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felixsmeshglove · 1 year

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sunkissed - lee felix x reader

requested by @hehehwh

“can you make a story with how the reader and the another members of stray kids go to the beach, but the reader is afraid of jellyfishes so felix helps them get over their phobia? <3 (after that they spend a romantic time on the beach)”

writers note: so this is my first longer(ish) form fic, i’m a little nervous about it because it’s a pretty specific request so i hope i do it justice. you didn’t specify reader’s pronouns/body so we’ll go with gender neutral. idk fuck man reader is just whipped as shit for felix and he’s just a sweet sweet baby. reader has never seen the ocean up close before for sake of the plot. any feedback is appreciated!

pairing ; felix lee x gn!reader

wc ; 2.0k

content warning: angst if you squint? reader has a panic attack kinda, mostly just fluff. reader is afraid of jellyfish, established but new relationship with felix, nicknames (love, bunny, etc.)

~~~~~~~~~~

felix was absolutely elated, he’d been begging you and the boys for ages to try to get you guys to visit australia with him. chan was always on board, enthusiastically insisting to the rest that it would be fun, but the rest of the men would always groan and gripe about the various typical complaints about australia.

“i still don’t know how you convinced us to come yongbok-ah,” seungmin chimed up with a whine as the nine of you padded your way through the brisbane airport. this earned a jovial ‘tsk’ from the sunshine maknae.

“you guys promised last year for my birthday we could go, minnie! plus i was finally able to convince (y/n) to come too,” felix said as he hooked an arm around your shoulders to pull you closer into his side.

he always loved to make sure you were as close to him as possible. usually, in the form of keeping a hand on you in some comfortable resting place on your body. often this would be your shoulder, your lower back, the dip of your waist, or his favorite, your thigh. he did these little touches so often you weren’t entirely sure if he was doing it for your own comfort or his.

you patiently listened to the boys’ chaotic talking as you followed along through the airport towards the taxi area to be taken to the airbnb that chan had rented for the week.

“hey (y/n) you’re going to love the beach, its always so fun when we go. i haven’t gone to these beaches since i was young!” chan turned back towards you from the front of the group to say.

this was a topic all the boys seemed to fixate on. this made sense, as they didn’t often get a chance to swim or some hadn’t even experienced the beach before. felix especially seemed thrilled about the beaches. you didn’t quite understand the hype, until the early the next afternoon the car you and felix had ridden in with minho, jisung and hyunjin had finally gotten close enough to the beach.

oh… you weren’t expecting this kind of beach…

you felt so stupid for not even remembering that ocean beaches existed. you had never seen them before, and you didnt ever plan to. the very thought of the ocean and all the nasty critters it contained terrified you to your very core. sharks, sting rays, but one invertebrate creature seemed to bring a different type of terror to you. jellyfish. you weren’t entirely sure why jellyfish seemed to rock you entirely to your core, but for some reason they just did.

“bokie does the air conditioning go any lower?” you heard a whine from the back seat.

“hyunjinnie i’ve told you it’s as low as it goes. when you get in the water it will be so much better,” felix replied softly, his soft baritoned voice soothing you. only slightly, though.

you were too afraid to admit your uncommon fear to felix, let alone admit it in front of all of his friends and band members. you elected to try to just tough it out. felix seemed to notice your discomfort, and while not understanding why he reached over to gently thumb at your thigh from across the center console of the vehicle. felix kept his eyes trained ahead as he tried to park the car.

“bokie! hyung-minho keeps trying to touch my butt how much longer-“ jisung started to complain.

“children, all of you,” felix tutted with a chuckle, finally clicking the car into park.

their humorous distraction quickly stops, reminding you of your racing heart as you peer out at the beach warily. the three boys in the back seat spill out of the car, rushing to find the other four in the other car, leaving you and felix to grab the beach supplies out of the back.

“love, are you alright..?” felix asked. he spoke so softly, he was always so soft and sweet with you. you looked down with embarrassment as you felt your mouth go dry, not quite finding the words to explain your situation.

“i uh.. l-lixie ive.. n-never been to an ocean before.. i d-didnt realize, i don’t know why-“ you stammered out, looking back up at the taller blonde.

felix’ dyed blonde hair framed his face so beautifully, the afternoon sun making it so shiny. he truly looked like an angel to grace this planet from above, with his almost glittery freckles and warm chocolatey brown eyes. his eyes were furrowed so cutely as he cocked his head and leaned against the back of the vehicle, listening patiently to your attempts to explain.

“i d-don’t like… th-the jellyfish...” you finally croaked out in defeat, looking down as you rubbed your arm with embarrassment.

“aww… i’m sorry bunny, i didnt know..” felix said with genuine apology. god, he was an angel even in the way he acted.

“of course you didn’t lix, i n-never told you. its just not really something that comes up in conversation,” you chuckle dryly, trying to lighten up a little. this didn’t stop your nervous peering out at the shoreline.

“we can set up further back, no jellyfish will get us there,” felix offered sweetly, looking inquisitively out at the shoreline as well.

“no baby i don’t want to make the others stay further back, look at them they look so excited-“ you began to say, and almost as if on cue they seven other men ran off in the direction of the rich aqua waters. with a casual gesture you add, “case in point.”

“i can stand by you the entire time- they’re hardly ever in the water but you don’t have to get in the water if you don’t want to,” felix suggested. after thinking for a moment, you give him a hesitant nod.

with wary steps, you help carry some of the beach stuff with felix.

“hey, hey we can set up here. its not that far back, they don’t even need to know why,” felix says softly, setting down the bag and laying out some of the towels. he wandered his way back to you arms snuggly finding their way around your waist as he tugged you close and cradled you against his firm, toned form.

“it’s alright… take a deep breath… tell me what you’re feeling.. how does the sand feel? good right? and the sun?” felix asked softly, his breath tickling your ear as he did so. you sighed and did as he suggested, knowing he was simply trying to ground and distract you from your anxieties and fears.

well.. yeah, the sand did feel nice. soft, warm, much different from the coarse sands of the riverbanks and lakes that you were more familiar with. the breeze blew softly through your hair, cooling the small droplets of sweat that had begun to collect at the nape of your neck. you felt warm, safe. you couldn’t tell if it was the warm glow of the early spring australian sun, or the warmth of your sweet boyfriend holding you close.

“feels nice…” you mumbled softly against his shoulder. your hand creeped all the way down his toned arm and slotted into his own hand.

“wanna try at least walking down the beach before the boys start shouting for me?” felix asked softly, pulling back only a little to brush some hair out of your face and kiss your forehead lovingly.

“i can try on my own lix, thank you tho. go swim with the rest ill see you guys over here when you decide to take a break,” you say with a smile and reciprocating his kiss with pressing your own to his jawline. felix pecked your lips softly before rubbing your back for a brief moment and making his way to the rest who were certainly about to tease him for being such a sappy boy.

as much as they griped about felix having a new partner, they didn’t ultimately mind. it meant everything to them to see their previous sunshine yongbok so happy.

you’d slowly made your way towards them as well, cautiously walking down the shoreline where they’d been swimming. for the first ten or so minutes, it actually felt nice. the sun felt so nice and warm, admittedly it was nice to be somewhere where you could be out in nature despite your nerves. you subconsciously wondered if the sun would possibly intensify felix’ freckles. as if he couldn’t already get more attractive.

you look over to see the boys all enjoying the water and smile. changbin is wrestling minho down into the water, causing so much splashing. chan kept himself afloat as he watched amusedly. seungmin and jeongin were busy swimming with just their heads afloat, weaving between the other boys and chasing each other. jisung had stayed back a little more, just cheering on the wrestling match that was happening. hyunjin stayed a little more shallow as well, citing not wanting to get his hair wet as felix just pounced on chan to disturb his peace.

it felt like you might have been worrying for nothing. until you had only gotten a few meters further down the shore and the worrying wasn’t worrying for nothing. you stopped dead in your tracks as you noticed a jiggly, translucent blob in front of your feet. you scrambled back in panic, terrified you’d step on a tentacle as you tripped and fell back.

noticing the commotion of you falling over, chan speaks up, “hey felix is (y/n) alright?”

turning his head to look over at the shore, felix’ eyes widened slightly.

“hey give me a second-“ felix said with a slight rush, standing up and wading through the clear waters to make his way back to shore.

“(y/n)? bunny are you okay?” felix calls out to you as he approaches. he quickly crouches down, helping to sit you up. what he didn’t expect was for you to practically throw yourself at him, hugging him tightly as you buried your face in his salty, wet swim shirt. “bunny?”

you can’t even reply as your hyperventilate, your eyes stinging as tears began to prick at the corners of your eyes. he pulled your heaving body up flush against his chest as he shushed you softly. he gave a soft hum in an attempt to soothe you, helping to slowly stand you up.

“i don’t think we can leave yet but we can go lay down by the towels yeah..? far away from all the water nasties..” felix offers to you. after a few moments, you nod slowly. your face was hot with embarrassment as you look down, keeping your face hidden with one hand and holding onto felix’ hand with the other. felix simply caressed the side of your face as the two of you walked back to the towels you’d laid out.

“i’m sorry baby i-“ you begin, only to be cut off with a quick, chaste kiss and a hand through your hair.

“don’t be. i forgot to mention sometimes they wash up on the water here… its okay, we can relax here.” felix smiled as he laid himself down on his side on his towel. the ends of his hair that had gotten wet now clung to the sides of his face and forehead so prettily, providing a decent distraction as you shakily laid down yourself.

“i promise next time we don’t have to come, they can go on their own. you can stay back here too next time if you still want to come,” felix tried to list off ideas.

now it was your turn to shush him and cut him off, “don’t worry lixie, we’ll figure it out. just let me lay here for a bit..”

felix smiled as he cradled your face in his hand. the pad of his thumb dragged across your cheek gently, feeling the heat of your now sun-kissed skin.

“shoulda put sunscreen on,” felix teases as he gives a soft kiss to your forehead.

you didn’t care about the sun, however. you were much more focused on a different sun. your sweet, sunshine lixie.

#skz x reader #felix lee x reader #skz felix lee #stray kids x reader #stray kids felix lee #stray kids yongbok #raeraewrites #lee yongbok #lee felix #felix lee

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bethanythebogwitch · 2 years

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Welcome back to the series where I talk about evey fish pokemon’s origins and their real-life inspirations, this time covering gens III and IV. See here for gens I and II.

Staring off with Carvanha and Sharpedo. Carvanha is based on a piranha, specifically a red-bellied piranha.

"I'm mot really that scary" (image: a piranha)

When I say “based off of” I mean that in a pretty loose way. It really looks nothing like a piranha and more like an artistic depiction of a generic “scary fish”. Let’s talk about piranha because they are probably the world’s most slandered fish. Piranha are not the hyper-vicious super-predators that roam the Amazon devouring everything in their path that media depicts them as. They’re actually omnivores rather than obligate carnivores and mostly scavenge the dead. The stories of them attacking and skeletonizing large animals in minutes come from times when European explorers would be shown displays where schools of piranha would be trapped and starved for a long time to get them to act like that. Attacks on humans are rare and usually happen when the human gets too close to a piranha’s eggs, prompting a warning bite. If you still aren’t convinced that they aren’t fishy murder machines, check this video of River Monsters’ Jeremy Wade getting into a pool of hungry piranha and not getting bit at all

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(this is not me telling you to go swim with piranha. Always be cautious when around wild animals)

Like piranha, Carvanha is much more dangerous in groups. Real piranha only school part of the year while Carvanha do it permanently. Carvanha is a river fish like piranha, but it also has a lot of shark features that fit its evolution. It can smell blood from far away (a feature of both piranha and sharks) and has the famous placoid scales or denticles of sharks. Evolving Carvanha causes it to go from bony fish to cartilaginous fish in the form of the franchise’s first shark. Sharpedo seems to be a generic shark similar to a great white (it even has countershading) but missing its back half. This is similar to the ocean sunfishes of family Molidae, most famously the Mola mola itself.

(image: scuba divers swimming alongside a mola)

This is funny because sharpedo, an active and very fast ambush hunter, could hardly have a more different lifestyle than the Molas, who are slow and mostly eat jellyfish. Sharpedo is also based on a torpedo, and in later games where it’s ridable it seems to function like a jet ski. Like sharks, Sharpedo has placoid scales that are exaggerated in its mega evolution and faces overfishing from people using its dorsal fin in food. Mega Sharpedo having denticles on the sides of its snout point to inspiration from the sawfish, a shark relative.

Easily one of the fakest-looking real fish (image: a sawfish)

Barboach is a loach while Whiscash is a catfish. Barboach seems to specifically be a pond loach, which buries itself in sediment to avoid danger (hence the ground typing), can sense changes in weather (a big deal in this gen), and are common food fish and aquarium pets. Loaches are long and skinny and have barbels like Barboach.

(image: a loach)

Barboach may also draw from the loach catfish, which is a catfish that looks like a loach, tying into its evolution. Wishcash may also be based on the loach catfish, but it look much more like a conventional catfish. Whishcash’s connection to earthquakes (both causing and sensing them) is inspired by a creature from Japanese legend. Namazu is a gigantic catfish living under the islands and guarded by a god who restrains it with a rock. When the god’s guard slips, Namazu thrashes about and causes earthquakes.

(image: a depicition of Namazu)

Both loaches and catfish have barbels that are used for sensing. These barbels help both groups of fish live in very murky water by making them less reliant on sight. Because of this, loaches and catfish can live in water with very poor visibility and lots of sediment in the water column. Barboach and Wishcash can likewise be found in very muddy water and other places of poor visibility, like caves. Them being found in caves in some regions may also reference blind, cave-dwelling catfish.

Feebas is a bass, though it’s more based on the story of the ugly duckling. Just like in the story, you start out with a ugly little creature and turn it into something beautiful. I’m going to be perfectly honest, I don’t really see much bass in Feebas, I think it’s based much more on Magikarp than a bass, who are often pretty powerful predators, something Feebas isn’t. like with Mgikarp, I won’t be discussing Milotic in this as I think it’s a sea serpent rather than a fish.

Ok so there is a good explanation for why a fish evolves into an octopus. I hoped I could find a good explanation for why a clam evolves into eels, but I simply have no explanation for the Clamperl line. Huntail and Gorebyss really have no connection to their pre-evo. I won’t talk about Clamperl since (and this is some high-level biology so I hope you can follow me) clams aren’t fish. Both final form are based on deep-sea eels and eel-like fish. Huntail seems to have some basis with the gulper eel as both are sit-and-wait predators with very large mouths, though Huntail is a more active predator as it does have some powerful teeth.

Turns out gulper eels are a lot goofier than you'd think (image: a gulper eel with its mouth inflated)

These teeth may draw influence from other deep-sea predators with massive chompers, like viperfish or the fangtooth. Its use of its tail as a lure is a reference to the various deep-sea fish that use bioluminescent lures to attract prey. This is an example of caudal mimicry, where an animal’s tail mimics something else to lure in prey. A cool example of this is the spider-tailed horned viper, which you should look up if you don’t like bugs, I promise it’s definitely not really creepy. Finally, Huntail’s general longness, color pattern, and crest are references to the oarfish, one of my favorites. This deep-sea longboi is a rare sight at the surface but is believed to be responsible for stories of sea serpents because of how huge they can get.

Long, long man! (image: an oarfish)

Gorebyss similarly has a complex origin for a very forgettable Pokémon. It seems to primarily be based on snipe eels, which are deep-sea eels with long, slender jaws.

(image: a snipe eel)

Gorebyss’s jaws are fused into a needle, which is similar to pipefish, a relative of seahorses with a very similar fused snout. Some inspiration could also come from the deep sea-dwelling long-nosed chimeras, some species of which have a long, conical snout very reminiscent of gorebyss’s head shape.

(image: a long-nosed chimera)

Unlike most of its influences, Gorebyss is an active predator and its habit of stabbing its prey with its snout and injecting digestive juices to slurp its prey dry seems to be in reference to spiders and mosquitos.

Hot damn, Hoenn has a lot of fish. The next up is Relicanth, which is a pretty straight-forward reference to the coelacanth.

(image: a rare picture of a wild coelacanth)

Both are very ancient fish thought to have gone extinct until they were rediscovered in modern times. This makes them examples of what scientists call a Lazarus taxon. Ceolacanths are pretty cool fish. Along with lungfish, they are the only surviving lobe-fined fish. These fish were separated from the more common ray-finned fish by having their fins seated on fleshy lobes extending from the body, usually with bones in them (lungfish have lost the bones). Also when I say that coelacanths and lungfish are the only surviving lobe-finned fish, that’s not exactly true. It’s a principle in taxonomy (the study of how groups of life are related) that you can’t evolve out of your ancestry. You belong to every group your ancestors belonged to, even if you started a new group they aren’t part of. Tetrapoda is the clade of four-legged vertebrates skeletally adapted for life on land and they evolved from lobe-finned fish. That means every mammal, reptile, amphibian, bird, and so on, including yourself, is a lobe-finned fish. Coelacanths are most famous for being rediscovered alive and seemingly unchanged when they were thought to have gone extinct millions of years ago. They are often called living fossils for how little they appear to have changed. This term is pretty misleading and many biologists don’t like using it. In fact the coelacanths of today are different than those that swam with plesiosaurs, pretty radically in some cases. Coelacanths are often used in arguments by cryptozoology enthusiasts for why their favorite dinosaur/plesiosaur/megalodon/whatever could still be alive and unchanged today despite leaving no fossil record. However a fish remaining relatively similar to its ancestors due to living in a very stable environment that doesn’t have the selective pressures encouraging radical change is very different than an apex predator or massive reptile doing so in an environment that has undergone massive changes and multiple major extinctions. I’ll link a video for more on why the coelacanth is a red herring in these kinds of arguments.

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Finally finishing out Hoenn we have Luvdisc, possibly the most unnecessary Pokémon ever. Someone please give this poor fish an evolution so it can finally have a purpose. Paldea gave us updates to Delibird and Dunsparce so it’s definitely possible for Luvdisc to get some love. Anyway, it’s a discus fish. These are thin-bodies cichlids whose dorsal and anal fins make them kind of look like hearts, though Luvdisc is missing the tail fin.

(image: a discus fish)

Like the discus fish, Luvdisc is a social species. Luvdisc's kissing behavior draws primarily from the kissing gourami. These fish engage in behavior where they press their mouths against each other. Scientists believe that this is a form of ritualized aggression, but people think it looks like they’re kissing so these fights have become a symbol of romance.

(image: two gouramis "kissing")

They aren’t the only fish that mouth fight. Another species that does this is the sarcastic fringehead, who looks considerably less romantic.

(image: two male sarcastic fringeheads fighting)

After the piscine flood in Hoenn, Sinnoh comes along and introduces a grant total of one fish line, though I will give an honorable mention to the Gible line for being shark plane dragons. Finneon and Lumineon are based on a variety of pretty fish often seen in aquariums, though their fish resemblance to butterflies indicates they are based on the butterflyfish. They have a much closer appearance to the freshwater butterflyfish than the more popular and unrelated saltwater butterflyfish. Both the freshwater butterflyfish and the Finneon line can glide above the water if they build up enough speed. The line’s bright colors may be a reference to brightly-colored tropical fish or aquarium fish like neon tetras. Lumineon actually bioluminesces to attract prey, but risks attracting predators at the same time, a behavior seen in many deep sea fish. it is said to dwell on the sea floor and walk on what I assume are its pelvic fins, which may be a reference to the deep-sea tripod fish.

That's it fro generations III and IV. Next time I'll cover generations V and VI. Hopefully it won't take me nearly as long to get that up.

#fish #fishblr #pokemon biology #pokemon #biology #marine biology #ichthyology #Youtube

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the-burd-lord · 5 months

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Lil fanart/ redesign of Sea Bonnies from the Fazbear Frights book Friendly Face.

Made this art a while ago, and posted it to my insta. Decided to post to here. Especially since my main drawing hand is goin kaput. Also just finished reading Felix the Shark, which I recommend that people check out. Even if they've never read any other of the Fazbear Frights series. The last story in that collection kinda jumps the shark with its premise *badum tis*.

But since I can't make any new art, have these old lil creature designs instead.

The basic premise for the story is that the MC's brother got Sea Bonnies, sea monkeys that are engineered to look like Bonnie, as pets. MC gets super creeped out by them, and he even hears them talking, but they mostly just call him a wuss for being scared of them. Which I find super hilarious.

Anyways, he's had enough and stupidly flushes them down the toilet. Later he starts getting horrible stomach cramps and starts hearing them in his head. He finds out he swallowed one and now they're multiplying and eating him from the inside out.

The interesting thing, and what makes it spookier in my opinion, is that he goes to see a physician about it. They give him a cat scan and find irregularities with it, but when he tells the doctors about the Sea Bonnies they dismiss him. Thinking that he's trying to pull some elaborate prank.

After that it's this slow burn as they continue to eat him out from the inside, and replace his organs in the process. He makes a last ditch attempt to see a doctor in his worsened condition but fails miserably.

There's more to the story, but again I recommend y'all check it out for yourselves! I highly recommend it as a piece of body horror.

Anyway onto the redesign. This one got a a graphic novel of it so there are actually cannon designs of the critters.

I think they're fine designs, although it is a bit disappointing that they kept leaning more towards rabbit or krill. Especially when sea monkeys have such a distinct look to them that would've made them super uncanny and alien if they leaned more into it.

Although credit where credit is due, it's super hard to combine a rabbit with a sea monkey.

For my design I originally leaned more towards krill, since sea monkeys are a modified version of krill. Also wanted to stick with it being biologically accurate.

I felt like the design was still lacking, and honestly I wanted to lean more towards what I was really interested in: plankton!

There are so many different kinds of plankton that all have unique features and shapes. There are also many different variations of zooplankton, plankton that cannot produce their own food, to base it after.

Still stuck to the sea monkey design, with the feathery feet they use to swim and bulbous head. Added feelers to the front to act as rabbit ears, and later something that would act as an extra mouth or protective "hairs" for their head to look like a bowtie.

Also didn't go too biological with it since in the book they just reproduce asexually. Which is so interesting in plankton, especially when it comes to cell growth.

Oh, fun fact! Did you know that plankton also refer to planktonic organisms, creatures that cannot produce their own movement. These include most phytoplankton (plankton that produce their own food through photosynthesis), but they also include jellyfish and some stages of squids! Ironically most zooplankton are able to produce their own movement, and would thus be considered nektonic organisms.

These organisms include anything that is able to move on its own, i.e. anything that can swim. There are a few different variations of undersea movement but those are the basics.

It should be said that I really like plankton.

As if it wasn't already obvious.

I need to stop and post this before I go on another plankton rant. Or start taking about Foo Fighters from JJBA.

#fnaf #digital sketch #sketch #fnaf fanart #sketch dump #creature #creature design #fazbear frights #sea bonnies #sea creatures #sea life #sea monkeys #plankton #digital art #fanart digital

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labyrinthofsphinx · 5 months

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Statistical Outliers

More drabble. Fixed it so there's links to the other parts just in case!

Noon drawing near had never been so bothersome. This was about the time he could tempt with cooking channels, game shows for the odd bored soul, and sappy dramas for everyone locked up in their house. It was usually the easiest part of the day, mostly re-runs and making himself something for lunch. Now, all his stolen time seemed to be catching up to him. He has never dreaded that stupid clock more than he did now, and he hated that.

The kid had taken to playing with his sharks. Yes, that’s right, playing. Apparently, sharks could play. They chased him from one end of the room to the other, crashing between themselves when the kid suddenly changed direction. The kid loved stopping short and watching them be suddenly forced to veer the other way. The string of bubbles they made from the effort danced like jellyfish in the blue light.

They want to eat him, he told himself. If he threw him in there, they would eat him. They’re only pretending, only gaining his trust. Like you. It’s all an act, remember?

His internal clock ticked for fifteen minutes to twelve, and by that time he couldn’t take the waiting any more. Just rip the bandage off now while your nerve is still there.

He did one more quick check of his shows, then unplugged.

“Come on. We have to get going now.”

“Okay.” The kid quickly turned back and waved to the aquarium. “Bye, Anchor. Bye, Barge. Be back in a sec.”

The sharks, who needed to keep swimming if they wanted to, you know, breath, stood floating still as the kid retreated back towards the door, next to Vox. Sharks couldn’t look somber, and they weren’t smart enough to understand. He knew that. So why were they holding their breath as the kid left?

“They can swim down to the conference room. It’s just below us.” He explained.

“Really?” He gasped. “That’s amazing! This has got to be the biggest, coolest aquarium I’ve ever seen.”

He glanced around once more, seemingly looking for something.

“But how does it connect? I mean, your monitor floor just kinda drops off.”

“The conference room is…sorta of in the middle of the tank, towards the bottom. You see how far down it drops? If you go down far enough, you’ll see the room. To them, I imagine it looks like a big square bubble.” He explained. Installing it had been a pain, but he thinks it was worth it in the end.

“For a guy with a lot of electronics, you sure do like getting close to water.” He joked.

“I’m a CEO. Sharks are my spirit animals.” He teased back. Wait, stop. Serious mode, remember? The kid grabbed his coattails again as the lift dragged them down.

The main conference room was at the end of a hallway. There were other doors there, for other meeting rooms and certain desk workers, but nothing like the main room. Vox made sure that room had prestige to it the others did not. If someone was invited there, it was always important. More often than not, the Vees would make use of the place as their personal scheme room. Val has tried talking him into finding other uses for the space, even just quickly, but Vox has tried to keep it as professional of a place as possible. Even if he had to pull teeth to do it.

The plan, originally, was to put him in there. But, as they kept walking, he thought about how he’d constantly think of the kid running and cowering in that room while he was sitting and supposed to be paying attention. He’s not sure he’d be able to see the space without considering it and…well, it wasn’t productive to be distracted like that.

He pulled open a different door, one of the other conference rooms he usually reserves for employees going through earnings and whatnot. This place was much more familiar with the concept of people’s suffering, especially by Vox’s displeased hand. Outside, the conference room attendant seemed confused. The rooms were all maintained down to the minute, each project given its own timeframe. Most likely, there would be a meeting in there shortly. He gave her the universal sign for ‘fix that because I’m taking this over’, which amounted to a slight scowl and a dismissive wave.

The kid ran over to the aquarium windows. While not as grand as the view from the main conference room, you could still into the space. Anchor and Barge have apparently chosen not to swim down. He can’t say he blames them, even if a small part of him wished they would show. What’s the matter boys? You can’t tell me that now you suddenly don’t want to see a little blood.

Lacking the bigger fish, the baitfish came out from hiding. Little glowing techno eyes were infatuated with the kid’s twirling fingers.

“Do they have names?”

“I don’t give names to feeder fish.” If you name it, you might mistakenly get attached to it, a problem Vox was getting too familiar with.

“I dub thee, Nemo.” He said, mimicking a sword with his pointer finger and tapping where their shoulders might have been.

“Really? ‘Nemo’? It’s not even a clownfish.”

The kid looked at him, very confused.

“…why would it have to be a clownfish?”

“Because Nemo is a clownfish.”

“What are you talking about?” Why was he looking at him like he was crazy?

“The fucking fish from that animated flick, Nemo!”

“…um, Nemo is the captain of the Nautilus. I’ve never heard of clownfish named Nemo.”

A quick search jumped across his head. Oh. That movie didn’t come out until after the kid was dead and buried. And Hell wasn’t exactly known for playing kid flicks. To be honest, the only reason he watched it was because Velvette said he would like it.

It was perhaps the one time she recommended a good movie. It just also happened to be a kid’s movie. So Vox could never watch it again. Unless he had an excuse. Which he now had.

“Note that under things you need to watch later.” He logged to himself.

“You…want me to watch a clownfish? A clownfish named Nemo?”

“Trust me, you’ll understand later.” Assuming the kid ever spoke to him again.

Which he would. He was stupidly trusting and forgiving. Sure, this was personal and, well, he’d be lying if he’d said he wasn’t completely taking advantage of that trust. It’d be a lie to say he wasn’t deceiving the kid. That…that what he planned to do to him wasn’t going to make Vox feel like he got stabbed in whatever was left of his black heart.

He just kept smiling. Naivety has never looked so cursed. At least suspect something, anything!

“Okay, I trust you. If you say it’s worth it, I’d think you’d know better than me.”

That was the end of his rope. He couldn’t be here right now.

Faster than he meant to, too quick to look normal, he turned to walk out.

“I’ll…I’ll be back in a minute. Something just came up. And…and then we got to talk about something else.”

“Anything I can help with?” Concern crept into his voice, and he moved just slightly closer. You might as well have poked him with a hot fire pick, because he overreacted. His whole body flinched. The kid recoiled like it was his fault, and he pulled his hands up to his chest. He kept them so close, you’d think he was trying to protect his heart.

He didn’t know the feeling. Something worse than feeling empty inside started festering behind his ribcage. It was messing with his breathing, like it infected his lungs. He almost wished he could cut himself open and pull it out with his bare hands.

“No just…just stay here. I’ll be back.”

Obedient, stupid kid watched him the whole time, standing there in the middle of the room like he wanted to reach out towards him. The door shut, and the kid was gone from direct view, but there were eyes everywhere. He could see him fidget, make like he was going to go after him, then freeze. He knew something was wrong. He knew it.

“Mr. Vox, sir? Any specific instructions for your men?” His assistant asked. How could she act so calm? Did she not see the kid? Did she not care?

For once, she was dressed appropriately, or what amounted to appropriate. Sure, her heels were a little high, and her eyes batted a little too invitingly, but it all seemed to be covered in haze. Like there was privacy glass drawn across his eyes. It was all too fuzzy, even for him to be annoyed.

“They stop the second he says he’ll sign.” He said, not trusting himself to say too much. “If they lay a finger on him after he says it, they will wish they were dead. Am I clear?”

“Crystal.” She said with a nod. She talked into her headset, instructing a unit to get ready. Inside, the kid’s patience wore out. His worry made him grab for the door, only to realize it was locked. He started tugging, fighting with the lock. It didn’t budge.

He couldn’t be here. He couldn’t stand here. He’s not sure he’d physically be able to stand aside if he was here.

“Sir?”

“Keep me posted.” With that, he floored it back to his monitors, back to his distractions. Except, when he got there, he was reminded that he was never truly turned off from the rest of it. It didn’t have to be on screen. He could see the kid freaking out on camera, banging on the door. He even called his name. No response, obviously.

Outside, his grunts gathered. He’d not really been too keen on picking anyone out specifically. He’d just told his attendant to put together a scary group of thugs, dogs that looked mean enough for whatever needed to be done. He’d called it throwing him to the wolves. It felt so literal now. The smallest mutt there could fit the kid’s head in his jaws. Their teeth were bigger than his fingers and sharp. Canine teeth were meant to grasp, shred, and tear the flesh. The kid had them too, but his were so small. He’s not sure he’d break skin if he tried.

The kid abandoned the door for the camera. He shoved over a chair and climbed up to it. Voice panicked, he still kept asking for him. He’s never had such a close-up view of his eyes before, splintered green irises surrounding those oversized pupils. Green was a rarer color down here, because green was the color of the world above. Unless it was money green or emerald green, it didn’t belong down here. Unless there was some monetary tie to it, it shouldn’t be green.

There was an iridescence to his eyes that you didn’t see unless you were this close. It was delicate, the only things his database could compare it to were hummingbird feathers or a butterflying’s wing. They were small and frail things, things that were easy to break.

“Can you hear me? The door is locked.” He said.

Vox didn’t answer. How could he?

Oh, Vox. What did you do?

You did what you had to do.

Really? You had to do this?

The wolves hyped themselves up. They caught the scent of fox, apparently. Some of them started to drool. The kid cupped the camera still trying for a response. He was wasting his time.

He didn’t want to watch this.

You did this. You better watch it. Suck it up.

“Shut up.” He hissed.

Why? Too afraid to look in the mirror?

Red eyes blared back at him, teasing him. He wanted to strangle the life out of them. His hands tremored, fighting against his instinct to do just that.

The world is a stage, Vox.

They laughed like hyenas right before the lunge. The kid abandoned the camera for the table. A knock on the wood was loud, vibrating plenty to hear. Then, a series of taps: Loxley to Bogie. Come in, Bogie! Signs are reading Red! Emergency, respond!

He didn’t answer.

And the stage is a world of entertainment.

His assistant pulled out her cardkey, and an electronic beep opened the lock. The kid was already in the corner of the room. He was still tapping, though on the walls. His back was to the tank glass, projecting a shadow over his face. Over and over, it was more of the same: Come in, Bogie! Respond! Bogie!

Then, after a moment, it got more desperate. The taps were faster, its message simple and shaking him to his core: Vox, where are you?

Isn’t this so much fun?

“Shut up!” He screamed.

He dragged his hand back and punched a hole through his main monitor. Pieces of it got stuck in his hands, turning them red. His claws dug and ripped the cables from the back of his head. Live wires sparked in protest and his system’s redundancies kicked in. In his head, he couldn’t stop seeing it. The feed wouldn’t stop, and he couldn’t escape it. It danced even behind his closed eyes: teeth bared and the doors swinging open.

Make it stop! It had to stop! He didn’t want to watch this!

He screamed again, though it sounded more like it came from everywhere but his own throat. Lightning sprang up in bolts and flooded the room. Safety measures failed. The insulators were exhausted. The system overloaded. Too much went into it, and it couldn’t take it anymore. Everything around him sizzled and shuddered out. The lights shattered, glass falling down from above. The screens around him dropped like dominoes, each successive one glitching out and going dark. The cameras hung down, as if tired from holding their heads up, the little red lights of recording fading. Without Voxtek maintaining it, the internet shut down. Hell, the city could’ve gone dark for all he knew. Vee tower itself blacked out.

And it was finally quiet.

He leaned back in his chair, catching his breath.

Coward.

It was gone now. He couldn’t see the footage. So why was it still playing in his head? Things that he never saw happen plagued him still. His own mind was fighting now, replaying events from a nightmare. It had to be a nightmare, right? He never saw it happen.

That didn’t make it any less real. Right now, the kid was screaming, flailing, kicking, and, worst of all, probably still under some misguided idea that he was going to show up and put a stop to it.

Maybe…maybe he could do a hard reboot. Just turn his fucking brain off for a couple of hours.

Emergency power restarted the system. It was an added thing, a necessary extra, once Vox realized that an over surge could take out the city’s system. Whether because he just lost it, or because Alastor messed with it, Vox had been unwilling to take the chance of everything being down for too long. Especially because Alastor was back.

The Wi-Fi sprung back first. Velvette had insisted on that being among the first things. Yeah, it might seem dumb for that to be among them. Why not the security? Honestly, she made a good case for it at the time. No one could beat them while they were together. They were the Vees. When they worked as a unit, no overlord in hell stood even a sliver of a chance in that fight. If the tower went down, then something was wrong with Vox, obviously. Therefore, it was in the best interest of the other two to know where he was and possibly get in contact with each other. In the worst case, they could track each other down to the exact location. Yeah, of course he had tracers on them all. And yes, it came quite in handy when Val got drunk and lost.

Either way, the idea was if the Wi-Fi was back on, then they would know where the others were, if they were okay…and, though never explicitly said, if Vox was dead. His signal wasn’t programed into a phone. His was in his head. If he wasn’t transmitting after a surge…he was dead. Simple as that.

He was tempted to turn his locator off though, just this once. He just…couldn’t handle reining them in right now. He couldn’t juggle Velvette screaming about her blog and how Vox nearly ruined it with an outburst alongside Valentino throwing a hissy fit because the lights turned off and he couldn’t see a damn thing.

All of that on top of having to negotiate terms with the kid, between tears, a torn up face, and god knows what else.

He put his head in his hands and leaned forward. God, he didn’t want to handle this.

The security measures jumped on afterwards, emergency lighting and all that. The automated doors clicked ready for use. The safety shutdown system stood at attention. That one was used more for angel attacks than anything else. Obviously, they had little use for it recently.

A ring sounded. His assistant was calling. The cameras weren’t up yet, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out why she was calling. Come on, Vox. You’re on air. The audience is waiting.

He answered.

“Yes?”

“S-sir! I-I-I am so s-sorry!” She was sobbing, flipping out. Half of what she said wasn’t understandable. The other half was making Vox sit straight up.

“What happened?”

“I-I-I was d-doing a-as you asked and w-when we walked i-into the room…S-sir, y-you have to understand, it wasn’t my fault!”

A horrifying dread clawed his throat open.

“The kid. What-?”

She talked over him. Something was very wrong for her to do that.

“B-but then the p-power w-went o-out and I d-didn’t see it and-”

“What happened?” He yelled, feeling like he was burning out his speakers when he said it. They’ve already had a trying day. Hell, his fans were working so hard that he could hardly hear anymore.

“The c-child, h-h-he’s, I-I couldn’t tell with the lights out, s-sir and-”

Dead, his imagination filled it out for him. The kid was dead.

He risked combusting right then and there. His body was ready to tear itself to pieces, to turn into banded bright fury and collapse on those fucking dogs. He’d fire off every receptor of pain. He’d rewire the circuits in their heads, ripping pathways open by searing heat. He’d have them screaming, begging for death, and having them completely unable to move. For the rest of fucking existence, they’d be nothing but screaming inside of their own heads, for murdering that kid.

But…but that wasn’t the truth, was it?

He did that. He let them do that. He told them to.

That stupid, useless kid trusted him. Up until the very end.

And Vox had him killed.

“I-I’m sure h-he hasn’t gotten far, s-sir.” She stammered.

Wait. The cavity that craved its way into his chest suddenly felt a little less empty. Now, fear was crawling inside it.

“…you lost him?”

“Y-yes, s-sir. When the power when out, h-he…what I mean t-to say is, um-”

“There’s nothing in that room.”

“S-sir?”

“That room. There’s nothing in there but a table and some chairs.”

“Y-yes, sir.”

“There’s only one exit. One. Which had you and ten giant fucking dogs in the way.”

“Y-yes, sir.” She confirmed.

“And you mean to tell me that he’s gone?”

Alastor. His shadow could do that, drag someone from the darkness like that. It’s also usually not too far from its owner.

Vox enacted the security shutdown right then. All around, titanium screens closed shut around the windows. The vents were sealed and pressurized, making a whisper of rushing wind around the tower. Interior lighting didn’t quite go back to normal, but the emergency bulbs replaced their broken counterparts. Any and all exposed areas had nets over nets filing in, until filled with a metal cover that would survive a nuke. He’d know. He tested it.

Areas inside the tower started sectioning off themselves. It was another feature, meant to keep everyone who wasn’t a Vee in their rooms. They didn’t need the chaos from a running, panicking crowd. Val’s studio, with mostly editing employees there today since Val was still in his room, closed up. The windows barricaded themselves. Fibers of angelic steel morphed into the framework, giving the shutters a glistening look. Similarly, Vel’s pad locked tight. Since hers was more interior to the tower, the elevators plunging down into default mode in the basement was much more noticeable. It probably looked and felt like a deranged carnival ride, not that Vox has given it a go. The lifts themselves had specialized locks on both the interior and exterior entrance doors to the different floors. You’d have better luck trying to break into a military hanger than crawling up the levels of Vee tower.

Nothing short of Lucifer himself was going to get through all of that.

Slowly, the cameras started blinking back on. Val was pacing the room, a strong drink in his hand. His bot was there too, carrying around a tray for him to put it down on. He didn’t. In fact, it looked like he couldn’t decide if he was going to drown or smoking himself to death first, given that Vox has only just gotten access to the room and he’s seen Val puff through two cigarettes already.

No sign of the kid.

Val noticed the camera on. Nerves were replaced by ire in an instant.

“Vox, what the fuck?”

Vel’s pad came on next. Her designers had taken cover. It looked like her lighting suffered worse than Val’s. The overheads that were still in one piece flicked menacingly. Vel herself was yelling orders, keeping her employees’ attention on anything else but what was going on.

“Elisa, stop being a bitch and get those fabrics away from there! Do you know how much they’d cost to replace? And Beatrice, who the fuck told you to hide under the table? You think a fucking table is going to keep you safe from me?”

She, like Val, noticed the camera about then. She didn’t yell, but she did start texting him a stream of insults, arguments, and, once, asking if he was okay.

The kid wasn’t here either.

The anxiety kept rising in him. The cameras would only turn on so quickly, only after they had time to run diagnostics and reboot. Every time a new view showed up, it felt like a small victory, only to quickly drag him further into alarm. Because every single time, the kid wasn’t there.

Alastor grabbed him. It was the only thing that made sense. Alastor was hiding somewhere in the building and he grabbed the kid. Imaginary red eyes started teasing him in the peripheral of his vision, just where monsters liked to hide. It was right where a glance would make them disappear, and to take your eyes completely away was akin to giving up the ghost.

His assistant was taking those dogs around now, trying to sniff out the scent. Unfortunately, they seemed to hit a roadblock. According to all the yelling, the scent was coming from everywhere. Which is impossible. Unless a shadow demon grabbed you and raced across the wall, he imagines. That would do it.

His phone was blowing up. Val and Vel were losing it in the group chat. Mostly yelling. But his nerves were so frayed they were sparking at the ends. He did text back though.

Alastor grabbed the kid.

Silence.

He’s in the building and he grabbed the kid, he clarified.

You saw that? Valentino asked. How the fuck did he get in here?

I don’t know. I didn’t see him. He answered.

Vox, are you sure? Vel added.

He was in the conference room, Vel. Now he’s gone. There’s no other way he could’ve gotten out.

Just then, the nightmare crawled out from where it was hiding. Around his room, he could hear metal grating, something knocking about in the walls. It sounded like something with claws was reaching out toward him, an echo vibrating through the whole room. His sharks could feel the vibration, and they scattered at the noise.

He’s here.

Vee, what are you talking about?

He’s in here with me.

Vox! Open the fucking doors! He could see Val chewing his tobacco stick right through. His wings puffed out as he tried to break down the lift doors.

Vee, I’m right downstairs! But I can’t get out unless you unlock the pad doors! Velvette pulled off her heels and smashed the hinges right off the first set of doors with the spike.

The clawing sound got closer and closer. He still couldn’t tell where it was coming from. Here, in his own throne room, where the seat of his media empire sat, he was blind. And alone.

But he was not going down without a fight.

A vent cover popped off, right there, next to the door. It was an exhaust vent, one of the ones he uses to make sure this room stays cool. The opening was small, hardly enough for a rat to crawl through. Or so he’d thought. No sooner had it flung off than two stupidly large ears popped out from the opening. In the dark, his eyes seemed to glow, like all nocturnal animals did. He was covered in dust, some cobwebs, and his hair was frayed like he got into a fight with a hairdryer.

Abject panic was strewn across his face, and the second he made eye contact with Vox, he burst into tears.

“You’re alive!” He screamed, squirming the rest of himself out from there and booking it towards him. Vox hadn’t had time for anything to start making sense, and the kid had already grabbed him in a tight hug. “Don’t scare me like that!”

How? Just…just how?

“You…you thought something happened to me?” His mouth ran ahead of his brain.

“Of course I did! You nearly gave me a heart attack!” The kid protested. “You were all sorts of upset when you left! Then the door locked. Then, you didn’t answer when I called you! And then the tower blacked out! And then the whole place locked down like it was Alcatraz or something!”

The kid’s voice curled off, broken and weeping.

“I thought…I thought…” He couldn’t even finish what he wanted to say, like it was too horrible to put into words.

Stop it. This needed to stop, right now.

“No one can kill me!” He snapped. He grabbed the kid by the lapels. “You understand me? I will never be in trouble because there’s not a goddamn person down here that’s stupid enough to try it. I would crush them all, understand?”

The kid didn’t even care that Vox’s nails had ripped through the collar of his shirt. His face immediately went to the destruction around that Vox himself caused.

“Then, why-?”

“I locked you in the room!” The truth came pouring out. Like the dam was too full and just flooded. “I sent my men down there to make you sign the damn contract!”

He held the kid off the ground with one hand, his other grasped the air. A written form appeared from thin air, a paper with long words and airtight language, not unlike the contracts he had with his other employees. At the bottom, there were two signatures required on dotted lines. His own was already filled out. The other was just waiting.

He sat the kid down in his chair, slamming the contract in front of him. A pen materialized from nowhere, its ink strangely filling the room with a coppery smell.

“Sign. It.” He was livid. He never knew he could get this mad.

And the kid still had audacity to have water streaking down his face from before. He looked down at it though, apparently reading it. As if he could understand that. Even his lawyers hardly understood-

“I can’t sign it.”

“You’re going to sign it, or I swear to god-”

“Vox, even if I wanted to, I can’t.” He pointed to a paragraph, a stupid couple of lines detailing how Vox had the right to every and all communications among other things. It was basically just them waiving their rights to privacy, which, well, wasn’t too different from what Vox usually did anyways. None of them even looked twice at it.

“What? Something you don’t want me to see? You know I see everything, right?”

“Well, yeah, but it violates my NDA, so I can’t.”

The whiplash was jarring. It hurt his head to try to wrap his mind around that little tidbit. How does a kid even know what an NDA is? Much less, how does a kid sign an NDA? Who makes a kid sign an NDA?

“NDA? You have an NDA? I thought you said you still owned your soul?”

“I do. I still work.” He said, like it was obvious. “My boss is very particular about his privacy.”

He knew the kid drove a car, a fancy car. He assumed he worked as part of a service, just one cog in the machine. He was just starting to realize that the ‘boss’ wasn’t the guy in charge of a limo service.

“Who’s your boss?”

“Um. I did just say I have an NDA. I can’t tell you who my boss is. Look, I’ll prove it. My boss’s name is-” His mouth moved but no sound came out. He just gave Vox a shrug. “See? Can’t say it.”

“But you still own your soul?”

“’Course. It’s a standard employee contract. I get paid every week for, ‘services rendered’. It’s basically just a fancy way of saying I drive my boss around in the car. There are the little additives he put on it, just to make sure stuff doesn’t go wrong. Like the ‘no saying the name’ thing. And the ‘mind control’ thing, that too.”

“…what ‘mind control’ thing?”

“I dunno. Some kind of spell. Makes it so I can’t get mind controlled, I guess, so he can protect his secrets. Your hypno eye still gives me a headache though.”

Was he serious? He can’t be serious. This whole time, Vox’s suggestions haven’t and didn’t work? The most he accomplished was making him want an Advil?

“That’s…that’s some NDA.” Who was strong enough to even do that? Vox didn’t even know you could do that. Oh, this was a grapevine he was going have to follow to its source. This could seriously mess his plans up later. “And your boss he…he really doesn’t want people to know where he goes and who he talks to?”

That’s something either the paranoid or the scheming get up to down here. Either one with that much power was a concern, to say the least. An overlord, perhaps? Off the tip of his tongue, he couldn’t think of any that was in close connection to the kid. Then again, now that he’s relooking the footage, he…can’t see anyone in the car. He doesn’t see anyone get out of the car either. All he sees is the kid driving around and, occasionally, opening and closing the door like he was escorting ghosts. This wasn’t like Alastor’s distortion, where he knew he was there, he just couldn’t see the whole picture. This was something else entirely.

“Like I said, he likes his privacy. Can you let go now?” He asked, nonchalant.

Vox had the contract disappear, but questions still lingered. He still caged him in the chair.

“Why aren’t you mad at me? I was going to feed you to my dogs. How the hell did you even get out of there?”

“Um, first, who says I’m not mad? Don’t feed your friends to dogs. Second, I climbed up the vent. I thought that was obvious.”

There was a vent in there, as he said, to keep the computers running well. That would also explain why the dogs couldn’t track him down. If he was in the vent when the shutdown happened, an air current would’ve pushed the scent across every room interconnected with the one he was in. While he’s a little surprised the kid himself wasn’t pushed out, he can’t say the system was ever meant to force something as big as a child with the power of air alone.

“You don’t sound mad.” He commented.

“To be honest, I’m just glad you’re alive. You really scared me.”

With that, Vox had enough data. Calculations spat out conclusions slowly. His supercomputer brain was just a fumbled mess right now from the emotional rollercoaster. But, it came up with a few things. One, he was never going to get the kid under contract. Two, there was very little he could do to make the kid hate him now. Three, he’s too attached to the fuzzball to want to make him hate him.

“You’re an idiot, you know that?” Odds are, he was talking to himself as much as the kid.

“You’ve told me.” He nodded.

The room tremored like a hellquake was happening. The doors to his room were pried apart by giant nails. The four bedazzled guns of Valentino bounced the light from the screens around, making the place shine like a disco. The moth himself spewed smoke in like a factory, poison dripping from elongated fangs. His wings were spread out, an almost eye like pattern piercing out from the scaling. He only got scarier as his true demon form started ripping out from his body. It was a demented, twisted version of an emerging from a cocoon, as if Val’s body was just barely holding back an even more terrifying beast underneath. He’s seen Val molt before. Had he not seen that, he might’ve assumed that Val was secretly a fucking alien emerging like that.

He pointed the guns about, at every shadow hiding around the room.

“Hands off my fucking man, you son of a bitch!”

“Val-”

The sound of porcelain grating against itself put him to pause. From the plummeting depths of the room, Vel crawled her way up the monitor’s island. Her face looked like cracks against a glass plate. Inky blackness trailed those lines and dripped from her eyes and mouth. He was reminded of the story of Bloody Mary, a spooky tale for children, where the ghost emerged if you said her name too much while looking at a mirror. This too he’s seen before, but to date he can name the number of times on one hand. Still surprised him, every time.

“I’ll tear you apart! You hear that fossil? Don’t you fucking dare touch my boys!”

The kid and him shared a look as his fellow Vees came charging in, guns literally blazing, ready for a fight.

A grin spread across the kid’s muzzle.

“‘I don’t have friends’, he says.” His voice made a sound like an imitation of Vox’s voice, if Vox had swallowed a squeaker. He kept teasing. “‘It’s different with Val and Vel’, he says.”

“Kid-”

“Let me guess. Shut up?”

“Exactly.”

Part 1/ Part 2/ Part 3/ Part 4/ Part 5/ Part 6/ Part 7/ Part 8/ Part 9/ Part 10

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel vox #hazbin vox #vox #hazbin hotel fanfic #hazbin hotel oc #drabble #hazbin hotel velvette #hazbin hotel alastor #hazbin hotel valentino #hazbin velvette #velvette #valentino #hazbin valentino #the vees #hazbin hotel the vees #hazbin hotel fic #hazbin hotel fanfiction

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duckapus · 9 months

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Avatar Ash & Co. Pokémon Teams

So obviously traveling in a new region with new companions means new Pokémon, but I've never actually said what any of those new Pokémon are. So here we go!

(I'll draw the new new ones at some point. Also by the current point in the AU timeline the group's almost but not quite at the third gym (Anime Pacing Baybeeee!) so most of them haven't evolved yet. And they're in catch order.)

Ash's Team

Pikachu (obviously)

Bullot The Peashooter Pokémon Grass/Flying Ability: Sniper Description: A green parrot with a disproportionately large head and beak, and a circular hole in the front of the beak in place of nostril holes, which it fires seeds from at high speeds.

Jellobe The Jelly Fish Pokémon Water/Psychic Ability: Gooey Description: You know those goldfish with the big lumpy foreheads. This is one of those exaggerated so it looks like it's about 70% brain by mass (because it is), which is floating inside a levitating, spherical, water-filled jellyfish. Based on brains in jars, fish in bowls, and symbiotic relationships. The Water-Type Starter.

Pengaz The Pingas Pokémon Normal Ability: E E G It's that one meme Fakemon that looks like a Robotnik head.

Ralts (Mutant Forme) The Altered Pokémon Poison/Dark A mutated version of Ralts created by a mad scientist bent on world domination. It was created by splicing Ralts DNA with Alolan Grimer DNA, resulting in it consisting mainly of dark purple goo, which it has trouble controlling the consistency of. Its hair is uneven and an even darker shade of purple than the rest of it, its horns are jagged, overgrown and toxic green (its eyes are also green but you can't usually see that thanks to the hair), and its right arm has the little crystals Alolan Grimer and Muk have while the left only exists at all when Ralts focuses on it. Despite all the oddities and how painful they look at first glance, by all accounts Ralts is a perfectly happy, healthy Pokémon.

Miku's Team

Farfetch'd (already mentioned) Ability: Defiant

Flindit The Sharpshooter Pokémon Fire/Rock Ability: Blaze Description: A small red and grey rattlesnake with a piece of flint in place of a rattle and two rows of smaller flint spines running down its back. It can crack the flint on the end of its tail like a whip to shoot high-speed sparks at far-off opponents. The Fire-Type Starter.

Rolitroli The Transport Pokémon Type: Bug/Steel Ability: Off-Road (Certain Moves and terrain cause the Pokémon to change Forme) Description: Has two Forms. In On-Road Forme it looks like a cross between a centipede and a bus, while in Off-Road Forme it curls up into a wheel. It On-road is the default, and it changes into Off-road if it uses a Ground or Rock type move or is battling on rugged terrain. This boosts its speed and Physical Defense, but lowers its Physical Attack. It's the middle stage of one of the region's Early Route Bugs.

Cherrim ...This Pokémon already exists and only has one possible ability.

Meowth (Mutant Forme) The Cheshire Pokémon Type: Ghost Ability: Shadow Tag Description: Made by the same scientist as Ralts. A tall, lanky Meowth that's very obviously made of fabric. Mostly purple and stripey, with actual socks for paws, a button in place of a coin, eyes with alternating green and blue rings, the head of a broom in place of the usual curl at the end of its tail, and a massive shark-tooth grin. Based on the Cheshire Cat, a witch's cat, sock monkeys, and haunted dolls.

Jet's Team

Pyukumuku Ability: Innards Out

Snugleaf The Bundled Pokémon Grass/Bug Ability: Grass Pelt Description: A pale yellowish-green spider wrapped up in a big bundle of bright green leaves, with only its nervous-looking face and front four legs peeking out. The second stage of the Grass Starter.

Bob-Omb The Detonation Pokémon Fire/Steel Ability: Blast Shield (The Pokémon is immune to explosion-based moves, and can use Self-Destruct, Explosion, and Misty Explosion without fainting) Description: It's a Bob-Omb, what do you want from me?

Eevee Ability: Adaptability

Psyduck (Mutant Forme) The Fucking Snapped Pokémon Psychic/Electric Ability: Electrokinesis (Electric Type Moves also do Psychic Type damage [follows similar rules to Flying Press]) Description: Yep, all three of them ended up with one of that nutjob's creations. Jagged black-and-yellow feather pattern, ruffled feathers, angry eyes. Its eternal headache now effects a different part of its brain due to overexposure to electricity, unlocking the full extent of its psychic abilities, overriding its original type, and changing the pain's effect from confusion to white-hot unending RAGE.

SMG29's Team

Nidorina Ability: Poison Point Well, Female Nidoran is #29 after all.

Eggdog The Eggdog Pokémon Egg/Dog Ability: Bork

SMG30's Team

Glimmet Ability: Toxic Debris

Donandan Shuckle (yeah I settled on Donanda as the region name. Luke's Australian, sue me.) The Mold Pokemon Bug/Steel Ability: Heatproof Description: The shell is bigger, kind of blocky, and dull green and metallic grey instead of red and white. The head and legs look more-or-less the same.

Jessie's Team

Note: Jessie and James decided to stick to two previous team members each (outside of emergencies) so they could focus on training the new recruits.

Wobbuffet Ability: Telepathy (by process of elimination because there is no way that any of Team Rocket's Pokémon have Shadow Tag)

Seviper Ability: Shed Skin

Donandan Pikachu The Scorpion Mouse Pokémon Electric/Poison Ability: Contagious (Any physical contact will either poison the other Pokémon, change their ability to Contagious, or both) Description: A bit shorter and bulkier than the usual Pikachu, with darker fur, a long vertical stripe running from the top of its head to the base of its tail (it still has the two horizontal stripes on its back), the cheek pouches are now raised and angular like frills or tufts of fur, the tail is mostly the same except it has that black marking on the end people used to keep thinking the normal one had and a long stinger thing running down from the bottom corner of the end, the black on the ears is bigger and a bit jagged like Pikachutwo's. The idea of Jessie just randomly ending up with a special Pikachu that isn't Ash's amuses me for some reason.

Vineper The Scrawny Pokémon Grass/Normal Ability: Dry Skin Description: Look up blunt-headed tree snakes. That but as a cartoon character.

James's Team

Amoongus Ability: Regenerator This is partially because I'm planning on introducing a regional variant of Foongus with a new evolution, the third gym leader has that evolution as their Ace, and I want James's Amoongus to develop a rivalry with that Pokémon. Because Pokémon Anime.

Mime Jr. Ability: Filter

Grattle The Padded Pokémon Grass/Ground Ability: Thick Fat Description: Cross between a rattlesnake and the Tsuchinoko. It's a counterpart to Vineper.

Geomatrix The Singularity Pokémon Ghost/Psychic Ability: Event Horizon (Prevents all Pokémon on the field from escaping until this Pokémon either faints or wins) Description: A bunch of colorful geometric shapes orbiting a single point. At that point is the actual Pokémon, which is microscopic and can only interact with anything on the Macro scale by using its powerful telekinetic abilities.

Not Caught but Follows the Characters

Doodoll The Hand-Drawn Pokémon Ghost Ability: Patch Job (When the Pokémon is switched out, the Pokémon that replaces it regains some HP) Description: A black-and-white paper doll. Doodoll and its evolutions feel the pain of nearby people and Pokémon as if it was its own, and will do whatever it can to heal them so that the pain stops, though some will actually use this ability to actively seek out those who need help. This one in particular has decided to be the TRio's new medic and isn't taking no for an answer, and none of them have thought to just catch it because they're idiots.

Grant's Team

Bunnelby Ability: Pickup

Donandan Bidoof The Plump Mouse Pokémon Dark/Normal Ability: Contrary Description: Its fur is now a dark muddy brown instead of the usual bright brown, and is so soggy and shaggy that it covers its eyes. Unlike most Regional variants, there is no difference in behavior or personality from the usual version.

Snizzle The Frost Pokémon Ice Ability: Icy Scales Description: Ice Snake.

Laser's Team

Buneary Ability: Clutz

Heeliant The Heel Pokémon Bug/Dark Ability: Prankster Description: Anthropomorphic ant that cheats at boxing. It and a Bug/Fighting Type called Roughiant (the Comeback Pokémon) are branching evolutions of a pure Bug type called Sgrub (the Larva Pokémon). Sgrub has absolutely terrible stats and the ability Defeatist, and evolves into Roughiant if it knocks out 100 Pokémon or Heeliant if it faints 100 times. It's a sports movie Pokémon line. With ants.

Pondypus The Platypus Pokemon Water Ability: Poison Point Actually I have a picture of this one

It's an old picture, admittedly, so I'll redo it when I draw the other ones.

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silentstaresfanficandfanart · 4 months

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very rough VERY EARLY acess to the game im making for mermay :) its a fishybois dating sim

you can't meet the shark boi yet but the routes in the game are

also i fricked up on some funfacts about jellyfish because i was tired i know they're coldblooded the games gotta be fixed in some weird places but i mostly am uploading so those who wanna acess the very first version of the game can, it includes some of the most basic features and a little story but you dont really get further than the first date

CREDIT TO RICOTTA WHO I WILL LINK IF THEY LIKE FOR THEIR AMAZING OST THEY MADE FOR IT SINCERELY I ACTUALLY CRIED :') THE MUSIC YOU HEAR IN THE GAME AQUARIUM IS BY HIM PLEASE SUPPORT MY BEAUTIFUL SON

marine biologist: Nikko, your coworker who wont stop making ocean puns, a sweet lil guy! he's just a funny little guy :D normal huma guy! platonic route means hes like, your bestie and kind of like a goofy brother character to you

jellyfish prince: Naonari, the pathetic prince of the sea, a literally sopping wet creature that got so sad no one liked him when he got plopped in charge of his kingdom after an entire lifetime of 'sit in tower and read and never have friends' that he gave up on ruling and flopped face first onto a beach util Nikko found him and took him in, he needs you to teach him how to like, have friends...and a social life. if you chose platonic route he can either be a big brotherly or younger brotherly figure toward you depending on how you view it

The terrestrial biologist: Ketsueki the shark man. He is trying desprately to obey his personal code of ethics regarding his interactions with land creatures, and so if you hug him he'll probably cry because he thinks he'll be a terrible researcher if he hugs you or speaks to you, despite this, you can romance him and he'll stop being so silly about it. Nerdy shark boi. if you chose the platonic route he becomes a sort of fatherly/big brotherly figure to you instead :)

you cannot romance anyone yet but you can get to know them a litlte :) game is HEAVILY in development plans are in the works to rework sprites and such, but i hope you enjoy!

i tried to upload it to itch several times and it said no because i had too many files so sorry its a google drive thing :') i hope that's not a dealbreaker

heres some screenshots! again this is early development so it looks crunchy but hey its free so-

also yes ive realized theres a problem with the text boxes fading out like that ill have to correct clearly based on how its become very hard to read- sorry about that

and seriously please ignore the weird mistakes i made with the jellyfish funfacts <3 just uh, pretend i got it right okie dokie~

#gamedev #indie game #aquarium #ocean #sealife #mermay #mermaid #mermay 2024 #water #merman #shark #jellyfish #marine biologist

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spidermilkshake · 2 years

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Ancardia's Unusual Animals--the Umibozu

Classification: Beast (arthropod)

Habitat: Temperate seas off of the Ayn Coastlands and Silver Coasts.

Umibozu are one of two species of open-ocean crustaceans which have attracted a huge amount of superstition and folklore legend amongst the Ancardian sailors for many Ages. For a long stretch of this time, truthful, evidence-based facts around this species were not widespread, and it is only in the late 12th Age that real research discovered several of the natural habits and behaviors of the Umibozu (with the Ningen to follow hundreds of years later, due to harsher conditions for research).

The Umibozu is the smaller species of this surface-loving, open ocean species of peculiar crustacean, with a protruding, oval head with an eye and mouthpart placement that resembles a vaguely humanoid shape from a distance or through the distortion of water. It has a stubby body and elongate upper limbs with long, feathery plated fins, and a series of tail fins that extends from the end of its body like that of a lobster or shrimp. Adult Umibozu measure anywhere between 10 and 13 meters in length, and avoid most predation by living spread far apart in the pelagic seas of the surface, as well as being fairly nutritionally sparse due to a diet mostly made up of jellyfish, comb jellies, loose kelp and the odd clusters of copepod and diatom plankton. The plating of an Umibozu makes up roughly a quarter of its body weight, with much of the rest being a spongey fat tissue that assists in buoyancy and additional padding from harm over their vital organs. It is usually dark in color—either pure black, dark brown, or a mottled brown and deep green. The umibozu is well-known both in frightful legendary stories and modern tales of fishermen in the East Aulain Ocean as being fond of spy-hopping like a whale, which is thought to explain the older tales of it as a humanoid giant of the oceans. When its head and the base of its flipper limbs protrude above the sea surface for a moment or two, it can be misconstrued very easily as a human-like bald head and shoulders, especially if seen in dark or stormy weather (which is when the umibozu is most likely to spy above the sea surface). For the majority of the sunny and clear days, umibozu are largely invisible except to those passing directly beside them; they spend days and nights slowly trawling back and forth over open ranges of ocean after their tiny prey. At some times of high comb jelly and jellyfish reproduction, the umibozu emit a deep infrasound call to others of its kind, and large groups of it meet over shallow rises in the deep tropical oceans which had once been volcanically active. For a few weeks, the gathered umibozu seem to mate, then disperse, though no young are ever observed to emerge at the site of the gathering. Some time about four months later, tiny umibozu have been observed around tropical mangrove inlets in various places of the world, but so far no one has ever been able to confirm whether these young umibozu arise from drifting eggs, from migrating larva, or from young from live birth by adult umibozu in the area. The zoological world is still in a gridlock over what the exact method is…

In terms of humanoid encounters, umibozu are fairly safe to encounter while swimming near sandbars, reefs, and boats. They usually ignore humanoids, but are sometimes drawn to the bright metallic shine of protective goggles or anti-shark chainmail. Some have reported that idle umibozu, especially those which are seen spy-hopping, are somewhat interested in humanoid divers and will allow them to safely approach. If harmed, most umibozu will flee at a surprising speed, but if left alone, umibozu are generally just floaty obstacles at the worst.

#ancardia #ancardian homebrew #bestiary #mixed media #creatures #Ancient Domains of Mystery #ADOM #Dnd-like #crustacean #umibozu #sea monster #giant sea creature #benign creature

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sleepinginmygrave · 6 months

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hellooo i saw your reblog about not being scared to interact so here i am!!

your blog itches my brain just right 😭😭 im an ocean lover as well and i really like the light dreamy aesthetic you have!!! its such a vibe ngl

im not that good at starting conversations, so maybe something simple??

i saw you like jellyfish! what are some other sea animals you like? i like siphonophores, all types of whales and sharks, and anything that lives in the deep sea!!

HI HI HELLO HJHHHHHK I'M SO SO HONOURED BECAUSE YOU'RE BLOG IS JUST URGHHH SO SO COOL AND AMAZING I LOVE LOVE LOVE THE OCEAN AND YOUR THEME IS AMAZINGGG

YESS I LOVE LOVE JELLYFISHES SO MUCH!!!!! I'M JELLYFISH ALTER HUMAN :DD (not sure what exactly) AND OTHER SEA ANIMALS I LOVE THEM ALL SO SO SO MUCH BUT WHALE SHARKS AAAAA LOVE LOVE THEM AND ALL WHALES AND SHARKS (MOSTLY WHALE SHARKS THO I THINK I'M ALSO SOMETHING ALTER HUMAN RELATED TO THEM) AND FISHES!!!! LOVE LOVE FISHES AND STARFISH AND ALL MARINE ANIMALS :DDDDD i love all animals really not only marine one i'm obsessing over cows horses (all farm animals tbh) and african wild dogs rn :DD

#YOU NEED A TAG #PLEASE TELL ME YOUR FAV EMOJIS #ask #moi #SORRY FOR ALL THE CAPS #I'M EXCITED

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onaa-ohokthen · 2 months

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Hello and welcome to another episode of Strange Things I Can't Relate to Americans About. Today we're gonna talk about swimming.

It we pass right by the oddness of not all american adults being able to swim and the race politics that play into that, I've found a lot of Americans to be really particular about where they'd go in the water. I saw a video a few weeks ago where someone was absolutely adamant that going to a lake definitely can't be "going to the beach". This was in reference to one of the great lakes, btw. There are people who refuse to swim in lakes because they find the concept gross (???). There are people who refuse to swim in the ocean Because Sharks. There are people who only swim in pools because the concept of sharing space with nature is too disgusting, and there are people who refuse to swim in pools because what if someone peed there. I also live near multiple parks that have beaches but no swimming (because the puget sound is cold and dirty) or water but no beach (??!!??)

Meanwhile, Sweden has a bazillion lakes and like 40% of the border is coastline, and friluftsfrämjamdet have spent a hundred years campaigning for the fun of hanging out in water, water is rarely far away and community pools exist in basically every municipality, even if it's only lane pools. Indoor water parks (äventyrsbad = adventure bath) are pretty common (I hear they're common in the midwest, but they're not in the pnw). I'm sure there are people who have preferences*, but overall I've never met a "I only swim in x person."

But mostly I just miss the daily or almost daily swimming in the summer. Taking the bike down to the beach in ten minutes after work, because the lakes and ocean beaches are so plentiful. Seattle is plenty watery, but it's still a HALF HOUR DRIVE minimum to Lake Sammamish Park, which is so rocky you need swim shoes, and has slimy plants all the way up near the edge of the water. (Green Lake is nearby but not safe to swim in due to the algae giving it its name.)

I just haven't had a proper summer (=frequent swimming) in years and it's making me sad, so I'm confused why people would voluntary remove swimming opportunities from their life.

* I personally prefer lakes over oceans because of not having to worry about jellyfish or showering to get the salt off, but also I will 100% swim in either, just with more paranoia.

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glyphreader · 10 months

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Grappling Sundew (Guilds of Ravnica No. 131, Illus. Sung Choi)

The recent announcement has me thinking about Ravnica again. Ravnica is obviously a very popular plane, mostly because of the factions that make it easy for people to latch onto. While I like the guilds as much as any other, another thing that I appreciate about the plane is that through its design approach, it pulled things into the spotlight that might not have gotten that much attention otherwise.

The two most significant elements in this respect are the Prague-centered eastern/central european cultural influence and the concept of the city plane. Connected to the latter, one thing that has always intrigued me about Ravnica - but isn't touched upon a lot in the stories - is the infrastructure and civil engineering side of things. How would a plane-wide city "work" in-universe?

Because combat is a central element in Magic, most of its stories focus on some kind of conflict and literal fighting. Naturally, the guilds of Ravnica are always quarreling with each other, and mentions of inter-guild cooperation are few and far between. But "running" a plane-wide city must be very difficult, and there absolutely has to be a lot of cooperation that we just don't get to see.

Grappling Sundew isn't directly affiliated with any guild - its card has no watermark - and obviously, it's "just" a plant. But still, the art gives you clues which guilds might be involved here.

The obvious one is the Simic. They are mostly known for their crazier, borderline nonsensical creations like shark-octopus-crabs or jellyfish hydras. But something like oversized an genetically modified sundew for "anit-air protection" is exactly something that I'd imagine the guild's more practical researchers to come up with (there must be a lot of Simic scientists who are developing biotech that's very reasonable but "boring" and are annoyed by the guys doing the silly animal crossbreeds stealing all the attention).

Another guild that could be involved is Azorius, because why is the sundew here in the first place? It could be just because it escaped from a Simic lab and started spreading uncontrollably, but maybe it was planted on purpose to regulate the air space. If taking a shortcut means getting eaten by a giant plant, then you'll probably follow the prescribed route.

And then the Gruul could be involved as well. The part of the city that the sundew is growing on is obviously deserted, so maybe the Azorius declared it to be a nature reclamation area and handed over its day-to-day "operations" to the Gruul. The Gruul (or guildless groups affiliated with them) could also have some more reasonable, practically-minded individuals that, aside from smashing stuff, also genuinely care about preserving nature in the plane-wide city (an obvious area for cooperation, but also conflict, between Simic, Selesnya, and Gruul).

More than plot beats of the actual stories for the sets, it's worldbuilding complexities like this that often end up pulling me deeper into MtG worlds.

#ravnica #vorthos #magic the gathering #mtg #guilds of ravnica

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ducknotinarow · 10 months

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[Teen!Buddy - again, they love you Richy, but, they are a teenager]

Buddy looks up from their phone to their papá, before looking back to it, "Okay Boomer."

| Muse interaction The air was dense thanks to the cold, letting Richard see his own breath form a cloud with each small breath given out through his beak. Trying to cool down his self and take control over his breath as he slowed down his speed from his morning jog around the block. Going far more into a walk, so that he could wind down from the work out. heart pounding strong in his chest as he slowly breather in and out panting breaths slowly gaining control as he stopped at the mail box before making his way up to the house. He peered in side and tail feathers spared out a moment to fan with a little excitement. When he saw the name of 'Shark' labeled on to a small package rest on top of few envelopes. He grab at it first nearly forgetting the rest in the moment of excitement. Before he made his way inside.

Where unlike him his husband and son we're happily enjoying the warmth of the house over the cold brisk air. Happily content with warm drinks Richard whip up for the pair of them before he had stepped outside. Though he was sure Baileys was likely cold, partly Richards fault on that he wanted to try making marshmallows the other day. And for some reason that meant he just had to make cute little pink heart ones for Bailey specifically in mind. With a near mile high mound of pink whip cream to set them on so they would melt away. Buddy of course had a cup of coffee waiting for them but Richard did also make little jellyfish shape marshmallows for his son since you know he was already trying the process out. With gingerbread flavored whip creme mostly because it was the closet to yellow he could find at the store, and it would add to the flavor of their gingerbread latte Richard made for them. Mostly to be his test taster for it.

Married life truly changes a man.

Richard soon joined the pair of them in the kitchen pausing to ruffle up Buddy's hair as he peered over to see their near empty cup. Smiling a bit he took it as a good sign. "Good? despite all the sugar up top Mijo?" He asked before he moves over to stand beside his husband slight pout to his bill the second he sees the drink still in the same condition he left it. "Why can't you drink it when it's hot it would taste better." an idly complaint before Richards attention returned to his package. Clearly trying to pull attention towards it, as he slightly shook it. Buddy seemed to take the hint or a literatel child was just easier to gain the attention off. As Richard ripped the bag opened and pulled out the small glass looking jar.

"See this Mijo?" there was clear excitement in the egeal's voice as he set it down for the little android to look at better. "it's a milk frother, Its unique design makes frothing hot or cold milk fast and easy. The glass frothing beaker is microwave safe for added convenience. Of course, BPA free. Enhance everything, from lattes to cappuccinos, with a delicious foam topping and forget about waiting in line at your local coffee shop. In black to match the rest of my set." Richard happily recited out to his son as he pushed it over for them to have a better look. That clearly sounded like commercial talk from how he was pitching it.

Richard truly never left the Café he worked at, even at home the kitchen was nearly a small Café with his inclusions over time. It was kind of a surprise he didn't just have a coffee bar set up at home yet. This frother just clearly another step closer to all of that. What could the egeal say that neither his husband nor son already knew. The bird lived and breathed for his passion. A barista in profession and just general sense. He did happen to caught Bailey's look aimed his way as he turns to face them. "I couldn't sleep so I may have watched the shopping channel again. But in my defense this one is different from the frother on the coffee machine and the hand one." Expression souring when he sees that bratty smirk on Bailey's face over the admission he was watching infomercials again. Richard simply flicked his tongue against his teeth and rolled his eyes to ignore his husband.

"Well unlike you, Buddy here will truly appropriate my late night TV find." Expect Buddy didn't seem all to focused on it at the moment. Richard had noticed their attention was locked to his own screen. finally peering up from it when he was being addressed just then. Buddy had always been the little biscotti to his coffee cup after all. As he liked to see it. But Buddy also could be a hint of a brat thanks to the roosters influence and they seemed to decide and display that as well.

"Okay Boomer."

Was all they said before looking back down to their phone. Richard in part knew they were mostly just messing around. As he turned to look towards Bailey. "Can I ground them for that?" He nearly sounds serious despite it though, though Bailey looked pretty amused by Buddy's little remark. But Bailey always loved to refer to Richard as an old man you were swear he was from the boomer generation from how Bailey spoke after all. Richard swears there is a bit of pride in his husband face over it even. Before turning back to his son because no he can't ground them for calling him a boomer.

"For the record I am not a Boomer, first of all I was born in 92. Second of all I am only three years older than your Dad. Despite how he acts" As if Richard wasn't also guilty for not acting his age just in the opposite direction. Grabbing at the prized frother he was just so very proud of "And third of all I do not vibe with this."

Ah yes the true punishment to a young teen, a parents using a word of slang. It might also be some punishment towards Bailey who Richard picked up the word from in the first place. "Since the pair of you want to be rude and not appreciate my latest addition I refuse to use it on your drinks. No cap" Another term he over heard though hes not even sure what it means he just heard a bunch of teen boys saying it in the Café on day. "Periodt." He emphasis the last word with a huff before muttering a few words to himself in Spanish. Hating any of what he said himself.

Before he started to remove the forther from the packaging. As he let his feathers bristle just slightly. Ignoring any remarks either from his husband and son may be making over that little display just now. He knew it would catch them off guard which is why he decided to do it but seeing as he can't really ground Buddy here. Not that Buddy's ever been grounded before they were too good a kid after all. But Richard was still petty and needed the final say even if saying any of that slightly inflicted more damage to himself. Worse since he had to commit to his bit there and go on about his business of cleaning out the new forther. Richard maybe last ten minutes at best before he hung his head and set his hands on the counter. He could feel Bailey gently pat his shoulder to offer support at the egaels moment of distress. "I hated every second of that I don't understand how any of those are words spoken in actual conversation. Please never bring it up again." He sure that won't happen from either of them.

#muse| richard evans-alder #madamkezzie #aflockoffeathers #[the house that you live in don't make it a home evans alder family alfockoffeathers]#[ mocha i wanna feel like this forever - aflockoffeathers]#muse interaction #ic reply #stay queued #((you made me wanna write richy XD but I only got some old things from buddy ;3; so now hes just getting bullied by his babys b's))#((shark just a brand of appliances and other house wares btw nothing more to that XDD))

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