregorian Chants by the way.

See, you can talk about Lovecraft without mentioned his cat being named after the N-Word.

[butchybats]

ask meme: how many crochet projects do you have going at the moment ‘:|

Okay so it’s only four rn everyone cheer and clap for me HGHGH ideally I would take pictures but I don’t wanna get up so I’m just gonna talk about them <3

1. Halloween sugar cookie sweater!! This is definitely my biggest project as of right now, it’s meant to look like those Pillsbury ghost, jack o lantern, and cat sugar cookies and it’s so CUTE!! It’s seriously such a me pattern, I love it. I have the front panel entirely done, I need to finish the border for the back panel, crochet the shoulders for it, sew the two panels together, and then crochet the sleeves and add ribbing. Honestly that’s probably less work than what I’ve already done like it really shouldn’t take super long to finish, I just have chronic can’t finish things disease. That being said I did spend a good chunk of money on both the pattern and the yarn and plus it’s so cute that I really gotta try to finish it.

2. Cardigan for my sister! I literally just said that I have chronic can’t finish things disease and if you want proof of that then this cardigan was supposed to be done for my sister’s birthday in the summer! And then it was supposed to be done by Christmas! It is halfway done! To be fair I hate the pattern I chose to do 😭 it’s a granny hexagon cardigan and it actually looks pretty cool but it takes FOREVER to work up (probably my fault for using a 3.75 mm hook but it matches the yarn my sister wanted) and it’s literally halfway done like if I really put my mind to it then I could finish it. That being said just thinking about it fills me with dread LMAO I’m thinking about doing either a raglan or patchwork cardigan instead because I would like to actually gift her the cardigan I’ve been promising for like 10 months now 🤡

3. Beetlejuice inspired vest: this project is sitting halfway done on my table right now TAUNTING ME. I was having such a fun time with it when I got the genius idea last night to try it on for size. It is way too big which means I have to frog almost the entire thing!! Trying to tell myself it’s a good thing because it’ll be quicker to work up if it’s smaller but it’s also disappointing because I have to undo my work!! Also to clarify when I say beetlejuice: it’s this bulky yarn that changes color from black to dark purple, lilac, chartreuse, and neon yellow-green. Such a fun combo that I had to have when I saw at Michaels

4. Forever ago I told @loelett that I would make them a bat. Said bat literally only needs feet, to be sewed together and stuffed, and shipped out. I struggled so much with the feet that it got put on the back burner 😭 but other than that it went well HGHG

This isn’t even counting the ideas I have that haven’t made it to the crocheting stage yet (I want to make an iwtv sweater so badly it makes me look stupid) but hopefully I can finish these up soonish so that I can start on new ideas!!

ALSO I FEEL THE NEED TO SAY THAT I LOVE CROCHETING AND CONSIDER MYSELF GOOD AT IT BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE THIS POST SEEMS KINDA DOWN JGVHGGHG i would literally be unstoppable if I had the motivation to finish things is what this post amounts to. Thank you for coming to my ted talk

[fenimores-book-nook]

A rainy day in a cozy coffee shop <3

11.02.24 ~ Saturday

Good morning (or whatever time it is when you are reading this) and welcome back to the Book Nook! It's been a while since I've written a blog post. After the trip I had to Arizona, the motivation I had was low. But we're back! Saturday mornings when I work make me feel more motivated and productive. I get to sleep in a bit longer since I work at 10 instead of 8 like my weekday shifts. And Saturday shifts are shorter too, so it's kinda like I get my fix of productivity and motivation in the morning and it lasts for most of the day. So, yay!

It's raining quite a bit here where I live, but I enjoy working on rainy days. :) This post is probably just going to be an update post, on my reading, my life, etc. So here we go. ;)

As you know, Halloween was only two days ago. We're allowed to dress up in the bookshop I work at so I had a total of four costumes for this spooky season! I decided to dress up the days leading up to Halloween too. First day of my work week: Tuesday, I dressed up like Dipper Pines from Gravity Falls. (Amazing show, go watch it.) Wednesday, I dressed up as my own version of Peter Parker/Spiderman. I think it was pretty great. ;) Then, on Halloween I dressed up as a witch! It was the costume I was most excited for, hehe. I took inspiration from Agatha All Along (the newest Marvel show and SO INCREDIBLY GOOD!), mainly from the characters Agatha and Teen. I loved it. THEN, Halloween night, my siblings and I had a little party that was a lot of fun and I dressed up with my sister as Frog and Toad from those children's books. I was Toad. :) We were adorable.

Now, the Christmas feels are starting to hit me. Yes, yes I am one of those people who listens to Christmas music early. I listened to it on my way to work this morning, it was amazing. :) But look, I don't skip over Thanksgiving, I'm just a big believer in Christmas music and decorations around turkey time as well. ;) So. To each their own.

I think of feeling festive as a win for me, honestly. The past two or so years Christmas has not felt like Christmas. (Thank you, depression.) But this year, it just hit me and my heart is all happy with the warm Christmas things. <3 Go progress! Go bettering your mental health!

READING UPDAAAAAATE!!!

Another cute illustration. ;) Yes, Christmas/Winter themed because I like it.

I'm still reading The Martian, but I haven't been reading it as much lately. I've been getting more and more in the mood for more comforting reads. Like...rereading The Fault in Our Stars for the fourth (I think) time. But also this one series my sister loves and calls her "trash read" because it's not the best writing but it's one of those book series where you can't stop reading. It's called The Zodiac Academy by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti. I'm only like two chapters in but I've been having the urge to continue reading it. So, it's gotta be good.

Another book I recently started is A Month of Sundays by Courtney Peppernell. It's a poetry book about getting through a dark time. I've read one of the author's other poetry books: Watering the Soul, and it was very good, I loved it. So I'm thinking this one is going to be good too. Deep and possibly will make me cry, but good.

As I wait for my chai to heat up...today's plans are: work, relax at home, then go see a comedian at 7:30 with my dad. Hopefully it'll be good! I am excited to just chill at home, though. Rainy days always get me in the mood for cozy clothes, candles, jazz in the background, and reeeeeeeaaaadinggggg. <3

Oooh, my chai is very good. At home, I wanted a cup of coffee so I made some with creamer, brought it in to work, and made our "Spiced Hayride" chai to add to my coffee. It's chai with salted caramel and apple. (Except I forgot to add salt, but it's still delicious.) So, go make yourself a chai or a coffee or whatever kind of drinkity or sweet treat you want; you deserve it. :)

Until the next one,

Thalia <3

[shokuto]

Twin Day

At the start of the day, while Mrs. Pichelli runs terribly late for homeroom, Ganke fixes Miles with the kind of look you get coming back from running off with your dad’s car. Thinly veiled frustration mars his expression, awaiting an explanation like a stick of dynamite awaiting a light.

Not that Ganke elaborates, of course. He’s always had an understated flair for the dramatic, one that put Houdini to shame whenever he got worked up.

So he lets Miles ignore his dull glower. Lets him settle in his desk, pull out his notebook, and assemble the bookbag fort on the surface of the wood so their teacher wouldn’t see his phone when she finally arrived. He waits just until Miles has had enough, until he sighs, turns to the desk beside his, and grants his fellow student the opening he needed like one rolls down the window for the police.

“Can I help you, Ganke?”

“Why are you wearing that?” He asks.

Miles looks down to inspect his frankly normal choice of attire—the most striking of which being a black hoodie, embroidered with thick golden lines in the shape of owl, kinda like a neon sign—before staring back at Ganke with his own look of bemusement.

“What’s wrong with it?”

“Uh, hello? You see the shirt?” Ganke emphasizes the signature Frog-Man graphic on his tee by stretching out the hem. It unfortunately doesn’t answer Miles’ question, nor the reason for his own bout of frustration.

“Yeah, I see the shirt,” Miles assures, “…is it supposed to mean something?”

“It’s twin day! We’re supposed to be wearing the same outfit!”

Ganke’s quickly becoming a pro at answering one question and creating two more, Miles notes, face wrinkling in confusion. “What?”

“Dude, look around you.”

Skeptically, Miles humors him. Taking in the rest of the room, he only sees his classmates chatting amongst themselves at first, nothing unusual.

Then he notices how everyone’s arranged. The seats are the same, but most of the people in them are matching clothes with the person beside them. He spots two green sweatshirts stamped with the Sprite logo in white, two “I’m with stupid” tees, about four plain blue shirts with a white star on them, obviously homaging the shortest sitting president in US history, and so on and so forth.

He peeks a little lower. They’re even wearing the same shoes.

“It’s homecoming week,” Ganke explains. “And now, I don’t have anyone to twin with!”

Miles looks back at his friend, distinctly remembering the short time ago in which he was blindfolded and dumped in a blank room under a spotty video feed. He’s happy he evidently has a quick recovery time, but that was only like, a mere week and a half prior.

“You just got kidnapped and you’re worried about homecoming week?” He quietly asks as much, leaned in.

“Guy’s gotta compartmentalize,” Ganke shrugs.

“…Right,” Miles relents, however confident he is that Ganke’s merely hiding an ulterior motive, “Well, uh. Sorry, I guess.”

“We literally planned this two days ago.”

A scoff. “No, we did not.”

“Yeah, we did!” Ganke Lee, ever the keeper of times Miles was wrong about something insists, “The theme dropped in a school-wide email, I called you immediately about it!”

To his credit, Miles does try his hardest to recall the alleged conversation. One he apparently had over the last few days, likely in between fighting for his life and wondering what exactly “twin day” was. It comes to him, albeit slowly, and really, all he remembers clearly is how his phone just wouldn’t stop ringing…

Then he winces, remembering the hit he took to the face fumbling for it like he had ice in his suit.

“You can’t just ask me stuff like that when I’m out,” Miles defends.

“Yeah, clearly,” Ganke huffs in his seat. “Well, there goes today. I’d run to the dorm and change, but it’s not like they sell those hoodies at Target or anything. Didn’t you have to scrounge up your birthday money from two years for that thing?”

“It’s good material,” Miles argues, subconsciously shielding the brand of his sweater from further scrutiny.

[milfbenji]

KILLED! AT CAMP SMILING TRAILS — little excerpt, word count: 768

"Don't do that," Morgan moved, propping herself up on her elbows to get a look around them. "What if someone sees us?"

Kit let out a sigh and shoved Morgan back down with a hand to her chest. Only a little more forceful than she was playful as she boxed the other in with an arm on either side of her. "Nobody's gonna see us, nobody even wants to be out here," she said, leaning in to kiss at her face. "Besides, I think this is the last place we'll get jumped for it."

"Right, I forgot everyone thinks gays are soooo cool here, why don’t we just go passionately swap spit in the dinin’ hall like Scotty and Reese do. Mhm?”

“Don’t be a dick. I just think this place ain’t the worst place to, hell, what’d you say? Swap spit? I mean, you’ve seen how Ruger is with that groundskeeper, we’re probably in good company.”

They were awfully close now, nose to nose, and despite her prior insistence, Morgan sat up a little just to press in and took every chance she could to brush her lips against Kit’s in sporadic half-kisses that made the muggy weather closing in on them almost pleasant. “Maybe.”

“Feels like more than just maybe—was I convincing?”

“Nah, ‘m bein’ intentionally unaware but you’re mighty easy on the eyes so it ain’t that hard if I’m real honest.”

A flash of Morgan’s shit-eating grin and Kit was sitting back with a scoffed laugh. “Whatever,” she said, narrowing her eyes against the sun beating down something nasty, shirt clinging to her skin from sweat alone and selectively damp around the sleeves. “We should get back, Reese’ll kill us if we’re not there for roll call.”

“We gotta get back after I fold, really?”

“Good way to keep you enticed, yeah?”

A sharp psssh left her, loudly, but she abided by the waved hand gesturing her up, groaning to her knees before stopping entirely, peering over the dock into the glittering, murky water. Morgan pulled the brim of her baseball cap down and leaned further in, the dock creaking with the movement, and her looking like she could dive forward about any second. “What’s that?”

“Jesus Christ, back up, if you fall in you’ll come back with like ten diseases.”

“Not,” she mumbled, absentminded, stretching awkwardly for something in the water. Kit loomed a bit away, hopeful to avoid the lukewarm splash back but standing all cross-armed and uncertain as she looked around at the sprawling woods encircling them, it dripped an itchy unease down the back of her neck she avoided by giving herself the task of moving forward and holding onto the end of Morgan’s shirt. “If I fall in now we’ll both get ten diseases,”

“Tight, wanna tell me why you’re fuckin’ fishin’ with your bare hands before I start to feel goofy as hell?”

Morgan didn’t answer. All she heard was the sound of water sloshing and the distinct absence of any other noise. No birdsong, no chittering katydids, no frogs or toads croaking away, hell, she couldn’t even catch the usual knocking of a woodpecker or two somewhere in the distance. Kit swallowed hard, focused on the opening in the woods that led to the path back to camp, shadowed and dappled in erratically shaking streaks of sunlight.

Sometimes those streaks converged. Warped. Twined around the shape of what she swore was a person staring back but then the wind would blow and the shadows scattered out again, vacancy returned.

She shivered, twitched away to—

—Morgan jerked her forward then pushed her back with a soaking wet hand, drip, drip, dripping to make dark dots across the wood. Kit stumbled sideways, clutching at the wet hand marks left on her shirt. “Fuckin’ hell, dude!”

“Sorry! Sorry, I tried talkin’ to ya, you didn’t say nothin,” she said, staggering to her feet. “You alright?”

“I’m - I’m fine,” Kit wedged a finger between her throat and her bandana to loosen it up a little and then she saw what exactly Morgan went searching for. Drenched, dripping, and donning the distinctive green smiley face on the tongue of the too-little shoe. “Is that…”

“…Yeah, I thought you said nobody comes out here?”

“Nobody does. We don’t even have a kid small enough to wear it here, anymore, at least.”

“Anymore?”

“First week of camp, some kid went home early, Ruger said he was bad sick. Wasn’t even around long enough for me to see him so I doubt he came out here,” she told her. “So where the hell’d it come from?”