#like Foxy was being completely normal about it. he took it because well Why Not and to maybe sell as a ‘collectors item’

[bleetusmcyeetus]

Oh my god I was NOT expecting to leave the Sun & Foxy fake date ep. mildly shipping Puppet and Foxy?? Help when I clicked on it I was kinda thinking “oh. More fake kidscove stuff. That’s always fun :)” but then everything happened and???????????? Huh??????? Like I don’t really ever ship TSBS characters just cuz it feels weird to me but?? Oh my god

[trashyswitch]

Distractions On The Job

Michael Afton had been hired to work at the Circus Baby's Pizza World. It's only day 3, and he's already feeling uneasy about continuing the work. Things get stranger as he's distracted for a long while during his shift.

There are a couple swear words, but that's about it.

Though this fanfic idea was mostly my idea, I'm dedicating it to @planet--venus, and @youngdrawingweirdo (both on Tumblr) because Venus helped me, and they've both been awaiting this fanfic. And lastly: Shoutout to @agarus-fallen-lershal because...I love them! <3

[There is no need to check on Baby tonight. Please refrain from entering unauthorized areas. Proceed directly to Funtime auditorium.]

Michael looked to his right and watched the three floor vents open. He bit his lip nervously, but proceeded to spite his gut feeling. As his legs passed the entrance of the vent, the sliding door closed.

[FUNTIME AUDITORIUM MAINTENANCE VENT OPENED]

Michael stood back up in the pitch black room and was given a light of some sort. As Handunit started talking again, Michael clicked the button and to his horror: the light only flashed and turned back off.

[...Funtime Foxy is motion-activated. For this reason, it’s important to keep the room dark, as to not accidentally activate her-]

Michael scoffed. Of course he- SHE...is.

[You have been provided with a flash beacon. Use it if you need to get your bearings and to ensure you don’t bump into anything. However, use it as sparingly as possible.]

Michael flashed the beacon again and widened his eyes at the brighter-looking Foxy that was shaking her head rapidly and menacingly at him.

[Proceed forward to reach the parts and service room.]

Michael flashed it again and stopped to let the creepy, shiny version of Foxy go by. Michael let out a quiet sigh as he realized Handunit was now done talking. He waited a few moments and flashed the beacon, smiling slightly as he saw Funtime Foxy shaking her head farther away from him. Michael proceeded through Funtime Auditorium.

He kept an eye on how much he was using it, and made sure to flash it only when he desperately needed to. He waited a bit longer before flashing it again. Michael widened his eyes but continued to walk, despite the creepy Funtime Foxy’s shaking body getting closer. He flashed it again and smiled. The fox was no longer in sight.

He continued to take slow steps towards the far door across the auditorium. He was trying his hardest to be very careful and precise. It was a long process, but he was hoping it would be worth the paycheck...

Oh what the hell...Why would any place like this be worth anything?! Look at this place! It’s partially abandoned! Baby isn’t even a singer because she caused a death! And Foxy-

OH NO!

Michael quickly stopped and covered the beacon. Foxy had gotten so close to him! Very slowly, Michael uncovered the beacon and gave it a quick flash.

She was still there, but not as close. So, Michael slowly started to walk again. He took a couple more steps more before flashing the beacon. Closer, but still safe.

As Michael made his way through, he began to wonder: would Michael be able to just take a run for it without the beacon flashes? Or would that be too risky?

Michael flashed the beacon again, and revealed that Foxy was getting farther away. The door wasn’t very far from him. Theoretically, he would be able to get to the Parts and Service room quicker if he ran. And if he desperately wanted to get there faster, now would be the chance to do it.

Very well. Michael flashed the beacon at the door one more time…

Target acquired.

Michael dropped the beacon right where it was and started sprinting towards the door. He ran with no fear, yet no sight of where he was now. How far was he to the door? It shouldn’t be-

<>

“OW!”

Michael flopped onto the ground and groaned in pain. His nose, head, chest and knees all hurt simultaneously. He wasn’t even sure if he could get himself up. Michael tried to reach up for some sort of leverage, but he couldn’t feel anything. Not even a doorknob.

Out of nowhere, a flash sound went off...A dim light reflected off the door for only a second before disappearing. Michael had looked up at the door just in time to see the fading light, and gasped in horror. Either he wasn’t the only human being in the room...or Funtime Foxy had just found the dropped beacon…

Shit.

Suddenly, a pair of hands had grabbed his ankles. Michael shouted loudly for help as he was pulled away from the door into the dark abyss that was the Funtime Auditorium.

“HELP! HEEELP! HELLO?!” he shouted.

But no one responded.

Michael started breathing heavily and started trying to fight and get himself away from the animatronic. “LET GO! RIGHT NOW!” He wiggled his body and kicked his feet as hard as he could to cause some sort of damage to the fox. But it only sounded like metal clanging with no damage being caused. His damned father made these animatronics way too overpowering…

Michael soon started to punch the animatronic. Half the time he was punching the air and hoping he’d hit something eventually. But other times, he was actually hitting something and making a clanging sound with his fist. The punches hurt a lot, and were probably making his fists all bloody. But why would he care about some cuts and scars if his life is on the line?!

Suddenly, one of his punches seemed to cause his arm to slide against something sharp. He tried to pull his arm out but to Michael’s horror: the sharp thing clamped down more on his arm.

“NO!” He started pulling on his arm desperately. “COME! ON! PLEASE!” He yelled with each pull.

His arm was completely stuck. The worst part was that he was able to predict what he’d gotten his arm stuck in. It felt like multiple sharp points being clamped onto his arm all at once. Only one thought came to his mind:

Metal teeth.

Michael grunted and growled with every pull. Yes, it hurt his arm to pull like this. Yes, it felt like pulling was creating more damage than the actual clamping. But he’s either getting out alive, or losing an arm trying.

But quickly, all his pulling paused as a thick, long nail started scratching at his armpit. Michael bit his lip and continued to try pulling again. But the scratching on his armpit was distracting him a little bit. “Foxy, p-please let me go. I’m sorry for disturbing you a-andyourpeacebut- aaAAAAGH!” Michael stopped pulling and covered up his mouth with his free hand. His eyes were squeezed closed as two more nails started scratching at his armpit.

Were they even nails? They sure felt like nails. They didn’t feel like the pointy nails you’d see girls wear to make it look like claws. They felt thick and rounded. But of course, he couldn’t confirm anything due to how pitch black the auditorium was. The man’s lips had started stretching out the sides of his face, giving him an uncontrollable, wide smile. His smile probably would’ve been noticeable outside of his hand. But again: the pitch black darkness hid that.

Despite that one tiny upside, the darkness was also working completely against him. This was further shown by how surprised and adrenaline-stucken he felt when the nails started digging deeper into his armpit. Michael let out a whimper of both surprise and restraint to hold his instincts back. It tickled so badly but he didn’t wanna break. He knew what Foxy wanted and he was NOT giving it to her.

But Michael could already tell this was not gonna end well for him. Funtime Foxy had chosen to scratch her long nails in the pit of the arm that was stuck, meaning he couldn’t put it down to cover it up. Even if he could, it’s likely that Foxy would just lift his arm up and tickle him more, making it even WORSE for the technician.

Michael started to let out small muffled titters. It was getting harder and harder for him to hold his laughter in. And Funtime Foxy wasn’t helping him one bit. In fact, Funtime Foxy decided to intensify things by digging a nail into his other armpit. Michael let out a muffled yelp and quickly removed his hand from his mouth to cover up his armpit with his arm.

Normally when someone tickles you, covering up the armpit with your arm leads to their thumb or finger getting crushed and as a result: either stops the tickling altogether, or leaves you being trapped in deep, endless tickles till you let their finger go. But when Michael covered up his one armpit...his arm COULDN’T crush her finger! Like, at all! The finger was still standing up, and digging into his armpit despite the arm pushing against it. There was just no stopping this fox from tickling him.

Michael’s smile started showing teeth and he finally started tittering and hissing. His laughter was finally breaking through the cracks, and he was NOT liking it. If he had proper control of his instincts, he would’ve stopped himself from reacting altogether! But nope! His body was yelling for him to breathe. But breathing would involve letting out the bubbles of giggles that were trapped in his lungs. So it was a win-lose situation.

But then...Foxy removed all of his fingers.

Michael let out a breath of relief. Thank goodness it was all over. He was so close to cracking too. If he had continued for a few more seconds of so, then he probably would’ve been a goner. But, he didn’t and now, he can rest in peace-

“NnaaaAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Michael screamed and bursted out laughing immediately!

Funtime Foxy’s fingers had touched back down on Michael’s body. But this time, on his sides. And on top of that, Funtime Foxy’s fingers had started scratching so rapidly, it felt like lightyear speed! That was what finally broke the man.

“OHOHOHO NOOOHOHOHOHOHO! FOHOHOHOXYYYYHYHYHYHYHY!” Michael shouted loudly and desperately.

All of a sudden, Michael’s arm was let go. “WELCOME, WELCOME TO THE FUNTIME AUDITORIUM!” the animatronic declared.

Michael squealed from being jumpscared, and instinctively covered his face with both his hands.

“MY NAME IS FUNTIME FOXY AND I HOPE, FOR YOUR SAKE AND MINE, THAT YOU’RE HAVING A WONDERFUL TIME.” Foxy declared next.

Michael shook his head as he laughed, not able to handle the intensely ticklish nails AND the deafening voice of Foxy all at once.

“I SEE HERE, WE HAVE A VERY TICKLISH BOY AMONGST US.” She added.

Michael whined in between his laughter at the ‘shoutout’ he got. “HEHEHEHEY! SHUHUHUT UHUHUHUHUP!”

“I WONDER: DOES THIS MAN HAAAAVE TICKLISH HIPS?” Funtime Foxy asked, looking at him with the white light in her eyes.

Michael gasped in absolute terror as he uncovered his red face. “No!” he whispered.

Foxy brought her nails up to Michael’s right hip and gave it a push. Despite his attempts to cover it up, Michael still instinctively jumped and let out a small yelp.

Foxy leaned her head closer. “I THINK THAT’S A YES.”

Michael quickly tried kicking Foxy and doing all he could to get the heck out of there!

“I SEE WE HAVE A TOUGH COOKIE! PERHAPS A LARGE WIGGLE WORM!” Foxy reacted. “IT’S BEEN A WHILE SINCE I’VE COME ACROSS SUCH A FIGHTING SPIRIT!” She declared.

Michael gulped and widened his eyes at the white small lights in her eyes. There was NO WAY he was getting out of this alive.

“PERHAPS A FIGHTING SPIRIT LIKE YOU SHOULD LEARN WHEN TO PICK YOUR BATTLES?” Foxy suggested.

Before Michael could properly reply, Foxy had started digging both her thumbs into his hips.

Michael SCREAMED and arched his back as he grabbed the metal thumbs. “NOHOHOHOHO STAHAHAHAHAHAHAP! PLEHEHEHEASE! IHIHIHIHIT TIHIHIHICKLEHEHEHES SOHOHOHOHO MUHUHUHUHUHUCH!” Michael shouted at him.

“WOULD’YA LISTEN TO THAT?! A WORTHY OPPONENT TO BEAT MY RECORD FOR ‘MOST LOUDEST VOICE’!” Foxy teased.

“YOHOHOHOU FUHUHUCKIHIHING AHAHAHASSHOHOHOLE!” Michael spat back at her.

“OH MY GOODNESS! EVERY BOY KNOWS YOU SHOULD NEVER SWEAR AT A WOMAN.” Foxy warned.

Michael wasn’t entirely listening due to his super ticklish hips being exploited.

“BESIDES:” Foxy stopped her tickle attack and gave Michael’s body a somewhat firm squeeze...then she brought him closer to her head and changed her eyes from a white pure color, to a deep red. “YOU SHOULD NEVER SWEAR IN FRONT OF CHILDREN.”

Michael widened his eyes and squeezed the animatronic’s cold fingers in pure fear.

[Eggs Benedict: It seems that you’re not yet at the Parts and Service room. I’m afraid you’re running out of time to perform your maintenance duties. We understand this is your first week, so we will let it slide. However, we still require you to fix Funtime Freddy. As a result: we will need you to work a couple hours of unpaid overtime, to get your duties done before 8:30 the next morning.] The handunit suddenly told him.

Michael was barely able to focus and listen for what the Handunit was saying, due to his predicament. Thankfully though, Foxy’s eyes went back to white and her fingers had loosened off again. But unfortunately, the fingers had also gone back to tickling.

“HEHEHEHELP MEHEHEHEHEHE!” He begged.

[I’m afraid I cannot understand you properly. Apologies for the error.] Handunit told him.

Michael growled in frustration and started kicking harder and harder to get the animatronic to let him go.

Wait, did he just say unpaid overtime?!

“FOHOHOXYYYYY! LEHEHEHET MEHEHEHE GOHOHOHOHOHO!” He begged.

“IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE I’VE HEARD SUCH BIG BOY LAUGHTER LIKE YOURS. I’M USED TO HEARING LITTLE KIDS LAUGHTER.” Foxy told him.

“IHIHIHI KNOHOHOHOHOW!” Michael yelled back.

“I WONDER: WHERE ELSE ARE YOU TICKLISH?” Foxy asked as she stopped tickling.

Michael went limp in her arms and started panting heavily. Foxy held onto Michael with both her arms, and shown a light onto the limp man. Michael slowly brought his head up a little, only for his eyes to squeeze shut from the bright light illuminating from her eyes. Michael lifted his hand up and covered up his eyes with the back of his hand.

“OH! WHAT A WONDERFUL TICKLE SPOT SUGGESTION!” Foxy suddenly declared. Michael lowered his hand a little in confusion, before being overcome with laughter again. Foxy started scratching in his right armpit yet again, and even added scratching into his ribs.

“EEEEEEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE! COHOHOHOME OHOHOHOHOHOHON!” he begged.

“OOOHOHOOO! I THINK SOMEONE’S A BIT TOO TOO TICKLISH!” Foxy reacted. “COULD IT BE THAT THIS BOY HERE IS TOO TICKLISH TO HANDLE MY PRETTY PINK FOX NAILS?” she teased.

“IHIHIHIT’S TOHOHOHOHOO MUHUHUHUCH! IHIHI CAHAHAHAHAN’T TAHAHAHAHAKE IHIHIHIT!” Michael yelled at her.

“HE CAN’T TAKE IT, HE SAYS! OH NO! WHATEVER WILL HE DO TO GET OUT OF THIS TICKLISH DISASTER?” Foxy teased further, not taking his plea’s seriously at all.

“PLEHEHEHEAHASE LEHEHET MEHEHE GOOOOHOHOHO!” He pleaded.

“OOOOOH! NOW HE’S STARTING TO BE POLITE! RUNNING OUT OF BREATH, PERHAPS?” Foxy teased.

Michael nodded his head as he started to fall into fits of cackles from all the tickling.

“PERHAPS A LONG BREAK IS NEEDED?” She suggested.

“YEHEHEHES PLEHEHEHEHEASE!” He replied hopefully.

Funtime Foxy finally agreed and stopped tickling Michael completely. Michael went limp in her arms and panted heavily in her arms.

“SUCH A POOR, TIRED SOUL. PERHAPS A NAP WOULD MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER?” Foxy asked.

Gosh...a nap sounded amazing right about then. But he still had work to finish up! He was thankful to be alive and breathing though. He wasn’t ignoring that small appreciation.

[Funtime Foxy. Please put Eggs Benedict down. You had your fun, and now Mr. Benedict needs to finish his nightly duties.] Handunit told her.

“OKAY, SWEETY.” Foxy replied, putting him down. Foxy gave him the beacon back and walked away. “HAVE FUN! AND COME HERE ANYTIME YOU WANT ANOTHER TICKLE OR TWO!” Foxy told him before bidding him farewell.

Michael rolled onto his back and scoffed at her last words. There was no way he was getting into that mess again.

Michael slowly got himself up again and used the beacon to get to the door. When he got there, he listened to every instruction and followed them to a tee. But when it came to grabbing the power modules, Michael noticed that Bonnie was bouncing around and not letting him grab it.

“Come on, little guy…” He told him softly. “Come on out…” He whispered.

Swiftly, a blue figure had jumped at his face and flopped onto his chest. “HEY! WHAT IS UP WITH ALL YOU CRAZY-” Michael yelped and widened his eyes as he stared at the blue puppet with part of his shirt in his mouth. “Bon Bon...let go.” He ordered. But Bon was feeling childish and mischievous.

The blue bunny refused to let go and instead, started burrowing himself inside Michael’s shirt. Michael jumped and tried to reach in and grab him, but it was too late! The evil puppet had already started crawling his half-body around inside and was tickling his belly and sides.

“HEHEHEHEY! HAHAhahahaha! Whahahahat ihihihis uhuhuhup wihihihith yohohou guhuhuhuys ahahand tihihihicklihihihing?!” Michael asked. “Thehehe ohohold ahahanimahatrohohonihics dihihihidn’t dohohoho thihihihis! Thehehey juhuhust sahahahang!” Michael reacted.

The little blue pupper let out a little giggle in reply to that.

“OH BIRTHDAY BOOOOY!” Funtime Freddy suddenly declared, leaning in with his eyes opened widely.

Bon Bon crawled out from Michael’s shirt collar. “Calm down, and go back to sleep!” he told him.

Freddy straightened his back again and closed his eyes. Then, Bon Bon popped out of his shirt and showed him the module. Michael smiled and took it from him.

[Great job. You’ve acquired both power modules. This completes your tasks for the night. Please exit the building through Funtime Auditorium, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow.]

[y2katsuki]

promiscuous

soulmate au?  a lil suggestive but sfw, pro hero bakugou

word count: 1890

For some time, people started getting a random marking on their body.  People thought it was a genetic mutation due to quirks, but over time they discovered two people had matching marks of someone’s quirk.  No two marks were the same.  After some studies it was proven that these markings were soulmate markings.

Growing up, you hated the explosive marking you had on your upper back.  You tried to avoid tank tops, low back dresses and more.  No one really wanted to date anyone if you could see a soulmate marking.  One day you looked on television seeing the upcoming pro heroes, not being much attention until you hear ‘Ground Zero, with an amazing flashy quirk.  Explosives....’, you didn’t pay any more attention.  You started at the blonde boy on the television, feeling a connection through the television.

“Well ain't this shitty.  Regardless if he’s my soulmate, he's a pro and I’m just a civilian.  No chance of us meeting.”  You said driely to yourself.  There was not much that you could do with your fox quirk.  Not many people like you because they quickly assumed you were cunning and sly.  So the best job you could get is being a waitress at a popular underground club.

Bakugou was livid when Kirishima took him to a club.  He told him they were going out to relax and ended up in a non-relaxing place.  His friends were super excited to have a free day and to party, Bakugou on the other hand wanted to go home and sleep.  Bakugou sat on the couch next to his friends who were chatting about missions.  Until a body appeared in front of the group.

“Heya fellas, I’m y/n.  I’m here to take care of you.  Can I get you fellas anything?”  You flirt.  I mean how else will you get tips.

While the others started to ask what was good and ordering, Bakugou stared at you.  Noticing the red fluffy ears on your head that moves as you talk, as well as the bushy tail swings to the music.  Bakugou for some reason can get his eyes off of you.

“Bakugou, do you want anything?”  Kirishima snaps him back to reality.  You are standing, with a hand on your hip, smiling.

“Water.”

You smile, before walking away to get the orders.  Kirishima and Denki complained to Bakugou about just getting water.  Bakugou’s eyes follow you as you head towards the bartender to get the drinks.  You shiver as you sneak a peek at the blonde that was staring you down.  You smile, thinking this was gonna be a good night and get an amazing tip.

The whole night, you felt the blonde’s eyes everywhere you went.  You ignored it, it’s normal for working at a club.  Currently you had your eyes on a regular customer you had for a couple months.  He tipped big.

“You know I’m not a cheap one.”  You giggled, as your finger ran along his neck.  “The bigger you tip the nicer I am.”  The man’s hand laid on your waist.  At the club you were known as the promiscuous fox, playing into your quirk.  A sly and cunning fox, that flirts with anyone.  You didn’t care, the tips paid your expenses.

“Aren’t you a promiscuous foxie?  That’s why I like you.”  You internally cringe.

“I’ll be back.  I have more customers.”  You slightly push him in a flirtatious way, making him laugh.  Rolling your eyes as your back was towards him.  The bartender laughed as he saw your face.

“He’s still coming here.”  He spoke as he made your orders.

“He’s so annoying.  He always reeks of alcohol, but whatever.  He tips bigger when he’s drunk.”

“Careful, those men always think you own them when you make them feel special.”

“Trust me.  He will regret it if he tries.”  Over the night, you completely forgot how the blonde’s eyes followed you.

Bakugou stares at the fox head outline that marks his left inner wrist.  He wasn’t sure if it was you, there are others with the same quirk as you.  He would scan your body to see if there was a trace of a marking, but he was quick to come to the conclusion that it was hidden where no one could see it.  He finally gave up and minded his business.

The night was slowly coming to an end, peacefully until people heard glass shattering.  Everyone’s eyes turn to the source of sound.  Seeing a drunk man with his hands around a waitress neck.

“You bitch!  After everything don’t you think you owe me!”  The hand grips your neck tighter.  Your regular finally snapped at you for not giving anything back for all the tips.  

You groan as your nails dig into his wrist.  You can see people starting to walk over to help you.  You kick his groin, causing him to scream in pain and letting you go.  You breath in before kneeing him in the face.  Catching your breath, you look at the man lying unconscious with a bloody nose.  You grab his collar before dragging him out of the club.  Everyone stares at you and moves out of the way.  You kick the door before throwing the man out.

“This one is banned.”  You look at the doorkeeper.

Walking back in to clean up your mess, you are met with eyes.  What?  They never saw a person get kicked out of a club.

Your coworker comes over to inspect your neck.  You had slight bleeding in the back of your neck, were the drunk man dug his nails into your neck.  You pull your hair into a loose bun as your co-worker inspects the nail marks.  Everyone’s attention went to their own business after awhile.  As your coworker was scolding you from getting in dangerous situations once again and cleaning your cuts, someone else was staring wide eyed at your back.

The blonde can see your upper back exposed, that was hidden due to your hair.  Clear as day, he saw the explosive marking on your upper back.  Once your cowork placed a bandage on top of the cuts, you let your hair down and sighed.

“Aw man.  He tipped so well.”  You rest your chin on your palm, as you sipped your fruity drink.

You took the night off, sitting at the bar sipping at your drink.  You feel a presence sit next to you but you ignore it.  You hummed to the song playing as you swayed with your eyes close.  You hear someone clear their throat, causing you to turn around to face the presence.

“Ah it’s you.  Blondie.”  You giggled.  “Sorry, I’m done for the night.  That man took the wind out of me.”

“I was checking on you.”  His red eyes could still be seen in the dark room.

“Awh, are you worried about me?  That’s cute.”  You lean more into your hand and smile.  “Well don’t worry, I’m heading home.  So thank you for checking on me but this is where we part ways.”  You sighed as you placed your jacket on.

“Let me take you home.”  The blonde gets up.

You give him a weird look, causing him to backtrack and clear what he meant.  Worry that a tipsy girl was going home late at night.  You laughed and accepted, you didn’t want to deal with any drunk guys you will probably run into as you walk to your apartment.  It was silent as the blonde walked next to you.

“Bakugou was it?  Thats what the redhead said.”

“Yeah, you said your name was y/n.”

“Wow, what a good memory.  Many guys don’t care because I’m just a waitress, so I appreciate that you remembered.”

The two reach your building.  Bakugou insists that he will see you at your door.  You smile and agree.

“This is the first time a guy takes me home and doesn’t expect anything.”

“Why would I need something in return?”  He furrows his brow.

“Well most guys expect a payment for taking me home.  I usually kick them and make a run for it.”  You laughed, remembering all the times you kicked a man and booked it to your apartment.”

“Well I’m not most guys.”  He sneers.

“I can see.”  You turn to place your keys to open your door.

“I’m not most guys because I’m your soulmate.” 

You’re hand hovers above your door handle.  You stand in shock before turning around.  You see Bakugou staring down.

“Very funny.”  You gave him a dry laugh.  “It’s not nice to accuse someone to be your soulmate when you don’t even have evidence.

“Oh really.”  He shows you the outline of a fox head on his inner wrist.  

“So what?  Many people have a fox quirk.”

“Yeah but no but my soulmate would have an explosion marking.”

You feel a chill do down your back.  No one has really seen your making, so how did he know?  You hid the marking when it appeared, and never mentioned unless someone pointed it out if they got a glimpse of it.  You couldn’t believe this man standing in front of you.

“Really?  Everyone knows that Ground Zero has an explosion quirk.  Impersonating a pro hero isn’t funny.”  Your grip your door hand.

“Who said I wasn’t a pro hero?”  You felt him get closer.

“Stop Bakugou.  It’s not funny.”  You turn and glare.

“It’s not.”  You feel his hand creep, to touch your marking.  Feeling static, your face heats up.  “The marking looks just like my explosions.”

You turn around, slapping his hand away from you.  You look at him in shock as he held a smirk that was all too familiar.  Ground Zero’s signature smirk.  He got closer, faces inches apart.

“Prove it.”  You whispered.  His smirk got bigger, as he took a step back.  You hear a small crackling, looking down at his hands.  Small explosions showered his hand.  You couldn’t believe it.  You never thought you would meet him, your soulmate.

He puts his hand down, getting closer once again.  Your heart starts to race and your face flushes.  His hand lands on your hand wrist, the other near the marking.  He pulls you into a kiss.  Your heart starts pounding against your chest, as you melt into his touch. 

  Is this what your soulmate’s touch makes you feel?  

His hand starts to snake around your waist, pushing you closer to him.  You snap back to your senses.  You push his face, leaving small scratches on his face, due to your claws.  His arm wipes the beaded blood, as he stands there still smirking.

“I’ll have you know.  Even if I am your soulmate, I won’t fall for temptation.  I’m not an easy girl, I play hard to get.”

“I love a challenge.”  He chuckles.

“Well good luck.  I’m not that easy to win.  I’ll have you know, I have options.”  You open your door.  Before closing your door, Bakugou spoke.

“Who knew I got lucky with a pretty and hard to get fox?  I’m looking forward to seeing more of you.”

You glared as you slammed the door to your apartment.  You catch your breath, as you listen to the whistling and footsteps to disappear.  You fall against the door, face flushed in the crimson color.

“Holy shit.”  You muttered.

part 2?  i don’t know you tell me :)

[bubbly-bungee-may]

ZoNa Valentine’s Week: Day 4 Why I Ship ZoNa: Part 1

So because i’ve never explained why I ship ZoNa, I’ve decided to use this Valentine’s Week as an excuse to make 3 separate posts on why I ship them. 

 They will be long posts because I am relying on the gifs I made of the anime rather than the manga (even though the manga may be more accurate, but I just started reading the manga so give me some time lol)

OKAY LET’S START.....

So just as a preface: First and foremost these two have known each other the longest. I’m not saying that in order to be a couple you need to know someone for a long time, but in ZoNa’s case I feel like it’s an important part of their relationship. 

They started out as friends then shit went down in Arlong Park (namely where Nami plays the villain for a hot second and that shakes Zoro up cause he had trusted her) but then everything was settled and they went back to being friends. 

I feel like that incident was necessary not only for the plot, but for Zoro and Nami’s relationship to develop. After everything, they now have full trust in the other and their relationship was able to evolve. 

This all leads me to my first reason as to why I ship ZoNa:

1. They are friends FIRST

Yes, I ship them as a couple, but I believe that all successful relationships begin as friends (that’s just my own personal belief). A foundation built on friendship and mutual understanding and trust is what I believe allows this ship to sail.

And despite the fact that everyone thinks Nami and Zoro are only capable of fighting and butting heads, they are actually very good friends who are capable of holding normal conversations.

Exhibit A (Ep.54) : Nami took notice of how Zoro was acting strange and commented on it. She’s aware of his presence and isn’t just writing him off. And this also shows that she cares about him.

Exhibit B (Ep. 62) : Zoro wanted Nami’s opinion on what the strange sound he heard was. Also Nami is taking the time to answer him; she could’ve just ignored him completely but she decided to pay him attention. 

Exhibit C (Ep. 154): This is a very brief moment, but Zoro and Nami have a conversation about dropping anchor and the layout of the island. And they are both on the ship alone and idk I like to think that Zoro was waiting for Nami to be done changing so that they could go on the island together.  

Exhibit D (Ep. 161): Nami wanting Zoro’s opinion as to if he saw anything. Just shows that she trusts his judgment and how she can rely on him. 

Exhibit E (Ep. 161): Short conversation, but still important. Zoro is showing concern and care for Nami by telling her to be more careful. And Nami is replying sincerely.

Exhibit F (Ep. 217): Zoro notices Nami is mad without even looking at her. If that doesn’t tell you how well he knows her by now, then idk what does. But it’s also important that Zoro is listening to her concerns and commenting on them.  

So YES, they can hold normal conversations, here is the proof! And having known each other the longest, they also know the other well.

Zoro can spot Nami’s money obsession anytime, anywhere.  (Ep.105)

And Nami knows how much Zoro loves sake, so she went out of her way to get it for him. (look at how happy he is hehe) (Ep. 255)

And this ⤵ gif (Ep. 159) is one of my newfound favorite moments and leads us into the next reason. It’s not in the manga, but maybe the animators are also ZoNa fans....??

2. They are comfortable around eachother.

Okay, but doesn’t it seem like Zoro is teasing Nami?!?! She almost ran into a tree and then Zoro is like “oooo a perfect opportunity to tease her”. Idk I just found this part super cute. Like Zoro isn’t usually one to be playful like this, but he is with Nami and ughhh it’s so cute!  

And then the multiple times that Zoro is seen sitting/sleeping next to/near Nami. It just shows that they don’t mind each other’s company and honestly (intentional or not) I think they gravitate towards each other because of how comfortable they are with each other.

Exhibit A (46): He came to sit next to her during breakfast when he could’ve sat down next to his captain. Like is this his seat? Has he claimed the spot next to Nami as his own? ..... I like to think so.

Exhibit B (48): The start of Zoro’s debt. I just love how Nami leans in and he doesn’t seem to mind it hehe.

Exhibit C (Episode of Alabasta): The circumstance here was a bit different, but I like to think that she just wanted to be close to Zoro. And idc who tf you are, but if you were in Zoro’s position you can’t just not think about or be conscious about the woman on you. Like yeah you can call yourself friends, but you gotta be at least a bit conscious of where you’re touching and what’s touching you.

Exhibit D (Ep.149) : The start of the famed drinking buddies act. Nami moved here after pouring Robin a drink so I like to think that she felt comfortable and decided to settle down next to him. So i’m guessing Zoro’s seat is next to Nami during breakfast, and Nami’s seat is next to Zoro when they’re drinking?!

Exhibit E (Ep. 193): Psssst Zoro, just scoot your hand over a smidgen 

Exhibit F (Ep. 225) : Before one of my favorite parts in the Foxy Arc (that will be shown in another part hehe). 

Exhibit G (Ep 228): The two of them were up here alone before Sanji came. I like to think that Nami was relaxing and then Zoro came up wordlessly and just plopped down and fell asleep (before Sanji interrupted) 

Exhibit H ( Ep 554): Honestly, Zoro is used to it at this point. And this just proves that Nami believes in his strength and believes that he will protect her no matter what.

Exhibit I (569): Ah yes the drinking buddies, an upgrade from Sky Island.

Exhibit J (569): Ah yes the sobering-up buddies. I made another post (here) on this, but I like to think Zoro likes being near her so he can protect her.

Now, I’d also like to make the argument that them butting heads is actually proof of how close they are. 

Nami isn’t afraid of getting close to him and giving him a piece of her mind. Remember in my previous post when Zoro does this with Nami (who is Sanji in Nami’s body). Yeah, they def don’t mind being close to each other even when it comes to arguing.

(Ep 93)

You’d think Zoro would learn that he can rarely win an argument with Nami, but nah, that ain’t Zoro. Personally, I think Zoro low key likes arguing with her. Aside from Nami the only one he really argues with is Sanji (but even then what they argue about is usually something petty).   (Ep 147)

I really like this gif because it shows that Zoro is trying to explain to Nami why they did what they did. She thinks they were “beaten”, but that isn’t necessarily correct, so he was trying to get her to see the real picture.... which she didn’t. lol (Ep 151)

But if there’s one thing I noticed about Zoro and Nami’s relationship when it comes to arguing, it’s that the other party is trying to get the other one to see from their point of view; they don’t argue just to argue.

Putting aside the fact that they were arguing about marriage (although if they ever did get married I’d think Nami would want something extravagant while Zoro would just be like “whatever just wake me up when I have to go in” ah okay my imagination is running wild.. stop stop)

Anyway, this part is important because this time it’s Nami who is trying to get Zoro to see from her point of view. Of course, she can’t do so without yelling and gnashing teeth, but the sentiment is the same-she wants Zoro to understand where she’s coming from. (Ep 764)

I mean look, friends have differing viewpoints and thoughts. Yes, they may disagree, but in the end it doesn’t really matter because people can still think differently but be close.  Ever heard the saying “opposites attract”? yeah, that’s basically ZoNa in a nutshell. They may argue and disagree, but I think that brings them even closer. 

And Zoro is usually referred to as the “calm and cool” guy, but the fact that he easily loses his “cool” over something slight that Nami says, idk I just find that cute that she’s able to get under his skin like that. 

I love the dynamic between the two. They’re opposites who like to fight, but always have each other’s backs and couldn’t stand to see the other hurt.   

[razorblade180]

Sunshower 9

Dusk time, the time every resident has been waiting for has returned once again. Decorations start to light up like yesterday and one by one people started to roam the streets yet again; including Neptune. He leaned against a small metal railing that went down to the beach via several steps. His pants were replaced with red shorts and a black, half buttoned up shirt. Perfect casual attire for having fun on the beach. It also was the only place his goggles didn’t stick out.

Even though the festivities had just begun, Neptune had already been patiently waiting for Ilia. Sun had informed them of conversation that took place by the lake and eagerly waiting to hear her interpretation of it. He’d had practiced pretending to be ignorant about it for an hour. Secretly being the friend they both turn towards for this predicament was rather challenging, yet flattering. Not to mention he was kinda living for this type teen drama. It was sure more investing than dealing with grimm.

Neptune:Hmmm, where the hell is she? I hope she didn’t change her mind.

“Freeze Human! You’re under arrest!!!” A voice cried out behind Neptune that made him jump instantly and turn around with his hands up.

Neptune:Officer I swear it was Su- Judy?

Judy:Hahaha! Man I got you good!

The fox officer laughed hysterically while holding their scroll sideways like a gun. Neptune would’ve been furious if he wasn’t busy looking at Judy’s outfit. The uniform from earlier was replaced with some blue daisy dukes that showed off her legs and a red crop top that proved that Judy definitely was the type who took police academy seriously. It was a good thing Judy had warned him earlier about using compliments like foxy because he definitely would’ve said it here.

Neptune:Woah.......

Judy:I could say the same thing. I guess earlier I saw you in standard clothes and not party attire. Not to shabby.

Neptune:Th...thanks. You look....wow.

Judy:Hmmm first woah, now wow. Here I thought you had flirting down packed.

Neptune:I’m...sorry?

Judy:Don’t be. Bumbling is was more adorable. *winks*

Neptune:*red* S..so, you’re definitely not dressed for work hehe. I guess you’re off the clock?

Judy:Yep! But technically an officer never really is. If something pops off and I’m around then you bet your ass I got to do something about it. With parties like these even the best of people can do something crazy with enough liquor in their liver.

Neptune:Hehe, ain’t that the truth?

Judy:Hmm, aren’t you too young to drink?

Neptune:.......

Neptune:Am I about to get a ticket?

Judy:Pfft, that’s not worth the ink; and you won’t just here me say that. When Menagerie parties like this then it’s pretty common for the young adults to end up drinking as well. If we tried to enforce a law like the drinking limit during these then we’d run out of trees to make paper in a day. So we let it slide. It’s a double edged sword though. Anybody who gets arrested for something better not hope they’re illegally intoxicated. We’ll add that to the charge.

Neptune:So I’m guessing you’re what, 21?

Judy:Actually I just turned 22. I don’t drink though. Not really my style.

Neptune:I don’t know many people like you. A badass older woman fox cop. That’s a mouthful.

Judy:.......

Neptune:What?

Judy:*hands on hips smirking* Give it a second.

Neptune:......!!! Shit! I’m sorry! Badass older...person. Was that rude? I didn’t mean to-

Judy:*grabs his shoulder* Neptune, was it?

Neptune:Y..yes.

Judy:I’m just messing with ya. Lighten up; just wondering if you’d catch on.

Neptune:I sort of put two and two together with a bit of Ilia’s help. Sorry, I have a couple of gay friends but non-binary is a new one. I’ll try not to slip up too much.

Judy:*grinning* I appreciate the thought. I’m not sensitive about that sort of thing though. Cops need thick skin and I’ve lived this life long enough to be comfortable with how I’m addressed. Feminine pronouns are no skin off my back. Brownie points though if you do get the hang of it though. It would definitely make you more....appealing.

That last word was said strangely to him. Either he was reading the room wrong or there was a definite vibe sh-they were trying to give him. The boy was definitely out of his league with this one. Judy watched his face get a little redder as he was finally let go of.

Neptune:Good to know.

Judy:That’s enough about. Wanna tell me why you’re standing here all alone? I saw your friend up at the Belladonna estate just a bit ago. Waiting on a date?

Neptune:No, but I wouldn’t mind one honestly.

Judy:*raises eyebrow* How bold.

Neptune:That’s not what I- I mean if you wanna. Wait, I’m doing something important! I’m waiting for Ilia; I’m supposed to meet her here.

Judy:She was looking pretty rough earlier. I didn’t think she’d party two days in a row.

Neptune:She sort of got persuaded. I’m wondering what’s keeping her?

Judy:Why wonder when you can ask? You have her number right? Face time her.

Neptune:Why not just call?

Judy:Trust me, she doesn’t answer regular calls nearly as often. She’s probably just laying around.

xxxx

“I’m going to be the number one hero!”

“Fuck yeah you are!” Ilia shouted at her tv proudly as she put a spoon full of cereal in her mouth. “I wish someone could give me a super power.”

Bzzz!!! Bzzz!!! Incoming call

She looked down at her scroll to see the little goggle icon she gave Neptune shaking side to side Ilia wasn’t stupid. She knew what time it was; she also knew that she still wasn’t feeling in a party mood. ‘Maybe if I ignore it, he won’t call it again? Then again, it’s face time. Why not just call? .....screw it.’ Ilia answers it.

Ilia:H-

Neptune:Where are you!? Party time officially began at least half an hour ago!

Ilia:Uuhhhhh, fashionably late?

Neptune:Is that why you have dried up milk in the corners of your mouth?

Ilia:.....*wipes mouth* Yes? Hehehe.

Neptune:Are you even dressed?

Ilia:...Does a sports bra and basketball shorts count?

Neptune:You wear a bra in the comfort and privacy of your own house?

Ilia:Yeah?

Neptune:Hmmm, you would.

Ilia:W..what does that me-

Neptune:Never mind that! Ilia, put on something party casual and hurry up. Don’t think I won’t drag you out of your house.

Ilia:You don’t know where I live Neptune.

Judy:*offscreen* I do!

Ilia:Judy!? Are you with my parole officer!!? Am I on speaker phone!?

Neptune:...That sounds pretty bad out loud but yes. Say hi Judy. *hands her scroll*

Judy:Hey Spots. You look comfy.

Ilia:I was. Now I’m suspicious.

Judy:Relax, I bumped into your friend and simply asked what he was doing. Apparently he’s waiting for you, so get off your butt and put on your dancing shoes!

Ilia:Shouldn’t my parole officer encourage me to stay in one place?

Judy:All I have to do is recommend you make good choices, which is something I never had to do with you personally because news flash, you’re a good citizen; reformed anyways.

Ilia:Woah, almost a complete compliment.

Judy:You know I find you endearing. Now are you real going to bum out on your couch watching anime.

Ilia:How did you know it was-

Judy:Or are you going to enjoy the night with your friend who keeps jumping every time he hears a wave crash on the shore?

Neptune:Hey!

Ilia:Sigh........uuuugggggghhhhh

Judy:FYI, if I see you out and about tonight then you don’t have to wake up early and report to me tomorrow. You can sleep in.

Ilia:.......

Ilia:Give me fifteen minutes.

Judy:I’ll give you twenty five. I can smell you from here. *hangs up*

Ilia:I don’t-oooohhhh Judy you.....why can’t I have a normal parole officer!?

xxxx

Judy:She’s on her way.

Neptune:You’re good.

Judy:Nah, Ilia is just a big softie. Even if she won’t admit it. I do hope she cuts back on the drinking.

Neptune:Pfft, after yesterday she already said she’s not drinking a single drop of alcohol.

Judy:Whay happened yesterday?

Neptune:(Crap....) Oh you know..... too drunk to actually enjoy herself. I mean you saw her when I had to basically carry her.

Judy:Hmm, you’re definitely holding out on me. I can hear it your voice.

Neptune:What are you a detective? Wait, are you? *eyes widen*

Judy:No, you’re just really bad under pressure. That’s enough of you talking about what you do with females at parties. We have time to kill. *grabs his hand*

Neptune:*red* Where are we going?

Judy:Standing in one spot is boring! We’re going on a little walk on beach. Maybe get our feet a little wet?

Neptune:That’s...you see....bodies of w..water and I don’t exactly go together!

Judy:Yeah right. Your name is Neptune and I can see the goggles on your head.

Neptune:(I’ve made a terrible choice in fashion. Sun, I don’t know how but you owe me for this one.)

xxxx

Yang:Oh, you’re back....

Sun:Yeah, I have a room here....

The two of them stood in the doorway of Blake’s house. Not many people have come to enjoy the festivities inside yet but those who did were treated to uneasy tension the two radiated. Neither of them had changed. In situations like these, you come prepared for the worst.

Yang:I don’t want to argue with you.

Sun:Me either.

Yang:So why does it feel like we’re one bad move away screaming our heads off.

Sun:Because you’re obviously defensive over this. As for me, I’m.....sad.

Yang:*frown* You’re not sad Sun. I know what sad is. What you are is hurt. Badly. Not that I blame you.

Sun:But you still insist on rubbing it in my face knowing how I feel? I thought you were better than that.

Yang:That’s not what- listen, I get it. I started ya off on bad terms and might’ve...deserved some choice words. My bad. Can we at least try to look past that?

Sun:*folds arms*....For Blake.

Yang:For Blake.

Kali:*walks up* Well that was a sorry excuse for an apology. Shouldn’t huntsman be somewhat good with deterring hostile situations. Both of you are scaring guest. Now I may not know the complete ins and outs of your problems but I know Blake cherishes you both; I cherish you both. Ghira might not show it but Sun, he is fond of you.

Something about hearing that made him smile a little. It would’ve been nice for Ghira to say it himself but still, it was nice.

Kali:If one of you is upset then Blake is upset. If both of you are upset with each other then you better believe that Blake will be concerned and I’ll be mad at both of you. So please, actually try and forgive one another; faking it won’t solve the problem. You’ll only end up more hurt.

Yang and Sun:.......Yes ma’am.

Kali:Sun?

Sun:Yes?

Kali:I hope you know that you don’t have to force yourself to okay so soon? As much as I would be thrilled if you were, we all know that’s not how these things work. Take your time. After all, this isn’t some physical injury you got. You’re heart broken.

He was. Sun didn’t really want to give it that label. Him and Blake definitely shared a lot of deep moments together since they met but they weren’t exactly plentiful. Yet somehow Blake....really captivated him. She was special to him. That feeling itself hasn’t changed. there was now simply miserable end layer that followed it; like bitter sweet chocolate. Coming here in the first place was struggle on its own. His chest felt heavy and face slightly warm. It felt wrong to not be completely happy for Blake. It felt selfish....

Yang:You know, Blake is still getting ready. Kali and I can tell her you stopped by to let her know you just weren’t feeling well? If that’s what you wanna do that is.

Sun:..Yeah. That might be for the best right now. *rubs head* Tell her I’m sorry too.

Yang watched him turn around and begin walking down the stairs. Guilt didn’t stop with him. Even she had to admit this isn’t what she wanted. Seeing Sun low spirited was unnatural. Things couldn’t end like that; not completely poor. “Sun!” She called out to him without thinking and ran to him. Sun turned just in time to receive an unexpected hug from the blonde bruiser. It took a moment before he returned it in kind.

Sun:.....

Kali:*smiling*

Yang:Please feel better. I mean that. You’re just not you without a smile. I’m...I’m sorry I took that from you. I didn’t mean to.

Sun:Something was going to be collateral. No way around that. Thanks though; I needed a hug.

Sun spent no time putting distance between himself and that house. The sunset had was finally fading int night and with it brought more active people out and about. Many heading to where he just left, but some preferred to make the streets their dance floor. He wasn’t quite in a mood for it however. Instead he sat alone on a bench near the beach entrance and closed his eyes.

‘I wonder where the other are? They should be around here somewhere. Heh, Ilia is totally gonna be pissed that I didn’t follow through. Well, not exactly. At least Yang and I seem a bit more friendly. Still, so much for a part do over’

“Someone looks pretty gloomy for them to claim that making friends is their so called secret semblance.” The sarcastic tone was all he needed to hear in order to know Ilia was right in front of him.

“Hi Ilia.” No effort was put into making that sound cheery. “Sun, please tell me I didn’t get dressed for nothing?” His eyebrows scrunched at her words in confusion before actually deciding to take a look at the her. Ilia wore a simple white tank top and jean shorts that looked ripped by her own doing. They were faded and stopped halfway down her thighs. The most surprising part about the outfit, other than it being like colors, was her shoes. Sun didn’t expect Ilia to own a pair of high top sneakers. They were so blue with yellow stitching.

Sun:Where are the others?

Ilia:Don’t know; I just got here.

Sun:What? Shouldn’t you have been here like an hour ago?

Ilia:*red* I-I almost bailed. I’m sorry...

Sun:Don’t be. I kinda wished you did. It would make me feel a lot better about not holding up my end of the bargain.

Ilia:Someone looks like they have a story to tell. Or a reason to scream?

Sun:Try both.

Ilia:I just might. After you tell me about it first. Scoot over.

xxxx

Ilia:....

Sun:Well? No comments?

Ilia:Oh I have comments. They’re just mostly I told you so. Seriously, I’m the one who suggested getting space away from this situation in the first place!

Sun:I’m pretty sure you did not phrase it as kind. “Screw Blake Belladonna mentality” was what you said.

Ilia:Same difference. You got the message.

Sun:Yeah. Sorry, you were right. If you wanna go home then I won’t stop you. I’m not in much of a party mood anyways.

Ilia:.....

Ilia:Too bad

Sun:What?

Ilia:I said too bad. I’m already dressed and out here. You’re stuck with me. We decided on three hours right? Plenty of time to turn this night around.

Sun:But-

Ilia:Too bad....*grins* Listen, would you really rather sit here alone and bummed out. At least around me you’ll look cheery by comparison.

Sun:That’s pretty when you think about Ilia.

Ilia:Trust me, I know. So let’s at least try to fix that!

Her words and attitude were picking up steam so to speak. Only a little awhile ago did Sun hear the girl want to do nothing but lay around but now she was at least trying to give him positive vibes to feed off on. He hasn’t seen this much enthusiasm since their race. “You’re a real haggler aren’t ya?”

“You’re one to talk, banana breath.” She folded her arms and smirked with pride. The petty insult managed to put more of a smile on his face. “Look at that, you’re looking better already.” He playfully rolled his eyes; she might’ve been right though. He’d let her have this little victory if it meant her spirits was lifted too. A smile on her face was beginning to be a rare thing.

The two kept trying to read each other’s facial expression in an attempt to get some sort of edge over the other to tease them about. That all stopped however when the same thought came to both of them. ‘How long have I been staring?’ Unknowingly this had been going on for a couple minutes. Not only that, they hadn’t realized how physically close they had gotten in the process. Someway, somehow, Ilia had inched closer to him until there was almost no space between them except for hands that were finger nails apart. Sun was no better. He was so focused on reading her that he actually had leaned in a bit. Their faces only a few inches away. Ilia’s skin flashed pink briefly before her immediate jolt backwards away from him. Sun wondered if she had noticed? He wouldn’t bring it up if she didn’t. Even he could tell his face was probably a bit flushed from the unexpected breach of personal space.

Sun:S..Sorry about-

Ilia:No, it’s fine. My bad. We’re cool......

Sun:Cool. Cool...*rubs head* so uhh, let’s find Neptune I guess?

Ilia:Sounds like a plan!

They hop up from the bench and begin looking too see if they could spot him. “Judy was with him whe he called me. I’m sure they’re on the beach.”

“Let’s go then.” His mind instinctively went to grab her hand. He had caught what he was about to do but before he could backpedal, Ilia’s hand met his halfway and grabbed it. Her own subconscious action startled her. She had seen his hand swing back to her and simply...reached for it. Ilia looked at their hands then at Sun who was more than a little embarrassed by the incident.

Sun:I-

Ilia:Yeah, this crowd is getting pretty big. Wouldn’t want to get split and then have to find each other too.

She couldn’t tell if she was giving him an out, being logical, or rationalizing what happened to herself; and she wasn’t about to linger on it. Now was the time for fun. Anything else can be dealt with another day. Ilia took the lead and lead him to the beach.

Part8

[ayakashiramblings]

Dawn & Twilight Faction reacting to a Demon!MC

@bitchyings

Here you go! Hope you like it! I couldn’t resist throwing in a certain game, LOL.

Prologue

“You toast people now as well. Congratulations and good-bye!”

Honestly, you were still processing what was being said to you, looking back and forth from him to his hellhound. It was even almost like Cerebus was offering pity in his puppy eyes. 

It had all started with an explosion following the latest defeat of a wraith. Your merry little band of burly ayakashi were witnesses to a blonde man suddenly appearing. Apparently, it wasn’t really a man but a devil. 

That you were starting to resemble. It seemed as if it was he first time leathery, onyx wings unfurled from your back and a forked tail swished back and forth. 

Oh, and of course, the horns sprouting from your head. 

And you screamed and screamed and screamed until your chosen Ayakashi swooped you into his arms.

Koga Kitamikado

They lock horns but it’s not in a negative sense. Rather romantic, honestly. 

It’s like leaning against each other foreheads and lightly bumping each other. 

For once, Koga doesn’t have to worry about accidentally impaling your skull.

It’s actually pretty cheesy and cavity-inducing at this point. 

Even Ginnojo has stopped blushing because it’s been THAT long. 

Of course, he does want to learn how you will cope with being a demon. At this point, he rallies the others around in helping you become a full-fledged one. 

Makes sure you get complete privacy whenever you want to reveal your demon nature because he knows the urge to be your natural self. 

Once he sees your newfound skills, he’d beam with pride at your ability to handle yourself – he likes a strong, confident woman.

That said, know that you can rely on him and everyone else. 

They were the last people to judge someone for what they are, and he especially increases his wariness around soldiers like Aizen who sought to destroy those different from the rest in the Capital.

He’s especially impressed that now you and Kuya can fight in tandem in the sky while pairing up with him on the ground. 

And on top of that, you’re still banishing wraiths? Sparring with him? Using horns as a weapon? Mark him as scared and... hehe... horny.

You can’t stop me. Fight me.

Kuya

“Wow, you have to do more work? That sucks.”

This man doesn’t even care about your new features except for the changes in your crowded schedule. 

You aren’t too sure how to feel about that. 

But remember, he recalls how he even became a tengu in this time from his human past life.

He does genuinely want to help you but tries to remain nonchalant about the whole affair in order not to freak you out.

So he is determined to treat you like normal. 

Maybe even help you fit in with the rest of the devils you may encounter. He doesn’t want you to feel left out like how he felt in his childhood.

As long as your tail doesn’t brush his feathers... and of course it does. 

Finally, you can use your wings. He had always wondered why you didn’t use them before. Wasn’t walking difficult?

Even Aoi has stopped lecturing at that point. Why Kuya? 

Seriously though, Kuya is ironically the most useful out of everyone because you do need to learn how to take to the skies and still battle. 

“I’m going to write a story about living 10 days with a devil but hopefully, we live together longer than that. Your wings are great as a blanket.”

Haruhito is honoured to be part of the ensemble.

Aoi

“I have a supply of holy water. Normal holy water, fancy holy water and rainbow-coloured holy water!”

I know Aoi, you’re the only one who gives me worthy and helpful rewards to increase my strength at the Milk Hall, unlike a certain employer.

So it’s to his shock that you recoil like he has stung you. 

Apparently, he did. 

Maybe he can give me Romance Sonnet Keys instead.

Feels so bad that he immediately prostrated himself for almost an entire day after being told he couldn’t offer you his arm for the one you burnt. 

Is so grateful that your new form means faster healing powers. 

In fact, he’s secretly glad you gained extra abilities because that means he doesn’t have to worry about you holding your own against opponents strong against divination powers. 

Because you have devilish skills.

Sometimes, you feel that becoming a demon means being associated with evil. After all, look at all the negative connotations hell has for the humans and the books they have.

Rolls his eyes so hard that you’re worried they will fall out of his sockets even as he places his hand over your heart.

“It certainly isn’t human but you’re still good. Still the same negatives and positives. Now stop and appreciate yourself or else I will.”

Actually learns how to summon you with whatever ingredients he has in the kitchen. 

Now Oji actually remembers them because it’s really adorable seeing his son and future daughter-in-law meeting each other once Aoi pours more salt than usual that it ‘accidentally’ ends up on the floor along with a bunch of ‘random’ items and a surprisingly well-drawn figure of your symbol.

Ginnojo 

Poor grandpa is so confused.

In the olden days, people worked so hard to banish any evil spirits. 

But? You? Are? Not? Evil?

He soldiers on. Does intense research, on his surprisingly large stock on demons and devils. 

Even learns English and other languages from Kuro and Koga so that he knows what spells will help you. 

Insisted he trains with you rigorously to keep you at physical peak. 

Rides a water wave while you are flying (badly).

Probably puts out whatever mess you made if you are too smoking hot. 

Like literally smoking hot with the fires of hell.

Actually weaves you a charm but not the usual kind to ward off all things that go bump in the night. 

It’s a charm of crashing waves and the land when the Shinsengumi took their last stand. 

“Because I’m standing by you, come hell or high water.”

Yura

“Milady, you shall always be the loveliest lady I know, no matter what.”

Look, this man has had his own personal sins to overcome. How the heck can he judge you?

If anything, it’s sort of comforting to know that not all of his demons are scary and sinister. 

Because you are his. And you certainly are lovely.

Will play whatever you want on his flute, anything to match your mood as a sort of rhythm to your new life together as not being human. 

But fully capable of the whole emotion spectre for humans.

You deserved to preserve whatever you have learnt in your life even if fate has changed because of what you are going to have to decide to become. 

A girl like you has taught him to see and fight beyond a cursed destiny and he will help you to confront a whole new world beyond even ayakashi and spirits. 

Frankly, the only sin you guys will be practising would be gluttony for sweets.

Still is the best man to go to for divination and hexes. In fact, he tries to see if your skills can be advanced with the new demon powers and develop the techniques. 

You guys even create a cute shared diary of sorts detailing each experiment and composing whatever silly/serious song comes to mind.

It might encourage him to remain in his adult form more to be seen as reliable/tease you like a bigger imp than the supposed actual demon girl.

Toichiro Yuri

“Yeesh, and you were positively in a tizzy over us being Ayakashi.”

Give him the middle finger. It’s ok. 

The Dawn faction and the rest of the Twilight sect has your back (and newfound wings... and tail... and powers)

To be fair, he cannot call you a boring human. 

He still calls you a silly girl though which is... strangely comforting. 

But really, you do worry him. He has seen people being possessed by wraiths and wonders if this means you have become more susceptible to them or not. 

He’d trail after you without even Shizuki, hiding as you, sure enough, guided a spirit out to the ‘Demon World’. 

His kitsunebi would be in his hands without him even realizing it, should he need to release them to help you with your work. 

It’s how gentle you still are that convinces him you will be fine.

Is also the best man to go to if you want to disguise and blend in even if your powers are on the fritz which might be the case.

Sure, he would probably demand to have milk tea with you every day but interestingly it is him getting Shizuki to prepare the beverage while he acts like his foxy self to you doing absolutely nothing.

He does have the connections and sources out the best help possible. Whether you want to continue being a demon or not, he will be beside you.

That, unfortunately, also means being able to play more pranks and tease you further.

“Why, you’d have to be a devil to refuse my... ow! Ok! I’ll stop!”

Actually starts finding out if your powers will help with breaking the seal and the Kitsune clan.

Even vehemently defends you should there be any dissatisfaction amongst the elders. 

“We have a demon for an ally and you all scared of her? Are you joking with me?”

Give him a hug. It’s ok. 

Shizuki

“So long as you don’t harm the Yuri household, we are fine. But in order for that, you must be alright.”

Look, frankly, Toichiro is more of a pranking demon. 

At least he knows you can control yourself. 

Appreciates your determination in discovering more about demons but would be cautious about your safety. 

Literally supplies you with whatever you need as a demon but only if you asked. 

Sure, he might have learnt that some demons want a blood sacrifice and apparently ‘gross’ things.

It’s a good thing he doubts that the same girl who cried over snakes having no legs with Kuro would really want that.

Smart move, buddy. 

Is actually a bit glad to think that you have toughened up but if you are sad about your loss of humanity, he.... will suck at trying to cheer you up.

Goddamnit Shizuki, I need snuggles, not a bloody schedule.

To be fair though, procrastination isn’t going to help anybody and nobody knows this better than the snow spirit. 

You better work it, human or demon.

Protects you from Toichiro’s pranks to the best of his abilities...

.... which isn’t much but he will encourage you to make use of your heightened senses to pick up on danger and kitsunes.

Wonders if you would be more willing to do nightcaps with him. 

Spoiler Alert: No. Not until he stops freezing everything in sight. Sure, you can now remove it but that doesn’t mean you WANT it.

Kuro

“Holy, wow, they are leather! It’s like hugging a...!”

“If you dare say it is a cow Kuro, I am dumping you.”

He is extremely fascinated if your eyes change colour when tapping into your demon nature.

Might be more open to you just so that you can open up to him honestly. 

Even if that means you suddenly really needing darkness and the light hurts your eyes.

Is he scared of that? Heck yes.

But he’s more scared of losing you to yourself... 

Or to any hateful humans who could exorcise you.

A bit psyched that you can fly. 

“We can do a flying act together!”

And honestly? These flying acts help ease you into more of your demon antics and habits.

You guys actually challenge each other to try various things, even if you are unsure if it will be detrimental to him. 

Especially if he hasn’t revealed what he is at that point. 

But somehow, he reminds you that it isn’t what you are. 

So long as you can be reminded of warmth with his embrace, you’re great!

But he does have to be more careful because you do have some sharp appendages.

It only took him 5 very painful tackles for him to realize that. 

And he actually bought protection gear just to continue doing that. 

Anything for a great girl like you!

Oji

“Oh thank god. Now we can really grow old together.”

One good thing about being a century old is that he has at least heard of the existence of demons from other ayakashis. 

Being 100 years old has taught him that everything has its expiration date.

You being a demon changes all of that. And for the better.

Yup, he’s spending all of his time reminding you... that you’re still you. 

So that also means you’re still his and he is yours.

AND... leaving poor Aoi up to his eyeballs with customers.

Leaving you to become a mama demon.

Like both figuratively and literally. 

“STOP BULLYING OUR SON!”

“D’aww, wasn’t he mine first?”

Still though, you can’t help but appreciate this old fossil and during ACTUAL break hours, you become more willing to open up and literally unfurl those gorgeous wings.

Will always introduce you to the friendliest of customers so as to ease you back to the humans because he knows you might want to still be connected to the Capital.

Hopes you have the stereotypical fire powers to help with the stove duties. 

C’mon. This guy has 100 eyes each with different powers. 

What do you mean he doesn’t start a food fight?

Aoi wanted to scream at his parents.

But you were practically beaming like an angel.

Gaku

“Thou hast brought the most surprising news. I mean, wow.”

Congratulations, you broke him and made Gaku revert to Elizabethan language in sheer shock. 

I nearly made Yura do the opposite of his speech style as well but then I realized his listed occupation is a hermit and he still doesn’t understand some figures of speech so...

But he and Yura are determined to treat you right.

This man becomes your literal arsenal.

Builds tiny gadgets that go well with your new traits. 

Need armour for your wings? He’s got you.

Suddenly your horns made an appearance when a cute guy said your hair looks nice? Not only does he cover it with a hat, but the hat also produces a punching glove!

A salty boy has enough salt to summon you honestly.

Sure, he’s still brusque and curt as ever but he figures you can take it. 

You literally developed new skin in a sense. Like, wow, you didn’t even get scratched by that saw. 

In the first place though, what the heck were you doing getting injured by a saw?

Some things don’t change. Like him patiently waiting for you to come around.

Or else he would sick Nachi on you.

Epilogue

Really, if I had to summarize their actions?  They love you still.

They always say that demons are the least pure of all beings. 

But the romance has always been simple and plain with not much to ask for. 

And you’d be fine.

[therearemorethanfivenights]

Chapter 11 is up!

I’m spending my quaran-time wisely by writing about a dead teenager hunting for her killer.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11674818/chapters/56827993

I’m also working on art, some shorts about characters we’ve yet to see and a backlog of chapters for if/when I lose momentum again. Planning ahead is important, kids.

Continue reading under the cut-

It had been a fair few hours since Marie's strange episode, and she was up and about once more. Up, about, and ready to follow her first lead. "Seriously, do you think I would hide something like being the witness to a god damn murder from everyone? I'm literally designed so that I can't do that." Mangle was sat sorting through a small box of mini LEDs. She was there, she was the one who screamed and was dragged off, it was impossible for it not to have been her. "That's my point exactly! Unless it was some insane near-death vision - which it definitely was not - then you were there. Yet somehow, you don't remember a thing. That can't have been an accident!" Marie grabbed her friend's shoulders tight, startling her. The tiny bulbs scattered at her feet, some finding there way through a gap in the floor panels of her den and dropping to the floor below. 

"Ifreann... what do you mean? You think someone wiped my brain? This isn't a movie Marie, and even if that was what happened, the only person who could have done that was..." She trailed off as she thought. The whole thing made more sense than she wanted to admit. If anyone had seen a crime, the criminal would want to remove the threat of them talking. So it was entirely possible that she had seen her friend's murder. By that logic, any one of the animatronics could have been a witness to or even assisted with one of the murders. But they couldn't. "Fixing our mechanisms is tricky, but doable. Rewiring a whole bunch of stuff in our brains, so to speak, is nigh on impossible. At the time of you getting shanked-" "Tactful as always." "I was the only person capable of doing anything remotely close to that. There was only one man who could have done it to such a degree of 'not-fucking-everything-else-up-as-well', and he was definitely dead by then." She finished, muttering further as she began the grueling task of tidying the bits on her floor. Marie paused. She was right, of course. Everybody knew the fate of William Afton, he had killed himself shortly after the Bite had occurred. Unless...

"What if he wasn't dead. What if he isn't."

"What?"

"William, the guy who built you. You said that he was the only one capable of fiddling with your head with that level of precision. To wipe all traces of an event without leaving a weird gap in your memory that would make you suspicious. What if he never offed himself, but just made you forget who he was... describe him for me." Marie had a hunch. "What, William? Well, he was... he was... I... I don't remember anything about him." She stopped picking at the floor. "But, he was always elusive, right? Not many people saw him and we only did during the early days. We never saw him after we were installed at the restaurant. At least... I don't think we did."

It suddenly made sense. Or at the very least, more sense than it had before today. If her theory was correct, then it would explain why, despite being walking security cameras, nobody had seen anyone suspicious. They were programmed to find everything about this guy completely normal, no matter how much creepy lurking and luring he may be doing. But while she had a plausible suspect, there was no motive. "I'm going to think on this a while. You, uh, have fun with your blinky lights." She said, handing her the closest one before floating out the door and away. 

Dawn had been listening in as best she could. "Marie, not to butt in..." She emerged from the shadows beneath Mangle's den, squeezing awkwardly past various shelves. "I just wanted you to know... if I can help at all... like with all of this..." Marie smiled, trying to seem as unfazed as possible. "I know. I'm fine D, really." She continued towards the door. Dawn frowned. She didn't really understand any of this, and that bothered her. Normally if Marie had a problem she would tell her. She felt useless. "Actually..." She stopped. "Mind if I ask you something? Just wondering-" "Yes?" "Before you started here... There was a time between you and Afton right? When there was just, nobody doing repairs?" She asked. "No, I mean, yes there was nobody here. I think mostly it was just Mangle doing what she could." Dawn replied. "It's weird though, even with a robot brain, it would have taken a long time to figure out everything she has. So, before she knew what she knows... lucky there weren't any major problems, right?" She laughed nervously. "Huh."

Mike and Amy were still sifting through what information they could find on the Bite of '87. "Remember how this was just supposed to be a nice walk around to work off lunch?" Amy teased. She was enjoying their conspiracy hunt to a degree, but they'd reached an impasse a few articles back. There was the motive for murder but nothing could prove that the man was alive, let alone anywhere near the establishment at the time of the first murders. "I know." Mike was uninterested. If he wasn't here he'd be obligated to be at 'home' with his 'family'. No thanks, there had to be some way to prove him either right or wrong, either would be preferable to listening to his extended family argue about political bullcrap. And then the Puppet hovered in.

"Hey, how you feeling? I overheard something had happened. Blow a fuse?" Amy asked sympathetically. Chica came by to explain that something strange had occurred on her way to see exactly what that meant, but they were too absorbed to follow. "Yeah... something like that." Marie peered over at the screen. "So what kinda smut are you looking at?" She asked, half-joking.

"News stuff."

"So no tits? Disappointing." She sighed. Amy raised an eyebrow. "I'm kidding. Mostly. What kinda news?" "We have this theory, about our killer, but it's nothing to worry over." Mike turned the monitor to show her the current article. "I mean, it involves a locally famous suicide being faked and a cyber-child, so probably in the realm of the crazy and slash or impossible." He scrolled absentmindedly onward. Marie immediately tensed up. "Mike... Is this the case of one William Afton? Because boy-howdy do I have some interesting insight into that mess." She made an uneasy grin. Mike nodded, almost amazed. He got up from his chair and let the Puppet sit down, uncaring as to whether it would make a difference. He perched by Amy on the desk, who seemed just as stunned. "We... have the motive to believe he's the one doing this, but there's no way we could prove he's still around. If we could then maybe, but right now we've hit a wall." He explained. Marie nodded slowly.

"Funny, I have the opposite problem. I can prove he was around I think, but not why." She said. "But you might not believe the 'source' exactly."

Mangle hadn't remained in her den for long. The more she tried to think of her creator, the less she seemed to actually remember, and this was bothering her. So she decided to ask around. Crawling through the vents, she tried to think of her earliest thoughts, before she had arrived at the pizzeria. Vague memories floated around. A voice, she could remember a voice, but was it his? It was polite, asking her things, always amazed by her answers. That had to be him.

"Toy Foxy? I wanted to ask you something." He said. "You're voice is different. It used to be the one I gave you, do you remember?" He imitated a voice she barely thought her own. "But now it's something different. Why is that? Do you know what it is?" She remembers feeling pestered, but she always answered. She had to, being considerate and helpful, but she didn't feel like it at times. "It's... Irish, isn't it? I just prefer the way it sounds. It feels like... the other voice is good, but it's yours. I want this one, it sounds like me. Why? Are you offended I didn't like what you gave me? Because I'm not changing it now." She laughed. She was much happier then, if a little annoyed by the barrage of questions.

She crawled out of the vent and down into the main hall. Below, Toy Chica was sat on her phone. Everyone had seemingly scuttled away, presumably coming to terms with today's revelation, but Toychi seemed to be entirely over it. "I've seen weirder things on the internet, in case you were wondering why I haven't curled up in a corner. I can see your reflection, y'know." She said, not looking up. Mangle extended her neck as far as possible to continue the conversation. She always misjudged how high the ceiling in here was. "Hey so, how much do you remember about William?" She asked. Toychi shrugged and continued to look at her various social media feeds. 

"Come on, I need to know because of reasons." She swung her face so her hair covered Toychi's vision. "Important reasons." She affirmed. Toy chica sighed and did as she was asked. "I remember he was from England. And like, he was married I think." She said, trying to push Mangle's head away. "But nothing personal? Nothing the just us, his life's work, would remember? Or even what he looked like?" "Of course I remember... huh. That's... totally not ok. I have an amazing memory, how the hell can't I remember that guy?" She immediately began searching her phone. "I remember he gave me this, maybe I took pictures," she switched to the internet, "Google knows everything, maybe they have a picture!" She was becoming increasingly distressed. "Mangle! What the fuck does this guy look like?!" She cried.

At this point, Toy Freddy had emerged from backstage. "What the heck are you yelling about now? Is anyone else secretly a ghost?" He wasn't feeling up to any more ghost shenanigans. However, this didn't seem like something he could ignore, given the frantic pace at which Toy Chica had begun waving him over. "What colour hair did William Afton have?!" She asked, still aggressively applying as many advanced search keywords as possible. "What? How the heck would I know?" He responded. She barely acknowledged this, still scouring her device. Mangle clambered not-so-gracefully down from the ceiling. "Was he fat, or thin? What colour were his eyes? Did he have freckles? We should know, man, but we don't! Why?!" Toychi dropped her phone into her lap with a small thud before burying her face in her arms on the table. 

"I mean, yeah, that is a little unusual. Maybe it's a glitch? Or maybe we just don't remember? Ten years is a long time." He sat beside her. It was strange but surely there were more important things happening than trying to remember one man. "A glitch for all of us? And I have over a thousand people's names, faces, birthdays, favourite flavours of ice-cream... We can't forget things, not really, not unless we delete things ourselves." Came a slightly muffled reply.

"Ok, but why does he even matter. He made us then dropped off the face of the earth, big deal." He said. He was actually quite interested in helping find out just how exactly someone had removed all traces of themselves from their minds, as William no doubt had done, and why, but Toychi was in hysterics and he wasn't prepared to encourage her.

All the while, Mike continued to compile his resources. Marie decided it'd be best to let him handle things. She felt a little bad since as it was, everyone else was cleaning up this mess that she was at the center of, yet she was just idly floating around and keeping as far from it all as she could. Aside from the notes she'd been compiling, it was all down to the others. But she was far too tired to deal with anything more. She ducked into the arcade and flopped haphazardly into her box once more. She stared into the darkness, admiring herself. She had done fairly well, all things considering. 

"Why me though?" She asked aloud. It was an interesting question. From Mike's debrief, she knew who had killed her. At least, she thought she knew, because she was an outlier. The other victims were all connected. All were friends of Michael's older brother, William's nephew he'd taken in according to what little she remembered about her brother's friend's family. Then there was Alex, who could possibly have been a part of the group that hurt Michael. He wasn't, but William couldn't have known.

So why? She remembered the basement, the safe room. But that made no sense either. She was smarter than that, she watched horror movies all the time. How in the world could a total stranger have lured her into the basement of the Pizzaria?

Then she saw it.

It was a gift box, very like the one she now resided in. Aside from its sudden appearance, it could have been mistaken for a completely ordinary wrapped box. Something a child could have left for her or forgotten before closing the other day. It was Christmas after all. "Alright then." She said. Maybe she'd overlooked it, she wasn't exactly thinking straight. "Happy Hannukkah, me." She picked up the box. It wasn't small at all, yet it barely weighed anything. There was a small tag hanging from the bow. She squinted to read what it said, "You are not alone. If you awaken them, they will help you find him. They will help you hunt him. They will grant revenge... Ok, this is some weird shit." She dropped the box on the floor. 

"Revenge is for losers anyway." She laughed through her nose, amused by the idea that she'd want revenge. Really, she just wanted this guy found and dealt with for the sake of others, for Alex. She eyed the box with suspicion. "What does it mean, 'they'. Other kids? The ones from before?" That made sense. It didn't make any sense at all because this was all insane, but then again she was a ghost so she was already pushing her own beliefs. "Maybe..." Against her better judgment, she picked the box up again.

"Maybe I should let them out. Or bring them back with this thing, whatever it's for. I mean, if these are the other kids... what harm could they do, right? If they're vengeful I can stop them, I'm more powerful. I think." She wondered exactly how powerful she was. Enough to put a stop to some stupid toddler tantrums. She grasped the ribbons on the lid of the box. She tried once more to recall what happened the night of her death, secretly hoping that she wouldn't need this supernatural pandora's box to fix this if it even could.

It was the eve of Halloween, the eve of her birthday. "God, and then he just gets up as if nothing had happened." She was hanging around the alley beside the pizzeria, "Hey, mind letting me in on those?" She referred to the box of cigarettes in Vincent's hand. "These things kill you know." He said but still offered her one. He hadn't been ok since the Bite had happened. It was weird the place was open so quickly after such a massive accident, but it was probably something to do with corporate greed or whatever. She was more concerned about her friend. 

"Look, you need to take time off. I couldn't give any less of a shit what your boss says, this place should be shut for the rest of the year and you need help." She brought a cigarette to her lips and lit it. A terrible habit for a kid, she knew, but she was running out of legal ways to stave off stress. She sighed a long trail of smoke as he shrugged at her. "Don't shrug, you know I'm right." She said, resting her hand on his shoulder. He brushed it away dejectedly and continued to stare at the floor. 

"No offense Marie... but you don't know jack shit about what's going on right now. You don't know anything and you never will. You can't." He glared at her. Something was definitely off. His voice kept faltering, changing almost. Like his whole person was just an act. It scared her. But she thought she understood. "Just focus on keeping yourself safe, ok?" He tried to smile at her. She was a child, of course, there was no way she'd understand how this worked. Vincent sounded almost like her father, in a terrible sort of way, but it was fine. They'd both suffered, he was trying to push her away for both of them. She understood that.

Her face that night was a mess of make-up and grime. She'd looked for hours but he was gone. Her throat burned from trying to make her voice heard over the crowds of kids rushing to and fro. Nothing mattered anymore. Her parents, of course, blamed her. And for once, they were right, everything was her fault. But even now, as her mother wailed into her father's lap, as her father retold what they knew to his fellow police officers, she was going to fix this. She slid her window open and climbed outside. She clutched the only thing that seemed to bring any comfort, a doll of the Puppet, a gift from Vincent for her birthday last year. She hurried to the bus-stop. There was only one bus this late, she'd be walking home, but it didn't matter. She hopped on and dropped a large handful of change through the tiny gap.

Getting in was easy. Vincent taught her a trick with the back door into parts and services. "Alex?" She cried softly into the darkness. She wished she had a torch, this place was much creepier in the dark. She stumbled through the small warehouse. "Alex?" She was trying to be as loud as possible and as quiet as possible, she knew there'd be a guard on duty and the police could get here soon. She felt a little less concerned about the guard, she'd met Scott once and he seemed like a nice enough person, but he'd also likely call her parents. 

"Alex?" Her voice echoed through the corridors. Eventually, she found herself in the arcade. She pushed her back against the wall and slid to the floor. This was it. Alex was gone forever. "Marie? Oh my god Marie what are you doing here?" Vincent's voice. He flashed a light through the door and approached her spot. "You! Where were you! He's gone, he's gone, it's your job to stop this stuff!" She kicked at his shins. "I'm sorry..." She began to sob again. Vincent knelt by her and offered his hand. "It's ok, we'll find him. Follow me." He said. She sniffed and cleaned her face as best she could.

They slowly made their way through the halls, checking every inch for any sign of Alex. "What are you even doing here, I thought Scott worked nights?" She asked, checking under each table for any scrap of evidence. Vincent handed her the torch. "Switched shifts. Work keeping me focused, you know?" "Like, focused on anything special, or focused on not..." "I said you know, didn't I? Got to keep going." He looked around. "I'm going to head back to the office, maybe some security footage will help. Think you can check the other rooms yourself?" He tossed her the keys and headed off before she even replied.

It'd been some time. What was he doing? She began heading towards the office. A door. Staff only. Maybe...

Stairs. Cold. Pain.

"No."

Marie stared at the box. William was a sure fit for everything, but he'd need access to the security footage to delete any evidence, and he had no idea who Marie was. She'd stumbled on Alex's body, sure, but how would he have known she was there if he was just popping in to murder a child then leaving again. He'd have to have been in the building, in the office to watch where she went. "No." He'd have to be working in the pizzeria, with an alias as a cover. "No." He would have to have been someone that she trusted, and who trusted her as much. "No. No that's ridiculous."

Michael used to call Vincent 'dad'. How did he know how to help Mangle and Dawn? Scott always seemed like Vince was his superior when he wasn't. He could always somehow buy her all sorts of nice things on pittance pay. Henry's kids own the place, yet they let Vincent get away with things anyone else could be fired on the spot for. He could mimic voices so well, was it such a stretch to say is 'real' voice was a fake too? Things she'd never questioned before suddenly seemed to pile up. He first talked about doing everything themselves, keeping the police and the victim's families as far away as possible. But he would never hurt her, he cared about her, he was her best friend.

Then, without her meaning to, the bottom of the box tumbled to the floor, the top still stuck in Marie's grip. The arcade machines flashed violently as a group of masks resembling the cast's old animal heads appeared, much like her own. They fizzled into small balls of light, then vanished. A message appeared on one of the cabinet screens. 'Give gift', it read. 'Give life', it read. Marie let the lid join the rest of the box on the floor. The screens went black again and left her in the dark.

"Oh no."

[eternalnight8806-3]

Ch 3 The Cat and the Fox

Category: Romance, Modern College AU

Rating: Will be Explicit but for now I’ll just say Mature for language and drinking

Pairing: InuKag

Words: 2,357

Also available on ff.net and AO3

Tag list: @keichanz @noviceotakus-blog @hinezumi @morikothehalfangel @cstorm86 @digital-art-monster @cammysansstuff

Enjoy!

 Hey, I have a kind of personal question for you

InuYasha rubbed his tired eyes and stretched. He had been staring at his laptop for the last 3 hours straight trying to finish this damn midterm paper. The sound of his phone buzzing caught his attention. Who the hell would be texting him at 2 a.m.? Miroku was downstairs with the other idiots watching some stupid Netflix show he never could get into about a women's prison. The goofy grin that spread across his face upon seeing her name was completely accidental, or so he would tell you.

 Shoot

 What happened to your mom? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I was just sitting here thinking about it and I realized you never told me how she died. But it's totally fine if you don't want to tell me. I swear.

InuYasha almost laughed out loud at her obvious text babbling. It's cool. She had breast cancer.

 Oh sweetie I'm so sorry. It must have been so hard to lose her that way.

 Honestly, it wasn't long after her diagnosis. She was already stage 4 by the time they caught it. They tried everything they could but a month later she was gone. It was hard. Still is. I miss her a lot. She was my rock

 Yeah. I don't know what I would do without my mom. She's the kindest woman ever. She's always supported me in everything. You never mentioned your dad though?

 He died when I was a baby. I never knew him.

 Wow.

 Yeah. Hey what are you doing up anyway? I thought you had to work this weekend?

 I do. Couldn't sleep. My brain just won't shut off.

 Missed me that much in 24 hours?

 You're incorrigible

 Always

 You don't have a humble bone in your body do you?

 Maybe one

     *    eyeroll emoji      *  

 What time do you have to be up?

 In exactly 2.5 hours. I have to catch the 5:45 train to get there on time.

 Jesus woman! Go to sleep!

 I already told you I can't

 Do I need to come over and sing you a lullaby?

InuYasha regretted that the instant he hit send. She would definitely think he was total creepy bastard now.

 Lol. You don't know where I live

He hesitated before typing again. Fine. I'll call you. I hope you like shitty renditions of twinkle twinkle little star.

     *    a series of crying laughing emojis      *  

 Can't be worse than my little brother trying to sing to our cat Buyo.

 You have a brother?

 Yep

 Me too. Well a ½ brother. Older. And an asshole.

 Oh yeah? Ever talk to him?

 Not really. Like I said he's an asshole.

 Got it. Foxy doesn't like his big bro

InuYasha's eyebrow quirked. Foxy?

 Ummm... yeah???

 What is that?

 Ummmm

 Your name?

 Is it now wench? ;)

 Ha. Ha.

 Hey, what do you call me?

 Catwoman

 I suppose that makes sense.

 Why do you call me Foxy? ;)

 Because of your       costume  

 Suuuuuuure

 You're obviously delusional

 Am I?

 Severely.

 Well you're the one talking to me at 2:45 in the morning

 Yeah. I know. I need a padded room next to yours

 So I can sing twinkle twinkle for you?

 OMG stop! I'm going to wake up my room mate!

 Sorry...

 You really should get some sleep wench.

 I know.

 Night Foxy

 Night wench

InuYasha couldn't sleep after that. He felt guilty for keeping her up, even though she had texted him first. Inane images scrolled past his eyes as he delved into the internet black hole, searching for something to occupy his mind. Finally, when he realized it was about 5 minutes past the time she said she had to be awake, he decided to make sure she had gotten up ok.

 Wakey wakey wench

Kagome groaned aloud at the sound of her alarm. She tried to roll over and go back to sleep but then her phone dinged.

 Don't wanna

 C'mon. You gotta. That job you love so much is beckoning

 Damn you

 You're cranky in the morning ain't ya?

 Only for people who won't let me sleep

 But you have to go babysit brats

 Uggggh. Fine. I'm up. Happy?

 Are you actually up? Like out of bed?

 Kagome put her feet on the floor next her bed.  Yes...

 Don't believe you

She sent him a picture of her feet on the floor.

 Sexy

 Shut up jerk

 Get ready for work wench

 I would if someone would quit distracting me

 I'm distracting huh? ;)

 You're maddening

 Only for you wench

 I'm getting dressed now

 I'll be right over

 Ha. Ha.

 Again, I remind you, you don't know where I live

 I'll sniff it out

 Very funny

 Seriously, I'm up and getting dressed now

 Go back to sleep

She pulled off her nightclothes and tossed them in the direction of her hamper as she made her way over to the closet. Pulling out a sweater and jeans, she made her way back over to the bed where she'd laid her phone.

 Never did

 What? Why?

 Just distracted

Kagome wasn't sure what to make of that, so she decided to ignore it as she pulled the jeans up over her hips. Then go to sleep. Weirdo.

 Only after I know you get to work ok

 You're nuts. I won't get there for another hour!

 So?

 Go to sleep.

 Nope. Gotta know you're safe.

The sweater made it's way over her head and down to her waist. Overprotective much? She grabbed her hairbrush and set to work on her tangled mane.

 Only of cheeky wenches

 Oh now I'm cheeky?  The hairbrush returned to her nightstand.

 Yep

Kagome picked up her purse and keys before quietly exiting her room. I'm leaving now. Go to sleep

 I told you, not til you're at work

Kagome didn't respond during her 20 minute walk to the subway station. She hoped he would fall asleep waiting for her to text back. No such luck.

 Oi wench! Where'd you go?

 To the train

 Hahaha

 Cheeky wench

 You on the train?

 I am now.

 Good. How long of a ride is it?

 20ish minutes

 What do you normally do on the train at too damn early o'clock?

 Lol. Well, listen to music, or read. Sometimes I people watch but there aren't too many people on the train this early on Sunday.

 People watch?

 Yeah. People will do the weirdest things when they think no one is watching them. I've seen people practically doing it right in front of me before

 Doing what exactly? ;)

 Shut up

 Never wench

 You make it too easy

 Do I now?

 Yep.

 Will you just go to sleep?

 You at work?

 No

 Then I'm gonna go with no

 How did I see that coming?

 Idk maybe because I've said it like 1000 times already

 Alright alright I get it.

 '  Now approaching 10      th     street station' came the automated voice over the loudspeaker. Kagome stood and slid her phone into her pocket to keep it from falling out of her hand as she exited the train. Since the station was nearly deserted it was easy for her to maneuver her way out to the street to make the short walk to work. Once outside, she saw that the sun was now fully on the horizon, creating beautiful hues of pink and orange. Stopping for a moment, she smiled and took it all in. The crisp autumn air whipped her raven locks around her shoulders. Seeing the sun between the trees, Kagome couldn't resist the urge to snap a photo with her phone and send it to her new self-proclaimed watchdog.

 Isn't it so beautiful Foxy?

 Just like you wench ;)

Kagome snorted as she walked and texted at the same time. You don't know what I look like

 Sure I do. Long black silky hair, eyes the color of dark chocolate, ivory skin. See? I know

 Still, you've not seen my face

 Don't have to

She didn't know how to respond to that. Lucky for her though, she rounded the last corner before coming up to Yoro North's front door. She took a picture of her hand opening said door and sent it to him.

 All safe. Please sleep now? I'd feel awful if you didn't get any sleep because of me

 Not your fault wench. I'm a big boy. But I promise I'll close my eyes now. Have a good day at work.

 Thanks Foxy. Sweet dreams!

Kagome tucked her phone back into her pocket as she walked right past Ayame's death glare without giving the girl a second glance. As she stepped around the corner to make her way back to the classroom, she found herself cemented smack dab into Koga's chest.

“Whoa there, sweetheart!” He said as he grabbed her shoulders and gently pulled her back. “You alright?” He asked, genuine concern in his voice.

Kagome shook her head to clear the fog from having the wind knocked from her slightly. Looking up into his sky blue eyes, she didn't miss the smirk that crossed his features at her antics. “I-I'm fine, Koga. Thanks. Hey, actually there was something I wanted to run by you if you've got a minute?”

“Sure thing, darling. Step into my office?”

Kagome had noticed his use of several terms of endearment in the last few days, but she didn't mind it so she didn't say anything to her new boss about it. Instead, she walked into his office and sat herself down without being prompted. Koga came around her to sit himself on the edge of his desk, crossing his arms lazily and smiling down at her.

“What can I do for ya, love?”

“Well, I've noticed that we don't ever take the kids anywhere outside of this building and its grounds. Is there a reason for that?”

Koga's face took a decidedly less happy appearance. “Kagome, this building is all that stands between these kids and the outside world. Humans aren't exactly welcoming to our kind, with the exception of the rare person such as yourself. We don't take the kids anywhere for their own protection but also for yours. You've seen how they can be with eachother. Imagine if they did that to a human? The backlash would be catastrophic.”

Kagome frowned. “So, they never get to leave here? Ever?”

“We occasionally take them to other facilities to interact with other children, but for the most part, yeah, they stay here.”

“And it's absolutely out of the question to take them to say a park?”

Koga's eyebrow quirked up in interest. “A park? Kagome, we have outside areas here for them.”

“I know that, Koga, but they should interact with other kids. Even human ones. I think it'll be good for them to socialize outside of their comfort zones. Some of them desperately need it. Besides, imagine if you were on the front lines of demon-human coexistence?”

Koga sighed deeply. “Kagome, I wish things were different but they're just not. I can't allow you to put the kids or yourself in that kind of danger. I'm sorry.”

The look of supreme disappointment that crossed her features nearly caused the wolf to cave. “If you say so, Koga. I'll go relieve Ginta and Hakkaku now.” She stood and exited his office with slightly slumped shoulders. She had been so sure she could convince him to let her take the kids out for a little while. Sighing, she decided she would just have to keep working him down until he agreed. Eventually, he would see her reasoning.

xxx

The next two weeks almost flew by for both InuYasha and Kagome. Even in the midst of studying for their impending final exams in a couple weeks, the pair never let a night pass without talking. It became part of both of their routines. They both looked forward to hearing from the other. Something that both of their respective room mates had not failed to notice.

“InuYasha, are you ever actually going to meet this girl?” Miroku asked his hanyou friend one Saturday afternoon.

“I have, jackass.”

Rolling his eyes, Miroku huffed. “You know what I mean. Sango and I have actually been on actual dates and you know, know eachother's names.”

“Bully for you. Now fuck off.” InuYasha practically yelled as he tried to stick his headphones on his ears.

Sighing, he took his friend's obvious hint and went downstairs to meet Sango. Upon seeing her leaning against the banister, fingers looped in her jeans, he couldn't help but smile. She smiled back and asked, “Everything ok up there? I thought I heard someone yelling.”

Miroku took his girlfriend's hand and went to exit the house. “Yeah. Just my room mate being an idiot.”

Sango raised an eyebrow in question. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. He met a girl at the Halloween party but has yet to actually learn her name or even see her face outside of whatever mask she was wearing. They just text constantly.”

Sango's eyes widened. “Th-they do?”

Miroku didn't hide his puzzled expression. “Yeeeeeah...”

“Um... well...”

Stopping mid step on their trek to the campus food court, Miroku eyed his girlfriend suspiciously. “Sango?”

Biting her lip, the girl looked down at the concrete. “I think your room mate is texting my room mate.”

Eyes widening to nearly the size of saucers, Miroku burst out laughing. “You're kidding!?”

Shaking her head, Sango responded, “Nope. She calls him Foxy. I guess he was wearing a fox costume or something?”

Miroku was nearly on the ground by this point. “Jesus! Yep. That's him.”

“I don't see how this is so funny.”

Finally calming himself, Miroku placed his hands on her shoulders, “Because my dear Sango, this cannot be purely coincidental. Maybe the strings of fate had a hand in this, eh?”

Sango rolled her eyes. “You're an idiot. What are we gonna do? I can't just lie to her.”

Placing a finger on his lips thoughtfully, Miroku had a dangerous gleam in his eyes. “Mayhaps you won't have to my dear...”

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[dark-angel-arbalan-blog]

The Exalted Guard (FNAF X Exalted)

- Genre: General, Action

- Words: 1974

- Summary: The Solar Exalted. The Lawgivers. Created to be able to bring down the gods themselves, run entire countries single handedly, and crush continents with a flick of the wrist. In order to become a Solar, you must do something great. You must lay down your life, to do what is right. And that, is exactly what Mike Schmidt has done. But, can he handle the weight of the Great Curse?

"That's forty times now," the guard said as he struck his lighter again. A small flame was sparked in the dark shadows of the hallway. The red and black tiled floors felt cold underneath him, as he sat with his legs crossed indian style. He let the Zippo match lighter wink out.

Darkness.

He struck it.

Light was cast across the intersection, as the children's drawings on the left, right, and front walls were illuminated. The man was jerked forward a little, but not by much, as three hard bangs sounded from the door at his back.

A muffled voice shouted, "You can't do this man! Please! Just let me out!."

The man scooted back up against the door. At night, it never seemed to be locked, or even have a door handle. It was just a massive slab of metal that read 'Parts and Services'. "I'm sorry, but it's better me than you," the night watchman said as he squashed the flame again with his metal lighter top. His ragged, torn, white shirt with black tie seemed to be the only bright spot as his long, black pants, in the same condition as his shirt, perfectly merged with the darkness.

He struck the lighter.

Down the front hallway, he saw the faintest hint of movement. To some, a small brown blur would simply be considered a trick of the eyes. But, this night guard knew better, "Here they come. Yo, what's the time?"

Three more forceful raps, "Please, don't do this!" There was a hint of a sob coming from the slightly feminine voice behind the door.

The guard put the flame out, "What. Is. The. Time?"

There was a brief silence followed by a noise that sounded a bit like crying, "...5:45."

The man took a deep breath, and then let it out, "Then, I'll just have to keep em back for 20 minutes."

He struck the flame.

This time, there was no question. There was something standing in the front hallway. Something big, brown, and in need of some serious repairs. The man slowly turned his head and the flame to the left and right hallways. Down the left hallway was one long purple ear that drooped to the right side, with a long right arm that ended in wires, making it look akin to a claw. Down the right path wasn't much, just a white bib that seemed to be fused into a yellow body. It read 'Let's Eat!'

The man killed the flame, then stood up. His legs were sore from sitting in the same position, but they moved. His arms popped as he used them to push himself off the floor, but they were ready to be used when needed. His back hurt from keeping the door closed against the occupant's relentless assaults, but he would hold it shut for as long as was needed. He grabbed his trusty flashlight in his right hand, and took his left, which still held the lighter, and pulled his hat so that the flap faced the front. The cap was a symbol of his position at the restaurant. Along with the badge, it identified him as one of the night guards for the Pizzeria, under contract to protect it from any attempts at violating the law, in or around the establishment. Plus, it kept his rather unruly black, coarse, hair under control, and looked pretty sweet too.

He knew that his flashlight only had a limited amount of power left. He had been using it a lot since he got here. Having no doors to close really left him with little options in way of making sure his skin stayed out of one those suits. He figured he'd lucked out when he heard about that glitch in the machines, where light rapidly flashed at one would freeze a bot in place for a time. He quickly realized, that didn't mean that one flash was enough to stop them for any amount of time. He knew that he would probably only be able to freeze two of them before the third got him.

It was better than going out like a punk.

He lit the flame.

"Well, it's about time you three got here." Mike Schmidt, night guard for the Freddy Fazbear Pizzeria, stood facing the three animatronics that had been making his life a living hell for the past 2 months now.

The last time Mike had seen the robots(or "jerkass-bots" as he liked to call them) they didn't look all that impressive. There were wires that you could see from an entire hallway down sticking out of them, their bodies seemed to have something caked onto(and into) them(he didn't know what), and there were pizza stains here and there on their fur. But, compared to how they looked now, that was them in their Hey-Day.

Bonnie seemed to be the worst of the three. He body seemed to be constantly bending at an angle, giving the idea that he walked with a limp. His right arm was still intact, and functional Mike saw when Bonnie seemed to close his paw into a fist and then open it up again. In stark contrast, Bonnie's entire left arm was missing, which might explain why he was favoring his right side. Oh, he also didn't have a face. Yeah, no face, yet he was still moving like a fucking zombie. Mike thought it might have something to do with the glowing red eyes that constantly showed, but he doubt just those and a lower jaw could keep an entire robot body moving.

Chica was somewhere in the between normal and completely scrapped. The only real damage that could be seen was where her face and beak were. It looked as if someone had grabbed the top and bottom parts of her beak, and ripped them apart. Mike cursed a bit in his head, he had wanted to do that. Other than that, and the weird wires that run along her body making her look like a puppet, she hadn't changed a bit.

And then, there was Freddy. Mike didn't know where Foxy was, but he was pretty sure that Freddy cheated him out of some kind of deal. Where the older Bonnie, Chica, and the aforementioned fox all seemed like they just got pulled out of a dumpster, Freddy looked, at least half way decent. His body, arms, hands, feet, and even his head looked almost exactly same from the last time Mike saw him, and considering that Mike was from the future that's saying something. The only hint that he was in disrepair, was how his arms and legs seemed to be separated in certain places. It made the big bear look like he was cut to pieces by a blender, on high.

"So, which one of you will be the one to do me in, huh?" Mike looked each of the animatronics in the eyes, showing that he wasn't afraid. He didn't care if they stabbed him, ripped him apart, stuffed him in a suit, or whatever it was they did to the guards they had managed to catch. He was either gonna go down fighting, or take one of them down with him. Mike flicked his eyes between the big three, looking at them as well as trying to see behind them. He didn't know where Foxy or the Toy animatronics were, and that's what worried him. Unlike when he worked alone as a night guard, these animatronics were smart enough to go through the vents to get ya. He couldn't remember if there were any vents in the parts room, but if there were… Mike chose not to think about it.

Above all, his primary concern was the fucking Puppet. Since no one was in the office, the music box would just keep going until it wound down. Then, the box would open, and that demon would be let loose. Even when he looked at that overgrown doll during the day, it creeped him the fuck out. Mike had always had a sneaking suspicion(confirmed when he first took this god-forsaken job) about these furry-bots, but that-thing was something entirely different. He felt like it knew more than a simple AI should know, almost like it was sentient. That was a thought that really scared Mike.

He didn't see the Marionette fucker at all, but that may have been just because it was dark. Even so-

It was the sound that saved him more than anything else. The unmistakable whine of circuitry and gears working to bring something to bear. Mike had heard it every night he had spent at this hellhole. He was glad that he had committed the sound to memory, as he felt Bonnie's claw gives his left side burn a bit of a trim. His dodge was sloppy, hastily made, and left him wide open for much longer than he wanted. It wasn't a very graceful move, but it afforded him the opening he needed. Nearly falling to the floor from the effort put into the dodge, Mike pulled up the flashlight and flashed it across Bonnie's face.

That glitch in the system had saved both Mike and his co-worker from Foxy's jump attacks countless times, and it is what he used to his advantage now. The hallway was lit up for a couple of seconds as he moved the flashlight across Chica's face. He gave her two quick flashes, bringing himself upright as he did. His light cast across Freddy's frame, showing a massive brown fist coming right at the security guard.

Fist fighting had been apart of Mike's life for as long as he could remember. He had faced down school bullies, street toughs, and the occasional mugger in the dark alley way. He didn't win all of those fights, but he never let it be said he didn't give a good account of himself. For every bruise he left with, his opponents left with ten more. And, even though Mike knew his physical prowess could never match up with the unlimited power of the metal monster Freddy was, he sure as fuck was not going down without a fight.

The light on the Zippo was out, as Mike brought his left fist up in a hook to meet the big bear's right hook. Mike closed his eyes, waiting for the pain that would be his end.

The building was filled with the sound of metal being wrenched from its place. The scream of gears, circuits, and steel coming apart reminded Mike of the time he saw a Mustang crash into a thirteen wheeler. The wheeler hadn't seen the car coming, and slammed right into it's left side. The sports car was completely mangled, totaled beyond repair. Mike figured that was what his left arm looked like right about now.

What puzzled him was, he wasn't on the ground screaming in agony. In fact, he could still feel his left arm, and the cold metal of the lighter in the closed fist. Mike thought, 'Maybe the impact was so strong, I immediately, and am on the floor in a coma of sorts?' Yeah, that seemed like the most reasonable answer at the time.

Mike really wished that was the actual answer as he opened his eyes, and beheld something impossible. Not only was his left arm completely intact, and looked none the worse for ware from the attack. Not only was the place where Freddy's arm used to be reduced to a stump of broken wires, cut circuitry, and sparking electricity. Not only was he still standing, and not feeling any pain at all in any part of his body.

His left arm was glowing so bright that it was illuminating the entire hallway.

Mike could only say one thing in response, "THE FUCK IS GOING ON!?"

[spartanguard]

growing old is nothing to fear

based on @pirateherokillian‘s awesomely silver foxy gif right there and this conversation between her and @sherlockianwhovian: What if something in an upcoming episode causes Killian to age faster than normal? (With Zelena along for the ride because why not and I love her and Green Hook in-laws is my jam).

un-beta’d. 1.8 k. rated S for SILVER FOX

Bloody magic. Hadn’t it caused enough strife in Killian’s life already? Despite its occasional use, he’d long grown tired of the many ways it was used for harm rather than good.

Yet, here he was on a quest for another magical object, hidden behind an enchanted door, on the journey with a former witch.

“At least this is all the magic we’ll need,” Zelena commented as he found the invisible knob of the magically hidden doorway. The notes on the map had made it incredibly specific: magic could not be used to retrieve this item. “I can barely remember what my powers felt like, and you haven’t had any since—oh wait, wrong you.”

He turned the knob and tugged the door open, revealing a dimly lit tunnel that seemed to appear from thin air, and turned back to Zelena, incredulous. “The other me had magic?” That seemed horrifically out of character, but then again, for the last few decades, he’d lived a vastly different life than the Hook she knew, even if he no longer looked it.

“Oh, I think you’ll quite like that tale. I’ll tell it when we get through this,” she teased, approaching the entrance to the dimly lit tunnel behind the door and gesturing down it. “Shall we, darling?”

“Lead the way.” Everyone else might trust her, but he wasn’t quite ready to have his back to the ex-sorceress just yet. Maybe it had something to do with Alice’s mother, or maybe it was just the fact that he was still unnerved to be around someone who acted like they knew him, but didn’t truly.

The air in the tunnel was heavy and dry, as if its jagged stone walls were trying to smother them with a blanket. There didn’t seem to be an end in sight, and the light of the clearing from whence they’d come grew smaller and dimmer as they traveled down it in companionable silence. Eventually, the only light was that of the torches placed periodically on the walls, and Killian found his eyes straining to see in the gloom.

“You know, I hadn’t noticed it before, but that silver makes you look quite distinguished.” Zelena’s voice broke the quiet, but left him baffled.

“Pardon?”

“I’m just saying, I understand the term ‘silver fox’ now.”

“I’ve no clue what you’re talking about, love.” He knew he far outpaced her in years but he’d only recently reclaimed the confidence he’d had as a younger man; even if her comments seemed to be in admiration, he wasn’t keen on the implication.

“Surely a man as vain as you, Captain, would notice when he started going gray.”

His hand flew up to the hair at his temple. “What?”

They stopped walking. “You seriously hadn’t noticed? Hang on.” She fished through her pockets for a moment before exclaiming “Here we go!” and producing a small mirror, which she then held up to his face.

To his shock, the hair at the side of his face, and streaks across the top, were indeed significantly lighter than the rest, and white was now peppered through his beard. It followed the same pattern it had when he’d first started going gray, all those years ago. He remembered teasing Alice that it was all her fault, and smirked at the memory; but something about this didn’t sit right. “That wasn’t there this morning.”

“Well, age has to catch up with all of us at some point. No use in complaining about it,” Zelena shrugged, and turn to continue on. But he saw a flash of something in her own fiery locks, and grabbed her arm to stop her.

She tried to protest, but he just reached to her scalp and plucked. Of course, that drew even more whining, but it abruptly stopped when she saw what was in his hand: a curly silver hair of her own. “Seems you’ve got a streak of gray yourself, love.” And he could see another one woven through her updo.

“Psh, it was bound to happen at some point. Come on.” She trudged ahead, but he was now on alert—something strange was going on in this tunnel. He didn’t say anything, but he watched as more silver worked its way through her hair the deeper into the tunnel they went.

Though the path was even, they both gradually slowed down, despite having not traveling long enough for fatigue to really set in. The air temperature hadn’t changed, but he eventually had to concede defeat as he wiped the sweat off his brow and worked to undo buttons on his vest in an attempt to cool himself off. He sighed in relief upon loosening the last closure; the brocade had been constricting and stifling, and the cool air on his skin through his thin top felt divine.

His exhale caught Zelena’s attention, who glanced back at him, and then began to smirk and bit her lip as if holding back a laugh.

“What is it?” he groaned, surprised at how gravelly his voice sounded, though he wasn’t particularly thirsty.

“I think I see why Emma wanted your other self to give up the rum,” she quipped.

He wanted to be offended, but a glance down showed that there was a bit of a paunch on his belly that was also a recent acquisition—or, rather, reacquisition. But it had taken years for his stomach to go soft the first time; why was it doing so at such a rapid rate now?

“Let me see your mirror again.” She held it up for him, and it was just as he suspected: the fine lines on his face had grown deeper, and his hair and beard were now full gray, though thankfully more well-kept than they had been before his recent transformation.

As he pondered his reflection, the hand holding the looking glass changed color, taking on what he thought looked like a deep green hue, but the damned lighting made it hard to tell. She seemed to notice at the same moment, only with a far more violent reaction: she screamed and dropped the mirror, shattering it.

“What the hell is this place?” she shouted at no one in particular. “Why am I turning green again?”

“And old,” he added, pointing up at her hair that was nearly as silver as his. She grabbed for her ponytail and released an equally horrified sound at the discovery. “Now, when you say ‘again’...” he started, hoping she would fill in the blanks.

“I used to be literally green with envy. It was only Glinda’s magic that removed it. Oh god, is it anywhere else?” She knelt to look at herself in the broken mirror shards, but he was hung up on that word: magic. They’d both had it used on them to change their physical appearance. He was fairly certain he knew what was going on now, but he had one more question.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but you were also frozen under a curse for a lengthy period of time, yes?”

She stood up, albeit slowly. “Yeah, what of it?”

He nodded; it seemed to be as he suspected. “It appears to me that this cavern not only does not permit the use of magic, but...it erases it as well.”

She cocked her head to the side in confusion, giving him a glance at the green that was making its way up her neck. “So…”

“So my recent return to youth via a fairy’s wand is well on its way to reversal. And you, my dear, are finally looking the age you should be.”

She set her jaw and scowled at the news; he had to admit, he felt rather the same way. “I thought only magic had a price,” she complained. “Not no magic, too.”

“To be fair, we are still in search of magic,” he offered with a shrug.

“True,” she reluctantly agreed, crossing her arms and sulking.

“We may as well continue on; the damage is probably done.” It had been nice being a young man again, but he supposed he didn’t really need to be one anymore. He was still damn handsome, anyways.

Wordlessly, they set off once more. Killian’s belt eventually reached a point of tightness that told him the transformation was complete on his end, but he didn’t want to slow them down to loosen it—the general decay of their joints was doing a good enough job of that on its own. He did hazard a look over at his companion; the green now covered her skin, and though lines on her face made her look significantly older, she hadn’t lost her poise or glamor.

“You know...green and silver is an awfully fetching combination,” he observed out loud. She didn’t say anything in response, but he did see a small smile replace her frown, and the apples of her cheeks turned a darker green.

It wasn’t long before they reached the end of the tunnel, which opened into a wide room. The amulet they sought was prominently displayed in the middle, with a healthy supply of traps and tripwires around it. It took some time to navigate, given their less-than-spry bodies, but they successfully reached the center and claimed the tool.

As soon as Killian’s hand wrapped around the charm, it was as if the entire journey hadn’t happened: they were immediately back in the clearing, youthful glow intact, though still with the amulet in their possession.

Both quickly took stock of their forms and each other’s; his gut was gone and his hair felt smooth again, while Zelena’s bright red locks and fair skin tone had returned. It was almost as jarring as the first change.

“Bloody hell,” he breathed, unsure of what the hell had just happened, but at least it appeared to be over.

“Yeah,” Zelena agreed, hesitantly. “I guess that’s that.”

They stood silent for a few more moments, processing, before both seemed to shake themselves out of it. Their mission wasn’t done yet. With a wordless nod, they both headed off in the direction of the camp.

Knowing what he’d look and feel like some time in the future truthfully had been more of an annoyance to Killian than anything, given that it was his past as much as his future. But he could tell it was still nagging at Zelena in the way she worried her bottom lip.

“I wasn’t lying back there: verdigris or not, you’ll be a rather attractive older lady, if that’s what you’re concerned about.”

She chuckled, but shook her head. “No, it’s not that; I had no worries there,” she said emphatically. “Just being reminded of my own mortality is all.”

“Ah, yes. Well, we’ve made it this far. No need to fear what lies ahead in that regard.”

“Very true,” she conceded. “And you’ll be quite the looker yourself, Captain.”

“Oh, I’m well aware. Now I believe you owe me a story about my other self and magic?”

She cackled in glee. “Oh, where do I begin?”

i’m not even sure who to tag, but y’all might like this (my apologies if not; feel free to ignore): @kat2609 @thesschesthair @optomisticgirl @xpumpkindumplingx @shipsxahoy @cocohook38 @annytecture @wingedlioness @word-bug @bleebug @its-imperator-furiosa @flipperbrain @laschatzi @nfbagelperson @stubble-sandwich​ @killian-whump​ @lenfaz @athenascarlet @kmomof4 @ilovemesomekillianjones @whimsicallyenchantedrose @snowbellewells 

[romanparrishlynch]

For the first time - ACOTAR supernatural AU

This is an elriel centered fic in which all the characters are supernatural creatures in the modern world.

________________________________

Chapter 1

Azriel opened his eyes and lied awake in his bed . He could hear the sound of soft breathing from the woman next to him. Then he looked around to find that it was not his bed. Or his room.

He looked at the girl lying next to him. Her face was obscured by her hair. He tried to remember the girl’s name but couldn’t. He didn’t think he would remember it even if he had a gun pointed at him.

He gently eased out of bed so as not to wake her. The sane thing to do would be to leave before she woke up and things got awkward for the both of them. He picked up his clothes from the floor and got dressed. He looked at the girl . She was still sleeping. Azriel quickly made his way in the dim light. He accidentally stumbled. Fortunately she didn’t wake and he left through the door. Azriel squinted in the sun trying to find out where he is. He fished his car keys out of his pocket and searched for his car. He found it and drove home.

Azriel parked his car on the driveway of his house. He put the key in the keyhole and found it was already open.

“ Well glad you could find your way home ” Cassian’s voice boomed through the household as he opened the door.

“Couldn’t you atleast answer your phone? ” Rhys asked as he entered. Rhys stood in the threshold of his house or at least one of his houses.

He went to the living room to find Amren, The headmistress of blood ruby coven ,in a deep conversation with Tarquin, The king of merfolk. Tarquin looked adequately terrified sitting next to the little witch.

Cassian, the alpha of the bloodstone pack, was rummaging through the fridge, how typically werewolf of him . They’re always hungry.

Rhysand ,The leader of stardust vampire coven was casually leaning against the kitchen table.

Whoever said werewolves and vampires were natural enemies should definitely meet these two Azriel thought to himself.

Cassian threw an apple at rhys which he catched with ease.

“ Take a bite, snow white” Cassian joked.

Cassian closed the refrigerator and walked over to Azriel.

“ You have no meat. ” Cass said in a serious voice.

“ why weren’t you answering your phone ?” Azriel turned towards Mor’s voice.

He hadn’t noticed her. She looked pale just as all vampires were. She was standing in the doorway to his study.

Belatedly, he realized he had lost his phone somewhere during the course of last night.

“ I lost it ” he answered. Mor raised an eyebrow at him.

Cassian chuckled before asking “ And where would you have lost it?”. A question which Azriel  ignored as all of them entered the study .Cassian probably knew exactly how Azriel had spent last night. Inside kallias,  Thesan, Helion and Beron were already seated.“ Why are you all here? The last meeting was only three weeks ago. ” Azriel changed the subject just as everyone had seated themselves in his study. All other conversation died out just as he asked the question.

“ you didn’t feel it ?” rhys asked Azriel. “ Feel what? ” Azriel was annoyed. This earned him a lot of curious glances.

He hated to be centre of attention but his siren loved it. His siren practically revelled in the attention. He hated being in the dark. Everyone else knew something he didn’t. It nagged at him. His siren nagged at him.

Just look inside their heads .

His siren wanted to take control of the situation. He was having a hard time controlling the siren.

“ Um.. You’re glowing. ” Tarquin’s voice broke the sirens hold on him .

Azriel looked down at himself. He was indeed glowing. His skin looked ethereal and otherworldly. This was the siren. He told himself just as he always did. Sweat rolled down his forehead as he struggled with his siren.

Azriel managed to smother the siren’s glow. “Someone tell me what the hell is going on. ” Azriel had raised his voice.It wasn’t a request and everyone knew it. It was pure command and probably not the wise thing to do in a room full of Alphas.

“ Stop flashing your head lights, boy. ” Amren snarled displaying a row of really sharp teeth.

“ Last night, around 10:00 we felt a shock wave. Everything supernatural went haywire. ” Thesan finally spoke. Thesan was the leader of gargoyles.

“ Define haywire and who’s we? ” Azriel had too many questions.

“ Haywire as in claws out, fangs bared, wards blown up, involuntary shifting, and extreme aggression. ” kallias answered, the frost giant clearly not happy with the situation.

“ And everything with a hint of supernatural felt it. Even the latent ones. Well except for you ” Cassian finished. Azriel tried not to read too much into it. He probably thought the wave was just another one of his siren’s call.

The last thing he wanted right now was everyone to think he was some special snowflake. His siren was already basking in the glory of being the only male siren.

“ Funny, how the siren was the only one who didn’t feel it. ” Beron, the alpha of Firestone werefox pack said clearly not finding it funny.Azriel had always hated that foxy bastard.

“ It was a summoning, you fools. As precious as the siren thinks he is, he isn’t powerful enough for a spell like that. There was a blood sacrifice involved. And it’s not complete. You probably know who’s the sacrificial lamb ” Amren said without a hint of  remorse. They followed her gaze to the only empty chair.

Tamlin. The alpha of Greenstone pack was absent.

Dead. Azriel corrected himself. There was a chorus of cursing as they realized it. Except Amren. There was no emotion on her face. Sometimes Azriel forgot the little witch sitting with them has lived a millienna and had seen things beyond his imagination. Sometimes he forgot he should be scared of her.

You don’t have to be scared. You can take her. You could take down all of them. His siren’s voice was alluring and tempting.

“ We need to make sure that Tamlin is indeed dead before we jump to conclusions. ” Helion, the sidhe lord said in the most reasonable voice azriel has ever heard him use. Azriel noted the serious look didn’t sit well on Helion’s face. His face was made for playful grins and cunning smirks.

“ Tamlin hasn’t been seen by his pack since two nights ago. I talked to his beta. Tamlin hasn’t answered his phone and they couldn’t track him. ” Mor informed them just as she put her phone in her pocket.

“ So we’re just assuming that Tamlin is dead because no one has seen him in two days and we had some sort magical malfunction. ” Rhysand said to no one in particular. And cue the arguments.

Azriel had never been one to like these meetings. But he had to host them every two months. It was one of the curses of being the only male of his species.  Sirens were not pack creatures and responsibility is not a character you can see in a siren.These meetings took place in his house because it was neutral territory. He condoned violence and his ability to calm anyone made him the best mediator.

It was ironic. How his siren could calm anyone but is a raging fire in him.

Azriel slipped through the door before any of them could notice his absence. He needed to find his phone. He remembered having his phone when he left the club which means he left it at the girl’s house he drove from the morning. It would have helped him if he had remembered her name or her face. He was glad that he at least remembered  her address even though he couldn’t remember anything else about her.

Azriel mentally cursed himself for being careless.

He picked up the telephone and dialed his number.Full ring. No one answered.He redialled. Just as he thought it was a lost cause the call clicked through.

“ Hello ” a melodious female voice filled his ears. It was the sweetest voice azriel has ever heard. Now he understood why his siren was in her bed.

“ Umm.. Hello. Who’s this? ” Azriel asked.

“ you’re the one who called. So, who are you? ” the girl replied in a polite manner. Azriel wondered how he had ended up in bed with someone like her. “ Okay lady this is my phone and I would really like to have it back. Now, if you could tell me the when and where that would be helpful. ” Azriel asked impatiently .

“ Azriel? ” she asked. He groaned in frustration. He had told her his name. He never did that, not even when he his siren had overtook him. Gods, he was getting sloppy.

“ Yes , it’s me. And I would really like my phone back. ” he answered , trying to sound nonchalant. He was lying to himself. Just her voice was enough to wake the siren in him. She stirred something in him. He was thrilled and terrified at the thought of meeting her.

“ It’s in my place” she said softly and Azriel was scared for the poor girl inviting the siren to her house without even knowing the implications of her words. He ended the call without saying anything else.

Next thing he knew he was driving towards somewhere.towards her. He could feel the pull towards her. It was like a tether, luring him in. It felt just as strong as gravity. His siren was overriding him and he was barely hanging on to his sanity. She was driving him insane. Whoever she was. He had spent an entire night with her and he couldn’t recall a single detail. And now his siren is being pulled towards her.He wasn’t a fifteen year old lovesick teenager who loses his head about some girl.

Shit.Alarm bells went off in Azriel’s head. He needed to get a grip on his siren or else.Azriel didn’t get to finish his thoughts as he got pulled over. The situation slammed into him like a ton of bricks. He had been speeding over the limit without even realizing it. He wasn’t even paying attention to the road. All he could think about was the girl. The girl whose name he didn’t remember, whose face he couldn’t recall. The girl whose voice drove him wild. Azriel wondered how could he have forgotten her when he was pulled to her like moth to flame. He wondered if he was the flame or the moth.

He compelled the cops to let him go. Normally Azriel tried to avoid using his power. But today he didn’t have the to reassure his morals. He didn’t want to . All he wanted was her. The woman who he couldn’t remember. He wished he had seen her face when he left in the morning.

Azriel stopped in front of a small house. He already knew she was inside. His siren was humming in excitement. He was still glowing. Azriel counted mentally from one to ten hoping to calm himself. But it was in vain.He stepped out of the car and walked as fast he could to the girls house. His heart pounding in his Chest.

He surveyed the house in front of him. There were two people inside. He could hear their heart beats. The scent of sandalwood and jasmine overpowered everything else. Azriel staggered back. He shook his head and knocked on the door. The door opened to reveal a girl with golden brown hair but he found himself focusing on her eyes. He found himself lost in those tiny specks of spun gold floating in her earthy brown eyes .

“ Azriel ” there was it again, her voice . Maybe he should have let the siren out. Right now he was feeling more like a moth than the flame.

Mate.

The word crashed into his mind like a tidal wave. She was his mate. He had heard about mates. Seen enough of them but he never thought he would have one. He was a siren after all. He’s never heard of a siren having a mate. It went against their nature.

And if she was his mate why didn’t he feel it last night. He should have felt it. This burning need inside him, he should have felt it last night.Even if he was under the siren’s control he would have known. Should have known. Azriel mind was buzzing with so many questions.

“ Do you wanna come in? ” she asked , the perfect picture of innocence. He nodded not trusting himself to answer. He went inside. “ Please sit. I’ll go get your phone. ” she was gone in an instant. He didn’t want her gone.

Damn, he didn’t even ask her name.

Azriel wondered if she felt it too.She was going to be the death of him. His eyes roamed everywhere around the room. This place was totally different from Azriel’s houses.

This was a home.

There were books everywhere. He concentrated on his surroundings. Now that the girl was out of his sight. He could concentrate enough to pick through the different scents.

There was particularly one scent that nagged at him. It was very faint. Just enough for him to make it out. It was very faint. Just enough for him to make it out.

He heard the girl’s voice muffled by the walls and distant. Normal humans wouldn’t be able to hear them. But he wasn’t normal and he definitely wasn’t human.

Someone was crying. Not her though.

Azriel looked at the framed pictures arranged neatly. There was one that caught his attention.It was a picture of three girls laughing. He picked it up. There it was staring right at him. The brown haired girl on the left of Azriel’s mate was Feyre. He knew her to be Feyre archeron. She was dating Tamlin. He had seen her around with Tamlin. Now he recognized the scent. It was Tamlin’s scent.

He tried to recall everything he knew about Feyre.He had never spoken to her in person. He knew she had two sisters. And judging by the girl’s innocent face and kind voice, she had to be the soft hearted Elain archeron.

Elain. He said it in his head savouring her name. “ Elain ” this time it escaped his lips.The name just as sweet as her voice. Azriel thanked the gods that somehow he figured out her name without embarrassing himself. Elain entered the living room. He hastily put the picture back to where it was.

“ Here” Elain offered his phone . He took it from her pale thin hands.He felt electric current running through his veins just as his fingers brushed against hers. He drew in a harsh breath. He collected himself before he did something wrong.

“ You’re Feyre’s sister.” he said it suddenly to fill the silence.“ You know Feyre? ” Elain asked confused.

“ Kinda. I know her boyfriend, Tamlin” what he didn’t add was they didn’t get along well or Tamlin could very well be dead in a ditch. At the mention of Tamlin’s name, Elain’s face lost its brightness.

“ Elain, who’s this? ” a soft voice asked from the bottom of the stairs. He didn’t hear the footsteps coming down the stairs. He was focused on the goddess in front of him. For once, his siren was in agreement with him. They both wanted her.

Azriel some how managed to tear his gaze away from Elain. He stared at Feyre. Gone was the girl with a pretty smile. Feyre’s face was puffed out from crying. Her eyes were red and swollen. Azriel could confirm what happened to Tamlin and she knew.

“ This is azriel. He’s a friend. ” Feyre raised an eyebrow at Elain’s answer.Feyre was staring at him. He knew exactly the moment she realized what he was. Her face hardened in a second.“ Elain, why don’t you make our guest a cup of tea? I’ll keep him company. ” Feyre said.Elain was oblivious to the tension in the room. He smiled at Elain.

“ Tea would be lovely ” Azriel forced the words out. His siren didn’t want her to go. Elain smiled at him and left. He would have done anything for that smile. He would have given up everything he had for her. That thought scared him more than anything else.

“ Leave her alone ” Feyre said in a low voice. Azriel supposed that she intended it to be threatening. He almost laughed at her. She was just a human. She could have known what he was but she was just as fragile as the rest them.

“ What happened to Tamlin ?” he asked Feyre. She took a step back involuntarily. She wasn’t prepared for this question from him. “ Are you a member of his pack? ” her voice was still low. As if she didn’t want Elain to overhear them. Which meant Elain had no idea about the Immortals.

“ No. I’m not a wolf. I’m looking for Tamlin. No one has seen him in two days .” he said.“ Is that why you’re here? ” Feyre asked, her eyebrows raised.

“ Not really ” Azriel answered glancing towards the kitchen.

“ Tamlin’s dead. I found his body near the river on his territory. He was drained of blood and coated in wolfsbane. There was no blood there. Someone dumped his body there.” Feyre answered my question then adds in a more serious tone. “ Leave her out of this. I don’t care what you are. But if you hurt her, I will make you pay. ” Azriel laughed aloud at her threat.

You could just kill her. Just snap her fragile neck. Of course then Elain would hate you forever. His siren was giving mixed signals.

“ What’s funny?” Elain asked as she enters the room with a tray in her hands. She placed the tray on the table and took a seat on the couch.

“ You two are going to just stand there or what? ” Elain asked. “ Actually, I should leave. I have meeting that I completely forgot about. I’m truly sorry about the tea. I promise I’ll make up for it some other time. ” Azriel apologized. He couldn’t remember the last time he apologized to someone. He left ,giving elain a last glance.

His siren practically begged him to stay. That was a first. His siren usually just nagged and tempted him. This was a rare occasion. He needed to get as far away from her as possible.

Azriel dialed Rhysand’s number as he started his car . Rhys picked up on the first ring. “ where are you? ” Rhys’s angry voice greeted him.

“ Tamlin’s dead. His girlfriend confirmed it. She found his body near the river on his territory .” Azriel got straight to the point.

The line went silent for a few seconds, then Rhys replied “ We have bigger problems ”

________

Tagging : @hege-ie

[thesteveyates]

‘F’ is for Uffa Fox

‘F’ is for Fairey Atalanta.

Blog time : well, it’s mid April and just going into week 4 of this strange life.  As far as my own boat and sailing life are concerned the boss is keeping a good eye on WABI”’ and has had the hatches open to air the boat out for me.  Obviously i’m not out on the water and not writing any new material based on my own boat.  In blog life all i’m working on are the new posts for this series as all of the posts that i was working on in the spring are now out there.    My own life is probably about to change radically if things work out as i expect they will ; that’s because i’m now back on the temporary/emergency register and it looks as though i might get deployed to the emergency Nightingale hospital in London…that’s obviously going to be the ‘hot’ zone.  If that works out well then i’ll be working on my own next boating project while i’m away and i can take more time over the next designer in this series.

In this post for the design series i’m really just looking at one design from one prolific designer, sailor and all-round total English eccentric ; Uffa Fox.  The boat is the highly unusual and funky looking Fairey Atalanta designed by the late Uffa Fox in 1955 alongside Alan Vines ; an executive of Fairey Marine.  The boat was then mass produced using some radically new building techniques between 1956 and 1968.  Many Atalanta’s still exist today, many have been restored and there is an active owners association.

Right at the start of this post i have to point out that all of the photographs i have used come from other sources and not my own files ; most of them appear on the Atalanta owners association website or found during a general image search.  The title photograph also, is of a very modified deck/coachroof version which i think looks great and very different.

Uffa Fox…..Yachtsman and designer.

I regard the late Uffa Fox as the most important and influential small boat designer ever, at least from the narrow perspective of British designers : i place him above other brilliant designers of small sailing craft like Maurice Griffiths and William Fife for example because he took the design and construction of small craft in completely new directions.    Later on in the design series i hope to be able to show how later designers like David Thomas and  Jack Laurent Giles, and then modern designers like Keith Callaghan all owe a lot to Uffa Fox’s radical new designs.

As i re-read biographies of Uffa Fox he comes across as a brilliantly eccentric man who managed to be both at the centre of a very conservative and traditional yachting community based around Cowes on the IOW , at a time when it was an important ‘Royal’ yachting venue and centre of the English yachting world, and at the same time being a maverick and radical designer.   He was for example closely connected to the British royal family at play, regularly sailing with or crewing for HRH Prince Philip and the young Royals , often in his or their Dragon class racing yachts.

In 1938 Uffa Fox designed the first of several International 14 racing dinghy’s, the most famous of which was ‘Thunder and Lightning’, the radical feature of the new designs being their ability to plane rather than just being displacement hulls. The International 14 class was then, as it is now, a development class and that same boat not only planed downwind in a breeze but could generate a lot more power upwind because of another new device….the trapeze…..instantly banned as being ‘unsporting’ until a few years later. Now of course the International 14 is a double trapeze boat and still very quick even when compared with more modern dinghy designs.

Fairey Marine and the Atalanta.

Fairey Marine Ltd,  was a boat building company based on the River Hamble near to Southampton on the Uk’s south coast.. The company was created in the late 1940s by Sir Charles Richard Fairey and Fairey Aviation‘s managing director, Mr. Chichester-Smith. Both were avid sailing enthusiasts along with Chichester-Smith’s good friend and former Olympic yachtsman, Charles Currey.  Fairey Aviation of course was the company responsible for designing and building wartime aircraft such as the Fairey Swordfish, which, even as an ‘obsolete’ carrier based biplane managed to stick a torpedo up the backside of the Bismark which led to that ship’s eventual sinking only 8 days into her one and only wartime mission !

As the war drew to a close Fairey and Chichester-Smith both decided that they should produce sailing dinghies utilising techniques that had been employed in the construction of aircraft. Charles Currey was recruited to help run the company when he came out of the Royal Navy. The world air speed record holder Peter Twiss joined Fairey Marine Ltd from Fairey Aviation in 1960 and was responsible for development and sales of day-cruisers. In 1969, commanding the Huntsman 707 Fordsport, he took part in the Round Britain Powerboat Race, and included among his crew members, Rally champion Roger Clark. Boats were primarily designed by Alan Burnard.

In the early years, thousands of dinghies were produced by Fairey Marine including the Firefly, Albacore, Falcon (dinghy), Swordfish (dinghy), Jollyboat, Flying Fifteen, 505 and International 14‘s along with the much smaller Dinky and Duckling. Later on in the 1950s they produced the larger sailing cruisers, the Atalanta (named after Sir Richard’s wife), Titania, Fulmar and the 27-foot (8.2 m) Fisherman motor sailer (based on the Fairey Lifeboat hull) along with the 15′ Cinderella (outboard runabout)/ Carefree (inboard runabout), and the 16’6″ Faun (outboard powered family cruiser).

By way of a side-line here, Fairey were using very similar techniques to the ones developed by the De Havilland company which used the extraordinary (for then) concept of building wooden framed and skinned aircraft…and that resulted in the fastest wartime fighter/bomber cum recconaisance plane ; the famous Mosquito.

Fairey Swordfish.

Personal interest.

Many readers will be aware that while i really like my little Hunter Liberty i could really do with a bit more waterline length, more space (volume) , more sailing ‘power’ and while keeping the Liberty’s ability to sail shallow rivers and dry out level at the end of the day.  Some readers will also know, because i wrote several posts, that i did a serious search for a slightly larger and more capable boat and that one group of boats that i found were the post IOR designs of around 25 feet with lifting keels : the Dehler 25, Evolution 25 and Super-Seal 26.

Both of us went to see the Dehler and both almost instantly didn’t like the boat, the Evolution 25 that i had in mind disappeared off the market and i couldn’t afford the larger Parker Super Seal although i think it might have made a good boat.  The boat that really might have worked for me was the again slightly larger Kelt that i photographed in Wareham :

There was however one complete outsider in the mix and that was the much older Fairey Atalanta and one did come up on Ebay at about the same time ; i don’t remember now why i didn’t go and see it because it was only ‘just down the road’…ie about a hundred miles away !.     Going way back, at least 25 years, when i first started thinking about owning my own boat in my post Whitbread race era i was talking to a yacht designer about what i was looking for in a boat and he told me about an Atalanta sitting in the yard somewhere behind Proctor spars place in the Hamble.

I was greatly intrigued so i went and saw the boat and yes, it had a lot of what i wanted and it was just about inside my budget except that it was in poor condition and it smelled very nasty inside…..i’m pretty sure there was some unhealthy wood in that one.  I spent some time working up a budget for the potential rebuild and what i came up against straight away is the huge base cost of having a boat like that in a shed anywhere in the Hamble where covered space seems to be charged out by the square inch !.  On top of that i did some research about repairs to an Atalanta hull and it does seem to be a more specialist job than a ‘normal’ ie carvel, wooden boat.  The reason for that being that the whole hull is hot-glue laminated from Agba veneers in a large oven !.

I liked the basic concept and the actual boat though so i always kept it in mind for ‘maybe one day’ : today i still greatly admire the Atalanta and iv’e since seen some very nicely refitted ones.  The size would still be about right, i could live with the layout , especially by converting the aft cabin to a large double + berth and i still love the funky looking 50’s shape.  Given that these boats were first built in the 1950’s iv’e always fancied having one that was ‘born’ in the same year as me (1958)…..not the most intelligent or logical reason to own a boat but hey ….it’s me we are talking about !

The Atalanta file.

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  Here’s one for sale via the Atalanta owners website .

https://atalantaowners.org/f14-noggin-sale-2/

Funky, Foxy, Fairey. 'F' is for Uffa Fox 'F' is for Fairey Atalanta. Blog time : well, it's mid April and just going into week 4 of this strange life. 

[aluna-hime]

One of Our Own

Summary: Lucy wonders what’s it like to have a kid after watching Natsu interact with Asuka on another babysitting job and Natsu might just help her with that.

Pairing: NaLu

Rating: K+ (for minor abuse and suggestive theme)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lucy wasn’t quite sure how she had gotten herself into this situation.

Again.

Her day had started perfectly normal to be honest.

She woke up from bed miraculously without Natsu and more often than not Happy in it, she went to her kitchen and made herself some good ol’ bacon and eggs, took a nice and refreshing shower afterwards, went to the guild, and was just chilling there at a bar stool while the guild went on with their usual destructive brawls and loud chattering.

She would have never expected herself to be watching her pink-haired idiot of a best friend slaving himself as a horse to a cute little girl, who was barely the age of 8, as she rode him around the Western styled living room while calling him “Mr. Horsey” out of all things.

“Why was I dragged along into all of this?” The blonde-haired mage sighed as she asked herself the same question for the nth time.

“Because you were worried that Natsu might screw something up and you wanted to make sure he doesn’t for Asuka’s sake.” Happy chimed in beside her before he continued to munch on a fish he got from god knows where.

‘Oh yeah.’ Lucy thought to herself as she let out a groan.

She remembered Alzack and Bisca coming into the guild hall with Asuka and going straight to Natsu, who was then currently duking it out with Gray, and asked him to take care of Asuka for them since Asuka really enjoyed herself the last time Natsu took care of her and the couple had to go on a dangerous job that they can’t take Asuka along for.

Natsu accepted of course, but that got him a hard blow from Gray on the head, but also a beautiful smile from Asuka which was worth it.

Her groan was then answered by a groan from Natsu who then proceeded to slump himself on the floor.

“Hiyah! Hiyah! Come on Mr. Horsey! We won’t finish the race if you slack off like that!” Asuka commanded as she slapped her right hands repeatedly on Natsu’s limp shoulder.

“Uggghhh! Asuka I’m so tired can we take a break? We’ve been doing this for the past three hours!” Natsu complained, although his voice was a bit muffled for talking while his face was flat on the floorboards.

“Awww... okay.” Asuka complied, but she was visibly beacame sad when she did so.

Natsu began to panic when he saw her lips quiver so he then racked his brain for ideas on how to cheer the little kid up before she began crying. The poor dragon slayer clearly had no idea what to do. He was as lost as a man who was lost at sea without a map or anything to guide him.

‘I’m so gonna get into a lot of trouble with Alzack and Bisca if Asuka cried.’ At that thought he began to sweat buckets.

Lucy looked at him sympathetically and then an idea popped up in her head, so she stood up from her comfortable place with Happy on the couch and walked up to where Natsu and Asuka were.

“How about you guys have a tea party. That’s fun and doesn’t require a lot of energy. Plus I’m sure Natsu would find the tea relaxing.” She suggested with a smile on her lips.

Asuka’s face instantly lit up.

“Okay! Okay! Natsu-nii can you go make some tea while I get my stuff animals?” Asuka ordered as she ran off to her room up the stairs to get her beloved stuffed animals.

“But I’m so tired and I don’t know how to make tea.” Natsu whined, not moving an inch on his place on the floor.

“It’s okay, I’ll go make the tea. You just take your time and rest up before she returns.” Lucy said as she rubbed his back before going into the kitchen.

“Aye sir!” Happy agreed.

A few minutes later Asuka was back with her two favorite stuffed animals, a shady looking frilly pink dress, and a make-up kit.

“Wear this Natsu-nii!” She said as she tossed Natsu the dress.

“No way kid!” Natsu complained as he examined the dress.

“But...” Asuka’s lips began to quiver again.

“Alright! Alright! But turn around okay.” Natsu said as his face burned with a mixture of embarassment and anger.

Just as he was about to slip into the dress, Lucy walked in.

“Woah Natsu! What are you doing?!” Lucy shouted in shock as she almost spilled the tea. 

Her face as red as a tomato as she turned around to not look at him.

“He’s changing into a dress so he would look presentable at our tea party!” Asuka answered for him.

“Oh!” Lucy exclaimed.

“Hahahahaha!” She laughed uncontrollably when the thought began to sink in her.

“Stop laughing! This ain’t easy for me!” Natsu retorted.

“Fine, fine.” Lucy complied as she wiped a few stray tears from her eyes.

“There all done! You guys can look at me now.” Natsu said with a huff.

They did turn around and the sight that greeted them amazed them.

The dress suited Natsu surprisingly well. Although his arms were crossed and he was wearing a pout on his face he actually looked cute. At this thought Lucy blushed.

“You look so pretty Natsu-nii!” Asuka said as her eyes sparkled.

But that expression was soon replaced by a devilish smile and glint in her eyes.

“There’s only one thing missing.” She said as she clutched the make-up kit in her hands tighter. 

Natsu was sweating cold sweat again.

“No you don’t!” He said as he backed-up from Asuka.

“Happy! Hold him!” Asuka ordered.

“Aye sir!” Happy complied.

He quickly spread his wings and flew to where Natsu was to hold him in place. 

“Sorry Natsu.” The cat apologized, but his grin said otherwise.

“I thought you were my friend.” Natsu cried.

“Oh stop being such a baby Natsu. Do you need help with that Asuka?” Lucy said as she offered Asuka a helping hand and smiling to herself as she thought of this as payback for all the times he pranked her.

“I would appreciate that Lucy-nee. Thanks!” Asuka accepted.

“Not you too Luce!” Natsu cried even louder.

“Now, now, Natsu-nii hold still.” Asuka said as she held a brush centimeters away from his face.

A few moments later Natsu looked like a complete clown, but to Asuka he looked like a princess.

“All done Natsu-nii!” Asuka chimed.

“Wait Asuka! I think he’s got a little smear on his lower lip.” Lucy said as she drew her thumb against Natsu’s lower lip.

‘Soft.’ She thought in awe.

And did he just shiver? 

Lucy dismissed that thought immediately.

“Now Natsu-nii I want you to meet Mr. Wolfy and Ms. Foxy.” Asuka introduced her stuffed animals to Natsu.

Natsu didn’t budge for a moment as he was still annoyed at what was happening until Asuka poked her.

“Hey Natsu-nii! Are you listening?!” Asuka asked.

“Oh yeah! yeah! Hello Mr. Wolfy and Ms. Foxy.” Natsu said through his teeth as he faked a smile.

“Good! Now will you please pour some tea into their cups Natsu-nii?” Asuka requested with a pleading look in her eyes.

“Do I have to?” Natsu said as he scratched the back of his head.

“Of course you have to do it Natsu-nii!” Asuka said with a little more force.

“Fine.” Natsu complied with a pout on his face as he poured the tea into the small cups.

Not far away from them Lucy smiled.

‘That Natsu, even though he complains a lot, he still does what Asuka tells him. He’s really good on the inside huh.’ She thought to herself.

An hour later Asuka got tired of playing tea party.

“Natsu-nii you can take off that dress and make-up now.” Asuka told him.

“Alright!” Natsu cheered.

“But do it in the bathroom!” Lucy reprimanded him after earlier incident.

Although deep down inside of her she didn’t really mind him changing in front of her as she has seen him without much of his clothes many times before, but Asuka was there so that idea was a big no.

“Fine.” Natsu pouted as he made his way to the bathroom.

After a few minutes he was already back in his original clothes without make-up on his face.

“Natsu-nii! Let’s play Save the Kitty!” Asuka suggested

“But aren’t you tired from all that tea party thing we did earlier?!” Natsu asked in disbelief.

“Nope!” She answered with a sweet smile.

“But Natsu-nii! I promise this game will be fun! You’ll get to be a dragon who kidnaps the kitty and I’ll be the powerful mage who saves the kitty from you!” Asuka explained.

“Say no more kid! You had me at dragon!” Natsu grinned at her.

“Yay!” Asuka cheered.

“Now I’m all fired up!” Natsu declared as they started playing.

Natsu and Asuka played Save the Kitty for hours with Happy! Although Natsu was pretty competitive, but Asuka won every round of their game. Natsu got mad like a sore loser, but Lucy could see that wasn’t really the case. She knew that Natsu just let Asuka win every time.

‘That sweet dork. He’d make a good father though.” Lucy smiled as she thought to herself.

Soon Asuka was barely keeping her eyes open so Natsu decided to carry her to her room and tuck her in bed.

Lucy followed after him.

“Well today was an extremely tiring day, ain’t it Luce?” He said as he shut the door behind him quietly.

“Yeah.” Lucy sighed.

“I wonder what it be like to have one of my own.” She whispered to herself, but Natsu heard her.

“Hmmm what was that Luce? Don’t you mean one of our own?” He whispered behind her ear, a sly grin forming on his face.

Lucy’s face flushed different shades of red.

“You per-” Lucy was about to shout but got cut off with Natsu pulling her in close to his face.

“Shhh Luce, Asuka is already asleep. You wouldn’t want to wake her up do you?” Natsu stated as he brushed his lips against hers.

Lucy was speechless as she stared at Natsu with eyes the size of plates and cheeks as red as freshly picked tomatoes.

And then he kissed her.

It was a sweet and passionate kiss.

And from behind the bedroom door a soft giggle was heard.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Author’s Note: So thank you guys for reading my one-shot! As you guys can see it’s slightly based on the Fairy Tail Omake chapter 378.5: Natsu and Asuka. I don’t know if the summary summarizes the story, but I hope you guys enjoyed reading the story!

[neakco]

Vixen & Crow Ch. 17

Ao3 First Prev Next V&C Masterlist

Where Sebastian finally learns what jealousy is and how not to deal with it.

Sebastian was eating breakfast when his father asked to see him in his office. Sebastian started to worry; had Gem been discovered? Had Amelia been marked as a bad influence? Was he failing a class? Since he was expecting bad news, he was a little taken back by his father’s wide smile. “Father?”

“I know you have to get to class so I will be brief. I have realized I am sheltering you. I would like you to know how to survive on your own in case the worst comes to pass.”

“Father I...”

He held up a hand and Sebastian fell silent.

“I have found you an apartment with a possible roommate. Your half of the rent will be covered by me and I will supply you with a monthly allowance for food. The building has laundry facilities and internet is covered in the rent.”

Sebastian was speechless for a few moments before hugging his father. “This is amazing news, thank you! I shall make sure I am packed and ready by this weekend!”

Running back to his room to grab his school bag he remembered that he had some responsibilities his father was unaware of, “Hopefully the place will have large windows.”

 

Amelia was almost at school when she received a text from Vanessa that included and address and the monthly rent payments. There was a small note saying she would need to be okay with a roommate. The payments were suspiciously equal to what she was currently paying, but she knew from her patrols that the building was in a nicer neighborhood. She quickly typed to Vanessa that she would accept the offer and be ready to move out by tonight. She hoped the bedroom would have good locks. She didn’t need anyone snooping through her computer or wondering why the room was empty when she should be home.

Sebastian messaged her that morning as well to let her know he was running a little late and asked her to grab his usual coffee.

 

As she grabbed their assigned seats in psychology, she let her mind wander to her new place. She knew what the outside looked like, but how big would the kitchen be? What floor would she be on? Silly little questions that would all be answered by tonight.

She was broken out of her thoughts when someone unfamiliar sat next to her, she was fairly certain they were a guy.

“Morning foxy lady, how are you?”

She calmed herself a little and looked him over, he was the wrong build to be Crow, “You are in my friend’s seat.”

The person smiled and placed a hand over her’s. “I bet your friend is just as lovely as you sweetheart.”

Amelia couldn’t quite decide if this was some weird test being done by Professor Briggs or not. “Oh, my friend definitely has their own presence.” She smiled before her tone turned slightly less pleasant, “You should move.”

Sebastian entered class to see someone in his seat and holding his.... he shook the thought away; they were holding Amelia’s hand. Sebastian did not understand the emotion he was experiencing but he did understand that he really did not like this guy.

Gem’s voice whispered quickly from his pocket, “Calm down before you share your emotions with Vixen.”

He took a calming breath and reminded himself to thank Gem later. He then finished walking over to his seat in time to see Amelia rip her hand back.

“Is everything okay my lady?”

She smiled radiantly at him and completely ignored the person next to her, “Of course,” She handed him his coffee, “Still fresh.”

Sebastian managed to smile naturally in response, “You are a blessing this morning.” He looked over at the androgynous person and his smile fell away, “That is my seat.”

“Seats are free.” The person was matching Sebastian’s stare.

Amelia grinned slyly, “Normally you would be correct, but psychology likes to differ from the norm.”

“All other seats are free but these two have been assigned to us.”

Professor Briggs chose that moment to arrive, “Ah Mr. Haynes. I am happy to see your transfer finally went through. Please find yourself a seat, that one is Mr. Waterfield’s for the remainder of this semester.”

Amelia let the knowledge that the person was presumed to be a man settle as she watched him grumpily move away.

Sebastian took his own seat back feeling victorious and a little confused by his emotions.

Haynes thankfully wasn’t in any of their other classes yet they still managed to locate the duo during every break.

It was after school when they approached them yet again and rudely addressed Sebastian, “Really, do you need to follow her to the washroom too?”

Before Sebastian could even think of a response, Amelia was in their face, “If you think spending time with my best friend is a bad thing than maybe you have your own problems you need to work through!”

She walked away quickly and Sebastian had to run after her as they left Haynes standing stunned behind them.

“Seb, was I too mean?” Amelia looked like she was regretting her words. “I mean, neither of us understood friendship a couple months ago.”

Sebastian managed to surprise himself as he suppressed the bitter emotion to answer her properly. “Maybe you were a little mean, but they also been bothering you all day.”

She sighed, “If they apologize than I will take back what I said.”

 

Once home, Sebastian starred at his homework without really seeing it before he turned to look at Gem. “Is there something wrong with me?”

Gem perched on his deck to better look him over, “You seem healthy. Why?”

“Well, I mean...”

“I am too old to judge you kid.”

“Amelia is my friend, she is my spirit hunting partner, yet I feel possessive of her. Are all friends possessive of each other like this?”

Gem starts to cackle, “You are precious kid.” She laughs a little longer before taking pity, “That bitter possessive feeling is called jealousy.”

“Oh, that makes sense.” Sebastian seemed to have an epiphany and Gem froze, dreading what was about to happen. “She is my first friend so it actually makes sense that I wouldn’t want to share her friendship with anyone else.”

Gem nodded before muttering silently to Nathanial. “I am sure the fledgling will figure it out eventually.”

“I bet you something shiny that my kit figures it out first.”

“You’re on Red.”

 

Amelia had just finished moving in to her new home. She really didn’t own much, it was just her disguises and her computer that were a bit bulky.

“Thank you for everything Vanessa.”

“it was no problem Miss Amelia. It is the least we could do to repay you for your help.” Vanessa pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to her. “This is the man responsible for trying to hire you. He still had the emails in his personal sent folder.”

“Thank you, I will use this to help me discover who is redistributing my information again.” She pinched the bridge of her nose, “I have had more requests in this past week than I have had in the past year.”

“If you would like a hand tracking anyone feel free to contact me Miss Amelia.”

“Thank you, but I have a few people that owe me some favors. I should be alright.” Amelia smiled as she walked Vanessa to the door. Oz was trustworthy, she would have to call him.

“Vanessa turned to look at her before leaving, “Your roommate will be moving in this Friday.”

“Again, thank you Vanessa.”

“Of course, you may rely on me anytime Miss Amelia.”

Amelia waited until she heard the elevator descend before letting Nathanial out of her purse to explore, “Do you think I will be able to convince my mystery roommate that you are a pet?”

“Possible, it would depend on the person.” Nathanial himself believed that Sebastian would be gullible enough if he wasn’t already Crow. “It is probably better if I remain hidden until we know for sure.”

“I guess you have free reign of my bedroom and closet than.” She opened up the curtains, At least we have a nice view.”

“Since we are higher it will be easier for you to travel.” Nathanial relaxed on the kitchen table, “Not too far from that park of yours either.”

Amelia smiled and closed the curtains before sitting down at the table, “I guess it would be a little strange if I suddenly wanted to change our meeting spot.”

The sat in silence for a bit before Nathanial spoke up, “Do you really have people that owe you favors?”

“Mostly just Oz, he is an information broker that I trust. I think he still owes me around 20 favors. If these requests don’t slow down then I will contact him for help.”

“How did he end up owing you so many favors?”

“If he needed anything stolen than I wouldn’t charge him, in exchange if I needed information, he wouldn’t charge me.” She smiled, “As I worked towards retiring, he still needed my help but I no longer needed his, at least until I cashed in close to 30 favors. It was Oz that helped me actually retire and start a new life.” She stood suddenly, “Enough about my past, I don’t want to remember it. Besides I have homework to complete.”

Nathanial smiled; his kit was hard to corrupt. That was good.”

There is a funny story about Oz getting his nickname because he was a wizard that helped people grant their own wishes, but honestly the guy just tossed a dictionary in the air and it landed open on Osmosis. He invented the "official" story later.

[theworstbob]

yellin’ at songs: week 32

brief reviews of the songs which debuted on the billboard hot 100 the weeks of 16 august 1997, 18 august 2007, and 19 august 2017

8.16.1997

6) "2 Become 1," by Spice Girls

This is just a '90s R&B song! This song doesn't even have the courtesy to be kitschy! This is completely indistinguishable from the rest of the '90s R&B, breathy whispered vocals about sex. There's no -- "Be a little bit wiser, baby/Put it on/Put it on" -- okay. OKAY. Sure. I guess that's something. If your song has no other value, might as well throw quality actionable advice in there. I hope the next song is some milquetoast R&B beat while people sing lines like "Your stomach takes a while to tell your brain it's full/Don't have that third slice of the ‘za, baby."

51) "All I Want," by 702

Oh hell yeah, I love this. I love that this is a Missy Elliott track, and I also love that this group did the titular song for Pootie Tang. I am way into this. This is a breezy summer jam that hits all the Good '90s R&B buttons.

54) "To Make You Feel My Love," by Billy Joel

this sounds exactly like you think it would sound and is as pleasant to listen to as you think it would be and i'm just gonna bounce after 30 seconds because i get it, i see what he's trying to do here and don't want to stick around to see if he pulls it off

55) "Big Bad Mama," by Foxy Brown ft./Dru Hill

I don't disagree with this! I can't find any way to hook onto this, but I already called one thing a breezy summer jam because I didn't feel like thinking too hard about it, so I'm in a bit of a predicament here. Like, this song is OK. It has a memorable bass line, Foxy Brown's pretty great at her thing, and whichever member of Dru Hill showed up sure did the most singing of anyone in 1997!, but like I can see why we've left this behind. It's fine. No one needed this one unearthed, though. We've found some buried treasures, y'know? This is like finding a buried booklet of commemorative state quarters. Like, neat! But also, not even $15.

83) "Far from Yours," by O.C. ft./Yvette Michele

"I be the Chosen One/Beyond the Moet and Cristal/A son of King and a Queen/Therefore ability/For song run in my genetics/I gave ideas to L. Ron Hubbard to write books on Dianetics" ...Setting aside the major issues I have with this man's rhyme schemes, IS HE TAKING CREDIT FOR SCIENTOLOGY. IS THI -- IS HE SAYING THAT HE IS THE INSPIRATION FOR SCIENTOLOGY. What the fuck kind of boast. He's saying his raps are so powerful they inspired a crazy man to write books about bad science. I am flummoxed by this song. This would have been just another okay song by a rapper who honestly just seems like a normal-ass dude who somehow wandered into a recoriding studio, but HE'S TAKING CREDIT FOR L. RON HUBBARD'S IDEAS. WHAT THE FUCK KIND OF LUNATIC IS THIS MAN.

89) "Tide Is High," by Angelina

Someone went to the store and said, "OH BOY! Another new verson of 'Tide Is High!' I gotta pick up this new interpretation of this song, which is of course someone's favorite song ever because it's MY favorite song ever!" Also none of the back-up dancers in the video looked like they were trying their absolute best. They knew where they were. They knew it didn't matter. They took a few plays off and got that check. I have so much respect for those backup dancers. ROCK TO THE BEAT ROCK ROCK TO THE BEAT, ROCK TO THE BEAT ROCK ROCK TO THE BEAT and so forth

92) "Relax & Party," by Ivory

So I've been sick the past couple days, which is why this post is going up on Wednesday and why there's no Thing Journal for last week (SUNDAY DOUBLE) and real talk why this has been a weak edition of YAS so far, ‘cuz I'll be honest, I'm still in the doldrums. My back hurts, which is a fun side effect of getting sick in your late 20s, I've found. So I'm not. In a mood? Conducive to caring about this song. I'm sure this is OK, but honestly, right now, in this moment in which we find ourselves, me and this song, sharing the same space on this planet, I could not care less about the things it wants to bring to my life. It's a stupid song and doesn't do anything. It just goes on for four minutes. Great. Great! Hey, just release an album of that fucking bass line for fifty minutes, honestly, it's probably your best bet if you want me to at least respect you.

95) "Dancehall Queen," by Beenie Man ft./Chevelle Franklyn

So there are two different versions of the song "Dancehall Queen" that I could find. There is this one, but there is also one released more recently with Lady Sovereign as the featured artist. So I have a few questions about our beautiful ever-expanding dying universe: 1) What did Chevelle Franklyn do to get deposed? 2) Does Chevelle FRanklyn give input into the decisions Lady Sovreign makes? 3) Who gave Beenie Man the powers of coronation? As far as I can tell, he does not proclaim himself the Dancehall King. 4) How often does the Dancehall Queen title change hands? 5) Is there a library that has data on the Dancehall Queen history which I can look up? 6) What are some books on the Dancehall Queen succession which you would recommend? Let me know in the comments! Hit that follow button and LIKE THIS POST!

8.18.2007

28) "Me Love," Sean Kingston

This is like a song you enjoy if you've never enjoyed a song before. If you're someone who appreciates music and attends symphonies and has opinions on concertos, and you're approached with this song, you'll probably use snooty music language to say, "This is a delightful confection!" Or like, if your musical diet consists entirely of Gary Jules' cover of Mad World and songs of that ilk, if the only songs you've been allowed to enjoy in this life are Gary Jules' "Mad World" cover and other songs which could have been selected for the Donnie Darko soundtrack, and you hear this song for the first time, this is probably the most amazing thing you've ever heard. This would sound so revolutionary. But if you've even heard one other fun pop song, you know this is useless.

89) "Free and Easy (Down the Road I Go)," Dierks Bentley

it is good when things are nice! at last, a song that says what none of us are brave to say out loud

90) "All My Friends Say," Luke Bryan

I think a couple months ago I tabbed this as a semi-iconic Luke Bryan song, in the sense that it's a song I hear and immediately attribute to Luke Bryan, which is something I can't do for any Blake Shelton song. But like, this is the song that establishes Luke Bryan's persona -- he's a free-wheelin' sumbitch who's gonna drink too much and try not to drunk-dial any ex-girls. There's personality in this song, a hack and shitty personality, but hey at least he hacked up and/or shitted out an identifiable character. All Blake Shelton's songs are about a man who wishes things would either be better or remain the same, depending on how good they presently are. The song is garbage and Luke Bryan only ever got worse, sure, but it is undeniably a product of Luke Bryan’s particular brand of dunderheaded twanging.

100) "Can U Believe," Robin Thicke

There is a long list of things I need to do with my life. Near the top are items like "only wear a suit at your little sister's wedding," "learn the lttp any% nmg speedrun," and "write a whole good thing," you know, standard stuff, standard life goals, and then there's a million pages of things I will never accomplish. Nowhere on that list was "listen to Robin Thicke tell you that I don't know when someone's watching." I did not need to hear Robin Thicke tell me he was stalking me before I died. I could have learned the Blind script with this time. Maybe this is about God? But it's not even vaguley Christian, he just randomly starts saying you never know when someone's watching, which is only something anyone says WHEN THEY ARE PRESENTLY LOOKING AT YOU THROUGH A TWO-WAY MIRROR. Been a decade of garbage with this man, my gosh.

8.19.2017

(38) "You Da Baddest," by Future ft./Nicki Minaj

Beach Future is such a weird thing to consider. I'm on the record as being pro-Beach Future in general, it's not as random a pivot as the time Lil Wayne picked up the electric guitar and said "OH YEAH! THIS IS A THING!" but it's still hard to get the brain around the idea of Beach Future after, what, three years and roughly 20 albums of morose, despondent Future? All of the Future songs I know are about the nightmare of being Famous and codeine, and now he's dropped two songs that are just, "Yeah, man, chillax! Life's pretty breezy, friends, pull up a chair, let's just enjoy a sunset together!" I'm into it? But it feels like the world is imbalanced right now. Beach Future has completely thrown off my equilibrium and I am Scared.

(68) "Unforgettable," by Thomas Rhett

Ah. Balance! After making a surprisingly hot '80s jam earlier this year, Thomas Rhett just sort of bleats over an acoustic guitar for two and a half bland minutes. This song tries to turn the word "mangorita" into a stirring kick-off to its chorus, and while I recognize the enormity of the task it placed upon itself, that doesn't mean it didn't fail to accomplish its goals. "From your blue jeans to your shoes/Girl, the night was just like you/Unforgettable." I'D NEVER SEEN JEANS JUST THAT BLUE BEFORE. I NEVER EVEN KNEW THEY MADE BLUE JEANS IN THAT PARTICULAR SHADE OF BLUE. WHY, THEY WERE... DARE I SAY? TURQUOISE! ALL HISTORY'S SCULPTORS DEVOTED THEIR LIVES TRYING TO MOLD YOU

(85) "When it Rains it Pours," by Luke Combs

A lot of the reason I don’t mind Rascal Flatts and Keith Urban when we run through 2007 is because, when I was growing up, my mom would only listen to country music, and those artists are the ones I minded the least when we were on the half-hour rides to and from church. I forged deep and lasting connections with the dudes I minded the least of anyone else. This song is definitely "best song on the ride to church" quality. It has a Toby Keith-y sense of humor which is more or less agreeable -- I can't imagine any scenario that a waitress at Hooters is impressed enough by any customer at Hooters to leave their number, but here I am, complaining that my suspension of disbelief in a country song was interrupted -- and it's unique, I haven't heard a lot of "fuck her, she's outta my hair!" songs from dude country artists this year. It’s not “I’m Gonna Miss Her,” but what is? Once again, Luke Combs has made a song that's unique enough that I can appreciate its charm, but not so intriguing that I'm gonna seek him out on my own. I'll give his next album a spin, see if he takes the right lessons to heart, but the one he’s got out now, I think I’m good!

(87) "They Don't Know," by Jason Aldean

"Just another field/Just another farm/No, it's the place we grew up on." Jason Aldean is a multi-millionaire who owns several hundred acres of land in a major metropolitan area nad has the chutzpah to speak for the common man. Fuck this dude and fuck him for this Trump-vote of a song.

(88) "Honest," by The Chainsmokers

hey guys the chainsmokers made a song about how they're sensitive boys who're sad about breakup, wow what a fascinating new look for these cats, truly evolving as artists before our very eyes. see, this is the one where they go "whoa-oh." i don't think they've gone "woah-oh" in a song yet. this is a pony certainly capable of developing a second trick!

(89) "The Weekend," by SZA

"What kind of deal is two days?/I need me at least 'bout for of 'em" is one of the single-saddest lyrics 2017 has produced. This song is so good. SZA in general is so good, but I never had to deal with how good this song is, given how much there is to parse with Ctrl. When's the last time we heard from a side piece's perspective, y'know? When's the last time we heard how a booty call felt about being a booty call? We heard "Booty Call," which was about the act of engaging in a booty call, but we don't know anything about the booty call's wants and desires outside of that moment. I enjoy hearing this perspective on the events, hearing from the girl the '90s R&B dude has to apologize for seeing, because that's a person, too, that's a person who's alive and lives a life of their own. It took us until 2017 to get the side piece's take on things. What were the rest of us doing?

(90) "New Rules," by Dua Lipa

This is really enjoyable. Nothing terribly complex, just a "don't fuck your ex" jam, but it's confidently delivered (I get the sense that Dua Lipa is a much better singer than the current musical trends are going to let her be), and I love the subtle horn drop. Evidently, the producer of this song was also involved with "Bad Liar" and "Now and Later," so I'm getting on the Ian Kirkpatrick train. I approve! Great work, all.

(93) "I Wish I Knew You," by The Revivalists

oh wow fuck everything about this. where did this come from? why am i listening to this? did 13 reasons why drop another season? who wanted this. who wanted another indie band biting the hell out of franz ferdinand. they're not even biting franz ferdinand, they're biting all those bands that were biting from franz ferdinand a few years ago, except they're doing so nakedly, "the revivalists" is code for "we have no original ideas." way to revive 2013, yeah dude, it was so long since i heard the neighbourhood, i'm so happy you're reviving four years ago. also this willy wonka-ass muthafucka's hat is stupid. i'm honestly not sure i'm reacting to the song as much as i am the stupid goddamn hat in the music video. (also: i'm not into this song, despite the presence of a saxophone. i have limits. i'm not gonna go home with just any brass instrument, you guys.) white men ruin everything.

(94) "Every Little Thing," by Carly Pearce

Well, number one, it's a country music song with actual drums, so it's automatically starting with 95 points out of a possible 100. This is dope. "They say time is the only healer/God, I hope that isn't right/'Cause right now I'd die to not remember." Fuck, man. That is heavy. And this is a solidly-produced song, too, there's enough going on that the song feels rich and lived-in, but not so much so that it's distracting, it's definitely in the backseat wearing a seatbelt so the lyrics and what might be the saddest fucking voice in 2017 country music can drive in peace. More from this woman, and more from other women, look how good you are when you let women do things, country music!

(97) "Learn to Let Go," by Kesha

I think this is fine. I'm not as into EDM-lite Kesha as I am Kesha declaring her womanhood backed by a million beautiful horns, but this is fine! Three songs. Three songs is enough distance to start delivering back-handed not-criticisms. But no, like, I wouldn't mind this as the opening track to the album, this sets a tone and opens up the possibility for cooler things to come, but on its own, hey! It's just alright, and that's fine! I'm just glad Kesha's making music, y'know?

(98) "All the Pretty Girls," by Kenny Chesney

this song wasn't even released in 2016, what is it doing here, what, why would, i don't, how did we end up here? what do we hope to accomplish while we're here? did he just say "don't blow my cover on freedom night?" what is freedom night? i don't -- you know what country radio, you batted .400 this week. that's ted williams hype, right there. .400 is better than any of us ever could have anticipated, and i can appreciate that you got things as right as you ever possibly could. please tell me what freedom night is, though.

(99) "For Her," by Chris Lane

...adjust that number down to .333. i'm sorry. i saw the haircut and assumed edm, which you'll agree is a fair assumption to make. this dude sucks. he is trying his best with that falsetto but, and i hate to repeat myself, you can't make your own outsized ambition an excuse for your failure. know your limits. i'm sorry i was ever lukewarm about any kesha song. i kinda feel bad for saying those things about the revivalists' hat. this was a good week apart from the bro country! "For her I would walk a straight line/Wear out the soles of my shoes for her." WOAH! SLOW DOWN, BUDDY! LET'S NOT MAKE ANY PROMISES WE CAN'T KEEP, NOW! Careful! Girls remember things you say to them! Imagine how disappointed she'll be when every day she spends with you your shoes still shine as bright as they did the day she met you.

Who won the week?

Well, 2007′s best song was a Luke Bryan joint, so that’s out. Think we gotta give it to 2017. Four shitty country songs, yeah, but 1997 countered with Spice Girls and a Billy Joel cover of a Bob Dylan song, so those cancel out, and the cream of 2017 was much better than the best 1997 gave us this week. I’m still thinking about that Carly Pearce joint, that was really cool, and it anchors an earned win for 2017. THE STANDINGS: 2017: 12 1997: 11 2007: 9 Next week: keep your heart, Three Stacks.