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randomlywanderingmoth · 5 months ago
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Tam Lin Bedivere: Appearance and Behavior
Second Ascension first, as that is who you will see the most:
THE FAERIE KNIGHT OF AUTUMN
Her armor is the first thing you'll see. White, like polished bone, or ashen wood, polished angles- reminiscent of the armor of a certain Lion King of Camelot.
That usually includes the helmet- except that, after certain events in A Different Faerie Britain, that helmet was irreversibly destroyed in a clash at Londinium.
Lacking her helmet, the second thing you'll note then is her face. Said face is... distinctly familiar. With her gleaming hazel eyes, she looks so much like the female iteration of the Last Master of Humanity. Her autumn hair is brushed roughly out of her face and otherwise left quite wild, and if the aura she gives off does not give away her fae nature the pointed tips of her ears will.
The third thing to note is the armor of her right arm- jarringly rounded in comparison to the angular nature of the rest of her armor, ribbon-like gold coils up from the tips of her fingers, up to her shoulder, looking not unlike a prosthetic.
Those coils can unfurl at her will- usually to form a sword in her hand, but she can also command them about like homing darts, skewering threats at range. She can also command them to flatten out and weave patterns, such as to form a near-unbreakable shield, or ride them like a surfboard across the sky.
Behaviorally, the Autumn Knight is cold and stern... unless she knows you well. To those with whom she is not on a direct name basis, Tam Lin Bedivere is professional. Polite as the situation calls, and even courteous, but her expression is near-unchanging. A joke among the knights of Morgan's Camelot was that it took a fortress-breaking strike to get her to open up, given that outside of the Tam Lin and Her Majesty she only turned casual in the presence of Woodwose. The joke was later galvanized and taken more seriously after she was seen commiserating at the Ball at Gloucester with the knight that was responsible for shattering her helmet. That is not to say she is of boundless patience- challenge her loyalty, or threaten the wellbeing of those she would protect, and she could snap to violence in a heartbeat.
Casually, the Autumn Knight has an inexplicable charisma to her. Her tones soften and brighten, and she has this perpetually amicable presence. And yet, this gentleness seems dulled, somewhat- like it had been blunted over the course of two thousand years. She also becomes far more impulsive, her words turning more casual, her demeanor far more fae-like. She will gently chide misbehavior, and playfully chuckle at jokes, and... it becomes far more understandable that she might be mistaken for the Last Master of Humanity, when her guard is down.
Of course, it is important to remember her loyalty. If Her Majesty gave her an order, she would follow it almost without fail or reservation, and seemingly without consideration for self-preservation. Likewise, as a Servant, her loyalty is near-absolute to her Master.
First Ascension comes second.
THE FAERIE SQUIRE OF THE SAVIOR AESC
A vastly different individual from the cold and stern Autumn Knight. Her armor is softer too- as though forged of polished silver, it looks as though she'd appropriated the armor of a certain loyal knight of Camelot. Indeed, her armor is highly reminiscent of the knight Bedivere, of Pan-Human history. Her hair is also reminiscent of the Last Master of Humanity, shorter, neater, and tied up in a side-ponytail with the stems of a few yellow flowers.
Her demeanor is clumsier, brighter. She gets names wrong by accident, and apologizes for it. This Tam Lin is far more likely to be found cracking corny jokes, or laughing freely at a prank- as long as the pranks do not go horribly wrong. Honestly, if you dressed her up, hid her pointed ears, and instructed her behavior for only a few days, she could easily pass for Fujimaru Ritsuka.
Her handling of her gold-coil sword is similarly clumsier. Unlike her later iterations, she struggles to command it freely- and is far more likely to settle it as a sword. She certainly does not have the elegance to freely draw the coils from her arm and send them dancing like arrows through the sky. There are times when she clumps it messily together, and swings it recklessly like the world's most ostentatious club, but those moments are rare and not to be spoken of in good company (she gets embarrassed of her lack of grace in combat.)
Third Ascension.
...
"This is what you wanted, isn't it?"
"That's why you kept making me stronger."
"You wanted me to remember, is that it?"
Her expression is cold to most. To the Last Master of Humanity, her demeanor is somewhere between bitterness and pity. Her hair is managed now, brushed down and neat, and she is clearly dressed in Fujimaru Ritsuka's old Mystic Code, the Chaldea standard uniform. White shirt with belts, black skirt. The gold coils circle around her now, no longer bound to her arm. Like this, her True Name is rather obvious, even to her.
The girl who forgot.
The faerie who remembered.
The Master No Longer.
She'd forgotten the home she could no longer return to, the world that was no longer hers.
And now she's remembered it all.
"... what, do you really want me to shed this title? There are two names. One I held once, for something like twenty years. The other I've carried proudly for two thousand, four hundred. As far as I care to declare it, Tam Lin Bedivere is my True Name. You can keep your name, I already have my own."
"Are you happy with yourself, then?"
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insipid-drivel · 6 months ago
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Tack And Upkeep: The Equine Influencer's Daily Routine
This is a continuation of my post, "Horses: Since There Seems To Be A Knowledge Gap". The first post I'm pretty satisfied addressed general horsie behavior and what's genuinely realistic in portraying horses, riding, and the relationships between horses and their riders that most people just plain don't know because you only learn it by working with them. The overall reception to the first post has been sincerely touching and inspiring from those of you who have shared and tagged or commented, so let's expand your knowledge some more! In this post, I'll be addressing the specific routines horses go through on a daily basis to be happy and healthy, and covering the different names and uses of tack.
Warning: This Is Going To Be A Very Long Post And So I've Placed A Readmore Below
Phase One: The Asscrack of Dawn
Horses are extremely high-maintenance and demanding animals when it comes to their routine upkeep. They're highly routine-focused, and will literally scream at the tops of their lungs if you're late in getting to the barn. If you think your cat is strict with their daily routines? It's because they learned it from horses, I'm 99% sure. My mom was once late as a teenager to getting to her horse and feeding him breakfast. He responded by picking the latch on his stall door, escaping from his paddock, and nosing his way past her bedroom window to whinny at her asleep in bed so she would get up and feed him. Like "I know where your stall is, too!"
Horses usually want to start the day in the pre-dawn hours. This is why stable hands and squires are essential throughout history. We adorn our eye crusties from rolling out of bed around 4am with oat dust as we head to the barn and first start with breakfast while you're able to stay in bed and sleep in time to get to work without being so sleep-deprived you walk into your car door instead of getting inside it.
So, what do horses like to eat anyway?
-Hay: The generic Wheaties of the horse world. Hay is a mix of dried grasses and healthy herbs meant for general munching and snacking on when the horse is in their stall or otherwise has no access to a pasture for grazing. They tend to be pretty "meh, okay" on being presented with hay, which we stable hands deliver in wheelbarrows and go from stall to stall filling each horse's individual feed bucket/trough. Hay and straw are not the same. Straw isn't very edible for livestock, and is almost exclusively used for insulation and bedding instead of food.
-Alfalfa, aka Clover flakes:
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Alfalfa flakes, or clover flakes as I'm used to saying, are a sweet-smelling, green bale of lightly dried and compressed alfalfa and clover. The bale itself can be broken up into flat, square "flakes" that we often present to horses like treats. The flakes can either be placed on the ground in the stall (not recommended; they poo and pee there), or in a loose net, open-topped grid, or some other form of mounted feeder they can comfortably snack on. The flakes themselves smell very sweet, herbal smell that was always my favorite when I was a stable hand.
-Oats: Oats are kind of the treat of treats for horses, and are carefully measured and controlled when it comes to portioning. Horses tend to love oats so much that, if allowed to, they will literally eat until their stomachs rupture and die. Every barn and every horse has different dietary needs, such as ratios for oats vs. alfalfa vs. hay in order to keep them healthy.
-Molasses: Horses absolutely love sugar, but molasses in particular is something they go crazy for. When I was learning to barrel race and was establishing my working relationship with my Quarterhorse, Chip, my mom would help me out by making homemade horse treats consisting of rolled oats, molasses, and chopped up bits of apple that I'd slip to him when it was time for me to bring him his breakfast.
-Apples: The stereotype is true that horses adore apples, carrots, and other safe-to-eat fruits and veggies. But again, we treat these like actual treats, since they wouldn't be something a horse could safely eat in large quantities without developing stomach and intestinal problems.
-Thistles:
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Horses go absolutely hogwild for thistles like the ones that grow in Scotland, Ireland, England, and Wales. They're a common sight along a lot of roads in the US nowadays, too, and while they're spiky as hell to us, horses are kinda like giraffes in that they have very tough mouth and tongue tissues designed to be tough against thorny and rigid vegetation. If you happen to be a fan of artichokes (also thistles), you may understand why horses get so excited to eat the little purple flowering ones! They're just yummy to 'em.
A very good rule of thumb to follow when it comes to writing up a rough feeding routine for your OC's horse, think of the natural ratios of food a wild horse would find. They would mostly eat grasses, with limited access to grains and fruits, and alfalfa/clover only tends to grow in large patches compared to the way grass likes to spread everywhere, so even the alfalfa would be lower on the list of most-eaten foods for a horse. As for stuff like thistles; those are treats even among horses. Stable hands will put up with a lot of literal horseshit, but the horses can forage for thistles themselves.
Phase Two: Bathtime
Now, routines can vary, but in my experience, the horses tend to be more relaxed and cooperative for cleanup time after they've been given breakfast, but every owner runs their barn differently.
The first thing we do is put a halter on. This is a halter:
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The difference between a halter and a bridle is a bit like the difference between a sports bra and a steel-boned corset: One you can stand to sleep in if you have to, while the other is there for good looks and tight control. Most horses don't mind wearing a halter 24/7, while others are crafty enough to figure out how to rub their heads against a tree/fence/stable door to slip their halter off.
It is possible to ride with a halter instead of a bridle, but you basically have to be willing to trust the horse with your life/are learning to ride bareback (although even bareback riders will often still use a halter or bridle for their own safety, and to control the horse when they're not riding it). 99% of the time, the halter is just there to help us stable hands guide and direct the horse to where we need them to be, with the rings on the halter used for clipping things like ropes to them to control the horse's head:
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The above image is a good idea of how we "control" the horse's head. In the barns I worked at, we usually took the horses to a hitching spot just outside of the tack room to keep them warm inside while we prepped them for the day.
Once the horse is comfortable and properly controlled in place, it's first time to "swamp out" the stall behind them! A horse's stall only stays clean when the horse isn't in it, and so every time you're preparing to take the horse out or put them in their stall, it's essential to clean the stall first. This means shoveling poo and soiled straw and hosing down the stall floor (most modern barns these days keep heavy rubber mats on the stall floors to keep the horses warmer and more comfortable in general), distributing fresh straw for them to sleep in, refilling water buckets, and topping off hay feeders. Once all that's done, we turn our attention to the horse.
Bathtime Stage 1: The Gear
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The diagram above is a bit fussy and more meant for show horses, but it gives the gist of what all we use to make sure the horses have their best glam day, every day. We'll often keep our grooming tools in designated bags or buckets that just make keeping track of our tools a lot easier than getting them one at a time.
ADVISORY: NEVER WALK BEHIND A HORSE, NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU TRUST AND LOVE THEM! The biggest etiquette no-no you can commit when practicing horse safety and working with horses is to walk behind them. Horses have nearly 360 degree vision, with their only blind spots being directly in front of and directly behind them. When you're in a horse's blind spot, if it's spooked in any way with its head restrained, its first response will be to kick. A kick from a horse can absolutely be lethal depending on how big the horse is, where they hit you, and how hard they kick. A horse will easily kill you by breaking your skull if their back hoof impacts your head. To avoid being kicked by a horse if you have no other way to get around them, you literally hug their butt with your body while scooching around to the side you need to get to. Only once you're clear of the horse's back hooves can you un-hug that booty and step away. That way, if the horse does decide to kick, they're more likely to scoop you up on their legs and knock you aside than pummel you with an iron-soled fist made of thumbnails compressed to be hard enough to crush a wolf's skull.
Bathtime Stage 2: Brushies!
Now, brush time is usually happy time for the horse! It feels good and is very much like stimming for them. On more than one occasion, I've actually had horses doze off and start snoring while standing up as I was brushing them because they were having such a nice time. It's a myth that horses always sleep standing up like cows do; they usually hunker down in their piles of straw and curl up like even bonier borzois, but they can nap standing up. And yes, horses can and do snore! They can fart hilariously loud, too. I've never heard such thunderous cheek-clapping as when I've heard horses farting.
Generally speaking, the body-brush we use is called the "dandy brush" in the above diagram, but I was always used to calling it the "bristle" brush, because they're usually made with the bristles taken from wild boar hides to make them. We generally brush their bodies with the dandy brush for as long as our arms can hold out, because you never can get all the dirt and shed hair out when you're brushing a horse, and we're going to bathe them anyway.
Some horses don't like having their faces brushed, and don't usually need it unless they actually have gotten dirty. That's when we use the face brush, which is much narrower with denser, yet slightly softer bristles for working out mud spots and dirt without irritating the horse's skin. I, personally, would only spot-clean visible dirt, and then use a small washcloth during bathtime to give horses a face wash.
A "curry comb" is just a brush with very thick, firm pegs or wire bristles that's meant for breaking apart thick cakes of mud matting in the horse's hair. Horses instinctively like to roll in mud and dirt as a natural way of keeping pets like flies away and to keep cool in the heat - especially after they've just been bathed and prepped for a show goddammit - and so they can come in from the pasture pretty heavily caked in mud, and proud of it. Curry or wire combs just help break up dried mud and loosen it from the horse's skin so it's easier to wash out.
Combing a horse's mane and tail are also essential to their care, just like it's important to care for your hair on a regular basis to keep it from matting and getting yucky. Their manes and tails tend to be very, very wiry and stiff, and it can be surprisingly tricky to work out tangles and knots. Along with a very sturdy steel comb, sometimes we'll use something like coconut oil - which is safe for their skin and if they ingest it - like a natural leave-in conditioner to help us work out bad tangles without hurting the horse. Braiding a horse's mane and tail is highly traditional, especially in folklore from the British Isles. To this day, legend says that if you find your horse's mane and tail braided overnight one day, the faeries snuck into the barn and did it as a show of favor!
There's actually a huge link between horses and Celtic folklore that's really fun to explore, but that's another post.
Stage 3: Hoof Picking
While stable hands and riders aren't necessarily trained to trim a horse's hooves, we do keep their feet and legs healthy through regular "picking". Maintaining a horse's hooves is how you can directly protect them from injury and illness, and is probably the most important part of a stable hand's job in prepping a horse for the day.
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Horseshoes are always crafted to sit on the very outermost edges of the bottom of a horse's hoof, as that's where their feet spend the most time impacting the ground as they walk. As you look inward, their hooves actually have hollow spaces in the bottom like the arches to the sole of a person's foot. The person in the above photo is using a hoof pick to gently scrape out dirt, mud, rocks, and any other bad stuff that can get gunked up in those hollow spots.
In my experience, horses are often trained to lift each leg on command for picking-time by either a verbal command, or a gentle squeeze to the tendon on the leg you want them to lift. For most of my working time, the signal was two light squeezes on the back of the leg.
Once a horse lifts their leg up for picking, it's easier for people who have limited physical strength to straddle either side of the horse's bent leg, facing away from the horse's face, and help keep the hoof held up with one hand while picking and cleaning it out with the other. While we're picking, we're looking closely for anything that could hurt the horse later. The #1 worst thing to find in a horse's hoof is a rusty nail, which are very, very common around a farm setting, and can cause a serious and life-threatening infection if it's able to pierce the horse's foot. We also check for any smells or visual signs that the horse is injured or hurting.
Regarding horseshoes and nail trims: It's pretty uncommon for your everyday stablehand to trim your horse's hooves. A significant, yet essential, cost for any horse owner is maintaining a ferrier, or horse foot specialist, whose main job is to maintain a horse's feet. Many nowadays are also equipped to make and fit their own horseshoes on-site for if your horse "casts a shoe" (has a horseshoe come loose and fall off), so they can fit them with a new one at the same time as they're trimming up their nails. I met one ferrier that actually had a miniature forge in the back of his work truck. It was awesome watching him work.
Stage 3: The Bath Begins
For the sake of their long-term health, most working ranches will see to it that their horses are bathed daily - sometimes multiple times - just like giant dogs. Horses that aren't ridden every day or are otherwise kept more like pets don't typically need as much bathing, but you should never put tack on a dirty horse. Horses don't have fur; they have hair like humans do, and so we use special horse-formulated shampoos and conditioners for bathtime, even in winter when it's so cold your hands go numb carrying in the water buckets.
I've never encountered a horse that was bothered by cold water, but that's because I live in a region that gets very cold winters, and I always bathed horses inside the barn where it was warm on days where it was very cold out. Some horses will refuse to cooperate unless they have tepid or warm water to bathe with (or will only allow a cold water bath if it's already very hot outside), and you have to be careful when around their legs and feet, since they'll sometimes stomp their legs from the sensation of water dripping off them.
For the most part, you only need to wash a horse from neck to backside, and down their legs, and you want to get them wet with their bathwater first before you apply any shampoo. Then, gently rub/massage with a soft sponge or grooming gloves until caked-on mud gives way and the shampoo starts to really lift away dirt and grime. We always wash manes and tails, but we never use shampoo or soap on their faces! Like I said before, a soft, damp cloth and regular water is usually all that's needed to bathe a horse's face.
Blow-drying horses isn't usually something I'm used to seeing, as they don't tend to appreciate the noise. Microfiber towels, or even just regular paper towels, combined with a sweat scraper are usually enough to get the horse comfortable and able to air-dry the rest of the way. After the excess water is gone is when coat conditioners or skin moisturizers are applied, and if a horse needs to stay pretty before a show or event, it's not unusual to line their stalls with wood shavings instead of straw beforehand. Wood shavings wick away the moisture they want to roll off, and are also pretty easy to brush off before it's showtime.
Phase Three: Tacking Up
I'm going to break this up into two examples: English, and Western style tack. There is an absolutely massive array of different kinds of tack all over the world, but the most common forms of riding and tacking in the Western world are English and Western, and I'll be comparing the tack used in both.
Blankets:
English Saddle Blanket:
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Western Saddle Blanket:
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Blankets or saddle pads are essential to riding! Saddle blankets/pads help protect the saddle - which are universally Not Cheap - from the horse's sweat, dirt, and shed hair, the blanket itself also protects the horse from developing sores on their backs from the friction of the rider moving in the saddle. Generally speaking, the very first thing we grab when it's time to tack up the horse is the blanket or pad that goes under the saddle.
The essential aesthetic difference between Western and English blankets is mainly that: aesthetics. Western blankets tend to be a lot bigger and almost always rectangular, made of a heavy material like wool or alpaca fleece, and bearing some kind of flashy pattern woven into the blanket itself - the most common styles being either made by or reminiscent of local Native American art styles. An English blanket or pad is either much smaller (again, a key to the aesthetic of the English riding style is subtlety), can be made of smoother and lighter fabrics, and can even even cut specifically to fit beneath the saddle with as little excess material showing as possible.
Speaking of, a lot of indigenous groups in America sell things like hand-woven saddle blankets at shows, farmer's markets, and online as a way of supporting their community! There's nothing wrong with you, as a non-Native American, buying from a community that's willingly selling to you, and it's a great way to help both show them monetary support as well as show off their work to other potential customers. Horse-people talk a lot about where they get their gear!
Western vs English Saddles:
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As you may be able to see, Western saddles are a lot more complicated than English saddles, mostly because they're designed for different types of riding.
English saddles, and English riding, is usually considered the typical "fancy rich people horse show" riding style, and the most common things done with that riding style is something commonly called "showing". Western riders tend to practice more competition-based, sports-centered riding, while English riding is more about showing off you and your horse's grace, etiquette, and bearing, and it's usually the horse that gets the most scrutiny out of the judges; being assessed for the quality of their gait and their precision and speed in completing tasks like a jumping obstacle course.
As a result, English saddles don't have that many bells and whistles to them, and generally tend to be designed to be as light and unassuming as possible. As I've said before, I've never liked English riding, because I feel fragile in the saddle and like I can't really get stable to go fast, as I am a speed freak in the saddle.
Western saddles were designed to be tough, heavy, stand up to a lot of abuse, and give the rider plenty of room on the horse's back to move around and work. Western saddles are built to be less likely to slide off the center of the horse's back if the rider has to lean hard on one stirrup (such as to shoot a gun sideways or lasso a sprinting cow before it can barrel off the side of a gully and get itself killed). The iconic horn is largely used for holding things like coils of rope, and it's considered a Western riding etiquette no-no to cling to the horn for stability. The horn is not there to stabilize you. It's there to keep your hands free.
The stirrups are also very different. A Western style stirrup needs to be much thicker underneath the rider's foot in order to give the rider a better platform to stand on, as well as more static friction (yeah, physics is involved in this stuff) to keep them stable in the saddle when the horse is moving very fast or very aggressively while they're also doing their own thing on the horse's back. The extra long fenders compared to the English knee pad are also there to help keep the saddle itself, which can weigh up to 60lbs/27kgs, centered so it doesn't slide and dump the rider off!
English stirrups are more there to slot into the heel of a riding boot, which always have a tiny bit of a heel regardless of whether it's designed for a male foot or a female one, as the heel serves an active purpose for the riding process rather than being there for fashion. Riding boots are designed with a channel in the heel to more securely and comfortably align with the stirrups, and don't need to be very thick or tremendously sturdy to heavy use, as English riding is more about showing off the skill and communication between the rider and the horse with as few flaws as possible vs. something more sports-oriented like target shooting, where the judges are factoring in your accuracy:speed ratio.
The Dreaded Cinch:
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Depending on the rider and the style, a saddle can have either one or two cinches (leather belly straps). The frontmost strap usually fits behind the horse's front legs, out of the way where it could cause the horse any harm while running, and often comes with a pad to keep the strap from chafing the skin, and to help keep the front portion of the saddle centered. Most horses don't mind that strap, as it just needs to be tight enough to fit.
What every horse I've ever met hated is the center belly cinch, which is the primary cinch for a lot of riders. It's critical to keeping you, the rider, alive on horseback, but it's one of the least fun sensory experiences for the horse due to how tightly it needs to be drawn to keep the saddle steady regardless of speed. Some horses will inflate their bellies to look fatter while you're tightening the cinch up to try and trick you into leaving it a notch or two too loose. It doesn't actually hurt them to have the cinch properly tightened; they just find the sensation annoying and can get mischievous if they're having a lazy day.
After the belly cinch is tightened, if you share your saddle (such as if you're taking classes and rent the tack that goes on your horse), you also want to adjust the length of the stirrups to properly suit the length of your legs. If you own your saddle and aren't getting any taller or shorter, this is usually a skippable part because you've already done it a while ago.
Bridles:
Once again, there are different kinds of bridles for different uses! There are bitless bridles, like this:
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Reasons for using bitless bridles can vary. A bridle with a bit usually doesn't do any harm to the horse while providing more control to the rider over where the horse is going with its head. Horses that spook easily, are prone to misbehaving, or just aren't very thoroughly trained yet are usually trained on bridles with bits in order so the rider can take control of the horse's head and better guide them in the direction they need to go.
Bitless bridles are naturally more comfortable for the horse, since nothing has to go in their mouths, and allows for them to do things like graze freely if you're riding them out in pastures and spaces where you're likely to take breaks from riding in places where food is growing. Horses with sensory issues, that were late in being trained to ride, or that have dental problems a bit would irritate tend to do better with bitless bridles, but the rider themselves have to be willing to sacrifice that extra control and trust the horse more.
What are bits for and what types are there?
The main bit types I've seen most in my experience are Snaffle Bits.
Snaffle Bits:
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As you can see, there are quite a few varieties of snaffle bits. In horse terminology, snaffle bits are considered "severe" bits, although they don't actually do any harm to the horse. "Severe" is more meant to describe the level of control and rigidity the bit provides to the rider compared to the level of freedom the horse has when they're riding together. Most horses are trained on and completely fine with snaffle bits, and if they do have any issues, the owner can switch types to see if the horse is more comfortable with a different type.
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With bits, their primary uses are to communicate with and direct the course of the horse's head when the rider pulls on or relaxes the reins in their grip. Some horses can be very flighty and need the help of a sturdy bit that has the potential of pinching the corners of their lips if the rider has to pull too hard to get them under control in the event of a scare. For other horses that don't need as much correction or situational control, they respond best to the sensation of the metal's pressure even on their tongue and lower jaw and move in the direction they feel the metal press the most firmly in their mouth.
Bits do not automatically destroy a horse's teeth. What a lot of people who haven't worked with horses aren't totally conscious of is that horse's jaw looks like:
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Between their frontmost teeth and molars, there's a huge gap where there's nothing but free space, and a bridle's bit is usually so small compared to the space the horse naturally has in its mouth that they can often comfortably graze and drink water with the bit still in, although some will try their hardest to spit the bit out when they want to eat, but that's more of a preference than a pain issue. Their front teeth are used for plucking food out of the ground (or biting the shit out of your unsuspecting stable hand's love handle when they're distracted), and they use their tongues to guide the food back toward their molars to chew. Experienced horses can often figure out how to eat around the bit still in their mouths, but they don't like it, and nice riders will take the bit out (you can do this without removing the bridle) when they're not needed so the horse can have its mouth back.
My character is in from riding. What's the routine like after you're done?
Firstly, if the horse is very hot and still huffing and puffing from all the work/running it's been doing, we'll swap their bridles out for halters, put them on a leading rope:
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Which, yes, can be tied into a bridle if you aren't a raging lazy ass like I was if you have the right type of rope, and then we'll take the horse on a cool-down walk in the paddock or a covered arena.
Like joggers and other heavy-exercisers, it's essential for the health of the horse's heart to help them slowly wind back down from working themselves into a literal sweat for so their heart rate gently returns to a lower pace. Stopping an overheated and overworked horse cold can actually be more stressful on them than if you take them for a slow, steady walk (sometimes just in circles until they slow down to a stop on their own), until they're steady and relaxed enough to be ready to tack down, brush out, and either let them back out to the paddock to roam, or put them to bed in their stall for the night with some fresh food and water. Their hooves are re-picked and checked again for any signs of damage or wear, and if they're especially sweaty, may need some towel-off time with a sweat-scraper and actual towels or fistfuls of straw.
The final, most important part of the day:
Spending quality one-on-one time with the horse with no tack, no riding, and no fussing around with work. Horses love to play, they crave affection and attention, and are extremely intelligent and curious. They get zoomies. They can be complete dorks. They can be love-bugs. They can even be protectors. They love following their favorite people around and watching what they're doing, and even try to involve themselves somehow (usually by flagrant acts of hat/jacket theft). They can get bored and destructive like puppies and kittens. If they're lonely for you and you haven't visited in a while, they'll chew on the edge of their fence to comfort themselves - it's called "cribbing".
You know those videos showing quirky families that live with a horse in their house part-time or full-time? That's not that unrealistic for horses at all. They're highly social, and prefer to sleep and live in close groups. They love to be pet and scratched, and often will try to reciprocate shows of cuddling and affection the best they can.
When a horse loves their rider, riding becomes fun for them both! When there's a real bond between them, the tacking and riding process can all be part of what the horse perceives as play and bonding time. Horses that are trained to do handle other sports, such as horseback sharpshooting, barrel racing, racing in general, polo, and the like can also genuinely enjoy the sports they play like human athletes!
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smallraindrops-blog · 4 months ago
Note
da loreeeee Anon (I've done like 10 ask I'm so sorry)
But any more ideas if u were to continue y/n being like
The guardian of sleep in the second game?
da loreeeee anon!
Putting my response under readmore. Possible hades 2 spoilers
I haven’t played the second game at all, I am waiting until full access is available. 
So I don't have a clear picture of what Y/N’s role will look like. I have heard of some things through the grapevine but that can change and I am trying to avoid spoilers especially regarding Hypnos. 
And I am torn if I should place the lore timeline/fics post hades 2 or during it or before. Bc if I decide to go through with my final plans for Y/N, he is going to come home a changed man. 
So I feel like I have to time it carefully.
But anyways.
Here is what I would like to do/what will stay the same.
Plot A
Y/n is always going to be Hypnos’ guardian, especially if I think I am right, and Hypnos is working hard for the war effort. 
So i can see him not letting people interfere with Hypnos when he is around ( coughEriscough)
however I also don’t y/n would stand around, doing nothing so while Odysseus would be the master tactician, y/n would be the one to do any dirty work he or Hecate need done. 
Y/n knows Hecate can keep Hypnos safe so he helps her where he can and gets stuff she needs, especially since he believes it would help Hypnos. 
He miss his husband so fucking much, and places new poppies in the bed for Hypnos.
He also helps with training the young princess. And like Odysseus, he becomes a father figure for her in some ways.
Plot B
Y/n is trapped in the house along with the rest of everyone else. 
If what I heard is correct, it seems like the victims are in a time trap or something?
I imagine he is one of the first victims, between trying to get others to safety and trying to get to Hypnos.
also if he came face to face with Cronus, he knows he is fucked no matter what, and just like he did with Ares, he would sacrifice himself to buy others a chance to escape. 
So either he is frozen in time, painfully aware of every passing second or he is in his own coma.
Maybe he saw Hecate grab Hypnos and can have some peace that Hypnos is at least away from this mess. Maybe not.
So when he and Hypnos see each other again, he is going to be surprised at how much hypnos had changed.
Plot C
During the attack, Y/N isn’t in the house for whatever reason. So he had no idea what happened, only that Cronus had returned and fucked shit up. 
No clue where Hypnos is or anything so he tries to get into the house but fails for whatever reason. 
Or maybe he does get in, but managed to avoid Cronus. Only to see Hypnos wasn’t there at all.
Maybe in this timeline, he and Hermes managed work together, with Y/N also acting like a spy, pretending that he was against Hades and the other gods the whole, swearing loyalty to Cronus. 
This allows him access to the house and he feeds information to the gods.
And oh look there is the princess, oops who let her in?? 
Not y/n, no sir. Y/n also didn’t give her one of Zagreus’ weapons and some healing items, no sir.
He misses Hypnos so fucking much. Fucking bitch ass Cronus.
maybe don’t fucking eat your kids and they won’t tear your body apart. Asshole.
Y/n really hates Cronus, maybe more than even he hated Pyrhuss.
There are some more ideas but those are the ones I feel safe sharing. lol
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missmagooglie · 1 year ago
Text
New Eddie/Shannon/Buck fic, right under the wire for a wanksgiving day post. Very NSFW below the readmore or here on AO3
-
Eddie opens the front door and is met with the sight of his wife, naked, straddling his best friend's lap on his couch.
“Eddie,” Shannon gasps as she meets his eyes over the back of the couch. “You're home.”
Eddie blinks at her. After a moment he dryly replies, “Well if you're busy I can always come back later.”
Buck tilts his head back over the top of the couch, craning his neck awkwardly to look at Eddie.
“Hey,” he says, his face lighting up with the smile that never fails to make Eddie's heart flutter just a little. “You're late. We got bored.”
Eddie huffs in mock annoyance as he shuts the door behind him and strides forward.
“I was bringing you food,” he says. He runs his fingers through Buck's hair, still messy and unstyled, and scratches lightly at his scalp. “That taqueria you like is doing breakfast burritos now, but I guess yours are gonna get cold since you two were too impatient to wait for me.”
He pulls one of the wraps out of the bag, and carefully unwraps the foil from one end. Leaning in close to Shannon and Buck, he takes a huge bite and hums with satisfaction. “Mmm,” he says around his mouthful of cheesy eggs and hashbrowns and salsa verde, “I don't think these are going to be nearly as good reheated.”
Shannon leans over and steals a bite before Eddie can snatch the burrito back.
“Thief,” Eddie accuses.
Shannon smirks at him with her cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk as she victoriously chews.
“Oh that is good,” she admits. She rolls her hips in a way that makes Buck groan. “What do you think, Buck? Do you wanna stop to eat the breakfast Eddie brought you? Or do you want me to ride you til you come?”
Buck lets out a pathetic whine and turns to Eddie with wide blue eyes. “Eddie,” he pouts, glancing between Eddie's face and the burrito in his hands. “Just one bite, please?”
Eddie huffs a laugh. “Are you asking me to hand-feed you so you can keep fucking my wife?”
Buck nods shamelessly, his hips jerking as Shannon continues to fuck herself on his cock. He strains his neck toward Eddie and opens his mouth pleadingly.
“Greedy boy,” Eddie chides playfully. “What do I get if I give it to you?”
“Whatever you want,” Buck promises, stretching toward Eddie without letting his hips falter in their rhythm. “I'll let you tie me up. You can fuck my throat, come on my face. You can use me however you want, baby, please . It smells so good.”
Eddie takes another bite for himself as he pretends to consider the offer, and enjoys the hungry way Buck tracks the motion, the pink of his tongue slipping out to wet his lips.
Eddie chews slowly and swallows before unwrapping a bit more of the foil and slowly bringing the burrito tantalizingly close to Buck's mouth. 
He leans in close, gripping Buck tightly by the hair to hold him in place and whispers, “I'm gonna hold you to all of that,” before releasing Buck, who practically unhinges his jaw and shoves nearly half the burrito in his mouth at once.
“Mmmh,” Buck moans around the greasy, tortilla-wrapped eggs and potatoes. His eyes slip closed as he savors the taste, his jaw working slowly around the enormous bite.
Eddie looks up and shares a smile with Shannon at Buck's blissed-out expression. He holds up what's left of the wrap and offers her another bite.
“This should be a thing we do,” she says once she's swallowed. “A mid-fuck snack break.”
Eddie snorts. “I think the two of you would need to at least momentarily stop having sex for us to call it a break,” he points out.
“A chew and screw,” Buck offers, slightly muffled by his still partially full mouth.
“Yes!” Shannon agrees enthusiastically. “Chew and screw. It's officially a thing now.”
Eddie shakes his head. “You two are ridiculous,” he says fondly.
Shannon’s eyes spark with mischief as she gives him a challenging look. “What are you gonna do about it?”
“I think Eddie should come over here and fuck us about it,” Buck suggests. His eyes open and he looks up at Eddie with a grin. “C'mon, Eddie. Put us in our place already.”
Eddie raises a brow at them both. If that's what they're aiming for with this little performance, he's more than willing to deliver. He strips as he walks around the couch, fisting his cock as he watches Buck's broad hands spread Shannon's cheeks for his view.
“We got her ass all ready for you, Eds,” Buck says, one thick finger pressing into the pucker while Shannon squirms on his cock. “You can just slide straight in.”
“Very thoughtful,” Eddie says, “but since we're in such a sharing mood this morning, I thought I might slide in right next to you.” Shannon's breath hitches at the suggestion. Eddie runs a soothing hand down her side, but continues addressing Buck, “You ok if I share her pussy, sweetheart?”
“What's mine is yours, Eds,” Buck says, hitching Shannon's hips higher to give Eddie a better angle.
“And what about you, Shan?” Eddie asks, pressing himself along her back as he pitches his voice in a low growl just behind her ear. “Can your cunt take us both?”
He slides a finger into her, stretching alongside Buck's cock as she mewls and arches under him.
“Was that a yes?” He asks, sweeping back the dark curtain of her hair to kiss her neck as he pushes the head of his cock up along her taint. He waits for her shaky nod before slowly pushing in, using his finger to stretch her wide enough to take the tip before slipping it out and pushing the rest of the way in as Shannon takes a shuddering, uneasy breath.
“How's that feel?” He asks, his hands circling gently where they've come to rest on her waist. “All good, my love?”
Shannon whimpers as she grips the top of the couch, bracketing Buck with her arms as she braces herself and rocks back onto Eddie's cock.
Eddie gives her a few moments to adjust, gyrating her hips as she stretches to accommodate Eddie and Buck sliding together inside her.
“God, it's so tight,” Buck says, grinding his hips up off the couch. His hand grip tightly where the top of Shannon's thighs swell to the meat of her ass, like he's presenting her to Eddie.
It's not a great angle, but it doesn't need to be. Eddie gives a few slow, deliberate thrusts until Shannon's thighs are shaking and she grinds down hard, rubbing her clit along the base of Buck's cock.
“Yeah, Eddie,” Shannon gasps. “Oh fuck, just like that.”
Eddie lays his hands on her back and pushes her down into Buck's chest. He rocks all three of them together in a slow grind, not pulling back enough to make a full thrust. His cock slides along Buck's as Shannon's cunt clenches and shudders around them.
Shannon keens, and starts begging incoherently as her hips jerk and spasm, chasing orgasm through a haze of overstimulation. She comes with a sob, her cunt gushing and giving a final hard squeeze before she goes limp against Buck, heaving ragged breaths.
Eddie slides his cock out, but shakes his head as Buck moves to do the same. “You stay right where you are,” he says firmly. “Shannon’s not done yet. Are you, corazón? After all,” He drags the head of his cock along her taint, and pushes against the pucker of her ass. “You two went to all the trouble of getting Shannon all prepped. It would be ungrateful of me not to take advantage.” He pushes in with one long, firm stroke. The angle’s good enough that he can start to build momentum as he fucks her. 
Buck’s knees are splayed wide on either side of Eddie, and he uses the leverage to try and match Eddie’s rhythm. Eddie tsks lightly, and wraps his hands under Buck’s thick, hairy thighs, lifting until Buck’s feet dangle just above the floor. 
“This is the part where you lay back and take what I decide to give you,” Eddie reminds him. “You asked me to put you in your place, remember?”
Buck whines as he yields. “Please,” he begs, “Eddie, please, I need to come.”
“Shannon, baby, are you keeping your cunt nice and tight for our Buck?” Eddie asks as he pounds her ass with rapid, hard thrusts.
“Yeah,” Shannon says breathlessly. “Buck. Come on, sweetheart. Come for us.”
Buck’s face and chest are flushed red as he pants beneath the two of them. “I’m close,” he tells them. “Fuck, I’m so close.”
“Pull his hair,” Eddie directs Shannon, his own hands still occupied with holding Buck in place. “You know how much he likes that.”
Shannon’s hand snakes up and tangles in Buck’s hair. She tugs, tipping his head back, and licks a long stripe along the exposed column of his throat.
Buck’s stomach tenses and he comes with a strangled shout, pearly white come leaking out around his cock as Shannon’s cunt continues to slide along it while Eddie fucks her from behind.
With both his lovers sated and limp beneath him, Eddie doesn’t waste any effort on finesse as he chases his own pleasure. As he gets close, he pulls out and strokes himself with his hand until he comes in hot, thick stripes across Shannon’s back.
He steps back slightly to admire the sight they make together, both looking utterly debauched as Buck sinks bonelessly into the couch with Shannon draped over him, both panting and flushed.
Before he can move away to get something to help clean them up, both Buck and Shannon reach out and tug him down next to them on the couch. He lets himself be brought into the tableau, letting his limbs tangle together with theirs and kissing each of them in turn. 
“Thank you for bringing us breakfast,” Shannon says, fighting back a yawn. It’s a good thing they don’t have anywhere to be today, because Eddie’s pretty sure the three of them are going back to bed after this. “It was very thoughtful.”
“And tasty,” Buck agrees. “Were there more of them?”
“They’re probably cold by now,” Eddie says, glancing in the vague direction of where he left the take-out bag. “We can figure out how to warm them back up later.”
It can wait, though. Eddie wants to lay here and enjoy the afterglow for at least a little while longer.
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ressyfaerie · 3 years ago
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Here I am with another request! Just a sequel for that Vampire Tyka AU, maybe how will go in a night of super moon or just another prompt comes in your mind, I'll let you free!
Sorry it took so long! I’m back at work and still recovering! I’m still finishing up requests!
YES!! A request for a sequel to one of my favourite fics I’ve written DON'T MIND IF I DO!
If you haven’t read the 1st fic you can find it here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30742760
My biggest problem is I have TOO MANY IDEAS!! But I’ll just start writing and see where it goes! Posted under readmore for NSFW!
“We could do it two times a day?”
“No. I won’t do that to you.”
Tyson pouted, “it was only a suggestion… I’m worried since you always look so pale in the afternoon.”
Kai shook his head, “it’s not happening.”
The past few weeks had been the most amazing time of Kai’s life.
Everynight he would feed on Tyson. Tyson loved it—probably more than Kai did.
The feeding, the closeness, and the sex. It was everything Kai ever wanted.
Currently, Kai tasted the remains of the crimson delight as it rolled around his tongue. Tyson laid beside him, naked and running his fingers over Kai’s chest.
When Tyson was in his apartment bedroom, it became his oasis.
Kai smiled at Tyson, his fangs just poked through his parted lips.
“Mmm…” Tyson ran his finger over one of the white teeth, Kai turned his head away.
“Stop…”
“No…” Tyson pushed himself into Kai, kissing him passionately.
Kai loved this, he rocked his saviour’s hips back and forth overtop of him.
He pretended everything was okay.
He had to wake himself up soon—or it could be a disaster.
But watching Tyson sit over him, and seeing the small droplets of blood trickle down his thigh… Made his heart skip a beat.
How could I leave this?
Tyson kissed his neck, then his chest. “I’m glad you started feeding from my thighs instead of my neck… Now people won’t ask weird questions…”
“Me too…” Kai mumbled, but felt a hollow emptiness in his stomach.
He was still hungry.
He was frustrated this kept happening. He would dread everyday waiting until he could taste Tyson. Slowly, each time he grew hungrier.
He would take as much as possible, Tyson begged for me, but he knew when to stop, he couldn’t take more or it could seriously injure him.
Yet he wanted to.
He would stop himself, then worship his lover's body in other ways, it killed him to touch bare skin yet still be starving.
After a shower, they would cuddle, and talk. Kai felt Tyson’s heartbeat, each night growing more intense.
“Kai, I got you something.”
“Hm?”
Tyson handed him a box and he opened it with a confused expression.
Inside looked like a pair of reading glasses.
Kai gave him a quizzical expression, “ever since I turned, my eyesight has been perfect?”
“I know, there’s no prescription.”
“Then... why?”
Tyson picked them up, unfolded them and handed them over, “they’re solar sensitive, when it gets too bright, they change and become darker.”
Kai took them, “wow, really?” He placed them on his face, they felt like regular reading glasses.
“I thought they would be great since you’re… light sensitive.”
Kai stared at his blue haired lover through his new glasses, “God, I love you.”
Tyson’s eyes grew wide.
Kai panicked when he realized what he had said, “Ah… that not what—”
“You love me?”
Tyson’s eyes looked wet, Kai couldn’t lie to him.
“Yeah.”
Tyson threw himself against him, kissing him for the hundredth time that night.
Tyson went home just after midnight. Kai would never let him sleep over. He tried, but Kai knew better. He couldn’t promise Tyson’s safety overnight. Tyson just smiled, saying ���I trust you’ over and over again.
When will he understand… I can’t trust myself?
Kai awoke hours later.
Hungry.
He turned over to go back to sleep, a habit he had made the past week.
This time it wasn’t going away.
I have to go to the dojo for training tomorrow… If I see Tyson like this… will I be able to hold myself together?
Kai remembered yesterday, he barely made it. When Tyson arrived he had thrown him against the wall yanking his pants off and shoving his fangs into his soft flesh without even saying hello.
Tyson loved it.
Kai felt like it was a blur, he only felt in control of his actions when he got a taste of blood.
That terrified him.
If I was hungrier… What would I have done?
What will I do?
His appetite was growing. Tyson wasn’t safe.
I’m selfish.
Kai tossed and turned.
I won’t sleep until I eat.
He found himself in the kitchen. He had no food here. It didn’t matter anyways. No matter how much food he ate he would feel like he hadn’t eaten anything. Food had no taste, and it certainly wouldn’t satiate his hunger. He had accepted his fate of one meal a day—and that meal was Tyson.
It’s not enough.
He left the apartment. He wandered for ages. The streets turned to bushes until he found himself in a rural area of town.
The road, then a field.
A farm?
The lights were off, and the animals were sleeping.
He slipped into the barn unnoticed.
A normal person couldn’t see in this darkness.
But Kai wasn’t normal.
He could just make out the silhouettes of the sleeping animals, but that’s not how he knew where they were.
He could feel their heartbeats.
Small but loud, littering the barn like gum on pavement.
A few weeks ago the only heartbeat he could detect was Tyson’s. Now, his sensitivity had grown much stronger. Every heartbeat was detectable, even his friends; and when he was in the stadium…
Let's just say it was agony.
In the barn he could feel the pulse of the cows, and the slow beat of the horses, even the small drumming of mice under the floorboards.
The only blood he craved was Tysons.
However, he was painfully aware he would have to find other outlets soon.
Next to him was a wooden fence. It housed an old horse. A clipboard was nailed to one of the posts, he read it.
This horse is getting sent to the slaughter house tomorrow…
The next day, Kai trained with the team after showing up late. He had a decent sleep and hoped his desire for Tyson had dwindled.
He cursed when he discovered it had only grown stronger.
He sat alone on the opposite side of the house looking over the gardens. He let his face fall in his hands. He could feel everyone on the property, but Tyson the most. He felt him branch off from the group, he was approaching Kai.
Tyson slid open the shoji door, he sat beside Kai, “hey.”
Kai raised his face out of his hands, “Hello.”
“Are you alright?” Tyson placed a hand on Kai’s shoulder, but was aggressively shrugged off.
“No.” Kai felt a stabbing pain in his chest when he admitted it.
Tyson snuck both his arms around Kai’s neck, holding him in a tight embrace, “what can I do to help?”
“Nothing.”
“Are you… hungry?” Tyson tilted his head, teasing his silver haired prince in just the right way.
Kai didn’t dare answer that.
Tyson grasped his chin, forcing him to lock eye contact, “you should eat.”
Kai shook his head, “not till tonight.”
Tyson’s body pulsed intensely with the red delicacy Kai would do anything for. He glanced at his neck, the scabs he had made weeks before were still visible.
Kai opened his mouth, his fangs snuck out, he didn’t mean to, the instinct was too powerful.
“Mhm, there they are.” Tyson grasped Kai’s hand, pulling him into another room of the dojo. “Come in here.”
Kai followed, he would go anywhere he went, especially if it meant a reward.
Tyson slid the door closed behind them, they were in a medium sized room Kai didn’t recognize.
“There’s other people around, but we can be quick…” Tyson unbuckled his belt.
His heart raced. Kai could feel his nervousness raise his blood pressure, Kai couldn’t take it.
He could see the small crimson rivers flowing under his bare skin. His arms were the only things exposed, Kai wanted all his clothes removed so he could admire the colour as much as possible.
Kai grasped his hands over his pants, “please stop—you don’t understand—”
“I understand you need to eat, or you’ll die” Tyson’s voice was serious, but stuttered slightly.
“If you keep treating this like a game… You will die.”
Neither of them moved.
Tyson shook his head, “I don’t care—”
Kai raised his voice, “I could kill you, do you understand!?”
Tyson’s heartbeat was stronger than it had ever been, Kai’s hands trembled, he was forcing himself back.
Tyson suddenly planted a long wet kiss on Kai’s lips. Kai accepted it, drinking it like an oasis in a desert, they pulled apart. Tyson’s face showed concern.
“What?” Kai wondered what was wrong with the kiss for him to react with such disgust.
“You taste like metal.”
“Huh?”
“You only taste like that after you’ve had my blood.”
The silence was deafening.
Tyson broke the silence first, “did you?—”
“I found a farm. There is no one else but you—”
“Animals?” Tyson looked revolted.
Kai held his shoulders, “you don’t understand—”
“Did you kill something?”
“No! No, I wouldn’t, you know that…”
Tyson placed a hand along his cheek. His voice was calm, “what do animals taste like?”
“Disgusting.” Kai spat.
The taste still lingered in his mouth, it felt dirty. The faint taste of mud and game lingered on his tongue and he felt he could never get rid of it.
Tyson said the one word Kai had been dreading—
“Why?”
Kai stared into his eyes, and nuzzled his head into Tyson’s hand. The touch was warm, and soft, but rang with the continuous pulse of blood.
“My… my appetite has grown.”
Tyson didn’t flinch, but Kai detected his heart when it raced with anxiety.
Kai closed his eyes briefly, then looked back at Tyson, “I should be more clear… It has been growing constantly. And it won’t stop—I’ve tried.”
“Kai—”
“We can’t keep doing this. I won’t—”
“You need to!”
“Not with you, I refuse to hurt you, and eventually—I will.
“You don’t know that!”
Tyson was bursting with anger and heat. It was like his body was ripening. Kai could taste the sweet red from here, he gulped.
“I give you permission! We can keep doing this until we find a cure—”
“There is no cure.” Kai’s voice vibrated when he tried to keep his anger under control.
“There could be, I just need to do more research—”
“There’s no cure, Tyson!”
Kai pushed Tyson away, crossing his arms, his eyes grew wet when he saw Tyson’s face filled with absolute betrayal.
“We’ve been through this…” Kai went from angry to sad in an instant, “I’m like this forever—there’s no going back.”
“Kai…” Tyson took a few dangerous steps towards him, “you said you loved me.”
“That has nothing to do with this…” Kai begged, “please understand that I do! That’s why I can’t keep doing this to you…”
“I love you too.” To Kai’s surprise, Tyson grew a smile. “That’s why… I need you—”
Tyson had suddenly thrown his forearm against Kai’s mouth.
“—to eat.”
Kai’s body went numb. Normally he would throw Tyson off in an instant, tell him he was crazy, and they would get on with their day.
Not this time.
Kai felt his soft skin run along his teeth, the saliva that formed in his mouth dripped down his lover's tanned arm. He felt something spark inside him… something primal.
Something he couldn’t control.
Red.
All he could taste was blood, all he could see was red, and Tyson’s face, in front of his own.
It took everything in Kai to shake his head and in turn Tyson took his arm away.
There was no more thinking, no more pushing down emotions.
Kai leaped at Tyson, grasping his shoulders and throwing him to the hardwood on his back.
Tyson muffled a scream, Kai grasped his hair tossing his head to the side.
Straddling him, he shoved his head into his neck and bit down with force.
He began to suck, faster and longer than he ever had. He wasn’t savouring anymore—he was devouring.
If Tyson had noticed this, he didn’t show it. He was the worst instigator, he moaned words to keep Kai going.
“Yeah, just like that—finally.”
Tyson lovingly ran his hand through Kai’s silver hair.
“Good boy.”
Slowly, Kai was coming to his senses, the blood kept flowing, and his vision became clear.
He knew this.
But he didn’t stop.
“Kai? You need to move from my neck, you’ll leave bruises—”
Kai bit down harder.
“Ah! Mm!” Tyson felt Kai’s fangs dig deeper than they ever had before.
It tasted better than it ever had before.
Kai was positive feasting on the animals the night before should have decreased his appetite.
He was wrong.
So wrong.
He felt his pupils roll back as his body sank into pure pleasure.
Underneath his body he felt Tyson tense.
“Kai? Take it easy…”
I need to pull away.
“Kai, I don’t feel… so good.”
Pull away!
Tyson didn’t fight, he didn’t scream, his body just went limp.
When it happened Kai felt a cold shiver run down his spine.
Get off him!
Kai’s jaw popped under the pressure it took to remove it. He pushed himself away from Tyson. He saw his limp body underneath him, and began to panic.
“Tyson!”
Kai shook his shoulders.
“Tyson! Wake up, get up!”
Kai ran his shaking hand over his cheek.
“I’m so sorry, please don’t be dead please, please—please.”
Kai felt the tears roll down his face as he let out faint painful sobs.
“Mmff…”
Kai heard the murmur escape Tysons lips.
“Tyson!”
Tyson grimaced as he lazily turned his head in Kai’s direction.
Kai gasped, “oh, thank god…”
Tyson opened his eyes halfway, “I think you did a bit too much…”
Kai shook his head, “I’m so fucking sorry—”
“It’s my fault—”
“How is this your fault!?”
“I haven’t eaten anything today…”
Kai crawled off Tyson, he felt how weak his legs were.
Tyson tried to sit up.
“Woah! Careful…” Kai had his hand on his back keeping him stable. He cursed himself, he shouldn’t even be touching him.
“It’s fine Kai—I’m fine!”
Kai stared into his eyes, Tyson stared back.
Kai took a deep breath, “next time, we won’t be so lucky.”
“We will find a cure by then.”
“How many times do I have to tell you! There is no cure!”
Kai shouted as loud as possible trying to get it into Tyson’s thick head. He pushed himself to his feet, he looked down on Tyson.
Tyson was shocked into silence.
“If there is a cure, I’ll find it on my own.”
“We need to work together.”
“I can’t be around you!”
Kai threw his hands in the air in defeat.
“I’m leaving.”
“Like hell you are!”
Kai nodded, his mind was made up.
“I’m going to Europe, where this all began.”
Tyson protested, “No—”
“I am. I’m going to find the person who did this to me. I’ll find out if a cure even exists.”
Tyson shook his head as tears welled in his eyes.
“If you find a cure… will you come back?”
Kai swallowed nervously, “yes.”
“No matter how long it takes, right?”
Kai nodded. He took a deep breath and said the words Tyson would never forget.
“I love you. I want to be with you. Very few things could hold me back—I hope you know how hard this decision is for me—”
“It’s hard for me too.” Tears rolled down Tyson’s cheeks.
Kai backed up, slowly making his way to the door.
Kai took one last, long look at Tyson. Making a mental note of every hair, every crevice, every colour.
“I love you so much, Kai.”
Kai closed his eyes and hung his head low.
He raised his head, opening his eyes, feeling the dampness of his own cheeks.
“I love you too.”
He quickly turned, threw open the door, and sprinted through the gardens. Wiping his face with his sleeve so he could see. He felt his stomach turn and he felt sick.
He didn’t dare look back.
----
I have SO many ideas for a chapter 3 and an ending! If there’s a demand I might just write it? :O
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emilysarmstrong · 3 years ago
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THIS IS GONNA BE A RANT AND I'M ON MOBILE SO NO READMORE FOR Y'ALL, YE HAVE BEEN WARNED
We managed to go on a week long vacation with my gf's parents (in the house that belonged to her great-grandpa who won it on a game of cards, but that's another story) but god, at what cost
Our cat couldn't come with us on the grounds of my gf's mom being severely allergic, so we were waiting for The Roommate to come back so she could watch over her (and her own cat too), but after two weeks (of a supposedly ONE WEEK TRIP) she finally told us that she was only coming back TWO DAYS AFTER my gf's parents were supposed to be back so no fucking vacation for us I guess?
We wanted at least to spend a weekend away from this house that has been in the middle of a moving since GODDAMN MARCH full of boxes and trash everywhere, so we had everything set up for gf's uncle to come over and feed the cats for two days. Once we finally got to the vacation spot, The Roommate calls us to say that she got someone to watch the cats.
Time to drive ALL THE WAY BACK to relieve the aforementioned uncle from duty and bring our keys to the person who was supposed to watch the cats. Turns out it's this old judgy neighbour lady who was annoyed that we wanted to show her where the cat food and litter were, where we had made a neat pile of clean pet bowls and plates for them, the lists with how much and how many portions to feed them, our phone numbers... and then she got pissy because "[Roommate] said I only had to feed the cats once a day"
EXCUSE ME?
WHY DON'T YOU TRY TO SURVIVE ON ONE MEAL AND A SINGLE GLASS OF WATER A DAY, ELIZABETH?
Anyway we reiterated the importance of getting the cats fed and their water changed twice a day, and hoped The Roommate had chosen a dependable person to take care of the cats
*narrator's voiceover* turns out, in fact, that she hadn't
Roommate calls us two days later to say that the catsitter called her with her panties in a twist because there were maggots in the cat food and she had to toss it all away, that she was calling another lady to pick up the catsitting, that in the end the new lady was going to buy more cat food, and and and
WHOA MCFUCKING THERE, PARDNER
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE HAD TO THROW AWAY OUR CAT'S FOOD"
"It's okay, she handled it"
"But we have enough food, there's a metal box full of wet food and a full bag of kibble"
"It's okay, she handled it"
"We have to come back to town tomorrow to get our covid vaccine shots, if there's the need for more food we can stop by the pet shop on the way"
"It's okay, she handled it"
The gods gifted me with many virtues
Patience is not one of them
And at this point the gf was already restraining me to not yell at the phone, and we agreed on not stopping by on Monday to not stress the cats further with showing up and going away, and trusting the new caretaker, that had already watched over The Roommate's cat before, to not be a complete moron
We overestimated her
We came back today to find the new caretaker, who did not even invite us in for a coffee, all pissy about The Penny having bitten her this morning when "all I did was trying to pet her". She gave us back our keys and we walked into our apartment, where The Penny was already screaming her little lungs out
The apartment
Was
A
Mess.
Penny's litter box hadn't been cleaned, at all, ever since we left
She had one bowl of water instead of the two we had left
The tray we place her bowls on was FILTHY
And I don't know what the fuck was in her kibble bowl, but boy
It was NOT the kibble that we had prepared for the week and left in a glass jar right in front of the tray
We thought that was all, but nope! Walking into the kitchen made the nightmare even worse! The food that we had set aside for the cats, that the lady claimed was gone so fast because it was filling with maggots, was still sealed on the shelf with the little notes on how to portion it attached. We had laid out wet food for a week, of which not even HALF had been used, and The Roommate's cat's kibble didn't even seem to have been touched. Instead, there were two boxes and a bag of SHIT ASS cat food of a brand we had never seen before, full of grains and coloring and other bullshit, not to mention the bag of kibble for fixed cats. WE are responsible pet owners that fixed our baby as soon as she was old enough, but The Roommate refuses to do the same to her cat (that has been constantly in heat for a while, mind you) but feeds her kibble for sterilized cats. If you're wondering if this makes her cat underweight and low energy, well, BINGO! We had finally convinced her to change into better kibble, and this FUCKER comes around and buys this shit under the premise that "poor kitty cat had no food" while there were TWO BAGS IN THE KITCHEN AND PENNY'S JAR IN OUR ROOM
And the bowls. My good lord, the bowls.
Penny eats out of steel bowls that we wash after every meal, and the water one gets washed once a day. The Roommate isn't nearly as organized with her cat's stuff, but she keeps telling everyone who listens for at least ten seconds about how her cat's whiskers are particularly sensitive and therefore she cannot eat out of regular pet bowls (instead she keeps feeding the cat in plastic plates that only get washed once a blue moon but we'll get to that in another ranty post). We specified on the notes taped to the food shelf that she has to be fed on open plate, and what did the asshole do? WELL, OBVIOUSLY NOT THAT. She grabbed a random Penny bowl and filled it with kibble, another random Penny bowl and filled it with water. And completely ignored the tray we had laid out for the other cat, with her little plate and the wider water bowl, putting the "meal" she prepared on the kitchen counter instead
Unlike Penny's litter box, that hadn't seen a scoop since we left the house, the other cat's stuff had been cleaned. Once. And the bag with the litter trash was still open in the bathroom for everyone to see and smell, because obviously, it's not like the cat would maybe just maybe like to have a room that doesn't smell of her own fucking shit, specially if said room is right besides the one where she sleeps
Now it's the following morning and I'm still seething, I cannot believe the fucking audacity. We would happily (okay, maybe not happily, but we definitely would) skip the vacation if there was no one to watch the cats. They're little living creatures that need attention, and we happily provide when we're around. It's not a crime to say "I can't watch over your pets, sorry", it doesn't make you a horrible, rude, inconsiderate person. You know what does, though? ACCEPTING TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR SOMEONE'S PET AND DOING A SHIT ASS JOB OF IT
We laid out everything. We left clean bowls and plenty of kibble and wet food. We left clean scoops to clean their litter boxes. We explained everything and literally left a phone number taped to the food shelf in case they needed us for anything. Instead, the first bitch called The Roommate to complain and the second one just deadass did whatever the fuck she wanted (also I'm convinced that she was overfeeding the cats kibble and not giving them wet food to avoid maggots instead of, you know, sticking around until the cats finished eating and putting the food away when they did. Which means The Penny gained weight in this week, a LOT of it). And ignoring the things we had prepared and explained with so much care to 1) make their lives easier and 2) MAKE IT AS SAFE AND NOT STRESSFUL FOR THE CATS AS POSSIBLE.
We've been home for twelve hours and Penny still hasn't stopped being whiny, which I'm pretty sure is only partly because she is annoyed at us for spending a long time away, but also because she has been bored out of her mind, since these people act like cats are part of the furniture and don't need attention besides some horrible slop thrown into their food bowls. Our cat missed having play time with her wand toys, hanging out with us while we watch tv, eating together (obviously, her having a little bowl of cat food while we eat human food, that we do NOT give her because we aren't stupid), sleeping in the same bed. Of course you're not mandated to do that if you're just hopping by to check on the cats and give them food, but don't act like they're furniture and then get pissy when they try to bite you because they're under stimulated! CATS NEED TO HUNT, and if you don't provide a prey in the form of a toy they're gonna hunt your fucking fingers, and my only regret is that Penpen didn't rip that asshole's hand off
I don't think there is a point to this post, I'm just angry and annoyed and frustrated, but typing everything out in an angry rant is better than yelling and scaring my already sad toebean of a cat, I guess?
Anyway if you read all of this I'm sorry and have a picture of Her Catship The Penny Dreadful
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darks-ink · 5 years ago
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Play Your Part 5
Chapter 5: Not Only Will I Soar Again
I am Very Boldly posting this chapter with linebreaks and readmores and praying it doesn’t turn out like the last one. And if it does, well... Tumblr let me edit back the readmore today so it won’t be messed up forever, anyway.
[first] [previous] [next] [AO3] [FFnet]
Danny’s eyes watered as he reached out. One hand, shaky with emotion, made contact with the picture. Ultimate proof that it was… that this was real.
“Is-- Is that--”
“A ghost core?” Tucker grinned wider. “That’s exactly what it is, yeah.”
“But then…” Danny frowned, one hand still on the core on the photo, the other reaching for his chest. “Why isn’t it… working, then? If I have the core, why don’t I have the powers?”
“Well, we can’t know for sure, of course, but…” Jazz placed one finger on the photograph as well, tapping the core. “This isn’t an active ghost core. We have pictures of Danny’s, and of a few regular ghosts, and this one looks even less active than Danny’s when he’s in human form.”
“Oh.” One hand still rested on his chest, as if he could feel the core’s hum now that he knew it existed. “How? Why?”
“We already figured that you lost your powers because you purged your ectoplasmic contamination, right?” Jazz shrugged, gently pulling the photograph out of his hand. “In doing so you must’ve run your core out of ectoplasm, forcing it into some sort of hibernation. I think, if we can carefully feed it ectoplasm again, that it might activate again.”
“And that’ll get me my powers again?” Danny brightened up slightly, hope unfurling in his chest. It sounded… it all sounded very possible. Would it just be that easy?
“Well, probably. Like I said, we can’t know until we try.” Jazz sighed, placing the photo on the table Danny was sitting on. “At least I know a good way to get you ectoplasm in a somewhat safe manner.”
“Oh lord, Jazz, you want him to eat--” Tucker made a disgusted face, pretending to vomit. It wasn’t very encouraging, to be honest.
“Oh grow up.” She shoved the boy, turning to Sam, who looked far more steady. “Sam, can you go fetch some of the leftovers in the fridge? You know how to recognize the right ones, yeah?”
“If they try to bite me they’re good.” Sam nodded, turning around like she hadn’t just said that food might actively attack her, hello? What the hell was going on here?
Danny cleared his throat, drawing Jazz’ attention back to him. “What’s, uh. What this ‘safe manner’ of ectoplasm consumption?”
“Well, it’s.” She blushed, twirling a strand of hair as she tried to find the right words. “Uh, you know how in this universe, our parents are ghost hunters?”
“Uh huh,” he said, slowly.
“And ghosts are made out of ectoplasm. Which means that for their inventions, they do a lot of experiments with said ectoplasm, including ways to use this to make food faster?”
“Oh.” He still didn’t understand where she was going with this.
Jazz opened her mouth to explain further, but a strange hissing sounded by the stairs, and Danny twisted to look at that instead. Sam was coming down, her arms full of various plastic containers, some of which were duct-taped shut.
“Got the leftovers you asked for. Is the malevolence directly related to how heavily contaminated they are?”
“I think so.” Jazz shrugged, releasing her hair. “Not sure. Mom and Dad never really looked into it much.”
“Wait, wait, wait.” Danny waved his hands around, drawing the attention of everyone else back to him. He ignored the jostling of the plastic bins for the moment. “You want me to eat… contaminated food? Living food?”
“Well, it’s not living, technically.” Jazz wiggled her hand a little, making a so-so motion. “They’re kind of… reanimated, I guess? We’re starting off slow, with the stuff that just glows. Anything that moves we’ll re-cook first.”
“Like the weenies,” Tucker added helpfully, taking one especially violent container from Sam. The duct-tape on it seemed to strain to hold it closed, and through the plastic Danny could see sausage-like shapes bouncing around. “These are definitely some of the worst in the fridge.”
“Yeah, and the fact that they’ve been in there for months hasn’t helped.” Sam shook her head, moving over to the table to put down the other stuff. “Anyway, don’t worry about it, Danny. Our Danny can eat this stuff just fine, and so can any ordinary ghost. We’re not giving it to you until we’re sure you’ve got enough ghost in you to do the same.”
“Oh. Um.” He looked at the boxes that now shifted over the table, driven by the force of their contents. “Thanks, I guess?”
“Don’t thank us until it works, man.” Tucker placed his one container on the table as well. When it immediately threatened to throw itself off again, he placed a heavy-looking invention on top of it. “Seriously, if we make you eat this stuff and it doesn’t work you’ll hate us.”
“Tucker, stop discouraging him,” Jazz scolded, picking up one of the containers that lacked duct-tape. “Danny, it’ll be fine. Mom and Dad and I have eaten this stuff on multiple occasions, and you’re supposed to have this stuff in your body. Do you really think I would be giving this to you if I thought it would be a problem?”
“No,” he said, “but this wouldn’t be the first time you’ve tried feeding me something weird as a big sister prank.”
Jazz made a face, then nodded. “Ah, I guess that that’s fair.” She opened one box, showing its contents to him. “How do you feel about starting with these mildly glowing carrots?”
Bad, he wanted to say.
“I guess they’re… okay?” he said instead, taking the bin from her. They did, indeed, look like regular carrots. Y’know, if carrots came in ecto-green and glowed. “Do I… have to?”
“You can try the Portal too, if you prefer that,” Sam suggested, leaning against the table. “Get it over with in one quick swoop.”
Danny made a face, then shoved one baby carrot into his mouth. The moment he bit down he pulled a face. It tasted like what he imaged raw ectoplasm might taste like; copper and rusted pennies and something like lemons? Except it still had a mild taste of carrot, and its texture was mostly carrot-like. Mostly, because it was just a little goopy on the inside.
He slapped his free hand over his mouth, trying to push away his desire to puke. Come on Danny, just bite through it!
Swallowing, he made another grimacing face at the others.
“Ah, come on, they’re not that bad.” Jazz clicked her tongue, shaking her head disapprovingly. “How is it that you guys in the halfa-universe are less used to eating ectoplasm infused food, huh? Am I the only one wondering about that?”
“No, I was too,” Sam admitted, looking far too amused for Danny’s liking. “And I bet our Danny is, too. He’ll definitely be enjoying the break where he doesn’t have to worry about his lunch coming to life.”
Danny sighed, placing the carrots down again. “Can I try something else? Maybe that’ll be better.”
Tucker snorted disbelievingly, but to his credit, did push one of the other boxes towards Danny. “Here, I think this one is just glowing toast.”
“Ugh, toast.” He pulled off the lid, revealing, indeed, several slices of ecto-green toast. “Well, can’t be worse than regular toast, right?”
He took a bite of one of the slices. Wow, hey, that’s actually worse than regular toast, who would’ve thought? Again that taste of copper and lemons and sour metal, although the inside wasn’t quite as soft as with the carrots. Just felt like untoasted bread instead of goop.
“Well?” Tucker asked, a grin on his face again. “Better or worse?”
“Better than the carrots,” Danny said as he swallowed the bite. “And honestly? Not much worse than regular toast.”
“You want jam or something with that?” Sam asked, turning one of the slices in her hand as she looked it over. “That might mask the taste a little.”
“Hm, maybe.” He took another bite, trying to chew it away quickly. “Egh, yeah, let’s give that a shot if you’ve got some.”
“I’ll go look,” Jazz said, ruffling his hair as she passed him by. “Sam, Tucker, stay out of trouble.”
“Trouble?” Tucker gasped dramatically. “We would never!”
Danny shot him an unimpressed look as he chewed away another bite of sour toast. “You two literally tried to zap me with a giant ghost portal while she was away.”
“Don’t get involved, Fenton.” Tucker swung a finger in his direction. “Eat your toast and shut up.”
“Yes sir.” He took another bite of the toast. Against all expectations, he was actually kind of getting used to the taste of ectoplasm-infused food. It felt kind of warm in his throat, like it was melting as he chewed it away.
He’d finished his first slice of toast when Jazz reappeared downstairs, carrying a few types of jam and some margarine. “Wasn’t sure what would go best with, uh, ectoplasm,” she said, blushing a little. “What do you want to try first?”
“Margarine, I guess?” He shrugged, picking up a new slice of toast to butter it. “I think I just had to get used to the toast, anyway. It’s not too bad anymore. Kind of nice, actually? Warm and melty.”
Jazz frowned, sharing a glance with Sam and Tucker. “Warm? Ectoplasm is cold and goopy, usually.”
“Oh.” Danny took a bite of his still-unbuttered toast, tasting it carefully. “No, it definitely tastes warm. Like, pleasant warm, like honey?”
“Maybe that’s what it tastes like for half-ghosts?” Tucker suggested, his brow creased in consideration. “They are made out of the stuff, so of course it wouldn’t feel cold to them.”
“Does that mean it’s working?” Danny asked as he started buttering the toast. The taste of lemon and metal hadn’t gone away entirely, and he wasn’t too hot on it still. “If I just keep eating enough toast, that’ll fix my core? It’s really just that easy?”
“I mean, you’ll probably have to move on to something stronger eventually.” Sam tapped on one of the taped boxes, ignoring the way it jerked in response. “Danny has a lot of ectoplasm in his body, usually. If you want to recover all of that in a short time, you’ll need to eat more ectoplasm and less actual food. There’s only so much food you can eat before you’re full, after all.”
“Right.” He took a bite of buttered toast. Not bad, actually. The butter definitely offset the sourness, even if wasn’t entirely functional against the taste of copper. “So when should I switch, if the higher amounts could be dangerous?”
“Finish off all the toast first, then we’ll see.” Jazz looked distastefully at the weenie-container, which seemed to be trying to throw off the heavy weight that pinned it down. “Honestly, we might try roasting the weenies. They’re definitely the highest in ectoplasm to food ratio, and they won’t fill much either way.”
Danny eyed the box suspiciously. Then, rather than speak up about the fact that these hot dogs might just be the most dangerous thing in the lab, he took another bite of toast.
“We, uh, should probably get them roasting sooner than later, then.” Tucker leaned down next to the box, his frown deepening. “I think that they’re trying to chew through the plastic.”
“Do you think the Thermos would work on them?” Sam asked, her tone light as if this was perfectly normal. “Or are they not ghostly enough?”
“That might just suck out all the ectoplasm and leave behind the weenies.” Jazz sighed, stepping away to dig through some equipment. “If they break out, just trap them in something metal. Or, like, trap them in a box with something else and let that distract them. I’ll look for something moderately safe to cook them with.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Tucker declared cheerfully, frown gone again. He picked up a larger plastic bin, opening it and peeking inside. “Ah, non-sentient ham. That should keep them occupied if they break out.”
Sam sighed and shook her head, but didn’t comment. Danny shoved another piece of toast inside his mouth. If she didn’t want to comment, neither did he.
But, really. How was this world so much crazier than his own world? Is this what their planet would be like if it was ruled by humans instead of half-ghosts? Crazy. Maybe they really were still out there somewhere, surviving unseen thanks to their sheer insanity.
“Well, so, most of the stuff I found I wouldn’t trust around food,” Jazz said plainly as she rejoined them. In one hand she held a metal pot, the inside stained a suspicious mix of green and black. The other, she held behind her back. “I wouldn’t worry about the ectoplasm on this, except that it seems to be burned to hell and back, and I don’t think the charcoal will be any good. And I don’t trust the bunsen burners with this, either.”
She placed the burned pan on a nearby table, then swung the object in her other hand around to her front, using her other hand to hold it up as well. It looked like a weapon, but not any Danny was familiar with. Sci-fi esque, silver with glowing green accents. Round and shiny, like a cylinder with another cylinder on top. This, at least, looked kind of like the water containers on a water gun. The vivid green really just kind of reinforced this appearance.
“I don’t think I’m familiar with that one.” Sam stepped closer, twisting her head to look at the weapon. “What is it? A flamethrower?”
“Yep,” she simply said, placing it in Sam’s arms. “Here you go, I’m pretty sure you’re the best shot of all of us.”
“Tuck’s pretty good too, and you’re not too shabby either.” But as she said this, Sam shifted the flamethrower in her arms, gripping it properly. She grinned like she was absolutely loving this. God, humans were scary. Danny was faintly sorry that he had ever felt lesser for thinking he was human if they were all like this.
Rather than get involved, he took another bite of toast and jumped off of the table. He could watch the proceedings from somewhere further away, he was sure.
Tucker lifted the machine off of the bin that contained the hot dogs, pinning the box down with his own strength instead. “I’ll count down and then dump them on the table. Got it?”
Sam, grin widening, nodded. “Got it.” She turned to gun onto Tucker, holding it steady with one finger already on the trigger. “On 3?”
“I was thinking on fire, actually.” Tucker nodded back, licked his lips, then started counting. “3. 2.”
“1,” the both of them counted in sync, muscles bunching as they got ready.
“Fire!” Tucker shouted, peeling the container open and spilling the contents onto the table, then stepping back in the same swift motion.
The hot dogs seemed thrown off by the sudden movement, sitting dazedly on the metal tabletop a long moment. They were ecto-green, glowing, and they seemed to have… eyes and pointed teeth? Yikes.
On the shout Sam had pulled the trigger, and bright flames spilled from the gun. Despite his expectations, they weren’t pure green; pink was scattered throughout the flames, and the inner column was white-hot.
The reanimated meat screeched when the flames reached them, but they were quickly silenced under the steady fire.
An unmeasurably long moment later, Sam cut off the flames. Jazz stepped forward to inspect the results, expression carefully blank. Then she smiled, expression lighting up. “Looks good to me! I think we can finally put the Frankenweenies to use.”
“Frankenweenies?” Danny repeated incredulously, swallowing his last bite of toast. “Really?”
Jazz hummed. When she turned back to him, she was holding one of the hot dogs pinched between her fingers. The flames hadn’t lessened its glow, but they had turned it into a darker green. The eyes and mouth seemed to have somehow disappeared entirely. “What do you think? Does it look appealing?”
“No,” Danny said honestly, taking it from her. “But neither did the toast.”
He took a bite, chewing it experimentally. The skin was like… not like a hot dog, but more like a regular sausage? Somewhat tough, a little chewy, but not in a bad way. The inside was soft and warm and gooey, and actually kinda sweet. Like it was filled with honey.
“That’s… pretty good, actually,” he said when he swallowed it. ���I mean, I don’t think it beats actual food, especially since the green is a real deterrent, but…”
“What, the glow is fine with you?” Sam scoffed, but the smile on her face didn’t leave. “Priorities, Danny.”
“Eh, the glow isn’t too out of place where I’m from.” Danny shrugged, taking another bite of the hot dog and swallowing it. “With all the half-ghosts and stuff. My parents, especially Mom, they use telekinesis pretty often, so stuff often glows in and around the house.”
“That’s fair,” Sam decided, nodding approvingly. Her fingers drummed on the barrel of the flamethrower. “Hey Jazz, do you want this thing back or can I keep it?”
“If you get in trouble for having it I’m not taking responsibility.” Jazz crossed her arms, twisting to look at Sam. “My parents will just blame its disappearance on a ghost anyway.”
“Nice.” Sam flipped a switch on the side, and the glowing elements dulled down. A safety switch, then. “I’ll find a spot for it, don’t worry.”
“I’m not,” Jazz said, just as Danny hiccuped. Loudly.
“Sorry,” he apologized, hiccuping again. Something in his chest rattled strangely. “I think something didn’t go down right.”
He clenched his eyes closed, dropping the half-eaten sausage back on the table. His other hand came up to claw at his chest. Something felt wrong, it hurt, it hurt--
Another hiccup, following with a thrum in his chest. He opened his eyes again, staring wide-eyed at his friends, his sister, hoping for some sort of help or advice or--
“Look!” Jazz exclaimed, enthusiastically. “See, I told you it would be fine!”
“Fine?!” Danny bit back, his voice peaking up high as a hiccup burst through the last half of the word.
“Well, yeah, obviously.” Jazz gestured at him like it was an explanation. “See, and your eyes brightened even further. Must be your core.”
Tucker frowned, looking a little concerned. “Are you alright, dude? Besides the hiccuping, obviously.”
Danny groaned back, his fingers digging into his chest even more. His core? Was that what this was? Why did it-- “Why does it hurt?”
“It’s not… supposed to.” Jazz darted closer, suddenly, kneeling a little to look at his face. She pried his hand off of his chest, placing her own there instead. “Maybe it’s because it was out of energy for so long? Like when you boot up a machine after it’s been off for really long, and it sounds like it’s struggling to get functional again?”
“Or like when your muscles hurt way more if you haven’t been active in a while?” Sam suggested, tone not as jubilant anymore. “That could be it, yeah. Should we hold off and give it time to work through it, or should we try feeding it more energy?”
“I don’t know,” Jazz said, slowly. “Danny, do you think you could eat?”
“Dunno.” He huffed, feeling faintly breathless. It felt like something was burrowing in his chest, trying to shove all his organs aside to make room for itself. “Maybe.”
“Alright, that’s a no in Danny-speak.” Jazz took him by the arm, gently tugging him towards a table. “Sit down, tell us if it gets worse.”
He nodded, letting her shove him onto the table. He tried clawing at his chest again, but Jazz swatted his hand away and he gave up.
It was hard for him to tell how much time passed. For most of it, he had his eyes closed, focusing exclusively on the feeling in his chest. As the pain receded, he started to feel his core more clearly. It was pulsing, thrilling and humming in his chest. Like a heart, but also… not? It was clearly trying to drag in energy, awake but not… not satisfied, he didn’t think.
Once it felt as stable as it would get, he opened his eyes again, looking at his best friends as his sister. “It, uh. I think it’s done. But I don’t think that it has all the power it needs, still.”
Jazz nodded, a thoughtful expression on her face. “Didn’t think so. But we got it enough energy to wake up, so if it’s functional we can try feeding ectoplasm straight to your ghost form.” She started, looking at him somewhat guiltily. “If you’re okay with that, of course.”
“I mean… sure? Assuming that I can shift right now.” He shrugged, then settled one hand on the back of his neck to rub it.
“Do your parents have some of that Ecto-Dejecto still?” Sam asked, turning towards Jazz. “Danny uses it sometimes when he’s really really out of energy, but I think he stockpiles it all in his walls.”
“Oh yeah, that’s a good idea.” Jazz perked up, gesturing at one of the nearby drawers. “I think they have some in there?”
Sam hummed, moving to search it. “Worst come to worst, we can try having Danny search through his own walls. If, uh, he can maintain that kind of intangibility, that is.”
He made a face, not that she could see. “Yeah, let’s not risk that.”
“Oh, wait, here it is already.” Sam straightened up, a tube of unnaturally bright ectoplasm in her hand. “We just need a needle, and for Danny to shift into his ghost form.”
“At least we won’t have to fight with his sleeve this time,” Tucker joked, nudging Danny. “Did you know how much of a hassle that is, to roll up the sleeves of those jumpsuits? Absolutely awful.”
“I’ll… keep that in mind?” He tried mentally poking his core. How were you supposed to shift to your ghost form, anyway? He thought he was doing it right, but he had no way of knowing whether he was doing it wrong, or if his core just didn’t have enough energy. “When should I shift?”
“Now’s fine,” Sam said, reappearing with a worryingly large syringe. It was filled with the same fake ectoplasm as the vial before. The ‘Ecto-Dejecto’, presumably. “We’re ready if you are.”
“Oh, joy,” he muttered, stirring his core more forcibly. He tried to encourage it, tried to picture himself as the photos he’d seen of Phantom. Tried to goad it with the lure of more energy.
Then, suddenly, it was like lightning crackled through him. Pure energy burst forth, sparking through his flesh and his skin but not hurting him. It formed a ring, bright and luminescent, and Danny felt like he could cry.
As with everyone else, with every shift he’d ever witnessed, the ring split into two. Twin halos of pure light danced over his body, inverting the colors everywhere they passed, until he was left in his black shirt and with white hair hanging down in his eyes.
“Arm,” Sam immediately commanded, like she hadn’t just witnessed something incredible and life-changing. When he didn’t respond, Jazz grabbed it and pulled it towards Sam for him.
He was so occupied with, well, everything, that he didn’t even notice the needle until its contents were being pushed into his body. It wasn’t even cold, not really. Just… weird? Very energetic. His core thrilled, immediately pulling in the energy provided.
“Holy shit,” he whispered, feeling the pulse of power throughout his entire body. His core hummed so loud that he wondered if everyone else could hear it, too, like the purr of a cat. “That’s… holy shit.”
“Sounds like it worked,” Tucker commented dryly, not even bothering to hide his smile. “Feeling good, ghost boy?”
“Yeah,” he answered, breathlessly. “Yeah, wow. It’s like… Like this weight in my chest is gone, suddenly. Like I’ve been dragging around my core this whole time, like a ball and chain, and finally I’m free.”
“How poetic.” Sam grinned, nudging him playfully. “Want to take your powers for a spin?”
“In the lab?” he asked, already pushing off of the table. “Are you sure?”
“We train Danny’s powers here all the time,” Tucker said dismissively, flapping a hand. “And it’ll be safer here than outside.”
“Fair enough.” He bounced a little on the ground, feeling lighter than usual. He wondered how floating worked. Didn’t it come naturally to--
“Oh.” He flipped in the air, maneuvering like he’s been doing it his whole life. “Wow, that’s really fun. Now I get why everyone’s always flying everywhere.”
“I guess I should’ve seen that coming.” Jazz grinned at him. “Danny’s favorite power is flight, too.”
“I can’t blame him!” Danny exclaimed, flying a lap at moderate speed through the lab. “It’s so much fun!”
“Alright, well, let’s run through a few more powers. Hopefully establishing that your powers work will trigger the switch back.”
“Yeah,” Danny hummed, feeling his core pulse with happiness at the thought of showing his parents his powers, before a spike of dread stabbed through it. “Unless your Danny has something he needs to achieve, too.”
Danny’s eyes watered as he reached out. One hand, shaky with emotion, wrapped around his mother’s wrist. “Wait.”
“Yes, sweetie?” She crouched down in front of him, smiling softly. “What’s wrong?”
“I… I can’t.”
“Can’t what, kiddo?” His dad frowned as he, too, crouched by Danny.
“I…” He groaned, burying his face in his hands. “You’re all so nice.”
“Of course they are,” Jazz said, voice carefully blank. “They’re our parents. When have they ever not been nice?”
“That’s complicated,” he muttered back through his fingers. They’d never meant to be mean towards him, of course, but… but they’d uttered plenty of insults and threats towards Phantom. And that was… it was just hard to ignore, especially when faced with such complete and utter acceptance.
A silence fell, and Danny got the feeling that his parents and sister were sharing confused glances.
“What do you mean, son?” his dad finally asked, uncertainly. “We’ve always tried…”
I know.” He dragged his hands off of his face to shoot them a look that hopefully expressed how lost he felt. “You’ve been nothing but nice, I know. But you’re not-- I am not--” He groaned again, now in frustration at himself and his trouble to put his feelings into words.
Jazz narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you Danny?”
“Is he what?” his mom asked, at the same time that he shook his head. While she snapped her jaw shut, he corrected himself by nodding, then made a so-so motion with his hand.
“I’m Danny Fenton,” he finally said, giving up on his attempt at miming out an answer. “But I’m not… your Danny.”
“Oh,” both of his parents chimed, perfectly synced.
“Yeah.” He dragged a hand through his eyes, wiping away the half-formed tears. “I’m… yeah. It’s, um. Complicated, I guess.”
“How?” His mom reached for him, twisting his head like she could suddenly see differences that didn’t exist before. “Why? What happened to our Danny?”
“I… I don’t know. I really really don’t know,” he admitted, much as it pained him. “I don’t know what’s going on, I don’t understand it. Usually if I get brought to a different timeline I’m told why, what I’m supposed to do. Not…” he gestured vaguely. “Not this.”
“And our son?” his mom repeated. “What about him?”
“I’m sure he’s fine.” Danny dragged his hand through his hair, mussing the black locks up beyond their normal mess. “Sam and Tucker and Jazz will take care of him. They’re good at that kinda stuff. They’ll catch on quickly, I bet.”
“That’s good.” His mom – this version of her – patted him on the arm. Her expression was hard to read, though. “Now, what was this about your parents, sweetie?”
“I, um.” He blushed, licked his lips. “It’s. Complicated. Like I said. They don’t… they don’t mean it, they’re nice, but it’s…”
He hummed, looking at his hands in his lap. “You know how you’re all half-ghosts, and so am I?”
“Yes?” His mom frowned a little, shooting a short glance towards Jack. “Is that not… Is that a problem, back home?”
“Well, I wouldn’t know, because I never told them.” He blew out a breath, the confession making him feel lighter. Not much, but, well. A little. “It’s… You know how you’re human hunters, here? Well, my parents, they hunt ghosts.”
“Oh,” his dad said on his other side, voice low and quiet.
“Yeah.” Danny sighed, thumbs twirling. “They, um. They’ve seen me in my ghost form, but they didn’t know it was me. I’m the only half-ghost in town, so I… fight the other ghosts? To protect the town. But they don’t see it like that. They just see an aggressive ghost causing trouble.”
“They hurt you,” Jazz stated, her voice clearly forced into neutrality to cover up her emotions. “Right? They’ve hurt you, but they didn’t know it was you because you never told them. And they don’t think of the similarities, because they don’t think half-ghosts can exist.”
He barked out a humorless laugh. “Yeah, you nailed it. They’ve, uh. Made something of a habit out of threatening and insulting ‘Phantom’ around me and Jazz. They work on their inventions in the lab and in the kitchen, and they keep going off near me, and one day--” He snapped his mouth shut, shaking off the thought.
“And you’re afraid that one day it’ll go wrong.” Light flashed as Maddie shifted back to her human form without moving. Her hand, laying on Danny’s, became marginally warmer. “You’re afraid of your parents, because they don’t know that their prey and their son are the same person.”
Danny nodded, listlessly.
“Can I offer some advice?” Jazz asked, her hand on his knee. She continued before he got a chance to answer. “Tell them.”
“What?” he frowned at her.
“Tell them,” Jazz repeated, looking from him to their parents. “You’re afraid because they don’t know that you’re half-ghost. So tell them.”
“But they-- They hate ghosts.” He gestured with his free hand, leaving the one with Maddie’s hand on it. “They hate ghosts with such fervor that they’ve dedicated their life to getting rid of every single one of them!”
“Danny.” His dad caught his free hand, gently placing it down and pinning it with his own warm hand. At some point he, too, had shifted back to human form. “Danny, I don’t know how different your version of me is, but I can tell you one thing with absolute certainty. The most important thing in my life, always and ever, is my family. And that includes my son, human or ghost or half-ghost.”
“Oh,” he said, soundlessly. “But--”
“What about your sister?” his mother asked, suddenly, cocking her head at him. “You said that she would help, and Sam and Tucker. Does she know?”
“Uh…” Danny twitched at the non-sequitur. “Yeah? I mean, I didn’t tell her, but she figured it out on her own.”
“And she hasn’t recommended that you tell your parents?” this Jazz asked, brow quirked. “She didn’t comment on the secret-keeping, on the damage it could do?”
“I, well…” he sighed, letting his head hang. “She did, actually. But she’s… big on letting me tell people at my own pace. And she’s heard the vitriol my parents spit, so…”
“So she should’ve encouraged you to tell them,” Jazz insisted, more forcefully. “Danny, you need your family. You can’t hide this. Do you really think that they haven’t noticed that something changed, that their relationship somehow got damaged and they don’t even know what happened?”
“I… oh.” He looked at his hands, both covered by his parents’ hands. “I hadn’t… thought about that.”
Maddie sighed. “And I guess I didn’t think about how we might’ve done something similar to our Danny, insisting that he had to be half-ghost as well.”
“Well, how about this, then,” Danny said, trying to summon his bravery a little. He could, at least, help this other version of himself, right? That’s what heroes did, and he was a hero. “You tell him that you love him, that you accept him, half-ghost or not, and I’ll tell my parents.”
“Sounds like a plan to me!” his dad boomed, his characteristic grin finally reappearing. His free hand clapped on Danny’s back. “Now we just need to figure out how to get you back!”
Danny opened his mouth to reply, but halted as a pulse of energy ripped through the atmosphere. He couldn’t tell where it came from, just felt the pure power hum--
White light blinded him, energy ripping at his body, he didn’t know what was happening, and--
Then, blissfully, he passed out.
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saccharineomens · 5 years ago
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I want to know all the answers from your 100 question meme
Something you find romantic? Answer whichever #'s you feel comfortable answering; I want to know all your inner musings 😝
cat why do you do this to me
i’ll be sticking them below a readmore, then!
1.  Is a kiss considered cheating? Yes! Unless you’ve communicated with your partner that it’s okay.
2. Have you ever faked an orgasm? Nope
3. If you could have one superpower, what would it be? Hmmm this is a really hard decision. I usually say telepathy, but I like shapeshifting, too. I loved the Animorphs books as a kid, even though I didn’t read them all.
4. Do you think you are going to be rich in 7-8-9 years? Monetarily? Nah. But I like to think I’ll still have strong, rich friendships and I think I’ll have enough money to live comfortably alone. 
5.  Tell us some funny drunk story. I just don’t really have one rip. Drunk people are hilarious but normally I’m the DD. I’ve got several pleasant stories, though! There was a time me and my best friend went to a pub and drank cider and played board games and video games until closing time. Afterwards we stopped at an Insomnia cookies, a storm caused the electricity to go out, and we got a half dozen cookies for free. (well, I felt guilty, so I left them a very large tip.)
6.  Why are you no longer together with your ex? I was going through college, it was long distance, and I felt he deserved better. We keep in touch, though.
7.  If you had to choose one way to die, what would it be? Well, painlessly, of old age, in my sleep, of course. But if that’s not an option, out of all the ways of dying, freezing to death seems the most humane. You just get tired, cold, and sleepy, and then you just...don’t wake up.
8.  What are your current goals? Graduate, mostly. Long-term I’d like to live with friends in a big house and my cat, and have enough free time to garden and craft at my leisure, and have the ability to travel wherever I’d like. I’d like to work on a game or movie I’m really passionate about, and I’d love to become a director someday.
9.  Do you like someone? I mean, I like a lot of people, but I assume this means romantically. So, kind of? I find a lot of people attractive and have a ‘if they wanted to date I’d be down’ feeling, but I don’t have serious feelings for anybody specific.
10. Who was the last person to disappoint you? Hmmm I have a terrible memory. Myself, perhaps? I have a really hard time with getting up when my alarms go off. Sleep inertia’s a big problem for me. This has led to me being late to classes and rushing to get ready, which is stressful.
11. Do you like your body? Ehhhh. I guess. It could be improved, like by not having health issues. 
12.  Can you keep a diet? Ha! No.
13. If the whole world listened to you right now, what would you say? I hope you have a wonderful day. The universe doesn’t care about us so be excellent to each other!
14.  Do you work? Constantly, every day. I work to learn new things, accomplish school assignments, make money, feed myself...All my life is is working, right now.
15.  If you could choose only one food to eat to the rest of your life, what would it be? Salad! Because anything can be a salad. Tuna salad, fruit salad, salad with salmon...
16. Would you get a tattoo? Oh, absolutely. The only reason I don’t have any is because of money. I have like five small ideas and one very large one that i’d like across my back. 
17. Something you don’t mind spending all your money on? Food, my family, and my friends.
18. Can you drive? Yes. Do I have a license? No.
19. When was the last time someone told you you were beautiful? Probably sometime in the past month by my mother, but she’s just about the only person who does.
20. What was the last thing you cried for? asdfjal;ksdjfs it was Treasure Planet. Jim and Silver’s relationship is just [clutches chest] so beautiful.
21. Do you keep a journal? Sort of, sporadically. 
22.  Is life fun? Yes!
23.  Is farting in front of people irrelevant? I mean, I prefer you excuse yourself, but more or less yeah.
24.  What’s your dream car? My sib got this really nice Prius used at a good price, and it has a lot of room and it’s a hybrid, so Nice. I don’t tend to pay much attention to cars, as long as they’re comfortable and low-waste.
25. Are grades in school important? I admit that they’re important to me, but that’s something I have to unlearn. My worth isn’t determined by other people.
26. Describe your crush. Ugh. I’m bi, guys. I get crushes on people all the time, every day. Saw this really pretty redhead in the cafeteria over a month ago, and I saw her again yesterday. She’s a couple inches taller than me and has really pretty curly hair, but I didn’t really, like, stare, so I couldn’t describe her face well past ‘cute nose’.
27. What was the last book/movie that really impressed you? Nothing jumps to mind. I guess I’m still falling over myself after seeing Mad Max back in like 2015, that was just the coolest experience ever. I find delight in just about every movie I watch, though. The second Jumanji-sequels movie was just as fun and amazing as the first. Klaus was just incredible in so many ways. 
28.  What was your last lie? I...really just do not remember. Probably telling myself “I’m gonna do my laundry today” a few days ago? Whereas I DID do my laundry today so HA
29. Dumbest lie you ever told? I saved this question for last and it’s late and I honestly can’t remember anything, asdjls sorry. My memory’s awful y’all. 
30. Is crying in front of people embarrassing? Oh absolutely. I mean it wouldn’t be if they weren’t uncomfortable with it, but they always are.
31.  Something you did and you are proud of? I did my laundry today? washed dried folded and everything. I also braved the nighttime neighborhood around my school to solo a Pokemon raid, which was cool. I’m proud of my animation done at the end of the last semester, and of how my teddy bear modelling is doing this week.
32. What’s your favourite cocktail? How am I supposed to choose this? How can you ask me to choose this? I’d have to line them all up and try one by one, honestly, before I could tell you. 
33.  Something you are good at? I’m pretty good at drawing anatomy and expressions, I think. I’m good at baking/cooking, although I lack creativity in the kitchen. I also think I’m a pretty good listener, and a good friend? 
34.  Do you like small kids? Most of the time!
35.  How are you feeling right now? Frankly, a little drained with all these questions, but determined to finish them. I’m a little hungry. I’ve got a lot on my mind, and wish I was doing homework, but I also can’t get myself to do it right now. 
36.  What would you name your daughter/son? Not sure! Every once in a while I’ll be like “ooh, that’d be a great name” and then don’t remember to write it down. Besides, I plan on adopting, and most kiddos already have names.
37.  What do you need to be happy? Money, friends, family, good food, and a place to explore. 
38.  Is there some you want to punch in the face right now? Not particularly. No one other than, well. The rich people I’m pretty sure everyone knows I dislike.
39.  What was the last gift you received? Well, anything my mom cooks for me is a gift, but the last Proper gift was from my friend @ wefflebugs , who got me a blu-ray copy of Into the Spiderverse and some coffee for Christmas  c:
40.  What was the last gift you gave? I gave my sibling @ aconfusedbird a keychain of one of the two Bubble Bobble dragons and kept the other for myself, for their birthday. Handmade from Perler beads. We’d play that game for ages as kids, and we always fought over who’d be the blue one.
41.  What was the last concert you went to? I think it was The Shins? They were so awesome!
42.  Favourite place to shop at? Well, I quite like Target. But I also adore small resale shops. They always have some really awesome things hiding there.
43. Who inspires you? Oogh, a lot of people. Like a million and a half artists I’ve met online, ones I only know their screenname for, inspire me to get better at art. James Baxter and Sergio Pablos inspire me to get better at animation. Wefflebugs’ art always has such lovely colors, which I adore. featherdragon15′s art has gotten a lot better lately, and that inspires me to keep working hard too! Not to mention they’re working for nasa which is rad af, and also inspires me to keep working toward my dreams. My sibling aconfusedbird inspires me a Lot in a lot of personal ways, like to be more kind to myself and to keep moving forward. My mom inspires me to keep gardening. roachpatrol/roach-works inspired me to get into welding, lizardlicks inspired me into wanting chickens and a small homestead. My teachers inspire me to keep working hard in school. 
44. How old were you when you first got drunk? 19, I think? I’ve only gotten properly drunk once. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to eat another boiled peanut, but other than that it wasn’t a problem lol.
45. How old were you when you first got high? I haven’t, actually. I don’t have a reason not to or anything, but it’s just never felt like the right vibe yanno?
46.  How old were you when you first had sex? I guess it really depends on your definition. Personally, I’d say I haven’t yet.
47. When was your first kiss? Well, I played spin the bottle when I was seventeen, which was technically my first kiss, but if that doesn’t count then it was about a week before I turned eighteen, and I kissed the guy who’d become my first boyfriend.
48.  Something you want to do until the end of this year? Play video games....I wish I had infinite time to play video games and watch movies and draw and just...enjoy my time on earth, you know? Without feeling like it had a deadline.
49. Is there something in the past you wish you hadn’t done? I try not to live with regrets. 
(50 is ‘post a selfie’ but im on a computer)
51. Who are you most comfortable around? Either aconfusedbird or featherdragon15, i think. 
52.  Name one thing that terrifies you. asdkfjal;sdf i’ve been listening to too much magnus archives and got recommended to ‘not be too scared of one thing’ if i want to avoid the creatures, so uh. hard to decide. I guess I’m scared of...hm. people who just lack the ability to create bonds with people? people who don’t care about other living things. humans can be fucking terrifying. 
53. What kind of books do you read? Oh, just about anything. Fantasy, realistic fiction, romance, mysteries, thrillers, scifi...all are great. I didn’t used to enjoy nonfiction but it really depends on the nonfiction.
54. What would you tell your 12 year old self? You’re going to have a best friend someday, and it will be everything you wanted. Things with your mother will improve when you’re in your last few years of high school. You’re going to become a great artist.
55.  What is your favourite flower? Not sure! I like many. There was this one flower i found in high school that smelled incredible, but I’ve no idea what it was. I should find it again.
56. Any bad habits you have? ...Well. Not waking up when my alarm goes off is pretty annoying. My procrastination in general’s frustrating. And, well, just between you, me, and the rest of the internet, (tw: self harm) my trichotillomania causes me constant distress and anxiety.
57. What kind of people are you attracted to? People who want to learn new things, are kind and compassionate, respect me, and have a good sense of humor. Someone I can be adventurous with.
58. What was the last thing you cried for? Well, i answered a similar question earlier, so I’ll answer for the second most recent time I cried. I was in Pennsylvania, the day I had to fly home, and when I went to check in for my flight, all the seats were taken, and I needed to pay for an upgrade if I wanted to guarantee a spot on the flight. This wouldn’t be a huge problem, except that for both of my flights to get home, an upgrade cost $70. And seventy dollars was a big chunk out of my budget for, you know, food. So I cried out of stress and frustration with the airport companies for charging me seventy bucks for ten more inches of legroom that I didn’t want nor need.
59. Is there something you don’t eat? Some food that truly disgust you? Not really! In terms of what’s normally accepted as “food” in American society, that is. I don’t care much for worms or insects. Other than that, I’m interested enough to try almost anything once.
60. Are you in love? In love? No. Am I full of love? Yes, for many, many, many things. 
61.  Something you find romantic? Oh man, anything could be romantic if done by someone I care for. I think gentleness is romantic. Quality time is my love language, so if my partner cancelled plans to spend time with me, that’d be romantic. I find romance in trying new things and going to new places.
62. How long was your longest relationship? Four months or so. It’s the only relationship I’ve been in, though, and I hadn’t intended for it to go past summer, so that was longer than I’d even planned on haha.
63, 64. What are 3 things that irritate you about the same sex? Opposite sex? Uhhh kind of hard to answer this one. I mean, i hate the culture in which men are raised to be, but I’ve heard that ‘male’ and ‘female’ brains aren’t particularly predisposed to anything in particular? Like, both men and women are capable of emotional intelligence and compassion, it’s just that our culture doesn’t encourage it in men. 
65. What are you saving money for? Food, college. I might treat myself to a school trip to Disney, but I don’t think I have the budget rn. As a student I’m kind of coasting by on the bare minimum rn, I don’t have anything i CAN save up for.
66. How would you describe your bad side? I mostly just avoid you or try to not spend time with you. 
67. Are you actually a good person? Why? I think I am. I care about other people and try to make other people’s lives easier and happier. I try every day to become more sensitive to other perspectives. I do what I can to benefit the earth for those who will come after me.
68. What are you living for? Ooh, deep stuff. I’m living for helping other people. I’m living for my friends and family. 
69 (nice).  Have you ever done anything illegal? Pfft, guys, jaywalking is illegal. So yes. I’ve also drank while underage before. But nothing really big, no.
70.  Do you like your body? Wait a second. This was number 11, too. Well, I guess I’ll change it to What don’t you like about your body? Which is my under-chin. It’s kind of a double chin, kind of not. But while most things I could change about my body, I don’t think I could change that without surgery. And yeah, I’ve thought about it. Not that I have any of the cash for it. I also wish I didn’t have (tw: self-harm) trichotillomania, so I’d have more eyelashes and eyebrows.
71. Have you ever made someone feel bad about themselves intentionally? I think I probably have, to douchebags. Like “hey, that’s inappropriate”.  
72.  Ever sent nudes? Nope!
73. Have you ever cheated on someone? God, no. Big #1 no no for me.
74. Favourite candy? I RECENTLY DISCOVERED TAKE 5′S AND REESES HAVE COMBINED INTO ONE GLORIOUS CANDY BAR, SO, THAT.
75. Is there a blog you visit every day, or almost every day? Tag it! Agh, okay. @ aconfusedbird, @ busket, @ loreweaver-universe, @ orange-plum. The four blogs I don’t actually follow, but whose blogs I visit every day. It changes around every few years. It used to be a different bunch back when I first got on tumblr. I really have no idea why I haven’t followed them. Habit, I suppose? Also, it still won’t let me tag my sib for some reason. (nvm I removed the tags, i don’t want to bother them)
76. Do you play any computer games? What is your favourite game? lmao uh, that’s kind of an understatement. I can’t list all my favorite games, but I’m very fond of The Last of Us. I have played. So many video games. I’ll chat about them anytime!
77. Favourite TV series? Avatar: The Last Airbender, I think. It’s really hard to top that.
78. Are you religious? Does God exist? Not really religious, no. I do think that there’s probably a god out there that sparked the Big Bang. I don’t really follow the Christian God because despite what every church service said, I never felt like He loved me. Jesus was a super cool guy, though. If there’s a god out there, I think they pretty much keep to themselves. Maybe have some fun watching creation, but don’t really interact with it at all.
79. What was the last book you read? Did it impress you and why? asdkfj;as i don’t remember. probably my textbook Directing the Story by Francis Glebas? It was a pretty cool book about moviemaking.
80. What do you think about vegetarianism/veganism? I’ve reblogged a lot on the subject. I respect those who practice it, but it can cause a lot of environmental harm. In theory, it’s not bad! 
81. How long have you been on Tumblr? Like eight years or so? Maybe nine? wild. I visited blogs daily before the number got high enough i was like ‘okay i’ll just make an account’.
82. Do you like Chinese food? Oh, yes!
83-85. McDonalds or Subway?   Vodka or whiskey? Alcohol or drugs? Subway, whiskey and alcohol.
86.  Ever been out of your province/state/country? Yes, yes, and no!
87. Meaning behind your blog name? I’ve had this one for many years now. I really like the word ‘saccharine’ -- inspired by @ saccharinesylph back in the old days -- and i couldn’t just name myself ‘saccharine’, so i needed something else. and I was pretty big into Good Omens at that time, and I was like ‘haha! saccharine, good, omens. saccharine omens!’ Plus, it feels like a very positive and comforting name, and I strive to be a comforting person. 
88. What are you scared of? ok i def answered this moving on
89. Last time you were insulted? uhhhhhhhhh no idea. oh, wait! i know. i was getting graded on my performance at my job late last year and i disagreed with the grade my boss gave me. It was like ‘person shows considerable care of their community and goes above and beyond to educate others’ and i was like ‘oh yeah that’s, like, my whole Thing, my whole Goals and Personality and Ideals’ and then my boss came in and was like ‘2/4′ and i was like ‘wtf??’ Apparently she felt that i just wasn’t really applying that part of myself to my job, and i was like ‘you serious? i’m doing a lot!’ but also she’s my boss.
90. Most traumatic experience? A series of emotionally/mentally abusive things my mom did during my childhood. It’s definitely had the longest lasting effects of any trauma. Permanent anxiety problems, ptsd, my self harm, the whole shebang. Don’t worry, though, like. Things are way better between us, and she’s apologized many times.
91. Perfect date idea? Going on a hike! Maybe walking on a beach. Just spending time together and talking. Eating some delicious food. Spending the entire day with each other, then curling up and cuddling at home and watching a movie. then talking some more. lots of handholding and kisses. im a super hopeless romantic.
92. Favourite app on your phone? the internet, ofc lmao. But other than that I use Animal Crossing Pocket Camp and Pokemon Go an awful lot. 
93. What colour are the walls in your room? At school a boring white, although I’ve taped some art up. At home a really pretty light blue color that I did all myself.
94. Do you watch Youtube? Who is your favourite youtuber? I do! And I like so many channels, honestly. I really like Rachel and Jun, and I really like Pop Culture Detective. I’ve seen a lot of jackscepticeye’s stuff, too. Proko, Vox, and Sinix Design are all good too.
95. Share your favourite quote. “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who matter don’t mind and those who mind don’t matter.” -Dr Seuss
96.  What is the meaning of life? To be happy, enjoy yourself, and love others!
97. Do you like horror movies? Ha ha ha, not really. I liked A Quiet Place though. 
98. Have you ever made your mum cry? What happened? She’s cried sometimes over how she treated us in the past. Sometimes it happens because I talk about how she’s hurt me. She always expresses regret and apologizes again. 
99. Do you feel lucky or special in a way? I feel lucky with how I met my best friend. We’d had band together and kind of both thought each other as a cool person, but we didn’t really hit it off until a couple years later and she saw me drawing Homestuck fanart in Psychology lmao. The rest is history. Love you so much, Haley. I feel lucky my mom realized she was being abusive and stopped, too. Not everyone gets that. 
100. Can you keep a secret? Oh, definitely. But do tell me what needs to be secret, otherwise I won’t know. For example, my sib asked me to keep their gf busy while they bought her a present, so I tried, but then she was like ‘oh, where’s your sibling? we should find them’ i was like ‘oh no, i think they’re just buying something, it’s fine’ but she was stubbornly moving toward the checkout and i was like ‘stop, i think they’re buying something for you’ so i. kinda told a secret? i didn’t tell her what the present was though.
JESUS THAT WAS A LOT OF TYPING, LMAO. IT’S THREE AM. GOODNIGHT
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