#pitc black

[lumin0usfox]

I forgot to post this here, I forgot to post this h e r e

Doing it now, before my brain forgets a g a i n

idea by: @fosermi

art by: your local fox gremlin that lives under a k n o l l

[viewfromgumlog]

Blog 2: Chinese Medicine, Its Complexity, and Me

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.

Albert Einstein

A view from our front porch:

Trying to change my perspective and eating patterns to follow Traditional Chinese medicine’s (TCM's) recommendations has proven to be difficult. I consulted several sources. When I got down to specifics, like what to specifically eat or not eat, not all the sources agreed.

My husband hates change. He eats differently than I do already, but I do the shopping and cook our main meal. However, he always cautions me about making too many changes too quickly. After being married almost 36 years, he does know me fairly well! So . . .

Easy Does It

and

Keep It Simple

Chinese Medicine Simplified

Chinese medicine’s complexity far exceeds the limitations of this blog, but I will try and provide a simplified overview of it.

From the perspective of Chinese medicine, everything is interdependent and comes from the flow of qi, or energy. To be healthy, we must keep a dynamic state of balance in our bodies, living in harmony with ourselves, others, and all of nature. 

The familiar tajii, or Yang/Yin symbol, illustrates this dynamic balance. Yang energy, the white area, motivates, energizes, and embodies qi. Yin energy, the black area, cools, moistens, nourishes, and anchors our shen, or spirit. These intertwined energies are found in every living thing.

Food is medicine.

Food is not just something with calories, vitamins, minerals, protein, carbs, and fat content. Every food has a thermal energy, the qi of food, that affects our internal balance of yin and yang. All food is categorized according to its thermal energy which can range from cold to hot. Warming foods have a yang action while cooling foods are yin acting. Yang foods cause ascending energy while Yin foods cause descending energy.

Chinese medicine also considers a food’s flavor as therapeutic. Sweet and pungent foods have a yang action. Salty, sour, and bitter foods bring about yin energy. Foods can be drying, lubricating, neutral, or strengthening. 

Learning More About TCM and Foods

I consulted three books about food and TCM.

The first book I consulted was Total Health the Chinese Way: An Essential Guide to Eating by Esther Tin and Marian Jas. She has a nice table of foods organized by their thermal properties and another table matching the thermal properties to symptoms. Its simplicity makes it handy to look at when menu planning and grocery shopping. They also have included a questionnaire to determine your body temperature and energy level. I was somewhat confused by my results since I have symptoms in several areas. (More on this in my next blog.) In my opinion, this book ranks the highest for ease of understanding.

For extensive descriptions of foods and their properties and much more information on TCM, Paul Pitchford has written over 600 pages of information. I ended up using the index to figure out what would work for me since reading everything was overwhelming. If I want to know the properties of a food and what it is recommended for, this book tops all others. The PINES library system has this book, but after reading parts of it, I ordered a copy for myself. This books does not use the motto, "Easy Does It," but it did help me clarify the direction I need to take to heal my infirmities. I checked out my conclusion with my acupuncturist at my first visit. She confirmed that my conclusion was right.

Goldsmith and Klein also write about TCM so anyone can understand it. I bought the book for the recipes but she uses many Chinese ingredients that are not available in rural northeast Georgia. Plus, her recipes are somewhat complicated. I use the motto "Keep it simple" in the kitchen!

To find out how I applied this to my health challenges, be sure and read my next blog.

Book References with links to them on Amazon:

Goldsmith, Ellen and Maya Klein. Nutritional Healing with Chinese Medicine.  Robert Rose, 2017.

Pitchford, Paul. Healing with Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition. North Atlantic Books, 2002.

Ting, Esther and Marianne Jas. Total Health the Chinese Way: An Essential Guide to Easing Pain, Reducing Stress, Treating Illness, and Restoring the Body through. DaCapo Lifelong Books, 2009.

[that1notetaker]

The Boogieman? Who?

[ierotits]

if im estimating this movie to be set somewhere in the end of the 1st half of the 18th century.....more than half of the population should be black....and yet I've seen a grand total of 2 black characters in the background 25 mins in......I get not wanting all the black characters to be slaves, absolutely not great representation....but its almost worse just not having them. its a blatantly inaccurate representation of history. i mean, surely theres at least some reference to the thousands of maroons who had societies there at the time????

[thesleeplessdream]

Part 2.

[sitchski]

eddie being a great little aftercare giver 🤌🏽 (and also having an expertise at teasing)

dom!eddie?, black!fem reader, fluff, aftercare, smut (clit stimulation, teasing)

author’s note: fluff eddie is now my shit sorry folks. i also don’t really like how i ended this but ykw it’s fine we moveeee

you finally came up for air after your kiss. all the want, consideration and love put into it. his forehead had little beads of sweat dotted across it while his hair was wilder than its normal state. but you couldn’t replace it.

a demon that had taken his horns off for you was in a dreamy haze after letting the angel beside wear them for the night.

“mmm,” he smiled, gazing at your face, “you’re so pretty.”

“you meant that?” you questioned, faking your shock, “i thought that was y’know- just for the hour or so your dick was inside me.”

“it was actually for right now. i figured if i tell you it enough times, you’ll let me spent the night,” he grinned sadistically, adding to the joke that there was no relationship or feelings between the two of you.

you gawked at him, your eyes even widening a tad. “fuck you!” you exclaimed but he just laughed. he leeched onto you, burying his head in the crook of your neck as he chortled at you.

“you ask for honesty,” he started then moved his head so you could be eye level with eachother, “i give it to you.”

“i hate you,” you taunt but fail to hide your grin since his beautiful face was so close to yours. you expected him to match your energy and say it back, only he doesn’t.

“and i’m obsessed with you.”

words couldn’t be formed as the erratic, chaotic and hearty feeling in your belly possessed you to do nothing other than sit and gawk at his words. he was good at that.

he sent a quick kiss to your lips before getting up from the bed. as he tried to get his boxers on, your eyes were glued to his ass, struggling to not let out a giggle.

“stop staring at my ass, y/n,” he called out. “but i can’t help it. it’s so cute, like i could hold it in one hand,” you cooed jokingly and pouted at him.

his face when he finally turned around was something to giggle at you. you wanted to get up and follow him but he lightly grabbed you by your waist to stop you.

“mm-mm, honey. i need to clean you up,” he pressed a kiss to your forehead and walked to the bathroom.

once he left, you decided to pick up the book that you had been reading before he decided to come over. you rolled onto your stomach, picking out the bookmark and getting to reading.

it was a collection of poems by edgar allan poe, one of your favourites. so much so that when you were reading while eddie played his guitar and not focusing fully on him, he liked to change the poe to poo since he was soooo funny.

although he did secretly admire your love for poetry and prose. not to mention your ability to apply some of them to your relationship, reading some of them directly to him.

your eyes only averted for a second when the sound of a door opening distracted you. eddie stopped in his tracks as he breathlessly laughed at you reading. he so desperately wanted to take a picture but you probably would’ve broken the camera.

“y/n. y/n, lay on your back for me,” he softly ordered. you didn’t even look at him as you turned the page to reveal the next poem.

“yeah… after this poem…” you told him but he rolled his eyes. kneeling on the messy bedsheets, he reached for you. “you can read your edgar allan poo poems after. or even during! just- just lay on your back.”

“no. you called him edgar allan poo.”

he stayed stunned for a moment but then shrugged at you, knowing that since you weren’t going to cooperate he’d have to get you to turn around himself.

“fine.”

first, he snatched the book out of your hand (don’t worry, he still took the moment to put the bookmark in at the correct page). then, as if you weighed nothing but a feather, he grabbed by your waist and picked you up and out the sheets to lay you down on your back.

“i- rude.”

“rude,” he mocked you in a high pitched voice, “sometimes you need to shut up and let me take care of you,” he mumbled back and spread your thighs open.

a damp washcloth was in his hand, which soon after began to wipe at your inner thighs. it was a pleasurable warmth. a little too pleasurable to feel the normal kind of nice. especially since eddie would give the occasional kiss afterwards. or even worse for you, sink his teeth into your skin.

“eddie… that kinda feels…” you weren’t hoping to get particular excited over this; it was just him taking care of you. but you thought the care was as mild as a tissue to your thighs and a kiss.

so the warmth stinging at your thighs and the tender bites eddie sunk into your flesh had your mind outside of the wholesomeness and right back to the place you guys were at around 10 minutes ago.

you looked down at him when you realised he’d stopped. your right leg had been bent up and spread to the side, as he rested his cheek against the thigh of that leg. he was gazing at your entrance, specifically, the wetness that had accumulated in your folds.

with a blink, he looked up at you. his brown doe eyes resembled those of puppy dogs. mind you, there was not a single innocent thought behind them. maybe pleading, but never innocent pleading.

“eddie,” you huffed. you knew exactly what he was doing looking at you like that, you knew what he wanted and what he was trying to get from you.

“baby,” he said back. the attention was now back on your body, sloppily kissing down your line which created a snail trail of his saliva cascaded to your inner thigh.

your heart began to beat faster the closer you got. your breathing was a testimony to that; diaphragm rising and falling at a rapid rate. hovering right over your core, he blew his cold air onto your core.

he smiled at the way you shivered. also, at how fed up you looked with his teasing. but he liked getting a rise out of you so he let it happen.

“i don’t know what you’re trying to do but…” you trailed off as you indulged in the feeling of his warm tongue sucking on the skin of your thigh.

“…you- you need to stop.”

“why? you won’t let me take care of you? ” he asked innocently. right after he did, his thumb reached over to your bud, circling it slowly. you exhale instead of speaking, since your mind was now completely blank.

“eddie.”

your voice was lilted, humming delicately at his delicate attention to your clit. however it changed, and so did the tempo of your voice. you hummed sharply and breathed rapidly. he circled your bud fast, seemingly enjoying the way your mind was now scrambled having just come to a set of peace.

the gratifying heat of the warm washcloth going over your clit, then your slit now accumulating wetness more and more made you let out an impulsive moan. you were now officially frustrated. whether it was at him, or at the fact that this whole aftercare thing was much too stimulating for you, you had no clue.

your thighs squirmed at his touch, as everything was teased at you. within seconds, you were face to face. you gave him a look — one that wondered how on earth he could just do that wizardry so calmly

“what? i thought i should probably stop like you told me too,” he teasingly said. your eyes rolled and your turned your head away to no longer look at him.

chuckling at you, he grabbed the book you were previously reading and handed it to you.

“now you can read your edgar allan poo poem—”

“you’re the most annoying person alive. i hate you,” you confessed (even though you both knew it was false). he attacked your cheeks with little kisses, some trailing down to the neck since you still wouldn’t look at himself.

“and i’m obsessed with you.”

[mlboracle]

[libraryofsports]

[andraxicated]

Haikyuu boys as the zodiacs and how you find out

Pairings: Kenma, Sakusa, Bokuto, Iwaizumi, Tsukishima, Osamu x f!reader

Synopsis: In a school with a renowned reputation for volleyball, there might be little (or not so little) secrets that some of the star athletes have been hiding.

Tags: fruits basket! au (total zodiacs are 13)

a/n: wow writing for haikyuu is a workout. happy valentines! sorry for typos and errors

Kenma

of course it's cat kenma, who else would it be?

cat kenma! who is a very chill and laidback person with eyes that seem to not be interested in anything except for video games...and volleyball?

gets flocked by stray cats during classes

smells like them too which you don't dare say to him

has agile reflexes that's shown in volleyball and has good critical thinking skills

"He's like a cat??" Well he is.

how you find out:

Coming home late from school, you spot a pair of glowing eyes on the dim street that made you stop. Upon closer inspection, it's just a cat with black and yellow spots that seem to burn holes into you.

"Hey, you look like Kenma" You comment on the cat's color that reminds you of your schoolmate. The cat's fur rises and obviously tenses as if bothered. It seemed to understand you and you laugh as you scratched the small forehead with your index finger.

"Why do you seem offended? Kenma's a cutie." You confess to the cat and the cat meows in return. You're done petting the cat and were about to close the gate until the cat meows loudly as if prompting you to let it in.

"Sorry little bud, stray cats not allowed inside." You apologize but the cat hisses and claws the gate. Having a soft spot for animals, you quietly took in your new pet and let it down in the living room. No one was home so you can clean the floor after.

The cat moved towards your sibling's console and clawed at the gaming equipment, you see this and shriek a little, immediately taking away the feline.

That night, you do everything with the cat until bedtime and officially took it in as a pet. You place a rag on the floor, instructing the cat that it will sleep there to which it obviously refuses but soon bends with a meow.

Sunlight peeks through the window and you roll over to see a familiar head sleeping on the floor...and naked! Your body jolts awake and a loud gasp escapes your lips.

"So noisy" Kenma complains but soon stands up, covers his exposed buttocks, and you two look at each other in confusion and shock.

Your mother knocks at the door and you feel your heart drop. "(y/n)! Get up! You rude girl you let our guest sleep on a tiny piece of mat! get up now!" Your mother's early screams do not register except for the guest part.

"What guest?" You ask in bewilderment at Kenma to which his cheeks flush pink and do not answer.

Sakusa

neat freak Sakusa is unfortunate to be born as this animal and he avoids transforming at any cost

rat Sakusa! who gets teased by his fellow zodiacs if he ever went in the nooks and crannies with his 'friends'

despises his entire being and releases steam through volleyball

poor rats they are all scared of him :((

you always see him covered with his mask coming in and out of the comfort room to wash his hands

you'd probably never see him near something dirty until...

how you find out:

You enter one of the classrooms to inspect after class then noticed that you stepped on something beneath your shoe. A large dirt mark imprints on a familiar mask and you hurriedly took off your foot and picked up the string of the mask.

It's Sakusa's! How would you know? Well, it's not like you don't stare at his face.

The fallen mask discarded on the floor seems really suspicious, especially since everyone knows Sakusa only takes off the mask during meals.

The first thought that came to mind was that he was kidnapped. But he's built of muscle, he could very well choke someone who attacks him. You place the mask on a table and wander around the classroom looking for clues.

You're nearing the corner of the room when you heard an aggressive high pitched squeak below you. Your startled body jumped and a shriek came out of your throat in surprise to see a mouse standing up, looking menacingly at you as if you wounded it.

It's just a mouse and you shoo it away with a broom to which it quickly ran away to another corner. "Go away or I'll sweep you up." You threaten the creature and its ears perked up and ran away.

You laugh at the mouse as it turned to you once more before going its way, why the hell did you find such a creature cute? They're like a rip-off of hamsters.

The next day, you approach Sakusa with a bottle of water at hand, acting as his team's manager. He looks at you with an unreadable expression but from studying his facial expressions you knew he was irritated.

"Oh by the way, I saw your mask that you regularly wear on the floor yesterday. I stepped on it...but I bought you some new ones!" You hand him a paper bag and he just took it with a thanks while not looking at you.

The unusual treatment continued for days until you finally got enough of it and decided to confront him. "Why are you being so mean to me? I did not do anything wrong!"

"Yeah, it's not like you tried to kill me with your foot." He replies coolly, looking down at your small figure.

"When was that? I didn't do anything to you!"

"You even threatened to sweep me off!" Sakusa bursts out from your denials that the fact slipped off his tongue. You're more than confused but the connections show themselves.

"A-are you the rat?" You ask in a small voice barely a whisper with a hand on your mouth.

"That's really offensive." He clicks his tongue and sighs. "Wait for me in the afternoon, let's talk about this and keep your mouth shut." Sakusa points at you and walks away. It's not like he took this chance to get close with you.

Bokuto

bokuto who is very hyper and always giving high-fives along the hallway

especially to you who's his favorite student in the whole school!

ox bokuto! or cow or whatever he is, loves his existence and accepts that he was born with the curse

do not give feed him beef or else he won't talk to you forever

his laugh will start off with "mooHAHHAHA" getting to incorporate his 'cowness' to his humanity

bokuto really accepts himself but when he tried to hug you after a winning game, he suddenly stopped and just patted your back awkwardly

that was the day he wished that the curse would lift

how you find out:

"(y/n)!" You turn around to see Bokuto jogging towards you while waving his hand. The hallways were empty and Bokuto took the chance to talk with you.

His hair is definitely eye-catching so you can't help but chuckle seeing the top of his head bounce. He finally caught up to you and laughed while catching his breath to which you ask him to take his time. The close proximity makes your heart beat wildly; also taking a deep breath to calm down.

Bokuto cleared his throat and handed you some papers that came out of his bag, you can't help but feel disappointed. What were you expecting? The suspense of him catching his breath was all for nothing after all.

The papers were files from a fellow student council member that's classmates with Bokuto. You can't help but sigh at the tiny annoyance upon seeing the late submission. "Thank you for delivering these files, they are important." You bow to Bokuto and were about to leave until he pulled you back with a somber expression.

You were about to question him but the loud "(y/nnn)!" coming from the hallways startles you both and ruins the moment. The voice was from an annoying student council member and you feel a headache forming. Bokuto turns his head to look at the guy who's running fast towards you and looks back to you who's holding your head down.

"(y/n)? what's wrong?" Bokuto asks with a quiet voice, gently touching the side of your face; your heart beats wildly, your head feeling lightheaded so you shook your head and tell him it's fine. Totally not fine at all.

The guy runs and crashes onto Bokuto's back to which he stumbles down with his butt in the air. The impact causes Bokuto to crash into you and you crashing to the floor like dominos. He wraps his arms around your head and body to not let you fall on the floor and in turn...he transforms.

A puff of smoke engulfs the area and you hear a loud "moo" just below your ear which made you scramble away from the loud noise. Why did it feel like you landed on a pillow instead of the hard floor? You use your hand to dissipate the smoke and you scream at the cow who's laying its back on the floor and stomach exposed.

It seems to be struggling to go back up by wiggling its four legs. But where is Bokuto? Why did a freaking cow just appeared in a school in the middle of the city??

Your questions are answered when you saw a tuft of upward black and white hair that belongs on a certain someone on the cow's head. To say you're terrified is an understatement, you're in extreme horror. The student council member puts back on his glasses, blinking his eyes.

"Are you okay?" You ask him and he nods.

"Yeah I'm fine—" His gaze falls upon the cow who was still thrashing its legs and the he turns pale white like paper. You look over to the cow too and it finally rolled to its side and stood up with ease...like a human.

The guy beside you screams in horror as the cow's head turns to both of you slowly and its blank eyes staring right into your soul. Right then, the cow charges forward to both of you and the guy's screams get louder until the cow nudges its head to him and knocks the poor human out.

You clasp your hand to your mouth in horror at the sight and shaky eyes face the cow's dark ones. It can't be...it can't be, it's impossible. You gulp loudly and touch the tuft of hair on the cow and the animal's eyes curve up in response to your touch.

"Bokuto?" you whisper and the cow replies with a "moo!"

"What the hell is happening?!" Akaashi comes out of a nearby classroom, face scrunched in annoyance only for his expression to fall upon seeing you, a cow, and a knocked-out student.

Iwaizumi

tiger Iwaizumi! who moves fiercely in the court, has a fierce expression in his face like a tiger. A tiger that preys on weaker opponents

of course that's just in the court! he's all a softie for you

Iwaizumi who carries your belongings, comes to you if you need help and other silly little things that makes your heart flutter

would your heart still flutter if he told you he hurt someone and that person bled out so much?

from that incident, he's now much more careful when he transforms, and he doesn't want to see you like that, it's his worst nightmare

how you find out:

The team is divided after a fight, the finals are coming, there are still unfinished school works; everything weighs down on Iwaizumi's shoulders and he can't help but feel stressed. The zodiacs should avoid stress but honestly, who can avoid it?

He comes out of the school only to find out it's heavily raining and he has no umbrella. Iwaizumi closes his eyes, trying so hard not to curse this day but unfortunately, he feels this weird sensation and whispers "fuck".

He hurriedly runs to the side building and there he transforms into a big wet tiger with an annoyed expression. Iwaizumi curses at the stress he's currently feeling only for an animalistic growl to come out of his mouth, surprising him too. He has to hide now but where should he hide? A bright-colored animal like him sticks out in the gray area, his footsteps would mark the ground, then someone would call the animal control and get him captured.

His phone is probably now wet and he can't use it in animal form. He's doomed so he lets out a loud growl of annoyance on this fucked up day.

As if it's destiny, you took the side-building path since the main paths to the gates were packed with stranded students. A red umbrella on your head, eyes focused on the ground, body shivering from the cold rain. Iwaizumi senses an incoming person and his heart pounds so loud because of nervousness. He stands up with a defensive stance, not to attack but to run away. The last time he fought back, it didn't end well with his hands dirtied.

His nose suddenly registers the smell and it's you! You turn around the corner only to come face to face with a real-life tiger. The tiger's eyes seem to widen and you do the same while the umbrella and bag drop. Fear is evident in your eyes and the air reeks of it. Iwaizumi loosens his defense upon seeing you in that state, his heart hurts so much to see you scared of him.

The tiger whimpers with sad eyes and moves closer to you. Your heart keeps pounding against your chest, tears coming out of your eyes at the overwhelming situation you were put in. You fall back on your butt, hitting the cold ground, mud sticking to your pristine skirt.

You can't distinguish the falling rain from the falling tears, the surroundings were blurry and a sob escaped your lips. You go back and back on the soil, coming to the open area where the roof doesn't extend, thus rain falling on you.

Your wet uniform sticks to your body, hair flattened and damp, rain feeling like bullets. The exhaustion from the day kicks in and you stop moving back, the tiger keeps moving forward but you stay frozen in place. Maybe this is the end you'll just have to accept it.

Looking clearly at its eyes, it's not a predatory gaze nor a hostile one. Instead, it's a loving and comforting gaze emitted from the animal. Iwaizumi moves forward to the point where his breath and whiskers tickle your face. To your surprise, the tiger licks your face or specifically, licks your tears away.

The warm breath hits your face and it nuzzles its body to you to keep you warm in the rain. Your shaking hands absent-mindedly place on the tiger's neck and soothe the smooth fur just like a pet.

You believe you've gone crazy to do this or some Life of Pi shit happened to you but you're totally not prepared to see smoke coming out of nowhere and a naked body of the boy you like is now on your lap instead of the tiger.

"(y/n)?" Iwaizumi looks at you from below and holds your hand. "It's me." He sits up properly, not caring if he's naked just to check if you're still sane and has recovered from the shock.

"Iwa?" You touch his face and he nods. You breathe a sigh of relief and hug him. The warmth of his body was the last thing you feel before you pass out.

Tsukishima

smart student tsukki who excels academically and also good at volleyball!

the only zodiac who can talk because his animal form is somewhat more advanced than others thanks to his brains

rabbit tsukishima! who's more of a snapping turtle than a rabbit

rabbit tsukki has bad eyesight help him

one time, a lost girl came crying down the street into tsukishima. "mister! i'm lost!" the crying of the kid startled him, and he didn't react fast enough to avoid the girl hugging him

poof! he's now a rabbit falling into the hands of the kid. yeah the crying stopped and he got adopted

his fellow zodiacs organized a search party for him since they saw his fallen belongings on the street

bokuto had a fight with the little girl, claiming that it was his rabbit. then they came to a truce about letting the girl borrow his pet everyday (tsukki did not consent)

how you find out:

Walking down the street, you spot a kid skipping with her little legs, a white rabbit cradled in her arms and she's just looking at the rabbit, not at the road. This was your neighbor's annoying child who rattles the whole neighborhood when she's lost. You sigh and approach them, wanting to send the kid back home instead of another call to the police.

"Hey, go back home it's lunchtime. And why don't you look where you're going? It's the reason why you always get lost." You stand in front of the kid and she finally looks up to you with fire in her eyes.

"What do you care?" The kid retorts and your jaw drops in shock. Why are kids so rude these days? You cough and the pettiness in you rises to the surface. The rabbit twitches its nose and its ears perked at the lovely smell coming from the other person. The blurry vision of you is seen with your hands on your hips, and a small smile twitches on the rabbit's lips.

The kid won't back down and you also won't. Tsukishima was getting tired of it since his ears are very sensitive to sound, he wants to shut you both up. The rabbit then jumps out of the girl's arm and into you; you blink at the rabbit that you caught and it blinks back at you. It stands up and smells your chest voraciously, familiarizing your scent.

"Nooooo! Give it backkk!!!" You flinch at the shrill shriek and cry of the little girl who was about to throw a tantrum. "I didn't steal it! Here you go!" You shout back and return the rabbit as if you didn't want it but Tsukishima hops to the street and runs away.

The little girl chases after the rabbit and you stood frozen on your spot. You just wanted to let the kid go back home...Now it's a rabbit chase you didn't ask for.

You follow the girl and look together for her rabbit the whole hour with an annoyed expression on your face. It didn't help the little midget keeps blaming you; relax she's a kid.

Her mother was now looking for her and you report that she lost the rabbit to which her mother gasps and panics. Turns out, it was just a borrowed pet and the girl kept crying, refusing to eat until she sees her pet.

You roll your eyes after the mother closes the door, it's not your borrowed pet so why should you care? You turn down the block to return home, only to see the missing rabbit staring at you. "Oh?" You hurriedly approach the animal, carrying it in your arms and looking back at the house of the kid.

"No." You freeze and your eyes wander around the street, looking for the sound but there's no one here but you and the rabbit.

"What the—" "Take me home" The rabbit speaks and you stagger back, pushing the rabbit away from you. You place the rabbit on the ground, performing a little staring contest before you run away for your life.

It was such a bizarre happening that you can't help but space out in class. Maybe it was a magic rabbit and someone was pulling a prank on you? You close your eyes and lean against the chair, drowning out every sound to rest.

"Yeah, I almost—" You open your eyes and slowly sit back up properly. You look around the room, surveying with your eyes where the voice came from; because you swear it's the voice of the freaking talking rabbit.

Your gaze finally lands on Kei Tsukishima who's talking with his friends at the back, his gaze then falls to you who's gawking at him and he smirks. You follow his slender index and middle fingers, raised up and curving them; forming a symbol of rabbit ears.

Your mouth forms an "O" and you quickly face the board, cheeks heating at the little interaction you had. Suddenly, a warm hand touches your left shoulder making you flinch at the person who's Tsukishima.

He moves his lips close to your ear and whispers. "It'll be our little secret hmm?"

Osamu

osamu who got dragged into volleyball just like an obedient sheep following the herd and the shepherd

sheep osamu! who is a laidback person, completely opposite to his noisy and annoying twin

your favorite twin (just because atsumu annoys you so much)

part of the cooking club that you sneak in for food (and him)

not a wolf in sheep's clothing, just a sheep!

follows you around the campus, basically sticked to your side unless his twin calls him for practice. "you should go home now, we'll finish late. I'll call you when we're done."

you two act like a couple and the whole campus thinks so

check the label osamu!

how you find out:

The hallways are occupied with students coming in and out of classrooms. You happily walk towards your favorite club, greeting students as you pass by; peeking through the door window, you see Osamu with his sleeves up, manhandling the dough and applying flour to the surface.

You turn away from the scene, blushing at the thoughts that entered your head, shaking away the inappropriateness. If anyone knew that you're abusing your position as student council, checking on clubs, and staying more at a specific one, you'd be kicked out. You've done this a few times before and hopefully, no one noticed. And if anyone asks, you'll say: "they use cooking equipment that may cause a fire so I have to supervise them."

You open the door and Osamu's head turns towards you, a smile appearing on his face. "You're finally here." He casually speaks and focuses back on his work of kneading the dough. "I already finished checking the other clubs, what are you making?" You close the door and move over to his workspace, examining his large hands gripping the dough.

"Dumplings, I'll be making some onigiri later too" Osamu replies and you nod watching him shape circles into the dough. Now what? Osamu keeps doing his work while you just stand and watch him awkwardly. '

The silence is killing me' you think to yourself, a yawn begging to be released but you hurriedly swallow it down. Instead of just standing over there, you move closer to him to inspect clearly, Osamu's breath hitches at the sudden presence but quickly recomposes himself. A shiny silver catches your eye at the end of the counter and a satisfied smile stretches your lips.

"It's the knife set I gave to you!" You point at the knives presented prettily on the corner; you reach out to the knives and Osamu panics. "Wait!-" He shouts.

Before you could touch the knives, a cloud of smoke covers the area and you hurriedly dissipate it. What the hell was that? The surroundings have cleared and you open your eyes. Your gaze falls below the pool of clothes on the ground and your heart sinks. "Osamu?" You whisper with a scared voice and look around the room. There has been no sign of exit on the door so where did he go?

You hesitantly uncover the lump behind the pool of clothes and discover a sheep?! Your back hits the counter and a pained gasp escapes your lips, heart beating uncontrollably at the sheep sitting on all fours on the ground as nothing has happened.

It makes eye contact with you and you swear you almost fainted if not for your every nerve trying to keep you awake. It has deadpanned dark grey eyes that resemble someone you know. staring right into you. What is happening? You slowly move away to compose yourself and keep yourself sane. Shaking legs moving away from the scene, you sit down on one of the nearby chairs only to turn around and see that the sheep have followed you closely.

You plop down on the chair, having a staring contest with the mysterious sheep and wincing at the probable bruise on your back. "Osamu?" You ask the sheep with furrowed eyebrows and it "mehh" in reply.

You close your eyes and cover your face for a good few minutes until a puff of smoke once again appears. You peek from your fingers at what has happened and saw Osamu walking back to the work station naked.

"What the hell?" You scream and immediately cover your eyes at the scene. These happenings are giving you whiplash, you think you have to go to the infirmary. "I'm done changing, you can open your eyes now." The familiar voice speaks out and you slowly take your hands off your face.

Osamu is striding over with an ice pack and kneels down in front of you. "Take off your blazer and lift your blouse, you must have had a bruise." He says to you who's absolutely dumbfounded, dizzy, and lost. It's not like he just turned into a freaking animal.

You take off your blazer, wanting to get this over with, and bad timing as it is; the door opens revealing a club member who freezes at the scene of you about to take off the blazer and Osamu kneeling down near your legs.

Heat rushes to your face at the realization of what the two of you must have looked like and you hurriedly put the blazer back on. "Uh go on. Just stay away from the ingredients. " The boy speaks up and closes the door, leaving you and Osamu alone, embarrassed to the highest point.

part 2 for ushijima, kageyama, kuroo, akaashi, suna, atsumu, sugawara

[squigglywindy]

Whumptober Day Six

Title: Proof of Life

Prompts Used: Screams from across the hall, "I've got a pulse"

Warnings: Blood, Injury, Creepy Vibes, An ending that doesn't feel like an ending but also won't be continued

Whumpee(s): Literally just Some Guy

General Notes: So. This was the first one I wrote, back when I was dedicated to not actually hurting The Boys. Now, it's my least favorite; purely because I have a lot of different ideas, now, where I hurt people we actually care about and make it better. But, I'm not going to rewrite it. I spent three days agonizing over what to name some random guy and refused to back out and just not mention it. Anyway. This one's kinda boring because Who Even Is This Guy. Due to my current lack of time, I also didn't read back over this. I will not be offended if you're like 'hey Squiggs, there's a Really Obvious Mistake somewhere'. I'd actually really appreciate it.

Can also read on AO3 and I'll be adding links to these when I work that out. Find me at StoryTimeWithSquiggles and have fun laughing as I try to figure out how to work AO3

     Exploring an old abandoned building had seemed like a really good idea, at first. They’d been walking for a long time, and around half of the group had been downright excited at the prospect. So of course they went; none of them had ever been quite able to resist adventure anyway.

     It was eerily silent, when they entered. The squeak of the door’s old hinges disturbed the absolute silence, breaking the still air in a way that felt jarringly inappropriate. The place was deserted; so still and bereft of any sign of life that the sounds of nine people breathing was enough to sound deafening.

     “Ooh a mushroom,” Wild’s voice broke the silence, and consequently the spell that seemed to engulf the place. The effect was ruined all at once as he jogged forward and ripped a piece of fungus out of a crack in the floor, stashing it away for later.

     Warriors strolled forward after him, trailing his finger along the wall to accumulate dust which he inspected, rolling it between his fingers as the others finally dispersed to explore.

     Hyrule peered around a doorframe into the next room, finding a kitchen with a sink full of unwashed dishes. The table was set, dishes in order and half-burnt candles standing proudly in the middle. One of the chairs was overturned, but everything else was perfectly in order; the thick layer of dust the only indication that the occupants weren’t right outside. “What do you think happened?” He asked softly, reluctant to disturb the scene, even with the others poking at everything they could get their hands on.

     Sky sneezed violently and splayed a hand across the wall to maintain his balance, sending up a cloud of dust that made him sneeze again. He held up a finger for patience, clearly having an answer that he couldn’t quite get out between sneezes.

    “Wow,” Legend seemed almost appreciative after the third sneeze; any semblance of lingering peace well and truly banished. “That was aggressive.”

     Sky glared, sniffing and straightening as he carefully brushed the dust off his hands. “What I was trying to say is we should check in there,” he pointed across the hall to another door. This one was halfway open, hanging off the wall by one hinge. It was cracked down the middle as if it had been kicked open with blunt force, and the room beyond was pitch black.

     Twilight drew his sword, starting a chain reaction as everyone else moved to do the same. “I don’t have a good feeling about that room,” he rumbled quietly.

     “Just a room,” Four shrugged and plucked a candle off the table, holding it out to Wild, who eagerly lit it with an obnoxiously large flame sword he produced from thin air. It melted away half of what was left of the candle, but it was lit, and that was really all that mattered.

     “C’mon scaredy-Links,” Four teased, crossing the hall and disappearing into the room without a moment’s hesitation.

     Instantly, a high-pitched scream split through the air; the voice from across the hall not sounding at all like the only person who should be over there.

     They all lurched forward as one, creating a jam in the doorway that slowed their procession more than any of them liked. “Smithy?” Sky called worriedly, as if he honestly believed that scream belonged to Four.

     “I’m fine,” Four’s voice was worried, and when Wild finally elbowed his way in with his flame sword, they could see why.

     “We’re not going to hurt you,” was out of Time’s mouth before most of them even had time to process the scene.

     A woman was pressed against the back wall, the body of a man sprawled across the floor beside her. She cradled his head in her lap, her face streaked with tears and his shirt soaked with blood.

     “What happened?” Warriors asked as Hyrule surged forward, diving to his knees as his hand flew to the man’s throat, fingers searching his throat for any sign of life.

     The woman shrunk away from him, but he was undeterred as Time stepped forward. “We’re here to help, miss. You’re safe. Can you tell us what happened?”

     “I’ve got a pulse!” Hyrule blurted in victory, making grabby motions with his free hand until Wild got the message and shoved a potion into it.

     “I don’t know,” the woman shook her head, he voice hoarse a strained. “We came in here to hide, there were lizalfos outside, and we got in here and…it was so dark, we couldn’t see what…” she trailed off, shaking her head and clutching the man’s hand tighter, allowing Hyrule to pull him up slightly.

     Warriors moved to help keep him upright, and Hyrule carefully poured the potion into his mouth.

     “Are you hurt?” Wind asked, nudging Wild closer to the woman and squinting at her through the dark.

     “Just a scrape,” she held up her arm. “Don’t worry about me. Will…is he going to be okay?”

     “I’ll do what I can,” Hyrule assured, glowing hands now hovering over the man’s battered chest.

     “Sorry I tripped over you and made you think I was here to finish you off,” Four muttered, crossing his arms almost awkwardly.

     Hyrule’s hands stopped glowing, and he lifted the man’s shirt to get a better look at the mostly-healed wounds. “Looks like claws,” he assessed.

     “Like the door,” Legend nodded back toward the doorway, and the marks they knew it contained.

     “Something lives here?” Wild guessed.

     Everyone’s eyes flicked toward the door, then back to the pair on the floor. “Hey Vet, why don’t you go check upstairs?” Warriors suggested, turning expectantly toward Legend.

     Legend glared. “Hey Captain, someone who’s not a coward would volunteer themself.”

     “Buddy system,” Four decided, slipping back out the door with only his candle for company.

     “Does he know what the buddy system is?” Wind mused curiously.

     Time shrugged and went after him, determined to avoid any more crises if at all possible.

     Silence reigned for a few short moments after they left, but it was interrupted shortly by a sharp intake of breath from the man. “Tenrec!” The woman gasped, grabbing his hand when it flailed through the air.

“What happened?” Wind shoved his way to the front of the cluster of Link’s in under a single second, squinting back and forth from the injury to the man’s face.

“Personal space,” Legend warned quietly, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him back into the clump before turning to the duo on the floor. “Do you know what happened?”

The man, Tenrec, shook his head. “Who...”

“We’re Link,” Wild answered easily, kneeling beside them and flipping around on his slate for a moment before producing a roasted fish on a stick. “Here, this should help.”

Tenrec looked absolutely baffled, and the woman patted his shoulder assuringly. “It’s alright dear, I think they’re here to help. That one healed you with magic,” she nodded toward Hyrule, who smiled awkwardly and gave a shy little wave.

“Upstair’s clear,” Time’s voice was the first indication that the upstairs scouts had returned, and half of the party jumped at his words. “Whatever it was, it’s gone now.” He turned toward the duo on the floor and gave a tight nod. “You’re awake. Good. We’ll accompany you to the nearest town in case it comes back. Can you walk?”

Tenrec nodded and accepted Warrior’s hand, allowing himself to be tugged to his feet. The captain grabbed his shoulder to steady him when he swayed, and the woman quickly ducked under his arm to support him.

They made their way out of the house, tightly securing the door behind them with a silent prayer that they’d never have to meet whatever had lurked inside.

[whump-captain]

No. 13 - That's gonna leave a mark

"This is gonna suck" | burns | cauterization

(900 words, OC)

this isn't canon and also i had mad writers block so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ended up more about character dynamics than whump lol

---

CN: explosion, burns, choking on smoke

---

Things were going well until the wall blew up.

Joy had spotted the small fuel tanks, half-rusted to the floor and everyone had agreed to give them a wide breadth in case they miraculously weren’t empty.

It was a night for miracles, it seemed.

Joy was sweeping the room with the beam of her flashlight when she heard something crunch above her. Nearby, Elaine’s head snapped up and she said: “What was that?”

A moment of silence, as they all listened.

“Sounds like the building is settling,” Joy guessed.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” said Cutter and the second he did, more shuffling came from where the tanks sat. Pebbles, then rocks rained down from the cracked ceiling and rang on the metal. The sound was not as hollow as it should have been.

A small chunk of brick knocked down one of the tanks. It wobbled, swayed, and then fell, taking the others with it.

The first miracle of the night was that Joy was standing behind a column. With a bass-pitched bang, the tanks exploded. Fire burst out in a roiling cloud, Elaine shouted. With a shriek, Joy dropped into a crouch and ducked her head. Boiling air swept around her, she smelled singed hair. It all lasted a split second, the heat passed her like a high-speed train and then was gone.

The second miracle was that the already compromised building didn’t collapse onto them right there and then. Joy rushed up, braced against the column as she frantically scanned the ceiling. It wasn’t even blackened,no new cracks had appeared. The explosion must have not been huge. Third miracle.

Coughing came from somewhere within the smoke. Joy’s flashlight cut a stark line of light among the grey swirls as she leapt forward. “Elaine!” she called. “Cutter! Guys!”

“I’m fine,” Elaine choked out and immediately her voice broke into a coughing fit. A silhouette took shape in the smoke and then the huntress stumbled out of it, her face and hair greyed with dust. She waved her arms, trying to clear the smoke at least a little. Joy cursed.

“You got caught in it!” She pointed at Elaine’s shoulder. The huntress blinked as if she hadn’t noticed and twisted to see and as she did, pain pierced through her arm, all the way down to the wrist. She hissed, spun her elbow more gently. A patch of angry red stained the exposed skin, spreading up to the shoulder and spilling to the side of her ribcage. Round blisters were forming slowly all over the burn’s surface. Elaine opened her mouth to curse as well, when more coughing filled the air along with a rasping voice:

“Joy! El! Is everyone- ah!” A cry of pain interrupted the calling.

"Cutter!" Elaine started into the smoke but then cried out too; she tripped and only stayed upright because Joy caught her.

A cold breeze forced its way into the room and the air cleared ever so slightly, allowing another silhouette to come into view. Cutter was down on his knees, braced with both hands as he shakily pushed himself up. Joy took a step towards him and then her stomach twisted.

His whole back was a mess of charred black and blood red. The hair on the back of his head was darkened as well and a gash on his forehead was seeping blood that dripped down onto his eyebrow and then to the floor. He was blinking quickly too, trying to clear the smoke from his eyes.

Half-pulling Elaine behind her, Joy jogged to his side then crouched down, both to get closer and to help Elaine sit. The huntress was unsteady on her feet; her face had fallen into a greyish pallor as well. "Holy hell, this looks bad." Joy glanced between her two companions. "You both look bad."

"I'm fine," Elaine answered immediately. Joy gave her a dirty look. 

"I don't actually know how I look," Cutter said, the usual cheerful melody of his voice roughened and thrown off-pitch by what felt like blades in his throat. "It got me in the back. So unless someone gets me a mirror, I'm also going to operate under the assumption that I'm fine."

"You were caught in an explosion!" Joy snapped. "Nobody here is anywhere near fine!"

"It's nothing serious." Elaine also sounded raspy, her lips felt dry as the desert. She unclipped a canteen from her belt but her fingers shook slightly as she unscrewed the lid. "Surface burn."

"Exactly. No need to get panicky."

As if to contradict him, Cutter's hands picked that moment to give in under him. He crumpled down and immediately shouted; the motion sent new fire flashing through his back, the pain made him curl in on himself. 

"Right." Joy sat back on her heels and pulled out her phone. The light of the screen blurred in the persistent dust. "Ambulance. I am not dealing with this."

"We can't call the ambulance," Elaine cut in. "How are we going to explain breaking in here?" 

"We'll come up with something." Joy fixed her with a murderous glare. "And since the fucking king of liars over here feels well enough to call me "panicky" then im sure he won't mind carrying us through the cover story, too."

"I should get that on a t-shirt" Cutter's laugh almost masked the slight shake in his voice. Joy glared at him too and then dialed the emergency number.

The night's miracle number four was that nobody protested any further.

[gremlin-writes-angst]

could i request an angsty shinkami fic? no specific thing just something angsty?

Thank you for the request!

1.8k words

Trigger warning: Cursing, toxic relationships

Let me know if I missed a trigger or if you spot any spelling mistakes.

Feedback is encouraged

Click here if you want to see more of my work and follow me for more!

Most people would agree that proposing to your partner is one of the most nerve-racking things a person can do. Even Denki Kaminari, the pro hero Chargebolt of three years, who faced countless villains would agree. It was Denki and Hitoshis second anniversary, they had started dating after highschool, Hitoshi making the first move, which was shocking to Denki. Though Denki was shocked he still agreed to go on a date with the lavender-haired hero. In honesty Denki didn’t expect to fall for Hitoshi as hard as he did, he thought they would go on one or two dates, but here he was two years later fidgeting with a black box in his pants pocket.

Denki decides that he liked cheesy proposal and decides he would propose where the two had their first date, at an arcade. He knew it was weird to propose to your boyfriend at an arcade but Denki couldn’t go back in time and tell past Denki that his first date with Hitoshi cant is at an arcade. Denki arrived early to make sure everything was set up and would go as planned, he played some of his favorite games, memories of their first date arose in Denkis mind. Soon he had played every game at least twice, and Hitoshi was late. It wasn’t unusual for Hitoshi to be late but for him to be this late and on this day, the day Denki planned to propose, it made Denki rethink his whole plan. Denki had considered that two years were a small amount of time compared to others who got married, he thought about the doubts his friend had expressed at the beginning of this relationship. Before, Denki could cancel everything one of the arcade staff members approached him and informed him that Hitoshi had arrived. The staff had been told to watch the parking lot for Shinso so that Denki could be prepared before Hitoshi entered the arcade.

Denki smoothed over his tuxedo and ajasted his bowtie, he would describe himself as dashing. He patted his pocket one last time to make sure the ring box was still there, then the bells ringed indicating that Hitoshi had ented the building. Hitoshi was dressed casually, something a college student would were, this made Denkis nerves rise even higher, noticing he was in such a nice suit and Hitoshi looked like he could care less, though he still looked handsome. The original plan was to play games, eat some greasy fries or nachos and then propose, but Denki had only rented the building and staff for so long. The new plan was to propose as soon as possible, so Denki got down on his knees as he heard Hitoshis voice and footsteps approach.

“I’m sorry for being late but I think we need to talk Kamin-”

His voice cut off when he saw his blonde partner on one knee as he feared. When Denki had told Hitoshi about their next date being at the same arcade that they had their first date, he was suspicious. Hitoshi wasn’t stupid he knew what kind of dates happened at couple’s special places on special days and Shinso wasn’t ready.

“ Hitoshi shinso, I’ve decided that I’m going to be the cheesy boyfriend. So will you make me the happiest, cheesiest man on this planet and spend the rest of your life with me.”

Denki had opened the black box to reveal the gold ring with a small purple gem. Denki knew that his boyfriend was a simple man and didn’t need a fancy ring, but he also couldn’t resist the combination of the two identifying colors.

“ Kaminari, I was trying to say that … I’m not ready.”

Denkis heart dropped for a second. He tried to calm himself, think of the positive. Weddings were expensive, and stressful. Most importantly Shinso would still be there for Denki, a no to a proposal doesn’t automatically mean a breakup. And the way Shinso rejected Denki , made it seem like Hitoshi wanted to marry Denki … just not yet. Denki was still shaken up but he tried to move on from the awkward situation, he stood up and put the box back into his pocket.

“ That’s fine. I’m the one who rushed into this whole marriage thing. I mean who would be ready to marry someone after two years.”

Denki’s sentence was accompanied by awkward laughter, hoping that they could move on from what Denki just did. But Shinso’s face told Denki that they were going to move on.

“ I’m not ready to let go of my secret weapon.”

Hitoshis words and the venomis tone he used confused Denki. Before Denki could ask what Shinso ment, he answered.

“I was so close to making the top 20, which is all your old classmates. Now you’ve gone and ruined it, you couldn’t wait. I was using you,Kaminari, to become popular so I could clib the hero board. I never loved you I was just trying to get noticed and you were stupid enough to fall for it, but you were also stupid enough to think I loved you.”

Hitoshis words were harmful but the way he acted like Denki was a child, like Denki wouldn’t understand if he didn’t, that was what stabbed Denki through the heart. Then came the realization that Denki was the 20th on the hero board. Not only was Hitoshi using him, but he was soon to replace him. The shock was so much it was unbelievable.

“Your lying, why would you tell me now if it was true. It’s just a cruel joke, right Hitoshi?”

Denki hoped it was a joke, he hoped so hard that Hitoshi could hear it in Denkis voice.

“ You Idiot, it’s not a joke. Did you ever realize how I never said ‘i love you’ back, or how I only ever called you Kaminari instead of your first name or a stupid nickname, it because I don’t love you. Everything I said is true and I just couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t take your voice, your jokes, your insecurities, I’m sick and tired of it all, were done Denki”

Shinso left, leaving Denki standing in the arcade alone, and unsure of what to do. Denkis thoughts raced, he began to realized that Hitoshi was no lair. He had never said ‘i love you’ when he had, and the only time Hitoshi called him by his first name was also the last thing he said to him. The only time Hitoshi called him Denki was when confessing that he never loved him, that it was all a publicity stunt. He was’nt sure if he would have preferred if Hitoshi never said that name, maybe it would be easier to move on if he had never heard the smooth voice say the syllables that made up his first name.

Bonus

He was broken from his thoughts when the staff told him that time was up. He walked back to his car, he began to drive home, realizing that he didn't want to be in a space where the liar had to soothe him to sleep when his insecurities were too much, the same insecurities that he now knew Hitoshi hated. He decided to drive to the only other person that could offer him comfort, Eijiro Kirishima. He arrived at the apartment building, and without memories of climbing the stairs or elevator, he was knocking on the door to his best friend’s door. The fake redhead opens the door with a smile, which faltered when his blonde friend stumbled into the apartment.

“Congratula-”

Mina and Sero's voices echoed through the apartment were cut off by a slapping sound caused by Katsuki’s hand hitting each of the exited idiot's backs, followed by a quiet warning from the explosive hero.

“Shut the fuck up you idiots”

Denki took notice of his friends and decorations that filled the apartment, making him remember that the plan was to bring his new fiances to Kirishima’s apartment to celebrate with friends. Denki’s eye began to water, remembering everything Hitoshi said, along with the fact that didn’t have the promised fiance, he was meant to bring.

“Hey it’s ok, shh, we’re not disappointed”

It was as if Eijro knew what Denki was thinking, and knew how to comfort him. It took a while but with the comforting touch and words of his friends, he was ready to explain what happened. After explaining what happened and reliving what Shinso said most of Denkis friends were in shock. The Explosive blonde who most expected to run off and fight the bastard was holding Jirou, because she was the one trying to run and put the mind controlling jerk six feet under.

After everyone processed and calmed down they began to comfort Denki again. Talking about how they never trusted the purple-haired boy or talking about things they hated about him. Denki knew that most of what they were saying was lies. Hitoshi, or at least the Hitoshi he pretended to be, was nice and loved by Denki and his friend group. They were happy for the couple and thought that Shinso was perfect for Denki. Except for bakugou who had the most opinions about the lower hero, along with some insight.

“ I told you there was something sketchy about him and the timing.”

Katsuki’s words were meant for Eijiro but everyone heard and questioned what Katsuki meant.

“ Well a year after we graduated, the bastard started asking people from our class out. Starting with Deku and half and half, eventually, he asked me and at one point, he asked Eiji out. Everyone rejected him until . . . Denki”

There was a pause as the rest of the group processed what was just revealed. Katsuki then started to talk again

“ I told Eiji that I thought it was weird that he was asking out all the guys from our class out, I assumed that it was to use us to climb the board. Which I know now is true, but when I told Eiji he said that I should be more positive and not make assumptions. I agreed, because of how happy the bastard made Denki, but I regret it now, I should have said something sooner, or at least give him a nice strong kick to the groin. Sorry I didn’t warn you Denki”

The last part was softer then anything Katsuki had ever said to Denki before.

“It’s not your fault Katsuki, but thank you. And ill be fine, I have you guys.”

“ And we could just expose the bitch for what he did, it will definitely knock him down the hero board.”

Sero pitched in, revenge was his way of showing Denki that he cared

“ Sell the ring and use the money to hire a hitman on him”

Everyone nodded at Mina’s idea of revenge was a bit more illegal than Denki was comfortable with. But it made him laugh and that was good enough for her.

“ No, I don't want to do that. Even though he used me he is still a good hero. I just want to forget and move on. And I'm scared that my friend, who are also heroes are suggesting murder.”

[gretchensinister]

Prospie

I was slammed with the compulsion to write an NDU story after rewatching Rise of the Guardians on Easter. In this one, Pitch and Pitchiner (and Proto, because he lives in their apartment) are seniors who host a prospective student. They think about what it means that they’re graduating and show that maybe, just maybe, they’ve grown and changed for good at college.

This continues my take that I started in Getting to Know You, which makes this not strictly a realistic college AU.

The prospective student makes this a crossover, but I want it to be a bit of a surprise. But honestly? Who are we thinking of these days when we think Nightmare + Dork? The incoming freshman class is going to be mighty interesting...

***

“Pitchiner!” Pitch storms in from the kitchen, waving a piece of paper at him. “What. Is. This?”

Pitchiner turns to him but doesn’t get up from his seat on the couch, giving him an exasperated look. “You really went deep in your bubble this time, didn’t you? I told you like, nine hundred times that we’re going to host a prospective honors program student on their, you know, interview and visit weekend.”

“Aren’t prospective honors program students only supposed to be hosted by other honors program students?” Pitch snipes.

At this, Pitchiner does stand up. He takes two long steps closer to Pitch until he’s looming over him, his massive arms folded in front of his chest. “Dear,” he says coldly. “I am in the honors program. I’ve been in the honors program the whole time. You think I’d put up with half the shit you say to me if I didn’t know it was bullshit?”

Pitch stammers, but some deep-seated survival instinct stops him from saying anything else coherent.

Pitchiner can’t help but smirk. “Did you really think I was here on a lacrosse scholarship? God! Mr. Black, of the Massachusetts Blacks, my school did not have a lacrosse team. My scholarships are all academic.”

Pitch looks like he’s had a bucket of ice water dumped over him. “But—but—you don’t work!”

Pitchiner steps back a little from Pitch and runs his hand through his hair, sighing. “I don’t work like you do. Because I don’t think it’s healthy.”

Pitch grimaces at him. “You’ve never…” He becomes very interested in a corner of the room. “You’ve never bragged about it.”

Now Pitchiner pinches the bridge of his nose. “That’s because I’m not Piki, and Piki’s behavior towards you is fucked up, re: you guys’ accomplishments.”

Pitch has started to crumple the letter in one hand. Pitchiner watches him claim conscious control over one finger at a time until he’s holding the paper normally again, watches him tamp down whatever else might need to be said between them. “Regardless,” he says, focusing on Pitchiner again, “did the hosting committee even see our apartment before approving you as a host? Did they meet Proto? We cannot host an academically promising high school senior here. It’s unseemly.”

“I applied, and I’ll clean,” Pitchiner says. “The prospie doesn’t need to see whatever the fuck is going on in Proto’s room, or ours. He’ll sleep on the couch bed, and if I have to stay up all night to protect him from a taxidermy ferret surprise, I’ll do it.”

Pitch looks down at the unevenly faded blue couch. “I didn’t even know this was a sofa bed.” He sounds oddly distant and defeated, somehow. “I suppose you already have sheets for it.”

Pitchiner shrugs. “Nah, I was going to grab some from the superstore when I went for groceries later. You know I don’t exactly handle things like a general planning an invasion.”

“And yet you do still handle them.” Pitch still sounds weird, like if he was a flavor he’d be a warhead candy with the sour powder washed off. “But of course, you handled me having a seizure, for God’s sake, and I—I.” His fingers are twitching on the paper again.

Pitchiner places his hand on Pitch’s shoulder. “Let me know if you want to crack all this open some other time, all right? You barging in reminded me that I actually do have to start on cleaning, including fighting with Proto about whatever he’s trying to ferment on top of the fridge, because we both know he was lying when he said it was kombucha.” He lets go. “Or, hey, if you don’t want to ever crack it open, well, we’ve only got a couple more months before we graduate.”

He hadn’t really been thinking about what that meant before he said it, but now that he has said it, he and Pitch lock eyes, and Pitchiner thinks Pitch is feeling the same shock he is. Graduation. Leaving this apartment. No longer being forced into physical proximity with each other. If they wanted whatever they had with each other to continue, it couldn’t continue effortlessly or thoughtlessly. If they wanted whatever they had to continue, a lot of unspoken things would need to be said. Otherwise it wasn’t going to last longer than a futon frame propped against a dumpster on move-out day, something that had served them okay at NDU, but not something to bring away from it.

Pitchiner saw the tightness in Pitch’s jaw that usually meant he was thinking about Piki. He didn’t understand all the family baggage that Pitch and his twin carried, but he knew Piki thought of him as an unsuitable partner for Pitch, and a lot of what Pitch did he did in reaction to Piki. But now, even as he expects that tightness to lock Pitch’s jaw for good, it vanishes. “I do think we should talk,” he says. He smiles, and a little of the sour powder is back. “I really do. But maybe after the prospie is gone.”

“Yeah,” Pitchiner says. “For sure.” He grins. “Now are you gonna let me get on with being Mr. Clean or what?”

“The Brawny Man is much hotter,” Pitch fires back, but he still seems a little uneasy. “Pitchiner, our conversation for later is going to be…well, we will not be the first people to have such a conversation. But there are other things that we’ve never talked about. That, at the time, we agreed never to talk about, at least among those of us who were there. Because it wasn’t always all of us, but sometimes, enough times, it was. You know who I mean by us, don’t you?”

Pitchiner nods. “Me. You. Proto. Jack. Piki. You think we need to talk about…that stuff, too?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Pitch says. “It’s always seemed, well, risky to me to speak about even the nightmares. But as we move closer to graduation, it feels to me as if…as if they’re, I mean, as if it’s retreating somehow. Ebbing.”

“We beat it,” Pitchiner says, though he almost said ‘them,’ like Pitch.

“No,” says Pitch, “not yet. Maybe not ever, for me. But I could believe it for you.” He says this last in a rush, as if embarrassed by the feeling hidden beneath that statement. “The point is, there’s something still there. About us. Around us. We know it. And other people can tell. It was my true first thought when I saw a prospective student would be staying with us.”

“Well…” Pitchiner doesn’t like to think about the things Pitch is alluding to, for a lot of different reasons, not least that he can’t be sure if he feels relief or loss at the idea that whatever it is (whatever they are) that focused on them might be leaving them soon. Because what is there to lose? Nightmares, a bunch of shit that has to have been (has to have been) sleep paralysis, too much other stuff that you probably couldn’t take a picture of or hit with a lacrosse stick, and…more than zero things that couldn’t be explained at all. And the sense that whatever tied all these things together, he, Pitchiner, was the perfect shape for it to fill, if he wanted it. And then instead of all these things happening to him, he would happen to other people. “I guess…if the vibes get bad, let’s just agree to not waste time denying that they’re there. But if they’re really going, I think there’s a good chance the prospie might not even notice. I mean, what, his name’s Jonathan. He’s probably like, aggressively normal, or at least only weird in a smart-kid way.”

Pitch nods slowly. “If he’s supposed to hang out with us in his downtime, though…let’s not invite Jack. Just to…reduce the number of reactive elements.”

“Oh, for sure.”

***

           “My, what atrocious vibes that young man had,” Proto remarks as they wave Jon off to his car on Sunday afternoon. “But I do have the feeling that he got all his questions about NDU answered this weekend.”

           Pitchiner and Pitch glance at each other. “Yes,” Pitch says. “I…think we can be confident about that.”

           “He does make me wonder what it’s like to work in the Admissions Department,” Proto says, “but I don’t think I’ll apply. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go follow a lead for a new mold.”

           “I haven’t invited you home because he’s really the best of my relatives,” Pitch says suddenly. “Not because I don’t care.”

           “Everyone’s got relatives,” Pitchiner says vaguely. “Look, when we were just hanging out Saturday night, I kept wanting to bring up that time with the cave. And that story makes me look like I’ve lost my marbles or need an exorcism or something. I have never wanted to bring it up, ever. I don’t even want to allude to it now.”

           “For me it was that time with my shadow,” Pitch says. “But what was weirder was how pissed off I felt about wanting to talk about it. And he didn’t even ask anything that could have remotely led to that topic of conversation.”

           They lean on the railing of the steps outside their apartment and watch a few more prospective students head out, carrying orange and black folders and key chains and pens, all the promotional detritus of NDU. They look pretty normal. And why not? They are normal, right? The only slight oddity is a pair of twins, but when Pitchiner looks again he sees that the girls look nothing alike, and actually don’t even seem to know each other. He’s gotten too jumpy about doubles in his four years here. Just seeing things.

           But then, he has seen a lot of things. And so has Pitch. And Proto. And Jack. And Piki.

           “I was pissed, too,” Pitchiner says. “Not anymore, though. It left when he left. Along with the urge to spill my guts.”

           “Do you think that we…” Pitch begins, and trails off.

           “Not like that,” Pitchiner says. “Or…well, maybe.” He laughs once. “But not anymore, I think.”

           “I wonder why. Are we no longer…I hate to frame it this way, but, worthy?”

           Pitchiner gives him a funny look. “You want to be worthy of nightmares you don’t even want to talk about?”

           “When you put it that way…but I think you know what I mean.”

           Pitchiner looks across the street and over to the campus again. “I guess I do. I kinda wish I didn’t. But I gotta…I gotta be strong enough, smart enough, whatever, to recognize that it’s not good. If I want to be chosen by something weird and special, I think…I know I can do a lot better than a nightmare. You get what I’m saying?”

           “I…I hope I do,” Pitch says, soft and surprised.

           Pitchiner clears his throat. “Anyway, we don’t really know anything about any of that spooky shit. If it’s backing off, hell, maybe it’s just doing so ‘cause we’re graduating. Makes about as much sense as anything else.”

           Pitch laughs briefly. “Good thing none of us is going into academia, then.” He pauses. “Jon said his goal was to go into archival work, didn’t he?”

           Pitchiner nods.

           “Hmm. You need a graduate degree for that.”

           The spring breeze picks up for a moment, sending some autumn leaves that hadn’t been raked before it snowed scuttling down the street.

           “I think I’m glad that we’re graduating this year,” Pitchiner says.

[jaffre]

[ID: Drawing of a sea monster, she’s blue with green stripes, her eyes are pitc black with white squiggles. Her head, neck, forarms and legs are puffy with bright green spikes. End ID]

tfw u go puff

[pedalfuzz]

Speedy Ortiz

Speedy Ortiz singer-guitarist Sadie Dupuis’s craft is in full focus on the album Twerp Verse, released earlier this year on Carpark Records. Complex lead lines twist and careen alongside tightly crafted power-pop hooks that have the record already being counted amongst the year’s best.

After playing a catchy, caffeinated set at the 2018 Hopscotch Music Festival, Pedal Fuzz sat down in a cluttered greenroom with Sadie Dupuis, to talk pedals, songwriting, and fingernails. THE FOLLOWING EXCERPTS HAVE BEEN CONDENSED AND EDITED

Pedal Fuzz: So first I would love to know about the guitar you were playing last night.

Sadie Dupuis: Yeah, I don't think they're making them anymore. The company was called Moniker, Austin-based—and they would do different custom guitars. That particular model is the Anastasia. It’s shell pink. It has like a like a crescent moon cutaway, and there are pearl details throughout it. And then the headstock has my Sad 13 logo on it.

PF: Cool, so it was made for you?

SD: Yeah!

PF: And do you move through the three pickups, or do you usually stay on one in particular?

SD:I put Strat pickups in the middle, but there are humbuckers on either side, so it's a little unusual. If I'm recording, I'll switch them, but for live I'm pretty much just in the middle.

PF: Is there a piece of gear—it could be an instrument or a device of some sort—that has changed the way you play, or changed something stylistically?

SD:I think every piece of gear has some impact in that sense. But I think the biggest thing for me over the past two or three years has been that I stopped playing with a pick. So, that's not so much adding a piece of gear as much as getting rid of a piece of gear. When we would record I would always have parts that I would need to fingerpick because I wouldn't be able to play them with a pick, and then live I was always playing with a pick. Going back and forth between the two felt kind of clumsy to me.

Or the things that I did have to fingerpick live wouldn't have the same presence or attack as the stuff that I would play with the pick. And so I would be modifying the parts to play it with a pick, and I kind of wasn't into that at all. I could never wear nail polish because—guitarists know—it just scrapes off. Especially the second fingers just get scraped off.

And we had a front of house engineer whose girlfriend was a nail artist who was like, “let me just do your nails. There's this kind of nail polish that won't come off. It makes your nails stronger.” And I was like, “Okay, I'll try it.”

And I sort of realized that I could just grow my nails out, have polish on them, and use these as picks [brandishes canary yellow fingernails]. So now I—Dolly Parton-style—have very long nails on my right hand, and I don't play with a pick at all anymore, because I don't have to - I’ve got five.

So that's been the biggest change in my style, I'd say, in the past couple years.

PF: You modded your hand! So, what pedals do you use now, or what are some ones that are important to you?

SD: I have a ton of pedals at home, and if I'm home-recording I tend to use totally different stuff then I use for the live setup. And that's partially in the same way that I don't want to eat hummus when I'm not on tour because I'm used to having it fed to me in greenrooms every day. Or I don't want to wear the clothes that I wear on tour when I'm home from tour.

The first thing on my chain is an Earthquaker Devices Monarch Overdrive, which is discontinued. It's just an overdrive pedal that's meant to model an Orange amp, and I use that basically as my clean tone, so that's on all the time. I have the gain turned up with not too much volume at 12 o'clock, bass at 9, treble at 12. I don't totally understand why they discontinued it. They do sell the Stew-Mac kits so people could theoretically build their own.

I got used to playing with that pedal because I was playing with certain Fender amps that just felt too common, you know what I mean? Like, a Deville is such a backline amp, which I like a lot, but I played it forever and I liked having this as part of my “clean tone” because it just made the clean a little bit different than the Fender stock sound.

Then I have a Catalinbread Callisto, which is a chorus/vibrato pedal. Again, it likes very mild settings.

And the Dispatch Master, which is another Earthquaker pedal. It’s a reverb/delay, but I'm using it to just give a little bit of reverb. Those are the three pedals that are on all the time. They make up my clean tone.

The second two that I mentioned kind of came onto my board later because I started playing with the Divided by 13 amp CJ 11, which I love, but the only knobs it has are master volume, volume, bass and treble. So, having played Fender amps forever, being used to having the vibrato and the reverb, I wanted to have a little bit of that so that’s what those two pedals kind of accommodate for me.

Beyond that, my overdrive, for when I want to do a cool solo or something, is Earthquaker stuff. I really like their tones. So I use The Dunes for when I'm playing a solo or I need to be loud. It’s another overdrive - I’m weirdly anti-fuzz.

Past that I have Earthquaker’s Pitch Bay, which is an octave plus overdrive pedal, so I'll use that if I want to make a solo a little weird and outerspacey, or sometimes to simulate a synth I played on the records, particularly older records. There would be a synth part that happens for eight seconds, and there was no reason for me to play a synth, so I would just learn the part and play it through that pedal.

PF: An octave up?

SD: Yeah, I have the tiniest amount of octave down that's basically inaudible but pitched off a little bit so it sounds like a weird synth, and then the octave up is pretty gainey.

I used to play a POG 2, but I could never make it not sound like an organ, which is why I like the Pitch Bay. I've always had an impossible time finding any kind of synth-emulating pedal that doesn't sound like it’s just an organ.

PF: I have an old Electro Harmonix Microsynth—one of the big ones—and it's pretty dirty and cool.

SD: Those are cool. I do have a Synth 9 on my board right now, also from Electro Harmonix. I use it on the Prophet-V setting for some of the songs from the new album that I didn’t even play guitar on during recording. The Pitch Bay is great, but it doesn’t really sound like a synth. It makes the guitar sound spacey and digital. So, I wanted something that could be a little more filtered and sound like the synth I play on songs from the new album.

I also have the Old Blood Noise Endeavors Black Fountain delay on my chain. Beyond that I use an ISP Technologies Decimator G-String, which is a noise gate. All of these overdriving pedals give me some signal noise.

PF: Is it noisy all the time otherwise?

SD: It's not. It depends on the electricity of the room. It can get pretty bad when the electricity isn't up to snuff, so I have that [Decimator G-String] in case of emergencies, and that's why I play on the Strat pickup live because if I'm on anything that's humming at all, it’s just magnifying…

Oh, I also use the Walrus Audio Deep Six Compressor, so obviously that's also propagating any kind of signal noise I get. So, there's a fair amount of a harm reduction that has to happen in this chain. [laughs]

PF: I was going to ask you if your setup changes when you're on the road versus recording.

SD: If I'm recording a record, and we're in a studio, anything is kind of fair game. I'll use what the studio has in addition to whatever I brought. But at home when I'm just making demos, I'm like, “I've accrued all these pedals that I don't get to use live so I'm just not interested in even opening my stage pedalboard.” I assemble a separate chain for whatever the song kind of wants. On a lot of the stuff that we've recorded, I didn't use any of the pedals I just mentioned. But it doesn't have to be the exact same sounds live, right?

PF: When you're thinking about your next record, writing songs and demoing at home, is there an ideal Speedy Ortiz song you’re reaching for out in the ether? And what does the ideal Speedy Ortiz song do?

SD: That’s a tough one, because I think it depends. I mean, not every song has the same goals or forms or changes, but there are things that I try to make happen with every song, and I don't really like when a song gets in, like, a groove, and it's too comfortable - I always want a weird surprise.

So whether that's in the lyrics, or whether that's in the time signature, or whether it’s just how many measures something repeats, I tend to change things. So even if a chorus happens three times in the song, it'll be slightly different every time.

So usually my goals are to get somewhere with the writing of it that surprises me, and that I think would be like a fun Easter Egg for the person who's heard it a few times, and then is like, “Oh, the chorus starts on the three this time rather than the one.” Or something like that.

PF: Something surprising.

SD: Yeah, and, by extension, even if the form stays the same, maybe the sounds will be different. One thing I love is to have a second verse in which a lot of stuff drops out, and maybe a weird sound is introduced. If I go back through all my songs, I can probably check that off happening a lot of the time. [laughs]

So there are certain tricks that I definitely pull from song to song, but I just like it to change throughout.

PF: Are you aware of things that you do habitually in the structure of your songs?

SD: I don't think about it when I'm writing a song, but when I show something to my bandmates, they're like, “Oh, of course it's a measure of six this time at the end of the chorus, sounds like you!”

So, I'm sort of aware that there are certainly compositional tools that I lean into more often than not, but I think also they're not super common, so I feel fine repeating them.

PF: So that's, like, your…

SD: Little signature.

PF: Yeah! It’s part of your architecture.

SD: [Laughs] You know all those condos that look the same? That's like the choruses of our songs.

*main photo courtesy of Hopscotch Music Festival / Garrett Poulos

TOM SOWDERS PIROUETTES ANGRILY THROUGH THE STREETS OF DOWNTOWN RALEIGH. LIKE REALLY AGGRESSIVELY, REALLY WINDMILLING HIS ARMS AROUND. HIS HOBBIES ARE NOT USING HIS PHD AND FRONTING THE BAND TOOTHSOME. 

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