#shaped bit of butter on it..... weird

[c-kiddo]

felt so immensely neutral on valentines day this year that when i thought about it i enjoyed a moment of silence, peace and tranquility

[blackfemdoll]

𐙚 u so… pretty, ellie williams

black!fem!reader does bsf!ellie’s make up for fun. friends to lovers. yearning. reader is oblivious. i typed ‘doll’ instead of y/n, replace with ur name. wc 1.5k

this is a reupload from my old account! i did not steal!

ellie had no idea why she even agreed to this. she tended to be much more easy-going when she was high, but still. she hated make-up. she absolutely loathed the way it felt on her skin. it felt like a mask — thick, heavy. felt like her pores were suffocating on whatever chemicals made up the composition of the products. and god… don’t get her started on cleaning it off. so much of it was meant to be waterproof or long wear, getting rid of make-up was almost as deliberate of an effort as putting it on.

but then her olive eyes flickered up to catch her face. doll. and the meaning found ellie. suddenly, it all made sense why ellie agreed to letting her make-up-loving best friend play around on her canvas.

doll only wore an absent-minded smile, holding ellie’s soft face in her fingertips as she used a weird egg-shaped sponge to press the concealer into her under eye. pleasantly oblivious. it’s like the pretty woman had blinders on. her gaze was fixed on the little space beneath ellie’s eyes and she was so deeply absorbed into the process of achieving an “airbrushed finish,” she didn’t notice ellie melting to her touch like putty. she didn’t notice those very green-colored marbled eyes drinking her in.

from doll’s beautiful sun-kissed brown complexion… to her thick, dark coils put up in a pineapple bun… to the acrylic nails ellie could feel slightly pressing into the flesh of her cheek… to that playfully delicate smile on her plump, glossy lips… to the silage of spicy sweetness enveloping the both of them. even the dreamy, watery sound of kelela playing from ellie’s bedroom bluetooth as the two of them shared the space of her bathroom — ellie sitting on the sink, doll’s waist wedged between her thighs.

it made sense now.

“i didn’t put a lot of concealer ‘cuz,” doll began, her voice as soft as her fingertips, “i wanted to show your freckles.” she continued pressing the sponge into ellie’s under eyes. “i really like them.”

ellie felt herself melting even more. she was sure doll would be able to feel and see the heat pooling in her pale cheeks — a recipe composed of three ingredients: shock, fondness, and embarrassment.

“really?” ellie cautioned. “i used to get made fun of for my freckles… i kinda didn’t like them.”

doll’s face contorted into an expression of disapproval as she pulled her hands away from ellie’s face and set the beauty blender back into her make-up box.

“they’re cute,” she affirmed and shifted through her box in search of a lip product.

ellie for sure was blushing. “thank you.”

the girl only beamed. her chestnut face radiated such a glow and warmth, it was infectious. she was like the sun. “you’re welcome, el’.” then she grabbed the product she was looking for — her nyx liner and a nyx butter gloss.

setting the gloss down, doll picked the liner up and returned her decorated fingers to ellie’s warm chin (the blushing heated her entire face). then doll brought herself closer to ellie… squeezing between her legs as she lowered the pencil onto her lip. gently, she swiped the colored tip along her skin.

“we’re almost done…” she muttered softly. “just the lips now…”

the paler girl’s entire body grew hot. doll was sooo close, ellie could see the beauty marks speckled around her eyes. her lashes were thick, long, and curly… framing those sweet irises of hers. and those irises were trained on her lips… attentively lining them with a pencil. having such a pretty girl focusing so much attention on her mouth made her a bit nervous. ellie wasn’t undisciplined around attractive women. but this was different. she was different.

“open your mouth a little…” doll instructed. and ellie found herself thoughtlessly obeying, parting her lips slightly so that doll could more easily access the corners of her lips. “good…”

oh god. ellie felt her eyebrows furrow at the hushed praise. she never really was the type of person to just obey someone else. she’s always been headstrong and a bit stubborn. but doll had powers over her that were unheard of. doll could tell ellie to move the ocean with a fork and ellie would do just that.

the coily-headed girl slightly blurred the lining of the pencil with the pad of her thumb. ellie only froze at the contact. and began imagining that the digit was instead doll’s lips — they were so plush, full, and juicy. she wondered how it felt to kiss her.

then doll set the pencil down and exchanged it for the gloss. it was peachy with a touch of red. she loosened the top and then raised her hand up to ellie’s lips. slowly, she painted them with the creamy substance.

“pretty,” doll praised with a smile beginning to spread across her face as the look finally came together. she pulled the applicator away and fastened it closed, wearing a proud expression as she marveled at her work.

it was a soft make-up look, since doll knew ellie hated make-up. “clean girl,” as they say on tiktok. no foundation, just a skin tint. some light concealer. a bit of mascara. some rosy blush and that to die for lip combo. it was worn well on ellie’s face — a nice little complement to her features without overpowering them and overwhelming her.

ellie felt like a deer in headlights. like an alien. she had never been someone’s muse before, so the praises were foreign. she only slouched as she sat on her sink, interlocked her hands together in her lap as she nervously wriggled her toes. her shoulders were high. poor baby was nervous.

“you look so cute,” doll gushed. she noticed that ellie seemed to feel a bit unnerved by the spotlight. but doll couldn’t help but profess how she felt. ellie only awkwardly half-smiled in response, to which doll rolled her eyes and wrapped her hand around ellie’s wrist, tugging it as if to pull her beside her.

“come down, ellie. turn around.”

once again, ellie mindlessly obliged and pushed herself off of the sink counter, easily towering over doll. but the shorter girl’s big spirit made ellie feel a bit… small. not in a bad way… but more like the whole world was doll, and ellie was her satellite.

doll wrapped her arms around ellie’s arm comfortingly with a beaming expression. “look at yourself. you are so cute.”

ellie hesitantly looked up into the mirror, standing awkward as ever. she held the hem of her hoodie’s sleeves in the palm of her hands and raised her gaze to her face. and the reflected image staring back at her was someone she could barely register as herself. she was so used to her bare face that such slight changes in her appearance could almost disorient her, but it wasn’t a negative experience. being so close to doll… ellie could even smell the strawberry conditioning deep mask in doll’s curly tendrils. feeling those soft hands on her face as she stood between ellie’s thighs. it was a core memory.

her rosy-painted cheeks merely imitated her actual flush. at her reflection, she could only offer an awkward little smile. like she was reluctant to admit she actually did look pretty cute. unlike herself, but cute. in a way, her head seemed like it was borrowed from another body in comparison to her hoodie, band tee shirt, and ripped jeans. but it was her.

doll’s own painted face smiled up at her. a soft glam. glitzy and doll-like. beautiful as ever. maxi dress-adorned body molded into ellie’s side. in many ways, they opposed each other. but ellie couldn’t help but love to see them side by side.

“yeah, it does look good,” ellie had to agree. then she pulled her eyes away from the mirror and looked down at her friend. “thank you.”

doll’s eyebrows cautiously furrowed. her happy smile became a bit insecure as she removed herself from ellie’s side. “do… do you like it? you don’t sound very happy.” oh god her voice sounded so small, it physically hurt.

ellie’s eyes widened. “no no no! i love it! you did amazing,” she reassured. then her expression became bashful. “i’m just not used to seeing myself like this.”

doll looked at her curiously as she walked over to the bathroom sink and began assorting her make-up products back into the little container. “like what?” she was turned away from ellie, but they could still see each other in the bathroom mirror.

ellie flushed. “you know… all pretty and stuff.”

doll halted as if she were being insulted. her eyes flicked up into the reflective surface, meeting ellie’s gaze. doll’s face was doused in a somber sincerity and her lips formed a slight pout.

then she turned around to look ellie in her face. ellie’s eyes widened in response to those big, doe-like eyes fluttering up at her like butterfly wings. but doll didn’t react to that. she only shook her head to ellie’s statement and what it implied. then candidly, she corrected her friend.

“you are pretty, ellie. really pretty.”

ellie felt like her insides turned to mush. her breath got caught in her throat as it hitched, and she felt her palms grow a bit moist as her whole body heated in response to her words.

“really?” ellie questioned, feeling her cheeks blush beneath the rare beauty applied to them.

doll nodded. “mhm.” she licked her lips. “you are.”

[just-my-latest-hyperfixation]

Blast to the past

Written for the @steddieholidaydrabbles, day 15

Prompt: Time travel

Rated: T

CW: Mild blood and gore; Mild horror; Monsters

Tags: Steve Harrington whump; Magic; Time travel (duh); Royal Eddie Munson; Steve Harrington needs a break

Notes: Some days, you get up, think of nothing bad, and you check your phone and your artist buddy @house-of-the-moving-image has sent you the most incredible mini comic in the world and the brainworms go crazy and you bash out 990 words in a weird fugue. We mayyy have been screaming about this to each other a bit too excessively. It may have grown a back story. I may wanna write 100k of this. Help.

“Oh, Steven, let's go to Europe, they said,” Steve grouses. “There’s culture and shit, they said. We can visit the castles. It’ll be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, they said.” 

Well, it damn well is turning out to be one hell of an experience! 

His side is on fire, his ankle stings with every step he hobbles, and he’s starting to bleed through his clothes. Just what he needs! Leave a warm, coppery trail to lead these things right to him. 

While he drags himself down the dark corridor, he wonders if he can sue. The guides did warn against leaving the travel group, on the one hand. 

On the other, they should probably have detailed the possible consequences. Like getting lost in the ruins and being chased by monsters with rotting grey skin and maws full of fangs, and fucking claws that slice through clothes and skin like a knife through butter.

This kind of shit never happens in Hawkins. He’s never going on holiday with his parents again.

Something behind him clatters. When he whips around, the shadows at the end of the corridor move. He hears snarls and sniffing, the tick of claws against stone. They’re coming closer. 

“Shit,” Steve swears, forces himself to go faster, using one hand against the wall for support. “Shit, shit, shit, c’mon!” 

He doesn’t even know where he’s going, just that he needs to get away if he doesn’t want to be monster fodder. 

His fingers catch on something. 

There’s … a narrow doorway in the wall, half hidden by a tangle of thick vines. A sliver of silver light is falling through it. 

“What the-” 

Something behind him shrieks triumphantly. 

Steve doesn’t think for another second, just ducks through the doorway. 

He finds himself in a cavernous room, moonlight trickling in through arched windows. Right in the middle, on a dais, is a throne carved from solid stone. On it is a tall, hooded figure. 

Except that isn’t true. As his eyes adjust to the light, he realizes that the throne is covered in what looks like an old shroud, tattered and torn with age and vaguely human-shaped. It’s overgrown by more vines, like it has been here for a very long time. 

And that is the moment the monsters slam into the doorway behind him. 

He yelps and stumbles further into the room, trips on the first steps of the dais and lands square on his ass. The monsters snarl and snap at him, and for a blissful second, he thinks they won’t fit through the doorway. 

But then the first distorts its body like a snake’s jaw and squeezes through. Steve watches in horror as they trickle inside, surrounding the dais like a pack of feral dogs. One of them swipes at him with its claw, and he instinctively shuffles up the stairs, backwards and on all fours. The monster lunges after him-

-and hesitates at the foot of the dais.

Like it’s afraid, like there’s some invisible barrier. 

It’s only now that he realizes the steps are inlaid with an intricate pattern of symbols, shining in the moonlight like liquid silver. The monsters try to get at him, but every time they touch the symbols, they recoil as if burned. 

“Ha!” Steve’s mouth tugs into a hysterical grin. “Can’t cross, huh? Well, too bad, you ugly-” 

The largest of the monsters steps over the barrier. A sizzle of silver sparks runs over its form as it does and it jowls like an injured cat, but it still advances. Steve swears and skitters further back, until his back hits something solid. The throne. 

The creatures are moving slowly, like something is physically holding them back, but they are gaining on him inch by inch. There’s no escape, except … 

Steve clambers onto the throne with clumsy limbs. The shroud is cold and brittle under his hands and the vines tear into his bleeding skin, but it’s the only place he can still go. If the monsters are afraid of the dais, maybe the throne will be enough to deter them. Maybe he’ll be safe here, maybe he can wait until help arrives, maybe- 

And then it happens. 

A sound booms through the silence, rattles his bones. A sound like the chime of a clock. 

Then another. 

And another. 

Steve yelps and covers his ears, screws his eyes shut. The light of the sigils on the ground seems blinding all of a sudden. 

The creatures howl. 

And then everything goes quiet. 

Steve waits with baited breath for the feeling of claws tearing at his legs, but nothing happens. The snarls and growls are gone. 

Instead, birdsong fills his ears. The faint sound of footsteps and voices, hooves on cobblestone and the clang of metal against metal. Instead of dust and decay, the room suddenly smells like wood and smoke and forest. The light shining through his eyelids isn’t silver anymore, but golden. 

“Fuck,” Steve breathes. “The hell was all that?” 

“Oh, those?” somebody chuckles. Somebody very close by. “Those were wraiths. Scary little fuckers, aren’t they?” 

Steve swears his heart misses a beat. Because upon closer inspection, the roughness of the vines and shroud against his skin is gone. Instead, there’s a body under his, a hand running idly down his side, all the way down to his ass. He’s sitting in someone’s lap. 

Steve snaps his eyes open. There’s a guy looking back at him, a guy with a shit-eating grin set in a handsome, dimpled face, framed by a spill of dark curls. There’s a crown on his head. 

“Now what I’d like to know,” says the guy, and gives Steve’s ass a hearty squeeze. “Is what I did to deserve getting a pretty little thing like you dropped in my lap. Not that I’m complaining.” 

Steve does what any sensible person would do in his situation. 

He faints. 

And that’s his first encounter with King Edward the Banished. 

Part 2

All my holiday drabbles

[starhvney]

may I request a platonic Nana/KC with fem reader at a sleepover? :) binging anime and doing eachothers make up and she's low-key emotional because it's been awhile since a friend has had an interest in her directly and especially her interests,, I always felt bad she was usually pushed aside for being weird :(

𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘, 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘?

𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: mystreet nana ashida & fem!reader

𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘: ‘part of me will know deep down that i am pretty cool. part of me that knows i never cared for being cool.’

𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐒: fluff, platonic, a bit of reverse hurt/comfort, nana being a sweetie cutie patootie

𝐂𝐖: none?

𝐀/𝐍: kinda short but i really love and in some ways relate to nana, so this was really lovely to write :’) i also got sad when other characters just saw her as weird. also, when writing this i was like, oh yeah! binging anime and baking!! and after i finished writing the fic i read that you wrote makeup ;( i hope you still like it!

𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

the sweet smell of fresh baked goods permeated through the kitchen as the warmth of the oven surrounded you like a warm and familiar hug. you and nana stand side by side, frozen in place as the two of you zone out at the tv you had moved to the counter. its screen plays an episode of a shoujo anime, one that nana had persuaded you to watch with her. 

you flinch when you realize you stuck your hand too far into the mixing bowl, your fingers slowly sinking into the freshly made dough instead of rolling it into balls like you were supposed to. 

a squeal leaves nana’s lips as she jumps up and down in excitement, hugging onto your arm with a grin. you glance back at the screen to see that the love interest had finally kissed the main character.

“it only took, what, twelve episodes?” you giggle, earning a huff and nudge from the pink-haired girl.

“hey, this is a special moment, okay! wasn’t it cute?”

“yes, yes. it was super cute,” you concede. “i really liked that one! you have good taste.” 

“i’m glad,” she turns her attention back down to the heart-shaped cake she was frosting. “...my interests can be a little weird, but i’m glad you like them.”

you turn to her curiously, noticing her strange change of tone and how the baked good in front of her suddenly was much more interesting than anything else in the room.

“i don’t think they’re weird.” you insist, attention drawn to how her tail anxiously flicked back and forth.

“i just mean most people think i’m kind of strange,” she says, waving her hand dismissively as if it were no big deal. “my hobbies aren’t really… normal.”

you wrinkle your nose, eyebrows furrowing.

“what’s “normal”, anyway?” nana’s round eyes flick back to you, her expression taken aback. “sounds boring.”

she lets out a quiet laugh suddenly, covering her mouth before looking down at the cake with a distant smile on her face.

“yeah, i guess i never really wanted to fit in anyways.”

the two of you continue to bake in comfortable silence, letting the soft hum of the tv fill your ears as you both focus on your tasks. the setting sun shines through the windows, casting an orange glow on both of your faces. when the episode ends, nana softly sets down her butter knife, turning to look at you. as your eyes meet hers, you’re shocked at the emotion you find in them, molten gold glistening as tears gather on the surface.

“i’m so glad you’re my friend,” lean hands reach out for yours, cupping them in an earnest show of appreciation. “i hope you know how much you mean to me.”

you squeeze her hands back, eyes widening as you try to think of a response to her sudden affection.

“i feel like i can really be myself around you. people have always brushed off my interests and called them silly, but you genuinely care. thank you.”

“of course, nana,” you pull her into a hug. “you’re one of the kindest and most interesting friends i’ve ever had.”

she sniffles and clears her throat, pulling from the hug to wipe away a stray tear that had fallen from her lashes.

“really?” her voice is small, tight with surprised uncertainty.

you tilt your head, giving her a soft smile.

“yeah… i actually was gonna say we should do this more often. you know, have sleepovers like this where we try out a new hobby we’re interested in.”

“really, really?!” her eyes light up in elation, her sentiment quickly shifting into pure excitement once again. “you’d want to try crochet? and dollmaking? are you sure?”

“uh, duh! that sounds like so much fun.”

she squeals in happiness, engulfing you in another hug and spinning you both around in the kitchen. the smell of her vanilla and strawberry-scented perfume filled your nose, a scent that she had donned and owned since high school.

"we should make a list!"

after spinning and giggling a bit longer, you two soon returned to your previous activities, debating if the second male lead was a better choice or not while munching on your freshly baked sweet treats.

©starhvney, 2024. please do not steal or repost my works as your own.

[sandyca5tle]

Slime HRT - 14 Months

Slime time again my good folks (I really ought to start making more slime puns)! I’m here again with the 14 month update and things have continued to get gooier

Firstly: No more bones!! In my arms and legs at least, and gods that’s been wonderful just being able to freely move my limbs around however I want. Obviously beforehand, while my bones were still there, I could move my limbs a bunch already (see the previous entry with puddle legs), but it just feels so much better and free-er now that they’re gone - it’s hard to explain properly. If I had to, I’d guess it’s not feeling my bones move around whenever I do stuff, so it makes it nicer to move. Also helps I don’t have to worry about losing my bones too now, so I am more willing/able to try out weirder shapes and motions.

Adding to this; it’s kinda strange, my arms no longer really feel ‘segmented’ like they did before. Humans (it really doesn’t make sense to include myself in that anymore, if it ever did) have a very defined forearm and upper arm, but slimes, well, we (hehe, it’s nice to include myself in ‘slimes’) just kinda have limbs. My arm is just my arm, and honestly, it’s barely that distinct, arms and legs just kinda feel like the same thing, just in a different shape, and it’s really only the intellectual distinction that one is arms and one is legs. Even fingers are just kind of like, extra, tiny, limbs, which has been a kinda weird realisation to have and experience. Also: Elbows are a suggestion, and knees, given that my limbs are just kinda long pseudopods when it comes down to it, so they bend everywhere, not just at a designated point. It’s kinda funky being able to manipulate my slime like I can now ‘cause, on one hand, it just kinda feels like moving a muscle, but that muscle is connected to every other muscle in that area, and basically the whole limb is muscle.

Anyways, with all my new mobility, I’ve been practising my shaping, and I’ve actually gotten pretty good at it. I’ve been able to make things like spades, hammers and such on the ends of my arms, and I’ve been experimenting with different kinds of feet/legs as well, like mermaid tails and talons. I have tried making arm-blades and stuff too, but it turns out it’s actually quite hard to make sharp edges - so far I’ve only gotten about as sharp as a butter knife, and that took a lot of concentration. Turns out ‘sharp’ isn’t exactly a slime speciality

As for the rest of my body: the skin on my torso has all turned to slime now, due to the two-fronted assault from both my legs and arms it turned quicker than the limbs had individually. It’s still very weird see musculature through my goo, and I know it weirds other people out even more so, so I try to keep my torso as covered as possible, which absolutely sucks when it’s hot, although I have forgone covering for the sake of staying upright when it’s gotten really hot, even if I do now run a bit cooler than I used to.

On the note of the new/extra slime, I’ve actually tried to do some shaping using that, trying to give myself a tail. While I did have some extra slime thanks to most of my fat having been converted to goo, it wasn’t really enough to make anything more than a large bunny-esque tail - which was cute, but I’m looking for something a little longer and more prehensile. I guess I’ll have to wait for more things to dissolve to give me the substance to make myself a tail like I want..

It’s also worth adding that if a slime shifts something for long enough, it ends up sticking, kinda like muscle memory, but for shape. To that end, I’ve actually been practising keeping the claws and talons that I’ve learnt how to make, since I’ve found that they feel nice, even if they’re not quite perfect. My only issue, with the talons specifically, is that they make me taller, something which I really don’t need, but I’m hoping once I can shape my whole body I can adjust such things.

One last thing I’ve been able to do now, is that I can now move slime freely between all of my body - so I can easily reach things if I need to, just by taking the mass from somewhere else and giving it to one of my arms to make it longer. This too has contributed to this newer mindset of ‘I’m just one blob of slime, with shapes coming out of it that I have assigned functions’, a leg isn’t a leg when it’s a super long arm, so distinct anatomy is kind of shrinking away, even if 20 odd years of humanity says ‘an arm is an arm, and a leg is a leg’. This is only further worsened by the fact that I can also just make legs arms and arms legs, so yeah, ‘legs’ and ‘arms’ are really becoming just descriptors of limb functions for me.

That’s all to really report this time, nothing super new or surprising, just adjusting as I become more and more slime now! See you in the next update! Ps. thanks to the person (@bdigfreakingwooper) who suggested using a lint screen to help with the random crap that gets stuck in my slime, running that through my limbs has been really nice and does keep me very clean! Although occationally some of my slime does get stuck since it's not quite the same as water, but it's so minor it's fine.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Been loving the various comments 'nd stuff that people have written, and I'm glad that people seem to be enjoying this! If you want more slime HRT stuff @scrubbinn has just started their own that's neat, so you should check theirs out too over here.

First - Prev - Next

[kathbunny]

For The Emi Gifting Event - The Dani, VR-LA, Kyana make soup for a sick Finbar

@alkatart @emis-equivalent-exchange

1031 Words - Platonic Fluff / Found Family Fluff

 “Okay, everyone, we’ve been affected by a terrible disaster.” VR-LA said, both of his hands on the kitchen counter, where many ingredients were already gathered for their plan. “We have to make chicken soup for Finbar, without his help, before he wakes up.”

 “You don’t have to be so dramatic about it, he’s just sick.” Dani grumbled, poking at the unpeeled onion that rested on the counter. “We’re basically just cutting and heating stuff. That’s easy.

 “Have you ever made soup before? I certainly haven’t!” VR-LA replied, a little defensive. 

 “...all of the hard parts were already prepared for us..?” Kyana said, pointing at the jar of broth that Finbar kept around and the leftover chicken from their dinner the previous day. “It shouldn’t be that hard!”

 “Yeah! If you don’t make all the cutting and stuff into individual steps, it’s basically only three. Butter in the pot with onions and celery. The broth and everything else until it boils, then wait twenty minutes on lower heat.” Dani said. “Simple. Easy. Incredibly boring.”

 “That doesn’t feel particularly special, thinking about it now…” Kyana mumbled, thinking. “I heard somebody saying soup makes people feel better because of all the love put into it, like when somebody’s mom makes it for them.”

 “We could try doing something extra to make it nicer?” VR-LA suggested.

 “Like what? None of us are good enough at cooking to really risk putting in any new ingredients.” Dani replied, still boredly poking at the onion. “I’ve already been told absolutely no hot sauce.”

 “We could cut the carrots into fun shapes!” Kyana said, her eyes now glittering. “I’ve heard of people doing that before!”

 “That’s a good idea.” VR-LA agreed, grabbing the carrots and looking them over. “They do need to be at least a little similar in size to cook evenly, but that shouldn’t be too hard.”

 “How about we make it a competition?” Dani declared. “Whoever makes the best shapes gets to escape the kitchen while the onions cook, whoever makes the worst shapes has to cut the onions!” 

 “You sound very confident in yourself there, Dani.” VR-LA said, looking a little awkward.

 “I mean, it can’t be too different from carving wood, right? I’ve done that before, it won’t be that hard.”

 “How about whoever wins brings some fresh water to Finbar? So they’ll still be helping, but still get to escape the onions.” VR-LA suggested. 

 “That works for me.” Dani smiled, already grabbing a cutting board, knife, and carrot.

 “That sounds like fun!” Kyana said, doing the same as Dani. “I don’t get why you want to escape cutting onions though?”

 “Onions have a chemical in them that makes your eyes water.” VR-LA explained. “It doesn’t actually affect most mechanites since we don’t have organic eyeballs.” VR-LA pointed at his eyes as he said that.

 “Oh, that makes sense!” Kyana smiled.

 “Let’s just start already!” Dani said. “Here, I’ll start us off. Three, two, one, go!” Dani sped through the words starting to cut before she even got to two.

 VR-LA chuckled, shaking his head with a bit of exasperation, getting to work on carefully cutting his carrot into similarly sized chunks. Kyana giggled at them both and did the same, cutting the slowest of the three of them, being exceptionally careful.

 In the end, the stars and hearts all looked wildly different between each of them. VR-LA’s were most certainly the best, all stars. They weren’t perfect, but they were well cut and their points were all about the same length. Kyana’s were the second best, a mix of hearts and stars. They weren’t all quite the same size, or even really similar in shape, but they were readable as their intended shape. Dani’s, in comparison, weren’t readable as any particular shape, just being weird, pointed lumps.

 “...it wasn’t like carving wood.” Dani conceded as VR-LA and Kyana both stared at her. “...guess I’m stuck on onion duty.” She grumbled.

 Kyana looked over at VR-LA and smiled at him. “I think you won there, yours look really good!”

 “You did good as well, Kyana.” VR-LA said, his eyes shining a bit brighter at the compliment. “You as well, Dani.”

 “You don’t need to lie for my feelings.” Dani grumbled. “I’ll handle the onions, you just go bring that water to Finbar’s room or whatever.”

 VR-LA nodded, deciding not to poke that particular grumpy bear anymore, even though he was going to ask to send Kyana instead, since he was immune to the effects of onions, simply getting a cup of cold water to deliver to Finbar’s room while Kyana got to work on cutting some celery for the soup.

 VR-LA dropped some ice into it from the freezer, his feet thumping against the wood of the ship as he left. There were the sounds of a knife chopping through celery and the blade thumping into the wooden cutting board in a similar way. Dani seemed to be genuinely waiting for VR-LA to leave to cut her onions though, so VR-LA sped up his steps to allow her to.

-

 Finbar sat in a chair in his room, since he wasn’t exactly able to try the soup the crew had made for him while laying in his hammock, tiredly looking down into the chicken noodle soup. It smelled a bit too strongly of pepper for a meal meant for a sick person, but he knew that was probably what Dani thought was normal, with VR-LA and Kyana not knowing enough about cooking to contribute either.

 Finbar cautiously took some of the broth with his spoon, ignoring the eyes of the other three members of his crew on him as he tasted it. It was all that bad. Finbar decided, setting his spoon back down into the bowl, looking up at Kyana, Dani, and VR-LA. “You all did a good job, I’m very proud of you all.” Finbar said, his voice rough from his sore throat. 

 Dani bumped her fist in the air, Kyana smiled like only she could, and VR-LA nodded like that was what he expected, hiding a sigh of relief. Finbar smiled as well, unable to help himself despite how crappy he felt.

[byhees]

strawberry jam.

엔하이픈 정원 ・ female reader + word count 1000 genre fluff roommates au college au warnings not proof-read — more

a/n. blank

with the tip of your toes softly smacking the wooden tiling of the floor, muted echoes bouncing off the four walls of the living room, you grasped that you’d better stay quiet. it was one in the morning, and you had no business being up at this hour, knowing full well that you had a fully packed schedule ahead.

in your heart, you were channeling some inner gremlin, snooping around your dorm like some rodent. however, your stomach made the call, growling and gurgling horrendously loudly in the break of dawn. you weren’t going to ignore its cries for food any longer, because it was starting to get more distracting, preoccupying your mind with mindless thoughts, when you should have been fast asleep.

for you, at least, weird cravings were always popping up in your mind, clouding your concentration whenever you were doing something that was genuinely important. a recent one was strawberry jam.

you were always a fan of strawberries. with every bite, there would always be an explosion of an addictive hint of tartness, combined with the flavourful sweetness. the taste alone was capable of a fully fledged strawberry addiction.

as of late, you started being more adventurous with strawberry products, choosing to buy things like strawberry ice cream, strawberry gummies, strawberry flavoured drinks, and the like. unexpectedly, you never really experienced that same mind-blowing ‘click’ that’d usually come with natural strawberries.

understanding your own palate preferences only strengthened the belief that you hated artificial strawberry flavoured things. hence, you resorted to the world of youtube tutorials, and decided to make your own homemade strawberry jam.

it sounded simple. crush the strawberries till they’re mashed, add the sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan to begin stirring over low heat, boil the mixture, and store it in a cool, dark area; you had never expected for a seven minute video to be this life-changing, but you had been making your own strawberry jam for the last four months, fridge stocked up with jars of the jam.

feet cautiously tapping against the smooth tiles, you gingerly snaked your arms to grab onto the handle of the fridge, the shape fitting nicely in your grip.

this was the hardest part; opening the fridge without causing a ruckus. from past experiences, where you boldly swung the fridge door open, creating the most deafening noise, fracturing the fragile veil of silence, you learnt that you had to do the complete opposite.

you remembered the mortified look on your roommate’s face as he turned the corner, expecting to see some robber jacking his air fryer or something. he was visibly relieved, yet appalled, when he caught sight of your fluffy winnie-the-pooh pyjama pants, because in his opinion, there was no way a thief would steal something in such a ridiculous, eye-catching outfit; your roommate, jungwon, who couldn’t resist telling you off, nagging at you like you were committing a felony for eating buttered popcorn at two in the morning.

your previous experiences taught you well, because according to yourself, you had mastered the skills to silently open a fridge.

you began to grip on the fridge handle tightly, your non-dominant hand applying a bit of pressure on the door, as the side of your dominant hand slid itself in between the fridge door and the fridge body. fingers carefully and slowly tugging at the seal of the fridge, you felt your heart thumping and pounding as though it were a train on tracks, the sound blaring into your ears.

as your persistently pried the fridge door open, you could see the faint streaks of light peering through the opening, ‘inflaming’ the abyss-blackness of the kitchen. gently, you tugged on it for a few more seconds, the fridge door swinging open slowly without much resistance.

giving yourself a small pat on the shoulder for how successful your attempt was, you now relished in being able to munch to your heart’s content.

timidly, you reached for the familiar glass jar, which had a big sticker label pasted diagonally on its surface. it read ‘y/n’s jam. DO. NOT. TOUCH’, so it was pretty self explanatory. the vermillion red hue of its contents seemed so incredibly tempting, even under the dingy light of the fridge. upon touch, you softly winced at the coolness of the material, your grip being rather frictionless with the gradual trickling of condensation droplets. you could feel victory approaching with fastened steps. just open the lid and grab a spoon, easy!

wrapping the lid of the glass jar with the hem of your shirt, you twisted it with much effort. to your dismay, there was a ‘pop’ that splintered the peaceful silence, fading into tintinnabulation. you could just sense jungwon stomping down the hall with his disheveled hair and his striped pyjamas.

the chilly air emitting from the open fridge now nipping and tingling against your chilblained feet, you could hear the vague sound of approaching footsteps.

jungwon had been sleeping rather peacefully actually, until his slumber was rudely disrupted by a sudden ping. he was half-awake, and still regaining his consciousness, as he stumbled down the dimmed hallway.

when he saw nothing that was particularly alarming in the living room, he turned to the only other place left— the kitchen.

the second he walked round the corner, he was blinded by the unpleasant burst of light. from the harsh squinting of his eyes, he could make out a glowing figure, which was frozen in its position. if he hadn’t recognised those neon-green mike wazowski shorts, he would’ve thought it was an angel, who was, for some reason, raiding his kitchen??

safe to say, jungwon gave you one long chiding for your occasional fridge scavenge, and he even went as far as to judge your preference to eat strawberry jam on its own, proclaiming that it was too thick and sweet to be consumed alone.

a night that was supposed to end with a pleased stomach, now ended with a debate regarding how one should eat jam.

[xxscrabiesxx]

When I was a kid, Thanksgivings were a haze of color, people, and foods I didn't really like. The textures were unpredictable, the flavor only more so depending on who made the food that year, and things came in weird chunks that fell off your fork. It was loud, my extended family stayed in my house, and as a general rule was quite overwhelming.

As an adult, I don't particularly participate in the holiday. It has become an excuse to visit family, rather than a grand day of celebration. Last year, I hosted my siblings and their partners. We had pizza.

This year, my estranged oldest brother- having recently returned contact with us after 5 years of silence (his silence largely influenced by the fact that he needed space to recover from the cult) is hosting. Having divvied up the task of feeding a monumental amount of people (~18), my brother assigned me the task of 'Dessert'.

Now, I could have just made regular ol' pum'kin pie. Opened a can of the stuff, thrown it into a premade crust, and tossed it into the oven. Which is what I will be doing with the chocolate pudding pie this year. But as previously mentioned, many traditional Thanksgiving foods are just.... Not tasty, to me.

Especially, the pumpkin pie. Thin. Flavorless. Lacking any sort of redeeming qualities, it mocked me. Each year I would try a slice. Maybe, just maybe, THIS year it would be the creamy goodness it always masqueraded as. And it never was. It drove me to create the following recipe from scratch.

Recently I became gluten free (as best I can manage), so this recipe follows that rule. However, I'm sure substitutions of the wheaty nature will not overly change the resulting pie.

It is spongey, creamy, and tastes like pumpkin pie ought to- pumpkin and spices. The pretzel crust adds a layer of salty that enhances the sweetness and balances the creamy texture with a nice crisp.

Enjoy!

Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie

2 eggs

1/ 3 cup baking rice flour

1 tsp baking powder

~1/4 cup cream cheese

1/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup pumpkin

~2tsp ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg (to taste)

1tsp almond extract

1 cup crushed gluten free pretzels

2 tbsp unsalted butter

Prep time: ~15 minutes.

Cook time: ~20 minutes.

Yield: 1 pie, 8 servings.

Prep: Set cream cheese out to settle into room temperature beforehand, or microwave it in small increments to soften it.

In a bowl, mix eggs, sugar, pumpkin, and cream cheese. Slowly add seasonings, baking powder, and rice flour.

In a separate bowl, crush pretzels into little bits. Then, use a blender to chop them up into a fine powder. Add butter.

Assembly: Set oven to 350°. Place pretzel mix into pie tin and spread into crust shape. Prebake in oven until brown or crisped.

When the oven is preheated fully, settle the pumpkin mixture into the tin and set in oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

The pie is done when the pumpkin is spongey and comes clean from a toothpick test, no major color change.

Optional whipped cream: add 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream and 2 tbsp white sugar to a bowl and whip until peaked.

[bunnakit]

god this is so stupid but here's a really dumb story about my mom and flamingos

so my mom likes weird stuff, it's always been her thing. growing up we had a "shelf of weird finds." anyway - so like a year ago she got herself a pair of Crocs with flamingos on them bc they were goofy. like a week later one of the stores nearby had a flamingo patterned purse so she was like fuck it sure why not

well i am nothing if not committed to the bit so for every single gift for the past year and a half i've gotten my mom something flamingo related. mothers day she got a flamingo Warmees stuffy, her birthday i got her cups with flamingos on them, i bought her a giant TY beanie baby flamingo just because i saw it in the store, the liquor store had a flamingo shaped cup with a straw so i got it for her, etc. etc.

it got to the point where my shopping history was suggesting flamingo products to me and one day i got a suggestion for a bag of 100 tiny silicone lawn flamingos and i knew what i had to do.

i completely forgot i had this bag of 100 tiny flamingos until tonight while my mom was at work. my husband and i then set across the house and hid so many flamingos across the house. they're in the fridge, the cabinets, on the fish tanks, the entertainment center, plant pots, the butter dish, etc. you cannot escape these flamingos (i did not put out all 100 bc i had shit to do with my day)

my mom just got off work and called me fucking CACKLING because she keeps finding flamingos everywhere. my 52 year old mom is now wandering around the house trying to find them all like it's Easter and she keeps calling me when she finds them in weird places and it's such a delight for both of us.

i'm never going to stop buying my mom flamingo shit, this is so funny. they aren't even her favorite animal, not even close.

[asherlockstudy]

Did you give your thoughts about the colonoscopies? I would love to know your take on what was said and implied because I have some thoughts..

I almost didn’t do it but okay let’s go.

The Brolonoscopy (they pronounced it as Brolinoscopy?)

I will once more start with the puzzle piece reference. Let’s see the exact quote: “Well, the technical term is colonoscopy when a doctor explores your large intestine with a little camera to check for signs of cancer, polyps, gastrointestinal abnormalities, missing puzzle pieces. It could be anything.” Okay, with all the objectivity I can master, the possibility of this being a throw-away statement and not a reference to their own old video is, very seriously, below 1%. Let’s start from what the joke is on the surface. The superficial joke is the weird objects people insert in their rectum for sexual gratification. But why say puzzle pieces of all things? I don’t think I need to explain why a puzzle piece has a shape that is not meant to offer any pleasure but is sure to cause huge discomfort. Nobody (I hope) would like the idea of sticking a puzzle piece up there = 0% pleasure, 100% cuts and pain. So why go with puzzle pieces and not a million other objects that would have a more reasonable shape? Furthermore, notice that it is the ONLY irrelevant item Rhett mentions. He says cancer, polyp, other health abnormalities… and MISSING PUZZLE PIECES. He jumps to it straight away. It is not part of a series of items that have no business in your butt. He just says this one, in specific, all alone and nothing else. Lastly, of course this quote is from the scripted intro. No incoherence, no thoughtless blabbering. Scripted intentional statement.

The Link butt flashing is nothing truly important, it’s a throwback, Link had also done it in the brosectomy. Rhett looked the other way but there was also a cut there lol

I love how butt flashing Link thought Rhett was being indecent because a little bit of the shoulder was showing 😂

Let’s go to drugged up Rhett. The things he says are: a) using buttplugs regularly, b) eating a lot of hotdogs (although when sane he has said he doesn’t often opt for actual hot dogs), c) a man fond of looking and entering the asshole (although when sane he identified as a vagina fan man). So he spoke of three things and all were associated with anal sex and more so gay anal sex (hot dog). I think at some point Link’s embarrassment almost became genuine. There’s more to be said here but I will come back to this later.

Rhett was somehow so endearing when he was mumbling how Link complains about everything except peanut butter.

Link makes it clear he’s fine with something going up his dookie shoot.

Overall, sedated Link is more of a normally sedated person than Rhett was and there is stuff to be said about it. But first, let’s talk about the normal stuff: when Link is brought to during the colonoscopy, he initially is antsy, has discomfort, asks repeatedly if the doctor found anything bad, tries to move. Those reactions were normal. The only not normal one up to this point was wanting to canoe down a colon… But, again, there’s a lot more to be said.

“I’m glad we saved ourselves for each other and broke the seal together” intentional joke when Rhett was fully awake.

Link also said something like “I spent all my life with a cone up my ass” probably a metaphor of repression.

And now: THE REAL PART

As a person who has had an endoscopy with anaesthesia (maybe more than a regular dosage), a relative who had one with half the typical dosage of anaesthesia and a thug relative who did it with NO anaesthesia, in case you are young and vibrant and healthy, which I very much hope so, and have not undergone such a procedure yet, let me tell you something: regarding many parts of their incoherent sedation, THAT’S NOT HOW BEING INCOHERENT DURING SEDATION WORKS.

Link commented in the end of the video that he was more out of it than Rhett was and Rhett disagreed due to all the insane stuff he had said, for which he took no responsibility. The thing is, Link was telling the truth and perhaps intentionally. He was more out of it than Rhett. “Out of it” here means being more sedated and therefore more incapable of communicating or talking. And certainly NOT saying sexual and other supposedly crazy stuff with extraordinary detail. There is proof for that in the video, as spoken by the doctor, which was not edited out.

The doctor said Rhett took less medicine than the typical dosage is and, you know, doctors have the tendency to minimize pain anyway. Which means that for the doctor to be impressed that Rhett handled it so well, he was in fact not all that drugged up. The dosage that was given to him was apparently enough to numb the pain / discomfort but he was pretty conscious for most of the time. Compare it to Link, who was given more medicine and when they tried to wake him as much as Rhett, he had discomfort, was making motions and asking the doctor questions about his health. Link’s state was making a lot more sense. There are several cuts and edits during Rhett’s colonoscopy but in general I feel like he took one up for the team (literally) so that he would say certain things under the cover of incoherence. Like they said, they asked the doctor to use the minimum drug dosage so they could be as alert and conscious as possible - apparently Rhett was able to tolerate a lower dosage that inevitably made him remain more alert for a longer time. Bodies are different. In any case, Rhett took much less drug than his doctor expected him to need, which means he was able to communicate well and maintain an unusual level of consciousness during such a procedure. Besides all the sex jokes he made with full phrases, this is more obvious in the “Jessie” question. Here’s how sedation works: if you are in the state that you don’t remember your mother for example, you definitely also don’t remember the lyrics of an obscure song you listened to once. End of story. What happens with Rhett here is exactly that. He supposedly is incapable of remembering his wife but he has no problem remembering… let’s analyse this.

Doctor: So, Rhett, who’s Jessie? You got a tattoo.

Link: That’s his favourite proctologist.

Rhett: You’re talking about Jesse Pinkman?

Doctor: We got Jessie on your right buttcheek.

Rhett: … he was the right hand man of Walter White in Breaking Bad.

Link: No, they are talking about your wife, dude.

Rhett: Jesse James was a…

(Irrelevant chatter about endoscope going in.)

Nobody:

Rhett: Jussie Smollet was a…

Link: No, let’s not talk about him.

Also look:

Look at him. He is pretty alert. He looks at Link when he talks to him, he is wide-eyed, he raises his head. He also repeatedly looked to his right (our left) during the Jessie conversation. This was a bit. Perhaps the various Jessies were written on a paper there because he could have a problem remembering them on his own. When the endoscope was inserted, he was like “oh yeah hehe there it is, hello, ask for consent maybe hehe”. It’s funny, it’s inappropriate but IT IS NOT incoherent. It was a sex joke very suitable to the situation. He knew what he was saying at all times. Therefore, no matter how numbed he was, he was not enough to forget his own wife or repeatedly ignore the cues Link and the doctors gave him about her, all while listing a sidekick character from a show, a notorious bandit from the American civil war and a controversial but little known gay actor who staged an assault against himself and has mythomanic tendencies.

Link emphasises on the bit by saying to the doctor: “ I wonder if he’s gonna remember his wife when he wakes up. Because he certainly remembered every other Jessie he’s ever heard about”.

Like, okay? Trust me on this. Anaesthesia doesn’t work like selective amnesia. And few very particular amnesias work like remembering the obscure thing and forgetting the pivotal one.

This. Was. A. Bit.

And even Link’s embarrassment is parts real, parts a bit. Like, emphasising on how Rhett can’t think of anything besides buttholes.

Meanwhile, Link’s eyes are half-lidded and whenever the endoscope moves he tries to move and the nurses stop him. He’s on a bigger dosage and he’s more sensitive to this procedure than Rhett. Honestly, Link is just way more normal, I don’t know if Rhett was that hell of a champ or there was crazy editing going on. But Link is brought at some point more to as well. And then he says this:

“You know, Rhett, I am glad you are here for me. Why don’t we hold hands?” *Editing with a lot of stuff about polyps, business decision etc, at this point Link communicates well too* “I am so grateful that I get to have something shoved deep into my colon, in your presence… because you know that’s what life is all about.” Throughout this monologue, Link also looks somewhere at Rhett’s left and he is a little robotic. Maybe he was reading as well. This, too, was a bit.

And just like with all recent videos, this has similar vibes to another one. Let’s go back to the We Dug A Medium Sized Hole. As Rhett and Link dig with their shovels, Link says;

“You know, there is nothing I’d rather be doing now than digging a hole. Seriously, this is exactly what I want to be doing. And there’s no one else I would rather be digging a hole with.”

That’s all from me, you said you had thoughts as well, if they are additional or different, I would love to read them!

[hermitblurbs]

A continuation of my Steampunk AU (7)!

Grian had grown to accept his weird attachment to Scar, if with a bit of hesitance. The other was good conversation in a town where everyone else was incredibly boring. It’s why he stuck around with broken machines so often; there’s nothing to predict about them.

Scar was fixed up, no sign of glitches like in N.P.C or Grumbot, and Grian couldn’t predict him if his life depended on it. Whatever AI in the bot’s brain was fascinating, and the strange logic it followed always managed to keep him enraptured.

It quelled that bored drawl in the back of his mind, on a good day.

Today, even with Scar by his side, seemed to crawl along at a slug’s pace.

The wastes were turning up useless scrap after useless scrap, Mumbo too busy with a commission to entertain him, even the ticking of his wings was the same as ever. They didn’t even ache. At least then, complaining or not, wouldn’t leave him bored.

If he’s being honest, he probably shouldn’t have gone out to scavenge.

Days like these are best kept in line by staying in a place with overarching rules, a guarantee he won’t overstep anything and end up missing more than a chunk of wing.

The wastes don’t have that. They have metal, radiation, rust, and scavengers.

“This is a lot further than we’ve travelled before,” remarks Scar, frayed gas mask making him seem bizarrely human, bizarrely out of place in one of mumbo’s white button up and a false corset. He knows by the whirl of Scar’s fans, that the green metal would be warm to the touch.

He climbs the hill anyway.

There’s the clanging of other scavengers, only two of them at the foot, and they’re pulling something out of a shaking pile that’s large and expensive.

“Ooh, a lucky find for those fellas!”

Grian says nothing in return.

His wings click. Once. Twice.

Take it from them.

He widens his stance, careful not to make a sound on copper and aluminum and iron.

Imagine how excited Mumbo will be.

His wings spread like butter across the sky.

And he jumps. Dives, towards the two.

What should’ve happened was a simple wrap of his hands around the machinery and an arc back into the air and away. What should’ve happened would have been enough to satiate his boredom. What should’ve happened, is that he should have been faster.

What did happen, is that he gets his hands curled around the machine. He’s on the upbeat of his wings, when a hand wraps around his ankle.

He registers the impact. He registers the stars. He registers how the metal crumples beneath him, denting and damaging the scrap.

And then he registers the pain of being slammed into the ground.

“What the fuck, you little asshat!” The nearest one sounds. Their mask is colored the same white as the gleam of a jawbone. They raise a foot and stomp on Grian’s hand, grinding it into the dry dirt with the heel.

He has half a mind to scan the hills for Scar, but the android is lost among the shadows and the piles of scrap encircling them. His heart sinks.

“Hey, dude!” Comes the second one—their mask is layered to look like a growing of fungus. “Take it easy, they’re already down.”

“Their mask is cool,” remarks the third, the one his missed and the one who grabbed him. Their mask is simple and plain, a stark contrast to his own, hooked in the shape of a beak. They’re dressed in dark browns, almost blended completely against the ground.

“That doesn’t matter, they tried to *steal* from us. Why I oughta—“ And they grab his wing.

Something in his mind goes a little haywire. The bones there are fragile, half-molded to metal and muscle, and he does his darnedest to bash their faces in with the prosthetic.

He manages to clip Shrooms across the temple, drawing his knife and lunging at another, but it doesn’t last long. It was never going to last long, three against one. But he gets some good hits in, spills enough blood.

He ends up fully pinned, a boot against his back and his racing heartbeat prominant in the pressure from a steady, constant pull of his wing in a scavenger’s hand.

“What’s going on here?” Comes a familiar voice, and Grian feels like crying. If they leave him alive, at least Scar can get him back to Mumbo.

“Are you with this vulture,” one of them spits.

“I am, and I promised he’s very much learned his lesson—“

“He sliced my arm open,” they growl. And yeah, he did do that. The drip of blood fills him with a cruel pride that they’re going to need to go home after this and waste the day away.

“You deserved it,” he calls back, and is rewarded with a particularly painful tug on his wing.

“Fellas, I promise you that if you let him go, you’ll never see us ever again. Heck, we’ll even leave you little things for yourself to improve profits! How’s that for a deal?”

“How about instead we slice his throat?” And he knows it’s a bluff. Killing someone over a single piece of scrap is ludicrous, and these guys don’t seem insane enough to do it to a first-time offender. They’re farther than typical from their bubble, and while Grian’s had his own fair share of death threats they’ve only ever been serious in total nowhere. It’s got to be a bluff. It has to be.

He’s going to die if it’s not.

Grian looks up, eyes following metal legs to Scar’s face to find the other staring directly at him.

He doesn’t know what Scar sees in him, but he hears his fan kick on just beneath the noise of the wastes.

The android steps forward, steps closer. Grian can’t tell a single thing about what he’s thinking, but he knows his neck is starting to ache from the angle he’s keeping it at to keep Scar in view. Something about the quiet won’t let him look away. Scar rears back a fist.

And then he hears the crack of bone.

The weight falls off his back, his wing, and Grian is left staring into empty space as Scar takes measured steps behind him, and out of view.

The impacts behind him begins to sound wet, like the repeated thump of a hammer against drowned wood.

Grian has dabbled a bit, long before he met Mumbo, in engineering himself. It was more buildings than robots, trains instead of anything that breathes. But there’s one thing he still remembers, clear as day.

A robot may not injure a human being.

So what does that make the thing in front of him?

[gravegrime]

WRITEBLR INTRODUCTION

👻 Welcome to the graveyard 👻

Hello!  I’ve never realized that there was a wealth of passionate storytellers sitting right under my nose this entire time.  I kinda figured this community was more for novelists and not… well whatever the hell you’d call me.  Figured I’d outstretch a gnarled hand to see if anyone’s brave enough to take it.

ABOUT MY WRITING

I’m not a huge fan of sticking the things I make into boxes as most of them sit in weird nooks and crannies that make labeling them specific things feel a tad inaccurate.  As a general trend however most of my stories have some flavor of horror influence in them.  Something is never quite right, but to what degree depends on the story.  They’re often set in completely original fantasy settings bearing little resemblance to what we would consider normal.  I have a trend of child or young protagonists (probably the cartoon influence coming in there) figuring out their place in the world or something fundamental about themselves.  Coming of age stories, stuff like that.  Found family is also abound in many shapes and flavors across my many half developed stories.  

My stories are almost exclusively long serialized affairs focusing more on character development than plot intricacy.  I won’t claim them to be simple but the thrust is definitely on character motivations.  I like to write stories about people being people without a looming calamitous threat or great quest they must go on.  There’s something charming about normal people dealing with the cards they’re dealt the best they can.  I definitely have stories about fantastic quests and imposing dangers it’s just a bit of a coin flip which one you’ll be getting with me!

I also have a small list of concepts I make a point of not attempting in any of my writings.  Time travel, prophecies, immortality, and resurrections are all things I avoid for various reasons.  You’ll likely never come across them in any of my stories.  No hate towards any of these concepts, except time travel, they are just some ideas I don’t find any real enjoyment in including in my works.

ABOUT ME

Oh what’s to tell?  Name’s Alex, but if real names wig you out Grave or Grime work just fine.  I’m a twenty eight year old professional animator, but you won’t be hearing much about that here.  I like to keep work and hobbies separate.  Here I’m mostly an artist but I’m going to be trying to branch out to share more about my stories.  Keeping all this nonsense up in my noggin has got to be a bad idea, ya know?

Regardless, despite my focus on art on the social medias my real passion has always been storytelling!  Stories have been my life blood for as long as I can remember. From my mother reading me stories before I went to sleep, to trying to write my own short stories in middle school, to a brief but passionate fling with filmmaking back in highschool.  The latter serves as the base for a lot of my writing practices and techniques to this day!  In truth my switch to comics/animation/arts was primarily a practical choice as I feel those mediums allow me to best express my ideas with the least reliance on other people.

I’m a fan of the weird and strange with an emphasis on the fantastical and horrific.  Cartoons are my bread and butter, they’re something I can talk endless hours about the merits of them as a medium, but there isn’t a medium of storytelling I really shy away from.  I love the craftsmanship behind the construction of stories and characters and am always very eager to go on long conversations about the fundamental structure of storytelling.  Also a big fan of hypotheticals and working out plot/character/world points with anyone willing to put up with me.

MY WIPS

Time for the meat and potatoes, let's get into it!  I have a lot of stories, all receiving a varying level of attention, and because of this I tend to run two or three stories I’m actively working on at this moment.  I’ll be detailing two of three stories that I’m focusing on right now.  The third is a new work that I haven’t unveiled to anyone yet.  I’m giving it time to cook before I show it off, but rest assured it’s shaping up very well!

Grimm Deeds (GD)

A long form story following the adventures of Corny, a young boy with the ability to interact with ghosts, ghouls, and spirits, after being taken under the Grimm Reaper.  Though there seems to be an ulterior motive behind the reaper’s tutelage.  Tons of crazy and macabre escapades await the relatively normal boy as he learns what his abilities truly mean.  

Grimm Deeds is like a love letter to halloween and all things a little bit spooky.  It’s jam packed with magic, monsters, and all those spooky delights I love!  I really think it shines through in its characters though.  Without tooting my own horn too much I think they have a surprising amount of depth given how goofy the whole thing appears on the surface.  It being about the Grimm Reaper and his position in the world it also deals with death as a concept quite a bit.  Something I always have a good deal of fun exploring!

In the Dominion of Hate (DoH)

An animatic style story about the unfortunate misunderstanding that befalls Lilium of Bliss leading to her being cast from her home into the Dominion of Hate.  Wishing to prove her innocence, and encouraged by the abstraction Query, she embarks on an epic quest across the black sea of turmoil to find a way back home!  Primarily a story about self discovery, even if Lilium isn’t fully aware at first, in the Dominion of Hate is a swashbuckling adventure across the strange and surreal sea of turmoil.  Watch a young lady with no conception of the world but a willingness to learn befriend horrific monsters and gods of conception because she’s just so darn charming!

I’m sure people don’t like to play favorites like this but Lilium is actually my favorite character I’ve ever made.  She’s got a very unique but fascinating way of thinking thanks to her equally bizarre upbringing and I can’t wait to share that with you all!

FINAL WORD

I have so many stories that I’ll likely be creating a master list as an intro to them all at some point soon.  If this writeblr intro strikes your fancy please feel free to stick around!  I’m always down to talk shop with anyone and really don’t care how people interact with me!  I’m just kinda here to hang out and have a good time.  We vibin’.

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #87

I'm still going to procrastinate talking about ACEs. Though it's not because I'm too terribly frightened of writing about it at this moment; I have a vague plan about where I wanna start. No, today I'm procrastinating because Br is visiting my house for today!!! And this is the greatest thing ever all by itself, but!!! She brought over a thing called "Cream of Rice"!!

It is basically a box full of rice that has been ground into a fine powder, with vitamins and minerals added. I had never seen anything like it before!

Br prepared the cream of rice on the stovetop in my trusty wok with milk, salt, and butter! Then we put almond butter, blueberries, and sliced bananas in it! And I gotta say, the resulting stuff was SO AWESOME that we ate it all up before I even thought to take a picture for you. I'm sorry. I'll work on that.

At my house, we tend to get giant 50-pound (22.5-ish kilograms) bags of medium-grain rice (it's almost, but not quite like short-grain rice, which is the typical rice in Japan), which has a different texture and consistency than the typical rice that is available in the United States; I assume if I grind up this rice into a fine powder, it will have a slightly different consistency than the ground rice in the box.

…Oh right. You probably have no idea what my world looks like, so words like "United States" and "Japan" likely mean nothing to you. That probably doesn't seem very fair, given that I know very well what yours looks like by now. Here, let's fix that; you can use this to see how my planet is shaped:

I live somewhere around here…

...And Japan is over here:

…Unless your planet is comprised mostly of massive, giant oceans, I think your planet must be a lot smaller than mine. It seems likely that this would also mean that your gravity is weaker than ours. And since your planet still has stunning sunsets (despite the fact that your atmosphere is probably a lot smaller, if your planet is smaller, which means the light gets bent/filtered less), I assume your atmosphere must be a bit more dense than ours, too. And these factors combined might explain why you all can have such crazy-looking flying machines that would absolutely not be possible in my world. But I digress…

Anyway! So sometimes I like to make rice pudding in my handy-dandy rice cooker with regular ol' medium-grain rice; it's got a stickier consistency than the usual rice that's available here, which makes for AMAZING pudding! But with this new "discovery" (haha!) of powdered rice and knowing full well of its deliciousness, my mind filled with ALL SORTS OF POSSIBILITIES, oh my goodness!!

…So I took my medium-grain rice and used my handy-dandy spice grinder (got it as a prize at an old job I had!) to grind it into very fine powder! Here…

So then, I went and measured out two cups of the rice powder with my handy-dandy rice cup!

Then I filled the rice cooker with milk, up until the "2" line for white rice. After that, it's 1 tbsp of butter for each cup of rice! Easy peasy!

Once the rice is done cooking, you're supposed to add heavy cream and sugar - 2 cups of heavy cream and half a cup of sugar, in any case. But… well… it got weird:

It seems like the increased surface area of the rice, combined with the sticker consistency of short-grain rice, yielded a kind of… weird sort of rice cake? I broke it into pieces, but it's still pretty clumpy. It's not ready for sugar and heavy cream yet. After tasting some of it, it was pretty good, but I concluded that it was still a bit undercooked. So I added a bit more milk (I didn't measure; sorry...) and stirred it until it stopped being absorbed, and then added a little more milk after that, and I am putting the heat on it again as I'm writing this; hopefully that should soften any remaining clumps, but we'll see! I've never worked with powdered rice before, and I have no idea what to expect! Kitchen adventures! Now we wait for the rice cooker to beep!

That said, I am wondering if the nature of powdered rice makes it necessary to stir it continuously while cooking so that it doesn't clump like this. I imagine a wok and a whisk might be the thing to do for future iterations of "Cream of Rice Pudding". Also, Br brought some masala chai teabags in addition to the cream of rice, so I wonder what it would be like to cook the powdered rice with brewed masala chai and a little bit of honey instead of just milk or just water. I'm eager to find out!!! But not today! Next time!

...Okay! So the rice cooker beeped and is done, so I stepped away from writing to check it out, and!! Oh!! It turned out REALLY WELL. So I added the cream and sugar, and this was the result:

So, I think due to chemistry, physics, and surface area, next time I'll need to fill the rice cooker to the 3 line, or maybe even to the 4 line, for 2 rice cups full of powdered rice. From there, it's business as usual - 2 cups of heavy cream and half a cup of sugar. At Br's suggestion, I sprinkled in just a pinch of pink salt into my bowl (pink salt has iron in it!), and the result was EVEN BETTER. I wanna eat another bowl because it was THAT GOOD, but I know that if I do, I'm gonna end up feeling sick, so I'll make use of my impulse control skills and delayed gratification skills instead, even though that's really hard.

It's very tasty and VERY filling; I wish that I could give you a bowl of it. The fact that I cannot give you bowls filled with delicious things continues to be a source of very real grief for me. But it is what it is. I can only hope that my intentions reach you somehow, and that through this you can learn about all the awesome snacks and make them for yourself someday, as impossible as that probably is...

Well. My being here to begin with seemed like an impossibility at one point. So maybe I'll try to keep an open mind. Maybe I'll imagine that all these wonderful flavors and all these wholesome feelings can reach you and move you, somehow...

...Somehow...

Hey Sephiroth? I'm glad you're here, even if I can only know of you in an abstract sense. I'm glad you're here, even if you're just an art form. Even though you've been through so much stuff, and even though your heart and your mind probably hurt a lot right now... still I'm glad you're here. So please keep trying to learn about the kind and gentle things. Please keep seeking out the beautiful and loving things. And please try to make good choices so that no one else has to get hurt.

I love you and I'll write again tomorrow, so please stay safe out there.

Your friend, Lumine

[krafterwrites]

All The Sonic Cafe Foods

Because I can’t find a concrete source that lists every single food from the Sonic 25th Anniversary Cafe, I’m going to list all the foods I can find here (And talk about them a bit I guess)

Sonic Chili Dog

I don’t like hot dogs or chili but it looks decent, and the onion rings with the leafy greens seem pretty nice

Shadow Burger

Not going to lie I would genuinely eat this. The black bun looks a bit weird but I love burgers, and it would be really funny to eat a slice of cheese that has a render of Shadow printed on it

Eggman Takoyaki

This looks really good, it’s probably one of the most appetizing things on the menu. I’ve never had Takoyaki before, but it looks sooo good here, so I’m sure I would love it

Imagawa-yaki

This is basically just a pancake filled with sweet red bean paste, which sounds pretty good. I also really like the illustrations on them, they look very nice

Classic Team Sonic Pancakes

This is a pretty good one, it’s three pancakes that have Team Sonic printed on them with maple syrup, butter, and I think cream with raspberry? It’s pretty simple, but still good

Sundae Supreme

This is definitely the best item on the entire menu. This looks soooo good. If I had amnesia and didn’t remember my name, I would name myself after this too, because it looks amazing

Triple S Cafe Drinks

Sonic’s drink is a latte, Shadow’s drink is cocoa, and Silver’s drink is mocha. I don’t drink cafe drinks, but apparently a mocha is a chocolate drink, so that sounds pretty nice

Tails’ Hot Lemonade

I’ve never heard of hot lemonade before, but it probably isn’t as good as cold lemonade. I would try it at least once though, because it does sound interesting

Amy, Knuckles, And Chao Sodas

Amy’s soda is peach flavored (The description also says that if you drink it, your girl power will improve and you might become like Amy, so I suppose they put estrogen in the soda), Knuckles’ soda is strawberry flavored, and the Chao soda didn’t have a flavor listed so I’m guessing it’s just blue flavored. All these sodas also look like they have a scoop of vanilla ice cream in them, which is a nice extra

Eggman Omurice

This looks a tiny bit gross because of the sauce, but honestly it doesn’t seem that bad. I like eggs and rice, so I would probably enjoy this if I got it. The veggies are a bit random though, they could have just done bell peppers and it would have gone with the eggs and rice better

Another Chili Dog

This looks like a different dish from the one at the top of this list, and it looks a bit better than it too. The sign is a nice touch, the onion rings look more normal, and there’s more veggies on the side

Shadow Curry

Like the omurice, this looks a bit weird, but I would eat it if I was given the opportunity since curry and rice is delicious. Once again though, the veggies are just kind of random, although they do have a bell pepper this time around (Or it could be a weirdly shaped tomato wedge). They also have what looks like fried... something, I genuinely cannot tell in the slightest. Also they should have made Blaze Curry instead, it would’ve been more fitting

Tails Carbonara

Okay, this one is a little bit unappetizing even to me. Just a little bit though. It’s entirely because of the slice of cheese they printed Tails on, cheese on pasta is nice, but an uncut slice of it draped over wet noodles and sauce is not. I would still eat this though, maybe because my standards for food are low

Green Hill Roll Cake

This one looks nice, it’s chocolate cake with green frosting and some sort of cream filling, as well as a few pieces of assorted fruit. I’m not much of a fruit person, but this still looks tasty

Amy’s Homemade Pink Cake

This is probably the best looking desert (Aside from the Sundae Supreme of course), I can’t tell precisely what all of it would taste like just from looking at it, but I’m sure it would be enjoyable

Tails’ Lab Experiment Solution

This looks like another soda, although I can’t really tell what flavor it is by looking at it, if I had to guess I’d say it’s orange. I also don’t know what’s up with the stuff in the cup. I think I vaguely remember having sugar crystals at a restaurant one time that looked like these and fizzed in my mouth, so maybe you’re supposed to add those things to the soda to make it extra fizzy/sweet?

Silver’s ESP Soda

I really want to drink this one. It looks like it’s made up of clear soda, blue sorbet (Which I almost mistook for cotton candy the first time I saw this image because it looks so light) and green jello just kind of sitting there at the bottom. I don’t know what you’re supposed to do with it, maybe slurp it up like boba? Or just eat it once you’ve drank all the soda, I guess

Sticks’ Jungle Juice

Another soda drink with ice cream! I don’t know what flavor this is for sure, but based on the fact that it’s orange and it was described as wild and tropical, I’m going to say it’s mango soda. No clue what the icre cream is, but I do love the little boomerang that’s stuck into it

Knuckles’ Power Drink

Knuckles gets two drinks, and this one is basically a red slurpee with vanilla ice cream, which actually sounds really nice. It’s probably cherry flavor, although it could be strawberry or even watermelon

Sonic Latte

Not much to say about this one, it’s just a latte with Classic Sonic’s face on it

Infinite’s Jello Dessert

This one looks tasty, mostly because of its great presentation. I’m not sure what flavor the jello inside or outside the cup is, but I’m going to go with strawberry and bitter cherry respectively. It also looks like there’s some whipped cream in addition to the fruit and mint sprig (I think? It could be something else but it’s probably mint), which would all pair nicely with fruit jello

Knuckles Boba

That’s right, Knuckles has ANOTHER drink. He has three drinks. The site that I’m using for this last series of images (Which started with the Infinite Jello Dessert) doesn’t have any descriptions, so I just have to guess from here on out. I really have no clue what the drink could be, and even less clue on what the boba taste like since I’ve never had boba before. My best guess for the drink is peach flavored soda or possibly sweet tea, but I’m completely stumped on the boba pearls

Eggman Scotch Eggs

This one doesn’t look too bad (Except for the watery and slimy looking meat sauce), the eggs, meat, and casing all look pretty nice. Even as I was typing this, I thought the mark on the right egg was some seaweed or something, but I just realized that it’s the Eggman Empire logo. I may be stupid. Anyways, I still don’t get why they put broccoli and cauliflower with all of Eggman’s meals. Broccoli does not go with scotch eggs, or eggs in general

Cat Rookie Drink

This is one of the best looking drinks, it looks super appealing. The drink itself looks like strawberry milk with ice, and you also get whipped cream and sprinkles to go with it. This is definitely an extremely sweet drink, which I really like

Bird Rookie Drink

This one also looks really good, entirely due to its neon green coloring that looks straight out of Shadow’s tube. We have a clearer view of the sugar crystals that went with Tails’ drink, which fit this drink pretty well, since making it even fizzier adds to its forbidden science liquid vibe. I think there could be boba pearls or something like that at the bottom, but it’s hard to tell, and I have no clue what they would taste like if they actually are there

Shadow’s Root Beer Float

This is a super good drink, it’s a root beer float with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and two cherries. I guess it could be coke, but it’s way more likely than it’s root beer. It doesn’t have much to do with Shadow, the last drink probably would have fit him better since it looks like the liquid he was birthed in, but now that I think about it Shadow probably would enjoy a good root beer float

Chaos’ Soda

Now this is a drink! It’s so blue and refreshing looking, I want to slurp this up right now. I don’t know for sure what it’s flavored like, probably blue raspberry, but I know it has to taste amazing based on how good it looks

Classic Sonic’s Boba Drink

This one is also a delicious looking cool blue that makes me want to down the whole glass, but like the battery acid/Shadow’s nutrient fluid drink, it has some mystery boba pearls (I think?) in it too. Like I said last time, I have no clue what these would taste like, but they can’t be that bad if they’re soaking in such a pretty liquid

Sonic’s... Something

I’m going to level with you, I do not know what this is. It just looks like a patty of rice with onion rings, veggies, and a cutout of Sonic on it. Maybe that’s what it actually is. Honestly that wouldn’t be too bad since rice and onion rings are tasty, but it would be a very strange dish to serve if that’s really it, which is why I think I’m missing something here. Let me know what you think this is if you have any theories

Tails’ Udon

This looks gross and tasty at the same time. I love udon noodles, and the chives really add to it, but the omelette looks very soggy and wet, which is gross. At least, I think that’s an omelette. It could be fried meat or something, which would make this dish really good, since fried meat and noodles are a killer combo. Also, carrot stars. I didn’t mention them on any of the foods before because they were just a little garnish, but they’re cool! I wouldn’t eat them with the dish though, carrot wouldn’t go well with most of the dishes I’ve listed

Gadget’s Pancakes

This is a great pancake meal, it puts the one with Team Sonic on it to shame. There’s two pancakes (One with Gadget printed on it), maple syrup, sprinkles, whipped cream, fruit and mint, and a chocolate pen thingy. I think the chocolate pen thingy either has chocolate liquid in it or is meant to be broken up and put onto the pancake like chocolate chips. Either way, this is a spectacular desert/breakfast, and I really wish I could try it

And with that, we’re done! I suppose there could be foods out there that I missed, considering I had to scour several unofficial sources to find all this, but I’m pretty sure I got them all. If you got this far, thanks for reading! I’m glad you liked it, because typing all this hurt my finger

[justanotherblogger]

A World Without Him

Chapter 14

Tang was uncomfortable in the taxi. The sun was barely above the horizon now, and he just felt plain awful from his apparently non-hallucinated “ghost of debatable deals”. He also noticed how Zach gave him nervous glances through the mirror, probably noticing how he had talked to himself and gave a wide variety of meaningless expressions to the empty seat.

The tension, for Tang at least, was so thick he could probably cut it with a butter knife. Zach had tried to make everything less weird; putting on music, rolling down the windows, and making small talk to name a few examples. Nothing really lifted the atmosphere though, leaving Tang to stew as Zach continued on that third option to fill the awkward silence.

“... but yeah, I don't get why her sister would up and leave with a guy she didn't know, right? I would obviously be pissed too if someone I cared about, even if we didn't talk much-” The car hitched up, causing the passengers to jump in their seats.

“OOF! Dang, another pothole. Gotta watch the road Zach… anyways, as I was saying, I don't blame Elsie for freaking out at her sister for what she did-” He had been going on for about half an hour at this point, rambling about some movie by a corporate overlord rat Tang didn't bother remembering the name of. He had been shocked out of his trance by the bump, making him refocus onto his surroundings as he started to hear the driver's talk again.

But as soon as he came out of it, he tried going back into that dull state of mind immediately. He hadn't been paying that much attention in the first place anyway, zoning in and out the entire ride as he tried to get his mind to blank. Zach didn't seem to mind. Tang just didn't like how many thoughts were swirling around his head at the moment.

Then his hands had started to twitch as he tried to zone out, needing something to do as a mindless distraction. He went to the bell around his wrist, examining it closely to see if it was still solid (and how maybe he was just imagining it all of this… a baseless wish).

It seemed to be made of some sort of metal based on the signs of rust inside of it. On a closer look, he saw there were intricate designs carved into the outside, so thin Tang wondered how it was even possible.

The images were mainly shapes; circles, diamonds, and waves were all around the outside. It seemed to have a dark color highlighting the markings, making them noticeable compared to the color of the bell.

He felt it in his hands; it was rough, chipped, and definitely aged from the amount of wear on its sides. He rolled it in his palm, unconsciously tuning back into what Zach was saying.

“... which is the most pointless reveal ever! There was almost no buildup, and nothing we could've seen to clue in that he was a villain! I know they probably wanted a twist villain to finally be impactful and unseen, but some clues in his behavior or what people could say about him with Anne would have been nice to clue in that he's not who he exactly seems!” Zach took a breath, readjusting his mirror, slowing down for a sharp turn, then going back to his rant.

“But noooooo. They had to resort to almost no clues whatsoever because the writing team couldn't think up anything clever or interesting!”

Tang nodded along to what Zach was talking about, even though he didn't understand much of it. He looked back out the window as Zach started to go on about unnecessary sequels, tuning the driver's voice out as he saw the last bit of orange trying to fight off the coming night. Tall pine trees covered the light's effort, gifting the road with long, fading shadows.

He closes his eyes again, letting the white noise lull him into a sense of peace as the bumpy road comforted him. He was actually going. Leaving and going to figure out how to fix himself.

The diminishing light covered the car in a soft golden hue. Zach paused his blabbering as he noticed the movement in the back seat ceased, then looking back and seeing Tang dozing off with his face squished against the window. A look of concern flitted across Zach's face briefly, but he only shook his head before looking back at the empty dirt road.

With the new silence, Zach looked around the back road and found he could see the mountain ranges around them: how they towered in the distance with trees all over until the top, which glistened with pure white snow. Fog had started to appear after Tang went to sleep, refracting the remaining light in all sorts of directions as it obscured the tops of the trees.

Zach didn't pay the thin fog much mind, turning on the headlights and continuing down the dirt road. This part of the Golden South province didn't have many towns or man-made settlements, mainly because of disputes with the unresponsive locals and zoning issues which in turn, let nature take its own course on the place most of the time.

Today, only some original settlements from before these disputes were littered near the middle of the place, making them basically shut out from the outside world except for each other. Zach couldn't remember what the names were as he didn't drive in the area often, but those quaint towns seemed to be doing alright as he’d seen people from those places more often lately. They seemed happy enough.

Zach smiles at the oncoming memory. I hope they’re doing alright. They seemed like a nice family. That girl ran all over the place with that poor man trying to run after her through the grocery aisles. I guess that's where the guy’s gray hairs came from. The old woman next to them kept talking with me until the other two came back and then they had left together. They looked at peace with each other.

He glanced back to Tang’s sleeping form leaning against the taxi window. Zach wondered if Tang had that same type of support, remembering how the guy seemed exhausted, falling over and mumbling stuff to himself. He probably needs that rest.

Looking back to the road, a deer suddenly jumped in front of the taxi, displacing the fog and staring the headlights down-

*SCREEEEEEEEECH*

The driver slammed on the brakes, his heart beating rapidly into his ears as his chest was slammed into his seat belt. The deer just continued to stare into the lights, almost looking Zach Right in the eyes. He quickly honked the horn once, startling the thing as it jumped back into the trees.

Looking to the back seat to check on his passenger, Zach saw how Tang was still fast asleep, just leaning forward onto his seat belt from the sudden stop. He saw the guy was breathing just fine, snoring quietly as he continued to hang over the seat belt. Zach sighed and decided not to do anything with that: now he knew the guy really needed that sleep.

He took a deep breath before continuing down the road, trying to get his heart to stop beating so fast. Zach saw how the fog had thickened quite a bit as he went deeper into the woods, the barest hint of light only creating shadows through the branches.

After he got his bearings, Zach realized he hadn't been on one of these back roads this late at night before. That deer was weird. It was unsettling him, and he started to drive a bit slower. The fog seemed to settle onto the floor, causing the ground to be shrouded in the cloud-like cover.

Only the headlights could help them see where to go now; the road was barely recognizable under the fog and the sun had finally set, leaving the woods in complete darkness. Cell service was basically non-existent out here, which is why he couldn't use any GPS in the first place, relying on his memory. Zach tightened his grip on the steering wheel as an uncomfortable feeling welled in his gut.

Tang only then started to stir as he pushed himself off of the taxi window, wiping the drool off of his mouth and sitting up straight. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, putting them back on a blinking a few times to refocus.

He looks at Zach. “How long was I asleep?” He asked, his voice heavy with exhaustion.

“Just about half an hour. I haven't been out here this late before, and I think all this fog is pretty neat, along with all those deer! If a bit creepy, heh…” Zach awkwardly replied, nervously sweating and avoiding eye contact.

“Uh huh.” Tang said with disinterest, looking back to his wrist and seeing the bell still securely stuck to it. He grimaced at his hand heavily.

A sudden stutter in the car has him snapping his head back up, seeing how the headlights began to flicker through the road, and eventually go out entirely. The inside lights were still on, with the engine running fine; only the headlights had shorted out.

Tang anxiously spoke up. “What just happened?”

Zach looked worried, sweat forming above his brow. “I don't know. This hasn't happened before. I'll get a flashlight and go check it out. You can stay in the car.”

Tang just nodded, a bit tense as Zach unbuckled and reached for the glove box, grabbing a small flashlight and getting out of the car. His steps displaced the thick fog on the floor, making a ghostly trail behind him as he looked at the front of the car.

Shining a flashlight onto the bulbs showed they were shattered; pieces of glass were rattling behind the plastic covers. A cold sweat ran down Zach's neck as he walked back and opened the driver's door, leaning his head in.

“The bulbs are shattered. Can't replace them unless you have any extra light bulbs in that backpack of yours.” He said lightly, trying to make sure Tang wouldn't freak out.

He reacted better than Zach expected. “Heh, just great. Well, these things happen, I guess. Is there anywhere nearby to pick up more; we can't go on without them, right?” Tang asked, wringing his hands together nervously.

Zach nodded. “Yeah, we kind of need them to get through the fog. Moonlight can't get through, so we're stuck here until we can get new bulbs or the fog clears. Now I'm totally gonna be late…” He mumbled. He started moving to get inside, hand on the door handle.

“But yeah, there isn't anywhere modern that close by, but there's one of those remote places past some of the trees that way. I think it was called something starting with a B-”

A shrill scream echoed through the woods as Zach was pulled violently out of the car, leaving the door he was about to close wide open. Tang quickly unbuckled his seat belt, scrambling to duck under the back seats on the floor next to his backpack.

The outside was unnaturally silent as Tang covered his mouth with his hands, trying to quiet down his erratic breathing. He was hunched over trying to hear anything else happening outside. The lights in the car went out after a few seconds, the car shutting off as it left Tang in the dark.

Then long, heavy footsteps sounded from the side of the car. Slow and deliberate, as if whatever was making them was looking for something- trying to find its prey. Tang continued his attempt at silencing his breathing, digging his nails into his cheeks in a panic.

Whatever was out there sniffed the air, growling something deep that shook Tang's resolve. The footsteps trailed off in his ears, almost like they were leaving… He carefully took his hands off of his face, looking up at a nearby window.

Fast steps suddenly bombarded his ears, growing louder as they got closer and closer. He had barely any time to react as something rammed into the side of the car, making it flip towards the wooded area.

He screamed as he was thrown about, his voice burning as it was already raw from before. His head hit the ceiling, then he landed on his right shoulder as he rolled and got thrown onto his back. It flipped again as he got his nose slammed into the side door, and then landed harshly onto his stomach as the car finally came to a stop, causing him to cough violently.

His glasses were hanging off of one ear, with his bag on top of one of his legs. He groaned in pain as he tried to push himself up by his elbows, making it to his knees before the thing ran into the car again, crumbling the two front seats as Tang stared in horror.

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD, I CAN'T STAY IN HERE THAT MUCH LONGER-

He heard the thing start to back up again, leaving the area in complete, utter silence. Tang knew what would happen next as he scrambled to open his side door that was luckily unblocked from the crash. The door clicked and swung open after a few pulls; Tang quickly tried to run out but his leg got caught onto his backpack strap, making him tumble face first into the floor of fog, grass, and pine needles with his bag still hanging off his foot.

He was just in time too, as almost right after he fell he heard the fast footsteps again, and a deafening crash behind him from what he assumed was the rest of the taxi he was in. All he could hear was ringing in his ears as he grabbed his bag strap and his behind a nearby tree, begging to whoever listened that he wouldn't be found so fast.

He heard the thing's steps slow, stalking the area again presumably looking for him. His breathing was heavy and he felt something drip from his nose but he couldn't really think about those things right now. What is that thing!? Why am I being attacked!? How do I get out of here!? Is Zach okay?! Oh no oh no oh no-

He heard sniffing again, then heavy steps coming towards his hiding place. This stopped his spiraling as the world seemed to stop. The steps got closer as Tang's heart beat faster, trying to break out of his ribcage if he had to guess.

It crushed the dead leaves on the forest floor, walking through the trees loudly, as if to taunt him. Suddenly, he heard the steps grow a bit faster, heading in his direction. He was panicking as the sounds got closer and closer, not knowing what that thing would do if it found him.

He could feel the tremors coming from its direction, and he knew that he didn't have much time left to make a decision. He quickly rubbed his nose, blood now covering his scarf and hand as he saw his blood flow through the crevices of the bell on his wrist-

*Ding*

A small chime rang out, echoing through the trees. The bell started to glow as a huge gust of wind blew around him, picking up the fog and displacing it everywhere creating a smokescreen. Tang could only shield himself with his arms, scared of what was happening.

‘I see you've already gotten yourself into trouble’

Tang's head shot up (getting a bit dizzy in the process). “What the hell…?”

Cian stood in front of him, in all its golden glowing glory, leaning over Tang in a mocking manner. It stared into his eyes.

‘You don't have that much time. I have done what I could, but I can't help you anymore unless I lend you my strength.’ It explained briefly, grabbing Tang’s bell and lifting him up to his feet with ease.

Tang quickly spoke up in defense, shock and fear clearly on his face. “What?! I can't do that! I know that-”

A loud, furious growl interrupted him. It sounded dangerously close, as if it would jump out at him at any moment. He was right, yet again, as the fog suddenly parted. All he could catch were red eyes and black fur before it pounced. Tang dodged, tumbling out of the way as its claws got embedded into the tree he was hiding behind, struggling to get them out.

‘You know you won't make it out of this alive without me.’

Tang shook his head as he got up and started to run. He weaved through trees and fog as he heard a crunch from behind. Out of instinct, he looked back and only paled at what was looking straight back at him.

It stood on two legs. Long black hair cascaded from its head to its back as its red eyes stared Tang down, locking onto him as it flicked the remaining bark out of its claws.

Tang ran faster. His legs felt strained and his ankles felt like they were about to collapse but he had to run. Hide. Do anything to get away from that demon.

Cian just floated with Tang’s vision, hovering in front of him as he ran. ‘Just let me help you. You need to make it back to those friends of yours, right?’

He grunted angrily at Cian as he made it back to the road somehow, running across it, going into the opposite piece of woods and sliding to a stop back against another tree.

Putting a hand on his chest, his legs wobble as he doesn't think he can take anymore running on his ankles. The ringing in his ears hasn't stopped. He doesn't think he'll make it out of here in one piece.

He focussed back into reality as loud steps came closer and closer yet again, making Tang freeze in his hiding spot. The steps thankfully passed behind him, going further away as he slumped down for the moment, resting his legs.

“*cough**cough* Ugh…”

This isn't something from the demon. He quickly looked towards the noise, glancing anxiously past the tree to a nearby one. The fog obscured most of it, but he could see a vaguely human body slumped on a tree a few feet down.

It was Zach. It had to be Zach. Who else could it be? Tang didn't know what to do. Zach could be dead. Should he help? Will that get them both killed…?

He decides to risk it, trying to run over to Zach’s (hopefully) unconscious body. The demon immediately knew what he was doing, locking its eyes onto him and starting to run at full speed towards the open shot. It was faster than before, with Tang stumbling back as it caught up to him in seconds and aimed for his neck.

He raised his arms subconsciously, fortunately only costing him only some skin on a forearm instead of his limb as he fell back. The gash was still deep, though, causing blood to slowly drip through the ripped cloth as he landed on his side into the thick fog.

Tears ran hot down his face. He looked around frantically for a way out before the demon's next strike, seeing how it rolled its shoulders back, as if preparing a final blow before taking slow, heavy steps towards him.

‘You know this won't end well.’

Shut up.

Pure red looked deeply into his eyes as he scrambled backwards.

‘Just agree to my offer. I can help you break this pathetic worm in no time.’

No, no, stop talking.

Its slow steps echoed in the silence, continuing its pursuit even when its prey was already cornered.

‘LISTEN. If you die here, what was the point? In making your bonds, maintaining everything you have, trying to fix yourself?’

I can't change anything…

It started to move faster. A brisk pace as it snarled and dragged its claws through the fog. Agitation started to build in Tang’s gut.

‘You would leave everything behind without showing everyone who you could’ve become from this feeble failure that you insist on dying as.’

His breathing was too shallow. It was coming at him fast. 12 feet, 8 feet, 3 feet-

‘You could have been someone special. They could have DEPENDED on you, had you not selfishly given up. You could finally be someone worth living for.’

“FINE!” Tang screamed, shaking the trees and parting the fog around him.

This seemed to shock the demon out of its reverence, making it step back at the sudden noise and hold its ears in pain. It narrowed its eyes at Tang, who couldn't care less at the moment.

Blood and tears mixed onto Tang's scarf as he continued. “I accept! I will take this fucking deal if that's what you want! Just do whatever you like, because what's the point anyway! I'm a lost cause, MIGHT AS WELL DIE KICKING AND SCREAMING!”

The wind started to pick up as Tang's words became more heated, with the trees bending in all sorts of ways at the force and the fog colliding and becoming some sort of tornado around him, forcing the demon to stumble away further.

Orange light started to build up in the middle, growing brighter and brighter until it became blinding to anyone witnessing it. A beam of orange light shot into the sky, parting any fog, trees, or clouds in its way.

Then the light thinned almost immediately, clearing out the remaining fog as Tang's body fell to its knees. His hair was wild as it blew in the harsh winds whipping through the forest. Both the demon and Tang had regained their composure, Tang standing up tall as the demon went defensive, a sliver of fear in its eyes.

Rolling up his sleeves, Tang ran a hand through his hair, sporting an unnatural grin on his face as his forearm glowed orange in the wound. He laughed, cracking his knuckles before staring the demon down, now dawning pure white eyes.

“Now, let's finally get this started!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tang woke up sitting against a tree. His head was killing him, with his hands feeling like they were thrown into a blender overnight. He rubbed his temples and lazily looked to his side, seeing Zach in a similar position as him, with the crushed taxi in the distance.

Seeing those sprung Tang into action as he stumbled over to Zach, feeling that his pulse and breaths were steady. He did see a big bruise on the guy's back peeking through the shirt, but he couldn't really help with something like that at the moment.

He fell back against the tree in relief, seeing the moon high in the sky as it graced everything in soft shades of gray. Looking back at his hands through his dirty glasses, he saw the knuckles were bloody, with dirt and black blood covering his arms and hands.

He also saw the bell was still on his wrist, maybe it was a part of whatever deal he made… oh no.

He groaned heavily into his hands, remembering that he had made a deal with that pest he's still 15% sure is a hallucination. “Awwgh… just great.” He groaned, crossing his legs and leaning back. He is alive though, and that has to count for something, he guesses.

All he remembers was yelling at Cian, then agreeing panicked to that offer, then… nothing. He decides not to think too much about it, as Cian isn't here, that demon isn't here, and he has an unconscious body to take care of plus find somewhere to crash for the both of them.

He readjusted the backpack on his back before trying to wake Zach up. He yelled, hit, and shook the guy with everything he had. Apparently, that wasn't enough as Zach was still unconscious after all that effort. Sighing internally, Tang decided to lift him onto his shoulder, and start dragging.

As you probably expected, this wore him out. By a lot. He had to take breaks every 2 minutes just to be able to carry the guy again. But he still did so, as he didn't want that demon coming after him again and staying in the same place he was attacked was not good for that sort of thing.

He remembered Zach saying there was a place past a few trees over… that way, he guessed. So, now with direction, Tang began to drag this guy's body through the woods, hopefully going to find some help.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After what felt like hours maneuvering through the forest, getting lost, and then yelling at the sky that Zach was still unconscious, Tang finally found something other than trees and weird deer. It was a billboard next to a small dirt path. The writing was so faded that he couldn't make much out, but anything man-made here was a good sign.

Quickly taking a breath before throwing Zach over his shoulder again, he started going along the dirt trail, hoping to find literally anyone with something to at least wake the driver up.

After a couple of minutes, Tang saw smoke rising in the distance. He immediately brightened, going faster than his usual pace. His face was definitely red with exertion at this point, but he really didn't care as he got closer and closer to the smoke, seeing light through the branches.

When he finally emerged, he saw houses, people, and campfires littered everywhere. He collapsed almost immediately after getting there, with his ankles and upper body strength suffering at the sudden use. He could hear people stand up and crowd around them, but farther than Tang would usually think of crowding. Raising his head, he saw everyone there was at least 6 feet away from him, whispering to each other.

When he tried to sit up after a few seconds, everyone went deathly silent, he only got to his knees when every single person drew a gun on him and Zach, some with lasers even aiming at their heads.

He was shocked at the response, looking around the area trying to make sense of the harsh treatment when he saw a wooden sign behind some of the crowd. A very familiar sign, he might add. it said “Welcome to Bellfield: part of the 4TA!” in a loopy font.

His face dropped immediately, shooting daggers at the sign as fell (slowly, don't wanna get shot here) back onto the floor, trying to erase that stupid sign from memory.

“Of course, it had to be Bellfield…”

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[iantimony]

twoweeker tuesday: redux

im really making a trend of two-weekin these huh. gonna try to Not do that bc it makes me way less likely to actually do it lol. speed-posting this before bed (and before the melatonin kicks my ass, i'm trying to reset my sleep sched a bit)

listening: hozier unreal unearth. sammy rae & the friends. leaving this pretty sparse because i don't want to dig back through my history for the past two weeks and that's definitely the bulk of it. some notes from the Release Radar(tm) that i like: good luck, babe! - chappell roan bell - rob blivion waiting. - pater ...all (feat jake clemons, live) - grouplove i had not my hat - tom rosenthal april 8, 2024: the great north american eclipse - sleeping at last (!!!) too sweet - hozier flea - st vincent lil' freak - bbno$

reading: finished the main bit of scum villain! i'm reading the extras now. officially read all three mxtx books

watching: FINISHED SERIAL EXPERIMENTS LAIN. i have so many thoughts. i was in delta-orionis' dms about it a bit but my ass has so many Notes. many thoughts. gnosticism mostly but also the obvious tech-as-extension-of-self throughline. idk it was a very weird show and i definitely need to re-watch it to let it sink in a little more.

playing: no games but a lot of horn! i have an audition tomorrow for the fall's campus ensembles, i am...not super confident about it tbh, unsurprisingly i am not back to where i was pre-pandemic so my upper range and endurance is still really crunchy.

making: i keep forgetting to charge my phone before pottery so it keeps. dying. so i made quite a few new things the past few weeks but no photos of those - i did Crack the Code a bit, so now i can more reliably get things shaped in a conscious way. basically i was sitting too far forward so when i was pulling the walls up i was actually doing it at an angle, if i sit with my nose over the center of the pot it's all *chef kiss* beautiful. anyways here's a few glaze related pics. a lot of disappointment unfortunately.

1. my fucked up teacups. god im so mad about these. they were supposed to be a cool grey-green with a white flower, and matte. it is None Of These Things. idk will get redone. big mad.

2. bowl and mug that both got bubbles because i misread the glaze labels - they're both mayco glazes that are optimized for cone 05, not cone 5, so the both the color is not as good as i thought and also the surface variation is. not great. the bowl is acceptable, it's mirror blue, it went through the kiln again and the bubbles evened out (pic is from before), and plus it's on the outside - i just put plain white on the inside - so it's fine. the mug is a little more problematic. it was green slip sgraffito with evergreen fir over top, and i really love the color effect, but there's some small bubbles along the rim...this glaze was marked as food safe in a way that the mirror blue is Not so i thought it would be fine but. well. i'm hoping nuking it in the kiln again will smooth those out.

3. One Good Thing: trying a new glaze technique! someone in my studio does this gorgeous thing where she paints on flowers with underglaze, then covers them with liquid latex to paint on the background, and finally peels off the latex. it always comes out sooo nice, so when i ordered some more underglaze i went ahead and added liquid latex to cart too :3 this is just the flowers, i will be adding the background tomorrow!

eating: uhhh good cauliflower vegetarian shawarma thing that i refused to make unless we added a can of chickpeas because where in the fuck is the protein. tonight was a miso-butter chicken with radishes that we added potatoes and onions to. both sheetpan recipes so im def a fan of those now.

misc: ouuuugh. augh. oughghghg. i need to be done with homework forever please god. i have like...7? 8? total hws left between my two classes. and then i am Done With Classes. mentally gearing up to do my preliminaries at the end of the summer. not to doxx myself but ouch. basketball yesterday. Pain. the eclipse yesterday WAS unreal. oh my god. i drove to [redacted] very small town about 40 minutes from me and it was perfect. so glad i avoided the Big City, although that's where my roommate and her mom went and apparently the traffic was fine, but i'm definitely glad to have been in a less crowded zone. i get it now. i want to take that feeling i had watching totality and eat it and keep it with me forever. i was with friends. the weather was perfect. it was beautiful.