#now i got two new people i'm training and a shit load of stuff on my plate

[ilkkawhat]

Hope you don't mind me asking, do you have more gifs or pics of Ilkka fang? I remember you posted it not long ago and I also got obsessed with his fang 😭

immediately the street where i live comes to mind but i can make it my mission tonight to make a dedicated gifset of them

[thessalian]

Thess vs The Trials of Adulthood

I did my due diligence adulting today. It was not fun, but I did it.

Not just talking about work, though that was a nightmare, since I'm still being left the Annoyances - the new ones, the word salad ones, the ones who dictate the long and complicated shit. We've got more trainees than ever, and I'm the only one putting on a bit of speed to compensate. It's a fucking mess. Also, I might have mentioned at one point that we're having a bit of an issue with some of our reports not finding their way onto the systems they're supposed to, which results in me getting bombarded by requests to send large numbers of reports over to various people who should just be able to log in and get the reports themselves but can't because of said IT issues. I first got wind of that months ago, and we still keep getting them because IT have apparently still not sorted this shit out. All these requests are forwarded to me to deal with - apparently that is just my job now, and I'm not sure why because I'm also the fastest typist and that's fiddly shit a monkey could do. Then again, it's also the kind of thing that Temp and Goblin at least would bitch about having to do, and I don't imagine New Girl is much better. Basically I get all the stuff that would cause the others to complain, since Scruffman is so conflict-adverse and the others seem to be of the opinion that certain work is beneath them or something, I don't know. Anyway, the absolute worst part of that massive list was that two of the reports weren't complete. Our side - the macroscopic reports - had been typed no problem. But the consultants who are supposed to look through a microscope and do the proper diagnosis somehow missed those two. One of them was an urgent case, and both of them were from two weeks ago. So yeah, still suffering the end result of being the only person in the entire fucking office willing to actually do my fucking job - Scruffman's a manager who won't manage, the other girls will whinge and moan about any secretarial duties that they can't blitz through and look like they've done a lot, the consultants managed to miss two cases, and IT can't even be bothered to fix a major issue with a key part of our role.

(Oh, and that annual review that was supposed to happen last week has not been mentioned, probably because we're insanely busy due to unexpected absences, too many trainees, and miscellaneous crap. But I did have to acknowledge that I had access to fifty-seven documents on our training system, most of which mean zilch to me because they're not a part of my job or they require being in the office to matter worth a shit. That was fun.)

Anyway, then there was the bins. Our local borough council apparently had a brilliant idea. Every household has a separate little bin for food waste, which we all have to dump in a smallish communal wheelie-bin outside. There are issues with this. The main one is the local wildlife - the management company that runs my block of flats has been telling us time and time again that we have to be careful not to overfill the dumpsters because it lets in vermin (more foxes than rats, though we do have rat traps around the outside of the property). Now we have these little-by-comparison plastic wheelie-bins that are routinely knocked over by middling-strong winds, and could easily be knocked over by a determined urban fox. To add to that, plastic bags aren't allowed (they're obviously going to dump this stuff directly into compost), so it's very obvious from the smell that there's food waste in there after awhile. Of course, when I went to dump my little food waste bin into the wheelie-bin, I saw two small plastic bags full of stuff in there, so there's the other problem - people aren't going to follow the guidelines anyway. But the worst part for me is the whole thing where I am disabled and this makes taking out the garbage even harder. That's three separate loads of stuff - the reusable bag of recycling, the food waste bin, and the rubbish that doesn't fall into either category. Given that one hand is engaged with a cane, that's up to three trips on a bad day. Plus the little food waste bin has to be emptied more often, that's more trips - and while I can take the lift down to the ground floor to avoid one set of stairs, I have to go up a fairly steep upgrade just to get to the shed where the dumpsters live. (And no, no one's smart enough to put the food waste wheelie-bin into the dumpster shed to maybe keep more foxes out.) Add to that the fact that every kitchen in this block of flats is tiny as hell and even squeezing in a garbage can at all is a struggle, this is one more bit of bullshit I don't need. I'm about yay close to figuring out if I can just start my own compost bin outside. At least there'd be fewer fucking stairs.

But I did it! I took out the recycling, and the food waste, and the regular garbage, and I rinsed out the (by now really gross) food waste bin, and I put new bags in the bins in the kitchen and bathroom, and I survived my work day just in general, and now I am fucking exhausted and fed up with just about everything. But that's the price we pay for being motherfucking adults living alone.

The bright side is that, as motherfucking adults living alone, we can go from being a motherfucking adult directly to "curled up in jammies eating crisps and playing video games". Food groups will happen, as will meds etc (another fun side effect of being a motherfucking adult is remembering to do that shit without being nagged) but I require more in the way of comfort and relaxation before I do more adulting.

[finnleyshortstuff]

Okay, so, disclaimer: these apply to the part of our polycule that live together and is our personal experience❤️ but this works for us, a household of 4 adults. And yes I'm aware most of these are meme questions but they are valid and I'm happy to share my experience :3

1. Synchronised digital calendar.

2. See above

3. Shit's hard, but we've got eachother. It's complicated because we're all individuals, so not everyone is dating everyone (and it should never be a requirement!! Huge red flag if someoen expects you to date all their partners too!!)

4. Talk about it. It has taken years of practice to get good at communicating, especially doing difficult conversations, but we are proficient now! Communication is a skill, practice it. (Applies to literally every single human being, btw)

5. You don't, lol. It's awesome if you do, but we're all individuals in the end.

6. You can make a schedule for showering, but we basically have an open door policy where we'll knock if someone is in the shower and 99% of the time they'll say it's okay to come in. As for bathrooms as in toilets? We're privileged with 3 toilets for 4 people, but we also have IBS patients in the 'cule so it was a requirement for us when my husband and I bought the house.

7. Everyone has their own bedroom!! Very important to have your own space, especially because not everyone is dating everyone and some of us have FWB who sleep over sometimes, too. And, you know, people need and deserve privacy.

8. This is just a matter of respect for personal space and items. But you could keep it separate. Since everyone has their own bedroom, we all also have our own desks and stuff there. People are respectful of personal space.

9. Everyone has their own bed, so this is not an issue. For things that affect everyone or difficult conversations that need to be had, we plan a family meeting. We toss a soft foam cube or roll a ball to eachother on the table to prevent dissociating during and to make sure everyone keeps focus (ADHD polycule). Again, it takes training the communication skill to get good at it.

10. We are all our own individuals. We are in no way perfect, because we've all made mistakes with polyamory before. My boyfriend and I both had the same abusive partner and we've learned valuable lessons from it. My husband has, too, since he stood by and didn't feel like he could say anything because he didn't want to intervene with my relationship. With since set new, clearer boundaries and everyone is allowed and encouraged to speak up when uncomfortable about a situation. We sit down and talk about it with the cube/ball

11. One big trip! We have a discord server for the household where we have a general communication area (general chat, memes and other content, mail&packages, animals, etc.), a help and references area (digital manuals, asking for help, addresses, etc), a dinner requests and meal plans area, a shopping list area, and everyone has their own individual area with wishlists and the like. My husband and I share a bank account because we were together almost a decade before we became (practicing) polyamorous and the others pay what they can to contribute. My husband and I will pay bills and such, but that doesn't mean that we are "in charge" or anything.

12. So we have two fridges and a chest freezer. I have my own shelf and so does my boyfriend, because we both struggle with food a lot so we need our own safe stuff that nobody touches.

13. First off: LMAO IMAGINE. Seriously: we have a dishwasher.. loading and unloading happens by whoever has spoons for it. I can't deal with dirty dishes for sensory reasons, but I'll happily unload the cleaned dishes. I can't deal with trash most of the time, so that's mainly my husbands task. Washing used to be my responsibility, but then my condition worsened to the point where I didn't have energy for anything so that's something everyone has picked up for themselves again. Etc. We make it work with communication and planning.

Things that I imagine must be really hard about being in a polycule

Remembering everyone's birthday

Scheduling a group date night where everyone's free

A bad breakup where someone leaves and everyone's messed up about it. Like if it was just me I could wallow in solitude but like damn what do you even do. Talk shit?

Related to 3 but if someone breaks up from the polycule and leaves their stuff behind then who gets dibs. Is it like by seniority or do you draw straws or what

Finding a group Halloween costume that everyone is equally hyped for

Sharing a bathroom if you all live in the same place

Idk about this one but what's the sleeping situation in the summer. Like in the winter having a group pile sounds cozy as fuck but in the summer?? When it's sweaty and awful??? Bruh I'm on the couch

I don't trust ANYONE not to eat my Nutella and for every extra person there's an additional threat I must calculate my defense against

How do you tell someone in the 'cule they need to stop eating pretzel sticks in bed without it feeling like an intervention. Is there an assigned emissary that speaks on behalf of the collective. Again, do you just draw straws? Drawing straws seems like a really good solution to a lot of these actually huh

Is there some kind of self-evaluation system that holds yall back from accidentally becoming a cult do yall just see Kim head out for a date in a white robe one morning and roll with it

Does everyone do their own grocery shopping or is it all like one big trip?

Is there enough room in the fridge for everyone's stuff or does the one with the deepfreeze reign eternal like immortan joe

If I was in a polycule and we all collectively stopped being attracted to the person who genuinely enjoys washing dishes then I don't think I'd be able to break it off with them I think I'd have to just handle that with god

[apocalypticgargoyle]

"9-1-1, what is your emergency?"

I've heard that on TV shows all the time, but hearing it with my own ears is new. I'm scared.

"Hello, hi, uhm." What do I say? How do I do this? "I'm on interstate four, right by the exit to route 408 and I just watched a car go over the side." It feels not real, feels like I'm watching an action movie or one of those dashcam tiktoks that find their way onto my for you page from time to time.

"What interstate four, northbound or south?"

I look to the sign, forgetting that I've driven on this road a million times, still reeling. "North- northbound on four."

"I've dispatched emergency services to you. Can you see the driver?"

I can't even see the car, just the chunks taken out of the concrete barrier where the car hopped it, can see the brake lights still though. "Not where I am but I'm- I pulled off to the shoulder, I can get out and go see if they're okay."

"You don't have to do that, ma'am." A million things are running through my mind, but one sticks out.

"I'm, uh, I'm first aid trained, and I took an EMT class for extra credit in college, I might be able to help?" I turn my keys in the ignition, make sure to keep my hazards on and pocket them, dig through my glove box for the bare bones first aid kit I got when I got the car last year.

"Emergency services are 5 minutes out. I can walk you through helping and give them a better picture if you go over there, but you don't have to. Help is on the way."

"I'm going to see if I can help." Opening the driver's side door seems much too scary, with cars whizzing past going well over the 65 miles per hour speed limit. It's 3 in the morning, and there are no speed traps on this stretch of the interstate. People speed, and they go way over. Instead, I opt to climb over to the passenger seat, careful not to accidentally turn off my hazards, and start over to the crumbled concrete and brake lights. I can hear the driver before I see him, yelling for help. I call out to him.

"Thank god, can you call 911?" He yells, and then I see him. He's laid up between the dash and a cracked but not shattered windshield, curled to see me through the passenger side window, which is gone.

"I'm on the phone with them now, they're, how many minutes is it, 911 lady?"

"Gigi, two minutes out. Can you see the driver? Does he have any visible injuries?"

"Two minutes out, yeah, he's got cuts on his face and his arms, and-" It registers then, that I can see the bones of his arm jutting out of his elbow, and his leg is bent at an impossible angle, and his nose is much too bloody to still be intact. "I think a couple broken bones, too." It's then that I hear the sirens, loud honking, and look to see flashing lights moving down the road. "They're almost here, dude, just keep hanging out."

There's really not all that much distance between where he went over and the ground, so it's easy to clear the wall and land on the ground. Up closer, I can see the puddle of blood he's laying in, bubbling steady out of a large cut in his leg. A flash of my EMT class comes through, it's an artery, somewhere in his leg, and you need to tourniquet it, like ASAP. The truck is still honking, backed up in the saturday night orlando traffic and people pulling to the side to let them through and while I can see and hear it, there's a good half mile wall of bumper to bumper pulling off to give space. No clear path.

"Hey, are you, how do you feel?"

"I feel like shit for crashing my buddy's car, but that's about it right now. Why?" Asking that after you hopped an embankment crashing a car seems kinda weird, but ok?

"I think I need to, like, help you with your leg? Can I?" He nods. I close the distance between me and his car door and manage to open it enough so I can get in the car. It's awkward and there's no real good footing, but I manage to wedge myself in enough to get in a stable spot. "Let's see if I can remember how to do this. I need-"

Ever the helpful phone call, Gigi reminds me. "You need to tie something just above where he's bleeding, tight as you can. A cut seatbelt, a t shirt, something like that." There is nothing like that in my immediate vicinity except for my own shirt, which, I can give up my shirt for this guy, there's another one shoved somewhere in my trunk. It gets stripped off quickly and Gigi helps with directions all the way through. My hands shake vigorously, but I manage to get it to the point where I can't visibly see volumes of blood pour out of him, so I count it as a win.

I look at the truck, still pretty stuck where it is, but the ambulance is getting through, still huge but better able to work through the gaps between the large quantity of cars.

"Am I going to die? Is that why you keep looking to see where they are? Cause I'm going to die?"

"No." I speak firmly despite the panic coursing through my veins, the fear that I might be lying right to his face. "No. The paramedics are almost here and they're gonna help you and get you to the hospital and all that. You're not gonna die." I read somewhere once that in that situation you have to reassure people. They don't fight to live if they think they might die.

The stretch of time that passes before there's an EMT in front of me feels like a lifetime, even if it's only a couple of minutes. And the first thing I notice is that his gaze travels down my body, catching at my chest and oh, yeah, I gave my shirt to the bleeding guy and should probably get out of the paramedic's way. I make to go back and get the extra shirt I know I have in my backseat but I get stopped on my way by another EMT who wants to check and make sure I'm okay.

"I wasn't in the car, I called it in." I wave my phone, which still has 911 on the line, but the paramedic insists, points to a cut on my arm I hadn't realized I'd gotten. I get led to sit on the tailgate of an ambulance, watching firefighters run past from the truck that finally got through carrying loads of stuff, heavy equipment with ease. Nimble fingers clean out the cut before deciding it's not deep enough for stitches, just using steri-strips and wrapping it in gauze with gentle hands and a reserved smile.

"Jade, we need to get going with him!" The first EMT I saw calls while running with a gurney, the guy from the accident strapped against a yellow board with my work shirt still tied around his leg. The paramedic helping me jumps into action, ushers me into the ambulance and helps the guy get the gurney in.

"Sit down, buckle up." He says, looking at me. Jade turns and gives me a bit of a sympathetic look.

"He's always like this. You have to get that checked in the ER still." Oh. Okay. I sit down, strap into the seat, and the ambulance starts moving before the doors are fully closed. They get the car guy all hooked up to all kinds of machines and fuss over him, till the monitor beeping with what I assume is his heart rate steadies, and then the EMT guy visibly relaxes, eyes landing on me again. I cross my arms over my chest, much more self conscious of my state of dress with his gaze on me. He's, unfairly attractive, wavy blonde hair and toned skin, wrapped in an unbelievably tight uniform.

"D'you- here." And then he starts unbuttoning his uniform shirt, and I'm sure my eyes go wide. There's another shirt on under, just as tight with the fire department logo emblazoned on the chest of it. He shrugs off the button down and pulls the t shirt over his head and dear lord, why the hell do men feel so called to wear wife beaters under their clothes, I wanna see how fucking hot he is. The t shirt gets tossed into my lap. He really just- gave me the shirt off his back. My gaze locks on to it, only being torn away from the offending garment when he clears his throat and I snap back up to see him, button up back on his shoulders but undone, face sheepish and what I'd guess to be a blush tinting his skin further in the half dark of the ambulance. "You looked uncomfortable."

It's my turn to go red, flush covering most of my skin and incredibly visible. "Thanks." It takes a moment of maneuvering to get the shirt on with the seatbelt, but it's warm and smells of laundry detergent and a hint of cologne.

"Dream, only fuckin' you." His head whips to the other EMT.

"Only fuckin' me what? Huh?" Jade just laughs, head shaking from side to side.

"Only fuckin' you would give the first girl your age on a call the shirt off your damn back." If he wasn't blushing before, he is now, reaching a hand up to rub at the back of his neck.

"Sorry if that's weird."

"No, it's- I appreciate it." I do.

"Good work, with the tourniquet. He'd be dead by now without it." Is that really the best thing to say while the guy can hear us? Maybe not. Speaking of the guy,

"Is his leg supposed to turn blue like that?" The relaxation in his face vanishes that instant as he hauls up, moves to where he can look up close at the leg, tearing up the leg of the guy's pants.

"Jade, I need to set it so he can keep the leg, can you keep him still?" A distinct yes, and then I get to watch as his muscles flex, hands gripping tight to the broken leg of this guy, and then an audible crack resounds through the small space of the ambulance as he pushes his body forward. The car guy's closed eyes shoot open, mouth gaping in a yell of pain underneath of an oxygen mask. I'm sure that probably hurts like a bitch, and suddenly I am very grateful that I've never broken a bone.

There's not much left in the ride. The two EMTs, Jade and Dream, mainly continuing to work on keeping his monitor from making the erratic beeping it has been letting out from time to time. The ER is a blur of people bustling around the guy, but I get led from the ambulance by a doctor to check the cut on my arm before he comes to the same conclusion that no, I do not need stitches, but that I do need to change the dressing once a day and gives me some disinfectant cream to put on it when I do. While he cleans the wound out, he asks in a lilted british accent. "Did you really tourniquet the guy with your shirt?"

"Yeah, I did. The one thing I remembered from my EMT class, really came in handy." I joke, and he laughs.

"Well the guy is lucky you did. You're an EMT?" I shake my head, and wince a bit when he presses a bit too hard.

"Nah, I wait tables at the Waterfront in South Orange. Took an EMT class for a summer course cause I thought it'd be fun." He hums, turning to grab more bandages to rewrap my forearm.

"Well maybe you should look into it. Quick thinking like that would get you far there."

"I might." It's a real possibility. My accounting major proved to get me the single most boring desk job ever, and I've been looking into other career paths recently. He smiles at me when he finishes wrapping, pulls a card out of his pocket and a pen, scribbles something on the back of it.

"Put me as a reference if you decide you want to." That's, incredibly nice.

"I will, thank you, uhm," The name stitched into his coat is hard to make out. "Doctor Davidson?"

"George. You're good to go, just need to fill out a little paperwork and then you can leave." He walks over to grab a clipboard and a form, brings it back to me, and then heads over to another bed with a little girl in it, pulling a curtain closed behind him.

A week later, I find myself outside of the massive firehouse on Central Boulevard. There's a couple guys in shirts that match the one in my hand outside washing a firetruck, and one notices me and comes over. He's cute. Dark hair that's a little longer than a boys regular, scraps of facial hair on his cheeks, and brown eyes that crinkle at the edges when he smiles.

"Y'need help with something?" His voice confirms the fact that he's young, and it takes me a minute to pull my eyes away from the way his sleeves are tight around the muscle of his arms.

"Uh, yeah, I'm looking for Dream?" I hold up the shirt and the brownies I made as a last minute addition for the firehouse.

"Ahh, shirt girl. Follow me." He heads into the building through one of the massive garage doors, and it is remarkably clean inside. He heads up some stairs to a balcony that overlooks the firetrucks, and both of the paramedics who had helped me are sitting there, talking over plates of pasta. The guy leading me clears his throat and they both look up.

"Hi." I say awkwardly with a small wave. "I brought your shirt back." Dream flusters, standing up to take the shirt from my hands with a thank you and I give him the brownies, too.

"Dream, cough them up, I want one."

"Sap, shut the hell up, here." He places them gently on the table.

"Okay, what's with your guy's names? No way his name is Sap." All three of them laugh.

"They're nicknames." Dream laughs. "My real name is Clay, and his is Nick. Jade is just Jade though, haven't gotten a nickname for them yet." He looks over his shoulder back at his coworker. "Coward." I feel like there's a story here that I don't know, but I don't press for it.

"I mean, I told you my last station called me Storm, so unless you can top that you can call me Jade and nothing else." I like Jade. Jade's funny.

Clay just rolls his eyes, no real malice behind it. "It's gotta be one we give to you. I'm thinking something about you being our getaway driver."

"Dream if you make a baby driver joke right now I swear you will not live to see tomorrow." He laughs, hard and wheezing, sounding nearly painful.

"Fine, fine." He turns to me. "Thank you for returning this." There's a distinct red flush creeping up his neck, but his smile is genuine, green eyes bright with it. Shit. Why do they have to be unfairly attractive? Who's idea was it? Huh? "I'll walk you out."

He walks me all the way to my car, standing awkwardly next to the door of my car.

"Well, I'll let you get back to work. You got lives to save."

"Wait," He says, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "I'm sorry if this is too forward, but could I get your number?" Oh. Oh.

"Yeah, of course." He hands me his phone and I punch in my contact, handing his phone back to him. "You should text me so I have yours."

The smile on his face is fitting, full of white teeth and bright happiness. "I will."

I don't think I put my phone down for a week. Clay and I text nearly non stop, and I learn a lot about him in the process. He has a cat (a beautiful tabby named patches who purrs very loudly), he's from Orlando (born and raised, baby.), he wanted to be a firefighter because his dad was one, but his mom who's a nurse had him take EMT training instead (I owe her everything for that), and that he's off work this Friday and wants to head out for drinks with a couple of his fire station buddies and me. I also start getting snapchats from that cute coworker of his, Nick.

I can't tell if Nick intends to be flirting with me or is just trying to get to know the girl his "best fucking friend" is talking to, but... I am definitely feeling some type of way about both of them. It's great, the attention is nice, until Nick invites me out to drinks with them on Friday night not three hours after Clay does.

I feel like my best bet is to be honest with them. I'm not one for lying. And then a new groupchat shows up on my phone. It's got Clay and a number I don't have saved in my phone, and there's a message sent, and then another. I'm scared to open it.

I expect it to be both of them mad that I'm talking to the other and instead it's not? There's a message from Clay and it's-

Dreamie

Hey, I just talked to Nick and wanted to make this groupchat with the three of us. I'm not mad you're talking with him, and he's not mad you're talking to me. We both really like you, and are open to letting you make the decision for yourself if you end up with one of us. Just wanted to communicate that with you :)

And another from who I'm assuming is Nick that says:

Unknown Number

its up to you what happens and if your not ok with this then just tell us and we'll back off.

It's not something I've experienced before talking with two guys at once. Talking with two guys at once that know and work with each other with their consent? Never would have imagined it in a million years. But this is probably the best way to go about it.

Three more days pass before I see either of them in person, still having plans to go out for drinks with Clay on Friday. I end up sandwiched in between the two of them in a both of some firefighter bar on the south side of the city. I feel awkward tucked between them until I get a bit of alcohol flowing through my veins, and then conversation comes like second nature. It's not crazy eventful, feels like I'm hanging out with close friends rather than basically strangers, and it's nice.

The night passes quick, but it's still fun, especially when Clay drives me home and drops me at the bottom of my apartment building with a promise of more plans and a quick kiss that leaves him blushing all the way to the tips of his ears.

In the morning, I wake up to go into work and see a text from Nick, inviting me to dinner with him tonight. I shoot back with a sure, I'd love to. Getting off work at four so that's perfect. and he just sends back a :) and an "I'll pick you up at 7." that makes my shift drag on and on. True to his word, he's outside my apartment building at 7 pm sharp in a button down with his hair brushed neatly behind the wheel of a toyota corolla.

"Where are we even going for dinner?" Nick just shoots me a smile and fucking winks at me.

"You'll see. It's a surprise."

It ends up being some hole in the wall chinese restaurant with what Nick claims is "the best moo goo gai pan in the city". It's fucking amazing, that's for sure, a steaming wok full of it in front of the two of us with plates of fried rice to go with it. It's not an experience I've had at a restaurant before and it's insanely fun. Nick pokes fun at my inability to use chopsticks, tells stories about his friend making fun of him for not being able to use them and learning how at three o'clock in the morning. We're constantly laughing between bites of amazing food, and this easily makes my top three first dates of all time. He refuses to let me pay for my half, but he does let me get the tip after I insist several times that its the least I could do. 

We're halfway through a really good conversation about something that doesn't matter when he pulls up to my apartment, and, not wanting that to end, I invite him upstairs with me. 

"Oh? It's my turn to come up with you?" He teases, and I'm confused for a second before I realize, oh yeah, I'm essentially talking with him and his best friend. 

"What do you mean turn? Clay didn't come up with me, he-" It's probably not the best idea to say he kissed me, I don't want to make Nick jealous. "He dropped me off at the door and he said goodbye." It's not- a lie, per say, but the second it passes my lips I feel guilty, knowing that we need to be honest for this to even have a shot at working. "He kissed me goodbye though." Honesty. We need honesty.

I don't really know what to expect as a reaction from him, but it's not a smile, cocky as ever. 

"Does that mean if I go up with you that I get a kiss too?" Nice, easy, no drama with honesty. 

"Maybe. You'd have to come find out." The grin he's got stays plastered to his face the whole time we're in the elevator, the whole time he's talking mindlessly about the distinct lack of fire safety in the building, the whole time I'm fighting with the works half the time lock on my door. "It's probably too late for coffee, but I have tea in the fridge or coke, or water if you want it." I say, turning to close the door behind us. 

"I'm all good, thank you though." The smile's still there, crinkling his eyes and baring white teeth. "Could go for a kiss, now that I think about it." I shake my head, but still, I laugh. 

"What is it that they call it?"

"Kissing? Lip locking? Smooching?"

"One track mind." That one earns a laugh, a hearty one from deep in his throat.

"You're funny." He says, grabbing my hand and gently tugging me to come sit on the couch with him. "And cute." He sits, pulls me with him so I end up sideways in his lap. The hand he led me over with comes up to brush some of the hair out of my face. "And unbelievably pretty. How could I think about anything else?" 

Smooth. Smooth as fucking butter. Smooth enough for him to earn a quick press of my lips to his own. I can feel him smiling before I pull back, but he chases, returning with a kiss just as chaste before leaning back into the couch, looking like the cat who got the cream.

"I'm winning. I got two kisses." I roll my eyes.

"Isn't it quality over quantity?" He hums, eyes playing from my lips to my own. 

"Why not both?"

"Haha, funny." They're playful, his eyes, as we talk. His bottom lip juts out in a joking pout, and I lean in to kiss at it. He moves at the last second, though, closes the last little bit of space between us when he moves forward to kiss me, soft and slow. His lips are slightly chapped, ever so gentle as the press against mine. My hands press into his thighs to keep me up as his hands come to wrap loosely around my shoulders and he pushes further into the kiss before pulling back. 

"Quality?" 

"Need more data." I say before our lips meet again. He's sweet with it, the way he kisses me. It's nice, easy, feels familiar even though it isn't, not yet. One of his hands moves to rub soft at the nape of my neck. 

I'm just getting comfortable in it when he deepens the kiss, tongue soft against the seam of my lips. It draws a gasp, just what he needs to push further, licking into my mouth before catching my bottom lip between his teeth, worrying at it. He's a good fucking kisser, hahh's into my mouth when I bring my hands up to tug at the dark strands of hair on the back of his head. 

But like all good things, it must come to an end. Unfortunately, that end is when my phone starts blaring the insanely annoying ringtone my friend set it as that I don't know how to change. 

"Nick, I gotta-" 

"Yeah." His arms drop, letting me stand so I can grab my phone and answer whoever is calling. 

"Hello?" 

"We have new information regarding student loan repayment in your area." Is loud in my ear, so I just pull back and press the red end call button.

Nick laughs a little. "Not important?"

"Spam call. Can't be assed to get put on the do not call list right now. I was doing research."

"Yeah? You happy with the results you're getting?" 

This motherfucker I swear.

"This motherfucker I swear." Is also the first thing I say in the morning when I wake up for work and there's a fat hickey on the side of my neck, dark purple and blatantly obvious. I send him a snap of it, just saying really? and he sends back a picture of himself and Clay sitting on the tailgate of a ladder truck with a :) and I am instantly worried that one, Clay saw the snap I sent him and two, that I won't be able to cover it for work. Pushing the first thought out of my mind to focus on the second, I try to get it as normal looking as I can before my shift. It's not perfect, not by a long shot, but it's good enough.

I'm riding the high of not getting comments on it at work when that first thought comes back, catalysted by a snapchat from Clay, a picture barely of his hair with the geotag from the gym down the street from the firehouse with text across it that says "purple looks good on you." I don't know how to respond to that, just send back the floor in front of me. oh come on now  pops up in the chat, and he's still typing. not mad. excited for my turn.  Right.

sorry  I shoot back. this is all pretty new to me

trying to be careful cause i dont wanna mess this up

The little bitmoji he has attached to his account pops up in the corner, lurking for a moment before he starts typing

having these chats is what makes it work. I don't go bragging to Nick about what you and I do, and he doesn't do that to me, but we don't lie about what happens. 

its alot, and none of us have done this before

but keeping communication open and honest is how it works

and that means feelings talks 

He's right. 

youre right

He is. I don't want to make them jealous of each other and that's probably the best way to combat that.

we also have to keep things fair ;) so i get a date too

That has me smiling like an idiot at my phone.

yeah? you got one planned?

not exactly. you doing anything rn though?

I was going to make a sandwich and watch She's the Man for the third time this month.

was gonna watch a movie if you wanna join?

I get a sure, would love to  and a could i trouble you for a pick up from the station?  that has me grabbing my keys and jogging to the elevator faster than I would like to admit.

When I get there, I head inside to say hi to Nick and collect Clay after both of them have assured me that I'm allowed to do so. I don't see Nick when I first walk in, but I do see Clay and jesus, mary, and joseph his hands. He's working over a slab of what seems to be silicon with those massive fingers moving with the utmost precision. When I get a little closer I can see that he's making sutures to close gashes and holes in the mat. I'm impressed with how uniform they are, each a perfect match of the one before it, and with the speed that his hands were moving, I'd say its even more impressive. I'm- not a perfect person, and the thought of what those hands could do to me has me flushing. 

He's pretty wrapped up in what he's doing so I don't want to bother him, but I'm watching so intently that I don't notice Nick come up to me until he hugs me from behind. It makes me jump.

“Shit, Nick, you scared me.”

-gg w the 911 au update

Gg I'm 😩😩😩 you are an amazing writer 🛐 teach me

[bansheeoftheforest]

Transfem/Enby/Genderfluid gang Jekyll au:

(Unrelated, but I once I had a daydream au like this. Except minus the gang and just Lucy)

-

Does Rachel find out? (because I suppose it's a bit hard for her not too) she'd happily try to make dresses for Jekyll to wear when going out on heists

Also, you ever see those dolls where like uh a tutu would spin into a full dress? Like the dolls with the gimmick of "two in one outfit" and itd change somehow to a completely different look? (Usually a dress) I keep imagining that. Like exactly that. Hen presses a button on their suit and it spins into a dress. Is it impractical? Yes. Literally Impossible? Absolutely. But it's fun to imagine

-----

Update on my game progress: I killed springhill jack and was deeply disappointed to find that isn't an unlockable outfit, I mean come on! That evil lair literally had two mannequins wearing it, and you're telling me Jacob didn't yoink one? Smh 😔

In terms of main story, as of writing this I have received the Hallucinogenic(?) Darts and got the cargo cables, also got poisoned. Now looking in a pirate basement

Also, hatred towards B button ended. "Follow this 50km/h vehicle with your wimpy human legs" quests are my new worst enemy

And! I was looking through the dlc and saw some individual outfits were free! I dont use the Evie one due me thinking her original is better. But Jacobs outfit "The Creature's Rags" looks v good! And I get to keep my hat <3, a bit sad to discover both cant be colored though

I greatly appreciate the fact that Jacob and Evie sorta level up together, so you can just decide to play as another when you usually play one, and the other wouldn't be horrendously underleveled!

-

Also! I forgot to acknowledge it but Rexford Kaylock being somehow related to Jasper sounds very fun. They've probably never met and never will, as I simply enjoy the thought of him being related

Oooh! And now I'm imagining Lucy agreeing to help the Rooks at some point, she walks onto the train to discuss plans only to immediately stop. Because there's Dr. Henry fucking Jekyll. Just causally lounging on a couch wearing clearly too big clothes (he stole them from Jacob) and sipping tea. Jekyll is in too much panic and shock to say anything so Jacob just slaps his shoulder and says "Henry here makes some of strongest and most useful poisons! He also helps fix some of our real bad injuries AND He gives us information on people from the aristocracy if we need it! <3" but all in like a tone of sheer affection and "look at my person, hes so talented, I recruited him myself, be jealous of how good he is at everything"

Robert circus man keeps reminding me of Robert Lanyon, and before I even knew his name, just how he acted and what clothes he wore

Ned! Ned my beloved <3. At first I was confused on why the game felt the need to mention that it was made by people of many gender identities and etc. But then! Trans character! Canonically trans character! I dont really play video games that much, and certainly not recent ones, so this may be a decently common sight, but it made me really giddy and happy to see <3

Rachel would probably find out immediately. She goes to Lucy's house to visit her brother on a surprise visit, is very surprised to see her boss drinking tea with Patrin and Elise, in the most fancy and most lacy dress she has ever seen. Hen would be absolutely horrified to see Rachel, Patrin/Elise/Lucy would probably start bubbling about how they started to work for them and how good they are at the job and doesn't that dress just suit them perfectly and Hen would look like they would want to sink into the couch and disappear. Rachel would probably only need a moment to realize, then she would be Hen's biggest supporter and make SO MANY DRESSES for them <3

I know exactly what you mean and I want Hen to have at least 10 of those. Maybe not a suit but more like a short dress like Evie wears that turns into a longer dress, just yes pls <3

--

Oooooh I just did the sequel mission for that one yesterday! It's really annoying with he just poofs away like that but i still think it was v fun. Maybe there is a mod that adds that outfit? XD

...Y'know you can just steal a carriage and go after them most of the time, right? At least unless they specifically state "follow x by doing z" and stuff, so XD

I really like that outfit but I like Jacob to be a fancy fancy boi. I also have yet to find an outfit for Evie that I like, the only one I have found so far was the military outfit but you can't unlock that until you have done the WW1 missions and I promised to save those so my friend could watch me do those missions, you get to play as Jacob's granddaugther, I believe <3

Yess, only thing is you have to decide where to spend the points but eh, its just takes a minute or so XD

I like to imagine Rexford being Jasper's kinda-odd-but-also-very-protective uncle, prepared to beat anyone up who lays a hand on his nephew... Too bad Jacob killed him in cold blood lol

I love that point and I especially love the thought of that, too, being Jacob x Jekyll bc I have been having that brainrot for a fucking week at this point. I just... Adore the panic. Like, Henry just chilling, taking a break from the Lodgers, just getting to go on a lil vacation seeing the train move past London, catching up with friends and shit and flirt with Jacob, and all of a sudden Lucy walks in, they both stare at each other for such a long moment, Henry chokes on his tea, Lucy just goes like... "Uh... Dr. Jekyll? What the hell are you doing here?" bc lets say that they have met before, Jacob just being so proud of Henry and all he has done for them like look!! This is my person!!! He is so good for us and he is really just awesome!!!!!! I recruited him myself aren't I just the best!!! meanwhile Henry is just like... 👉👈🥺 XD

Man do you know how much I can relate to you rn. I love the thought of Robert being the one holding the fight clubs. I love the fight clubs but I absolutely hate all the races. The Lambeth Lap Race can go and die </3

Yess!!! It has always been really important for the team of AC to make sure to keep a diverse developer team and especially since they are working with history, it's important to have many different perspective on things, and it actually isn't until recently that they added sexualities and gender identities to that little pre-note on the loading screen! It was first just about races and ethnicities but I'm glad they are keeping it diverse and aren't afraid to show it. Jacob technically has a male love interest later on but... Spoilers <3

[silksandcravats]

Well well well... you're just in time Zimmermansbrat... Morby is sending out asks tonight...

You are a new follower and dont know me perhaps very well, but sometimes I like to send out litte challenges and stuff to you writers out there, and I have one you may like to sink your teeth into...

Use the following to write a story...

https://youtu.be/Tk46D1eFXZo "Dont Wanna Go The Other Way" by Cody Chesnut.

Yep I know, this looks totally nuts right?

It's a technique my mums writing group use to create new stories, or perhaps brain storm around problems in their work.

There are rules... you can add whatever you like, but you have to use the song and at least three pictures.

I'm gonna do one myself, so I can see if it works as a new idea to get out of my writers block.

Please dont feel obliged to answer, it's totally up to you if you'd like to participate... but it would be awesome if you did!

Have Fun and Thanks for the follow

Love

Morby

❤

Morby! So nice to hear from you again, thank you for this wonderful ask! This collage just seems so Sackler to me so I had to, lol. I feel like the final product ended up being a bit jumpy, I had a bit of trouble smoothly stringing along the different aspects into one imagine plotline, but I had so much fun with this challenge! I hope I did it justice!

masterlist

summary: y/n spends the day with her weirdo neighbour and nobody could have predicted how things pan out.

warnings: swearing, a poor understanding of New York geography

You stood by your front door, jaw clenched, keys gripped tightly in hand, ear pressed against the wood as you listened as closely as you could for the telltale sign of your weirdo neighbour across the hall retreating into his room. 

“Oh shit, fuck are you going speedy?” 

“Oh shit, fuck are you going speedy?” 

“Oh shit, fuck are you going speedy?” 

Your eyes squeezed shut and you cursed silently. You didn’t have to look up to know who was speaking, the booming, goofy, tone. You took a deep breath to compose yourself before pulling backwards, at least as much as you could with his vice rip on your arms still present.

“Hey Adam, ugh, I was just going to run some errands I-”

“I was wondering what the fuck everyone’s been up to? It’s been quiet as shit down this whole hallway, felt like I was in a ghost town or some shit.” He interrupted you.

“That’s great um.” You tugged your arms slightly and he got the message, he released your arms finally with a quick ‘sorry’. “Anyways, um I was just headed out, I’ve got some shopping to do so.”

“Yeah so do I, that’s just where I was headed we can be like shopping buddies or whatever.” He offered, showing off a toothy grin, big eyes meeting yours. He was attractive, with his big strong nose and his long floppy black hair, you’d be lying if you said he wasn’t. You’d found yourself rather drawn to him in the beginning, but that had only lasted until the first few times he had opened his mouth. He turned out to be rather strange and awkward and it just wasn’t something you could get past, and so you had begun avoiding the pretty weirdo at all costs. 

You were ready to turn him down and be on your merry way but you were tired of avoiding him and you didn’t know how much fight you had left in you. Not to mention it was well into winter now, which meant the sun would only be up for another hour or so, and you never fancied walking through your part of New York alone after dark. And so you found yourself agreeing, how long could a few groceries take after all?

“Great but you’ve gotta come along to some to do some of my errands too.” He said, turning and walking ahead, making it halfway down the hallway in just a few long strides.

“What like drycleaning?” you asked, trotting along to catch up with him. 

“No, not really.” He answered vaguely, hurrying down the steps two at a time. 

You started with your shopping, which he let you get through without too much trouble. In fact, the whole ordeal had been almost pleasant, you were trying to pick out an onion when you looked over to see him holding two different zucchinis in his hand.

“Hey y/n. Do you think I’m more like this one or this one?” He asked rather loudly through the store, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

“I think,” you paused, settling on one of the freshest looking onions near the top of the stack, “that it’s a wonder you’re still allowed out in public.” 

“Oh shit,” his expression shifted, his grin deepened and he looked somewhat surprised by you, “You’re a little feisty after all.” he sounded impressed, “Well if you can guess which one is right, I’ll buy all your groceries.” 

“Ok fine.” You crossed your arms, pretending to seriously contemplate the vegetables, you decided to be generous, opting for the slightly larger one. “Left.”

“Actually the answer was neither, it’s bigger than both of these.” He winked, tossing the vegetables down and circling around to your side of the display.

“Oh, I’m sure that’s true.” You jabbed sarcastically.

“I can show you later if you’d like.” he teased, walking into your space.

“Shut up let’s go.” you tried to be serious but a little giggle slipped out anyway as you playfully pushed him forward towards the checkout. 

-

Adam’s errands turned out to be a somewhat chaotic stroll through a small corner park. You must have spent much longer in that little park then either of you had been expecting, you sat on a little bench for a while just talking. You told him about the work you had been up, and he turned out to be an actor, telling you about an audition he had recently been to, and how he thought he did really well but honestly he didn’t really like the movie’s concept so if he didn’t make the role then it was no big deal.

Never being one for small talk, you were sure that your little day out with Adam would slowly trudge by, loaded with plenty of awkward silences, but it turned out being with Adam was easy. He had no trouble keeping the conversation going, and he always managed to bring up things you actually wanted to talk about. And he was so funny, you’d be willing to listen to his jokes all day except that at one point he made you laugh so hard your stomach began to hurt and you couldn’t get a full gulp of air down your lungs for almost a minute straight.

It wasn’t until the sky began to turn a pinky-orange that you realised what time it was and suggested to head back. You had wound up rather far from your apartment complex so you both made the decision to take the subway home. It was rush hour by now so you had to push and shove a bit to get down the stairs and over to the platform you needed, and it was an even tighter squeeze when you got onto your actual train. You ended up shoved tightly against him for the first few stops, it was silly, but you tried not to let yourself dwell on the giddy feeling you got being so close to him.

As you made your way out of midtown, the car cleared out some, and Adam appeared to be growing restless, surveying his surroundings to find something to occupy himself before settling on the fire extinguisher by the door. He played with the features of it for a moment before pulling it off the wall to examine it closer.

“Adam, put it back.” you quickly scolded when you caught wind of what he was doing.

“Relax I’m just looking at it.” 

“You’re not supposed to touch it!” You insisted.

“If I wasn’t supposed to be touching it then they should have attached it to the wall better.” He continued playing with the extinguisher, pulling the tiny safety bar out, dropping it carelessly, letting it rattle against the floor.

“They can’t do that, what if someone needs it, Adam, please put it down,” you begged, trying to grab it from him, but he pulled it away quickly.

“Oh come on, this thing’s probably been in here like a kajillion years, shit wouldn’t even work anymore.” He continued, twisting it in his hands.

“Yes, it does! Now leave it alone, I’m serious.” You begin to panic at the thought of him doing something dumb.

“Wanna bet?” You could see the mischief practically glittering in his eyes as he suddenly mounted the extinguisher. You felt the blood drain from your face.

“Adam I swear to God if you-” 

But you were too late, suddenly a thick cloud of fire retardant burst through the canister filling the car with smoke and panic, the force sending Adam a few feet forward before his weight pulled him back to the ground and he toppled over in a fit of laughter.

“Adam!” You screeched humiliated as the car erupted in coughing fits and a few swears. You glared straight at the floor as you marched over to him, avoiding the heated glares and shouting, as you pulled him up quickly.

“Come on this is our stop.” You announced sharply, pulling him towards the doors as the train came to a stop.

“No, it’s not.” He looked at you confused, still halfway smiling, proud of his own stunt.

“Yes. it. is.” You say through gritted teeth, pulling him onto the platform. 

Of course, it wasn’t really your stop, and you could’ve saved yourself quite a few blocks of travelling time by staying on, but the thought of carrying on with those passengers, after what Adam had done, for even a second longer was too much to bear. It wasn’t until you were nearly at your building that Adam seemed to pick up on just how upset the whole thing had made you. 

“Hey look I didn’t know it’d be such a big deal to you.” He offers, kicking a small rock along the pavement as he trudged on.

“That was so embarrassing, you can’t do shit like that Adam.” You grumble, not willing to forgive him.

“It’s New York, people do fucking weird shit here every day,”

“This is the worst apology I’ve ever heard.” You stopped on the first step of the building, turning to look at him.

“I’m sorry? Ok? I won’t do shit like that ever again when we’re out together? Happy?” He said, moving onto your step next to you.

“When are we going out together again?” You asked, cocking your head slightly. 

“Have you ever been on the roof?” He asked back, ignoring your question entirely, backing up the steps.

“No? Wait I don’t think we’re allowed on the roof!” You followed him up into the building.

“Drop your shit off and meet me in the hallway, I’ll make things up to you I promise.” He winked.

-

“Do you keep your bike up here?” You tried and failed to hide a smile at the sight in front of you. Adam was in front of you twisting and turning his handlebar, trying to show you how he could lean back and balance on the back wheel.

“Sometimes I do, no assholes have tried to steal it yet so,” his speech comes out almost in grunts, as he focused intently on performing his trick for you.

“You wanna try it?” He asks, dismounting and moving some of his hair out of his face.

“That’s ok, I’m not a stunt master like you,” you excused, “besides, I’m not sure my feet would even reach the pedals, that thing’s huge.”

“Hey look at this!” He dropped the bike, moving to the ledge of the roof, “you can see for fucking miles up here.” You followed him over, pulling the hoodie you had grabbed from your place tighter against you as a cool gust of wind flew by. It was pretty much dark now, and you could see the lights of your city clearly from here. It wasn’t a particularly tall building you lived in, there was bigger on either side and across the way, but you could see clearly down both sides of the street. New York felt bigger with all the lights on if that was even possible. There was something about the bright city lights that set off curiosity in you. People really lived in every single one of those windows, they had a whole life, and family and friends and jobs and dreams and you’ll never know most of them.

“It’s amazing isn’t it.” you sighed, staring at as much of the world as you could possibly see from your little perch.

“Yeah, it is.” He said, watching you watch your city.

-

You really had meant to go back to your place after that, but Adam had coaxed you into coming into his apartment instead, insisting that it was only fair for you to see his place after the day you had together.

“Do you want like juice or anything?” He offered, trying to be hospitable as he closed the door behind you. 

“No thank you.” you smiled, taking in the place. It was messy for sure, but you’d seen worse, there was a lot of open space in the middle of the room, there was a couch at the far end of the room, but it was covered with clothes and things at the moment.

“You like music?” He asked, messing with something that must be sitting on a small table by his front door, he moved slightly and you could see the device he was hiding.

“You have an actual record player? That’s crazy, I didn’t know people still had those.” Your feet were ready to give out after the day you’d had, so you decided to sit down on the floor, watching him shuffle through records before settling on one and moving to put it in place on the player.

“You know what they say, no music, no life.” He moved the needle, letting it drop near the edge of the vinyl. An R&B artist you vaguely recognised began playing through the apartment. 

“You listen to this stuff?” You asked, watching him sit next to you on the floor, moving directly to a lying position on the floor.

“Come on, it sounds better down here.” he insisted, patting the empty wooden panels next to him. You obliged, leaning back against the hardwood, shuffling slightly to get more comfortable. 

“I really am sorry,” he added after a while, another apology filling pushing into the brief silence of the room as you both waited for the next track on the record to begin. You kept your eyes trained on the ceiling, but you could feel his gaze move to you. “Guess I’m just a shit flirt.” Your eyes grew as you took in the weight of his words as if on cue the opening lines of the next song began softly through the apartment. You held off on laughing at him for the song choice, focusing on holding onto the words which had just come out of his mouth.

“You’ve been flirting with me all day?” You ask, turning on your side, propping yourself up on your elbow, staring at him.

“Oh fuuuck yeah,” he shrugged, turning to look at the ceiling again. “I flirt with you all the time kid,” he added casually, tapping his foot against the wood as the chorus began to pick up. 

“W-what?” you asked, dumbfounded. “You were flirting… with me?”

“Of course I was, you’re funny and I think you’re pretty smart.” he listed off easily, still staring at the ceiling, “ also you’re fucking so hot, I fucking just wanna look at your face all day.”

“Why didn’t you ask me out of something?” You hummed, looking down at the floor.

“I guess I thought that was kinda what today was.” He rolled over, suddenly his face was only an inch or so from yours.

“It can’t be a date if I don’t know it is, it only counts if we both agree that-”

“Can I kiss you?” he cut you off, eyes darting between your eyes and your lips. 

“O-okay.” your face suddenly felt hot, but you had little time to dwell on it before he leaned in, kissing you eagerly, nose prodding against yours, his hand coming up to cup the side of your face. He nipped and nibbled at your bottom lip for a moment before wiggling his tongue into your mouth, kissing you more eagerly. His other hand came up to your side, and in one swift motion, he tugged you on top of him. 

You got lost in kissing him for the tiniest moment before you mentally re-entered the room, ears perking up at the sound of the song entering its second chorus. 

“Can we redo all of this in about 2 minutes?” You giggled, pulling yourself off his mouth slightly to stare down at him.

“What? Why?” his face scrunched up in confusion and then he gripped your face, pulling you down again.

“Becaaaauuussse,” you groan, pulling back again. “Don’t wanna go the other way by Cody Chesnutt cannot be our song.”

“Too late now kid,” He hummed pulling all of your weight down to him, tucking you into his chest. “Too late now.”

[fnafslinky]

Fazbear Frights 1-9 review.

Into The Pit:

Slow and meandering during the first half but picks up speed after Spring Bonnie shows up. Good message and good idea, but the execution could be better. 6/10

To Be Beautiful:

This story is so full of fluff, you can cut out like 60% of it and lose nothing. I know it's going for a fairy tale thing with the repetition and all, but fairy tales do that because it's made for children. Repetition is to train a child's brain to remember better. These books are aimed at teenagers, so this narrative device is not needed. On top of that, it has unfortunate implications of "Not like other girls" memes that we don't need to revisit. Only saved by its creepy af ending. 3/10

Count The Ways:

Legitimately my favorite story out of FNAF and one of my favorites of all time. It fixed the previous story's Not Like Other Girls problems by having the goth main character hate the pretty blonde and being called out for not even knowing her and being shallow. It is actually surprising to have these two stories be back to back.

The narrative device of switching back and forth between the MC facing her death and how she got up to that point means it keeps your interest throughout that the previous two stories had problems with. It makes for great drama and tension.

The main reason I love this story in particular is because of this exchange near the end:

“Silly Millie, for someone who doesn’t want to die you sure spent a lot of time talking about it,” the voice surrounding her said. “But that’s the way of things, isn’t it? Talk is always easier than action.”

“I think,” Millie said, sniffling, “that when I said I wanted to die, what I really wanted was to escape. I didn’t want death. I just wanted my life to be different.”

“Oh, but that really takes action, doesn’t it?”

And, if I can be real for a minute: I feel like that kinda changed my life. Or very least, my point of view.

As someone who has made attempts on his life before and frequently battles depression- It made my problems so much less overwhelming. Of course I didn't want to die. I wanted my life my life to improve. And now whenever the thought of suicide passes through my head, I just remember this phrase and it helps me keep it together and calm down.

And also F.Freddy's follow up with having to work for happiness is spot on too. Misery is comfortable, that's why so many people prefer it. Happiness takes effort. 10/10

Fetch:

I'm in the minority for not caring for this one. I felt like there wasn't any direction or character arc, I didn't find Fetch particularly scary or interesting, and the MC makes a lot of dumb decisions in it.

That being said, I love how it jumps right into the action instead of taking awhile to get to it like the other stories did. The stories tend to play out like a different book and then FNAF characters are slapped in at the end. This one gets right to it and makes it integral to its plot. 6/10

Lonely Freddy:

Another one I really love. The Frights series has a good traction with its tragedies and this one is no exception. I really connected with the feeling of being pitted against your siblings, usually by accident and circumstance with your parents. Particularly this line:

“Maybe you’ve made them what they are,” Aunt Gigi said, pausing for a moment before adding: “Hazel’s the easy one. Alec is the hard one. It’s like you put them on their own little islands.”

I wasn't Alec, but Hazel in this situation. And it made me realize what my sibling went through because of it.

And this is another story where Freddy's is more integral to the plot too, and one of the few times it's not already abandoned.

I really like how well done Alec's back and forth he had with himself whether to befriend his sister or not. It's a believable character arc when he realizes his mistake at the end unlike another story that we'll get to.

And the fact they made a God damn teddy bear legitimately creepy is a mastery of horror writing that I can only ever hope to strive for. Definitely the scariest in Frights 2. 9/10

Out Of Stock:

I agree with Dawko that this one feels best to make a 30 minute special out of. It feels like a Halloween special or creepypasta you would watch/read as a preteen. Old enough to want to explore more mature stuff, but young enough to still have more cartoony stuff be familiar. And I mean that as 100% a positive.

I also like how this one is a bit more comedy based. Like the scene where the MC gets thrown across the room after electrocuting himself and his friends dont even notice. I can picture that bit so clearly.

The climax is the best part of having a dire game of Red Light, Green Light with the Plushtrap Chaser. It's very energized and exciting that the other stories don't have as often because the subject matter doesn't lend itself to it.

The trend in these stories of kids learning to appreciate their parents, and they're parents realizing they have to sacrifice some stuff to make their child happy is very sweet. And it's no different here. 8/10

1:35 AM

What I like about this series is that you never know where its gonna go from story to story. I though for certain this story was about how the doll was gonna have an evil spirit possessing it.

But no, what actually happened is that it's never made clear if the MC is losing her mind, being haunted, or just seeing stuff because she's sleep deprived. That ambiguity makes the book a lot creepier and sadder because you don't know how this poor woman should be helped. And it ends without any clarification. That's great and a perfect idea for horror story.

That being said, Scott's writing quirks (and it's definitely Scott doing it, I can tell) of front loading info, constantly stopping the flow to have backstory and over explaining things that don't need makes it frustrating to read after several books of it. And we're not done with that either. 9/10

Room For One More:

I skipped over all the dream sequences because it adds nothing to the story. Its great you remember Sister Location, but it feels like you don't trust your audience to read a FNAF story if there isn't animatronics every couple pages. And honestly? Understandable.

I do know based on my own FNAF comic, pages featuring humans is a lot less popular than the ones featuring animatronics. And I get it, you're a bunch of furries it's more interesting to visualize. And you can go in the opposite direction and have very little FNAF stuff when they're needs to be more. The New Kid doesn't even bring it up til the last third.

But I digress. The strongest qualities in Room For One More is three points.

The location is very vividly described. The underground security office with steel walls, the radiation disposals, the musky scent. It paints a clear and unique picture.

The main character's fallen arc of self care and distrust of others is a well done cautionary tale. It goes hand in hand with the speech before of having to work for happiness, and the difficulties there are from even trying. But you still need to do it.

The body horror is not as visually disgusting as it could've been, and more conceptually horrifying. But if you have a fear of bugs in your skin or crawling in your mouth, prepare for something so much worse! And no, that's not a spoiler, it's pretty obvious where its going from the beginning. 7/10

The New Kid:

This one was disappointing. This is not the way to do a tragedy, because I don't care about the MC.

Throughout the entire story, the main character has literal sociopath tendencies. He is controlling of other people, he doesn't have any empathy, he sees other people as tools to use, he kills a bird and doesn't care- So at the end when he accidentally kills someone, I don't believe him feeling bad about it. And I sure as shit don't care about his death after him leaving his victim to die, while he was still breathing, and not coming back for a week.

Also the twist at the end makes no God damn sense and I'm not even gonna dignify it.

A better tragedy would've been his friend, Mick, getting into trouble for the murder after refusing to ever stand up to the MC. Or even the MC being betrayed by him last minute for him to learn how his shit behavior really screwed him over. But the end result ended up being an unsatisfying mess. 2/10

I'll review the 4th's books with 5 and 6, since I'm sticking with a three at a time theme and because I haven't read 4 yet.

[mirkwoodshewolf]

Welcome to the Guardians kid; GOTG x teen reader

This request does have some triggers so if car accidents and loss of parents aren’t your cup of tea I WARN YOU IN ADVANCE just skip down to the keep reading link and just skip over it. Other than that being briefly mentioned throughout the oneshot and maybe the occasional swearing not really anymore warning, I hope you guys enjoy this :)

____________________________________________________

*July 7th, 2004*

I was just 7 years old at the time when it happened. At first it was just a calm summer's day with my parents, we went out to the beach for about 2 weeks every summer to visit my grandparent's. Well right now the two weeks were up and we had to head back because my dad's company wanted him back to work by Monday so we left early Saturday morning. But as we drove it started to rain and it got worse and worse as time went on.

So bad that my dad didn't see the oncoming headlights in front of us. He swerved the car but it drove us down the hill and we were stopped by a tree. I don't remember much after that because I blacked out from hitting my head against my mom's seat.

Next thing I knew I woke up to bright lights and the sound of beeping sounds. I then realized I was in the hospital with minor injuries because I was safely buckled up and right behind my mom, but unfortunately my parents weren't so lucky. They died right on impact, my dad from internal bleeding in his head and my mom well foolish woman didn't have her seatbelt on and slammed her face right through the mirror and died instantly from that. I was now the dreaded word no child should have to be labeled as.

I was an orphan.

Without thinking twice, I removed myself from the hospital bed and took off running. Doctors and security tried to stop me but I escaped them with ease and just took off running as far as I could in the storm. I don't know how far or fast I ran but I suddenly collapsed to my knees and just sobbed in my grief for who knows how long.

It was then I saw a bright light shine down on me and next thing I knew I was taken away from Earth.

*12 years later*

While the rest of the ravagers were asleep from a long night of stealing and celebrating their victory, I quietly packed up all my junk and walked towards my ship to hurry and make a break for it. Even though Yondu and the rest of the ravagers took me in and raised me like one of their own, I still don't feel like home here, nor are we even a family we just steal from others and lie to each other and talk smack about the person next to us even when they're standing right behind us.

So at 19 years old I figured enough is enough.

Just as I finished loading up my ship, I heard a faint whistle and felt an arrow to my head.

"You even think about gettin on the ship girl, and you'll regret it". I slowly raised my hands up and slowly stood up and said.

"Hey Yondu, whatcha doin stalking around the ship at night?"

"Shouldn't I be askin you that (l/n)?"

"Well how to put it nicely Yondu," quick as lightning, I disarmed Yondu and pinned him down to the ground with my gun now pointed straight to the center of his forehead. "It's been a long run, but screw you all and leave me alone!" I knocked him out by slapping him with the back of my gun and boarded my ship and took off hoping that the rest of the ravagers didn't hear the commotion between their boss and me.

Setting new coordinates to the farthest place the galaxy had to offer, I punched it and off and flew off hoping for a new life.

Somewhere far from the galaxy, I managed to smuggle myself into the population of Nowhere and worked there doing various jobs that I could get my hands on that paid top money for me to get enough money for more food, supplies, and hopefully even find another place to live.

But on that fateful day when I would meet a certain team of Guardians, it would be then that my life would change forever.

I had stepped out of my job at the local pawnshop for a quick lunch break and when I returned, I took notice of a bunch of odd people heading into the shop. A tall live tree, a raccoon, a strong guy covered in red tattoos, a slim but tough looking green woman and a man looking similar to me but wearing the same ravager garb I was wearing. Fearing that he and the rest of his gang were working secretly under Yondu, I quietly went through the back way through the store and readied my sword and gun ready to attack these intruders.

"Hello!? Hello?" I heard one of the men cry out.

"No one seems to be here Peter". The female voice said.

"Well that means more parts for us then, come on Groot help me with some of this stuff" a rough almost Brooklyn accent said. I then charged out and attacked the intruders. I managed to knock down the man wearing ravager garb, the raccoon and disarm the tree by cutting off his arms but both the woman and the big guy proved to be tougher to take down.

The big guy disarmed me and held me in a tight hold against his chest while the woman pinched a nerve on my neck and next thing I knew, I was now in darkness.

When I awoke I heard voices surrounding me.

"Did you really have to go and do that Gamora?"

"And what else was I suppose to do? Allow her to continue fighting us?"

"She's right, the kid went way out of line back there".

"I am Groot".

"You said it pal".

"Wait shh, she's waking up!" I saw the five of them standing over me but I also took notice that my arms and legs were bounded onto a bed. As I began to struggle and thrash around trying to get myself free the man in ravager clothing said to me.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa easy kid. We didn't come here to rob you of your store".

"Easy for you to say Quill". The raccoon said.

"Well almost all of us but don't mind him he's always like that".

"Why are you in those clothes?" I snapped at him.

"What? Oh you mean this, it's just a costume you know an outfit".

"Yes I know, but I know where those come from cause you see me wearing the exact same thing. Now if you take me back to Yondu I swear I will kick your ass from here to the end of the galaxy!" I threatened him.

"Oh damn Quill, kid’s got fire, I like her".

"Look we just want to know why exactly you attacked us like that?" The green woman stated.

"I already told you, I don't want to go back to them".

"And you wont. Jesus kid".

"Then why bring me into this ship?"

"Well we couldn't just leave you there back at Knowhere unconscious like that, someone could've robbed you or worse sold you off to black market. Plus we wanted to apologize in a place where there aren't that many witnesses" the man in ravager clothing stated again.I took a deep breath and said.

"Alright I'm sorry, it's just I didn't want to go back to Yondu and his crew, I already beat the crap out of him trying to escape, if I go back there he'll do worse to me that just give me a black eye again or beat me until I can't eat".

"Whoa wait a minute, you actually beat the shit out of Yondu? Wow you are pretty spunky kid, you definitely got some skill to do that". The raccoon stated proudly.

"I am Groot".

"Oh stop it you big baby! Let me have this chance to praise her for her antics!"

"I agree, she shows spirit and would make a keen ally plus she is a worthy opponent" said the big guy in red tattoos.

"I agree" said the green woman.

"Okay why don't we start off with introductions. The raccoon here is Rocket, the tree here is Groot, big muscle guy is Drax, and this green female assassin who only thinks of stab, stab, stabbing is Gamora. And I'm—"

"Peter Quill, otherwise critically self-claimed the famous Star Lord, yeah I know who you are, Yondu talked about you a lot, said in a way I'm like you, I'm (y/n) by the way" I said. Peter then loosened the bonds and said as I rubbed my wrists trying to wake them up.

"So, in what ways does he say we're alike?"

"Well we're both from Terra aka Earth. He picked me up when I was just 7 years old. I ran from the hospital shortly after waking up from a car accident. My parents and I visit my grandparents' beach house every summer for 2 weeks, but as we came back we were driving through a terrible storm, the rain was pouring so hard and so bad that my dad barely saw the headlights coming towards us. We went off the edge and hit a tree, I managed to make it with minor scratches but my parent—they both died. My dad instantly from internal bleeding, and my mom died with her face through the windshield, they tried to save her since she was still barely alive but they failed. Heartbroken I ran and next thing I knew, I was taken onboard the ravagers ship with Yondu and his men, just like you Quill. Now 12 years later after having enough of their crap, I wanted to make something better of myself. Hopefully find myself a new life, a new home. Hoping that I can belong somewhere, stupid I know right?"

Everyone remained silent at my sad tale but it was then Peter said.

"Well it seems your wish has finally come true".

"Huh?"

"Tell me this (y/n), how would you like to be apart of the Guardians of the Galaxy?" I turned to the others seeing them smile softly with acceptance in their eyes then turned to Peter and said.

"Are you serious?" Peter nodded then I turned to the other Guardians and Gamora said as she came up to me.

"You definitely got some skill as a warrior, Drax and I wouldn't mind helping you train to become more agile and stronger on your next battle". Drax nodded in agreement then Rocket said.

"And from the craftsman work I've seen on your weapons I assume they weren't made by just anyone right?"

"Yeah, some of my own designs I was trying out" I admitted sheepishly.

"Well I could always use a helping hand in building some new big guns".

"Rocket you're not gonna blow up any moons or planets, not after last time" Gamora said.

"God you just wanna suck the joy out of everything Gamora".

"I am Groot".

"Hey that honestly was an accident! That planet wasn't even my preferred target!"

"I am Groot" Groot said to me.

"He said to you that he's in with you joining the team".

I then turned to Peter who said.

"So what do you say? Wanna join the team and save the world as well as cause some trouble?" As I looked at them I began to feel that feeling that I thought I had lost the day I lose my parents. The feeling of finally belonging somewhere, the feeling of being accepted for who I am.

The feeling of having a family again.

I smirked and said.

"When do we start?"

[franeridart]

I'm so glad Kirishima is getting so much spotlight, he really deserves it!!!! And it looks like hes gonna get more, since hes in the main group along with Deku, Uraraka and Tsuyu. I;m so hyped!!!

Honestly!!!!!!!!!!! That’s one interesting group tbh, Kirishima and Tsuyu’s interactions are always incredibly adorable to watch and seeing Kirishima interact for so long with pure and good people is gonna be hard on my heart (I mean, you know I’m 100% a bakusquad fan but they’re all at least in part assholes and Kiri fits with them just right, he can be just like Sero and Kaminari and I love it, but then his interactions with Amajiki have been so pure can you imagine an arc filled with that I’m already crying)

I just hope my other faves won’t completely disappear through this arc haha sigh

Anon said: So which Kacchan quote do you like best "Die your bacteria fucks, dieee!" or "BRING YOUR DAMN TRASH TO ME"?

LMAO SORRY ANON BUT MY FAVE GOTTA BE

WHAT A GODDAMN DISASTER THIS BOY IS

Anon said:there's a terushima week. thought i might tell you bc i miss you drawing him ;3; might wanna join? :3

Anon said:Terushima week is this next week! (@terushimaweek) Might we maaaybe see some cute lil bokuroterus sometime soon? ;)

As I’ve already said, sadly I’ve found out about this too late to be part of it - I’m not completely ruling out the possibility of doodling something one of the days, but I didn’t have the time to plan anything and I’m still in the middle of working things through with the bakushima week and bakugou’s birthday so I don’t know - they 19th is Teru’s birthday so maybe I’ll draw something for it, but it’s also a super busy day for me so it really depends on how soon I’ll be able to finish everything else I’m working on orz I’m sorry guys I seriously had no clue about this till, like, five days ago o

Anon said: What are your thoughts on KiriDeku b/c I'm not even that into it but as soon as I saw art I was like "OMFG I DIDN'T KNOW ANYTHING SO PURE CHOULD EVER EXIST!!!" My following thought was that'd you may have something interesting to say (as you always do, I luv it), so here I am 😁 Also, I love the blog, your amazing art, and you!! I truly appreciate all you do ❤️❤️

Awwww thank you!!! And I dunno, as things are now my opinion on a possible ship might change soon enough because it looks like their interactions amount is about to skyrocket, so anything I say right now is just a temporary answer? But generally I find their friendship incredibly adorable, though as of now I don’t think I can see anything romantic between the two... mostly because even though I’ve seen them being friendly and supportive of each other I don’t think I’ve ever seen them actually connect over anything that wasn’t Bakugou?? Being friendly and supportive is just how they both are with everyone, before I can say I ship them I’m gonna need something more singular to their relationship

I might be totally biased here considering where my main shipping lies, though haha

Anon said:HOSHIHINA!!!! YESSSSS!!!! PLEASE!!!!!! I think this is like.... my new OTP or well... a new OTP that I will gratefully put on the shelf next to all my other children in love!! oh yeah and THANK YOU for introducing me to both BNHA and d grey man! I'M IN LOVE!!! oH and YOUR ART IS AMAZING!!! KEEP IT UP!! I WILL GRATEFULLY SWALLOW UP ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING YOU POST IT'S AMAZING!!! YOUR OC'S TOO!!! Have a nice day!!

So much!!! HYPE in this ask!!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!! Oh my gosh!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much for EVERYTHING anon I hope you’ll have the best day!!!!!! *O* And I’m SUPER GLAD you gave dgm and bnha a try!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anon said:Aww the kiss. I know you posted it the other day, but it wouldn't load on my tablet. They're so cute, those two. 💜✌

*lays down forever* they are aren’t they those pure idiots !!!!

Anon said:I'm laughing so hard. Literally everyone that read the new chapter was like expectation vs reality. I love my idiots. Also yas to HoshiHina

HoshiHina is an A+ ship with A+ potential and I think I’m being slowly but surely swallowed by it - then again, what Hinata ship don’t I ship even ??? the mysteries

Anon said:To answer you question on what cheese sticks are, they're this disgusting processed cheese stick, also known as string cheese, and it's p much what it is, cheese in the form of a small stick that you can pull apart into strings and eat like that! (as you may have noticed, I'm not a fan hah) ((I don't know if you know the artist mookie, but she made a comic about bokuto eating a cheesestick whole before)

Anon said: cheese sticks = string cheese? D: they are delicious i promise

I’m seeing conflicting reports here (lol) but yes this might be a problem for me only because as I said I’m Italian but what I’m failing to see here is what kind of cheese are these things supposed to be ???

Anon said:Are you into Kuroken?

Only as very good friends, I don’t ship it romantically at all

Anon said:I love your bakushimas, SO SO SO MUCH. God, and with the latest chapter, I just can't wait for more interactions with them. God, seeing as I think Kirishima was filmed by the people that were there, I want to see Bakugou's reaction to his new move.

This took me long enough to answer that we now know Baku’s reaction was total and utter envy at how popular Kiri is LMAO - but yeah I still think Baku already knew about Kiri’s new move! After all he most probably came up with it as they trained for the license exam and I can’t believe he wouldn’t test it against Bakugou to make sure he actually turns unbreakable? Also proud-of-himself Kiri yelling at the squad to check out his new move is too much of a good image I can’t let that one go hahaha

Anon said:I started following you for Haikyuu but started boku no hero academia in order to understand what your other drawings were so I thank you (and blame you) for getting me hooked on another anime and manga :)

I’m!!!!!! HAPPY you ended up liking it???!!!! *O*

Anon said:I just wanted to tell you that you're my most fave artist here in tumblr istg i go to your page everyday just to go back at the fanart you drew if you didn't have any new, but when u have, my heart just swells and i fuss over it. God bless you because you opened my eyes for bakushimanari when i was just kiribaku back then.. God i love denki sfm right now bc of you, im sad bkk week is over though ahh and laven. Jfc i love your laven pls draw them more if u can 😘 i hope you'll have a great day!!

Don’t!!!! worry anon Laven has been my #1 otp since I was sixteen at this point it’s just not gonna leave me ever, I’ll definitely draw more of it in the future! And thank you??? so much?????? Oh man!!!!!

Anon said:Everyone in class 1-A: *trains as if they're gonna be in a battle royal and need to (literally) slaughter the competition* Competition: OBSTACLE RACE YAY

Well, the anime did change the training scenes a lot lol but LMAO anon they’re highschoolers what were you expecting hahahahaha it’s already savage enough as it is, I assure you lol

Anon said:Hi hello yes are you up for some angsty stuff because my brain turns even the sweetest moment to that, like what if kaminari saw bakushima's first kiss and he becomes so sad b/c he crushes on them both but he pretends not to and starts teasing 'em like a true bro while hiding his feelings and idk it's only if you want but yeah, how's your day been?

..........I would lie if I said I didn’t think about this while drawing that kiss R I P my multishipper heart is gonna kill me BUT IT’S OKAY I’m not one for unhappy endings so consider this - Denki sees them kiss, since he’s best bro and both Kirishima and Bakugou tend to wear their hearts on their sleeves he already knew this was gonna happen so he’s like, sad but resigned it hurts and he wishes he didn’t have to see it but he loves them both so much that he can’t help but being happy for how happy they are at the same time too (sure, being part of that happiness would be a dream coming true, but he’s used to never coming first he can deal with this hahahahaha r i p)

Meanwhile a bit after the kiss once Kiri is a hundred per cent sure Bakugou isn’t going to explode his head off if he mentions his very huge crush on Kaminari he does and Bakugou’s like, shit, it’s not like he’d mind it because Kaminari is, well, he’s Kaminari and Bakugou isn’t sure why but he’s comfortable to be around and easy to talk to and he’s stupidly pretty and like, yeah, okay, he might be into him too, maybe, he isn’t admitting anything here (not like he needs to, as stated already he’s pretty easy to read), but Kaminari’s also the no homo type of het so it’s not like they can do much about this threeway crush or whatever, and Kirishima’s like sure, I know, I just wanted to be open about this to avoid trouble, which is very sensible and will cut us on a lot of miscommunication angst this is getting out of hand let’s skip ahead I always forget how much fun I have writing this kind of bullshit

For however much Kaminari swore he could deal with it and how much he’s actually managing to deal with it he’s also the same brand of open book Baku and Kiri are and while it was easy to act like friends with no romantic feelings when everyone was doing the same, trying to hide from Bakugou and Kirishima while they’re openly in a relationship turns out to be more or less impossible, mostly because he can’t seem to avoid the longing stares and sad smiles and the I have to go I just remembered I have a thing to do bye’s when it becomes too much, and Kirishima might not be the brightest but he’s perfectly in tune with everyone’s feelings and Bakugou might stomp on people’s feelings more often than not but he is the brightest which means they notice and they’re like god fucking damn it - Bakugou in nature isn’t one to talk about problems until they burst out in fits of anger, but thank god he’s got Kirishima right there and they might not be 100% sure they got the reason for Kaminari’s weirdness right but they’re exasperated and they at least want their friend to stop being weird and avoiding them, they miss him (and Kaminari seriously misses them too he feels so stupid for how big of a deal he’s turning this into) SO they corner him and talk it out cause I’m a slut for open and honest communication and Kaminari straight out starts crying from happiness and relief before they’re even done talking and Kirishima starts crying right after him because sympathetic crier supreme and Bakugou’s like you know what I changed my mind fuck both of you emotional disasters I’m out

(spoiler he isn’t really)

[abd-illustrates]

Dear Rabbit: I Know I'm A Wolf (Part 81)

(Submitted by @pharoahsthrone)

Surprise! I got a lot of writing done today :D

Sometimes when I’m trying to think up certain scenes and how people will say stuff I’ll go searching for those voice cannon posts of Nea and Gray and that version of Hallelujah is so good I suddenly have an urge to find a way to get Gray to sing/play guitar…but that probably wouldn’t fit so it can stay in my imagination haha 

Enjoy part 81!

-

Jenna sat on her designated tree branch as she watched the two figures walking around the side of the main building. Things hadn’t gotten overly exciting yet – though she reminded herself that was a good thing – but that didn’t mean shit wasn’t going to hit the fan as soon as RGNT were inside. They had to keep their guard up.

“Fuck,” Jasper swore through the coms, and Jenn swung her head in the direction of the road, although she couldn’t see it through the trees.

“What? You see someone Jas?” she asked.

“No,” he answered quickly. “Just, thought of something.” Jenna relaxed again, shaking her head. Thank god the kid’s weapon didn’t have a trigger on it.

“Don’t remember asking you to think.” Nigel chimed in,“Keep your eyes on the road, kiddo.”

Jenna chuckled to herself as she turned back to the building, and her ears shot up when she saw something. “Neamhni, River, I see movement,” she warned.

“Where?”

“How many?”

Jen stood up to try and estimate, “Half a dozen, just came around the back of the building, they’re coming up behind those red containers ahead of you.”

“Can you see their weapons? Anything long range?” River asked.

“No big guns from what I can see, I’d guess probably just pistols and blades, but still be cautious.”

“Will do.”

As Jenna’s eyes watched the two small figures approach the enemies they couldn’t see yet, more voices filled the coms.

“Gray, you’re about to have more company,” Duos warned.

“Really, again?!” The man sounded annoyed.

“Is it the same as what Jenna just saw?” Tarragon asked.

“Seems identical,” Teres said.“About half a dozen just ran around the corner, I can’t see any huge weapons. They just passed the tower you can see up ahead.”

“Who the hell are all these people?”Neamhni’s voice sounded through the coms, out of breath. He and River had just spotted their new enemies by the looks of it, and Jenna found herself sitting on the edge of the branch trying to watch.

She jumped when Jasper’s voice came through the coms again. “Ah, shit!”

“What is it, Jas?” Teres asked.

“Someone’s coming, what do I do?”he asked.

“Have they seen you? Do they have weapons?”Nigel enquired. His time in Atlus had come in handy for them quite a few times, and Jenna could tell he was in military mode right now. She crouched up on the branch, both watching and listening intently.

“I don’t know, and I can only see some blades on their back. Swords maybe?”

It was then that Jenna made a decision, as she swung down from the tree and began to run. “Stay hidden Jas, I’m coming.”

“What about your post?”Nigel asked, obviously annoyed at her impulsive move.

Darting through the trees, she spoke again, “Neamhni, River, are you guys good?”

“Yeah, we’re good,”Neamhni huffed, in the middle of combat.

“Good. I’ll be there in a sec, Jas.”

-

CLANG.

The momentum of Gray’s fist had been halted by a blade, and he quickly twisted his wrist around, catching the dagger between his claws and wrenching it towards him. Unwilling to let go of their last weapon, his opponent stumbled forwards with it, and he flew his elbow up into their jaw. He heard their teeth clack together, and grinned as he stepped forwards, ducking a dagger that had been thrown at him from elsewhere, before hooking his foot around an ankle and knocking them right off of their feet.

The sound of their head hitting the pavement was proof enough that they wouldn’t bother him again, and he turned just as one of Gum’s appendages threw another one towards him. He was too temped to just sink his claws straight through their ribcage, so he retracted them, and settled for a coat-hanger instead. Just as they hit the ground, he heard a clang behind him as Tarragon engaged with someone who’d been coming for him.

He hadn’t fought with RGNT for very long, but he was noticing more and more just how well they fought as a team, even with him. They were a solid, working unit, and it was brilliant to watch. Where the Hellhounds could fight together well thanks to familiarity, this was obviously built on years of training, thus why they had adapted to fighting with him so easily. It was why he had no doubts that Neamhni was alright, as he had River with him, and he’d seen those two fight together before – they were a near unstoppable duo.

He had a grin on his face as he turned to face his next opponent, but Tarragon jumped in front of him.

“They’re trying to buy time,” she said. “You go ahead, we’ll deal with these guys and catch up.”

Gray watched Gum go toe to toe with someone much bigger than her, “Are you sure?”

“Sure as ever, now hurry up!” She demanded. Gray didn’t need to hear that twice. He took off down the side of the building, searching for an entrance as the commotion continued on behind him. It was just as he spotted a small door that he wondered why one of the attackers had looked familiar.

“Have any of you guys noticed the tattoos on their necks?”River’s voice asked through the coms.

Tattoos?

Gray was close to the door, and he picked up his pace before any more adversaries showed up. What kind of group with matching tattoos would be assisting Nihil in a place like this?

It was as he swung the door open that it began to dawn on him, and his thoughts were confirmed when he entered the building and he was met with a wall of mirrors.

Viscera.

-

Neamhni had just knocked a dagger out of someone’s hand when some dust was fired at him. He’d only had time to look to his right in surprise before his current opponent shoved him and dived out of the way. All he could do as the round exploded in front of him was throw his arms up to cover his face, and the force of it made him stumble into a container. Before the smoke had even cleared though, he was loading a round into Umbra Bolt.

“Two can play at that game,” he muttered, before shooting some ice dust and freezing the dagger that had been poised to throw at him.

“They’re trying to buy time by engaging us out here,”Tarragon said through the coms. “Don’t let them distract you.”

The frozen dagger then came hurtling towards him, and Neamhni shot an arrow at it, sending it straight for another of their foe. The container rocked then, and he looked over to see that River had thrown someone into it. “You heard her, go on,” he said, waving a hand at the faunus, before turning to face the others.

River began firing dust rounds at the few enemies left as Neamhni stood up behind him. “And you?”

“I’ll hold them off, now get your ass inside!”

Neamhni took one look at the rest of their enemies, before nodding and taking off. There had to be plenty of entrances and exits to this place, and his optimism was rewarded when he spotted a door.

Perfect. “Guys,” he said through the coms, “I’m going in.”

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(Also I really really hope things start to get better for you, sending lots of positive vibes your way~)