#kit vc: what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck

[mayon3sa]

: ̗̀➛ THRIFTY

Synopsis:Having to clutch up the last round of a game is frustrating. What’s even more frustrating is getting clipped by one of the team members from the other team because they died. What happens when said clip ends up going viral and people start laughing at how the dynamic between the two strangers is. Not only does it end up going viral but it also encourages new friendships to be made through it and maybe even more than just friendships.

THRIFTY : PATCH ONE ☁︎ USER BARBONIE273???

SERIES MASTERLIST ┊ ⋆ ┊V2: NAWT COOL(TBA)

Playing Valorant alone was always one of your biggest fears, even though you were a professional player and had enough experience to speak up for yourself you always fell victim to the what if thoughts during certain games. Spiraling down those thoughts always seemed impossible to let go of ; Lucky something always distracted you from venturing any further into those thoughts

Speak of the devil and he shall appear, just as you were starting to worry your phone rang making you stop what you were doing and picking up the incoming call

“Y/N hop on val i’m on stream right now girly” Jirous voice rang through your phone

“I’m setting up my stream wait, in the meantime join the discord vc”

“Girl hurry up”

“Damn bro stop rushing me i’m almost done i'm fixing my mic, I’ll join the discord when i finish up bye bye”

“Hurry up if not i’m not playing with you bye bye”

Just as you were done setting up your mic you joined the discord vc to see shindo and shinsou also on the call

“I thought you guys were streaming why are you on call” you questioned

“Ehh we got bored and decided to just chill in call and hear you guys play val” Shindo said

“50 bucks y/n throws this game” shinsou said

“Haha hilarious you asshole, you wanna talk about throwing games let's talk about your two week lose streak back to back”

“Alright bro you didn’t have to do all that, just say you’re pressed and move on i guess”

“When i see you shinso it’s on fucking sight bro, bring your boxing gloves hoe”

“Or what”

“Oh my god both of you shut up, Y/N join my party i already sent the invite”Jirous voice interrupted you and shinou’s bickering

After nearly 20 minutes of you and Jirou playing you guys were approaching the end of the game with one last match having to take place in order for you guys to win the game. Saying you were exhausted was an understatement so needing some fun in the game you held a poll on your chat asking what you should do for the last round and surprisingly majority voted to play pistol only as it would’ve been fun. And that’s exactly what you decided on doing

“We should all do eco this round, with light shields and classical pistols” You had said to your team's general voice chat

“I’m down i’m getting bored of this game either way” a girl said

“Yeah i’m also down why not” Another girl said

“I mean why not we could win this round so sure” yet another girl also agreeing with your idea

“Jirou play eco this round let’s win this last round with thrifty that would be funny as hell” You commed

“Sure”

Just as the round started you lurked around b site playing around with your raze kit and knife making markings along the walls 

“Y/N there’s someone around the corner i set up cypher traps but they have guardian one tap and you're done for” jirou commed

“Relax i have roomba with me we’ll be ight”

“Y/N says that and she’s always first to die with than damn robot” Shinso said 

“Shut the hell up bro if i miss my shots i’ll get a medium to put a hex on you”

“Girl shut up and shoot 2 of them are coming to sight” jirou commed

“Damn bro y’all on my ass i know, i got it”

As Y/N as holding down b site two enemies had entered site you used paint shells as decoy and shot two of the enemies

“2 down, i think some might be lurking mid jirou tell iso to hold mid”

“Iso IS holding down mid dumbass look at mini map”

“Well not anymore she’s dead go hold down mid i’ll rotate to a”

“Shindo do you ever think about like what if dress to impress ever added a serving cunt category like imagine someone dressed up as maddie from euphoria” shinso talked into mic

“No because honestly think about it that would make the game so much better, i NEED that category added”

“I got sage, our phoenix commed 2 in a Y/N let’s rotate”

“Bro our whole team just full on died it’s just us” jirou said as she was checking player starts

“We’re winning this with hopes and dreams bro”

“Trust, trust i’ve been practicing my aim i can clutch this watch” y/n said

Just as Y/N and jirou were holding down a sight the enemy teams yoru had teleported behind jirou, though it was a good strategy on their part jirou managed to kill them, leaving the round between the enemy chamber, you and jirou. You do have to say as smart as the chamber was for using decoys they weren’t smart enough to kill jirou, they weren’t smart enough to realized you had your ultimate so just in time when they peaked you managed to kill them

‘THRIFTY’ was all that was heard as the round ended

Not wanting to leave a sour taste on the other players you left a message you thought was nice and Whitty on general chat ‘no scope :P wp’ 

“Alright jirou i think i’m gonna hop off i need to take care of my hedgehog bye jirou bye stream I'll see you guys hopefully tomorrow at the same time as today stay safe and hydrated guys”

Meanwhile…

“I FUCKING LOST TO A RAZE WITH NO DAMN GUN HOW BRO HOW” was all that was heard through bakugos stream

“AND WHAT KIND OF NAMES IS BARBONIE273?”

“THIS HAS TO BE SOME JOKE THERE’S NO WAY BRO HOW”

Just as he managed to somewhat calm down from the anger of that match he cut the clip and uploaded the rest to twitter

A/N. AHHHHH i finally finished the first chapter im so exhausted ngl but yayyy

taglist.@twinnintwink , @sara4uuu , @captainshindo , [open just ask to be in it :))]

[leakybabysworld]

fantasy idea:

my owner bfs sports team loses and i’m brought into the oppositions change room as a …reward

they start off my making me strip. i’m in the middle of a circle of them, all fully dressed with their beer bottle in their hands - eyes on me.

the captain gets to decide what to do with me first and he decides that for a bit i should just be a table for them. now most of them have placed their feet on their kit bags or stools… two of them have got their feet on me, a couple of beer bottles on my back aswell

after that the vc decides it’s time for me to amuse them, so he asks tells me to to fuck myself on the mouth of his beer bottle… his half full beer bottle.

i sink down and the stretch isn’t too bad… i’ve had bigger. but he then tells me to to start riding it properly… and it’s the humiliation that gets me wet.

he then gets me too lie down and tilt me hips up (bottle still in) and then tilts the bottle downwards, pouring the beer into my pussy. it’s feel so weird, an odd sort of painful. i can barely notice the laughs of team over my pleas for him to stop - he doesn’t.

they then decide that it’s their turn to get a little pleasure, captain goes first thrusting into my pussy, i can then feel his hot cum dripping out of my hole when he pulls out. then the vc takes his turn… then motm… and then i lose track.

some time along the way they held one of the massage guns against my clit pulling me to orgasm again and again and again.

[compulsoryroyalty]

(Undyne):

Undyne looked at the other in confusion, mainly as she sensed something seemed to be bothering them now, even if she was a bit dense and couldn’t tell by looking at them. “Uh, no? I know the Captain of the Royal Guard is Greatest Dog. He’s, like, super big and super tough from what I’ve seen.” The guppy wondered if she was maybe being tested or something, though her senses told her otherwise. “Can’t say I’ve ever heard of you before. I only know of King Asgore, King of the Underground.” Well, she was having doubts about being in the Underground so this just proves she isn’t there anymore.

Undyne then began trying to use every ounce of her brain to figure out what was going on, though it all came back to that strange grey door in Waterfall. The guppy knew every inch of Waterfall like the back of her hand, yet that door had just appeared. The door was clearly stranger than she thought. “This is like the stuff Dr. Gaster talks about in science class when he gets too into his science stuff. I normally tune it out, though he’s got these awesome theories about different worlds and timelines.” The young monster may dislike science, though even she got behind those theories.

“Of course I can become Captain of the Royal Guard, though I know it’s gonna take a lot of work, but it’ll be easy for me.” Undyne was aware that her goal would be hard, requiring constant training and hard work, though to her it was still something she could do. “You know, the Underground. Where all monsters live after being sealed under the mountain.” It was basic history that everyone learned when they were little. The guppy’s stomach would suddenly growl again, showing that she needed something to eat. “Not to rush, though I could use something to eat now.” It seemed the young monster either wasn’t bothered by the fact she might not be in the Underground or didn’t completely understand the situation.

She very quickly stopped listening to what the child had to say.

“...He’s got these awesome theories about different worlds and timelines.”

“Aight ’Smarty Pants’, do tell me where Mobius is located then? Surely you know of it.”

“Mmm…. I suppose my point is…I don’t think the Dragons of my world and yours are related or even similar.“

Her ears folded against her head as every piece of information started to pelt her like a mosquitos on a summer day.

Underground. Avalice. Mobius. Underground. Avalice. Mobius. Underground. Avalice. Mobius--worlds. Worlds! Entirely separate planets that could coexist with Flora! That’s why the tenrec didn’t know what Lucky Stars were. That’s why Dragons worked so differently over on Avalice than they do on Flora. That’s why this child knows of a King instead of a Queen as her ruler! Why her magic felt different, why she speaks as if one of the twelve rulers of Flora was a complete and utter stranger to her! Every man, woman and child would know of the Darlings! Her father made sure of that!!!

That was the only thing she could even THINK of to explain any of this! And it’d certainly line up with all that she already knows! That. That dream with the dragon--that was real! Everything she spoke about, everything Kit felt, all of these vivid memories, they’re real!!!

This...

This was all insane. This was all fucking insane!!! But nothing else makes sense! There would be no other way to explain any of it!!!

But then why??? Why are these people appearing left and right? Why was she with that dragon? Why did she suddenly disappear?

She’s missing information--it doesn’t add up! It just. It just.

It was as if the fennec had seen a ghost. Struck, paralyzed in thought. Her mind raced to a myriad of separate conclusions, none of which added up, none of which made sense, all of which twisted her worldview further and further and further.

“I’ve brought the--”

Oh.

Of course.

Of course Friedrich would come back to something like this. The Queen, certainly having a breakdown of some sort, all the while the child stands there. Lucky that it is just a child--prodigy or not, Renard wouldn’t exactly be ecstatic if he found out his daughter was showing weakness in front of a commoner.

The possum raised his hand, following it up with a loud snap.

“Lagomatrons, if you will.”

The small army of robotic maid bunnies saluted, all rushing towards where Undyne and Kit stood. The maids expertly weaved their way around the two, beginning to clean and repair any of the damage done to the area with the magical blue spears. They would even pull out any spears and neatly stack them off to a side in a nearby corner.

“Should we go and eat now, your highness? I’ve already told some of the Lagomatrons to begin cooking.”

[herogardn]

more rapid - fire surge hcs

i've said it before but i'll say it again she's got horrible anger issues.  absolutely abysmal.  her response to most things is to lash out verbally and sometimes physically in anger.  is usually very snappy when talking to people

is in like. constant state of anger i cannot stress this enough

extremely mentally unwell she has breakdowns.  a lot.  her situation of being physically modified n the mind control n memory wiping n basically everything starline did to her has fucked her up tremendously.  constantly losing it abt her self identity n if she does smth too similar to sonic or thinks abt herself too much she will spiral

extremely adamant that she was someone before starline did all that shit n not actually something he made from scratch.  also extremely desperate to prove this to herself n others n does what she can to try finding anything abt a past life

no redemption arc hell yeah she actively goes out of her way to cause problems and be a villain so she can be the exact opposite of sonic instead of being a replacement for him

currently homeless.  decided to say fuck the canon n have it so after starline dies n his old base runs out of resources she runs off on her own n essentially abandons kit oops

yeah basically she doesn't like kit and thinks his obsession with her is weird and wrong.  his existence n knowing he too was brainwashed to be like that is a trigger for her so she dipped out on him

in less lore heavy news.  those rinkydink rings have been replaced with brass knuckles :)  surge vc  fuck with me

[named-haines]

MCC 22 Cyan Coyotes moments i wanted to write down before i forgot

the miku costume and dye job prestream

wisp pissing on stream

“bike chicken”

weird adhesive

whatever the victorian child bit before parkour tag was

wisp killing ranboo in RSR and immediately being so apologetic about it

“i’m gonna get 40th, i can see the light”

wisp not knowing how any of the games work at all because he missed 3 events

“it reminds me of… buildings”

“who the fuck just joined this VC?” -wilbur, the moment wisp started doing impressions

fr what the fuck happened to wisp after HITW?

JUMP IT

the stewie griffin to kermit Taken monologue pipeline

kit wisp is the voice of ace race, take that as you will

“he’s not out yet?” “he’s gay?!” “out of the birth canal”

winning battle box with the penises

hoping for 4th just so they didn’t come third

wilbur playing “mary had a little lamb” through voicemail

ranboo and wilbur crying and shaking over the 3rd place curse being passed onto them

wilbur and shelby’s extreme petting competition

i haven’t been able to watch an event live since all stars and i’m so happy to be able to do one of these again

[romxnticss]

who: closed starter for @libbylogan​ what: *max from sharkboy and lava girl vc* SHE RUINED MY DREAM JOURNAL! where: somewhere on campus idk you tell me

Everyone leaves. Everyone leaves. Everyone leaves. He can hear the words reverberating around his head with every beat of his heart, with every footstep hitting the sidewalk on his way through campus. He was taking Kitty and Frankie’s absences harder than he was willing to show, especially with the guilt of his then-impending breakup with Kitty weighing him down. It didn’t mean he cared about her less, it didn’t mean he didn’t want closure, it didn’t make the rejection of her leaving without so much as a goodbye sting any less. And Frankie? He always thought she’d at least offer to take him with her when she escaped Cherry. He thought he meant more to her than a shitty drum kit forgotten in Leo’s garage- just as beat up as he felt. 

He’s too wrapped up in his thoughts to pay much attention to his surroundings and soon enough he feels himself crashing against something, or rather somebody. Libby Logan. Just another person who had taken what they wanted from him and left. His romantic feelings are now directed elsewhere, they have been for some time now, but seeing her pinches his heart just the same. It reminds him of an empty bed and deafening silence, broken by the sound of all of her belongings spilling out of her backpack on impact. “Shit, sorry,” he reaches down to help her collect her things, but one in particular catches his eye. He knew that book, it was his. And it wasn’t any childhood relic that she’d claimed, but rather one of the many journals that he’d forgotten were stuffed in various places in his old bedroom. It looks dog-eared and well read, two qualities that he hadn’t remembered it possessing the last time he’d looked at it. Probably sometime in the middle of high school. 

The contents are what he remembers the best, feelings that he couldn’t seem to fit into songs pouring from him onto the pages. Questions that would always be left unanswered. Like why his mom had left, why his dad had never tried to find him, why Leo was wasting his life on some broken kid who didn’t belong. A (thankfully PG rated) description of his only romantic encounter with Lux, and the confusing feelings that followed soon after. And, of course, pages and pages about Libby herself, ranging from silly anecdotes to pining thoughts, wondering why he couldn’t seem to get her to just... see him. 

It’s embarrassment that fills him first, evident in the blood that had rushed to his face, frantic fingers scooping the book up before Libby could even try to deny it. The pages flip open and his own handwriting stares up at him. ‘Why does everyone always leave?’ A question he wasn’t sure he’d ever find the answer to. 

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, right?” 

[ofjcnnys]

self para: neon trees vc here we go again when: early morning, day 16 where: eve’s shelter + nearby beach

tws: anxiety, paranoia

This didn’t feel right. That’s what Jenny kept thinking through the night. It wasn’t right. They felt like they’d been willing to accept a lot that had happened so far. Their plane had crashed. They had survived. They had survived on the island as long as they had. Fuck– they were even coming around to that fucking first aid kit that freaked them out a week ago. But it felt like everything they were sure of had turned to sand and slipped through their fingers right before their eyes in the last twenty four hours. If they understood themselves well enough they’d know that it started before that. That itch in the back of their brain that made them feel like they couldn’t trust things they saw with their very own eyes.

Naturally, they couldn’t sleep. They tried. They closed their eyes, tried to breath in time with Shane. They even tried that fucking thing Rio had suggested once about lying completely and utterly still until your brain thinks your body is asleep and tries to catch up. It didn’t work. It never fucking did. It was a long night, but they didn’t want to freak anyone out. They’d been sleeping at least a little every night since they got lost. Dani used to tell on them when she noticed they weren’t sleeping because the Thewlis’ knew that was the start of something. And now, they cared about the Eves too much to freak them out. Or they thought they did. Whatever they had experienced in the last two weeks, real or fake, had them lying completely still, breathing slowly like they were asleep, even closing their eyes most of the time. Even if their brain was spinning around in circles too fucking fast to fall asleep.

They wait until the sun starts to rise before they move. They feel scared. Like more so than the constant we’re stranded on an island and have no idea when or if we’ll be rescued sort of scared. The sort of scared they’d been in the jungle, just shy of a week ago now. They knew what they had to do, not just for themselves but for the rest of the group too. It just fucking sucked. It made them feel like a child, knowing they had to do it or they’d be more likely to lose their absolute marbles before the sun went down again. They step out of the shelter to stretch their limbs first, a subtle thing that would allow them to re-establish their surroundings in their mind.

The beach, the sand, the shelter, the rocks near by, and the jungle behind them. They would all have to be individually re-established, but they’d start small. The shelter. They could remember moving from down the beach, but they could also remember hearing their best friend’s voice between trees. Their memory wasn’t reliable. But, what was reliable right now? They looked down, wiggling their toes a little in the sand. That was real. The beach. They walked forward a little, where the sand started to change colours and felt damp beneath their feet. That was real too. They moved forward again, until water splashed against their ankles. That was real. Or at least the shallows were. They would have to leave re-establishing the deeper ocean to someone else. 

They turned back towards shelter. Looking at it with more intent than they had ever before. They looked at each stick leaned against rocks, each bit of seaweed or plane debris holding it all together. They remembered what they’d said to Margo. They didn’t have the axe the whole time because they would have used it to build the shelter. As they got closer they felt more relieved that they had said that. Each branch having an uneven edge, like it was snapped, or it was ripped from a tree. If they were cut with an axe it would be sharper, straighter, more even. They found themselves relieved. What a weird fucking thing to be relieved about. The axe was real, and they hadn’t found it early enough to build the shelter with. That was something, but it unfortunately didn’t mean they hadn’t hallucinated all those boys in the jungle. It just meant they hadn’t always had the axe. They tried not to get too caught up in it, it was still something knowing they hadn’t always had it– but it wasn’t the answer their brain wanted.

They trudged back to the shelter, quiet as they approached to be mindful of anyone still sleeping before settling by the inventory pile. They crossed their legs looking at the mission in front of them. Days ago, when it was them and Shane, this had really just seemed like a small meaningless task. Something easy that was hardly worth four people’s efforts for an entire day. Now taking inventory felt a lot larger than that. They sighed lightly, shoulders slumping a little before the reached forward. Digging through the small collection until they found the notebook that had been serving as an inventory log. They turned until they saw an empty page, and got to work, counting every single item once again. Much more thoroughly than they had before. It wasn’t enough to look. They had lying eyes. And though they felt a little clearer now than they had through the night, they couldn’t trust one sense alone. 

tldr + i dont know how to include a certain fact: Jenny “woke up” early and has started inventory from scratch because they do not want to question what is real and what is not. They are more quiet than usual today, a little detached as they are stuck in their own head. Also the fact that I didn’t know how to include: they haven’t eaten or drunk anything since the previous day. They can’t completely rule out hallucinations as a reason for the boys “disappearance” yet, and thus can’t rule out their food and water sources being what caused those hallucinations 😌 

[glqwberries]

july 27 2020 vc

- we all hiveminded, and joined around the same time

- “i hold the entirety of the cursed crew’s boobs”

- ender joined at work

- “i hate homophobia” “*distantly* SO DO I”

- we bully rainbow

- whats your opinion on star wars

- emmit says silent for 10 seconds after being asked kits opinion on kylo ren

- singing Bohemian rhapsody

- “what the FUCK is kylo render”

- “i wonder if it would hurt to file down bones”

- reciting the “pwease mr obama im dwowning”

- ink emmit and zoe wait for ender

- ink starts playing deltarune while we wait

- deltarune music kills everyone

- frog grabber infomercial

- infomercials because inks volume is too loud

- everyone has decided that ender is royalty. eat the rich

- “hm. *voice crack* naaah”

- no one can hear ink

- ralsei has a tiktok

- nintendo dickllars

- southern lancer

- ralseis rude now

- “do you think toby fox had read homestuck?”

- the names ___ pronounced ___

- silly motherfucker with his arms in the air!

- rainbow realizes Allo People are just Like That, even at 14

- ender slep

- watching wilbur soot

- everyone talks to zoe’s mother

- ink plays undertale

- mii channel 10 hours plays as ender sleeps

[bluntforcefem]

1, 18, 20, 23? :3

1. tell us about your current project(s)  – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

i'm currently working on a neo:twewy au fic centered around the idea that all of the reapers are ghosts tied to a haunted house and fret n rindo are dumbass teens who get themselves in way over their head about it. i have the first chapter rough draft done and i'm working on the second? beyond that i know where its going but i havent outlined it fully. i probably wont! im having fun

my favorite bit about it is like... ultimately it is more of a comedy fic than it is a horror fic despite having horror elements because fret & rindo as protagonists are: like that, and also. the cast of the reapers are also just like that. sho calls you a factoring hectopascal and gets extremely offended if you ignore him on his trash heap. susukichi is a vaguely malicious frat bro. shiba and hishima are: extremely divorced. genuinely half the fun for me is writing the dialogue for these stupid fucks because they all Talk Very Uniquely (affectionate)

18. do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, aus of your own work, different characterisations?) tell us about them.

the kingdom hearts 12x100 i wrote was originally gonna be very different in like... tone? tone and content. i didn't originally plan on focusing on one organization member at a time, and was instead going to pin the focus on braig and brain exclusively; i realized like. 400 words in that i didn't like how that Framed the story. braig & brain are haunting the castle but the easiest way to see that is to look at the haunting from the view of the People Who Are Haunted

they did get one scene though because i do love writing them interacting. braig is a bitchy motherfucker and brain is extremely (that one khux cutscene vc) i'm going to become the virus that breaks this simulation. originally marluxia was going to remember brain as well! but i wanted the fic to stay somewhat canon-adjacent, so that was thrown out (another time, maybe)

20. tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

i talk about axel & robbins to fucking death at this point but like. the slow reverse of the dynamic wherein robbins becomes the one who is connected to some sort of god and letting it change kit instead of it being axel. except robbins is in an infinitely healthier situation for it. drives me bonkers. it's also important to me wrt their avoidance of saying "i know" (in axel's case) / "i hate you" (in robbins' case) ESPECIALLY since the latter is just shit kit says to kits friends all the fucking time when they're pulling shit on each other but. the words have Too Much Weight And History when it comes to axel

and then axel generally just avoids saying "i know" because (gestures vaguely) he Doesn't and also he doesn't want other people thinking of him as the sort of person who is always Saying That (derogatory)

i have a lot of implicit dialogue rules for these two esp in convos with each other that i will occasionally break on purpose but like Man The Intricacies Sure Can

23. what’s the story idea you’ve had in your head for the longest?

(deep sigh) here comes ocs. i think i've talked about j pantheocide and hir whole deal enough but (strained) video killed the video star fucking haunts me. i started the concept up like 2?? years ago and the entire plot is what if twitch streamers could make their Bits happen in real life and started committing atrocities about it. sometimes you trap someone in a tv thats fine. sometimes you turn a guy into a bug thats fine. every single character i made for it is a complete asshole which tracks EXTREMELY

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Pluralistic: 23 Mar 2020 (Free Tacocat game, Adafruit's open source PPE, coronavirus jubilee, Private Kit, Italian mayors enforce quarantine)

Today's links

Tacocat, a free print-and-play game from the Exploding Kittens team: Super smart endgame!

Adafruit offers open source PPE manufacturing: They're retooling and available to help

It's time for a coronavirus jubilee: Debts that can't be paid won't be.

Medicare for All is an economic stabilizer: Private health insurance turns recessions into depressions.

Private Kit, a free/open app to give you control over your location history: Doing contact tracing without invading privacy.

Italy's mayors berate quarantine-breaking citizens: "Does your dog have an inflamed prostate?"

This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019

Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Tacocat, a free print-and-play game from the Exploding Kittens team (permalink)

Need a game to play while stuck at home? Elan Lee and Matthew Inman, creators of Exploding Kittens, have just released a free, print-and-play game called Tacocat, which we just played at home, and it's fun!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/15UT6cElLNpxHG4er68DLxXwSrqbOTq2JFNFYzrmfO8I/edit#heading=h.8osmzd2mkump

It's a card game that's a bit like War, but with tons of little strategic gracenotes, including a totally brilliant endgame that makes the win up for grabs all the way to the very end. It took a couple of hands to figure out this complexity, but once we did, — wow!

Adafruit offers open source PPE manufacturing (permalink)

Some of the all-time heroes of the open source hardware revolution are the folks at Adafruit, a woman-owned, 150-person OSHW company in lower Manhattan. They've been deemed an essential industry and are retooling to make PPEs.

https://blog.adafruit.com/2020/03/22/covid/

They're VC-free, debt-free and profitable, and they're paying their 150+ employees through the crisis. They're manufacturing open source hardware face shields, ventilator components and electronics.

If you need manufacturing, design, logistics, or production support for PPE projects, contact covid19@adafruit.com.

It's time for a coronavirus jubilee (permalink)

The word "jubilee" comes from Hebrew for "trumpet," because every 50 years, the trumpet would be blown to signal the forgiveness of all personal debts. New kings once routinely announced debt forgiveness upon their ascending to the throne.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/21/debt-jubilee-is-only-way-avoid-depression/

Forgiving debts meant that the workforce stayed intact and productive, instead of falling into debt-bondage or mass migrating (think of Greece and its mass exodus after the recent imposition of debt austerity by the EU).

2008 represented a chance to write off bad mortgages. Instead, we evicted. Today, wealth inequality is far worse than during the last crisis. The new crisis has the potential to make inequality go supercritical.

The decision of Germany's creditors to force the country to pay war debts after WWI caused mass immiseration and paved the way for fascism. After WWII, the allies wiped 90% of Germany's debts off the books, triggering the nation's "economic miracle" and soaring prosperity.

As Michael Hudson writes in the Washington Post, if the US can afford a $4.5T quantitative easing package, it can afford jubilee for student debt. And private creditors who wipe out bad loans – ballooned by fees and penalties – will long have been made whole on the principal.

Leaving the "accruals" (fees, etc) in place, "actually subsidizes bad lending."

"Debts that can't be paid won't be. A debt jubilee may be the best way out."

(Image: Paul Miller, CC BY)

Medicare for All is an economic stabilizer (permalink)

The pandemic is revealing the extent to which private health insurance makes a bad situation worse. At the exact moment that we need more coverage, people are losing their jobs (and their coverage).

As Nathan Tankus writes, Medicare for All would be a great, countercyclic automatic stabilizer – buffering economic shocks for faster recovery. The current US system is an accelerant, making bad situations worse.

https://nathantankus.substack.com/p/medicare-for-all-is-a-great-automatic

Losing your job (and coverage) due to coronavirus, then losing your savings due to a broken ankle or a kitchen-knife slip? That's a recipe for turning deep recession into a new depression.

In discussion with Matt Taibbi this week, Noam Chomsky makes the point that private health care treats excess capacity as uneconomical and inefficient: "You should have just enough beds for what you need tomorrow. You shouldn't prepare for the future."

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/noam-chomsky-covid-19-useful-idiots-podcast-970047/

Under the finance sector's theory of shareholder capitalism, maintaining an extra hospital bed is a form of theft from your investors.

Neoliberalism treats all redundancy and resilience as "waste" and neoliberal raiders delight in selling it off.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/05/warner-chappell-copyfraud/#righttoresilience

Whether that's the corporate raiders who bought up newspapers and restaurant chains and sold off their real-estate and rented it back – leaving them grievously vulnerable to rent shocks – or the airlines' hub-and-spoke system that means one airport outage tanks the system.

Our supply chains – offshore, dependent on single points of failure – and the use of DMCA 1201 anticircumvention rules and other dirty tricks to suppress independent repair and third-party parts manufacture turn the devices we rely on brittle, making emergencies into crises.

What's worse than having your only computer go down at the start of a pandemic lockdown? Having your only repair depot shut down for the duration with no way to retrieve it.

https://9to5mac.com/2020/03/21/apple-store-repairs-coronavirus/

As Chomsky says, neoliberalism leaves us totally unprepared for a crisis. "What we're good at, what our leaders are good at, and have been very good at for 40 years, is pouring money into the pockets of the rich and corporate executives while everything else crashes."

(Image: Elvert Barnes, CC BY-SA)

Private Kit, a free/open app to give you control over your location history (permalink)

Private Kit is a free/open location-tracking app that does not expose your location data to third parties (including the app's authors) until you explicitly authorize it.

https://github.com/tripleblindmarket/private-kit

It's intemded for use in pandemic mitigation, "allowing you to share information with health officials accurately and quickly," but only when you explicitly opt in, and only for as long as you remain opted in. The authors' paper on this is "Apps Gone Rogue: Maintaining Personal Privacy in an Epidemic," which digs into the reasons that potential (or confirmed) carriers might be reluctant to participate in contact-tracking, and how privacy tools can help.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nwOR4drE3YdkCkyy_HBd6giQPPhLEkRc/view

It also discusses the rise of blackmail scams in South Korea in which criminals demanded payments not to falsely accuse businesses of being sources of new coronavirus infections (!!).

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/06/more-scary-than-coronavirus-south-koreas-health-alerts-expose-private-lives

Private Kit allows for user location-history sharing directly with health authorities, without requiring third-party (carrier, app maker) intervention, aggregation or other high-risk activities.

This is an excellent example of the principle that "privacy" isn't the same as "secrecy." Privacy isn't "Nobody knows your business but you." It's "You decide who gets to know your business."

http://privatekit.mit.edu/

Italy's mayors berate quarantine-breaking citizens (permalink)

Our household can't stop marveling at this highlight reel of Italian mayors berating their stubborn residents for denying the quarantine orders. It's magnificent.

https://twitter.com/GiuliaRozzi/status/1241859350060093442

"We will send the police over. With flamethrowers."

"I can't formally ban you from leaving your house, Fine. I will ban you from setting foot on public land."

"Where the fuck are you all GOING? You and your dogs!* They must have inflamed prostates!"

"You can't play ping-pong. Go home. Play videogames."

"How can I spell it out? You can't stay in the streets. We need their girlfriends here. With clubs."

"Getting in your mobile hairdressers?! What the fuck is that for? Don't you understand that the casket will be CLOSED?"

"I saw a fellow citizen jog up and down the street, accompanied by a dog* who was visibly worn out. I told him, 'Look, this isn't a movie. You are not Will Smith in 'I am Legend.' You have to go home."

*Dog walking is a popular pretense for breaking quarantine.

This day in history (permalink)

#15yrsago Reflex: brilliant, page-turning sequel to Jumper https://boingboing.net/2005/03/23/reflex-brilliant-pag.html

#10yrsago: Secret ACTA fights over iPod border-searches http://www.michaelgeist.ca/2010/03/acta-de-minimus-proposals/

#10yrsago: Demonstration against Digital Economy Bill tomorrow at Parliament, London <a href="https://www.openrightsgroup.org/campaigns/disconnection/>https://www.openrightsgroup.org/campaigns/disconnection/

#5yrsago: Backchannel: computers can talk to each other with heat https://www.wired.com/2015/03/stealing-data-computers-using-heat/

#1yrago DCCC introduces No-More-AOCs rule https://theintercept.com/2019/03/22/house-democratic-leadership-warns-it-will-cut-off-any-firms-who-challenge-incumbents/

#1yrago British schoolchildren receive chemical burns from "toxic ash" on Ash Wednesday https://metro.co.uk/2019/03/08/children-end-hospital-burns-heads-toxic-ash-wednesday-ash-8868433/

#1yrago Procedurally generated infinite CVS receipt https://codepen.io/garrettbear/pen/JzMmqg

#1yrago Video from the Radicalized launch with Julia Angwin at The Strand https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbdgdH8ksaM&feature=youtu.be

Colophon (permalink)

Today's top sources: Slashdot (https://slashdot.org/), Naked Capitalism (https://nakedcapitalism.com/), Alice Taylor (https://twitter.com/wonderlandblog/), Four Short Links (https://www.oreilly.com/feed/four-short-links).

Currently writing: I've just finished rewrites on a short story, "The Canadian Miracle," for MIT Tech Review. It's a story set in the world of my next novel, "The Lost Cause," a post-GND novel about truth and reconciliation. I've also just completed "Baby Twitter," a piece of design fiction also set in The Lost Cause's prehistory, for a British think-tank. I'm getting geared up to start work on the novel next.

Currently reading: Just started Lauren Beukes's forthcoming Afterland: it's Y the Last Man plus plus, and two chapters in, it's amazeballs. Last month, I finished Andrea Bernstein's "American Oligarchs"; it's a magnificent history of the Kushner and Trump families, showing how they cheated, stole and lied their way into power. I'm getting really into Anna Weiner's memoir about tech, "Uncanny Valley." I just loaded Matt Stoller's "Goliath" onto my underwater MP3 player and I'm listening to it as I swim laps.

Latest podcast: The Masque of the Red Death and Punch Brothers Punch https://craphound.com/podcast/2020/03/16/the-masque-of-the-red-death-and-punch-brothers-punch/

Upcoming books: "Poesy the Monster Slayer" (Jul 2020), a picture book about monsters, bedtime, gender, and kicking ass. Pre-order here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723627?utm_source=socialmedia&utm_medium=socialpost&utm_term=na-poesycorypreorder&utm_content=na-preorder-buynow&utm_campaign=9781626723627

(we're having a launch for it in Burbank on July 11 at Dark Delicacies and you can get me AND Poesy to sign it and Dark Del will ship it to the monster kids in your life in time for the release date).

"Attack Surface": The third Little Brother book, Oct 20, 2020. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250757531

"Little Brother/Homeland": A reissue omnibus edition with a new introduction by Edward Snowden: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250774583

[planetsxend]

@nibelheimraised​ is both curious and cruel in the prompt department

🛏️ : our muses are forced by circumstance to share a bed for the night [ Cloud vc: Please don't snore :l ]

As soon as he catches sight of the soul already present in the church, there’s a pulse of alarm from Vincent, swift in its crash through their shared mindspace and Chaos totters upon landing.  He’d lash out for that, normally, gouge through Vincent’s mental barriers and smother him into submission until his allotted time in control of their body concludes.  But, normally, Strife would have startled awake the second his boot scuffed the floorboards.

He doesn’t, and Chaos is immediately suspicious of foul play.

Strife looks dead, slumped over as he is on a pew, but he doesn’t sound it.  Caged within his ribs, his heart still beats, his lungs still work, and a moment spared to remain utterly still and stare at him confirms the movement of his chest with every breath.  Someone so battle-worn and carrying the scars of a violent past shouldn’t be so oblivious to his surroundings even in slumber, however, especially not when Chaos makes no effort to keep his approach muffled.

How many times previously had Strife come awake at once with fire in his eyes and blade in hand, ready to run him through, only to pause upon realisation there would be no attempt on his life?  How many times had he seized Vincent’s body in the middle of the night, only to find Strife’s eyes already on him?

He discovers the reason behind such absurdity on Strife’s scent, soured and carrying traces he’d compare to stale water and the whiff of decay unique to infection.

“Strife,” he says, at a normal volume, and gets no response.  He repeats the name louder, nudges a foot for good measure, and gets a garbled noise of protest for his efforts, a brief flutter of lashes without eyes actually opening.

He stands there for a full minute, hands on his hips, looming over the swordsman while mentally debating with himself (and Vincent, but he usually ignores his input so why stop now?), and then when Strife still hasn’t attempted to gut him, sighs.  “What am I supposed to do with you now?”  He asks.  Another garbled noise - perhaps an attempt at telling him to shut up - is his only answer.

~

He moves Strife further into the church first, up a flight of stairs and into one of the rooms with a door still mostly secure on its hinges.  He follows his nose second, after he’s laid him down on the bed Vincent saw fit to purchase rather than pay for an apartment nearby, following the scent of illness to the soiled dressing applied to Strife’s arm, carefully peeling away cloth and bandage to get a look at the damage.

What is that?  A soft question from his host, passenger in the back of his mind and looking through the windows of his eyes to the diseased flesh weakening Strife from the inside out.

Nothing good, his grim reply.  Some consideration is taken for Strife’s comfort, cradling his head to fit another pillow underneath, unlacing and removing his boots, the numerous belts, that single pauldron.  He covers most of Strife’s upper arm in fresh gauze and bandages from Vincent’s kit, steeped in potion and left to dry only a few nights prior.  Whether the curative properties will help, he knows not, but there is no harm in trying all the same.  Strife stirs during his ministrations, breath catching and expression twisting with what Chaos assumes is pain, eyes too-bright and glassy when they finally open.  Not quite a fever, his skin too cold when Chaos lays his palm flat to his forehead and hushes him, lays a cast of sleep on him if only to nudge his body into a more restful state.

Not quite a fever, no, but definitely something.

What little aid he can offer administered, Chaos sits at a distance, chair turned so he blocks entry to the room with outstretched legs crossed at the ankles, eyes distant on the cracks in the wall, content to wait out the minutes or hours until Strife wakes.

But luck has never much been on his side, and the blankets are few and thin, and when Strife shivers Chaos scowls, wholly unimpressed by Vincent’s suggestion.

Galian would be better for that.

Galian is also prone to drooling.

... Fuck.

~

When Cloud wakes his everything hurts, head ringing and eyes smarting and arm all but on fire (it always is, these days), limbs heavy and uncooperative and -

And he’s warm.  Almost comfortably so, when there’s been a chill plaguing him to the bone for weeks.

He’s also not alone, as evidenced by the arm slung over his waist and the body pressed to his from the smoosh of his cheek against chest to the bend of one knee caught between thighs.  And the wing stretched overhead, when he finally manages to peel an eye open to figure out who the fuck he’s bedded when the last thing he remembers is curling up on a pew and breathing through the pain lancing from shoulder to fingertips and back again.

“What -” a dry rasp crumbling away to nothing, throat absolutely parched, and tries to shove away, lean back, swivel his head to confirm.  But Chaos only tightens his arm to keep him close and slowly eases his wing from above, letting in muted daylight and even that’s like hellfire to his eyesight.

“You’re sick.  And you were cold.” Chaos says in way of reply, and Cloud feels the rumble of his voice as well as hears it.

Well.  Shit.

[zcldrizes-a]

» 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐧 ! ( repost, don’t reblog )

tagged by: @skjebne​​ tagging: whoever would like to !

name: artie ( alias ). star sign: capricorn. height: 5′9 middle name : ann.

put your spotify on shuffle. what are the first 6 songs that popped up?

the sharpest lives - my chemical romance.

waves - dean lewis.

ride it - regard.

someone you loved - lewis capaldi.

partition - beyonce.

khe sanh - cold chisel.

grab one book nearest to you and turn to page 23. what’s line 17? honestly i am downstairs and all my books are upstairs, so i refuse to get up because i am a lazy bitch. when was the last time you played air guitar? i play air guitar on my cat - does that count? who is your celebrity crush? i’m going to be hella cliche and say emilia clarke, kit harington, and chris hemsworth are all at the very top of my list. what’s a sound you hate; sound you love? hate - knives scraping on a plate. love - thunder.

do you believe in ghosts ? i never used to until i lived in a house that was over 100 years old, where a guy had hung himself off the stairways. after that... yes, absolutely. how about aliens ? mulder vc: the truth is out there.

do you drive ? yes. if so, have you ever crashed ? not specifically but i have had other cars hit me ( rear ended and hit in a carpark ) as well as literally had a car reverse into me, so.

what was the last book you read ? making my way through asoiaf again, so technically that. do you like the smell of gasoline ? absolutely hate it. what was the last movie you saw ? currently watching child’s play. what’s the worst injury you’ve ever had ? i have broken my left wrist twice in two places. do you have any obsessions right now ? tiger king on netflix tbh?

do you tend to hold grudges against people who have done you wrong? if a person is sorry? no. if a person continues to do the same thing without change? abso-fucking-lutely.

in a relationship? single pringle!

[docholligay]

thoughtfulfuri replied to your post “Don’t rb but”

I loved that her kit gave me so many different tactics I could take and it was more than just 'heal people' and 'shoot people.' Old playstyle let me mess around with different strats without *having* to communicate with my team to make her actually work. I'm so salty about the rework for that reason. I hate VC if not with friends. But it's too late. I already fell in love XD

ahahah part of the reason I love playing Tracer is she damn near defies team strategy. She’s all about finding the openings, moving as quickly as possible, being as annoying as possible and leaving. I have very little need to know what the rest of my team is going save for asking Zarya to tell me when her ult is up. 

thoughtfulfuri replied to your post “Don’t rb but”

Honestly, Symmetra is just so goddamn stunning, and that's probably what most drew me in. But I also really adore her backstory. She's smart, clever, and the idea of her having this stringent world view that seems on the verge of collapse at any time when she comes to realize how Vishkar is using her/not what she believes it to be is fantastic. So much potential for how the crash will effect her.  It's also a really awesome touch that she's on the spectrum. Representation of women on the spectrum seems pretty damn rare from what I've seen. Also, I've always been a little shit in games and love setting up turrets. I haven't yet really learned her rework and some of that is saltiness about fewer turrets (though I bet you're happy about that =P).

I never came to Symmetra, AND I DO HATE HER TURRETS, but I am delighted by how many people love her and seem to really be interested in her story. I do love that they confirmed she’s on the spectrum, too. I feel like Blizz for all its many many flaws, is, you know, trying. They’re clunky and ridiculous and sometimes I want to smack them but never even once do I doubt that they are trying. Jack’s gay, Lena’s a disabled lesbian, Symm’s on the spectrum, there’s wild racial diversity, and you know? For a shooter? points. 

(I have also been selfishly happy about how many people have come to the conclusion that mercy is Jewish and Tracer is ADHD, but that is fanon not canon, and so I won’t include it) 

hakbot replied to your post “Don’t rb but”

Also I like Hanzo a lot as a character but that's just because I think he's hot. Woops.

The purity of this is beautiful. I actually love the idea of Hanzo and Genji’s whole “thing” and in a less crowded field might do something with it, but they don’t really “need” me, you know? 

hakbot replied to your post “Don’t rb but”

I can't separate Roadhog and Junkrat as they are my favorite together which I think helps with the lack of writing... They at least have the duo thing going. Big gross Mad Max gays are not a thing you see a lot? Also at this point I'm just waiting for Bliz to finally confirm they are huge gays and fill my heart. Actually the lack of writing could also be helping me fill in the blanks with shit I like. Huh...

Yeah, it’s a double edged sword. I fucking love Fareeha Amari, but every time they publish even a fucking picutre of her I’m holding my breath and waiting for them to fuck it up. BUT I WANT IT ALSO. IT’S VERY COMPLICATED. I would be kind of shocked if they were put as anything other than together, because I feel like the game has realy suggested that? BUT ,I bet it;ll never officially be confirmed if only because Blizz seems to have a (wise, to me) pretty light touch/refusal to confirm hero/hero romances. It invariably makes the game take a side, so I see why they shy from it. 

[thickcrskiin]

celestialsunglasses replied to your post “¦.it’s not even sunday, you guys— what the fuck.”

nick vc, breaking all sorts of fourth walls: I see it too. and I think that's the secret, Jan. Everyday can be sinday if you aren't a coward.

jan vc: ,,,,,,,,they all need thirst aid kits. SO MANY GODDAMN THIRST AID KITS.

[atlaslain]

heyyyy kit talk to me abt zack’s hesitations or lack thereof when it comes to killing ppl for soldier or otherwise. i feel like all the hesitation i notice comes from him taking time to process how exactly the commands given to him are supposed to go, or like,,, what he’s supposed to accomplish besides Killing The Thing, but i wanna know your thoughts coz ily

@backwaterheroics

first things first hi rowen ily lots and i hope ur havin a great day.

SECOND THINGS SECOND, it took me forever to word this ramble because it’s honestly just a big formless ramble but im gonna do my best to Share These Thoughts. 

ZACK & HESITATION TO FOLLOW ORDERS: A SAGA

if we start at the very beginning, zack’s first ingame mission initially acts like a true mission but resolves into a simulation. nevertheless, we do see the first hint of zack going ‘wait what, why do i have to do this’ and i like that we’re immediately shown that he’ll question shit he thinks isn’t right. he’s quick to notice that the troops he’s fighting are shinra troops and wants to know why they’re attacking him ( and it’s a lovely lil foreshadowing for Later In The Game ). angeal immediately tells him it’s fine, these are wutai troops disguised as shinra soldiers, and zack’s misgivings appear to dissolve. at this point in time, he is a fourteen-year-old second class soldier and things are really quite simple in his mind: shinra good — shinra road to heroics! wutai enemy, wutai bad. 

i do wanna note here that he doesn’t completely regard wutai as,,, yknow, evil or The Enemy, but it’s more that he. believes the shinra line about how they’re taking over this place to help them. shinra vc it’s fine guys, we’re just gonna rob this place and probably try to eradicate its culture but it’s To Help THem, we’re gonna give em resources and a mako plant or somethin! ( point is, zack thinks…. he thinks he’s Doing Right here. and that’s important. so long as he’s convinced he’s doing the right thing, he’ll stop questioning. )

note that he’s a ton happier to fight the behemoth toward the end of that mission. fighting monsters is so much less morally questionable. a lot of his early missions tend to end this way, with a nice big monster for him to take out so he doesn’t need to wonder if it’s right.

that leads us nicely to wutai and zack’s first mission with angeal. at this point, he’s buzzing. he’s just been suggested as a first class soldier. angeal’s with him. he finally gets to fight. he wants to impress lazard. he’s ready to kill without question here and it genuinely is a touch terrifying how eager he is. 

the wutai mission has that fun mechanic where you actually score higher the more enemies you choose to kill. there’s the option to walk away from them, to sneak through the fortress, but you get more points — more shinra prestige — for causing carnage. zack does not question this. he causes the carnage. 

except with yufi. she’s… she’s a kid ready to defend her home from him. i honestly wanted the game to give him a bigger reaction to that — my iteration of zack is certainly far more affected by this child, this self-professed hero, whose home is being invaded and who considers him the bad guy. he plays along, pretends to be beaten, but it’s the emotional impact that floors him, that makes him think ‘is this right and should i be questioning what i’m doing’. what is he accomplishing here, other than being part of destroying this kid’s people? it’s a scene that’s played lightly but is shockingly heartbreaking. 

he still does his part though. 

the scary thing is, if the whole angeal-genesis-sephiroth mess hadn’t happened, he might’ve continued that way. they’re the ones that make him begin to question — he hesitates initially to fight genesis’ soldiers because they’re shinra soldiers, they used to be allies — he fights them because they’re traitors and because he’s given reason to slot genesis nicely into the Villain portion of his brain and decide that means he’s in the wrong. 

i like to think zack’s declining faith in shinra has a direct correlation to how often he hesitates to follow commands. when it was angeal giving the orders, he was following someone he had trust and faith in. without that, the whole thing begins to feel empty and zack ( again, particularly my version ) is a fucking storm of a person who follows his own damn rules and his own beliefs.

zack lives for battle but he hesitates to take lives meaninglessly. he likes to consider his fights heroic, so long as he can convince himself he’s killing people to save other people. 

he actively Does Not Want to kill either genesis or angeal when ordered to. even with genesis, who’s killed people and is clearly going down a very dark path, zack hesitates. he’s just … like you said, processing. he wants to understand why this can’t be resolved without death — why there isn’t a better way. he fights only when it’s made plain to him that there’s no working around this. he’s told ‘kill’ and he’s like ‘okay but why’. ‘what exactly do you want me to do’. ‘w h y’. during genesis’ first supposed ‘death’, zack’s devastated. he didn’t want this. ( he actively makes damn sure genesis survives the next time. )

with angeal, he disobeys direct orders to kill. this is a breaking point of sorts for him, during which it becomes horribly plain to him that he is one of the few people here trying to avoid all this death. trying his damn hardest to reject those orders to kill angeal, only to do it anyway, results in a strange sort of shutdown in him. he doesn’t question anything for a while. fights because he’s told to. kills genesis copies. loses himself a little. he’s willing to kill hollander, where before his mind was set more on ‘capture and make him sort this shit out’. 

he says it himself: i’m soldier, so fighting’s all i do. he sounds scathing about it. disgusted with himself. he knows he’s a weapon to shinra and he’s letting himself be used, letting himself stop thinking because it’s easy to just follow commands and hope it all works out, because trying to do the right thing only wound up causing angeal’s death anyway. 

zack’s very much a person who wants to do right but gets a little confused along the way about what that is. a lot of his wariness in blindly following orders very much comes from his own strong moral compass, and the way the various influences around him seem to affect it. 

i dont know if this is a good ramble or if it just turned into me crying about zack again but there are my thoughts. my badly organised thoughts. aksdfjxngk.

[everythingisnightvale]

Say It Ain’t So

 Bowers Gang!Henry and Losers Club!Vic: “you were with them all along?!” “i–let me explain–” 

For @skepticallysighing

“You were with them all along?” There was a fire in Henry’s eyes that Vic had never seen before. It made Vic feel like he was two feet tall.

“I...let me explain.” Vic tried, but Henry’s glare hardened and Vic’s voice died out.

“Don’t. If you ever come near me again, I’ll gut you like the pig you are.” Henry stormed past Vic, his shoulder knocking so hard into Vic’s as he past that the skinnier boy almost fell over.

Vic was hurt, but he couldn’t blame Henry. After all, the whole scheme had been his idea.

You see, Vic could walk around unnoticed at school, but his best friend Stan, not so much. The boy had a hard enough time being the only Jewish kid in his class, but his small stature, curly hair, and ever cracking voice made him an even easier target. He was a personal favorite of Henry Bowers.

Bowers was the reason Stan was dreading high school, and it broke Vic’s heart. He had spent that summer hanging out with Stan and his other friends from his grade, a group they had proudly dubbed the losers club. It seemed to be the general consensus that Henry Bowers and his band of goons made everyone’s life a living hell.

“Someone should take that guy down a few pegs.” Eddie had said one evening.

“I could do it.” Vic wasn’t sure what inspired him to speak up. Maybe  it was because, as the oldest, he felt protective of his younger friends. Deep down, deeper than Vic would ever dream of going. He was curious about Henry Bowers. A part of him wanted to get closer.

It didn’t take long for the group to come up with a plan. It was all too simple. Vic would get close to Henry, and report anything he learned back to the losers.

Getting Henry to notice him had been easier than he thought. Vic and Stan had spent hours in Vic’s bathroom bleaching Vic’s hair until it was a stunning shade of blond. Bowers always went for blonds. When the first day of school rolled around, Vic waited until Henry sat down before choosing the seat next to him. He ignored the confused looks Henry was giving him with practiced ease. He couldn’t let him know that this was all planned.

The first test of the year came within two weeks, Vic positioned his paper so Henry could see the answers without the teacher noticing. It was that same day that a blue Trans Am stopped on the side of the road on his walk home.

“Get in.” Henry called through the open passenger side window.

“Where are you going to take me?” Vic asked with a teasing smile.

“Somewhere no one will ever find your body.” Came the voice of Patrick Hockstetter. The other boy practically leered at him, making Vic hesitate.

“Ignore him. I won’t let him hurt you.” Henry said and Vic didn’t want to admit it, but those word started a fire somewhere deep in his stomach.

Some days it was hard to remember the plan when he was out with the guys. He had never really had friends his age. It was nice to have people to talk about music or complain about classes with. It wasn’t like he didn’t do those things with Stan and the other, but this was different. Vic couldn’t stand to be around Patrick. The other boy unnerved him, but he was surprised to find he actually enjoyed spending time with Belch. He had a quick witted sense of humor that Vic hadn’t been expecting.

Then there was Henry. His mission. He was guarded, but Vic expected that. He knew what people in town had said about his father. Vic himself had seen the bruises. It was different now. Now that he was closer to Henry he could see how bad it was. He could see how his body was littered with scars. He could see him walk with a slight limp, or wince if someone brushed up against his side. Maybe that’s why Vic’s mouth once again got ahead of his brain.

“My parents are never home.” Vic told Henry one afternoon, careful to make sure Patrick wouldn’t overhear this conversation. “If you ever want to come hang out, I’ll leave my window unlocked.” Vic tried to be casual. He couldn’t let Henry think he was trying to protect him, that would hurt his pride and send him running.

Two nights later, Henry comes stumbling through his window at almost 2 in the morning. As soon as Vic wakes up he sees the blood. He ushers Henry into the shower and throws him a towel and a pair of pajamas while Vic goes to find the first aid kit. He expects Henry to reject his help. Instead Henry lets him patch him up and even mumbles a quiet thank you. They fall asleep together that night, and Vic wakes up the next morning with Henry’s arm wrapped around his waist. They both silently agree not to talk about that.

After that, it was like the shell around Henry cracked enough for Vic to slip inside. Henry slipping in through his window was now a constant in his life, as was sharing the bed. Henry even kept a toothbrush in Vic’s bathroom. Richie had made a joke about Vic playing house with Henry and Vic couldn’t stop himself from shooting an icy glare in his direction.

They didn’t always go straight to sleep. Sometimes they talked. Henry would talk endlessly about how he wanted to get out of this town more than anything.

“What will you do when you leave?” Vic asked, propping himself up on his elbow.

“I would find my mom.” Henry said.

Vic didn’t know what to say. He had thought Henry’s mom was dead.

“Where’d she go?” He finally asked.

“I...I don’t know.” That was the first time Vic saw Henry cry. He held him close as Henry sobbed about how his mom had left him. She had just packed up and left, leaving Henry to deal with his father’s anger all on his own.

Vic didn’t tell the losers about what Henry told him about his mom. It was too personal, too private. Instead he told them other secrets of Henry’s. Henry pretended to drink black coffee, but most of the time his cup had hot chocolate. Henry used shampoo and conditioner. He even saw Henry swipe a bottle of Vic’s mom’s hairspray. Henry had a thing for animals, specifically farm animals. He had found that out on a night Vic thought they were going to go cow tipping, but as it turned out, Henry just wanted to pet the cows.

Also Henry Bowers was ticklish. Extremely so. Dragging a finger across his ribs would send him into a fit of uncontrollable giggles. It was the cutest thing Vic had seen.

As he and Henry grew closer, the warmth inside of Vic grew. It continued growing until it was almost an uncontrollable wildfire.

“Do you realize where we are?” Henry asked one night as they shared a cigarette. It was a habit Stan was not happy to hear Vic had picked up since joining the gang.

Vic looked around. “This is the kissing bridge, right?”

“Mmhm.” Henry hummed, he threw the finished cigarette on the ground and crushed it under his boot.

“So what, are you going to kiss-” Vic’s snarky comment was cut off when Henry Bowers did in fact kiss him. Vic stood there frozen in place, letting Henry pressed their lips together for as long as he wanted.

“Shit.” Henry whispered when he pulled back, his face full of regret. “You better not tell anyone about that.” He tried to look intimidating but Vic could see in his eyes that he was scared.

“I won’t.” Vic promised. “I won’t tell, so long as you kiss me again.” Vic stepped closer to Henry, drunk off of the feeling of having his first ever kiss with a boy he had grown to really like. So Henry did. He and Vic stood in a far too public area kissing until their lips hurt. Then before they left, Henry pulled out his knife and carved a neat little heart with HB + VC inside. It was barely noticeable amongst all the other names, but it made Vic’s heart sore.

Vic should’ve known it was doomed to fail, he just hadn’t expected it to happen so soon. He should’ve kept his mouth shut. He shouldn’t have told the other’s about that kiss, or any of the kisses after that. He should’ve known he was pushing his luck by asking Richie Tozier to keep all of these secrets.

“You know what, it’s really funny that you call us fags Bowers.” Richie had snapped at him one day, holding his now broken glasses.

“And why exactly is that so funny Trashmouth?” Henry asked, his voice dangerously low.

Vic was wishing desperately in that moment that Richie was getting his telepathic signal to shut up, but it wasn’t working.

“We know all about your and Vic’s trip to the kissing bridge.” Richie said back.

Vic could feel the air around him grow tense. When Henry didn’t respond, Richie took that as a sign to continue.

“Surprised? Vic never liked you. He’s been our spy. Any embarrassing secret you told him, we know. So yeah, we know all about you to sucking face. If you don’t leave us alone, I’ll make sure the entire school knows that the real faggot has been you this whole time.” Richie was bluffing. Outing Henry meant outing Vic, and Richie was a jackass, but he’d never do something to hurt his friend like that. Of course he wasn’t aware how much he was hurting Vic right now.

Henry turned to face Vic.

And now we’re back at the beginning. Vic watched in silence as Henry left, his friends trailing after. Victor couldn’t move. It was like his shoes had grown roots, keeping him firmly planted to the ground.

“Well, that went better than expected. I honestly thought there would be more punching involved.” Richie said.

“Beep fucking beep Richie.” Vic said, before finally made himself move.

“Wait. What did I do?” Richie called after him, but Vic refused to look back.