#so I went with metal man looking things and it looked instantly better

[mewkwota]

My last few tries on Helmetless Beast Out Gregar always felt off to me, so I wondered if I should've adjusted Hub's hair. All I really had to do was turn the "mane" into "spikes" to complete the head shape.

I can only draw it nicely a total of 2 times at once.

[darnell-la]

What about Wade and Logan watching Vanessa and Reader pole dancing together and the boys getting all hot and bothered by watching?

note: overload — that’s all you guys need to know.

———

“Aren’t you excited!? Your long-time, short-time crush is going to dance in front of us tonight with my long-time and short-term fiancé,”

As soon as the two entered the bar, Wade couldn’t stop teasing Logan about the fact that this young lady he’s been crushing on for a while, will be dancing tonight.

“She just started yesterday, why would she already be on stage?” Logan sighed as he leaned back in his chair. “Maybe because she’s the hottest worker, right after my fiancé!?”

Logan glared at Wade, making him put his hands up in a surrendering passion.

“Look, don’t be grumpy all night. I wanna enjoy my butter pecan up there, alright? Good boy,” Wade patted Logan’s head before shouting out Vanessa's name to support her before she came up.

“That’s my girly pop!” Wade yelled out, making Vanessa chuckle as she danced on stage with y/n. Their session was almost done, and Logan felt drained. Watching y/n like this was going to be unforgettable tonight.

At first, he hated the idea of y/n being like this in front of so many men. That’s the reason why he came last second. Now he’s wishing he never did, with how hard and leaky he was from watching.

He couldn’t possibly go up to y/n without her knowing. She’d see the patch instantly. He cursed himself for being a perv.

“Hey, I’ll be right back,” Logan got up and quickly walked away before Wade could speak or anyone could see him cover himself up.

“Logan!? Wade sent me back here to come and get you! He said you’ve been all here for almost an hour,” y/n said as she made her way down the small hallway to the bathrooms.

After the show, it got dead, since people were only there to see the strippers of the night.

“Logan?” Y/n asked again, but he still didn’t hear her. He was too busy trying to focus on his release. “Logan, are you even here?” Y/n opened the men’s bathroom slowly, not really caring if she saw anyone else. She wanted to make sure Logan was alright if he was still here.

“Goddamnit,” y/n heard Logan grunt. She wanted to turn back around and leave, thinking he was having trouble using the bathroom until she saw one hand over the bathroom stall.

She squinted her eyes to take a better look, seeing how tight he was gripping the metal. The stall was bending in from how hard he gripped down.

“F-Fuck, just- Fuck, c’mon,” Logan groaned in annoyance, angry that he’s been going at this for what felt like days. He’s a mutant, so he should be able to last however long he pleased, but he wanted to release now. He’s never been this hard in his life.

“Logan?” Y/n said low, but surprisingly, he heard her this time. “Fuck-“ the man cut himself off and stopped instantly. “Y/n!?” The man panicked as he fixed himself up, but that was going to be hard.

He’s been leaking for who knows how long, and everything had made its way all over his hand. When he went to wipe his hand in his jeans, all it did was make him look worse.

“Yeah, I was just- I was just checking on. Wade told me to,” y/n said as she rubbed her fingers together, a bit embarrassed that she probably witnessed Logan, and an older adult jerking off in a bar bathroom.

“That motherfucker,” Logan mumbled as he began to buckle his pants. “I can, uh, leave if you’d like. I’m technically doing something illegal anyways,” y/n spoke about her being in the men’s bathroom. “No, no!- Just wait a second,”

Y/n stayed silent as she heard Logan groan in frustration and probably break a few things in the stall before he finally came out.

“Hey, Bub, uh, wassup?” Logan asked as he quickly walked over to the sink, not trying to make anything seem too obvious. “Just checking’ on ya,” y/n smiled as she scanned the man.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Logan?” Y/n felt the need to walk over to Logan, but slowly. “Yeah, Bub, just needed to take a leak, that’s all,” Logan lied as he turned around after drying his hands.

“Are you sure? You’re breathing a bit heavy, and-“ Y/n went on until she looked down at his lower body, seeing what his jeans looked like. They were basically drenched in one particular area.

Logan took a deep breath with his eyes closed, knowing he was caught and couldn’t lie his way out. He prayed she’d think he was just some man who needed to rub one out, but she kept asking him the right questions.

“First time watching the new modern women strip?” Y/n chuckled shyly as if wondering if this was even a joking situation. “You’re a funny one,” Logan chuckled as he fixed his shirt he noticed was sitting wrong.

“It’s nothing to be embarrassed. Most men don’t know how to act when they see a pair of tits,” y/n joked, but that slightly bruised Logan’s ego.

“Seen enough tits in my life, Bub,” Logan said, right before he took a look down at her chest. “Oh, you have? Seems like a fun life,” y/n got a bit defensive at his response. She couldn’t believe it at first, but her response was out of jealousy.

“Ain’t too bad — As long as they come with a pretty face,” Logan said as he looked into her eyes with a head tilt. “Yeah,” was all y/n could say as she broke eye contact.

“You know you’re pretty, right?” Logan asked as he moved towards y/n, softly letting his hand rest on her waist. “Really?” Y/n asked, confidence suddenly being thrown out of the window.

“Oh, yeah — So damn pretty,” Logan placed his free hand on her cheek, slightly rubbing it as her eyes widened. “T-Thank you,” y/n stuttered, and all Logan could do was chuckle at how she got around him.

“Got me all worked up out there, hun. Didn’t know you could move like that,” Logan admitted. “That’s why they had me dance on my first day,” Y/n said, reminding Logan about that. “That doesn’t sit right with me, Bub. Don’t want you back here workin’ for a creep,”

“But Vanessa? She works here,” y/n said, but he some care. “That ain’t my girl, so what she does, doesn’t concern me,” Logan said, not wanting to sound rude, but he truly did not care about anyone else, but y/n.

“You, though? You’re my girl, and you didn’t tell me about this job — Wade had to,” Logan said as the hand on her waist tightened. “And, that doesn’t sit right with me,”

Y/n felt the need to apologize, thinking she did something terribly wrong, even though she didn’t. Only in Logan’s eyes, she did do something that would need some consequences.

“Gonna say anything before I do what I’ve been needing for the past two hours?” Y/n wanted to speak, but she couldn’t. She was curious about how far Logan would take this.

“C’mere,” Logan said as he pulled y/n into a bigger bathroom stall than the one he was in. Once he locked the door, he pushed y/n to her knees, making sure to keep eye contact with her soft eyes.

“Gonna need you to look at me just like that until I’m done, okay? Been stuck for the past hour with this shit,” Logan said as he reached into his jeans to pull himself out. He didn’t think about it, but y/n sure did once she saw his length.

He was long, harder than she’d ever seen anyone before, thick, veiny, and leaking more than an average human should be.

“Open up, Bub,” was all Logan said as he pushed at her lips with his tip. Y/n hesitated but soon opened up and took him in. She had stopped after a few inches, but he continued thrusting his hips until she was in as much as he thought she could take.

“Fuck, baby — This is exactly what I needed,” Logan rolled his eyes as he felt instant release. He knew he was close, but he wanted to last. “Stop gaggin, baby — Wanna last a bit longer,” Logan told y/n, but she couldn’t. He was too huge.

“Bub, I said- Oh my god,” Logan grew angry, but soon whined as her throat collapsed around his shaft. “Fuck, I can’t hold it, Bub. So damn wet and warm- Fuck,” was all Logan said before his cock twitched.

Y/n couldn't help but look up at Logan to watch him lose himself in her mouth. The main she let out as he spilled into her mouth, made him groan louder, and tighten his grip on her hair.

“Goddamnit, I’m gonna cum again-“ Logan struggled to say as his legs shook, and a second orgasm ripped from him. Y/n’s eyes widen as more cum filled her mouth, so much that his seed leaked out of her mouth. There was too much to take.

“Nah uh, swollen it all, or I make you walk out with it on your face,”

[fuctacles]

Just like Cinderella

happy bday to my Prince Charming @blasvemous M | 3.3k | crack treated seriously, meet cuteugly something, idiot4idiot, humiliation kink mentioned | Ao3

"Shit, fuck!" Steve lets himself have one last glance at his wristwatch, and of course, it instantly proves to be a mistake. 

He runs straight into someone's back, and it punches all the air out of his lungs. He's stunned for a second, and can barely hear a rushed apology. He thinks he mutters back 'No, it was my fault', and by the time he blinks back into reality and crouches to pick up his bag, the guy is gone. 

But not all of him. 

On the pavement, right under his bag, he finds a... something.

It's made of metal and intricate, and not his. He picks it up and straightens up quickly, in hopes of seeing the guy he ran into. There are a lot of people rushing about, though.

"Hey!" He picks up his pace again, hoping to spot the person he ran into. He remembers long hair and a mix of citrusy shampoo and cigarette smell. Not much else. Nobody turns their head as he runs through the morning crowd, so he stuffs the item deep into his bag and focuses on the initial goal of rushing to work. He can worry about this all later. 

On his break, he takes the thing out of his bag to take a better look. It looks well-made and could be expensive, but he has no idea what it could be. It reminds him of old egg beaters, but he doubts that's what it is. Maybe a toy? One of these educational puzzles for nerds, like a Rubik's cube? Or! It could be a replica of some sci-fi movie gadget. Like the sonic screwdriver that Dustin made.

He probably should just ask around. 

His usual go-to, the self-titled oracle and part-time scholar Robin Buckley, had no better ideas than him. She turned the thing in her fingers, cradling it delicately like an eggshell, while humming and hemming. 

"Looks like a tiny brace. Maybe for a york's paw? The guy could be a vet," she offers. 

"Maybe," Steve nods, not convinced at all. He doesn't want to think about a little dog with a broken paw somewhere out there, its bones unprotected. "I was thinking it could be a kitchen utensil?"

Robin puts it on the desk between them and stares at it intently. 

"Like what?"

"I don't know," Steve shrugs, embarrassed to share his idea. "Like an egg beater?"

Robin continues her loud thinking but in the end, leaves him with nothing. 

The thing weighs him down on his daily commute, waiting in the bottom of his bag for the day he finds its owner. Steve isn't even sure if he would recognize him. Them? After a week he wasn't even sure it was a guy. 

The workload doesn't give him a break either, and once Friday finally arrives, he makes a detour on his route home to grab a drink or two. After his first drink, he checks for any loose change he could put in the tip jar and his hand finds the Thing. He pulls it out with a sigh and puts on the bartop with a small clunk. As he reaches out to put what he's found in the jar, he hears a very concerning and loud choking sound. 

To his right, a long-haired guy is wheezing his lungs out, fist-punching his own sternum. Steve immediately leans over the empty stool between them and starts smacking his back to help.

"Jesus, you alright? Went down the wrong pipe?" He looks around the man, but all he sees is a glass of beer, so hopefully he didn't get a peanut lodged in his windpipe. 

The man lets out a really gross phlegmy cough, clears his throat, and takes a shuddering breath.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he wheezes out. "Just, uh, you know. Didn't expect to just turn around and see, uh, that." He spares a tiny glance at the Thing in front of Steve. 

Steve immediately brightens up, hoping to finally get an answer to his predicament. He swiftly moves to the empty seat, drink and Thing sliding along the bar with him. He sees the man wince while he's still facing forward like he's afraid to take a proper look. He takes a drink of his beer, this time slow and cautious, and Steve can see the redness spreading from his cheeks down his throat.

"You know what it is?" Steve asks hopefully, leaning closer to him. 

The man freezes, and maybe it wasn't in his best manners to just sit down next to someone without asking, but it's already happened and Steve is kind of desperate. 

He gulps down the beer, no accidents this time, but his voice is still strained, when he asks incredulously:

"You don't?! No, you know, that actually explains it. Take them damn thing off the bar for the love of Merlin."

Steve, while taken aback by the sudden shift and being ordered around by a stranger, stuffs the Thing away from peering eyes. 

"Why? What is it? Something illegal?" Fuck, why didn't he think about that? 

But the man is shaking his head.

"No, but I'm pretty sure the bartender wouldn't appreciate it."

"What is it?" Steve presses on.

The guy finally turns to him and Steve can see him in all his glory. Black leather, long hair, and a pair of truly soft brown eyes that don't match his overall vibe at all. And they stare right at him like they are trying to look straight into his soul. He's searching for something for a long, drawn-out moment, before he deflates, eyes skirting away, but he keeps facing Steve. 

"Really?" he mutters, mostly to himself. "It's a fucking cock cage, man."

"A fucking cock what?" Steve asks once he gets his voice back.

"You heard me. I'm not repeating myself," he says with a scoff, eyes falling to Steve's bag. His knee starts jumping up and down restlessly. "Where did you find it?"

But Steve had questions of his own.

"Is it like, a medical thing?" he asks. 

The looks he gets back would make him believe an alien just popped out of his forehead and started dancing Macarena. He frowns defensively.

"What? I've never seen something like this!" 

"It's a sex thing," the man responds mercifully, watching him closely. 

Now it's Steve's turn to gauge his eyes at the man. He looks briefly down at his bag like the thing could just grow tentacles and have its way with him. 

"How? Why?" he asks, mouth twisting at the images flashing in his mind. "How do you know that?"

The knee never stops jumping. If anything, it becomes more erratic. 

"Uh, I know guys who are into it." The man looks away again. 

Steve rolls his eyes. Sure. He knows a guy.

"So since you know some guys," he plays along. "Maybe they know more guys and they could ask around if anyone has lost one of these?" he suggests. "Now I want it off my hands even more."

The man scoffs, almost amused. 

"Could imagine. I could take it from you and just hand it over to them, make things easier for you," he offers, glances at him, and then shrugs.

Steve recoils at the idea.

"That? No, It's my fault the guy lost it, I wasn't looking and ran into him. I need to make sure it goes back to the right hands."

The man hums, drumming his fingers against the bar. 

"I want to be there when you ask random people if they are missing their cock cage."

Steve presses his lips together. 

"Stop saying that."

"What?" He tilts his head, looking amused. "Cock cage? Like the cock cage you have in your bag?"

"Yes. That."

He raises his hands placatingly. 

"All I'm saying is I would be embarrassed as fuck if I was the idiot who lost it. Would be hard to come forward and admit it," he says, raising his shoulders. 

Steve huffs, slumping against the bar.

"Fuck, you're right."

"I know," the man murmurs back and they quietly sip their drinks. 

"There must be places where it isn't that weird to admit it," Steve thinks out loud. He looks to his bar companion for confirmation but he's frowning at the liquor display in front of him, lost in thoughts. Steve hopes they aren't about him. The guy had a good profile and a cute nose.

"Hey." He nudges him gently with an elbow. 

"Hm?" The man turns, his frown melting away so he can raise his eyebrows curiously.

"Do you know any fetish places where I could leave a poster or something?"

The man only stares at him blankly. 

"You're gonna make posters," he states more than he asks.

"If I have to." Steve shrugs. 

"You sure you don't want me to just take it off you?"

"Nope."

"We could exchange numbers and I'll let you know when I find the owner."

Steve thinks about that. 

"You could lie, though," he points out. 

He huffs, annoyed. 

"I totally absolutely could," he agrees with a resigned nod like using logic pains him. Then, he sighs. "I could buy it off you?" he finally offers. 

Steve's taken aback.

"Why do you want it so badly?" He frowns at him.

"I just want to do you a favor, man!" He rolls his eyes. He's almost angry and 100% done with this conversation, it seems, as he downs the rest of his drink and slides off the barstool. 

"Tomorrow at ten, in front of the bookstore on John Paul. Bring your silly posters and I'll show you some kink shops and bars."

Steve blinks at him.

"That okay?" the man asks, tongue darting out to lick his dry lips. 

Hesitantly, Steve nods. 

"I guess that's my best shot. Thanks, man."

The guy nods.

"Don't mention it."

Then he turns and leaves, hands buried deep into his pockets, and Steve realizes he hasn't even asked for his name. 

He regrets not taking the guy on his offer to take the thing off him when he had the chance. Because he wouldn't be stuttering his way through explanations while his temporary companion revels in his embarrassment like it's the gods' nectar. 

At least now he knows his name is Eddie. 

Eddie pretends to be interested in the little display of nipple rings while Steve tries to convince the shop owner to hang his little poster saying "fetish gear found". The man finally yields, as do two others, thus concluding the number of sex shops in the area. 

"The bars don't open until late but we can try the Hangover before we part."

"What's that?" Steve asks, following Eddie anyway.

"Also a bar, but they serve hangover food around noon. They have the best bacon and won't tell me where they buy it from." He frowns like it's some personal feud. 

"Perfect. I can buy you lunch for helping me." Steve grins at him.

Eddie seems surprised at first but then smiles widely. 

"I won't say no to free food. This way, my good man!"

The place is a hole in the wall but really cozy. It seems like the same guy who took their order is cooking it and there's only one other person, with a coffee refill in front of them and a plate of... something unrecognizable under every possible sweet topping. 

"I gotta show this place to Robin, she'll love it," Steve comments while looking around. The inside looks like It was never fully finished or whatever purpose it served previously didn't require it. The walls are rough bricks, the windows old and probably drafty, and the only part of the floor that isn't rough cement is the dancefloor. 

But the collection of LED signs, mismatched couches, and a sunflower mural softened the rough interior. Steve will definitely come here again.

They get their own jug of coffee and Eddie pours for both of them.

"Girlfriend?" he asks with a raised eyebrow. 

Steve rolls his eyes in a very tired way and Eddie almost chokes on his surprised laugh. 

"Geez okay, not a girlfriend then."

Steve chuckles dryly. 

"Nope, just my best friend. We play for different teams."

Eddie eyes him curiously but he doesn't elaborate on that. He clears his throat. 

"Well, in that case, I should tell you that all the places I've shown you today are queer-friendly."

"This included." The chef must have heard that last sentence. He places their food on the counter. "There you go, little gays, bone apéritif."

"I'm pretty sure that's not how it goes," Eddie murmurs, immediately snatching a piece of bacon off his hash browns. 

"It is how it goes if you want more free coffee," says the chef as he turns around. 

"Your French is immaculate, Benjamine!" 

Steve makes an ugly snort at Eddie's terrible French accent. The man seems to be very proud of his little theatrics.

For a moment it's just the sound of forks against plates and the distant radio playing in the kitchen. Eddie finishes first, almost inhaling his food like he's a human vacuum, and pours himself more coffee. 

"You wanna go to the bars too? Later?"

Steve chews on his bite thoughtfully. 

"I think if you give me the addresses I'll be good to go on my own. You've already done so much, man."

Eddie is stunned into silence. This is not the answer he wanted. He licks his rapidly drying lips, looking for a good excuse to keep tagging along. 

"Uh, are you sure?" 

"Yeah, don't worry about it. You've wasted so much time on me today. I don't want to completely ruin your weekend." Steve smiles at him. 

"It's not a problem, really—"

"No, man, I wouldn't feel okay dragging you around." Steve shakes his head. 

"First of all, I'm dragging you around," Eddie huffs. "Second of all, it's the first time a man this pretty spent so much time with me and hasn't run for the hills. Let me have this."

Steve frowns at that information.

"You must have shit luck with men." 

"Tell me about it," Eddie murmurs into his coffee. 

"So it would be a date?" 

Eddie turns to him, eyes wide. But Steve holds his gaze.

"I mean, it would be nice." Eddie tugs on his hair nervously. "We can do the posters thing and then just have fun for the rest of the night, no?" he offers. 

"Absolutely." Steve smiles reassuringly. 

"Awesome." Eddie grins.

Steve spends hours figuring out his outfit. It's his first official date with a man, he has to look good. He therefore makes the mistake of calling his best friend. He nods along as she tells him what exactly to put on (How she has memorized his wardrobe is a question he doesn't want answered.) and then clears his throat when she takes a breath. 

"What if I don't want to attract women?"

There's a pause and then—

"My my, Steven, finally going for it?"

"You could say that."

"Where are you going? A bar? What's the vibe?"

He sighs. 

'We're kind of bar hopping, he's showing me around the area."

"Back up, back up!" she yells in his ear. "We?! You're not just going out? You have a date?"

"Yeah," Steve more breathes than says. He has a date. It's slowly dawning on him.

"Who is he?" Robin asks impatiently and he can easily imagine her curling up in her armchair for gossip. 

"His name is Eddie—"

"Okay, sounds normal."

"—he has this long, wild hair, and tattoos—"

"Okay, less normal."

"—but he is normal. A bit awkward, kind of dorky, not at all how you'd expect a guy in a leather jacket to be."

"Huh. Okay, maybe I won't find you in a ditch somewhere. I want a call when you get back, no later than tomorrow morning. At noon, I'm calling the police."

Steve rolls his eyes fondly. 

"Of course, Robbie. But can we focus on the matter at hand?"

In the end, he goes the Freddie Mercury route, with a tank top that shows off his chest hair, and tight jeans. He throws a colorful shirt over it to fight off the night chill. Eddie looks pretty much the same as earlier, though his band t-shirt looks a bit tighter. 

"Steve," he sighs instead of a proper greeting and Steve's face falls. He looks down at himself. 

"What? Is it that bad?"

"Darling, you're gonna get eaten alive. How am I supposed to fight off all of the bargoers?"

Steve laughs in surprise, feeling himself blush.

"I guess you'll just have to hold on to me."

Eddie's eyes sparkle under the setting sun. 

"Don't have to tell me twice," he says, pulling Steve inside their first location. "I saved my favorite place for last. But we can stay wherever you feel like."

Eddie stays true to his word, parading Steve around like an arm candy, their elbows hooked together. Only on their second bar does he realize something is amiss. 

"You didn't bring your posters?" he asks curiously, cocking his head. 

Steve hums next to him, sipping on the colorful drink the bartender recommended.

"Do I need them?"

Eddie's visibly taken aback by the question. He frowns at Steve. 

"Didn't you want to find the owner?"

Steve nods, unfazed. 

"Yeah, and I did."

Eddie's face blanches. He opens his mouth before closing it abruptly, his frown deepening. 

"What? When?" he asks, barely containing his panic and immensely confused. 

"Earlier today." Steve shrugs. "Haven't given it back yet, though."

"Oh, thank gods." Eddie visibly deflates. Steve raises his eyebrows at that, so he rushes to add: "It's great that you found him so fast." He forces out a smile. "Who is it? Did he know what it was?" The poster was purposefully vague so the person calling in would have to say what they'd lost. 

Steve shakes his head, raising the drink to his lips to prolong the suspense just a bit more. 

"It's you."

Eddie's brain short circuits. He's stunned for too long for his forced laugh to work. 

"Hahah, what?" 

Steve smiles at him and since he's feeling extra merciless tonight, reaches out for the man's neck. Eddie looks close to fainting but Steve doesn't relent and rubs a thumb across his jugular, observing him shiver before he pulls him in by his nape. He leans in to press his nose to Eddie's skin, fingers digging into the roots of his hair, where lingers the smell of his shampoo. Artificial lemon and cigarettes. He must have taken a shower before going out. 

"You smell just like the guy I ran into that day," Steve explains close to his skin as he traces it with the tip of his nose. Slowly, he moves away. He's a bit worried he moved too fast, but Eddie's cheeks are red and his eyes are fixed on his mouth, so he relaxes back into his seat. "And if I had any doubts, your reaction just now dispelled them all," he finishes with a smirk. 

Eddie groans, hiding in his hands.

"This is the most embarrassing date in my life and once I wore my shirt inside out."

Steve laughs but reaches out to put his hand on Eddie's knee to weaken the blow. 

"Don't worry, it's working on me."

Eddie pushes his fingers apart to peek at him. 

"Really?"

"Surprisingly, yes." Steve nods. "I hope it works out, preferably long enough so I can tell about our first meeting at the engagement party." His smile turns wide and teasing. "We'll put Cinderella to shame."

Eddie groans, but it sounds more pained this time. 

"Careful," he says heatedly. "My humiliation kink is flaring up," he says, aiming for humor, but something new wakes up in Steve and he cocks his head with a fake pout.

"Poor baby. You wanna go hide your shame somewhere more private?"

Eddie presses his lips together, breathing deeply through his nose. 

"Can we?"

Steve finishes quickly his drink and slides off his bar stool. He feels the pleasant buzz of alcohol and Eddie Eddie Eddie. He leans in for a quick, impulsive peck against his pink lips.

"Of course." He grins. "Let's go."

[bubbleberrypunch]

Ohhhh my god, this would fit so well as a shuggy AU

Buggy gets caught up in all the chaos of the robbery and hides out in a secluded space, but the robbers find him and- they pause. Just completely freeze where they stand. And then they're scrambling back while mumbling up a frenzy between themselves about how that's "him", he's "the guy". "Boss would kill us if we touched him!" So, Buggy is left there cowering on the floor in absolute confusion because what the fuck is going on??? The robbers leave, police come, Buggy sneaks out to go back home since he doesn't wanna talk to the cops (he's definitely done/doing illegal stuff).

He's home and that's when he decides to do some research, which is just looking through news channels and websites and social media ect ect. He's about to just go to bed when he sees that it's suspected the RHG ((Red Hair Gang (dumb name, in Buggy's opinion)) is behind the robbery, among other things. Buggy blows a major fuse when he reads who their leader is. Fucking Shanks. The red haired boy Buggy grew up with and left in the past. HE'S A CRIME LORD NOW!? And he obviously told people about Buggy- Buggy does NOT want to be caught up in gangs and shit. Why did Shanks even talk about him? What for?? God, and Buggy just moved back to his home city a few months ago, he doesn't need this! He slams his laptop closed and starts calling up contacts on his phone; he needs to find Shanks ASAP!

Okay, maybe he was being rash. Because once he finished calling people to look for more information, he finally went to bed. Wakes up in the morning and the realization dawns on him: HE DOESN'T WANT TO SEE SHANKS! Why the hell would he want to go see that bastard?! Wouldn't that just make things worse??? It'd be better for him to just forget about it and not go chasing ghosts. Right, so he gets up with the final decision that he isn't going to do anything at all and will stay at home today. And then there's knocking on his door. Buggy instantly breaks out in a cold sweat. Creeping along his hallway, stumbling through his living room, hesitantly standing at the door and sees someone he doesn't recognize through the peep hole. His breathing becomes shaky, jumps out of his skin when the person knocks again with a tad bit more aggression. His hand is trembling when he slowly reaches up to turn the door knob (Gah! He forgot to lock the damn door! Is he trying to get killed?!). Buggy cracks the door open a sliver to peer out at the stranger before him.

"You Buggy?" The unknown man asks, staring straight into Buggy's soul.

"Uh, y-yes...?"

"Come with me." He makes a motion to follow him while turning to walk off.

"Why the hell should I?! I don't know who you are!" Buggy grips the door so tight his fingertips become pale.

"My boss wants to see you." The guy stands there, half turned, and staring at him with thinly veiled annoyance.

Tapping his fingers against the door in quick succession, eyes darting here and there to avoid any more eye contact, Buggy tries to come up with- with something! Anything! He needs to stall for time.

"C-Can I at least get dressed...? Before we go? I just got out of bed, you see...", he trails off and lets out a nervous chuckle. The man heaves a big sigh, shoulders drooping, and nods his head yes. Closing the door in a somewhat calm matter, Buggy all but scrambles back to his bedroom.

Oh, no! That's definitely one of Shanks's henchmen, isn't it? It's very clear now that when you go around asking about gang leaders, word travels fast. Way too fast for Buggy's liking, that's for sure! He can't go. He absolutely cannot! What's Buggy going to do? He's trapped! Tears roll down his face because he's highly emotional, and his vision blurs while he gets dressed into his normal day wear. He takes a glance at his bedroom window...

Yeah, he's clambering out the window. Falls out of said window, the metal he lands on is not comfortable in the least, and then he begins climbing down the fire escape. He'll just hide out at one of his friends', probably go to Alvida's place. Stay there for a few days, lay low until he's sure no one will be hovering over his home for when he gets back. As soon as he's got just a few more ladder rungs to go, the ground is right there under him, Buggy is yanked and thrown off! No! So close! Buggy is now being held by someone who clearly did training of some kind, his ribs are gonna splinter. So, there wasn't just one guy here to retrieve him. Great.

Buggy is dragged from the alley and towards a black vehicle, all but tossed into the backseat. He sees through the tinted window the first guy walking out of the apartment building and to the driver's side, the second man sits in the front seat.

"Put your seatbelt on."

A withering sigh leaves him as he reluctantly obeys. Guess that's it, huh? There's no escape now, unless he wants to jump out of a moving vehicle and risk getting fatally injured. At least Buggy had enough sense to grab his phone- if he ends up being held against his will at wherever he's being taken, his friends can just track it. Closing his eyes and crossing his arms tight across his chest, hunching in over himself, he leans his head against the window.

[cybiirz]

ೃ⁀➷ DOCUMENTS

Wriothesley x Gn!Reader

Sypnosis : Seems like a certain Warden had tired himself out. Being the kind person you were, you chose to help, but you forgot how deceiving an inmate can be. He was no different…But at least he pays?

WC : 829

“Wriothesleyyy! I brought you something from Sigewinne. She says it’s for like, helping you stay awake or whatever,” You groaned out as you treaded up the stairs. Currently, you were holding a large box of medicine that you were supposed to be delivering to other inmates.

That was your punishment for getting involved in a little experiment that was supposedly forbidden in the fortress…Either way, it was tiring and you just wanted it to be done with.

Your footsteps echoed against the walls as you stomped onto the metal stairwell. Finally, you reached the top, and with a lack of breath might you add. Who the hell needed so much medicine anyway? Nevertheless, you kept your head low as you observed the different bottles inside.

“There’s a lot here, let me just find yours and…got it. Huh, this thing has way too many side effects! How the hell do you even—” You lifted up your head to look at Wriothesley, only to find him practically passed out on his desk. You paused and cocked your head to the side.

Suddenly, you had an idea and with a smile and a slight skip in your step, you closed in on the desk. Outstretching your arms, you held the box over the table before dropping the heavy equipment, creating a loud slam against the wood.

No reaction.

“Huh? So he’s really knocked out then,” You murmured quietly to yourself. You opted to walk around the table and slowly approached his unconscious form. You began poking his head, and to no surprise, no reaction.

“Jeez. You overwork yourself too much you idiot,” You whispered next to him. Glancing at all of his papers, it took less than a second to see how messed up everything was. You sighed deeply and decided to help out this son of a gun.

It had been about an hour or so, with you going over the different documents and having to dig deep into his shelves to pair up each page to its designated folder. Covering your mouth, you let out a loud yawn before looking back over at the warden. Still fast asleep.

A small chuckle left your lips as you walked back over to him. Resting yourself against the table, you lifted your left hand and gently stroked his head.

“Well I organised each and every document for you. And since I went over each word written, I've seen you’re doing a good job for this prison. Even for inmates like me, you treat us well…But you are definitely paying me back one way or another once you’re awake,” After partially scolding him but mainly complimenting him, you began to get lost in a daze as you stared softly at the man in front of you.

Once you finished speaking, his head turned slightly, eyes opening with a small smirk splayed on his lips. You swiftly retracted your hand and looked away, trying to avoid his stare.

“Thanks for that (name). I appreciate you doing that but, you know I could’ve done all of it that whole time. I wasn’t actually asleep you know?,” He replied, his voice slightly condescending.

“Yeah well I expect payment back and—” Your arms crossed over your chest before you paused. What did he just say? “Hang on, you were pretending?! You little liar! You’re so lazy that you had to fake sleeping to get someone else to do your work for you?! Now I better get that payment before I rip your—”

You were quickly cut off as a pair of lips landed directly onto yours. Your eyes instantly widened in shock as Wriothesley lifted his hand and cupped your face. Slowly but surely, you melted into the kiss and held your arm up before resting your hand onto his shoulder.

After parting, the light sounds of heavy breathing could be heard from you. You tried to look everywhere apart from him, but he moved his hand to grip your chin, causing you to face him.

“That was, unnecessary warden,” You mumbled, barely loud enough for him to hear.

“That was your payment,” He responded smugly. Looking at him with your blood rushing to your cheeks, you noticed the slight crease in the corners of his eyes. He was smiling at you, and not one of mockery or a fake smile, it was genuine.

“Well then…I have to get going and deliver these to the other inmates. Thank you for paying me back,��� You cleared your throat before moving away from him and picking up the box. You left his medicine on the table as you made sure to secure the lid of the box. He crossed his arms over his torso as you began to descend down the stairs.

“(Name). Come back again and I'll be sure to repay you for whatever documents you organise for me,” Wriothesley’s voice had a somewhat teasing lilt to it, but it was evident he was serious. You rolled your eyes and simply scoffed at him before taking your leave.

But who were you to deny such a special treat?

A/N : Love me a little overworked man. But anyway, it’s finally my half term so i’ll hopefully be posting small drabbles that appear my head. Series work is becoming boring so oneshots and drabbles will probs be my thing. I might finish off the Gepard series but we’ll see. Also i’m thinking of doing a revamp to this blog buttt idk. Anyways, hope you enjoyed, feel free to leave requests!

[vctrvn-ls]

Saturday •| Niko | •

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summary: you persuade Niko to go clubbing, but things don’t turn out so great

warnings: language, slight angst, alcohol use, kissing(?)

word count: 2.5k

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"The club!?" Niko's eyebrows expressed all his current emotions.

"Yes!" You bounce next to him with an excited grin "It'll be so fun! I used to go all the time!"

"All the time?" He quoted.

"Yess, we'll go together, it's gonna be so fun. Trust!" You beam at poor Niko who's heart rate was through the roof just thinking about clubbing.

"And the cocktails at Fabric are so good! Better than Rosé in a bottle."

"First of all what do you have against Rosé in a bottle?" He referred to your classic Saturday nights, when the two of you would order takeout and have a bottle of Rosé while watching an old horror movie.

"And second of all, FABRIC!?" His voice went high pitched. "The most famous club in England!?"

"Well it's London, and secondly we're turning old! We're only in our early twenties and already spending our great Saturday nights sitting at home." You spoke your mind.

Niko sighs, looking away and not knowing what to add.

"Niko," you purr, leaning onto his shoulder, trying to get him to ease up and approve your desires.

He glanced down at you. He could tell you really wanted to go.

"Fine." He selflessly agrees, making you squeal in excitement and place a chaste kiss onto his lips. He watched you run up the stairs to get ready with hooded eyes, contemplating his decision and wondering how badly it would turn out for him.

"I don't even know what to wear." He walks into your room, eyes meeting your body that was dressed in a black slip.

You turn around, smiling while putting your hair up in a messy bun "Hey." You chirp sweetly.

"Wow, you look," he takes a sharp breathe in as his eyes wonder all over you "Breathtaking."

You giggle shyly and twirl in front of him

"It's cute right?"

"Yeah, it is." He takes ahold of your waist as you spin right into his arms. His slender fingers smoothly glided up and down the fabric on your back, he leaned down to kiss you, hands traveling lower and lower.

"Niko." You say sternly as you break the kiss, feeling him on the small of your back.

He chuckles "Sorry, really can't resist."

You place another kiss on his lips before walking over to the mirror and continuing to fiddle with your hair.

He watched you with a dreamy expression, drowning in your charm, for a second even forgetting about how much he didn't want to go out, tired from the long week and endless days of shooting, but he didn't want to ruin your thrill by seeming boring or, as you mentioned earlier, old.

"A-are you going out like that?" Niko suddenly says in a rather surprised tone, noticing how thin the dress was.

You turn around "Yeah." You shrug "I mean it's Uber there and Uber back. It's warm outside."

You say with such simplicity that it worries Niko.

You slam the door as the car drives away right behind you.

"Kinda chilly." You comment as Niko walks up to you. He settled on a black turtleneck and had his blazer in his hand just in case. He looked so leng that you had to fight your want to get your hands all over him before leaving the house.

You take his arm and lead him to the entrance of the club that looked suspiciously empty.

A man dressed in a dark blue suit stopped you with his palm out "Sorry guys I just sent everyone away-"

You swiftly pull out your phone, showing him a QR code to which he replied with a "Welcome."

As you step inside the leading hallway, you could feel Niko's perplexed eyes on you.

You look up and raise a brow.

"What-Where did that come from?"

You smile proudly "Perks of being an ex-party machine."

"Party machine? When di-"

But his words were instantly cut off by deafening music as you opened the heavy metal door.

You felt a rush of adrenaline course through you as the loud melody boomed through the atmosphere, bass vibrating the floor. Purple and blue lights shimmered and shone all over the walls, crowd and ceiling. Your mouth fell open into a smile as you saw people dancing and energetically jumping up and down, drunk and carefree. Everything felt so nostalgically familiar that you even forgot that you hadn’t been to a place like this in almost a year.

Niko on the other hand was wincing from the wordless noise, he couldn't even think of it as music. People pushed him from left and right as he tried to catch up to you in a hurry.

He shielded his eyes from the annoyingly bright lights that kept coming from every direction, blurring his vision.

"Two Manhattans please!" You yell to the bartender, leaning on the counter and smiling.

He winked at you and nodded, knowing from experience that there was no point in shouting over the music.

"Two what?!" Niko's voice rung through your ear and you turned around.

"Manhattans?" You repeat.

"Isn't that a place?" Niko quizzed, to which you just laugh and turn back to the bar, leaving him in genuine confusion.

Where did this side of you even come from? He didn't know you even partied, let alone knew names of drinks he had never heard of in his life!

You turn around to him and hold up a glass.

Niko observed it, he had never held one of these in his hand before, it was like a usual glass but squished to the top, making it look funny.

'Very Wolf of Wall street' he thought as he saw red liquid with a single cherry floating inside.

"Wha-" Niko was about to ask you what was in it, but he paused in shock as he witnessed you finish your drink in one gulp.

You stick out your tongue and cough from the bitter taste of alcohol, before opening your eyes and turning back to the bar table to ask for another one.

Niko's eyes are as wide as plates at this point, watching you innocently look up at him, like that didn't just happen.

"Try it!" You shout to him with a wide grin on your face.

His looked at the drink in his hand.

"Cmon!" You urged him.

He brought the glass up to his lips and took the tiniest sip, eyes instantly screwing shut as he tasted the insanely strong whiskey that stung his mouth.

How did you just wash that down in an instant!?

You laugh at his cute reaction while taking your second glass from the counter.

"How is it?" You tiptoe so you wouldn't have to shout as loudly, but that didn't help the slightest, instead you felt the alcohol wash over your head, which made you lose your balance and slightly tip to the side.

"Aye!" Niko catches you with one arm, propping you up by the waist.

You laugh at your own clumsiness and begin to drink again.

"Hey maybe it's better-" Before he could finish you were already done, wiping your mouth with the back of your hand.

"Jesus." Niko mumbled as he watched you give away the empty glass back to the bartender.

"You done?" You ask, glancing at his drink.

He shakes his head, not really wanting it anymore.

"Cmon!" You gently push the glass up to his face so he would drink it.

Niko furrows his eyebrows and tightens his lips, shaking his head.

"Nikooo!" You whine, evidently disappointed, which was the last thing he wanted, so he hurried to finish at least half of it, forcing it down.

"Disgusting." He spits, covering his mouth with the sleeve of his turtleneck and putting the glass on the counter.

You smile with your teeth, grabbing his hand and pulling him onto the dance floor, right into the crowd.

The music was so loud that Niko couldn't even recognize the song, while you jumped up and down in unison with the rest of the people around you. As you swayed your hands around you felt yourself bump into something, or rather someone, with your butt.

You turned around seeing an unfamiliar man instead of Niko standing behind you.

"Sorry!" You shouted with a friendly smile on your face.

"It's ok!" He smiled in response, his pearly white teeth glowing under the blue lights. "What's yo-"

But before you could hear the rest of the sentence you felt yourself being pulled away by your shoulders. Your head was spinning like crazy and when you finally opened your eyes you met Niko's displeased face staring at you from above.

You smile lightheartedly and take his hands to make him join your wave of fun, but he stiffens under your touch.

You're confused in your gone state, wondering what was stopping him from having as much fun as you were currently having.

You bring your hands up to his neck and pull him down for a kiss, sure that that'd ease him up. You move your mouth in a messy and, obviously, drunk manner, kissing him like you were touch starved your whole life. With the help of alcohol your feelings enhanced like crazy, lust overtaking as the kiss got hotter.

On the other side, Niko was bewildered by the state you were in. Your hot palms held onto the back of his neck, forbidding him to pull away.

You finally felt his hands on your shoulders and shuddered from the contact on your bare skin, thinking that your idea had worked and Niko finally lightened up. But those thoughts were quickly brushed away as you felt a forceful push. You stumbled backwards, struggling to hold balance, eyes opening in confusion.

"Let's go." Niko pronounces as he pulls on his blazer with an irritated expression painted on his face.

"What?" You laugh shaking your head in perplexity. But Niko wasn't laughing.

He wanted out. Now.

He grabbed ahold of your arm and pulled you after him, pushing past all the people.

You clutched onto his wrist as his grip tightened.

"Ow." You whined with a frown as you finally got outside into the empty and dimly lit street.

"What the fuck?!" You exclaim, rubbing the area, more hurt emotionally than physically, feeling the drunk-anger rise inside you.

Your look shot up at Niko, who’s eyes were darting around the street. But you didn't notice his concern, you were on the verge of being completely wasted and your desire to party was through the roof.

"Niko!" You shout angrily.

"What?" He turns to you.

You spread your arms out "What the hell was that?"

He took a pause before replying "It was time to go."

You raised your eyebrows and laughed dryly "We just got there."

"It was too loud." He pulled out his phone to check the time, clearly lying about his reason.

1am

"Oh my god." You roll your eyes "Are you that lazy? How boring do you have to be to leave as soon as it's 'too loud'?" You scoffed. You didn't mean any of it, you were intoxicated and the alcohol was talking for you, you couldn't control your boosted emotions, struggling to notice Niko's genuinely upset state.

"Hey I-"

"Why'd you always have to ruin everything." You narrow your eyes at him and tilt your head, leaving him stunned by your words.

"Why are you acting like this?" He asked softly, trying his best to not cause a scene.

"Me!?" You exclaim, enraged by how he accused you in response to your own question "You're the one who got me all excited by the fact that we were finally going out. Only to come here and leave in a fucking hour!"

Even though you were drunk, you still had a pretty good grasp on reality and you knew your words were coming off as hurtful and nasty, you just thought that Niko's actions were aimed at you. You though he didn't want you to have fun because you were enjoying yourself too much and he didn't like the way you were too active, especially after his surprised reaction to finding out about how you used to always go out.

"Why can't we just do something interesting for once!?" You huff and look up at him with fury sparkling in your eyes.

Niko scratched the back of his head and sighed, looking away "I just-" he began mumbling his response, but he was speaking too slow for your juiced brain.

"You what? What, Niko?"

"I was uncomfortable!" He raised his voice.

Your eyebrows dropped from the unexpected statement.

Niko? Uncomfortable?

He brought his hands up to his face as he let out a heavy sigh.

"You're drunk, I'm worried, then we also got all the other guys who want to get close to you." He referred to your previous encounter with the man at the dance floor.

"It's loud and everyone's either stoned or drunk. I don't care if you're mad at me. I'd rather you be mad, than me letting you go back in and risking whatever." He motions at the club entrance, with the guard awkwardly still standing there, watching both of you from afar, thankfully not hearing your conversation.

Realization hits you like a bus. You did over do it, you had gotten way too carried away. That realization was enough to make you sober up a little and walk over to Niko, hugging him tightly.

He sighed.

"I'm sorry, Niko." You closed your eyes, pressing your cheek against his torso as his arms wrapped around your back, indicating that he wasn't mad.

"I didn't mean it." You squeezed him.

He nods to himself "I know you didn't." He replies softly. It was almost scary how easy it was to apologize to him, he never held grudges let alone reject an apology.

"You wanna get pizza?" You say suggestively, as you glance up at him with big guilty eyes.

"At 1am?"

You smile "Everyone knows that next to every night club there is a 24 hour restaurant."

"Clearly I'm not everyone."

"Come." You take his hand and lead him, not able to properly walk in a straight line making, Niko chuckle.

“Oh, not bad.” Niko nodded, chewing and looking at the pizza slice that was in his hand.

“Right?” You agree with your mouth full.

The pair of you were sitting outside a small pizza place, eating and enjoying the night atmosphere. It was quiet and the street lamps lit up the roads in warm tones. You sat in Niko’s blazer, practically sinking in its size, every time you moved you’d catch the smell of his cologne, powdery and not too strong.

You talked and talked, about everything, enjoying each others company.

“You know what?” You say, straightening your back and smiling.

“What?”

“We should eat out on Saturdays. That way it won’t be boring and not too crazy.”

Niko nods with a grin “Yeah.” He shrugs “Sounds good.”

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requests r open <3

[cultofdixon]

Chaos in Threes

Daryl Dixon [ROMANTIC] | Carol Peletier [PLATONIC] • They/Them Pronouns • You three have always been inseparable since you’ve proven to the world you work better together. You, Daryl, and Carol. But there are always those chaotic moments and hidden matchmaking • ANGST/SFW • TW: Injuries / Scars / Anxiety / PTSD / Nightmares

Requested by: Anon

Chaos kind of follows these three…let’s just say. You fuck with one of them? The other two are hunting your ass down.

For example.

“Well well well…coming for your mans?” Negan smirks when he spotted Y/N trying to sneak into the Sanctuary. Or more so his saviors caught them.

“Nah. I’m actually here for a bite”

“A bite?” Negan looks at them confused before watching Y/N full on bite down on Simon’s hand, hard enough to draw blood. “HOLY FUCKING SHIT”

“YOU SON OF A—-“ Simon tried to pull them off but they weren’t budging and it took the other one knocking them out in order for them to release. “SINCE WHEN IS IT OKAY TO FUCKING BITE PEOPLE?!”

Another example

Noah had cornered Y/N aiming his gun at their head to get them to fall to their knees and surrender. He was just a kid he wasn’t going to do anything. He wanted to save his friend from the hell hospital and needed their weapon. Clearly he didn’t communicate that.

Or the crossbow aimed at the back of his head and pistol pressed into his back wouldn’t be currently happening.

“Wanna see what happens when you take them out?” Carol whispers to Noah as he instantly lowers his gun raising his hands.

“That’s what I thought” Daryl scoffs pushing past the two to help Y/N to their feet as they immediately went back down when they spotted a pack of cigarettes in a dead person’s grasp. “Score”

“Son of a bitch won’t be using ‘em.” Y/N laughs taking out a cig for them. “‘Sides. After that moment, I could use one”

We’ve got more examples

Y/N currently had the Kingdom solider in a headlock as their angry grumbling sounded like an angry raccoon trying to get out of a trash can. He tried to tap out but given Daryl’s slightly amused look when he knelt besides the two. He wasn’t going to tell them to stop until the son of a bitch learns his lesson after threatening to give Carol up.

“You look like yer about to pass out Y/N”

“He’s elbowing my lungs.”

“Then let go”

“Fine. But if he tries to hurt our girl, can I set him on fire?”

“You can’t just commit arson like that” Daryl laughs watching them release the guy as he moves away enough for space and to fall into a coughing fit.

“But come on! It’s the goddamn end of the world. Since when do the laws apply?” Y/N states watching Daryl’s face turn into one like he was about to protest but then it lead to confusion. He had to really think about it.

They would do anything for the other in their trio. Even if things changed and life is different.

~

Y/N sat on the steps of the Grimes residence waiting for Daryl to finish checking the oil to their truck so that they can pick up Carol at the Kingdom and go on a run just the three of them.

“Yknow. We can leave their place, take up one of the townhouse apartments” Daryl brought up the option randomly as both he and Y/N were still holding up in Rick and Michonne’s place ever since they first arrived at Alexandria.

“Askin’ for me to move in with yeah?” Y/N smiles feeling a bit of warmth in their chest liking the idea as the tips of Daryl’s ears turned a bright red that they couldn’t tell with his hair in the way.

“Why not” He closes the hood turning toward Y/N while he wiped the grime off his hands.

“Hey I’m not objecting. I should just say a straight yes next time” Y/N smiles rising to their feet picking up their bag along the way.

Daryl took their bag tossing it into the back when he noticed the mattress in the bed of the truck. “You sleep in your truck?”

“If I doze off” Y/N looked into the bed putting their bow in the trunk looking at Daryl being met with a confused look. “I got tired of laying on metal to stargaze at night so I asked Rick if I can take one of the mattresses in the unoccupied houses and he said sure”

“Until we recruit more people”

“Hey don’t rain on my parade or I ain’t movin’ in with yea” Y/N jokes even if Daryl’s mind ran for miles when they said such.

The first few miles was a breeze and Daryl found himself going through Y/N’s cassette collection that they’ve started at the prison. It was one of the few things of theirs that survived.

“Are you actually going to pick one or complain about the one I pick?” Y/N laughs slightly hearing Daryl grumble a bit in response before taking out a mixtape out of the mix and putting it in.

“Carol is better at picking this shit”

“Cuz she has taste” They state turning on the stereo for them to listen to what Daryl picked and it sounded like they were in a biker bar. “That’s uncanny.”

“I think this was the song playing when Merle beat up the bartender” Daryl says out of the blue as Y/N really wanted to question why ‘Bat Out of Hell’ by a band called Meat Loaf would be the right song for Merle violence. But the two were listening to the song that reminded him of his brother. Neither of them said anything.

Until Daryl ejected the cassette.

“I’d rather listen to the musical shit than this”

“I mean you want—-“

“Fuck no”

Y/N snickered to themselves before stopping at the stop sign and going into the metal box to get their go to driving cassette.

“Since when do yea obey the traffic laws?”

“…since always?”

“There ain’t no cops around”

“Ricks a cop”

“I-…Yeah”

“‘Sides. When a deer tried to outrun me, I blew through a few stop signs and ran over a raccoon” Y/N randomly states catching a confused look from Daryl. “What? I got the deer”

“Did yea even notice it was a raccoon you ran over?”

“Why?”

“Could’ve been a person”

“A person doesn’t explode like that” Y/N scoffs turning their music down a bit once they got closer to the Kingdom. “Get her attention”

Daryl took his radio out of his pack and went to chime in for Carol, but next thing to happen was Y/N pressing hard on the horn. Killing walkers drawn by it won’t be difficult. Apologizing to the gate guards, maybe.

“Jesus fucking Christ I’m coming!” Carol yells over the hand radio as Y/N takes it from Daryl.

“Would you rather have me stand on top of the truck with the music blasting and have you pretend it’s a boombox above my head?”

Silence was met. Until a buzz.

“Always”

Y/N turned the music up on their truck before putting the emergency break on and getting out. Next they climbed to the top of their truck which was easy with their window open. As the car shook, so did Daryl’s anxiety.

“If they fall off I’m punching you Carol”

“They actually fucking did it?!”

Her response was right as she stepped outside the gates to find one of her two best friends on top of their truck with their arms up.

“You pretending to hold a boombox?”

“Yeah but I’m also getting tired” Y/N swung their arms down a bit quick as they stepped back and immediately fell into the bed of their truck.

Carol quickly ran over while Daryl in a panic had gotten out the second the truck shifted with the thud and checked with her.

“You’re a fucking idiot”

“You alright?”

Two different sides. Y/N thought followed by a painful laugh. “Least I didn’t land on my bow…or my bag”

“What you’ve got bricks in there?!”

“Nah, just a scotch bottle I’m saving for a special occasion”

“Is a special occasion you almost dying in your own truck? Cuz I sure as hell could use a drink already” Carol scoffs setting her bag and own bow in the trunk before taking the drivers seat hoping speeding through a few streets would distract her. Besides putting one of her go-to cassettes in.

The three usually drive for hours, scavenging a few familiar places and siphoning gas from a few cars. One incident of Y/N beating a tipped over vending machine with a rock until it cracked open. Carol documenting the scene with the Polaroid camera and Daryl trying not to laugh at their struggle.

Once they found a small area to make camp, Carol and Daryl hung out by the fire while Y/N organized their findings so far in their truck. He fiddles with the fork in between his fingers staring down at the can of beans they found while watching Y/N’s every move. How careful they are…how gentle their hands were with the more delicate items…his mind was lost in their every move. He didn’t even notice Carol leaning into his personal space to state the obvious—

“If you love them why haven’t you said anything?” She said at a normal level which triggered Daryl to cover her mouth causing her to smack him to stop. “What? they are just as clueless as you!”

“Don’t mean yea say it out loud!”

“Maybe doing so would finally have the two of you doing somethin’”

Y/N turned toward the two once they finished what they were doing, seeing them bicker. They removed their headphones to listen given their attention hasn’t been noticed yet.

“You like them! Just fucking say somethin’”

“What if they don’t feel the same way?!”

Kind of hard not to Y/N thought feeling the heat flood their face as they sat on the open door knowing the sudden shame of their truck would make enough noise to catch them off guard. But they were quick to collect themselves. “What are you two arguing about?”

They couldn’t help the laugh that build up inside them and failed to stay when they watched both scramble.

“Nothin’ important”

“Oh it was important. He’s just a dumbass”

“Oh…so. Business as usual?” Y/N smirks watching Daryl’s expression go toward more of anger as Carol dies laughing.

Next course for the night was sleeping, Carol took inside the truck on the seats while the two took what’s left of the mattress next to their findings. Neither of them could sleep right away.

“Can I ask a dumb question?”

“So just your usual questions?” Daryl jokes getting elbowed instantly by Y/N as their smile never faded.

“Yea think we would’ve met in the old world?” Y/N questions, not being met with a response as they sigh. “I would hope so”

“How yea think we would’ve met?”

“Well…I was a bartender. It would’ve probably happened or did and we just. Never talked. But even those small glances in a crowded room…you can find who you’ve been looking for your whole life without exchanging a single word”

It was absentminded the way Daryl turned toward Y/N, bringing his gaze away from the stars and on the real constellation prize right beside him. They looked at him with every fiber of love, admiration, and desire in their core feeling the cosmic pull that drew both closer to the other.

Then the sudden knocking on the truck window startled them both out of their current thoughts.

“IM TRYING TO SLEEP LOVEBIRDS” Carol yells making the two blush to the words before straightening out.

But Y/N still took a chance and took Daryl’s hand into theirs. Letting him squeeze theirs and never let go.

Until they got back on the road in the morning.

The three stopped at a warehouse to rummage through the ruins of it. In hopes for pretty much anything. Y/N also being a bit of a tech nerd, was going through every black safety box that would carry expensive tech to see if they can find anything on Eugene’s list he gave them. Carol quietly snuck up on them as she was going to ask them if they could crack open a door on the opposite side of the place when she noticed them staring at Daryl who was keeping watch of the isle the two were in.

“What did you say to him last night?”

“What I wanted to and I heard as much as I wanted from both of you last night”

“So…Can I stop trying to hook you two up together and you can just rip off that bandaid?”

Y/N was about to say something when Daryl whistles for the two’s attention indicating walkers. Carol quickly ran over to see how many and noticed that the entrance they didn’t come in from wasn’t barricaded enough for that size of a herd.

“Y/N we gotta bug out” Carol yells as Y/N quickly collected their things tossing their bag on their back as they held something in the palm of their hand that could slow their movement.

“I’ve got an idea but I need both of y’all out of the building”

“Y/N—-“

“You trust me right?” Y/N frowns looking at Daryl and his stress induced expression.

“I’m coming back for yea if you don’t come out in three minutes” Daryl scoffs quickly running out with Carol as Y/N got to work.

Working with Eugene leads to a lot of ideas. A brand new watering system for their farming plot idea for Alexandria. Or the water based fire extinguishers with reused metal from the fallen walls of Alexandria for Oceanside’s rare forest fires. New defense system to keep walkers out of the outside the wall crops at the Hilltop. Corn based gas for the cars to avoid runs out to siphon cars with limited gas.

Then well. The IEDs.

Y/N figured out how to make quick IEDs that could emit frequencies to distract walkers. But given they were prototypes. Once they placed enough in the building, they made a break for it with a few knife blows to a couple walkers to get out of their way.

“What’s takin’ them so fucking long?!” Daryl snaps as Carol watches the door seeing it swing open to show their third.

“Start the car. They’ll jump in”

“I’m trustin’ yea” He scoffs and pressing on the gas getting them forward as Y/N went in a full on sprint.

Once Y/N jumped onto the open door pulling themselves in enough to close it with the help of a speed bump. They sigh slouching over the edge only to be startled up when an explosion meant to only emit sound—-set the entire building on fire.

“WHAT THE FUCKING HELL DID YOU DO?!” Carol snaps looking in the mirror to see the fire they started.

“My calculations were wrong” Y/N yelled for Carol to hear as Daryl looks back to see the damage.

“THE FUCK I TELL YEA ABOUT COMMITTING ARSON?!”

“ITS THE APOCALYPSE I CAN DO WHAT I WANT” Y/N snaps back watching the stop sign fly past. “THE FUCK I SAY ABOUT STOP SIGNS!”

“NOBODY GIVES A FUCK ABOUT TRAFFIC LAWS”

“RICK DOES”

“Ladies ladies!” Carol yells to stop them both as she couldn’t stop laughing at the two arguing with one another. “Save it for the fucking bedroom” and that led to more laughter from the woman.

“Can we fucking open that bottle of scotch now…” Daryl groans once he slowed the truck to a stop.

The two couldn’t contain their laughter upon hearing that.

[makeitallmarvel]

SNOWFALL

Part 5 Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

“Alright team. It’s a simple catch and release job. We should be back by midweek” Steve stated as he  passed out the file to you and Bucky. You buried your face in the client information to avoid Bucky's wandering eyes. You could feel it piercing into you and it made you so uncomfortable you wanted to squirm. Steve started the engine from the cockpit alerting you to take your seat and to be honest you were grateful. The tension was so thick in the air. Sitting in your favorite spot you took a deep breath as you flew through the air. Your head bobbed up and down as you tried to snooze through the flight. You had about 14 hours to go and wanted to rest up enough to instantly hit recon if needed. Bucky kept stealing glances at you even though all you returned were daggers back at him. “I’m going to lead on this one. When we land I’ll stake out the area. The two of you stay here and be my eyes and ears from aboard.” Steve commanded. He had a tone to his voice that wasn’t about to be questioned. “Yes captain” you replied as you shot a look at Bucky that said he better not even breathe in your direction.

Steve had been gone a total of ten minutes before bucky made the first move. “Y/n” he began and you held up your finger to silence him. It worked for a total of two seconds before he tried again. “Just listen” he started to say which infuriated you. What could he possibly have to say? “Bucky I can’t do this” you groaned. Bucky threw his hands up, “do what? I wasn’t aware we were doing something” he shot back at you. You could tell by his facial expression he was on the verge of being pissed. “I sang to you! I said Dont. Leave. And what did you do? You fucking left Bucky! You left me all alone! Honestly, who does that?!” You screeched. Bucky looked at you in surprise as he opened his mouth to respond then closed it. “I’m not responsible for you! I’m allowed to leave and live my life.” he demanded. That took you aback. You literally had to back up a few steps as you took in his words. “You don’t get to show up at my door every night like a lost puppy and climb into my bed and then leave whenever the fuck you want! You have to tell me things Bucky! I mean damnit what am I to you? I’m too afraid to close my eyes! Because when I open them I know you won’t be there!” You screamed on the top of your lungs. Your voice catching at the end breaking as the tears you fought so hard to keep back leaked a few through. Bucky grabbed you with such intensity and just held you in his arms stroking your hair. The two of you stood there for a few moments before you realized what you were doing. In that instant you sniffed back the last tears and pushed Bucky as hard as you could away from your body. “I need to walk” you grumbled walking out of the jet into the woods nearby.

“Where the hell is y/n?” Steve asked as his boots hit the metal flooring announcing his return. “She went for a walk” Bucky shrugged his shoulders. “God damnit Buck really?” Steve sighed angrily. “I’ll go find her. Don’t leave. I’ve found our target we’ll intercept tomorrow.” He practically grunted. Bucky slammed his case file down as hard as he could in frustration.

The next morning you found yourself pacing in front of a bloodied man tied to a chair. “I really don’t feel like that’s the truth” you stated, clicking your tongue at the end of your sentence. “That’s disappointing” you warned, cocking your head before striking the man with all your night. More blood sprayed out of his mouth. He chuckled before looking up at all of you. “Are you going to let this bitch do all the talking?” He asked rudely. You took a look at Steve and Bucky standing behind either side of you with their hands behind their back. “She likes to talk, what can I say?” Bucky stated coolly. His comment made you smirk. The interrogation lasted longer than you wanted but you weren’t tiring out. Your target however, was. He had been beaten down by you and was barely hanging on. You wiped your knuckles off with a towel and stole a glance at Steve. He nodded letting you know it was his turn to finish. You turned around and left him to it.

Your mood was in between sour and satisfied when you arrived back home. The assignment was completed successfully allowing you to redeem yourself from the last mishap. Bucky, on the other hand, had thrown you into a moody spiral. You were smoking a cigarette outside when you felt his aura behind you. You tensed your shoulders in preparation for whatever he had in mind. “We should take a break, '' he suggested. Your lungs could barely breathe at his words. The tears prickled behind your eyes. You had to say something eventually and not just stand in stunned silence. “How can you break from something that never started?” You asked bitterly. The pain evident in your voice. “Like this" he stated and simply walked away. You took a step after him and then stopped yourself. Your body filled with such rage and pain that you couldn’t control yourself. You lashed out at the closest thing next to you which was the wall. A sickening crack could be heard clear across the room. The pain sent your body to its knees. “FUCK!” You screamed in frustration. Looking down at your hand you found a deformed finger swollen and red. You rolled your eyes and headed towards Bruce feeling so many things you couldn’t feel anymore. You couldn’t even feel your hand. “What happened?” Bruce asked. You shrugged back some tears before answering, “He did.” you whispered.

[hughjidiot]

Total Drama Level Up Chapter Six Behind-the-Scenes

Time for another look at the writing process of TDLU, and I have a lot to say about chapter six.

For starters, this chapter was supposed to come much later on. For a while in my drafts I had the zombie apocalypse challenge in mind for episode six while the music challenge would take place post-merge. But then I decided the band challenge would work better for the team portion, so I swapped them.

Before the switch, I also envisioned this challenge as being more like karaoke, with Trent, Cody, Justin and Harold of the Drama Brothers as special guest stars playing the actual music. After making the switch I then thought I'd make them guest judges instead. But it was during this brainstorming that I came up with the idea to have past competitors guest star in the murder mystery challenge, so I scrapped any appearances here so as not to double-dip.

Speaking of which, I also initially planned to have Zee casually reveal that he's a metalhead, rather than simply having family into the metal scene, drawing humor from someone so chill being into hardcore metal. But I'd done a similar reveal just a chapter before revealing Zee to have a sudden interest in skateboarding, and I didn't wanna repeat of that. If I had made Zee a metalhead, I would've had a joke like this when someone expressed surprise that someone like him would be into metal: "Hey man, not all of us metalheads burn churches or practice devil worship or use a picture of our dead bandmate as a bootleg album cover." (looks directly at the nearest camera) "I'm not making that up by the way; that actually happened."

And yes, Zee really isn't making that up. I'm not giving you the album name obviously, but if you're morbidly curious, look into the history of the band Mayhem.

By far what gave me the most trouble was trying to figure out what everyone would sing. I went through so many choices, it's crazy.

For Millie I decided she'd be into oldies, since that felt like a good hit for her "Wow, my generation is messed up" attitude from season one. I went through a whole list of potential songs, almost going with "Message in a Bottle" by the Police before ending on "Walk Like an Egyptian."

For a while I thought to have Bowie singing David Bowie, but that felt a little too on-the-nose. I ultimately went with Elton John after hearing "The Bitch is Back" on the radio and deciding that would be perfect for Bowie.

For a while for Axel, I'd planned on having her sing an Iron Maiden song. I headcanoned her as a fan as metal makes for great workout music, and she'd appreciate the literary and historical references in a lot of their songs. It was a toss-up between "The Trooper" and "Flight of Icarus;" if I'd gone with the latter, the plan for the performance was to have Bowie in a winged harness like Greece's Pieces from World Tour, flying over the stage to a giant sun prop where he'd ignite the wings, detach himself and drop down. Obviously all of that changed when I decided a Guns n Roses song would better fit Axel's vocal range.

Side note: I really liked having Axel be the one to paint her team's backdrops here. I couldn't resist throwing in a nod to her artistic side, one of my favorite things we got from Axel for season two.

For Zee, once I'd headcanoned him as being a fan of soft rock, I almost instantly decided on "Brandy" by looking glass. Initially for his performance I was gonna put emphasis on Lauren admiring him as the beginning of her crush, but decided to save it for their dance during MK's number instead.

Lauren's performance of reenacting the murder of Paul Allen from American Psycho was one of the first things I came up with when finalizing this challenge. For the song itself, I actually had "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves picked out, which is also part of the movie's soundtrack. But in the end I decided to go with the actual song from that scene, "Hip to be Square" by Huey Lewis and the News.

MK, hoo boy. She easily went through the most songs, since I wanted to find something that felt like a good match for her scratchy voice and something semi-romantic for Zee and Lauren to dance to. For a while my choices were "Love Gun" by Kiss, "You Shook Me All Nite Long" or "Touch Too Much" by AC/DC, or "Sweet Child of Mine" by Guns n Roses (before deciding to give Axel the GnR song.) I ultimately went with "Butterfly" by CrazyTown since I figured MK wouldn't be one for singing, so she'd rather rap.

[spookypete-94]

Beastie: Chapter #9 GhostxFem!reader

Slow burn, following MW2 storyline, eventually branching into my own. Warning for canon COD violence and language.

The sun was almost up when they arrived. If Y/N had to guess, Ghost had to of drove for a couple of hours, telling her she had fallen asleep at some point. All of them emerged from the vehicle stiff legged and sore.

"Where are we?" Soap asked.

"Alejandro's safehouse."

She stood back, looking around as the two men went towards the front of the doors. Standing back, she could tell that the sheets of metal in front of the main door were pressure plates to a bomb if anyone went inside. There was a window not too far off that you could tell was meant to be used.

"Alejandro rigged it, smart bastard."

"In the window there," she said, pointing to make them both look at her and then towards the window she was referring to. Instantly, Soap was up, pulling himself in and clearing the room he had dropped down into. Y/N was left on the ground while Ghost was up in the window.

"Don't move!" she heard him yell. He silently reached towards his vest and pulled a knife. Honestly, the movement was swift and quick. It should strike fear into her that he was so talented at it, but it just made her grateful he was on her side.

"Who is it?" She heard someone ask.

"Rodolfo?"

"Rudy!" she yelled glad he was ok.

Ghost then reached down to help pull herself up as she was not tall enough to reach the window. She was eager to see Rudy, as he was one of the first ones that was nice to her when she arrived here.

"You're ok!" She yelled, looking at him as she dropped into the safehouse.

Rudy pulled the knife out of the wooden post, bringing it back to Ghost.

"Took you long enough," his voice teased. "Glad to see you are all alive. What happened?"

"We were on the run."

"I was on the run. Ghost waited for me." Soap answered

"Of course, no?" Rudy said, making her realize that he would of done the same for Alejandro. That being the message he was trying to say.

"No." Soap answered, and was quickly shut up by Ghost saying "Yes."

"We're a team, all of us. This happened on my watch and I'll need help to fix it. No one fights alone."

Ghost feels responsible for this?

She listened to them talk but chose this to be the better time to look at Soap's arm. She found a box so he could sit, making the injury at her level height easier to look at.

"Sit," she said quietly, making him turn to look at her before he followed her instructions and sat down. She unwrapped it, slowly, careful not to pull any of the blood off that had turned to scabs, not wanting it to start bleeding again.

"Do we know why Graves turned?" Rudy asked

"We don't know."

"Las Almas can corrupt anyone."

"For now, General Shepherd, Laswell, and anyone else outside this room is considered a hostile." Ghost said, making her glance up at him, looking at him with her narrowed eyebrows.

"Laswell called me, gave Rudy and I a chance to get out."

"Until we can make contact with her, or find out what is going on, she is a threat."

"I work for her. Does that make me a threat?" her tone almost mocking, due to the thing he just said, being ludicrous to her.

"You came back for us. You are not a threat. But until we can find out truly what is going on, she is a risk as well. Are you going to follow my orders, or are you going to argue?"

Y/N was speechless, finding the question rhetorical she chose not to answer. How is it this man could be so back and forth? Kind to her one moment and a stone cold wall to her the next.

Ghost took her silence as her answer, and they all continued speaking, coming up with a plan to get the Vaqueros out involving their leader.

"Think we're past the point of stitching," she said to Soap, seeing the blood dried around the wound. She didn't want to break it open and risk it bleeding more from the amount of blood he lost earlier. "Gonna clean it back up and repack it." She said, wiping it down further antiseptic and then adding Neosporin to it.

"Thank you," was all he said to her as she began rewrapping it. This time, it was much more pericise, the lines of the gauze matching up.

"Always," she said lightly, trying to distract herself and him of the bad mood Ghost had just thrown her in.

The safehouse was well stalked, guns and ammo loaded away in a hidden arsenal. The armored vehicle that Rudy had gone back for, sitting in the area that would be the garage. They loaded items into the vehicle, preparing for the others that they would find in the prison. Y/N purposefully tried to steer clear of Ghost, finding his last words about Laswell being a threat to her hurtful... It almost made her feel like he didn't trust her, too. Without her realizing it, he was definitely taking notice of the given distance to him.

"You good?" He asked, trying to take a flat of ammo from her.

"Fine," she grumbled lowly sides stepping him heading to the truck where she dumped it off.

"Should be enough," Rudy said, looking at the amount in the truck. "Let's get moving." He climbed into the driver's seat, Y/N bravely climbed into the passenger seat, knowing if she did this, she wouldn't have to sit next to Ghost.

This.. This was the thing to make him realize she indeed was not fine. Black holes were forming in the back of her head from Ghost, staring at her through the seat. However, she paid no mind, her anger enough to keep her distracted and ready to break out Alejandro and his men.

"Everyone should try to rest before we get there. Y/N chose to lean against the window and at least attempt to get some sleep. This being the option to leave her out of any conversation she did not want to be a part of and maybe take Ghost's attention off of her. It never did leave, though.

Rudy got them all on scene of where they were going to enter, where the prison wall was at it's weakest. They chose to linger in the area until it got dark, that being their best cover. They all lingered outside the truck, Y/N sitting in the passenger seat with the door propped open her legs hanging out while the others had a cigarette trying to pass time.

Y/N chose to reply Ghost's words over and over in her mind, something that she did quite often. She looked up at the sun, seeing it finally starting to set, her watch reading 2030. Pulling her gear out one by one, she made sure she had every knife strapped, her pistol and rifle loaded, and any other frags attached to her vest. There were heavy footsteps behind her, she knew who they belonged to but she didn't say anything.

"Could you speak to me? Please?" she heard his voice behind her. The gruffness stronger from him pleading.

"And say what?" Do you really want me to say what I want to say?"

"Please." His voice urgent, despereate.

"That little voice in my head tells me that you think I'm a threat too, that you don't trust me."

"I trust you," he said, brown eyes looking down into hers. He had pushed her further into the truck, making her turn around to look at him against his vest. She had to crane her neck up high to look at him.

"I don't believe you. If you don't trust Laswell, you don't trust me."

"That's not true, I wouldn't let you be here if I did. I'd of been like Shepherd and Graves and told you that you couldn't come."

She looked up at him, still feeling defiant. He glanced over at Soap and Rudy, seeing them sit at a base of a tree, facing away. His hand slid up to her face.

"I trust you, Beastie. It's the others who are hunting us that I don't."

"Laswell isn't hunting us."

"We don't know that," his hand bracing the back of her head, allowing her to rest it against it as he looked down at her. "I'm not letting anyone that could be a threat near us... near you..." he grumbled.

Her heart fluttered, her eyes bouncing back and forth between his stunned by his words. His other hand came up next and stroked her cheek, making her eyes close at the sensation of the gloves on her face. Next, he lowered his head to her side of her face and took in a large inhale, smelling her.

She shuddered against his touch, eyes opening again due to the close contact.

"Why do you do that?" She asked her voice strained.

"Like how you smell," he said into her ear.

"I want to touch you," she admitted weakly.

He lifted her hand and placed it up by his face.

"Need you to stay alive for me."

"You think I wouldn't?"

"My fear is you won't... I haven't been afraid of somethin' so bad before."

She looked up at him, her hand rubbing his cheek through the mask again. Her eyes told him she wanted more. He leaned down, picking her up and placing her in the seat.

He grumbled in her ear again once more.

"Stay alive... and I'll give you what you want." His hand lowering down to her thigh, and then abruptly up it. He was gripping her at her core. It felt rough at first making her gasp, but as his hand lingered the shock from it seeming to arouse her instead now. She stifled a moan, making him chuckle.

"You hear me?"

"I hear you," her voice much softer this time, desperate.

"Get ready, gonna go get Rudy and Soap. And get in the backseat this time," his voice low, upset with that she sat in the passenger seat still. She locked eyes with him and nodded, doing as she was told.

"Good girl," he said stepping away, letting her move into the back of the truck, her heart now fluttering around in her ribcage.

She would stay alive to see this through.

[duckprintspress]

Duck Prints Press Summer 2023 Con Wrap!

We’ve now vended at our first two cons, and we wanted to take a few minutes to blog about it!

I (press owner Claire Houck/unforth) attended Fandom Fest in Schenectady, NY, and Albacon in Clifton Park, NY, and vended on behalf of the Press. Authors Nova Mason, Shea Sullivan, Catherine E. Green, and Tris Lawrence helped me out with manning the booth, handling transactions, participating in our first DPP panel, and more, so huge THANKS to them. (Also to Prof. Robert Heverly from Albany Law School, for contributing his expertise on copyright law to our Fandom Fest panel). I wrote about our Fandom Fest panel here, and about our events at Albacon here and here.

To be honest, we really had no idea how things would go, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that we far exceeded our expectations. Going into this, I’ll own I was very afraid – would people be interested in our Press? Would we make money? Or would we be that sad, lonely table that everyone walks quickly by? But things couldn’t have gone better – they went so well we’re already looking at more events to attend in the future.

From a fiscal standpoint, we made almost double what I anticipated and completely made up the expense of buying the supplies and equipment necessary for us to vend at these events and going forward. From a panel perspective, our events were nicely attended. From a “growing the business” standpoint, we added many names to our mailing lists and gained social media platforms. And, from a networking standpoint, we had a fantastic time and met a lot of awesome people – and that’s primarily what this post is about!

You already know about us; we’re here to shout-out some other folks we’re now very happy to know!

Top Row, Left Picture: The amazing Syrren (@syrren) and I bonded instantly over our shared love of the men of Mo Xiang Tong Xiu books and Stardew Valley romance options. I miiiight have ended up with some merch (though the Genshin Impact ones are gifts for a friend).

Top Row, Middle Picture: jiadoesart had many lovely things, and I picked out some stickers for my Ghibli-loving kids.

Top Row, Right Picture: The Consol Collection, sadly, has no website that I can find, but they had a lot of things such as this adorable Totoro sticker I got for my kids. And when the owner of Eclectic Arts approached me in an absolutely fabulous Hawaiian shirt featuring Pride-flag-colored twenty-sided dice, I instantly agreed to a sticker trade.

Bottom Row, Left Picture: According to the Fandom Fest organizers, it was 100% a coincidence that we ended up next to Duck and Cover, but we couldn’t have had a cooler or more appropriate neighbor. A con attendee felt it was so on-brand for Duck Prints Press that they actually bought us this one-of-a-kind hand-painted James Bond duckie! We also talked with Duck and Cover about maybe offering some of their custom ducks as campaign add-ons in the future, so be on the lookout…

Bottom Row, Right Picture: The owner of The Cogitation Zone, Lisa, is a long-time friend of Tris Lawrence, who commissioned us this custom Duck Prints Press business card holder that’ll be accompanying us to all our future cons! Lisa also had made a large number of adorable creatures, and I miiiight have traded a copy of one of our anthologies for an axolotl. Because. Axolotl.

Some Other Neat Folks We Met:

Pastel Prince Shop: lots of gorgeous queer art and merch; I’m hoping to get one of their asexual pride bracelets in the future (it got sold before I could grab it, sadly).

Bear and Bird Boutique: a local business that was vending at Fandom Fest, too, they have a lot of amazing bits and baubles, both fandom-related and original. We’ve bought everything from the Hilda graphic novel to a dragon puzzle at their store.

Picnocline: the only reason I didn’t buy things from Picnocline’s shop is that there were so many cute things that I literally couldn’t pick.

It’s Getting Dicey: dice, one of my true weaknesses! They have metal pride-flag dice sets, and lots of queer dice trays. I wish I could get them all…

Two-Penny Nerdlesque: a local burlesque troupe; they were very enthusiastic about And Seek (Not) to Alter Me and our queerifying of Much Ado About Nothing, and delighted told me about their own very queer versions of Shakespeare and other plays – I’m definitely going to have to check them out in the future.

(There are others too, but I didn’t grab everyone’s information, and I think this is plenty for one post. 😀 )

If any of you all are seeing this post, it was an absolute delight to meet you, and please don’t be a stranger!

Going forward, we’re looking forward to participating in more events and making more connections with other creators, especially other queer creators! Just today, we’ve applied to vend at A Big Gay Market, taking place in Washington Park in Albany on October 29th, 2023. We’ve also got a tentative schedule for 2024, and we’ll post more about where you’ll be able to find us as the dates grow closer and we find out if the juried shows have accepted our applications. We’re going to do our best to continue the success we’ve enjoyed at our first two conventions by pursuing vending as a way to meet potential readers and customers, grow relationships with other queer creators, and get the Duck Prints Press names out there for the benefit of all the authors, artists, and others we work with!

Got a con in New York State or Massachusetts that you love and think we should try to attend in 2024? Let us know in the comments or by dropping us an e-mail at info at duckprintspress dot com!

[numetaljackdog]

what i'm listening to 5/5/2023 (song notes under cut)

spot. link//yt link

Laura Les - Haunted: haunted. by laura les.

Machine Girl - Dumbass!!: i was listening to a whole bunch of machine girl in the lead-up to the gecs n girl show and i feel like it made me a bigger fan than i had been previously. i honestly still am not like the most familiar with their individual songs but this is one of the ones that sticks with me. NO SUCH THING AS THE BOOGEYMAN!!!!

Cracked Out - If You Leave Me I'll Kill Myself: pretty tasteless but as soon as i came across this post and listened to it i was immediately hooked on this song. it reminds me of the dumb edgy comedy bullshit i would have listened to as a tween, but like, the better side of that stuff. it was basically impossible to find much of anything about this group, so the spotify track is a local file that you guys won't be able to play, and it wasn't on youtube so i actually uploaded it myself this morning just to put it in the playlist lol

Sum 41 - In Too Deep: i feel like sum 41 tends to kinda get dismissed as part of the obnoxious skate punk scene of the 90s-00s, and to a large extent that's fair, but man did they have some good hits. i feel like edgy teen songs like these really can work by being simple as long as they just hit the premise with everything they've got, and this would be an example

Tyler, The Creator - DOGTOOTH: i was very pleased when this reached the top 40, brief though its stint was. i've been getting more into tyler recently bc i feel like i've been missing out, he's really such an interesting artist and he balances a lot of different traits super well while still delivering the goods in terms of good beats, good lines, etc. seriously, "not sure what you overheard but it's probably what I said" is such a good fucking line

Nick Lutsko - A Ghost Story: would STRONGLY recommend checking out the video for this one, either in the youtube playlist or on tumblr here actually never mind i can't find it. watch it on youtube it's fun. i followed nick lutsko on youtube for a while before whatever network it was that he was producing for went under. probably machinima. i mainly knew him because of his limp bizkit parody which is funny bc i wasn't even listening to actual limp bizkit at the time. anyway i really like his voice and i'm actually glad that he's still finding success these days

Naughty By Nature - O.P.P.: as i've referenced, i've been rewatching robbydude's paper mario vods, which are very good, and in one of the early ones robby references this song and it made me look it up. and then i made this post and it was underrated. i don't really have anything else to say it's just a good classic rap song

Slipknot - Left Behind: putting this here as more of a landmark to represent that i've been listening to iowa (the album this is from) a lot in general. i've had slipknot on the brain recently more than usual (not for any reason of course. winks) and reminded myself of why everyone loves iowa so much. it's so fucking brutal and biting... nu metal <3

Busta Rhymes - Woo Hah!!: honestly another one where it's like yeah idk this is just a classic what do you want me to say. busta's a legend and this song is legendary and he tears it up and it's good

Sweet Trip - Tekka: probably the most direct of the violet finds from this month (hi violet :3) i had never listened to sweet trip before but tekka instantly grabbed me... it's all crunchy and stuttery and has yummy synths. i especially love how it just fucking breaks down in the second half it's like that machine that's breaking down and sweating and sputtering it's almost sexual. you know

Ike & Tina Turner - I'll Never Need More Than This: so i've been on my phil spector bullshit, as you might have guessed, so i was revisiting some of his tracks to just kinda take it all in. as always, it. well it sounds really fucking good, and tina turner turned in a killer performance as always. i love. sound :)

Rowdy Rebel - Computers (feat. Bobby Shmurda): I'M SLIDIN OVER CARS WHILE I SHOOT

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THEY THINK THAT I'M TOM CRUISE

Machine Girl - Scroll of Sorrow: it's really rather exciting. see for those in the know (which is all of you bc there's only two or three people reading this), you're aware that my mutual (hi again :3) had posted about how, at the live show, the vocalist of machine girl got up real near the crowd (including said mutual) during scroll of sorrow. as such, i was listening out for the song at my own show and well chat i'll tell you i was not able to recognize it :-) but there was one point where they got up on the railing above the pit and were singing from up there, and while it wasn't like exceptionally close to where we were at, it was still cool bc it was like hey! that's like the thing! that i heard about! :) amd anyway i like the song

Sonic The Hedgehog - His World: itsa banger... i actually heard the penny parker cover of this song from the sonic fandub way before ever hearing the original so even now i still mix up the lyrics but it's fine. i've actually never played a mainline sonic game or any video game or any media at all but i like the music

Strapping Young Lad - Oh My Fucking God: i straight up didn't know that strapping young lad was a devin townsend thing, not that i've listened to any of his other stuff. this song's weird and loud and stupid and i like it

Rae Sremmurd - No Flex Zone: okay now. based on this one and the previous song, can anyone guess what semi-popular artist playlist i was listening to this month? i tried to listen to a lot more rap this month, because i wish to learn more about this beautiful world. no flex zone has been my first exposure to rae sremmurd and it was a good one, although i like one of the guys way better than the other one. slim jxmmi i like him better

glass beach - classic j dies and goes to hell part 1: i didn't really "get" glass beach for a while, i thought they were alright, but this month they started to click (once again with some help - check out this post teehee). they're cute, earnest, and high-energy; i have to kinda be in the mood but i can get into it 👍 i've also seen the band described as sort of a modern emo type deal and while i don't yet know if i agree or disagree with that it compels me

NLE Choppa - Final Warning: straight up this dude is weird and has a weird hit on the charts rn but bc of that i was like "ok let's see what he was like before his big image change" and ended up liking some of that stuff. he's so energetic and it really gets you pumped up, which is def what i'm looking for in this type of thing. he's got some interesting lines, too. it almost makes me wish he hadn't changed at all - i feel like i missed out lol

Vanilla Ice - Prozac: okay look i try not to vanillapost too much but like i'm a little bit insane about vanilla ice. i'm obsessed with his career path and it is not uncommon for me to just sit and think about it for an hour or more. i really enjoy his nu metal stuff, at least the earlier portions of it, and this is a top-tier track from that era. real headbanger. FUNKY RHYME KILLER, THE DOPE SONG DEALER

[yuriko-mukami]

His Possession Dark 03

After tossing and turning for a couple of hours in her bed Yuriko sat up and sighed. It was a night between Saturday and Sunday, and she had no idea what time it was, but sleeping was impossible. The first weeks of school had been nothing but a nightmare ever since Ruki had taken an interest in her. The vampire took her blood whenever he wanted and if Yuriko’s father had spent time at home, he would have seen the results of that treatment.

But once again, Tsukino Keisuke was away from home even on a weekend. Once again, he was busy with his work. It was nothing new, yet the emptiness was deeper year by year.

Yuriko brushed the thoughts aside and rolled out from the bed. She changed into her training clothes and wandered to the entrance hall. Soon she was out and jogging towards the nearby park. In the middle of the night. Never had she done such a thing, but it seemed that entering the night school had changed her shaky sleeping schedule even worse than before.

As her feet beat the ground Yuriko ran through the park. The path continued to the forest she hadn’t visited earlier, and she let her legs carry her there. No matter how fast she ran, the squeezing feeling didn’t leave her heart and the thoughts of cold steel-blue eyes refused to depart from her mind.

I don’t want to think about Ruki. Weekends are my freedom he can’t ruin… This is my time, and I should enjoy this. Haah, but it feels like I’m not in as good shape as earlier… Why am I this tired?

Yuriko slowed down a little, her breathing dragging. Back in her former home, she used to go jogging three to five times a week but ever since she had started in this new school her last good habits had been distilled into the sewer. And now Yuriko felt lightheaded just from a little running.

Maybe it is because of blood loss…

Yuriko sighed as she continued jogging at a slower pace. A few drops of sweat slithered down her nape and assimilated in her hoodie. The night was silent and surprisingly pleasant. While the city was busy all around the clock this forest was different, as if Yuriko had entered another realm. Even the air felt distinct as she bounced further. She realized that the path had changed narrower and the trees around were taller than the ones closer to the park. Maybe it should have bothered her, but the strange tranquility was rooted within her.

The air felt peculiarly crisp for spring, but Yuriko kept going. This was better than lying on the bed unable to sleep. At least now her muscles had something to do, so maybe she would be tired enough when she would get back home.

Suddenly a metallic smell lingered on Yuriko’s nose. She stopped and sniffed around, her stomach curling. There had been a time she wouldn’t have recognized this smell instantly, but those days were far behind. Someone was bleeding, and not far from her. Yuriko looked around and tried to see behind the bushes. She left the path and wandered between trees, following her nose.

When Yuriko stepped further, she gasped. Someone was lying on the ground, his clothes stained with blood. Yuriko hurried towards him even though shivers went through her body. First the vampires, now this… or was this because of the vampires? Maybe one of them had attacked the young man who looked almost dead.

“Umh… are you… are you alright?” The words slipped from Yuriko’s lips, yet instantly she realized how stupid they were. Of course, the young man wasn’t alright; he must have been badly injured and barely breathing by the look of him. His jacket was full of bloodstains that were still growing.

Not caring what was on the ground, Yuriko crouched down and touched the sleeve of the young man’s jacket carefully. He had light spiky hair but the most peculiar thing about him was that he wore glasses and an eye pad. His only visible eye had a warm golden color, yet now it was glass-like and hazy, perhaps because of the pain.

Yuriko pushed her rising quivering aside and stroked his arm, asking: “Can… can I help you?”

“I - I don’t usually ask this but he-help me…” the young man muttered, and Yuriko couldn’t help noticing that even his lips were bloody.

“Oh my gosh! This looks really bad!” Yuriko blurted, instantly regretting her words. “Umh… I’ll help you. Please, talk to me. Where do you hurt the most?”

Yuriko raised her hand slowly and touched the young man’s forehead. It radiated cold against her palm.

He must have lost a lot of blood! Maybe he is even in shock! I… I don’t know anything about first aid, but I must do something!

“I should call an ambulance!” Yuriko said and fumbled in the pocket of her hoodie for her phone.

“H-hospital won’t help me... I am a Founder…” the young man muttered. “I know you know about vampires, just find a wolf, and bring him to me... I am too weak to call them.”

A founder? The term was unfamiliar to Yuriko, but a cold lump dropped into her stomach when the young man mentioned the vampires. Yet she pushed the feeling away and tried to understand what was expected from her. She blinked as she realized that the young man had asked for a wolf.

How am I supposed to ask a wolf to come with me… or even find one? Are there even wolves in this part of the country? she pondered. But the young man was serious. He had no reason to joke around, not in the state he was in.

“Take… this. Let the wolf smell it,” the founder said. A tearing sound reached Yuriko’s ear as he ripped a shred off his already torn shirt and held it out for her with a shaky hand.

“I… I’ll do my best,” Yuriko replied, taking the piece of fabric, as she stood up and looked around her before running back to the forest.

While running around, Yuriko's thoughts jumped wildly. Ruki was a vampire and this young man… a founder. A founder of what? And how come he knew that Yuriko knew about the vampires? She couldn’t recall ever seeing the male before, but he had looked young enough to be a student. Maybe he knew Ruki.

Yuriko almost tripped as she ran through the forest, her heart jumping at the pace of her busy legs. A wolf! She needed a wolf, and the mere thought was enough to raise goosebumps on her skin. It would have been easier to turn around and run back home, but Yuriko knew that she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself if she left someone bleeding in the forest. So, she ran, ran, and ran, looking around her hoping to see any kind of sign of wolves… though she didn’t have a clue what that sign could even be.

Suddenly Yuriko stepped into a small clearing. Her eyes were glued to the animal that stood in the middle of it, majestic and noble with its fur that danced slightly in the night wind. The eyes of the beast met hers as if they were penetrating her mind, seeing every thought that had ever crossed there.

"Umh… hello… wolf?" Yuriko whispered with a quailing voice between shallow breaths. I must do this; it is the right thing. "Eh… Please, come with me. There is a person… who needs you."

Yuriko stepped a little closer, pushing the fabric towards the wolf, her whole body shaking. Never had she approached a wild animal like this, and every nerve in her body told her to run. If only she could have but an image of a bleeding young man returned to her mind. She had no other option than try to make the wolf come with her.

I must be crazy… A normal person would have called for that ambulance, not gone looking for a wolf. What is wrong with me these days?

There was a slight movement in the golden eyes of the beast, almost an unnoticeable change. As the wind's direction shifted it pushed a musky, animalistic scent toward Yuriko’s face, raising the hair of her arms. Wolf threaded closer, sniffing the fabric. Yuriko started to back off slowly, now keeping her gaze down, not wanting to give a reason for the wolf to attack.

Walking backward, Yuriko left the clearing. It took a long time until she was brave enough to turn around and walk normally, and soon she heard the paws following her. Tickling went up and down her spine, yet she didn’t stop nor turn around but continued trailing her way back to the bleeding young man.

To Yuriko’s surprise, the wolf soon took the lead, and she didn’t need to do anything but follow it back to the young man, the founder. As the wolf reached him it howled. Yuriko froze in place, almost forgetting how to breathe as wolves started to gather everywhere, circling the founder and her.

"Thanks… I will never forget this," the founder said.

Yuriko was unable to even mutter any words out loud. Instead, she started to take tiny steps backward until she was so far away that she couldn’t see the founder or the wolves anymore. Only then did she turn around and begin to run again and she didn’t stop until she reached the front door of her home on the fourth floor of an apartment building.

This isn't a normal city. Vampires and founders… Is there something else too? And how am I supposed to survive in the middle of all this?

After getting back to bed Yuriko stared at the ceiling, mind still whirling from what had gone through in the forest. Has the founder survived? Should she have stayed? Now she had no way of knowing, and she hadn’t even asked his name.

Sighing, Yuriko turned to her side and grabbed the plush fox she kept on her bed. The founder had known her connection to the vampires, so he was probably from the school.

I should search him out and check if he is alright. But he was in such bad shape that he probably won’t be in school on Monday… at least I wouldn’t if that happened to me…

Turning again, Yuriko finally closed her eyes. She had so many questions and so few answers. In this short time, her life had taken a turnaround she hadn’t expected at all. Yet she didn’t want to go back to her earlier life. Was this better? Yuriko couldn’t tell but at least everything kept her mind busy, and her only bully was a vampire who craved her blood. It wasn’t something she had asked for herself but, to be honest, it beat being hated by everyone.

Maybe I can make sense of this eventually…

Yuriko started slowly to drift off, her eyelids finally closing and her muscles relaxing.

And soon Yuriko was back in the forest. A familiar scent of undergrowth hit her nose instantly; she sniffed the ground and smelled something else. The white one had been here. Even though Yuriko had gotten scared the last time she started to run, her paws hit the leaves on the forest floor at a fast pace.

Being so many times in this same forest, it didn’t take long for Yuriko to find her way to the cliff. The white one was sitting on the edge of it, gazing at the moonless sky but they turned around and stared straight at Yuriko with their golden eyes.

"So, you finally came back," they said. "I tried to draw here a couple of times but you… resisted. What's different now?"

"I… I guess… I got curious,” Yuriko replied, wondering why she had indeed found herself here now. Maybe she had gotten tired of avoiding her comfort place even though it had changed a bit now. Everything was shifting around her, it seemed.

"I could say the same. It's getting easier to talk with you. After all these years it's a bit odd."

Yuriko nodded. It was weird to be able to talk with a fox… even though she also was one in this dream.

"But you've been having other dreams lately. Do they have anything to do with reality?" the white one asked.

Yuriko stared down at the dark forest and at the river that curled behind the trees. She did not answer… but she couldn't push her thoughts away. Ruki seemed to be everywhere. She couldn't avoid him at school, and she couldn't avoid him in her dreams. It was either Ruki or this forest. And now that founder… but Yuriko couldn’t quite put her experience into words. It wasn’t something she was comfortable sharing with anyone.

"He's been sucking your blood, isn't he? The vampire."

The question made Yuriko jump. She looked at the white one who was glaring at her with piercing eyes.

"You have to get rid of him," the white one continued when Yuriko didn’t answer. "He will become addicted soon and then it's even harder to avoid him."

"Addicted?"

"To your blood. It’s addictive and intoxicating for vampires."

Yuriko stayed quiet. Ruki had told her that her blood was sweet. They hadn’t been talking much and mostly Yuriko had tried to keep her distance, not that it helped, especially now when she needed to do the literature project with him.

"I'm doing my best," she said. “But how do you know?”

“The right question is how you don’t know,” the white one said. “It’s important to know what you are up against. Be careful and avoid the vampires… and while you are at it, I would avoid any other kind of demons too. You don’t want them to notice you since you are living your comfortable life in the world of humans.”

Demons? Yuriko shifted and finally sat down next to the white one, curling her tail around her paws as if she wanted to keep them warm. Was this dream only her imagination? It had been so comforting but now the white one didn’t offer comfort but scary images.

“Who are you exactly?” Yuriko asked.

The white one looked at Yuriko sideways. It was impossible to read their face, impossible to know if they were being honest or not. But on the other hand, they were a fox that had kept her company for years now. Until recently they hadn’t been able to talk but now was Yuriko’s chance to get answers.

“That’s right,” the white one said. “You didn’t give me a chance to tell my name last time. I’m Yuuto.”

Yuriko nodded. So, the white one was a boy… or a man. It was impossible to tell his age only by looking at him. Yuriko sighed, wondering if she should only tell her first name or the last name too. Maybe foxes only had given names but with humans that was different.

“I know your name, Yuriko,” Yuuto said. He wagged his both tails as a smirk rose on his foxy face. “Don’t look at me like that. I can hear your every thought when we are here in the In-between. This is my dream realm I created just for us years ago.”

“But why?”

“Because I wanted to spend time with my little sister,” Yuuto replied.

Yuriko’s heart skipped a beat, and she darted to her paws, mouth hanging open for a moment.

“I… I don’t have a brother!”

Now it was Yuuto’s turn to sigh as he lay down on the ground. “Of course, they didn’t tell you… our parents. Ask Father. See if he lies to you or if he tells the truth.”

“He isn’t around that much. I barely see him…” Yuriko mumbled, staring at Yuuto. Was that a lie? “I’m sorry… This is… too much. I can’t take this right now. There have been so many things going on… I just… I can’t!”

Yuriko turned her tail and ran. Again, she left Yuuto alone on the edge of the cliff.

Beta read by @ruki-mukami-dl

[timetravelingpigeon]

Find the Word Tag Game

Man been a hot minute since I've done one of these bad boys. Remember when I used to do tag games?

Tagged by: @artdecosupernova-writing My Words: front, back, side, up, down, around Tagging: Anyone who wants to participate! I've been away so long I have no idea how many of the writeblrs following me/I'm following are still active, lmao. Your Words: salt, bitter, spice, sweet

Just gonna pull from MBMP since it's been a long time since I worked on the OG (and haven't done much of anything more with it in the time after I went on hiatus here.)

Front

“Okay, okay, okay,” I said, catching my breath and winding down. “I’ve got one. What’s the most ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’ way you’ve died?” Once more, they had to think on it. “I was orbiting the black hole at the center of Brittle Hollow — don’t ask how I got into that position in the first place — maneuvering so that I can get caught by a gravity elevator and lifted to safety, when this huge chunk of the crust breaks off in front of me. I didn’t have enough time or thrust to get out of its way, so I just…” They illustrated by smacking their palm against their other hand’s fist. “Killed me instantly, which I guess is better than dying either from internal bleeding or a cracked visor in a near-vacuum. You?”

Back

“So no turning around and heading back to the first area.” They held up their hand, first finger partially curled. “Not that we have a way to get back there.” First finger straightened. “Not that we want to go back there. Unless you want to finish reading that book you didn’t like.” “It’s not that I didn’t like it. I mean, I wrote it; I’d better like it. But the fact that they had it at all creeped me out.” “Yeah, I’m not sure how the third party got my ship log either.”

Side

“No offense, Morgan, but the fact that you didn’t smash your way in here like the Incredible Hulk leads me to believe these doors are indestructible even for you.” “You’re right, I wasn’t able to break through either one on the way here. But who knows,” he shrugged, positioning himself about a step away from his target, “could be that they’re only reinforced from one side.” “So you’re thinking it might work because it’s a— ” My sentence was cut off by a metallic bang! as Morgan karate-kicked the door straight off its hinges. And in half. “… ‘push’ door,” I finished.

Up

They tilted their head slightly, “I don’t know how we’re any more lost than we were when we first met. Your suit’s also been keeping track of where we’ve been, right?” I gave a flat, “No.” “Oh. Does your HUD not have that feature?” “I don’t have a HUD, period.” Mentally, I groaned. Why did their space suit have all these fancy features when it looked like… well, that? Meanwhile, here I was, wearing the best humanity has to offer and coming up about as short as a toddler at a track meet. Freaking aliens, man.

Down

“So it’s not darkness but nothingness, then” “Seems like it,” they replied, then held down the launcher’s trigger. Apparently, that was supposed to do something, as they tried releasing and holding the trigger once more. When their third attempt likewise did nothing, they twisted a few things, pulled at some others, and detached the launcher from its shoulder mount. After giving it a look over, they delivered a couple of solid smacks near the base where the scout had initially been resting, then held the trigger again. “Is something wrong?” I asked. “Yeah, it’s not coming back,” they answered, giving the device a final shake for good measure. “Which is concerning given that I’ve recalled this thing from halfway across the solar system before.” “Oh, so it’s, like, gone gone.”

Around

Flicking their mic’s switch back on, they told me in a flat tone, “My time loop ends with our entire solar system being destroyed by our star going supernova. I’ve been trying to fix it for a while now.” Then, quietly, as if admitting it would be a betrayal, “I’m not sure I can fix it.” “Jesus,” I breathed. “Mine’s just some stupid thing that I don’t even know what it is but it sure as hell isn’t our whole planet getting annihilated. Man, screw these stupid suits,” I said, already feeling around for whatever mechanism kept my helmet on. (That was the first step in taking this suit off, right? Removing the helmet?) “You need a bigger hug than this thing allows.”

Thanks again for the tag @artdecosupernova-writing!

[forebodingprophet]

Date Night (?) Part 2

Once they were both finished, Hikaze took a plain handkerchief out of a pocket in his hakama to wipe off their hands.  Before Anastasios could even think about grabbing his own, Hikaze had his hands open and was gently wiping them free of the stray grease.  The action felt… weirdly out of character for him and only served to confuse the man.  He knew this wasn’t supposed to be a normal outing but Hikaze was putting in a bit too much effort. 

“I have my own, you know,” Anastasios pointed out.  That seemed to catch Hikaze off-guard, and he back-pedaled, fumbling for a response.

“Well… uhhh… I just figured we could use mine, y’know?  You always keep nice ones, and street food can be messy,” he replied, not meeting Anastasios’ gaze.  The Seer watched as threads of Ultrareality weaved their way around his body as the other man’s ability failed him in his nervousness.  There was regret, frustration, and a touch of-  And then it was gone again, Hikaze having gathered himself enough to turn his ability back on.  “We-We can, y’know… use yours next time.  Better to keep a clean one for if we get something truly messy, right?”

Anastasios decided to be magnanimous and not point out that he’d just contradicted not wanting to dirty Anastasios’ nice handkerchief.  “Come on, you idiot, now that we have food in us, we need to start checking out everything else.”  He gave Hikaze a shove on the back to urge him along, and that seemed to get him back in form because he instantly grabbed Anastasios to drag him off towards some other stall he was interested in.

Much of the day went on like that with them going about things as they normally would have except for Hikaze’s brazen intimacy.  Things like holding his hand under the guise of not getting separated in the crowd, feeding each other instead of passing whatever street food they acquired back and forth, and Hikaze swiping stray crumbs off Anastasio’s face (he at least had the good sense to use his hands.)  Most of the stalls were food and wares, though, and while they did converse about the wars, particularly the odd ones.  Hikaze jokingly put on a ridiculous or scary-looking mask to joke around more than once, and Anastasios had to stifle his laughter and urge him to put them down each time while the stall attendant glared daggers at them.  But their stomachs could only hold so much, even being the ravenous young men they were, and few of the wares actually interested them enough to buy.  Except one.  Stalls selling jewelry were hardly uncommon at festivals like these.  The two had already walked by several, even having checked out a few, but Hikaze rarely wore accessories save for when he was accompanying Anastasios in an official capacity, and Anastasios’ taste was very particular.  So it surprised Anastasios when Hikaze quite literally grabbed him and dragged him over to one by his entire arm and plucked something off the display.

“Stasi, try this!”

“Woah, what-”  The two boys fumbled for a moment as Hikaze reached for Anastasios’ ears to attempt to gently remove the golden ear cuffs but ultimately struggled between having to deal with Anastasios trying to push him away and the cuffs being more firmly secured than he'd expected.  “Will you stop?!” Anastasios snapped, finally managing to grab Hikaze’s hands.  “You're gonna tear them off!  Just let me!  Mew Almighty.”  Anastasios gingerly removed the cuffs from his ears for Hikaze to see that they were more wraps than cuffs.  “Alright, now what did you want me to try on?”

“This.”  Hikaze carefully worked a metal ornament onto Anastasios’ ears.  Anastasios could already tell that it seemed to use less metal than the one he'd been wearing before, but it felt even heavier on his ears.  “Oh, I have pretty good taste,” Hikaze noted, admiring his selection. 

“Just hand me the mirror,” Anastasios sighed.  Hikaze obliged, and Anastsios inspected the jewelry placed on him.

The ear wrap was a thin bronze wire that ran along the fold of his outer ear, clung tight to the edge of the shell, and blended in well with Anatsasios’ olive-brown skin.  Enough that, unless you got right up to it, you couldn't even see it.  However, the jewels attached were an entirely separate matter.  The overall design of the wrap was very similar to the one Anastasios had put on originally, but now, instead of five flat, gold slips, there were three delicate drops of a bright nephrite.  The cuff itself also had three nephrite cabochons set along the wire that, when combined with Anatsasios’ skin tone, made them look like piercings.

“You’re right: it does suit me rather well,” he admitted.  “But your sense of taste had nothing to do with it, I look great in anything.”

“You’re not wrong,” Hikaze ground out, frustrated.  “But you usually pick out jewelry made with gold, right?”

Anastasios nodded.  “Of course.  It's the color of my house.”  The golden color of House Ofthalmós’ eyes and hair was a signifier of how much psychic ability they held, and the amber ring at the center of Anastasios’ irises indicated his existence as a Seer of the highest caliber.  Gold wasn't the color of the house just because it suited them but because the members of House Ofthalmós had been likened to the precious metal countless times over the millennia.

“So, you never would have considered many other metals, would you?” Hikaze pointed out. 

“True…” he replied with a grimace.  It wasn't so much that other metals didn't look good on them, either.  Copper wasn't particularly compatible with their olivine skin tone, and, as Hikaze had just demonstrated, bronze blended right in.  Gunmetal could look good on them, but the alloy was difficult to make in the current era, making it a rarity, and their skin was often still dark enough that the contrast was minimal.  Grey metals were both easy to obtain and could look nice, but, on Seers, their Eyes always stood out more than the jewelry. 

Hikaze’s hand brushed over an ear, admiring how it looked before turning to the vendor.  “We’ll take this pair, please,” he said happily, handing the vendor two gold coins.

“An excellent choice!” the vendor replied.

“Wait, what?”  This wasn't some small knick-knack!  Jewelry, especially the sort with gems, cost significantly more in this era.  The fact that Hikaze had handed over gold was proof of that.  “Hikaze, this isn't some little trinket!” Anastasios hissed.   

“But it looks good on you,” Hikaze pointed out.  “And besides, it's not like I don't have the money.  I do earn a wage around the house, you know.  It's not like I spend it on much besides food anyways.”  Hikaze finished the transaction out and got a small box to put one off the ear wraps in.  “Do you want to keep wearing those, or do you want to go back to the old pair?” 

Anastasios answered him with an almost hilarious mix of embarrassment and grump.  “You went to the trouble, so I might as well wear them.  Arceus knows if I'll ever use them again,” he spat, snatching the box and delicately placing his golden accessories inside before stowing it in his pocket.

Hikaze whistled.  “Careful there, tsundere levels that high might actually make it seem like you like them.”  A brown hand reached up to claw-grip Hikaze's face, and Hikaze chuckled, black eyes peeling past olivine fingers to find red cheeks and ears.  Anastasios was likely already thinking of what scenarios they'd be appropriate in.  As far as Hikaze was concerned, the effort had been a success.

Anastasios excused himself to use a café’s restroom, promising to return with coffee for his insufferable companion.  He didn't actually need the facility, but he did need a moment to calm down where Hikaze couldn't see how red his face was.  Anastasios stood at the sink, eyes locked on the mirror, and his mouth upturned in a pout as one hand gently entwined its fingers with the green drops dangling from his ears.  His grip on the sink tightened as his brows grew into an angry furrow.  Even he thought he looked angry despite his flushed face.  Why was he getting so damn flustered?  He brought the hand at his ear down to stubbornly try to wipe the blush off his cheeks but only succeeded in adding more color to them.

For years now, the two of them had been flirting as a means of picking on one another- Hikaze hadn't intended anything the first time.  It'd been a joke for the two of them that he’d mixed into a spectacle.  But regardless of the intentions Anastasios knew the other man had, he'd reacted.  His heart had fluttered for even the smallest instant, and that had ignited something in Hikaze because he kept doing it.  In public and in private- serenading him with the cheesiest love songs that the Old World had to offer.  He rarely got the reaction he was trying for, but it was fun for him regardless.  Anastasios had started returning the favor out of frustration and continued when he'd seen that it got far more than the intended result.  And things had just kept going like that until the flirting became real.  Neither of them could be sure when that happened, but over the last year or so, a palpable tension had been building between them that all shattered last month.  This date was likely Hikaze’s answer to that event. 

Anastasios groaned and splashed some water on his face as he recalled the event, making his cheeks redden further.  Only weeks ago, Hikaze had been walking on eggshells around Anastasios in the aftermath as both of them had become unsure of how to define this new relationship of theirs, but that quickly changed to another odd behavior entirely.  It had started with light touching- a hug from behind as Hikaze looked over his shoulder at something, a guiding hand that lingered too long, a hand that, moments before had been ruining his hair but was now brushing it back behind his ear.  Small, almost imperceptible things that, had they not crossed that line, Anastasios would have written off.  But there was also a growing desire to his Ultrareality, when Hikaze's ability failed him at least, that was unmistakable.  Gradually, his touches lingered longer, like he was testing the boundaries of what he was permitted.  Then, one day, he gave Anastasios a kiss.  It was on his head, through his hair, and, albeit brief and casual, it had happened, and Anastasios had allowed it.  That was when Anastasios understood- Hikaze must have been waiting for Anastasios to draw a line.  He’d been very calculated and systematic about it too, making sure they were alone or that no one was looking, that there was no reason Anastasios could give besides his own discomfort.  He was only smart when it came to things like this, and it confounded Anastasios to no end why he could apply just a bit of that to his own education.  But all that has escalated to this.  It wasn't so much that Anastasios disliked this as he didn't know how to handle it.  He was used to them being… rough.  Getting into arguments that turned into fistfights, goading each other into stupid shit, and not having to worry about where they stood with one another no matter how they might screw up.  Not… presents and doting and affection.  Anastasios knew that things might change when he’d started adding straws to the Camerupt’s back, but experiencing it was a different issue.  Anastasios always had to be in control and think things through before he committed.  If things had been left entirely up to him, what was going on between them now wouldn't have been possible regardless of how much he actually wanted it.  But when Hikaze was involved, all that went completely out the window.  And that scared him.  Being this flustered by his best friend and not having that control scared him.  He was content to write Hikaze off as a bumbling fool the majority of the time, but, the reality of it was, the man was better at this than Anastasios, and he'd already made his decision and didn't feel that he needed to care about how to act.  He was content to blunder and make mistakes as they found their new normal, and he'd been showing that all month.  The handkerchief thing earlier had certainly been far too awkward- but he learned quickly from things like that.  Whereas Anastasios was scared to even take that first step forward.  He needed to be in control of himself, and it was one thing to not be in control with Hikaze…  It was another to give that control over to Hikaze.  Not because Hikaze was Hikaze, but because Anastasios was Anastasios.  Or, more precisely, because he was still Esaias, somewhere underneath.  But, unlike Esaias, he wouldn't run from something like this.  Esaias would have. 

Anastasios touched at the drops hanging from his ears one more time and felt the Butterfree in his chest blow away the anxiety.  He brought another handful of water to his face again and hardened his resolve.  If his partner was Hikaze, things would work out fine- of that Anastasios was certain.

At least until he walked back outside.  When Anastasios returned, Hikaze was gone.  Really?  Had he just been ditched on a date?  That Hikaze had asked him on no less?  Could the man really not just stay in one place for more than a fraction of a moment?  Just as Anastasios was about to wander off to go find him, he caught sight of Hikaze trotting back.

“Sorry ‘bout that.  I saw something I was curious about, and figured I’d check it out while you were in the bathroom.  Didn’t think it’d take as long as it did,” Hikaze tittered.  But Anastasios was already mad.

“I thought we came here to look at stuff together.  What happened to it ‘being twice as fun when I’m there’?  Hmm?  Or is it something you and I both know you shouldn’t be getting into?  Why would you even pay attention to something that could land you in trouble like that?”

Hikaze restrained himself as the lecture went on, every single point an excellent one… had he actually done something that warranted the man’s ire.  Hikaze let him go on for a bit, but quickly determined that Anastasios would lecture him half the day if he just waited for it to be over, so he reached into his pocket for something, carefully opening a bottle and pulling something out.

“What’s more, are you unable to sit still for even a-”  Anastasios nearly choked as Hikaze’s fingers shoved something small and hard into his mouth.  “Arsheus!  You inshufferable idiot!  You cann jush shove things into- Mmm...”  Anastasios’ frustration pacified when the flavor finally hit his tongue.  “Ish thish honey?”

“Yeah, sorry, I was over there buying this.  I wanted it to be a surprise,” Hikaze said with an exasperated sigh as he held up a glass bottle filled with small, yellow orbs.  “They actually made quite a few different kinds with different honeys.  I thought it’d be quick, but there were more options than I expected, and there’s no way we could carry all of them, so I at least wanted to pick out three for you.”  This seemed to abate Anastasios’ anger. 

“Still, I would have liked to look too,” he muttered past the candy.

“You really wanna go over there right now?” Hikaze asked, jabbing in that direction with his thumb.  The stall in question was absolutely packed.  Anastasios could see why he took a long as he did and grimaced, his mouth turning into a long, flat line.  “Yeah, thought so.  I just saved you the trouble.  I got a card too, so, if you like it, we can try to visit a shop some time.”  He flicked a tag strung to the bottle of candy with a lavender ribbon.

“It’s acceptable,” Anastasios replied, covering his mouth.  “Don’t tell Celia about these.”

“She’s already getting all my desserts for the next two weeks.  Like hell I’m giving her any more.”

The two finally reached the center square where a dense crowd was gathered to watch a stage that no reasonable person in the outer perimeter could possibly make out.  Anastasios, however, could tell this was the main event.

“Let’s go around.  It’s nothing worth watching,” Anastasios said, urging Hikaze towards an alley that led to the next street over.

“Wait, you don’t wanna see what it is?” he asked.

“It’s just Damocles’ trial.  Nothing to fuss over, even if it is the reason for the festival,” Anastasios answered.

“Oh, well come on now, aren’t you curious to see if someone will pull them out?  Don’t you wanna try again yourself?” Hikaze asked.

Anastasios spun around to fix him with a firm stare.  “No.”

“Why not?  Damocles was Esaias’ ally, right?  I know you turned it down before when nee-sama asked, but why are you so against it?  And what if someone else pulls them?”

“Damocles is incredibly picky.  There’s a reason no one’s drawn Damocles in the last 15 years, and that’s unlikely to change today.  Do you know what the requirements are to wield Damocles?”

               “Uhhhhh… no.  Esaias never told me.  Just that there were only specific situations that he could actually call on it in.”

               “Damocles only makes contracts with those it views as having the potential to rise to power; future kings, leaders of rebellions, generals, you get the type.  Esaias, for all his many, many flaws, had drive, charisma, and intelligence.  He went on to, albeit inadvertently, found House Ofthalmós so that his children and any others born like us wouldn’t have to suffer the way he did.  He was also rich and famous with fans all over the world.  Damocles saw that potential and allowed a contract.”

               “Even though you fit that criteria even more than Esaias did?” Hikaze teased with a quirked brow.  “Mister ‘Prince of the Seers’ over here?”

               “Quit it, you know I hate that nickname.  Nobles only use it to patronize me anyways,” Anastasios spat.  “If I succeeded in drawing Damocles, it’d feel like I hadn’t changed.  All my progress in becoming a better person than Esaias is nothing in the face of Damocles’ approval.  I hate that idea.  Also, wielding Damocles will decrease your lifespan.”                Hikaze felt his heart drop into his stomach.  “What?”  He’d always thought that Esaias had died from the complications of his abduction as a teenager.  That was what they’d been told anyways. 

               “The price for Damocles’ power is vitality.  Esaias added a stipulation to the contract that made it harder for him to use Damocles as a means of limiting them as an option, and they weren’t called upon often enough to be the cause of his death, so you don’t need to be worried about that.  Esaias died at his proper time.  And that was the most he ever wanted out of life- just the chance for a natural death.”

“That was hardly natural,” Hikaze spat. 

Anastasios didn’t argue.  Was Esaias’ death truly natural?  Hardly.  But he’d died quite satisfied.  He’d lived significantly longer than he’d ever anticipated, hadn’t gone insane from his own powers, and had managed to have a family.  It was more than he ever could have asked for.  “Well, this time, I’m going to live even longer than you, that way you don’t get to try to brag that you’re older than me next time around,” Anastasios replied with a wide, toothy grin.

               “Oh, no way am I letting that slide,” Hikaze cackled.  “I’m gonna make sure to keep putting as many years between us as possible!”

               “As if having even another century of life experience could make you have even a modicum of intelligence,” Anastasios taunted.

               “I don’t want to hear that from the man who still gets so flustered getting a hug from his nee-sama that he can’t even function two lifetimes in,” Hikaze teased.  Anastasios’ foot came down hard on the cobblestone where Hikaze’s had been moments before, and Hikaze met Anastasios’ frustrated glare with a cheeky grin.  The man tried a few more times, but only succeeded in getting more frustrated with each failure until he huffed and stormed off into an alley to avoid having to move through the crowd to get to the next street over.  Hikaze followed behind, cackling all the while and savoring his rare verbal victory.

[the-acid-pear]

Woke up from a very very strange dream so I really want to share it.

It started odd. Well not entirely odd. But it started on his different map of SDV I often see, and I was a woman, and went to these new secret mines where I had just lost and been kicked out. I went back in bc i did catch a glimpse of a merchant, so I went to check him out. He looked like a glowing eye darkness robbed little guy. And he sold, phone cases? And some pillars or something?? And I didn't know what they did so I looked up on YouTube and all I'd find was Minecraft videos (one I'd seen in a different dream, no less) so after a lot of trying went back to the game and bought them and it instantly turned psychosexual. I cannot remember details for better or for worse.

But after that somehow I ended up in my mother's house. It was just her and me, and soon my older brother. Neither my little brother or my step father were there. But there was a fishtank. Just like my step father previously had. Except it was lodged to the wall of the kitchen on the last house I lived in with them. It was also like, insanely dirty? It was implied nobody had been around for a while.

At first the fish I noticed were normal. Long little grey one stood up bc it was the last fish I got to see there, though that guy was smaller than a finger now he was worth give or take two! And there were other fishes too. But most important I saw a golden fish, just like my stepfather had owned for so long (I saw that fish eat everyone else and Die.). Except it was smaller, younger! His gold fish was he size of a hand by the end and fat, now it was as big as the previously mentioned. But just as violent. He kept trying to bite the fishes, which lead to his end.

Eventually I realized a fucking OCTOPUS was in the tank too, and he grabbed the golden fish (wasn't his name Golden? Or was it just Dorado? I don't remember) and like a gator did a death roll. It kept passing it under itself and stuff, too. I freaked out a little bc man he's gonna kill him!! But I was like nooobody touch him or you'll DIE.

It was then that I realized my mom had a prosthetic arm. From below the elbow on her left hand. It wasn't a normal one, it had skin grafts, tightly pulled across it, failing to conceal the plastic blue metal or the metal fingers like hooks. I asked her what happened and she told me nonchalantly she just tripped in a hole/puddle (I imagined this was in a supermarket, Carrefour or Coto) and passed out and when she woke up her hand was already amputated. Told her it was a relief it wasn't her dominant hand but she just said it isn't for NOW.

I pictured to myself a bit of her reaction. Waking up w a hand missing. Screaming and depression. She was ok by now. She did tell me it was bc she'd been carrying heavy books all day so the bone was cartilage by then and they removed it all (sure...)

I did realize a while after I woke up, my mother had a scarred hand she called "the bionic hand". I didn't remember this detail previous to this dream...

Anyway I think my brother was thru this all with us. I think we spoke. We caught up a little? I don't know why I cannot remember him now. What I do remember is talking w someone mentioning my grandma passing and them saying my brother should know too bc he probably cared and I was like damn maybe you're right. But I got distracted.

I was back in my villa crespo room, I have been remembering that room and that wardrobe a lot, and now I was looking inside. And it was huge, and I saw a dog plushie. It was implied to have been made by my grandma. I picked it up and hugged it and I took it as a sign to go in here and see what else was there for me. The dog was white, long ears, big ash brown spots and small black ones (most notably its eyes).

The wardrobe was full of toys and houses. And I was stuffing little things into bigger things. I wish I'd give you a better description. Little Barbies. I had a lot of knock off Barbies. I stacked them and stuck them elsewhere in piles. Unsure of the purpose.

But I couldn't really relax bc meanwhile my mom and my dad started talking and she was accusing him of having touched me inappropriately and his defense was like yeah I did but it was for a reason I was trying to protect her and I was just doing my darnest to pretend they didn't exist until I got awoken by a stupid can breaking in.

So yeah a lot went there.